The Living Christ

Discover The Scriptures offers a free download to help you memorize The Living Christ. The boys have been working really hard at memorizing this. It's broken down into 12 weeks. The boys want to recite it with their cousins at a family Christmas party that we have coming up. They are doing AMAZING! I didn't think it was possible to memorize something so long in such a short time, but even Mason has been keeping up. Now me on the other hand... I've been trying, but I just can't get it all. These kiddos young minds are just amazing to me. This download has really helped. It has print-outs, copywork, pictures, etc. I even made little cue-card books on a binder ring and laminated them for each of the boys.

Curriculum- Old Testament Study

Discover The Scriptures is my favorite resource for scripture study materials. I really wanted to start the boys on a 4 year course of study that was on the same schedule as seminary so it would be easy to transition to the seminary program when they hit 9th grade. This is definitely the program for that (for us, at least). They have workbooks for grades 1-3 and then 4th and up. The younger book has them use the illustrated children's stories that can be purchased through Distribution Services. The older grades use their scriptures. They learn about the stories of the Old Testament as well as memorize scriptures. They work with maps and have fun activities in them. I really, really love these! Last year we were studying the Doctrine & Covenants and used their Hand-On Church History. The only downfall was that they only had volume 1. Volume 2 and 3 are going to be released soon. If you want a more in-depth look at their products follow a link from this page. We will definitely be using The New Testament studies next year.

Christmas Spirit

'Tis The Season

This year I've had a really hard time mustering up any Christmas spirit. We've been sick, money's tight, and I'm tired of looking at all the holiday decor that's been up since Halloween. Blah! Well, since the kids seem to think we should carry on the tradition, I've tried to get into a better frame of mind. I sat down, took a deep breath, and remembered what we are really celebrating. Now come on- the birth of our Savior should be something we can all get excited about! This year we are focusing on Christ. I always say we are going to, and sometimes we do better than others. This year I'm serious- we have so much to be grateful for and we owe it all to the Savior. Our children need to "know" that. They need to "feel" that. I want my family to be grateful, compassionate, loving, and humble. This year we are doing a Christmas unit-study that we found on Discover The Scriptures. This is what it promises:
Discover Christmas will help your family put Christ at the center of your Christmas celebration. It will take your family on an adventure through the symbols and customs of Christmas, teaching you the meaning behind the symbols to help you focus your celebration on Christ. Each day from December 1 - 25, discover the story behind our holiday customs and how it relates to the birth of Christ.
So far we are really enjoying it! We are also trying to focus more on others. We picked an "angel" off of our ward's giving tree, donated gently used books and toys for an Eagle Scout project, donated video games to Primary Children's Hospital, and still have some quilts to make and a donation to make to a Sub-for-Santa family. It feels good to help others. It's an opportunity to forget about our own worries and stresses. It brings an added measure of peace and harmony into our lives. Christmas is also a time to think about family and spend time together. We are going to spend a little less time studying and a lot more time baking cookies, decorating, visiting Temple Square, walking through Christmas village, playing board games, listening to Christmas carols, and watching Christmas specials on TV. Hopefully, this will help us remember the true meaning of Christmas and worry a little bit less about the commercialism of it all.

Another Month Has Come And Gone...

Wow! I can't believe that another month has gone by so quickly. My weekly updates have turned into monthly ones :) We spent a lot of November sick, and December is already looking the same. We had to miss the field trip to the art museum because we were all home in bed. We did take another trip to Salt Lake, though. We went to Kingsbury Hall on the U of U campus to see a play. It was the 7 dragons. The boys were excited that there was finally one without the "girlie" theme they call it. Mason was entranced the whole time. He loved it! Nate the skeptic, was preoccupied about the dragons not really looking like dragons and the water not really looking like water, etc. It did lead to a great discussion on the difference between plays and movies, though. He was still not impressed. Hopefully he can at least gain an appreciation for the arts, if not a love for them. Lexii has been studying hard and will finish up her finals this week. She definitely is ready for a break, even if it's only 3 weeks. It's holiday time, so she will probably pick up a lot of hours at work until Christmas is over with. The other day she made the comment that "it sucks to be an adult". Yes, yes it does. I've been trying to tell her that for years, but for some reason they still always want to grow up too fast.

Weekly Review

If I don't start posting more often I'll have to start calling this the "monthly review". So, what have we all been up to? Well, the big kids have just been working and going to school. Once you hit that big 18 and beyond, life just isn't as fun :( The world expects you to be productive- so work and school it is! The little kids have been busy too. They spent a day at Astro Camp learning about physics. They had a great time. Nate has been to several of these (including the 3-day camp) before. We also went on a field trip to the fire station and police station in Roy. Hardly anyone showed up so it was really fun for the kids to have the extra attention and see things really up close. They were excited to see what Lexii is going to do when she graduates. What little boys don't like police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks! I think the highlight of the month so far has been our trip to SLC. We rode the train to SLC and then met up with our science club at the new Leonardo museum. We then went to the SLC library. Mason declared it "The best day of his life!" Yes, my kids would rather go to a library than most anywhere else. He even begged for us to move to SLC just for the library, LOL. We then had lunch and spent some time at Temple Square. We were going to stop at the Planetarium, but Mase wasn't feeling well so we went home. We'll hit the Planetarium another day. We've been on a lot of field trips this month, but we've also got a lot of school work done. We've also been to science club (where I taught the physics class this month) and to swim group. Mason has been taking swimming lessons this month. We got the "homeschool discount" so it is really cheap at Marshall White rec center. it also turned out that Mason is the only one in his class. You can't beat private lessons! Both boys are still playing the piano everyday and Nate is loving violin lessons. I'm a little tired of Jingle Bells and Joy to the World, but their Christmas recital is going to sound great :)

Waiting to go into the Leonardo


Outside the library





At the Leonardo


Waiting for the train


Temple Square

Curriculum- Math

My original plan was to review all the curriculum we use and LOVE in a timely manner- at least 1 a week so you could see what we do every day. As you can see, I haven't been that quick. Well, you know what they say about good intentions...

We use Saxon math and love it! Here is a review from Homeschoolmath.net: "Saxon math is one of the most popular among homeschoolers. It uses an "incremental approach". This means concepts are divided into smaller, more easily grasped pieces called increments. A new increment is presented each day and students work only a few problems involving the new material. The remaining homework consists of practice problems involving concepts previously introduced. Thus, every assignment (and every test) is a cumulative review of all material covered up to that point."

Some people might find it really repetitive and boring, but we really like the constant review. I remember taking math when I was younger and learning a new concept and then moving on to something new. By the time the test rolled around I had forgotten what I had learned. I feel really strongly that our children need a really strong background in math. They really need it for science and if they plan on going to college- every major requires at least 1 class of college level math.

Saxon is also fairly inexpensive. You can find used copies on ebay and amazon. I have also found some at the DI and on Paperbackswap.com. Saxon also has placement tests on their website so you know what level you should start with. This is very helpful if you are coming from another program. I also tested Mason at kindergarten age and he placed in Math 1 instead of the kindergarten level. It was nice to not have wasted money on a level that would have been too easy for him.