Mothers Should Know About Nature

"Mothers and Teachers should know about Nature. --The mother cannot devote herself too much to this kind of reading, not only that she may read tit-bits to her children about matters they have come across, but that she may be able to answer their queries and direct their observation. And not only the mother, but any woman, who is likely ever to spend an hour or two in the society of children should make herself mistress of this sort of information; the children will adore her for knowing what they want to know, and who knows but she may give its bent for life to some young mind destined to do great things for the world." Charlotte Mason, Book One: Home Education, page 64-65.

Here are some things the children are to know:

Field-crops

Meadow and pasture, clover, turnip, corn

Ploughing of the land to the getting of of the crops

Field Flowers

Life-History of Plants such as the milkwort, eyebright, res-harrow, lady's-bedstraw, willow-herb

Every wild flower that grows in their neighbourhood

Describe the leaf-its shape and size, growing from root or from stem

The manner of flowering-a head of flowers, a single flower, a spike, etc.

Never forget or mistake wildflowers or recognize them instantly

Pick out half of dozen trees in "their winter nakedness"

Stopping there....they are more requirements...

It looks like I am to be a quaint naturalist now.

First step done. Went to Barnes and Nobles and found the simplest books possible to begin the "Quaint Mother Naturalist course."

Week in Review: March 21-27

Family Scriptures: Jacob 1-5. Each member read personal scriptures everyday.
Weekly Scripture Memorization: D & C 18:10
Theology: Readings out of Gospel Principles.
FHE: Sermon on the Mount/Beatitudes
Family Reading: Finished Percy Jackson #4 and #5. We also listened to 2/3 of Alice in Wonderland while traveling.
Music: Daily piano practice, piano lessons. We are writing verses to Follow the Prophet for Book of Mormon prophets.
Math: Money Management Concepts. Negative and Positive Numbers with graphing. We spent a lot of time on this concept. Even Caleb was understanding it. Percentages.
Discussion Questions: Did God really harden Pharaoh's heart? What can we learn about leaders for today from the stories of the Bible? What is abortion? What is Universal Health Care?
Biology: Puppy care. We also went to a dairy and watched a calf birthed!
Biography: Several latter-day prophets.
Goals: Weekly goal planning session held.
PE: Working on the land. Picnicking. Walking everywhere in town we go. We also have taken our horse out off her winter holiday and she is being worked again.
Clubs: Clover buds, Pine Wood Derby and Activity Days.

Caleb: Caleb is making great strides in his reading. He enjoys reading out of the Book of Mormon Reader. He is still in a solid core phase however there is "an awakening" finally beginning to emerge. He is starting to ask questions and wants to do harder things.

Luke: Luke is working on A Wrinkle In Time. We released everyone from their stewardships and issued new ones. Luke is now in charge of breakfast. He is thrilled about this and his finding it easier to get up in the morning!

Jared: Jared is still trudging away with Peter and the Shadow Thieves. I think he is getting faster. His new stewardship is lunch specialist. His core behavior is excellent which is a miracle since only 3 months ago it was in dire straights. He has worked hard (and us!) and he has learned his limits, made adjustments and created personal systems for success.

Olivia: Olivia is almost finished with Horatio Hornblower. She's worked hard on a lengthy paper about Dolly Madison for her Commonwealth class. She is continuing to refine her home making skills. She made two hats this week. She is now dinner specialist and is excited to cook a variety of things. She attended two scholar classes.

Deanna: I didn't want to read anything but Percy Jackson to the kids! We read extra this week. We even read until 11 PM a couple of times. I finished the History of the Peloponnesian Wars by Thucydides. I'm working on some quilting projects. I am also working on several other home projects. I survived being in charge of the Pine Wood Derby and a Clover bud meeting.

Alex: He is busy hitting the campaign trail. He read Doing Business the Mormon Way. He is has listened to half of Team of Rivals a book about Abraham Lincoln. He is busy working hard for our family!

Hands On Science

Today we had an all day long, "Hands on Science Observation Event." About 11 AM our 8 month old puppy went into labor. She was a little early by our completely unscientific calculations. She had surprised us by going into heat over Christmas. (because she was so young) There was not a lot to be done when we found male dogs jumping in our fence either!

After about 4 hours of labor she had EIGHT puppies to show for her hard work. We hadn't thought she would have very many or that any would even live because she is so young. They all look big and strong though. We pretty much watched the whole thing except for about 45 min when we had to have a book club meeting. (It was at our house, Johnny Tremaine if you care, so we didn't have to leave the house).

The kids were fascinated and we all learned a whole lot about the birthing process for dogs! We had lots of good discussions and I think they learned more in that four hours than a semester of science class would do!

Fun day! (But 8 puppies? Holy Cow! or I should say Holy Dog!)

