Since late November, our kids have been on summer break from school. I (Teisa) noticed a few of our boys with that famous “I’m so bored” look. Since my transition away from hospitality and to assisting Heidi (our director) when she is in Pemba, I have had more free time than usual. Therefore, Jean and I have tried to squeeze more activities for our boys in the past few weeks. One Saturday, we had a beach day at Muewbe (a local beach) where we played games and had Bible story time. In no time at all, our boys conquered Jean in soccer and set off to explore the beach at low tide. It was so sweet to be presented with lots of pretty shells and snails. Our boys graciously let me free the snails to return to their ocean home.
In preparation for the 2nd grade, we also started a short summer school for our 11 boys plus one other missionary child the same age. Most of the boys still have a hard time writing their own names, so this has been a major focus. We also have games and fun exercises that help develop hand-eye coordination and letter/number recognition.
Another fun activity has been catching butterflies. A dear homeschool family sent us a wonderful butterfly net and book to help identify butterflies in South Africa. Our boys will hunt butterflies for hours and then scour the book trying to find a matching picture. At first the boys were pretty rough with the poor butterflies, often severing part of a wing in eager pursuit to find the correct picture in the book…but after several tries, they learned how not to touch the butterflies and how to set them free after finding their picture. Thank you again Annette and family for sending us the amazing butterfly kit!!!
