Kindergarten Curriculum Review

I can't believe we're half way through the year. I still feel like we just got started. I wanted to go over the curriculum plans we made back in August because so many things have changed since then. We've learned what works and what doesn't. I've realized that I want school to feel like it is something we would do together anyway. I don't want it to feel like we separate school life from regular life.

We start our day with scripture reading. We've been using Discover the Book of Mormon from bookofmormondiscovery.com. So far Kendi likes it. We have started with their Book of Mormon ebook that I've printed off and instead of buying the church's Book of Mormon Stories to go with it we just watch the movie clips on lds.org. Kendi loves watching the movie clips and it gives us some variety in our day. My favorite part about Book of Mormon Discovery is the scriptures they pick for young kids to memorize. We go over all her memorized scriptures twice a week and her current verse everyday. Sometimes we play games with them too. I was very willing to pay their price of the book just for the scripture verses alone. It would have taken me a lot of work to read through and find those perfect scriptures. We adapt their lessons plans a little bit and only do about one page a day. If Kendi were reading and doing them on her own she would probably go through more. I like to slow down and talk about it and answer questions with her too. We also add a journal entry at the end of every unit study. We take the memory verse and insert Kendi's name wherever applicable and she writes it in her journal and draws a picture of how that scripture applies to her. The only thing I wish were different is having projects similar to the Faith in God program, but Kendi will be doing that soon enough so I guess I can wait.

Next, we usually do some reading aloud from the classics or The Friend. I used to do this last, but then Kendi knew that home school time was almost over and would keep asking if we were done yet and wouldn't want to read very far. Now, since we do it earlier in the day, the kids have come to love it. Right now, we are reading Dinotopia and just finished The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I let the kids draw, color and keep their hands quietly busy while I read. They will stop to look at the pictures, but they pay much better attention and they keep quiet longer when there hands are busy. I enjoy this time too.

Next, I try to get a reading lesson in before we take a little break. Something I came across since the plans we made in August is the book How to Tutor. Kendi was hating Explode the Code. How to Tutor has a great reading program outlined in it. I can't even explain the difference it has made with our reading lessons. I read through the short lesson plan and then we talk and write on the white board together. Kendi helps me make flash cards of all the new words and we play games with them. It teaches a little bit of grammar along the way. She is learning so much faster now that when I pull out the Family Literacy Readers, she enjoys reading from them. She loves to show us how fast she can read. No more phonetically sounding things out. How to Tutor has taught her that letter combinations make sound combinations and she learns words in chunks. It has really sped things up. Kendi knows about 400 sight words. Just yesterday Kendi mentioned to me that she tries to read every word she sees.

After our daily break is when we switch things up from day to day. Some of Kendi's favorite things to do are Big Book of Play and Find out science projects, I Love America, Part One history lessons, National Geographic magazine (we look at pictures and find the countries on the globe or map), Safety Kids and Standin Tall. For Christmas Kendi got Imagination Station art books by Mark Kistler and some art supplies. We will be spending a lot of time on art and she is soooo excited about it.

We are not using Early Bird Kindergarten Mathematics at all anymore. Kendi did not like it. I have ordered MathUSee - Alpha, but in the past have mostly done math in real life situations. You can check out our Great Math Adventures. I'm planning on using the math books more starting January and incorporating the real life situations to coordinate with what she learning in the books.

Kendi wasn't loving A Reason for Handwriting so we have slowed it down to doing lots of activities and a video clip with every letter. After she learns a new letter, then anytime we do a writing assignment like journal entries or writing letters to friends, she earns a bean for the bean jar if she writes each one correctly. Right now I feel like we don't even need the handwriting book. Her handwriting has improved a lot and it isn't because of the book, but it's nice to talk about each letter.

There are a few things that I mentioned back in August that we are not using at all right now. The science book Our Father's World has been put on the book shelf with other pictures books. It's fun to flip through and read with the kids, but I don't plan lessons around it. We've also taken a break from singing primary songs in Spanish. It was fun, but we just don't have time for everything. I hope we get back into it next year.

Now that the holidays are over and life is not so hectic I hope we can do more field trips and service projects. I also hope Kendi can start her Kids Club too, but we'll ease into that one.

Happy New Year. We're excited for it. Make it a good one.

Grebe Rescue

Today was a day that made me especially glad we homeschool. We woke up to a little bit of snow this morning. Snow was not the only thing that fell out of the sky. A very large flock of Grebe were migrating and ran into the storm and it literally knocked them down. They were all over town this morning. Apparently, they need water to take off again so they were stuck here. The DWR had been up all night gathering birds. My parents woke up to one on their deck and another on their roof and when they looked across the street to the horse corral there were dozens more. My dad called us to come help and we got there just after the DWR showed up. They let us help gather them up.

This lady was so nice to the kids. She told us all about the birds and how she'd been working all night. I was glad to see a female DWR officer out in the field because all through high school I thought I wanted to go into Wildlife and Natural Resources. In college I found out that the field was full of environmentalists and females usually end up behind the desks which was the opposite of what I wanted to do. Props to her. I think if I ever wanted to pursue that field again I would want to go more into Search and Rescue.
They are taking five truck loads down to Quail Creek to let them go. It would be fun to look more into this type of bird that I think is called a Grebe since we had a great experience with them.

