Olympics Fun -- Part 2

by Amy

This past week has been full of Olympic fun in our house! About 2 weeks ago we called our landlord and asked her to get cable hooked up to our TV so we could watch the games. (Since it's her home, it's not appropriate for us to do make that call ourselves.) I'm so glad that we did! Granted, we don't understand most of what the commentators say, and they are primarily focusing on this country's athletes (not US teams), it's still fun! We have had a blast cheering on Phelps, watching basketball with our friends (who ended up spending the night after a late game), and explaining baseball to locals who have never understood it!


Last Friday, the day of opening ceremonies, I let our kids wave flags as they walked to school. Needless to say, they caused quiet a few smiles!

Then, as we waited for the opening ceremonies to begin, we iced Olympic ring cookies. They all had showers before dinner, and clearly needed them again after icing and eating. :)

And here's the final product:

Pedo chose to use black sprinkles to make his black ring in the middle.

Although we did not get the American commentators explaining a lot of what we saw, we loved the opening ceremonies! We let the boys stay up until after 9pm watching, and Savannah got to stay up until after 10:30 -- she wanted to see the USA team enter. Thankfully the ceremonies were replayed several times the next day, so my kids got to see the lighting of the torch -- that was cool!

These last two weeks we have used 10 different methods to make 10 different countries' flags, as well as a few other fun things. Keep watching for a flag-trivia to be posted in the next few days! We still have 2 more flags to make.

And now for your viewing enjoyment, here's on last pic Brad snapped last night of our cute girl...

Olympics Fun -- Part 1

By Amy

I've always thought one of the biggest perks to home-schooling was having freedom -- freedom to school when you want to; freedom to school where you want to; and freedom to teach what you want! This week we have loved that freedom as we've had a "prepare for the Olympics" week -- next week will probably be "enjoy the Olympics" week.

I'll save the pics for later, but I'll share a few of the things we've done so far.... We put up a map of the world and have been making flags for a few different countries and learning where they are. Yesterday, I was asking Savannah why I had chosen these countries for us to make flags... China- that's where the Olympics are; Greece -- that's where the Olympics began; Thailand -- "Because we love Thailand." That's right, kiddo! (And it's a familiar place for my kids.) My goal is to come up with different ways to make each flag, instead of just having the kids color each one. So, our Chinese flag is made of a collage of a variety of red papers torn from a magazine and a few other things. We made the Thai flag by gluing yarn to a white piece of paper. (All three kids helped cut the yarn to the right length, but Savannah and I glued it down.)

Another fun things we did was talk about the mascots of the Beijing Olympics. They are 5 cartoon-type children that each represent different aspects of the games. The sentence, "Welcome to Beijing" is represented by 5 Chinese characters, so these 5 kids are each named one of those 5 characters. You can go to this website to learn more about them http://en.beijing2008.cn/spirit/beijing2008/graphic/n214068254.shtml
I think it's really interesting. We actually made up a song to help us remember them!

Today we discussed the Olympic rings, so we learned how they represent the 5 major continents and found/labeled them on our map. Then, we cut out 5 big rings and put them above our map. After that, we made some sugar cookies and cut them with biscuit cutters to make rings. Tonight, after dinner we'll decorate them and have them ready to eat at our "Olympic Party!" All week we've been talking about the opening ceremonies -- that start on August 8, 2008, at 8:00 --8/8/08 -- 8 is a 'lucky' number in China. So, we're going to let the kids stay up late to watch! I'm pretty excited!

Next week, I still have several flags that I want us to make, as well as Olympic torches, and maybe even the green olive branch crowns...we'll see. I also will have Savannah keep a tally of medals won by a few specific countries. I got most of my ideas from my friend Rachel and this website: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk. It has been tons of fun for us all!

Let the games begin!

Morning Baskets

by Amy

My dad is an early riser...no I mean early riser! And, since he lives in a pretty big house with my sound-sleeping-mama, so he's not the quietest early riser you've ever met....

Well, ever since my parents left, LAST MARCH, my kids have been waking up early! (Thanks, Dad!) It all began when they heard Papa grinding coffee beans at 5:30am, and stumbling around in the kitchen, bathroom, and living room. When you know such a fun Papa's awake just on the other side of the door, it's hard to go back to sleep. So a new habit was formed! (I remember living in Louisville and all of my kids would sleep until 8 or 8:30am! -- Those were the days...) Since March, my kids -- especially my boys -- have been waking up about 6am! YIKES!! That's what time Brad gets up .... (He makes the coffee and brings me a fresh, hot cup to wake me! -- What a man!!) It was not uncommon for him to stumble out of bed and find a kid or two sitting on the couch, in the dark, waiting for him. ~ Craziness!

