Any overseas missionaries here?

Me!  We usually order our books in May and they come in August.  I tried to use AO, but I’m a hold-it-in-my hand kind of girl, so I order all of our books.  Nature guides are troublesome, I found some specific to our region (Indonesia) and bought those.

My biggest trouble is making sure I order enough extra things, like paper, pencils, any hands-on things we might need for the year.  

Any other questions I can answer, ask away! 🙂

Blessings,

JoyinIndo

Me too!  Although we are just getting started ourselves with my oldest in K this year (although we have been overseas for 10 years).  We work in a location where our mission has many missionaries working, so they are able to forward items by sea-freight several times a year which saves over airmailing for heavy items like books.  I usually have to plan/think through what I want for the following year at least 6 months in advance so I can order my things to be sent to the US headquarters before the shipping container leaves.  If we find we’ve missed anything later in the year my mom sends us packages fairly often anyway so can slip things in.  She’s found the best way to ship to us is via the USPS International Flat Rate Priorty Boxes – they aren’t cheap, but you can fit A LOT in them and since it is flat rate the weight doesn’t matter as much.  Those usually reach us (in Papua New Guinea) in 3-6 weeks.  But obviously the best shipping option is probably going to vary a lot depending on your location and situation.

I only just got a Kindle about a month ago and am finding that many of the SCM books are available in Kindle editons too – at least the literature titles, and many of the ‘living books’ suggested for science.  I haven’t checked yet to see what is available for the history modules in electronic format.  That could potentially save you a lot as well – even if only half the books are available electronically that’s that many fewer paper books you’d have to buy and ship.   I looked at AO but didn’t care much for the way it is set up.  I think it’s probably better to pick a curriculum that is going to be a good fit for your family and then worry about how you will get the books and materials rather than trying to force a fit with something else, even if the books and such are more accessible.   And I think even buying and shipping books for SCM would still be less in the end than using a boxed curriculum like Sonlight or in our case our other option would be the local International School – I can buy and ship mountains of books for what tuition would be there, especially once our younger 2 children also reach school age!  (ALthough we have many other reasons for choosing not to go that route besides the financial consderations.)

I haven’t yet been able to find any good nature field guides for our location…wish I could find a better solution to that one because I’m fairly ignorant about those things beyond the very basics.

Hope that helps some! 

Blessings,

Jen

Kim,

The big selling point for me on the Kindle was that it doesn’t have a backlit screen, so it is much easier on the eyes than a computer-type screen.  I was never really interested in using e-books before because i HATE reading anything lengthy off of the screen, but printing out whole books took too much time/paper/ink.   The Kindle is small and compact and it doesn’t bother me to read it any more than reading from a paper book.  Awhile back, Doug had posted a video on using a Kindles and/or Ipads for school purposes, you might want to check that out. http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/video-choosing-an-e-book-reader-for-your-homeschool#post-28409

The one thing I don’t like about the Kindle is that it is black and white, and so anything that you really want to be able to enjoy the rich, color illustrations in doesn’t work out so well.  My kids are young still and we still use a lot of picture books, so there are a lot of things we just have to have in paper anyhow. (But that’s OK, because I really like paper books too!)  But I think we will definetely use it more and more as they grow older and more into the ‘chapter books’ that don’t rely so much on the illustrations.  And while we have been able to recieve our mail fairly easily in our current location, we are considering a move to another location where the mail situation may be different, so I may have to get creative about what and how much I can ship also if that’s the case. =)

We don’t have a blog or anything, but I’d be happy to send you a copy of our latest newsletter (about 1MB PDF file) if you are interested (this goes for any of you, really!)  Just PM me with your email address. =)

Jen

Hi Kim,

I would recommend investing in quality luggage.  On our last furlough one of our churches took at VBS offering for us to help us purchase some new luggage and we got some really nice Samsonite stuff that we have been very pleased with, and now even after two major “round trips” with it it still looks like new!  I would suggest, however, looking for something fairly lightweight so you aren’t starting with something heavy – it seems like airlines have really tightened up on their luggage weight restrictions over the last couple of years.  Our pieces are all quite large and we could fit a lot more stuff in them if we wanted too – but we can’t because they would weigh way too much.  When we first went overseas it was suggested to take Rubbermaid Action packers – but I wouldn’t suggest that.  They didn’t hold up too well, and now with everything needing to be searchable by the TSA it would be hard to secure the lids well enough to ensure they wouldn’t fly off in transit.

HTH!

Jen

Hi!

We spent the last few years in Tanzania, East Africa but we’re taking a reassignment to West Africa.

My son is just turning 3 so I couldn’t address your other questions. We did ship books to Tanzania (before we got the kindle) by using flat rate boxes. That ended up being way cheaper than excess baggage because books are so heavy.

I agree with Michelle… That first trip will be the hardest because you can’t know for sure what to leave behind, what to take, and how to take it. Give yourself a break on that. We took things we didn’t need and didn’t take things we needed but in the end we were taken care of and really didn’t lack in terms of our real needs.

We do have a website, blogs, and a newsletter. I’ll PM you that information. Anyone else who wants that info can PM me. 🙂

Blessings on the beginning of your adventure! 🙂

Dana

Oh another thing Kim… We have used the space bags to “squish” down our fluffier stuff (like stuffed animals, clothes we won’t be wearing right away, cloth diapers, etc.) and they have really helped. Weigh your bags as you pack so each is at/just under its weight limit.

Probably the most important thing I have learned is how many things I don’t need. It’s a matter of priority I think. We do take sentimental things with us (like wall hangings we got in Tanzania – they roll up) but we try to take only what we really love or use a lot. Of course that will be hard to know at first but maybe something to keep in mind. Luggage space is precious. 🙂 If we think we want to take something “just in case” or because “that would be ‘nice’ to have” we leave it behind.

As far as moving advice – lots of prayer, patience, and deep breaths. 🙂

Blessings to you!

Dana