Homeschooling

Homeschooling is not easy, especially in a foreign country without other homeschoolers to get support from or socialize with.  But my girls made it easy on me!  Besides Saxon math being the dreaded subject for both of them simply because of the long length of the lessons, we really enjoyed learning together.  I used the 5th grade Sonlight Eastern Hemisphere History and Literature curriculum as our base for those subjects which allowed us to prepare for our upcoming post in Beijing along with all the learning and traveling we'll be doing in Asia.  My good friend Melissa O. recommended it to me before we even had our assignment there, so I think it was meant to be!  I extended the time that we spent focusing on Russia so the girls could understand the history of Latvia more and learn the large part in history that Russia has had in all the world, specifically with communism in China's history since we'll be living there.
Here's our timeline we started when learning about China.

And here's the song we made up to the tune of "Cups" by Anna Kendrick. We had so much fun putting together all our knowledge that we had just learned about all of the Chinese dynasties to a tune of a song that the girls loved. It worked out well we think. ;)

Chinese Song

Xia was the first dynasty,

In 2100 B.C.

Then came Shang with their bronze vessels and war chariots and 

their written records.

Then the Zhou, in 1045 (B.C.E.) 

Confucius taught respect and love

Then in 221 BC was Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi with

the Great Wall and Terracotta Warriors 

And the Han 220 AD

With science, art and dictionaries

And the trade on the Silk Road of Silk, Tea and Spices 

And Buddhism from India

Sui, 5-600s

Reunited China,

Grand Canal,

On the Yangtze.

And now the Tang, the Golden Age of History, 

and mass printings of books,

  Then Song dynasty and paper currency, 

  Faster rice crops and porcelains.

1279 Mongols invaded,

Harsh foreign rule for the first time,

It became the Yuan dynasty and Marco Polo

Traveled through China and back to Italy.

The Ming, 1300s-16,

Built a palace in Beijing

And ships called Junks

Had the first rudder ever,

With silk sails on inland seas

Manchus, (Qing)

Lots of trading,

Opium wars,

Unfair treaties,

Lost Hong Kong and Taiwan,

Boxer Rebellion,

Dynasties ended in 1911.

And another mnemonic device for the names of the dynasties: XIA and SHANG wondered ZHOU (how) her chin (QIN) haunted (HAN) SUI, who took tongs (TANG) and sang a SONG to YUAN after MINGling on the roof shingles (QING).
We read a lot of great books along the way, including historical fiction.  It was not uncommon to have us tear up as we learned of the difficult parts of history, particularly in Russia and China, and of course cheer when characters showed courage through their trials.  Many books had females as the protagonists that lived in societies where they were afforded little freedom.  I believe that the girls increased in empathy as well as knowledge over the school year.

Homeschooling Favorites in 2018-2019:

Angel on the Square, Gloria Whelan (Russian Saga, 4 books)

Impossible Journey, Gloria Whelan

Burying the Sun, Gloria Whelan

The Turning, Gloria Whelan

Breaking Stalin’s Nose, by Eugene Yelchin

Bomb, by Steve Sheinkin

A Night Divided, Jennifer A. Nielsen

The Night Diary, Veera Hiranandani

Breadwinner Series, Deborah Ellis

Habibi, by Naomi Shihab Nye

Shadow Spinner, by Susan Fletcher 

Seven Daughters and Seven Sons, by Barbara Cohen and Bahija Lovejoy

The Kite Fighters, by Linda Sue Park

The Master Puppeteer, by Katherine Paterson

Year of the Dog, by Grace Lin

I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade, by Diane Lee Wilson

Young Fu on the Upper Yangtze, by Elizabeth Foreman Lewis

Rickshaw Girl, by Mitali Perkins 

A Girl Named Disaster, by Nancy Farmer

After reading the Kite Fighters, the girls were so inspired to try making a kite that they ran off to find materials.  They discovered that they needed more than paper and string.  ;)

As we studied the different world religions in history, we were able to learn more about our own--Christianity and its roots.

And of course the girls read books for fun.  Savannah was obsessed with "Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites" by Chris Heimerdinger--a series with 13 books.  I had a hard time breaking her away from those books to actually do our core school subjects!
For art, we did mostly Kiwi Crates to satisfy their craft cravings, but Rhea also found a great website that teaches kids to draw, and every now and then dad would paint with them.

Trying to stay warm when the heaters weren't working!

cell phone making

Beard and mustache making

Playing with mom's hair

Mint tea making

Mandarin for Rhea on Duolingo

Piano playing

Savvy:  Bike riding to Maxima to buy some ingredients to cook.  She loved to take money I gave her to ride her bike to the store a mile away to buy things I needed or for her to buy things she wanted when she was getting the itch to be a creative cook.  :)

Writing--"Cover Story" curriculum, even in mom's bathroom.  We loved this curriculum because each lesson came with a video with the teacher drawing the kids into the lesson somehow.  The girls really learned a lot and came to love writing.  They started expressing themselves more through writing and writing for fun after just 6 months or so, and are writing for themselves now, not because it's an assignment.  I love it!

Science project--after learning about the spine and stabilizing it after an accident from some current event reading, the girls were asked to invent a portable stretcher that could be folded up, light weight, and fit through narrow areas.  The girls had to think through different materials and make sure they were ones that could handle the weight of a sweet potato.  :)

We had fun with our monthly Spangler science kits too!

With homeschooling, the girls could serve with me during the day for whatever project was going on.  Here we were helping to make treats and goodie bags to sell at the International Women's Christmas Bizarre that donated all proceeds to local charities.

Savannah was asked to make cake pops.  With her love of cooking and baking, it was a perfect assignment for her!

The girls also helped me decorate for the missionary Thanksgiving dinner.  They collected leaves around the neighborhood with me and then wrote things we can be grateful for on the leaves with paint pens.  We gathered up whatever else we had around the house in the way of table decorations, and headed to the church where we helped the Senior couples set up and prepare food.

The girls always made sure to have plenty of play time during the lunches and breaks.  Here I walked in on them recreating the Nativity during the Christmas season.  :)

And as snow melted and spring was breaking through, the girls would spend their free time outside climbing trees and exploring the yard.

Savannah loved making wreaths!

The girls loved the time they had to spontaneously play and create.  So did I.  Rhea loved playing teacher and also creating restaurants.  This one was called "Doves in May."  I love the title and love that she came up with it on her own!

It was a wonderful year I believe for all of us!  It was a lot of work for all of us as well, but it was a year full of learning, exploring, becoming, healing, goal making,