Future Senator?

Emily and J.Michael for the past few years have been involved in speech tournaments. This has been a wonderful experience for them and has given them a greater confidence to write and articulate their beliefs on a given subject. This year they are part of a speech class from our church and hope to be able to take the speeches they are working on and compete in NCFCA tournaments this spring.

Tonight Emily and J.Michael were both presenting their speeches to their Dad, Andrew and I (Kathlena was already in bed). Andrew has been sitting in on the speech classes with me for Emily and J.Michael and really likes to listen to the speeches. After J.Michael gave his speech we turned to Andrew and asked him if he would like to give a speech. He said, "Yes!" We asked what he would like to give his speech on and he told us, "Rrrrobots!" We recently checked out a book from the library called "Can you see what I see?" which is similar to the "I Spy" books. In this book it has a whole 2 page spread of robots made from recycled materials. This book was all Andrew had in front of him to give his speech from. We had not gone over anything with him about speaking so what you will see in the video is from what he has picked up from watching his brother and sister and listening in on 3 speech classes.

*remember to turn off music to listen to video it is in the sidebar of the blog, click pause on the playlist.

I think we may have a senator on our hands...16 minutes of speaking impromptu on a subject. I think he is filibuster material for sure! Notice the intentional eye contact. Great Job! Andrew. I think this is only the beginning of your public speaking opportunities. Oh, ya and did I mention he has only been speaking English for 5 months now! Andrew is now working on a persuasive speech entitled "Why I Need a Police Car Sleepy Bag Tent" special edition for the grandparents!

Missing Snake

Never a dull moment around the Shiflet household. About a week ago J.Michael caught a garden snake in the yard and asked if he could keep it for a pet and Momma said "yes" for the sake of education of course. Our home has long been a haven for the catch and "release" program although it is not often they are released alive, but we have had many captives live long, pampered lives. So, we began our quest to learn what a racer garden snake eats and found Mom's organic spring mix lettuce to fit his liking. We tried things from the pet store like dried krill and flies but couldn't be certain he was eating these really...we forgot to count how many we put in the tank but obviously too many.

J.Michael talked to some of his friends who also have wild caught snakes on Sunday at church about how to care for his snake. So, armed with more helpful tips we were certain that this time we could sucessfully keep our captive happy.

Then, this morning the words no mother, including a very pet friendly home school mom wants to hear were ringing through the house "Mom, where is my snake?"
Mom answers, "I do not know, he's not in his tank?"
J.Michael echoed by three other interest voices, "NO, the snake is MISSSSSSING!"

We began our fruitless search for the missing snake. I quickly resolved that he must have escaped back to the wild because thoughts of him just being "loose" in my house...Oh! no, no, that couldn't be so...I was in complete denial. Fortunately, with a busy week ahead of us we would be gone most of the time to the THSC family conference so maybe he really would escape never to be seen again. I could only hope he would not turn up in something we were taking with us over the next few days...that could end any future captive snake adventures permanently.

Bounced Back

From the pic. you can see that Kathlena has bounced back from her 1st fever. She is doing well and had no other symptoms other than the fever which in my book is a good sign that her immune system is getting stronger.

We did continue our "Yellow Ball" book in the midst of being sick. The blessing of home education is that even sickness does not hinder learning *smile*. Here are some pics from our art lessons and learning about shapes...namely circles.



Beautiful dot "circle" pictures. Great job!

Goodnight Moon...learning through play

Everyone pretending to go "night, night"


Kathlena giving all the dolls kisses goodnight.


Andrew is going to be such a good "Papa" one day. He was
so loving and gentle putting the "babies" down for the night.

He would talk to them and sing them a Hank the Cowdog
song to fall asleep by. Hmmm...influenced by his older brother's
love for Hank the Cowdog possibly?

We finished up Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. What a precious book for Andrew and Kathlena. They are making some sweet memories together and taking abstract concepts and putting them into concrete practice. At over 2months home we have settled into our own night time routine but, this book helped us discuss and explore the concept of nighttime...especially the moon. I think this will be a special book for them both.
Both of them would ask for me to read their "Goodnight Moon" book to them.All week they would pretend play going through the night time routine of taking a bath, brushing teeth, turning on music, giving kisses and hugs and tucking them in their beds. I also found a board book at the children's museum called "Good Night Texas" which is so cute and is part of the Good Night Our World series by Adam Gamble.
One night as we were traveling home late from a friends house Andrew starts saying "stories, stories" and pointing out the window. He could see the stars(he calls them stories :)). It occurred to us that this is the first time he had been out this late to see the stars in the sky as we usually have him in bed before it is dark enough to see the stars and with all the trees around our house you have to go out braving texas size mosquitoes while standing in the road to see any stars or the moon. (of course we did do this one night so they could see the moon for real...and yes our mosquitoes are big enough to cast shadows in the moonlight) Every week it seems Andrew and Kathlena are learning and understanding a new concept. It is so much fun to walk along side them in their exploration of their new world. I wouldn't miss this for anything.

Andrew and Kathlena are also learning about government as Emily and J.Michael are doing a unit on Elections. We have been reading through Christianity and the Constitution by John Eidsmoe . A very well written and documented book on the founding fathers. My favorite part of this book is that it refutes the secular humanist and revisionist history that is taking place in our time point by point. It is easy to read, while quite detailed but, even Andrew is picking up on some things. He really likes to say "George Washington" with his strong Russian accent of rolling his "r's". We have also been listening to R. J. Rushdoony on George Washington and the Constitution. Wow! very meaty for us all. I highly recommend these resources for those who are interested in an accurate account of the lives of the founding Father's and the writing of the Constitution. We love to learn through audio books and messages...Andrew and Kathlena are learning about worldview issues right now that we will only know how much in the years to come. Audio books are great for weathering those stormy Texas summer days too.

This week we just started the Yellow Ball by Molly Bang...more of our adventures to come!

Jesse Bear What Will You Wear

I couldn't resist I have already started the little ones back to "education" David banned the word "school" in our house a few years ago. (It was such a relief for me no more school.) Well, anyway I just love educating our children and I love, love good books. Especially really good children's books that teach simple concepts in a fun way. Jesse Bear What will you Wear by Nancy White Carlstrom is one of those books. We have just started making our way through one of my favorite home school mom's books Before Five in a Row by Jane Claire Lambert. I love her simple style of reading good books and fostering a love of learning. I am particularly pleased with her selection of books for this volume. Especially for internationally adopted children these simple books that following the pictures and a few key words in English they can quickly understand and mimic the activities in the books.



Andrew and Kathlena can't wait to do their book each day. It is so fun to see them so excited and eager about learning. It is great one on two time for me with them and great snuggle time fostering attachment and sweet memories together. We did a fun activity where we tried on footed pj's just like Jesse Bear...it was so cute. They both loved the footed pj's but, I told them we would have to put them up until winter b/c it is just too hot in July in Houston to be wearing flannel footed pj's. We had fun matching and trying on clothes and talking about clothes we wear in the summer vs. winter. It was lots of fun and produced many giggles...one of the best parts of learning. Below is a video of one of our days together reading Jesse Bear. Just a taste of a day in the life of the Shiflet household. Thank you J.Michael for videoing...great job--keep up the good work preserving memories for your family.