Our Family Project

Last night when we were doing our bedtime routine we came to a decision for our focus in 2015 in regards to our nighttime devotionals. From the time that Eliza was three-years-old we have had the same bedtime routine: read the scriptures, say the article faith of the month, sing the primary song being taught in primary that month, then pray and go to bed. (With the addition of use the bathroom, brush your teeth, and say individual prayers in there before actually getting in bed.) When it was time to say the article of faith last night, Jon started to say it in Spanish. That's when the light bulb went on, or I guess you could say inspiration hit. We decided that since we've been doing the same thing for almost 12 years (!!!!) we could change it up. Maryanne is the only one (aside from Nadine) who is still memorizing the articles of faith. So everyone else has been kind of bored.  In 2015 we are going to learn the articles of faith in Spanish! We are also going to add a hymn in S...

Monday we got our new history curriculum in the mail.  I've been waiting and waiting to get this curriculum.  I wanted to purchase it at the homeschool convention in July, but none of the vendors there had it.  So, I decided to wait until after we finished our old history curriculum, and then also our new science curriculum before getting the new history curriculum.  (Make sense?) I spent some time introducing the method of this curriculum to the children today at lunch.  This curriculum is written for grades 6-12.  So, my littles will probably have a hard time really getting into the curriculum without some help from me.  But, we'll see. This specific curriculum spoke to me two years ago when I first starting researching curriculum for homeschooling.  I loved its approach.  I still do.  Only, last year when we started homeschooling, I went with a different history curriculum with a focus in ancient civilizations.  Which was fin...

This last Saturday was our homeschool group's science fair.  Andrew decided to make a lava lamp.  He actually made it at the beginning of January, but didn't have his presentation put together until Saturday right before the fair. Jon sat down with Andrew in the morning and helped him to understand why his homemade lava lamp works: the oil not mixing with the water.  So, Andrew brought our kitchen scale and measured water into one water bottle, and the same amount of oil into another water bottle.  He put them on the scale to show that the same measurement of each liquid had a different weight or density.  Andrew's was the first presentation, and he did such a fantastic job!  You never would have thought that he was nervous. Eliza's and Kate's project had to do with what we've been talking about for science.  We've been studying plants this year, and they prepared a presentation about the parts of plants: the roots, stem, leaves, and flo...

A while back I read a post my friend, Lynette, wrote about using a file crate system to keep her homeschool organized.  I did some looking and reading online and found this blog post about a similar file crate system.  I really liked how she set up her folders, so decided to do the same for me! Here's my crate ... I went and got when when they were on clearance at Walmart after the back to school sales.  I wrote all the dates on my file folders, then decided I really like the printed label look, so started to make some of those.  I have one folder for each week of the year divided into six hanging folders (two months in each). Behind my weekly folders are my filler paper folders.  This will make sense after you see the inside of the folders.  In the book Large Family Logistics , the author suggests assigning each day a specific task or focus.  I've tried to make this my habit for a few years now.  I haven't been very consistent at it,...

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...

My good friend, Lynette , reminded me that I have been neglecting my blog and people are still checking it for a new post.  *sigh*  I don't know how all the other homeschool moms do it all!  I guess maybe I like to read too much or something.  I finally sat down today and filled out a list of books that I've read (those that I remember reading) since the end of June.  It totaled 26 books.  I'm not counting the picture books I read to my children.  Twenty-six books!  I probably do read too much which causes me to neglect other good things in my life. At any rate, I have a lot to share, and so little time to in which to share it.  So, bear with me, I'll try to update every now and then. For today, I want to post about my new white board.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new white board!  I cannot say that enough.  It is soooooo fantastic!  We've made quite a few changes to our school room since last year: Every child has their own...

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...

This last weekend I was able to go to the major homeschool convention in Arizona.  Jon and I went last year, and I felt much better prepared this year.  Last year, I remember walking around the curriculum fair, picking up books and looking at them, not really knowing what it was I wanted or needed to find.  This year, however, I was able to pick up a book, hold onto it for a while, then set it back down and tell myself, "I don't need to buy this right now.  Wait and see if it's something we need later."  Whew!  All the stress I was feeling last year evaporated with one year of homeschooling experiences. The workshops I attended were exactly what I needed.  Last year I attended several that focused on Andrew and what I thought he needed, then I walked away with a 50 yard list of things I felt that I needed to add to our lives to help him.  This year, I mainly attended the workshops that had nothing to do with teaching methods.  For example, ...

