10/31/08: No School

No Public School today and we have a house full of little people.

10/30/08: Babysitting

Today we were pulled in different directions. Jared went to work with Alex. Olivia was needed to babysit today at grandma's again.

Olivia:

Math: Lesson 44

Spelling: 1 spell drill

Language Arts: compound sentences

Life skills: helped with babysitting for 4 hours at grandma's

Social: friends over

Jared

Math: Lesson 44

Spelling: 1 spell drill

Handwriting: Cursive H's

Science: Snap Circuits, Jr

Life Skills: Work and errands with Alex

Social: Friends over

Deanna

Indexed 50 names

Read 2 hours: The Fire

I am babysitting 3 kids though Saturday (and don't forget Foxy Roxy the dog)

Mucked stalls and feed horses

Made a dinner for a family that is "sick and afflicted"

Class party for Luke and Caleb at school (Head room parent)

Had monthly interview with Bishop (for being YW Pres)

Alex

Went to work

Worked on College class (witting a persuasive speech on why parents don't need to be certified to home school their children)

Chores

10/29/08: Love of Learning

We had some kids stay home sick and some others who just thought they needed a day off. I think Jared went into a vegetative state for 6 hours and seems to be doing much better now. There is no school Friday but we are babysitting all day and night and so they won't have any real time off. Olivia did some good love of learning activities.

Olivia
Music: Practiced part of her voice lesson
Art: Made the "Leaning Tower of Pisa" out of paper cups. She spent over an hour on this. I asked her where she had heard of the tower and she just said she knew about those types of things. Okay.

She made a sign to go with it to the right that Says "The Leaning Tower of Pisa." She told me she wasn't sure it was leaning enough though.

Free Reading: 1 hour Beyond the Valley of Thorns by Patrick Carmen
Life Skills: Chores for our friend

Family History: 2 hours of indexing
Computers/Typing: Digital Scrap booking/Power Point
PE: Went on a walk

Activity Days!

Social: 2 hours with a friend

To Show Parent Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna

6+ Hours of a Power Point Slide show for YW in Excellence

Substitute Activity Day Leader

Chores/babysitting Foxy Roxy

Piano

Went to Mutual and learned about making quilts

Alex

Taught Seminary

Went to Work

Wrote a letter to the editor

Worked on his Speech Class

Olivia's poem

This was the poem Olivia wrote yesterday...

A Baby Called Jesus
by Olivia Sutter

Can you see a star?
Can you see the manger?
No, that was long ago.
But now, let me tell you the story of it.
The star so bright,
It made night as day.
A child was born when this happened.
A child called Jesus.
Two days,
One night,
The star shone.
Follow the star and you will see,
The baby Jesus lying asleep.
And then you will know!
Follow your instincts,
Don’t go astray,
Just follow your instincts.
Don’t go astray!
Live you life,
Live up to it.
Live to see Jesus.
Strive for it.
It is the best goal in existence!
Strive for it.

10/28/08: Paul Revere's Ride

Mom School
Pray/Pledge
Theology: Preach My Gospel, Lesson 5: Missionary Work and True to the Faith: Missionary Work
Bible History: Elisha dies
Friend Article
Biography/American History: George Washington by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire
Literature: Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Fairy Tales/Fables: 1 story from A Story To Tell by Deseret Book
Read-a-loud/World History: The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt by Day by Scott O'Dell (about William Tyndale
Memorization: First 15 Presidents of the USA, Books of the New Testament and Latter Day Prophets
Geography/Culture: The Usborne Book of the Peoples of the World: Internet-Linked, read pgs. 1-9
Science: A Beka 5: Condensation pgs. 301-303
PE/Life Skills: Chores
Social: Friends over
Reading: We take turns reading all of the above material everyday.
Science/Pet Care: Jared and Olivia each have a hamster that they are responsible for. They also take turns caring for our dog, cat and sea monkeys.
Movie: We watched part of National Treasure and the kids noticed all the names/places they now understood after reading so much American History.

Olivia
Music: Practiced voice lesson
Math: Lesson 42
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Compound sentences
Creative Writing: Wrote a poem (love of learning)
Free Reading: 3o min of Beyond the Valley of Thorns by Patrick Carmen
Writing/Computers/Typing: Blogging
Art: Power point designs
Family History: Indexed for 45 minutes

Jared
Music: Practiced his piano lesson
Math: Lesson 42
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Creative Writing: Finished his story (love of learning)
Art: Illustrated his story
Computers/Typing: Finished typing his story
Science: Snap Circuits
Life Skills: Problem solving. He locked us out of the house (on purpose, but that's a different story) and so I made him figure out how we were going to get back in.

Family (in the evening):
Luke 1
2 chapters in Fablehaven #2

To Show Parent Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...

Deanna
Piano
Spell Drill
Indexed 50 names (It's that time of year again)
Read 1 hour
Babysat 3 kids for 2 hours
Ironed (I dislike ironing more than any other household chore so it doesn't happen very often)

Alex
Served as a temple ordinance worker
Went to work
Finished The Trail to Peach Meadow Canyon by Louis L'Amour
Worked on the Playhouse for 2+ hours
Prepared a seminary lesson (his last as a substitute for now)

10/27/08: We met the Governor

Today we went on a field trip to a Republican Rally and we met the Governor of Idaho. Very fun. We had Mom/Dad school in the 2 hour car ride.

