Moments Homeschool

Heroines and Mentors for my little Lady.

2011-09-23T09:07:00.000-07:00

Anakha-Marie was involved with a group called "Liberty Girls" last year. This group meets once a month for a 3 hr time slot to discuss a book and participate in activities themed around the book. She loved it! The age group was 6-8. This year she is 9 and was able to move on to the next group. (I believe the age ranges from 9-13)

This club is called Young American Stateswomen Association. The website states this about the group:
YASA members prepare to become women of Grace, virtue, and courage by reading biographies of great American Stateswomen and taking part in colloquia, service projects and activities. Mothers are assigned to different months to help in the planning and carrying out of the activities. These activities are centered around helping the young women with opportunities such as: (from website)

•Interact with caring mentors
•Experience the joy of planning and giving service to the community
•Practice leadership by planning activities filled with adventure and interest
•Take part in a structured program that will assist members in learning Adult Skills

Adult Skills Classes
Shopping
BakingMeal Preparation

I had a conversation with my mom a few days ago about the book Anakha-Marie read this past month and decided to share the list of the books / women they will be studying the rest of the year. I plan on letting her guest post on the blog sharing her thoughts on each book. The first book was a big eye opener to her. She says it changed her heart in a huge way and is now one of her very favorites that she will cherish.

This has been such an amazing opportunity for our family. Olea is now old enough for Liberty Girls and had her 1st meeting last week. I was an assigned helper mom for it. We read Laura Ingalls Wilder's 1st book Little House in the Big woods. We had such a fun time at the activity. I will share photos I took in a separate blog post.

The reading list for A-M's book club called "Young American Stateswomen Association" is as follows:

(I had never heard of a few of these women so I decided I may not be the only one. Hopefully. :) With the help of Wikipedia or other searches I have added little quick synopsis of these women and why they are so important in history.Some I skipped for the obvious. I assume you are a little bit aware of who they are.)

September: Corrie Ten Boom by: Janet and Geoff Benge

Corrie Ten Boom was a Dutch Christian Holocaust survivor who helped many Jews escape the Nazis during World War II

October: Calico Captive by: Elizabeth George Speare

With help from Wikipedia: Calico Captive is a historical Children's novel inspired by the true story of Susanna Willard Johnson (1730-1810), who along with her family and younger sister, were kidnapped in an Abenakis Indian Raid on Charlestown, New Hampshire in August 1754. The main events in Calico Captive, which occurred on the brink of the French Indian War, were taken from Johnson's narrative diary. Calico Captive is told through the eyes of Miriam, Johnson's younger sister, and her imagined adventures.

November: She Touched The World: Laura Bridgeman, Deaf-Blind Pioneer By: Sally Alexander

Laura Bridgman (December 21, 1829 – May 24, 1889) is known as the first deaf-blind American child to gain significant education in the English language, fifty years before the more famous Helen Keller.

January: Lillian Trasher, The greatest wonder in Egypt By:Janet and Geoff Benge

Lillian Trasher (September 1887-December 17 1961) was a Christian missionary to Asyut, Egypt, as well as the founder of the first orphanage in Egypt. She is famed as the "Nile Mother" of Egypt.

February: Little House on the Prarie By: Laura Ingalls Wilder
(I am an assigned helper mom for this activity)

March: Anne Frank, The diary of a young girl

April: Clara Barton,Courage Under Fire By: Janet and Geoff Benge
(I am an assigned helper mom for this activity)

Clarissa Harlowe "Clara" Barton (December 25, 1821 – April 12, 1912) was a pioneer American teacher,patent clerk, nurse, and humanitarian. She is best remembered for organizing the American Red Cross.

May: Maria Von Trapp, Beyond the Sound of Music By: Candice Ransom

Nomads, cave dwellers and cave paintings, oh my!

2011-09-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

This morning we had fun studying about Nomads and the first farmers. Activities after our lesson included making their own cave paintings and constructing a tent like early Nomads lived in. There was a bit of drama in building it but eventually they got it up the way they wanted. We all sat underneath and colored our notebooking pages.

Enjoy the photos!

