Whoops! I posted this back in September, but I accidentally made it a new page rather than a new post. Who knew blogs could be so complicated??  Anyway, a bit about our homeschooling here…

We have been in Dar for 2 months now! I just realized the other day that our time in Dar is more than half over. In 2 weeks, we will leave for a 6 week adventure up north and then we return for only 3 more weeks in Dar. We’ve had a great routine in Dar so I thought I’d write a bit about what we do here before we leave!

During the week, Jon is busy going to classes with the students, teaching is own class, or preparing for our trip North. He is keeping fairly busy with work here as well as work still back home at Luther. The girls and I also stay busy with school work in the morning and various activities after lunch.

We have mostly been focusing on math and African studies, including Swahili, during our mornings of homeschool. Doing school work gives us a nice anchor for our day and provides necessary structure. I have a few goals in mind of concepts I want them to learn (dividing decimals, adding fractions, etc) and we are meeting those goals through our morning work. Also, Lily is learning cursive, Sylvia is firming up her English skills and they both do a lot of reading!

The great thing about homeschooling here is that we have so many adventures where learning occurs outside of the house – going to the National Museum, touring Zanzibar and Bagamoyo, exchanging currency, cooking Tanzanian foods, and speaking a little bit of Swahili. I try to make room for all the learning that can be done beyond the books while we are here.

Our afternoons are usually filled with violin practice for Sylvia, special projects like mapping or drawing, trips to the local market, or swimming at the pool here on campus. Our days go by pretty quickly and by evening there is just enough time after supper to play a game of Hearts or Euchre.

So there is a little glimpse of what we do every day. And without further ado, here are a few photos of our school days.

At home, working on Swahili and a map of Tanzania.

We really like to study outside at one of the many study areas on campus. We often meet Jon between his classes. Our favorite place to study is by the cafe that sells the best samosas!

Walking to our study areas.

Recently, the girls created miniature parks for their doll and dog and then drew a map of the area. And took lots of fun photos.