Mom and Dad School

Pray/Pledge They were asked to lead the Pledge at the rally.
Theology: Preach My Gospel, Lesson 5: Priesthood and Auxiliary Organizations
Bible History: Joash is anointed King
Friend Article
Biography/American History: 4 chapters of Paul Revere: Boston Patriot by Augusta Stevenson of the Childhood of Famous Americans Series. Finished.
Fairy Tales/Fables: 1 story from A Story To Tell: The Classic Book of Virtues for Children from Dessert Book
Spanish: Alex taught them how to pronounce Spanish words and the Spanish Alphabet for 45 minutes.
Memorization: First 12 Presidents of the USA, Books of the New Testament and Books of the Book of Mormon

Government: Attended a Republican Rally and heard several speakers including Governor Otter

Part of our family with Governor Butch Otter of Idaho.

Art: Carving pumpkins
Life Skills: A man from India came and personally talked to the kids at the rally about his story coming from India and making his fortune in the USA. He told the kids they had to remember its the stuff between your ears that gets you the things you need and want. He was very kind.
Reading: We take turns reading all of the above material everyday.
Science/Pet Care: Jared and Olivia each have a hamster that they are responsible for. They also take turns caring for our dog, cat and sea monkeys.

Olivia
Music: Practiced the piano
Math: Lesson 41
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Sentences
Creative Writing: Wrote a poem backwards (like Leonardo Da Vinci) All Love of Learning

Jared
Music: Had his piano lesson today
Math: Lesson 41
Math Drill: Multiplication Wrap-ups: 9's

Logic: Put together a glow in the dark skeleton puzzle
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Handwriting: Cursive G's
Creative Writing: Wrote a short creative story. All on his own accord-Love of Learning
Computers/Typing: Typed a creative story he's been working on

Family:
Family Home Evening: Pumpkin Carving

Chores including mucking stalls

Babysitting Roxy

PE: Alex spent 30 minutes teaching them Karate and self defense moves

Babysat and played with our 3 cousins for 3 hours (Social)

To Show Parent Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna:
Good Reads book reviews

2 hours reading

Alex:
Taught seminary

Worked on the playhouse

Hung up canidate signs for the House position

He is currently serving as the vice-chair of the Republic Party for our District (I guess I can know he's doing a good job when the people running for office mention my husband in thanks when they are giving their speech at the rally).

Daily Schedule 10/24/08

Mom's School

Pray/Pledge
Theology: Conference Talk
Bible History: Jehu
Friend Article
Biography/American History: 3 chapters from Paul Revere: Boston Patriot by Augusta Stevenson of the Childhood of Famous Americans series
Fairy Tales/Fables: 1 story from A Story To Tell: The Classic Book of Virtues for Children by Deseret Book
Read-a-loud: 4 chapters from The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt by Day by Scott O'Dell (about William Tyndale)
Memorization: First 11 presidents of the USA
Science: A Beka 5: 8.2 pg. 299-300, Water Vapor: Humidity
PE: Played outside for several hours with various cousins
Life Skills: Helping Grandma with babysitting
Reading: We take turns reading all of the above material everyday.
Science/Pet Care: Jared and Olivia each have a hamster that they are responsible for. They also take turns caring for our dog, cat and sea monkeys.

Olivia
Music: Practiced voice lesson
Art: Helped me decorate at the church
Math: Lesson 40
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Diagramming Sentences
Journaling: Blog posts
Pet Care: Learned how to feed and water horses, cows, dogs and cats for our friend who will be gone for a week.

Jared
Music: Practiced piano lesson
Math: Lesson 40
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Book on Tape: 2 hours The Swiftly Turning Planet by Madeliene L'Engle


To Show Parent Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna
3 spell drills
Piano
Decorated at the church with Olivia for a Visiting Teaching Brunch Tomorrow
Went Visiting Teaching to 3 sisters
Learned how to "do chores" for a friend for a week (This is big time for a "city girl" like me that is going to sneeze through the whole expierence).


Alex
Taught Seminary
Went to Work
Took 2 test for Medicare Certification
Finished Mojave Dessert by Louis L'Amour
Worked on the playhouse

Mom's School
Pray/Pledge
Theology: Preach My Gospel, Lesson 4: Obey the Laws of the Land
Bible History: Naaman the leper
Friend Article
Biography/American History: 3 chapters in Paul Revere: Boston Patriot
Literature: The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson (We went over this one last time).
Fairy Tales/Fables: 2 stories from A Story to Tell: The Classic Book of Virtues for Children by Deseret Book

Language Arts: Interjections and Adverbs, What Your 4th Grader Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. pgs. 66-67

Math: Geometry: Lines and Angles, What Your 4th Grader Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch, Jr pgs. 253-258
Memorization: First 11 presidents of the USA
Science Experiment: We made a rubber bouncy ball from a chemistry experiment set.

Reading: We take turns reading all of the above material everyday.
Science/Pet Care: Jared and Olivia each have a hamster that they are responsible for. They also take turns caring for our dog, cat and sea monkeys.

Olivia

Life Skills: Olivia went to grandma's house to help with babysitting several children for several hours. They said she has was a big help. She'll get more practice because new baby niece ended up not coming but should come next Monday!