Anakha-Marie's cave painting

Kailani's cave painting

Olea's cave painting

Homeschool day 5 with pictures!

2011-09-07T18:04:00.000-07:00

5 days of school and I am happy to say everything is going well! I think I have finally figured things out. Sad to say its been many years of trial and error. Of course, Homeschool is all about trial and error. Just try, try and try again until you figure out what works for you and your family. Then they change ages, preferences and you do it all over again.

So far its working out. The girls seem happy and my favorite part is how much I have accomplished around the house at the same time! What?! Laundry baskets empty? What planet am I on? Counters clear of clutter? Where did Jenn-lee go? I think waking up so early, fitting in family scripture study and getting started so early really helps jump drive my productivity. (Being in nesting mode/last 8 weeks of pregnancy helps too.)The girls are also helping out so much more too which is absolutely necessary when mothering a large family and homeschooling all at the same time.

I remembered to take some pictures of the girls during some school moments to post on the blog. Thought tonight, while the house is clean and the girls are swimming with Daddy would be a good time to share them with you.

Sophie playing with geoboards and finally growing more hair. :)

AM during her French lesson on Rosetta Stone.

Olea showing off her calender in math. (sorry for the blurry pic)

Kailani LOVES geoboards. A great way to keep her busy while she waits for me.

"Ta Da! Look at my design! "

Homeschooling mama with stickers on her shirt. That's how we roll. Olea wanted to look like she was thinking and frankly she looks too old in this photo. Where did my baby Olea go?

A photo of our ART Picture study. We learned about Naturalism style of Art today.

Ms. snazzy pants notebooking her page on our art lesson. With the baby doll of course. :)

They love creating their notebooking pages. Focus is always best during this time.

So that's all I have for now. I have not been so good about the photos lately. Can you blame me? There is lots going on around here and when I take the camera out it seems to end up in someone else's hand making silly videos etc or ruining someones concentration.

Have a great day! I have more to share soon about our homeschooling moments and even some neat links I found you may like for ideas and help.

September Field trips

2011-09-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

September Field trips are going to be so much fun!

First We will be going to a local state park for a falcon demonstration and participate in a litter pickup service project.

2nd field trip, A tour of the famous Bingham Copper Mine!

3rd field trip, The Tanglewood Marionettes, "The Dragon King" show.

I am so excited! You bet I will blog about the events!

We did it!

2011-09-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

Today we started school. It's about time right? I think I was in denial that the summer was almost over. What a great day to start school. September 1st. It felt great to get started. After all, I have spent many hours this summer planning and reading up on new ideas. I still feel I have so much to do to be "Ready".

Subjects we covered today :

Math
Literature
Science
French
Reading
Scripture study

Boy am I tired! School took way longer then I wanted it to go. With homeschooling, you just cannot spend all stinkin' day on school. There are chores that need to get done, food to be made and playtime to be enjoyed so everyone stays happy. Today school was not officially finished with the last girl until almost 4pm! No way can that be a regular thing. We would all get burned out so quick. So I definitely have some tweaking to do and I am sure as we get snug into our new schedule and curriculum's things will run alot smoother.

Scripture study is to go along with our History of the ancients. So we are reading the very beginning. Starting in Genesis. Actually we read chapter one in The Book of Moses today. (That's in The Pearl of Great Price.follow link if you have not heard of this) We missed having daddy with us as he was running late for work. We will try again tomorrow. Waking up early and reading and praying as a family in the morning is a new thing to us. We were a bunch of sleepy gals today for sure! I know the blessings it will bring to our family will make it totally worth it.

Math was our first tackled subject. Using Saxon Math Anakha-Marie is in grade 3 level, Olea is doing grade 2 level and Kailani is doing grade 1 level. I tested all of them in the spring to see what curriculum would fit best with their needs and it was way fun to see Olea and Kailani both were ahead and did not need the curriculum that matches with what their "official" grade is.

Literature was fun. We started reading together a book, Black Ships before Troy. A children's book of the story of The Iliad. I remember reading The Iliad maybe in 11th or 12th grade but do not remember the story. I was not such a great student in school. Now I get to learn alongside my girls and it is quite fun. The girls loved chapter one. I was a bit surprised at the drama but it is written for children so it wasn't too bad but definitely gave us some things to talk about.

