Learning As We Go

Kyle and I have entertained the idea of homeschooling our children for years.  This year, with all of it's uncertainties and unknowns, seemed like the perfect time to start.  We hoped that homeschooling would not only provide a healthy environment for learning and development but also provide a stable foundation for a year that looked so uncertain.

During our summer vacation, I talked with my experienced homeschooling friends, got some great advice, and found some good resources and curriculum ideas.  I was really excited and felt that homeschool would be a good fit for our family.  But, I was also very overwhelmed.  In fact, it was a challenge to get things started and put into practice some of the thoughts, ideas, and advice that were overrunning my mind.  Finally, with a desire just to start and knowing there would be lots of adjustments along the way, we officially kicked off the school year at the Kisebach Homeschool in September 2013.

Our homeschool is far from perfect.  It doesn't run smoothly.  We don't have all the tools and resources we want.  Schedules and goals keep changing.  We're constantly experimenting with different ideas and methods, evaluating and making adaptions, and trying to find the best fit for each child and parent and the family as a whole.  We're learning as we go!  

During a typical school day, we try to start with a little devotional.  The kids and I take turns sharing an inspirational thought or scripture.  I've been touched by their sweet thoughts and messages.  Then, the kids rotate doing work on either the computer (a large part of our curriculum is through Time 4 Learning and Khan Academy), in workbooks, writing in their journals, filling out worksheets I find online, or reading books.  I float from child to child for one-on-one time to help explain a topic, review their work, or just observe and encourage them.  Some subjects, like History and Science, we study together as a whole group and then do more fun, elaborate, enrichment activities.  Our recess time tends to be snack time, free time which usually means play with LEGOs, or go to a park or shopping mall.  At least once a week we do a field trip or meet up with other homeschooling families.  

Some days are fantastic and the kids and I are so excited to share what we did and learned.  Other days are more ho-hum as we try to get through the prescribed work.  And yes, occasionally we have a what-were-we-thinking kind of day.  But, overall, we love homeschooling.  I love to see how learning and education is transforming into a way of life and is not just for "school time".  It's fun to watch the kids turn a simple trip to the grocery store or a walk to the park into a learning opportunity.  Cade and Abby even made a long evening of babysitting into an educational evening filled with activities and arts and crafts that they forgot to watch the movie they picked out for the occasion.   

History has become one of the kids' favorite subjects.  We're using The Story of the World curriculum by Susan Bauer.  This series recounts history in an engaging, read aloud format perfect for children.  It also has an Activity Book filled with additional reading material suggestions, maps, crafts, and other excellent enrichment activities.  We're currently studying Volume 3 - Early Modern Times and have already learned about the Holy Roman Emperor, religious rebellions in Europe, the colonization of the Americas (North and South), warlords of Japan, empires in the Middle East, and the Triangular Trade.  

Some of the extra activities we did during our study of the colonization of America included reading additional books about Jamestown and Pocahontas, playing a stockholder game about the London Company who financed the expeditions to the New World, making corn bread, and creating our own Thanksgiving decorations.

The kids looked up Native American names and became Kwahu (hawk), Keezheekoni (burning fire), Kangee (raven), and Jaci (moon) for a day.

After reading about the Japanese warlords, we learned about sumo wrestling and some of the rules and rituals associated with this sport.  The kids turned into a rikishi (wrestler) with pillows and the girls put their hair in the traditional chonmage style.  Our area rug became the dohyo (ring) as the kids took turns competing with each other, including acting out some of the traditional rituals like the chirichozu (squatting at opposite ends of the ring and clapping once), shako (the exaggerated foot stomping to drive away bad spirits), and shikiri (tossing salt into the ring and glaring at the opponent).  This was a hilariously fun activity!

During our Japan day, we also learned how to write Haikus.

Ian's Haikus

I saw a fat guy

With a pie of jelly beans

He jumped off a cliff

LEGOs are so fun

Many, many things to build

Play with my brother

Abby's Haikus

Butterflies

Butterflies are bright

You can see them flutter by

Colors in the sky

Gymnastics

Tumbling 'cross the floor

Front flips, backflips, cartwheels too

Score a perfect ten

Cade's Haikus

Glistening Moonlight

Sparkling all night long,

Take a look, it’s magical,

The silvery light!

Swaying Breeze

The wonderful breeze,

It’s gentle, quiet, perfect

Rhythm is so sweet! 

A quick study of Persia explained the many different nations that have ruled this area.  One of these rulers was Shah Abbas, who is known for the building of roads, bridges, and ports.  The most famous bridge is the "Bridge of Thirty-Three Arches".  Out of paper, we made a small version of this bridge.  Our model was not strong enough to hold a toy car but it did support a LEGO alligator.

