School 2012

We are getting so excited for school to start!  This year all of our children were able to get into classes with our weekly homeschool group.  Here is our schedule for iFamily this year:

Tasha	Aliysa	Jace	Courtney	Spencer	Mallory	Zach	Andrew	Abby
Teach Personal finance	Advanced acting	Personal Finance	Science Alive	Boys Sewing	(Babysit for Mom)	Book Bugs	(Play quietly in Mom's class)	Music to the core
			Project Knitting	Narnia	Love of Music	M&M	M&M	M&M
Teach Nature Study	Chemistry	Chemistry				Nature Study	Nature Study	Nature Study
			Sewing		(Nature Study)
				Geography	Music Around the World	Music Around the World
	Worldviews	iShakespeare
			Teach Creative Corner		Spanish		Creative Corner	Creative Corner

I am teaching a personal finance class for junior-high and high-school aged students, using the Dave Ramsey course.   I am also so excited to be teaching a "nature study" class for little ones up to age 8.  We will be going outside every week, and learning about insects, seeds, flowers, clouds, etc.  Registration for iFamily was crazy this year (we need a bigger building and more classes!).  I had around 50 children wanting to sign up within a few minutes.  I was able to split the class, use another room, and find another mom to take the second class.  So, now there are around 60 children and their moms looking forward to nature study!

All of the kids will also be taking gymnastics each week, and going to do baptisms at the temple each week after gymnastics. 

This year we're starting a new thing in our home school - called "kid classes".  Each child gets to choose something they want to learn about, and then they get time during homeschool to have a "class" on that subject.  Any of the other children can join in if they are interested, but if they aren't, then they can go study something else during that time.

The topics our children chose are: Aliysa-Tonga, Jace-Marine life, Courtney-Engineering/electricity, Spencer-Ancient Rome & Greece, Mallory- still deciding, Zach-Black holes (he is an outer space buff), Andrew-Choo Choo trains, Abby- (she took about 1 second to decide what her "kid class would be)  "Hummingbirds!  That fly around in the sky, and are so pretty, and drink from our hummingbird feeder!  Then I want to learn about butterflies! And then..."
Aliysa is looking forward to school this year. She'll be in a play this spring as part of her advanced acting class, she'll be having a great time learning about Chemistry at iFamily and at home, and her worldviews class will give her a great opportunity to learn and grow.  In addition to iFamily classes and gymnastics, she is taking a community class at BYU-I about "Writing and illustrating children's books".

She is quite interested in writing books.  (We're hoping she'll come up with something a little more marketable than her recent endeavor - a child's book about a tapeworm that gets cut in half by a boy's shovel.  He goes on with his life and eventually meets up with another worm, that turns out to be his back end, grown in to another worm.  Her illustrations for that book were darling - it was such a cute little tapeworm. (!)  I honestly don't know where she comes up with these things.)

Jace has been working lots this summer doing yard work for neighbors, and helping Bob remodel the triplex. He is on the 9th grade football team, so he practices with the high school team now.  He just finished "2 a day" practices.  It was grueling, 4+ hrs a day, but he survived it and is looking forward to his first game next week.  He is also taking German, working to earn his Eagle Scout award this year, and will be taking driver's ed.  He was hired to be an assistant at gymnastics this year, so each Friday he'll be helping in all the classes.  He is looking forward to his Shakespeare class - the women who teach it are incredibly talented.  Last year's production was excellent! 

Courtney taught a preschool this summer, which she enjoyed and learned a lot from.  She continued with piano lessons this summer, and is quite diligent about practicing.  She is also teaching herself to play the violin.  She is helping her friend Keziah teach a class at iFamily for preschool-aged children called  "Creative Corner".  She'll also be taking Science Alive (studying Galileo), Project knitting (she has such a fun teacher, she loves her knitting class!), and sewing from her sewing teacher who she adores.

Spencer has been Bob's right-hand man this summer, helping to remodel the triplex we purchased.  He is such a hard worker!  When he's not working, he spends a lot of his time playing in the river with his friends.  He also started his first year of "Grid Kid" football, with Bob as his coach.  Their first game is tomorrow.  Spencer surprised me by choosing "boys sewing" over a science class at iFamily this year (he loves math and science), but he told me that he loved his sewing class so much last year, that he has to continue with it this year.  He is also taking "Discovering Narnia", where they will read all the Chronicles of Narnia, write papers about them, discuss them, and look for the symbolism and meaning in the books.  His geography class looks like fun, they'll study US geography first semester, then World geography the 2nd semester, and end the year with a Geography Bee.  Spencer has been enjoying his last year of Cub Scouts - he has great leaders who've helped him earn all 20 of the Weblos badges, plus earn his arrow of light, and work on his Faith in God award.  He is learning German again also with our fun teacher, Brother Breckenridge.  

