Life in These United States

Blog Post About Fall 2020

We had car trouble on our way back from Nashville, and it was just me and the kids. Doug stayed behind to help Kylie finish getting situated with a bank and other details, and he rented a car to come home later (and stop and see more people on the way home).

Thankfully, I was able to stop in Memphis at our friends and let the kids do school for three hours while we waited for the car to get fixed.

It put us on the road late, and we knew we couldn't make it all the way home, so we decided to take a detour and see my brother. We knew we couldn't stay with them because the day before, they had just moved into their new house.

We got a hotel near them and went to see them the next morning, bringing my sister-in-law some coffee. She had arrived the night before, as well, seeing her house with all of the furnishings for the first time. She was away with family because her father had died the week before, but they have some wonderful friends who moved them in.

We took one of their children home with us for a few days until the rest of them came down for the funeral.

These two responsible boys got all their school work done each day.

September 7, 2020

Many days, Keira chose to do online school in pajamas and roller skates. Her French school was 8 hours ahead of her, so the teacher recorded each of the classes, and then Keira just watched the recordings without participating.

However, about 6 times during the semester, she did get up at 1 or 2am just to talk with her class and join in, but it never became the norm.

September 14, 2020

She was diligent about doing all of her projects though.

During the year, they followed a little pigeon named Emma who traveled all over the world, and every time she went to a different city, they studied all the culture, food, and art of the country that city was in.

The first city Emma visited was New York City. We made a crown, found a bedsheet, borrowed a vacuuming tool and a roll of tape and voilà...Lady Liberty.

September 16, 2020

Here, Keira created her own Keith Haring art. We just did the projects. Took a picture and sent them in.

I helped Keira where I could, but I had the added benefit of being connected with a sweet girl named Lucille who attended the university in town. Her mother is French and her dad is American. Lucille spent the first 14 years of her life in France, and she was a wonderful tutor for Keira, helping her memorize poems and reading to understand.

September 24, 2020

Amongst all of our travels, we kept a full schedule when we were at "home." Karis and Caleb didn't travel with us a lot, so they continued all of their activities with VERY sweet people picking them up and taking them to youth group, ballet, and soccer, but the rest of the time, our schedule gave our kids opportunities to make friends with and spend time with kids in America.
 

Lockdown (with Twins)!

Keira and I started having lunch outside.

April 5, 2020

And then we started doing school outside.

April 6, 2020

And others came and went with their books and computers as the sun would allow.

The yard really was a great place to relax and not feel so cooped up.

 

April 13, 2020

There was one week during quarantine that we came home from the 

grocery story with two trays of eggs.  

(Each tray holds 30 eggs...we eat a lot of eggs).

Anyway...these two particular trays were FULL of twins.  

Maybe on a "normal" week, we wouldn't have gotten so excited about it, 

but during quarantine, the excitement was a little higher than normal as you might imagine.

For example, in the picture below, I only cracked 7 eggs!

I know. I know.  Amazing, right?

April 7, 2020

Also, much like in America, each day the government posted numbers for us to see.

I think our country did an excellent job at first with a quick lockdown and keeping numbers low.

Later in the month , after they loosened restrictions so people could 

celebrate the beginning of Ramadan (April 23), the numbers quickly escalated, 

and then trying to get the number of cases back down again was a hard thing to do.

One of the assignments Keira had to do for the French school was write a message 

for their school page in her own language to "Stay at Home."

April 13, 2020

Flooding...Again

This was "traffic control" in our neighborhood.  

As we walked to the grocery store or fruit stand we would see a car

 or two come up to the police, and they always let them pass.  

I was curious how other parts of town were blockading people or allowing car travel.

I wish you knew how crazy busy this street by our house is ALL the time, 

because seeing this was so weird!

We were so thankful that the fruit vendor guys made it through to replenish all our neighborhood fruit stands.

March 16, 2020

And then on the 18th when rain came again, the gutters and drains couldn't handle it, 

and I was once again thankful drivers were not on the roads

The one great thing about my older kids' online education is that school continued the same 

whether there was corona or not. Whether there was a flood or not.

However, Keira's education was another matter.  

Like many in America, the French school wasn't prepared for something like this.

Her teacher had moved into a hotel before Covid because her apartment situation wasn't healthy.

The internet was spotty, and she didn't know how to use zoom or even make a video for the students.

