Back To School

It's that time again. Although I will admit to anticipating the new year with some dread, once I finally buckled down and figured out my lesson plans and schedule for the school year, I was excited to begin. Even though I'm the teacher now, I still love the feeling of a fresh pack of crayons, a cup full of brand-new, sharp pencils; and all those blank pages in the composition books make my heart race! I did miss having an excuse for everyone to get a new outfit (although everyone did get new shoes last week--everyone but me, that is.) And I completely forgot to take a first-day-of-school picture. Shame on me.

I have learned a few things about my family's needs in regards to homeschool in the past two years--plus I spent some time petitioning the Lord to show me a better way. I truly felt led by Him as my plans came together, which gives me confidence in those plans. I know that my vision for our homeschool and reality haven't quite become one and the same yet, but I'm working towards that goal.

This year, Ian will be attending kindergarten half-days at the public school. We agonized about this last spring, but since we registered him I have felt increasingly better about it. We wanted to give him the opportunity to go to kinder if he chose. Both Kimball and Henry attended kindergarten at the same public school and had a good experience there. I feel that kinder is a unique year socially, when the kids have lots of opportunities to bond with other kids and experience the classroom environment. The biggest disadvantages to sending him? First of all, the public school's approach to writing which is very different from the philosophy I embrace--but I don't think they can do much damage in this year. The other con to sending him is that it takes some of the flexibility out of my schedule and routine. In the end we decided that it just felt right to give him this experience. He will participate with us in afternoon lessons (science, art, music, and read-alouds), and we anticipate that he will be back with us homeschooling full-time next year.

We've also made the leap to joining a public charter school because of the additional resources it provides. I steered clear of it previously because I really value my autonomy, but after closer investigation it appears that this group is reasonably flexible and will let me call the (important) shots regarding my kids' education. I do have to follow their schedule, which explains why we started our school year yesterday. I really prefer to start after Labor Day or at least when the kids in our neighborhood go back to school (next week), but we decided that we could go ahead and start this week. The charter school will allow my kids to do more of the extras, like art classes, horseback riding, and music lessons, without me having to shell out so much money every month. They also pay for my curriculum, but I had already purchased most of the curricula for this year before we made this decision. They have a center in my community that offers small group classes and a library where I can check out a variety of resources to use in our schooling. If all goes as planned, Kimball will be taking a ceramic sculpture class and a hands-on equations class on Friday mornings, while Henry takes a hands-on art and hands-on science class at the same time. We'll see how that goes.

Anyway, so far so good. We are starting each school day with Book of Mormon study on a deeper level than we have been doing in our family devotional. As we'll still be having devotional with Jared before breakfast, I am concentrating this lesson on my readers (Kimball and Henry). Besides a closer study of the scriptures, it will provide some additional language arts time in our day. The real benefits, I know, will be the spirit that it brings to our school day and the testimonies it will strengthen within our home.

Now I've got to hit the hay, as rising early is key to my success and I have to be up in the night with my little 8 week/ 8 lb baby who isn't big enough to sleep all night yet. She is getting closer to dropping that 2 am feeding, though, I can feel it!

Tell me about your first day of school. Ready, begin!







picture swiped from this blog.

A Visit to Ancient Egypt

If you think I've stopped posting on this blog, you should visit my neglected homeschool blog. On second thought, DON'T! I have been terrible about posting updates and if you took my reports there to be a measure of our schoolwork, you'd be very concerned about my children's education. I'm really considering merging the two blogs again, because perhaps somehow that will feel less overwhelming than keeping up on them both.

In light of that, I thought I'd post about a recent field trip our little Academy took to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose, California. We really should have gone back in the fall when we were deep into ancient Egypt, but I didn't know about it then. My kids didn't seem to mind the fact that we were learning about ancient India during the school week and looking at Egyptian artifacts on Friday.

The museum is set on some beautiful grounds with gardens with several buildings built in the ancient style. There was a large outdoor Senet game, which we took advantage of at the end of the day, fountains, and plantings. The museum itself was not large, but they had a surprising amount of artifacts. We loved looking at the mummies, sarcophagi, the toys and jewelry of the ancient Egyptians. There was papyrus and a large diorama explaining family life in ancient Egypt, including how Egyptians welcomed a new baby into the world, which was of particular interest to our family.

