Homeschool Update/Kotikoulupäivitys

Our fourth year of homeschooling is just about done. What an amazing feeling! (Especially when you consider I went into homeschooling kicking and screaming!) Homeschooling has been one of the best things for our family.

(And what is even more amazing is our teens will start high school next year!!)



Our curriculum AOP Monarch has worked well for our family. As soon as it came out three years ago, we switched from Switched-on-Schoolhouse to the online Monarch version. Since we are mac users, Monarch worked better for us, and since we travel so much, it was easier for us to use online access for our school lessons. We love the fact we can do school anywhere, as long as we have an internet connection, and a computer to access it!



Monarch has taught our teens to be independent learners. They can advance at their own pace.



If they want to get school done early so they have more time for their own interests, they are free to do so.



And, of course, if they want to get 8th grade done before Christmas, and go to Finland for a few months, that is a possibility, too:)

(Plus they can still work on Monarch lessons from Finland.)

Alpha Omega Publications are having their May sale of 15% off their products this month. There are still four days left to take advantage of that! Click on the image for more info.



And how is Little Miss doing with her schoolwork? Well, we have had some great days, and some days when school looked a little different:) We used Critical Thinking Company's K-1st bundle with Hooked-on-Phonics, and overall have loved our material. This Little Miss is just too busy with life to bother with schoolbooks.

We made a decision not to worry about finishing her curriculum. She is done. Instead, this month we have been reading a lot. Mainly mom reads to her, but we are working on her reading, also, and she loves to write little notes and stories.

It has been a good homeschool year for us. Three of our four teens are finished with their Monarch curriculum, and while we still have One Year Adventure Novel to finish, we are going to take our time with that. The boys also enjoyed their elective online class Government 101 taught by Founder's Academy through CurrClick.com.

I know I've posted this cartoon before, but it really is a great one to repost. Twenty Great Reasons to Homeschool!




(We appreciate Alpha Omega Publications for their sponsorship of our curriculum for next year. All opinions expressed in this blog are purely our own.)

****** EDIT: I can't believe an entire DAY went by before I realized I forgot the Finnish translation. Oops!! Pahoitteluni, nyt vasta huomasin, että olin unohtanut kääntää postauksen suomeksi!!

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Siis meillä alkaa olla neljäs kotikouluvuosi melkein purkissa. Vähän vielä teineillä on töitä jäljellä, ennen kuin aloittavat kesäloman, ja syksyllä lukion - mikä Usassa alkaa 9. luokalla, ja kestää neljä vuotta. Pikkuneiti ei saanut kaikkia kirjojaan tehtyä, mutta hän on saanut tarpeeksi, joten me keskitymme nyt lukemiseen ja kaikkeen muuhun kivaan.

Vaikken neljä vuotta sitten halunnut alkaa kotikouluilemaan, se on ollut meidän perheelle yksi parhaimmista päätöksistä. Ei kaduta, ja aiomme jatkaa:)

Good Morning/Huomenta

I tossed and turned most of the night, reading my devotionals during the dark early morning, and finally getting up at six. With my iPhone and a cup of hazelnut coffee, I walked to the bay side of our street, and watched and prayed as the sun rose, then walked over to the gulf side to see the soft hues of the beach.



"Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,



For his compassions never fail.



They are new every morning;



Great is your faithfulness.



I say to myself,



“The Lord is my portion;



Therefore I will wait for him.”



The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,



To the one who seeks him;



It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Lamentations 3:22-26

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Herran armoa on se, että vielä elämme, hänen laupeutensa ei lopu koskaan. Joka aamu Herran armo on uusi, suuri on hänen uskollisuutensa. Sieluni sanoo: "Herra on kaikkeni, häneen minä turvaan." Herra on hyvä sille, joka panee toivonsa häneen, sille, joka häntä etsii. Hyvä on hiljaisuudessa toivoa apua Herralta.

Valitusvirret 3:22-26

Building Sandcastles/Hiekkalinnoja rakentamassa

We are winding down our fourth homeschool year here in Florida. The beach is steps away, calling us to play. Yesterday morning, Mr. A started building his amazing sandcastle fortress.




A perfect beach day, everyone else was in the water, most of the time.



But Mr. A was steadfast: he had a vision to create.



Help was recruited. Thanks, S! (Little Miss helped, too.)

Eventually we had to leave the beach, and go in for dinner.



But after dinner we raced back to the beach to see if his castle was intact.



It was.



So amazing.



Beautiful.



Detailed, and complex.



Again, we had to leave the creation, and head to bed, but this morning we went straight to the beach to see how much damage had happened overnight.



To our great surprise, none!



So Mr. A and Little Miss continued their work, almost the whole day today.



Everyone walking by stopped to comment. One lady said she had seen the sandcastle last night, and walked miles today to come see what it looked like today - she was so happy to see it still here, even bigger, and thought it looked like Jerusalem, and its' walls.



But tonight as Mr. D, Little Miss and I walked back to the beach to see the castle (and the sunset), the whole area had been trampled down. Systematically, by fairly big feet. Every wall, every building, destroyed.


