Geography

For several years I've been meaning to place a world map on our kitchen table and cover it with clear vinyl. I finally made a stop at the fabric store (I don't go there very often you see) and purchased the vinyl. The kids love it! We have already had some great discussions during meals about the world at large, current events and history. It's a great item for the Leadership Education home. What other things like this have you done to your 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

April 14, 2009 (Tuesday): Just another day...

Mom School
Pray/PledgeSong : God Be With You Till We Meet Again
Theology: Chapter 37: Eternal Marriage from Gospel Principles
Bible History: The Very First Easter by Paul L. Maier
Friend Article
Biography/American History: The Shoshoni, A New True Book and A Picture Book of Sacagawea by David A. Alder
Literature/World History: 1 chapter from Greek Myths: Ulysses and the Trojan War by Usborne
Memorization: Books of the Old and New Testament, Books of The Book of Mormon, 12 apostles, and the Latter-day Prophets.
Family History: Read several pages of Memories of a Flying Tiger. This Family History book recounts the story of my grandfather fighting the Japanese in China as a "Flying Tiger."
Music: Rhythm poem (and all the memorization-minus the 12 apostles- with the piano)
Geography: India and China
Science: Finished Science and Technology by Capella
Language Arts: We read Alfie the Apostrophe by Moira Rose DonohueScience/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 of the Book of Mormon.
Music: Had her voice lesson.
Social Studies: Memorizing the first 25 states and capitalsGeography: Did a geography lesson from Evan-Moor. Played an electronic geography game.
Math: Lesson 135 from Saxon Math 6/5.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Review from Easy Grammar lesson.
Writing: Brainstorming for her paper tomorrow for scholar school.
Vocabulary: Peterson's Word of the Day- Bellicose
Free Reading: Read Leven Thumps for 1 1/2 hours.
Literature: Read Red Badge of Courage for 1 hour.
Life Skills: Homemade tacos
Computers/Typing: Played some games on the American Girls website for fun.
PE: Lots of dancing in the living room with music. Lots of twirling her dresses. She's still a little girl sometimes! : )

Jared
Religion: Read a chapter from The New Testament Reader.
Music: Practiced his piano lesson.
Math: Did a Singapore 3B lesson.
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Language Arts: Mad Libs paper
Creative Play: Prepared a scavenger hunt.
Geography: Played an electronic geography game.
Art: Mask Making

Luke
Religion: Read a chapter from The Book of Mormon Reader.
Geography: Did a Evan-Moor geography lesson. Played an electronic geography game.
Math: Did 3 pages from Saxon Math 2.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 6 pages of Explode the Code
Creative Writing: Lots of computer time writing/typing a story.
Language Arts: Using a dictionary(s) for his story.


Caleb
Art: Mask making
Math: Did a Right Start Math lesson.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 3 pages of Explode the Code
Phonics: Played a Happy Phonics game.
Reading: Read a phonics reader and 1 McGuffy Primer lesson to me.

Family (in the evening):
Alex worked late and I went to another town/ward's enrichment meeting.
The kids stayed at home with a babysitter.

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, played the geography game (see link on side of blog) several times for another way to study for my test, studied for my BYU Geography test for four hours, gave a piano lesson and went to an enrichment meeting.
Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, worked in the temple, went to work, and listened to Brisingr.

02/20/09 (Fri): Let's Play Ball!

Mom School
Pray, Pledge and Song
Theology: Chapter 16, The Church of Jesus Christ in Former Times from Gospel Principles
Book of Mormon History: The introduction
Friend Article
Biography/American History: 3 chapters from Abigail Adams: Girl of Colonial Days by Jean Brown Wagoner
Literature: Romero and Juliet from Stories From Shakespeare by Usborne
Greek Myths: We read the stories "Persephone and the Seasons" and "The Story of Arachne" from Greek Myths by Usborne.

Tall Tales: "Mike Fink" from American Tall Tales by Adrien Stoutenburg
Memorization: First 36 states of the USA.
Family History: We read the biography of Anna Sophia Walbum Christensen.
Music: Sharps and Flats from Usborne Music Theory
Geography: Denmark (where are Grandmother Christensen was from) and the 7 continents.
Science: Hair, Skin and Nails from The Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia. The kids also finished the Magic School Bus video they started yesterday.
Health: Chapter three-the importance of exercise-from Eat Well and Keep Moving by Lillian Cheung
PE: We ran laps to warm-up, stretched, did sit ups and push ups. (We had discussed this in our Health book). Played catch (baseball) at the church for an hour in the gym. Then they ran around and played basketball and whatever while I practiced the organ.
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 from the Book of Mormon.
Music: Practiced her vocal solo for next week.
Geography: Learned about longitude, latitude, hemispheres, and the equator.
Math: Lesson 103 from Saxon 6/5
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Contractions
Vocabulary: Peterson's Word of the Day- Judicious
Vocabulary/Language Usage: Took a test from her Classical Roots Words program.
Free Reading: Read Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.
Life Skills: Lemon pudding, pizza and pumpkin bread.

