Dark is the Stain...

Life

We are in the last few months before we get a big change of scenery - furlough - in June. Normally, hubby is in Kenya at this time of year for engineer meetings, but this year the schedule changed and he gets to be here in the hangar. Actually, it's probably best, because he is so swamped. Like, it's actually crazy. The projects his team has been able to do over the past 12 months is truly remarkable, and things have not slowed. If anything, because of our upcoming leave of absence, there's a bit more pressure to finish up important projects beforehand, while at the same time preparing his team to work as efficiently as possible during our furlough.

Now he has cold, and yeah... aw. I'm just trying to be his cheerleader for the time being.  

Photo Credit: IBN TV

On another topic, a couple of my friends and I went for lunch yesterday, and we were entertained/scared/disgusted by a "rat highway" we observed along a little walkway outside the restaurant about 15 feet from where we were eating. When I used my very primitive malagasy language skills to alert the server that we were seeing rats - big rats, he was kind enough to investigate, but didn't block the entrance to their tunnel, or make any efforts to rid the area of their presence. We're in Madagascar after all, of course there are rats running around. Yes, I know this. But it's a little disconcerting to observe them while dining at a restaurant.  :)

School

Term 2 is wrapping up, and my calendar says we only have 12 weeks of school left until the end of the year. Wow! That's crazy. Is it just me, or when the holidays are out of the way, June is right around the corner?

My 5th grade boy is struggling through Saxon 7/6, bless him, he keeps reminding me that he's a whole book ahead of the game.

Ideally, I'd like him to keep up this pace, as I feel it will serve him later on in high school when the algebra and trig. hits hard. That being said, he's just completely discouraged about math, is starting to hate it, and has lost his confidence. He is messing up basic problems by over-thinking the process, and it's just downright frustrating to his marks consistently falling. Plus, it's done a number on our teacher/mother - son relationship.

Over the years I have been interested in Teaching Textbooks. But the debate over the two programs, TT and Saxon, is almost impossible to wade through. One thing that has kept me on the straight and narrow as far as math goes is it's costly, if not impossible, to get new math material except once every two years when we are in Canada. This limited access to Amazon shipping, or teacher stores has served me well in making what we have work. But, part of me is really ready for a change for him. I want to his confidence rise. I want him to feel like he has a solid handle on math again before we hit high school and things start to get tough again.

Low and behold, during my research I discovered Teaching Textbooks has a completely online option now! No shipping heavy textbooks or DVD's required anymore. Two years ago, this probably wouldn't have been a feasible option for us with poor internet, but since we've hooked up fibre optics - it's like a whole new world of options has opened up to us.

I signed up for their trials. I've had my son do their assessment for entering Level 7, and he easily passed, so that may say something about their levels corresponding to grades. Maybe they kind of do? Because, basically his assessment result told me that being halfway through Saxon 7/6 (a 6th grade math text) should well-prepare a student for Level 7 of Teaching Textbooks. That's not too far off, grade-level-wise.

But am I more concerned about concepts to learn, or him actually enjoying math? Am I okay with there potentially being some gaps in learning come advanced math time? Will we have time or the motivation to take an extra year and do an online math course, even a final level of Saxon for Grade 12? Will it even matter?

There's a fine balance between these two (enjoyment vs. discipline). I can't change methods or curriculums every 6 months to appease moods in my house. Sometimes we just have to buckle down and get the job done.

So we'll see how this pans out. I'm not ready to purchase the 12-month subscription, but it's definitely on my mind right now. 

In My Garden

It has been really hot lately, and it seems like less rainfall than I remember in past Februaries. Oh do I remember well the first February we were here. It was our second month of living in Madagascar, and my husband was away at the engineer meetings, and we experienced our first cyclone. When cyclones hit the coastlines of Madagascar, our city typically experiences a lot of cloud cover, unusually high winds, but nothing crazy, and misty rains with some big down-pours mixed in. This can go on for a few days. But when that first cyclone hit the coast, it actually came across the island without losing too much strength, and we were out of power for a couple of days, the rain was relentless, and yea. Four kids 5 and under. I just remember trying to bathe them in rubbermaid totes, with water heated up on the gas stovetop. Good times. It's funny because sometimes my oldest daughter will recall that memory and in her mind she thinks we had to bathe in rubbermaid totes for weeks, when it was actually only a handful of times.

Anyways, this year there's only been one cyclone, and it was minor. And the rain has been drizzly, with a few torrential downpours. It's been a strange wet season. The heat has been intense at times! And then, there are mornings and evenings when I find myself grabbing my hoodie.

Our freezer is filling up with bananas - because when your yard is full of bunches of bananas like these, it's just what happens. It's nice to have a supply of frozen bananas for desserts, smoothies, and breads.