A Day of Gratitude

Today we had a lesson on Gratitude in our church Relief Society meeting (a women's group for those of you who are not LDS). I decided to take a moment today to express my feelings of gratitude to my Savior and Heavenly Father who have blessed me with everything I have.

I am grateful for:

1. My husband and children. Without them in my life, it would be so empty.
2. My Savior's love and sacrifice for me. I know He lives and paid the price for my sins.
   
3. The Plan of Salvation, whereby all mankind can be saved to return to live with Father in Heaven again.
4. My Temple covenants, whereby we are all sealed in God's eternal family.
5. This beautiful earth and all of the Lord's creations thereon.
6. I am so happy to be at home with my children and have the opportunity to expand education at home.
7. I am thankful for the recent rain in our area to replenish this dusty valley.

There is so much more, of course, but I feel these cover the basics of my gratitude.

Please post what you are grateful for!

Why I Homeschool

**Disclaimer - These are my personal feelings and I do not feel that who send their children to public school are bad parents (I still send one of mine). It is a personal choice. :-)**

This summer has been a busy one for me (the kids are bored, but I already talked about that). I have spent the summer searching and praying about educational choices for my children. We started schooling at home in March 2005 when Marlayna became too sick with Mono and Fibromyalgia to attend school all day. I thought I would educate just Marlayna until she was well. By October 2005 Chris wanted to come home too. I started him as well in the public online school at Arizona Virtual Academy. We schooled there until May 2007. I felt the curriculum was very challenging and organized.

We decided to leave the virtual academy because I began to discover the vast number of choices out there for education. I read a few books on home schooling, including The Well Trained Mind by Susan Bauer and A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver DeMille. Both of these books came as answers to my prayers! I could see a path of education that would 1) fulfill the requirements of education, 2) streamline the process with no wasted time at public school, and 3) be tailored to my very individual and talented children.

Suddenly, we have time to study HTML, read long awaited books, add foreign language and more gospel studies than I thought possible. Once we reduced the redundant public school busy-work, we actually began to get down to the nitty-gritty of education and be done before noon! The afternoon is then open for personal pursuits like Christian's webpage and Marlayna's incessant book reading. I, too, have been able to continue my education by taking free online classed from BYU, taking web design from MCC, and designing my own website.

Sam has decided to continue going to public high school. I wish she would stay home with us, but I have learned that teens typically need to WANT to educate at home or it does not work. Her father has also denied me the opportunity to bring her home. Divorce has a way of making life's decisions for you.

Now we are on this new exciting path. Here are the resources we have decided to use: Old Fashioned Education is completely free and we are using this for history and literature, Teaching Textbooks math is not free but EXCELLENT, Latina Christiana for Latin (yes, Latin), Winston Grammar, and Mind Benders for critical thinking which is their favorite subject.

I think that anyone who wants to home school feels inadequate to the task. I know I did! In the beginning it was hard to change my lifestyle to being a "homeschooler", but now we love it and I can't imagine life any other way. I do have free time, my children do much of their work on their own, I can still serve in my church callings, and continue my own education. The greatest benefit of all is the closeness that has grown between me and my children. When I sent them off to school all day, I truly missed out on so much. I still feel that way about Sam.

The biggest question I get is actually the one that makes me laugh the most: "What about socialization?" I would think people would be more concerned if my kids are well educated rather than if they are socialized. My children attend many social outings, including: scouts, music lessons, church youth activities, and field trips and park days with our support groups. Not to mention the many neighborhood children that are in our home on a regular basis. I am also happy to report that they do not have bullies, cussing, or inappropriate material in their "school". ;-)

Thanks for reading my ramblings and thank you for your love and support in my decision to homeschool!

My Answer to "I'm bored!"

I knew this day would come...the fighting would grow to a boil, the boredom would become unbearable, and my patience would wear thin. The days are counted down until we resume a semblance of a schedule and return to education. Sam will attend public high school and Christian and Marlayna will remain at home for their education. I personally am looking forward to returning to our typical, chaotic schedule. At least it gives us something to do.

So - when approached with the "I'm bored!" statement a few too many times, I work my children up early and gave them some basic work to do. Their biggest complaint is that there is no monetary reimbursement for their time. I simply smiled and said, "As soon as I get a salary, you get paid for chores." I personally do not believe children should be paid for chores. We live in this house together and we work in this house together. If children are paid for basic things that need to be done in a home, how will they learn to value work in and of itself. The satisfaction of a job well done and the self-esteem growth that presents should be payment enough.

Anyway, enjoy the photos of my little angels at work.

The Biker Boys

The boys had a great time with friends this past Saturday riding dirt bikes. Both Chris and Mike wrecked. I wish I had Mike's on video. He has some road rash and a few bruises, but he survived. ;-) I hope you all enjoy the video! It was a hot day, but they loved it.

