The year of the ant, the mosquito, and the rat

It is actually still the year of the sheep here in China...
But in our house I cannot remember a year with more ants. Ants upon ants. All over our floor, sneaking through the poor quality tile. In and out of everywhere. I found one mound near my cookbooks, another had bored a hole in a wooden marble game we have. Even in the bathroom they roam.

However, maybe mosquitoes are worse. We told the TCC team months before their coming, "in our house and even outside we don't have a lot of mosquitoes." Boy were we wrong. Our kids get bit now almost every time they go outside. This is the first year we have really used repellent here.

Ants and mosquitoes, an expected outcome of living in the subtropics....but the rats?
A year ago now, cats would leave dead rats on our back doorstep. And I don't like cats but I thanked them kindly, because I despise rats. Who doesn't?

This year we have heard them nightly outside our homeschool room window, cheeping cheeping away.

Then. Then.  I can barely bring my fingers to type the words....

Our helper discovered a rat in the kids' bathroom toilet. Not dead. Yes, alive and well. I did not have the heart to look. I called the super hero. And he had nothing to work with. I thought he would get it out and kill it. But the rat went back to where it came from...DOWN the toilet. David flushed a few times for good measure, and stuck a long wire down the toilet to make sure it wasn't stuck. We really are convinced that this was a sewer rat that came up possibly from all the rain. Perhaps all the infestation of pests is from this year's weather. We saw no evidence of this rat being in the bathroom or anywhere else....

Then... our friends' helper, preparing their house for their return from the States, called David a bit frantic. Two rats had made a home in their bathroom, chewed through the water hose and everything else...I won't detail what went on to kill those guys. I wasn't there. I went in for the clean-up....well,  let's be honest, I went in to hand the cleaning supplies to the one cleaning up. Gross. I did bring her gloves, for which she was very thankful.

All three of these aforementioned creatures were not mere mice, the were big 'ole rats, Templeton-size rats. David said if I had seen the one in our house I would never sit on a toilet again....yes, yes, I am sure. I still hesitate.

I asked aloud to everyone, "Do we need to get a cat?" Tobin promptly said: "NO, cats are sassy" (we had recently watched the movie 'The Incredible Journey'). Bella also disagreed because 'Daddy is allergic'. I thought I should just start feeding the mangy cats I see on my runs around the neighborhood, they seem always on the prowl...

This post is just a little venting, I know it could be way worse, and I am getting wimpy in my old age. Just think, eight years ago when we needed to move apartments, we tried desperately to find housing in nearby villages. I imagine if we had done the village life thing I could be laughing about the ONE rat in my toilet. Perspective, I know I need it. 

Either way, thoroughly disgusted here in Asia!

'Me on the Map' and other stuff

 Tobin used the "Draw Write Now" book to draw this. If you have kids and don't have these books, go buy them and thank me later. (I thank GM and her daughter for telling me about them) (now, if only I could get him writing some letters....all in due time)

Tobin shows David his 'Me on the Map' project

 I had seen this project all over pinterest and really thought it would benefit our kids. This did take some mommy prep and help. I had to find a few maps to fit or get them downsized, and I wrote all the titles at the bottom, while they filled in the top. The upper three: city, street, home, were creative pictures drawn by the kids as they tried to draw what they thought of when the thought of each thing. Some of these were quite funny.

Sophia, our home: a swing set out in front

 Sophia, our street: A new bread store that we love just opened and she drew it.

 Sophia, our city: Mountains, a pig, a peacock, a minority person, and stalks of something, or flowers, this really is a great picture of what you find here.

Bella, our home: This is Sophia's loft bed and Bella below, which isn't quite accurate, but was original.

Bella, our street: she too, drew the name of the new bakery on our street.

Bella, our town: This is her water buffalo, she also used 'Draw Write Now' to help her draw this.  And this is also very true of what you find here!

Tobin, our home: He drew his bed and then the dots going up to his dream. I drew his stick figure and asked if he wanted me to add in Gabrielle yelling at him from her bed, he was delighted. The dreaming of helicopters was his idea, so Sophia helped draw a tiny helicopter in there.

Tobin, our street: jets, and more helicopters, he drew part of this one, but I finished it. We do still have helicopters flying really low quite a bit, so this was also accurate.

For our city he had me draw a pig and a small bird, and I don't have a picture.