And since the kids are up early, it's hard for me and Brad to read and do the other things we like to do in the morning before the kids wake up. So, we came up with morning baskets. All three of my kids each have their own basket with a Kid's Bible and some quite activities that I change out weekly. So, when my kids wake up, they get their morning basket and play quietly and contently while Brad and I read, drink our coffee, and get ready for the day. There are many mornings that I don't even know what time my kids wake up.

These are a few things they have had in their baskets: puzzles, connect-the-dots coloring books (for Savannah), Color-wonder coloring books (for the boys), stickers and sticker books, Mr. Potato head farm, etc. And, the rule is, that when it's in the morning basket, they are not allowed to play with it during other parts of the day.

Now, that our kids are going to school every afternoon, nap time is from 12:30-2:00 in our house. Peter is rarely tired by 12:30 so doesn't usually sleep. (Alex loves to sleep and often asks to take a nap before lunch!) So, that has lead to them sleeping a little later in the mornings -- maybe 7am, but the Morning Baskets are still loved and used!

Counting 100 Days of School

By Amy

As I alluded in my last post, the kids and I are counting our school days. Savannah and I really enjoyed counting her 100 reading lessons, so I thought counting school days would be fun too. We're planning a "100 days of school party." (Thanks, Goodin -- I think I got that idea from you!)

We are counting days of school two ways: 1. We put a straw in a ziploc bag hanging from a bulletin board, and display the appropriate number (ie-if there are 6 straws in the bag, we make sure the number 6 is showing through the bag.) When we get 10 straws, we'll bundle them all together, and move them to the left one slot, display a 1 in that bag and a 0 in the bag to the right (1 next to 0- 10)....it's to teach place value. We'll see if it works!

2. We're also putting together a 300 piece jigsaw puzzle! Each day, each kid gets to find their puzzle piece with today's number on it and put it up on the board. The catch to that is that Brad and I spent several hours putting the puzzle together so I could number the pieces systematically. You read correctly...My wonderful husband sat at the kitchen table with me for over 2 hours working on this puzzle! What a man! (Puzzles are not his favorite thing!) It took quite a while, but the kids really seem to like it and are having fun trying to guess what they are seeing.

Here's a picture of our other bulletin board. It's over the school table in Savannah's room. The big, red rectangle is where the kids stick their puzzle pieces each day. They started in the top left hand corner and will work their way around clockwise.

FYI- I got most of the ideas from a website my friend Rachel told me about. If you're interested, here's the link: http://www.jmeacham.com/calendar/calendar.htm

School has Started!

By Amy

Monday, July 21, school started in the Morello home! Such an odd date to start, I know, but at least it was a Monday! I decided that since Savannah and I were super excited about starting school, we'd go ahead and begin. I also really enjoy having a schedule. And, since we tend to travel quite a bit, I figured if we started school early -- in July, I wouldn't feel too bad taking off a week here or there to travel.

Getting ready for school to start was pretty time-consuming -- hence my absence from blogging for several weeks! I had tons of things to cut out, charts to make, and bullitin boards to put together, etc. But, when I finally finished, after 10pm the Sunday night before we started, I was excited!

Here's what a typical day looks like:


8-8:45 Savannah and I do math and histoy, while the boys play together or with Brad. (sometimes he works with them to learn the local language.)


8:45-9:05ish is "Morning Chores" time -- the kids get dressed, straighten, make beds, etc.


9:00-9:45 I have all three kids at the school table. This time is super fun! We check off our chores and memory verses, move the appropriate symbol to the "Today's weather is:" spot, fill in a weather graph, say today's date together and look at a calendar. We also sing a "days of the week" song and talk about what day yesterday was and what tomorrow will be. We do our 100 days of school countdown, read a Bible story, sing our worship song of the week and pray. It's gone really well, so far.


9:45-10:15 Savannah does independent work or plays in her room while I work with one of the boys. (The other one does leap pad, or plays in his room. We alternate days.) I'll use this time to help them learn letter sounds, beginning sounds, rhyming, writing letters and numbers, etc.


10:15-11:00 Savananh and I do her phonics-language arts curriculum while the boys play or color. On Tuesday and Thrusday, she has a hands-on-activity or experiment to do, so the boys are usually included in that.


11:00-11:30 Savannah reads to me. When Brad goes back to school, Savannah will read to me and the boys together. (Right now the boys are usually playing with Brad during that time.)


11:45 we eat lunch while I read aloud to the kids. They have loved our first read-a-loud, The Box Car Children.


Then, by about 12:30, all boys go down for naps (including Brad!) and Savannah heads to her room for some down time. At 2:00, we wake Alex. (Peter rarely sleeps) and head out the door for all three kids to spend 2 hours at a local "Kindergarten." It's actually more like a daycare program. It's the same school Savannah attended before the hand, foot, and mouth outbreak a few months ago. They are at school from about 2:45 to 4:45 every afternoon.


Savannah was/is really excited to be heading back to school and has really enjoyed getting to play with the kids again. Alex and Peter seem to be pretty positive towards going to school, but of course, they have each other. I'm not sure how effective this will be in helping them make friends and and practice the local language when they can talk to each other all the time. We'll see. Here are a couple of pics of the boys in their classroom.

