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15-21 February 2008 Post #27: Catching Up Apologies for such a long break from blogs. Since DeDe's parents left, we've been playing “catch-up” on the homeschooling, so the days aren't so exciting, though we have peppered them with an occasional field-trip. This blog will cover the past two weeks, so that we can remember what the more mundane, day-to-day times were like here in Malta. The kids are doing very well with their school
work. We're enjoying the time together so much. Even David
and Nathan get to do some "school" and they sit at the table and work as
well. David is learning his letters, and he is amazing with his
attention span. He just keeps writing page after page of letters
and numerals. Nathan will color a couple pages out of his coloring
book. Then he'll wander off and entertain himself with his cars
and trucks. So I can focus on the big kids without much
interruption at all. Bobby even manages well in the morning hours.
Each morning, Dave has been getting up a little
before 6 and running for an hour, then getting showered and he's out the
door by 7:35. He walks a few
blocks away and sits on a curb awaiting his new-found friend, Conrad,
another lecturer at MCAST who has been giving him rides to and from
work. DeDe gets up right
after Dave says goodbye, and her day begins.
Her friend in Point has uploaded the pages of the
study the women are doing at her church, so she looks forward to digging
into that! Not sure if we've
mentioned that coincidence (God-incident).
DeDe was feeling a need for more time in the Word, as that really
helps her to maintain a level head, patience, and endurance for the
days. She had asked friends
from church what the women's group was doing this semester, and they
said, “Beth Moore's, To Live is Christ.
DeDe didn't really care what it was, she'd just decided she could
be doing the work and then join the group in April to complete it with
them. She went about the
internet search for the workbook, and had to laugh when she saw the
subtitle of the study:
The Life and Ministry of Paul.
She's been unable to have a book shipped here, so she's getting the pages scanned in and sent here by a dear friend in Point. She'll pay for her copy of the workbook, which is waiting for her at home now. The other day, Dave chuckled at the idea that in some ways we are seriously “Ship-wrecked on Malta.” He'd had a frustrating day at MCAST, with students who were a bit rude, so his attitude was a little soured. But isn't this funny, that the very semester we're living on this island that has been hugely impacted by Apostle Paul, DeDe's dear sisters at church are studying his life? Kinda cool. So she's enjoying digging into the work, and learning more about the apostle and his life before and after Christ. Our school day usually begins with some mathematics. (Note: the Brits and the Maltese say “maths” not “math”...which we realized, as we thought about it, makes more sense than “math.” e.g. I went to my mathematics class. Becomes: I went to my maths class. Not: I went to my math class. See the amazing things you learn when you go abroad?) Rachel, Ian, and Addison all have their maths workbooks (okay, that sounds wrong) along, so they've been working away at those. We are drilling them frequently with basic facts; multiplication drills for Rachel, and addition facts for the boys. Meanwhile, David will work on his letters. He has a workbook for Kindergarten (though he's only 4), and he's been tracing and practicing writing the alphabet and his numerals. Today he was tested and knew all the letters except N and Y. He knows his numbers. The big kids have improved their time on timed fact tests by an average of 30 seconds. Following maths (smile) we do spelling and language arts work. For awhile, DeDe was giving them spelling tests using terms they've learned since coming to Malta. Words like: Malta, Mediterranean Sea, luzzu, futbol... And then they were challenged to write a paragraph using the words to tell about our time here. They whined their way out of that task after she forced them to do it twice. It was too much like pulling-teeth, so she's given up on that great idea! We've moved into using the materials from school now, as that includes some spelling pattern information. Rachel gives Ian his list tests, and he tests her. DeDe tests Addison. They also have some reading comprehension materials, and activities on punctuation, parts of speech, etc... We've been lacking on science and social studies, although we have some very wonderful books we brought along that cover Earth Facts, The Human Body, Space Facts, things like that, and they have loads of information. So we've been reading them often, since they're among the very few books we have for kids in the flat! And these kids do love to read. Rachel has her Communities book, so she's been working through that for Social Studies. This week, we are kicking it up a notch on schooling, as we just made arrangements for another guest to join us in 3 weeks. Nichole Jones Anderson has responded to our call for help in March. Her father was in our wedding, a good childhood friend of Dave's. Nichole is a young-married now, who has the time free, and enjoys children and travel. The kids have met Nichole before as we try to see the Joneses at Christmas and in the summer. The Jones family has a cottage near our place in Rhinelander. With her arrival, we'll show her around a few days and then DeDe and Dave will take the baby and explore Italy while Nichole takes care of the other children here. Send us an email about this post! dgibbs at uwsp dot edu or dedegibbs at gmail dot com |
