Pneumonia + Asthma = ER visit + one tired Momma!

    The last few days have been crazy!  I never thought I would have to go to the ER for myself, and prided myself on no broken bones, etc. etc. basically, of not needing much medical attention (the year of 2006 was one medical year I do not want to ever repeat).  But that said, I did have to cave, and hurry to a local ER that I swore I would never go to, even if dying.  But when I couldn't breath, all I could think of was my children seeing me struggle and wanting to be ok for them.
    I am on the mend, tired as I am.  I have to say I am so blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people.  It is wonderful to have so much family nearby who at the drop of a hat will do anything they can to help.  Thanks to a wonderful Visiting Teacher who heard of my struggle and just stopped by with dinner.  And thanks to friends who call and offer to help, and really do mean it!

  I am so VERY BLESSED!

Homeschool: Myself

So for Social Studies I have planned to first learn about Self, then Family, then Community, along with any holidays that come along.  So one of the many activities we have done about "Myself" is the body outline.  I remember doing this so many years ago and had to do it with my kids.

I traced out their body, and had them color it in.  Both kids didn't believe that their outline was how big they really were.  They kept complaining that I drew them bigger than they are.

Then it was time to label their different body parts.  I let them choose what to label, but told Handsome it had to be at least 10 different things.  I also let him do his own spelling and didn't worry about it.  I got cute spelling of face as "fase" so close!  And hair as "har".  As well as eyes as "Ize".  And some he even got right like "tummy " and "finger".  He is learning fast, and we're having a blast.

Fall, Leaves, and Homeschool

It seems that I am always blogging about our science and social studies, because, well... it's the most fun and exciting.

We learned about Fall.  We went on a fall leave hunt, came home and ironed the leaves we collected between wax paper.  I hope to do a couple more leave hunts through the season to compare as the leaves change color.  We'll see how that goes.

We read lots of books, and learned all about deciduous trees, conifer trees, why leaves are green, and why they change colors in Autumn/Fall.  Then we took all the things we learned, and using our window in the home school/toy/library room, we wrote down all the new things we learned about Autumn and leaves. 

Gorgeous added pictures to help us out.

In the end it looked like this.  Leaves on top, words on the window, and our books to read and look at on the bottom.  We call it our Fall/Leaf center.

Soccer Time

It's Soccer Time!

We got Handsome into soccer.  He's been wanting to do it for oh so long.  And my answer was always, "When you're in Kindergarten."  So I had to keep good on my promise.  He's not playing on a team, but instead learning the skills in a class.  Handsome LOVES his soccer class.  And best thing, it counts towards his school hours, it's PE.

And his cheer section!  Even though it is not an actual soccer game, they play various games as they learn the soccer skills and it is fun to cheer for Handsome.  At the end they all kick a goal, it's been fun to yell and cheer as each kid kicks a goal. :)

Homeschool: Elasticity

Thanks to Sid the Science Kid, we did another cool science experiment.  This one was not in my lesson plans, but Handsome saw the episode of Sid the Science Kid and wanted to do it.  So of course we learned about Elasticity!  Elasticity is when force is applied to an object and then removed, how fast, if at all, will the object return to its original shape.  Since some things are very elastic but it is hard to see it with our eyes, we test it with bouncing it on the floor.  I got the experiment from here.  Handsome and Gorgeous picked out many of our balls and made predictions.  Then we dropped the balls from the same height in our kitchen and marked how high they bounced with painters tape on the cupboard doors.

We learned that the play dough ball had the least amount of elasticity, bounced the least, and the bouncy ball had the most, bounced the highest.  Then we documented our discoveries in our science journal.  I'm loving science!

Bi-Annual Hair Cut

Adorable is now 6 months and that means it is time for my 6 month hair cut.  Yes, every 6 months I get to cut my hair short.  Then it grows for 6 months until I cut it again.  I'm loving the short hair again. :)

Look Who Learned to Crawl!

It's offical.  This week Adorable has learned to crawl.  The floor is no longer a safe place! 

Happy Columbus Day!!

