Open House: March

March has definitely come in like a lion, weather-wise. We've had some big windstorms and after a week of nicer weather, we woke up one morning this week to snow!!

We've also been rather lion-ish with our school and extra curricular stuff too. The days are flying by and filled with so much.

For the record, here is some evidence of our academic progress:

Samples of writing from Elise:


She is learning cursive and is pretty excited about it.


Some of Sam's writing:





We are studying plants and roots. We are looking forward to planing our garden this spring and are hoping that we have more success than last year. The stars were aligned against us, what with the gopher and the neighbor's wall.

So, these are not the best pictures. Taken waaay too late at night, but it's the only time I get a quiet moment to compose this, you know?

It is fascinating to me, that plain old potatoes can grow these roots so fast. These potatoes were put in water about 2 weeks ago.


Check out the awesome complexity. The kids have been so excited to see the change everyday. Can you see the root hairs? Amazing! The cells know what to do! Just a little water and sunlight and a miracle takes place. The kids are working on a poster that will chart the progress of these potatoes.



We've also been doing some map work.




And we are official members of the Nation Geographic Society. Sam especially likes to read these magazines.


Speaking of reading and what Sam likes, here are some of the books he's currently devouring:



And Elise's:


And I got thinking about how many books we have. Quite a few. A lot are still in boxes.





Sam and Elise are both doing well in Math.
Sam is on Lesson 80 in Saxon 5/6 and learning about prime and composite numbers.
Elise is on Lesson 67 in Saxon 3 and is learning to square numbers and identify perfect squares.

We are also doing Latin, Art, and Music. Sporadically, but we are doing it. Sam and Elise are both practicing the piano. Sam has been enjoying it more and more. He will be playing for a talent show at the end of the month. Elise will be singing and Claire will do a little gymnastics routine.

We got to go see "A Year with Frog and Toad" and the Scera Theater. We really enjoyed it. On the way home, Elise said: "Mom I want to be in a play!" So, we are looking at some summer programs.


We also went to the zoo on "Homeschool Day and the Zoo." It was packed, but every one was so nice. The kids had a great time meeting new friends.


In the midst of all the activities, schooling, and daily routines, the impossible happened. Jeremy and I actually went on a date. You know, the good kind where you wear nice clothes, put on make-up and do your hair.

We went to the Addy's Gala and Banquet (doesn't that sound fancy?), where his team received an award for some of their work. I was very proud. I had some excellent shrimp. It was lovely. It was a good reminder to remember my husband. I am so very busy with the kids. They are constantly on my mind and they take up a huge chunk of my heart. But my husband has claims on it too.

We are going to go out more often.



Can't believe it will be 12 years in June.









Our cute babysitter did some fun crafts with the kids while we were gone.


And now they are planning their leprechaun traps!


So...this month came in like a Lion. I'm hoping it goes out like a Lamb!

Open House: Febraury

Here's a little of what we've been up to for the past month:


Sam and Elise have been learning about kinetic and chemical energy. This handy kit and book have helped. Sam built a solar powered car and we're working on a supercapacitor car. We had fun making our own batteries and flywheel generator. I wish I had taken some pictures, but we were too busy reading all the directions. I finally understand how batteries work! Sam read lots about wind power. We get these awful inversions that make our air quality horrible until rain or snow clean it out. This was a good time to be talking about how we can reduce our carbon footprint.

A while back, a friend of mine introduced me to the Japanese scientist, Masaru Emoto's philosophy that water reacts to positive and negative energy we give it. I didn't think much about it then, but now that I know a little bit more about energy, it makes more sense.

We had so much fun seeing all the birds come to our back yard. We are looking forward to the Great Backyard Bird Count next weekend.

Sam is now half way through his math curriculum. Elise is a little further behind, but close. This means we should be done by June, if we stay steady. Sam is learning about decimals; naming them, writing them, adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing them. Elise is learning to multiply by 7's and 6's. So she's got 1's, 2's, 5's, 7's, 6's and 10's down.

Both Sam and Elise have done so well with piano this past month. I guess when you can't go outside and play as often and your eyes are tired of reading, piano is a pretty good alternative.

The rain did come last week and cleared the air. The snow melted and our huge mud-puddle of a yard was just too irresistible to my four couped up kids.
Oh yeah. It was a mess. A glorious, spring-is-not-far-off mess. I guess I'm crazy for letting my kids play in the mud. What do you think?


Elise has been writing lots of poetry. I love it! We will be posting it on her blog along with other samples of her writing. She's also been doing great in Karate. She still the loudest hi-YA!



Sam has been writing well too. He prefers journal writing and book reports to poetry however. No. Honestly, he prefers comic book writing to everything else.

