Loving Life

Today is a beautiful day! The rain is making everything so green and pretty. The weather is cool in the 60's and it was thundering and raining pretty good during Sacrament Meeting, it was loud enough to disturb a speaker as it cracked loudly about the building. Marly and I sang with the ward choir today and we were all lamenting about the fact that our family will be speaking in two weeks. Boy, they give us a LOT of time to prepare here, which I am happy for. Our last ward always sprang talks on you about a day or two before the Sunday in which you spoke, which is very stressful I think.

I have two callings, one in Primary teaching CTR 7A and one on the Enrichment Committee. Mike is an Assistant Scout Master, but he works so many hours that he can't attend very often. That is the largest damper on our happiness, Mike's incredibly L-O-N-G work schedule.

The kids are adjusting well, especially for teenagers. Our ward has 40 young women and about 15 young men. They are finding friends amongst the youth here, which are in general very polite. I hate to say this...but more polite than the youth we encountered in the Valley.

One thing I am finding very scary and weird here is the high number of publicly drunk people. We have been approached by begging drunks several times...including at a recent park day. It is very weird. I have never been approached by so many beggars, even in downtown Phoenix. And, they get right in your face. In Phoenix, they just stand on the corners. I was NEVER approached by drunks when we lived here before...so this must be something that has occurred more over the past couple of years.

We have ENORMOUS Prairie Dogs (see video) living in our yard. We thought they were gophers, but everyone tells us they are Prairie Dogs. They are not afraid, that is for sure, and they are nearly as big as our little dog! The Game and Fish department used to allow hunting of this animal, but since the Bubonic Plague in 2007 wiped out huge colonies, we are now not supposed to kill them. My questions is, can someone come get these critters from my yard? People around us are acting like we are trying to kill puppies because we want these 15 inch long rodents gone! Can you blame us?

Week 21

This week we took most of it off from "official school" and decided to take a week to enjoy being together. Sam came up for the week and we wanted to show her around. Please see our other posts (Boom Baby!) to see what we were up to this week.

This week in pictures...
Sam Rained out at Cinder Lake

Marly at Homeschool Park Day

Chris at Homeschool Park Day

Boom Baby!

Nearly every day has met with rain in the past two weeks. I love rain, so I am not disappointed. We have tried to enjoy the weather as much as possible since we are SOOO happy to be away from the oppressive heat of the desert that we have lived in for the past ten years. Here is a little video of our last attempt to go hiking...

I love the sounds of gentle thunder and small flashes of lightening. We are so much closer to the clouds that it often seems MUCH louder than when we lived in the desert.

Grand Canyon & Other Stuff

Grand Canyon
Last Wednesday (was that a week ago?) we went to the Grand Canyon with Les & Ronda's family. They stayed the night and we all got up early and drove about an hour to the canyon. It was such a beautiful day! Here are some pics from that trip. It rained on the way home, but at least we did not get rained on at the canyon.

Chicken Run (Nope, not about the movie.)
We worked on a fenced area for the chickens Saturday. They are getting bigger and needed room to roam...safely! We added a doggie door to the coop so they can get in and out of the coop as needed to get out of the wind, rain, and snow. Our bunny, Joey, decided he wanted to explore that area too and had a great time hopping around. He was hilarious doing some extra little hops and twists to show how excited he was to be out in the dirt. The bunny has a hard time with the doggie door, he sometimes slips off the ramp and takes several attempts to get into the coop/shed. I need to get that on video...it is so funny!

Bunk Bed
Chris got a bunk bed for his room off of Craigslist. It is one of those with a futon couch on the bottom. We spent hours putting that thing together on Saturday. *whew!* He is happy to have the couch so he can sit on that while he plays Playstation games and uses his Linux computer that we built together. We now have plenty of beds so come on up and visit!