Olivia helping with Carter and Cameron.

Jared

Book on Tape: Listened to The Swiftly Turing Planet by Madeleine L'Engle for two hours

To Show Parent Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna

Read His Excellency George Washington by Joseph Ellis for 2 hours

Piano

Went to a Stake Auxiliary Training Meeting for my Young Women's calling

Alex
Taught Seminary

Went to work (long day to Boise-got home really late)

Listening to Mojave Dessert by Louis L'Amour

Prepared a seminary lesson

Daily Schedule 10/22/08

Mom's School
Pray/Pledge
Theology: Preach My Gospel, Lesson 4: Fasting and True to the Faith: Fasting
Bible History: Ahab falls
Friend Article
Biography/American History: 3 chapter from Paul Revere: Boston Patriot by Augusta Stevenson from the Childhood of Famous Americans
Literature: The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson we listened to Loreena McKennitt's The Visit who sings the poem. Very Cool. Thanks Camille S.! : )
Fairy Tales/Fables: 1 story from A Story To Tell: The Classic Book of Virtues for Children
Read-a-loud: 3 chapters of The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt by Day by Scott O'Dell
Memorization: Books of the New Testament (Olivia's got them down now) and first 10 presidents of the USA
Fine Arts: What Your 4th Grader Needs to Know pgs.227-232 Gothic Cathedrals
Science: Our Father's World, chapter 4: God Created Plants
Spanish: We went through Spanish words from a picture primer. The kids loved it.
Reading: We take turns reading all of the above material everyday.
Science/Pet Care: Jared and Olivia each have a hamster that they are responsible for. They also take turns caring for our dog, cat and sea monkeys.

Olivia
Music: Practiced her voice lesson
Sewing/Art: She sewed clothes clothes for her American Girls Doll for over two hours. I should take some pictures. They were pretty creative. It was the perfect love of learning afternoon for her. She was very happy.
Math: Lesson 39
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Diagramming Sentences
Life Skills: Went with me to visit the sick and afflicted

Jared
Music: Practiced his piano lesson
Math: Lesson 39
Logic: Played a game of chess
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Handwriting: Review Cursive F's
Scouts!

Luke and Caleb
Reading
Spelling

Family (in the evening):
Matthew 26
1 chapter in Fablehaven #2

To Show Parent Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...

Deanna
Piano
Made dinner for the sick and afflicted and visited with them
Visited another who was recovering from surgery
Watched Persuasion

Alex
Taught Seminary
Went to Work
Finished The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling
Prepared another seminary lesson
Watched Persuasion (he's such a good sport)

Daily Schedule 10/21/08

Mom's School

Pray/Pledge
Theology: Preach My Gospel, Lesson 4: The Law of Tithing. Also I used True to the Faith and For the Strength of Youth on the same subject.
Bible History: The Still Small Voice (Elijah)
Friend Article
Biography/American History: 2 chapters from Paul Revere: Boston Patriot by Augusta Stevenson from the Childhood of Famous Americans series (The couldn't believe that Paul went to school from 7AM until 5PM).
Fairy Tales/Fables: 1 story from A Story To Tell: The Classic Book of Virtues for Children by Deseret Book
Read-a-loud: 3 chapters from The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt by Day by Scott O'Dell (about William Tyndale)
Memorization: First 10 USA Presidents, Jared passed of the Books of the Book of Mormon, we are still practicing the Books of the New Testament
Biography/Math: "Euclid" from Mathematicians Are People, Too by Wilbert and Luetta Reimer
Life Skills: Playhouse building with dad
Horse Riding Lessons Today!
Reading: We take turns reading all of the above material everyday.
Science/Pet Care: Jared and Olivia each have a hamster that they are responsible for. They
also take turns caring for our dog, cat and sea monkeys.

Olivia
Music: Voice Lesson
Math: Lesson 38
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Diagramming sentences
Writing: Good Reads reports

Jared
Music: Practiced piano lesson
Math: Lesson 38
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages in Explode the Code

Luke and Caleb
Reading
Spelling

Family (in the evening)
Matthew 26
2 chapters of Fablehaven #2

To Show Parent Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...

Deanna
Book Reviews
1 spell drill
Piano
Studied DeMille and Jeppson's TJED Companion

Alex
Served as a Temple Ordinance Worker
Went to Work
Worked on the play house
Prepared a seminary lesson
Listening to The Sackett by Louis L'Amour

Daily Schedule 10/20/08

Today I broke up Mom School in half. We went to the friend article and then moved to our Music, Math, Spelling, Language Arts/Writing and then we came back to the reading. This worked out a lot better. It really helped Jared out who's been having some issues. He seemed to do better at his Math and Piano a little earlier in the day. I also gave him things to do with his hands while we were reading later. Successful day. I'm also happy to say he finished Eldest over the weekend. We can all move on with our lives now...