Jared
Religion: Read a chapter in the New Testament Reader.
Math: Did a Singapore Math lesson.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode of Code
Free Reading: Read 3 chapters in Eragon.
Creative Play: Lots and lots of Lego's.

Luke
Religion: Read his Book of Mormon Reader.
Music: Had a piano lesson.
Geography: Learned about east, west, north and south.
Math: Did a math lesson from Saxon Math 2.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: Did 5 pages of Explode the Code.
Creative Writing: Learned about brainstorming.
Free Reading: Read a chapter in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.
Creative Play: Lego's

Caleb
Music: Played Music Ace.
Geography: Learned about North and South America.
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Phonics/Handwriting: Did 2 pages in Explode the Code.
Writing: Wrote the names down of all our family members and pets.
Creative Play: Lego's. He's actually just started playing Lego's the last couple of weeks. Before he didn't ever want to.

Family (in the evening):
Homemade pizza party.

Geography Game: Take Off!

Logic Game : Linkety

Watched a taped copy of American Idol from this past week.

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, practiced the piano, practiced the organ, and studied for my test.
Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, went to work and listened to Dracula by Bram Stoker.

02/17/09 (Tue): Back in the groove

Mom School
Pray/Pledge

Theology: Chapter 14 from Gospel Principles: Priesthood Organization

Bible History: Parable of the Goats and the Sheep
Friend Article
Biography/American History: 3 chapters from Abigail Adams: Girl of Colonial Days by Jean Brown Wagoner
Literature: Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare abriged from Stories from Shakespeare by Usborne
Memorization: First 26 states of the USA
Family History: Started a biography of Almon Fuller our ggggrandfather (he retraces a lot of church history events so count this in the Church Cistory/American History section also!)
Music Theory: Note Lengths from Usborne Internet-Linked Music Theory for Beginners
Geography: We practiced the 7 continents
Science: Mammals from The Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia
Health: Read about Protein, Fats and Carbohydrates from Chapter 2 of Eat Well and Keep Moving by Lilian Cheung

Science Expierements: Planted our seeds that we had soaked over night. This expierement is from a Delta Science Kit.

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 Alma 50 in The Book of Mormon.
Typing/Family History: Finished her typing project. She typed a biography of her ggrandmother and namesake for her grandmother.
Music: Practiced her solo for Governor Otter.
Geography: Did a geography lesson from Daily Geography Practice by Evan-Moor.
Art: Drew a picture of horse from a drawing book she bought.

Math: Lesson 101
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Language Arts: Prepositions
Creative Writing: Worked on her essay on My Access!
Research: Researched the various kinds of fish tanks available. Particularly those that are safe from cats.
Vocabulary: Peterson's Word of the Day- EXEMPLAR
Free Reading: Read in Jane Eyre, Princess and the Pea, Alexander the Great and other various books.
Library: Requested a book from the library on line.
PE: Ran/walked on the treadmill.

Jared
Religion: 1 chapter in The New Testament Reader (Jesus is born).
Music: Had his piano lesson.
Science: Watched several videos on Brain Pop about things in space.
Math: Singapore lesson: mental math subtraction and story problems. His workbook finally arrived today!
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages from Explode the Code.
Free Reading: Read Eragon for 1 hour.
Creative Play: Lego's

Luke
Religion: Read in the Book of Mormon Reader (Limhi's People Escape)
Music: Practiced his piano lesson.
Geography: Did a lesson from Daily Geography Practice by Evan-Moor.
Science: Watched several videos on Brain Pop about things in space.
Math: Did two Saxon Math 2 lessons.
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code.
Creative Writing/Typing: Worked on his story. He uses a dictionary to find words he doesn't know. We are working on editing skills also. When he done we will print it and edit it some more. Then he'll rewrite it. Luke loves to write stories!
Writing Skills: He started the program Just Write Book 1: Creativity and Craft in Writing by Elsie S. Wilmerding and Alexandra S. Bigelow to learn more writing skills. Today he learned about brainstorming, listing, and categorizing. He really liked what he learned.

Free Reading: Read a chapter in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.
Creative Play: Lego's
PE: Ran/Walked on the treadmill.

Caleb
Science: Watched several videos on Brain Pop about things in space.
Math: Did lesson 6 and 7 from Right Start Math. Practiced writing his numbers and worked with the abacus.
Phonics/Handwriting: 5 pages of Explode the Code
Writing: Did several pages from Write About Me by Elsie S. Willmerding. This was the first day he did this. He didn't want to stop. He answered questions about him and he drew some pictures about himself and his family.
Free Reading: Looked at books.
Reading: Read 3 lessons to me from his McGuffy Reader.
Logic: Looked at The Big Book of Things to Spot by Usborne for an hour.

Creative Play: Lego's
PE: Wii

Family (in the evening):
Went to wrestling practice. Just started today.

To Show Parent Core/Love of Learner/Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna: Scriptures, word of the day, walked for 30 min, and studied for my college midterm.
Alex: Scriptures, word of the day, worked his temple ordinance worker shift, went to work, listened to Dracula by Bram Stoker, and installed a DVD player into the Suburban (our old one broke).

