I'm really having a hard time deciding where to post things, because I don't really separate homeschool from our family life. I just posted a bunch of recent homeschool/family activities on our family blog, so you'll have to check that out for the latest.  We've been having a blast!  I LOVE homeschooling!!! My kids are so happy and I love being a part of their lives every day.

The Learning and Healing Powers of Time

When I took lessons from Patricia George for a short while in college (once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!), she amazed me with all she knew and had researched on how people learn.  I--already a psychology major and fascinated with all things brain--was amazed.  She had a practice schedule figured out that would forever imprint music and drill in your memory, or at least make the same amount of practice more productive.  Most music majors practice anywhere from 3-6 hours a day (or more).  But Patricia George told me it wasn't to be done all in one sitting.  It is best done with time in between practice sessions, specifically 3 hours. 

My first declared major, education, had taught me that it is the same in all areas of learning.  Our brains just need time to incorporate all that new knowledge.  It can just be too much when we try to cram too much in, creating a stimulation overload. 

I've also found the same to be true in the school of life.  You know the lingo: "suffering burnout", "too much on my plate", "bogged down".  When we get this way, it takes time, soothing, meditative time, to mull over and understand all that has happened.  It is taking me months to incorporate into my brain all the new experiences and life lessons our family has received since moving to Minnesota, and it has been difficult for the rest of my family, too.

Sadly, I've had to learn through my own experiences to be more compassionate to others in their times of trial.  In Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl mentions this very thing.  I may see a person acting strange and make a snap judgment that they are weird or a little off.  Frankl says that in reality, their actions might just be a normal reaction to an abnormal human experience.  (Frankl was of course referring to how so many of the people he met in the Jewish death camps shed much of their morality under the conditions they were forced into. How can any of us judge them harshly!) 

"Understanding the true nature of instinctive decision making requires us to be forgiving of those people trapped in circumstances where good judgement is imperiled." Malcolm Gladwell, Blink.  I think it goes beyond instinctive decision making, as so many instinctive decisions can pile up to make huge misjudgements.

So many times when I was in the midst of the worst of the storm last year, I thought to myself, "Why do I feel as though I'm fading?  Do I lack faith?"  It was some of the worst mental anguish I have ever dealt with, wondering if I was pulling away from my God. 

I wondered if I could really homeschool my kids or if I was emotionally scarred so badly that I couldn't deal with the stress of what I once considered delightful: raising my kids and teaching them at home.  I worried that our family's trials had made me selfish instead of refining my character.  My happiness had lost some of its luster, the luster I had always been able to conjure up in difficult times, even if only to cheer my family. 

As I'm slowly gaining back inner strength, I've been blessed to have time to reflect on my new knowledge. 

William Faulkner said, "Most men are a little better than their circumstances give them a chance to be."  All men (and women) have "circumstances"!  We will all fall short of perfection.  It's unfortunate that we have to be thumped over the head with trials in order to come to this realization, but I now understand it better than I could without those difficult experiences. 

I have thought so much bout Job, and how faithfully he endured his trials.  I feel that the Lord will do this for all of us: bring us as close as He possibly can to the edge of our endurance, in order to help us grow in faith.  (President Eyring's talk in General Conference about "the Lord's pavilion" that relates to this as well. It was the first talk in the first Sunday Session.) 

It is so important, even in the recovery phase of our trials (however long that may be), to rely on the Savior.  It is sweet to feel the love of the Lord as we see our family smiling more and we're getting the sunshine back in our home.  As I put Conrad down for his nap today, we giggled and gave a million kisses and just made each other happy.  It brought back memories of times when these special times were passed over, and I silently thanked God for the healing occurring in our home.  I also prayed that the Lord would use His timing to allow our family to fully meditate on our trial and incorporate the new knowledge into our stores of growing wisdom.

I know I can't do it on my own.  I'm grateful to have a Heavenly Father who so strongly wants me to put my hand in His and let Him lead me, that He is willing to allow my trials to push me so far so I will humble myself and do it.  It's fall down the cliff or into His arms.  I know now firmer than I ever have, that He loves me and wants me near. 

Building the Foundation

You may have noticed I've replaced the Mark Twain quote (I know he's a bit of a personality, but he's so quotable!).  If you know me well, you know how I love inspiring quotes and bits of wisdom.  I will stew over one scripture or quote for months.  I think it unnerves some of my friends when I tell them, "I've been thinking about that thing you said...years ago."  I can't help it! 

The new quote is one I'm adopting for this year's homeschool year, and probably forever. 

"The great objective of all our work is to build character and increase faith in the lives of those whom we serve." 

(emphasis added) Elder Spencer W. Kimball, 1948

 

 

I am one of those people who, in the pursuit of perfection, tend to put a little emphasis on everything, trying to get everything right, when I should be focusing on what is most important and not stressing out about everything else.  I love Thomas Jefferson Education and how it's principles help me to remember to stay focused on basics.  For our family, the two things President (then Elder) Kimball mentioned are the most important for our homeschool focus. 

 

Build Character:

 

In relation to our homeschool, with our kids being the ages they are, this means helping our kids build who they are.  I hope and expect my kids to be people of high character.  We're trying to focus specifically on family responsibilities right now.  The dreaded chore!  If I only had a nickel for every time Trevor has told me, "Mommy!  I don't like chores! When I grow up I'm going to buy my own house and live my myself and not do any chores and no one will tell me what to do."  I ignore the drama and try to make the jobs as cheerful as possible.  I also try to make sure chore time is as sociable as possible.  There's no reason chores should absolutely have to be done alone.  Unless we're trying to teach personal responsibility.  Right now we're just trying to get our base solidified, though, so my focus is elsewhere.  Family responsibilities aren't the only route to good character, but that is the bigger specific goal we're working on for this year.  I want our kids to learn to be accountable to their family members.  To get them thinking outside themselves, to their duty to others. 