So today is the actual Columbus day to commemorate Columbus landing on San Salvador in the Bahamas, October 12, 1492.  We did do our activities on Monday and Tuesday, but I don't feel late at all posting all we did today since it is the REAL Columbus Day. :)

When I started Home school I was confident in reading, writing, and math.  I was worried about the Social Studies and Science.  But I have found that those areas are where we are having the most fun!

We spent the entire day on Monday learning about Christopher Columbus and his first voyage.  First we made "sailor hats" to start off the day.  I got my sailor hat directions from DLTK's Crafts for kids.

Next, we learned about the three ships the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.  We learned that the Santa Maria was the flag ship that Columbus sailed on, as well as a lot of other cool things about the ships.  Then we painted egg carton cups to make the three ships.  I even glued two egg cartons together to make the Santa Maria, since it was the flag ship and bigger than the other two.

It was so cool making these ships.  Handsome did the painting, but I did make the sails, maybe next year he'll be old enough to do them.  Then he put a little play dough at the bottom, stuck in the sails, and there you go.  I got the idea from here.

Then we took a break from projects, we read and learned more stories about Christopher Columbus and his voyage.  Then we also read 1 Nephi 13:12.  We talked about how Nephi saw Columbus many years before he traveled to America.  And how Columbus was lead by the Spirit of God to the Lamanites.  How wonderful to be able to use the Scriptures in teaching.

We learned about Columbus's first voyage.  We learned that he sailed to the Canary Islands, then went out into the water, not seeing land for a long time, longer than anyone had done before, and the sailors threatened mutiny.  Columbus convinced them to go 2 or 3 more days and if there was not land they would turn around.  But of course they found The Bahamas, which Columbus thought was Asia.

We learned that the Santa Maria was destroyed on Christmas Day, while there in the New World.  So they sailed back with just the Nina and the Pinta.  But there was a storm and they were separated.  The Nina arrived at the Azores and waited 10 days, no sign of the Pinta.  Then they went to Lisbon and waited there for 10 days, still no sign of the Pinta.  They then went to the home port of Palos and within hours the Pinta also arrived safely.  What a cool story!

We painted the journey.  I got the idea from here.  I had so much fun I couldn't resist and had to do one myself, and of course Handsome did his, drawing the ships and labeling the lands as well. 

Then there was time to "play with all their new ideas!" and build their own boat to go sailing in and discover new lands.

And lastly everything got set out on our learning table.  I'm still playing with this.  I want a place to display all the cool things Handsome learns and makes.  This may be the place....we'll see.

Flyin

I may have already mentioned how Adorable would like to do what we called "Flying."  He would lay on his tummy and spread out his arms and legs so only his tummy would be touching the floor.  He started to do it when I would tell him to "fly."  And then I would sing the "Fly like an Eagle" song (well at least the little part of it that I know).   So of course one night Gorgeous and Handsome wanted to get in on the action.  But it was much more fun with Daddy's help.  So of course this led to pictures and some fun family time.

School Time: Calendar

As I have started Homeschooling I've felt the need to start writing little blogs about what we do for school.  Hopefully this may help others who are thinking of homeschooling themselves, or at the very least, give a glimpse into what we are doing.

Each morning when school begins the first thing I do is "Gorgeous' Reading Time".  At this time I get to pick out 3 picture books and call it Gorgeous special reading time.  Gorgeous gets dibs on my lap.  Handsome always sits next to me and listens as well, but I make sure Gorgeous knows that this is HER special time with me.  This makes it easier to work one on one with Handsome as I can remind her that she already got her one on one special time.

Then we do the pledge of Allegiance and then on to the Calendar.

Calendar Time:

1) Handsome and/or Gorgeous (she has a choice to join us or not) count the number of the days, find the correct next number and place it on the calendar.

2) Gorgeous sings with me to figure out what day of the week it is.  (Handsome already can read the day and knows all the days of the week.)

3) We say the date all together.  It goes something like this; "Today is Wednesday, September 14th 2011."

4) Then Handsome has to figure out what day was Yesterday and what day is Tomorrow.

5) If there is a special holiday or birthday, Handsome has to do a count down and let me know how many more days there are.

Handsome has been doing "Calendar Time" for the last year, so he has it down.  So recently I have been adding additional questions such as: "How many days are in a week?"  "What day comes after Tuesday?"  "What day comes before Sunday?" etc.

