Greetings from snowy Northern Arizona! (Unfortunately, a little too cold & windy to go outside and play.) But beautiful and bright!
It's been so long since I've posted that I'm sure this is going to be a huge update, filled with both academic & personal news. So here goes!
First, the personal news. Our trip to Washington state was very, very full. Fun, too, but mostly full, and almost certainly life changing. Papaya Daddy's interview went well enough that a job at the reservation clinic in the near future looked very likely by the end of it. So likely that as soon as the interview was over, Papaya Daddy and I drove to the nearby town and started looking at houses for sale. (This reservation is not big enough, nor does it have the available housing, to live on. If Papaya Daddy took this job, we would live off the reservation in a real town and actually buy a house.) The next day, we got together with a realtor & did "real" house hunting. The following day (Saturday), we brought my parents & the two older kids back to this town, and looked at our three favorite houses. On Monday, our realtor took the ferry over to the town where my parents live, took us out to lunch, and went through our potential offer with us. Then we signed it. On Tuesday, we flew back to Phoenix. On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving we drove back to our house, and by the time we arrived home, the current owners of the house we liked had signed the contract.
So - life is changing very fast! Unfortunately, nothing is quite "for sure" yet, a state of affairs that is very difficult for me. Since this particular tribe has taken over tribal control of their clinic (rather than have the Indian Health Service administer it), having Papaya Daddy (a commissioned officer with the US Public Health Service) transferred there requires penetrating a LOT of layers of beaurocracy. First, the tribe has to formally request him: write a letter that shows that this particular position is hard to fill, get it approved by the entire tribal council, get it ratified by an attorney, and submit it to the area Indian Health Service (in Portland). All that has already been done.
Then, the Portland area IHS has to agree to let Luke work for the tribe, and they have to work out a Memoradum of Agreement (MOA). That's what we're hoping will be finished soon - there could, theoretically, be some sort of complication that prevents the MOA from being worked out. Then, the Portland IHS has to contact the US Public Health Service & request that they transfer Papaya Daddy to his new duty station. Then, the US PHS has to cut transfer orders for him. Then, we can finally start formally planning our move. The tribe in question would like for this to happen as soon as possible (by February 1). We would like that too. I'm not sure how likely that is, however.
Nevertheless, we set a closing date of January 30 on the house. We are purchasing it from a Navy family being transferred to Bahrain, and they would like some advance closure on the date so they can plan their military transfer! We're moving forward with everything pointing towards this date - we've applied for a mortgage, done the house inspection, and got homeowners insurance set up. Papaya Daddy has even applied for a Washington State medical license. If worse comes to worse, we'll just stay with our current house and job for a an extra month or two & pay rent here as well as mortgage there. But we still don't know for sure if everything is going to work out with the job. We're coming close to the date where we have to either pull out of the contract (there was a conditional, actually-getting-the-job-related clause in it) or commit our earnest money, currently held in escrow. It's all a little stressful. I want some closure! At this point, we've committed enough money, time, and emotional energy into everything that to have the house contract fall through would be a huge blow. We really like the house and the location! We're really trying to trust God & hear Him in this. We do feel that He's leading us this direction & will most likely make everything work out. But we don't know for sure. Or maybe we just don't have enough faith...
I have some fun pictures of (our?) future house & town, but I won't post them or talk about the house or town or more about the potential job until things are a little more certain. Then, I'll do a whole seperate happy (or sad) post. As you can imagine, doing all of the above business matters (as well as all the emotional speculation & not-knowing) has made this Papaya Mommy a fairly distracted teacher lately. Not to mention that the thought of doing a major move in less than two months is fairly overwhelming. Couple that to a couple nasty cold viruses that swept through our house the last two weeks (one that hit me hard), as well as Papaya Daddy working hard as usual (he's in the middle of a 10-day stint right now) and preparing for Christmas, and life has been crazy!
But, we still got some learning and school done. Here's the rundown:
Lest you think we had a complete holiday during our time in Washington State, I want you to know that the kids did learn a significant amount about football. Their grandfather gave them a play-by-play commentary during the Sunday evening game, while the kids watched and listened with rapt attention. I think Grandaddy was happy that he had finally found some family members to share his passion. The Papaya told me that watching football gave him an idea for a fun game for him to play. I hope that this "fun game" doesn't involve his younger siblings too closely or violently!
We got back to the rez in time for Papaya Daddy to work the nights of Thanksgiving & Black Friday (I hosted the rez bound docs & families for a potluck lunch/supper on Thursday, then the church folks for Leftover Day on Friday. Papaya Daddy was able to stay for some of both these gatherings before heading off to work about 4:30 p.m. each day.) We began school again the following week, and fit in a good two weeks, despite the viruses, paperwork, and uncertainty.
Math: We are almost finished with the Papaya's Singapore 1A book. We did the final four units over the last two weeks (they were pretty easy: on shapes, length, weight, and volume). We only have two reviews & a little mental math to do, and we'll be done by Christmas vacation. I think we'll move on to Singapore 1B, then do some supplementary work (some of Singapore's Intensive Practice 1A and 1B, and maybe some Miquon) before moving on to Singapore 2 (2nd grade).