Mom's School
Pray/Pledge
Theology: Preach My Gospel, Lesson 4: Word of Wisdom. I also used For the Strength of Youth and True to the Faith's section on the Word of Wisdom.
Bible History: Elijah and the priests of Baal
Friend Article
Biography/American History: Read 3 chapters in James Monroe: Good Neighbor Boy. Finished.
Fairy Tales/Fables: 8 fables from Fables of Leonardo DaVinci. Finished.
Memorization: Worked on the books of the New Testament and Book of Mormon (I think we have that one down) and also the first 8 Presidents of the USA.
Biography: Leonardo Da Vinci by Dian Stanley. Finished.
Geography: Libera and Monrovia. We used the globe and Wikipedia. We did this because James Monroe helped found this country for the blacks from America and they named the capital, Monrovia, after him.
Art: Halloween craft. Okay they did this on Saturday at grandma's. But I'm proud to put down that Jared did some creative art project. He doesn't do well with that sort of thing. He even had fun though!
Science: We did the "Terrific Tie Dye" experiment from a crystal kit. That was the last crystal kit experiment.
Reading: We take turns reading all of the above material everyday.
Science/Pet Care: Jared and Olivia each have a hamster that they are responsible for. They also take turns caring for our dog, cat and sea monkeys.

Olivia
Music: Practiced her voice lesson
Art/Writing: Wrote her testimony down backwards using a mirror. She did this because we learned that Leonardo Da Vinci wrote in all his notebooks backwards and you could only read them with a mirror. This was a love of learning activity. She did that all on her own.
Math: Lesson 37
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Art: Diagramming Sentences
Book on Tape: 30 minutes
Free Reading: 30 minutes in a magazine
Computers/Typing/Art: Worked on her digital scrap booking power point for 2 hours
PE: Ran for 20 minutes

Jared
Music: Practiced his piano lesson and had piano lessons
Book on Tape: 1 hour
Math: Lesson 37
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Handwriting: Cursive F's
Science: Snap Curcuits, Jr.

Luke and Caleb
Spelling
Reading

Family (in the evening):
Read Matthew 24
Read Fablehaven #2, 2 chapters
Family Home Evening: Captain Moroni

To Show Parent Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...


Deanna
Practiced the piano
1 spell drill
Book reviews on Goodreads
Read the Princess Bride for 2 hours

Alex
Went to work
Attended a meeting out of town and came home late

No School

No School. Today we played and visited with some extended family that came for a visit. Yeah! I should have taken pictures. Olivia cooked up a storm with grandma. I'm also proud to report that Jared is almost done with Eldest!

Daily Schedule 10/16/08

Today was another "teacher in service day" to the temple. It was nice to get some good inspiration about the children because I needed it and they did too. The older two went to work with Alex and had a great time.

Olivia
Math: Lesson 36
Language Arts: Verbs
Free Reading: 30 min The Pearl
Life Skills: Filing at work with Alex and Worked on the Playhouse
Computers/Typing: Blogging and Good Reads
Writing: Blogging

Jared
Math: Lesson 36
Phonics/Handwriting: Explode the Code, 4 pages finished the book onto the next one
Book on Tape: 6 hours of Eldest
Life Skills: Worked on the playhouse


To Show Parent Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna
Went to the temple
Read Persuasion for 2 hours

Alex
Went to Work
Worked on the Playhouse
Worked on his college class for 2+ hours
Working on The Sackett by Louis L'Amour

Daily Schedule 10/15/08

Mom's School with Olivia and Jared
Pray/Pledge
Theology: Preach My Gospel, Lesson 4: The Ten Commandments and True to the Faith: The Ten Commandments
Bible History: Elijah and the Widow
Friend Article: Read 2 articles
Biography/American History: Read two chapters of James Madison: Good Neighbor Boy of the Childhood of Early Americans series.
Fairy Tales/Fables: Read 7 fables from Fables of Leonardo DaVinci
Read-a-loud: Read 1 chapter in the Hawk That Dare Not Hunt By Day by Scott O'Dell
Memorization: First 8 Presidents of the USA and the Books in the Book of Mormon and New Testament
Biography/Art: Read first 1/3 of Leonardo DaVinci by Diane Stanley
Life Skills: Worked on the play house again with Alex
Reading: We take turns reading all of the above material everyday.
Science/Pet Care: Jared and Olivia each have a hamster that they are responsible for. They also take turns caring for our dog, cat and sea monkeys.

Olivia
Music: Practiced her voice lesson
Math: Lesson 35
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Types of sentences and verbs
Writing: Wrote a book review for Zia
Free Reading: 1 hour, finished Zia
Computers/Typing: Blogging and Good Reads
Activity Days today!

Jared
Math: Lesson 35
Logic: Rush Hour, Jr
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Handwriting: Cursive D's
Computers: Updated Good Reads
Reading/Book on tape: 6 hours. Yes that's correct. We finally checked out Eldest. It's been on our old list for a LONG time.
Scouts today!

Luke and Caleb:
Spelling
Reading
Math

To Show Parent Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna
Read Persuasion for 1 hour
Did 1 spell drill
Yesterday I wrote an essay about socialization that I forgot to post
Practiced the piano
Helped with scouts
Went to a book discussion about Huckleberry Finn

Alex

Went to work

Worked on the playhouse

Finished The Whipping Boy

Worked on his college class

Hung up signs for the Republican nominee for the state congress seat, attended a Republican meeting (he's the District Vice-chair)

Yesterday he served as a Temple Ordinance worker. I forgot to post that.

(I don't know why it's double spacing on Alex's list???)

