Dedicated To Astrid

A few months back my boys and I went to visit my family in Switzerland. My mom moved since I last visited her 7 years back, and amongst meeting all my family and friends I had the pleasure of meeting all her so very welcoming neighbors. Next to her on the same floor lived Astrid. We'd chat in the hallway whenever we cross paths or I'd help her hang up her laundry in the basement due to her progressing parkinson disease. I've been blessed to have had a few very meaningful conversation with her. The last time we saw her, me and the boys went to thank her for the gifts she bought for my boys, how kind she was. We travelled across the world, back home when my mom after a few weeks called me and asked wether I had a picture of Astrid which I didn't. She then informed me that Astrid went missing. My mom was told, she was on the way to the grocery store which is a 5 min. walk down the street and never returned. After about a day, the police got involved, then the criminal police etc. but until the present day Astrid is still missing, almost 5 months now.

I've been thinking about her ever since and I've spent countless moments, pondering about what in the world happened to her and how she can just disappear in thin air!! And then I just pray to Allah that she is safe, wherever she might be! We are so busy and our lives are so hectic that it's easy to forget the ones we don't see or hear on a regular basis. This is why I took the time to write about a special elderly woman that I was blessed to have met and pray for every time she crosses my mind. 

If you have read this far please do the same and say a prayer for her.

                             Myriam

Curriculums Are "just" Tools

Math is one of the Subjects that took us a while to find a match. It had to be something hands on, with not too long lessons, easy to grasp that included practice. After Houghton Mifflin and Right Start Math we happily settled with Saxon Math which we really REALLY like A LOT. Last week due to some miscommunications I still haven't received my long awaited Saxon Math 3 Worksheets instead I was willing to try the Saxon Intermediate, which was the only one available. I decided to give it a try and already got a grumble from L'Drago the same morning. I assured him that it was very similar to Saxon and (probably even more so) tried to convince myself that this is going to work, we just needed to show patience... 

Here I am today, three mornings later still getting angry just looking at the Math Curriculum and decided to kick it to the curb. It took me over a year to find the right Curriculum that works for L'Drago and yes I welcome change in our homeschool journey but I do not like change when the later worked perfectly fine and math was as easy as 1, 2 & 3. Just looking at the regular Saxon Math makes me happy (weird I agree) but I cannot wait to get back to happy L'Drago, happy Me and our regular happy Math Lessons. I love change but so I do a routine that works smoothly!!

Myriam

Changes in "Me-World"

I'm not exactly having an eating disorder but at times I feel it borders on one. Specially when my brain tells me to eat when my stomach's clearly full. I did make a big change when I joined Weight Watchers 2+ years back and lost 43 lbs/ 20+kg's. I was able to maintain it until my dear husband started buying all kinds of Julian Pie's and that's how it all went down hill!! okay, okay...  I got into a baking frenzy this past winter and that didn't help either. So 10 days ago I decided to get back on track and after hopping on the scale, realizing that I gained a good 10 pounds/ 5kg's I decided to do something rather earlier than later and signed back up on Weightwatchers.com. So far I've lost 5 pounds/ 3kg's. 10 days ago was also my first exercise day after a very VERY long time and I held it up ever since, riding my exercise bike 30min/day.

I'm forcing myself to exercise to stay healthy, much more than to loose weight. I wish there were more of a variety I could exercise but due to a hip birth defect options are unfortunately very limited. I'm not complaining though, there's much more to be thankful for than there is to complain about *smile* 

I'm a lot of things, but I am not a very disciplined person and I do did not like to exercise!! Since I started exercising though I've felt several changes in my daily life, the best of all by now is being in a better mood, my moods are much more balanced and just an overall better feeling of accomplishment about myself and for that I tap myself on the shoulders, YAY !!

Here my 10 past days in a nutshell and now my daily prayer to Allah is to keep up the good work and for HIM to grant me the discipline it takes to keep on exercising on a daily basis!!

