Horatio Hornblower

Another day drawing to a close. Today was another fabulous day. Sometimes I feel guilty that life is so good. Sure there are those moments. I feel like I have this little secret that nobody wants to hear. I'll share it anyway (but most of the people who read this blog already know it), HOMESCHOOLING YOUR KIDS ROCKS AND MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND! Most people just assume that only crazy people do it. I've also heard it's just to hard of a thing to expect a mother to do. Well, I'm sure some mom's get overwhelmed, but the joys and blessings out weigh those days of chaos. Cheers to all you families out there that also home school and share the same joy in your homes!

Now on to our day.

Family Scripture Study: 2 Nephi 10
Weekly Family Scripture Memorization: John 15:14
Theology: "Prophets" from Gospel Principles.
The Discussion: "Should we be expected to continue attending meetings of church clubs when we've earned all of our requirements?" Alex was gone until late so we had to have a tame question that I could handle. I put the questions about our national borders and Spanish being included on all government literature back for another day.
Spelling: We did spelling with the boys on the wipe board.
Social: Today was the home schooling weekly social date. Last weekend we lent some of our Horatio Hornblower movies to our hs buddies. This morning we received a phone call, "Come dressed as Horatio Hornblower as much as you can. We are going to build a ship." The boys were so exited! They had a 10+ trailer that they ended up rigging into a ship. It was a work of art. Really. They hauled all sorts of materials to this trailer and each time I looked out the window more and work had been down. In the end they had rigged a huge mast with a sail on it. Twine was everywhere. They also had a twine rope later up it. They had rigged 3 cannons, that looked like cannons. They also had a rudder. It was amazing what "backwards home school" children can really create with their imaginations. The worst part is that I didn't bring my camera. They'll remember today for a long time.
Fantasy Read-a-loud: Read several chapter of Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters.
Health: Watched The Biggest Loser (we watch it a week delayed on hulu).
PE: Watched an hour of the Olympics together. We aren't big TV people. 1 1/2 hours of the Biggest Loser (sometimes) is the extent of our TV viewing usually.
Chores/Animal Care

Caleb: Read his scriptures, read to his "public school teacher," learned about Komodo Dragons, wrote a blog post about them, played Wii sports, I started a Hank the Cowdog book that I'm reading just to him, and did some free reading.

Luke: Practiced piano, sketching in his book, read a book that was about the Wizard of Oz, read in the Ranger's Apprentice, played chess, and played Wii sports.

Jared: Read his scriptures, practiced the piano, Read in Peter and the Shadow Thieves (he's been consistent with this-he's really starting to gain some fluency), wrote a blog post, did some wipe board math, played 30 min of Wii sports and played chess.

Olivia: Read her scriptures, wrote in her journal, finished a biography about Patsy Jefferson, wrote a paper for her scholar class about The Screwtape Letters, played with a friend in the afternoon, practiced her vocal solo several different times, and played Wii sports.

Deanna: Scriptures, journal, conference talk, walked on the treadmill for 30 min, went visiting teaching, made dinner for some friends, read a chapter in the Thomas Jefferson Education book, read several chapters in Anne of Green Gables, wrote an essay, finished listening to Alex Rider #2: Point Blank, and started The Libation Bearers (Greek classic).

Alex: Scriptures, church handbook, walked on the treadmill, listening to Percy Jackson #1, went to work, and went to the temple.

Neat Web Site

I don't know if any of you are familiar with Academic Earth. There are multiple free online lectures that you can listen to. It's been super helpful for me in my BYU English class. Here's the link:

http://academicearth.org/

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.

Septermber 24, 2009 (Thursday)

Mom School
Pray/Pledge
Song: The Valiant Song and I am Like a Little Star
Bible: Abraham and Isaac from The Old Testament Reader
Family Scripture Study: 2 Corinthians 8
Weekly Scripture Memorization: 2 Nephi 31.:20
Friend Article
Idaho History: Read 1/2 a chapter from A Rendezvous with Idaho History
about Rivers in Idaho.
Read-a-loud: We read one chapter from The Silver Chair by CS Lewis.
Biography: We read biography about Rachel Carson.
Science: Read a chapter in Science: A Closer Look by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill.
Greek: We practiced the Greek alphabet
Chores including animal care
Lots of Lego's

Olivia
Religion: Read a chapter in Genesis.
Geography: Did an Evan-Moor lesson.
Math: Took another Saxon 7/6 test.
Math Drill: Did a multiplication fact drill.
Language Arts: Did a Daily Grams lesson and did an Editor in Chief lesson.
Reading: Started Work and the Glory #5 and read for 1 hour.
Spelling: Did a spell drill
Creative Writing: She attended her scholar writing class.
Science: Did a science lesson her science textbook.
Music: Practiced her piano lesson.

Jared
Religion: Read in the Book of Mormon.
Music: Practiced his piano lesson.
Geography: Did an Evan-Moor lesson.
Math: Did another Saxon 6/5 test.
Math Drill: Did an addition math fact drill.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Creative Writing: Did a lesson in Let's Write.
Grammar: Did a Daily Grams lesson.
Book on Tape: Listened to Star Wars.

Luke
Religion: Read in the Book of Mormon
Geography: Did an Evan-Moor lesson.
Math: Did a Saxon 3 lesson.
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Grammar: Did a Daily Grams lesson.
Spelling: Did a spell drill.
Creative Writing: Attended his scholar writing class.
Book on Tape: Listened to Star Wars.

