School Days

This school year has without a doubt given us the L.O.N.G.E.S.T. school days of our homeschooling careers. Tapestry of Grace Year 2 offers a TON of information to squeeze in to each week, and all of it is so good that I can't get myself to cut much out.

Brittany is in 10th grade, so her days should be rather intense, and they most certainly are. Meet her latest and most frequent companions...


She has had many hefty literature assignments so far, including an assortment of medieval lyric poems, Chanson de Roland, Beowulf, Dante's Divine Comedy, and Canterbury Tales. I've been trying to keep up with her assignments myself, so that our literature discussion times will be more engaging. This is one of the main reasons why I have NO time to keep up with blogging. My free time (if there is such a thing) has also been spent with our family friend "Norton" :0). Our discussions are one of the highlights of my week, as I love to hear Brittany's insight into literature, worldview, etc. She blows me away every week. What a special young lady she is.

Brant's load has increased substantially this year as well, and I've seen a HUGE growth in his ability to work independently and manage his time wisely. It's so amazing to watch as each child matures and continues to meet the ever-growing challenges set before them. He, too, is reading many of the classical pieces Brittany is reading, but at the Dialectic level. I've found a GREAT new spelling program for him: All About Spelling. I am so excited about this program! It is based on the Orton-Gillingham approach to spelling, using kinesthetic, auditory, and visual modes of learning. If spelling is not your child's strong point, I definitely recommend giving this program a try. It is much more user friendly than the other at-home Orton-Gillingham programs I've seen.

I am having so much fun teaching the "little kids"!! Brock is sooooo very eager to learn, and he is SOOOOOOO very BRIGHT! I describe him as a very "with-it" kid. He catches on to things extremely fast and is intensely observant. He knows all his letter sounds and is reading and writing 3 letter, short vowel words! For math, we are using Math-U-See Primer, and we are progressing through this book right on schedule. It is so cute to hear him go down "Decimal Street", knocking at each "house", saying "How many are home?" Everyday, he looks ahead in his books and asks, "Tomorrow?" I feel like I could be challenging him more, but with the language still being somewhat of a barrier, it is difficult (and likely unwise) to progress any faster than we are. His vocabulary continues to build and build. I am daily amazed that this little boy's paperwork labelled him as "profoundly deaf". Yes, he does have conductive hearing loss, but truthfully, we usually don't even realize it anymore, as he hears and understands most of what we say.


Brielle is our little tag-along learner. She, too, loves to do school. At first, I thought there was going to be a problem, because she would answer all of the questions I would ask Brock - before Brock had a chance to answer :o). I would be sounding out words with him, and she'd yell out the sounds, and then the word, before we were finished. She has most definitely benefited (in so many ways) from having Brock join our family.

Beautiful Fall Days!

The summer heat has lifted, and the days here in Texas have become beautiful! So beautiful that I am seriously contemplating schooling through most of our summers and taking off the months of October, November, and December instead. It is just so hard to be inside when it is so sunny and gorgeous outside. The temperatures are still mostly in the 80's, but it feels so refreshing (and even cool at times). Being outside in nature is a sanity-preserver for me, so I've been trying to get out as much as our schedule will allow...which unfortunately is not nearly enough.

A nature walk resting rock...



An outing with friends to the Asian Tea Gardens...


Brock and his friends, Asher and Judah...

Brock and Asher...

(notice the sweatshirt?? I think it was in the mid-70s that day...brrrrrr...)

Beautiful DeAsia...

Noelle, Destiny, and Brittany...

Today was the first day of our 2008-2009 school year. Yes, we are starting a little late, but because of our trip to China, we didn't finish our 2007-2008 year until August 8th. We all needed a break, and I needed the month to order books and prepare for the new year. For the last few weeks, I've been staying up W.A.Y. too late organizing and planning. We are beginning Tapestry of Grace's Year 2 Redesigned which looks amazing, but it is also one of Tapestry's most rigorous years. I love the classical education philosophy, but planning for each new year is always a little frightening as I can never imagine how in the world we are going to fit everything in to our days. Thankfully, it all seems to fall in place, and today we had a very successful first day!

We always start each new school year with a scavenger hunt for the kids' new "Study Buddy" :o). When we began this tradition, Brittany and Brant's Study Buddy was usually a new Beanie Baby. My, how things have changed! This year, Brittany got a backpack for her new laptop (which is actually her real sophmore year Study Buddy). Last week, Brant announced that he was too old for a Study Buddy. Thank goodness, because for the life of me, I couldn't think of anything for him. So, he got a 4-pack of Monster energy drink and some gum to assist him in his studying :0< !

