Blogmas Series: Christmas Bucket List

Merry Christmas, and Happy Blogmas!!

This year, my blog is going to be very festive as we celebrate the holiday season together with 'Blogmas 2018 - 25 Days of Christmas'!! Like I explained in a previous post, "What is BLOGMAS?", I am going to post 25 Christmas-themed blog posts from December 1st to Christmas Day.

I have never participated in Blogmas before this year. However, I am very excited, because today is my very first Blogmas post of 2018!! I've been brainstorming for weeks and I am thrilled to finally be able to share these holiday posts with all of you. I hope that you will truly enjoy Blogmas as much as I have enjoyed putting it together for you. If Christmas drives you crazy, then I will see you again when my blog gets back to normal after the holiday season has ended.

I thought it would be fun to kick off Blogmas 2018 with my Christmas Bucket List.

Above, you can see, my favorite things to do during the holidays. Many of these activities, like listening to Christmas music, are already taking place in my house. If I were completely honest, I would tell you that I have Christmas music on my twin home birth playlist, that I was listening to in June! I have also already watched a Christmas movie, a few weeks before Thanksgiving.

I know what you're thinking...

I am horrible.

Some of you might want to kill me for these Christmas confessions, because the thought of Christmas music a minute before Thanksgiving is over sends chills up your spine. I'm a rule follower and I used to think that I needed to wait until Thanksgiving was over before I started to listen to Christmas music. However, the joy that Christmas music brings me, all year long, far out weighs my own rigidity to try and live up to the worlds standards in regards to Christmas music.

I love Christmas and that's never going to change.

I have learned to enjoy Christmas all year long, because the good news of Jesus coming down to us should be celebrated all year!!

I'm curious, what activities are on your Christmas Bucket List?

Quarter 1 Update: Homeschool Year 2018-19

We use Sonlight curriculum for many of our subjects so typically, our homeschool year is roughly 36 weeks long. This means, every 9 weeks we finish one quarter of school. I’m excited to say that we have officially finished our first quarter of school!! Honestly, I am very excited about the progress we have already made in our school year. Our original plan for our move to Hong Kong had us not even starting school until November or December.

I am thankful that God changed our plans, so our entire family was able to come straight to Hong Kong in August with my husband. Just one week after our move, we started school. We decided to start school right away, so that our family could begin to get back into some kind of regular routine. We’ve had hard days or days when we took a break from school. However, overall school has provided the structure needed for our family to begin to call Hong Kong home.

In case you are curious, I've included my original 2018-19 Homeschool Curriculum Choices for my girls. Overall, we haven't made any major curriculum changes yet and all of the curriculum choices we made are working for each individual child. I will be sure to let you know if we make any major changes as our school year continues.

One the  biggest changes to our school year, has been that I have 5 kids and two of them are just 4 months old. As a result, our daily homeschool structure has to be very flexible right now. We don't have a rigid daily schedule to follow, because I would get overwhelmed if I wasn't able to stick to it like I planned. We have an overall rhythm to our day, but I have to remain flexible and be willing to change things up incase the babies get fussy.

I am so thankful for my big girls and their willingness to go with the flow. They're diligent to work on school when we have some quiet moments throughout the day and most of the time finish school before I expected them to get done. I am so proud of them!!

.....

2018-19 Homeschool Curriculum Choices

This year, I have a child in 1st Grade, a child in Kindergarten, and a child in Preschool. I will start by sharing the subjects that everyone is going to work on together.

EVERYONE TOGETHER
Bible, Memory Verse, History, Read-Alouds: Sonlight. This year, we are using Sonlight’s Core B – World History I. We have used Sonlight for the past few years and it really works for our family. We specifically picked this curriculum, because we knew it would be best for us if/when we moved overseas. You see Sonlight mails you a box with all the books you need for the whole year. This is great, especially now that we live in Hong Kong and don’t have the same resources that we did in the States. I have everything I need for the whole year and don’t have to worry about not being able to find a particular book. If you would like to read more about our journey with Sonlight click the link to read my blog post, “Finding Flexibility with Sonlight“.

