Monday, May 28, 2012

Mikoshi Festival

We went to a festival this past week. In May, many Japanese communities celebrate by carrying around small replicas of their community shrine, called a Mikoshi. It takes quite a few people, taking turns, to carry the "small" replicas on their shoulders. They are dressed in traditional tops with headties and usually no pants (us American just cannot help giggling, although we try not to, lol) The day is spent carrying around the Mikoshi around the city followed by a parade of celebrating people and large drums. It is considered good luck to be passed by Mikoshi! We had the awesome experience two years ago of seeing the seven Mikoshis being carried around in Tokyo from one of the biggest shrines.




At this festival, we ate so much yummy Japanese festival food. Here n Yokosuka, a bulk of the food is centered around squid. All of us like squid, even before coming to Japan, so we love taste testing as much as we can! We had squid balls made with a sweet batter, yakisoba noodles with cooked squid and even had whole (small) squid grilled in a stick! Yumm!!!! As treats, we had candy covered apples and candy covered bananas. Japan has really grown on us- we love it here! 










As we enter summer, our family enters into our unschooling phase. We use the world around us as a teacher, at my children's pace. We also like to focus on unit studies and have been planning a few:

  • Historic Japan with a visit to Kyoto
  • Buddhism with visits to many Buddhist temples and shines
  • Japanese sea life with visits to aquariums and boat rides in the water around us
  • Traditional Japanese cooking

Needless to say we are very excited. We will still be keeping up with T4L each day and playing games such as sentence match   but that never feels like doing doing school to the kids!


Monday, May 21, 2012

Solar Eclipse

We had the amazing experience of getting to see a solar eclipse this morning! Yesterday we made pin hole viewers since I was unable to find glasses in time. I got the direction online and they were super easy to make using a shoebox, tape, foil and a pen.

We got up early and waited outside. The sky was cloudy so I thought we wouldn't be able to see anything. Luckily, the clouds were moving and we were able to see bits and pieces of the eclipse. I didn't photograph it but here is a picture that was taken by MC3 Steve White from Commander Fleet Activities Okinawa.






We feel so fortunate to be able to see it! I have heard the next one will not happen for 18 years!

I have been getting many questions about how to homeschool by friends here at base. Many people are displeased with the base school system here and are seriously considering pulling their children out. They are starting to see the benefits of homeschooling, and how it can be more personalized for their child and their family. 

Monday, May 14, 2012

Derby!!!!!

What a week full of fun!!!! On Saturday I had my first roller derby bout! I have been practicing for a little over two months and I feel like all of the hard work paid off :) My team, The Yokosuka Sushi Rollers, are comprised of women form the Yokosuka area- some are Military spouses, some are government sponsored civilians or active duty themselves. I love the camaraderie and strangely, having your butt handed to you while skating is actually fun! 

Introducing Wicked KillHer:








That day we also held a fundraiser for our animal shelter at our base's Japanese/American Friendship Day. We made money and I hope it will help. We recently went through some changes at the shelter but I feel they are needed for growth. We also got two new kitties into the fostering program. These guys were a result of a three hour rescue mission involving a storm drain, a sewer, the fire department and a geji-geji the size of my arm, lol! 

We are coming to an end of our "school year" and I have been putting some thought into next year's homeschool curriculum. We do end up schooling through the summer but it is not as rigorous as the rest of the year. The kids have shown an interest in doing unit studies again so we are going to think of some units to study as a family for the next few months- something to get us outside and immersed into the beautiful country of Japan around us! This week the kids are finishing up their grade level subjects for their current grades and having fun playing online context clues games and reviewing their spelling and vocabulary form the whole year.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Cave Adventure

This past week we had the awesome opportunity to take a tour of a cave on the Yokosuka Naval Base. It is a man made cave, built in WW2 by prisoners of the Japanese. Squidward and the Princess loved their little headlamps I got them and Zombie Boy led the way as the oldest child in our group. The cave is a huge underground maze, very cold and quite creepy. There were many Geji-Geji bugs (the creepy Japanese bug that are long with many long legs) but overall it was a great and educational experience. I couldn't imagine having to work and live down there! This has now sparked an interest in caves in my children and it looks like we might be doing a summer unit study on caves... that is, if I can find some for us to visit in Japan :) This Military homeschooling family loves adventure!

We are on the downswing of school this year. After getting our standardized testing results, we haven't been doing as much since all three kids are at or exceeding their grade level goals. Over the summer, I want to refocus on unit studying. I love unit studies because the kids learn so much without even realizing they are "in school"!  Caves are number one on our list and we are still thinking of what else to do. I was thinking about possibly something fishing or water related since that is such a big industry here in Japan. I just want to put away the books for awhile and have fun! We studied hard this year- schooling though our move as well as the holidays and I think we all deserve some free time.

I have also been researching different avenues of learning for Zombie. This upcoming year will be his eighth grade year and then he will be a high schooler! There aren't as many resources for this age for homeschooling so I am not sure what route we will go down. I have considered a distance learning school and asking him if he would like to take extra curricular classes or sports though the base high school. I just want to be sure that he has every opportunity as other kids without sacrificing his happiness of being home. As long as he is learning, given support for increased responsibility, and has assistance with big things like SAT writing help then I am happy. Thank goodness I still have time to think about all of this and come up with a plan!