A Day in the Life...

...of a homeschool family.

We like to get dressed into our typical school uniform,

and bustle about making the most of our time.

Our immaculate school room so pristine and orderly,


to truly make our education shine.

Fibro and Iodine Supplements

I love our local Fibromyalgia Support Group! Our dear leader is leaving on a mission soon and has worked to provide us many resources while she is serving the Lord. If you have health issues like Thyroid, yeast problems, Lyme disease, fatigue, Fibromyalgia, cancer, Fibrosis, etc. PLEASE visit this site! It will truly change your life. Send it to anyone you know with these illness.

http://www.fibromyalgiarecovery.com/Iodine.htm

Marly and I are taking Iodoral and it helps tremendously for our pain symptoms.

Leadership Education - Part 2

In my last post I brought up an article I read on Leadership Education and the use of the Conveyor Belt method of most public, private, and homeschool education in America at this point in time. Here is the next part of that article.

Here is the excerpt from Kerry Beck's "Leadership Education - Raising Leaders, Not Followers":

Professional education is anything from trade schools to law, medical & MBA schools. These programs create specialists by teaching them when to think. The professional system is similar to public education, but on much more competitive basis....the Competitive Conveyor Belt. Once you are in the program and decide what you want to do with your life, you must hop back on the conveyor belt for several years until you receive another diploma. Of course this type of education is mandated so you can really learn your profession. Any of this sound familiar??

On the other hand . . .

Leadership Education teaches students how to think and prepares them to be leaders in their homes and communities, thus becoming entrepreneurs, church elders and statesmen. This is the type of education that I want for my children and I would guess you want for your children. It encourages thinking outside the box, which is difficult for a majority of Americans.

Throughout history, leaders have been mentored by tutors. Often, they moved to prep schools where they study the classics by using the mentors approach. It is the Mentoring system and independent studies that create leaders. Unfortunately the leaders in America have been trained to be professionals and specialists - not leaders. Most of our nation consists of followers who do not have a problem with the system at hand. If your children are to overcome this dilemma, you must give them a superior education that prepares them to be entrepreneurs and statesmen by the historically-proven methods for training leaders.

~~(My comments on this)~~

I know that as parents we can instill in our children HOW to think regardless of where they currently attend school.

The question is: Do we have this quality ourselves? How can we teach it to them if we do not have the ability to think for ourselves? Do we know the gospel of Jesus Christ? Do we know the laws of our land? Do we know the candidates we are voting for? Do we discuss world issues with our children?

The more I think about these questions the more I realize I need to start with myself first so that I can teach my children HOW to think through the issues they come upon in their life. Then, I can openly discuss what they think and encourage them to keep thinking!

Leadership Education

You all know that I homeschool (thus, the title of our blog) and I would like to share some insights I have recently felt enlightened by. These insights can be applied to school teachers, public school students, and homeschool students.

Here is an excerpt from Kerry Beck's "Leadership Education - Raising Leaders, Not Followers":

I was shocked to discover that most American children receive an Education Designed for the Poor...whether public school, private school or even homeschoolers!

That's right, most homeschool families and private schools provide an education historically designed for the poor. This type of education has also been called Conveyor Belt Education or Education from a Factory School...

What Do I Mean By Conveyor Belt Education?

Conveyor Belt Education is provided by the government. Public education prepares everyone for a job, any job, by teaching them what to think. Public education historically existed to teach the poor so they could land a job. The poor had no other option but public education.

The rich hired a tutor for their children and provided them an education to lead their communities into the future. The middle class sent their children sent to private academies that used the strategies of the tutors with a small group of children. The poor had to settle for an education provided by the government.

Today, American children receive only a public education, set up for poor people to get a job. Their education is set up like a factory: everyone in the class gets the same education at the same age from the same textbooks, and they are tested the same and graded based upon the same scale regardless of their individual talents, goals, interests, personal mission. Conformity is the name of the game in public education.

I hope you'll take time to read the entire article. It is very enlightening! ~~ Celeste ~~

Book of Mormon Lapbook - lesson 3

The 3rd lesson mini book is now up on the web. I am storing these on my website for the AZ LDS Homeschool Association to make it simple for me. Sam and I are really having fun making these for kids. Marly and Chris are getting into it too. I'll post some pictures next time.

