Our Family Project

This is just a post of ideas that I had while listening to classes at convention. Add at least one classic to each of the children's scheduled reading for each month. Go through the Dave Ramsey Finances for Kids program as a co-op group. "The Way They Learn" - determine learning styles Google learning style quizzes Every time I add something to the schedule, I need to take something away. Have the wisdom to take a break when needed Teach in seasons 6 months = science 6 months = history Prayer Have the children make a list of gratitudes and talk about them prior to praying to help them remember to thank Heavenly Father for our blessings Spend one day a month in service outside of the family. Ask questions about everything we read. Ask Heavenly Father what the issue with Andrew is. Study character traits in the scriptures when there is an issue or a problem. I need to show the children that I read ... start reading "real" books, not electr...

More notes about doing everything! GETTING IT ALL DONE *Remember you life is broken into seasons* Streamline children's schedule: Only let them get involved in activities that strengthen their talents. Saturate the home with scriptures Place scripture verses all over the house; switch them out every so often to help with memorization. Spend only 2 1/2-3 hours on school every day. Do what works for the child. Challenge, but don't overwhelm. Plant a book in quiet time locations for the children to look at. Learn History from a person who lived it. Organize the home: Isolate frustrations/evaluate frustrations Treat frustrations as a project Make priorities Spend one month to organize Everything has a place (give children treasure boxes) (I need to find a way to organize Kate's art projects) Organize Self Use notebook to plan everything (I have a new system to blog about that is working!) Train children in organization During the summe...

Another one of my favorite classes from the homeschool convention was entitled "Busy Mom."  I figured I really needed to go to this one because everyday I'm  trying to homeschool four of my five children, trying  to keep the house clean, trying  to cook meals all day, trying to serve in the church, and trying  to get my children to all of their activities.  (Notice my key word?  Yeah, not everything gets as completed as I would like on most days.) BUSY MOM *You can't manage your time, you can only manage  yourself.* Seek the Lord's guidance in the important things Stop comparing Ask for directions Assess the Situation If racing, stop wasting time Stop wasting time Modern-day time bandits: Internet Email TV Phone Calls Worrying Develop a Plan of Action Decide to eliminate and/or reduce time bandits Write down weak areas Write down GOALS, for me & the children (do this with them) Make a to-do list Write wha...

I'm finally getting to type up my notes from one of the classes I took at the homeschool convention.  I kind of love that it's taken me this long to get to it.  Mainly because I've hit that time in the school year when I start to slack off and get stuck in a rut of nothingness.  Sound familiar to anyone else? As I've looked at my notes and thought about what I want to remember and share in this post, I have felt more excited about my upcoming week and all the things that I want to do with my children during school time.  First things first: I need to remember to set aside everything of mine for just the first three hours of the day, and focus completely on my children and their learning. So, having just said that, here are my notes from the class entitled, "Homeschooling: The First Three Years."  (Again, this post is simply because I need somewhere to put all these notes.  It's just for me so I can look back and remember.)  :-) ** I will learn mo...

The speaker for this workshop said that notebooking is really just educational scrapbooking.  I could not agree more.  I really love the idea behind notebooking; more specifically, I love the method that the speaker suggested using.  Here are some of the things she said during her workshop that I wrote down: Homeschooling is not about patience -- it's about resolve! Education is discipleship: this is our goal. Multi-level Teaching Benefits: Biblical Integration is easy Less fragmented education Older children mentor the younger Less time consuming than teaching everyone individually In regards to Multi-level Teaching, she suggested the school bus approach.  Everyone gets on the school bus and you begin reading from your text (or teaching, or however you plan to do it).  After about 10-15 minutes, you get the littles off the bus and give them something that is at their skill level (like coloring a picture) that is also subject reinforcing.  Then,...

This workshop was most satisfying in the amount of information shared.  The speaker said that she won the award for the most frugal home in Arizona, and that as part of her application for that she itemized how much she was saving ... which totaled $18,000 a year!  She reminded us that while some of the ideas she would be sharing with us only totaled a small amount, they would definitely add up.  So, here is a list of ideas from her: WATER HEATER BLANKET Initial investment: $20 Annual Savings: $80-100 - Important: don't cover the intake air. WATER HEATER TEMPERATURE DECREASE Annual Savings: $50 Costs $500 per year to run water heater. Save 10% by turning the temperature down to 120 degrees. LINE DRYING CLOTHES Annual Savings: $195 Drying clothes in dryer costs about $0.50 per load The savings could be more or less depending on how many loads of laundry you do. HOMEMADE LAUNDRY SOAP Annual savings: $84 Tide per year=$88 Homemade Detergent=$4 ($0.01...