Busy Times

It's been awhile since I've posted anything so here's an update. In Oct. we closed on our new home and moved in Oct. 31st (and we still managed to go trick-or-treating). For Oct. and Nov. we did relaxed homeschooling, nothing formal/planned, but still educational using their workbooks and print outs. Then, in Dec. we welcomed a new addition to our family. Her name is Katylee Kathryn Dodge. She was born Dec. 17th at 6:20 pm, weighing 6lbs. 14oz. She's our smallest baby, so far. Yes, we plan on having more :). I've become "bored" with doing mostly workbooks this year so I'm exploring other avenues. So far, I really like what I'm seeing at time4learning.com. My kids have immensly enjoyed the demo lessons and have begged me every morning for the last three days to do them again. How could I pass up a request like that. They provide a scope and sequence for every grade (pre-K through eighth) and subject (LA, Math, Science, and Social Studies). They keep reports that are printable on the childrens' scores (percentages, not letter grades), time spent on each lesson, and lessons completed allowing the parents to turn the information in to the state if need be. Some lessons also have printable worksheets. They also do quizzes and tests along with assessments to help for placement. You also get access to the grade directly above and below. You can change their grade for any subject at anytime with no additional cost. Mind you, this is totally parent involved, no teacher whatsoever. You can skip lessons too if you want. Having looked at their various scope and sequences I am very pleased with the thoroughness of what they teach. They are from the same company that does Compass Learning with the public schools. They just made it completely home school friendly. They have a monthly cost but if you pay quarterly or yearly you get a discount. I would recommend checking them out. We're going to subscribe as soon as we get our taxes back so we can pay yearly. I'll touch back on this later after we've used them a bit to let you know how it goes. In the mean time, check them out.

http://www.time4learning.com/

Been Gone

Things have been so crazy this last month. We moved to a new home (well, for us anyway) three weeks ago so I haven't posted anything for awhile. You know, I thought I would take a break from homeschooling for two weeks while I packed and start up again two days after we moved in. Boy, was I kidding myself! Three weeks later and I'm finally starting to work on it again. I've learned the hard way that I'm not immune from the upheavals in life. Oh well, the cool thing though is that all the lessons on packing, unpacking, organizing, cleaning, ect. count towards home school. In those moments I've incorporated math, problem solving, life skills, and creativity. So I guess I was homeschooling all along, just not in the way I imagined it.

Where To Start

Knowing where to start for homeschooling can seem like such a daunting task. It's a lot easier than it seems if you take this process step by step. First, before you do anything you need to check the homeschooling laws for your state. States require anything from nothing to everything. A great website to check out for this is www.hslda.org. This is the home school Legal Defense Association website. They have the laws listed for every state. Once you've done this you then need to do some research online of the many different styles of homeschooling. This will give you an idea of teaching methods that go along with your personality and views. My teaching method is eclectic. I pull a little bit of other methods and create my own according to my children's needs. Once in a while I like to do some unit studies esp. with geography and science. I also like to use textbooks for social studies and science (which I'm currently using). Also, because my daughter went to a public school for Kindergarten and a few weeks of first grade she enjoys doing workbooks so we use those for the rest of the subjects. Some people refer to workbooks as "busy work", but it all depends on how you use it. The public schools tend to use workbooks to pass the time. I, on the other hand, use them to teach my daughter what is on those pages. I don't give them to her to pass time and just leave her to herself. So don't feel guilty using workbooks if that's what you prefer. Some are definitely better than others so I advise you to use amazon.com for previewing any workbooks before you buy them. Once you decide what method you will be using you can read articles and visit website and forums to get some ideas of how others use that method in their homeschooling. Then you can find books, supplies, or anything else you want to use to purchase. I recommend research, research, research. Don't just buy the first thing you see that you like esp. if it's boxed curriculum. This tends to be the most expensive option so you want to make sure you like the majority of what you'll be getting in that package. One major thing to remember is homeschooling is only as expensive as you make it. It's almost always cheaper to make your own curriculum than to buy one already made. I calculated the cost of using only ink and paper to print pages off the web, but discovered it is more than twice as expensive as buying workbooks and used textbooks. So make sure you do some cost comparison as well. You will also need to decide on a schedule. Some people like block schedules just like the schools, others like to alternate subjects every other day and still others like to do every subject every day. I like to do every subject every day otherwise I feel like I missed out on teaching her something, but that's just my preference. You can also add in vacation days, take sick days, school year round, or take summer off. I like to use the six weeks on, one week off approach as it gives me a break so I don't get burned out. Read articles on burn out since it happens a lot so you can know better how to prevent it. You also need to keep records of your schooling even if it's not required in your state. It will make your life tons easier and you can keep track of your progress. Once you feel you have gathered the information you need you can start the homeschooling process. Please don't feel that you have to know everything before you start. All you need to know are the laws for your state and what method you would like to use. If you live in a state that requires you to keep records make sure you have the proper forms and have all of your books and other materials before you begin. If you are in a more relaxed state like Arizona you can begin after taking the proper legal steps while you figure out everything else. Keep in mind that your style of homeschooling will change often as you figure out what works and what doesn't. Even when it's working for a while it will end up not working and you'll have to change styles again. This is normal, don't worry about it. The biggest things to remember out of all this are to homeschool properly according to your state laws and to research, research. I know all of this is a mouthful, but with proper preparation you'll be able to have a smooth beginning to your homeschooling adventures. Doing your research will only take a few weeks depending on how much time you spend studying. You will not be perfect and that's o.k. Life is a learning experience. Before you know it, this will all be second nature for you. Most importantly, don't forget to pray. Ask for guidance and understanding. Allow Heavenly Father to lead you in the path he would have you go. Your family will be blessed beyond measure and will be drawn closer together. There will be hard times, struggles, trials, and tears, but the blessings will be numerous. Heavenly Father will not ask something of us without providing a way. I'm thankful that I've been guided to this path and for the blessings I and my family have received because of it.

