Life with the Clarks

March 3 in 30 Update

March 11, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

We arrive in our new home [fergcorp_cdt_single date=”March 14, 2012″] (or so–the countdown timer isn’t perfect–it doesn’t allow me to enter the time). Everyone is getting really excited. Every day on Skype, Sprout has said to her dad, “When are you coming back to Canada?” and every day, he’s said to her, “I’m not coming back. You’re coming here.” Then she says, “I know. I just like to hear you say it.”

Sleep well before the move and beat jet lag as quickly as possible after – Doing not too badly with this. There is one more sleep before we leave. I think I’m going to be ready for this, and I won’t have to stay up all night for the last sleep in Canada.
Maintain a healthy exercise schedule coming into the move so I can get back at it as quickly as possible afterward. Staying more or less on top of this. I’m loving my new exercise video: Tracey Mallett: Get Your Body Back. I fit three days of exercise in this week. Hoping to get another workout in Monday before the hours of sitting on the plane.
Finish packing before the move, unpack and organize the kitchen, bathrooms and homeschool room after the move to get things up and rolling ASAP. I’ve decided on some realistic goals we can accomplish prior to the arrival of the furniture, such as putting our books into piles for subject areas so that when the shelves arrive, the job is quicker. But we’re going to take some time to discover our new neighbourhood. I’m going to have the kids help me with a scavenger hunt to find some of the local essentials, like a market, a place to buy milk and eggs, where to get meat ground, and where to buy stationery supplies, that kind of thing. We’re going to enjoy this stage for all it’s worth!

How are you doing with this month’s goals?

- Carey Clark

Five Minute Friday: Empty

March 9, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

I’ve been lurking for some time at The Gypsy Mama and considering participating in her 5-Minute Fridays. The idea is that you write, unfettered and unfiltered, for five minutes. Each week, The Gypsy Mama provides a different theme. Figures I’d have decided to participate this week when the theme is “Empty.”

All week long, I’ve been concerned about full–how full the bins are getting–how cluttered things are. I felt we were holding to things lightly. After all, didn’t we sell everything we had when we decided to move to China almost four years ago? And yet here I am, cramming things into bins. I realize, a lot of it is vitamins–a year’s supply for five people–and we have four seasons’ worth of clothes and shoes, and books, books, books.

If we didn’t homeschool, it really wouldn’t be a problem. But how could I consider not homeschooling? Homeschooling has become not just what we do, but a part of who we are. It’s part of the core values of our family.

Where in all of this is empty? Lately, it has been easy to start to stress out. My son yesterday expressed some concern we wouldn’t get everything ready in time. My mother is troubled by the state of chaos in the room I’m occupying until we leave in , a.k.a. Packing Central. Every morning I’ve awakened with a sense of urgency about something unfinished. I haven’t slept much with the late night and early morning conversations with my husband during hours when he’s available to catch up with me in China.

In the midst of all of this, it’s my soul that has been tipping near the empty point. I felt it yesterday–the temptation to become easily annoyed, the exhaustion creeping in, the despair at all the clutter.

So I finally took the time I’ve been needing to restore my spirit, to refresh and renew in the presence of the One who faithfully fills me. And I’m no longer empty. I am filled.

Now to see about those bins.

STOP.

- Carey Clark

Relinquishing Control

February 4, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

I have a recurring dream. I had it again last night. In this particular version of it, our family was driving north. I looked around and suddenly became aware of the fact that we were headed near my inlaws’ home. I had the sense, somehow, that the family was along for the ride while my husband was doing business in the area.

I suddenly came up with the idea that after we dropped my husband off (where, I don’t know) that we should continue on to my inlaws’ and drop in for a surprise visit. I no sooner had this brainwave than I received a call from my own mother (at whose house we are currently staying) who announced that we should come back to her place to eat because she had prepared fruit for us.

I began to kick myself, “Why on earth didn’t I realize this was where we were headed so I could let my mom know there was no need to prepare a meal?” “How could I gracefully bow out of the fruit meal without upsetting my mother?” (Isn’t it great how logical and rational this all is?)

Suddenly, an even greater concern gripped me. I realized the car had no driver. I was in the back seat, and we were approaching an intersection.

Then I woke up.

The me-in-the-backseat-car-has-no-driver part is the part that recurs for me. Seriously, I have this dream a lot. The best thing I could conclude when I woke up, is I’m probably trying to work out some of the lack of control I have over several major aspects of my life right now.

Up until yesterday, because of some complications with figuring out the correct visas we need to apply for, and some fenagling we had to do to work around a national holiday and higher airfares, we didn’t even have flight dates.

But now we do.

JavaMan plans to go ahead of us to locate a suitable apartment and arrange for our things to be moved. The kids and I will follow three weeks later, in the hopes we have allowed him enough time to work out all the details so we have beds to sleep in and utensils to cook and eat with once we arrive.

This means the kids and I are leaving in: [sct date=”3/13/2012 12:18″ align=”none” size=”1″]

Hurray!!!

- Carey Clark

Another Writing tool for Kids

January 31, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

Last week I shared about our family’s experiences using Junior Writer. Another fun tool for writing practice that gives kids a sense of achievement and parents or grandparents something to treasure is Tikatok.

With Tikatok, children can create and publish their own stories. Children can work in one of two ways. On the Tikatok app, they can create the story and pictures entirely electronically, with “stickers” and/or their own drawings made in the app.

Or they can write the story on Tikatok and draw pictures the old fashioned way and scan the pictures to add them as illustrations.

Kids have three different choices about the types of books they’ll make:

Personalized stories, suitable for any age of child.
Stories made with a story starter.
Stories that are entirely their own creations.

Here are some of the story starters kids can use to spark their imaginations:

Once a StorySpark™ is chosen, Tikatok generates certain story elements for the child, and others must be filled in. We’ll choose one as an example. Let’s choose Animals and Bugs. Tikatok gives us the following story options:

An Animal Holiday – Animals love to go on vacation, too. Write about what your favorite animal does while on holiday.

My Favorite Animal – A book to learn all about my favorite animal.

A Safari Photo Adventure – Get your cameras ready for an African safari where you’ll see many rare and wondrous species!

A Penguin Adventure – A penguin takes a wrong turn and ends up far from home. Help the poor penguin get back!

Fish Finds a Sunken Ship – A fish that lives deep in the ocean explores a sunken ship!

City Dogs in the Wild – What happens when a couple of city dogs go to the woods and meet their wild brothers and sisters?

Let’s choose A Penguin Adventure. After we choose a name for our Penguin and whether the character is male or female, our story is generated, and we can start illustrating it, using sticker illustrations or from a child’s own drawings.

Some story sparks require children to enter more information, some less. Or there is the option of creating an original story entirely from the child’s own imagination.

In the end, children can publish their stories in ebook or print book format, making a keepsake book for their families.

And for Wednesday only, Tikatok is offering free digital publishing!

- Carey Clark

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