The hotel she was in didn't have a generator, so when she would call the kids 

around lunchtime on Whatsapp to check in, if power went off, the call was dropped. 

(We have our internet hooked up to a battery, for instance, so we don't lose internet 

when power goes off - it would be really difficult for the kids to take online tests, etc 

if we were always losing a connection)

Keira's teacher would text the assignments every day on WhatsApp.

I would translate them in Google translate, 

and then Keira and I would work through them together.

It was quite the system!

The grey building with the white doors in the middle of this picture is where our 

neighborhood generator is.  It makes a lot of noise, and as you can tell from where 

I'm taking the picture, it is right across the street from our house.  But the noise is always 

a blessing to hear when the town power shuts off, and some man across the street starts 

the engine on the generator so we can have power.

I hope that whatever this guy got out of his house for was worth it.

Thankfully for him, a police officer from the blockade crew came down to help him out.

Covid...when it rains it pours.

March 18, 2020

Mountains and Other Notable Things in October

Shortly after her birthday, Keira wanted to get a haircut.


October 28, 2019

Check✔

Where's Waldo Caleb?

October 26, 2019

One afternoon, everyone except Caleb decided to get out of town and take homeschool, reading, dolls, etc to the mountains. 

The older girls downloaded all the things they needed for homeschool.  Doug and I took books and music, and Keira didn't want to be left out, so she drew a computer on a piece of cardboard and pretended to type along with the girls.



She also enjoyed walking around, discovering nature and talking to herself.

She also made time to take care of her baby, which she has named "Kathryn." 💗

As the sun was setting, the girls took this beautiful picture.

It wasn't long before they were photobombed.

And the "third party" kept getting closer to the camera.

She's was really thinking about something.

Then they lost control.

October 30, 2019

It was the best day of homeschool! 

We had blankets, sweaters, a big thermos of hot coffee, and an amazing sunset. 😁

I wish we had more time to have days like this.

One Hundred Days

Growing up, my elementary school didn't celebrate the 100th day of school like they do now.

And since I homeschooled all my older kids during their elementary years, my first experience with this event was with Keira as a 1st grader.

Her teacher asked if I could help at one of the "stations."

No problem.

I helped them cut out paper glasses that didn't work so well, but they were in the shape of "100," so the kids liked them.

Keira also had to bring 100 items of something.
I am not creative and the first thing I thought of were beans or noodles, so...

Yep, those are Keira's bowtie noodles.



Other cool moms made cookies

 Or let their kid bring junk food

Or brought 100 strawberries and Nutella for dipping



So it really made me appreciate the mom who thought a little more like me.

Pre-packaged cups and straws in the count of 100.

The kids had fun, and you can even see some of them wearing their "100" glasses.

Next year, maybe I'll be more creative...maybe :)

March 2, 2019

School Started...A Long Time Ago

When school starts in September, it's still pretty hot around here.

The Mercedes-Benz place went all out trying to protect its shrubbery.

Keira started the first day of school with a little excitement of her own.

Keira - Grade 1.  Keira started the year off at a school in our neighborhood, but by the end of October, we decided to withdraw her and enroll her in the French school.  The school in our neighborhood was focusing more on teaching the kids English, and we wanted a little more challenge for her.  I think doing all of her lessons in French is definitely a challenge!  She is doing great, and she still has class three days a week in the local language, too. 

Walking in with her dad.

 

There were still a few tears.

 But she eventually walked into the "party."

And when I picked her up at the end of the day, she was all smiles, with some leftover cat face paint.

The first draft of her schedule included "Muice," however, even though they changed the schedule three more times before she left, they never got "music" spelled right :)

Caleb - grade 7.  He started the year off at a school here, but little did we know, in November, that school would be shut down.  Thankfully, Doug and I could see the writing on the wall, so by the end of October, we had withdrawn him and started him back at homeschool.

The numbers at the bottom of the sign they are holding aren't some sort of weird reference to 9/11, but when I look back at pictures, I'll never know what grades they were in if I don't have it in writing.

Karis - Grade 9.  This is her first time back at homeschool since 6th grade.  Since she was starting high school, we decided to put her in an American schooling program to make it easier for her to prepare for university.

Kylie - Grade 11.  As Kylie started her junior year at home, she was glad to have Karis at home, too.  I still can't believe she will be leaving home so soon!