Summer Honors Program

Our online classes ended the first part of May as well as our home school co-op. My kids were thrilled thinking they were done for the year! I explained that we still had lots of learning to do before we officially ended the second week in June with all of their public schooled friends.

A few days later at breakfast devotional  I introduced the Brimhall University Honor Society. I gave them each a copy to hang in their cubby and to check things off. It is based in BYU's Honors Program, that our daughter is pursuing with gusto!

It was a little ambitious but I thought, if we only do half of it, it will give us something to shoot for!

Today is June 15th, our last day, and I am pleased to say we've done it all! Each of the topics kept us moving forward in exposing us to great things, reading and asking questions.

Some highlights:

• Going to the play: Meet Mark Twain, where we came face to face with Ryan Clemens, an actual relative to Samuel Clemens! He gave a wonderful one man show and we all came home and each picked up a book by Mark Twain (without my asking or assigning!).
• For Science we watched a documentary called "Tales from the Hive." Then went to a friend and he opened up his hive for us to see. It was great and our 17 year old son even put on a bee suit to get a closer look!
• We read classic books and discussed them in our American lit class with a wonderful mentor.
• We put together a money class and learned all about finances. The kids did projects and planned out our summer vacation and learned how important compound interest is - especially when you are earning it rather than paying it!
• We loved watching the entire "Lord of the Rings" trilogy plus "The Hobbit", and even watched "Gone With the Wind". We gained a new perspective as we watched a Japanese film, in Japanese!
• We worked on personal progress and painted our daughters room, after having painter's tape up for six months awaiting painted stripes.

We had to search for some things but others were easy. End of the year recitals filled our requirements for music. Service hours were easy too; helping someone move, volunteering at the library, typing up girls camp schedules.

We talked about the activities as a family and dad was included in many of our adventures! One of our favorites, visiting a local art gallery and visiting with the artist for 45 minutes!

This was a great way to spend our last month of school, even though we had lots of other things going on as well!

It was a wonderful way to spend time with each other and could easily be done over the summer!

Enjoy!

A Blast From the Past - Family Time Line

Originally published in the Sentinel on 6 June 2005...

I love timelines. Looking at timelines can broaden our perspective, help us see new relationships between events and give us a sense of order. Making a family timeline is a great family project. Here is one way:

Start by brainstorming events that have happened in your lifetime. On a piece of paper, list births, marriages, graduations, family vacations, moves, accidents, or dramatic events that have happened in your lifetime. (You may want to browse through your scrapbooks to help jog your memory!)

Take pieces of paper and tape them together horizontally. Draw a long black line through the middle. Determine your furthest date back in time, and start there. Decide how many years you want to cover, and mark the years proportionately. (JJ's timeline of his life so far was 8 pages, and he is only 8).

Write the events and where the event happened on your timeline in the appropriate year. Post your timeline, because you will remember more events. You will also find that some years were busier than others! This is your "Sloppy Copy" so don't worry if it gets a little messy, or if you have to add another piece of paper in the middle of your timeline.

Photos can be added to help highlight some of the events on your timeline.

After you have added all your events in the correct time and place - you can make your final copy.

Variations:

We made a timeline of my husband's great-grandmother, highlighting the service she gave over the last century. We added when she was born, was married, and died, and also when she gave birth to all 13 children. We then added military service, marriages and births of children and grandchildren, etc.

For fun, we added a timeline of world events, church events, and famous inventions. The timeline was 44 feet long and covered a whole side of a room! (We also noted that the washing machine was not invented until her 13 children were out of diapers!) It was very fun to put life into perspective and see what a single family could accomplish in a century's time!

Moon Mania

The kids and I have been loving a new science series called “Let’s Read and Find Out Science”. The series covers all kinds of science topics; weather, space, animals, human body, dinosaurs, physics concepts, and more. They are so fun! So far, I am thoroughly impressed with how much information they provide in a simple way for kids to understand. Most every book comes with some sort of experiment, or further learning activity that you can do at home with things you already have. It’s genius! And I feel like I learn a lot too.

moon-is-like

moon-surface

the-moon-seems-to-change

We’ve been on a space kick lately…more specifically a moon kick. We’ve used two of the Let’s Read and Find Out books for our study. The first book is called What the Moon is Like.  It taught us about how the surface of the moon is covered in dust, and how meteors hit the moon to make big craters. Then we filled a Tupperware container with two inches of flour and sprinkled it with a thin layer of cocoa powder, to represent the moon’s surface. Next we took marbles and dropped them into the container from about five inches up. The marble hitting the flour is supposed to look similar to a meteor hitting the surface of the moon. I've never seen a meteor hit the moon, but our marbles definitely made craters in our flour. It was fun.