We are taking a break next week until January, but I'm sure the kids will be begging to do school stuff. I've got Kendi making beanies for her friends so that will hopefully keep her busy.

Math with Christmas Lights

Lately, Kendi has been focusing on mastering number writing and understanding how double digits are written. This is the first Christmas we have spent in our house and we weren't sure we had enough working Christmas lights to put up outside. I didn't want to repair lights unless I knew I needed them so we decided to measure how much we would need. I know there is a lot more math involved in putting up Christmas lights than this, but having her practice writing double digits is just what she needed right now so that is all I had her do. As I measured she wrote down the numbers. It really helped her learn how a number like forty five is translated into 45.

I feel like I'm becoming one of those crazy homeschool moms that make everything into a learning lesson. There is definitely a balance to how many questions to ask and how many things to point out to a child throughout the day. I learned that when an opportunity arises, instead of jumping all over it, it is better to give just enough information to make her curious and start asking the questions. Sometimes I still can't help myself. A couple of days ago it was snowing so bad that we were running to get in the car to go home. As we were running I shouted to Kendi, "Look at these snowflakes, they really look like crystals!" No one else seemed to care as much as I did at the moment.

Crossed by Ally Condie

I must say that it felt strange to read modern literature after reading so many classics. It felt extremely short, it was easy to read and I understood every word which is not what I'm used to anymore. All in all, it is a good book, I really did enjoy it and I wouldn't mind my kids reading this when they are old enough to be interested which is hard to say about a lot of modern literature lately.

I try not to spoil any of the books when I review them, but I must say a little about the ending and I'll be careful. It kind of bugged me. In this book, the characters go to extremely great lengths and then in the end they don't seem to be very careful about their choice. Everything they cared so much about that kept them going doesn't seem to matter in the end. I'm sure what happens has a lot to do with how the last book is going play out, but what happens here doesn't seem logical to me, but maybe it's just me. Haha, that seems very vague, but if you've read the book I hope you know what I'm talking about.

Standish of Standish: a story of the pilgrims by Jane G. Austen

I wanted to read a historically accurate account of the pilgrims during November. I knew there were stories of Squanto, but I couldn't find any the were free so I kept digging for something to read. I came across this book. It didn't have very good ratings and the one review said that they didn't care for this story. When I first started reading it, it was hard to get into. It was kind of like reading Shakespeare, you have to read it for a while to get used to the language. Then I started teaching Kendi from the I Love America history book about pilgrims. Comparing the writings made me realize how accurate this book must be and all of a sudden it became fascinating to me. This book was written by a direct descendant of the pilgrims who had still lived in the area and had heard the stories of the pilgrims at the feet of her ancestors.

Then as I was reading about so many different people and their characters, I remembered that my sister had found some ancestors who had come to America on the Mayflower. All of a sudden I wanted to know to whom I was related. So far some of the people had been described as dirty and unrefined, strong and trustworthy, and even some genteel nobles. So I pulled out the pedigree charts and found out that I was a descendant of John Alden and Pricilla Molines (Mullins). They were about 22 and 16 years old, respectively, when the arrived and are famous for their love story whom Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (also a descendant of theirs) has written a poem about, called The Courtship of Miles Standish. I can imagine that because John and Pricilla had a large posterity that many people can tie themselves back to them.

I don't know if it's because it is Thanksgiving time or if it is because I'm related to these people, but I found this book excellent. I've never understood the pilgrims until now. The actual feast lasted three days and didn't happen until about a year after they arrived. The women under the direction of Pricilla, who was noted as a great cook, served up the feast. The pilgrims provided all the vegetables that they had learned to grow from the Natives back in the springtime and the Indians provided venison, quail, and clams for meat. The Pilgrims were surprised that Squanto spoke English, he preferred to live with the Europeans and moved in with them as soon as he could, along with Hobomok who remained loyal to the Pilgrims even when the rest of the Indians grew intolerant.

There were indescribable tragedies that set the people of the Mayflower apart from future coming pilgrims. They started with 106 people and only about half of them made it through the first winter. Some blamed the poor conditions of the boat they sailed on. They were not on good terms with the Captain of the Mayflower who basically begged for some pilgrims to help him sail back to England. Even after all they had been through to establish a new life in a strange land, none would go back with him. I'm really glad I took the time to read this book. It was worth it to me.

The Wizard of Oz

I was really excited when I found this large picture book version of The Wizard of Oz at a used bookstore. The large artwork made it especially interesting. On the front of the book is has the original authors name, L. Frank Baum. I was very disappointed to open it up at home and find that it was really a condensed version. I always try to stick to originals as much as possible. In the end, the kids loved this book. It was perfect for young children. This story is very different from the movie we've all seen. The kids were riveted the whole time. Whenever we do long read alouds, I let the kids color or draw or do something quiet because they listen better and for a longer period of time. Kendi had just gotten a new Christmas coloring book that she was ecstatic about, but it didn't keep her from coming over and looking at the pictures and hanging on to every word. I really like the message of this book, "There's no place like home."

Ripple with Skip Bo Cards

This is how Kendi learned her numbers. We started playing this game a few years ago. It's called Ripple and you play it with Skip Bo cards. I can't find the original rules anywhere and we've been playing a simplified version with the kids for so long that I don't remember all the correct rules.

