Sharing Time - August Week 3

I found another fun attention getting activity while looking around over the last few weeks (I can't remember where I found it, although it was probably Mormon Share) that would work great to introduce getting answers to our prayers. 

Bring in a quarter and ask who would like to have it.  After every ones hands go up, tell them that they can (as you put it on your head) as long as they can get it without touching your head. 

We have a jar full of craft sticks with all the kids pictures and names that I'd use that to choose a few volunteers to come up and try.  Most likely, no one will think of a way to get the quarter without touching your head.

After giving a few kids a chance, tell them that you're surprised no one thought to ask you.  You would have been glad to help them get it off your head, if only they'd asked.

Compare this to the Sharing Times over the last few weeks where they've been learning how, where and when to pray.  We can NEVER get an answer to a prayer unless we ask.

Once we've asked, how do we know when we've gotten an answer?

Use the scriptures listed in the Sharing Time Outline to help the kids learn some of the most common answers to this very good question.  I thought it'd be fun to have them try to match the scripture with the answer.  Except have the answer all scrambled up.  I have scrambled words for Senior Primary and scrambled pictures for Junior Primary.  I also have the scripture strips to draw out and unscrambled versions to show once they figure out what the wordstrip or picture are supposed to show.

So, you'd call someone up to draw out a scripture (or pick one).  Next, look up and read the scripture.  Then, figure out which mixed up word strip or picture (that you have displayed up front) the scripture is talking about.  And last, discuss what the scripture teaches.

Senior Mix Up
Junior Mix Up

Give them all a chance to search the scriptures for the answer to their questions, which right there teaches one of the ways prayers are answered, THE SCRIPTURES!  I know it takes a while, even with Senior Primary, to have them look up each scripture, but it teaches an invaluable skill and tool they will need to use throughout their lives.

As you go through and match each scripture, take a moment to ask if anyone has had an answer to a prayer in this way.  Be sure to be ready to share your own testimony and love of prayer as you progress through.  They will feel your love and remember it even when they do not remember anything else!

Have a wonderful Sharing Time,
Leah

If you're searching for a little more inspiration about this month's theme, check out my August theme post!

Spelling & Vocabulary

A few days ago I posted about all the curriculum we'll be using in our upcoming school year (2013-14).  After I hit publish, I realized that I didn't answer any of the questions I'm interested in as I check out the curriculum choices of others. 

My favorite part is the review.  I want to know how the curriculum really works everyday, positive and negative, because no matter how great a curriculum is, it's never perfect.

So, I decided I'd do that.  It's much too long for one post to write about ALL our curriculum, but I can do it a little at a time and today, I thought I'd start out with Spelling & Vocabulary. 

I start my kids in Spelling when they enter 1st grade with the Spelling Workout workbook series. 

When I first started using it we would do a pre-test, or a cold test, on Mondays before they've even had a chance to look at the words to gauge how well they already knew them.  Then we'd work our way through the one page lesson (for the lower level workbooks), talk about the rule being taught that week and do one workbook page every day until Friday when we'd take our final test to check their progress.

Sounds easy, right?  It really is (the big plus).

But, I wanted to make sure they weren't just memorizing spelling, but learning the words so I added a little bit for Ben, my then 2nd grader (a possible negative until they reach the higher level workbooks where you do have to KNOW the meaning in order to complete the pages). 

The little bit I added I found on Homeschool Classroom (there are also some fun journaling ideas in the post) and seems simple enough that it really would go along with many different spelling curriculum like the author says.

Monday: Have your child write all their spelling words (no pre-test on unseen words).
Tuesday: Have your child write all their words again, but this time in alphabetical order.  This is one of my favorites as it was so very good for my 2nd grader to work on his alphabetizing skills.
Wednesday: Write all your words in a sentence.  Now, this doesn't mean one sentence per word, it's a call for creativity to appropriately (dictionary wise) use as many spelling words as possible per sentence.
Thursday: Pre-test
Friday: Final test for any missed words during pretest.