Deseret Industries

If you're ever looking for some books you can hold on to check out DI. I got these books there for a dollar a piece. That's pretty hard to beat.

What's Been Happening

We have been studying the creation this week and today we talked about the water that was created above the earth. We made these cotton ball clouds and the kids had tons of fun.




This is a picture of our water cycle books.




Here they used water colors to paint the Earth.




These are their creation books.




Here are some other activities we've done.

The children are having a great time with homeschooling. Besides crafts they do lots of worksheets and some book work. Rebeka loves doing worksheets. Some days I have to put a limit on her because she wears me out :) Jacob loves hands on things as well as Jayson so I use both learning styles. So far none of the children seem to be auditory learners like I am (although I'm visual too). If I start talking to much they start ignoring me so they keep me in check.

Quote

"I feel to warn you that one of the chief means of misleading our youth and destroying the family unit is our educational institutions. There is more than one reason why the Church is advising our youth to attend colleges close to their homes where institutes of religion are available. It gives the parents the opportunity to stay close to their children, and if they become alerted and informed, these parents can help expose the deceptions of men like Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, John Dewey, John Keynes and others. There are much worse things today that can happen to a child than not getting a full education. In fact, some of the worst things have happened to our children while attending colleges led by administrators who wink at subversion and amorality.

Said Karl G. Maeser, 'I would rather have my child exposed to smallpox, typhus fever, cholera or other malignant and deadly diseases than to the degrading influence of a corrupt teacher.' "

(Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, 307

Divine Calling

I was reading an article from ldshomeschooling.org titled 'Are We Having Fun Yet?' The author talks about happiness. She quotes Joseph Smith as saying "happiness is the object and design of our existence." As I continued reading the article she stated this quote by President Benson. "Mothers, teach your children the gospel in the home . . . this is the most effective teaching that your chldren will ever receive. This is the Lord's way of teaching. The Church cannot teach like you can. The school cannot. The day-care center cannot. But you can, and the Lord will sustain. Your children will remember your teachings forever. . . Mothers, this kind of heavenly, motherly teaching takes time--lots of time. It cannot be done effectively part-time. It must be done all the time in order to save and exalt your children. This is your divine calling." (President Ezra Taft Benson, Fireside for Parents, Feb 22, 1987). I have been trying to decide this last couple of weeks if I want to include gospel studies in with homeschooling. I still need to pray about it, but I really like this quote. It's true that the church, schools, daycare, or anyone else cannot teach our children as well as we can. While they all care about our children one way or another (esp the church) no one does as much as us. No one on earth loves our children as much as we do. I think that is what makes the difference. We teach our children with absolute pure love. I know our Bishop's and other church leaders have a special love for us and our children, but we spend the most time with our children. We have a bond with our children that no one else has. I do feel that by having my children in school I am lucky if I get to even teach them part time. I truly believe that teaching them is not based on the time we have with them but the time they have in their entire day. Mornings were always rushed as was evenings with dinner, homework, and bed time. There just wasn't any extra time to sit down calmly and teach my children. The only time we had for that was Sunday. Sure, I definitely enjoyed having less responsibility, but I started feeling like I was missing out on something. Now I know what that was. My daughter. Just in a few weeks from being at school I was already losing out on knowing who she was. The teacher probably knew her better than I did at that point. This is not why I brought her home (I don't want to put her on ADHD medicine just so she can survive at school), but I realized this after the fact. I had also lost a lot of authority over her as her teacher 'knew best'. She would say to me "that's not what my teacher said" as we were doing homework. I know she doesn't get the full instructions due to her attention and comprehension issues, but I was getting tired of having to correct her. She just didn't believe me and I had to make her do it anyways. I bet this is why teenagers use the famous line "you don't even know me". Of course the parents don't. How can they when they only see them 5 hours a day and that's if they're not hanging out with their friends after school. This is also why we have the generational gap. Because the parents have no clue what's going on in their children's lives. I don't want to be that type of parent.

