Our vacation photos

make your own oil lamp

http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-to-make-oil-lamp.html

This looks easy, I think we'll try it today.

Merry Christmas from us!

Barbara...this is for you. Russ said you're waiting for me to update this blog. Merry Christmas!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

The Medicated Child

http://gotpetroleum.blogspot.com/2009/11/medicated-child.html

I found this interesting. Both sides of a story that really needs sorting out.

annoying learning songs

http://www.kidsknowit.com

Awfully annoying but I'm still going through these to see if I can find some good ones. They're free!

Ana in curlers

I asked for it

Well, for the first time in my life I am not in charge of 9-3, M-F. I totally asked for it! Andrew is sick still so he's home from school. I told him we are going to homeschool this week while he got better. It all started off just great but at 9:45 on the dot he says, "Time for recess!" I figured that was fine and let him play. He came back when he was supposed to and I pulled out some more work. He informed me that it was the wrong work and Mrs. Butterfield does this and that instead. LOL.
I understand now when people have gone to school and other homeschoolers say that they need to de-school for a while. It would take a while to establish that mom was teacher and mom makes the schedule.
I'm having him write his schedule for the week like "normal" because honestly, I LOVE that he has a schedule now and that he's willing to do it all. He loves knowing what he'll be doing and he's happy to do it. I'll go for it.
I'll just have a slight mourning period here. It's not as bad as last week when he wanted more dinner so he said, "Mrs. Butterfield, may I have more?"
Ahhh, the pros and cons of life and choices...you can always know that I will voice both about anything I do.

Dear Journal

I feel like I should write, "Dear Journal, I'm sorry I haven't written for so long." LOL! Did you ever do that? My journal says that every three pages or so.

School life is different than homeschool life. It's not "easier" per say but it's different. I still volunteer at the school constantly and the driving takes up time. Then, when the kids get home we still have homework but I don't mind it because it's great homework, not busywork. I thought I would be able to get more things done at home than I am able to do.

What I have been able to do is have more time with Ana. That has been a wonderful thing. I've been able to focus in and instead of always having the kids take care of a diaper or read her a book, I have had that opportunity. I'm back to my days of little ones and me. I get to watch Barney, sing head, shoulders, knees, and toes, and color with an 8 pack of huge crayons. I get to snuggle with a wakey-up baby and read while eating breakfast. It's been a joy. Life gets busy again at 3:00 when we have homework, Weber State Strings, Young Women's, Scouts, Family home evening, and all that jazz. Even with all that stress though I feel like I can focus in on the different times and different items.

Andrew is really enjoying his bass. He gets into it as he plays the music. He's learning do wah ditty right now. Adam is still on violin and has the best teacher EVER! Alyssa just started with a cello teacher and has only had one lesson. She seems nice so far.

Adam and Andrew enjoy school. When they pray in the morning they say, "thank you for letting us go to Oquirrh Mountain. Please bless our teachers." It made me wonder, what if all kids prayed for their school and their teachers. Would it make a difference? Do teachers need a prayer during the day? We always prayed for our learning at home, why not pray for our learning at school just the same? What if all 22 kids in the class prayed for their teacher?

Alyssa just enrolled at Oquirrh also. It's a challenge for her to learn the ropes and she feels like she doesn't have any friends yet but I know she'll get there. This is a big learning year for her. Not just new curriculum but, how to function with different teachers and how to turn in assignments on time. We're calling it "college prep".

I love all of the curriculum. All grades use Saxon math, K-3 uses Writing Road to Reading, the older grades use Institute for Excellence in Writing as well as Wordly Wise and Latin roots. For the rest of the learning it's based on the Core Knowledge Series from Hirst and has an American History emphasis.

Since Alyssa also got some electives she chose choir and journalism. Choir is amazing, they are singing a lot of traditional American songs and spirituals. She loves it and sings all day at home now. Journalism will be great once they're done with sports stories, LOL. That was interesting to pop into. Thanks to sister Jex she did know who the sun devils were.

She also gets to leave early on Wed and Thurs for ballroom and Advanced Acting with her homeschooling friends.

Well, time to get Ana up, snuggle for a while, and read "my daddy loves me" in Spanish. And, since we're going with the journal theme...see ya soon.

Ana's "diapers"

Ana was so excited to find "baby diapers" today! She has been diapering her baby for about an hour now.

Dumbing Down

http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/

The prudent homemaker

http://theprudenthomemaker.com/default.aspx

This is a great website run by a friend at LDFR. I hope you can all take a look. She has a lot of cook from scratch, easy recipes as well as many other things to help your household run well.

pocket mod printable, one sheet planner

http://www.pocketmod.com/

I thought this would be nice to do for the kids, for church, etc.