We start by mixing all the cards in the middle of the table. Then we each make two rows of five cards. We line them up because the object is to find matching numbers on the top row and the bottom row. When we first started Kendi didn't know names of numbers or what they looked like, but it only took a few games for her start learning them.

Each player turns over two of their cards. Make sure they are not two that are supposed to match. Then you just take turns picking cards from the pile. If a card you pick up matches one of your numbers you put it on the corresponding spot and turn over the card that has been sitting there. If that card you just turned over matches another card then you keep going, like a ripple effect. If you pick a card that you don't have then you decide to either keep it in a spot that doesn't have either top or bottom card turned over yet (possibly starting another ripple) or you put it in your own discard pile and then your turn is over. You can take cards off the top of others' discard piles if they match one of your cards instead of drawing from the middle. Someone wins when they have matched up all their cards.

Sorry about the silly faces. Pictures always look so good on the camera phone. By the time I see it blown up on the computer screen its too late to take another one.

A Few Homeschool Days

Last year, on Veteran's Day, I took Kendi to our local Veteran's Day Assembly. I highly recommend taking your kids there. It was the first time Kendi asked questions about soldiers and war and we had some really good discussions. We heard local Veteran's stories and the high school band did a few numbers and we watched videos.

This year both of our kids were really sick on Veteran's Day so we stayed home and I felt bad that it was just going to pass us by. So, a week later, when we were in town to see the dentist I took them over to the Veteran's Memorial. We were lucky it was a beautiful day. The kids are pointing to the section of Bulloch's that served in WWII. My Grandpa's name is listed, but I don't think he actually made it into combat before the war ended. I had no idea that many soldiers served from our tiny little county. We estimated about 1400 names were listed.

My mom called while we were in town to see if we'd pick up some garden veggies before we went home. When we got there they were finishing up butchering one of the four animals (this one was an elk) they harvested this year. I let the girls stay longer to watch. Someone once laughed at me when I said I was a homeschooler. They thought I would hate to have to dissect a frog on my kitchen table. After all that my kids have seen of the anatomy of animals this year, dissecting a frog would seem silly.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

I cannot believe how much I enjoyed reading this book. It completely took me off guard. I didn't really know what to expect, but this was just as fascinating as any novel I've read.

Benjamin Franklin reminds me a lot of my own husband, Jared. He just took off one day when he was young and didn't tell anyone and had no plan as to how things were going to work out well. That is totally something Jared would do. Not to mention the way they both enjoy a good debate and sometimes get a bit carried away with it. It was so fun to talk to Jared about the things Benjamin Franklin would do to try to control his pride and not come off domineering.

I think it is interesting that he tried so hard to do a lot of things anonymously yet today he is a household name. And he believed strongly in having great moral character. It gets a little long toward the end, but I knew there was his experimenting with electricity to look forward to. Unfortunately, he didn't write as much about that as I wish he would have.

This book is adventurous, character building and educational. Everyone should read this book.

The Great Math Adventure

Math is the subject, to date, that I have spent the most time researching and pouring over other blogs trying to figure out how to do it in our homeschool. Reading the math classics and learning about how formulas came about is something that I'm actually looking forward to, but I already know that reading Euclid to my five year old is not going to work right now.

I felt like it was an answer to prayer when I came across THIS LINK. It is a mathematicians lament on why math in public schools is so far from what it should be. Unfortunately, this essay doesn't go into great depth on how a person really should be learning math. At least, not specifically. My conveyor-belt-brain still needs step by step instructions to things like teaching math. But I know I want to do it the best way possible so I've been thinking and praying about what to do.

In a perfect setting, I would have math be an adventure and discovery process. I feel like if a child could be put in a situation where they were compelled to figure out math problems in order to accomplish something important then they would see the value of math and never forget what they learned. Coming up with these situations is not going to be easy, but I'm sure going to try.

I ordered the Math-U-See Alpha set, but have only done one lesson with Kendi. We are going to spend more time on learning how to write numbers really well and fine tune how to count to 100. The first lesson in Math-U-See Alpha is about Place Value. I wanted to follow a math curriculum to make sure we covered everything, but then include some adventure activities to make math become real and memorable. So how do you put a child in a situation that makes Place Value sink in? I couldn't think of anything and I wasn't sure it was even possible. Then I came across a math game on YouTube. Place Value Hopscotch. This was more of a game than a real life situation, but Kendi loves hopscotch and was willing to do it over and over until the information really sunk in. So while the math principals are simple I will include games as long as they work really well.

At this point I'm hoping we'll have math adventures two or three times a month. If anyone out there has ideas please, please, please let me know what you think. We will be calling this The Great Math Adventure.

Kendi's Love

Today was Kendi's Day to pick what we did for Homeschool. I love doing this because it lets me know what she is really interested in and wants to learn more about. She wanted to do cooking. We made pizza. I know that sounds like an overwhelming thing to make, but this recipe is so simple and fast. We even did this with a whole bunch of neighborhood kids one day. It's an easy bake oven recipe that I found online when Kendi started showing interest in baking a few years ago.

Each person gets a bowl and mixes together 2 Tbsp flour, 1/8 tsp baking powder, 1 dash of salt and 1 tsp margarine, until crumbly.

Then slowly stir in 2 1/4 tsp milk. Roll dough into a ball and then smash into a greased pan.

Top with pizza sauce and cheese. I baked ours in a regular oven at 350 for 10 minutes. Next time I will bake them another 5 minutes, but these turned out fine.

