Summer English Camp

Ahhhhh!!! I'm sitting here thoroughly enjoying the weather right now... 72 F. with 69% humidity and 16mph breeze... perfect in my estimation! The humidity is a little high, but I love 70-degree weather.

I'm procrastinating on the next set of pictures to blog about when Kendra was here because we took a lot of pictures at the open market. Plus, I thought you may be interested in some current stuff, so this is a blurp about the last couple weeks at the summer English church camp. John took the camera a day last week and then I took the camera today when we were both there.

Here is a neat picture John shot above the Academy. Our classroom is in the library, and some of the older girls come in over breaktime to read the books. They also like to play games with us some time such as Dutch Blitz, Phase 10, and Skip-Bo that we've taught them.


Our class: a couple shots of our class...we didn't get everyone together at the same time, however...
1st picture L-R: Bonnie, Joel, Teddie, Susan, Emma, and Sadie. This is during one of John's pm, classes...working on correct speech & language, practicing questions & answers. 2nd picture L-R: Diane, Bonnie, Susan, Joel, John, Jackie, and Emma. This was taken today during am class when both John & I were there. Usually it's just me for this class. We are doing an art project with names. If you look closely, you can see on the lower right-hand corner of the table a picture of what looks like an insect. It's actually my name drawn fancy and then copied in mirror image. Then it's colored creatively to see how it turns out. We dubbed it "Ima Insect"! :) Can you see Emma's name in her paper she's holding up? Overall, they are a great class. They are intelligent with great potential.


Schedule: The kids and I are picked up at 8:35 each morning. I have some time to make copies & finish preparing for class before the first class at 9:20. It is 55 minutes and then we break from 10:15-10:30. In this class I usually test them on what we learned the day before, we learn a new memory verse each morning which they must recite before entering the cafeteria for supper, and then we "hit the books" and learn something new again. I actually am taking them through Jesse & Joy's phonics book which is right on target for them. We learned words for synonyms & antonyms this past week. And for the memory verse, we have CD's which sing Bible verses and that's been a hit with the kids. So they sing their verse for supper!

Class 2: The second class lasts for 90 minutes which we again sing our memory verse several times, work with the new words we learned in the first class, and practice writing, spelling, and speaking. We then usually end with something fun, usually a learning activity or something creative, like the picture above.

*** We are to have a Production Day on the last day of camp for the parents.(Aug. 23) Each class will put on a skit or demonstrate things they've learned during the past 3 weeks. We began practicing for it today since both John and I were in class. The kids did well. John & I put together a skit using all the songs they've learned, as well as a short skit John found that the kids love.

PM Classes: The kids and I stay for lunch and then they bring us home and pick up John (he has class at the elementary school in the am.) and he covers the afternoon. In the afternoon, John works on the conversation part of English learning from 2-4. The academy has 3 class rooms set up with posters for a bank, a hospital, and a hotel. Each class rotate between these rooms to facilitate learning conversation in these areas. Then they also practice it back in their regular classroom with a conversation book. After some free time, John has another hour of review with the class in which he reviews the words I taught them in the morning and the memory verse for supper. Then he has supper there before coming home.

Back at home: Meanwhile in the afternoon, the children have quiet time from 1:30-2:30. Then, we have a snack and some play time followed by chores. After chores, we do some homeschooling until 5, when we start supper prep which usually takes an hour. Then we're about finished up eating by the time John gets home between 6:30-7. We generally have a time of sharing how our day went, then finish up our evening with a family game. At 8, it's time for pj's, teeth brushed, Bible story, hugs & kisses, bathroom, and then tucked into bed by 8:30-9. I say 9:00 because sometimes we get distracted by the Bible story and the kids' questions(especially James') and we get to talking about a topic or searching the Bible to find more on what the Bible says on something.

*** I have to share something fun that happened this week. Kendra will appreciate this the most, I think! While we were in E. Peoria, Kendra loved to jump out of hiding places and startle John often. It was usually a source of much laughter & fun together at the end of busy days. Well, Kendra tried and tried to "get him" while she was here, but failed miserably simply because there is just not the space to hide in this house. She even hid out in the bathroom one time, but couldn't even manage to get him then because he quickly noticed she wasn't anywhere to be seen and became suspicious. (There's not much that gets missed in such small quarters!!) However, on her last night here, she actually got him by ducking around a corner in full view when he was not expecting it. I think that was one of the highlights of her trip!! :) Anyway, Wednesdays we usually go into the library at SeoSan, but James came down with a 102 fever that did not go down during a nap, so I canceled. John did not know this, so he was expecting us to be gone when he came home from camp. I suddenly remembered this at 6:35 while we were still eating, so we gathered together in the kitchen behind the sheet we've rigged up to close off the 'cooking heat' to the rest of the house. The kids were estatic at the chance to surprise Daddy! We crouched at the doorway and waited breathlessly until he finally arrived at 6:50. Then, he didn't come straight to the kitchen! The kids had a really hard time to keep from giggling out loud, but they did it! Finally, he started toward the kitchen and boy did we surprise him!!! The kids jumped out and Daddy jumped, too! It was a feat we will probably not be able to pull off again anytime soon!