Makenna is entering 7th grade this year and after she finishes her last Spelling Workout workbook, she start something new, Vocabulary From Classical Roots.  We haven't used it, so I can't give a review, but I'll make sure to write about it after we've used it for a while (if you've used it, I'd love to hear about how it's working/worked in your family). 

What's your favorite Spelling curriculum?  Or do you make up your own (I'm amazed and astounded at people who take the time and effort to make their own curriculum from scratch!)?

Leah

Curriculum 2013-14

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that I have avoidance (also known as procrastination) issues.  I made myself a list of things I need to get done before school starts, in twelve days, and now I'm blogging instead of working on it. 

That's okay though, right? 

Right.

Plus, I've been wanting to do this post since I finally ordered all our curriculum a few weeks ago and thought it would be the perfect weapon of procrastination.  I'm glad we got that straight.

I wanted to give you my take or review of how each curriculum works for us (or how I hope it'll work for us if it's new this year), but that would make this post LONG, so I thought I'd write a separate post for each curriculum we use and link this post to them.  It's going to take me a little while to write about each one, so if you don't see a link on a subject, it's because I haven't gotten there yet, but I will so check back!

Makenna is entering new territory this year, she's an official middle schooler (that's 7th grade around here)!  Or at least she will be in twelve days.  Last year she did some of her subjects with her younger brothers and one of our biggest changes this year is that, while we'll be covering the same subjects, she has her own curriculum. 

This means we're trying out a few new things, so hopefully it'll go well.

Spelling: Spelling Workout - she's finishing up her last workbook and then we'll move on to vocabulary.
Vocabulary: Vocabulary From Classical Roots
Grammar: Rod and Staff, Building Securely
Writing: Writing With Skill and Creative Writer

History: History Odyssey - Early Modern

Science: Mastering the Periodic Table, CHEM C2000

Logic: Mindbenders and The Art of Argument

Math: Teaching Textbooks - Pre-Algebra

Art: Edgenuity - Digital Arts, she'll also be doing a tour of some of the masters with her brothers as we work our way through Confessions of a Homeschooler's Greatest Artists series.

Foreign Language: Latina Christiana II

Physical Education: Family Time Fitness

Music: Piano lessons and we'll be doing another Confessions of a Homeschooler course, this time her Greatest Composers series.

About half her curriculum is new (slightly scary on its own) and although I did really good the first few years paring down so we didn't get overwhelmed, as I look over her list, I'm thinking I failed this year.  She's got a lot on her plate, so we'll see how much adjusting (and paring down, although hopefully not much of that) I end up doing after the year starts.

Ben and James are in 3rd and 1st grades and do almost all the same curriculum.  For things like Math and Language Arts, they're on different levels, but it's still the same curriculum.

Spelling: Spelling Workout
Grammar: First Language Lessons
Writing: Writing With Ease
Handwriting: Zaner-Bloser

History: Story of the World - Early Modern, we'll start a U.S. geography tour with Confessions of a Homeschooler's Road Trip USA.

Science: REAL Science Odyssey - Chemistry

Logic: Mindbenders

Math: Teaching Textbooks - Math 4 (Ben) & Horizons - Grade 1 (James)

Art: We'll be working our way through Confessions of a Homeschooler's Greatest Artists Series.

Foreign Language: Prima Latina (Ben only)

Physical Education: Family Time Fitness

Music: Piano (for Ben), Confessions of a Homeschooler's Greatest Composers series.

There's less new here, but it's an increase in curriculum and time for both of them compared to last year. I'm debating starting more slowly by adding curriculum as we go, or maybe just not having them do as much (as far as activities go) for the first while, but there's a part of me that just wants to jump in and see if we can swim. 

What do you think?  How's your curriculum planning going?  Are you all set for your new year? 

Happy planning,
Leah

I linked this up on a blog hop with i Homeschool Network, check it out for lots more curriculum ideas!

Overtaking

I realized it'd been almost a month since my last garden update and I can't have that. 

If you want to see how it looked a few weeks ago (or find some links to how it started out a few months ago) click on over to my last post.

If not, well, then.  I guess I'm okay with that. 

And plus, you can check out how it looks today even faster.

