Thailand Presentation at HSE (Home School Etc.)

I'm so proud of Penny!  She did a great job of giving a presentation about Thailand today.  She did not give it once, but 5 times!  That means she was speaking in English in front of a total of about 100 kids today from 9 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.  Since, she's been thinking about the idea of someday teaching English to kids in Thailand, I think this experience was very invaluable to her.  Fortunately, all of the kids showed a very keen interest to everything that she shared.  Even the one group of boys who can sometimes be a bit rowdy were completely enthralled by everything she shared.  She was presenting to the elementary kids in the home school enrichment group that she participates in every Friday.  Since they have been learning about Asia, they asked Penny to present about Thailand today.  Next week it's my turn to present about Japan.  I think that a highlight for the kids was when she played her "khim" (Thai hammered dulcimer).

Penny asked me to demonstrate the woodwind instruments, since I am a flute player.

The kids also enjoyed the many things that Penny displayed for them, such as dolls, Thai food and a Loy Khrathong flower wreath, as well as Thai bibles.

While we wore shirts with Thai writing on it, she did show the kids what the fancier, traditional Thai clothing looks like, using my help to "model" the clothes.  Most of the kids could guess that the Thai writing on my shirt said, "Coca Cola".  Penny's said, "Khon Kaen" on the front and had bible verses written in Thai on the back.  

At the end of her presentation Penny really wanted to read those verses to the kids (Matt. 28:19-20) which says to "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit.  And surely I am with you always to the end of the age."  That is what Penny has been talking about more and more.  Lately, she's been feeling like God is telling her in her heart that someday He wants her to go back to love and teach children that God loves them.  It's a message that she didn't hear much growing up in Thailand.  So, now her heart is full of the the love of God and wants to share it with the kids who might feel like they are forgotten.  Perhaps more of these kids will also be inspired to go around the world to share God's love with others.  That is our prayer!  Next week I'll get to share about the nation of Japan.  What a joy to share about the beautiful people of Asia with so many children.  Here are some pictures of a group of girls who begged Penny to play some more songs for them on her khim.

A Very Happy Valentine's Day

Well, we had a very nice Valentine's Day!  We don't go overboard at being elaborate and expensive, but it's fun to do a few little things to celebrate the love that we share with our loved ones on a daily basis.  Why not focus on it for a little celebration once a year, right?  And the thing that I love about the holiday in America, is that it's celebrated for love of all family members and friends, not just for romantic relationships.  In Japan only women are supposed to give chocolate to men on that day.  And then on March 14th only men are supposed to give chocolate back to women.  It's a big obligation thing.  That's why the chocolates that are sold are called "giri choco" (obligation chocolate).  Even a lot of Japanese people don't like the tradition.  I think since living in Japan, I've come to a much deeper appreciation for the celebration in America, and especially because I know that it's even deeper when you know that you are created and loved by the Creator God of the universe!  That's the kind of true love that we are trying to teach our daughter about.  And she's growing and mature in such a marvelous way, since she's coming to a deeper understanding of this immense love of her Maker, Daddy and Savior.

She had a very busy day at her Homeschool Etc. group that meets at our church, yesterday.  They are practicing their worship songs in music class, in preparation for the youth leading a Night of Worship.  Also, in their missions class, a missionary from "Mission to Asia" spoke about some amazing stories of mission work in India.  Penny was greatly impacted and said that perhaps she should study to become a nurse and go to India, someday.  She was also busy practicing singing and dancing for the musical that they are preparing for.  She finally came in and joined me in the church office break room for lunch at 1 p.m.  After lunch, she worked hard on an Algebra test.  She got really tired after such a busy day.  When she got home we called her grandparents to wish them a Happy Valentine's Day.  Right after talking to Grandma on the phone, Penny lied down on the couch and she was instantly asleep.  It was so cute how Jenny immediately curled up by her feet.

So, while those two slept, I made heart-shaped slider hamburgers for our Valentine's Day dinner.

 We actually opened our cards/gifts after dinner.  Penny got the cutest talking monkey giving her love messages from Daddy.  She made me a cute homemade card and gave both Jay and I a beautiful card.  I gave her and Jay some chocolates and Penny some flowers, since she loves roses.  I received a beautiful hallmark heart that lights up with a love message from Jay when I hold it.