Rolling Along

Things are going amazing well with homeschooling. It's not as hard as some people think. The nice thing is I can take the time my children need to understand something instead of just having to move on. I can know where their weaknesses and strengths are. I'm looking forward to next year because I will start teaching Rebeka how to do independent studies. I feel it is important to know how to find answers to questions and research topics of interest. This is how I learn things all the time. I do a lot of research on the internet to become knowledgable about certain things in my everyday life. This skill has come in handy so many times as I have been able to apply it. It's also important to know how to weed out the bad and good information. These skills will help her immensely in college, if she chooses to go, with her studies. I've started to teach her cursive and having her use the letters she has learned with her normal printing. She has caught on very quickly and is eager to learn. I've read so many times from other homeschooling moms that the first year is the hardest. For me the hardest part isn't in teaching my children, but trying to decide which method to use. So far I'm pretty much eclectic. I use any method I want to teach a particular topic. I like doing unit studies for science, and worksheets/books for math, language arts, and social studies. I'm still trying to figure out how to teach U.S. history to Rebeka. I'm more on the high school level as far as how in depth I like to go, but obviously I can't do that with a first grader. The first year seems to just be a learning period for everyone. We're doing great and having fun and the three older kids look forward to school everyday and get very excited when they hear me declare, "It's time for school!"

Homeschool Part 2

Here's how this homeschooling idea got started. A few months ago I was soul searching. Trying to find out my place in the big scheme of things as a wife, mother, homemaker, and daughter of our Heavenly Father. I did a lot of research through the scriptures, homemaking articles and bloggs, the ensign and other church articles. I finally started to understand my place. One of the chords that really struck me was that it is my job (as well as my husbands) to teach our children. I pondered immensely on that and realized that I did not have the time with my daughter that I would like to take to teach her. She's gone for 7 hours a day only to come home, eat dinner, relax for a little while, do homework, and go to bed. That left me only two days a week to really teach her. Sure there are opportunities in every momment, but not to the extent I would like to take. I started to feel like public schooling was a government funded day care for older children. The government through teachers was taking more time to teach my children than I was. The sad thing is they would end up learning things before they could really understand them (lesbians, gays, sex, you get the picture). About two weeks ago I read an article in the newspaper of a state back east that talked about a father who was arrested for refusing to allow his kindergarten child to take home a book about lesbians. KINDERGARTEN!!! Our children are not safe anymore. They are learning the ways of Satan by being taught that this stuff is o.k., socially accepted, and bad if you don't conde these life styles. I remember in my highschool sex ed class my teacher wasn't allowed to talk about abstinence and you could get a free condom from the nurses office. The belief is that they're going to do it anyways so we might as well teach them how to do it safely. GARBAGE!!! These are not the values I want my children to be taught. Will I teach them about STD'S, protection, and birth control? Yes, when they are old enough, depending on the topic, to ask me questions about it and gain an understanding. Of course this would be younger than I would like, but I want them to know more than enough to make their own choices. Too many times we as parents say, "because I said so" without telling why. We think it doesn't matter, but they can't make a proper choice if we don't educate them so they think there's no harm and we're just overprotective. That's why our children rebel. I want my children armed with the knowledge to make their own choices, to decide their own path. I firmly believe that if they know the ins and outs, ups and downs, they will make the right choice. Who would want to drive up a hill knowing there is nothing on the other side but harm or even death. I know I wouldn't. There's also the problem of violence in the schools like shootings, drugs, stabbings, gang violence (which I was a victim of in 6th grade) and other issues. It's happening more and more. I know that anything could happen to anyone, but there's less of a chance at home. No, I'm not trying to shelter my children, but I would rather have them learn from the outside instead of being directly involved. Back on topic, Seth and I discussed this and brought to him all my points. He was excited to try it so the rest of this year will be my trial period. I have decided that I don't want to try to do it, I'm going to do it for all my children until they have graduated home schooling (around 17,18). I have a long term plan to do this. I feel it is my responsibility, and my obligation to teach my children. I have received confirmation from the Spirit, and I'll tell you I can count on one hand the times I have felt the Spirit burn so strong in my heart. My Father in Heaven has told me this is the plan he has for me and my children regarding their education. At times when the world seems to question me and Satan enters my mind I remind myself of the fire I felt I know once again this is what I am to do. You can argue logic all you want with me, but you can't argue with the Holy Ghost. So, on Monday, September 15th my journey begins. It won't be easy, but anything worth it in the end never is.