I would show Kendi what to do as I measured out my ingredients and then she would measure out her own. I showed her the difference between Tablespoons and teaspoons and how to recognize them on the recipe. It was fun to have her make her own pizza 100% by herself.

Aydri's pizza was much smaller than Kendi's because most of her flour ended up on the floor.

Bean Counter Game

TJed suggests using a bean counting game. The girls earn beans to put in a jar and when the jar is full they get to do an activity of their choice. They earn beans in a myriad of ways, for having a positive attitude, finishing all their chores, reading a lot pages, etc. It's different everyday. They can never ask for beans, but they are earned by everyone so they encourage each other.

Kendi chose this indoor inflatable playground to go to when their bean jar was full. They have been earning beans since the beginning of the summer so it was nice to see their efforts finally pay off.

My camara phone wasn't very good at taking action shots. I wish I could have captured the looks on their faces as they went down the big slide. It was sheer terror every time, but they kept going back for more. Kendi is a lot more cautious than Aydri when it comes to these kinds of things. I wonder if Aydri's eyes struggle with depth perception. They had a blast.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

I did not know that Emily and Charlotte Bronte were sisters. The only similarities I can see in there writings are their tendencies to be superstitious.

There is a wholesomeness in the character of Jane that you don't find in other books. This is my most favorite classic that I have read so far. There are a few parts that get overly dramatic, but not enough to bother me.

This book is extensive. You feel like you've been on a journey after having finished it and I can't wait to read it with my girls. It will have to wait till they are old enough to read it on their own to fully enjoy the experience this book will take you on.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

This book is dark and full of misery. I can't relate any of the characters to real people that I know and I hope that there is no one out there that is as selfish and evil as these people come off.

I can't call it a love story. Everyone in this story wants to make everyone else miserable. This book is interesting only because it is shocking and bizarre.

I don't think I would recommend this book, but I wouldn't forbid it either. It is a book that could be read analytically to learn that happiness does not come from selfishness. And decisions do effect more than just yourself.

Sewing and Projects

TJed suggests teaching your kids about your own passions. One of the projects we've been working on lately is sewing Halloween Costumes. Kendi wanted to be a musketeer. She had never seen the Barbie Musketeer movie, but we thought we hit the jackpot when we found THIS link to an online tutorial on how to make this costume. I love October and the sewing projects we get to do. So fun!

We started out our days by doing about 45 minutes of sewing. That was enough time to make good progress, but short enough to stop while it was still fun. You know how sewing can get if it's too big of a project. In fact, by the end of this one, Kendi's excitement to work on it wasn't as enthusiastic as it was in the beginning. It became a good diligence learning project as well.

We've been trying to fine tune our daily and weekly schedules. I feel like we've figured out most of our curriculum and now we're figuring out how we spend our time. It's almost comical to think back on the curriculum I posted about and how much we've learned and changed things since then.

I've made Friday our project day. On Fridays we use our time exploring what Kendi loves and working on ongoing projects. We spend a lot of time on art and painting. We set up this outdoor oven that I found on ucreatewithkids.com. We baked s'mores while Kendi and Aydri worked on a few paintings in the garage. Our ongoing project we've been working on lately is organizing and accumulating food storage. Kendi has some great ideas and has been fun to include in this project that I would have felt overwhelmed to do all alone.

HERE is the link to the outdoor oven project.

Columbus Day

Mickey Mouse as Columbus. Barbie and Ken as Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. Kendi looks sad, but she was just being very serious and respectful to the King and Queen.

Aydri sailing a ship. The kids really enjoyed acting out the events of how Columbus discovered America. You can tell she was really into it too by the look on her face.

Field Trip

We have been talking to Kendi about the history of reading and writing. We've talked a lot about petroglyphs. We are lucky to live in an area that is abundant with petroglyphs. On our way home from the Pumpkin Patch a few weeks ago we stopped by Parowan Gap. It is known for it's 1500 petroglyphs. Kendi was the first to spot some and was so excited.

(Someone once asked me if I highlight Kendi's hair. No! It is naturally like that.)

They call this the zipperglyph. It outlines the formation of the Gap in a long ridge of red cliffs. The sun sets down the center during equinox. It was a special place to the Native Americans who lived here. We were pressed for time and Kendi wanted to keep exploring. We had a hard time convincing her to go back to the car. She loved this. I can't wait to learn more about the history of our area and the people who made these.

I used to let Aydri watch cartoons for an hour in the morning while Kendi needed some peace to concentrate during homeschool. I noticed that Aydri was acting more ADHD at church and couldn't focus or sit still for anything. So now I don't put her in front of the TV anymore and it's made a big difference. Sometimes she will entertain herself with blocks and dolls or make a giant mess in her room and sometimes she will join us for homeschool. The messes don't bother me because she is using her imagination and being creative. I'm surprised at how much she joins in with homeschoo though.

On friday, Kendi and I sat down at the white board to brainstorm about a project we were going to start. We usually sit there to do reading first thing. Aydri sat down with us and started rattling off all of Kendi's sight words like we were going to do a reading lesson. She absorbs more than we realize.

