We have been busy sorting, cleaning, decluttering, rearranging, and brainstorming as we have begun preparing our learning environment. We are taking a portion of the unfinished part of our basement and transforming it into our school. For our family, and my sanity, it is important to have a designated learning space. While I have no doubt that projects will ultimately take place all over the house, it is crucial for us to have a space designated just for schooling. 

Over the last week we have been consolidating boxes and moving furniture in hopes of creating an environment that will be cheerfully conducive to learning for all four kiddos. John and Madi are each looking forward to their own space and I am looking forward to creating a toddler corner for the munchkins.

As soon as the dry erase boards are hung, the maps are on the walls and the last crate is in place I will try and snap a couple of pictures. I'm now off to the basement! 

The boxes have arrived...

Let the fun begin!!!

Time to Get Organized!

I absolutely adore this time of year, all of the planning and preparing in anticipation of a new school year makes me giddy. My kiddos think I'm nuts, but I just love it. Almost everything is already done with the Calvert curriculum, but there are a few things that I will be adding to round out our experience. Today I will tell you about just one of our additions.

One of the reasons I love homeschooling is because it provides me an opportunity to teach my children the gospel in more depth than I am often otherwise able to. I have found that if I plan out and prepare each child's gospel study course first, everything else seems to fall into place. I want the kiddos to know that the gospel comes first, no matter what. That's why I plan it first, we study it first in our day etc. Hopefully somewhere along the way the message will stick.

John, who will be a new deacon in a few weeks, will be using the new Book of Mormon seminary home study course. I picked up the new Seminary Teacher manual and am excited to work through it with him. Some of you may be thinking that I am jumping the gun on this, but I have come to the conclusion that this gospel is a gospel of repetition and what he picks up this time around will be far different from what he will experience when he starts seminary in a few years.

I just finished putting together a Book of Mormon curriculum for Madison. It is a combination of the Primary Book of Mormon manual, scripture journaling and some fun correlating activities from Sunday Savers. I am pretty excited about this one as I am hoping Madi will run with it.

The babies will be continuing their nursery lessons and Book of Mormon stories as we head into the school year.

Reality Check

We just got back from a 12 day vacation to Colorado and Utah. Maybe visit is a better word because with two very nearly two year old toddlers, there really wasn't any thing vacationy about it. For some reason the babies had a really hard time on this trip and it took the joint efforts of my husband and myself to keep them slightly grumpy (which was apparently the happiest they were able to get). This coupled with our post vacation detox has caused me to panic a little about how in the world I am going to give my children the intense, rigorous education we are planning as well as keep two almost two year old toddlers happy. I have a little less than two months to figure it out. Thank goodness for inspiration and revelation. I am counting on it.  

Book of Mormon Stories for Toddlers

Book of Mormon Stories for Toddlers

We LOVE Book of Mormon Stories for Toddlers! I came across these via Pinterest (how I love my Pinterest) and was intrigued. It was just what I had been looking for! So many of the resources I all ready had (flannel people, books, etc.) were just a little too grown up for my littles. They needed something short and sweet for their short and sweet attention spans. I downloaded set one (very reasonable price), printed the stories, laminated and put magnetic strips on the back of the figures and we were ready to go. The babies love playing with them after we go through the story twice. We are excited to download the next set this week and are even happier to see that set three is in the making!

"...our individual responsibility is to learn what we should learn, to live as we know we should live, and to become what the Master would have us become...The overarching purpose of Heavenly Father's great plan of happiness is to provide His spirit children with opportunities to learn. The moral agency afforded to all of Father's children through the plan of salvation and the Atonement of Jesus Christ is divinely designed to facilitate our learning... The Holy Ghost is the teacher who kindles within us an abiding love of and for learning."

Elder David A. Bednar

Classical Education

I am a die hard classical educationist. Is that even a word? I wholeheartedly believe in the classical education model as described by Susan Wise Bauer in The Well Trained Mind. I have read and reread our copy so many times there are portions I could recite from memory - almost. 

In a perfect world I would follow The Well Trained Mind model exactly, crossing every T and dotting every I. Unfortunately my world is not perfect and for this upcoming academic year I will be unable to do so.

Why? 

We simply don't have the funding. 

While the classical education outlined in The Well Trained Mind isn't outrageously expensive per say, we are at a point in our family life (nearing the end of my husband's residency after almost 13 years of training, only two left!) where money is tighter than ever before. Sigh. 