Goat Barn Anyone?
We are looking for a large shed or small barn to house some goats. Marly is anxiously waiting for the right price on milking goats, but she needs a place for them to stay first so we can keep them safe (see More Nighttime Visitors). She has saved up close to $200 for the goats, but it is far from enough for a shed for them to live in. Heavenly Father has blessed us with several things to allow us to have animals and I believe he will send something our way when the time is right. Craigslist and Freecycle have been huge blessings!

Week 20

Busy, busy, busy...that is life as a homeschool family. This week we went to the Grand Canyon on Wednesday with some family. It was a beautiful day!

Christian - King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table by Sir Thomas Mallory, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (Playaway)
Marlayna - Mariel of Redwall by Brian Jacques, Salamadastrom by Brian Jacques
Me - Books - Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Do Together -

• Devotionals - Let Him Ask of God
  
• Read Aloud - Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingals Wilder
  
• Government and Freedom - Key Constitutional Concepts (Judicial Branch) Part 1 & 2
• Mathematician - Mathematicians are People Too "Count on Pascal"
  
• Musician - Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers - "Mozart", The Story of Mozart CD
  
• History - Grand Canyon feidltrip -History of the buildings, founding of the Grand Canyon, etc.
• English and Grammar - Winston Grammar - Adjectives and Adverbs, The School House Rock videos Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get You Adverbs Here and Unpack Your Adjectives (see Mom Notes below)
  
• Science - skipped science this week
• Fieldtrip - The Grand Canyon! We went to the Grand Canyon on Wednesday with family that stopped in to visit. Pictures coming soon!
  

Mom Notes - Instilling good grammar and writing skills in my children has been something I have worried about. Many people ask about teaching grammar using the TJED or Leadership Education method. I think that reading classic books helps a lot, but I have noticed a need for more description in my children's writings...and that is where Winston Grammar fits into our curriculum. We have actually finished the basic books before and I just go back and review things on an "as needed" basis. I asked my children to go back over a couple of journal entries and make some lists of adjectives and adverbs that could be used to enhance those particular entries. We will be going over some of these lists next week in an effort to write more descriptive journal entries.

School House Rock

I remember these little videos that used to play during Saturday morning cartoons. I ran across them on YouTube and thought...."I can use these for homeschool." I mean, I thought they were catchy and fun when I was a kid. Of course, my kids think they are corny...but they do teach something, unlike most cartoons these days.

This one is my favorite - Conjunction Junction:



Here are some others that I found about:

Grammar

• Interjections!
• Lolly Lolly Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here
• A Noun is a Person Place of Thing
• Verb
• Unpack Your Adjectives
• Grammar: The Tale of Mr. Morton
• Prepositions
• Pronoun
  

Government & History

• I'm Just a Bill
• No More Kings
• The Preamble
• The Shot Heard 'Round the World
• Elbow Room
• The Great American Melting Pot

Science

• Dem Bones
• Electricity
  

There are tons more...

Homeschooling is a tax burden?

I was told by someone recently that I am taking away from her children by homeschooling. Huh? I was really stunned and asked her to explain. She was happy to explain her position that the local school has less money because my kids are not there to bring the money set aside for them to the local school. She feels that because of budget cuts in this state, all homeschoolers should return their kids to school so that more money will come to the school, thus benefiting her children.

Well, let's think about this. We each pay our property taxes, right? When I look on my property tax bill I see the same amount of money goes towards the local schools, including community colleges. So, my question is where do my taxes go if not to the school? I pay the same taxes as everyone else. Shouldn't that money go to the local school where we live?

After we talked for awhile, the woman was a little bit perplexed. She was sure that her position was correct, but my statements had now made her think...where do homeschooler's taxes go? Who is pocketing these tax dollars? The same applies for people without children. They pay property taxes and the local schools do not automatically get the money. The testing system decides where the money goes.

I pay my taxes AND pay to educate my children myself. I do not get any tax benefits or tax breaks for homeschool curriculum. In our state, the schools get $9500 per student, per year (source click here). I can tell you I DO NOT spend that much per child. I spend about $500 per child, per year...and that includes fieldtrips, clubs, science experiments, etc. (Are you wondering why you are asked for so many supplies yet?)