How to Tutor

I'm almost embarrassed at how much I learned from this book. Why did I never learn about the history of reading, writing or arithmetic before? I think I just assumed that I was being taught everything that I needed to know in school. I assumed that numbers must have been around from the beginning of time, like maybe they came from the bible or something. I had no idea that our decimal system is the youngest system being used. It didn't even occur to me that a system different from a ten value system could even exist. Can I blame this lack of knowledge on my conveyor belt education? Or at least the mentality that I was being taught everything worth learning about at school?

We are currently using the reading curriculum straight from this book. Kendi has learned more in the last week than the last year and half I've been teaching her to read. She doesn't have to sound out every single word anymore. We started completely over from the beginning and she's learning to sight read right off the bat. She can now sit down and read little reader books by herself in a minute or two when it used to take us several minutes to painstakingly get through one little book. I had even given up on the readers because it was not a happy experience. We tried Explode the Code next and I had to bribe her to do each page. Now she is so proud of herself when she zips through the little readers. Kendi loves the one on one time we spend at the white board talking about new words and sounds. I'm so glad we happened upon this great book and it was such a great deal on Amazon.

I'm not sure what to think about the writing and math. It suggest learning cursive and absolutely no printing. This book was published in the 70's and things have changed since then. Do schools even teach cursive anymore? I know that when I learned it, it was just for fun and we never used it afterward. I want Kendi to learn cursive, but I think I'd like her to learn to print as well. As for the math, it's not right for us. Kendi needs more hands on learning than this book gives. Kendi is good at memorizing, but I don't feel like memorizing is understanding when it comes to the concepts of math. We are currently exploring other math alternatives at this point. I do like how it explains the history of numbers and the emphasis that we should put on arithmetic and not just mathemathics. Before I read this book, I didn't even know there was a difference. It is also fun to see how things have changed in the last 40 years with education. I don't think it has gone the direction that the author was hoping it would.

We are really glad we found this book and it has been worth it for the reading lessons.

Treasure Island

I really, really enjoyed reading this book, which surprised me. I remember picking it up as a kid and setting it down after a page or two. I think that may have been a revised version for children though. It makes me think that books should be read in their original text, the way they were meant to be.

There is something about the way this book is written. Before I knew it I had read 100 pages and when I thought about it during the day it felt more like I had been watching a movie. Sometimes I would fall asleep reading it at night and then dream about it too. This is the kind of book I get lost in.

Jared and I spent a very long time sitting in a restaurant booth talking about this book. We sat there way after we finished our meals. That is one our favorite things to do. People would be surprised to see me doing 99% of the talking while on a date with my husband. I've got the Disney movie coming on Netflix so we can watch it together too.

There is something nostalgic about pirates and sailing ships and treasure. Kendi is obsessed with them. We even play pirates every Saturday while we do our chores. She can't wait to read this book, but I will have to explain to her that it is not such a happy story throughout and it gets gruesome. It will be interesting to see if she loves it or not.

Big Book of Play and Find Out

This is by far one of Kendi most favorite things to do. So far, we have made parachutes, bouncy balls and played with water and air. Kendi begs to do this more often and talks about it to people when they ask about what she is learning in homeschool. It is something that the two year old can be a part of and be entertained enough and not be in the way. I have to admit that I always look forward to the days we have a "science experiment" planned and I'm surprised that I have learned some new things from it too.

Book Review - Sense and Sensibility

To be honest, I didn't even finish this book. I've noticed that a lot of Jane Austen's books start out very slow, but get good at least half way through the books and they always end up being worth reading, but I've been in the mood for a good page turner lately and this wasn't doing it for me. I wasn't highlighting very many interesting thoughts either. At this point, I'm hoping that I will come back to it when I need a Jane Austen fix and hopefully I will love it then.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

I can't believe it's been two weeks of homeschool already. We've had fun and we've had some tough moments, but only one bad day and I've learned a lot from this experience. Keeping this blog is mostly to help me remember the things that I've learned along the way. I'm sure things will just keep changing too. I'm a parent, I'm use to that.

Kendi loves the new, bright, shiny workbooks right now. I was surprised by that at first, but I think it's just because they are new and something different. I have a feeling that the newness may where off. I'm even more surprised that Kendi doesn't love some of the games that I put together for math and such. In fact she kind of hates them. haha. Math is something that I really need to make a priority of figuring out right now. I think she needs more hands on manipulative math to do. The math book that I ordered is way below her level and not even fun anymore.

Kendi loves art. What kid doesn't? I'm so glad that this subject is well taken care of. I just need to schedule it into our week to make sure that it happens. There is so much we can do everyday and so little time to do it. Kendi could paint for hours.

My aunt passed away a couple of years ago. She had been taking art lesson's from Jared and was really quite good at it. Kendi and my aunt had become really close when my aunt was diagnosed with brain cancer. I was also very sick at the time and Kendi spent a lot of time with my parents who were also spending a lot of time with my aunt. Kendi and Aunt Mary would go for walks, draw and just talk together. It's safe to say they were best friends. My heart has never broken so hard as when I had to tell Kendi that Aunt Mary was gone. Mary's family left her art supplies with Jared. She had accumulated a lifetime supply of water-color equipment. Jared doesn't water-color much, but Kendi loves it. It is so fun to see her painting with professional paints from someone she loved with her daddy in the mountains that Mary was so fond of.