Coker School Celebration Pictures

The Welcome dance was choreographed by Sophia and put together well, it was not too long and involved Tobin looking exactly like the local minority.

At the end of the celebration and awards we opened the school room for Daddy. I had set up various things they had done (most fun projects of the last two weeks). The kids took the time to show Daddy their work.

Sophia did a 'Robert Fulton' Literary study as part of English Grammar

and Bella is in the middle of a 'Little House' one, all from 'The Phonics Road.'

It involves a lot of writing and copy work, for Sophia all in cursive.

Bella explains her 'Me on the Map' Project, which I will highlight in the next post.

Coker School Celebration: details

Intro Quote: "where did we get this amazing ability to picture things our eyes cannot see? To find out we need to turn to the greatest story of all. There we read that, once upon a time, God imagined our world. And then He made it so. He pictured people like you and me and He breathed life into us. he wanted to share the joy of making things and seeing that they are good. So He planted a tiny seed of His creativity in our hearts..."   Faerie Gold, intro p. 8

Prov. 24: 3-4: "by wisdom a house is built and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures"

After listening about the lives of various poets, their styles, and some of their famous poems, Sophia made up a poem one night. The next day when she retold it best she could I was completely surprised at all the fun devices she used to capture the mood. It was a bit spooky and fun (we had just listened to The Raven). When she tried to recite it again for me to write down she lost some of it in her mind. So the original was better, but this one was still great, and for the intro of our celebration, I used her poem as an example of a God-given creative mind at work. She had no idea I was going to do that. I may post it later.

The first set of poems the kids really got into and, just as they had practiced, put some of them into song. Tobin very cutely at the end of his added drama elements. We do have this all on video, not sure if I will post any. Bella, usually the shier one, did spectacular in capturing the essence of her poem, and Sophia, she added a little pop/rock starish twang to hers, it was about cats after all.


For the memory work time, I had David in the audience choose something to ask me and then I would ask all the kids separately their chosen subject. David asked me about the Split of The Roman Empire (one I knew, whew!). Most impressive here was Bella's recitation of the first 12 elements of the periodic table, by number element and mass. She always loved this chant during CC review and chose it right away when I said they could do anything they wanted. I just wasn't convinced she knew it, but she proved me wrong and helped me learn it better.

We changed clothes towards the end, for our last two acts. Bella had a funny poem, Tobin a very fun super hero original dance that ended with a forward roll and punching the book shelf. Sophia wrote a story about desperately wanting to see snow. And me? I dressed up like a witch and recited a scene from Macbeth (double double toil and trouble), I had a big pot and spoon and acted out all the grossness I was throwing in my brew. The kids knew I was doing this poem for weeks but got so into it as I did it and even squealed in grossness a few times.

The girls each played the piano and then I gave out awards!
Good reading: Tobin...he has worked so hard and done so well!
Great work: Math: Bella, she has wowed me with her progress
Hard worker: Sophia, she has been up every morning starting her independent work before breakfast (Life of Fred math, supplemental, Chinese reading, Bible reading, English reading)

We had a blast doing this and will probably do this every 9 weeks or so.

Mid Summer Coker School Celebration

A month ago I announced that we were going to do a presentation/performance for daddy of various things we had learned and poems to recite. The kids were giddy with excitement. They do impromptu performances all of the time, but this one would involve my planning, dressing up and an actual order of events. They each chose a poem, and as the first few weeks of prep went by I changed things up a bit. I wanted each child to have 3-4 things to do. Classical Conversations is big on learning how to present information before an audience. We have not implemented that yet, but this was a great start. Even Tobin would participate and we helped him learn his short poem. The other clincher was that I was EMCEE and participating, I had my own poems to recite or memory work to solidify. Added on at the last minute were piano pieces since they just started learning. And I told them we would have a stage!

Here was the order of events:

1. Introduction: Faerie Gold quote,  Prayer,  Prov 24:3, read Poem Shadows at Night by Sophia
2. Students welcome audience with Minority dance
3. Performances 1 :Poetry
1. Tobin : Way Down South by anonymous
2. Bella : The Goops by Gelett Burgess
3. Sophia: Cats by Eleanor Farjeon
4. Mom: Little Drops of Water by Mrs. J. A. Carney
4. Performances 2: CC mem work
1. Mom: history sentence: Dad or student asks me
2. Sophia: Preamble to the U.S. Constitution +N European countries
3. Bella: First 12 elements of Periodic Table by number, element and mass + Pilgrims
4. Tobin: The States of Matter+ Two forms of energy

