The Lamoreaux Family: Kid classes

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Kid classes

This year, we started a new part of our homeschool day. We call it "kid classes". Each of my children got to choose a subject that they wanted to learn about. It was amazing to see the breadth of subjects that are covered in what they chose:

Aliysa wanted to learn about the country Tonga (geography!). When we first started school, we didn't get to her class that day, so we decided to make it into a Family Home Evening Lesson that evening. We located Tonga on the map, and read some of this article from lds. org:
A Land of Believing People
and visited this blog from parent's of Bob's brother-in-law, Britt, who served a mission to Tonga:
http://hawleydayz.blogspot.com/

Aliysa is in love with this country. She has decided that she must visit there, live there, or marry a Tongan. :)

Jace decided to learn about Marine Life (Biology! Science!), so we purchased this book that I've wanted for a long time: Exploring Creation: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day

We started on it today, and each of our children drew pictures of marine animals in their nature notebooks while I read the first lesson. I love that these books are Faith-based. We're going to go through this book and do the experiments, and complete the lessons throughout this year. We're also planning on re-watching the Planet Earth video segments about the oceans, rivers, etc.

Courtney chose to learn about engineering, specifically electrical engineering. We chose this book:
Engineering For Every Kid

We've just begun reading this, and we'll be starting the experiments this week.

Spencer chose to learn about Ancient Greece and Rome, which worked out perfectly since we were planning on studying ancient history this year. We have lots of books for a history unit on this topic, but the one we started with is: Augustus Caesar's World

Mallory kept kidding around whenever I would ask her what she wanted to do for her kid class. "I want to learn about inflatable pigs!" she kept insisting. Finally, I decided that we would turn that into a class. I purchased some inflatable farm animals, a book about plastic, and surprised her the first day of school by handing out inflatable pigs, reading the book about plastic, and watching a YouTube video about how inflatable jump houses are made. I won't link to the video, because there was one inappropriate comment made by the hosts of the video (luckily it went right over all my children's heads). We actually learned a lot - pretty fascinating to learn about something you might never even think about otherwise.

Zachary, our astronomy buff, wanted to learn about black holes. We bought a book about black holes, and read it with a grain of salt. We've realized that there isn't really a lot that is known for sure about black holes. Really, it is a lot of theories. (My Dad doesn't believe most of any of the theories, we're looking forward to talking to him about his own theories about black holes). We're planning to schedule a fieldtrip sometime next month to the BYU-I planetarium to watch a show about black holes.

Andrew wanted to learn about "choo choo" trains, so we got a book about trains, a coloring book, and a cute set of plastic trains. Today we got out his train set that has been packed away in the attic for a while and the children played with it for hours.

Abby wanted to learn about hummingbirds. We've had a hummingbird feeder up for a while, and she thinks the birds are ever so neat. I found a fun book about a mother hummingbird, "First Flight", a Mother Hummingbird's Story". We have really enjoyed reading this book together. We also got some hummingbird stickers (which taught us about 17 different kinds of hummingbirds! I never knew there were so many!), and we've drawn pictures of these hummingbirds in our nature journals.

We start our day with one "kid class" so that everyone wants to get to school on time. Then, after lessons (theoretically), we do two more kid classes. Mallory, Courtney and Aliysa are on Monday, Zach, Spencer, and Jace on Tuesday, and then Abby, Andrew, and I get to do ours on Thursdays.

For my "kid class", I'm going to do the "Financial Peace Jr." (Dave Ramsey) course with my younger kids. We haven't gotten to that class yet, though.

Starting these "kid classes" has given our home school a spark, and renewed everyone's love of learning. It has given everyone something to look forward to. It is a non-stress way of learning that makes it easy to incorporate writing, art, reading, and so many other subjects into our day.

1 comment:

Ahren said...: I love this plan! It was inspiring for me to read. School has been kindof low key so far for us, but reading this has motivated me to immerse ourselves in learning. Thanks for sharing. It sounds like such a great plan and a lot of fun.; September 22, 2011 at 9:51 AM

Fill the spiritual needs

“some parents become so expert at filling every physical desire for their children that they begin to suppose that all is well in this life and that their eternal stewardship is progressing right on schedule. … I believe that we must pause and take a careful inventory to determine how well our families are doing spiritually. We could ask how well are we feeding, nurturing, training, and exercising the spirits of our children; or how well have we taught, trained, loved, and inspired our children to build their spiritual muscles and strength? … Remember, eternity is now, not a vague, distant future. We prepare each day, right now, for eternal life. If we are not preparing for eternal life, we are preparing for something else, perhaps something far less.”

–M. Russell Ballard

Pray with your little ones

"Behold your little ones. Pray with them. Pray for them and bless them. The world into which they are moving is a complex and difficult world. They will run into heavy seas of adversity. They will need all the strength and all the faith you can give them while they are yet near you. And they also will need a greater strength which comes of a higher power. They must do more than go along with what they find.