Daily Schedule 10/14/08

Mom's School with Olivia and Jared
Pray/Pledge
Theology: Preach My Gospel, Lesson 4: Prophets and True to the Faith: Prophets
Bible History: The Queen of Sheba visits King Solomon
Friend Article: 2 articles
Biography/American History: 2 chapters from James Monroe: Good Neighbor Boy
Fairy Tales/Fables: 10 Fables from Fables of Leonardo DaVinci
Read-a-loud: 3 chapters from The Hawk That Day Not Hunt By Da
Family History: Essay written by Bobbie Blevins about our family written in 1982
Fine Art: What Your 4th Grader Needs to Know pgs. 224-227
Had Horse Riding LessonsSocial: Played with friend/cousins for 2 hours
Reading: We take turns reading all of the above material everyday.
Science/Pet Care: Jared and Olivia each have a hamster that they are responsible for. They also take turns caring for our dog, cat and sea monkeys.


Olivia
Music: Practiced voice lesson and had her voice lesson
Math: Lesson 34
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Types of Sentences
Free Reading: 30 minutes
Computers/Typing: Blogging and Good Reads

Jared
Music: Practiced piano lesson
Biography: Watched a 30 min on Leonardo DaVinci
World History: 2 hours of Story of the World vol. 1
Math: Lesson 34
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Computers/Typing: Worked with me on blogging and using computers (this was painful for me)
Free Reading: 30 min of a Magic Tree House books

A Christmas Wish

Last night we were all visiting about Christmas. Since it had snowed I guess it was on our minds. We were asking them what they wanted. We all mentioned a lot of things. Luke is getting baptized the week after Christmas and he will get a lot of traditional 8 year old presents. He's very excited. However, he tugged at my arm and in a timid and brave voice said very seriously, "Mom, all I really want for my birthday and Christmas is for you to home school me." How sweet. I've wanted to wait to pull him out until 3rd grade. However, it's been the same age-around 8- that the other two started begging. He's been asking for a couple of months now. I received a note one day asking me. He doesn't like school for the most part and looks forward to "the day" he is homeschooled. I need to stop worrying about what other people think though and do what is right for our kids. Anyhow my goal now is just to make it through first grade for right now.

Daily Schedule 10/13/08

Happy Columbus Day! Today Alex stayed home for most of the day. For lunch we went to work with him while he ran a quick appointment and then we ate lunch out with him. The kids think that it is pretty cool to be home schooled and get perks like that.

Mom's School with Olivia and Jared
Pray/Pledge
Theology: Preach My Gospel, Lesson 4: Baptism and Confirmation and True to the Faith: Baptism
Bible History: Solomon's Temple
Friend Article: 3 articles
Biography/American History: 2 chapters of James Monroe: Good Neighbor Boy by Mabel Cleland Widdemer of the Childhood of Famous Americans Series
Fairy Tales/Fables: 8 fables from Fables of Leonardo da Vinci translated by Bruno Nardini
Read-a-loud: Read 3 chapters in The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt by Day by Scott O'Dell. This is the story of a young man who help smuggle Bibles into England for William Tyndale.

Memorization: We are working on the first 8 president of the United States, the names of the books in the Book of Mormon and the books of the New Testament. The last two we are learning by music from the LDS Children's Primary Song Book.
Geography: "Finding Locations on Maps" from Young Students Learning Library, we also used Bible maps to practice this on
Science: A Beka 5 Science, finished section 8.1 about weather and winds pgs.292-298
Science Experiment: From page 298 in A Beka 5 "Creating a wind system," it was a good one

Life Skills: Spent a couple of hours helping Alex build the playhouse outside.
Reading: We take turns reading all of the above material everyday.
Science/Pet Care: Jared and Olivia each have a hamster that they are responsible for. They also take turns caring for our dog, cat and sea monkeys.

Olivia
Music: Practiced her voice lesson
Math: Lesson 33
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Types of Sentences
Free Reading: 30 min of Zia
Computers/Typing: Blogging and Good Reads

Jared
Music: Had his piano lesson
World History: Listened to Story of the World Vol 1 for 1 hour
Math: Lesson 33
Math Drill: Multiplication Wrap-up's: 9's
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Handwriting: Cursive C's
Reading: 3o minutes read to me from his Third McGuffy Reader

Luke and Caleb

Practiced spelling words

Caleb read for 30 minutes

Luke read for 1 hour

Family (in the evening):
Tonight was FHE. Our lesson was from President Uchtdorf's Priesthood Talk from Oct 2008 http://www.lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-947-18,00.html Alex even had a lift up the couch as a family for part of the lesson.

Matthew 23

Read 2 chapters of The Princess Bride

To Show Parent Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna

Practiced the piano

Read Persuasion by Jane Austen for 1 hour

Did house work! : )

Alex

Ran an appointment

Work on his college course

Worked on the play house

Daily Schedule 10/10/08

Today we took a half day off from school. We all kind of were run down. Olivia has pinkeye. Luke was home also.


Biography/American History: 2 Chapters in James Monroe: Good Neighbor Boy
Fairy Tales/Fables: 7 fables from Fables of Leonardo DaVinci
Read-a-loud: Read 2 chapters in Prince Caspian
Memorization: Memorizing of the first 8 presidents of the US
Science/Pet Care: Jared and Olivia each have a hamster that they are responsible for. They also take turns caring for our dog, cat and sea monkeys.
Horse Riding Lessons Today!

