A Mother's Account of Learning to Teach Her Children At Home
I am a SAHM and teacher of six beautiful daughters. I decided to create this blog because I needed somewhere to write down what I was and am going through as I learn about the wide world of homeschooling. I figured why not share that process, in case there was anyone that found it as overwhelming as I did! I hope you enjoy your stay and perhaps find something helpful in your own journey!

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Literary References from General Conference of the LDS Church

October 2015 Session


General Women's Session

1. “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood,” The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth (1924), 359. - Discovering the Divinity Within
2. “Forever—is composed of Nows,” in Final Harvest: Emily Dickinson’s Poems, sel. Thomas H. Johnson (1961), 158. - A Summer with Great-Aunt Rose
3. “Often the prickly thorn produces tender roses” (Ovid, Epistulae ex ponto, book 2, epistle 2, line 34; “Saepe creat molles aspera spina rosas”). - A Summer with Great-Aunt Rose

Saturday Morning Session


Joe Lieberman, The Gift of Rest: Rediscovering the Beauty of the Sabbath (2011). - Shipshape and Bristol Fashion

Saturday Afternoon Session


Adapted from Elizabeth Akers Allen’s poem “Rock Me to Sleep,” in William Cullen Bryant, ed., The Family Library of Poetry and Song (1870), 222–23. - It's Never Too Early

Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement (2000), 206–10. - Strengthened by the Atonement of Jesus Christ

General Priesthood Session

Herodotus, The History of Herodotus, trans. George Rawlinson, 4 vols. (1875), 1:244. - Be Not Afraid
William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 1, scene 5, lines 167–68. - Be Not Afraid

Each reference has two links.  One links to the literary source on Amazon, and the other links to the talk the reference was taken from. 
I decided to start making a list of literary references each General Conference because I know many home educators that want to read these books.  

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Dancing Birds





Rachel is now in 1st grade and doing a class in Lego Robotics this year, using the Lego WeDo software.  As you can see, she is having a lot of fun and hopefully learning a lot, too.

Friday, November 29, 2013

Christmas Devotionals


Haven't posted in a while - my real life has taken over!  Ah, the life of a SAHM homeschooling mama.  I just love it!  Anyways,  quick post today to share a PDF document I created for Christmas time.  A few years ago, my mom gave me a packet of Christmas stories with accompanying scriptures and carols.  We do these for our devotionals at the beginning of each day December 1-24.  I copied the packet my mom gave me into the pc to make it easier to share with family and friends.  It's stored in my Google drive because it's over 100 pages long.  Just follow this link to preview and/or download.  All the songs used are from the LDS Hymnal or the LDS Children's Songbook, except for "We Three Kings of Orient Are."  I have no idea where that one came from, actually, it's just the version I had on hand.  All scriptures are from the LDS standard works. Enjoy!  And have a Merry Christmas!


Saturday, June 1, 2013

Summer School


We do school year round in our house.  But our summer schedule is much more relaxed then during the colder months of the year.  In the summer, we have a basic schedule that we are free to disregard if we decide to spend a day outside in the sun instead.  We sleep in a little longer, stay up a little later, etc.  The only thing set in stone during the summer is morning devotional.

The day starts when everyone is up.  At the latest, I let the girls sleep until 10AM, but we're usually up around 8AM.  We get breakfast and wake-up enough to do our summer devotional routine.

Summer devotional starts with prayer and a hymn.  Then I read from the scriptures to the girls for 10 minutes.  Next we do our memorization boxes.  Finally, we read from our movie book we're currently working on.  That is the only part set in stone.  From our movie book, depending on how we're feeling, we'll typically read anywhere from 10-45 minutes.

The rest of the schedule changes depending on the day, but follows this general format.

The older girls that can read do personal scripture study and from literature I have assigned them for about an hour, while the younger ones spend time reading scripture stories and picture books with me.  If we already have our math curriculum for the next year, the girls do three lessons a week so they don't lose what they've already learned and have to relearn it in the fall.

We also like to do unit studies during the summer that coincide with fieldtrips we're planning or subjects the girls want to study.  We've already done a Japan unit study this summer (I'll post about that later) and plan on an art one next.

When we decide we're done with school for the day, we work together to get chores done quickly and have lunch around noon.  Then we have the rest of the day to pursue whatever perks our interest that day.  Swimming, walks, water parks, arts & crafts, etc. 