There was also a fairly large exhibit of artifacts and replicas from other ancient civilizations including Sumeria, Assyria, and Babylon. The boys were excited to see a replica of the Rosetta stone and of the stele of Hammurabi's Code, as well as an artist's 3-D rendition of what the Hanging Gardens of Babylon might have looked like.

The museum also offered a 40 minute planetarium presentation which we tried but ended up leaving. Brownen didn't make it through the introduction and Ian lost interest almost immediately but managed to sit quietly for about 25 minutes of it. I was surprised that Kimball and Henry did so well with it, as I found it to be a rather dry high-school or college level lecture on the Mithraic Mysteries. I would recommend it for kids at least 10 and older who have an interest in the ancient world, otherwise wait until they are teenagers.

Here are a few shots of the kids playing Senet outside before we headed into rush hour traffic to drive home. I wish that I had taken more pictures of the grounds, but that will have to wait for our next visit.

Baking Bread

The weather this morning is cool and overcast--perfect for baking bread. I broke down last week and got a few loaves at the Orowheat outlet because it was too hot to bake in the middle of the day and my third trimester has left me too tired in the early morning or late night to contemplate such projects. But none of the inhabitants of this house feel the love with store-bought wheat bread, and it's time to get baking.

Once I get the bread raising, we'll be finishing up our Ancient India chapter. I'm pleased to report that yesterday I finished off Henry's first grade math curriculum, taught one of Kimball's last math lessons, and got a new closet organizer in the new baby's side of the closet. I also found a great deal on pink tulle online for the bed skirts in the girls' room (I'm copying a Pottery Barn Kids design); so I didn't have to leave the house! So I'm making progress on that list.

I posted this recipe a year or so ago, but it stands repeating. By the way, if you don't grind your own WW flour, Trader Joe's is now carrying their own brand of white whole wheat flour for $2.99/ 5lb. bag. A great find at a great price!

Mom's Whole Wheat Bread

• 3 cups warm water
• 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1/2 cup honey
• scant Tablespoon coarse kosher salt or 1/2 t. fine salt
  
• 6 cups whole wheat flour (I like white wheat flour best, from whole white wheat)

Mix ingredients in a stand mixer with a dough hook for 3 minutes. Meanwhile, proof the yeast:

• 3/4 cup very warm water
• 3 Tablespoons yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

When yeast is proofed, add to bread mixture along with:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups white, all-purpose flour

Mix on low or medium to incorporate, then on high for 10 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic.

Turn out into bowl sprayed with cooking spray and allow to rise in a warm place for 25 minutes. Turn dough out onto a very lightly floured surface and separate into four loaves. Shape loaves and place in greased loaf pans. Allow to rise for 25 minutes more.

Bake in 350 oven for 25-30 minutes, until bread is golden brown. Remove from oven and from pans immediately. Rub or brush tops of the loaves with butter. Allow to cool on wire cooling rack. Freeze what you're not going to use today or tomorrow.

Variations: Substitute 1/4 cup of the oil with an equal amount of applesauce. Substitute 1/2 cup flour with equal amount ground flax seed, toasted wheat germ, or leftover oatmeal. Add 1/2 cup sunflower seeds with final 4 cups of flour (my kids don't love this version). Any other variations that my readers can suggest?

Clones and Kids

Kimball had a Star Wars-nerd Birthday campout last night. I don't have any photos because I sent along a camera but it never left the backpack. Rumor has it that the boys dueled with lightsabers and took turns with the Clone Trooper helmet the entire time, breaking only for food. (I highly recommend birthday parties that involve dads and boys camping and moms staying home!) I do have a photo of these cupcakes that Alli and I threw together. I think this is my fourth Star Wars themed birthday cake, and that isn't counting Kimball and Jared's lightsaber cake for Cub Scouts last year. Time for our family to get a new obsession, methinks.

Also, I just updated our homeschool blog with a couple of posts if you'd like to see what we've been learning.

Where Have I Been?

