Moving and Consolidating

Greetings,

This is my wife's blog, but I have an announcement to make. Due to constraints on both of our schedules, we are consolidating our two blogs together. Both blogs center around the same topic, raising our children, so it should work well for the blogs to go together. The link to the new blog is available here. I have exported all of my wife's previous blog entries to the other blog, so everything is viewable there.

Thanks :)

halloween photos

I just remembered that I have these pics from the Harvest Party we attended. Z is posing with Princess Jasmine, and L is posing with Pocahantas.

rain

Have you heard about how it rains a lot in Seattle? Of course you have. Well, it's true. Most days this fall it has rained at least a little. It's an adjustment. At least it's not very cold.

Well, I'm still here. I've been working 2 or 3 nights/week, this week more because of the holiday. It's been ok. I like the job, but life feels quite squeezed these days. Since I have a lot of things to do, I'm going to leave it at that and post again when I can get some pictures up. Hope you all are well and enjoy your Thanksgiving!

busy holidays

Well, I just got a job night stocking at a toy store for the holiday season. I haven't started yet, and I'm a little nervous how this will all work out. Though I am thankful to have found a job quickly. And I do like toys. Jomo and I are going to have to get pretty creative to get all the things done that are important to us, though I suspect that we'll lighten up our time spent on school, or just stop a little earlier than planned for the holidays. I'm also interested to see how plausible a part-time night job would be for me longer term. We'll find out soon I guess.

We have some cute Halloween photos, or rather "Harvest Party" photos of the kids, but I didn't have time to upload them today. So, coming soon. It was a good experience going to a party rather than trick-or-treating I thought. We don't have nearly as much candy (which is good for me since in the past I've eaten plenty of the kids' loot), and the experience was a bit more interesting what with the games and mazes and such. I have to say though, I was pretty stressed out trying to keep track of the three kids in the unfamiliar, slightly darkened church. And we were both there!

I've been really enjoying our Ambleside Online curriculum. It's surprisingly well-rounded when you actually include all the subjects. Right now we're studying some Raphael Sanzio paintings, learning a folk song called "The Jam on Gerry's Rock" (which makes me think of Michigan!), learning our second hymn, listening to some selections by composer Hamauzu (our own substitution), as well as all our literature, geography, history, and natural science readings which Z "narrates" or tells back to me in her own words. We are really enjoying this Charlotte Mason style of learning. One of our highlights is the book, "Understood Betsy," which started out a bit dull for Z I think, but last week she spontaneously wanted to write a letter to one of the characters in the book in response. I don't make her do things like that, but she was just so wrapped up in the story and wanted to give Aunt Harriet a piece of her mind. The other thing I'm enjoying is how Z is learning to compose using the styles of the different authors. In her narrations, she often includes a phrasing that she picked up from the reading that she wouldn't normally use. So I'm very encouraged with her progress and her enthusiasm.

L is plodding along. Some days he seems to really enjoy school, and other days not so much. His reading is getting stronger, and his math seems off the charts (though that's a biased opinion). I'm trying to figure out how to make the practice in math fun for him, rather than just boring repetition. But also there's probably a balance where we just need to move on to more challenging work.

That's all to report for now. Back to picking out library books!

Recent Pictures and Stuff

Just thought I'd update you on some goings on around here. This one below is just because she's cute!

And here's L showing off his kendo practice sword (I forget the official name). Notice his lightsabers in the background. He's a nut for swords.

Daddy has been taking S around on his bike. She really enjoys it and says "bike hat," referring to her helmet.

Z is such a wonderful big sister. She often takes care of S on the church playground when we're there on Sunday and for co-op. Here's she's showing S the ways of the swing.

Since Daddy's had more time lately, he's trying his hand at cooking. His sushi is terrific. L likes rolls with cucumber or egg in them.

Since Z learned how to ride a two-wheeler this summer, she's been itching to get out everyday to ride. She and Daddy sometimes go to the store, weather permitting. Isn't she getting big?

That's it for now!

Woohoo!

Great news everyone! Jomo passed the bar exam! We are thrilled that all his work has paid off, and now he can officially work as an attorney in the state of Washington. So now just to find that job. Jomo is actually tutoring while he job hunts, so we’re very thankful for that consistent source of income. And we’re enjoying having him home during the day. We’ve even shifted our main family meal to lunchtime.

School has been going well. I’m pretty happy with our curriculum choices this year. For L I’ve been mostly making it up as I go along (with the many resources I’ve collected at this point), which has been good for him. He’s not thrilled when workbooks come out, so I’m glad we’ve gone very light with those, but he really thrives on being able to be creative. Once he gets an idea in his head, watch out! He gets those wheels turning and talks my ear off about it, sometimes even into the next day. Lately he’s been pretty fixated on what he’s going to be when he grows up. Some recent ideas have been: musician (who writes his own music!), scientist, science teacher, archaeologist, science teacher who teaches about space, geology, and digging up things only, chef, apple tree grower, video game maker. I can’t think of any of the others right now. Jomo’s idea was to give him some paper to draw some of his ideas. (Mine was to go get books from the library about his ideas. Guess whose idea he likes better? See, this is how we balance each other in parenting J)

Z’s school is going well too. Ambleside Year 2 is proving to be challenging, even though I think her understanding is pretty advanced. The hardest part is being able to get it all in in a day thanks to little Miss S. She tends to climb all over me, sing her ABC’s loudly, or just cause general mayhem when I’m trying to read aloud to Z. So we’ve been trying different things to keep her busy. And often Z and I do our reading during rest time. But neither of us is too excited about that. Oh well, S won’t be this little for very long. I’m trying to treasure all the wonderful little things about being almost 2.

Another exciting thing is that a friend from church is giving our older two kids Japanese lessons once a week. Jomo has been teaching them for maybe a year or so, but what a great opportunity for them to learn and hear Japanese from a native speaker. Even I am trying to get in on learning their homework. Hajimemashite Dina desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu! (My name is Dina. Pleased to meet you!)

And lastly, we’ve joined a local homeschool co-op, which has proved to be very fun. L is taking Drama class (which he loves! I always knew he had dramatic talent!) and also a science class. And Z is taking Geography and a music/art history class. Both kids are making friends and really enjoying our days there. I’ve also had a great time at co-op and have met new people that I’ve enjoyed talking to each time.

new move

Ok, here's a quick update. We moved to an apartment where we were able to sign a month-to-month lease, and we're praying that Jomo finds a job quickly. We've started school again with the kids, which has been fun and hard, but is keeping us busy too. We've also started to get a bit more involved in our church. My mom just visited and we had a lot of fun. She also got us a new camera! Yay! So pictures will be coming soon. We don't have internet at home, so my postings will have to depend on my getting an outing to the coffee shop (which is what I'm doing right now!) And let's see. Oh, S had to get two stitches above her brow the other night after a jumping-on-the-couch crashing-into-the-side-table incident. Jomo took her in for a several hour wait in the ER, but she's fine and happy, and jumping again.

In all the important things, we're doing ok. I'm thankful for our health and all our blessings, and I'm trying to focus on that. However, we really need a job to work out soon. So again, please keep us in your prayers!