Recently he has been smitten (or bewitched) with Harry Potter. It started out as a read-aloud and after the first few chapters Sam couldn't wait for me to finish, so he read the book on his own. He's now on the fourth book. *sigh*
I told him he's lucky because he doesn't have to wait forever for the next books to come out, like the rest of us did.

Sam's doing well with gymnastics and is so close to moving up a level.







We took a break from Story of the World to learn some more US history and to learn about US government. Sam and Elise really like BrainPop's videos on government. Our new read-aloud is "Abe Lincoln Grows Up," by Carl Sandburg. We enjoyed watching the inauguration of President Barak Obama. We also went to our state's capitol building and saw some of the proceedings of the first day of this year's legislative session. Elise has been learning the states and capitols. We learned the Western States last year and now we are working on the Eastern ones.



Sam has been reading more of the newspaper. It used to just be the comics, but he surprised me yesterday when he told me about an article he read. The article talked about a man who claimed he was unjustly beaten by the police. Sam thought he had a good argument and that the picture of his injuries was pretty convincing.

He said: "Mom! How can the police do that? They are suppose to PROTECT people. I mean, we're not living in King John's time. Last time I checked, Ivan the Terrible wasn't in charge. So, how can they get away with that?"

We had a good talk about what was right and how sometimes the whole story doesn't get printed and how sometime even police officers can make bad choices. I was kinda happy that he remembered some of our history lessons though.


Claire is learning to write. We are still doing our reading lessons. She always asks, "Mom, have we done our reading lesson yet today?"

Claire is also our prayer patrol. She is very good about remembering to say prayers and makes sure we remember too!

Claire is moving up a level in gymnastics and is excited to meet her new teacher next week!












Anna really wants to do gymnastics too. She copies her siblings and learns so much from them. It scares me half to death sometimes, but in her mind she can do anything they can do...and do it better.

She is still a super duper pooper. (Meaning she goes on the toilet)

She's a definite lefty. Jeremy is convinced this means she will be a creative genius. :)















Scripture Study: Introduction, Testimony of the 3 and 8 witnesses, in the Book of Mormon
I just love reading the Book of Mormon with my kids. I enjoyed reading other scriptures with them too, but the flow is always better when we read BOM. We also tend to be more consistent when reading the Book of Mormon.


And me? Well, I've been busy with the kiddos, practicing the organ for church, and living my secret life as a grocery store cashier. That's right. I wear a Macey's apron a few nights a week. It's actually been fun and soooo much better than delivery news papers. It makes it possible for my kids to do things like karate and gymnastics and I'm grateful for that. Plus, when I was little my favorite toys were the toy cash registers. I'm living the dream, baby!

There are a few draw backs. One of them being, I'm often too wiped out to write in the evening. My creative juices have drained into a puddle of goo on aisle 5.

I'm waiting for the replenishment that spring and nicer weather will bring. That or a vacation. Or a back rub. Yeah....maybe a back rub is all it would take.

I'm going to speak with Jeremy about that right now.

Open House: January

It is COLD outside. But cold does not stand in the way of the building of snow forts and snowmen. Elise (who loves to collect things) has an icicle collection. She's enlisted Claire's help. They're so funny. Sam could play out in the cold for hours. We've also gone sledding. Sam and Jeremy have gone skiing. Someday I'd like to go snowshoeing. The mountains are stunning and I long to hike in the canyons.

Here is a little of what we've been doing for school:

Sam and Elise got to participate in this cool space adventure class.

We've been studying all things Turkish and really wishing we could go visit our friends. In addition to our Story of the World listening, we've checked out some neat books from the library. We've been really fascinated with the Ottoman empire, especially it's beginnings. We loved reading about Mehmed II Fath El-Istanbul and the boats that "sailed on land," to conquer Constantinople. Suleiman was an incredible leader and emperor and worthy of his title, "Suleiman, the Magnificent." We also liked reading about Sultan Suleiman being just. Did you know that he was named after King Solomon of old? Did you know that he had spies all over his empire who listened to Friday prayers. On Friday the people were supposed to pray for their Sultan. If many people prayed for his health and well being, then Suleyman knew that all was well. If they didn't, then he knew there was trouble. The Ottoman empire lasted from 1299-1923, so they must have been doing something right.

Sam's been reading all the "Hank the Cowdog" books he can get his hands on. He also read "Crispin" and wrote a book report on it that you can read here.

Elise has been reading "The Littles" and all the series books. She wrote a book report that you can read here. She is also learning to type.

We're getting ready for a science fair. Elise is learning about the process of making cheese. Claire is learning about making butter. Sam is learning about energy and will be building a battery and solar-powered car. More about this later.

