Starting To Homeschool

Blogging is definitely not one of my strong points,  but I would like to start up AGAIN. So many different topics and ideas floating through my head these days.  Trying to catch a dream and follow it to success.

Started working with Jabin on homeschooling this past week. We are following the Charlotte Mason education idea,  with seeming success.  He seems to enjoy it so far,  as long as it doesn't take too long with each subject, especially writing/word building. ;) I'll post a schedule in a later post.

The internet is really a very helpful tool.  So many great posts,  videos,  how-to's, etc.  I can look through people's homeschool schedules to get ideas and print my own from others' experience of what has worked for them. I'm hoping to get a few things from Simply Charlotte Mason to use with Jabin this fall.  I've already started using Delightful Reading, so we are using that and a few other resources from here and there.

Delicious Apple Pie Filling

 
This year we went apple picking at the orchard with some friends on Labor Day. I decided to make apple pie filling with the apples. I usually try to make applesauce, but we still have some left from last year, so I thought, why not try something new? Here's the recipe, and steps, that I used to make this delicious apple pie filling:

Heat water in a large canner-sized pot, or a canner. You will use this to process the jars.
Rinse jars with warm water.

To make approximately 7 quarts, you'll need about 6 pounds of apples. You may or may not get 7 quarts, depending on the size of the apples. I am not sure how many pounds of apples I had, so I just guessed. I got about 6 quarts, due to not having enough syrup, so I probably had more than 6 pounds cut up.

Peel, core, and slice apples. Put them in a bowl of cool water with some lemon juice, so they don't brown, while waiting to get all of the apples cut.

Mix together:

4 1/2 c sugar
1 c cornstarch
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 nutmeg

Add:
2 tsp salt
10 c water

Put this mixture in a cooking pot and bring this to a boil. Cook until bubbly and thick. Remove from heat.

Add: 3 Tbsp lemon juice

Pack the apples into warm jars.

Pour syrup over the apples, leaving about 1 in. - 1/2 in. headspace in the jar.
Remove air bubbles, by using a small spatula along the sides of the jar.

Put lids and rings on jars and put them in the large pot or canner and let them sit in the water bath for 20 minutes.

Remove jars and let sit on the counter. The jars should start sealing after starting to cool. If they haven't sealed after 24 hours, you can reprocess them with new lids.

Enjoy your delicious apple pie filling in apple pies, over ice cream, in turnovers, apple crisp, and other tasty desserts. Each quart makes enough filling for one pie. Enjoy!!!

Diary of My Trip to PNG #6

April 22nd
Monday  (21st) we went to town and stocked up on groceries. Then we drove to Tambul area again. This time it was to support Kuglu, as he gave two different tribes demands for wrecking his son's PMV (public motor vehicle- like a bus). It was wrecked due to careless driving, while drunk. Each tribe will pay, to fix the vehicle; one 42,000K and the other 65,000K. From there, we saw Ivan and Joel's place, as well as Rex. (These are different guys that are currently here in the states.) It's been raining a lot, so it gets very muddy and slippery. I can hardly walk up the hill to the house without falling when it's so wet. I have to hold someone's hand or they hold onto my arms. Sometimes it gets quite humorous. :)
Sunday, (April 20th) we went to the youth camp for the morning service. It was super muddy, like the fairground parking sometimes, only much worse. The truck kept getting stuck. I sat with Joanna Poning and her daughters. James Poning preached. He was studying here in the states, and came to our house and saw his first snow. The announcements during the service were VERY long. Church started at 9, but the preaching didn't start until at least 12. The tent was packed, with everyone sitting cross-legged, or however, but with no room between.The tent was huge, but was completely packed and they had another tent set up where people were sitting and listening. Then we came home and Tres (Win's cousin) muumuu-ed some pork that Joseph Kera gave us. (His daughter is here studying.) That was very delicious. We had greens and cacao (sweet potatoes) too.
Saturday, we planned to go to the youth camp morning service, but just as we were getting ready to leave Roger (Jr.) and Naomi came up. So we stayed back and talked with them. Then later, we tried to do the shopping but everything was already closed. They close early, like 4 or 5. So then we got come boiled eggs and scones and ate that. They have Pineapple Fanta, which I like better than the orange. It's very good. When we finally got to the service it was the evening meeting and it was packed. They set up some plastic chairs for us by the stage. The service was long and I kept feeling so tired so I finally went and got in the truck to try to sleep. Then we went home using a "short-cut" road. Never again... It was raining and foggy and the road wasn't paved (all this happened in the dark). There was a river and a big, muddy, rocky hill, plus Win was having trouble with the 4-wheel drive and clutch. I was really scared. I don't get scared that easy, but this was very scary. I prayed and closed my eyes because I couldn't watch. We finally made it out- alive!!
Friday, some of the people went to Tambul where they gave the tribe 5 pigs, some for the family who lost their loved one, one for us, and some for some other things. I stayed home because Jabin had food poisoning. We took him to the clinic and the nurse gave us some medicines. They seemed to help him.
Today, (Tuesday) I stayed home while Win, Bill, and Clara, went back to where Jeffery's mom and dad live to get a pig. Win was going to straighten out our tickets, but I think he'll have to do it tomorrow.