They must lift the world, and the only levers they will have are the example of their own lives and the powers of persuasion that will come of their testimonies and their knowledge of the things of God. They will need the help of the Lord. While they are young, pray with them that they may come to know that source of strength which shall then always be available in every hour of need."

-Gordon B. Hinckley

Be Wise In Our Diet

“…let us consider our relationship with ourselves. We must each take proper care to see that the little things regarding our personal life are in order. We must learn to care for our health and our mental well-being. Do we maintain proper exercise to give us the energy and alertness of mind necessary to keep our spirit strong & our attitude positive? Are we wise in our diet? Do we avoid the unnourishing snack that might keep our stomach full but our health quite empty?

–Joseph B. Wirthlin, Finding Peace in Our Lives, p. 59

Turn it off, walk out...

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland:

“Tragically, the same computer and Internet service that allows me to do my family history and prepare those names for temple work could, without filters and controls, allow my children or grandchildren access to a global cesspool of perceptions that could blast a crater in their brains forever. . .

“Along with filters on computers and a lock on affections, remember that the only real control in life is self-control. Exercise more control over even the marginal moments that confront you. If a TV show is indecent, turn it off. If a movie is crude, walk out. If an improper relationship is developing, sever it. Many of these influences, at least initially, may not technically be evil, but they can blunt our judgment, dull our spirituality, and lead to something that could be evil. An old proverb says that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, so watch your step.” (Place No More For the Enemy of My Soul, April 2010)

Only a teacher

"If any parent needs added inspiration to commence his God-given teaching task, let him remember that the most powerful combination of emotions in the world is not called out by any grand cosmic events nor found in novels or history books—but merely by a parent gazing down upon a sleeping child. That glorious biblical passage, 'created in the image of God,' will acquire new and vibrant meaning as a parent repeats this experience. Home will become a haven called heaven, and loving parents will teach their children 'to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord.' (D&C 68:28.)"
--Thomas S. Monson

Quote

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. …”
--C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Raise up patriots

The importance of teaching & training

"In 1904, President Joseph F. Smith said to parents: “Do not let your children out to specialists … , but teach them by your own precept and example, by your own fireside. Be a specialist yourself in the truth.

… Not one child in a hundred would go astray, if the home environment, example and training, were in harmony with the truth in the gospel of Christ, as revealed and taught to the Latter-day Saints.”

The ideal way to transform your home into a house of learning is to hold family home evening faithfully. The Church has reserved Monday evening for that purpose. In 1915, the First Presidency instructed local leaders and parents to inaugurate a home evening, a time when parents should teach their families the principles of the gospel.

The Presidency wrote: “If the Saints obey this counsel, we promise that great blessings will result. Love at home and obedience to parents will increase. Faith will be developed in the hearts of the youth of Israel, and they will gain power to combat the evil influence and temptations which beset them.”

President David O. McKay gave the same promise in 1965 and added that the youth will gain power “to choose righteousness and peace, and be assured an eternal place in the family circle of our Father.”

In 1976, the Presidency reaffirmed that “regular participation in family home evening will develop increased personal worth, family unity, love for our fellowmen, and trust in our Father in heaven.

Considering these glorious promises, we would expect every faithful member to be exceedingly diligent in following this prophetic counsel. But, of course, we are all human, and our best plans don’t always materialize. Why not? Let it not be for lack of commitment."

--Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, Spiritually Strong Homes and Families

Our Health Duty

“I am grateful to understand that my physical body is an eternal component of my eternal soul, and that I have a duty to honor and respect and care for it, and to refrain from knowingly imposing upon it any treatment or substances deleterious to it. While I could not choose nor govern the condition of the body into which I came, I have the responsibility to give it the best care I can, and if I do not I am acting in derogation of a great gift of God.”
--Marion D. Hanks, “For Man is Spirit”

Come to the Temple

"The season of the world before us will be like no other in the history of mankind. Just as this is the dispensation of the fullness of times, so it is also the dispensation of the fullness of evil. There is no safety in the world: wealth cannot provide it, enforcement agencies cannot assure it, membership in this church alone cannot bring it. We must come to the temple for light and safety. There are hosts of unseen sentinels watching over and guarding our temples. There will come a period of time when even the elect will lose hope if they do not come to the temples. They will long to bring their children here for safety's sake. The covenants and ordinances will fill us with faith as a living fire. In a day of desolating sickness, scorched earth, barren wastes, sickening plagues, disease, destruction, and death: we as a people will rest in the shade of trees, we will drink from the cooling fountain. We will abide in places of refuge from the storm, we will mount up as on eagle's wings."
--Vaughn J. Featherstone