I feel like this blog is my long lost (or at least neglected) friend of late. Things have just been so constantly busy around here that I have little time to read or write blog posts. And I miss it! Yet I'm not sure exactly what I could have cut out these past couple of weeks. Here is a glimpse at what we have done in the last 7 days. Obviously, little time has been spent at the computer. To those of you who think that I have turned my back on your blogs, please know that I will make it back!

So, here are a few things that have been keeping us busy:


Soccer. Luckily Unfortunately, today's games were rained out. But last Saturday we had two soccer games. And we are at the point in the season where almost everyone wishes it would just be over!:)

Prop 8. We've been to rallies, town hall meetings, and phone banks trying to spread the excitement and educate people about Prop 8. We've been to training meetings and planning meetings. We've been talking about this so much with everyone that we know that I'm not sure what we'll talk about after Tuesday (don't forget to vote!) We are in the final days now. The final days of calling the people who promised to vote yes until they get to the polls. The final days of waving signs on street corners. The final days of knocking on doors and shaking hands.

Cub Scouts. Kimball's pack had a great meeting at the library. Although we go to the library regularly and check out our limit of 50 books, Kimball didn't have his own library card yet. Well, he does now. The librarian also showed the boys lots of new books that were just up their alley. Kimball came home with a few of her suggestions, including books about gross things, books about spooky things, books about world records. . . . yes, he still loves books. He also participated in retiring the flag at the library that day. And no, I have no idea where his neckerchief and slide are. Thanks for noticing he wasn't in full uniform!


Homeschool. We are busy learning about the ancient Greeks. Among other things, this week we learned about the Greek alphabet and tried writing our names using it. We also adorned Grecian urns with drawings of mythological stories, had our own Olympic games, and brushed up on the Odyssey, which we read together last spring.


Halloween. Duh. We had a ward trunk-or-treat plus our annual Halloween open house, inspired by our dear friends, the Renoufs. (You can read about our tradition here.) Yesterday the forecast called for rain, so we set up the shade tarps just in case. The rain stayed away until about 8:15, over two hours into the party. We had a good turnout, especially given the weather, and fun was had by all. One Tinkerbell even managed to sleep through a good part of it before awaking to play with her friends.


Kimball agreed to be a clown for the trunk or treat, but for Halloween night, he had only one wish. He had to be Howard Carter. (Go ahead and click the link. You have no idea who Howard Carter is--admit it! I didn't.) With his nana's help, he and Henry turned their room into an Egyptian tomb, complete with hieroglyphics, paintings of Egyptian gods, and a sarcophagus. He led our guests on expeditions back to the tomb, where his lantern was the only light, and explained all the details of the paintings to them. He was absolutely adorable!



This Bon Jovi wannabe grilled and served hot dogs and corn dogs all night (after cleaning my house and setting up tables, chairs, and tarps for me.) This annual gig couldn't be done without all his work.

Our little ballerina proved to be quite the party girl.
After the initial phase where she bolted out the open double doors and towards the front street multiple times, she finally figured out that the fun was to be in the thick of things. She flitted about, visiting everyone, charming people into taking the wrapper off of a lolly for her every time one ran out. (The clever girl had quickly discovered where the trick-or-treat bin was.) She was thrilled when any of her friends arrived, like her cousins, Lydia

and Isaac, or her BFF, Cali. She refused to go to bed until our guests were gone, even though it was long past her bedtime.

Ian, on the other hand, is famous for getting dressed for bed halfway through the party and he lived up to his reputation this year. Henry was thrilled to not have his mom policing his food (although he kept asking me before he ate anything, not quite catching on that I was going to let him eat whatever he wanted that night.) He paid for it this morning, though, by puking the chocolately contents of his stomach at 8:00 am. It's a good thing that at our house the candy disappears on November 1st. We get our fill before then.

I'm hoping that after the election on Tuesday I'll have some time to write and read blogs more often, but I'm not making any promises. November is not known for its unhurried ways around these parts. It's pretty much a whirlwind from now until January 2nd. But please stick with me. I'll try hard not to neglect you if you'll still check in once in a while!

Channeling My Inner Seamstress

My head is still spinning from last week. Besides having our first week of school (go on over to Kindling the Fire to read all about that), my mom decided at the last minute to come to town. So all of the time that was not spent on school/soccer/Cub Scouts/martial arts and on what little housework I did was filled up with playing with my mom and Allison.