Homeschool Part 1

It's been a while since I've posted anything. So, here are some updates. I decided, after much research and strong feelings, I'm going to home school. Some people are supportive (thankfully my mom's one of them), and some people aren't. Some people have questions which I'm more than happy to answer, and some decide to give me a novel on their view of why it's a bad thing, and others simply don't care for one reason or another. Questions I get are things like, what about socialization or being a part of the real world. I haven't been asked much else yet, but I suspect as more people know the questions will start flowing in. I have nothing wrong with people asking questions esp. out of curiosity, but don't ask me just to make sure I'm not going to ruin my kids for life and they'll never amount to anything. I'm going to take some time to answer questions and state my reasons for doing this. About the socialization thing. I get that it's important to have friends, but school isn't the only place to do it. There's church, neighbors, and friends of mine who have kids. Rebeka's three best friends are from friends of mine and Seth's and she's know them for all her life. She has a very deep bond to them and they are her world. She doesn't get to see some of them very often, but talks about them all time. I believe it's more important to have friends who will stick with you forever through thick and thin then to have friends that come and go depending on their mood and peer pressure from others. This instill confidence, self-esteem and respect for her friends. These friends love her no matter how she talks, or how annoying she can be, or what she wears, or looks like. At school friends are more based on shallow tangible things. All some one has to do is mention that she doesn't like her shirt and I'll bet ya she'll lose a "friend" over that. I know that sounds extreme, but I hear it all the time and heard it growing up. Kids can be mean like that and can fall to peer pressure in a heart beat. She has lots of friends and acquaintances at church. She enjoys seeing them every Sunday and they blow her kisses and give her lots of hugs (the girls anyways). There are places like parks, family gatherings, home, church, the swimming pool, ect. that she will have plenty of opportunities to socialize. She'll have more opportunities outside of a school setting then she will inside. I'm sorry, but sitting at a desk for four hours and restricted group activities don't provide much in the way of socialization. Plus, she's learning how to socialize with children who don't know how to socialize either. It's not fun hearing your six year old daughter come home joking about poop and pee and sticking her bottom out. If that's the type of socialization my children are going to learn, NO THANKS. That isn't even as bad as other words that I'm sure she'd be bringing home eventually. Which, by the way, she could have been saying at school for a month before repeating it at home. As far as being a part of the real world, where in our entire lives are we going to be sitting in an age segragated classroom for six hours a day? NO WHERE! In all other places in the span of our lives we are always among people of different ages including college. So somehow my children are supposed to know how to get along with people of different ages when they grow up in the public school classroom. To me, that's a total oddity in our lives and is in no way preparing our children for the real world. I want my children to know how to communicate with an elderly person, and adult, a teenager, someone their own age, a toddler, and an infant. That's how the world is set up and that's what I want my children to be prepared for. I know someone out there is probably thinking about my teaching credentials which I have no degree for. Teachers don't know everything. They're learning right along with their students. Teachers aren't great in every subject they teach yet somehow they're allowed to get a degree. There are a lot of teachers that don't even have kids and have only been teaching for a year or two. That doesn't mean they know everything about children, how they learn esp. on an individual level, how to effectively discipline while still teaching 23 other kids. I've discovered that because of my daughter's "disabilities" (ADHD) she needs one on one time to focus,learn, and understand. This can not happen in a public school. She'd go to the resource room for two hours to get this one on one time while missing time in the classroom putting her further behind. I do not want to put her on medicine just so she can learn the way the teachers feel is the easiest for them. I feel that by having her at home getting tons of one on one time if she still can not focus to learn then and only then will I put her on medicine. The same goes for all my other children. I know that I can give her the time she needs to learn a subject before dragging her on to the next. The ironic thing is that for whatever reason she is not learning basic skills at school to do math, read, or write. I end up teaching her these things at home during homework time. These things she has learned from me, not the school. They don't have the time, nor capabilities to teach her things in her own way so she can understand. I have that time, no one else.