Snow Fun

Family Scripture Study: 1 Nephi 21
Weekly Family Scripture Memorization: Moroni 10:34
Read-a-loud/Greek Fantasy: We read 3 1/2 chapters of Percy and the Olympians.
Social: Played with some home school kids for a couple of hours. They had killed and skinned a coyote that morning so my kids had quite the "biology" class with the skin they are tanning, the blood all over the barn (and now all over my kids snow clothes) and the carcass outside the door.
PE: Hours of shoveling and playing in the snow making snow forts.
Chores/Animal Care

Caleb: Read his scriptures, read to his teacher and got his best score ever, made a robin and nest out of clay and painted it (it turned out pretty darn good), learned all about mollusks, and wrote a blog post about what he learned.

Luke: Read his scriptures, practiced the piano, read some random books slightly below his reading level but they are good for fluency, working on a creative writing story, and lots of army man imagination play.

Jared: Read his scriptures, practiced the piano, read in Peter and the Shadow Thieves, worked on division math problems, played Quarter Mile Math, and listened to Harriet the Spy for a little while.

Olivia: Read her scriptures, practiced the piano, when to scholar school and discussed The Screwtape Letters, read in The Screwtape Letters, worked on some math problems, and is working on a report about Williamsburg. (We are going there for her 12th birthday this fall and she has to write about the places she wants to go and see).

Deanna: Read my scriptures, wrote in my journal, read a conference talk, practiced the piano, worked on piano theory, started a theology book, listened to a lecture about literary theory from Yale to help with my English class, word of the day, and played ping pong.

Alex: Read his scriptures, reading in the church handbook, word of the day, went to work, lots of Republican Party things going on, listening to The Ranger's Apprentice, and played ping pong.

September 22, 2009 (Tuesday)- Real live Goats!

Mom School
Pray/Pledge
Song: Give Said the Little Stream, Praise to the Man and Do What is Right
Bible: Abraham from The Old Testament Reader
Family Scripture Study: 2 Corinthians 7
Weekly Scripture Memorization: 2 Nephi 31.:20
Friend Article
Idaho History: Read 1/2 a chapter from A Rendezvous with Idaho History
about Mountains in Idaho.
Read-a-loud: We read two chapters from Leven Thumps and The Gateway to Foo and finished it.
Literature: We read a Shakespeare play.
Science: Read a chapter in Science: A Closer Look by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill.
Greek: We started learning the Greek alphabet and I read them 3 more versus in John to them in Greek.
Fairy Tales: We read the play Sleeping Beauty.
Chores
Lots of Lego's

Olivia
Religion: Read a chapter in Genesis.
Geography: Did an Evan-Moor lesson.
Math: Took a Saxon 7/6 test.
Math Drill: Did a multiplication fact drill.
Language Arts: Did a Daily Grams lesson and 1 lesson from Root Words.
Computer/Science: Played Zoo Vet on the computer.
Spelling: Did a spell drill
Creative Writing: She also did her 30 min writing assignment from her scholar class.
Research: Researched a bunch of things on the computer including Antarctica, Inuit Indians and camouflage.
Science: Did a science lesson her science textbook.
Music: Practiced the piano and went to piano lessons.

Jared
Religion: Read in the Book of Mormon.
Music: Practiced his piano lesson and his piano lesson.
Geography: Did an Evan-Moor lesson.
Math: Did a 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: Did a writing lesson from Let's Write and he did his 30 min writing assignment for his Scholar Writing class.
Book on Tape: Listened to Star Wars.
Art: Drew several pictures and colored them.

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.
Art: Drew several pictures and colored them.

Family (in the evening):
*We had dinner with my dad and my brother Paul. (My mom is in the Huntsman center battling Multiple Myeloma. Right now my aunt is with her and my dad is home for the week).
PE: Worked on the land.
*We finally got the goats. Yes, we have animals on our land now. It's crazy! Right now they are mowing down some serious weeds for us. We hope they do not get eaten by the coyotes.

To Show Parent Core/Love of Learner/Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna: Scriptures, journal, practiced the piano, practiced my Greek pronunciation with a CD-ROM that came with our Greek books, played Wii Fit, worked on some scouting things, wrote some Goodreads reviews, worked on my BYU English class and read in Lord of the Rings #2.
Alex: Scriptures, listening to Tears in Darfor, went golfing with my dad, worked on some scouting things and went to work.