The good news is that I got to bed early most nights and got up early to exercise every day, something I never would have done if it weren't for this exercise challenge! So far, I haven't missed a day, although points-wise I am way behind the overachievers (Debbie, Prudy, and Malia are putting me to shame.) Still, for me it is a victory that on a week when I otherwise might have felt justified in sleeping in I still managed to exercise and stick to my routine.

One of the things that we did with my mom was a sewing project. Now, my mom is an excellent and accomplished seamstress and Allison can sew although she does so in spurts. I on the other hand. have a brief but ugly history with sewing.

I remember making some drawstring pants for myself before my study abroad in Jerusalem. Somehow I managed to put the drawstring in the back of one pair, and sew another pair inside out. Not destined for sewing greatness, but there were other possibilities for me, I was sure.

The next time I even considered a sewing project was several years later, while I was pregnant with Henry, when Alli and I decided to make my mom a quilt for Christmas. I will confess that Alli did the majority of the machine work because I am scared of that thing, but we spent many many hours slaving over the quilt. It turned out to be enormous--much bigger than her double bed required. It also turned out that the pattern we chose, which we thought would be easier and more forgiving than most for us beginning quilters, required acute precision (not my strong point.) In the end, the quilt was beautiful and we were burned out--in fact, we decided that if Mom didn't cry on Christmas morning that it would not have been worth it. Luckily, she did cry. (In my family, we all try to get my mom the Best Gift of Christmas, which means the one that makes her cry.)

Since THE QUILT, I have done very little, largely because I have lived far away from Mom and Alli for most of that time and I am completely dependent on them for any sewing that I might do. My goal is generally to "participate" in the project while letting them do anything that might require skill, accuracy, or attention to detail. And yet in the past year I have really been wanting to learn to sew independently. Maybe it's because the new me is thriftier, maybe because I realized that I'm really lacking in the self-reliance area, maybe it's because I have a daughter now and I am shocked by the immodest clothing that is ubiquitous for young girls and teens. But it is on my list of things to do before I'm 40.

Well, this project still relied heavily on my long-time crutches, but I did more of the actual sewing than I had in the past. And I came to understand the importance of the precision, etc. I can't spill the beans on what we made because it might involve Christmas gifts for some nieces and nephews-- and we're not quite finished yet. But I was filled with an undeniable thrill as I stitched away on the sewing machine. (As invigorated as Bob is about sailing in the following clip, I called out: "I'm sewing! I'm actually sewing! I'm a sew-er!")



So my Christmas gifts are mostly done (for those nieces and nephews--I wish my whole list was done), and even though I am a classic almost-finisher, my Mom and Alli will make sure I do this time. (Plus the new and improved Michal of 2008 would never abandon a half-finished sewing project and spend twice as much money on different gifts rather than finish what I'd started. I'm far too prudent for that! I hope.) (I am going crazy with the parentheses tonight, aren't I?)

This project won't count for my 40 list since my crutches still did more of the work than I did, but it is instilling some confidence in me that I can be a seamstress one day. Before the millennium.

Do you ever start a project and not quite finish it? Are there talents that run in your family but that seemed to have skipped over you completely? Help me feel better about myself and tell me about yours.

Nesting

I'm in a nesting frenzy right now; anticipating, not a new baby, but the beginning of the school year. This is the first year that we are starting off with homeschooling in the fall (we took Kimball out of public school last November) and the first year that no one is participating in public school at all. Knowing how much time it takes up and wanting desperately to have a sense of order in my life and in my house, I spent last week on a massive organization task. I took everything out of the hall closet and only put back in things that pertain to our "Tiger" Academy (a name we use online to protect our real-life identities). Everything else had to find a new home or go to our friends at Deseret Industries.

Thus, all of our DVDs are now located in one of three DVD wallets. My dear husband insisted on keeping all of the cases "in case we ever want to sell them because they become collector's items." (Can I tell you how much I hate keeping things because they might become collector's items? And is it really possible, even if the Lord of the Rings Special Edition Trilogy is one day worth a small fortune, that I will be able to convince him to sell it and finance our children's college tuition? I doubt it. And yet, the domain of the garage is his and if he wants another box full of empty DVD cases out there with his old GI Joes and all of my junk important things that I don't use very often.)