Kendi loves projects. I'm trying to think of some on-going ones. She already wants to start a project for the county fair next year. I'd like to get started on some service ones too.
I need to really remember why I'm homeschooling in the first place and not get all caught up in the fun things to buy and do. I really want Kendi to socialize with all age groups which means I need to start getting those types of activities set up soon. I also want her to learn how to work hard with a happy attitude. Anyone needing work done at their house, let us know. I also need to make sure that I'm focused on teaching her how to think and not what to think. I need to be a mentor, not a teacher. Sometimes this is hard when it comes to things like handwriting. She taught herself how to write and really doesn't want to take the time to relearn. I need to come up with a way to inspire her to want to.

I figured out that it helps to have a short, fun activity to start the day. It gets us in a positive school mode to begin. I'm glad that I have that old Kindergarten resource book from DI for that.

I just found out that the Montessori school nearby may let her do a subject or two with them. I'm meeting with them soon to find out more details. I love so many things about Montessori and it would be hard to do it at home so this would be a way for her to have Montessori and work with groups of kids in more age groups.

So far, I've really enjoyed homeschool and Kendi says she likes it too. My only fear is that time is flying by so fast. I want to make sure that I cover all the things that I wanted this homeschool to do.

Brilliant Video

Lessons Learned From Nature

As a child I spent so much time in nature that I will sometimes catch myself saying that I was raised in the mountains. I have a seldom, spoken-of love and respect for nature that is on a level that only another person who holds the same reverence for nature could understand. Henry David Thorough spent two years living in the woods, which is not enough in my opinion, and wrote a book about his experiences that he titled Walden, named after the pond he lived on. I have recently read this book and it has piqued my interest enough to make me want to share some thoughts and feelings about living with nature and what there is to learn.

Henry David Thorough is most well-known for this quote,

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

This quote is well into the book and at that point I didn’t believe he had even scratched the surface of what there was to learn from the woods. He had written a lot about observing nature with meticulous detail and how to survive by barely getting by so that a person may have some leisure time. I believe that there is a lot to observe and learn from nature, but there is a spiritual level that a person must come to know that makes you feel connected to an eternal realm of beauty and wonder and testifies of our Creator.

Most of his writings were only to prove that a poor man can have time to gain knowledge and progress his intellect by living simply off the land and supporting himself. He had strong feelings that society wasted too much time and money on materialistic, superfluous traditions that were only performed because everyone does them and deems them necessary. It is ironic to me that more than a century and half later, society has fallen so much further into that foolishness that he described so long ago.

Toward the end of the book, Thorough finally taps into what I feel there really is to learn from nature. He says,

“I delight to come to my bearings--not walk in procession with pomp and parade, in a conspicuous place, but to walk even with the Builder of the universe, if I may--not to live in this restless, nervous, bustling, trivial Nineteenth Century, but stand or sit thoughtfully while it goes by. What are men celebrating? They are all on a committee of arrangements, and hourly expect a speech from somebody. God is the only president of the day. . .”

Thorough begins to see a bigger picture from having spent time in the woods, from having spent time in silence to think and ponder on our short, little lives. He begins to tell about how important it is to gain education from nature. He made me realize how much of what I know now I learned from experiencing nature in one of the deepest ways possible, by hunting. He writes,

“. . . my friends have asked me anxiously about their boys, whether they should let them hunt, I have answered, yes--remembering that it was one of the best parts of my education." "It requires so much closer attention to the habits of [nature] that no other sport can substitute."

Thorough no longer prefers to hunt with a gun and I haven’t for a while either unless my freezer is empty. I have been privileged enough to hunt most of my life that I now can go out into nature and see it on the same level. There are so many lessons to learn beyond observing the patterns of animals and the elements of weather conditions and terrain and how they all effect the cycles of life and animals. You learn so much about yourself. Patience, endurance, respect for life, strength, hunting abilities, maturity and more than I can list. Thorough goes on to say about the matter,

“We cannot but pity the boy who has never fired a gun; he is no more humane, while his education has been sadly neglected,”

“Such is oftenest the young man’s introduction to the forest, and the most original part of himself.”

We could all use some time away from society and noise. If only for a few hours to have some time alone to just think. It is amazing what can happen to a person who is left alone in nature long enough to begin to evaluate his life, his past and his future. Such a person would benefit in a most positive way. I have recently been told that nature is the best learning environment because you are surrounded only by the truest beauty in the purest and most uncorrupted form.

I’m so happy that I was fortunate enough to be raised in the mountains. To appreciate what they can hold for a person’s soul. I will most definitely pass on the learning experiences to my posterity and continue to enjoy the benefits of a heaven on earth.

Kendi's Kindergarten Curriculum

Well, this is just a start. I'm still looking for things and I'm not planning the whole year out right now. After reading through other bloggers' curriculum lists, I didn't think I had much of a curriculum collected until I wrote it all down. My main focus this year is to get Kendi reading really well. She is almost on a first grade reading level and I hope to get her reading on her own very soon. We want to do a lot of hands on and outdoor discovery instead of bookwork. I would like most of our curriculum to come from the classics. I have to keep telling myself that she is only 5 and Kindergartners don't spend a whole lot of time at school their first year. Kendi gets excited every time a package arrives and it's her homeschool supplies. I'm not sure how great any of these will work out, but we'll let you know if we really don't like them. Here is what we've put together so far. I think it's a good start.

