Life Learning Lab: Spanish for Joel

The combination of needing to focus on homeschooling the older boys and our desire for him to be immersed in the Spanish language drove our search to find a preschool for Joel. It's actually harder than we thought to find a place where he would be immersed in the language. Most schools here are bilingual and many of the recommended schools are in English nearly full time. However, one day as we were exploring a nearby neighborhood we saw a sign for "Green Minds Kinder" and decided to visit. It is a small childcare run in the backyard of the director's home. They have about 3 classes of kids and around 6 teachers. The director has three boys and has clearly set up the playspace with active and creative play in mind. Among other things, she has available wheelbarrows, ropes, a large pvc pipe, and a trampoline. There are small classrooms where they sing songs and have their lessons. Joel attends every morning from 8-12 and although the adjustment went fairly smoothly, I'm sure there are moments when he feels confused and misses being with us. One of the teachers speaks English to the children but I know he misses the ease of connection through a common language with the others. However, his teachers are very warm and it's clear Joel has a special place in their hearts.

A Birthday Gift on My Door

I heard the pulling and cutting of tape, a not-so quiet whisper and the scurrying outside my door. A sweetness filled my heart. One thing occupied the mind of my tender-hearted Seth on that particular day, to decorate my door for my birthday.

Years ago we started a special birthday tradition in our family. The night before the birthday, we decorate the person's door so right when they wake up in the morning they feel celebrated and loved.

On this day, my 39th birthday, the act is particularly sweet- it's the first time anyone has ever done it for me.
In the midst of so much change, Seth found a strand that carries us through time and place. He found an act that communicates we are family and "home" no matter where we lay our heads at night.

This is part of the beauty of family rituals. Some rituals provide a rhythm to life. Some are markers that break up one day so seamlessly going into the next. I find it fascinating how over time they build into our identity and sense of belonging. They communicate, "This is part of what it means to be a Wilson".

Five days later, with very droopy eyes, Kyle stayed up late to help me with a Costa Rica themed birthday decoration for Seth. He woke up to 7 pictures of Costa Rican animals, 7 compliments, 7 leaf rubbings from our backyard, and a picture of a cake with 7 candles on it made by Joel.

In this new place, we are creating new rhythms and markers, but we are also resting our feet on firmly planted ones.

Life Learning Lab: Homeschooling

An acceleration experiment

When Mom and Dad first told us we were going to Costa Rica, I asked, "What are we going to do about school?"  Dad replied, "We're going to homeschool." At first, I was really excited. We were going to homeschool, something that I've always wanted to do.

But when we got here and started homeschooling, I learned that everything has it's advantages and disadvantages. For example, there's no commute, but that means that instead, you have to work during that time. Here's a graph of it's advantages and disadvantages:

 Advantages                                                                                                      Disadvantages

no commute	you have to work instead
work at your level	harder work
do-whatever-you-want play breaks (recesses)	no playgrounds
mom as teacher	less experienced teacher
more one-on-one time	very few classmates
more field trips	(no disadvantage)
(no advantage)	more writing
less spelling	(no disadvantage)

As you can see, there are more advantages then disadvantages. But don't get too excited if you're a mom. I hear it's very hard work to get everything ready!

Also, we have Spanish. There's a really nice college student down the street that teaches us Spanish an hour every weekday. She speaks English and Spanish, which is nice because then we can understand what she's saying.  She doesn't just teach it, either. She shows it in real life. For example, we played tennis together. We learned the words tennis, racket, shoes, throw, and turn. Just from one hour!

Don't get too excited, kids. It's hard work!

-Kyle Wilson

Life Learning Lab - Transition to Homeschooling

I've been asked several times over the past month, "So how is homeschooling going?" Moving out of our house of nine years, arriving in a foreign country, and starting homeschooling for the first time two days later, would probably not make it onto any "Recommendations for New Homeschooling Families" lists. However, there we were, with a math and reading curriculum, a few art supplies and spiral notebooks and lots of hours in the day. The first few weeks were definitely a jolt for all us. The kids were used to long, summer days in Michigan with little required of them and I was used to well...nothing here. Everything was a new routine to discover, even down to where the silverware is kept and how to drive on the roads. Why not just throw homeschooling into the mix too, right?

As a family who has a natural curiosity about life and learning, parts of the transition were natural. We already read, learn and do projects together. However, because I love to take advantage of "learning opportunities" I find it hard to know sometimes when to call the school day over and actually how to even define what is "school". There is so much to glean and so much potential in each day, that sometimes I struggle with whether I should be doing more to prepare or enhance their learning.

Honestly, I didn't have time to do a lot of research on best homeschooling techniques, but what I did read and from my education background I knew it was valuable to keep our goals in mind as we approach this year. Here are some of mine:

• Bond deeply as a family through shared experience
• Appreciate and learn from a new culture
• Learn about and from our surroundings
• Exposure to Spanish
• Spend time learning and discussing God's word
• Modeling for our children a growing, dependent relationship with Christ
• Learn and use technology
• Foster creativity and critical thinking
• Spend time regularly reading and writing
• Nurture a family culture of gratitude and of trying new and possibly uncomfortable things

It is perhaps important to mention some of the things that are not on this list:

• That we follow all the grade level Common Core standards
• That we cover all the subjects every day
• That they have regular, peer playtime
• That they participate in formal extracurricular activities like organized sports or music lessons
• That each day will be filled with well thought out, hands on learning experiences
• Spanish fluency

I find identifying some of my limitations helps me to keep my eyes focused on the goals we have determined for this year instead of feeling guilty about all the things we aren't doing.