Caleb
Religion: Read a couple of versus in the Book of Mormon to me.
Geography: Did a lesson from Evan-Moor.
Math: Did one Saxon Math 2 lesson.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 2 pages of Explode the Code
Reading: Read in The Cat and the Hat Comes Back to me. Practiced his sight words by using a highlighter and finding them in The Friend.
Reading/Computer: Played RAZ-kids on line.

Family (in the evening):
Grandpa was over for dinner.
Had pack meeting for cub scouts. The boys got several cub scout awards.
Chores at our cousins.
We have a cousin and a puppy for a week and a half. : )

To Show Parent Core/Love of Learner/Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna: Scriptures, journal, word of the day, read Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus, practiced my Greek, and helped at pack meeting.
Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, went to the temple, listening to Sackett's Land and went to Boise to work for the day.

September 18, 2009 (Friday)

Mom School
Pray/Pledge
Song: The Valiant Song, The Books of the Old Testament, and The Books of the New Testament.
Bible: Noah
Weekly Scripture Memorization: 3 Nephi 11:29
Friend Article
Social Studies: Read a chapter in Houghton Mifflin Social Studies: States and Regions.
Language Arts: We read chapter two in Simply Grammar by Karen Andreola about verbs.
Read-a-loud: Read three chapters in Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo.
Science: Read a chapter in Science: A Closer Look by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill.
Chores

Olivia
Religion: Read a chapter in Genesis.
Geography: Did an Evan-Moor lesson.
Math: Did a Saxon 7/6 lesson.
Math Drill: Did a multiplication fact drill.
Language Arts: Did a Daily Grams lesson and 1 lesson from Root Words.
Creative Writing: She also did her 30 min writing assignment from her scholar class. (She typed it up so she did typing also).
Science: Did a science lesson her science textbook.
Life Skills: Made homemade doughnuts with out a single bit of help. She found a recipe and made up a huge batch. They were very, very good.
Social: Went to a friend's house.

Jared
Religion: Read in the Book of Mormon.
Music: Practiced his piano lesson.
Geography: Did an Evan-Moor lesson.
Math: Did a Saxon 6/5 lesson.
Math Drill: Did an addition math fact drill.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Creative Writing: Did a lesson in Let's Write.
Grammar: Did a Daily Grams lesson.
Book on Tape: Listened to Fablehaven #3.
PE: Played Wii Sports.

Luke
Religion: Read in the Book of Mormon
Geography: Did an Evan-Moor lesson.
Math: Did a Saxon 3 lesson.
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Grammar: Did a Daily Grams lesson.
Spelling: Did a spell drill.
Creative Writing: Did a writing lesson from Let's Write and he did his 30 min writing assignment for his Scholar Writing class.
Social: Had a friend over.

Caleb
Geography: Did a lesson from Evan-Moor.
Math: Did one Saxon Math 2 lesson.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 2 pages of Explode the Code
Reading: Read in The Cat and the Hat Comes Back to me. Practiced his sight words by using a highlighter and finding them in The Friend.

To Show Parent Core/Love of Learner/Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna: Scriptures, journal, finished my BYU paper and submitted it, researched the requirements for graduate school (for the next BYU assignment), practiced the piano, finished the biography of Karl Marx, studied Greek, mentor meeting, and started the new Dan Brown book. We had our meeting with our mentor and we discussed Walden, Greek classics and our Greek language study among other things.
Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, went to work, researching for our Christmas trip, and went to our mentor meeting. His new CD/tape player came in so he should get that installed soon.

Septermber 17, 2009 (Thursday)

Today was crazy! We had our scholar class which has been changed to Thursdays now. Scouts and Activity Days have also been changed to Thursdays. I am over all the scouts because I'm in the Primary Presidency and I'm the Activity Days leader. I'm not sure how all of that happened. We are still having bumpy start getting scouts going this year so it's been a fiasco. I've been subbing in there on weeks when I'm not working with the girls. We also had a meeting after wards to plan pack meeting.

We did not have Mom School today. We did buy a new saddle today so we are making progress on our "let's own 82 acres and be ranchers plan." One thing at a time right?

Family Scripture Study: 2 Cor. 2
Weekly Scripture Memorization:3 Nephi 11:29
Chores
Logic: Lots of Lego's
Science: Watched videos on Brain Pop, Jr.

Olivia
Religion: Read a chapter in Genesis.
Geography: Did an Evan-Moor lesson.
Math: Did a Saxon 7/6 lesson.
Math Drill: Did a addition fact drill.
Language Arts: Did a Daily Grams lesson and 1 page from Root Words.
Creative Writing: Finished her writing assignment. She attended her scholar writing class.
Reading: Read Pride and Prejudice for10 min.
Music: Practiced the piano
Social: Attended Activity Days

Jared
Music: Practiced his piano lesson.
Geography: Did an Evan-Moor lesson.
Math: Did a Saxon 6/5 lesson.
Math Drill: Did an addition math fact drill.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Creative Writing: Did a lesson in Let's Write.
Grammar: Did a Daily Grams lesson.
Reading: Read in Peter and the Star Catchers for an hour.
Social: Attended Scouts

Luke
Geography: Did an Evan-Moor lesson.
Math: Did 2 Saxon 3 lessons.
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Grammar: Did a Daily Grams lesson.
Spelling: Did a spell drill.
Creative Writing: Attended the scholar writing class.
Scouts: Attended scouts

Caleb
Geography: Did a lesson from Evan-Moor.
Math: Did two Saxon Math 2 lessons.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 4 pages of Explode the Code
Reading: Read in The Cat and the Hat Comes Back to me. Practiced his sight words by using a highlighter and finding them in The Friend.

