Homeschool Convention Day 2

The second day of the Conference was just as wonderful as the first. The day started out with a keynote speaker who talked about the Charlotte Mason method. Personally, I left the keynote not really understanding this method, but I guess that gives me something to research. She did offer some really fun ideas about teaching art to your kids. I loved that part.

The first class I took today was called Built on Love not bankrolls. It was taught by Becca Evenson. I totally loved her class. I think it's because I have the same type of personality. It was great. She talked about different ways that you can teach each subject for super cheap. For example she would buy MadLib booklets for her kids to use for grammar lessons. She also had them memorize poetry, scriptures, and famous documents.

For math she said to make it fun and to play along with them while they are doing math. She also suggested that we teach math in very practical forms too (balancing a checkbook, managing a budget, and teaching them how to cook). Great tips. For social studies she recommended taking the kids to visit people who are from other countries (think returned missionaries). She also said that just in our local communities they are Swiss Days, Scott Days, Colonial Celebrations, and Art Days. I think it would be great to do a unit study a week or two before and then go and find things to do at these celebrations that relate to what you learned. Awesome. She also said that one important thing to remember is that when emergencies happen make them a part of your daily curriculum.

The next class was also taught by Becca Evenson. However, this one was called 20 years and looking back. Loved her tips. She said to try and limit time wasters (watching tv for the little ones is a huge one that I need to eliminate). She also said to apologize to your children when you are wrong, learn to laugh at yourself, learn what type of learning style your child prefers so you can optimize their learning, and then when your kids become teenagers have you home the 'home base' were all their friends congregate. I really like the last one :-)

She ended the class with just 5 things that she recommended. They were:
-Mom stop worrying about it all.
-Don't spend a ton of money.
-Do not begin without organization.
-Do not avoid the subjects you disliked in school.
-Do not tell anyone else what they should be doing.
     Home-schooling is a very personal decision and just because it works for you doesn't mean it will  
     work for everyone.

Whew, what a wonderful class. I honestly think I could sit and listen to her talk for days on end. One product she did mentioned that is helpful to have when you children are learning how to read is called a reading phone. I guess you can make them out of PVC elbow and pipes. Guess I'll have to try and make one of those when Peter gets a bit older.

The third class was the 2nd part of Joyce Kinmont's class called Every Home a School. She made an interesting point during this class. She said of teenagers that they are the least happy, yet they are the most free (meaning they don't have many adult obligations). Hum...that really got me thinking about things. She said that allowing your teens to participate in service will help them to understand their real worth. There were also some books she recommended. I think I better start reading now :-)

-Increase in Learning by Bednar
-Disrupting Class by Clayton Christensen
-Smart Parenting, Smarter Kids by David Walsh

The forth, and last, class I attended was taught by Regan Barns a 36 year old mother with a and 7 month old (plus a 12, 10, 7 year old twins, and a 2 year old). She talked about a weekly method they use to follow up on their learning from the previous week. It's called CLAP interviews. In a nutshell each Monday she interviews each child alone and talks to them about Chores, Learning, Attitude, and Planning that has gone on during the past week. It seemed a bit intense for me, but I could see ways that it could be adjusted to be more simple. We'll have to look into that more as Peter gets a bit older.

All in all, I had a very enjoyable time and I'm already looking forward to next years Conference. At times I think I'm kinda weird for thinking about these things so early (Peter won't officially be in Kindergarten until 2014), but it's making me excited...so...there...you...go.

Homeschool

I know this topic can generate a lot of debate, but I wanted to share with you, the reader, my observations, opinions, and the things I recently learned at the annual Utah Home Educators Conference.

When I was in third grade my mother decided to start homeschooling my sisters and I. I'm not sure what motivated her decision, but I know that she wanted to provide her daughters with something more than the public school system was giving to us.

I honestly have very few memories of my pre-homeschool days. Just a few things like playing outside at recess, story time in my Kindergarten class, and lots of kids teasing me because I wore glasses (yep, got those fun things in kindergarten). I do have the annual class pictures and I do remember some of the friends I had because they were also kids I played with in my neighborhood. Anyway, once we started homeschooling my education was learned at home.

Most of the early memories I have include going downstairs to our living room at 9:30 every morning for our daily devotional. We would sing, say a prayer, read our scriptures, say the pledge, and do family memorization. Plus if we had any special activities going on that day we would discuss them. Then we would go about our day doing our individual assignments. I still have the pink container that I kept all my books in. My mother would place a curriculum order at least annually to A Bekah Academy in Florida. They were a Cristian company that provided us with most of our textbooks. I remember loving their literature program and hating Math. Oh, how I hated Math. I still remember all the long crying sessions where I stubbornly refused to do math while my Mom tossed her hands up in the air and grounded me from doing anything until my math was done. Yea, I was that kind of a kid.

Fast forward a few years to the year I turned 16. My Mom discovered a wonderful program called concurrent enrollment through the local school district. This program allowed high-school kids to attend college courses. Mom jumped through a bazillion hoops to get me enrolled. So, in August of 1996 I started at Utah Valley University (actually it was still a college back in those days) as a freshman majoring in Business Management. At the time my father worked in Orem, so I would commute with him to and from school every day. Wow, those were some long days.....

Admittedly it did take me a semester or two to get myself into the swing of taking lecture type classes. However, I soon found my method to studying and I never looked back. I graduated with my two year degree in 1998 and then took a five year hiatus to pursue other endeavors. Eventually I came back to UVU, took some more business classes, transferred to BYU, and finally graduated with my BS degree in Business in 2006 (a few months after Bran and I got married).

