The Golden Age

It has always been a chore to get Amelie to do her writing assignments for me.  Well, I've been reading a new book on the classical model for education that says that from 1st to 4th Grade, creative writing IS difficult and that the process of formulating thoughts and getting them down on paper is separate, and something that only comes with time.  So, they stress that in the early grades, you can use the narration technique to teach kids how to think through what they want to say and the parent copies that out for them.

Well, I did that the other day, with this result.

I asked Amelie to read a chapter in her history book and summarise it, for me to write out.  This is the result.  Not bad in my opinion!

After the battle which the Persians and Greeks had made, that time was the most wonderful time in the history of Greece, perhaps Europe.  That time was called the Golden Age, from 480 to 430 BC.  The city of Athens had been burned down by Xerxes, king of Persia.  But the Athenians went back and built the city again, this time much more beautiful than the old one had been.  They built a temple in houour to the goddess Athenia.  In the middle of the temple there was a statue of the goddess Athenia made out of pure gold.  But a man named Phidiaz carved a picture of himself and one of his friends on the statue of Athenia.  When the Athenians found it, they were so mad that he had drawn a picture of a human being on a goddess, that they put him in prison, and there he died.

Pericles wrote the first history of the world; about faraway lands such as in Egypt and other lands in Africa.  There was a disease called a plague that killed people like poisoned flies.  That disease came upon Athens and the Athenians died by the thousands.  Pericles nursed the sick.  But he soon caught the plague and died. 

This happened at the end of the Golden Age, which has been called in honour of the greatest man, the Age of Pericles.

Another one

Jarrah:  sitting at the dinner table (without any attire - Ben has been looking after her this week and she had just had a bath - and greeted me at the door (sans clothes) - we then proceeded to dinner (sans clothes)... at the table she makes this statement:

"When God comes I'm going to be ready."
Then, a minute later, "I'm going to get dressed."

3 Year Olds

Jarrah was getting dressed yesterday.  She was going with Ben to Jombok Haos for the day.  We have a volunteer out there from the States named Phil.  Jarrah chooses a dress to wear.  She normally chooses to wear her old and very old favourite clothes but today she chose a dress.  She tells me, "I want to wear a dress so that when I see Phil, I look pretty."  What have I got growing in my house??!

Another thing happened that day at Jombok Hoas.  Ben related this story to me.  The kids and Ben and the staff were sitting down to lunch.  Jarrah is talking about bucks and does.   She asks Ben what a Buck is and Ben throws the question back to her.  She asks what a doe is and Ben throws the question back again. She knows all the answers.  She then asks Ben, "How do you mate?"  Ben gets embarrassed and asks again what her question was, thinking she would ask about the deer.  She repeats what she originally asked.  Ben doesn't answer straight away.  Amelie then whispers into Jarrah's ear, "that isn't a good question to ask."  hmmmmmm....

Amelie

I am trying to write up an Annual Plan for the new project I am working on.  It is a rather big document.  Amelie is getting the short end of the stick with us now being on homeschool "essentials" only.  We did have a pretty productive morning this morning despite this.  I didn't get too much work down though.  Amelie goes to the local school for one hour a day to attend computer class.  She went this afternoon and came home at about 3pm.  She lay down on my bed with her backpack still on and picked up a book of Greek Myths.  She loves this book.  And read it for the next two hours.  After I remembered she had some workbook work to finish off, I asked her to finish up.  She finished up (after asking if she could finish 3 more pages of the chapter).  She then ate three bananas (that takes a while - although they are very little bananas).  Then she had to find a very particular pencil.  She said she had given it to me before lunch to put away (I can't remember!?!).  I had to convince her she could use another pencil.  Eventually after a very long discussion about that, she goes to get another pencil.  She then sharpens the pencil (out the window - hey, pencil shavings are biodegradable!)  She drops the pencil sharpener out the window.  She goes to retrieve the pencil sharpener.  She comes back.  Forgets where she left her pencil.  Finally, finds her pencil and starts her work.  Is that procrastination or what!?

Night time twitters

Jarrah was stirring last night.  In the middle of the night.  Ben went in to turn the fan off.  She said she wanted a song.  He said he didn't know any songs but he'd rub her.  He stuck his head in the net and said "Oh, you wet your nappy."  Jarrah replies, "You can leave now!."

Jarrah

I was away for two nights this week and Ben was the primary caregiver during this time.  Ben gives Jarrah her breakfast.  She is very picky in the morning and sometimes doesn't want her milk stirred .. sometimes does.  Shrieks if we do it the wrong way (for example this morning she didn't want me to cut up her peeled mango and let us know .. loudly).  Anyway, Ben put her granola in her bowl.  She complains, "That is too much for the little critter."
Funny little thing.

Camping Photos

My elephant, dalmation... lumpy...

Hmmm .. what should I pack ...

Cutting up Cassava to dry

Clearing our trail for the car

Phnom Tnout (Sugar Palm Mountain)

Tapping 

2012 Camping

Hmm.. It looks like all we do is going camping!  Well we haven't done too much since the last post.  Until mid January, I had been at home since November 27 or there abouts.  A very long time.  We had run out of milk powder and flour and even spaghetti.  So since our venture out of Rovieng in January for an ADRA meeting at Kompong Thom, we went to Phnom Penh at the beginning of February for a whole week!  Our SMILE project, on January 10 finally went live. And so life for me is suddenly busy.  We're going to try to keep things posted over here at Project SMILE to see what our SMILE project is doing - the blog is a test monitoring / reporting tool so we'll see how that goes.

Well last weekend we went camping again.  Ben found a new forest to explore.  He went there about a month ago and got a local guide to take him to an Angkor Wat era temple lost in the forest.  Naturally that time he forgot to take his camera.  So this time, loaded with the kids and a camera we set out to find it.  Well what do ya know, it is still lost - hidden apparently.  Jarrah told Ben while he was carrying her through the jungle vines, "maybe the tiger knows where the hidden temple is."  Probably.  We did have a fine time.  There is a spring coming from where the temple is located.  A lovely mountaintop where the kids and I hung a hammock and rested while Ben went off searching.  We think we know where we went wrong after talking to the villagers on our return. 

The day we left home, we almost forgot our tent.  We picked Amelie up from school (her one hour of computer class finishes at 8am).  She asked, "where's the tent."  So off we go back home to pick up the tent and some other things we forgot.  We unfortunately didn't pick up the mattresses.  Why I don't know.  We camped right where our car was parked.  So none of us got a good night sleep - well maybe the kids did.  It also rained - just a light steady sprinkle - enough to make us get up and drape the fly over the tent.  But you know what happens when flies touch the tent - the water seeps through.  So in the somewhere in the middle of the night, there was a lovely puddle in one of the ditches that the tent was set over.  Not on my side at least.  By dawn, I realised I should have been sleeping in the car on the reclining front seat.  Why I didn't think of that earlier I am not sure.  It was a tough night.  

Here are some pictures at least - but alas, none of the temple still.  Maybe next time!!