Kidney Stones & Child Birth

I have given birth to three wonderful children, two with an epidural and one "el-natural". On Sunday I seriously thought I was going into labor, which would be quite a surprise considering I would have had no idea I was pregnant. I could just see myself on one of those shows, saying, "I had no idea I was pregnant. I thought I was just getting fatter."

No to mention, that my husband would need an inhaler and emergency room bed next to me because he would immediately assume I'm cheating...

Well - luckily I was not in labor, just "giving birth" to a kidney stone. I thought men who said it was like giving birth were seriously exaggerating. They are not, not really. On my list of pain - natural childbirth without an epidural is a "10" on the pain level and the kidney stones where a "9". The only difference is not getting a cute little baby!

I am home today and mending...let's just hope that I N-E-V-E-R go through that again.

My First Experience with Religious Prejudice

I started an Arizona LDS Home School Association in January 2008. It was after finding there was nothing like it in the state that I decided to start it. I have asked many to contribute and help make it successful. I have had many people offer suggestions on getting the word out that it is available. Many have suggested contacting home school websites, magazines, and catalogs that list support groups. So, I have been doing that over the past month.

I contacted The Old Schoolhouse this past week and asked to be included on their support group listings online. I was promptly told the following:


As you may know, we (TOS Magazine, LLC) are a faith based organization (Christian) and therefore, are very careful with respect to promoting or recommending others of a different faith (groups or individuals). While you may regard the LDS faith to be "Christian", we respectfully, do not.


Please take no offense at this. This is purely a doctrinal issue with us. As a Christian, I am interested in promoting only that which is consistent with the 66 books of the Bible, God's word. I am aware that this excludes not only the LDS faith, but a whole host of other groups purporting to be "Christian", including Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, the United Pentecostal Church, and many others too numerous to list here.


I was very surprised by this response because they have other LDS home school groups listed on their website and I responded with links to other postings. I think what ignited his fire against me was that I had stated we are a Christian group. The publisher of this magazine sent me another long message attacking Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.

This is the first time I have run into someone so against the church as to suggest that I am not a Christian and that my religion is false. You would think at my age that I would have run into this before, but I truly have not. I do not understand how someone can attack someone's religion and then say "please take no offense". It is obvious that a person would be offended when their religion is attacked. I have responded kindly and only pointed out the duplicity of their own statements that they do not support or list other LDS groups. I think they did not know previously that LDS = Mormon and now they are on the defense.

I wonder also if Mitt Romeny's presidential run has ignited both a positive and negative focus on the church. I guess it is inevitable that Satan will step up his attacks...he knows that his time is short.

Renaissance Festival 2008

This week we attended a fun fieldtrip to the Renaissance Festival. It was on a student day where it is supposed to "toned down" with appropriate shows and costumes for children. For the most part it was, but we saw a few things that were not. I can't imagine attending on a regular day. The best show we saw was this guy playing what could be called an organ of bells, some as big as a typical church bell. He was really good and the music was fun!

Here is our slide show of pictures we took. I did not use my new camera, because I don't have a memory stick, so they are not as good as I would like.

Review: "Core and Love of Learning: A Recipe for Success"

I recently purchased the CD's "Core and Love of Learning: A Recipe for Success" by Oliver and Rachel DeMille from the George Wythe College bookstore. This is a must for others using the Thomas Jefferson Education or Leadership Education model. I could hardly stop listening to the over 5 hours of CD's to run the kids where they needed to be and make dinner. LOL

Some key features:

• The 1st CD discusses how the current public education model came into effect and why it is broken.
  
• The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th CD's give "ingredients" or elements of implementing TJed in your home. It is very warm and the DeMille's come across very "real". They show how they are just like most of us, caring parents who value their children's education.
• The 4th CD, when placed into your computer, also has graphics and charts. There is a short movie touching on more ingredients for success and several printable charts for use while listening to the first CD.

I highly recommend these CD's for anyone currently homeschooling or thinking about homeschooling their children. These CD's can also be highly educational for parents whose children attend school through the public education system, but want to improve their parenting skills and teach their children how to think for themselves.

Homeschooling 4 - 5 Kids

Adventures in Homeschooling! My sister-in-law, who also homeschools, is on mandatory bed rest for a few weeks. She is pregnant and there is a hole in the placenta. They lost a baby in August 2007 also. So, she is an at-risk pregnancy in a couple ways right now. I offered to take her kids for the next few weeks to homeschool along with my own. Sam was home because she had her wisdom teeth out (poor baby!) and she schooled right along with us, working on an online world history class and studying for her other classes.

It is easier than I though it would be. I feel comfortable enough in educating the kids that it was easy to find things for everyone to work on and they have a great time!

I used to stress myself out with complicated curriculum, both public online school and curriculum I purchased. Now I've worked to simplify our education by focusing on a good math program, classic reading materials, and the interests of the children in science, history, and PE. My children are becoming more focused on their own education and actually OWNING it, rather than doing it because they were told to. They chose their own reading materials from the classics list and from the racks at the local library. I have some unit studies and lapbooking materials for times when they just need a creative outlet to show what they are learning.

Here are what we are educating our children with right now:

• Teaching Textbooks - Awesome math program!
• Classics list #1 - Thomas Jefferson Education List
  
• Classics list #2 - 1,000 Good Books List (by grades)
  
• Old Testament Lapbook - (history)
  
• Book of Mormon Lapbook
  
• Discover the Scriptures - Book of Mormon & Life of Thomas S. Monson
  
• Science Kits - Electronics Snap Kit, Froguts, Astronomy for Kids, and the Science Channel.
• Kid's personal projects - Chris is working on a website and Gamemaker. Marly is working on knitting, cooking, and crocheting. Sam is sewing her clothes for an upcoming Pioneer Trek reenactment.
  

New Hinckley Challenge

Like so many others, I am joining the Hinckley Challenge to read the Book of Mormon in 97 days (or less now). At the time I signed up, over 21,000 people have taken the challenge as well. Wow!

You will be able to see my progress to the left on my blog.

www.hinckleychallenge.com

Free Life of President Monson Packet

I am a little partial to the products at Discover the Scriptures, as we use them in our home. I receive a newsletter from them when new products come out and they have a free download called The Life of Thomas S. Monson. This series of products is also listed on AZ LDS Homeschool Association on the Gospel Studies resource page.

Check it out!

Celeste