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The second book we used was called The Moon Seems to Change. It taught us all about the phases of the moon. Inside it gives you the step by step directions (with pictures!) on how to make all the phases of the moon using an orange, a pencil, and a flashlight. We took turns being the sun (person holding the flashlight) and the earth (person holding the orange). After that, we had a little snack to go along with our lesson. We did phases of the moon a second time, using Oreo cookies. I had a rough go of it, trying to keep our moons from being gobbled up before I could snap a picture. :)

My kids enjoyed these activities. I can tell because while I was putting the boys to bed, my five-year-old told me he wanted to set his watch for 12:00am so he could get up and check on the moon, to see which phase it was in. I love it! We'll see if he follows through. I hope he does.

Knowing the Cheats... by Tresta Neil

A few of my children are part of a charter school that assists homeschoolers by providing them with elective options that are not easy to do at home.  We meet once a week and attend fun classes.  The catch is they have to take the state exam each year.  This year they focused on the importance of having the children do well on this test and so they sent out tips or “cheats” on how to increase your score on the test.  I was shocked at some of the tips; they had nothing to do with how much the child knew or how well they wrote.  The test was to be checked by a computer on the number of key words used and what keys you used to create a paragraph.  Our youth are extremely busy satisfying the state and now the nation’s requirements and very little time on the Lord's requirements.

Today, there is a huge focus on "passing the test", worrying about the child being "at level"; and getting "good grades".  When did we stop focusing on "laying hold of every good thing"?  How much time are we devoting to teaching our children to increase their "spiritual level"?  Can we "pass the Lord's test"?  Do we know the Lord's requirements?  How does He test us?  What kind of grades does He give us?

There was a study conducted concerning the effectiveness of the missionaries in the field.  They wanted to know what the largest factor was, in helping them become effective.  The results were surprising!  They had expected church attendance, family prayer and family home evening to be the highest, but it was actually not.  The highest result for helping them become the most effective was personal study (Russell Ballard, “Making of a Missionary”, Oct. 1976).  Do we find quiet time and are we comfortable with being alone with God to receive individual inspiration and spiritual answers to physical problems.

Do our youth know how to be quiet?  Do they know how to be comfortable by being alone with God?  Do they know how the spirit speaks to them as an individual?  If so, how much time do they spend quietly with the Lord?  The scriptures tell us to "let ALL thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord." (Alma 37:36)  What are our youth spending the majority of time thinking about? What are we thinking about?

Satan tries to get us to stop thinking in one or more ways.  First, by filling our time with distractions, busy work, addictions, entertainment, appointments, etc.  Second, by decreasing our desire to read, write, and communicate well. Third, instilling in us the belief that we do not need to increase our learning or continue our education (the brethren say we should be life long learners).  Fourth, by introducing slang and keeping us away from the true meaning of words.  And Fifth, taking away symbolism.  In our language we use many words to describe very little, in God's language He used few words and taught at many different levels.  Is Satan working in any of these levels with you, your youth, your family, your school, or your community?

We use five principles that help our family know where we are with the Lord's requirements or laws (D&C 130:21) and how to combat Satan's plan (Alma 12:17).  We call them The 5 Key Principles on the Learning Spiral:

