Three Years Already?!

It is hard to believe that we are about to enter our fourth year of homeschooling. It was at the beginning of fourth term 2005 that we brought the children home. It has been an adventure for sure! As I look back on the last three years, I am pretty sure that it has been me that has learnt the most but that is another post in itself! I thought I would share some of our plans for the coming months since one of my goals for this blog was to be kept accountable.

Over the last couple of months we have had Operation Christmas Child as a major focus. This will continue for another two weeks. It is a project run by Samaritan's Purse, in which people pack shoe boxes full of toys, writing materials, items of clothing, toothbrushes and soap which are then sent to children around the world who are suffering the effects of poverty, war, sickness etc. We have been busy sewing, knitting and crafting things to put into the boxes. We have presented the project at church and have been very encouraged by the response. Next week we will be getting together with some of the church folk and packing the boxes with all the lovely things that people have brought along. Then Sunday October 26 will be presentation Sunday where the Sunday School children will bring the boxes to the front of the church and we will pray for all the little children who will be receiving them. Hannah and one of her cousins are also volunteering at the local processing plant two days a week. This is where all the shoe boxes are checked before being packed into containers and sent overseas.

It will be Michelle's 13th birthday on the first of November and we have something fun planned. Over the next couple of weeks we will be looking at the Victorian Era for our history studies and this will culminate in a mid 1800's picnic at our friend's property in the hills. We have already been sewing some clothes for the girls (bonnets, skirts and aprons) and have begun thinking about the type of food they ate and games they played in that time period. We have invited the mothers and female siblings of her friends also as we see it as a time to build relationships with these people, not just celebrate her birthday. We are getting quite excited about this project!

Music is a ongoing focus for our family and these next two months will be busy ones in that regard. All the children learn piano and have a concert next week. Michelle will also be sitting her first grade theory exam at the end of October. Michelle also has flute lessons and plays in a band called Dawn to Dusk. Hannah has picked up the trombone this last term and has joined Michelle's band as well as an adult beginner band on Tuesday nights. Stephen has started playing the Clarinet and has joined the junior band called Beat Bugs. They are all playing at a Car Boot Sale this coming weekend, a Remembrance Day Service and the local Christmas Pageant in November. Just for good measure, all the children will be joining their cousins for a Christmas concert at a Nursing Home. They all do items on their various instruments and this time we are also planning a "sing-a-long" of some of the older songs that the residents may remember.

Whew - I am exhausted just writing down what we are planning, let alone doing it, along with all the other things that we are involved in. Just as well we are relaxed, flexible homeschoolers!