My Family By Suzana

Hiking

We love to go hiking with our nature journals! My mom watched Kenny for me so we could go on this more difficult hike. Thanks Mom! Silly Mountain has a great botanical walk with signs and all! It was perfect.

Nature Hike

The Weather was so perfect for a Hike today so I couldn't resist taking school outside. We saw some pottery at the State Park that was from 800- 1000 AD and learned about the old Miners that lived in these mountains that are buried just behind this hill. Audree had her nature journal and drew some pictures and descriptions of her favorite things. We got to hold a chuckwalla and see a scorpion under a blacklight. The snakes were all hiding but the Gila Monster poked his little head out for us. Desert animals are all scary looking! It's all about survival out here. This is all at the San Tan Mountain Park. I hope that we can go to the Lost Dutchmen Park next week and maybe see the bats there.

HIP Market

Last Friday was the H.I.P. Market! We had a such a great time. This is a market only run by children. It was so cute to see all their creative ideas and yummy treats. It was clear that the children spent a lot of time and effort into their businesses. We didn't have a business this year but the kids said they definitely want to do one next year. I alloted each of them $3.50 to spend at the market an what ever they wanted. Audree got her hair done, nails painted, a cookie, lemonade and a cupcake. Ethan bought a handmade crossbow, a balloon animal, lemonade and a turn to launch a bottle rocket. They had so much fun! and we won in the raffle! We won patriotic sheet music with a CD written by a fellow homeschooler in the area. I'm loving it so far and can't wait for the kids to learn the preamble and a bunch of wonderful new LDS songs! I love the community we have out here. Everyone is so inviting and inspiring!

Busy Busy

I've started reading Pocketful of Pinecones last night. I am really interested how this idea will pan out. I have heard rave reviews of its homeschool ideas and I do LOVE Charlotte Mason. So I think I need some nature journals, and the weather is perfect right now to start some outdoor exploring. The only problem with it is that I only have about 5 months out of the year that I can stand to be outside for very long, bummer.

I am still so new to homeschooling and there is sooo much to read and consider in making a weekly/monthly/yearly plan for my family. I hope that I can combine all my favorite things about all the techniques and curriculum to make the perfect fit for us, but first I have to read it all! I am enjoying it though. It feels like it's just what I should be doing right now. So while I am figuring everything out we are just having lots of fun reading, playing, cooking, and growing together!

Halloween 2010

We love Halloween in our family and, even if you ask the kids, we say the best part is getting to dress up as a family. I hope I can always get away with a family theme even when they're older. This year it was "Peter Pan". I made my own dress from a super easy pattern and costume satin ($5), I'm Wendy. I made Clark's coat from his old high school graduation cloak and some scraps of drapery fabric, He's Captain Hook. His hat is from Ethan's costume a few years ago when he was Jack Sparrow. Audree is Tinkerbell with a green dress and a few accessories from the dollar store. Ethan is Peter with a cut up shirt from the dollar store and a hat we found at a costume shop for $4. Kenton is Michael in a pink jammie with a little bear sewn on to the sleeve, ($0.) I love to be frugal, even if it's out of necessity.

I have heard a few homeschool mothers say that they would not celebrate Halloween at all in their homes because of what it means today. I completely respect their decisions and right to do so, but I also think that you can make it mean whatever you choose to make it mean in your own home. I talk to the kids about why we have the holiday and what it used to mean. Every holiday, if you go back far enough, has something to do with Christ or God. It's a great lesson! So we carve pumpkins because it's fun and messy and something new to try.

Happy Fall!

Zoo!

We love the Phoenix Zoo! and they just finished their Koala exhibit so we had to go and see Koala's for the first time today! The best part was that we can go in the middle of the week so there were no lines and no crowds to deal with. Just another great reason I love homeschooling.

Physics

Wednesday is for science. We are studying physics this year for science and I just found this great website for kids science.

http://www.physics4kids.com/

We colored a page with Isaac Newton being hit by an apple and talked about the different names and functions of forces; pressure, pushing, pulling, gravity, friction. Since my kids are so young (7, 4, and 3) we are keeping it simple and I just want them to be familiar with the vocabulary of science.