The Papaya decided a couple of weeks ago that he really wanted to learn multiplication. So I explained the concept (stressing how much fun I thought multiplication was) and he took off on it. He's pretty good at his 2, 5, and 10 times tables now. He's not very fluent with the others, but he's only 5 years old! He was using the white board at the church fellowship hall to show some of the older kids how to multiply a couple Sundays ago. They thought it was pretty funny!
The Papaya was able to fit in some Rightstart math with his Daddy, and had a wonderful and exciting (as in jumping up and down exciting) time making patterns on the geoboard and learning about mirror symmetry. It's fun to see how he can intuitively visualize patterns - he's got some good spatial intelligence.
Language Arts: The Papaya completed the third week of Sonlight's Language Arts 1 program. As far as concepts, he hasn't learned anything particularly new, but he's been doing more complex work on the concepts he already knows - longer and more involved copywork, and some more sophisticated creative writing projects (like dictating a dialog). His assigned readings (in Sonlight's "I Can Read It" book) have been stories using nothing but the short "a" sound, and I am heartily tired of hearing them - they are incredibly tedious! I'm very glad further vowel sounds are about to be added! The Papaya's also been reading some supplementary easy readers (Bob Books from the 3rd level), and actually does better with these more complex, varied readers. He struggles some with the exclusively short "a" stories. I don't blame him!
We continue with All About Spelling, which is refreshingly more complex than the Papaya's other LA work. I think the analytical nature of this program appeals to the Papaya in the same way that math does. I think it' pretty cool, too! We're currently learning the following rule: In single syllable words, the consanants "f", "l", and "s" are almost always doubled when they follow a single vowel (i.e. "off", "tell", and "dress"). How's that for a specific rule you probably never heard before?
Science: Always a favorite. I've switched around some of the weeks of Sonlight's program to save most of the plant-centered readings & experiments for when we (hopefully) move to Washington and actually have trees nearby to look at and explore. We learned about how boats work this week, and also about density. The kids enjoyed dropping a ball of clay into water & watching it immediately sink, then shaping it into a bowl (boat) & seeing the same amount of clay float. The Papaya loves to formulate hypotheses & test them (or ask the Banana what her hypothesis is & test it)! The week before, we touched on a variety of topics including volcanoes, the composition of the earth, and how flowers grow and reproduce. We also invited our five-year old neighbor over and did some fun experiments that involved exploring absorbancy. Next week, we'll learn about airplanes & how they work, just in time to visit Uncle T., who's a pilot. Maybe the Papaya will be able to retain enough information to discuss them with him!
Here's the Papaya holding his Play-doh model of the earth:
Here's the same Play-doh model split open to show the core, mantel, and crust:
Social Studies, Bible, and read-alouds: We finished our lightning-fast tour of world history by learning about the Vikings, midieval times, Ming China, the Incas, the early United States & Wild West, Victorian England, and modern times. Phew! The Papaya was especially fascinated by the Vikings, partly because there were cool internet links that really engaged him, and partly because the town in Washington we'll probably move to was founded by Norwegian settlers & has a strong Viking theme - even a Viking festival every Spring. The Papaya wanted to be quite sure that the Vikings weren't
really around anymore & wouldn't raid or maraud us if we moved there. I think I'll post his fun narration in a seperate post.
In the Papaya's Egermeier Bible, we read about the Patriarchs. We're just starting the story of Joseph, which is one of my favorite stories in the Bible. Wow, some of those stories are not easy to explain to a 5-year old (like the near-sacrifice of Isaac).
As far as read-alouds, we slowly continue Little House in the Big Woods in the evening, interrupted with much explanation & internet pictures. I had forgotten what a good writer Laura Ingalls Wilder was. Her descriptions are fabulous both in their clarity and ability to let you sense whatever it is she's describing. The two older kids were off their seats & jigging with excitement as Papaya Daddy read about the community dance at Grandma's house.
Since Christmas is approaching, I started reading The Family Under the Bridge to the kids during mealtimes, since the story takes place right before Christmas. It's one of Sonlight's Core K books about Armand, a hobo in Paris (your typical anti-hero) who encounters a homeless family under a bridge and becomes involved in their plight (and is thereby personally transformed). It's a fairly advanced book, both in its storyline, the complexity of the characters, and the vocabulary it uses. But the Papaya's getting it and enjoying it. I've been reading each chapter twice, which seems to work well. I try to read Armand's voice with a French accent, but I'm afraid he ends up sounding like a messed up version of Inspector Clouseau from "The Pink Panther". Luckily, the kids are not critical!
Music, Poetry, and Art: the kids really enjoy poetry, both hearing it & reciting it. "Again, Mommy, again!" is a common refrain of the Banana's when I read an especially funny or catchy poem. We've been spending a little time each day learning rhythm patterns, using "Music for Little Mozarts". Rhythm doesn't seem to come intuitively to the Papaya. The Banana "gets" it a little better. The Portabella just enjoys watching her siblings dance around and clap. It gets her very excited!