When we studied the Triangular Trade we learned about Queen Nzinga of Angola who fought against the Portuguese and the slave trade.  For a fun art project, we created our own traditional, African adinkra patterns with stamps made of sponges, potatoes, and chopsticks.  

Homeschool is a learning process for all of us but we are really enjoying this opportunity to learn and develop.  The kids already claim this is their best school year yet and Abby repeatedly tells me I'm her "favorite teacher ever" (it's an easy title to receive since she's comparing me to her teacher last year).  Really, the kids just like being more in charge of their education and having input to the things they study and do.  We'll continue to share our homeschool lessons, activities, and work periodically on this blog.

Tung Chung

Since Hong Kong has over 200 islands and an area of over 425 square miles (1100 km), there's a lot for us to see and explore.  We live in Tung Chung (which sounds more like Duhng Choong) on Lantau Island.  Exploring in our own "backyard", we found some interesting history and culture.

During a beautiful Sunday afternoon walk, searching for the Tung Chung Fort, we discovered a quaint, little, Chinese village.

Situated along the water, the village included homes built on stilts, 

 people fishing,

and boats and canoes lining the pier.

 

Walking through this cute, old village, we felt like we'd stumbled upon a whole, new world.  The busy, chaotic, materialistic lifestyle of Hong Kong was not there.  It was quiet and peaceful and so inviting.  

 But, in the background, was the towering concrete jungle taunting and reminding us that we were still in fact in Hong Kong.

Eventually, we found our way over to the Tung Chung Fort.

It was built in the early 1800s to defend against pirates and break up the illegal trade of opium.  There a few canons,

arched doorways, 

a stone wall surrounding the fort,

barred windows,

outdoor artwork under the eaves, 

and beautiful, contrasting textures.

During World War II, the Japanese occupied the fort.  Since then, it's been a police station, a college, an office, and today it's a public school.  Not far from the Fort is the Tung Chung Battery site.  

Hong Kong is an interesting place with a mix of old and new, west and east, intense urban city and natural green areas.  We look forward to exploring more of this diverse place.

Halloween in Hong Kong

A few weeks before Halloween, many stores started selling simple costumes and Halloween themed candies.  Although the quantities were small compared to what we're used to in the States, it's considerably more than we experienced last year in Macau. We found some basic costume props and the kids dressed up as witches and skeleton ghosts.

On the Saturday before Halloween, our apartment complex hosted a Halloween party in the club house.  There were different booths and stations with Halloween themed activities.  Of course, being Hong Kong, there were lots of people and long lines for all the activities.  My boys enjoyed getting scared in the haunted houses and playing a few silly games for Halloween prizes while my girls made a flying bat at the arts and crafts station and had fun in the bouncy house/slide.

Even with their costumes on, my kids still stood out in the crowd.  I'm not sure if it's their blonde hair or fair skin or what but there were a few people that took their pictures at the party.  One woman even had Leah and Abby stop and pose for her so she could get a good picture with her phone. 

On the day of Halloween, we went to Disneyland to experience their Haunted Halloween.  The park is transformed into a haunted land with ghosts, monsters, pumpkins, cobwebs, spooky trees and they "dare you not to scream".  For every scary or haunted thing in the park you see or ride and don't scream, you get a sticker. 

Our favorite scary addition was the Baby Head from Toy Story.  We also explored Disneyland's newest land, Mystic Point, which is home to the eccentric explorer Lord Henry Mystic.  His collection of ancient artifacts comes to life with an enchanted music dust on the ride Mystic Manor.

The girls got a little scared in this ride but didn't scream so they could earn a sticker.

We also enjoyed some of the other favorite and less scary rides and lands, like Tomorrowland and Fantasyland.

While waiting in line for a ride in Fantasyland, we were again reminded how much of a novelty our kids are here in Asia.  Four Chinese adults (who are at least my parent's age) made their way through the line acting like they were trying to meet up with some friends but stopped in front of us and behind an Australian family (cutting in line is common practice here and there are many signs and often pamphlets passed out to discourage the practice).  After a few minutes of staring and admiring the kids, one man became even more bold and started gently petting Ian's arm.  Ian rolled his eyes while the rest of us tried to disguise our laughs.  The man giddily smiled and then made hand gestures to show me he was impressed that all 4 kids were mine.  We're still surprised by the reactions to our family.

Trick-or-treating was not part of our Halloween activities but we still had some Halloween fun this year.