To Show Parent Core/Love of Learner/Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna: Scriptures, journal, practiced the piano, finished my essay for my BYU English class (I need someone to edit it for me now), read 1 1/2 chapters in a Biography of Karl Marx, started a book by Aeschylus-a Greek playwright, studied my Greek, prepared an Activity Day lesson, attended Activity Days, conducted a cub scout planning meeting, and practiced my deep breathing techniques.
Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, lots of Bishopric stuff, went to work, and he ordered a new CD/tape player. (and he went to the library so now I have a pile of wonderful new reads)

June 5, 2009 (Friday)

Mom School
Pray/Pledge
Song: Baptism
Church History: The Church is organized.
Friend Article
Science: "Skin" from Usborne's Book of Knowledge
Science Literature: Read 1/2 chapter of A Wind in the Door.
Memorization/Music: The Books of the Old and New Testament and Books of the Book of Mormon.
Science Experiment: Catapults
Chores

Olivia: Read a chapter in the Book of Mormon, practiced her singing for over 45 minutes, finished Leven Thumps #1, card making, word of the day, blogging, read in a Saxon Algebra book, and

Jared: Practiced the piano, lots of Lego's, and lots of summer playing.

Luke: Reading, Lego's and playing hard.

Caleb: Reading, Lego's, playing with catapults, and playing hard.

Deanna: Scriptures, preparing sharing time, made invitations for teacher in-service, practiced my recital piece, finished another chapter in my BYU American History class, practiced pronouncing Greek, worked on the enrichment lesson I'm giving next week, other primary business, several long hours of reading The History of the Peloponnesian War, and went on a date!
Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, Greek pronunciation, finished Ender's Shadow, went to work, and went on a date!

May 11, 2009 (Monday)

Mom School
Pray/Pledge
Song: How Firm A Foundation
Theology: The Priesthood is Organized from Our Heritage
Church History: Joseph Smith gets the plates
Friend Article
Biography/American History: Read 1 chapter in Little House in the Big Woods.
Memorization: 12 apostles
Music: Rhythm Poem
Geography: Continents quiz
Health/Science: "The Digestive System" from Usborne's Book of Knowledge
Science: Saw baby killdeer birds.
Outside Activity: We went to the Scholastic book fair at the school and bought some books.
PE: Played golf in the field.
Chores


Olivia
Religion: Read a chapter in the Book of Mormon.
Social Studies: Memorizing the states and capitals
Geography: Did a Geography lesson.
Math: Did a Saxon 6/5 lesson.
Spelling: Did a spell drill
Language Arts: Nouns from Easy Grammar
Vocabulary: Peterson's Word of the Day- Torpid
Vocabulary/Language Usage: Classical Roots lesson
Literature: Read Robinson Crusoe for an hour.
PE/Life Skills: Had horse riding lessons.
Clubs/Social: Went to a 4-H meeting.
Science: Planted flowers

Jared
Religion: Read a chapter in The Book of Mormon and read a chapter in the Doctrine and Covenants Reader.
Music: Had a piano lesson.
Geography: Memorizing the states
Math: Did a Saxon Math lesson.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Handwriting: Cursive handwriting lesson
Reading: Read a McGuffy Third Reader lesson.
Social: Played with his cousin for several hours.

Luke
Religion: Read a couple of chapters in the Book of Mormon.
Geography: Did two geography lessons and finished his workbook.
Science: I read Black Out! Animals That Live in the Dark by Ginjer L. Clarke to him and Caleb.
Math: Did a Saxon Math 2 lesson.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Creative Writing: Lots and lots of story writing today on the computer.
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages in Explode the Code
Reading: Read several McGuffy Second Reader lessons.
Free Reading: Read 6 chapters in a Magic Tree House book.
Creative Play: Lego's

Caleb
Religion: Read a couple of verses in the Book of Mormon.
Science: I read Black Out! Animals That Live in the Dark by Ginjer L. Clarke to him and Luke.
Math: Did 1/2 a work book lesson.
Math Drill: Telling time practice
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 2 pages of Explode the Code
Creative Writing: Did a Write About Me lesson.
Reading: Read a phonics reader and read a McGuffy Primer lesson to me.

Family Home Evening:
Songs: The Prophet Said to Plant A Garden and The Armies of Helaman
Testimonies: Alex, Deanna, Luke and Caleb
Article of Faith: 4th
Character: Uncommon Courtesy lesson
Scripture to Memorize: 1 Nephi 3:7
Strength of Youth: Gratitude
Proclamation to the World: 4th paragraph
Lesson: Being a Disciple with excerpts from this talk by Pres. Uchtorf
Activity: Batchi Ball
Treats: Homemade apple strudel from grandma!! Yummy! Olivia and Caleb made us Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars. It was a feast tonight!

To Show Parent Core/Love of Learner/Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna: Scriptures, journal, spell drill, conference talk, word of the day, and I ordered another BYU class (oh yea, oh yea)-American History to 1877.
Alex: Scriptures, studying church manuals, word of the day, helped a neighbor with their deck for an hour with my brother, went to work and he is listening to Master and Commander.