We haven't been doing much art, besides what the kids do independently. Yesterday, the Papaya drew an intriguing picture on the whiteboard (which, unfortunately, got erased before I snapped a photo of it). It involved Mary & Joseph riding a fur-lined sleigh up a mountain to the stable. I think he's been mixing up Little House with the Christmas narrative.
Speaking of the Christmas narrative, the Papaya's been pondering it some lately. We were listening to Amy Grant's Christmas album in the car, and the kids were asking me what different songs were about. When we got to "Breath of Heaven", I told them that this song was about Mary when she had the baby Jesus in her tummy: she was asking God to help her. The next day, the Papaya asked me to play it again. I brought it inside the house & played the song for him, and he sat breathlessly near the CD player, listening to it. I suddenly realized that he thought the real Mary was singing. I told him that what he was hearing wasn't the real mother of Jesus, but a singer who was thinking about what Mary might have thought and felt when she had Jesus inside of her. The Papaya repeated this several times (he really had thought he was listening to the real Mary sing), then started talking about why the real Mary might have been asking God to help her. We talked about how it must have been hard for Mary to travel to a strange town while heavily pregnant, not find any room to stay, and have a baby in a stable filled with animals. He really got and felt it. "That's sad," he said in a very subdued voice. "Really sad." We then talked about what it meant that Jesus came to earth as a poor baby in a stable and not as a rich baby in a palace. It was a great conversation, and the Papaya has circled back to it several times since - he's still thinking about it.
The Banana's special school time: We covered the letter "B", centered around the story of Noah & his big boat. We built an ark & put a lot of animals on it (and acted out being a lot of animals). We also did lots of different activities with the letter "B". The Banana loves her school time and is always pleading with me to "do some school". Here are the kids doing a fingerplay about "Noah's Big Boat":
Fun and Games: Since I've been so preoccupied and down with a virus, we probably haven't had as much of this as we should, and I feel a little bad about it. But we have done some: some muffin baking, quite a bit of free play time with Marbleworks and a train set, and a fun Friday at the church fellowship hall, meeting with a couple other homeschool families. My kids actually played with other kids (what a concept!), made a snowman foam craft, ate lunch together, and watched the church kids (the family that lives at the church) put on a puppet show. They were mesmerized!
Since we've had some terrifically cold, dusty windstorms lately that kept us house-bound, I brought out the Superfun. This is an old, duct tape covered air mattress that's sprung a few too many holes to be used by guests (they end up on the floor by morning), but functions beautifully as a trampoline for kids that are full of extra energy.
The Papaya, suspended in midair:
Action shot!
No, the Papaya didn't really hit his head, but I did move the Superfun a little closer to the toy box after looking at the following photo!
Christmas? I've been terrible this year about Christmas preparations, something I usually tackle with great energy and enthusiasm. Besides pulling out the advent calendars, Christmas music, and Christmas books, I haven't done anything - not even a lick of baking. We're not even going to buy the kids Christmas presents until after our potential move. The kids have been great, though - they haven't complained at all & haven't even seemed to notice that they're missing anything. And next week, we'll all fly to Sacramento to Uncle T's house, where we'll meet up with NaiNai and Grandpa (Papaya Daddy's parents) and have a proper Christmas with all the trimmings!
Happily, family members have stepped in to supply some of what I haven't this season. Grandmama and Grandaddy sent some fun winter pajamas as "1st of December" gifts. The kids'
Pennsylvania aunt & uncle & cousins sent a hugely fun Lego advent calendar. And their
North Carolina great aunt & uncle sent an incredible Christmas package filled with all kinds of goodies to eat and fun gifts to play with - even a cookie decorating package that I plan to do with them in the next few days! So thank you, family, for helping it to feel a little more like Christmas in this transitional, busy, stressed household!
The Portabella: She becomes ever-cuter, even if she does remain diminutive. At her 6-month well baby check, she weighed in at a whopping 13 pounds, 3 ounces! She is rolling all over the place, sitting up fairly well, and stuffing everything she can get a hold of into her mouth.
Well, to all those who made it to the end of this heinously long update, I congratulate you! Thursday morning, we drive to town, & on Friday, fly out to Sacramento for some family & Christmas fun. Please pray that we will have some closure (preferably affirmative, happy closure) on the job & house situation before then!
WA House & job update: The process continues to be excrutiatingly slow. The Portland IHS office Area Director, who has to sign and approve the MOA, is away until Friday. The tribe's attorney, who has to review the MOA once the tribe finally receives it from Portland, will be out of the office until January 7 (wish Papaya Daddy could take vacations that long)! Orders won't be cut until the MOA is signed by the tribe, and we can't get financing approved for our house until the bank sees Papaya Daddy's orders.
There is actually some cookie beneath all that frosting & sprinkles!
This morning, the girls decided to get dressed up in their beautiful Christmas dresses, also gifts from said aunt & uncle. They both enjoyed the experience (the Portabella loved playing with the tulle on her dress, and the Banana loves getting dressed up) and looked lovely. In fact, it's difficult to choose just one picture to post, so here you are with multiple views!
If I don't make it back to this blog before Christmas, we hope your holidays are lovely and joyful! 
