365 People Photos: Nos. 59-61--All in a School Day

Many of you may have guessed that we educate our children at home. This time when I pulled out the camera, I tried to take pictures of our "typical" school day. These three photos only do a so-so job of representing what school looks like in our home. I didn't catch much action. I'm posting the pictures any way because they will always remind me of our routine.

In the first picture our eleventh child, Amy, is listening while one of her siblings is reading the Bible. Each morning we read a Psalm, followed by the chapter of Proverbs that corresponds with the day of the month (Today, February 12, we read Proverbs 12.)

In the second photo, Amy is being taught multiplication by her dad.

Finally, I caught Daria just as she stood up from the lunch table. We eat both breakfast and lunch as a family, and the fellowship is a highlight of the day. We have to eat at our dining room table because nine of our twelve children are still being homeschooled, and that is far too big of a group to fit around the kitchen table!

We began educating our children at home when we moved to England in the fall of 1997 when our oldest daughter, Anna, was a first grader, and our twins, John and Lissie, were in kindergarten. At that point we only had the three kiddos. We did much of their schooling cuddling on my bed. Now if all my students climbed on the four-poster with me, we'd fall through the floor! This year we have three in high school, two middle schoolers, and the youngest two are in elementary school. All nine were adopted from Russia between the ages of three and almost 16. None of them spoke a word of English when they joined the family. God is so good; all of them are dedicated learners. With the exception of the youngest, our adoptees have caught up with their peers after starting their schooling in orphanages! And nine-year-old Eliana is progressing at a happy pace. Isn't our Lord amazing?

Project 366 -- "Scramble"

Day 42

Amy (9) finished her school work especially efficiently this morning so I offered her the chance to play Scrabble with me. It was Amy's first time to play the game, but she gave it her best.

After 14 years of home schooling, I was excited to stumble upon a wonderful learning tool. Playing Scrabble caused Amy to work on spelling, vocabulary, dictionary use, and math, as she kept our scores, all while having fun and strengthening our relationship. I thanked Lord for the gift of wisdom that led me to this brainstorm.

 

Later in the day, Amy pulled out an "antique" version of the game which I brought into our marriage. She happily proclaimed, "Look, Mom, I'm playing Scramble!"

A Visit to a Poinsettia Palace

Last week Nathaniel, Tatiana and Amy had dental appointments. On our way home, we passed the largest nursery in town. Since I love, love, love taking photos of flowers, we stopped in to see what sort of pictures I could capture of the plant which is most closely associated with Christmas: the poinsettia. This poinsettia palace gave me countless photo ops. I hope to have a "Poinsettia Parade" each week as Christmas draws nearer. My goal is to bring some colorful cheer to your holiday.

We found hundreds of the plants in a variety of sizes and a rainbow of colors.

On my "Poinsettia Parade" this week is a rich red plant with gold glitter gracing the leaves.

We left the building amazed that so many hundreds of poinsettia's could be housed in one room (under three roofs).

Photo of the Day: A Good Listener

This photo of our youngest two daughters was taken in April, just after church. We'd had our first thunderstorm of the season the night before, and it was the first storm of that type since we'd adopted Oksana (r) four months earlier.

Here, Oksana (6) had just used hand motions to describe the thunderstorm to Amy (8). Amy is demonstrating an understanding of what her sister is trying to communicate, despite Oksana's lack of English. Oksana's face radiates her sense of satisfaction in Amy's response to her narration of the lightning flashes and thunder booms.

Amy's ongoing ability to "get" what Oksana is trying to say even when some of the rest of us don't has cemented a strong friendship between them.