Mallory is excited to be taking a "Love of Music" class where she will learn to play the recorder, plus learn about different instruments and some music history.  She will help with my nature study class too, and take Music around the World where they study different cultures through music and dance and other activities.  She is taking a fun Spanish class as well as learning German here at home.  Mallory will be involved with a "Liberty Girls" group (girls her age) again this year.  They are reading the book "Understood Betsy" this semester, and they get together twice a month to discuss the book and do fun activities that go along with it.  She is also taking piano lessons from Courtney.

Zach continues with his two main interests - sports and outer space.  He reads his space books over and over, and excitedly looks for constellations.  It is so fun.  He is excited to take classes at iFamily:  Book bugs - where they read a children's book, then have activities to go along with it, "Music and Movement" which is basically a 1/2 hr. music and dance party for little ones, nature study, and Music Around the World.  He has been joining in a bit with German class as well.

Andrew will be taking Music and Movement, Nature Study, and Creative Corner.  He is still my cuddly little guy, who always wants to be with me.  He loves writing, reading, and is so excited for school to start because he gets to learn about "choo choo trains". 

Abby is just as cute and talkative as ever, and has all sorts of plans for "school".  She spends a large part of her day in pretend, imaginative play with her dolls.  She is always tucking them in for a nap, nursing them, or putting them in the shopping cart or stroller.  Taycie is happy when Abby is pre-occupied with her dolls, because when she isn't, she is trying to haul Taycie all over the house.  (Abby is undeterred by Taycie's loud protests.).

We are excited for this upcoming busy school year!!  I'm not ready for our summer evening walks to end, but I am ready for more of a structured schedule. 

Scripture Study Journals

I was reading a great talk by Richard G. Scott today.  Here are two quotes he shared that I loved - 

"President Ezra Taft Benson emphasized the importance of spiritual knowledge, saying:

'We should make daily study of the scriptures a lifetime pursuit. … The most important [thing] you can do … is to immerse yourselves in the scriptures. Search them diligently. … Learn the doctrine. Master the principles. …

“You must … see that … searching the scriptures is not a burden laid upon [us] by the Lord, but a marvelous blessing and opportunity'(Ensign, Nov. 1986, p. 47).

President Spencer W. Kimball commented:

'Spiritual learning takes precedence. The secular without the foundation of the spiritual is … like the foam upon the milk, the fleeting shadow. … One need not choose between the two … for there is opportunity to get both simultaneously' (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. Edward L. Kimball, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1982, p. 390)."

-Richard G. Scott, Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge, Oct 1993 General Conference

I LOVE these blog posts about scripture journals, and journaling in general (you've especially got to see the first one, it is beautiful): 

Scripture Journals

A scripture study notebook

The importance of journaling

I am pretty good about writing in my journal, but I love the idea of scripture study journals or notebooks.  I want to start one!

Homeschooling Post

Good post about
"Homeschooling - Taking the Plunge"

Sincere prayers

Saturday was Abby's day to say each of the family prayers.  Oh, my goodness, I don't know how exactly her little mind works exactly.

Earlier that day Courtney had read "The Bravest Dog, the Story of Balto" to Abby.  Abby retold me the story numerous times about the dog trying to get the medicine to some sick children and how the dog sled team almost fell into the ice where it cracked.  Her eyes would get huge and she would almost start crying as she told me about the tense parts of the book.  Then I told her about a time when I was about 7 years old and I fell through some broken ice on a pond and my brother and his friend had to pull me out.

That night, her prayers went something like this:
"HF,
That was so scary that Mom fell through the cracking ice into the water...Thank you for that Brave dog, that he saw the cracking, and he got his feet wet, but they went around, and didn't fall in...
and...when we are good we can live with Heavenly Father and Jesus and when we don't do the good things we can not live with him.  And thank you that we can't get sick then we have to have cough syrup because that's what we have to do... and bless us to listen to our Mom and Dad cause if we don't then we can't be good and go to Heaven."

A True Pregnancy Test

PREGNANCY TEST ( how to know whether or not you are ready to have a baby)

- Stress Test
Smear peanut butter on the sofa and curtains. Now rub your hands in the wet flowerbed and rub the walls. Cover the stains with crayons. Place a fish stick behind the couch and leave it there all summer.

- Toy Test
Obtain a 55-gallon box of Legos. (If Legos are not available, you may substitute roofing tacks or broken bottles.) Have a friend spread them all over the house. Put on a blindfold. Try to walk to the kitchen or bathroom. Do not scream (this could wake a child.)

- Grocery Store Test
Borrow a few small animals (goats are best) and take them with you as you shop at the grocery store. Always keep them in sight and pay for anything they eat or damage.

- Dressing Test
Obtain one large, unhappy, live octopus. Stuff into a small net bag making sure that all arms stay inside.

