Our 2011-2012 Curriculum

My goal for this next year is to be relaxed about schooling since we will be living in a new place and I don't know how the boys will handle having their daddy gone (plus Ethan still has another year before official "school" age)... But as I type out the list of books we will be reading this next year it seems like a lot! Fortunately we love to read and many of the literature books we can download on audio from our library, and of course they aren't all going to be finished this year, many of the books will take several years to complete and will be repeated.

I have also recorded many of the poems I want the boys to learn and burned them on a cd so we can listen to them in the car as we drive around town. Both Ethan and Joshua can recite at least 10 poems from memory now. (This is also how we learn scripture mastery and Articles of Faith. Ethan knows all thirteen articles of faith and Joshua knows the first four and both have several scripture mastery's down).

We will also supplement Joshua's education (three years old) with the new http://more.starfall.com/ site which has pretty good preschool activities (especially for only $35!) and Bob Books iphone app.

History:
The Story of the World
50 Famous Stories Retold
Our Island Story
Usborne Encyclopedia of World History
Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans
The Story of Benjamin Franklin
Who Was George Washington?

Science:
Handbook of Nature Study
The Burgess Bird Book
All the Birds of North America
*Additional reference books based on interest

Math:
Math U See

Scriptures:
Discover the New Testament
Book of Mormon Scripture Mastery
Scripture Memory System

Literature: (Just to name a few!)
James Herriot's Treasury for Children
A Treasury of Children's Literature
Little House on the Prarie Series
Just So Stories
Charlotte's Web
Five Little Peppers and how they Grew

Geography:
Paddle to the Sea

Poetry:
A Children's Garden of Verses
A Child's Book of Poems

Character:
Wisdom & the Millers: Proverbs for Children
Child's Book of Character Building: Growing up in God's World

Art/Music:
Artistic Pursuits Book 1
Kindermusik
Folksongs & Hymns
Stories of the Great Composers

Foreign Language:
Speak Spanish with Dora & Diego

Extra Curricular:
Swimming
Tae Kwon Do
Skiing


And on Mom's list for next year:

*Parenting with Love and Logic: just ordered this book and am LOVING it. Need to memorize it and apply it this year!
*The Entitlement Trap: read a few articles on this book here http://ldsmag.com/family/parenting/article/8416?ac=1 and am really interested in learning how to apply these ideas to our family.
*Finishing up the Little Women series, some Georgette Heyer books, a few other classics and a some LDS doctrine books
*Use the Institute Manuals during personal scripture study
*Run at least 3 half marathons (and a full marathon this fall!)
*Keep up on our digital scrapbooks
*Attend the temple at least 3 times a month
*Be more diligent in journal writing and begin my personal history

Pioneer day fun

We had our Pioneer Day celebration at Saunders Springs this morning. The boys got to feed the fish and see a bunch of turtles but the best part was this super friendly butterfly wanted to be held by all the kids. I forgot my camera but got a few pics with my iphone... The boys' favorite thing was of course rolling in the dirt- gotta love those brown little faces. Then they had a good wash down in the creek before heading home. So sad to think this is our last ward activity here!

Count your blessings...

I was going through my blog posts adding labels that I've neglected for so long...and I found this draft post from last year! Although my "baby" is almost two now and I can only dream of 70 degree weather the other sentiments are still true so I thought I'd publish it anyway. Better late than never...

The other day I was sitting on my back porch holding the baby, the boys were playing on the swings, it was about 70 degrees, I could feel the warm sun soaking in my skin, and it felt like I was on vacation. I thought back to when I was working full time and going to school full time and would daydream about how much fun it would be to not have to work, to just stay home and play with my kids all day. Of course it hasn't been much of the vacation I planned- I didn't expect to have three kids in three years, live far away from my family and friends, have my husband be a bishop and be gone almost every night, but this moment I realized I am living my perfect dream life.

