Hogle Zoo

Hogle Zoo with Josh's family.  So much fun!

Book of Mormon

Just a thought about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon....

In his account of The First Vision, Joseph went into the woods to pray to find out which church he should join.  He was confused because there were many different churches, all proclaiming to be the true church.  He had read in James 1:5 'that any who lack wisdom, let him ask of God...'.  While praying in the woods, an evil darkness overcame him so that he could not speak.  He thought he was going to die.  Then, a pillar of light descended and the darkness left him.  Heavenly Father and Jesus appeared to him and told him not to join any of the churches because all of the churches were incorrect.  

*I know my summary of the First Vision does not do it justice. Read here for the full, beautiful account.http://lds.org/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1?lang=eng


So, Joseph told people about his experience.  He was ridiculed, mocked, persecuted and eventually murdered because he shared his testimony.

Today I thought about what that must have been like.  I had a hard time telling people that we had decided to homeschool our kids.  I was concerned about their reactions and judgements. That is nothing compared to what Joseph did.  Would I have been able to do what he did?  I'd hope so, but probably not.  I think I would have felt overcome with joy and excitement at receiving the Vision, but I think I'd think that no one would believe me.  I'd be afraid that they would think that I was crazy or a liar.  (Which a lot of people think/thought about Joseph.)  But he did not care.  He stood at a witness in spite of what other people said or thought about him.

I love the Book of Mormon.  We are about halfway through are Book of Mormon Challenge of reading it in 60 days.  I'm so grateful for this challenge.  It has not been easy, but it's been amazing for Matt and I.  So many blessings already.  We are so grateful.

The Book of Mormon is the true word of God.  Reading this book brings so much joy and peace into your life.  For a free copy of the Book of Mormon click here:

http://mormon.org/free-book-of-mormon/.

Curriculum 2010-2011

I thought I'd post the curriculum we've been using this past year. We are almost through with our first year of homeschooling!  In some ways, I feel like it's been a lot longer.  We're still finding out what works for us.  It's always a challenge to find balance.

Waverly~Kindergarten
 Reading


Mormon Little Books
Bob books
McOmber Readers





Writing




Math

Dora Math
Misc Kindergarten Math workbooks

Arts

Art workbooks: cutting, pasting, etc
Bastien Primer A Piano

Science



 

History/Geography

Religion
Articles of Faith
Book of Mormon Workbook from:





Conrad and Jaylee~3rd grade

Religion
Article of Faith
Book of Mormon Workbook from:



ELF for spelling, vocab, handwriting



Reading 


Star Tutoring Program from Alpine District



Math

Saxon Math



Aleks Math (For a couple of months)
IXL

History/Geography



Science





Handwriting


 
Language Program~Journaling, Spelling, Handwriting, Language Lessons from:


Music
Bastien Piano Books level 1



The kids also participated in :
Dance~breakdancing, jazz and ballet.
Activity Days
Scouts
Liberty Girls
Weekly Homeschool Co-op

We have done a Humanitarian Project for a Juvenile Detention Center.  (Hygiene kits)
We are currently organizing a Fundraiser for the Festival of Trees.  Donations going to Primary Children's Hospital.

"Fieldtrips"
We have gone to Thanksgiving Point more times that I can count.
The Hogle Zoo several times.
Hutching Museum
Carl Bloch Art Exhibit at BYU
Yellowstone
Ice Caves
Shoshone Falls
Swimming at Matt's hotel regularly
Children's Discovery Museum
Lagoon
American Heritage Center
Wyoming several times
The Gale Center of History and Culture
Parks
Rodeo

I'm sure I'm forgetting things.  This was good for me to put together.  As a homeschool mom I feel like I'm not doing enough.  This helped remind me of all that we've done this year.

I'm excited to go to the Homeschool Convention this Saturday.  John Bytheway is one of the speakers.  They also have a Curriculum Fair set up so I'll be able to check out new curriculum options for next year.

Scripture Challenge Continues!

We are now in Jacob!  We haven't missed a day yet.  We have discovered a couple of things during this challenge:

*Reading together is awesome when you're not too tired.

*We need to get our reading done as close to dinnertime as possible...as the night progresses we want to vegge out in front of the TV or something.

*Praying before studying really helps our attitudes and our understanding of what we're reading. 

*It's an effort to read everyday together.  Sad but true.

We are going on vacation today and I image it will be a challenge to get our reading all in.  

Good luck to anyone that is doing the challenge with us!  You can do it!

Scripture Challenge....

I'm a bit worried about getting our reading in today.  Matt left early and won't be home until 1:30am.  Obviously reading will be hard to do at that time.  Last Friday we met Matt at a park in Lehi to read and play frisbee.  The weather's bad today and I don't want to drive.  Hmmm.... Over the phone?  Not sure how effective that would be.  We'll have to see.

Book of Mormon Challenge

Who's up for a Book of Mormon Challenge??  

When Matt and I were first married we studied our scriptures together daily.  It was awesome.  However, over the years we've let our busy lives get in the way of reading together.  We decided to take on a scripture reading challenge~Read the Book of Mormon in 60 days.  

If you add up all the days that Joseph Smith actually spent working on the translation of the Book of Mormon, it ends up being about 60 days. If he can translate it in 60 days, we ought to be able to read it in 60 days.

We still have days when Matt is gone all day, so it's going to be a challenge.  We started last Thursday and haven't quit yet!  That's good for us!  We are already feeling the benefits of reading daily as a couple.  I'm so happy we are doing this!  We'd love others to join us in this challenge.  Let us know if you're up to it!

Read 8.85 pages a day!  About 15-25 minutes.

Children's Museum

So, I posted this already, but it's gone now...Not sure what happened.
We went to the Children's Museum at Gateway this week.  It was so much fun.  We spent most of our time on the second floor with the 'building' stations.  The best part for me was that there weren't very many other kids there!  We had frozen yogurt and also spent some time in the Planetarium.  It was a fun homeschool fieldtrip!