Letters

We learned how to write and mail letters this week. The kids always love to walk across the street with me to get the mail, but they have never had the chance to write their own letters. After we went to visit Clark's family in California Audree wanted to keep in touch with her cousin, Autumn who is just a year older. So I suggested that they be pen-pals! They loved the idea and Autumn confessed that she had never written a letter before either. So Audree wrote a very nice letter asking questions about her cousin, they don't know eachother very well, and wrote a little about herself, too. I really hope that she gets a letter back because we spent a whole day writing this letter and making sure all the punctuation and spelling was correct. I taught her how to write a formal letter, also. She feels so grown up now that she can take care of her own letter writing. I hope that we can use letter writing with other lessons like ancestry and write letters to great grandparents asking for stories of their lives. I love combining lessons like that. We read books about the past and get a history lesson and an English lesson at the same time. The preschool kids are learning their numbers from our big calendar. Audree is learning her fractions by helping me bake cookies and lemon bars and brownies. It's hard, yummy work! We love it!

Mom's Night

I went to a Mom's Night last night to talk with other moms about holiday traditions they carry on in their homes. I got some great ideas, and I learned that homeschoolers really like to think outside the box! Some families skip Halloween because of what it means these days, some make Thanksgiving a whole week of celebrations! I loved the idea to involve your neighbors as much as you can and to incorporate serivce with every holiday. Every major Holiday can also be related to Christ. My number one passion is to bring Christ to the center of our lives. For Halloween this year we will be learning about our ancestors and remembering our loved ones and great Saints who have passed. Behind the name... Halloween, or the Hallow E'en as they call it in Ireland , means All Hallows Eve, or the night before the 'All Hallows', also called 'All Hallowmas', or 'All Saints', or 'All Souls' Day, observed on November 1. In old English the word 'Hallow' meant 'sanctify'. Roman Catholics, Episcopalians and Lutherians used to observe All Hallows Day to honor all Saints in heaven, known or unknown. They used to consider it with all solemnity as one of the most significant observances of the Church year. And Catholics, all and sundry, was obliged to attend Mass. The Romans observed the holiday of Feralia, intended to give rest and peace to the departed. Participants made sacrifices in honor of the dead, offered up prayers for them, and made oblations to them. The festival was celebrated on February 21, the end of the Roman year. In the 7th century, Pope Boniface IV introduced All Saints' Day to replace the pagan festival of the dead. It was observed on May 13. Later, Gregory III changed the date to November 1. The Greek Orthodox Church observes it on the first Sunday after Pentecost. Despite this connection with the Roman Church, the American version of Halloween Day celebration owes its origin to the ancient (pre-Christian) Druidic fire festival called "Samhain", celebrated by the Celts in Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Samhain is pronounced "sow-in", with "sow" rhyming with cow. In Ireland the festival was known as Samhein, or La Samon, the Feast of the Sun. In Scotland, the celebration was known as Hallowe'en. In Welsh it's Nos Galen-gaeof (that is, the Night of the Winter Calends. According to the Irish English dictionary published by the Irish Texts Society: "Samhain, All Hallowtide, the feast of the dead in Pagan and Christian times, signalizing the close of harvest and the initiation of the winter season, lasting till May, during which troops (esp. the Fiann) were quartered. Faeries were imagined as particularly active at this season. From it the half year is reckoned, also called Feile Moingfinne (Snow Goddess).(1) The Scottish Gaelis Dictionary defines it as "Hallowtide. The Feast of All Soula. Sam + Fuin = end of summer."(2) Contrary to the information published by many organizations, there is no archaeological or literary evidence to indicate that Samhain was a deity. The Celtic Gods of the dead were Gwynn ap Nudd for the British, and Arawn for the Welsh. The Irish did not have a "lord of death" as such. Thus most of the customs connected with the Day are remnants of the ancient religious beliefs and rituals, first of the Druids and then transcended amongst the Roman Christians who conquered them.
So now, knowing the history of Halloween, our family will be changing our celebration of the day. I don't want my kids to be "left out" or feel like they are missing out either. So I have come to the compromise of combining a lesson of ancient history, modern tradition, and relating it all to Christ! We'll see how it goes this year, and maybe I'll need a little tweaking for next year.

Gilbert's Constitution Fair

The City of Gilbert had an amazing fair on Saturday night. It was all about the Constitution, Early American History and Pride for our great nation. It was so well done. There were lots of games and crafts for the kids that all had to do with American History. The kids even got to write letters to soldiers who are currently deployed. There were huge replica's of the White House, the Washington Monument, Lincoln Monument, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and a few others. Then there was a great concert, words from our Governor, Jan Brewer, and a great fireworks show. I love America! We had to show our pride with spray painted hair.

We were so glad to have Clark's Dad and Step-Mom with us for the weekend. We all had so much fun and we miss them terribly already.