~Homeschooling 101,202,303...=) ~

Again, THANK YOU for ALL your sweet and fun comments you left on my last post about our baby girl!  =D
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~Homeschooling is SUCH A BLESSING and Privilege!  Without homeschooling it would be nearly impossible to be missionaries like God has called our family to be.  We love it that homeschooling is FlExIbLe!
When we arrived in the USA last March, 2013, our Sarah and Noah were nearly done with their PACES for that year.  But, then we started 6 months of deputation, which is very fun, very tiring, can be stressful, LOTS of hours on the road, etc.  It's NOT the easiest environment in which to do homeschooling.
It can be done, but since we were doing the Western tour and traveled nearly 10 hour days LOTS of days, and since at least one of our kids gets VERY CAR SICK, it would have been very hard to do school work.  (Not to mention the LATE hours one keeps going from church to church, and eating snacks and visiting with each pastor late, and trying to hurry up and get your things and yourself out of the "people's hair" at a half way decent hour the next morning, etc. =)
This is NOT TO COMPLAIN...For There are some FUN PERKS of deputation as well.  May GOD RICHLY BLESS each of you who planned FUN THINGS for our family and kids to do!  
We are very blessed! =)
So, when we arrived back at our home in Cinci. at the end of August, not only was it time to start school, but it was also time to ORGANIZE our house (that we had basically only lived in for 19 days), and see church friends and FAMILY that we hadn't really seen since we had been traveling!
One of the HARDEST THINGS for Phillip and I about being a missionary is NOT BEING with our parents in their Golden years!   So, any time that "Grandpa and Grandma" or "Gramp and Gram" could come visit us this past Fall and winter, our kids STUDIES went on HOLD!
We CHERISHED every moment we could with both sets of parents, knowing that soon we'd be FAR AWAY from them.  =(
~Sarah diligently working on her studies.~

 ~So, all that to say, our children DID do some schoolwork in the Fall, but we knew that when we got to Argentina is when we would REALLY FOCUS on homeschooling!
Our family uses A.C.E. and so each student does around 60 PACES (or more) each year.
When we arrived in Argentina at the end of January...
Both Sarah and Noah each had around 46 or so PACES to complete for this year!!!
They have WORKED their heads off...and now
Noah only has 17 
and Sarah only has 14!!!    =)
We praise the Lord for His help in catching up and completing this work.
We're still working HARD each day and trying to get completely done before we head back to the USA in June.
(For when we get home we need to do some work on our house and get ready for our new baby Girl!!!  =)
~Noah being a trooper and "knocking out" those PACES!~

 ~Most of you know that I L.O.V.E. to bake!!!!  There is really nothing that makes my heart happier (besides Jesus and my family) than baking a treat!!!  A BIG part of my homeschooling my girls is passing on my love for the kitchen to them.  Kimberly can make any recipe she wants to now, and Sarah isn't far behind. That makes this Mommy's heart HAPPY.  =)
But...since we've been in Argentina, the kids have been STUDYING NON-STOP on their PACES and I haven't taken time to do any "Home Ec." with Sarah.
This past Friday I was making French bread to get ready for company on Saturday, and grabbed Sarah to come and be my side-kick in the kitchen.  (It's been rather LONELY in there in recent months. =)
I did a little experiment with some of my french bread dough and made sort of an apple danish or an apple strudel wanna-be.  =)~

 ~I let Sarah "braid it" and thought she did a great job. =) ~

 ~And for lunch that day we made homemade whole wheat tortillas.~

 ~All hot and ready to eat!~

 ~Here's Sarah's beautiful danish!~

 ~Yummo!~

 ~Kimberly LOVES the room that Jesus has provided for her right now.  She has a HUGE desk and loves to get up EARLY in the morning, make herself some coffee or Argentine Mate (tea) and study away!
She has a nice balcony right in her room.  Whenever she wants...she can open the door and get fresh air. =) God is helping her to get her goals done as well!!~

 ~THANK YOU, DEAR JESUS, for your HELP in getting our schoolwork done so far!  (And Thank you in advance for your continued help as the kids finish this year!  =)