Mr. D started the rebuilding process, but eventually we had to come back in to tell the sad news to Mr. A.

He said it was amazing how long it had stayed intact. And how hard it would be to keep a sandcastle from being wrecked over the busy beach weekend.

Nevertheless, Mr. A and Mr. D are going to continue rebuilding tomorrow morning.

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Eilen Mr. A aloitti rakentamaan uskomatonta hiekkalinnoitusta. Se pysyi upeana koko eilisen päivän, ja tänäänkin, ja Mr. A jatkoi laajennusta melkein koko päivän. Mutta tänä iltana, kun menimme takaisin rannalle, hiekkalinnoitus oli poljettu kasaan, tarkoituksella. Niin surullista. Mutta Mr. A ja Mr. D aikovat aloittaa uudelleenrakentamisen huomisaamuna.

More (Mis)Adventures/Lisää seikkailuja

After leaving Jamestown and Virginia, we continued having road trip (mis)adventures. The Mothership needed brakes replaced in route, then the transmission went bust. We picked up an old van as our (smaller) Florida vehicle, only to have a flat tire the first day.

We barely got the RV to the repair shop, as it would conk out on us at stop lights. Fun, fun, not.

However, the if the timing ever could be good, it was for us. Our transmission and flat tire trouble happened on the day we moved into our little rental house on the beach. So we didn't actually have to live in the Mothership at the repair shop (been there, done that - even the brakes repair took six hours).

After a week at the beach, we are starting to breathe easier, and get into our work and homeschool routines. We even met the folks from Frolicking Flamingo here at the beach. Here's their blog post on our get together, and the picture from above is from that night, too. Fun evening!!

Life is good! God is so good!

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Asuntoauto-ongelmien ja auto-ongelmien jälkeen olemme rannalla! Sinä päivänä, kun piti viedä asuntoauto korjattavaksi, saimme muuttaa Floridan vuokrataloomme. Aaah, aurinko paistaa, ja elämä hymyilee - mieli on kiitollinen Jumalan siunauksista.

Jamestown, Virginia

During our unexpected and brief visit in Virginia we had a great homeschool field trip to Jamestown for the first time. My sister's crew joined ours, making us a nice group of four adults, four teens, and five littles ages 5 months to seven years.

As we approached Jamestown we saw a sign for Historic Jamestowne and for Jamestown Settlement. Quick - where are we going?? We decided to go to Jamestown Settlement to walk around, and learn as much we could, and next time go to the actual historic site of Jamestown, which is close by.



With proof of homeschooling our family was able to get reasonably priced tickets for $11 each. Totally worth it. The welcome center had a huge gallery of information on history of Jamestown, but with our antsy group we headed directly to the Powhatan village.

This was my girls' favorite part of Jamestown. They loved talking to the volunteers and learning about pottery, baskets, cooking and farming. I enjoyed reading about the life of Pocahontas, Powhatan Indian princess, after we left Jamestown.



Canoe making was fascinating. The Powhatan Indians would burn out the inside, keeping the fire going for a few days. Shells from the river were used to carve out the burned parts. My handsome nephew is helping out the process.



The new Mothership???



From the Indian village we moved onto to check out the ships. Three ships arrived originally from England in late April of 1607: Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery. Jamestown usually has all three life-size replicas (the ships are surprisingly small!) there, but Godspeed was out on sea when we were there. Pictured here is Susan Constant, which brought over 55 people. All in all in the three ships they had 105 men, but lost one person in voyage.






The volunteers really helped us understand what life on the ship was like. The bunk beds were so tiny! In fact, the ship was so small it is hard to imagine how all these people fit in. And traveled most of their 4-5 month voyage below deck, getting permission to go on deck specially from the Captain.



Here learning about guns, cannons and gun powder.



This gentleman kept catching pretty ladies with his rope tricks:)



From the ships we walked to the third area: the life-size replica of the colonists' fort.



Beautiful church.




My boys' favorite part of Jamestown: muskets and shooting demonstration.



The governor's house was the fanciest.



On our way out we spotted a bald eagle, and a nest to the right of it! There was definitely some activity in the nest.

We breezed through the indoor galleries, and could have spent another 2-3 hours there reading more about Jamestown, the history, origins of the first Africans, Powhatan Indian culture, but our crew was ready to head back. And for some reason the air inside the galleries was very poor. Little Miss started complaining of a head ache, and it was hard to breathe. I felt dizzy, too. Next time!

You can read a brief history on Jamestown here. And just today, there was an interesting (and gross) article on cannibalism in Jamestown, read it at your own risk..

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Virginiassa ollessamme kävimme kotikouluretkellä Jamestownin elävän historian kylässä siskon perheen kanssa. Oli mielenkiintoista kävellä ympäriinsä, ja oppia lisää tästä ensimmäisestä siirtokunnasta. Täältä löytyy pikkuisen tietoa suomeksi, ja yllä lisää englanniksi, linkkejä myös.