The file is large enough that I needed to store it somewhere other than this blog so it is on my business website.

The Biker Boys Video

"The King and the Dudes" Movie

We have a treat for you! Our incredibly talented son and friends made a movie called "The King and the Dudes." This is their film making debut. They did a great job.

Google Earth

Wow! Google Earth is the coolest thing! I could zoom in directly on our house. It seems that the image for that area was nearly 2 years old. We still had our Suzuki Grand Vitara parked in the driveway and several other things have changed in the area with new streets, more houses, etc. In general I was really, really impressed.

We have decided that this great freebie will be extremely useful in all of our geography studies. We can even use it to pick camping sites. ;-)

So, I do have to say, that at this point in time I do not think that we will be able to see real-time photos of people sunbathing in their backyard. Could that be in the future? Maybe...

Amazing Space

Ever wonder what constellations are visible in tonight's sky? Maybe you live in the city and cannot see the constellations as brightly as you would like?

When we first moved to our new home, the night sky was so bright that I remember being outside one night in our pool when Chris said, "Wow, Mom! Our new house has more stars than camping!" We laughed and began to explain how the night sky works and why one can see more stars when camping than when in the city where we used to live. That was four years ago. Well, our home is still a bit off the beaten path, but the night sky is getting less visible as more homes are built in our area. We still do not have "city" street lights, so that is a blessing when laying outside at night to point out the features of the Heavens Above. (If only the mosquitoes would stop eating us alive.)

We found a website called Amazing Space that has movies showing the night sky and which constellations are available in that month. This website will provide us days and days, or should I say nights and nights, of educational material for an in-depth space unit. This website also features Hubble Space Telescope shots of truly wondrous sights. It has an equally interesting Myth vs. Realities section to discuss misconceptions.

Fun Brain Website

As everyone who reads this blog will know (if you do not already), I love to search the Internet for FREE fun things to do on the Internet. Since we are practically home schooling for free now, these blessings are happily passed on to you.

Our latest fantastic find is Fun Brain: http://www.funbrain.com/index.html

Happy Educational Gaming!

Comment featured fixed

I guess I had my settings wrong. A good friend let me know that nobody could post comments. I think I have fixed this problem now. So...comment away!

What's your Nerd score?

How Nerdy are you? Well, there seems to be a test for everything, so why not nerdiness? I thought I would be way more nerdy than this test says. ;-)

Free eBooks

I have been busy this summer formatting public domain books for my kids to use for school. In the US, books that were published over 75 years ago become public domain, meaning they are no longer copyrighted and are free to the public. This includes a vast majority of what we consider classics.

Instead of paying for an entire new website, I just added a page to my current business.

Here is the link: http://www.thesolarcook.com/ebooks.html

So far I have Famous Men of Rome and Famous Men of Greece finished.

Enjoy! ~ Celeste

Free BYU Independent Study Classes

I do not know if any of you are interested, but I found some FREE BYU Independent Study courses. They range from Family Life to Genealogy to Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants classes. I am taking the “Building a Functional Family” class right now and I love it! It has made me think so much about what kind of atmosphere we are trying to create in our home.

Here is the website:
http://ce.byu.edu/is/site/courses/freecourses.cfm

Here is the list of classes:

Family History/Genealogy - Introductory
FHGEN 68 — Finding Your Ancestors
FHGEN 69 — Providing Temple Ordinances for Your Ancestors
FHGEN 70 — Introduction to Family History Research
FHGEN 80 — Helping Children Love Your Family History

Family History/Genealogy - Record Type
FHREC 71 — Family Records
FHREC 73 — Vital Records
FHREC 76 — Military Records

Family History/Genealogy - Regional and Ethnic
FHFRA 71 — France: Immigrant Origins
FHFRA 72 — France: Vital Records
FHFRA 73 — France: Reading French Handwriting
FHFRA 74 — France: Genealogical Organizations and Periodicals
FHFRA 75 — France: The Internet and French Genealogy
FHFRA 76 — French Research: Paris
FHFRA 77 — French Research: Alsace-Lorraine
FHGER 71 — Germany: Immigrant Origins
FHGER 72 — Germany: U.S. Sources and Surname Changes
FHGER 73 — Germany: Jurisdictions, Gazetteers, and Maps
FHGER 74 — Germany: Reading German Handwriting
FHGER 75 — Germany: Calendars and Feast Days
FHGER 76 — Germany: Vital Records
FHHUG 71 — Huguenot Research
FHSCA 73 — Scandinavia: Jurisdictions, Gazetteers, and Maps
FHSCA 74 — Scandinavia: Reading Gothic Script
FHSCA 75 — Scandinavia: Church Records and Feast Days
FHSCA 76 — Scandinavia: Census Records
FHSCA 77 — Scandinavia: Probate and Other Records