Science: Exploring Creation with Astronomy (2nd Edition). We used Apologia’s Exploring Creation curriculum last year and really enjoyed it! There was no question about what we would use this year for science. My husband also purchased the complete science kit, so I would have all the resources necessary to complete our activities/experiments in Hong Kong. Initially, I was against this, because I didn’t want to spend money on something like this. However, I’m thankful for my husband’s wisdom. This kit has been a lifesaver! I’ve been able to do school even though we just moved. I don’t have to spend time tracking down our scissors, because there is already a pair in the kit.

1ST GRADE
I’m sure I say this every year, but how do we have a 1st grader!? When we were making our curriculum choices for our 2018-19 school year, Olivia could read some things. However, reading hadn’t come together for her yet and we didn’t want to force her to read if she wasn’t ready. We decided to let Olivia do things at her own pace. As a result, we purchased Sonlight’s Language Arts Grade 1 program, but by the time that curriculum arrived something clicked and our daughter, who started reading everything she could get her hands on. As a result, we struggled to know which curriculum would be best for her upcoming school year. Thankfully, Sonlight has a test kids can take online, which helped us know what level language arts program to buy for Olivia. We exchanged our grade 1 language arts for grade 2 and it’s been the perfect fit!!
Language Arts: Sonlight Language Arts 2
Handwriting: Handwriting without Tears: My Printing Book
Phonics: Explode the Code 4, 5, 6
Math: Math-U-See Beta
Vocabulary: Wordly Wise A

KINDERGARTEN
How can Sophie already be in Kindergarten!! Sophie is a hands-on learner and she remembers things much better when she gets to use a manipulative to help cement different concepts into her brain. For this reason, we are switching from A Reason for Handwriting back to Handwriting without Tears. I think the manipulatives that go along with this program will help both of my girls to have a better understanding of how each letter and humber written.
Language Arts: Sing, Spell, Read, & Write “Off We Go” & “Raceway Book”
Handwriting: Handwriting without Tears: Letters & Number for Me
Phonics: Explode the Code 1, 2, 3
Math: Math-U-See Alpha

PRESCHOOL
Matilda is 2 1/2 years old, but already she wants to be involved in our school day. She has a strong desire to have her own things to “work” on, so that she can do school right along with the big girls. Though her learning will be more informal, I am planning to use ABC Jesus Loves Me, Playing Skillfully, and Sonlight Preschool Readers for Matilda this next year. Our focus will be to learn more through playing, fun activities, and great books. I’ve used these curriculums with my other girls and we loved them, so I hope Matilda enjoys these as well.
Letters, numbers, shapes, and more: ABC Jesus Loves Me
Learning through play and fun activities: Playing Skillfully
Reading great books: Sonlight Preschool Readers

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
This year, we ordered most of our homeschool curriculum online from Sonlight and Rainbow Resource Center. Rainbow Resource is great, because any orders over $50.00 qualify for free shipping.

What is Blogmas?

It’s safe to say, Christmas is my favorite holiday!! 

This year on my blog, I decided to host Blogmas. It’s going to be a fun way to countdown to Christmas. That’s right, all month long I’m going to be talking about Christmas. You may have heard of Vlogmas where Youtubers film their life between December 1st and Christmas Day. For me, Blogmas will consist of 25 Christmas-themed blog posts from December 1st thru Christmas Day.

I'm so excited, because it is just around the corner!!

Living in Hong Kong, means that right now, I am far away from my family. Honestly, I miss them so much. I've gotten to spend a lot of Christmas holidays with them and it is hard for me to think about how I won't get to see them at all this year. We normally have Christmas cookie parties, gift exchanges, and delicious food. Inevitably, someone always ends up getting sick with the stomach bug and we spend the rest of our time together cleaning and sanitizing everything in sight!! Being sick is not my idea of a fun group activity, but at least we all get to spend time together.  

