It Makes Me Smile

Here's what made me smile this week:

• Having our first week of school done with.  Whew.  That was rough.
• Thinking that, with practice, school and our new chore schedule will get better . . . and faster.
• When, during school, Hudson told Maria, "get your smiles up!"
• Knowing that Maria chose to read Calvin and Hobbes for her independent reading time.
• When I was reviewing what we'd learned about Joseph Smith Jr. in school I asked, "Where was Joseph born?"  The answer is Vermont but it cracked me up to hear Hudson yell out with confidence, "Velterham!"  That kid.
• Seeing the kids smile when they complete their daily duties.  I'll blog more about their new chore schedule later.  We are having much success!

And here's a quick story:

As part of their morning duties, each child is to read the scriptures by themselves.  I was counting on helping the little ones read but they've all been wanting to do it by themselves.  This morning Lincoln sat down to read and, taking a que from Libby, I guess, asked me, "What's the password?"  I said, "And it came to pass."  He repeated that, rambled on a bit and asked again, "What's the password?"  "Yea, verily," I said.  He repeated it then asked again, a bit later, "What's the password?"  "And thus we see," I replied.  That must of been it because he stopped asking and finished reading his scriptures.

Isn't it Great to Be Eight?

Maria turned eight recently.  I can't believe my kids keep getting bigger!  Who said they could do that?  Don't I say that same thing every time I post about a kid's birthday?  

Turning eight means Maria has reached the age of accountability and she chose to be baptized!  We're so happy Maria is officially a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  She had a wonderful baptism.  She loved every minute of it, although, she did say the water was too warm.  Maria said she felt warm inside when her father and those other wonderful priesthood holders in her life placed theirs hands on her head to confirm her a member of the Church and give her the gift of the Holy Ghost.

 Doesn't she look beautiful in her new dress?  It was a gift from her Grandma and Grandpa Nuttall and Aunt Elise.  Her pretty shoes were a gift from her Grandma and Grandpa Hawkins.  What a lucky gal to have such generous people in her life.

Here are a few pictures from Maria's birthday.  She's always such a fun girl on her birthday.  It's a pleasure to celebrate her life.

Maria got to celebrate her birthday over two days!  The day before her birthday we went to Grandpa and Grandma Hawkins' house to have cake and open presents from them.  The next day, her actual birthday, we had a birthday dinner chosen by her - hotdogs of course.  Then she got to Skype with her Grandpa and Grandma Nuttall while she opened presents from us.

She had so much fun.  And she is such a fun girl.  Maria is so helpful at home and is a great example to her brothers and sister.  We love her.  Our family wouldn't be the same without her.

What's the password?

Libby often forgets how to begin her prayers.  She just dives right in with things such as "thank us to be good" or "thank us for the food".  She's been making an effort to improve lately, though.

It was her turn to say the family prayer tonight.  She bowed her head, closed her eyes, opened her mouth, then looked up and said, "what's the password?"

It took me a second to realize she was asking how to start the prayer.

"The password is 'Dear Heavenly Father'," I replied.

Satisfied, Libby began to pray.

Preparing For School

The last couple of weeks have kept me busy with school preparations.  We will officially be starting our fourth (if you count kindergarten) year of homeschool next week!  Hudson officially joins us this year as a kindergartener.  We're starting to get pretty comfortable with the process and we're all looking forward to starting up again.

We're using a new curriculum this year.  It's from the Trail Guide to Learning series.  I picked this curriculum because it seems like it will simplify things for me.  I'm all about making things easier.  In our past curriculum, each subject was independent of the others but in this one, everything is combined into one lesson.  It also has tips in each lesson for how to adjust the lesson for different aged children.  Teaching four children of different ages is what I'm struggling with right now, so I hope things will be made easier with the Trail Guide to Learning.

I can't completely give up Bauer's Story of the World.  It is too great not to be used as, at the very least, a supplement to our history lessons.  I love the map work, the coloring pages, and different activities offered in it and the children love it, too.  The Trail Guide to Learning is unit-based so I think Story of the World will fit wonderfully with that to help us get a broader sense of the history before, after and adjacent to the history in our units.  

Our first unit is all about Christopher Columbus.  From there we will visit Jamestown, the pilgrims, and the explorations of Daniel Boone, Lewis & Clark, and the trails reaching westward.  As our last two school years have been devoted to ancient history, I'm very excited to finally be able to get to the New World and westward expansion.

Because our history this year focuses on settling America, I thought it would be the perfect time for us to learn more about the Restoration of our church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and read the Doctrine and Covenants together.

The Trail Guide to Learning incorporates nature study which I am also very excited about.

Our math curriculum for the past two years has been Saxon and we will continue to use it this year.  A Saxon math lesson, although simple, can take a long time with the amount of review they have in each lesson, but we've learned to shorten them about every-other time to make it more bearable or even combine the more simple lessons.  We keep with it because the kids learn math so solidly from Saxon that I don't want to do anything else.

 I've known for a while now that our homeschooling has as much to do with me learning as it does our children.  It is teaching me organization, patience, and endurance like I've never learned before.  I haven't been much of an organized person in the past but each year I get a little better.

 Toward the end of this last school year I started doing the above worksheets for Maria.  Last year the left-hand side was for things she was to do with me and the right was things she could do by herself.  It became immensely helpful and I'm continuing it this year. This year, the left-hand side is for lessons we do as a family, so Hudson's left side of the page looks identical to Maria's, and the right-hand side is work that is unique to that individual.

We keep these worksheets in a binder, one for each school-age child, along with whatever other worksheets we will be doing that week.

I know one of the great things about homeschooling is the flexibility it gives us, but I'm afraid we allow ourselves a little too much of that, so that is my main goal for this year, to stay on task.  I've planned out the school year, something I've never done before.  I've roughly planned the lessons and have scheduled breaks.  We will have a week-long break in both fall and spring as well as two weeks for Christmas and New Years.

I bought a planner specifically designed for homeschool families that I LOVE - the Well Planned Day (you can see it a bit in the first picture).  It will be my best friend this year, I'm sure.

We are also looking forward to Maria's spanish lessons with her Aunt Kimberly.  They will have lessons weekly via Skype.  I love technology!  How wonderful that Maria can be taught by her Aunt even though they live almost nine hours from each other!

Wow, I wasn't planning on this post being so long.  But there you have it - our school plans for the year.  I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to teach my children at home, and I'm looking forward to getting better at it.

I'm going to try to post more about our homeschooling adventures throughout the year . . . I'm sure there will be many.