I've always been a whiner, but when I stop and count my blessings I realize how lucky I am. I've had opportunities to travel the world and have fun adventures, I have three beautiful healthy boys, we have a fabulous back yard they can play in, I have a wonderful husband who loves me, I've been able to get a graduate degree, learn hobbies like photography, scrapbooking and cooking that keep me sane and make me feel alive, have great people here that love my kids like they're their own grandchildren, I have goals and dreams for the future that I know I can accomplish. There have been times in our life when we have been so happy we look at each other and wonder if it could really get any better?

Summer *fun*

Here's how we've been spending our summer:

Lots and lots of building. Whenever I try to get Joshua to do ANYTHING day or night (including eating and sleeping) he says "I can't mommy, I'm building!"

I asked Grant a question the other day and he answered me so clearly I was suprised. Ethan said "WOW! He talked like a HUMAN!" Here's some pictures of the "human". He loves to snuggle with his stuffed animals (this is boomer our dog- probably the only dog he will ever have) and he has a serious obsession with cars. Needless to say his favorite words are "doggy" and "car" which he repeats about a million times a day.

Reading...We participated in our library's summer reading program and logged over 50 hours.

The library had a petting zoo come this weekend to celebrate the end of the reading program. The boys had such a great time petting all the animals. Grant loves all animals and wants to hug them all. He followed this little donkey all around chasing it wherever it went.

And of course their favorite past time...driving mommy crazy! They love to pull ALL the cushions off my couch and either use it as a trampoline or build little forts. It makes me absolutely crazy to see my pillows strewn all over the place. Next couch will have permanent cushions...this one has got to go.

Oh...and let's not forget packing and running. Packing is a never ending nightmare consisting of packing a box, coming in a few hours later to find that it has been unpacked. Repeated several times a day. Running is a different kind of nightmare. I used to love, even adore my treadmill. However, I loathe it when I have to run more than 5 miles on it. Running outside long distance is so much more enjoyable however when you have to run 10 miles on the morning of an extreme heat advisory it's not quite as pleasant. Nevertheless I managed to log 20 miles last week and am hoping to continue to meet my marathon training goals. As long as I don't get heat stroke...

4th of July Weekend

 It was a fun weekend of camping out, splashing in the creek and watching fireworks. The fireworks in Kentucky are amazing. No matter where you live in our town you can see 15-20 different light displays and they aren't firecrackers like we're used to out west, they are full blown fireworks displays like you'd see in the park- only they are being lit off at people's homes. It's pretty incredible. Ethan wasn't scared this year but he did still plug his ears the entire time.

 And no fourth of July would be complete without some fresh sweet corn. This Amish corn is the best, the boys just gobble it up.

Gotta have a little wrestling...(grant pulled ethan's hair and made him scream- I couldn't stop laughing)

   

And of course some bike riding...

New favorite classics

I have been doing a lot of reading and listening to a bunch of audio books the last few months and have been introduced to some new books that for some reason I have never heard of before- but are simply amazing. I love classic literature especially works similar to Jane Austen, well I think I have found her literary sister: Elizabeth Gaskell.

I first watched the Masterpiece Theatre production of Wives & Daughters based on her book and absolutely loved it. Next I saw the BBC version of North & South also based on her novel. Both movies were comparable to Pride & Prejudice and in fact I think I might even like them a bit more if that's possible. I had to read (or rather listen to) Wives & Daughters to see how well the story was followed- and true to Masterpiece/BBC form they followed the book almost word for word. So if you don't have time to read or listen to all 720 pages, at least rent the movie from netflix- it is well worth your time.

A few others that I have come to love are The Bat by Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Princess & The Goblin by George MacDonald and I am just being introduced to Georgette Heyer who has a whole army of novels. If you know of any other works similar in style to these please let me know, I hate not knowing these wonderful things exist (although it is fun to discover them!)

Baby blues

Grant is truly a joy in my life. While he has an attitude (loves to slap faces right now...) he such a happy boy and is so affectionate with his slobbery kisses and messy hugs. I adore this little one and his beautiful blue eyes...

   

Anniversary, Father's Day, and fun with little boys...