After getting the idea from another homeschooling mom in the community, we plan to also try to let the girls have more say in our daily activities this summer.  At the beginning of devotional each day, after prayer, we want to let the girls each pick something they really want to do.  We will try our best to work it in that day or week.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Summer Book & Movie List

List updated: 23 June 2013
During the summer months, and sometimes during the school year - we like to do what we call Movie Literature. We read literature together as a family that has been turned into movies and do book reports on them. The kids are allowed to do whatever kind of book report they want (written, oral, demonstration, etc.), as long as they can show that they paid attention and followed the story. After everyone has completed their book reports, we have a movie night and watch the movie. When it's a series of books, I change up things a bit. If it is a series of pictures books, we'll read one a day for a week before watching the movie. If it's something like Spiderwick, where the movie is based on all the books - we'll read them all first. With others that have a movie for each book, like Harry Potter, we read them in order and watch the movies as we complete the books. And then other series that are chapter books, but only have one movie made like Judy Moody, we'll just read the first book in the series. If the kids like it, they can read more in the series on their own. After we're done watching the movie, we discuss differences/similarities wtih the book, which we preferred, and why. Currently, we're working on Pinocchio.

Since I went through all the trouble of compiling a list of books that would work, I thought I'd share them here. This list is by no means comprehensive. It is made up of books/movies that I felt were appropriate for my children. All of the movies are the equivalent of G or PG ratings and available via Netflix (DVD or streaming). Please review any books or movies to make sure they fit within your family's standards before using them. The books are linked to Amazon, where you can find the author and publishing information. Also, some of the movies do not have the same name as the book. If that is the case, I've included the movie's name after the book title. For anyone that is interested, I have a PDF file available, too.  You can now download it here, instead of me having to e-mail it to everyone individually!  I'd also love to hear of any books that I might have missed! Please let me know if you discover any links are not working! Thanks!