Even though I can’t be with my family this Christmas, I thought Blogmas would be a fun way to celebrate this holiday season. I have already started planning some of my blog posts and can't wait to share them with you. I have had so many ideas that it will be hard to narrow it down to only 25 posts. 

Are you doing Blogmas? What are some of the ways your family counts down to Christmas?

Happy Thanksgiving!!

"Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!" 
- 1 Chronicles 16:34 ESV

We hope that you are your family have a very Happy Thanksgiving!! 

Sending all our love to you from Hong Kong. 

Praying that you will take time to remember each blessing that the Lord has poured out on you this year. 

Sending our love,

Jon, Jen, Olivia, Sophie, Matilda, Evelyn, and Zoey

P.S. Don't let Thanksgiving completely derail you from your healthy living goals. It's just one day.

Our First Trip to Macau

Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge

Less than three months ago, our family moved to Hong Kong. It's hard to believe that we have already lived here for almost 90 days!! Time has flown by as so much has happened in such a short period of time.

Currently, me and the girls are just on the generic visitors visa, which everyone gets when they come to Hong Kong and allows us to be guests for 90 days. Before we get approved for another 90 days, we all have to leave the country and come back again.

To our delight, the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge just opened!! This new bridge connects Hong Kong, Macau, and Zhuhai, China. As a result of the grand opening of the new bridge, discounts are being offered on the bus that takes you to the bus station. Then at the bus station, you can purchase tickets for the shuttle bus to Macau or Zhuhai. As a result, of all the excitement our town has been overrun with visitors who want to ride the new bridge. Despite the chaos and all of people, these discounts have been to our advantage and allowed us to travel out of the country for a much cheaper price than if we flew or took a ferry.

After weighing all of our options, we decided the easiest as cheapest way for our family to get to Macau would be by bus on the new bridge. Our plan was to leave Hong Kong, travel by bus to Macau, and then come back to Hong Kong. As a result, me and the girls would be allowed to stay in Hong Kong for another 90 days. We are praying that during the next 90 days, our more permanent visas will be approved so we don't have to do this again.

Last Monday, on Jon's day off, we took a day off from school and went on a family adventure!! We chose to go during the week and prayed that the buses wouldn’t be quite as crazy. Everyone got up early and left right after we finished eating breakfast. We all headed to Tung Chung and then on to the bus station. At the bus station we bought tickets for the shuttle bus to Macau and were on our way.


Thankfully, Jon was right and the lines weren't nearly as crazy as they had been the previous week or two. In addition, we were privileged to be able to sit in the front row on the 2nd floor of the double decker bus. This was the perfect way to ride on the new bridge. However, our girls were so funny, because all they wanted to do were read books or watch a movie. Sophie spent most of our trip sharing her seat with a Chinese woman who cam up to the front to take some videos and pictures of the new bridge.

Honestly, we had not planned to do very much in Macau, because we didn't know how long of all this would take. I was surprised that from our house, it took just two hours to get to Macau. Now that we know what we're doing, I can’t wait until we can go back to Macau and explore a little bit more. However, on our first trip we just stayed at the bus station, ate our sack lunch, and stretched our legs before getting back on the shuttle bus to come home to Hong Kong.

We had such a fun time and I’m so glad we were able to go to Macau together.

Janet’s Chicken and Dressing

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,” - Philippians 1:3 ESV

It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is only a few days away!! After our big move and with Jon in training, our Thanksgiving plans are super low-key. However, this is a BIG Thanksgiving for us. It will be our first Thanksgiving in Hong Kong. It will also be the twins first Thanksgiving. That’s right, our first Thanksgiving as a family of 7!!

We’ve been doing lots of fun things in preparation for Thanksgiving. In our homeschool, we’ve done several Thanksgiving projects. We made a Thanksgiving banner, painted Thanksgiving pictures, and we’re working on thankful books soon Thanksgiving we can share what we are thankful for this year. I also found some Thanksgiving and fall books at the Hong Kong Library that we have been reading.