April 24, 2009 (Friday): Indian Attack!

Mom School
Pray/National Anthem

Song: I Lived in Heaven
Theology: Chapter 43: Second Coming from Gospel Principles
Book of Mormon Stories: Christ blesses the Nephites
Friend Article
Biography/American History: Discussed Native Americans. We looked at several adult books that had photographs and drawings of Indian life. We also learned some Indian sign language. The kids ended up playing "Indian" for a lot of the day. They went to sleep with paint on their face.
Literature/World History: Read 3 chapters from Ulysses and the Trojan War by Usborne. They are absolutely loving this book.
Memorization: 12 apostles
Family History/World War II: Read several more pages from "Memories of a Flying Tiger" about my grandpa's WWII adventures in China as a bomber. This has been VERY interesting to us.
Language Arts: A Lime, A Mime and A Pool of Slime: More About Nouns by Brian P. Cleary

Science: Read a chapter in Our Father's World (insects).
Science Experiment: We now have 20+ snails now and they are still alive. The kids find them fascinating to watch.

Creative Play: Today they held a jousting tournament. They played their Indian Wars, swung like monkeys from ropes and played with Lego's. What a fun day if you are 8.
Chores

Olivia
Religion: Read a chapter in The Book of Mormon.
Music: Practiced her voice lesson.
Geography: Did an Evan-Moor 5 lesson.
Math: Saxon Math - 2 lessons
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Grammar lesson -nouns

Vocabulary: Peterson's Word of the Day- Pithy
Vocabulary/Language Usage: Classical Root word test
Art: Creating with dandelions, paper, glue guns,... just creating

Jared
Religion: Read a chapter in The Doctrine and Covenants Reader.
Math: Saxon math lesson
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code 5

Luke
Geography: Did an Evan-Moor 2 lesson.
Math: Did 2 math lessons.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code 4

Caleb
Math: Skip Counting
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code 3
Language Arts: Sight words/drill

Reading: Read a phonics reader and a McGuffy Primer lesson to me.

Family (in the evening):
Played the Wii together.

Alex and the kids put up the trampoline.

Alex and the kids changed the oil in the car.

Put up "the big screen" (a projector) and watched a couple of Horatio Hornblower movies together.

To Show Parent Core/Love of Learner/Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna: Scriptures, journal, conference talks, spell drill, word of the day, researched about Sophocles and fifth century Athens for several hours, and wrote a report on all that I learned for my scholar class tomorrow.
Alex: Scriptures, Read a chapter in The Law by Bastiat, read a chapter in a biography of Hyrum Smith, word of the day, went to work, finished Artemis Fowl #2, and started Journey to the Center of the Earth.

I got another A!!

Yes, my final has been graded and I earned another A from BYU. (I took a Geography class). Yeah!!!! Here's hoping all this lifelong learning Alex and I are modeling rubs off onto the kids!

April 21, 2009 (Tuesday): Summer weather

Today we enjoyed the summer weather. They enjoyed it so much that they have sunburned faces. Last week at this time we had a winter storm warning. It's hard to decide if I should get out the Christmas decorations or get out the swim suits. The kids did play outside most of the day. Their 2 and 4 year old cousins were here this morning to play. Great fun. Good thing in a normal day for us we do what most public school kids do in a week! We had a great day. My kids love being home schooled!

Olivia: Read a chapter in the Book of Mormon, Saxon Math lesson, 1 spell drill, 1 Mad Libs paper for grammar, had her voice lesson, wrote some blog posts, worked on her scholar paper, an hour of Story of the World vol. 2 for World History, finished The Red Badge of Courage, and babysat her cousins for some life skills practice.

Jared: Read a chapter in The New Testament Reader, 2 math lessons, 1 spell drill, 1 Mad Libs paper for grammar, 5 pages of Explode the Code for handwriting and phonics, read in a Star Wars book, played legos, an hour of Story of the World vol. 2 for World History, put up part of the trampoline by himself and lots of playing outside.

Luke: Read a chapter in The Book of Mormon Reader, 2 math lessons, 1 spell drill, 1 geography lesson, 5 pages of Explode the Code for handwriting and phonics, read in Prince Caspian by CS Lewis, an hour of Story of the World vol. 2 for World History, played legos and lots of playing outside.

Caleb: Right Start math lesson, 1 spell drill, 2 pages of Explode the Code for handwriting and phonics, read on phonics reader, read a McGuffy lesson, an hour of Story of the World vol. 2 for World History, legos and he was outside the most.

Family (in the evening):
PE: Swimming at the river again for an hour and a half.
Family Scripture study: John 12

To Show Parent Core/Love of Learner/Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna: Scriptures, journal, word of the day, piano practice, gave a piano lesson, did a lot of researching and learning about couponing-I bought my first coupons and organized my first trip for next week, and read Self-Reliance by Emerson.
Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, worked in the temple, finished Brisinger, and finished Oedipus the King by Sophocles, went to work and started Artemis Fowl #2.