We're plugging along with math. I'm starting to have second (third or fourth actually) thoughts about Saxon. I always do this time of year, it seems. But, we continue on.

Sam and Elise are learning new songs on the piano.

Claire and Sam are tumbling at gymnastics. Elise is kicking and punching at karate.

Anna is doing better. I know we'll get through this. It helps to vent. After a day of struggles she melted my heart when she quietly came into my lap, took my face in her hands and said, "Mom, you're my friend." It was truly a tender mercy and lifted me to a place of better understanding and patience.

Scripture reading: Through Luke 12

There are some beautiful, comforting words in this chapter of Luke.
For example,

"Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

And also,

"The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment."

And,

"Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?"

Open House: December

It snowed again!

This month has been T-riffic so far. Must be all the excitement about you-know-what. The next few weeks of school will actually be "elf school." I kind of stole this idea from Cocoa. Read more about her idea here.

Here's a little sampling of what ours will be:
Scripture reading (of course)
Geography (elves help Santa deliver presents all around the world, they must know where every country is)
Writing (elves take notes and write reports to Santa in complete sentences about children's behavior)
Math (keeping track of all those presents is hard work. Also, counting down days, figuring distances, dividing presents equally, and using fractions when baking elf cookies)
Music (of course)
Art (duh)
Merry Making (this includes, but is not limited too: making snow angels, dancing, frolicking, pretending, playing, laughing, etc)
Nature Study (it's an elf's duty to take care of nature)
History (we've been reading a fascinating book on Santa/Christmas traditions from around the world and in different times)

Already, the kids have had so much fun with the writing and history part. They LOVED spying on everyone and taking notes. ANNND...guess what? Everyone was really good when they knew it really counted.

Our school prior to this wasn't all that bad. Here's a little of what we've done:

Some of our writing:






























Nothing like a Spelling Bee to motivate reluctant spellers. We are getting ready for our homeschool group's bee. These are Elise's words here. And Sam's words here (which also happens to be an excellent resource for all spellers)


We enjoyed our Outdoor studies. We've been looking at moss and we've been fascinated by the little "homes" we find.

We (by "we" I mean "I") have been really excited about our Story of the World lessons. We have covered a lot in a short time, partly because the kids really like to listen to the stories and partly because we needed to go a little faster. Here's what we've covered:

The English language (soooo interesting to learn about all the languages that contribute to ours. Susan Bauer explains it in the book by comparing it to different colors of play dough that get all mixed together until in becomes one color)

Serfs and noblemen

Stone Castles (see picture below)

Knights and Samurai

The Crusades

Saladin of Jerusalem

El Cid and the reconquest of Spain

Richard the Lionhearted (and Robin Hood)

John "Lackland" and the Magna Carta (see pictures below)

The Diaspora (we are working on a play using the story they gave in the book about the wise Rabbi)

Here is a castle we build out of Styrofoam:







































Special unit study on the Magna Carta:



























For Latin, we've been learning some Christmas songs in Latin, namely "Donna Nobis Pachem" and the medieval Christmas song, "The Boar's Head Carol"

Math: Sam is very good about doing his math lessons. I think he actually enjoys them.
Elise on the other hand....now that she is reading well she'd much rather do this:


















And when I ask her to do her math, this is what I get:


















Yep, I guess she's normal.

Art: well, I'm sorry to say that I don't have pictures of their art work. It is midnight and I am holding sleeping Anna in my arms and just realized I didn't take pictures of them. RATS! Jeremy, the resident artist, did a "still life" study with them. He taught them a little more about perspective and drawing 3D.

Music: Piano is going ok. I think we've kind of hit a wall, but visits from grandparents are the motivation to keep practicing!

Claire: Still practicing her letters and writing. We are still plugging along in this book. She's such a smarty. It is hard for her sometimes when I am working with Sam and Elise. She is getting better at finding things to keep her occupied and is playing more with Anna. It's such a balancing act.

Anna: had been dry during the day 90% of the time!! We are so excited. For some reason, this Sesame street game has really helped her. So have stickers and promises of prizes. Sheesh...

Scripture Study: Through Mark.
We will finish the gospel of Mark tomorrow and then begin Luke. It is interesting to read some of the same stories written from another man's perspective. I remember hearing one time about how the apostles wrote to their audience, ie Matthew to the Jews, Luke to the Gentiles, etc. It's interesting to me to think how and why some details got put in and some were left out. I realize that there was probably more originally. It is AMAZING how much we have of their writings and how much is probably sound. Still, I'm very grateful for Joseph Smith's translations. I'm also very grateful to be able to read about our Savior's life with my children. It makes such a difference in our day when we get to sit down and read about His life and example.