One of the biggest decisions that I have to make this year will be what we are going to have for our Thanksgiving meal. I’m always looking for delicious recipes to make over the holidays. I can't tell you how many hours I spend scrolling through Pinterest for the perfect recipe.

Are you looking for a delicious new recipe to try for Thanksgiving? Look no further!! 

We lived in Texas for 11 years, in that time I was introduced to some of the most delicious food. One of my favorite dishes is chicken and dressing. However, I never learned how to make it before we left Texas. Don’t get me wrong, there are lots of other good foods that I learned how to make like corn casserole, BBQ ribs, canned peaches, homemade jam, chicken spaghetti, breakfast casserole, and more.

Just not chicken and dressing.

To my delight, my precious friend, Janet White made a YouTube video to share her amazing ‘Chicken and Dressing’ recipe with the world!! I’m so excited, because all I have to do is follow Janet’s step by step instructions and to know how to make your very own chicken and dressing at home.

Trust me this recipe will not disappoint!!

Hong Kong Q & A: Weather, Safety, and the People

Incase you did not know, Instagram is my favorite social media platform. You can follow me at @JenNewsham, where I post pictures and stories daily. Just a few weeks ago, on my stories, I asked people what they would like to know about our life in Hong Kong. 

I received so many incredible questions!! 

Needless to say, it’s going to take a few blog posts to answer all of your questions. In addition, if you have more questions about our life in Hong Kong, please leave a comment below and I will try my best to answer your questions as I have time.

QUESTION #1: WHAT IS THE WEATHER LIKE IN HONG KONG?

Currently, the weather in Hong Kong is BEAUTIFUL!! 

It is fall and this is the nicest time of year for Hong Kong. The rainy season has passed, so most days we enjoy the blue sky and weather in the high 70s. It’s humid, but nothing like it will be once the weather starts to creep up again. During the summer, Hong Kong is very hot and humid, a lot like Houston, TX. We’re trying to enjoy this weather while we have it, because it won’t last long.  

QUESTION #2: HOW ARE THE PEOPLE IN HONG KONG?

The Chinese people that we have encountered in Hong Kong have been very kind. When we’re out and about out family causes quite a spectacle. People get so excited to see the twins and can’t believe that we have a total of 5 girls. Most people in Hong Kong aren’t used to seeing large families. 

Just yesterday while I was waiting for Jon to finish shopping, a group of older Chinese ladies walked by me and the twins. At first, they only noticed Zoey. However, as I turned the stroller towards them, they caught a glimpse of Evelyn and realized that they were twins. Instantly, they were overjoyed at the sight of two babies. Unfortunately, they talked to me in Cantonese and I couldn’t understand them. 

Even though I can’t speak Cantonese, I’m a Mommy and I speak baby, which is an international language. That’s right, just from their body language I could tell they were so excited about the babies. They hung around for a while going on about the twins. Thankfully, a Chinese man walked by who did speak English and he was kind enough to translate for us. He was just as excited about the babies as the ladies. I was so thankful for his kindness.

That’s just one example of how we have been blessed by the kindness of the Chinese people since we moved to Hong Kong.  

QUESTION #3: DO YOU FEEL SAFE IN HONG KONG?

The short answer is yes, we feel very safe. Before moving to Hong Kong, I did some research online, which said that Hong Kong is one of the safest place to live in the world. That was nice to hear, but I’ve still tried to take that with a grain of salt. We do our best to take precautions for possible pickpockets and make sure to have the girls hold hands when we’re in a very crowded place. Overall, we have felt very safe. 

Honestly, I told Jon that I have been more afraid of the bugs, rats, and geckos, which are more likely to get in my house.  

It's been fun to be able to answer your questions. Like I said before, please leave me a comment or send me an email with an addition questions about our life in Hong Kong.