April 20, 2009 (Monday): Swimming

Mom School
Pray/Pledge

Song : My Eternal Family
Theology: Chapter 41: The Signs of the Second Coming from Gospel Principles
Book of Mormon Stories: Christ comes to the Americas
Friend Article
Biography/American History: 4 chapters from Crazy Horse: Young Indian Chief
World History/Literature: 1 chapter from Greek Myths: Ulysses and the Trojan War by Usborne
Memorization: Books of the Old Testament and The 12 Apostles
Family History/American History: Read 10 pages in grandpa Hancock's book Memories of A Flying Tiger about his experiences in World War 2.
Music: Rhythm Poem
Science: Read a chapter in Our Father's World. (about the seasons)
Science Experiment: We have a new pet snail that Caleb pulled from the river.
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.
Chores

Olivia
Religion: Read a chapter in The Book of Mormon.
Social Studies: First 30 states and capitals memorizing.
Math: Lesson 136 from Saxon Math 6/5.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Verbs from Easy Grammar
Research/Writing: Researching and writing a paper about the Civil War for her scholar class.

Language Arts: Did an Editor in Chief lesson.
Vocabulary: Peterson's Word of the Day- INSIPID
Vocabulary/Language Usage: Did a classical root words lesson.
Literature: Read The Red Badge of Courage for over an hour.
Life Skills: Homemade white layered cake
Computers/Typing: Blogging, research...

Jared
Religion: Read a chapter in The Doctrine and Covenants Reader.
Music: Practiced his piano lesson and had piano lessons.
Geography: 7 continents
Math: Singapore 3B lesson
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code 5
Reading: Read a Star Wars book for over a half an hour.
Creative Play: Lots of hours of Lego's

Luke
Religion: Read 3 chapters in The Book of Mormon.
Geography: Did a geography lesson in Evan-Moor 2.
Math: Did 2 Saxon Math 2 lessons.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code 4
Reading: 1 chapter of Prince Caspian.
Creative Play: Lots of Lego's

Caleb
Math: Right Start Math lesson (odd/even number, 10, 100, 1,000 place value)
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 2 pages of Explode the Code 3
Language Arts: Sight Words drill
Reading: Read me one phonics reader and 3 McGuffy Primer lessons.
Creative Play: Lego's (He plays with the Lego's but not near as much as the older boys).

Family Home Evening:
Song: I Hope They Call Me On A Mission

Talent: Headstands (Alex)

Article of Faith: 3rd

Strength of Youth: Letter from The First Presidency

Character: Uncommon Courtesy-6 rules of behavior

Proclamation Reading: 1st paragraph

Testimonies: Alex, Deanna, Olivia, Jared, Luke and Caleb

Lesson: WORK by Alex and Luke

Activity: Swimming in the river in the desert! Yes, it was cold. See family post here.

Refreshments: Homemade white-layered cake (Olivia)

To Show Parent Core/Love of Learner/Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna: Scriptures, journal, spell drill, word of the day, research about Shakespeare for a book club I'm leading this week, research about Sophocles for a paper I'm writing, piano playing (I have a recital piece in June and another time to substitute on the organ in 2 weeks), read for an hour in The Westing Game, placed another Usborne order, made dinner for a lonely man and his son (haha-my dad and brother, my mom was helping my sister) and wrote a blog post for another homeschooling blog I'm a contributor on.
Alex: Scriptures, read a chapter in The Law by Bastiat, reading in Oedipus the King by Sophocles, word of the day, worked on my broken $400 vacuum, went to work, and listened to Brisingr.

April 15, 2009 (Wednesday): It snowed again!

Today I went to the temple early (during the snowstorm/winter weather advisory) and took my BYU Geography test. Therefore we did not have mom school, but the kids did their individual things with dad. In the afternoon Olivia had her scholar class. Then we had scouts and activity days. Tonight we had a stake youth fireside that we (our ward) were in charge of and a stake meeting before that. Wednesday's tend to be nuts...

Olivia: She didn't feel very good this morning. (So says her father and herself). She read for two hours in Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo. She worked on her scholar report and questions. They are doing The Red Badge of Courage now. She also did a spell drill. She had activity days. She practiced her voice lesson.

Jared: Math, spelling, Explode the Code, Mad Libs paper and Scouts.

Luke: Math, geography, spelling, Explode the Code and Scouts.

Caleb: Math, spelling, Explode the Code, played a phonics game, read a phonics reader and read a McGuffy lesson.

Deanna: Scriptures, word of the day, went to the temple, took my BYU Geography final, sat on in the 2 hour scholar class, practiced the organ, was a den mother at scouts, went to a stake meeting, and played the organ at the stake youth fireside.

Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, stayed with the kids this morning, went to work, and listened to Brisingr.

April 10, 2009 (Friday) Easter Egg time

Mom School
Pray and National Anthem
Song: I Lived in Heaven
Theology: Chapter 36: An Eternal Family from Gospel Principles
Book of Mormon Stories: Captain Moroni Raises the Title of Liberty
Friend Article
Biography/American History: Discussed the Lewis and Clark Expedition at length. We used a book that is a calender of what happened each day of their journey. We read many of the entries.
Literature: Read 2 1/2 chapters of The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (I decided not to finish this with the kids. They weren't interested in it. Olivia will finish it on her own).
Fairy Tales/Fables: Read "The Emperor's New Clothes," "Cinderella," and "The Swan Princess" from Usborne's Fairy Tales.
Character/Music: Rythmn poem about making good choices.
Memorization: 12 apostles
Family History: Several pages from my grandfather's book, "Memories of a Flying Tiger" about his experiences in WW II.
Geography: India and the culture. Detailed examples from the family history book we are reading.
Science: Sound from Capella's Technology book.
Art: Dying Easter eggs.
Chores


Olivia
Music: Practiced her voice lesson. Her voice teacher didn't show up.
Geography: Did a geography lesson from Evan-Moor 5.
Social Studies: Memorizing the states and capitals. Working on the first 25.
Math: Redid lesson 123 from Saxon 6/5.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Easy Grammar lesson.
Vocabulary: Peterson's Word of the Day- Vex
Vocabulary/Language Usage: Took a classical roots test.
Free Reading: Read the Land of Elyon #3.
Literature: Read for 30 min in The Red Badge of Courage.
Life Skills: Prepared the dye for egg coloring without any help.
Field Trip: Went with her cousins to a professional rodeo in Pocatello. Big fun for the cowgirl.