• Scriptures - Book of Mormon and Bible. Right now we are just reading together as a family after breakfast and it is working really well. I'm keeping my eye out for some kind of activity book for kids. I'm picky about how accurate they are. Please do not suggest the Living Scriptures to me unless you want an earful.
• Science - I just ordered a science project book called, Big Book of Play and Find Out. I can see Jared getting excited about this one.
• Science - Our Father's World. A Christian book that follows the creation.
• History - I Love America, part 1
• Music and Foreign Language - LDS Primary Songbook in English and Spanish. We also like to have fun at the piano and will do that until her hands are big enough to start learning to play. Kendi loves to dance, but I'm torn about putting her in dance classes so early.
• Writing - A Reason for Handwriting. Another Christian based book. She also keeps a journal and we want to start writing letters to family and friends.
• Math - Early Bird Kindergarten Mathematics. We skipped the first one because she already knows her numbers pretty well. She also has a summer book to finish up called School Zone Big Kindergarten Workbook. I have a feeling she is going to whiz through these. I've heard good things about Saxon Math so we'll look into that next.
• Geography - We've started getting National Geographic magazine. She loves seeing the pictures and finding the countries on a map.
• Reading - We are about half way through the Family Literacy Center Readers. I'm keeping my eye out for first grade level readers for when she finishes those up. We will also be consistently reading from the TJed list of classics for children. I'm mostly read them to her right now.
• The Safety Kids series
• Standin' Tall series
• I have a Kindergarten resource book that was found at Deseret Industries. I will be using it for the activities and holidays for more fun things to do.
• The most education I ever got was in the mountains and I plan on doing the same with my kids.

We will be doing a lot more hands on stuff than bookwork and I can't even list all the things I have planned for that. We will spend a lot of time on art. Fortunately for Kendi, her dad is a professional artist and internet engineer. He will take over the art and math subjects when she gets real serious about them. He's already had her painting with real watercolors. I can't wait to get started to see how these resources work out for us. We are all excited. If there is a system on any subject that you are passionate about, please share.

Supplies We Need

Friends and family are always asking what our kids need. I'm going to make a list here of things we are looking for to use in our homeschool. I'm not necessarily asking for donations, but maybe some of you teachers or more experienced parents out there know of some good places to find these things. Also, if you have stuff kicking around that you don't mind getting rid of or selling for a discount, we love second hand items. This list will always be changing.

• Safety Kids cassettes or cds. I've found volume 2, but not volumes 1 or 3. I already have all three books.
• Standin' Tall Books. I have most of the cassettes, but no books to go with them.
• Somewhere to see a flag raising ceremony.
• Classic Books of all reading levels - A classic is any book worth reading more than once.

Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke

I've always liked the movies that have been made after this series of books by Janette Oke. From my experiences with movies made after books, the books are usually so much better. That made me interested in reading this book, hoping that it would have more to it than the movie. I was a little surprised at how different the original story was. I can't help but think that the movie improved on the original story. I like how in the movie the characters seem more intelligent. The movie also has more religious meanings throughout and more relationship development between Marty and Missie because of her being so much older in the movie. I don't buy a lot of movies, but this series would be something worth having. As for the books, I probably won't use them in my home-school.

Pride and Prejudice

After reading a Marcia Lynn McClure book, I had a hard time getting into this one. In the end, I loved it just as much though. This book has some dry parts, but for the most part is a really good book. It has a lot to think about, talk about and is entertaining as well. One of the best classics that I've enjoyed so far.

I've seen the movies, but I finally understood it more thoroughly by reading it. The characters are more developed and it's easier to follow and understand. It wasn't as difficult to read the Victorian language as I thought it would be. You get used to it.

This is a fun book and I will read it with my girls sooner than I otherwise thought I might read it with them.

Visions of Ransom Lake by Marcia Lynn McClure

Shouldn't your favorite book be on your personal classics list? If you knew me personally this book being one of my favorites might surprise you.

I was extremely sick throughout my pregnancies and had some pretty downer days. Someone let me read these books and they were the best, well-needed escape from a crumby reality. What's really funny is that Jared would read to me sometimes to help me fall asleep and he would get wrapped up in the stories too.

After our first daughter was born, Jared and I attended a Booksellers Convention and literally bumped into Marcia Lynn McClure. Jared was so star-struck that it made Marcia laugh. Never before had a guy been so familiar with her over-the-top romance novels. To this day, I read the gushy parts to Jared and we laugh and think of Marcia.

I love all of Marcia's books because the hero's are always chivalrous and proper and the heroines are always naive and innocent. They are exciting, fun to read, and full of life. Vision's of Ransom Lake is one of my favorites because Vaden has a unique sense of adventure and an ability to find something intriguing in everything. Marcia and her books will always be special to our family and I can't wait until my girls are old enough to share the experience of reading these happy books together.

The Declaration of Independence

I hate to admit this, but I've never read the Declaration of Independence all the way through before. My cop-out excuse is that I am a product of public education. One more reason why we want to home-school our kids. Shouldn't this be included in our history lessons? Maybe even toward the top of the list?

This is what I learned. I always assumed that the Declaration of Independence was meant to be a great inspirational, motivational document. It is those things and more. It lists all the facts against the King of Britain from whom they wanted to become independent. It certainly isn't sugar coated either.

I knew there would be some words to look up, but after writing them all down I didn't realize there would be two whole pages worth. So I definitely learned a lot from reading this and recommend everyone read it and study it for themselves. There is a lot we can learn from what happened backed then. I couldn't help but think that there were some things that remind me of what is going on in our government right now. Now go read it - Click Here!!