Science: Actually I did not plan on having science today but we had a DVD Bill Nye the Science guy I had to return to the Library on fossils. We are studying 20 weeks of animals and thought this dvd might be fun. The only one close to animals I could find at the library. I LOVE Bill Nye the Science Guy and cannot wait to show the girls more dvds of his when they correspond more with what we are studying. The girls then made a notebook page with a leaf rubbing to look like a fossil and in their own words shared a few facts they remembered about fossils. I was quite impressed with how much each of them remembered and put on their page.

Reading consisted of Olea and I reading Little House in the Big woods together for 30 minutes. She read some paragraphs and I read most of it. She loved the story and thought roasting a pigs tail on a stick sounded yummy. She LOVES bacon and all kinds of meat.

Anakha-Marie is to read a book for her book club so she started that. It is a biography on Corrie Ten Boom. I had never heard of her but from what I have read recently I am very excited for us to learn more about her life and how amazing of an example she is.

Kailani is working on learning to read with sight word books.

French. We use Rosetta stone's homeschool program online. It is awesome to see the girls learn french. This year I am going to add something extra that I hope will help them remember things easier. I will make cards on the words and phrases they learn and also want to label things around the house. This will also help me as well. Its about time I learn French better so next time I go I can practice.

Well, that's all for now. I have more planning to do before tomorrow and then the very important beauty sleep. Have a great weekend!

Love at Home

2011-08-18T22:28:00.000-07:00

Recently we have had a problem with love in our home. We have noticed the girls fighting more. I have felt an ever growing lack of patience with them as well. Resulting in a cranky mommy who probably has lashed out at a child in not so loving ways. Many times recently the girls have not been quick listeners. They have goofed off instead of doing what was being asked. I have been getting so frustrated and inpatient it has caused me to lose the spirit of love in our home way too often.

The girls are aware and we have spoken of how to fix this many times. They have promised they will try harder to listen better and fight less. Daniel took them to Toys R Us to each pick out a toy under $10. Then they were told how they could not have the toy right away. They had to earn it by less fighting. That meant fighting with one another or their mother. Each day they go without fighting they get a check mark on a chart. When they earn 30 days they get their toy. This has been motivating for them but I have still felt a huge presence of contention. Many times within my own heart out of anger towards them.

This has scared me. I am in the process of finishing up their curriculum plans for the school year. While I am very excited about the classical education approach we are going to follow this year I am nervous, Nervous because I want things to run smooth. I want the girls to enjoy their schooling. I want them to grow close as sisters and also grow close with me as we learn side by side together. Homeschool is supposed to rewarding and an enriching experience. But with all that has been going on I have worried how things will be once the school schedule starts. (Currently set for August 30th.)

This evening I went int he girls room to peek on them sleeping. They looked all so sweet in their sleeping positions cuddled up with their favorite most loved made by Grandma blankies. I felt a need to pray for them. Honestly, I have not prayed in their room for them in a very long time. I prayed for the usual. Help to know what they each need. Help to increase the spirit in our home to love and kindness. Help to be in tune with how the Lord sees fit that I should educate them. How they each learn differently and how can I best love and teach them individually. I prayed for a few minutes just feeling an overwhelming desire to be a better mother for them. Knowing there is so much more I can be doing. Knowing my shortcomings and my intense need for our Heavenly father's guidance each step of the way.

After praying I went back to tidying up our in the kitchen and dining room. Messes of coloring papers and crayons scattered the table. Shoes for their little feet piled in front of the shoes shelves in the hallway. Pool toys scattered near the porch doors. As I out things away I saw a bathroom sink with wet toilet paper in it. yuk. I am reminded of how the girls should pick up after themselves better. I am reminded of how they really need to put their shoes away a few inches further in on a shelf. How hard can that be? I am reminded of how they really should have put the crayons away. All of this is true. But The Lord shared with me a little lesson.