Our winter coats are hanging in the closets of the people who wear them. Our vacuum is currently homeless, but I will find a spot for it by the end of the day. Our extra table leaves are in a spot in Ian's closet, thanks to his generosity.

And then there was a huge, unorganized pile of school things, some of which we used and some of which I'd only looked through once, put at the bottom of the pile, and never thought about again. Not to mention the 15 gallon bin full of our "daily school stuff", which didn't even fit in the closet, and the shelf in my closet that was overloaded with various resource books. (My mom gave me a lot of stuff when she was getting ready to retire from school teaching. None of it stolen from the government, I assure you!)

Now, the closet looks like this:I really should label the bins. If you care to know how I organized this, read on (those of you who don't homeschool can just skip the next few paragraphs.)

On the bottom, two hold math manipulatives and one holds small educational games that might be looked over if they were competing with the games in our game cupboard. In the middle, each boy has his own bin (in the color of his choosing) and notebook. The bins contain a journal, some workbooks, and a few other things depending on each child's needs. I'm not sure yet if I'll use the notebooks for finished work that we are proud of or for weekly assignments.

The third row from the bottom is pretty obvious. The caddies are low enough that the kids can grab them and bring them to where ever we are learning at that moment. There are four cups of crayons in the caddy, each with a color corresponding to the child's bin so that we don't need to fight over crayons. There are also scissors, colored pencils, and erasers in the crayon caddy. Another holds glue, tape, a stapler, markers, and rulers. The white board markers are in a small plastic box and a large pencil cup is already full of sharpened pencils, thanks to Henry's good efforts.

The top row of cubes contains a bin of craft supplies (which is sadly mostly empty at the moment. I'm not very crafty, but I'm really trying harder for my kids' sake); some extra supplies that I can dole out as needed; and all of my teacher's manuals for this year, which Jared says are far too heavy and are in danger of jeopardizing the entire structure, but I'm ignoring that. (Something which I will surely come to regret later, but that is right where I want the manuals. So there.) On top is writing paper, scratch paper, and math workbooks that they will use later in the year.

The shelf on top, which is barely visible in the photo, has books that I may use for resources. Ideas for math, language arts, unit studies, holiday craft activities, science, . . . . you get the idea. But now I can see them all, so I know just what I have and can put my hands on it quickly if I want it. Hurray!

The white board props up in front of the cubes when we aren't using it, which also makes it harder for Bronwen to get to the crayons if the door is accidentally left open. Crayons she likes to eat and markers she likes to use to give herself tatoos all over her body. We hope she gets that out of her system soon.

Now that this closet is finished, I'm torn between getting all my lesson plans figured out and getting my master bedroom decluttered. I will do both before school starts for us in a week and a half. Please hold me to that!:)

Back to my projects . . . .

Saying Goodbye to Kindergarten

Henry had his last day of kindergarten a week ago. We were already a couple of months into the school year when we felt inspired to start a family homeschool, and we gave Henry the option of finishing out the year in kindergarten since it was in the afternoons and he could participate with us in the mornings. Even though the scheduling was often a pain (interrupting lessons so that we could rush him off to school, for instance,) I am so glad that Henry spent this year in kindergarten.

For one thing, Henry fell in love with his teacher, Mrs. R. I know that this is a pretty common occurrence, but up until last fall I don't think that Henry had been in love with anyone but his mommy. This was a big deal for him. And I watched him blossom as she poured out love on him, praised him, and appreciated him. She always had something special to share with me and acted like he was her favorite kid, but I watched her with other students and their parents; I think that one of her gifts is to make everyone feel like her favorite. When she and Henry said good-bye on the last day of school, both she and I had tears in our eyes. Henry looked between us, confused by our weeping. But I knew that she had touched his life, and he, hers.

Henry also made big strides in overcoming some bashfulness this year. I hadn't really realized that he was bashful until sometime last year when I observed him in a large group and saw that he always gravitated toward the adults or just hung back from the crowd. At home he has no problem asserting himself, but I watched him struggle to keep his place in line or ask for something he needed, especially if it involved getting someone's attention. Now he seems much more confident in himself in big group situations.