Diary of My Trip to PNG #5

April 11th (Friday)
Wednesday, late afternoon, we left the village and headed to Madang. On our way, we stopped and saw Win's high school, Fatima Secondary. It was nice-looking. It seemed like there were a lot of students there. I went and used the bathroom there, and found that the water wasn't working so they were using buckets to flush the toilets. :( We stopped and saw Jeffrey's mom and dad. They were very sweet. The ride was very bumpy. Jenny, Andrew, Bras, Joel, and Amos all came along for the trip. We all took turns holding the boys, since it was so bumpy, without seat belts. I had trouble staying on the seat; it was so bumpy. We put one bench seat up and slept on the floor part of the time. It wasn't the best part of the trip. We finally made it to Madang at about 8 AM, after driving all night. We found a guest house (a hotel) and I, Jenny, and the 2 boys stayed there for several hours. We ate breakfast, showered, and waited for the guys to come back. After they came back, we went looking around the town a little bit. We went to a resort and swam at the beach. That was very nice. The water was clear and blue, just like you would see in pictures. I don't think the guys really knew the place well, because the beach was tiny and they didn't seem to know where any other ones were. It was ok though, because we were the only ones there.

April 13th (Sunday)
Friday, Win went to see Jeffrey's parents. They gave us lots of foods.

Today, Sunday, we went to Tambul to church.We visited Grandpa Okie's brother and sister. They were both very sweet. I didn't want to leave the sister. She was one of the first to know Pidgin. I probably won't see them again. She cried and was happy to see us and said the next time we meet we'll be in heaven. We went to the Tambul mission station. We also saw Kenneth Galua and his children. Our family all came in the truck; Joseph (brother-in-law)and Salome (niece), Shadrach (nephew), Robert and Moni (in-laws), Jordan, Benadiah (nephews), Matthew (in-law), Carl, Stephen, Andrew (nephews), Bill and Clara (in-laws) and all of us. Then on the way back, Bill's cousin came along. It was quite packed!!

April 17th
Monday- Wednesday we stayed at home, going out once or twice. Win went to town to find out about our tickets and to meet with some people. The counselor's brother passed away (after we had just met him on our way back from Madang), so they have been having a funeral gathering all this week. Tuesday, I went for a little bit. I've met lots of people. Everyone seems so happy to see me. The older ones cry tears of joy. It's been raining a lot the last few days so we've had to keep the boys inside. Yesterday we washed more laundry, then it started raining hard, so we had to get back. Jenny finished up the laundry this morning. Life here seems simple, but hard.

 I've seen lots of things; some good, some I don't like, or understand. Today was the actual funeral service. It was, honestly, kind of scary. I didn't like it at all. I didn't feel much hope or encouragement for the family. The man passed away in another part of the country, so they brought the body in and the family saw it the first time right then, during the service, with all the tribesmen there. As people would come into the funeral they would cry and moan from the road and then those who were already there, seated at the service would begin the funeral cry, a song that they sing for this time. Everyone cried when they brought the casket down from the road. Several of the family members were in deep anguish and were rolling on the ground, pulling the grass and dirt up on themselves. As different people would come, they would stand and cry and people would go up and cry with them, then bring them into the area where everyone was sitting. It was very sad. The people are very emotional to begin with, so the sadness is just another expression, but it was very overwhelming. They will continue to have the funeral until they bury the body.