Swimming

We were going to put Kendi in swimming lessons this year, but decided that we wanted to teach her everything that we are able to ourselves. Jared works at home and is able to take time off in the middle of the day. We got a family pass for one month and Jared and Kendi have gone almost every single day to the pool.

They only spend about 45 minutes or an hour in the pool and I'm very impressed with how well she is doing. Kendi used to struggle to even put her nose under water and now she dives right in. Getting her goggles really made her love being in and under the water.
She swims faster than me. She is an aggressive kicker and I think swimming may become one of her stronger talents. She floats on her back when she gets tired.
I think going consistently everyday has helped her get comfortable in the water. Jared and Kendi absolutely love spending this time together everyday. I'm so proud of her and I love seeing a permanent grin on her face the whole time she is there.

Book Review - The Chosen by Chaim Potok

I found this book fascinating. Right off, it made me realize how little I know about the Jewish culture and religion. I had a lot of words to look up. I also learned a lot about life during World War II and how things unfolded for an American Citizen of that time. There was a lot of information that will stick with me better than any history textbook reading.

There are a lot of issues to address and contemplate while reading this story. A couple that stood out to me were the need for silence and the need for communication. And how to balance the two. Family relationships and friendship. The significance of our short little lives in eternity.

I will most likely read this with my kids when they are old enough to have quality discussions about it. I definitely enjoyed it.

Book Review - Laddie

This book took me way too long to read. I'm not a fast reader and this isn't the most interesting book I've read. It was fun, but had a lot of tangents that went on and on and on. It felt almost like you're reading someones journal and they are just writing things to remember what it was like not because it is interesting.

In the end, I did enjoy reading the book, but I think it would be more fun to read with kids. There were a lot of things throughout the book that would be good to discuss with kids.

I think we will definitely read this book with our family, but it isn't going to be at the top of our list.

Cupcake Maker

Kendi informed me that she wanted to be a cake and cupcake maker when she grows up. She knows that we spend time learning about things that she is interested in for home-school so she wanted to do a project.

We spent some time researching cake makers and looking at sites like The Sweet Tooth Fairy. She picked a project of making decorated cupcakes like some that she saw while we were researching.

Kendi made a journal entry

where she drew pictures of cupcakes and wrote about becoming a cupcake maker. She even put that she could work at Dairy Queen because they make lots of desserts.

Over the next few days, we spent a little time on this project everyday. Once we officially start home-school, we will probably only spend one day a week working on what she wants to be when she grows up.

Kendi wrote down the ingredient list and we went shopping. I like the way we worked a lot of home-making skills into this project. We got the kitchen ready and read over the directions. We talked about why we have to do the things the directions say like flouring the pan and measuring out ingredients. We counted out the 30 seconds to mix the batter before we beat it. We talked a lot about all the numbers and measurements we used. And for the first time Kendi learned how to load the dishwasher when she was done.

This was really, really fun and I was surprised at how much there was to learn beyond home-making skills. I always want to take Kendi's ambitions very seriously even if I think it may be a passing phase she's going through. I would love for Kendi to become a cake maker and we will definitely spend more time on this.

Book Review - Anne of Green Gables

Everyone should be familiar with Anne of Green Gables. Everyone has seen the movies and everyone should read the books. I enjoyed every minute of reading this book. It has all the excitement of a blissful childhood and all the melancholy of real life. This book will make you laugh and make you cry. I can't help but think that Anne reminds me of my own Kendi. They compare similarly in imagination.

This may be one of the first books I read together with my girls once we have officially started Home-School. It makes me anxious to get started and I can't wait to move on to the sequels.

Experiment #1

I wasn't sure I was ready for this, but Kendi has been begging everyday to do Home-School. For more than a year now (sometimes off and on) we've made it part of our daily routine do some reading and writing together. Kendi has heard me talking a lot about TJed to Jared so she knew there was something I was holding out on her. So, today I decided to try it.

I had noticed that The Grimm's Fairy Tales were on the list of classics for TJed. I had already downloaded them for free a while ago, but hadn't actually read any of them to my kids yet. The first one on the list was titled The Golden Bird and it sounded great to Kendi.

We just read it all the way through. Next time we read a story, no matter how short, I think it would be better to stop and talk about it multiple times throughout. I wasn't even sure if Kendi was following me until later when she surprisingly repeated it back to her Daddy.

At first, this story seemed bizarre to me, but I figured that I'm not used to reading classic literature, especially ones that were as old as this. The story had such a strange ending that it threw me off for a minute. I wasn't sure I even wanted to discuss it with Kendi. I couldn't even think of questions to ask her. After taking a moment to put Aydri down for a nap it occurred to me that I could just focus on the good parts of the story.

We ended up having a great discussion about being obedient even when it's hard and doesn't seem like the normal thing to do. Kendi even drew a picture and I helped her write a journal entry about what she learned from the story.

If anything, I learned today that there is something we can dig out of every story that is worth talking about. I learned that it helps to organize the questions to lead from one thing to the next. And I should probably read through stories before I decide to read them with my kids. haha. TJed suggests studying Leadership Education for a whole year before you start implementing it into your home-school. Hopefully, I will learn enough about how to do this more effectively before Kendi starts 1st grade.