Olivia
Music: Practiced her voice lesson
Math: Lesson 32
Writing: Wrote a book review about Fablehaven on Good Reads
Typing/Computers: Good Reads and Blogging

Jared
Music: Practiced his piano lesson
Math: Lesson 32
Math Facts: Did 1 multiplication fact page from his workbook
Life Skills: Made Sweedish Pancakes


Family (in the evening)
Matthew 21
1 chapter in The Princess Bride

To Show Parent Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna
Made dinner for a neighbor
Good Reads book reviews
Re-read parts of The Well Trained Mind for some homeschooling ideas
Read Goose Girl for 1 hour

Ran for 30 minutes
Practiced the piano

Alex
Went to work
College class
Finished Crime and Punishment
Outside yard work

Daily Schedule 10/9/08

Mom's School with Olivia and Jared
Pray/Pledge
Theology: Preach My Gospel, Lesson 4:Sabbath Day and True to the Faith: Sabbath Day
Bible History: Wisdom of Solomon
Friend Article: Read 2 articles
Biography/American History: 2 Chapters in James Monroe:Good Neighbor Boy
Fairy Tales/Fables: Read 5 fables in The Fables of Leonardo DaVinci
Read-a-loud: Read 2 chapters in Prince Caspian by CS Lewis
Family History: Read the autobiography of Leonard Hancock my maternal grandfather
Memorization: Learning the first 8 presidents of the United States. Also Working on the songs Books of the Book of Mormon and Books of in the New Testament
Science: Abeka Science (5) Weather Temperatures and Winds 8.1 pgs. 289-292
Math Drill: Played a rounding game and a multiplication game
Reading: We take turns reading all of the above material everyday.
Science/Pet Care: Jared and Olivia each have a hamster that they are responsible for. They also take turns caring for our dog, cat and sea monkeys.

Olivia
Music: Practiced her voice lesson
Math: Lesson 31
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Types of sentences
Computers/Typing: Blogging and Good Reads
Free Reading: 2 hours of Zia
Reading: McGuffy 5th Grade Reader, 30 minutes
Vocabulary: 15 new words from the McGuffy Reader
Art: Working on a Powerpoint/scrapbooking

Jared
Music: Practiced the piano
Math: Lesson 31
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Handwriting/Phonics: 5 pages of Explode the Code
World History: Listened to Story of the World Vol.1 for 1 hour on CD
Reading: Read McGuffy 3rd Reader for 30 minutes

Luke and Caleb:
Spelling and Reading

Family (in the evening):
Read Matthew 20
Read 3 chapters and finished Fablehaven

To Show Parent Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna
Read The Virginian for 1 hour
Practiced the piano

Alex
Served as an ordinance worker in the temple (his usual day is Tuesday morning, but he was substituting)
Went to work
Worked on his Communications class
Listening to Crime and Punishment

Curriculum Review

George Washingon: Young Leader by August Stevenson

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

So far I've been really impressed with this series. My children really seem to be connecting to the people and are really getting a feel for what it was like to live and grow up during that time period.

I was really impressed with how great George Washington was. It's inspired me to read an adult bio of him sooner than later.

View'>http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1064820?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.

Daily Schedule for 10/08/08

BOTH
Pray/Pledge
Theology: Preach My Gospel, Lesson 4: Scriptures
Bible History: David and Absalom, David Dies
Friend Article: We read two articles
Biography/American History: Read 4 chapters and finished George Washington: Our First Leader from the Childhood of Famous Americans
Read-a-loud: 1 chapter in Prince Caspian by CS Lewis
Literature: Read 7 fables from Fables of Leonardo da Vinci translated by Bruno Nardini

Art: Read the Art section in What Every First Grader Needs To Know by ED Hirsch (This was actually a lot of information and was very interesting. The Fourth, Sixth Grade books by the same author didn't cover the information that I wanted to go over.
Reading: We take turns reading all of the above material everyday.
Science/Pet Care: Jared and Olivia each have a hamster that they are responsible for. They also take turns caring for our dog, cat and sea monkeys.

Jared
Music: Practiced his piano lesson
Math: Lesson 30

Logic: Played Rush Hour, JR
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Handwriting: Cursive B's
Reading: Read his McGuffy Third Reader for 30 minutes

Book on Tape: He listened to a book on tape for about 2 hours
Scouts today!

Jared working on his Rush Hour, Jr Logic game. He really was more happy than he looks here. He's just deep in concentration.

Olivia
Music: Practiced her voice lesson
Math: Lesson 30
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Types of sentences
Computers/Typing: Good Reads and Blogging
Free Reading: 1 hour of Zia by Scott O'Dell
Writing: Wrote a book report on Good Reads

Olivia making her lunch.