September 15, 2009 (Tuesday)

Family Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 12

Mom School
Pray/Pledge
Song: The Valiant Song, The Books of the Old Testament, How Firm A Foundation and a Rhythm poem.
Bible: Cain and Abel
Weekly Scripture Memorization: 3 Nephi 11:29
Friend Article
Social Studies: Read a chapter in Houghton Mifflin Social Studies: States and Regions.
Fairy Tales/Fables: We read the stories of Rumpelstiltskin and Rapunzel for What Every 1st Grader Needs to Know by ED Hirsch, Jr for the Core Knowledge series.
Read-a-loud: Read two chapters in Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo.
Science: Read a chapter in Science: A Closer Look by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. The kids also watched several Brain Pop, Jr. videos on line about a variety of science topics.
PE/Science: We worked on our 80+ acres for several hours "clearing land." I feel like the Steeds sometimes. I've never moved so much brush, trees and limbs in my life as in the last couple of weeks. Today, since we were moving old fence posts, we saw over 20 very big man-eating Hobo spiders. We also saw lots of mice and lots of other creepy crawlies. It was very exciting for the kids and the dogs. (When we came home we looked up a lot of different spiders to try and identify some of the ones we saw). Caleb's highlight was that he was stung by two bees/wasps. He has a pobia about bee stings to begin with, so this was not a good moment for him.
Chores
Lots of Lego's

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).
Reading: Read Pride and Prejudice for 15 min.
Science: Did a science lesson her science textbook.
Music: Practiced the piano, because she starts piano lessons next week!

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.
Reading: Read in Peter and the Star Catchers for over 2 hours.
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. He started typing up his final draft for this assignment.

Caleb
Religion: Read three verses in the Book of Mormon to me.
Geography: Did a lesson from Evan-Moor.
Math: Did a Saxon Math 2 lesson.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 4 pages of Explode the Code
Logic: Played with pattern blocks.

To Show Parent Core/Love of Learner/Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna: Scriptures, journal, practiced the piano, worked on my BYU English class, and played Wii Fit.
Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, went to work and did some Bishopric things. His highlight was that his CD/tape player in his car is officially broken and so he can't listen to anymore books on CD/tape until we get a new one.

September 8, 2009 (Tuesday): A Message From the President

Family Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 1

Mom School
Pray
Song: Called to Serve and My Body is a Temple
Weekly Scripture Memorization: 3 Nephi 11:29 : )
Current Events: Today we watched the broadcast by Pres. Obama to the school children of American. We had quite the lively discussion about socialism, environmentalism, discrimination, pushing agendas. All I could see in my mind was a picture of Mao's Red China. Scary. And people don't even see it.

History/Science: Went to the Herret Center, a Natural History Museum. We had a very fun visit. It focused on Central American/Mayan history and animals. We've been several times over the years, but this was a good visit. They had some computers set up and we played Mayan games and puzzles for a while.
Science: Played "Spin the Bottle." I made questions out of all the vocabulary words and subjects we have learned so far this year and put them inside the bottle and they had to answer the question if it landed on them. They REALLY liked it. We'll add more questions and keep playing as the year goes on.
Science Experiment: "Magic Gas" Fill a plastic bottle 1/3 of the way full with warm water. Add a package of yeast and a teaspoon of sugar. Swirl to mix. Then place a balloon over the top securely. Wait and watch as the balloon magically rises. (We helped ours along because it said to place in a warm window sill. We had no warm window sill today. So we turned the oven on and just them on top of the oven). Point: Since yeast is a plant the carbon dioxide from it rises and causes the balloon to rise as well.
Science Observation: We looked through the telescope at Jupiter and its four moons. (tonight)

Life Skills: Major grocery shopping and library
Service: Make cookies for a community member.
Chores

Family: Currently my computer is giving me massive problems and extreme mental anguish. Therefore, I'm keeping this simple... Everyone did: Math, Math drill, spelling, creative writing, phonics, grammar, geography and free reading. Some people did a little more, but I'm going to pitch this computer so I'm ending...

September 4, 2009 (Friday)

Family Scripture Study: Finished the Book of Acts

Mom School
Pray/National Anthem
Music: Do What is Right, The Books of the Old and New Testament, The Books of the Book of Mormon, Valiant Song, Beautiful Savior, and a Rhythm poem
Church History: Read over 20 pages and finished Illustrated Stories from Church History vol. 1.
Weekly Scripture Memorization: Ether 12:27
Friend Article
Biography/American History: We read the Declaration of Independence and discussed it using the book The Declaration of Independence: The words that made America Illustrated and Inscribed by Sam Fink.
Read-a-loud: We read two chapters from Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo.
Language Arts: Read the book The Boy who Loved Words by Roni Schotter.
Science: Read another chapter in Science A Closer Look by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill-We really like this book!
PE: Worked on the land for a couple of hours.
Math Game: Played Life
Service: Make cookies and delivered them for a new move in.
Chores

Olivia
Religion: Read a chapter in Genesis.
World History:
Geography: Did a geography lesson from Evan-Moor.
Science: Read 5 pages in a science textbook.
Art: Still making all sorts of cards. Very creative and they are nice looking.
Math: Did a Saxon 7/6 lesson.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Did a lesson in Daily Grams.
Creative Writing: Did an Editor-in-Chief lesson.
Research: History research.
Vocabulary/Language Usage: Did a Greek words lesson.
Free Reading: Read for a couple of hours in Work and the Glory #4.
Book on Tape: Listened to Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods.