Anthony and I celebrated our 11th anniversary on the 16th, but I feel like a bad wife because I completely forgot about it! He was at scout camp all week and surprised me by coming home early that morning with flowers in hand. I guess it's not enough to have a calendar if you never look at it! It was nice to spend the day together as a family though. We took the boys up to the science center and waterfront in Lousiville then went out to dinner. I am blessed to have such a wonderful husband and it always amazes me to think back on all the adventures we have gone on together in the past 11 years. From exploring Europe and China, climbing mountains in Russia, traveling all over the United States, relaxing on the beaches in the Bahamas & Puerto Rico, completing our graduate degrees, and of course the biggest adventure of all- raising three wild little boys.

We went up to visit him at scout camp and the boys had fun getting dirty (and eating dirt). He rigged up a rope swing in a tree and the boys had so much fun swinging on it. And I DID remember father's day! Hope that redeems myself a little bit... Ethan wrote his own card and drew a picture of our family on the gift packaging. He is the best father these boys could ask for and they all adore him.

Keeping cool...

The boys had a blast swimming in our kiddie pool the other day. We also went up to the boy scout camp and swam in their lake- it has a nice sandy beach, the swimming area is really shallow and warm. They had a blast. Grant has no fear in the water, he wanted to walk all the way out and didn't seem to mind when he'd get a mouthful of the nasty brown water. Hope you're keeping cool!

  

    

The Osborne's

Louisville Zoo...

We went up to the zoo this week with our friends. It was miserably hot and humid but fortunately the splash park cooled things off. The boys had a blast, we will probably be spending most of our summer at the zoo and science center just trying to stay cool.

The Osborne's

Free American History Resource...

I came across this website the other day and saw they were offering free lesson plans. I requested the CD then forgot all about it...until it arrived in the mail today! This is a really great resource for teaching American history to your kids or even brushing up on it yourself- we are all citizens of this nation and as Thomas Jefferson so eloquently wrote:

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."

The cd includes elementary, middle school and high school lessons. And it quotes a lot from Skousen who wrote the 5,000 year leap which I think is one of the best books ever witten about the founding fathers and the foundation of our government, and the Making of America which is next in my long list of books to read. So check it out, it's completely FREE! http://www.americanheritage.org/

The Osborne's

Defending the Family

Wow, what an amazing article! I love the Ensign. I can't pick it up without browsing through and reading at least half the articles in one sitting. It is impossible to read these words and not feel the spirit and desire to do better. I really enjoyed this article from June's edition, Defending the Family in a Troubled World. I'll just share a few of my favorite quotes from it:

"We live in a day when the love of many, even toward their own children, is waxing cold; a day when so many people love pleasures more than God; a day when good is called evil and evil good. Those who defend the traditional family, who stand for fidelity and chastity and all that once was considered wholesome and praiseworthy are mocked and ridiculed. On the other hand, those who see no problem with fatherless homes, who advocate abortion, who fight all attempts to limit pornography, and who seek to redefine the very essence of what a family is, are praised and upheld as champions of tolerance."

"...the messages we constantly hear in media, entertainment, and advertising sound like this:

“You’re number one.”
“Do your own thing.”
“You’re special.”
“Find yourself.”

Such messages are so pervasive that we unconsciously absorb them and sometimes repeat them. Yet they are diametrically opposite from the message of the Savior, as recorded in similar language in every one of the four gospels: “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 10:39).

We gain happiness and salvation not by blindly pursuing our own self and our own will. We gain salvation by submitting our will, indeed our very selves, to the will of God. We must lose ourselves to find ourselves."

"Those who honor the calling of righteous parenthood will find their souls refined, their hearts purified, and their minds enlightened by the most important lessons of life. They will rise to far greater heights of happiness than those who engage in the narrow and ultimately unsatisfying pursuit of self."

"Curiously enough, this new modern tolerance is often a one-way street. Those who practice it expect everyone to tolerate them in anything they say or do, but show no tolerance themselves toward those who express differing viewpoints or defend traditional morality...Believers of all faiths have every right to participate in and share their convictions in the public arena."

I could share more...but really every paragraph is powerful...and while you're at it check out the The Family: A Proclamation to the World which is referenced several times in this article.