How's School

I have had quite a few people ask me how home school is going so I thought I would do a little post about;

How's Home School

First of all we began a couple of weeks early to give us some lead way for days off and extra activities. It has really paid off, we have been camping, surprising Me-Ma on her birthday, and spending an extra special birthday with Kendal.

If you look back at my posts I labeled our special days as "field trips". Which is completely annoying I am sure but also true, on our camping trip we extended Spencer's lessons on Weather, Maggie's lessons in History, and all of the children were working on direction so we enhanced that with Geo Caching. When we visited my mom we took a trip to the zoo to have a first hand look at some of God's Creations to enrich our scripture studies on the Creation. Lastly, our field trip to the Aquarium did not only benefit a new three year old but both of the boys were working on Science units that went right along with the trip. Matthew was working on Oceans and water and Spencer was working on fish, amphibians, and reptiles.

We are all loving being at home and working together. We have just joined a home school group that meets once a week, we began a babysitting co-op with some friends from our ward that has proven to be great social time for the kids, and we have been having other families over as often as possible. That is all on top of our nightly neighborhood romps with their neighbor friends.

Everyone has a favorite part of school, Matthew and Spencer love Science and the fact that they get to do experiment 2 times a week, Maggie loves Math and all of the new things she is learning to do, Kendal has just learned to use the computer and it keeps her very "HAPPY", and my favorite part is spending time with the most amazing people I know.

Our days have been filled with new math concepts, stories, poems, descriptive writing, researching, history, painting, sculpting, and experiments. Of course you take the bad with the good. We missed the first day of school experience, sometimes tears are shed, sibling rivalry pokes it's evil head in every once is a while, the heat and being cooped up in our house most of the day stinks, and of course there is the occasional grumpy person (never me) that makes the day difficult. The good far out ways the bad.

So you see, all is well on the home school front. I am so thankful to have friends that care about me and how things are going. I am a pretty lucky gal!

"Three"

My baby turned three last month. Not to say that she let's me call her baby, I just do. You might be thinking that "three" is not a baby but to me it is.

On the day of her birthday we went on a field trip to the Aquarium.

Birthday Party

I love little people! We invited lots of Kendal's three year old friends and their families to an Ice Cream Sundae party. She was so excited about having her very own birthday party, balloons, a crown, blowing out the candles, opening presents, and of course the Happy Birthday to Kendal song.

I forgot how much I love having people over. It has been so long since we have opened our home to a party. I didn't capture any pictures of all of the peeps we had over so I will just have to tell you that everyone was so great and we all had a good yummy time.

Teeny Tiny Cute Little Zoo

For my mom's birthday the kids and I took her and two of their cousins to the zoo. We went to the Heritage Zoo in Prescott. It is a really teeny tiny, cute, little zoo.

Here they all are with my incredible mom. She loves the outdoors!

It doesn't matter where we are, these two always find a way to get on the Web.The splash pad was a welcome surprise. Love those clouds!
Spencer is always saying, "Hey mom let's get a picture together!" I had to put that in for historical record so the other kids don't think he was my "favorite".
I personally would be more frightened of the chicken than I would have been of the wasp. Not to say that I would EVER swing my purse at a chicken.

Disclaimer for the zoo: There are actually many more animals than the two pictured above. There is a reptile hut, a buggy cave (watch for lizards), a tiger, badger, and bear, OH MY! All in all this zoo is definitely worth visiting and we had an awesome time.

Funny Of The Day

I use the term funny very loosely, for I know that it was actually a heroic moment of bravery and courage.

Today we took a field trip to the Prescott Zoo with my mom and some of the kids cousins, very cute quaint zoo. Towards the end of our trip Matthew got stung by a wasp. He was screaming, "It Stung Me!". No, it was more like, "It Stung Me?". As if he couldn't believe that it was possible. It was his first sting so the screaming, tears, and life or death reaction was normal (I think). I decided that we should probably go.

We had to pass the same spot he was stung by the wasp to depart from the zoo. Matthew and I were up front and believe it or not he started screaming, "It Stung Me Again!" At this point I spotted the big, scary, ferocious, enemy. I distracted the wasp in my direction so Matthew could flee from the scene without further injury.

To my surprise the wasp started attacking me. At this point I began swinging my purse, flailing my arms, and I ran into a tree. This is the part that the on lookers thought was funny. Only, they didn't understand my strategy. They didn't understand that I was being perused by an angry assailant that wanted to cause me harm.

As I see it (because it did happen to me) I worked quickly efficiently and saved lives. If they only understood my dream to be a chick in a fighting movie, good or bad I don't care. I want to wear all black, carry a gun, have a vicious stride, and a look on my face that says, "Bring it on". I dream of that moment when it all comes down to me, some ninja moves, an awesome display of agility, and alas and ending with my foot on the guys chest, gun in his face, and some intimidating chick fighting words spilling from my mouth. That would be awesome!

I knew what it took to bring down the enemy. I had planned strategy. The peeps I was with may explain it as funny and say I freaked out, but NO, NO, they are mistaken. I had crazy eyes all over my head I could see that wasp coming from any direction, I knew exactly where to swing my purse and dodge my arms (the arms were dodging), I hit the guy three times with my purse and he kept coming back for more. So I decided to back into a tree and scrape and bruise my arm so he would think he won and fly away. Strategy, split minute decisions, and the dreams of chick fighter.

