Pumpkin Eaters

One morning for kid school we decided to make some Halloween decorations. The girls ended up doing these cute masks and thought it was so funny to knock on Dad's office door saying "trick or treat"!

Puzzle Maniac

Molly is very into doing puzzles right now. She will sit for up to an hour and put together puzzles. Her favorite is a princess one we got from the dollar store. The other day she put together a 100 piece puzzle by herself for the most part. I love doing puzzles so I'm excited to have someone else who does too.

Savannah's Nile River

One of the many projects Savannah has worked on over the past month was building a miniature Nile river. She lined a baking foil pan with a strip of foil the shape of the Nile river, then she put potting soil around the edges and poured little pebbles over the foil area. She then sprinkled grass seed on the soil and poured two pictures of water into it. Within a day or two the water evaporated and the seeds sprouted and grew. After a few days she built tiny pyramids out of clay and little boats to put inside the replica. She regularly floods it and loves to watch how the water goes up onto the banks. She has also made scented Egyptian oil, ancient clay dwellings, a ming bowl and several other fun things.

A Visit To New York

We took the girls to NYC for a couple days then rented an R.V. for a week and drove all through New York state. We did a few lessons each morning while driving in the R.V., the rest of the time they just soaked everything in. It was a great family trip. For more pictures and details on it, see our family blog.

Teton Dam Site and Museum Fieldtrip

We have a little homeschool group in Teton Valley and we organized a field trip to the Teton Dam Site and Museum. I had always wanted to go see the dam site but we never took the time to do it. It was really amazing to see as was the museum. We got to kidnap Nate and take him with us too, so that was a bonus. The kids enjoyed the trip and I do believe they learned a thing or two. A little information on it: The Teton Dam was built on the Teton River upstream from Rexburg, Idaho. at 11:57 am on June 5, 1976 the dam broke, the resulting flood killed 14 people and some estimates put the damage done by the collapse of the 100 million dollar dam, at one billion dollars. Actual federal approved claims totalled almost 400 million dollars.

Watching the film strip of the clean up was really amazing. People came from all over to help and the community and surrounding communities really pulled together.

Our Schedule and Curriculum

In the mornings after our morning routine, we do what we call "Kid School". We are in kid school for Sophie and Molly about 30 -45 minutes. For Savannah usually we are finished by lunch time. I use material from A Well-Trained Mind and Saxon to teach the children lessons each morning. I am in the process of working towards implementing the Thomas Jefferson Education model (TJEd), but I'm doing it in baby steps. So far what I have implemented is the morning routine, chore chart, kid school - although it is a little more 'require' than 'inspire' right now, and I have begun my study of the classics. My next baby step I plan to make is to arrange a family room consistent with the TJEd model. This of course won't happen until we have a more permanent home. For more information on TJEd go to http://www.tjedonline.com/

I have loved the discovery of this system and hope to be able to implement the whole model into our lifestyle soon.

Currently with the girls we are reading the classic Laddie: A True Blue Story. Over the summer we read Charlotte's Web, Indian In the Cupboard, Little House on the Prairie Series, Sarah Plain and Tall Series, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, some of The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and parts of Little Women.

I just finished Uncle Tom's Cabin, Lonesome Gods, and Little Britches and all of the Thomas Jefferson books by DeMille. Ryan just finished The Chosen, and Jane Eyre. We do a lot of reading and we love it! The girls enjoy being read to almost more than anything.

First Day of Homeschool

Our first day of homeschooling officially began on August 31, 2009. We begin school at 8:30 each morning, starting our day off with a family devotional which consists of scripture study (we are currently reading the Old Testament), family prayer, memory work such as a quote or article of faith, we sing a song we are learning, and then do the Pledge of Allegiance. If we have time Sophie always requests that we read from the Book of Mormon children's version. She loves the pictures and the stories and will sit for a long time listening. Some mornings during this time we read from a book of family history that my Grandma put together. My girls love the stories as do I. We then have a chore meeting where I divide out the chore tickets for the day. Our first morning went fairly well and we're excited to begin this journey together!