- Feeding Test
Obtain a large plastic milk jug. Fill halfway with water. Suspend from the ceiling with a stout cord. Start the jug swinging. Try to insert spoonfuls of baby food into the mouth of the jug while pretending to be an airplane. Now dump the contents of the jug on the floor.

- Night Test
Prepare by obtaining a small cloth bag and fill it with 8 to 12 pounds of sand.  Soak it thoroughly in water.  At 8:00PM begin to waltz and hum with the bag until 9:00PM. Lay down your bag and set your alarm for 10:00PM. Get up, pick up your bag, and sing every song you know. Make up about a dozen more and sing these too until 4:00AM.  Set alarm for 5:00AM.  Get up and make breakfast.  Keep this up for 5 years. Look cheerful.

- Physical Test (women)
Obtain a large beanbag chair and attach it to the front of your clothes.  Leave it there for 9 months. Now remove 10% of the beans.

- Physical Test (men)
Go to the nearest drugstore. Set your wallet on the counter. Ask the clerk to help himself. Now proceed to the nearest food store.  Go to the head office and arrange for your paycheck to be directly deposited to the store. Purchase a newspaper. Go home and read it quietly for the last time.

- Final Assignment
Find a couple who already has a small child. Lecture them on how they can improve their discipline, patience, tolerance, toilet training, and child's table manners. Suggest many ways they can improve. Emphasize to them that they should never allow their children to run riot.  Enjoy this experience. It will be the last time you will have all the answers.

Taxes

When I was young, my Dad thought of an ingenious way to teach us about the unfairness of taxes.  Whenever we'd make something yummy (especially sandwiches), he'd come along and announce "tax!" then take a huge bite (his "bites" usually took about half the sandwich).  Of course, when we were incensed about it, he'd explain that he was just showing us how the government works at tax time.

Now, if he really wanted to teach us how taxes worked, he'd have taken part of the food, and given it to someone else (perhaps someone sitting on the couch who didn't want to work to make their own meal), then he could have given a speech about how kind and charitable he was to be giving food to those who didn't have any. 

What would work better than government welfare programs, public education, etc?  To let the private sector develop their own charitable programs.  They would, if they didn't have to be competing with government-run programs all the time, and if ridiculous government regulations weren't required to be met in every endeavor.  Instead, government is involved in housing, education, medicine, food safety, vehicle safety, etc...........

Even on the local level, government leaders just don't understand what their proper role is.  In a city near here, the local government decided to build an outdoor pool/waterslide even when the citizens voted it down over and over.  There was actually a quote from the mayor in the local paper.  He stated "we know what the taxpayers want, and we're going to build the pool anyway."  He thought it was fine to spend several million dollars on a pool that can be used for a few months (at most) each year.

Wasn't that so kind of him to pay several million dollars for a nice pool?  Oh wait, I think he was just saying "tax!", and taking some of the taxpayers sandwich to give to the community at large.  But the pool will benefit all the taxpayers, right?  Hmmm, kind of seems like taking a bite of my sandwich, chewing it up, and giving it back to me.  It isn't what I want. (Now they charge admission to the pool.)

Right now, we pay taxes to help maintain a lake in our county.  Then we have to pay to get into that lake, because the county officials wanted the lake to be nicer.  Is this the role of government?  Nope.  They should sell the lake to a private individual and let them manage it and take care of the maintenance.  Would there be a fee to get into the lake? Yes, but history has shown that the private sector can manage resources much more efficiently than any government program.  I read some information a while ago about how badly much of the government-owned land in America is being managed.  It was sad to see.  

It would be nice if everyone in America would stop asking for "free" lunches, education, and healthcare and instead ask for our government to cut all unconstitutional programs.  Our tax burden would be minimal, and America would prosper again.  I wish there were more Dads in this country teaching their children about the proper role of Government.

Here's what Ezra Taft Benson taught about government

Cooking day

I've been being diligent about menu planning lately.

I have completed an amazing spreadsheet for my menu that, after lots of changes, is finally working for our family. If you'd like to see it, just e-mail me & I'll send you a copy.

I've decided to try to take time on Mondays and Thursdays to cook meals for the next few days. Today I made breakfast, then a veggie tray and dip, lentil soup, pizza dough, then put sausage seasonings into 4lbs of ground beef/elk meat to use as a pizza topping, made 4 large homemade pizzas, 3 cake pans of protein/granola bars, and 5 loaves of zucchini bread. I also shredded enough zucchini to freeze for next time I make zucchini bread, froze some of the extra "sausage" meat, and froze bananas for shakes.

On my new schedule for this school year, I had planned to take 1 hr on Monday and 1 hour on Thursday for my cooking/menu prep time. Today I was in the kitchen for 6 HOURS. And I didn't get even close to as much meal prep done as I wanted to.

Hmmmm, we'll have to streamline this somehow.