 

Increase Faith:

 



Scriptures!  Prayer!  Church!  It's so important right now.  Our kids are 5, 3, and 9 months.  What better time, when their little brains are developing so quickly, to teach them to rely on their Savior and spend quality time on their relationships with Him?  I want our kids to instinctively go to the Lord when they have difficulties in life or in gratitude for their joys. 

There are only so many hours in the day for our kids to learn from us and the world around them.  Instead of trying to shove all sorts of learning down their throats to meet the quotas of public school standards (which wouldn't really be too hard anyway since they're so low!), I hope to to give them a good base for real life, not just for the small bubble of academic life. 

If I don't get to math or handwriting lessons for the day, but I have done scripture study and family responsibilities with the kids, I'll still count it a successful day.  Because when it comes right down to what's most important in this life, it's not the individual subjects in their respective boxes, it's who we are and how we handle life's challenges that will make or break us as people.

Field Trips and Enriching Activities

Trevor finally got to do his vegetable stand after weeks of halts.  He was SO excited to do it and worked very hard all morning to prepare.  We made signs and took a walk to post them on street corners.  We made flyers and passed them out to a few neighbors.  We picked and bagged vegetables.  We baked and bagged bread.  Then we carried everything outside to set up and waited.

 Unfortunately, we must not have done a great job with advertising, because we only had a couple neighbors stop by.  We have especially nice neighbors, who asked Trevor if he was going to do this again next year.  Their generosity helped Trevor to earn the money he wanted for his human body model (below) and he also got to learn more about tithing.  He has been playing with his body model nonstop.  He pretended to be Conrad's teacher when Conrad said to him, "Me want learn about body."  It was so sweet.  I'm so proud of Trevor for his hard work.  Afterward we talked about more ways of advertising better next year (he definitely does want to do it again).



 This week there was a homeschool day at a local museum, so we went there for a class.  The boys learned about earthquakes and then they got to build their own structures and test them out on an earthquake machine.

We also joined an LDS homeschool group (Yay!) and had a kayaking/fishing outing.  We laughed at the sroller line-up on the dock.  Yes, those are all double strollers.

 Trevor had a neat experience.  He was sort of somber for a while and then I asked how he was doing and he said he was sad because everyone was catching fish except for him and he really wanted to catch one.  While I was helping Conrad, another mom suggested Trevor should pray, so he did.  Eventually after using a lot of the "p" word (patience), he did catch one and got the courage to hold it in his hands as well. 

 Conrad was a blast.  He kept pulling his hook out of the water and saying, "Look, me caught fish!"  (It was his worm every time.)

The boys got to play with the other kids on the beach and climb all over the rocks afterward.  It was such a nice outing!

 

Other outings and activities include playground playdates, nature center visits, and home teaching and fishing with daddy.

 

 

First Week of "School"

I don't really know why I feel the need to document this, because we've been doing the same things we've been doing all summer, but I guess I'm sentimental for no real reason sometimes.  Here's Trevor's first day of "school":

Actually, to be honest, he was tired and a bit grouchy the first day, so I had him take a rest on the couch.  It was very uneventful, except for the momentous question Conrad asked me for the first time: would I teach him to read? 

 

The rest of the week was great.  It started out like normal.  Our regular routine for the past few months has been like this: mornings are for breakfast, chores, possibly an errand or bike ride, sometimes a trip to the playground, sometimes play with a building toy together, then lunch and naps.  Once the little ones go down for naps, Trevor automatically goes over to his section of the bookshelves and picks out materials for whatever lesson he feels like doing (right now we have phonics, handwriting, math, history, scriptures, and of course he can also choose to do a science experiment, play with puzzles, read books to me, or anything he wants). 

 

The second day kind of set the tone for the rest of the week.  Trevor chose to write a story.  So he told me his story while I wrote it down (about a lost dog that gets found and returned).  Then while he copied it into his notebook, I read to him from the history book about pyramids.  We connected that to other types of tombs, got out the scriptures and talked about the tomb that Jesus was laid in and related the details of preservation to the way the Egyptians preserved bodies and talked about different views of the afterlife.  Then Trevor did a tree maze in a Childcraft book. 

 

Conrad's schooling right now is potty-training and just being loved.  He loves anything active, whether it's wrestling on the floor, playing astronaut (I lay on my back and launch him with my feet), or dancing to music.  Abigail loves to be held and played with, too.  I'm trying to look into her eyes and talk to her often and just help her participate in communication and show her she is loved and cared for.  For myself, I am working on patience (the never-ending goal!).

Celestial Education

A couple friends of mine shared a video with me I'd like to share as well.  I found it to be a very uplifting reminder of all the deepest reasons I want to keep my kids at home. 

However, I'm going to give the same warning one my friends gave on her blog, that if you've never even considered homeschooling, this might rub you wrong.  Some of the lecturer's views are very different from what you may be used to hearing, but I hope if you listen, you'll listen with an open heart anyway.  It's very long, but I was able to listen while cleaning the kitchen over several days.  Enjoy!

Michelle Stone, Celestial Education

Oh, and to clear up any confusion, we are DEFINITELY homeschooling this year.  I'm trying to be brief as we are getting rid of the internet at home for a while till we find a price we agree with, so I'll have to record that conclusion some other time.