Henry has been able to see himself as smart. We make a big effort to not compare him to his brothers, especially when it comes to intelligence, but Henry has grown up comparing himself to his older brother. Kimball is advanced academically for his own age, but even if he wasn't, it would be hard for a younger sibling to measure up to that at this point in his life. We have always reassured Henry that Kimball is older and a lot of the skills that Henry will acquire as he gets older. Being in a group of his peers has helped him to gain confidence in his abilities, as he found that he excelled in the kindergarten curriculum. He has always loved learning and never complained about spending all morning in homeschool and all afternoon in kindergarten. He just drinks it all in. Now Henry knows what we already did--that he is smart and capable.

All of these reasons will surely have my critics wondering if we should be moving forward with the plan to homeschool Henry full time next year. I will admit that it gives me pause as well. But we will move forward with the faith that if the Lord has prompted us to do it, then it must be the right thing for him. I know that Heavenly Father will continue to direct our family as we strive to rely on Him and seek His guidance. If we feel prompted to return Henry (or any of our kids) to public school, you can bet we will do so. Until then, I feel so grateful that he had these experiences and opportunities in kindergarten. Perhaps they will prepare him for what lies ahead in homeschooling.

What I want to know is this: if we homeschool year round, how will we know when to have a celebratory last-day-of-school lunch, like this one at Red Robin? The kids ate like they'd never seen a french fry before!

Come and Visit Us

. . . at our new blog dedicated to homeschool. I found myself wanting to post more and more about our homeschool experience and yet didn't want to alienate 75% of my readers who are not homeschoolers. Add to that fact that my boys have been begging to start a blog of their own, and we decided to do a joint effort that focuses on what we are learning together. It's still pretty basic, but we plan to add lots of things.

Also, I am moving my link list of fellow homeschoolers to that site, and deleting my children's books recommendations soon (so if you've been meaning to take a closer look, now's the time). We are going to do a series of posts on the HS blog dedicated to books we love and books that are facilitating our learning.

Now, when am I supposed to find time to post on 2 blogs?

Outta Town

We're at my mom's for the weekend, helping with some projects, visiting with her, and attending a continuing education course (okay, the last one is just Jared.) Anyhow, I won't spend time posting, but in the meantime, here are a few blogs and such that I've discovered recently for you to explore:

This blog by a homeschooling mom is one that I am so excited about. I can tell that she has a similar philosophy to homeschooling to mine and seems to be implementing the way I would like to be (notice that I'm not there yet.) Besides having some great pictures and thoughts, she posts once a week with a report on everything they've been doing for homeschool. Even if you are a parent whose kids are in public school, you still might enjoy some of the things she is doing with her kids as enrichment activities. Here's Sonja at The Wonder Years.

Also, my friend Christine just started a blog on cupcakes. If you are a fan of the single serving bliss-on-a-plate desserts, or if you are looking for an idea for an upcoming kid's party, look no further. Check out The Coolest Cupcakes. And tell her who sent you:)!

Since you already know what a cake lover I am, wander on over to the Charm City Cakes site and browse their amazing creations. Cakes start at $500 each, so you may just be window shopping, but it's still fun. You may already have seen many of their masterpieces on one of my favorite Food Network shows, Ace of Cakes.

Last but not least, last week I read A Thousand Splendid Suns (see the link for my full review on goodreads.com). A tremendously moving book that spoke to my heart about the plight of the women in Afghanistan. I have not stopped thinking about how I can help them. This non-profit aims to do just that. Check it out and think about ways that you can help women who were born into heart wrenching situations. The organization is the Women of Hope Project. And if you haven't read the book, I recommend it. It is not light reading, but I found it to be uplifting in spite of the heart breaking stories found therein.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Friday Fun?