Jared
Religion: Read a chapter from the New Testament Reader.
Music: Practiced his voice lesson.
Math: Did a Singapore 3B lesson.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code 5

Luke
Geography: Did a geography lesson from Evan-Moor 2.
Math: Did 3 Saxon Math 2 lessons.
Spelling: 3 spell drills
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages in Explode the Code 3
Creative Writing: Worked some more on his story on the computer. He spends a lot of time on this every day.

Caleb
Math: Did a Right Start Math lesson.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 3 pages of Explode the Code 3
Free Reading: Read/looked out the The Usborne Fairy Tale book. "Reading" several stories. I'm sure he did read some of it, but I know he couldn't read all of it.
Reading: Read a phonics reader and 2 McGuffy Primer lessons.

Family (in the evening):
-We swapped kids with the cousins. Olivia went to the rodeo with them and their 10 year old boy stayed with us overnight.
-Alex and I went on a date to the temple.
-The kids enjoyed a night with their favorite babysitter.

To Show Parent Core/Love of Learner/Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna: Scriptures, journal, conference talks, worked on my lesson for Sunday, spell drill, word of the day, researched William Shakespeare (for the book club I have next week), researched Sophocles for a paper I was assigned by my mentor, read The Red Badge of Courage, enjoyed my date at the temple with Alex.
Alex: Scriptures, read a chapter of The Law by Bastiat, word of the day, went to work, listened to Brisingr and also enjoyed our date to the temple. : )

April 3, 2009 (Friday): Showtime!

Play practice started at 9 AM! We practiced lots, preformed two live shows and collapsed in bed at 8 PM. It was a very long time, but we had a blast! The kids did so well! The play was "The Little Mermaid" in case I didn't mention that in a previous post. It's not like the Disney version at all. Luke and Caleb were dancing "cowboy" seahorses, Jared was a seasider and Olivia was a scout (they did all kinds of funny things). We're so proud of them, they did great!

At the beginning of the week the kids weren't to sure if they wanted to participate, but they agreed. They remembered that they had had a lot of fun last year doing it. Today they were very happy they did it. I'm so glad I played the piano for it. They had asked me to last year, but I was in charge of the Scholastic Book Fair at the School all that week and so I couldn't. Soooo, this year I wanted to make up for it. I'm always telling the kids to "do hard things." And my number one motto in parenting is, "I won't ask the kids to do anything I'm not willing to do myself." Needless to say I'm involved a lot. But, I believe that's powerful parenting. That's why I do everything I do. I also always tell them with 1. passion and 2. practice you can accomplish anything. So I try to live my parenting tips....

We had a two hour break this afternoon between shows and came home and ate homemade dinner made just for me by my dear sister who new we had been running all week. Sisters are great! We also read four more chapters of Fablehaven.

We finished the night off with some taped American Idol. What a great week!

March 27, 2009 (Friday): Social Fun

So we ended up taking another day off today to just relax. How sweet it is! I need to remember next year to take spring break the same week as our small town. Everyone wanted to do stuff with us this week because they didn't have anything going on.

This morning we went up to the church and played in the gym for several hours with their cousins and some friends. They jump roped, played baseball, played tag, duck-duck goose and a host of other fun games. They were very tired. Aunt Becky took them through a killer warm-up of running, stretching and foot drills. (She's a track/cross-country coach and she means business!) : )

In the afternoon they played here at home. The boys are enjoying writing stories and illustrating them, so they spent a lot of time doing that. They also watched some science videos. Olivia made cookies and cards for her primary presidency that was just released and we delivered them. She's such a good girl. How did I get so lucky? She and I also made dinner for a family that had a funeral tomorrow. A friend also came over for several hours to visit with me. Jared also finished his last CD of Brisingr. He loved it.

In the evening the kids went to their friends house while their parents, Alex and I went to our Greek class and our class on the Odyssey. We are learning so much! We are having great fun also. I'm so lucky to have a wonderful husband that likes learning things with me. We're fortunate also to have good friends that are just like us and like to talk about books, politics, economics, history, social trends, and classical languages. (think D & C 88:78-79)

It was good end to the week. We definitely look forward to next week when we can get in the groove again. We are ready for some structure again!

