Home Schooling Day on the Hill

Today Caleb and I had the house to ourselves! Alex and the kids were in Boise to attend "Day on the Hill" for home schooling kids. I'm afraid Caleb and I were slobbed out and didn't do a whole lot that was beneficial.

Family Scripture Study: 1 Nephi 18
Weekly Family Scripture Memorization: 1 Timothy 4:12
Chores/Animal Care

Alex, Olivia, Jared and Luke: Awoke in Boise at their cousins. They had a great visit. Went to the capital. They had a tour of the newly rededicated capitol. They meet and talked to several legislators. They each had to argue a bill that they had written. Luke was so scared that when he sat down he was shaking and crying. He rallied after that to ask questions and debate bills after his. Lots of good public speaking opportunities. It was a long day, but they loved it and they learned a lot about our government.

Caleb: Read his scriptures, read in the Ranger Rick to me, started a blog, learned about bears from his Animal DK book, wrote a post about bears on his blog, coloring, played Money, Money! with me, played Book of Mormon Who?, played Stratego, watched a science video, watched a Miss Spider video, watched a Clifford video (all from the library) and went on a walk with me.

Deanna: Read my scriptures, wrote in my journal, wrote a conference talk, word of the day, practiced the piano, read and finished Trojan Women, read in Othello, went on a walk, played ping pong, made dinner for a family, and made food for a 4-H project tomorrow.

We were not home much today for them to do much.

Family Scripture Study: 1 Nephi 14
Weekly Family Scripture Memorization: 1 Timothy 2:1-2
Science: Watched two science videos
Health: Had an extensive First Aide lesson. (CPR/choking/bites/bleeding/burns,etc)
Club: Had a 4-H Meeting and an Archery Meeting
Social/Logic/Math: Attended their first boys social home school group that I organized with a friend with other home school boys. They played multiple games of chess and just "played." We will meet weekly.
Chores and Animal Care

Caleb: Played Raz-kids, watched an additional science video, worked on his 4-H record book (handwriting), did a dot-to-dot even numbers past 100 (math), and listened to a Magic Tree House book on tape.

Luke: Read his scriptures, practiced the piano, and read in The Ranger's Apprentice for two hours, worked on his 4-H record book (handwriting), worked on his secretaries book for his club (more handwriting and some math), and listened to a A Magic Tree House book on tape.

Jared: Read his scriptures, practiced the piano, worked on his scouting requirements, worked on his 4-H record book (handwriting), studied/prepared his demonstration for archery about the different types of arrowheads, gave an oral presentation on arrowheads for his archery class, filled out some paperwork with me for a doctor's appointment, listened to me read the last 100 pages in Tom Trueheart and the Land of Dark Stories by Ian Beck, and went on a walk.

Olivia: Read her scriptures, practiced the piano, read in The Red Scarf Girl for two hours, went to her scholar class and discussed Whitman's poetry, researched/prepared a demonstration for archery about the history of archery in the Olympic games, gave an oral presentation about archery in the Olympic games for archery class, worked on her 4-H record book (handwriting) and went on a walk.

Deanna: Read my scriptures, wrote in my journal, Peterson's Word of the Day, had a meeting with my mentor, went on several visiting teaching appointments, practiced the piano, spent a couple of hours with a home school friend (see Leadership Education Ingredient #47 -The Friend) while the kids played chess and socialized.

Alex: Read his scriptures, read in the church handbooks, Peterson's Word of the Day, was gone extra early today with meetings on the edge of the state, went to work and came home late, and listened to Stormbreaker.

Ramping up on the piano

Family Scripture Study: 1 Nephi 12
Weekly Family Scripture Memorization: 1 Timothy 2: 1-2

Today I had to go into "town" with Jared for a doctor's appointment. We were gone for the morning but Alex was home with the kids. So here are some of the things that I know that we learned today, I don't know everything since I was gone for the morning.

Things are going VERY, well for us with our Leadership Education. We could not be more happy. We'll ,if they would learn to keep their hands to themselves that would really make the world go round. haha

Caleb: Played Raz-kids. His reading fluency is really improving. This would not be my first choice (computer game), but Caleb has had a hard time connecting with other learning methods and he is really doing well with this one. He worked on several core things today!

Luke: Read his scriptures, practiced the piano, had piano lessons, worked on his 3's times tables, worked on his story, and read for almost two hours in The Hardy Boys #1. (He's so funny because he can't say jalopy, which is in the story, he keeps asking me and he keeps getting it wrong). Played ping-pong and Wii sports. He prepared the Family Home Evening lesson. Luke has the stewardship of lunch. He's doing well it, but still needs a lot of help.

Jared: Helped me with grocery shopping, went to the library with me, practiced the piano, went to piano lessons, did a math assignment, did a multiplication drill sheet, did 5 pages of Explode the Code, read for well over an hour in Peter and the Starcatchers #2 (he read most of that out loud to me), and played Wii sports. We also reviewed several vocabulary words. His core behavior was very good today. He had some redo's in some things (we made him retake his shower when it was discovered he had not used soap, for example).

Olivia: Read over 2/3 of the Freedom Factor by Gerald Lund for her scholar class, read her scriptures, wrote her bill for her "Day on the Hill", wrote half of her compass, read a poem by Walt Witman, practiced the piano, and had piano lessons. She also worked on her investments on Lending Club. She gave an oral report to Alex over dinner. Her stewardship is breakfast. She has done very well with this over the past several weeks. Tonight she prepared the sourdough starter for pancakes tomorrow. When it comes to cooking Olivia needs no help and learns things on her own. Yesterday she made a homemade carrot cake, which she's made multiple times before. Later she discovered that we were out of powdered sugar. I told her that she could make powdered sugar, but I didn't know how, so she googled making powdered sugar with floor and found a recipe. She made it and it turned out great. Today she made homemade pudding, with out a recipe, that she made up. It turned out great. Sometimes I wonder were she came from.

Deanna: Wrote in my journal, read scriptures, finished The Ranger's Apprentice, practiced the piano, played ping pong, and went to my piano lessons (she's working me!).

Alex: Read scriptures, reading a lot in the church handbooks, went to work, had lots of business meetings, played ping pong, and worked on our investments (I guess he does this everyday though).

Family Home Evening:
Songs: The Valiant Song and I Know the Savior Lives
Testimonies: Alex, Deanna, Olivia, Jared, Luke and Caleb today all bore their's
Strength of Youth: Serving Others
The Proclamation to the World: 8th paragraph and discussion on the degeneration of the family
Article of Faith: 12th
Weekly Scripture Memorization: 1 Timothy 2:1-2
Character Rule: We restarted 21 Rules of this House, Rule #1-Obey the Lord
Lesson: (Luke) He based his lesson on this page off of the church website. We had a great lesson on self-reliance and what it was. We also discussed several scripture stories (Lehi & his family, Noah & the Ark, Joseph in Egypt, Lachoneus & the Gadianton Robbers) of those who were or were not self-reliant.
Activity: We played a new math game I bought this weekend. I think it was called Real World Math: Unexpected Events. They had to keep a ledger though out the game of the money they made and spent. This required reading cards, writing in the ledger and doing math to keep your statement current. You can't beat a game that covers so many subjects! The kids really liked it and did well. I was surprised at how much they all caught. Especially at Caleb's ability to figure things out.
Treats: Homemade pudding and carrot cake, thank you Olivia.