The potatoes are dying back in the, well, back.  My corn has popped it's top (and we'll start getting some here pretty soon).  And my kids pumpkins are taking over the ENTIRE garden.  Seriously.

Plus, Josh's sunflower has finally opened.  Isn't it pretty?

So far we have two large pumpkins and this morning I noticed two little ones just starting off.

For the longest time we only had this one watermelon.  One lonely watermelon, but today I found another.  I think it's even a different variety (the kids planted a couple).  Hopefully, it'll keep growing until it gets nice and big like this one.

Look at this beautiful tomato!!  I have lots like this, I can hardly wait for them to turn something other than green.  You know, orange, purple, red, striped...I'm really not picky.

This is a blossom from one of our cucumber plants.  I love blossoms.  I think I may have mentioned that before.

And this is one of those cucumber plants offspring.  Isn't it awesome?  I haven't tasted it yet, although I did pick it yesterday.  It's skin is a little fuzzy and sort of reminds me of a peach.  Kind of strange, but still cool.

What's your favorite produce to plant, pick and eat?  Or does that need three different answers?

Happy Gardening,
Leah

August Sharing Time - Week 2

I found a really great attention getter/lesson introduction on Mormon Share.  Before Sunday, talk with the parent of one child for both Senior and Junior Primary (pick someone outgoing who won't mind being blind-folded in front of everyone).  You'll also need to choose another person that your chosen children do not know, or at least do not know very well. 

Have the child you've chosen come up front in the beginning of Sharing Time and tell them that there will be two people coming into Primary who they'll have to identify.  Then tell them that they'll have to do it while blindfolded (try and convince the rest of the kids not to help them out).  Have your helpers come in one at a time and hopefully your primary child will be able to identify their own parent, but not the stranger. 

Ask the primary why this happened?  The child sees and talks with their parent all the time, so of course they are able to recognize their voice.  Just like the child did not recognize the stranger, we will not know our Father in Heaven if we do not talk with him daily.

We need to pray always.  Always keeping a prayer in our hearts means praying in lots of different places.  Teach them about all the different places you can pray by following the Sharing Time Outline by reading about Zenos in Alma 33:3-9.  I've made some print-outs that go along with the lesson if you don't want to type up your own. 

(I have all the places mentioned by Zenos in my download, this is just the first page so you can see what it looks like.)

 



As you talk about the different places, you could review a little bit of last weeks lesson by asking what they could pray about in each of those places (both blessings asked for and thanks expressed).

After you've read through the scriptures, put up the signs showing where Zenos prayed and compared that to where we can pray, make sure and get the kids to brainstorm other places they can pray to show they really can pray ANYWHERE.  I would even talk about how we don't "need" to close our eyes and bow our heads, we can say a silent prayer in our hearts (this might be hard for the kids in Junior primary to understand, but would work great in Senior primary).

Instead of breaking up into groups to talk about prayer experiences, I'd throw it open for any time you have left by asking the kids if they've ever prayed in any of the places you've talked about. 

Don't forget to share your own story(ies) and testimony about the power of daily prayer.  End with challenge to pray always.  And to help them remember give each one a penny.  Yep, a penny.  I found this idea on Mormon Share also and I love how very simple and effective it is.  Tell the kids to put the penny in their shoes and whenever they feel the penny throughout the day, say a silent prayer.

Happy Sharing Time,
Leah

ps. You can read more about my thoughts on this months theme on this post.

What is Heaven?

A few weeks ago, while reading in my Book of Mormon commentary (Second Witness: Analytical and Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon: Second Nephi Through Jacob) I came across an idea I'd never heard before.  One that I've been thinking about off and on since.

The author, Brant A. Gardner, states, "The conceptual problem we frequently have is that we consider heaven a place rather than a state of being.  We assume that our goal is to get to heaven to be with God.  Were that the purpose, we need never have left the premortal life, for we were already with God.  We are not seeking a place: we are seeking a transformation."

He's talking about 2nd Nephi 25:23, and more specifically, about how we are saved by grace after all we can do.  The grace comes into play because we can never merit the gifts God willingly gives us.  All we can do is to transform ourselves into celestial beings, as Paul said, we must put off the old man and then put on the new man.