So tell me...whose child is the greater tax burden?

Week 19

Ok - I've been very bad about keeping up on my homeschool posts with moving and all. But, it is never too late to get back on track...forgot to post this one on the right day.

Christian - King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table by Sir Thomas Mallory, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (Playaway) - We let Christian go out-of-town with cousins for most of the week, so he did not get as much done this week. He did take a couple of classic books with him on Playaway.
Marlayna - Owl in Love by Patrice Kindl, Mariel of Redwall by Brian Jacques, The Shamer's Daughter by Lene Kaaberbol,
Me - Books - Emily Post's Etiquette and started Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - Audio files at LDS-HEA - Darla Isackson, Paul Mero, Reed A. Benson, John Taylor Gatto, etc.

Do Together -

• Devotionals - Let Him Ask of God pg. 143 thru147
• Read Aloud - Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingals Wilder
  
• Government and Freedom - Mandate video on the President's of the United States, Civil War, and The New Deal
• Mathematician - Mathematicians are People Too "Galileo" pgs.45-51
  
• Musician - Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers pgs.27-34
  
• History - "Roman Empire" - Story of the World Vol. 2 pgs. 1-5 and Usborne Encyclopedia of World History pgs. 182-191
• Genealogy - Worked on my side of the 15 Generation Chart - See Mom Notes below.
  
• English and Grammar - Winston Grammar (we skipped school this day)
  
• Artist - (we skipped school this day)
  
• Science - "Ears and Eyes" - Usborne Science Encyclopedia pgs. 370-373, How the Body Works, Human Body Coloring Book
  
• Words of the Day - irreverant, meticulous, vindicate,

Mom Notes - We are loving the 15 Generation Chart! It has been so exciting to write in all the names of the ancestors we have information on. It makes it easy to see where work needs to be done. Also, we decided to highlight those born in other countries. Each country has a color - England, Canada, Ireland, France (American born are not highlighted at all) - so that we could get a visual picture for what percentage we are of each culture. We discovered that my mom's side of the family is American clear back for 9 generations! Also, I am a 4th generation Arizonan and my children are 5th generation Arizonan. How often do you find that?

Playaways from the Library

I just discovered the unique experience of using Playaways from the library. Chris really likes them. He can easily plug in a pair of ear buds and listen to classic books. Right now he is listening to Robinson Crusoe. Next, he has Tom Sawyer. They are so much easier than CD's with no scratches, fit in your pocket, and are easy for everyone to use.

Thank you Library for purchasing these and allowing the public to listen to these classic stories!

This week in Homeschooling:
I decided to try a new way to plan my Mom School each morning. I decided to focus on specific subjects as follows:

• Monday - Government and Freedom - Curriculum: The 5,000 Year Leap, Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States, The Making of America
  
• Tuesday - Math and Music- Curriculum: Math-U-See, Mathematicians are People Too Vol. 1 and 2, Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers
  
• Wednesday - History and Art - Curriculum: Story of the World Vol 2., Usborne Encyclopedia of World History, Genealogy
  
• Thursday - English and Grammar - Curriculum: Winston Grammar, Editor in Chief, Latina Christiana, Word of the Day
  
• Friday - Science - Curriculum: Encyclopedia of Science, Biology for Every Kid, How the Body Works, How Nature Works
  

I just started it this week, but I already feel that this is working out well for me and the kids. I use this basic subject outline to plan what is mine to teach and to inspire my children. I think I'm more inspired than they are! LOL!

More Nightime Visitors...

Wow - I knew we lived on the edge of the wilderness, but last night's visitor really started me thinking that living in the middle of nowhere was maybe not what I had in mind...

Last night the kids woke up to what we think is a mountain lion. We are on the opposite side of the house, so we did not hear it. Both Marly and Chris said they heard dogs fighting something at the neighbors and then could hear a mountain lion growling or howling back at the dogs. Crazy!