****5 min change clothes

5. Performances 3: Original story/dance/poetry
1. Bella: Hannah and the Banana
2. Tobin: superhero dance
3. Sophia: original story/poem
4. Mom: Eye of Newt, Shakespeare's Macbeth (Act 4, scene 1)
6. Performances 4: Piano
1. Bella
1. Sophia D:
7. Awards.
8. Open house invitation

Summer School Schedule

Summer is almost over (2 more weeks)
but this has been our schedule (in general):

(if are up earlier, we start earlier)
7:30/8 Breakfast/scripture memory work
15 minutes: break until school starts
Circle time: CC review (cycles 2,3) and Poetry reading
Get girls started on independent work if possible or independent reading,
Tobin's reading lesson (lesson 80 all the helps are gone, this is hard and frustrating for us both, may or may not quit, but he does great some days, other days...should not be written about) he really is doing well (this always takes us at least 30-45 minutes)
snack
language arts/spelling  with Bella (Sophia starts own LA)
LA/spelling with Sophia (Bella breaks)
short break
intro/teach math get Sophia started
math with Bella
finish anything else before lunch (Bella's Little House on prairie study)
(Sophia finished her literary study and will start another next week)
LUNCH: Family devos + Bible learning and catechism (usually with dad if available)
break
12:30 OR 1, read aloud half hour, all on couch or floor listening, Tobin may have a toy
1 OR 1:30 they color while listening to Story of the World Vol 1. (this is review, we are about to start vol 3). This is when I work out or run.
finish any unfinished core, or do special project.
2:30 Snack, lately we let Sophia and Bella sometimes walk to the store for ice cream and bring back some for the whole family
FREE time/ or work on art/special project

More Summer play + P.E.

 Sophia driving her horse and buggy, with cute little cat down below on her phone.

 It actually worked down the hall, and since the walls are already beat up pretty well I 'let it go', but really Sophia was a good driver.

Something that has lacked in my Home school repertoire of subjects is consistent fitness/exercise/expounding of energy in an organized way. AKA: P.E. Yes, our kids run and play like the rest, but we have goals of something more. David took this on himself this summer and about 3-4 times a week has spent anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour in various training/fun things. Sometimes this happens right after dinner, sometimes it happens at the pool. 

Here, they are doing their strength routine inside:  

 Squats, notice Gabrielle scooting through Sophia's legs.

 Gabrielle moved on to book reading, while the others practice 'planks'

 This is a plank with a hand clap

They have had a lot of fun, we are also working on endurance in jogging. 

They hope to run a 3k this winter. We shall see....

Names and Summer Play

 Heather helped the girls with this name sewing project. It turned out Great.

We have LOVED the summer break, the kids are all at home. All day. Together. It has been fabulous to see their creative minds as they figure out what play they will do next. Yes, there is always some sort of tension/argument/fight somewhere in the discussions but this too is good training time. 

 I have had a pretty organized summer schedule which helps them to know what is coming when and then be excited during breaks to return to their 'fort' or 'ice cream shop' or even one time a realty office. At their realty office I would tell them what kind of home I wanted and behind a curtain Bella would draw it (I did not know she was doing this the first time and was amazed as she handed me a picture of a 3 floor house with a double garage, a pool going through the house and a garden, which was exactly what I had asked for). Sophia would look up on her 'computer' the cost and what kind of 'freebies' I get with it, one time I got a free security guard named 'Tobin'. 

This was a fort/book store.

So our house is a daily mess, but so much fun in the making.

Recovering from Illness

My illness, that started out as flu-like and slowly morphed into a severe lung infection/pneumonia/possible TB (!), did indeed create some stress in our family, and taught us a lot (again) about our weakness, His strength. Apparently a lesson we need to learn continually :).

When the time came for me to visit the local hospital (which we have been to many times for various reasons, sometimes just to visit people) I dreaded it. But the docs we were consulting with almost wanted to send me to the capital for tests, something I absolutely did not want to do. In fact my email back was: 'what tests should I do and can we trouble shoot it from here?' Since it was the weekend they agreed.

 First at the hospital you have to register, pay a few cents and say what type of doc you need to see, then you stand in line to see the doc. The line for the doc was loooooong, so we went to a different one, and no wonder his line was short. I told him my situation. His standard Chinese was barely there, he mumbled, and told me that since I no longer had a fever I was fine. I asked him to listen to my lungs, which he barely did. I asked for the tests I wanted and he signed off on them: two types of blood tests/liver function, and a chest x-ray.