Jared
Religion: Read in the Book of Mormon.
Music: Practiced his recital piece.
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
Book on Tape: Listened to Fablehaven #3 for an hour.
Reading: Read in Peter and the Starcatchers for an hour.
Grammar: Did a Daily Grams lesson.
PE: bike riding and running

Luke
Religion: Read in the Book of Mormon
Geography: Did an Evan-Moor lesson.
Math: Did a Saxon 3 lesson.
Math Drill: Did an addition fact page.
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Creative Writing: Did a Let's Write lesson.
Free Reading: Read various library books for 30 min.
Grammar: Did a Daily Grams lesson.
PE: Wii sports

Caleb
Religion: Read a verse in the Book of Mormon to me.
Geography: Did a lesson from Evan-Moor.
Math: Did two Saxon Math 2 lessons.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 3 pages of Explode the Code
Handwriting: Practicing his cursive letters.
Reading: Finished Hop on Pop and practiced his sight words
Phonics: Played on Starfall for an hour.

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, and went on a date.
Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, went to work, listening to a Rich Dad, Poor Dad book, and went on a date with me.

End of the summer field trip

We finished off the summer with one heck of a field trip. Click the links from our family blog to see more. We flew out of Salt Lake City, Utah and landed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Here's our trip chronicles:

Salt Lake City

Rehobath Beach, Delaware

Washington, DC, Temple

Our old house

Family History

Visiting grandma

Canada & Niagara Falls

Palmyra, New York

The Site of the Aaronic Priesthood Restoration

Philadelphia-Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and The Betsy Ross Home

August 31, 2009 (Monday)

We started today! Our schedules were changed... The kids were really excited!

Mom School
Family Scriptures w/ dad: Acts 24
Pray/Pledge
Music: Do What is Right, The Books of the Old Testament and My Eternal Family... We also practiced our Rhythm poem.
Church History: Read 33 pages from Illustrated Stories from Church History vol. 1
Friend Article
Social Studies: Read a chapter from Houghton Mifflin Social Studies: States and Regions. We talked about Geography. What is it?
Literature: "As You Like It" from More Tales from Shakespeare by Marcia Williams and read several poems and discussed them from Poems For Memorization by Rod and Staff Publishers.
Read-a-loud: Read one chapter from Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo.
Science: Read one chapter from Science: A Closer Look by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. We discussed the Scientific Method and had a really good discussion.
Art: The kids cut out snowflakes and decorated them with glitter. They also used some sculpting clay and made a variety of things. They will air dry them and then in a couple of days they will paint them.
Pet Care: 2 hamsters, 2 dogs, 1 cat,
Chores

Olivia
Religion: Read a chapter in Genesis.
Music: She has a nasty head cold so she didn't practice her voice.
World History: Read 1/2 book about Ancient Civilizations.
Science: Read a chapter in a text book about Plant Reproduction.
Math: Did a Saxon 7/6 math lesson.
Language Arts: Daily Grams lesson
Vocabulary: Peterson's Word of the Day-Portend
Vocabulary/Language Usage: Did a Classical Root Words lesson.
Free Reading: Read Work and the Glory #4 for 3 hours.
Life Skills: Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Jared
Religion: Read 3 chapters from the Doctrine and Covenants Reader.
Music: Practiced his recital piece.
Geography: Did a lesson from Evan-Moor.
Math: Did a Saxon 6/5 lesson.
Math Drill: Did a add facts drill from Saxon 6/5.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages in Explode the Code
Grammar: Daily Grams lesson
Creative Writing: Did a lesson from Let's Write 1 on brainstorming.
Free Reading: Read for 30 minutes with a variety of books.
Book on Tape: Listened to Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane for two hours and finished it and started on Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods.
PE: 30 min of Wii Fit.

Luke
Religion: Read 2 Nephi 1
Geography: Did a Evan-Moor lesson.
Art: Drew and colored a picture.
Math: Did a Saxon Math 3 Lesson.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Grammar: Daily Grams lesson
Handwriting: Cursive Lesson from A Reason For Writing- vowels
Creative Writing: Did a lesson from Let's Write 1-sequencing.
Free Reading: Read for 30 minutes in a variety of books.
PE: Did 30 min of Wii Sports.

Caleb
Religion: Read a couple of versus in The Book of Mormon to me.
Geography: Did a Evan-Moor geography lesson.
Art: Coloring
Math: Did a Saxon Math 2 lesson.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 2 pages from Explode the Code.
Language Arts: Sight Words practice
Writing: Cursive Writing-the alphabet
Reading: Read 1/2 of Hop on Pop to me.

