In the market

So, we’re homeschooling and I’m in the market for a good 1st grade curriculum for this fall.  I’ve peiced together what I’m using right now to try to catch Fikadu up to speed through Kindergarden, but want something much more concrete for this fall.  I borrowed a fantastically wonderful book from the library called, “The Absolute Beginner’s [...]

Why I like this book. . .

I have been using the book, “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons” for, you guessed it – teaching our child to read!  Big surprise there!  After just 3 1/2 weeks home and 13 lessons Fikadu knows letter sounds for s, r, m, t, d, long e, and short a.  He can sound [...]

Some fun Singing

Also be sure to check out Fikadu’s face when he opens the freezer!  ha ha ha

English Acquisition

After being home three weeks now our children have acquired quite the impressive set of English vocabulary.  They came knowing the following :
1.  Body parts in the song “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes,” 
2. Three classifications of animals: dog, cat, and horse (Fikadu also knew frog and all other reptiles fit in that category.)
3. Hello, Goodbye
4. I [...]

Pooping Butterflies

One of my absolute favorite lines from the movie “Horton Hears a Who” is when Horton’s little friends come running up to him with their pretend worlds on specks.  His friend Katy says, “In my world everyone is a pony, and they eat rainbows, and poop butterflies!” 
Well one benefit of adopting older children is skipping [...]

Milk. . . . . . does the body good!

In light of our children’s initial aversion to milk we instituted the idea of milk (and everything else they don’t like but we want them to eat) giving you big muscles.  So far its been widely effective! =)

A photo update

Playing dress-up:  Can you guess who they are???

Serious Surgery, errr uhm, Operation going on here!

Sticks are universally swords in the hands of a child!

Valentine’s Day at Great Falls National Park

Dance Moves

And for all our enjoyment. . . some not so traditional dance moves! You should watch the traditional dancing in the previous post first. 

Traditional Ethiopian Dancing. . . .

So. . . we’ve been having fun around here.  We have our breakdown moments, but all in all we’re doing well and creating some great family memories.  One thing we’ve noticed is that our kids love to dance!  The other night we found some traditional Ethiopian dancing on you tube, when we turned it on, [...]

Funnies. . .

Here’s some funny things I don’t want to forget. . .
Fikadu’s chore now is feeding Belle (our dog).  The other night he put the scoop of food in her bowl, and then grabbed her collar and said, “Wait Belle, pray!”  He then proceeded to recite a pray they had memorized in the Transition Home!  It [...]