These things are important. It is important to have a neat and tidy home. Peace resides amongst cleanliness so much easier then mess. They are important but I forgot one thing amidst my selfish frustrations. Pointing out the positive. Seeing the good in these sweet little girls. Seeing the great things they do. As I was making my couch pillows neat and cute I felt I should read an article in The Ensign. Love at Home, an article of combined counsel from our Prophet Thomas S. Monson.

A few quotes stood out to me as the lesson I felt the Lord needed to share with me tonight.

“Give your child a compliment and a hug; say, ‘I love you’ more; always express your thanks. Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved. Friends move away, children grow up, loved ones pass on. It’s so easy to take others for granted, until that day when they’re gone from our lives and we are left with feelings of ‘what if’ and ‘if only.’ …
“Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey and share our love with friends and family. One day, each of us will run out of tomorrows. Let us not put off what is most important.”

“To you who are parents, I say, show love to your children. You know you love them, but make certain they know it as well. They are so precious. Let them know. Call upon our Heavenly Father for help as you care for their needs each day and as you deal with the challenges which inevitably come with parenthood. You need more than your own wisdom in rearing them.”

“What is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know. Wrote William Shakespeare, ‘They do not love that do not show their love.’ We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are omitted from our relationships with those who mean the most to us.” -Thomas S. Monson

I realized I had failed in showing my love to them. I was so caught up in what they were doing wrong I was distancing myself from them. I had hugged less. When getting a hug I would think how that child needed to be doing what I asked them to do. When I had a child want to sing a song to me that she wrote I sent her to finish making her bed. When another was showing off her newest coolest dance move I said she was thumping the floor too much. I had become obsessed with things that were less important then showing my daughters I cared, and that I loved them.

I also have failed at praying for them often. They need more then anything the prayers of their mother. The mother who takes care of them everyday. The mother who is teaching them. The line in the above quote "You need more then your own wisdom in rearing them" repeats itself in my head. Its so true. Overtime I had allowed myself to subconsciously think I could handle things on my own.

These days are not easy. There is evil all around us. There are sad stories of families being torn apart. We hear often of families separated by a death from accidents, war, diseases, acts of hate. I only have one chance with my children. President Monsons words were the greatest reminder to me today. To not take for granted the sweet little ones I have here. They are too precious for me to focus so much on negative.

While change is difficult and habits are hard to break I know the Lord can guide me each day here on out to help bring the love back in our home. As these children feel more love from me they will in turn show more love to eachother. A tough lesson to learn but one I am grateful for.

History ,The Ancients

2011-08-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

As stated on the 2011/2012 plan page we will be starting a new schedule for the way we study history.
I have been reading and studying a wonderful book by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise, The well trained mind. I love it! I agree with many of the ideas proposed in the book and find the resources they list are so helpful.

All the girls will be studying together. Each year we will study a certain time period in 4 different sections then repeat.(covering seventy centuries in four years) The theme is the same for all but the books and assignments will obviously vary depending on ability/age.

This year our focus will be on:

The Ancients (5000B.C.-A.D.400)

Greek and Roman mythology
Tales of the Iliad and Odyssey
Early medieval writings
Chinese and Japanese fairy tales

The books we will use:

The story of the world: History for the classical child
The King Fisher History Encyclopedia
The Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History.
Library books on the subjects each week.

We will also be using black line maps for The Ancient times, a large atlas map and a globe.

Our schedule for studying History will be twice a week. Tuesday's and Thursdays.

Tuesday's The girls and I will read a chapter together. We will discuss the chapter and I will have them narrate back to me what they learned. Their own words will then be copied onto a notebook page for their binder. They will also have a black lined map to color the area that relates, and a coloring page provided or their own illustration to go with what they learned.

Thursday's we will spend the time reading additional books on the subject previously picked up at the Library, explore the Internet linked Encyclopedia, do a fun project relating to it and go over any memory work they might be working on for the subject,

The idea is their binder will fill up over the course of 4 years where they will eventually have a chronological record of history in their own words for them to review. After 4 years we will repeat the schedule again, of course reviewing what they already know and diving in more depth as they are older and able to understand more. Each child will learn at their own pace and in their own way as they are all unique in personality and different ages.

Stay tuned for more posts on our study of History and the adventures we go on through these books and activities!