Family Life
FAMLF 72 — Building a Functional Family: Essential Elements
FAMLF 75 — Dating: Romance and Reason

History and Government
CIT 70 — The Citizen's Guide to American Politics

Music
MUSIC 71 — Organ Performance, Level 1, Self-Study - Web Version
MUSIC 72 — Organ Performance, Level 2, Self-Study - Web Version

Personal Development
ESL 71 — English as a Second Language--Chinese Speakers
PDEV 76 — Honesty
PDEV 77 — Trust

Recreation
REC 76 — Bowling
REC 77 — Intermediate Swimming

Religion--Missionary Preparation--Youth
MISS 71 — Preparing to Serve the Lord
MISS 72 — Making the Most of Your Mission
MISS 73 — Teaching Basic Gospel Principles

Religion--Teachings of the Living Prophets
PROPH 72 — Leadership of the Church
PROPH 73 — Purposes of General Conference
PROPH 74 — Following the Prophets

Religion--The Book of Mormon
BM 76 — Alma 30 through 63
BM 77 — Helaman through 3 Nephi 10
BM 78 — 3 Nephi 11 through 30
BM 79 — 4 Nephi through Moroni

Religion--The Doctrine and Covenants
DC 71 — Sections 1 through 12, 14 through 17
DC 72 — Sections 13, 18 through 36
DC 73 — Sections 37 through 56
DC 74 — Sections 57 through 70
DC 76 — Sections 71 through 87
DC 77 — Sections 88 through 101, 103, 105
DC 78 — Sections 102, 104, 106 through 117
DC 79 — Sections 118 through Official Declaration 2

Happy Birthday Mike!

For Mike's 36th birthday I whisked him away to Prescott. Marly and Chris stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Batchelor's while Sam stayed with her dad. We stayed in a nice suite with a balcony and jacuzzi (accept the bed was rock hard - you know how I need a nice bed to sleep so I can't recommend this hotel to anyone). The weather was cooler than the valley, but still a hot 102 degrees. At least there was a breeze and it cooled off at night.

We visited many shops along Whiskey Row and the Sharlott Hill's Museum where they had reenactments of how people lived in the days when Arizona was a territory, including cooking over an open fire. It was way too hot for that, but that is how they had to do it in those days. We visited the first Governor of Arizona's "Mansion" which was little more than a decent sized log cabin. I think the most interesting things I saw at the museum were the doctors instruments. I saw the utensils used for bleeding a person and a set of scalpels. Very scary to think of how they treated illnesses in that day. Another interesting part was the transportation building with a real stage coach and wagons. It think this is a great museum for kids, especially on the days they have live reenactments of how people lived. I wish the kids could have been there. We'll have to take them another time.

While we were at the 3 1/2 acres of museums, we were quite entertained by a group of "Scavenger Hunters" that were using GPS to search for something. We never saw them find it. Mike and I kept watching to see if cameras showed up. They were looking behind plants, in trees, in the pond, you name it! It was pretty funny to watch. They were a bit rude about it all and one guy even passed right in front of us with his head down reading the GPS. Another man with him said maybe they should go around us, but the first man said, "What do they know? they are 'Mugals'." I laughed because only a really nerdy person who has read a lot of Harry Potter would use that term as an adult. If you don't know what the term means, ask your local Harry Potter fan.

Outside the Prescott Court House, we saw a small group of protesters (about 5 people) called "Silent Women in Black" who stood in a circle holding signs. They were protesting the war in Iraq. It reminded us of Flagstaff and the many protests and other funny events we witnessed when we lived there. I guess Prescott fits under our "tree hugger community" label now.

In all, we had a great trip. Our pictures here are of us at the museum. It took us a few shots to get both of our heads in the picture. I'm sure we looked pretty funny trying to get the shot.

Love & Miss ~ Celeste

Maybe we are copycats...but that's OK

We know many of you have started your own family blogs and we decided to copycat you and make our own. :-)

This summer is rather long it seems. In the beginning we thought, "Wow! Only 2 months of summer break and then we go back to school!" Now, it seems that the long hot July is baking our brains and we wish the school year would start so that Fall could come again.

Our family is not so good at pictures. As you can see we have several candid shots. First, Sam in her usual pose called, "Don't take my picture!" She rarely lets us sneak a picture. That will most likely continue until the braces come off. Next, Maralyna and Christian at the Arizona Temple grounds. Marly can hardly control her laughter while Chris is hardly having a good time.

Sam is currently at her dad's and will come home soon. It is weird when she is not here. I am always looking around to see who is missing.

Mike is celebrating a birthday soon. Wow is he getting O-L-D! I mean...he is nearly as old as me.

Love & Miss ~

Celeste