Because of my bravery the others made safe passage and no one else was harmed. I knew I saved them even if one of the would be victims (Spencer) was laughing histericly and saying I looked like a "Crazy Old Women". My only wish is that I could have saved the one that was still screaming and dramatically asking, "Why does the world hate me?" Those words of the victim are still ringing in my ears (literraly), I guess you can't save them all.

A heroine? I think so!

Random Thought

One Car - One Car = No Car

Camping is S-cool!

Last week we went on our ward camp out. In preparation for the weekend MY LB got Friday off so we could go up early. You know, because we home school and we can do those sort of things.

Your kids can just do work in the car on the way up right?

That would be nice to just take days off whenever you want.

Are you aloud to do that?

You all know me so you know that things like this don't bother me. I will actually laugh with you if it is funny enough. As a matter of fact, all of the questions and comments really got me thinking. I have come to the conclusion that camping is actually one of the best places to learn. You need proof? OK!

1. Behavioral studies: Patience; Are we there yet? How much longer? They learn that we are almost there means, please quit asking.

2. Science: They learn that after four children women need to stop more frequently when traveling.

3. Math: How many bags does it take to pick up a stink load of litter left behind by uncaring individuals? The answer is two big bags.

4. Science: How long was the stinky squirrel decomposing in the baggie before Matthew (we drew straws, just kidding we used the good old parental dominant species law) had to pick it up and it put it in the garbage bag. There was also an optional lesson of counting the different species of bugs that infected it.

5. History: Old creepy abandoned cabins get the brain stirring and wondering about who lived there? We found out later that it was built in the 1880's for a cattle drive. It also provided good Literature, we learned lots of new words and now we know for a fact that Jon loves Jan.

6. Language: We learned the proper use for the words and phrases; sharp, not sharp, dad's knife is better, blood circle, thank you, pocket knife, hunting knife, and of course your knife is bigger than mine. Maybe we learned how to use the phrase, Not Fair, too.

7. Science: Stinky mud holes have all kinds of Science waiting to be explored. Do you know what a sink hole is? Do you know how to identify dry mud from wet mud? We also found out that it is easier to catch frogs with your hands than a cup, which was not what we predicted.

8. Behavioral: Hygiene; Stinky mud makes you stink. Stay out of stinky mud when you do not have running water readily available.

9. Science: The zip line was so much fun! We did a little Science experiment to see if an adult, or rather me, would zip down the line faster or slower than the crazy kids. My prediction is that my weight would carry me faster, I was wrong. Spencer made an excellent Scientific observation that I was the only adult that was using the zip line. He also observed that I should be quite embarrassed. I wasn't!

10. History: Pirates may have been quite disappointed to not find the booty! Or they could be even more disappointed to find out that the booty was a table ware trade. But alas we felt the sweet joy of success when we found real plastic gold. ARRGH, we love treasure!

11. PE: What better way to work out your legs and bruise your behind then to go rock climbing.

12. Economics: Do you know what a Smoke Jumper does? After talking to the ranger in the look out tower, Matthew has decided that if being a Scientist doesn't work out, he is going to smoke jump. I am not putting a lot of stock in his decision though. When he was three all he wanted to be when he got older was a "Paper Maker", yeah we don't know either.

Seriously, really I am going to be serious.

We had an excellent time with our friends and it did turn out to be an educational trip. We were able to find many things to reinforce the things the children have been learning. With the GPS we looked for Geo Cache and Maggie helped us with our cardinal directions and Matthew and Spencer helped out with our intermediate direction. The cabin became a fun starting point for a writing assignment in which together we wrote about what we thought life was like in the cabin in 1880. It also helped Maggie understand how historians used artifacts and clues to sort out history. We also visited a look out tower and the ranger gave us a grand tour. He talked to Spencer about weather and asked him some questions that he answered like a genius (mom bragging, sorry).

So you see even if you are not a home school family, any and every time you go camping you are entering a world that is super, S-cool.

8 Is Great

Spencer had a very special day on Saturday. I say Spencer but it was really a special day for our entire family. Choices and decisions like this put us closer and closer to our goal of becoming a "Forever Family".

MY LB and I are so proud of Spencer and the choice he made to be baptized. He is such a special spirit and has worked hard to increase his faith and testimony leading up to this great decision. I love him for allowing his dad and I to truly use our testimonies and knowledge to lead him and guide him. Along with support from the missionaries, grandparents, and his brother Matthew.

Spencer is an incredible person and we are so blessed to know him and be the ones chosen to raise him in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It was a very special day....

Spencer and his dad played I Am A Child Of God together. Spencer had been
practicing so hard and MY LB had been working overtime to get his String Bass fixed so he could play with him. Their hard work payed off and it was a beautiful performance that brought the Spirit.

A picture of the String Bass under construction in my front room (I called it "FrankenBass"). I am still in awe that this LB of mine is so talented.

Spencer had two great grandpas attend his baptism. What a great blessing to have your two great grandpas be witnesses to one of the greatest moments of your life.

I love this kid!


I will forever cherish this picture and the example that Matthew is for his younger brother.


MY LB and I also shared an anniversary on this day. I was so happy to share this experience with MY LB on our twelfth anniversary. That evening we were discussing what our favorite memories have been and we both agreed that our most cherished moments come from our Savior. The birth of our children, being Sealed in the Temple, and the baptism of our sons. We look forward to what the future brings and many more cherished moments together.