Belated Birthday

By Amy

Well, actually it wasn't a belated birthday -- just a belated post.... But, here are the pictures and details you've all been waiting for...

Savannah's birthday fell on a Saturday this year. And, since we already have plans every Saturday for lunch and all afternoon, we decided to celebrate Savannah's day on the Friday before. Needless to say, Savannah thought that was a great idea, but she wanted to open half her presents on Friday and save half for Saturday. No problem!

About a week before her birthday, she reached one of the reading goals we had set. So, instead of going out for ice cream, she opted for an early birthday present. So, while Savannah I did school at the kitchen table, Brad went into her room and set up her gift...

A pink tent!!

It actually turned out to be a little bigger than I expected, but that's OK. All three kids love it! For several nights we let them all sleep in it together -- which is what they did on the Thursday night before we celebrated Savannah's birthday.

On Friday morning she got to eat coffee cake for breakfast, then, got to look at the birthday cake I had made for her.... Now, you know the saying, "Like Mother-Like Daughter"? Well, Savannah is like her Mama! When she gets something in her head, she knows exactly what she wants, and it's hard to convince her anything else will do.... Usually in our family, the kids get to tell me what kind/shape birthday cake they want, but they don't get to see it until the morning of their birthday. But, I asked Savannah if she'd help me ice her cake. She politely declined, saying she wanted it to be a surprise -- "but I want the cross to be pink, with blue outline and a yellow heart in the middle with blue flowers next to it....." YIKES! I wasn't sure I could make it the way she wanted. (And if I did, would it be a surprise?)

She said it turned out a little different than she expected (like the purple sides and yellow at the bottom) but that made it better, not worse! Whew! I was afraid she was going to be disappointed!
Here are all three kids...notice the lovely homemade birthday hats!

After eating coffee cake and checking out the birthday cake, we threw on bathing suits and went downtown. Savannah wanted to run through the fountains at the big square. The fountains turn on three times a day -- typically. They are choreographed to music --it's pretty fun! Even though it wasn't super sunny, it was warm enough to enjoy getting wet! And, needless to say, we attracted quite a crowd! Brad got the "Parent of the Year" award for joining in the fun!

My kids really do eat here, it just doesn't stick to their bones like it does to their Mama's!

After playing in the fountains, we planned on returning home to eat lunch. Savannah requested that Leigh make her favorite -- Sweet 'n sour chicken, to be complemented by mac'n cheese (interesting combo!) But, just before we got in a taxi, Leigh called to say that our home had no electricity or water, so she couldn't cook lunch. No one was too sad when we redirected to the McD's at the Square.

After lunch we decided to return home to survey the situation, get out of bathing suits, and bring Leigh a burger. As we got out of the taxi, I realized that having no electricity means we couldn't take the elevator up 13 stories to reach our home! It was a long hike, but we made it! And, 10 minutes after we got home everything was back on.

That afternoon, we opened gifts, played a new game -- Sorry - Thanks Grandma! Then, we ate Volcanoes for dinner, a family favorite (also requested on the boys' birthday), and ate birthday cake. Did I mention that Savannah's cake wasn't a special shape because she wanted a round, double-layer lethal peppermint chocolate cake? Like I said, Like Mother - Like Daughter! It was quite yummy, if I do say so myself!

So, overall, it was a great day! Savannah is a precious gift from our Father above, and we rejoice in the 6 years of life He's given her! She's growing into a godly, mature young girl, and we're so proud of her!

Cultural Funnies

From Brad.

It's scary what you can learn from T.V. Although many of you agree with this statement, it is especially true when it comes to learning a new language. I have a friend who has been working on his English. He can communicate with me pretty well, but it is certainly broken English at best. However, it was great the other day when he came in and dropped a 'that's dope' on me. No, he wasn't referring to the powdered sugar on the table, he was using an expression that some in the US use when they want to say 'that's really cool'. You see, he watched the entire season of Prison Break and subsequently bought the book with his local language and the English. Now he's been combing through the English to try to learn some new phrases. That one was definately new (not sure I have ever even heard it live). Then he noticed that one black guy on the show kept calling the main star (a white man) 'snowflake'. He asked, 'do you often call people that?' 'Should I use that?'

Secondly, the kids and I took a local friend to dinner the other night. We ordered some shrimp dumpings (among other things) and thought they were quite nice. After dinner, the kids wanted to see the aquariums. Many restaurants here have lots of aquariums inside so you can see (sometimes choose) the 'fresh' seafood they have available. Well as we made our way over there to say hi to the turtles, clams, and large-instestine-looking seafood something?!?, I noticed a shrimp tank. As I looked closer I noticed 90% of the shrimp were on the floor of the aquarium not moving a muscle. Sometimes its better just not to know.