Family Home Evening:
Prayer/Songs
Testimonies-Discussion about experiences from trip especially in Palmyra.
Priesthood Blessings by dad for the new school year
Activity: Visiting a family in our town who are "sick and afflicted."

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, laundry and other household chores, catching up with messages from being gone for two weeks, 1 hour of family history research, practiced the piano for the recital, went visiting teaching, and practiced some Greek (we took two months off our scholar studies and I can tell a difference in my Greek-I have forgotten a lot. Time to crack down on it again!)
Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, went to work, and listening to a Rich Dad, Poor Dad book on CD.

Curriculum for 2009--10

Here's a basic run down of our curriculum for the 2009-10 school year:

• Math: Saxon Math
• Phonics/Grammar: Daily Grams and Explode the Code
• Spelling: Dr. Aardsma's Spelling Drills
• Reading: McGuffy Readers & library readers. They've each selected several books they plan on reading.
• History: A Rendezvous with Idaho History, Story of the World vol 1 and 2, and library research into Early Eastern Civilizations (Olivia).
• Scholar: Olivia will take a weekly scholar class where she will continue reading English and American classics.
• Geography: Evan-Moor Geography workbooks
• Science: Library books and Delta Science kits.
• PE: Working on the farm and basketball in the winter
• Music: Piano lessons
• Clubs: Boys scouts, 4-H (they are starting this year round this year) and Primary Activity Days for Girls

July 20-24, 2009: Fair Week

This week was fair week! Olivia was the only one in 4-H this year. (The boys have had quite enough of that however and plan to do a project or two next year). She did a horse project. We had interviews, booth decorating, practicing, horse washing, horse show, Jr. Rodeo and helping in the food booth. Olivia won first in her class for showmanship this year. Yeah!

In addition to Olivia's requirements for the week we watched the dairy show (it was at 1 PM verses all the other shows at 8AM). We ate yummy fair food and looked at all booths. We also rode in the parade and through candy for Alex's business.

We were also able to sneak away from the fair for a while and spend time with our home school friends we haven't seen this summer. Why is it that we only see our home school friends during 9 months of the year? The kids swam on our friends lake among other things.

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.

03/12/09 (Thur): Derby Days

Mom School
Pray/Pledge
Song: My Eternal Family
Theology: Chapter 23: The Sacrament from Gospel Principles
Scriptures: Luke 19
Book of Mormon Stories: The Liahona
Friend Article
Biography/American History: 1 chapter from Andrew Jackson: Young Patriot by George Edward Stanley from the Childhood of Famous Americans series.
Literature: Read "Hamlet" from Stories from Shakespeare by Usborne.
Read-a-loud: 1 chapter from Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Memorization: Books of the Old and New Testament and the Book of Mormon and the 50 states of the USA.
Family History: The biography of Heber C Kimball. We also read a prophecy of Heber C Kimball. He is our gggrandfather.
Geography: Denmark and Norway (from Hamlet)
Health: Healthy Snacks from Eat Well and Keep Moving by Lilian Cheung
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.
Social: Their cousins came over in the late afternoon for a couple of hours to play.

Olivia
Religion: 1 chapter from The Book of Mormon
Geography: Reading Robinson Projection Maps from Evan-Moor
Science: Animal/Plant Reproduction
Math: Lesson 113 from Saxon 6/5
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Verbs
Latin: Looked up the Latin Alphabet and transcribed everybody's names (including all our pets) into Latin.
Research: Looked up more information on Thoureu on Wikipedia.
Vocabulary: Peterson's Word of the Day- Obviate
Vocabulary/Language Usage: Classical Root Words test
Literature/Scholar Reading: Read Walden for two hours.
Art/Computers: Made several digital scrap booking pages on Adobe Photoshop Elements.

Jared
Religion: Read a chapter from The New Testament Reader.
Music: Practiced his piano lesson.
Math: Singapore 3B lesson.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Free Reading: Read Star Wars for 1 1/2 hours.
PE: 30 min Wii Sports

Luke
Religion: Read several chapters from his Book of Mormon Reader.
Music: Practiced his piano lesson.
Geography: More map reading from Evan-Moor Geography.
Math: Saxon Math 2 lesson.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Creative Writing: Worked on his story some more on the computer.
Science Reading: Finished The Great Shark Escape-a Magic School Bus chapter book.
Typing/Writing: Typed a Good Reads post about the book he finished.
Literature Reading: Read an abridged Peter Pan for over two hours.
PE: 30 min of Wii Sports.

Caleb
Core Value: Stealing (don't ask)
Music: Did several lessons on Music Ace on the Computer.
Science: Looked at an animal book.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: Did 15 pages of Explode the Code.
Phonics/Computer: Played Explode the Code online.