01/24/09: Saturday Fun!

Here's some of the things we did today:

• Alex worked for 5 hours.
• I read and did the assignments for one chapter in my BYU Geography 120 class.
• I practiced the organ.
• Some of us played Phase 10.
• Some of us played Snapshots Across America.
• Learned all about Rugby by watching You Tube videos. Our cousin is on the BYU Women's Rugby team. Go Danielle!
• Olivia and I went to a game party.
• We cleaned the church as a family.
• A couple of kids did 30 min/per child of Wii Sports.
• Luke worked on and finished his Bobcat requirements for scouts with Alex.
• Alex plowed snow and the kids played in the snow. (We have new snow again).
• Lots of Lego's and Creative Play.
• Alex and I read a chapter in Richest Man Who Ever Lived: The Secrets of Solomon.

01/13/09: Sewing and Star Wars

Today Olivia decided sewing was a good activity and spent the afternoon creating. The boys decided that Star Wars was the game of choice for the WHOLE afternoon. Lots of lightsabers, lego ship building, etc. Caleb didn't feel that good and spend half of the day on my lap.

Mom School
Pray, Pledge and Song
Theology: Plan of Salvation from Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith
Bible History: Jesus blesses the children
Friend Article
Biography/American History: 4 chapters from The Secret Soldier: The Story of Deborah Sampson by Ann McGovern
Literature: 5 poems from A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson
Fairy Tales: Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar
Myths: Monster Myths of Ancient Greece by William Wise
Memorization: Books of the Old Testament and New Testament, First 7 States of the Union alphabetically, all the presidents of the USA. Jared can fly through them!
Math: One chapter on The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. This chapter was on the "number" zero.
Math/Science/Geography/World History/Biography: The Man Who Made Time Travel by Kathryn Lasky
Science: The Sun (again-another book though)
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
Music: We cancelled her voice lesson because she doesn't feel that great.
Sewing/Art: Worked on the top of her quilt. She only has one more short session and then she's done with the top. She also made a doll pillow by hand and embroidered on it. She also did some other little things. She was at this from about 1 to 5.
Math: Lesson 83
Language Arts: Prepositional phrases
Free Reading: 15 min of Jane Eyre

Jared
Religion: Read a chapter in the Old Testament Reader
Music: Practiced his piano lesson.
Math: Lesson 73
Spelling: 1 spell drill
Handwriting: Cursive Y's
Music/Computers: Did 4 lessons on Music Ace
Free Reading: Read 3 chapters of Eragon
Lots of Lego's/Star Wars and Creative Play!

Luke
Religion: Read one chapter in The Book of Mormon Reader
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 15 min in Fellowship of the Rings

Caleb
Music: Played the saxophone for 10 min and drove Luke NUTS! He also played the violin for about 20 minutes.
Handwriting: Did some mazes.
Literature Reading: I read him over 100 pages and finished in Kidnapped an abridged version by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Music/Computers: Did a lesson on Music Ace.

Family (in the evening):
Watched Star Wars: A New Hope. (of course)
Luke 9

To Show Parent Core/Love of Learner/Scholar here are some things we modeled to the children today...
Deanna: Scriptures, journal, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, piano, over an hour on the violin (my back is sore!), spell drill, took deep breaths and chilled out while I supervised 4 hours of Olivia's sewing (Can you feel my pain people? The things we do for our children!!!), read Gideon's Gift by Karen Kingsbury, and read A Tale of Two Cities for one hour.
Alex: Scriptures, 101 Maxwell Leadership book, How to Win a Local Election, went to Boise (LONG day), finished Plague Ship by Clive Cussler and started The Illiad both via CD.

10/28/08: Paul Revere's Ride

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Daily Schedule for 9/23/08

Both
Pray/Pledge
Theology: Preach My Gospel, Lesson 3: Repentance
Bible History: David is annointed king
Friend Article: Read 2 articles
Biography/American History: 2 chapters of The Young Tom Jefferson
Read-a-loud: Read 48 pages in Dinotopia
Family History: Read 1/2 of the biography of Norma Joyce Kimball Hancock, my maternal grandmother
Geography: Young Student's Learning Library: Telling Directions on Map
PE: They both had Horse Riding lessons
Science/Pet Care: Jared and Olivia each have a hamster that they are responsible for. They also take turns caring for our dog, cat and sea monkeys.

Jared
Music: Practiced his piano lesson
Math: Lesson 21
Math Drill: Multiplication Wrap-up's 6's and 7's
Spelling: 1 Spell Drill
Handwriting: Cursive E's
Life Skills: Passed off egg sandwiches and tuna sandwiches on his skills list
PE: Bike Riding

Olivia
Music: Practiced her voice lesson
Math: Lesson 21
Math Drill: Divison Wrap-up's 2's and 5's
Spelling: 1 Spell Drill
Language Arts: Plural nouns
Computers: Blogging and Goodreads
Typing: See Computer time
Free Reading: 2 hours of The Work and the Glory #2