1. I AM: This principle is about knowing who I am and teaching my children who they are.  We are all children of God; we each have divinity within us.  We are a complete whole within a complete whole.  We teach this by telling stories, playing games, spending time, acting out, and prompting them to do what is right.
2. I LISTEN:  This principle is about becoming spiritually fluent.  Knowing how the spirit speaks to me as an individual.  Teaching my children to listen to the spirit and follow its promptings.  We teach this by letting them make decisions on their own and seeing the consequences, also by example and sharing our own stories of triumph.
3. I UNDERSTAND:  This is the principle of learning.  Bringing what we have been taught in our minds (knowledge) and bringing it down into our hearts (understanding).  This is when our learning becomes part of us, not just something we bring in and then forget.  We teach this step by asking good questions, and teaching etymology and symbolism (combating Satan's plan).
4. I ACT:  This is the application principle.  Now that I understand what I know, how will I make this part of my life?  Faith is action.  We teach this by giving them opportunities to share, teach and serve.  Also, by encouraging them to write down their plans and keep them accountable to the things they ask to have help with.
5. I BECOME:  This is the new level, the celebration principle.  At this step we are able to help others and share with them our success.  At this level of achievement we often find rest.  But not for long, we get bored and want to create again or find something that challenges us beyond.  Thus, it becomes a spiral and we find ourselves again at step one, remembering who we are, listening to the spirit telling us what our next adventure, project, person, or challenge will be.  Then we study, learn all we can about it and go to work, take action and once again arrive at a new level.

These principles allow us to find and follow the Lord's requirements.  My oldest son, who said he would never teach with geometry, came to me a few days back and drew out a shape and began teaching me what he had learned about God through a few shapes.  He testified of Christ and His role as the first-born son through simple shapes.  My son had taken simple principles and used them to think, and think deeply.  We know this by the Principle Effect, how a simple principle stemmed from doctrine, affects our life when we learn its many meanings and it leads us to righteous action.  I testify that when we teach our children true principles, allow them to think on their own and to create what comes naturally and from God, they will become the men and women God wants them to be without having to have “cheats.”

How To Solve Any Problem! 7 Self-Government Principles - by Nicholeen Peck

The best way to teach your children to live by principle is to live by principle yourself. This is a story of when I was tempted to react, but chose to be assertive instead.

Morning Exercise

Our family loves to go exercise at a local city gymnasium in the Winter time. I usually go walking while the children roller blade or shoot hoops with the basketball. So, we were rather surprised one day when we noticed a new sign at the building saying that basketballs and roller blades, among other things, would no longer be allowed in the building during exercise time.

When we noticed the sign we were right in the middle of rollerblading and playing ball. Have you ever had that feeling of guilt mixed with confusion, mixed with anger? Well, that was my first impulse. I didn't know why the rules had suddenly changed and felt attacked. No one likes change.

As I walked around the gym watching my children break the rules I started dreaming up ways I would speak out against this unfair treatment. I imagined some cranky lady calling the city complaining about having to share the building with children. I had been really careful to make sure my children didn't ever bother any other exercisers if they should happen to be using the building at the same time we were, so this was a shock.

I have never liked it when people give in to complainers and end up taking someone else's freedom away in order to please the one person who can't control their emotions or seek to understand others.

As I was pondering my assumptions of why this disturbing sign had appeared at our city gym, I had an epiphany. Like lightning striking me, I realized that I was dangerously close to doing the exact thing I was assuming someone else had done, or worse.

Problem Solving Process – Disagree Appropriately

Whenever I start feeling emotionally out of control or agitated I think, “What principle do I need to focus on here?”

These principles are listed here as problem solving steps.

• Connect In Person
• Seek to Understand
• Pre-Teach
• Be Assertive instead of Aggressive or Passive/Aggressive
• Use Diplomacy
• Disagree Appropriately
• Make a Proactive Plan

Connect In Person

Calling or emailing someone is easier, but going in person to discuss a concern is always better. Then the person you are talking to can really feel your heart and see that you don't want to create a problem or make life hard for them. Problems can't be solved to make both sides happy if there isn't an honest heart-felt connection first.

Seek To Understand

Seeking to understand others is a sign of love. It is naïve to expect someone to want to understand me if I don't want to understand them. So, I knew I needed to show the director of parks and recreation that I understood her. After all, she had a hard job. People in her position have to deal with angry people day after day and rarely ever get thanks.

I said, “I know your job is one of the hardest jobs in the city. People call you to complain every day about everything from snow removal to problems with facilities. I don't want to be one of those people, but I do have a concern I would like to discuss...”

Pre-Teach

If you can remember, it is always preferable to tell someone what you are about to do before you do it. This decreases their anxiety and prepares them to accept your communication.