Myriam

How to get "Outside my Box" !!

image from www.web2teachingtools.com

I am admitting that I can't seem to "be" creative !! I'd love to be more of an exciting teacher but I am somehow still stuck in this annoying "pencil in hand an sitting on the chair" method of doing school and right now it's very frustrating!! and so I'm once again brainstorming of how to make teaching more exciting and less school'ish and still be satisfied with myself at the end of the day that, yes we've learned and accomplished something!! Writing this comes over as very stupid to myself because I love Arts/ Crafts, being creative etc. and I do tons of stuff for myself but when it comes to educational creativity for my boys my brain somehow freezes.. I'm thinking maybe I should go cold turkey and ban all books for a week except maybe handwriting and learn to have fun with my boys, educational fun, well understood.. I feel as if something has to unlock in my brain for me to be able to loosen up and I'm still waiting for that event to take place. I can't possibly be the only one having had that issue.. anyone? 

Just a thought on a friday night.. 

Myriam

Our new fancy Pets

Since about a month now we have fresh eggs on an daily basis, yesss we have chicken :-) which if you'd asked me a few years back I would've never thought of it as possible.. but it seems like today it's not such a far fetched thing anymore, you know, to have back yard chickens. They are such interesting animals !! We literally sit outside, all five of us and watch "the chickflick" !! 

Here a few pictures of the Chicken Coop in the Make:

May I introduce to you:

• Olive
• Roxy
• Reds
• Goldy (better pictures will follow, I know this is not the best but it's all I have right now)

From the beginning we've had 1 egg a day which increased to 2-3 eggs a day :-) The boys are thrilled and love watching them. They've been raised by children and are very used to people which is again perfect for us. I needn't say that following to us having chicken is a Lapbook about Chickens which is in the make as you're reading this post so.. stay tuned :-)

Myriam

The Past 3 Months

It's been such a long time since I last sat down and worked on my blog. I've thought so many times that: I should write about this and that but.. never actually got to type it up. What we've been doing? Night Fury (4) is very eager to learn on a daily basis. He picks things up very quickly and gets bored easily so he's challenging but that's ok, I'll get there, I am trying to have lessons prepared that keep him challenged and hands on, so he gets to enjoy our learing time together... He is doing excellent with reading (we're on lesson 86 in how to teaching your child how to read in 100 easy lessons) and he simultaneously reads #1 library books. His handwriting is also going great, we will be finishing the Zaner Bloser Working book this week. Oh and yes handwriting is one of his favorite subjects !!

Patriotism vs. Loyality

Yesterday while taking my boys on a field trip to the Museum of Art, a woman passed me saying: You're in the wrong country, go back to where you came from.. Immediately I turned around saying: And my husband is in the Military I have EVERY right to be here just as much as you do !!
She was the kind of person that would mumble stuff and just keep walking, so I leave it up to you to decide on what kind of person she was. 

I did not see this coming and was so angry, hurt and couldn't really get rid of my frustration right then and there, since I didn't want to cause a scene, especially with my boys there.. WOMAN, WE'RE ON A FIELD TRIP HERE !!!

I am the kind of person that can't just "forget" so I think it over and over (very unhealthy I know)... and tried to analyze why, what the woman said hurt me so much. Yes I'm fully covered and I know some don't like us muslims so much.. being in the states I kind of expect this (even though it happens very seldom) and am okay with it, honestly I can relate to a certain extend. One of the reasons I like living here though is because the people are so easy going, at least the ones I come in contact with. Anyway what made me furious is that I am in this country because my husband is serving HER country and I get the feeling that she LOVES her military.. well guess what we're part of it !! and just because I cover my face and don't walk around half naked doesn't make me feel less lonely and stressed out when my husband is deployed for 7 month in a row. It is a HUGE sacrifice and I'm sure every military wife/kids can relate to that and having someone tell me that I don't belong here or that I should go back .. dang..

A man passed by when I swung back around and said, don't worry about it there are some people they are ignorant. I met him later in the same museum and approached him, to thank him for his uplifting words and he continued saying that some people that haven't travelled about just don't know better. That I was a strong woman and have to stand up for myself.. may Allah bless him and YES I AM !!

Myriam