Family (in the evening):
Pinewood Derby-They also ran an Activity Girls tournament so we ran 3 cars tonight.
Scriptures: Luke 20

To Show Parent Core/Love of Learner/Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna: Scriptures, word of the day, did a BYU geography lesson and took a quiz, wrote a blog post for another blog that I'm a contributor for, and read Surprised by Joy for 1 hour by CS Lewis.
Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, went to work and listened to The Odyssey by Homer.

02/19/09 (Thur): Doctor Day

Today we went to town for a doctor's appointment for one of the kids. We've waited for two months for the appointment so we couldn't be picky about the time. We were gone most of the day. Here's some highlights...

Olivia: Read for an hour about Greek History. She read a chapter in the Book of Mormon.

Jared: Read Eragon for two hours. He read a chapter in his New Testament Reader.

Luke: Read two chapters from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. He read a chapter in his Book of Mormon Reader.

Caleb: Did 8 pages from his Explode the Code book.

Deanna: Scriptures and studied for two hours for a midterm in Geography next week. Read Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.

Alex: Scriptures, Dracula, and went to work.

Family: We went to the library. We listened to Story of the World vol. 2 for 30 min. The boys had wrestling practice. The kids watched part of a Magic School Bus Science video. The kids also watched a couple of science videos on outer space on Brain Pop.

02/16/09 (Mon): What a great day!

Mom School
Pray, Pledge and Song
Theology: Chapter 13 from Gospel Principles: The Priesthood

Bible History: The Second Coming
Friend Article
Biography/American History: 1 chapter from Abigail Adams: Girl of Colonial Days by Jean Brown Wagoner
Fables: Pecos Bill from American Tall Tales by Adrien Stoutenburg
Memorization: First 26 States of the USA.
Family History: Jane Griffiths (ggggrandmother from Martin/Wille Handcart Company)
Music: Alto, Treble and Bass Clefs from the Usborne Internet-Linked Music Theory For Beginners
Geography: Practiced the 7 continents. Map scales and key legends from Maps and Mapping by Kingfisher.
Science: Birds from the Kinfisher Science Encyclopedia.
Science Experiment: Day 1 about bean sprouting from our new Delta Science Kit.

Health: Food Pyramid and review of healthy lifestyles from Eat Well and Keep Moving by Lillian Cheung

Art: Painted some wood boards
Game: Played Linkity and Take Your Pick. These games focus on decision making, logic, and associations to name a few things.
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: 1 chapter from The Book of Mormon.
Music: Practiced her voice lesson. She was asked to sing another solo. She's actually singing for the Governor next week!!!
Science: Read through the science experiments for our four new Delta Science Kits. She thinks they are very cool! (and so do I!) And she read a lesson in a science textbook about plants.
Art: Painted on a canvas with oil paints.
Math: Lesson 100
Game: We played Flip together, which is a spelling game with Scrabble tiles.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Prepositional Phrases
Creative Writing: Worked on an essay on the My Access! website. She utilized a dictionary several times also.
Vocabulary: Peterson's Word of the Day- DORMANT
Business: Delivered all the Usborne books today with me.

Jared
Religion: Read a chapter from the New Testament Reader. (The Angel comes to Joseph).
Music: Practiced his piano lesson.
Math: Did a Singapore lesson: mental math addition and story problems
Spelling: Our spell drill our temporarily out of service (expect for Olivia) because of our switch of computers. We don't know why they won't work!!
Phonics/Handwriting: 7 pages of Explode the Code-finished a book.

Science: Read in a Magnet book and played with magnets.
Free Reading: Read 3 chapters from Eragon.
Logic/Creative Play: Finished his 650 piece Star Wars ship again.

Luke
Music: Practiced his piano lesson.

Religion: Read in his Book of Mormon Reader.
Math: Saxon Math Lesson. Used an abacus.
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages from Explode the Code.
Creative Writing: Working on a Star Wars story. Using a dictionary also.
Free Reading: Read 1/2 chapter from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis.

Creative Play: Lego's

Caleb

Caleb lost his first tooth today!

Scriptures: Read/looked at a scripture picture book.
Book on Tape: Listened to a book on tape about Pirates.
Math: 5 lessons from Right Start Math. We used an abacus, tally sticks, and tile cubes. He wrote out some of the numbers.

Logic: Played chess and Turtle Mania (visual perception and matching)

Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Reading: Sight words drill
Free Reading: Read several of his new books from Usborne.

Phonics/Computers: Played Explode the Code online for 30 min.
Creative Play: Legos

PE: 30 min of Wii Sports

Family (in the evening):
Family Home Evening: Mortal Life

Watched a church video about the Plan of Salvation-a 3 act play.