So, this led us to researching the Mountain Lion population and what we can do to reduce the impact of this animal in our area. I called the Game and Fish Dept. and asked about what it could be that we heard. They said it was most likely a mountain lion. Whoa! Here is a video about mountain lions:



My biggest concern is keeping our animals safe from predators. Thank goodness we put all our animals in a large shed (isn't big enough to be called a barn) at night. It is on cinder blocks and has a solid floor to keep raccoons and other burrowing predators out.

Oh, What Do You Do....

I get this question a lot..."What do you do about homeschooling? What are you going to do about graduation? What about socialization?" It cracks me up that nobody asks, "What do you do about education? Are your kids learning better at home than at public school?"

I saw a fantastic shirt on a little boy at the library today. It read, "Unsocialized homeschooler...interact or communicate with at your own risk" with a warning sign look to it. I started laughing and wondered where I could get some for my kids so I found them at this website. I'm going to have to invest in some t-shirts I think.

Chris wears a shirt that says, "Homework Kills Trees...Stop The Madness!" He tells people it is a political statement. Most people who look at it think he is talking about public school homework, but he believes he is making a stand for homeschooling and that kids waste their time going to school all day, only to come home with an hour or more worth of homework. He tells people he can get all that done in 4 hours a day. Smart boy!

So, here are the answers to the top three questions I'm asked:

1. "What do you do for homeschooling?" - We read and study from "real" books, not textbooks. We focus on classics like Heidi, Robinson Crusoe, Charlotte's Web, Jane Eyre, Shakespeare, etc. We use fieldtrips, simulations, and life experiences to explore deeper into subjects and we allow our passions and zeal for learning to take us to new things to learn about.
2. "What will you do about graduation?" - Our children will attend a homeschool graduation where they will walk the isle and get a diploma. No, this one is not recognized by the state, but does that really mean anything anymore? For college entrance, they will take the same placement tests or ACT/SAT's that everyone else takes.
3. "What about socialization?" - My kids have so many social activities that we can't fit them all in! We have scouts, church events, homeschool group meetings, fieldtrips, enrichment classes, 4-H Club, Roots & Shoots, etc. Not to mention their family and friends.

Thank you for reading about my answers to frequently asked questions.

Chris Freaks Out

We have motion detector lights on the back of the house that constantly go off. It really does not even light up much of the yard, especially when your back yard is over an acre. It only lights up about 20 feet. It was making me pretty freaked out having those lights flick on and off while I'm trying to sleep, so I decided to turn them off. I figured, "Stupid feral cats keep making that thing go off." Well, tonight as Chris was getting ready for bed he heard something outside his window. All I hear is, "Holly Crap!" and my son comes running out of his room yelling for us to come look. He saw two deer eating the grass right outside his window, one he said had huge antlers. Of course, by the time we come to look, the deer are long gone. I guess it is not just "stupid cats" setting off the motion lights.

Here is what that part of the backyard looks like in the daytime, after we removed all the brush anyway. Picture deer eating that patchy grass...I hope my garden survives the deer, rabbits, gophers, prairie dogs....

What's "Hop"pening...

Dust Bathing Chicks

Chris filmed some funny video of our 4 week old chickens...(P.S. Brother Cluff, we hope you see this one. You are a great scout leader and we appreciate the example you were to our son!)

Bunny Walk

We were given this sweet, adorable Mini Rex bunny named Little Jim yesterday from Freecycle. He is a very domesticated and social bunny. Thank you Linda Rae, Corey and Justin for allowing us to give him a good home. We love him already! He is so incredibly soft and cuddly.

Other News

Good news! Mike is getting promoted. He was notified today that starting June 1st he will be on his own route. This is very good news for us and much sooner than was expected. We are very thankful to Heavenly Father for providing us with this opportunity. I know that He is looking out for us, even if things do not go perfectly and we have trials and tribulations along the way. We feel very blessed despite the setbacks we are experiencing in other ways.