Homeschooling was the absolute best thing for me. I never would have been able to attend UVU at the time I did, plus I learned so many wonderful things throughout my home-school years. Some of the few things that I can remember (without pulling out old pictures and going through my old journals) were: putting on a constitution play, putting on a play about Columbus with my cousins, going on many field trips to BYU, going up to the Golden Spike Celebration, learning about Chief "Blackhawk" and visiting his grave when he was reburied in Spring Lake, Utah. I also remember trips to Fillmore so we could visit the Territorial Statehouse to learn about Utah's early history. I don't think I will ever forget seeing the amazing roses they had growing there. That's the gardener in me shining through. It seems like every month or so we were doing some special field trip or celebration because of something we learned in school.The awesome part was that most months my cousins also joined us in our adventures because they were home-schooled too.

Anyway, now that you have the background of my experience I will share a few of the things that I enjoyed most from the UHEA Convention.

The first class I attended was taught by Joyce Kinmont. The class was entitled Every Home A School. Wow, I picked an excellent first class to go to. One of the things that I took away from this class is that I need to sit down and write a blueprint for what I want our home-school to be. Joyce suggested that as parents we establish our own family mission statement, family practices, guiding principles, family rules, family routines, holiday expectations, family tradition, and standards so that our children know what we expect of them. I love all her thoughts. She also recommended that we, as parents,  prayerfully determine what it is that Heavenly Father wants us to teach our children. Great class and I loved every second of it.

The next class I went to was entitled Success Habits of Homeschool. Holy cow - this woman was inspiring and she fit my personality type too which made her class super fun. Her name was Alison Moore Smith. She had the following 7 habits to share with us that she has developed over the past 18 years of her home-school journey.

 #1 - Change your mindset. Really ask yourself why you are home-schooling. Don't mimic the public school model, discard public school model, don't cling onto home-school fads. Make sure that whatever you do 'fits' the needs of your family. As soon as something stops working for you or your children change it.

#2 - Define "Well Educated". Make sure that you know what it looks like. Set general, flexible long-term goals and then adjust your course as needed.

#3 - Organize & Prioritize. Make sure that things are organized. This includes information, home, cleaning, maintenance, meal planning and preparation, laundry, and schoolwork.

#4 - Everybody Wins. You can reach your goals and your kids can love it too. Look for programs that can assist you. For example: community classes, local businesses, apprenticeships, exhibits, colleges, board games, music, and summer camps.

#5 - It's all about time.

#6 - Synergy 1+1 = 3 squared. Make sure to take advantage of field trips, library, service projects, clubs, kick-off parties/ending events, fun time. Use your expertise and use your connections. Also, schedule downtime.

#7 - Be a Model in Progress. As a mother make sure that you move yourself forward too. Take the time to learn yourself. Create a system of success stories for yourself so you children have a good example to follow.

The last class I attended that day was called New Beginnings taught by Donna Gaff. I learned from her that it's good to plan in some wild/crazy days. For instance, take time to climb mountains, go to local concerts, make grocery shopping trips a learning experience, and go on field trips. She also talked about keeping Scholar Binders. Basically this is any kind of book or binder that the kids can keep their notes about things they have learned. Her children would often draw pictures of what they were leaning about, or they would put their thoughts/ideas/questions in this book so they could follow up later on them. Or, if they wanted to learn something new these books were the first place they would go for topics. This was my first exposure to this type of method and I really like it. I especially think it would be beneficial to teenagers. She also talked about sitting down as a parent and figuring out what my strengths/weaknesses are so that I could improve on them. I couldn't help but think it would be better to do a SWOT analysis (a business term I have done WAY too many time for WAY too many situations). She also had some fun example to share of what worked for her and her children. She also talked a lot about the concept of Family Work. I've got to read up more on this topic because I think it might be a really important way to learn. 

Lastly, while I was hastily jotting down notes in this class I started a list of what some of my goals are for my home-school. I want to Have Fun, Learn Academically, Have my children become capable adults, Come unto Christ, Love to Learn (this is a huge advantage I see home-schooled kids having).

Anyway, hope you've enjoyed this first day of the two-day Conference. I'll get the other day posted asap for all of you that are interested.

Recently

I feel very lucky to have my sister Amy. She is such a wonderful Aunt to my kids, plus she comes over once a week to help me work on my garden. This year she has grown over 100 plants for me and we're still not done planting. I love you Amy and appreciate all you do for me and the kids.

A few weeks ago I decided that I wanted to make a pink pig pinata just for fun. I'd never made one before and I thought it would be a fun thing to do. Well, I learned that it takes a super de' duper long time to have the paste dry. I mean seriously, it would take well over a day to dry each layer. So...eventually we got the pig finished and Peter was able to paint it pink. It now sits on our kitchen table looking cute when Luke isn't throwing it across the kitchen floor.

Shortly after we moved into our home we decided that we should have a extended family game night once a month with the Thomas side. It's been a blast starting this new tradition and I wonder if we will ever run out of games. Brandon used to have a serious addiction when it came to buying games. This past month Aunt Allison was on the winning team for every single game we played. It was so much fun! We are planning on having a water game night sometime this summer. I am already looking forward to it and can't wait to see who wins the games I come up with. I've learned that if you want to do something fun or start a  new tradition just stop procrastinating and do it because you'll have more fun then you even thought possible.

This month my sister Lisa is also moving back to Utah after living in both Florida and Oklahoma for the past couple of years. I can't tell you how excited I am to have her back. Sisters really are the best!