Tomorrow we will go up to Tambul and they will give some food for our farewell feast/mumu. It will be hard to leave everyone.

Diary of My Trip to PNG #4

April 7th (Monday)
Yesterday, we went to church and then spent the rest of the day at home. The people at church were very welcoming and all came and shook my hand. They were like magnets to the boys. Everywhere the boys went people followed them. We walked quite a distance to church, probably 30-40 minutes. People met us along on the road and shook hands and hugged me. We came home and then Knox came to see us. We ate and then Win took me up the mountain. Some children came up the other side and then they took me up two more mountains tops. The view was very beautiful. It was almost cloud level. We could see for miles. Today (Monday) it is raining. Win went to town to meet with some people and get a few groceries. Saturday, Joseph Kera (Charity's dad) took us out for an all-day drive around. We went to town (Mt. Hagen) and went to the market. We got some fresh foods and then went to a lady's restaurant and got some chicken and chips (french fries). Then we went around to see different places. We went all the way to the Southern Highlands Province, then went to Paprabruk where they have the Pacific Bible College.

The boys are getting lots of exercise and having fun playing with the kids. Jordan and Jonah come and stay and play with the boys. Jonah has a bad sore where he hit his foot with an ax, so he has to stay still, but it's raining now, so we are all inside. They like the cars and little musical phone, lizards, bugs, etc. that we brought the for boys to play with. I gave them some Skittles to try. They made a face because at first they are sour, then sweet. They ate more, so they must have liked them. :)

April 9th (Wednesday)
Yesterday I went with Jenny (my sister-in-law) down to the river to wash our laundry. We took 1/2 of a big rain-barrel and some stain remover and washed them. We filled the barrel with water then put the Omo (stain remover) in and rubbed the clothes together to get the dirt out. The boys clothes were REALLY muddy. It was hard work to get them clean. We put them into the stream to rinse them, turning them inside out to get all the soap out. Later, I saw my fingers were rubbed raw. I had to put bandaids on because it was so painful. (The next time we did the laundry, I rubbed them differently and it was better. That time we used a soap bar and rubbed it against the rock, and then rinsed it. For the really dirty clothes, they use a "tangle" of twines and rub the clothes with that. It's not the best on keeping the colors bright with all the rubbing, but they are clean.)

Diary of My Trip to PNG #3

April 4th (Friday)

We flew up to Mt. Hagen, Wednesday, April 2nd. It is VERY beautiful. The landscape is green with lots of flowers; the air is cool and crisp. It's not humid at all. The sun gets hot during the middle of the day, but it's a little bit chilly other times of the day. We arrived at the airport and I saw a group of people with a sign and I cried. They were all so happy to see me and the two boys (and Win too). The older people cried and even some of the young ones. Tears of joy. We loaded our suitcases into a truck and we rode in a van to Mt. Hagen's shopping area to get a few things. After shopping, we went on about a 11/2-2 hour ride to Win's village. It was so beautiful. The air was so fresh. There were gardens all along the way. We drove on a smooth highway until we reached the turnoff- a dirt road with lots of rocks and ruts. It wasn't too bad in most places, but I had to hold on to the seat or the window so I wouldn't move around too much (no seatbelts, or car seats either).

Charity's mom and dad drove their truck/van for us to go up to the village. We finally got to Win's village and the first group of children saw us, smiled, and squealed with excitement. I was already crying just seeing them. It was so special and is not something that you have probably ever experienced. The people were jumping for joy. They gave us flower leis and had a welcome sign and the walkway was decorated with ferns and flowers. Everyone was lined up to shake my hand and hug me; they were so happy to see me. After going through we were surrounded by the people and some of the leaders spoke, welcoming us. It was raining pretty hard so they had to cut the speeches short. We went up to Bill and Clara's house and got all our things in. It was an overwhelming time and even as I write about it, I cry (even this time, as I type).
Yesterday, we went around and saw Robert and Joseph's (Win's brothers) houses and gardens. Today, we walked to see Wansilin's (Win's sister) gravesite. We went to see Matthew's (Win's brother-in-law) house and his children's homes and gardens. He seems like a very kind, sweet man.