So when my husband and I both felt the prompting that our children needed to be homeschooled, we struggled at first, not knowing how we were going to afford this endeavor. We were serendipitously led to the point we are at now. 

Our school district works in conjunction with a charter school that offers the Calvert Homeschool curriculum and all other necessary supplies (computer, printer, internet, etc) at no cost to those enrolled. Yep, that's right, free. And the beauty of this virtual charter school is that my kids can still go to their public schools for their electives if they so choose. John will be able to continue his beloved orchestra and Madi will be able to choose which electives she would like to do. There was much rejoicing in the land when the kids realized they would still be seeing their friends at school. Not that they haven't spent almost every second of this summer running around with their neighborhood friends already, but apparently seeing their friends at school is important to them. :)

While it isn't the Well Trained Mind, I do like the Calvert curriculum. It follows the classical model and is so far above and beyond what my children were being asked to do in public school, how could I not be pleased? After researching what Calvert has to offer, I am very excited for John and Madi to begin this journey.

And, frankly, I am also thrilled that there will be very little prep work on my part. Our two little whirlwinds keep me so busy I'm not sure I would be able to prepare adequately enough for the older kids. 

So that's our plan, we'll see how it goes!

I wrestled for a long time before I decided which path to take with the babies (who are 21 months today). I have always felt that it is important to engage children in meaningful activities as well as provide an environment that is conducive to exploratory play. My personality type is not one that does well with all day free for alls. For many families that path is perfect, but our family has always needed something a little different. I will be the first to say that one way isn't right and one way isn't wrong, I firmly believe it is a matter of seeking what is best for your family at that time. Back to the wrestling...

After much study, thought and prayer I decided to do a hybrid of sorts. We have a sit down (albeit about 4 min) lesson from the Nursery manual every morning followed by two Primary songs that the babies enjoy with fun visuals. Then it's off to stations in the playroom - I set out different toys (blocks, little people, play mats etc.) for them to play with every morning so they don't tire of their toys too quickly. When it's snack time (they sit longer while they're eating!) we do Book of Mormon stories. I have found a great resource - Book of Mormon for Toddlers - that we have a great deal of fun with. I will talk more about that in a later post. After their naps we start storytime (again with snacks). Here's where the hybrid comes in - should we do themes? circle time? lap books? etc. etc. etc. I have opted to take favorite books and create a storytime theme that lasts about three storytimes. Something like Five in a Row, but more adapted to my children. 

We started this week with one of their all time favorite books - The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Here's an outline of yesterday's storytime -

Welcome Song (same every time) - Here We Are Together
Fun Song - Wheels on the Bus
Story - The Very Hungry Caterpillar 
Song - I Wish I Were a Little Butterfly
Story Retell - Bulletin Board Set (I found the above bulletin board set at Joann's. Perfect for retelling the story! 50% off coupon and we were set!)
Fingerplay - Caterpillar to Butterfly
Book - How Many Butterflies?
Musical Instruments (same every time) - Follow the Prophet
Closing Song (same every time) - Zip a dee do dah

For each Very Hungry Caterpillar story time I have one or two different activities that I will add in. The Tot Packs on 1+1+1= 1 have some great free printables that I've enjoyed using.

We have art time right before dinner, during which we have made little projects that coordinate with storytime - hand butterflies, fingerpaint caterpillars etc. I, then, try and use those projects in the next storytime. For example, we used the hand butterflies in our Caterpillar to Butterfly fingerplay.

Our next book is another crowd favorite - Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. I am in the midst of making a fun retell prop, fingers crossed that it works!

Babies Summer Schedule

Our first official day of summer vacation and all is running smoothly, thank goodness.The kiddos have embraced their new schedules and all is quiet on the western front, for now. 

I am a planner, I must have a schedule to work within or I go nuts. I am not rigid in my scheduling, but I function  much better when there is at least a general plan in place for the day. I learned a very important lesson years ago when I was teaching elementary school - children thrive when there is structure. I have tried to implement this lesson ever since. 

So - yes - the babies (who are not really babies anymore) have a new summer schedule as well! To accommodate their short attention span I have broken up their focused, sit down time (ie storytime) into various segments throughout the day. 

Here is a break down of their summer days...

