The Girls Come and Go

While Emily was home she went through some of the work from our homeschooling years I had saved. It was so interesting to hear her comments and observations. She has not only survived but flourished in her 4 years of university and now in her masters program. I was actually impressed with how organized I was during out schooling at home. At the end of every year I compiled a summary of what we used for the year and the concepts covered. Interesting. 

I think Emily and Kaylin and Josh would make great speakers at homeschooling events because they all have interesting perspectives due to their current situations. 

One thing Emily said, was how much she hated math at home. And yet, when she got to public school she realized how strong she was in math. So, as I reflect, was there anything I could do to make it a more positive experience? I don't know. 

It's also interesting to hear Peter's perspective on social studies/history in a traditional class. He is not a fan. And when I observe how it has been taught in his last 5 years, I agree with him. Boring. And yet Emily would say it is something we did well at home. So, there you go. It was easy to learn history and social studies in a home setting and seems to be difficult to do well in a traditional class. 

Emily also took the chance to try out some of her Speech Language Pathology skills on us. She said it was so she could see normal. So there you go. One normal girl.

One normal mom. 

Kaylin was so busy with school and work while Emily was here, so the plan was for Emily to drive to Moncton on her last Friday here and spend the night, coming home on Saturday. Wouldn't you know it? We were hit with so many storms while Emily was here and Friday was no exception. The winds were too high on the Tantramar Marsh Highway between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick so Emily was stuck in Amherst before she decided to come home. 

New Plan. Robin drove Emily to Moncton early Saturday morning so she wouldn't be too tired during the drive. The girls spent the day together and then Robin and Emily drove home at night. 

Flexibility cannot be overrated. I think it's a skill we will need in Haiti so we might as well embrace change of plans.  

Emily left Sunday morning and was able to fly out without any issues. It was so good to see her. She is working so hard and doing so well. I can't believe all that she is learning. It's all fascinating. 

Kaylin came home on the bus Wednesday. Just in time for her 21st birthday. It's always so nice to have her home. She was busy studying for most of it, but it's just nice to have her presence. 

Gaëlle and I made a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake. It was different but pretty good. After all, how can you go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate? 

Halifax has been having a crazy time with snow and ice build up. There have been 4 schools in the city that have been closed all week because of issues with their roofs. Friday Kaylin called me at work because Peter's bus didn't show up. We didn't even think to look. But it turns out the roof on his school is now leaking. So... he got a day off. He spent some of it drawing. He does so well. 

It's been a quick time with Kaylin. She goes back to Moncton today so that she can work tonight. But it's been great to have her and Emily during February. We are so thankful. 

Holiday Monday

For Black History month, Nova Scotia Symphony put on a free family concert called "Black is Beautiful" featuring composers of colour. The concert was held at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. It was very well done. 

I don't know if you can tell but there were a few pieces that encouraged the audience to participate. 

The conductor made sure to share the history of the piece or type of music throughout the concert so I learned quite a bit. There was a ragtime piece by Scott Joplin and a jazz selection from Miles Davis and even a song by an Afro-French composer called Le Chevalier de Saint-George who lived at the time of Mozart. It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

When we left the concert, we could see part of the movie set from a period piece being filmed in Halifax. 

We always have fun deciding what to do for Valentine's Day. Gaëlle and I looked through some of the ideas online and she decided to make candy kabobs for her class. She would have been happy for me to do the card part for her, but I encouraged her to do the whole thing.... so she did. She was thrilled with the outcome and I was pleased with her effort.

It's often a topic of conversation of what we will take to Haiti with us. It's been suggested that we take the waffle maker. So for our Valentine's Day meal, we had chocolate chip or blueberry waffles. Always a hit. 

Emily is home!!! She arrived Thursday night and we were all so happy to see her. Peter invited her to draw with him so the three of them say down on Saturday and spent some time drawing. Love this. 

On Saturday night our church hosted a Valentine's Day meal as a fundraiser for their upcoming Haiti missions trip. So Robin invited Emily and the 2 of them went. They both had a great time and Emily was able to see some of her friends which was also nice. 

We have had nothing but snow around here for the past 2 days. So all churches in Halifax were cancelled on Sunday. So we stayed home. We played a Bible Trivia game. Some of the questions were hard and some were easy. 

Then I took a song by Christian artist Jamie Grace called "Do Life Big" that was based on the verse John 10:10. We discussed the life of Jamie Grace briefly. Then we talked about the lyrics and what it means to "Do Life Big". It was nice to have Emily with us to aid in our conversation. 

Emily is taking a class which discusses the impact of literacy in language. So she wanted to go through the kids books and take some back with her. Her pile was getting bigger and bigger and Gaëlle was getting bit stressed at times to think of all the books Emily wanted. Emily hasn't made her final decisions but I had a lot of fun going through the books with her. I kept thinking my mom would have loved to be doing this with her also. 

Here is Emily reliving her childhood and loving every minute of it.