Luke and Caleb

Spelling and 30 min Reading

Deanna

1 spell drill

3 hours of reading

Practiced the piano

Went on a walk

Alex

Went to work : )

He's reading Crime and Punishment
Worked on his college Communications class

Family

Read Matthew 19

Read 3 chapters in Fablehaven

Daily Schedule for 10/07/08

Both
Pray/Pledge
Theology: Preach My Gospel, Lesson 4: Prayer and True to the Faith: Prayer
Bible History: David and Bathsheba
Friend Article: Read 3 articles
Biography/American History: Read 2 chapters in George Washington: Our First Leader from the Childhood of Famous Americans Series
Read-a-loud: 1 chapter in Prince Caspian
Literature: Read 7 fables in Fables of Leonardo daVinci translated by Bruno Nardini
Music: Practiced the song Books of the Book of Mormon
Geography: Read the chapter "Measuring Distances on Maps" from Young Students Learning Library
Science: Abeka's Observing Gods World: 2.2 Roots and Stems (1/2 of the lesson)Government: See family section
Reading: We take turns reading all of the above material everyday.
Science/Pet Care: Jared and Olivia each have a hamster that they are responsible for. They also take turns caring for our dog, cat and sea monkeys.
Service: We are feeding grandpa's cat this week while he is gone.
PE: Over 1 hour jumping on the trampoline with the little boys and Hank

Jared
Music: Practiced the piano
Math: Lesson 29
Logic: Spent 30 min or so working on a 3-D dinosaur puzzle
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Handwriting/Phonics: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Reading: Read for 45 min in his McGuffy Second Reader and he finished it. He's worked hard on it and was very excited!
Life Skills: Top Ramien (important I know, he has to eat on his mission...)

Here's Jared with his little puzzle. It's very small and had lots of small pieces. It was a good exercise for him for two reasons. #1: Problem solving (there were no directions) he needs that and #2 Small hand eye coordination.

Olivia:
Music: Had a voice lesson (hi Janet : ) )
Math: Lesson 29
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Computers/Typing: Blogging and Good Reads
Free Reading: Read for over 2 hours. Finished Work and the Glory #2 and started Zia by Scott O'Dell

Writing: Wrote a review on Good Reads about Work and the Glory #2
Life Skills: Boxed Alfredo and dealing with disappointment. Her horse lesson for today was rescheduled and she was VERY disappointed!
PE: Bike Ride

Social: Had a friend over for 1 hour

Luke and Caleb
Spelling practice and 30 minutes silent reading


Deanna
(For Scholar Parent example)
Read Walden for two hours
Wrote a Good Reads Report for it
Practiced the piano
Worked on a Sunday Lesson
Went on a walk

Alex
Finished the Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
Presented a speech for his "Communications" class at the local college


Family
Watched part of the Presidential Debate and discussed them.
Read 4 chapters in Fablehaven
Scriptures: Matthew 18

Book Review

Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Well, I finally got around to Walden...

First off I really liked some parts of the books. There were some great thoughts on personal leadership that I took to heart. I also enjoyed his musings on early mornings and reading classics. And while I enjoyed them I can't say there was anything really revelatory for me personally though.

I struggled with some of the book. It was just plain boring to me. The overall message of the book-simplify your life-was definitely a great one. However, I think there needs to be a more middle ground than the life he enjoyed at Walden. This of course he himself only enjoyed for two years.

Overall, good theme, good message, thoughts to mull over, but still lacking somewhat in reality for me.

I will probably read this again later to study it more.

As for the second book "Civil Disobedience" I enjoyed that one a whole lot more. I would give that one four stars. I agreed with most of his points about government. Some were slightly idealistic but I definitely felt that I benefited from his perspective.

The whole concept of civil disobedience is important to me and I have repeatedly talked to my children about it. I think the movie "National Treasure" is a perfect example of this. Ben felt that he needed to break the law. He felt that was the right choice. HOWEVER, he was willing to pay the price for breaking the law. He felt it was more important to break the law and fix the problem then to sit back and do nothing and thereby avoid prison. This example I have hammered in repeatedly to my children. "You must be willing to face the consequences." Of course another example of this is our revered Founding Fathers.


View'>http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1064820?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.

Daily Schedule for 10/06/08

Both
Pray/Pledge
Theology: Preach My Gospel, Lesson 4: Obedience and we used True to the Faith: Obedience
Bible History: David becomes King

Scripture Reading: Matthew 17
Friend Article: We read 3 articles
Biography/American History: 3 chapters in The Young George Washington
Read-a-loud: Read 1 chapter in Prince Caspian and 3 chapters in Fablehaven
Family History: Finished the last 2/3 of my father's autobiography

Math: Read The Coin Counting Book by Rozanne Lanczak Williams
PE: Went on a scooter/bike ride
Reading: We take turns reading all of the above material everyday.
Science/Pet Care: Jared and Olivia each have a hamster that they are responsible for. They also take turns caring for our dog, cat and sea monkeys.
Family Home Evening: Tonight was Family Home Evening and we talked about Zion and making that our most important goal. This was based on Elder Christofferson's talk from General Conference 10/08

Jared
Music: Practiced the piano and had his piano lesson
Science: Watched an Eyewitness Video: Skeleton (human body)
Math: Lesson 28
Math Drill: 2 Multiplication fact/drill pages from a workbook-5's
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Handwriting: Cursive U's

Book on Tape: He listened to a Geronino Stillton book on tape for 1 hour while he played with his army/catapults.

