Yes, I truly have been Missing In Action. In other words, I’ve been living a full, rich life and had plenty to write about but little time to actually write!

My Dad came to visit me and stayed with us for a few weeks. I haven’t seen him for nearly two years and I missed him terribly. It was so wonderful to connect (IRL) with him again. He drove back to Broken Hill and then he popped in for breakfast one morning!!!! What a fantastic surprise. He was helping a friend move house and had an overnight stop over in Adelaide so he popped in for pancakes with lemon and sugar for breakfast (Courtesy of ‘Miss A’ , who makes the fluffiest, yummiest pancakes). I have really missed these sort of informal drop-ins by family while we’ve been interstate.

John took me out for an evening a few weeks ago. We went to see the Paul Potts live in concert. I have been a fan of Paul Potts since I first saw on youtube. The concert was even better than the CD so if you get a chance to see him live, it’s a better experience. The man may not be a Christian but I see a humility and attitude of gratitude in him and his wife.

‘Miss R’ has settled well into school. She did a week of work experience at a hair dressing salon, which she enjoyed very much. Other young girls went to fashionable, funky salon’s but as we had just moved ‘Miss R’ couldn’t be choosy and had to take what she could get. Well it all turned out for the best as a dear lady took her in and as they were short of workers ‘Miss R’ had lots or opportunity to experience things that the other kids her age didn’t.

‘Miss A’ was applying for jobs all over the place. She got herself at job at a cafe a few miles away. She had a two week trial period as a barista and while she would have stayed there, it wasn’t what she really wanted. She just kept putting it before the Lord. Well, on the very last day of her trial period, a new coffee shop opened up at the village mall only 3kms away from us!!!! She applied and they employed her- all within a matter of hours! She is now employed as a barista in a speciality coffee shop (No, not GJ’s…much better ). The have given her a fair bit of room to be creative with her latte art and have paid for a further training course where she went to be trained by professionals and learned more about coffee cherries, beans and roasting. The employers are fully supportive of her softball, which is all the more amazing. Praise the Lord! I can see more and more how much our home-based-learning lifestyle has enabled ‘Miss A’ to pursue her passions and subsequently excel at them. She has learned so much about life through a home-based education.

The boys have been engaging in heaps of real-life learning. They’ve been pottering on with their ACE paces although John was bored with his SOSE paces and considering that he reads so much historical fiction, I have allowed him to read good, living books instead. We are currently learning about Ancient Rome so he is reading through If you’re not familiar with the book, you might like to check out this homeschool review. He is also reading many other books set around this period. We have started a read aloud which is my second time. I read it aloud to the girls so it must be good for me to do it again. The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare is a great read for boys or girls.

John has been tending to his lessons but he’d rather do anything physical than sit down to bookwork. He will mow lawns, clean the car, exercise, do dishes, you-name-it, he’ll-do-it rather than write with a pen! However, he’s continuing to practice composition and writing. Shhhh, don’t tell him that it is a part of formal lessons. He is teaching himself a whole new language as well – PERL. No, he hasn’t taken up knitting. It is a computer language. While I learn HTML, CSS and PHP, he likes to try his hand is designing games. So he borrowed a book from the library and has been intensely teaching himself this new language. He is practising all the necessary learning skills – reading, writing, taking notes, narrating, processing information, while practising keyboard skills. But the best thing is that this is all independent learning! He is totally self directed in this project.

Last week I had to attend a meeting in the city so we all piled into the car and dropped ‘Miss A’ at work and ‘Miss R’ at school and then the boys and I popped into a fresh roasted coffee bean store before heading off to spend a few hours at both the Adelaide Art Gallery and the Museum before heading to Koorong Christian bookstore. While there, I picked up our reserved copy of the DVD, Hadassah: One Night with the King. ‘Miss A’ and I read the book over a year ago and have been waiting impatiently for the DVD to arrive in Australia. If you’ve been studying the book of Esther, you’ll like this movie tie-in. If you’ve read the book by Tommy Tenny, you might be a little disappointed in the movie- I don’t know. Drop me a line and let me know what you thought of it.

Another book that I bought and have started is called The Story by Murray Watts. It looks very good. It’s similar to The Book of God: The Bible as a Novel by Walter Wangerin which the girls and I enjoyed but it seems a little shorter and a tad simpler in literary style.

We have been doing a basic study on the nature of God, which I will upload to my website, one day…after I’ve uploaded the outline of my talk at the SA HSing seminar.

John (DH) had to go to Sydney for an ill family member who was hospitalised so we had an emotionally draining fortnight throughout all that. The family member has recovered but is in need of further medical treatment so your prayers would be most appreciated. God knows the need.

I’ve been having dreadful migraine headaches, which is not a usual occurrence for me. maybe it’s too much coffee…maybe it’s other lifestyle issues, I don’t know. But they have been constant and quite debilitating. I will be adjusting my lifestyle next week and going off coffee and drinking more water, so I hope that will help. Meantime, I’ve been working steadily on my new project – yes, an interactive website for the Australian homeschool community. I’ll write more about that soon.

Life has been so busy, rich and full. Like an online friend, Marbel said,

Whenever I find myself blogging, or thinking of blogging, frequently, I find… the rest of my life diminishing. When I blog about reading, I’m not reading. When I blog about homeschooling, I’m not homeschooling.