I said, “I brought my children with me today so that I could teach them a valuable communication lesson. I told them that when you don't like how something is, it is better to go calmly talk to the person instead of get angry. I told them that they had more of a chance of being understood if they respected the person enough to communicate calmly and give them a personal visit. That is our purpose here today...”

Be Assertive

Aggressive behaviors and communications always disconnect people. And passive/aggressive or passive behaviors disconnect and don't allow others to understand you at all. The only effective form of communication is assertive communication. There is always merit in calmly speaking up so that you can be understood.

Use Diplomacy

Diplomacy is the act of effectively dealing with people based on a feeling of mutual trust. Each person trusts in the goodness of the other, and relates to each other trusting in their good intentions. This skill assumes goodness and excuses small flaws or misunderstandings.

When I want to speak to the kind woman in charge of city facilities I knew she was trying to make everyone who used the facilities comfortable. Some people are most comfortable when they have solitude to exercise. Other people are most comfortable when they can exercise with their children in an environment which encourages a love of exercise; in all its forms.

I tried to make sure she knew I understood that different people feel comfortable in different situations.

Disagree Appropriately

Disagreeing appropriately is one of the four basic skills we need to learn. Even very small children are able to grasp the steps to this simple skill. The hard part is remembering to use the skill instead of reacting to the situation.

While calmly looking at my new acquaintance I explained that I understood her difficult position. After I sought to understand her I said, “I go to the gym with my children for two reasons. I want to encourage them to exercise each day and I don't want to be there alone. I don't feel that it would be safe for a woman to be there all alone, and usually no one else is there...Would it be possible to make a plan for how we can all use the building to fit our needs?...”

The skill, disagreeing appropriate is a problem solving method for life.

Make A Proactive Plan

People thrive when they have a plan. Also, making any changes in behavior or procedure is impossible without a well thought out proactive plan.

In this situation it would be rude of me to come to this person with a concern and not present a proposal for a solution. If I required her to problem solve the whole situation for me, she might be able to see what my family's needs really are, or what my family is willing to do to make the situation work for all people.

I said, “What if we carried on as we have always done for the past two years when no other patrons are at the facility, and then we adjust our activities if others want to use the building? We could ask the other exercisers if they mind our basketballs or roller blades, or I could just give my children an instruction to walk during the time other people are there. Would that work?...”

The Magical Moment

This kind woman really understood our concern and seemed to appreciate the fact that we understood what others could be feeling too. She thought our plan was acceptable and agreed to allowing us to follow through with it. Her decision was a magical moment for my children.

Prior to going to the city offices, I told my children that the city might say no to our suggestions, and that if we got a no answer we would accept it and stay calm. But, this wonderful woman chose to accept the disagreement and practice diplomacy too. She trusted our goodness, just like we trusted in hers.

I am happy that my children will always have this experience at city hall to reflect back upon. They will always know that speaking up in a kind understanding way solves problems, while stewing and getting angry because you don't want something to change never solves anything.

Buy Nicholeen's New Teaching Self-Government Family Tutorial DVD Set, or other books and audio courses.

Oh, the Cunningness of Satan!

This week was our spring break and, in search of warmer weather and sunshine, we headed south to St. George.  However, a cold front moved in just before we headed out.  Although St. George found us in warmer weather than the 30 degree temperatures at home, it was still a little chilly compared to what we expected.  The pool was closed but we had a grand time hiking and exploring in Zion’s National Park.  Since we were so close, we decided to make the two hour drive to Las Vegas for the afternoon.  I had researched all the fun and free things to do with kids there; aquariums, lions, white tigers, light and water shows, techtronics…It all sounded great!  I had been to Las Vegas a handful of times growing up and always thought it was fun.

