Homeschooling Co-op in Bamenda!

We were blessed to be part of a homeschooling co-op in Bamenda which is about a 6-7 hour drive from Buea. It is a great way to visit other missionay families and help teach one another's kids on various subjects and activities. It was a busy, encouraging and fun 2 weeks!

There were Bible devotions every morning to start the day. Here Barry Abbot is leading the KG, 1st and 2nd grade devotions.

There was also story time after each break.

There was a nursery class for Carys' age but she wanted to stay with mommy and daddy...

So I brought her to my 1st and 2nd grade class and after that she went to do the fitness and sports program with daddy. Carys likes to be like the big kids.

I really enjoyed getting to teach Language Arts to the 1st and 2nd graders. We focused on phonics but also worked on antonyms, synonyms, creative thinking and writing with Ghanaian proverbs, etc. 

Miss Bonnie was a good helper during our classes. 

The kids had a great time in music and art taught by great teachers.

Math class with Miss Emily!

Miss Elsie working with the older students on the News Letter.

Auntie Holly's 3rd and 4th grade Language Arts class.

The main topic of this years program was "Talk Fine" or languages. There were different missionaries who are with SIL and other Bible translation organizations who were able to help out with the program. A special thanks to Cam Hamm, linguistic expert and father, who was in charge of these special unit classes!

Jeremiah cooked breakfast almost everyday so us ladies could help prepare the kids each morning. It was a blessing especially when we needed extra time for things like...

Crazy hair day! Hannah won one of the prizes for most creative hair. Her style looked like the Eiffel tower. 

Jeremiah was a big help in the program and  led the fitness and basketball program with Lisa Friesen (picture shown later).

While the kids worked on their fitness...

So did some of us moms! Kelly, Holly and I had a lot of fun doing some hard running, cross-fit, and weight workouts! It was both fun encouraging to motivate and challenge each other as we pounded the pavement, hit the weights, and did other interesting exercises.

Outside of SCA we kept pretty busy too. We went on an amazing hike with several other missionary families (look at previous blog for more pics and videos).

We had games nights with friends (can't believe I didn't get a picture!) and Holly taught me how to make lard from pig fat!

Hannah and I got to visit with some of our Nigerian friends and brother.sister in Christ who live in Bamenda. 

It was good to see some saints we hadn't seen in a while from the Sonac Street Church of Christ which was...

in a Muslim part of town. Pray for His light to shine all around.

Holly and Cam helped me learn more about the ukelele and string instruments in general so we practiced several times with some others during our "off times" at the program. 

The Schilinski family had everyone over one night for a big sing-along. It was a blast! There were some guitars, ukeleles, drums, shakers, and a bango.

The ending of the homeschooling co-op program went really well. Holly and Cam taught the kids a Russian song which they performed for us. 

Valerie Hamm had the kindergarderns tell a story and then retell the story.

Jeremiah and Lisa gave out awards for the students who got the National and Presidential level on their fitness testing,

Hannah was 1 of the students who got a presidential award. Great job Hannah!

A special thanks to these ladies, Ashley, Elsie, Bonnie, and Emily, who invested a lot of time and energy helping the families during the program!
I didn't get a picture of the Schilinski family but I also want to give a big shout out to them for hosting us these 2 weeks!

Our family pic! We just could not get one with everyone looking normal but this is reality. :-)

Here we are on our way back to Buea. We are thankful for a safe trip despite a little car issues due to the auto electrician swapping our almost new battery out for an old bad one when he was supposed to be fixing our lights. Thank God for His protection.

Thankful for such a wonderful time in Bamenda. Now we are back home busy getting ready for the start up of a new school year. More about that in our next blog! Thanks for reading and God bless!