We've decided on Homeschool this year and how that's played out...

Sandpaper Letters/Numbers

After lots of prayer and asking around for advice, we've decided on homeschooling for this year. There are many reasons why we chose this:
1) We're most likely in a transition year, meaning we might move again soon. If this job turns out to be a good fit, we will probably start looking for a home to buy. It's definitely time for us to be more permanent as the kiddies are getting older and more attached to their friends. If we do buy, we're going to look in an area with more ethnic-diversity (probably further north) b/c that is the kind of environment we'd like the kids to grow up in. So we figure, if they are not in school this yr, they won't have to miss moving up with their school friends but start afresh next year at a, hopefully, more permanant place.
2) Pre-K and K are easier grades to homeschool than the upper grades, so I thought it was a good year to try. I've always done a little something educational with Aidan before he even went to Pre-K last year (kumon workbooks, counting, etc) and during the period he went to school, so this is an easy transition. Plus, I totally understand phonics, numbers, etc vs trigonometry and calculus, so I thought I'd give it a try being a teacher NOW where the learning curve is not so high. :)
3) In all honesty, we are still undecided about which way we want to go and it might be different with each kid. Since we were thinking about sending Aidan to K at age 6 (next yr) if he were to go to school, we technically have one extra year to decide. Plus, I was told that if you've never enrolled your child in school, you don't necessarily have to let the school know your child is not going....so we're going to hold off til we know a bit better.

I think it will be a constant evaluation and re-evaluation as to which type of schooling is the best for each of our kids. We met some local homeschoolers at a park this past Wednesday and it was nice to see that, within one family, some went to school and some were homeschooled and it worked out great. Each kid was happy in the decision once they all figured out what was best. Anyhow, we're going to keep praying about it and as we know more about each child and how they are faring with homeschool, we can go from there. Doing school at home has been pretty fun so far. This year has been more formal than any year before and the kids actually like it more. I mean, there are still parts of it that are more challenging but the kids are learning to persevere. I think it's also neat to figure out their learning style and what areas they excel in and what kind of encouragement speaks to them. For example, Aidan is challenged by handwriting but he is really motivated by verbal affirmations...so you'll often hear me chant "Go, Aidan, Go! Go, Go, Go, Go, Go!" :) For Jana, her challenge has been shapes but she's really motivated by stickers and hugs, so that's the way we go with her. Plus, we can even help the teacher if they do end up going to school by letting them know our kids' learning styles and what motivates them.

A lot of moms that I've asked have put together their own 'curriculum' for their kids. So, after some researching, we ended up with this:
-Brain Quest workbooks (that's what looked the most fun to me at Costco that day), an additional handwriting workbook for Aidan that goes from easier letters to harder letters, some Kumon workbooks (mainly for Jana)
-Puzzle Puzz from Highlights for fun games
-some Montessori stuff thrown in - sandpaper letters, Practical Life stuff, etc
-biweekly library trips (finally got signed up for Preschool Storytime!)
-games (Orchard, Games for Math, etc)
-some trips offered by a local Homeschooling yahoo group (A Pumpkin picking trip is next!)
-some not-so-messy crafts (I get a bit nervous doing messy crafts in a rental when it's not so warm outside anymore...)
-still looking for a great book on the basics on Christianity for kids, so reading "The Jesus Storybook Bible" (thanks for the suggestion, Lauren & LT!) and the "Veggietales Storybook Bible" to them so far. Also also want to help the kiddies to practice listening to God and laying hands on ppl and praying for them...fun stuff! :)
-still looking for a good one for telling time and teaching about money - anyone?!

Kids playing Orchard

It's been fun MOST days (we still have those days where one or both of them would rather not do any 'school' - doh!) but also a whole lot of work. After the kids go to bed each night, I've been trying to plan the next day, prep supplies, and figure out what we should do. Also, we're busy trying to meet friends and plan the play dates to get to know ppl better. So, we end up doing school 3-4 times a week and that's worked out well for us. To help them meet people, we've started Peanut Soccer with them. It's pretty funny watching the 3-5 y.o. try to figure out soccer and not get distracted, though some kids are really coordinated and into the game!! Aidan has also started going to Royal Rangers at church everyday Wednesday night from 7-8:30pm. It's kinda like a Christian Boy Scout group - they have commanders (teachers), learn practical skills and even go on trips! While Aidan is at Royal Rangers, Jana goes to her Rainbows class and learns more about God. We've also instituted Family Time once a week, though some weeks we forget! LOL! But we think it's important for them to learn about how we worship and also teach them a bit about Him through prayer times, a game and sometimes dessert - just to spend time as a family. :) We'll see how it goes as they get older. Right now, Cara just crawls around while we sing, learn and play...haha! So, it's a good kind of busy but it's making me realize I need to cut back on some other things in my life if I want to get any sleep. (But that's another post. :))

Kiddies hard at work during school :)

So, we'd love to see how someone else does homeschooling and what you've found that works for your family! :)

Kumon Love?!