Clark Planetarium and a quick stop at Anthropologie

2011-08-15T11:54:00.000-07:00

Our First field trip of the year was to Clark Planetarium in Downtown SLC. Although we haven't officially started school for the year we are always up for an educational experience. Thankfully with our K12 program it was FREE!

The girls were pretty excited to see their very first IMAX 3-d show. Our very first 3-d show anyways. Having be IMAX was a plus! We watched a documentary on the Space Hubble Telescope. Anakha-Marie thought the movie was cool and interesting. Olea said it was really cool but a little bit boring. Kailani didn't say much as she is excited about everything. Sophie did great and even wore the 3-d glasses a few times.

Olea did not want a photo of her in her glasses. She was a little embarrassed.

Exploring the exhibits. The girls were able to play in an area that was very similar to Mars.

Kailani cracked me up in the gift shop. Probably her favorite part of the museum.

A bit blurry but still had to share a photo of Olea. The timing was hard to get since there were so many kids running around her. Made me so nervous with all those real jagged rocks. I felt like someone might bust their skull open any moment. Needless to say we played for a bit then got out of that section. We had too many close calls.

Anakha-Marie in one of her many poses "on the Moon".

Overall we had alot of fun. I was happy we got in for free. I was not too impressed with their exhibits and thought they could have done a better job on exhibits that were more engaging for younger children. I do not think it is worth having a membership there unless it was specifically to see IMAX movies. Which of course are absolutely amazing.

Since we were at Gateway and so close to my favorite store Anthropologie we had to take a quick little walk on over. I admit it was brave of me to take all 4 of my girls in there with me. We had fun though. I only got stressed when our ballerina Olea decided she wanted to dance and twirl amidst the lovely glass displays of plates, mugs cups and all the other lovely bits they sell. eeek!

I let Kailani play with the camera while we looked around and what came out of it were many short little video clips and a few funny photos. One of which she took of me. (below)

The video is of her starting then she asks me to take the camera to record her.
She is silly and it is short. Just makes me smile.

While there I snagged this cute little magnetic kitchen timer. I have had my eyes on it for a while and decided since the last two I bought broke (both from crapmart) I should invest in one much nicer and cuter for myself. Plus spending the $12 gave me a voucher for parking which made my money go towards this instead of parking. Who wants to pay for parking when you can pay for something cute?

Our next activity is a homeschool group picnic coming up at the end of the month.
A fun kickoff party for the school year!

Thanks for stopping by and reading about our Homeschool Moments!

Hugs,
Jenn-Lee

2011/2012 school year

2011-08-02T09:10:00.000-07:00

The girls, Easter 2011

My last post, in November summed up our year of 2010. Now I am here and it is almost that time again! I cannot believe how fast time has flown by. I am not going to attempt to sum up our 2011 year here as we still have much to go.

Currently I am in planning mode. Summer is here and school will start soon. I am planning this years curriculum and am pretty excited about it. I wanted to keep record of our schooling better through a blog and thought it silly to start a new one when I have started this one already.

As my curriculum gets wrapped up I will post our plans and schedule here on the tabs above.

I am excited for the new year not just for our new schooling curriculum but also we will be having baby#5 joining our family. A baby boy too! 4 girls and a baby boy. Will definitely be a lifestyle change but we are up to it!

Have a great week!

Jenn-lee

2010 a year of change

2010-11-30T20:23:00.000-08:00

October 2010 at Pumpkin farm with my 4 blessings of girls.

Wow. Has it really been so long since I last posted? This year of 2010 has flown by very fast. We have had alot of change and many adventures in our family. First. to re-cap in bullet style.