Played: Turtle Mania and Linkety again

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, walked for 20 min, wrote several blog posts and studied for my midterm.
Alex: Scriptures, Read a chapter from Leadership 101 by Maxwell, read in the Ensign, word of the day, went to work, and played Wii Sports with Caleb.

02/09/09: Babysitting

Mom School
Pray, Pledge and Song
Theology: Chapter 10 of Gospel Principles
Bible History: The Resurrected Christ Appears to Mary
Friend Article
Biography/American History: 1 chapter of John Quincy Adams: Our Sixth President by Gerry and Janet Souter
Literature:
Memorization: First 26 states of the USA.
Family History: Read a autobiography of Anna Christensen Fullmer, my great, great grandmother.
Geography: Denmark (Where Anna Fullmer was from).
Science: Fish from The Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia
Health: Read and discussed the first chapter of Eat Well and Keep Moving by Cheung. (food pyramid and healthy living)
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: Babysat today.

Olivia
Religion: Read a chapter in the Book of Mormon.
Music: Played Music Ace 2 for a while.
Science: Read first 1/2 of a chapter from her new science book. Worked on science vocabulary.
Math: Lesson 97
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Prepositional phrases.
Vocabulary: Peterson's Word of the Day- VIVACIOUS
Free Reading: Read Young Puzzle Adventures by Usborne and read Jane Eyre for 10 min.
Life Skills: Babysitting and Key-lime Pie
Computers: We have a new computer and Olivia as loaded all our old programs onto the new one. She is definitely my tech support when Alex is gone.

Jared
Religion: Read a chapter in The Old Testament Reader.
Music: Practiced his piano lesson and had a piano lesson.
Math: Lesson 87
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code.
Free Reading: Read 3 chapters of Eragon.
Creative Play: Lego's

Luke
Music: Practiced his piano lesson.
Math: 1 Saxon Math 2 lesson. He used an abacus for the first time and that was great!
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Creative Writing/Typing: Worked on another story for an hour.
Creative Play: Lot's of Lego's
Writing: Prepared the lesson for FHE.

Caleb
Music: Played Music Ace.
Math: 1 workbook page, used the abacus for the first time. This worked great! We ordered Right Start Math for him. Wow there's a lot of stuff! I still haven't figured it out. Hopefully I can figure out how to teach him his first grade math soon with this new program. It's supposedly the top of the line. This program should help Right Brained Caleb.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 3 pages of Explode the Code
Creative Play: Played with his 5 year old cousin between his school choices.

Family (in the evening):
Family Home Evening: Pre-mortal existence/veil
We played Uno Spin.

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, chased a 2 year old all day, did laundry, read 30 min in biography of Helen Keller and worked on my Usborne order. Today was one of those days that I don't feel like I accomplished anything, but I never sat down. Sigh... Yesterday I did give a talk and play the piano for a musical number...
Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, went to work and listened to Dracula.

02/04/09

Mom School
Pray, Pledge and Song
Theology: Chapter 7 in Gospel Principles
Bible History: Christ's burial
Friend Article
Biography/American History: And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? by Jean Fritz
World History/Fables: Pepi and the Secret Names by Jill Paton Walsh
Science/Mythology: Seeing Stars: A book and poster about the Constellations by Barbara Seiger
Memorization: First 18 states in the USA
Science: Crustaceans from The Kingfisher Encyclopedia
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 one chapter in the Book of Mormon.
Government: Learned about the House in Congress from a high school government book.
Sewing: Working on a cross stitch.
Art: She made some "craft" projects today. She just messed around with various art supplies.
Math: Lesson 95
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Prepositional Phrases
Vocabulary: Peterson's Word of the Day- VERISIMILITUDE
Technology: She played Brain Pop and learned about Technology.
Biography/Literature: Read a book about Shakespeare.
Reading: Read several of our new Usborne books.
Business/Speech: Watched a video showing how to host your own Usborne show.
Activity Days!

Jared
Religion: Read one chapter from The Old Testament Reader.
Music: Practiced his piano lesson.
Science: Played Brain Pop, Jr. on line which taught him about the scientific method.
Math: Lesson 85
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Free Reading: Read 3 chapters in Eragon.
Scouts!

Luke
Music: Practiced his piano lesson.
Science: Watched what Jared was doing on the computer about the Scientific Method.
Math: 1 Saxon Math 2 lesson
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages from Explode the Code
Literature: Read 1 chapter from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
Free Reading: Read several of our new Usborne books.
PE: 30 min of Wii sports
Scouts!

Caleb
Science/Computer: Watched what Jared was doing on the computer about the Scientific Method. He also played on his own and learned about health and various science things. (Brain Pop, Jr.)
Math: 1 math workbook page
Math Drill: Addition Wrap-ups
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 1 page of Explode the Code
Free Reading: Looked at/read several Usborne books also.
Reading: Sight words
PE: 30 min of Wii sports
Social: Played with his cousins while we had scouts/activity days.