We spent hours walking the strip and looking for the amazing things on my list.  Problem was, all the things to see were conveniently located in the middle of each casino.  That meant wandering around through the smoky haze of one-armed bandits looking for the ‘kid-friendly’ attractions.  Traveling down the strip on foot with five kids made the casinos that had something we were interested in seem very far apart.  Still, I thought we were having an adventure.   I remember being impressed that no one standing on the street with pamphlets and pornography had even once tried to hand any to us.  I thought, “Look, they are being respectful of us because we are here as a family.  See, Las Vegas can be enjoyed by families like us without worry.”  I knew that some people thought that Vegas was a horrible place but I had always had fun there without drinking or gambling.  Besides, our family had a technique we learned from the Duggars to help our boys avoid things they shouldn’t see.  We had been doing this for a couple of years and the kids were pretty well conditioned.  Upon approaching something that we thought they didn’t need to see, like a girl that was dressed immodestly or the windows of the Victoria Secret store in the mall, we would say “Nike”.  That was code for the boys to look at their shoes until they were told the coast was clear.  If we came across something in Vegas, we could use this technique to avoid it.

At one point in our search for those cool things to see, I looked down at the ground to maneuver the stroller over a curb and was sickened to realize that the pornographic pamphlets were littering the ground by the dozens.  No one had to hand us any brochures because they knew that all we had to do was look down to see everything they had to offer.  Oh, the cunningness of Satan!  I was sickened to realize that, not only had I not protected my sons from temptation, I had paraded them straight through it!  In the pursuit of pleasure and adventure, I had discounted the enticings of the devil as something that could be withstood and even overlooked.  While this is an extreme example, I am afraid that there are other, more subtle ways in which the adversary successfully lulls us into a false sense of security when temptation and dangers are lurking.  It is in the books and movies and tv shows and music and youtube videos and facebook postings and text messages.  And, while we can’t shield our children from every evil and temptation in the world, I can be much more vigilant in standing firm and not falling to the tendency to overlook “just a few little things”.

We ended our spring break vacation with a trip to the St. George temple.  My two oldest children were able to go in and be baptized and confirmed for the dead by their dad.  How grateful I was for their worthiness and desire to be there!  How much I want to do all I can to foster that desire and to fill up their lives with opportunities that invite the Spirit and grow their testimonies! That is so much more important than glitter and glitz and neon signs and empty pleasures.   Satan may have walked away laughing that night in Las Vegas – I want to make sure he doesn’t get that chance again.

"Gird Up Your Loins, Fresh Courage Take"

Just when I thought that this past General Conference of April 2013 could not possibly answer any more questions, encourage any more action, or offer any more peace, the closing song of the Sunday morning session put me in tears.  As the Mormon Tabernacle Choir began to sing “Come, Come Ye Saints”[i]  and my feet tingled with the bass on my stereo system, my heart tingled with the knowledge that this staple hymn was not written just to comfort the early Saints, pioneers virtuously walking out across the firm ground of the country, but also to comfort Saints today, pioneers standing firm in a country that’s walking out on virtue.

Weighed down as of late by wars and rumors of wars, escalating secularism and persecution of religious peoples, permeating immorality, and the increasing encroachment of government and erosion of liberty, I have counted the minutes until General Conference this year. While none of these burdens is a surprise, the load taken together is heavier than I anticipated when imagining the last days. I think, for me, the final stressful straw has been the threats to education.[ii]  The battle for the hearts, minds, and wills of the youth is paramount.  Surely there is anxiety over the fate of my homeschool which is sacred to me.  But no longer is it just about MY children and MY parental rights, and OUR agency.  It’s not even just about my grandchildren or great-children.  The ignorance and apathy of many parents of my generation alarms me; the fate of ANY and ALL children being left to (or forced to) anyone who intends to brainwash, dumb down, use, and in truth harm them should alarm us all.  It should not set us to hand wringing and helpless weeping.  It should send us to our knees, then to practical action.  This is one of the many messages I took from Conference.  Amidst all the wisdom, prophecy, and counsel, I learned a bit about how to be a faithful lover AND a fighter.

Will it be easy?  Of course not.  Absolutely not.  But just as our pioneer ancestors had their part to play in building the kingdom of God, so have we. They didn’t sit, nor should we. And on those girding[iii] days when the hill is high, the journey is long, and the burden is heavy, we can “fresh courage take” with these words:

Come, come ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear;

But with joy wend your way.

Though hard to you this journey may appear,

Grace shall be as your day.

“Tis better far for us to strive

Our useless cares from us to drive;

Do this, and joy your hearts will swell—

All is well!  All is well!

Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?

‘Tis not so; all is right.

Why should we think to earn a great reward

If we now shun the fight?

Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.

Our God will never us forsake;

And soon we’ll have this tale to tell—

All is well!  All is well

[i] LDS Hymn #30, “Come, Come Ye Saints,” by William Clayton, 1814-1879

[ii]http://www.utahnsagainstcommoncore.com/

[iii] See definitions 3 and 4 at http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Girding

Exploring Together: A Little Piece of Paradise - by Louisa Wells

The roar of the outboard motor drowned out all sounds as we raced across the bright blue ocean. My husband, Patrick, and I had left our children with my parents the day before. Together, he and I had flown to a tiny Tongan island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Upon our arrival, we learned of a snorkel trip planned for the next day. Following my life’s motto that “it is cheaper to do it now than to come back again later,” we had signed up immediately. I felt nervous about swimming in unknown waters, yet thrilled to try snorkeling for the 2nd time in my life. As the sun warmed us perfectly, we zipped along towards our destination.

Arriving at the preplanned anchor spot, our guide inspired me to regard him as a teacher instead of a beach bum. Initially, he surprised me with a bit of useful information. It was significantly more academic than I had expected from a sunburned Aussie on a barely-inhabited island. So, I asked a question I had been pondering: “What kind of rocks are on the beaches here?” I had begun wondering about the rocks on our first day at the beach. They were porous and very sharp. They appeared dark and yet not at all volcanic. This surprised me because prior to the trip I had read that the Tongan Islands were atolls. I could not make sense of it in my mind, and I was the only person in my family who seemed bothered by the discrepancy. When our guide quickly and easily identified the rocks as coral limestone- essentially petrified coral- I felt euphoric and knew I could learn volumes from this unlikely mentor.

The remainder of my experience changed from a sight-seeing trip to a nature study excursion. Once I determined that our snorkel guide could help me study nature, rather than simply observe it, my approach changed. Rather than simply looking for interesting or colorful fish, I was looking for questions. I tried to find things I did not understand to ask him about. He would answer each question and explain what else I would observe nearby. I would jack-knife dive down to the coral reef searching for what he had described. One by one, the other participants boarded the boat and waited for me to finish. I swam alone until I felt it would be impolite to keep everyone waiting any longer, and then I climbed aboard. The others had blank stares in their eyes- they really appeared bored. I felt breathless and enlivened. I wished I could stay longer. I wanted to study every inch of that coral reef.

Our morning in the ocean was not my first, nor certainly my last, nature study journey. I had grown up spending time hiking and camping with my dad. Some of my earliest happy memories had taken place in the Wasatch mountains. I had always enjoyed being out in nature, but I had been a fairly passive participant. I enjoyed the outdoor activities, but I did not give much specific thought to the creations around me. A change in me occurred when I began studying nature with my children. Their incessant questions taught me to be more curious. Children wonder so many things; nature study comes rather instinctively to them. Thankfully, we homeschool moms get to enjoy the journey with them.

Nature study adventures have been an integral part of our homeschool from the very beginning. When my oldest was in preschool and we were choosing a curriculum, I learned that early literacy will improve more and easier if children are given something to be literate about, rather than simply taught literacy skills. Nature was an obvious place to start because it is such a tangible topic to introduce to children. It is fascinating, encompassing, and abundant. Children can learn about it by observation, experience, and reasoning, not just by regurgitation. We have found available nature to study wherever we have lived - even in a city center apartment. We have also found many friends whose willingness to join us in our excursions has increased safety, accountability, and fun. Most importantly, we have strengthened our relationships and come to regard our time exploring together as a little piece of paradise. Although the annual amount of time we can devote to nature study varies with life’s changes, we make sure to include it on the schedule of each semester’s school plans.

Including nature study in your homeschool is simple, but not necessarily easy. Most of us feel more comfortable with a curriculum to follow and a rubric to assess our efforts. Nature study does not lend itself to those structures very well. Instead, we must look around ourselves, find the resources that we have, schedule a time to go exploring, and then follow through regardless of the weather. In addition, we have to accept the fact that sometimes there are no perceptible “outcomes” until much later. The challenge, then, is to find a way to keep it simple while providing enough structure for your family’s learning life style.