March 24, 2009 (Tuesday): Walden

Mom School
Pray/Pledge
Song: My Eternal Family
Theology: Chapter 30: Charity from Gospel Principles
Book of Mormon Stories: Alma's Conversion
Friend Article
Biography/American History: Read 1 chapter in Sacajawea: American Pathfinder by Flora Warren Seymour from the Childhood of Famous Americans
World History Literature: Read 1 chapter from Greek Myths: Ulysses and the Trojan War by Usborne
Read-a-loud: Read 1 chapter in Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Memorization: 12 apostles of the LDS church, the 50 states alphabetically, started working on the states and the capitals (A's and B's) and Books of the Old Testament.
Music: Learning a Rhythm Poem about making good choices. (I actually learned this in 5th grade and I've always remembered it. So I asked my old 5th grade teacher to give me a copy of it).
Family History (WWII History): Read a couple of pages from Memories of a Flying Tiger by Leonard Hancock (my grandfather)-about his experiences in China as a gunner during WWII.
Health: Moderation from Eat Well and Keep Moving by Lillian Cheung
Game: Linkety
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
Religion: Read 1 chapter in The Book of Mormon.
Music: Practiced simplified hymns on the piano and had a voice lesson.
Art: Drawing
Math: Did lesson 118 in Saxon 6/5.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: contractions from Easy Grammar
Creative Writing: Did a Editor-in-Chief editing lesson.
Vocabulary: Peterson's Word of the Day- Archaic
Vocabulary/Language Usage: Did a lesson from Classical Root Words
Literature: Read in Walden for two hours.
Writing: Wrote a paper from an assignment she had from Scholar School about Walden. She spent a lot of time on this.

Jared
Religion: Read a chapter in the New Testament Reader.
Math: Did a lesson from Singapore 3B.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 9 pages of Explode the Code and finished the book
Free Reading: Read for 30 min in Sherlock Holmes.
Book on Tape: 1 hour of Brisingr.

Luke
Religion: Read a chapter in the Book of Mormon Reader.
Geography: Did a geography lesson on map reader from Evan-Moor.
Math: Saxon Math 2 lesson
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code.
Reading: Read King Arthur for 1 hour.
Logic: Played Turtle Mania.

Caleb
Logic: Pattern Blocks
Math: Played a game teaching sums up to 10 from Right Start Math. This is an excellent game for him right now. He made tremendous progress from yesterday to today.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 8 pages of Explode the Code. He's big into his Explode the Code books right now. It takes him a long time to do it so he's burnt out to do other things, but of all things Explode the Code is the best thing for him to be choosing to do right now.
Game: Checkers

Family (in the evening):
Wrestling
Wii Sports with dad
Finished the Book of Luke in The Bible.

To Show Parent Core/Love of Learner/Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna: Scriptures, spell drill, word of the day, piano, did my visiting teaching, taught a piano lesson, read 1 chapter of The Odyssey, and worked on my Greek.
Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, worked in the temple, went to work, listened to The Odyssey, read a chapter in Rule #1 by Phil Town and worked on his Greek.

03/16/09 (Mon): Andrew Jackson

Mom School
Pray/Pledge
Song: My Eternal Family
Theology: Chapter 25: Fasting from Gospel Principles
Book of Mormon Stories: Nephi builds a ship
Friend Article
Biography/American History: 2 chapters from Andrew Jackson: Young Patriot by George Edward Stanley of the Childhood of Famous American series. The kids are really liking this book!
Literature: "Much Ado About Nothing" from Tales from Shakespeare by Tina Packer
Greek Myths: Read 6 stories from D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths.
General Myths: Read 2 stories from The Usborne Book of Myths and Legends.
Read-a-loud: Read 2 chapters in Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Memorization: 50 states of the USA
Family History: Read the biography of Mary Smithies Kimball.
Music: Sang several songs with the piano. Latter-day Prophets, Books of the New and Old Testament, and Families Can Be Together Forever (and My Eternal Family).
Geography: Brazil (From the Friend article).
Science: The constellation Orion (from Greek Myths).
Health: The importance of vitamins in our diet. From Eat Well and Keep Moving by Lillian Cheung.
PE: Bike Riding
Game: Checkers
Movie/Music: Watched Mary Poppins (Olivia has been singing a lot of Julie Andrews songs including some Mary Poppins songs. It was a suggestion from her voice teacher to watch this since Olivia hadn't seen the movie in a long time).
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
Religion: Read 1 chapter in The Book of Mormon.
Family History: Did 1 batch of indexing names.
Music: Practiced her voice lesson.
World History: Studied about World War I and II using the Usborne War books.
Science Experiment: Olivia's has plants growing all over the kitchen.
Math: Lesson 114
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Verbs from Easy Grammar
Creative Writing: Did an editing lesson from Editor-in-Chief.
Writing: Revieved a letter and wrote a letter to her penpal (snail mail).
Vocabulary: Peterson's Word of the Day- Prosaic
Vocabulary/Language Usage: Did a classical root words lesson.

Jared
Religion: Read a chapter in The New Testament Reader.
Music: Had his piano lesson.
Math: Did a Singapore 3B lesson.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code.
Free Reading: Read his Star Wars chapter book for at least 1/2 hour.
Book on Tape: Listened to Brisingr for 2 hours.
PE: Did stretching and cardio with Alex.

Luke
Religion: Read a chapter in The Book of Mormon Reader.
Music: Did a couple of lessons on Music Ace. (theory)
Geography: More map reading from an Evan-Moor Geography workbook.
Math: Did a Saxon 2 lesson.
Games/Logic: Played a couple of games of chess on the computer.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Creative Writing: Writing strategies and list making out of a creative writing book that he likes working on.
Free Reading: Read Peter Pan for 1 1/2 hours.
Life Skills: Peanut Butter cookies
PE: Did some stretching and cardio with Alex.