One of my favorite parts of Tiger Academy (the kids' favorite parts, as well) is Science Friday. It is one of my favorites because Jared is the teacher and my participation is often not required. (Not that I don't love the other days, but it is so nice to have a break!) It is the boys' favorite because they learn cool stuff and usually go on a field trip. So far, Jared has taken them horseback riding, to see the salmon run at the local fish hatchery, to tour a print shop, and today we took a family outing to the zoo. Yes, even after what happened this week in San Francisco. (Although I did get pretty nervous when the air raid sirens went off for two minutes. It turns out that the city of Sacramento tests their air raid sirens on the last Friday of the month. Seems like someone should have told me, because I was looking for a spot to hide my babies from the tiger on the loose.)
Now this sounds like a great thing to do as a family on a Friday morning, and we told the kids last night about our plan. Jared would first give them a science lesson about kingdom-phyllum-class-order-family-genus-species and then we'd all go together. Neither of us considered checking the weather report before giving our children such exciting news.
So, we bundled up and went to the zoo in the 40 degree rain. I'm sure that if you live in upstate New York, Winnepeg, or Yekaterinburg you don't think that is cold. But we Californians are a bit wimpy about such things. In fact, by the time we got back to the car, I was convinced that my feet hadn't been that cold since I walked the streets of Yekaterinburg (look it up here) in the winter, talking to people about my church. There were about three other families in the entire zoo who were as crazy (or foolish) as we. The kids seemed to have a great time (except Bronwen, who did not enjoy herself beyond the first ten minutes, when I managed to get this picture!). The three one-year-old Sumatran tigers (brothers) thought it was pretty cold too. We found them all huddled up together trying to keep warm. It's funny how you can watch three tigers who are brothers and think that you are seeing your own three sons! Poor little tropical guys, living in such a frigid, foreign environment. Oh well, at least they have each other.
In the hour that we spent there before we headed for the warm car, we got to see our favorites: the tigers, lemurs, and penguins, plus a few others; so I guess it wasn't a total loss. Plus, we get to count today as a school day! That means that some sunny, lovely day in May when you are all huddled over homework with your kids, we'll be at the pool!

I'm Still Here!

Thanks for being patient with me as I neglect my blog. The past week has been a whirlwind as we settled into our Tiger Academy. I am still figuring out how to make time for me to do the things that are important to me (including laundry, blogging, and reading.) We are having a great time learning together.
I've also been getting ready for a trip this weekend that I'm really looking forward to. I'll tell you all about it when I get back. In the meantime, here is something to keep you entertained and indoctrinated in the ways of organic food.



This was made a few years ago by Free Range Studios, a graphic design firm where one of my dear friends from BYU days, McArthur, is the VP. (Yes, I am obviously out to impress you with all of the cool people I know after my last post!)
Also, Tawny requested a low fat dessert recipe. Try this fabulous fancy chocolate souffle for only 152 calories on Cooking Light. Or, if you're in the mood for pumpkin, try this Pumpkin Carrot Cake recipe, also from Cooking Light. Sorry it has taken me so long, Tawny.

Party Post Coming Soon

I can't wait to post pictures and a rehash of our Open House last night, however at the moment I can barely get to the computer for all the clean up that needs to be done! Not to mention that as soon as we finished family scripture study this morning at 7:30 am (which I had rolled out of bed for fifteen minutes previously,) my kids said, "OK, Mom! Time for Txxxxx Academy!" (I'm going to have to come up with a code name for our home school if I'm not going to disclose our family name on this site. In the future, I'll call us Tiger Academy, as the tigers are our chosen mascot.)
So, stay tuned. There will be pictures of our celebrity guest, adorable children, and more.

Faith, not Doubt

I've been thinking a lot lately about what polar opposites faith and doubt are. I suppose it started with my spiritual wrestling with God over homeschooling our brood. I had previously let fear keep me from doing anything more than talking about researching possibly doing home school! In my mind, I was actually researching, but deep down I was hoping that the Lord would point me in a different direction and that my research would be akin to Abraham being willing to sacrifice Isaac--at the last minute, the angel would sweep in and send my kids back to school. To my amazement, the more I looked into home school, the more potential that I could see for it to truly bless my family; and yet, I was still afraid.
Anyhow, last week when I felt an undeniable impression that homeschooling our children NOW, not some non-committal day in the future, was the right thing to do, I couldn't shake the fear. I have been heard to say all the same things that so many people have said to me in the past week: "I just don't think I could do homeschool;" followed by one of the following sentences:

• "I'm not organized enough."
• "My kids and I really need a break from each other."
• "I don't have the patience for it."
• "I really need that time while they are in school."