At the LDSHE convention this May, I will explain how to make nature study simple and achievable in my class entitled “Exploring Together: Every Family Can Do Nature Study.” The class will not be based on any particular philosophical approach. Instead, I will provide some practical, down-to-earth advice about why and how to accomplish nature study, and how to improve it if you are already doing it. Although I am not an expert, nor a scientist, I am excited to share my passion about nature. I hope that at the end of my class, you will feel encouraged that your family can explore nature together no matter where you live so that you, too, can experience a little piece of paradise.

- Louisa Wells loves experiencing nature. Some of her earliest memories are of hikes and camping trips with her dad. She is a mother of five children, and she has been sharing nature with them their entire lives. Although her children definitely learn from their adventures, Louisa feels that she is really the one who is learning the most.

More Time Management for Right Brain Minds! Time Maps and the 80/20 Principles

Have you ever heard of a Time Map? I hadn’t until a few years ago when a planner I purchased included time maps. I had no idea what they were or how to use them, but now I can’t live without them!

A time map allows you to see where you are spending your time. You can use one to plan your time or you can fill it in as you move through the day and see where your time really goes. You don’t have to have a fancy one. A piece of paper will do. To make one, jot down on one side of the paper the time from when you get up in the morning until you go to bed, or from when you start school until dinner time. Use what chunk of time you are trying to plan. Across the top make spaces for each day of the week, such as Monday thru Friday or Sunday through Saturday, however you work your week.

Now the fun begins. On your map block out the hours you plan on schooling. Then block out each of the afternoon activities you or your children are doing each day. Next, block out times for things like cleaning, making meals, eating those meals, etc. Add anything that to the map that requires your time. Now sit back and look at your schedule. Do you have time for everything you have committed too? Can you see you will have to clone yourself in order to take kids to two different places at the same time? Can you see the reason your family never has a sit down dinner on Tuesday nights? Or Wednesday? Or Thursday?

map

In the picture you can see a time map I borrowed from one of my children. Hers is prettier than mine so we will use this one.  My daughter color codes hers so she can see how all her activities fit together. She has goals that say she wants to commit five hours a week to piano practicing. By color coding she can see how she will accomplish that goal. She can also see if she is spending too much time with things that are not in keeping with her goals. She can then decide to either change the goal or change some things so she can spend more time pursing it. In other words, a time map can give you permission to say no!

I love my time maps. I work a part time job and I also have other large time commitments.  My job is flexible and I work from home.  I can use my time map to fit the job into those times when my kids don’t need me. Since homeschooling is my primary focus, I can make sure that those hours are available for my children and not for something that is urgent, but not important. I like to have my week planned before I head to church. It is usually at church that I say yes to things that mess up my schedule. Yes, I can go visiting teaching on Thursday afternoon, and help with scouts on Tuesday and watch Sister Jones’ children on Monday morning so she can…… well, you get the idea. Each of these things is important, but if I haven’t planned my week I won’t remember we have dentist appointments Thursday afternoon, so I can’t go visiting teaching. A better time would be Friday. Knowing where and to whom you are always saying yes to, and making sure you know your time schedule, will save you a lot of hassle and as I said, let you say no with grace. Or say yes with enthusiasm!

This leads us to the next two principles. They are called the 80/20 principles. The first one states that 20 percent of your efforts accomplish 80 percent of your goal. In other words, 20 percent of your time and efforts get 80 percent of the job done. The question then becomes, is the project worth the other 80 percent of your time. Sometimes it is, mostly it isn’t. Many times we moms think we have to give everything 100 percent effort in order for it to count. If we don’t we feel guilty. In reality, some things we do really don’t require that extra 80%. An example would be if you were asked to bring cookies to a scouting event. Plain chocolate chip cookies will be wolfed down by the scouts as quickly as hand decorated sugar cookies with each boys name on them. Which one will take less effort and still accomplish the goal of having cookies at the scout event?

Now, if those cookies were to recognize each of the boys for having achieved an award, then your 80% more effort would be worth your time. Can you see the difference? Our inability to tell that difference has helped perpetuate the snickers about RS table decorations and elaborate lesson handouts. The 80/20 principle helps us know where to draw that line.

