Same old same old.....

....in Bahrain!! We have pretty much finished our school year so we are just doing some daily review type things. Layne is working on anything to do with Spring, although we don't have much of a spring in Bahrain--it goes from 55 degrees to 100 very fast!) She studied the lifecycle of the butterfly, we've read books on migration and hibernation, grew bean seeds in a plastic bag taped to the window, grown carrot tops in a dish, and planted flower seeds and watched them grow. She is very into her plants and watching for changes and caring for them. We took this a bit further by discussing germination.

Luke has not enjoyed doing review worksheets this past week, but since he is only doing sit down desk work for an hour a day ,he is tolerating it!! I've allowed more computer time than I usually do to keep him motivated. We are studying US geography ( being a Montessori kids he knows where Suriname is, but not Kansas!) He is made a neat map and is doing research state by states making a book on the name, nickname, year it became a state, state bird, flag etc. He also is learning his multiplication tables. He has worked for a few years with the bead chains and has the concrete part down pat, so its time for the memorization. We found a great program online ( free!) called "Timez Attack" which is like a video game but teaches the tables. He is doing this daily as well. He had a blast yesterday because our gardeners came to dig up a palm tree that is dying. It took them about 4 hours to dig down to the roots and they were very nice to let Luke get into the hole with them and "help". These men are from India and don't speak english. They call him "Lukew" and actually communicate pretty well with simple gestures etc. Luke took them cold water and sandwiches, this is something they very much appreciate asthey only make about $240 a month for 12 hour days/6 days a week. Today a crane will come and pull the tree out and replace with a new one. Thats the way they do it around here...I call it fake nature. WHen something looks a bit shabby, they dig it up and replace it IMMEDIATELY...thats why we pay the big bucks to live in this pretty compound ( ha ha).

Chris is busy with work. We are lucky his office is about 10 minutes away so he doesnt leave until just before 8 and is usually home before 5:30. Its nice in the evenings right now so we sit outfront for a bit and talk about our day before dinner. Nice time of year.

I'll post pictures next post. xoxo