In April we participated in our homeschool group's Geography Fair.  We went the easy route because we were throwing together our project at the last minute, and chose to do our project on Chile!  It was easy because that's where Jon served his mission.  So, we had a bunch of little items that showcased the culture there.  Jon and I traced the map on a long sheet of paper, and, okay, we colored it too.  We are such control freaks.  Oh well.  The children drew little pictures/icons of exports, produce, and other things that symbolized specific things we learned about Chile.  We got to the part and everything was set up trunk-or-treat style ... which was so great!  Although, our friends in the car next to us did their report on Argentina ... the sworn enemy of Chile! Then, came the presentation!  This was the fun part.  Eliza, Kate and I got together the day before the fair and wrote a rap for our presentation.  Then, we broke u...

This week for our writing assignment, we did a "fun" assignment.  I printed out a worksheet from Teachers Pay Teachers.  Basically, we popped popcorn and talked about it while we snacked.  The children loved it! While the popcorn was popping we talked and how it sounded.  Was it loud, or soft?  Maybe it was sizzling?  The sound that everyone agreed on was "pop."  Hmm, go figure. After the popcorn was finished, I put it all in a bowl and set it in the middle of the table.  That's when the torture really began.  I told the children that they got to look at it.  No eating.  So, they looked.  And looked some more.  We wrote down words in the "Looks ..." column according to what they said it looked like.  This required some guidance.  I asked them questions like, "Does the popcorn look sharp, hard, all the same?"  The questions helped a lot. At this point, their stomachs were growling and they were beggin...

I've been working on some projects for school recently.  My friend introduced me to a website called Teachers Pay Teachers .  Basically, teachers post files of worksheets, posters, etc. for other teachers to use.  Some you'd have to buy, but there are a ton for free.   I've been wanting posters for the parts of speech to put on the wall for my children to look when they forget what a pronoun is, or a preposition, etc.  So, I got on that website and did some looking around.  I found several different files that were what I wanted, but nothing had everything I wanted.  Make sense?  I wanted my posters to all look the same: font, color scheme, format.  But, I couldn't find one file with all the parts of speech I wanted ... some had all but one or two, others had only four (because I am cheap and just want to get the free ones). My answer was to just make my own!  I spent some time making the posters, then decided to make a booklet ...

One of my goals is to challenge my children more; give them assignments that expect more from them.  The last three weeks we've been telling Eliza in her mentor sessions with us that we will give her a research project topic, yet I haven't done that yet.  How does everyone do it?  I mean, how do you find the time to get the information you need to make a good decision, as well as everything else you need to do? All of my children could be challenged more.  For example, these pictures show Andrew with his spelling lesson, All About Spelling .  I love this program.  It teaches the rules of spelling, not just memorizing, and it takes into account the three major learning styles (auditory, visual, kinesthetic).  So, first I introduce the spelling rule.  Then, I demonstrate it with the letter tiles.  At which point, Andrew gets to use the tiles to spell his spelling list.  After he can spell all of the words with the tiles, he gets to writ...

Yesterday was Free Enterprise day for our homeschool group.  Free Enterprise day is when each child makes something to sell, then they set up a table and sell their goods to the other children and parents in the group.  Our table had hot cocoa, banana bread, cookies, gift bags, and face painting.  There was another family that had hot cocoa too, so we were in competition.  I think Andrew sold more though because of our Cocomotion.  That thing rocks! Andrew and Adam helped me make banana bread to sell.  We made mini loaves and sold them for $1 each.  Maryanne actually dug into the end of one of the loaves so we cut that one up for "samples."  The loaves were one of the first things to sell out ... next to some wooden swords that another child made.  (Which I didn't even get pictures of because they sold out so quickly!) Kate decided to offer face painting.  She practiced at the ward trunk or treat, so she got pretty good at it. ...