The second 80/20 principle has to do with your time. Never schedule more than 80% of your time. Leave 20% percent blank. Why? Because disasters happen. Such as your two year old deciding to decorate the dog with five pounds of honey (this happened to me!). You can’t wait until later to take care of it! And it’s going to take awhile! If you have things and places happening 24/7,  when something like this happens you blow the rest of the day because there is no cushion of time for calamity, and as we all know children and calamity go hand in hand! When each activity leads to the next you can’t make adjustments. Stuff happens!  Make sure you plan for it.

This 80/20 principle applies in another respect. One of the reasons we want to be home with our children is to build relationships with them. You can’t do that when you are over-scheduled!  When your child wants to snuggle on the couch with you and read a book that’s what you do. When they find an exciting activity for school, you run with it. They grow up so fast and there will come a day when they won’t want to do those things anymore. Don’t schedule so many activities that these special moments can’t happen.

And finally we all need down time!  The 80/20 principle helps is with this as well. We can’t run from activity to activity without taking time to rest and recover! This I believe is one of the leading causes of homeschool burnout. We try to do it all and make sure we do it all today! In by gone days, families spent each evening together, eating dinner, reading together, sitting on the porch watching the kids play. Maybe we need to start adding these activities to our schedules!

Time maps and the 80/20 principles can really help you see where you spend your time and efforts. Maybe you are great at balancing things. If so, pat yourself on the back. If you struggle with over planning, time maps can help you learn to say no to those things that take away from what you really want to do. Go make a time map today and see!

Gettin' Your Game On...

This year winter in our area has been extreme cold coupled with a bad inversion, which means we’ve been spending a lot more time than usual indoors. With a Kindergartener, a Preschooler, a toddler, and a bun in the oven, dealing with the pent-up energy has been quite the challenge for me. We’ve had to change things up a bit around our house to be accommodating.

Probably the most successful way I’ve found to keep everyone happy, is to turn our learning into games. I try to do this more or less all year long, but during these cold weeks it seems to be the saving grace keeping us from going insane, while still allowing us to accomplish some resemblance of “school”. I’ll share three of our favorites, because I think they are fun and can be adapted to a variety of subjects.

Nerf Gun Matching

This is a pretty simple game. I made a homemade dice with simple three and four letter words on it, and printed out pictures of each of those words and taped them onto small paper plates. Then I hung the paper plates up on the wall. My Kindergartener has to roll the dice, read the word, then using a Nerf Gun shoot the picture that best matches the word he rolled on the dice. You could also use this game for matching capitol and lower case letters, shapes, colors, math problems, counting, etc.  And you don’t have to use a Nerf gun either, a ball or a paper air plane would work just as well.

Swat the Bug

bugs

For this game, you’ll need a poster board, a fly swatter (or two depending on how many players you want playing at the same time), and about 20 bug shapes cut out of a variety of colored paper. Glue the bugs onto the poster board. We happened to be talking about simple words that start with D the day we played this game, so on each of my bugs I wrote a D word, but again the possibilities are pretty endless. Then I made cards, one card for every bug. In our version of the game, we had two players. I drew a card and read the word ‘dog’, then the two players had to find the bug with the word ‘dog’ on it and swat it. First one to swat was the winner.

Fish-collage

Gone FishingI saved my favorite game for last. I like this game because all three of my kids can play together without my having to change the game to adapt it for one level or the other…it already comes that way. You’ll need several sheets of craft foam in different colors. Trace a simple fish pattern onto foam and cut out. How many fish you make is entirely up to you and how long you want to fish for.  I made about 30. My Kindergarten has been working on the “when two vowels go walking the first one does the talking” rule. So, on one side of each fish I wrote words like road, laid, beat, etc. that I wanted him to practice. My preschooler is just starting to sound out simple words, so on the other side of each fish I wrote words like cat, dog, mom, etc. And my toddler is working on her colors, hence the different colored fish. I stuck a metal paper clip onto the nose of each fish. Then I had my Kindergartener make me a fishing pole out of Trios (but anything long and strait would work just fine) and we tied a piece of yarn to it, and a circular magnet onto the other end of the yarn for a fishing pole. Next we filled up the bathtub and dropped the fish in. The kids took turns catching the fish, and either reading the appropriate word for their age level, or telling me the color of the fish, depending on who was fishing.