7:00 Wake Up! Get dressed, clean room, puzzles, trains etc.
8:00 Breakfast
8:30 Family Morning Devotional
9:00 Nursery Lesson/Stations
10:15 Snack/Book of Mormon Stories
12:00 Lunch
12:30 Nap Time
2:00 Snack/Storytime
2:30 Outside!
4:00 Art Project/Busy Bags
5:30 Dinner
6:00 Bath time
6:15 Family Scriptures
7:00 Bed Time

The babies do SO much better when they know the ebb and flow of the day. I have tried to coordinate their independent time with the times that the big kids will need my help in order to maintain some sanity. Sanity is critical.

Happy Summer!

Weekly Goal Setting

This summer, in an effort to teach the children personal responsibility, we will be instituting a weekly goal setting program. Every Sunday I will sitting down with the children and helping them set goals in four different areas for the week. After setting the overarching weekly goal they will then break down the goal into pieces they want to accomplish each day. I put together a simple printout for them to write their weekly goal and the daily implementation of that goal that they can use as a reference throughout the week. I am hoping to put these sheets in their own binders so that at the end of the summer they have a record of all that they were able to accomplish. 

John's four goal setting areas -

Personal Scripture Study
Boy Scouts
Family History Project
Priesthood Prep (He will be receiving the Priesthood at the end of August)

Madi's four goal setting areas -

Personal Scripture Study
Faith in God
Family History Project
Homemaking Skills

As I've mentioned before, we are making a huge transition from Mom driven goals to personally driven goals. Hopefully we will transition well!

Summer Reading Program

From How Does She

Our public schools are not out yet. This Friday is the kiddos last day and then they are home for the summer and beyond! Thank goodness. One thing I have always struggled with, when my kids have been in public school, is the necessary role I must assume of the 'Time Nazi'. We always seem to be rushed and I always seem to be the great enforcer of that rush. Not my favorite. I am thrilled that we have a few months of lazy summer days stretching out before us.

Now, that being said, our summer days are typically never lazy summer days, much to my childrens dismay. We have done workboxes every summer forever now, and it has been a great thing for them. However, we are going to try to give them up this summer and go a different direction.

We will be hitting the academics really hard this fall and I want the kiddos to have time to unwind from their public school experience before beginning our rigorous learning. It will be a huge change for them and they need some adjustment time.

I am also wanting the kiddos, now that they are getting older, to take more ownership of their education. I have a goal setting plan in place for the summer that will hopefully help them in that area this summer. I am looking forward to starting it and may post about the ins and outs later.

So instead of our normal summer math, grammar, reading, writing, history etc. we will be doing a summer reading program and they each will be given a family history research project to complete. That's it.

I hemmmed and hawwwed over what to do for a summer reading program. I ultimately ended up deciding to tweak this program just a little bit by adding in 8 book titles to the bingo card. I wanted a combo of a book list as well as a time commitment program - so I think this will work.

John's (age 11) eight books are -

Number the Stars
Sing Down the Moon
Dude, Don't be a Lemuel
Tuck Everlasting
Aaronic Priesthood
Alice Through the Looking Glass
Robinson Crusoe
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Madi's (age 9) eight books are -

The Goose Girl
How to be Totally Miserable
Pippi Longstocking
Caddie Woodlawn
The Long Winter
Alice in Wonderland
Nancy Drew
The Princess and the Goblin

Of course the kiddos will be reading other books. They absolutely devour series books in the summer and both of them already itching to get going in that direction. These are just the books they will need to read to earn their coupons.

I am not sure what books we will be reading together as family yet this summer. Some of my fondest memories are of the kids and I curling up on my bed with a bowl of popcorn and reading Harry Potter on one of those summer days in Houston where it is too hot to even be alive. I so very much do not miss those. We are currently in the middle of Anne of Green Gables. I'm not sure what direction we will head after that.

Happy Reading!

Our Return

Our family certainly has changed since our last post! We are in a different phase of life, living in a completely different part of the county, and, having added our twins, have a different number of children entirely.

It has become time for us, once again, to take the road less traveled.

Beginning this fall all four of our blessings will be continuing their education at home. Though the reasons have been many, of which further posts may illuminate, our decision can really be stated in one sentence - we feel that this is what is right for our family.

I am hoping this blog will be far more interesting this time around then last, but I make no guarantees. It will, very simply, be a record of our journey in taking the road less traveled.