 When have these cool count down blocks we use for birthdays.  I want to make more for Holidays.. but wonder if by the time I get to it, we may not need them. :)

Handsome has to write the month each time we change months.  As we move on, I have put the old month on the side of the calendar.  So randomly we sing the month song and I then ask him questions such as; "How many months in a year?"  "What month comes before September?"  "What month comes after April?" etc.  (and you'll see Gorgeous' months up there too above her head.)

It seems like a lot, but really it is all done in a matter of minutes.

Doing the Puyallup

The Puyallup Fair has become a tradition in our family.  It started when Handsome was a baby, 6 months old.  And every year after we have gone, through pregnancy and little babes.  I love the fact that the first day is always free, so of course we always go the first day and enjoy it thoroughly!  The last two years we have gone with our friends.  It has been a blast to go with them.

 There was a tent set up with all sorts of musical instruments that the children could play.  It was so much fun and well.... loud. :)

 Look at that serious guitar player!

 And of course the Mutin Bustin!  He still talks about it.  He had a BLAST!

 Had to check out the animals.  The cats are a usual favorite, but the chicks were also cute!

 And Adorable, was well... or course adorable.  He is such a good baby, he loved all the action, and soaked up everything.  He never fussed, and I could hardly get him to eat.... there was just too much to look at.

 In the petting zoo area.  Handsome just cracked me up with those faces.  And I had to get a picture of Gorgeous touching the animals, as she is so hesitant about touching anything alive.  I was surprised she did as well as she did petting each animal, carefully, but she did touch and pet them all!

And their first Fair ride.  Kent has a friend electrician who works on rides.  He told me to never let my kids ride on the portable fair rides.  That they are very unsafe.  I took it to heart and would not let Handsome ride any of the rides that were temporary.  But this year I caved and let them ride this little roller coaster ride.  They both had a BLAST!

General Conference

Is it me or is General Conference getting BETTER and BETTER.  Ok, I do think it is me.  As I prepare myself more for the words of God I learn so much more.  Thanks to President Uchtdorf's message about preparing for Conference.  Thanks to friends, Kerri! and Andrea!, for giving me great ideas of how to make it fun and enjoyable for my kids to watch and participate in conference.  And thanks to the example of my in-laws, Deckers! of a yummy breakfast in the mornings.  Not only did my kids look forward to General Conference, but I was excited and ready as well!  I looked at the pile of laundry and dirty dishes, and they had nothing compared to the words of God spoken to ME.

So what did I take away from General Conference?  My new goals to work on and master are:

1)Pray more fervently

2)Read my scriptures, the Book of Mormon, and Ensign articles more frequently

3)Use my time wisely!  I was reading in the April 2011 Ensign Elder D. Todd Christofferson's message, "To Always Remember HIM"  where it says,

    "We should first put in place the things that make it possible to always remember Him--frequent prayer and scripture study, thoughtful study of apostolic teachings, weekly preparation to partake of the sacrament worthily, Sunday worship, and recording and remembering what the Spirit and experience teach us about discipleship...
   Once we make adequate time and means for these matters in centering our lives in Christ, we can begin to add other responsibilities and things of value, such as education and family responsibilities.  In this way the essential will not be crowded out of our lives by the merely good, and things of lesser value will take a lower priority or fall away altogether."

After the talk and reading this article it hit me.  Yes, I always KNEW I should put Christ first and family next.  But I still always made sure the kids had breakfast, and maybe the dishes done, laundry started, etc. etc. and would maybe remember to stop and read my Scriptures.  Now, I wake up and first thing I do is PRAY and READ MY SCRIPTURES.  Yes, the kids did ask for breakfast.  But once they were told that mommy needed time to pray and read scriptures, and when I came out of my room I would help them and be a better, nicer mommy, they were fine with it.  They now know to leave me alone because I am putting prayer and scripture study very FIRST in my day.  (My one exception is a hungry baby who needs to nurse, but right after it is my time as baby plays on the floor).

This was hard to change my thinking on, but actually very easy to implement.  And talking it over with Kent he supported me with my change, saying that he felt it was important for our kids to see that I put Christ very first in my day.

So those are my new goals.