Home Schooling

So, it's almost June, and there are kids everywhere (school's out, eh?).  It's not a bad thing, but it does keep the library busy (which I think is awesome, kids in libraries!  YES!).  However, today really made my day.  My children were interacting with each other at the library, and an older gentleman (probably my children's grandparent's age, so not very old) came up to me and said, "I'm going to venture a guess based on how your kids are treating each other and acting in here, that you have home schooled them from the start."

I smiled and said, "Yes, I hope you mean that as a compliment."  He replied that he did, that he was impressed with the way they spoke and behaved.  I must say, that on days when you just wonder if things are going well, the kindness of a stranger really can make a big difference. 

Plus, what you, as a stranger might not realize, is that when a compliment is bestowed in a way that all of the children overhear you, it makes the rest of the day EVEN better, as they try to live up to what they have heard about themselves. 

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day!  Please take the time to remember why we are celebrating this day.  NPR's The Story featured Colonel Jack Tueller, Stephen's grandfather's cousin.  He was a bomber pilot in WWII.  It's only about 20 minutes long, but is very informative and brings to mind the sacrifices made by the brave men and women in our country.  

http://thestory.org/archive/The_Story_53011.mp3

Misc. Pics found on my phone

Chayce @ marbles museum

Payge on a walk with daddy

Payge the monkey

Chayce climbing the wood hut the kids made @ the park

Payge on the freezer, hanging out with dad while daddy works at home

Zach and daddy mountain biking with the tandem

Family Home Evening

Click to make bigger.

Zac taught family home evening tonight.  Complete with the above illustration, which he did himself as he explained his lesson.  I had asked him to make sure it was tailored to meet the needs of his little sisters' understanding of the scriptures, and I think he did a wonderful job.

If you can't tell, or don't know, the above is his depiction of the story about the iron rod and the tree of life in Lehi's dream.  He illustrated that the fog we go through allows us to be tempted, but holding to the rod (the word of God) allows us to say NO.  He was adorable as he explained to his little sisters that when we don't say no to temptation, we end up like the people at the bottom of the page: grumpy, because things don't go right without guidance from the Spirit.  It was simple and wonderful, the way he interacted with them and taught them his perspective on the story.

Art Work Post!

As you know, we're packing.  Packing multiple art projects is difficult, so we decided to pack them digitally.  There will be many posts that are just photos of our art projects, so when we print this whole blog (soon!  And in sections!), we'll have them in our memory books. 

Zac's illustrated copywork.

Chayce's version of illustrating what we learned about chickens.  She wasn't writing yet when we did this assignment.

Chayce's hands (and a foot).

Chayce's marker art.

Zac's lollipop people.

Chayce's Cinderella under a rainbow.

Zac's pen/ink drawing after learning about baby #4.  hee hee.

He's into machines.  ;)

A bird in crayon by Chayce.

Abstract watercolor by Chayce.

Hmmm, you can't really see it, but the petals of this flower are the same color as the sky, cut out of another paper & glued on.

Happy dancers (in ink) by Chayce.

Pencil drawing by Chayce.

Happy little tree.  By Zac.

Chayce was experimenting with watercolors.

Ink drawing by Chayce. (Large dressed up fish and mermaid)

Cats in ink by Chayce.

My Little Fume

It's been an interesting past few weeks, to say the least.  We're getting our family ready to move closer to extended family, and this makes us incredibly happy.  In the transition, we found a charter school in the new area that impressed us.  We decided to try it (for little Z) for one year.  It might not be permanent, it will all depend on how things go.  However, I am so very surprised at how many people (family included) that have jumped at the chance to say how great it will be that our kids will have different points of view to look at, and a chance with a teacher other than myself.  This irritates me to no end, and it's not because I think I'm the world's best teacher.  It irritates me because people assume that children taught at home are only getting one side of the story (as opposed to kids who are in school).

Knowing the many homeschoolers I know, I am confident that I can state that I am not rare in the fact that my children take classes outside of the home.  We have art lessons, group science classes / co-op, dance lessons, church activities, scouting (both boy and girl scouts), library groups, museum guides / tours, 4H, etc....  My children hear so many different points of view in a week, that we have to discuss many of our family values each night.  My husband pointed out that some people do Family Home Evening once a week, ours is pretty much nightly.  In contrast, when I send my son to a school with ONE TEACHER all day long, he will not be getting this worldly exposure.  He will not even encounter the variety of children he encounters now.  He'll be sitting with the same 30 children every day for nine months, with the same person's take on the world every single day.

Often, if I try to explain this to the person talking to me, they say, "Well, you homeschool differently than others."  While that blanket statement is true (all homeschoolers have their own quirks and methods), I am still extremely confident that those who DON'T have multiple outside of the home experiences are the rare ones.  Reading many different homeschooling newsletters (whether they be Christian or secular, classical or un-schooling), the same joke reigns supreme:  We should call it car-schooling because we are rarely home.  This is why history books on tape sell so well.  You don't think we sit at home and listen to them, do you?

So, if you run into me in public, and notice me bristle when someone says, "I'm so glad your child will have this out of the house experience." You'll know why. 

Chayce's First Book

A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes...

Ever wonder what your heart is really wishing for?  My dream let me know last night.
It all started out wonderfully.  I was being introduced to one of my favorite actors, Johnny Depp.  I was just about to tell him how great I thought his movies were when I decided instead to tell him how very tired I was and how I'd really just like to take a nap on the couch. (part of my brain was screaming, WAIT?!?  WHAT?!?! but the other part was definitely happy with the idea of taking a nap while sleeping).  Yes, I dreamt that I was sleeping.  And when I woke up, I rolled over and went back to sleep.  ha!

Family Fun!

Because strollers are for pushing, right?

I loved this wall.  It's actually ground level on the other side, but makes for great photos.

Chayce kept wanting to pose.

Enjoying the view.

Family photo.  Stephen is wearing our nephew, but in a few short (OK...long tiresome) months, our family really will look like this!

It's Effie!

Sweet, sweet girl.

Beautiful Japanese gardens.

Our nephew with Stephen.  Cute, eh?

She was trying to tell me how animals sound.