Yep, it's true. We love Kumon at this house. Nah, not the classes (at least not yet) but the workbooks they've put out for little ones. I had no idea they had them but saw them when I was browsing around for gifts at Target a few months back. Then I saw them at Barnes & Noble. Then I read great reviews on Amazon. So, I thought, let's give 'em a try. And the results are great! Here's a few pics of Aidan after some sessions of "school":




As you can see, there's a bunch of crafty things for them to do to develop some basic skills like cutting, gluing, stickering, drawing straight lines, etc. We really like the "First Steps" workbooks for that reason. And because they use the same Kumon philosophy of the projects getting slightly harder with each page, it makes learning something new almost effortless as each page builds on the skill learned in the previous pages. Another thing that is great about them is the quality - not only is each page printed on high-quality paper, the colors are vibrant, the pictures are cute and well-drawn and the projects are creative! My only complaints are that it can get a bit pricey (hard to reuse) and the books are bound in a way that it's a bit hard to hold it open and write at the same time (I end up holding it open while Aidan works on each page). I know I'm sounding like an ad for them right now but no, I'm not being paid by them for this post. [I wish I were, though! ;)]

We have these workbooks for Aidan (he's about 3.5 y.o. currently):
Let's Color
Let's Cut Paper
Let's Sticker & Paste
My First Book of Tracing
My Book of Numbers 1-30
My Book of Easy Mazes

Combined with some great workbooks from Costco and the dollar store, he's been learning lots! It just makes me feel good that I can actually teach him something, you know? Thanks for reading!!

...what's new with the Hsu's :) (I almost rhymed!)

Anyhow, it's been a while since I've last written and here's some stuff that's happened during the interim:

COUNTRYSIDE CHRISTIAN CENTER
We're currently in the midst of a 28 day fast called by our Pastor Lloyd. This is to seek God's fact about the vision that God has given the church. Even though we've only been there for less than 2 months, we really feel, in the Spirit, that the vision he got is so right on track! PL shared that God has given him a vision for the Youth because that is where our future holds and our generation is called to minister to the future so that they can fulfill their purposes to usher in God's presence here on Earth. With the astouding statistics about how few of the new generation (forgot what generation they're called) know Him and anything about Him, it's really quite alarming. Instead of God, they are constantly filled with junk from the Media, Internet, and Video Games. :( So sad. So, PL felt called to build a new building and then let the Youth take over the entire old building (which is already huge) and some parts of the new one - to create a Youth Center. They are also devoting more time, money and energy to the Children's Program (they already have a great one!) to make it even better. I just felt so blessed by this vision. Kev and I talked a lot about this the night we heard the vision shared and we realized what a great role the Youth Group (and having friends in it) played when we were young. I feel a big part of why I even sought the Lord in college was due to having such a tremendous support when I was trying to figure out who I was and who I want to be. [Though having Christian parents also played a key role - didn't want to downplay that - but I really didn't care about their opinion as much as I did my friends' when I hit a certain age...you know what I mean! :P] So, we are now praying into it and sowing into it financially. I'm so excited for the fruit that will be reaped!!

On a side note: If you happen to read this, please pray for me. I'm teaching a Junior High/Senior High Sunday School after our service ends on Sundays for another church. I need wisdom and revelation about what to teach on Sundays. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to teach the Youth but I need all the help I can get! Thanks bunches!

SWIMMING
So, there's a whole lot of water everywhere in Florida, be it beaches or pools. They are truly everywhere! That's a good and bad thing - let me explain why. It's good because Aidan (and now Jana) love ocean creatures and playing with sand, so there are lots of opportunities to do that here. And since we go a lot after dinner so it's cooler, we get to see a lot of spectacular sunsets. It's really amazing! However, since the kids can't swim and I can't tread water well [I know, I need to work on it....doh!], there's an increased chance for there to be an accident. So, we're looking into swimming lessons for them and happened upon this. ISR is mainly a drown prevention program and it states that it helps even infants as young as 6 months to learn how to float and not panic in the water on the off-chance that they fall in. They learn to respect and be comfortable in water. It sounds great and I heard so many good things about it...BUT, it's a huge chunk of change. [Not sure if that's everywhere or just in FL.] Anyhow, I'm looking to see if they have any scholarship programs and will let you all know if the kids do end up taking it and how it goes.[And in case you're wondering, yes, I can float. ;)]

VISITORS
Yay for visitors! We love them, we really do! At the beginning of Aug, we had Joe Lee come thru for for fellowship interviews. The kids had such a great time with him that they still talk about him sometime! :) Plus, he was the first to test out our pillowtop queen-sized Aerobed and he gives it 2 thumbs up. Haha! Then we had Will Zhou and Ken Chan over for Labor Day weekend. Kiley Hsu and Ray Hwang showed up that same Friday and stayed for a week. And, man, those guys know how to make the most of a weekend. WZ and KC went scuba diving, deep sea fishing, biking parts of the Pinellas Trail and visited the Floida Aquarium all within the span of 3 days! There were lots of good eats in between. :) Will even caught us a barracuda that we promptly had for lunch at Crabby Bill's that day - thanks again! The other guys caught Mackerels and Bonitas. Fun stuff! We even got to fish at the Chang's [those distant relatives of ours that live in the area that are SUPER, SUPER nice!] and I learned how to cast and reel. Fun stuff! Anyhow, more visitors to come and we're excited! Hope to see more of you before we leave this sunny state - AND, it's gonna get super nice soon!! (Hint!Hint!)

SOME 'ONE-LINERS'
Finally found a Pediatrician for the kids, though I'm not sure we're a good fit yet.

Jana got 3 shots today, that poor girl.

Jana speaks a lot of Chinese now - it's pretty fun.

Check out these videos of the kids in action. They're a riot!

We've been doing some 'homeschooling' for Aidan and he likes it quite a bit. Good ol' Aidan and praise God for this site. Still need some inspiration, though. Feel free to chime in, moms. :)

And, that's all, folks. :)