We moved to from the south to Utah in October 09
We had little baby Sophie in December 09
Our winter collided with Spring and we got snow till end of May.
4th of July we shared with a fellow homeschooling family in our ward at an elem. school field.
Pioneer day here is celebrated as big as 4th of July. We spent a fun filled day at a friends families home. The girls got to swim and look at cows grazing all at the same time.
My Hubby started college in the summer of 10
He has made straight A's!
He works full time and goes to school full time and is an awesome dad all the while.
I enrolled the girls with an online school using K12 curriculum for Math and Lang. arts
We also enrolled the girls in Rosetta Stone French with the online school as well.
School started in September.
Halloween here was rainy. We spent it inside our church building trick or treating in the hallways. The quickest way to get loads of ~~cavities~~ Candy.
Anakha was baptised in October and was able to see her Grandparents there.
I have decided to cut back on some things in my life and add in other areas. This has led me to blogging less, reading more, planning a book to write as well as spending more time with friends and getting my visiting teaching done.
Thanksgiving was spent in our home with our wonderful friend and her two daughters. There was lots of nummy food and even more laughter.

Its pretty difficult to sum up the year in a few sentences actually. I had a hard time remembering details. That's what journals are for right? Sad I have not written in mine much nor have I blogged much this year.

School is okay. I have not been happy with using K12/the online school. I feel controlled more by what needs to be checked off vs. just have fun learning with the girls. I have explored other options but have not made an official decision if I will continue the whole year or switch in January.

We have met so many new homeschooling friends this year. It has been a party. My month of October and November were jam packed with field trips, school co-ops, playgroups etc. It got so busy that I had to cancel things to make sure we were home to get school done and do laundry and clean the home.

I have alot of photos I have not shared with anyone yet just because of how busy life has been. I am excited to get them shared soon.

Have a great week and I shall see you soon I hope.

Water Transferring

2009-10-05T06:07:00.000-07:00

The girls never tire of fun new activities. Saturday we had alot of time on our hands listening to our church leaders share some amazing messages. My husband pulled out some bowls of food colored water and started Moonbeam and Little Blue on this water transferring activity. Simple directions were take the spoon, and carefully transfer all the water into the 2nd bowl. They focused on this very well. Little Blue ended up transferring all the water then lost focus and transferred it into the pan. So next time I think I will take it away when she finishes the 1st time. Moonbeam did well, but lost interest when she was almost done. I think it was a great idea and kudos to my hubby for setting it all up.

Tangrams

2009-09-29T22:10:00.000-07:00

Have you ever let your children play with Tangrams just for fun? Tangrams come from an Ancient Chinese puzzle consisting of 7 geometric shapes. Used in a game to make different pictures the rules are that you must use all 7 shapes, they must lay flat, they must touch and may not overlap one another.We enjoy being able to give our children more then 7 to play with they enjoy making shapes, animals, homes etc. This helps with their math, thinking skills, and creativity for sure.

Our girls love them. We have a kit that comes with different pictures where they can match the shapes up to and learn to make difficult pictures on their own. I love how simple Tangrams are and how they can keep a 3 year old focused as well as our 7 year old.

Moonbeam, our middle child who is 4, (pictured below) enjoyed placing them on the light box in the dark to come up with different designs and shapes. This occupied her for at least an hour. It was so popular to use on the light box it has been pulled out numerous times since by all three girls to play with.

Continent boxes

2009-08-31T09:29:00.000-07:00

In my daily blog readings I found this wonderful idea I am excited to implement after we settle down in our new place. Our move is in about 8 weeks! So fun! The great thing is, we love traveling and I am obsessed with atlas' and globes. I cannot wait to do this.

Continent Boxes.

I Saw this post here at Montessori Moments where she has them labeled so nice and organized neatly. Love it!

This post here at Super Fun Mama explains what it is and gives some great links and ideas.

A new Year.

2009-08-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

We are almost there! I am gathering our home school materials and finishing up planning for the year. The girls are anxious and everyday ask when school starts. I have enjoyed seeing SweetFace bloom in her reading skills this summer. Moonbeam would not start Kindergarten in a public school for another year but we will start her early. Because we can. :) She loves to write and is often seen with her clipboard and paper, and pencil in hand asking me how to spell anything and everything. When she is not writing she is dancing ballet or drawing fancy dresses. I am excited to teach her reading this year. Little Blue will learn so much this year in age 3. We are excited for her to continue her learning and excitement for everything she sees her sisters involved in.

I am very interested in Montessori method of teaching and have found many great sites to help me incorporate it at home more often. It will be a great year full of many changes but also many blessings lots of growth. We are very blessed and I am thankful I have the freedom to home school my family.