Guess what? Those things were all still true about me. The only thing that had really changed was that deep down in my heart, I knew that it was the best thing for my kids. (I'm not trying to preach that it's the best for everyone, but I knew that it was the best for mine.) So, I asked the Lord to take away my fear. And I immediately remembered the principle that fear and faith cannot coexist. I determined to focus on my faith in God. I have to trust Him. If He, in His infinite wisdom, knows homeschooling to be the path for my family to take, what do I have to be afraid of? Certainly it will require change, work, more patience than I currently have, and a healthy dose of prayer, but why should I fear those things?
Then yesterday morning as I was studying the scriptures, a strip of paper fell out of them. It was a quote from a lesson I had in Relief Society ages ago. It said,
"Remember, faith and doubt cannot exist in the mind at the same time, for one will dispel the other. Cast out doubt. Cultivate faith. Strive always to retain that childlike faith which can move mountains and bring heaven closer to heart and home." --Thomas S. Monson
Not only did this quote fit in with the theme of my musings of late, but I was struck with the last phrase: that faith can bring heaven closer to heart and home. Isn't that our goal as mothers (and fathers)? What better reason to cast out doubt and cultivate faith?
I love the term cultivate there, it reminds me of gardening (which is not one of my strengths, although I would love to change that.) Faith doesn't just happen. It's not that you either have it or you don't. You have to work at it, feeding it, watering it, weeding out the doubts and the other weeds that would attack your faith. It goes along with Alma's analogy in the Book of Mormon of faith being like a seed that will grow if nurtured properly.
I have felt so strengthened in the past week, since I made the commitment to follow the spiritual promptings I have been given to homeschool our children. I can feel my faith grow as I cast away doubt. And that faith is strengthening me and telling me that I, in my imperfect state, and take on this enormous challenge.
I am filled with gratitude and with the knowledge that Heavenly Father knows me, my family, our needs, my flaws, and that He is willing to work with me to help me overcome the obstacles to become the woman that He wants me to be.

Preparing for the Ride of My Life!

So here's our big news. As fun as it was to watch you all speculate, I guess I should finally share. I just filled out the official affidavit with the state for our new private home school, (Our last name) Academy! We have been talking seriously about home educating our children for about six months, although I have toyed with the idea off and on since I was in college. Over the summer I began to feel better and better about it, yet was scared to make such a big change and commitment. Our plan was to research this year and implement next year, but I think that was mostly because "next year" sounds very far away and less scary somehow. But during the past few weeks I have felt more and more led towards homeschooling our family; the Lord has put people in my path everywhere lately who home school or who were home schooled and I've had so many positive encouraging conversations about it. As we watched General Conference last week, many of the things that were said about families and parenthood supported our long list of reasons why home school would be advantageous for our family. This week I couldn't get it off my mind (remember, I do have a tendency to obsess) and finally spent much of the day Thursday studying about it and praying about it and I just knew that this is what God wants for us. Once I had that confirmation, I changed my prayers to, "Lord, take away my fear and help me have faith." He has done that for me.
We choose to do this for a number of reasons; naturally, the fact that we have a special needs child got the conversation going but the more that we have researched, the more we feel that this will bless our entire family. We truly believe that we will be led to do this successfully, although I am not naive enough to believe that it will be easy or that we will have a seamless transition.
We had a family council today and told the kids. They were enthusiastic. We explained that we would choose a date for Kimball's last day in public school. Henry will home school with us in the morning but will finish afternoon kindergarten before we remove him from public school. Kimball knew exactly how long he wanted to stay for--his class has a "Pumpkin Day" scheduled in two weeks that he wants to participate in. We chose a school name, a mascot, and a few units that we will study first (polar bears and sharks. Did I mention that I already know more than I care to about those two creatures because I live in this house? But we wanted them to have a role in choosing our curriculum, and I'm sure that we can find more to learn about.)
So, wish us luck! We are excited, nervous, and gearing up for negative feedback from the public school when we break the news to them. But we are armed with the confidence that comes from knowing we are doing what God means for us to do. I know that He will help us to do it well. Thank goodness for personal revelation. I am so grateful that He is mindful enough of our little family to lead us in our lives.