It was a great day!  But, my heart goes out to those in our world who have a hole in their hearts.  And I'm not talking about a hole, like the ones in my heart-shaped swiss cheese on the burgers.  I know there are a lot of people with deep wounds and hurts in their hearts and this day makes them feel depressed.  Our pastor shared that the chief of the fire department in Arvada recently asked local pastors to pray for them, because they are feeling so overwhelmed by taking a record number of calls on people attempting suicide.  One story at a local high school made national news of a 16 year-old boy who lit himself on fire inside the school cafeteria.  That high school has had a busy time in the counseling office, trying to help others from doing the same.  As Penny and I were driving home, she said something very deep and profound about this sad reality in our midst.  She said, "Mom, we really need to pray for people, because so many of them don't know there is a Creator God who made them and loves them.  They feel like no one loves them.  They need to know that there is someone who always loves them, to give them hope."  I'm so glad that God is helping Penny to know how much she is loved.  It is making her into such a content and caring young lady.  Where there was once fear of rejection and mistrust in her eyes, it has now been replaced with such a spark of joy, knowing that she is a child of the King and unconditionally loved.  I can see the fruits of God's Spirit:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control taking root and growing within her spirit.  It's such an incredible miracle of new birth to watch this before my eyes.  I know that God has such an amazing purpose for this young lady's life.  And I get the privilege of being her mom!  What a blessing!

Welcome to Our Spring Semester of 11th Grade

Well, this week was our official start of our spring semester here at the Regan Family Happy Home School.  It's been a busy time for me with planning out curriculum while I've also been busy at work.  But, it's all such fun and fulfilling work.  Last weekend I worked on creating her upcoming art curriculum that we'll use for the fall semester.  This week I've been developing our curriculum to use for Algebra II/Trigonometry, also for the upcoming fall semester.  I've decided that we'll use Math Planet dot com for our lessons.

 Then we'll get worksheets mostly from kutasoftware.com

and Penny will do practice quizzes and tests from the online Prentice Hall website.

For now, we are continuing to use the Algebra I book from Prentice Hall.

We just started our new social studies curriculum.  We are now learning U.S. Geography, using the Trail Guides to U.S. History curriculum.

We really liked the Trail Guide to World Geography.  It really got Penny to become more of an independent learner, as she began to learn how to find information and write down facts, for herself.  We supplement the information that she finds by searching the web, by finding lots of nonfiction books from the library.  And I try to choose books that she reads for literature that goes along with the country (now state or region) that she is currently learning about.  The book that she is currently reading for literature is…

"The Witch of Blackbird Pond"

It coincides, perfectly, with the history/geography that she's learning about New England.  The only problem is that I checked the book out from the library and now when I tried to renew it, I discovered that someone else also put a hold on it.  So, I'll have to snag a copy from another library, nearby.  I do get most of our books for literature at either the public library, our church library, or from our own personal library.  It is quite rare that I need to purchase a book and when I do I can usually find it on either E-Bay or Amazon for a reasonable price.  I also try to check out the audio book on CD, when it's available at the library.  That is very helpful for Penny to listen to how the words sound, as she follows along in the book.  It's especially helpful on the days when she is reading and I'm at work.  We were able to locate the audio book for the book we are currently using.  I also located the audio book from a distant lending library for the next story we plan on using, but I've been scouring libraries for the actual book and keep coming up short.  So, I think I'll finally purchase the following book…

"The Light in the Forest"

Where do I get my ideas for good literature to use?  I have gotten many of my ideas by looking at catalogs of home school curriculum companies.  The one that has been most helpful is one called "Total Language Plus".  Unfortunately, on our very limited resources, I cannot afford to pay the total cost for a pre-planned curriculum like that.  So, I see what kinds of books they are using, and then locate the same books at the library and develop my own curriculum, by often finding free resources for teachers online, that supplement the reading we are doing.

For Science, we also started a new curriculum.  We stuck with the same company, Abeka.  We are now using their high school Biology Curriculum.

For English Grammar we will soon be finishing up the Abeka Grammar and Composition I and skip up to their Grammar and Composition III book.

This will be the last year that we are required to do some standardized testing.  In the state of Colorado they require that all home schooled kids get tested during the odd years in school.  So, 11th grade is the last year that she'll need to be tested.  Someone told me that I could purchase the CAT (California Achievement Test)

through the Seton Testing website.  It only cost $25 and it sounds like we should get the score back rather quickly.  The cool thing is that this time I think Penny will know enough English that she'll be able to better understand the directions and have a chance at actually answering several of the problems.  I'm so proud of her and how much she's learning.  What a great experience this homeschool adventure has been!  It's sad that we only have one and a half years left!