As you can imagine, Brielle was SUPER excited about starting school! The last few weeks, as I was preparing for school, she kept asking, "You be teacher to me and Ji Hao?" And when I replied in the affirmative, she squealed at the top of her lungs! Brock Ji Hao went along with her excitement, but I'm sure he didn't quite understand what all the loud squeals were about.

(viewer caution: over the years, my Back-to-School Banners have become much less ornate and much more crooked...please don't look too closely)

My Students...

The most eager of students with their Study Buddies!
(yes...as you can tell, there was a very last minute run to Walmart)

Brock Ji Hao doing his "Get Ready for the Code" phonics book...yea!

I didn't realize how much fun it would be to do Kindergarten again!

He Makes Me Smile!

Yesterday was Max's birthday ... As I was thinking about ways to make his day special, I began to think about how HAPPY he makes me. I've recently noticed how I am nearly always smiling when he is with me, when I'm anticipating his call home at lunchtime, and when he is almost home from work at night (so my crowsfeet and other "smile lines" are his fault). What a HUGE blessing to be married to someone with whom I love to spend time!

Happy Birthday, Max!

Last week, Brittany and a good friend boarded a plane headed for New Jersey to visit their best (and boy-crazy) friends. They've been spending their days and nights in the family's RV -- can you begin to imagine how much fun that is for a bunch of teenage girls?!? Brittany calls home every night, and I can't hear a word she is saying because there is so much laughter and goofiness in the background. She'll most definitely be updating her blog with all the details once she returns home. I'm praying I don't have to listen to stories about Prince Caspian, the Jonas Brothers (who are they, anyway????), etc. for weeks and weeks to come. Yikes!



We finally wrapped up our 2007-2008 school year on 8-08-08. Thankfully, because you'll note that is also the date of the opening of the Olympic Games. Our family (like yours, I'm sure) has been up L A T E each night watching the latest Olympic events. It's been fun to share and discuss all the happenings with the kids. Brittany and Brant have been very "into" this Olympics. It's also been great seeing it all take place in Brock Ji Hao's and Brielle's home land!

Brock Ji Hao is aware that the Olympics are being held in China and points to the TV and says "Zhong guo" ("China" in Mandarin). He has especially enjoyed watching the swimming (I guess he takes after his Aunt Michele and Grandma T. :o) ) The last few times I've had him out in the pool, he has made HUGE advances in his swimming. Today, I realized that it is most likely from watching the Olympic swimming. He is now swimming around the pool with water wings on, and today he swam with his face under water. He also asked for goggles and even went under water (in the shallow end) to pick up quarters and diving rings. Thank you, Michael Phelps!

Brock continues to be doing fantastically! We truly could not imagine a better adjustment. As a matter of fact, there really doesn't seem to have been an adjustment - for any of us. He slid beautifully and perfectly into our family.

I've been working a little with him on some basic learning like letters, letter sounds, numbers, etc. I've ordered his "curriculum" for this school year, and it'll be so much fun teaching him. He picks up on things very fast. He continues to speak more and more English and is even stringing words together. Today, he caught on to the phrase, "How are you?" after saying, "Hi!", so he continually (over and over again) said to each of us, "Hi! How are you?" So cute! Older child adoption has been so much fun!

Brielle continues to adore her new big brother. One morning, at breakfast, they were chit-chatting in their own special way of communicating, and I asked Brielle: "Brielle, what do you think of your big brother Brock Ji Hao?" She smiled shyly and answered, "He's soooo cute!". The first thing she asks when I go into her room in the morning is, "Where's Hao?" (she still calls him "Hao" alot...that is what we called him before bringing him home). She follows him around, and the two of them play and laugh together all day long. Brock Ji Hao has been such a blessing to our little Brielle. I often stop and watch or listen to them and wonder why I was so blessed to be given the privilege of raising these two precious Chinese children.

If you saw the Chapman family on CNN's Larry King Live a few nights ago, I'm sure you'd agree that God has already begun a great work through their (seemingly senseless) tragedy. Little Maria has touched and reached so many people with the hope we have in the Gospel of Christ - the only hope we truly have!

Have you seen this clip recorded by Larry King the night after interviewing the Chapmans? Please pray for Larry along with any of his viewers who have not yet made the "leap to blind faith"... but... "wish (they) had".

Incredible!

More from Steven Curtis Chapman...

...regarding their family tragedy and God's love for orphans.

See also the link below...

Please Keep Praying for the Chapmans

In case you missed the Chapman family being interviewed on Good Morning America this morning, here is a link to the segment: GMA Interview

Heartbreaking...Honest...Hopeful...

Please continue to pray for this family as they seek to glorify God in the midst of their suffering.

Tomorrow evening, the Chapmans will be appearing on Larry King Live. Yet another opportunity for the truth of God's Word and the hope we have in It to be proclaimed and heard!