The family said that they were afraid we would be afraid of them, but they feel free now. The boys like to play with them. When they saw me cry, they felt happy to see that I was happy to see them.

Cabbage and greens

Today they made me a shower room. It's made out of the mats that they use for their kunai houses. It's made in a circle with an extra side for the walkway. Bill and Clara have a "kitchen" house with a fire in the middle and benches near the ground all the way around. Their home is very basic; some plastic chairs, trunks (used for storage, tables, or seats), some homemade couches, wood-burning stove, and mattress on the floor. They dug a new outhouse for us. They have two baby pigs up at the kitchen house. Robert keeps one of theirs and some of his own down at his house. Jabin really likes them. The littles ones lay down and want you to scratch them all over when you pet them.

Taking the pigs to the mud swamp

Right now a lot of the young people are down playing volleyball. I am staying in the house with Ian, while he sleeps. Tata (Grandpa) Okie knows who we are (sometimes), so we are happy about that. He likes the boys. They haven't warmed up to him yet, but hopefully the next few days and weeks we'll spend more time with him. We are eating lots of fresh fruits and different greens and potatoes. Everything is very expensive here.

Diary of My Trip to PNG #2

March 31st (Monday)

Nature Park 

Saturday, we took a trip around the city and stopped at Port Moresby Nature Park where they have native animals that you can look at. It was like a miniature zoo. Win's friend, Kela, went with us and drove us. We went to Vision City, a mall, to get a few things. The mall was very clean, with white tiles that the ladies were mopping. They had electronic stores, a grocery store, pharmacy, little toy stores, knick knacks/ tourist type shops, and even a movie theatre. One interesting thing from there: It cost 1K (kina) to go to the bathroom. The toilet paper was at the doorway, which I found out after going in, and almost all the toilets were missing the seats...LOL!

We are staying at Rogers and Naomi Kuk's home. We came home and had a wonderful traditional dinner of fish (super good!), several types of bananas, broccoli, coconut-creamed rice, pit-pit (a type of vegetable, not my favorite)... the meal was very nice. We've been eating fresh paw-paw (papaya) everyday. The boys are having some trouble with the foods, but they eat rice and noodles. They like
 the watermelon and grapes from the store, too.

Yummy dinner! (Yes, that's a whole fish.)

Sunday, we went to church. It was "mission Sunday," so there were lots of people there. It was very moving to hear them singing together. There were lots of announcements though so it lasted about 31/2-4 hours, I think. I was sore from sitting on the wooden pew. Men and women sit on separate sides. It was so full though, that I sat with the men. After church we met some people from Win's area that live there in POM. Later that day we went back to the Nature Park, where we met lots of Win's tribesmen. It was very touching to see their reaction to me and the boys. They presented me two bilums. Today we straightened our visas and tomorrow we will fly to Mt Hagen (turned out to be Wednesday) . It is extremely hot and humid here. The city is very dusty. There are lots of people everywhere.

Pictures of church, a beautiful beach, and the welcome party they gave us.

The house we are staying in is built up on stilts. It has large windows on almost every wall, which lets in sunlight and any breezes, but also lots of noises... The city is very busy. You hear horns, vehicles driving, dogs barking (there are dogs everywhere), babies crying, music, yelling, etc. most of the time. It's not really loud, just a low hum of activity. The house is very nice- water, electricity. There isn't any hot water, but it's so hot outside that you don't really notice. Once you get out of the shower you are already sweating again. I've seen a couple of small geckos around. Lots of tropical plants and flowers. They are taking very good care of us. Jabin doesn't want to come inside. He is enjoying playing outside with the kids and dogs. Ian is getting spoiled by everyone.

Ela Beach (that's Kela, not Win)