Our studies

We are in our second week of studying Asia, Saudi Arabia to be exact. The kids have really learned a lot about the country and Islam as have I. We've learned about the five pillars and about the significance of the Middle East throughout history. The last lesson of a particular country assigns a recipe(s) for a traditional meal or snack. We will end Saudi Arabia by making hummus. Now, I love hummus but Saudi Arabia?? I thought it was Mediterranean! I did a bit of digging and, sure enough, the word hummus has Arabic roots.

What I am super excited about is India for the next two weeks beginning Monday. We signed up at My Passport to India to follow along on a trip hosted by Pastor Chris for - "an educational and exciting program designed to help your children discover more about the nation of India and engage them in reaching India's boys and girls by supporting Children's Bible Clubs."

The program started a few weeks ago but everything is online so we can do it when we are ready. This will be an incredible supplement to our study! Read about it and go through it with your children!

I love studying geography with them. It really gives them an appreciation for being an American. Just this week I was able to show them a small article in the paper. It was about the Yanomami. They are an indigenous tribe that lives in the Amazon Rainforest of Venezuela. The article was about a disease, probably malaria, that had killed over 50 and many more were sick. A health worker trekked for 3 days to reach the tribes. Grace and Colin were very touched by this. I think it hit home that these things we study about...they are happening NOW, not in the past. (You know, that dark ages when mom and dad were little and there were no ipods or Dsi games.) I was able to reinforce what we studied weeks ago with today's news. The fact that it took a health worker 3 days to reach them...that was a startling realization. I think it's a great thing to venture out of our cocoon and learn about others. It makes us all the more grateful for God's blessing in our lives.

I have a challenge for you. Check out this link. It is a website called Operation World. Click on Pray Today. It will give you a country to pray for each day including their prayer needs. Locate it on a map and learn some geography! Enjoy!

Oh, and by the way. If you read my blog or Facebook page and I talk of going places like India or China, I'm talking about studying those places! While I am so flattered that many of you think I would go to such extremes to teach my children, our budget does not allow for such travel. ;o) We have our little "passport" that we stamp with flag stickers every time we "enter a new country" but we are using our imaginations!