Have you ever thought about heaven as something you can turn yourself into?  I haven't.  Hadn't.

As this thought was percolating somewhere in my brain, I was reading another book about the swimmer Michael Phelps called, No Limits, The Will to Succeed.  I really love books about athletes, probably because I find their determination and willingness to continue where almost anyone else would have some sort of mental break (I'm talking about me here) awe inspiring. 

Somehow the percolation about heaven reached out and grabbed a little section of No Limits.  Hey, I was as surprised as you, but it happened.  In the book, Michael talks about the importance of being mentally tough.  I don't have a direct quote (it was a library book that I've already returned), but he said something along the lines of, it doesn't matter how hard you've trained, the winner is the athlete who can ignore their body screaming at them to quit and continue their pace unabated.  The best athletes are able to exert control over their bodies...take control and ignore what their bodies are telling them so they are able to push themselves longer and harder.

This is my thought.  What if the ability to exert that control is our purpose in being here?  What if that is the transformation we are seeking? 

Our spirits were already with God.  We were willing to leave Him to come to earth for a body.  Now, we need to learn how to use these beautiful bodies we've been given.  We need to learn how to use them consistently for His purposes.  Talk about some serious self control. 

But, if the reward is to be able to return to our Father in Heaven and continue progressing, I'm in. 

Calendaring Curriculum

I spent a few hours today going through all the curriculum I ordered a few weeks ago. 

Well, I spent a few hours a few days ago sorting through it and putting it onto the bookshelves and then today I went through it again.

Doesn't it all look so very organized?  It makes me smile...and then I remember my shelves are full and I still have a few more things coming and I'm not sure where I'm going to put it when it gets here.  But, then I take a deep breath, ignore that thought and admire the general splendor of well organized (for the time being) schoolroom bookshelves.

Anyway, that's not what I did today.  Today I went through the curriculum again to check how many lessons there were and then decide how many we need to do every week and quarter to finish in the year.

Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Okay, not really, but it does help throughout the year when I wonder if we're on track.  Not that these plans are set in stone, especially with new curriculum, it's more of a guideline that we work and then adjust as needed.

The first thing I do is figure out how many weeks we're going to homeschool.  We follow the typical school year and so that means 36 weeks (for 180 days) with 9 week quarters.  I like to break it down into quarters because it's easier for me to see how we progressing when I have smaller benchmarks to look at.

Then I do a little math (nothing too strenuous) to figure out that if we do a subject 4 days a week it'll be for 144 days, 3 days a week works out to 108 days, 2 days a week is 72 days and 1 day a week is a whopping 36 days.  Why would I do that?  Well, I'll tell you.  When I pull out my curriculum and find that there are 100 lessons in James grammar, I know immediately that he'll have to work on it about 3 days a week in order to finish by the end of the year.

This helps immensely as I'm making out our checklists for the year.  My checklists are my sanity.  Or at least they allow me to hold onto a little more of my sanity that I would without them (which might not be saying a whole lot).

(this is Makenna's schedule towards the end of her 6th grade year)

After figuring out how many days a week I need (or want) to work on each curriculum, I only have non-weekly things left to plan out.

I haven't done this yet.  Nope.  But I need to.  Yep.

For me this will be scheduling out the books I've picked out for them to read (something an all-inclusive curriculum usually does for you, but I do for myself), which means picking the order to read the books and then assigning chapters to be read each week so we can get through them all by the end of the year.  This is actually my first year doing this, so I'll let you know how it's working (and how many times I have to re-arrange our schedule).

It's also planning out projects to do during the year like book reports, quarterly projects and any holidays we want to do a project of some sort for.

It might sound restrictive, but for me it really isn't.  Without a plan, nothing ever happens.  With my plan in hand, I have the confidence to change things around while still seeing how much we get accomplished.  It only takes a few hours a few different days (although, if you're a little crazy you could do it all at once) and I have the backbone of our entire year all laid out. 

An added bonus is the more I go through our new curriculum, the more excited I get about delving into it with my kids!! 

How do you plan out or organize your school year (or do you)?

Happy planning,
Leah