Our days are filled with some routine: spelling, handwriting and grammar practice, Bible verse memorization and devotionals, writing, and sometimes math. We read aloud together every day and they read on their own as well. However, some days we have lessons related to this incredible giant ecology-lab we are living in. We'd love to share some of our favorite lessons with you along the way!

Life Learning Lab: Spanish for Kyle and Seth

Given the length of time we are here, we know Spanish fluency is not possible, but we prayed for a way for our kids to have consistent exposure to the language and culture.

Through a series of God-ordained events, I was invited to a birthday party of a woman who lives on our street and who also is from Michigan. At her party was a mom and her college-aged daughter. I had been looking for several weeks to find someone to teach the older boys Spanish, but had not found any feasible options. When I asked them if they knew of anyone that may be interested, the young woman, Valeria, immediately said she would love to do it! Her college classes are in the afternoon and evenings, so her schedule allows her to come every morning for an hour. She has been such an answer to prayer! She is creative, patient and kind and has really become a friend to our family. She even was able to babysit the boys so Kevin and I could go on a date! Another ideal that we didn't know how we would ever make happen in a new country.

Valeria and the kids do a variety of activities. Some day they play games, other days art projects, and on this day they made palm trees out of fruit.

Life Learning Lab: Waves

Waves

Internet-linked

Recorded by Kyle Wilson

Gathered by Kevin Wilson

          Waves might seem simple, but they are actually very complicated.  Here are some different kinds:

·       Capillary wave

A small wave about a centimeter in height.  About two centimeters between the waves.  The most common wave

·       Wind wave

A medium-sized wave usually two to eighteen feet in height.  Sixty to one hundred and fifty feet between the waves.  The second most common wave.

·       Seiche wave

A large wave, usually occurring during storms.  The third most common wave

·       Seismic sea wave (tsunami)

The tallest wave, usually 50 meters in height.  Usually occurring after a underwater earthquake or volcano.  One hundred and twenty miles between waves.  The fifth most common wave.

·       Tide

The longest between waves, half the circumference of the Earth.  The forth most common wave.  Driven by the moon. (gravity)

See links

     Waves are usually driven by wind, but some are driven by earthquakes and volcanoes, and still others are driven by the moon. (gravity)

     Waves break because they hit a rock or sandbar.  They can break many times on their journey across the ocean. 

Have you ever heard of AM and FM?  They are radio waves.  AM stands for Amplitude Modulation, and FM stands for Frequency Modulation.  AM goes more up and down, and FM changes the frequency instead of the amplitude.

Gathered by:
Wikipedia 
Wikipedia Tides

Tides for Fishing
Tides and Currants
Surf Chart
Tides and Currants-google map
Wave heights and speeds

Life Learning Lab: Are vines parasitic or symbiotic?

Me pulling on a vine.  It came down very easily!

While my family and I were walking in the rainforest, we wondered whether vines were parasitic or symbiotic. We all needed to know what that meant first. We learned that something that’s parasitic doesn’t help the host, which is the thing it’s living on, but instead takes from it and doesn’t give anything back. Symbiotic is when they both give something to each other.

When I arrived home, I did research on the Internet and found that vines are parasitic. They take the tree’s nutrients and water and they choke the tree. It’s so bad that people cut down the vines so their tree can survive. Though some might say it looks a lot better to have green vines than a brown trunk!

-Kyle Wilson

A litte clip from Kyle's travel journal

To see more, read my full journal


On the second day of our vacation, we were having a little bit of trouble…
We were walking along the beach and then I yelled: "Look at that HUGE fish!" Everybody saw the fish. It was probably the size of a large canoe, and was obviously only part of a fish. It had bones two feet long, and stunk the worst kind of fishy smell you could ever imagine.

Our troubles continued on the way home from the beach, too…

When we got in the car, Mom exclaimed, "We all stink!". Everybody noticed it at once. It was true. We all stunk. It must have been because the water we had been playing in had a lot of rotten fish in it. Dad had to drive with the windows open and music blaring to keep our minds off the stink. This wasn’t your normal paved road, either. It was so bumpy that we had to go only like, five miles an hour. It was also dark, and some of the ATV’s didn’t have working headlights. There were narrow one-way bridges with no railings, and sometimes it was hard to see when they were coming. And it was dirt roads most of the way home.

Along the Way.... Our Beach Vacation

From October 27-November 1, our family took our first overnight trip to Santa Teresa on the Nicoya Peninsula.  Here's some pictures and videos that we took of some of our animal sightings and adventures.

This isn't a road sign that you see everyday!

Howler monkeys howling in the trees

Amazing Tidal Pools
We researched about tides and learned that there is a 12 foot tide in Costa Rica! In comparison Lake Michigan has a 1 inch tide!

A driving adventure to Cabo Blanco National Park

A Limerick to Boogie Boarding

There once was a Seth that rode a wave

The wave toppled him over, so he was now a boy we needed to save

The front went down, the back rose

we could barely save his toes

Even after this, a cheer to boogie boarding Seth gave

Seth and Sarah Wilson

Along the way...Flooding in San Jose

We're nearing the end of the rainy season in Costa Rica, which can mean up to 8 hours of rain a day for weeks on end.  Last week when we were driving home the rains really started coming down!  Most city roads have 2 foot ditches on either side to handle all the rain, but on this particular day, they weren't up for the task!

Life Learning Lab: Wave Sizes

Wave length is the length of the wave.   

A capillary wave is two centimeters tall.

What's the longest wave?  It's the tide!  Did you guess right or wrong?

Where do you find the biggest waves?  Guess.  It's Antarctica!  Were you right or wrong?

-Seth Wilson