Caleb
Math: Did a Right Start Math lesson.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Game/Logic: Played a couple of games of chess on the computer.
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code.
Reading: We practiced his sight words and he read a beginning phonics reader to me.

Family (in the evening):
Family Home Evening: Spiritual Preparedness including this this talk: http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-947-4,00.html by Elder Anderson, "You Know Enough."
Game: Apples to Apples, Jr.

To Show Parent Core/Love of Learner/Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna: Scriptures, journal, spell drill, word of the day, practiced the piano, practiced the violin, practiced for a vocal musical number and worked on a BYU-Geography lesson (I'm learning about China right now), worked on my Greek and finished The Princess and The Goblin by George McDonald.
Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, went to work - brokered a major business deal today ("SWEET MAMA" as Caleb would say), listened to the Odyssey and worked on his Greek has well.

03/13/09 (Fri): Read, Read, Read

Today, the kids asked if I would read to them all day instead of doing any of our other routines. We took a late lunch and then the kids played for a couple of hours outside-it was a nice day!-then we read for a couple more hours. The kids did do several individual things on their own between reading and writing but I'm not going to write it down.

Mom School
Pray/National Anthem
Song: My Eternal Family
Theology: We read Chapter 24: The Sabbath Day from Gospel Principles
Scriptures: Luke 21
Book of Mormon Stories: Nephi breaks his bow and Nephi makes tools
Friend Article
Biography/American History: Read 2 chapters from Andrew Jackson: Young Patriot by George Edward Stanley from the Childhood of Famous Americans. These chapters are super long.
Literature: Read "Merchant of Venice," "As You Like It," and "A Winter's Tale" from Stories from Shakespeare by Usborne. We finished the book. The kids loved the stories!!!
Greek Myths: We read the first 10 stories out of D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths.
General Myths: We read the first 3 stories in The Usborne Book of Myths and Legends.
Read-a-loud: Read 4 chapters in Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Memorization: The books of the Old and New Testament, the books of The Book of Mormon and the 50 states of the USA.
Family History: Address to My Children by Heber C Kimball (a document written by him to his posterity shortly before he died)
Science: Read the entire book The Usborne Little Encyclopedia of Science.
Health: Importance of limiting TV/computer time from Eat Well and Keep Moving by Lillian Cheung.
PE: Played outside for two hours.
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:

Family (in the evening):
Played at their friends house while we went to our classes.

To Show Parent Core/Love of Learner/Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna: Scriptures, word of the day, finished Surprised by Joy by CS Lewis, studied the Greek alphabet, attended our first Greek class and we were suppose to start our first discussion on The Odyssey but we took to long talking about Greek that we didn't get to it. Fun Night!
Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, studied Greek, listened to The Odyssey and attended class with me.

02/27/09: (Fri) And the Winner Is....

Today the older two kids went to work with their dad. The younger two stayed home and had mom school and did other things with me. Olivia submitted and won a writing contest for Southern Idaho 3rd-8th grade! Awesome job Olivia! There's also a picture of Luke doing his math. Can life get any better?

Mom School
Pray, Pledge and Song
Book of Mormon Stories: The angel comes to Laman and Lemuel.
Friend Article Fairy Tales/Fables: The Three Little Pigs and Beauty and the Beast Retold by Louie Stowell (Usborne)
Character: Say Please, Louise! A cautionary tale by Phil Roxbee Cox (Usborne)
Music: Watched a taped copy of American Idol from this week. (Fast forward is the best!) We watched this in the late afternoon.
World History Fairy Tales: The Dragon Painter by Rosie Dickins (Usborne)
Science: Living in Space by Katie Daynes (Usborne)
Game: Sorry!

Olivia
Religion: Read 1 chapter in the Book of Mormon.
Music: Practiced for her vocal solo tomorrow!
Math: Lesson 108
Language Arts: Verbs
Creative Writing: Finished her essay, submitted it and won!
Vocabulary: Peterson's Word of the Day-Cantankerous
Free Reading: 1 hour of Jane Eyre
Life Skills: Went to work with her dad at a business office. She also set up for a big dinner tomorrow.

Jared
Religion: Read a chapter in the New Testament Reader.
Math: Story Problems lesson from Singapore Math
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code.
Free Reading: Read Tonight on the Titanic from The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne.

Creative Play: Lego's
Life Skills: Went to work with his dad at a business office. He also set up for a big dinner tomorrow.

Luke
Math: Math lesson from Saxon 2
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Life Skills: French Toast
PE: 30 min of Wii sports
Creative Play: Lego's

Writing: Wrote a letter and colored a picture.

Caleb
Math: Counting
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 3 pages of Explode the Code
Geography: North, South, East and West

Creative Writing: Drew a picture of his neighborhood. (From a writing course assignment suggestion. I really don't make my kids do these things they just do!)
Reading: Practiced his sight words.
Creative Play: Lego's

Family (in the evening): The kids went to a friends house and played while Alex and I went to our final book discussion on The Iliad by Homer. Moving on to The Odyssey now...

To Show Parent Core/Love of Learner/Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna: Scriptures, journal, conference talk, brain storming for New Beginnings (the next thing on the list) spell drill, word of the day, read six chapters and finished The Iliad and attended the book review for it.
Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, read some Ensign articles, went to work, and set up for a Republican rally tomorrow.