Well, it has been a long time since I posted anything here also (see Ben's Forest Project's blog post from today!). It is after midnight and I can’t seem to turn the computer off. I thought I’d just post an update on what we are doing in Rovieng of late.
Not sure when or what I last wrote. I will work backwards and maybe not get very far. Right now, the girls and I are at home alone with Ben at his forest. The girls get to sleep in my bed. And I get to get kicked at night. Anyway, that is the treat. We try to do school on most days. Amelie is doing great in the work that we get done (mostly!) She is learning not to complain too much and can almost stay in her seat at the table when required (or stand up at the table). She still asks to go work on the bed or to sit in the hammock when not required to sit at the table. I got her a wobble seat so that she could wobble at the table and allow her to fidget! I think she is in Grade Three.. homeschooled kids never know what grade they are working at so nothing new there. She is just now in the midst of the Narnia series. Can’t put them down – I almost have to confiscate them sometimes. She can read one of them in about two days. We started on Anne of Green Gables – we usually start these as read alouds together then she goes on ahead and I get left behind. This time we finished the first Anne, and went halfway through the second. She then got distracted in Narnia and I ran on ahead to finish Anne of Avonlea and now the next one! In fact I got back from work today, had lunch and then just plonked down on the bed and read for a long while. I read somewhere that CS Lewis said that any children’s book is a great book if it is as interesting for 8 year olds as it is to 50 year olds. Both these series must then be great books by that definition.
Miss Jarrah, who will be interesting an student for me, is still four and has finished one set of alphabet workbooks on her own initiative. She does these whenever the mood takes hold. She almost has her letters down pat with some reminders. I want to start her on putting the words together. I tried earlier but she wasn’t too interested. The other day she did pay some attention to what I was trying to teach her and was quite happy when she could read “no” or something simple like that.... so maybe soon she’ll be ready. She is just such a “I’ll do things when I want to do things” person – I wonder how I will get along!
This week we are starting a program in Phnom Penh for our education. It is a Classical Conversations group which meets weekly. We’ll come down as we are able. There are about 20 other kids which meet in 3 smaller groups. It follows the classical model of education and the Trivium (teaching a lot of information and facts in the Grammar Stage, putting those facts together in the Dialectic Stage, and learning how to form, articulate and argue your own ideas at the Rhetoric Stage). They will learn a lot of history facts, science facts, maths facts, English facts etc. – all memory work, they’ll do a science practical, a fine arts lesson (music or art), and also have to do a presentation to the group every week. I thought since Ben isn’t home much anyway at the moment, it would be a good time to skip to Phnom Penh and join in a program for the girls. Both are joining so it should be fun for everyone I hope!
Our dog, Sippy was taken to Phnom Penh last week and spayed. She has had about three litters of puppies so it is about time. She is doing OK although her excessive licking has meant that the wound has not healed quickly. I started her on a second round of antibiotics and have learned to give injections. Sippy is not happy – but seems otherwise healthy. It looks like the wound is healing now.
Today, I was at the office and Amelie calls me on the phone excitedly telling me, “I caught a baby squirrel!” I came home and it is actually a baby treeshrew. I promised her we could get some hamsters when in Phnom Penh this next week but now she has a baby shrew also to add to our menagerie. We later saw another of its siblings being held by our monkey – she had somehow caught it and killed it and slowly ate it. Sorry about that image.
I shall end my random recollections for now. It is very late. And maybe I need to read a chapter of Anne so I can get to sleep. I always have trouble winding down after being on the computer late at night.