Family (in the evening):

Family in the evening:
Rode horses with Alex

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, helped at scouts, watched a video from Usborne, read a lot about Usborne, spent some more time with curriculum on the phone with my state teacher, wrote some books reviews on Goodreads, and went to mutual.
Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, went to work, wrote a letter to our congresswoman, listened to radio broadcasts through the early 1900's, (he really likes these

01/28/09: Testing

Mom School
Pray, National Anthem and Song
Theology: Gospel Principles Chapter 4
Bible History: Gethsemane
Friend Article
Biography/American History: 2 chapters and finished The Alexander Hamilton You Never Knew by James Lincoln Collier, The Magic School Bus Builds the Statue of Liberty, The Liberty Bell Symbols of Freedom by Tristan Binns
Memorization: First 18 states of the USA
World History: Journey Through History: The Greek and Roman Eras by Carme Peris
Geography: Major Oceans, Greece and Rome
Science: Earth's Oceans by Bobbie Kalman, Volcanoes by Seymour Simon (Smithsonian series), and Gentle Giant Octopus by Karen Wallace
Life Skills: Test Taking! They went and took their state tests.
We went to the library.
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
Religion: Read a chapter in The Book of Mormon.
Math: Lesson 90
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Prepositions
Vocabulary: Peterson's Word of the Day- INCHOATE
Free Reading: 30 min of Jane Eyre

Jared
Religion: Several chapters in his Old Testament Reader.
Music: Practiced his piano lesson.
Math: Lesson 81
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code.
Free Reading: 1 hour of Eragon.
Creative: Made several paper airplanes.

Luke
Music: Practiced his piano lesson.
Math: 1 Saxon Math 2 lesson.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code.
Free Reading: Read for one hour in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis.
Creative Play: 1 hour of Lego building.

Caleb
Math: 2 math workbook pages
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 1 Explode the Code page.

In the Evening:
Rode horses with Alex.

To Show Parent Core/Love of Learner/Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna: Scriptures, piano, spell drill, word of the day, had a meeting with the state for the kid's state testing, and went to mutual for my calling.
Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, went to work, and attended a Chamber of Commerce meeting.

01/27/09: Go Tigers!

Mom School
Pray, National Anthem and Song
Theology: Chapter 3 Gospel Principles
Bible History: The Last Supper
Friend Article
Biography/American History: 2 chapters from The Alexander Hamilton you Never Knew by James Lincoln Collier
Memorization: First 18 states of the USA and the books of the Old Testament
Family History: Joseph Hyrum Campbell
World History: The Great Wall: The story of thousands of miles of earth and stone that turned a nation into a fortress by Elisabeth Mann
Geography: Dominican Republic (from the Friend Article)
Science: Scary Creatures Jellyfish by Gerard Cheshire, Faraway Worlds: Planets Beyond our Solar System by Paul Halpern and Photosynthesis from The Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia.
PE: Played outside in the snow for 1 hour.
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
Religion: 1 chapter from The Book of Mormon.
Music: Her voice lesson was cancelled.
Government: Read 3 pages in a high school government book.
Math: Lesson 89
Geography Game: Played Snapshots Across America with Caleb.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: More prepositions
Art: Practiced Caligraphy for 15 min
Creative Writing: Created a crossword puzzle.
Vocabulary: Peterson's Word of the Day- DOLEFUL
Mentoring: Helped Caleb with phonics and reading and played the geography game with him.

Jared
Religion: Read 1 chapter in The Old Testament Reader.
Music: Practiced his piano lesson.
Math: Lesson 80
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code.
Free Reading: Read 3 chapters in Eragon.
Creative Play: Lego's for an hour.
PE: 30 min of Wii boxing.

Luke
Music: Practiced his piano lesson.
Math: 1 Saxon Math lesson
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code.
Free Reading: Read for an hour and finished Knights of the Round Table adapted by Gwen Gross.
Creative Play: Lego's for 2 hours.
PE: Played Wii sports for 30 min.

Caleb
Math: 1 workbook page
Geography Game: Played Snapshots Across America with Olivia.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Handwriting: Mazes
Phonics/Handwriting: 3 pages of Explode the Code
Phonics: Played a phonics games with Olivia.
Reading: Read an early reader to Olivia.
PE: Played 30 min of Wii sports.

Family (in the evening):
We went and watched a boys high school basketball game. Go Tigers!

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, read and finished Prelude to Glory for 3 hours, and read 3/4 of a chapter of The Richest Man Who Ever Lived with Alex.
Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, worked in the temple for his ordinance worker shift (he's a mentor now), went to work, and listened to The Illiad.