I look forward to reading Luke's more detailed discription of the Savior's birth.

Elise's Candy Cane Tea Party

Open House: November

It has been an eventful month. Here is a glimpse at what's been keeping us busy and mostly happy:

Sam has thrown himself into comic book writing. I'm pretty impressed with his dedication and sense of artistic perspective. He really doesn't read comic books very often, so I was surprised that he became so interested in writing one of his own. Perhaps it is because I don't let him read them very often. Nevertheless, this is his own project that he gets to do with out anyone else telling him how to do it. (or correcting spelling, grammar, etc.)


We continue to study the pilgrims and have really enjoyed our current read aloud.


Sam's math. It's coming along.


We had a really fun time visiting some friends up in Sun Valley a few weeks ago. We were only there a couple of days and the kids came up with a very funny play that they performed for us.


Story of the World has been very exciting. We've been fascinated with the vikings and those early kings. We've read about some of the Norse Gods, Alfred the Great and the Battle of Hastings. This is the history of our ancestors. I couldn't help but think that if we were living at that time we would be serfs or slaves. I mean, chances are, you would be too. I think Jeremy is descended from some English kings, but probably not legitimately. One thing is for certain; We are SO glad that we don't live during that time.


One of our art projects was to draw a self portrait. DON'T LAUGH. Ok, go ahead and laugh. We did. Sam said he looks like Bunson Honeydew and Claire said I look like a witch. Well, there you go folks. What am I bid? Claire is also practicing her writing. She's got her name down.

Elise's writing and math.


Elise is reading The Boxcar Children Books by Gertrude Chandler Warner. Those books are right up her alley. She would LOVE to live in a box car or a barn or a tree house, etc. Anything outside and with adventure.

Latin is coming along. Our new Latin words are: libero (I free), narro (I tell), pugno (I fight), supero (I conquer), voco (I call), regina (queen), stella (star), silva (forest), terra (earth), unda (wave), vita (life), aqua (water), cena (dinner), corona (crown), mensa (table), patria (country).

Can you guess some of the english derivitives?

That's our favorite part. Here are some: liberty, narrate, narrator, pugnacious, superior, vocal, vocabulary, regal, stellar, constellation, Pennsylvania, territory, undulating, vital, vitamin, aquarium, coronation, patriot.

Piano lessons are great! Both Sam and Elise are playing lots. Sam has advanced to a new book and Elise is very excited about the Christmas songs she is learning. I currently enjoy teaching them. ;)

Because we are doing school at home, I feel so strongly about involving my kids in worthy outside activities that help them improve their talents, build self-confidence and give them experiences. It is thrilling to see them improve and reach goals that they've set for themselves. It's also good for them to know what feels like to work hard for something and to struggle a bit.

Elise has been working hard and earned her yellow belt this month. In addition to knowing one of the forms, she had to certify that she was doing well in her school work and being obedient at home. That form really came in handy a few times!




Claire is still loving gymnastics!



And the friends she's made there.


Anna really wishes she could do gymnastics. She enjoys watching Sam and Claire. Sam has surprised us with his desire to do gymnastics and (even more so) his ability. He has lots of fun with his coach and the friends he's made.



And this is my little Anna. The baby, as she frequently reminds us. She is trying so hard (as is evident here in this picture).
I said, "Smile, Anna!" And she said, "K, mom."
Two is hard. It's hard because part of you wants to be big like the others and part of you wants to be small, like you remember. It's hard because you want to be big and wear underwear, and you want to be small and not bothered by trips to the loo. It's hard because you want to be big and get anything you want from the cupboards, and you want to be small and not have to clean up the mess. Well, now that I think of it, that's probably most of us. Hang in there Anna. Keep smiling.
Scripture Study: Through Mark 6.
We have enjoyed reading the testimonies of these early apostles. We are amazed by the miracles Jesus performed. We wonder at the faith of those early saints. We marvel at the patience and love our Savior has for us.

I am particularly impressed with how often the Savior removes unclean spirits. I have wondered what exactly constitutes an "unclean" or "evil" spirit. When one reads of the symptoms of those possessed with those spirits, they seem similar to what we call psychiatric problems. I often hear of the Savior healing physical ailments but not so much the mental ones. I truly believe that he does. He can heal every part of our being; physical, mental, psychological, spiritual, emotional. Which also means we can be tested in every one of those ways. This really stuck out to me as we were reading. I think there are more accounts of him cleansing spirits than physical bodies. The bottom line is: We need to turn to our Savior first for healing. Then have faith in what the spirit directs us to do.