The Adventures of Pinocchio*
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer*, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn* - The Adventures of Huck Finn
Alice - Alice Upside Down
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland*, Through the Looking Glass*
Amazing Adventures from Zoom's Academy - Zoom
Anne of Green Gables*, Anne of Avonlea*
The Ant Bully
The Apple Dumpling Gang
Aquamarine
Around the World in Eighty Days*
Arthur (series)
Arthur And the Minimoys - Arthur And the Invisibles
Babar the Elephant (series)
Baby Sitter's Club (series)
Ballet Shoes
Balloon Farm
Bambi: A Life in the Woods*
Banner in the Sky - Third Man on the Mountain
Basil of Baker Street - The Great Mouse Detective
The Bear
Beauty And the Beast*
Because of Winn-Dixie
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ*
The BFG
Biggles
The Biscuit Eater
Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses*
Black Beauty*
The Black Stallion
Blackbeard's Ghost
The Borrowers - The Secret World of Arrietty
The Brave Little Toaster
Bridge to Terabithia
By the Great Horn Spoon! - The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin
Caddie Woodlawn
Call of the Wild*
The Canterville Ghost*
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlotte's Web
Chateau Bon Vivant - Snowball Express
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car
Chrissa Stands Strong: An American Girl
A Christmas Carol*
A Christmas Memory
Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch, & the Wardrobe; Prince Caspian; Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Chronicles of Prydain - The Black Cauldron
Cinderella*
City of Ember
Clifford the Big Red Dog - Clifford's Really Big Movie
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court*
Curious George
The Dark is Rising Sequence
David Copperfield*
Davy Crockett*
A Day with Wilbur Robinson - Meet the Robinsons
Doctor Dolittle*
A Dog of Flanders*
Dream Days* - The Reluctant Dragon
Dumbo, the Flying Elephant
Ella Enchanted
Eloise (series)
Emma*
Eragon
Escape to Witch Mountain
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Five Children & It*
Freaky Friday
The Gnomobile
Great Expectations*
The Guardians of Childhood - Rise of the Guardians
Guardians of Ga'Hoole (series)
Gulliver's Travels*
Hans Brinker, or, the Silver Skates: A Story of Life in Holland
Harriet the Spy
Harry Potter - Sorcerer's Stone, The Chamber of Secrets, The Prisoner of Azkaban
Hatchet - A Cry in the Wild
Heidi
The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings - Cartoon Version
Holes
Hoot
Horrid Henry (series)
Hotel for Dogs
The House of Dies Drear
How to Eat Fried Worms
How to Train Your Dragon (series)
Howl's Moving Castle
The Hundred and One Dalmatians
The Incredible Journey
The Indian in the Cupboard
Inkheart
The Invention of Hugo Cabret - Hugo
The Iron Man - The Iron Giant
Jacob Have I Loved
James and the Giant Peach
Johnny Tremain
A Journey to the Center of the Earth*
Judy MoodyStink (series)
Jumanji, Zathura
The Jungle Book*
Kidnapped*
The King's Damosel - Quest for Camelot
Lassie Come-Home
The Last Unicorn
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow* - The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
Little House on the Prairie
Little Lord Fauntleroy*
The Little Prince
A Little Princess*
The Little White Horse - The Secret of Moonacre
Little Women*, Little Men*
The Littles
The Littlest Angel
The Lost Ones - The Island at the Top of the World
Lottie & Lisa - The Parent Trap
Madeline (series)
The Magic Bed Knob, Bonfires and Broomsticks - Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Mars Needs Moms!
Mary Poppins
Matilda
Meet Felicity: An American Girl - Felicity: An American Girl Adventure
Meet Kit: An American Girl - Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
Meet Molly: An American Girl - Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front
Meet Samantha: An American Girl - Samantha: An American Girl Holiday
Millions
Miracle on 34th Street
Miss Spider (series)
Misty of Chincoteague - Misty
Monkeys, Go Home
Mother Carey's Chickens* - Summer Magic
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH - The Secret of NIMH
My Friend Flicka, Thunderhead
Mulan
My Dog Skip
My Louisiana Sky
My Side of the Mountain
Nancy Drew (series)
The Neverending Story
Nicholas Nickleby*
The Night at the Museum
Nim's Island
Nurse Matilda - Nanny McPhee
The Old Curiosity Shop*
Old Yeller
Oliver Twist*
One Thousand and One Nights* - The Thief of Bagdad & 1001 Arabian Nights
Oz - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz*, The Marvelous Land of Oz* - Return to Oz, Ozma of Oz*
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Peter Pan*
The Pickwick Papers*
Pippi Longstocking
The Polar Express
Pollyanna*
Pride and Prejudice*
The Princess and the Goblin*
The Princess Diaries (series)
The Railway Children*
The Ralph Mouse Collection - The Mouse and the Motorcycle
Ramona (series)
Rapunzel* - Tangled
Rascal: A Memoir of a Better Era
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm*
Redwall (series)
The Rescuers
Robinson Crusoe*
Ruby Bridges
The Secret Garden*
A Series of Unfortunate Events (series)
Seuss - The Butter Battle Book, The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs & Ham - Dr. Seuss on the Loose, Horton Hatches the Egg, Horton Hears a Who, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, The Lorax, The Sneetches & Other Stories - Dr. Seuss on the Loose
The Sheep-Pig - Babe
Shrek!
The Sign of the Beaver - Keeping the Promise
The Snow Queen* (free in ebooks of Hans Christian Anderson collections)
Skellig
Sounder
The Spiderwick Chronicles (series)
Stormbreaker
Stuart Little
Summer of the Monkeys
Swiss Family Robinson
The Sword in the Stone
The Tale of Despereaux
A Tale of Two Cities*
The Thief Lord
Thomasina: The Cat Who Thought She Was God
The Three Musketeers*
Toby Tyler*
Treasure Island*
The Treasure Seekers*
The Trumpet of the Swan
Tuck Everlasting
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea*
The Ugly Dachshund
Uncle Remus & Brer Rabbit* - The Adventures of Brer Rabbit
Undercover Cat - That Darn Cat
The Water Horse
The Water-Babies*
Watership Down
We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story
The Westing Game - Get a Clue
Where the Red Fern Grows
White Fang*
The Wind in the Willows*
Winnie-the-Pooh
The Witches
The Worst Witch (series)
A Wrinkle in Time
The Year of the Horse - The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit
The Yearling
Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus* - Yes, Virginia
*eBook available for free through Project Gutenberg

These are books that are supposed to be released as movies in the next year or so:
Ender's Game (2013)
Ethel and Ernest (TBA 2013)
The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs (Epic, 2013)
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters (2013)
The Phantom Tollbooth (TBA 2013)
Punk Farm (TBA 2014)
Where's Waldo?, series (Where's Waldo, TBA 2013)
Download PDF of list here.
Feel free to share the list, but please do not alter the links.  Thanks!