Reading: Read 30 minutes in his McGuffy 2nd Reader to me
Life Skills: Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Olivia
Music: She practiced her voice lesson. And then she practiced her violin, recorder and saxophone. She said it was a "music day."
Science: She did watch part of the above science video, but not all of it.
Math: Lesson 28
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Types of sentences
Creative Writing: Blogging
Computers: Blogging, Good Reads, Selecting Music for her Blog, etc.
Typing: Computer time
Free Reading: 45 minutes of Work and the Glory #2
Life Skills: Sloppy Joes

Luke and Caleb: Practiced their spelling words from school and each read for 30 min. They were there for Fablehaven and the scriptures.

No School

No School today again. It is the final day of Fall Vacation. Olivia and Jared had their horse riding lessons today. They all enjoyed playing with their cousins while they were there. Back to the "grind" on Monday!

Scholar Book Review

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book was amazing! I don't think it was my favorite book of all time, but it is certainly up there.

I read the Unabridged version. I think that I will recommend the abridged version to my children for their first read. I think this book with be one of the core books in our family as our children get older.

I think this book as layer after layer of depth to it. I would like to read it again and explore the characters Valjean and Marius more closely. This is a book that you need to read again and again. With each reading uncovering more great treasures.

For me the crowing splendor of this book is simply the words on the page. It is just beautiful and refreshing to my mind down to my inner soul. This is the type of book you read and you walk away changed and illuminated.

I struggled with the French. I know absolutely no French. In my translation there were a lot of words that were not translated and I had no idea what they were talking about. I also struggled with the French names and locations. I'm sure further reading would add clarity to some of these. Occasionally I mixed some of them up as I read through it.

I highly recommend this book!

View all my reviews.

No School

No School today or tomorrow because of Fall Vacation I guess. Works for me! It's nice to have a day off every once in a while with no plans. It was nice having the little boys home during the day for a change. We did read 4 chapters out of Prince Caspian.

A nice reminder

As a homeschooling mom you never know if you're really doing the right thing and if your kids are happy and where they need to be. The other morning I woke up to this letter. It once again confirmed that we were doing the right thing and are children are amazing.

Dear Mom,

Thank you for all that you do for me. You are a great mom. You mean so much to me. Thank you for homeschooling me. I love you. You set a great example for me. Thank you for that. I know that that will be a benefit for me in the future. All because of you and dad's choice to homeschool me. I love you and thank you again. Olivia

Luke's latest story

Luke loves to write. That is one of the things he enjoys doing in his free time. He maintains he will grown up and be an author and an illustrator. When Luke starts working on a new story he is very focused and can't do anything else until he gets it all written and down. Maybe it's just in his head and he can't rest until he gets it out and written down. I don't know, but writing is very important to him. Here's his latest story.

Pithia: Legend of the horses

Written by and Illustrated by:Luke Sutter

Chapter one: Annie and Mike

One morning Annie and Mike were with their horse Lea. "Hi, Dad," said Mike. "Hi, Children," said dad. "Don't forget to feed the horses tonight." Mike groaned. "Do we have to?" asked Mike. "How can we run a farm without feeding the animals?" said dad.

Chapter two: School

The next morning it was school. Annie and Mike's teacher was Ms. Scott. She was a kind teacher, with blue eyes and black hair. When school was over they fed the animals. While they fed the animals they found a cave with shinning diamonds. "What's that?" said Mike. "I don't know" said Annie. "I think it's a lamp" said Mike. Mike picked the lamp up. Crack and the cave shook. "Ahhh" said Annie. "Let's get out of here" said Mike. "That was close" said Annie.

Chapter three: The flying horse

The next morning they poured the stuff from the lamp on Lea. Then wings grew out of her sides. "Wow" said Annie. They were flying on their horse! They lived happily ever after.

The End.

Daily Schedule for 10/01/08

Both
Pray/Pledge
Theology: Preach My Gospel, Lesson 4: How to Teach
Bible History: Saul dies
Friend Article: Read 2 articles
Biography/American History: Read 2 chapters in The Young George Washington
Read-a-loud: Read 2 chapters in Prince Caspian
Family History: Read the first 1/3 of my fathers autobiography
Music: Practiced the song "The Books of the Book of Mormon" several times
Biography: Read 2 biographies about George Monbiot and David Belamy who are environmentalists-this was for a scout requirement ALSO we learned about Leonardo da Vinci
Government: I couldn't let the ideas of environmentalism go unchallenged by me! We talked at length about communism, socialism, global warming, capitalism, liberalism, etc.
Science: Did a Science Experiment creating Eggshell Geodes (more crystal things)
Logic: Spent 30 minutes working on pattern blocks
Literature: We learned about fables and then read 3 fables written by Leonardo da Vinci
Reading: We take turns reading all of the above material everyday.
Science/Pet Care: Jared and Olivia each have a hamster that they are responsible for. They also take turns caring for our dog, cat and sea monkeys.


Jared
Music: Practiced his piano lesson
Math: Lesson 27
Math Drill: Multiplication Wrap-ups: 4's and 9's
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Handwriting/Phonics: 5 pages in Explode the Code
Free Reading: 4o minutes, Magic Tree House and Nate the Great
Reading: 20 min reading is McGuffy Reader to me
Life Skills: Hamburgers
He had Scouts today.

Olivia
Math: Lesson 27
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Compound Subjects
Computers: She's always on the computer doing things
Free Reading: 1 1/2 hours
Life Skills: Macaroni and Cheese
Social: Played with a friend for 1 hour