(David waiting to pay) 

One of the main reasons David was with me was to help navigate the lines ( I still was pretty weak) and so that I wouldn't pass out at the blood draw (I have only done this 2x in my 20 gazillion times having blood taken, but it is always a possibility). 

Before the tests, you have to go pay for the tests. We waited in line, they told us they needed one other form or name of specific test, so I kept our place in line while David hunted that down. (meanwhile, If I didn't have TB before, I do now, standing in a crowd of sick people. Oops, I am sick too, maybe I am infecting them, I forgot to wear a mask, I forgot antibacterial lotion, this is the only place we use it, oh well).

We decided that David would put my name in line at the x-ray and I would wait for him at the bloodwork center. There was no line at blood work they called my name and by the time David came up the stairs I was done, no passing out. "See, turns out I didn't need you after all." This was said with complete sarcasm because the man knows I need him, I was so thankful he was there. He was thankful he wasn't picking me up off the floor (which he has had to do before).

All tests would be returned in the afternoon, that I could handle on my own... So David and I went home, stopping first at our favorite bakery for a good cup of coffee. 

This is what I saw in line in front of me:

In China (anywhere I guess), pets are like people. This did not surprise me, they walk in the grocery stores sometimes. This little guy was adorable, and very well-behaved.

As I started to feel better, I was able to enjoy a brief respite from rain and sit outside with the fam one Saturday: 

 I finally feel more alive and we enjoy our coffee alfresco

 and our kids...

I am doing much better. It has been about six weeks and I am not sure my lungs are 100% but I am fully functioning. My voice has not quite recovered, I think there maybe some scarring from all the coughing, not sure. 

We are gearing up to start local school and add in our school subjects to begin our full-fledged school year in just a few weeks.

Glimpses of Gabrielle

 When David takes the elder kids swimming, she always wants to go, she knows where the bathing suits are, grabs one, and tries her best to put it on. Imagine the scene at the door when she realizes she is not going! 

Little diva in her heeled shoes. She loves the clickety clack just like her sisters. And can get into everything and anything, even though she understands that she should not.

And big girl has graduated to a stool at restaurants, which still takes lots of training, but she does pretty well. She loves her dumplings and can eat 6-8 at one time.

She is still this little cuddly bug growing up fast, FULL of personality. Her siblings love her (and get frustrated at times when she gets all in their mix), but in general they love and dote on this precious.

Bella's Kindergarten Graduation

We took the TCC team to Bella's graduation performance. It was a crazy mass of people in an extremely hot auditorium. 

 

In the scene blow I am holding Bella facing forward with her arms out like she is flying. 

 

This was celebrating her three years of Chinese Kindergarten. Some of these students will do a 'middle' year before going on to Elementary school, like Sophia did. We wanted this for Bella, but the week of sign up there was so much going on in our family and we were very distracted so we missed it. We hope to get her into Chinese first grade but it is quite hard, so we will see.

Bella and I are in the front, third from the right, gettin' our groove on.

 This is Bella's best friend, and was at the rehearsal.

This whole event was pure Chinese style spectacular. I actually enjoyed getting to know the moms at all the practices and watching Bella interact with all of her friends. She will miss these kids, we are not sure which ones may be going to her school next year.

Congrats Bella on an amazing three years of local school, it was not always easy, but you persevered and thrived, we are thankful for how the Lord provided for you there.

Back Track: More TCC Team Fun

Here is how we greeted our friends at the airport!

Sophia was a little shy, but warmed up fast.

The reflection is not great, but if you can see, the entourage of 7 foreigners in our small airport, was  a little spectacle. Uncle Travis beams a huge smile for our kiddos.

It was the fourth of July so the older girls put on a little impromptu performance.

 The crew, wore out, watched on.

 We made them get out of their seats and go outside for some fireworks.

they brought these festive wands and bandanas

we even put a sparkler on a little makeshift boat.

A bit later in their stay they went to our friends' village with us.
I love the baby bath. Later our kids pushed him around in the stroller.

And a few days after that, the guys on the team returned to the village for a truly pure minority culture event that will not be elaborated on here...just to say, it was fun, involved animals that did not get hurt and allowed the guys to see what true farmers do during the rainy season.