Book of Mormon Lapbook - Lesson 3 - Obtaining the Brass Plates

New Homeschool Website Launch

I am officially launching my newest project - Arizona LDS Homeschool Association!This has been a very big project, but I was able to find some inexpensive ways to host and launch the site. I decided to go with Google Apps as my hosting service...which is FREE! It is a lot like using Blogspot in that it is very user friendly. My only real cost was purchasing the Domain name, which I use 1 and 1 as it is cheaper than Google.

If you have ever wanted to have a website, this is a fantastic way to do it! I highly recommend it!

LapBooking - the FUN way to Learn!

I heard about LapBooking a few months ago, but had no clue what it was. Someone suggested it recently for one of my "hands-on" learners. I looked into it and we decided to start with a pre-made master for the Old Testament from Homeschool In The Woods.

It did not go exactly as I planned. Chris, my hands-on learner, hated the idea and Marly would rather read books than cut out paper. The one who latched onto the project first was actually Sam who is 16. Now my other two are interested in doing it after seeing the finished project. Isn't it nice looking!

Sam liked it so much that she and I are working on creating our own LapBook for the Book of Mormon. We decided to follow the Primary 4 lesson plans for each mini-book, which is easily found on the www.lds.org website. Our plans are for 3 LapBooks since there is so much information to cover! This would make a great Family Home Evening project.

Our first mini-book is: Nephi follows his father, the prophet.

www.somekidsclub.com Website

I know I post a lot, so thank you for taking time out of your busy day to read through my blog. Today, I wanted to share a special website developed by a true prodigy - my 11 year old son - Chris. He developed this website on his own and is currently learning how to make games with a program called "Game Maker". This little guy is "Megaman" one of Chris' characters.

www.somekidsclub.com

I'm sure his talents will continue to grow as he discovers new aspects to his talents. He constantly wears me out with questions about websites, databases, animation, and tons of things that I do not know how to do! I am still teaching myself...with him right there pushing for more knowledge. I don't know how much longer I can keep ahead of him.

Financial Peace - Becoming Debt Free!

We first learned about a book called "Financial Peace" by Dave Ramsey in 1999. We worked hard towards the concepts in this book, but soon headed back to the normal American lifestyle of borrowing money to own cars, buying Christmas partially on credit, and making minimum payments on everything we owe (student loans, house, cars, etc.).

But NO MORE! - Our new goals this year are to follow Dave Ramsey's newest ideas from "The Total Money Makeover". So, if you see our vehicles for sale, we are not destitute...just unloading unnecessary payments so that we can become DEBT FREE!

We are following the "Baby Steps"...join us and follow the First Presidency's advice from the "Family Finances Guide" to:

"... prepare for adversity by looking to the condition of your finances. We urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt. Pay off debt as quickly as you can, and free yourselves from this bondage. Save a little money regularly to gradually build a financial reserve.

If you have paid your debts and have a financial reserve, even though it be small, you and your family will feel more secure and enjoy greater peace in your hearts."

Provident Living suggests the same concepts that Dave Ramsey teaches:

• Avoid debt
• Use a budget
• Build a reserve

This has been a hard decision for us to make to get rid of vehicles that are newer for older PAID FOR models and to avoid unnecessary spending. We know this is the right thing to do in order to follow our Prophet's counsel.

~~Celeste~~

New Year Resolutions

Like most people, I like to make New Year resolutions that are soon forgotten by, well,...probably February. ;-)

This year I plan to:

1. Lose weight - goal to lose 30 lbs.
   
2. Study my scriptures more (not just read).
3. Launch Top 3 Emergency Preparedness Needs website.
   
4. Develop an Arizona LDS Home School Association website.
   
5. Finish my 2nd associates degree.
6. Transfer to ASU East for bachelor's degree.
7. Stop growing gray hair (impossible I know, but still a dream goal).

I do not want to burden myself with too many goals, so these are the main ones to focus on for myself this year. All except the last one are achievable, but I like to put one "dream" goal out there anyway.

Happy New Year!