I Homeschool

I homeschool my kids. My oldest, who is eight, participated in the public preschool program, which was great. At the time he was a little behind in his development, but through speech therapy and participation in this preschool, he caught up. It was a great program and I loved it. I enrolled him in the kindergarten the year he turned 5. It was a tough year for me. I was not happy about having to schedule my life around the bus, and I was not thoroughly impressed with #1's overall progress. He was pulled out of the classroom almost every day for the special education class and speech therapy. I hated forcing him to do meaningless homework, which taught him nothing, and only caused tension. My #2 stopped taking naps, because the whole bus thing messed up her schedule. Towards the end of the year two incidences that were very serious occurred at school, and I started thinking seriously about pulling him out entirely. I went to the homeschool fair that year and learned that there were THOUSANDS of choices for teaching school. It was very overwhelming. I read many books, trying to get a good idea of which curriculum I should use. My dh was not totally thrilled about the idea of homeschooling. When I presented him with the idea of a public virtual school, he felt comfortable in letting me be #1's teacher. So, I enrolled him in a virtual academy.

The first year was rough. I think overall, #1 liked being at school and being around his friends. It was hard for him to "do school", but I allowed him to move around, and did not force him to sit in his chair, except when he was required to write.

ONE OF THE COMMENTS I HEAR FROM PEOPLE when I tell them I homeschool is, "I DON'T HAVE THE PATIENCE TO HOMESCHOOL." I simply reply, "I don't either." I don't have patience for a lot of things, but it's something I'm learning. I don't know very many people who are born patient. I'm sure there's the rare exception, but patience is mostly learned. One of my favorite quotes is, "PATIENCE IS LEARNING TO HIDE YOUR IMPATIENCE." That's what it boils down to. Hiding my impatience. There are times when I feel like screaming, and I do, or I don't. I still work at it, but I have been gaining perspective as I venture on this crazy journey called homeschooling, and I think I'm making progress. My #1 isn't the only one learning here.

That first year was hard to hide my impatience. The lessons were too long, in my opinion, for a 1st grader, but he learned a lot. We switched academies in 2nd grade to one that was more flexible and allowed me to choose my own curriculum. 2nd grade was a lot smoother. We still had a few bumps in the road, but things were way better than the year before.

Now I am on my 3rd year of homeschooling. Some of my curriculum has changed, some of it hasn't. I don't know if it's his age, or what, but this year is so much better than the other two years. I still struggle with getting him started with school in the morning, but once he starts, he usually sticks to it, with a little prodding. He does his assignments with little complaining, and finishes them quickly.

#1 took the MAP test last year and scored 99th%ile for reading, and about 93% for math. I've thought that if he were still attending the local elementary, he might still be in resource.

SOCIALIZATION is a biggie that people bring up when I mention homeschool. I HOMESCHOOL BECAUSE OF SOCIALIZATION. I don't like the socializing going on in public school. I try to give #1 plenty of opportunities to socialize with kids. He has church, cubscouts, homeschool PE, co-op groups, group piano lessons, and his friends in the neighborhood and town.

My friend wrote a couple of blogs on why she chose to homeschool, and I share many of her sentiments. You can read them here and here.
I hope you don't mind, Jenny!

Barium Swallow

Okay, I'm not at all interested in this, but I had to get a barium swallow a year ago. First they made me swallow these little dry pellets that expanded my throat. It was like swallowing dry lemon-lime soda. The bad thing about it was that I couldn't burp. They told me if I burped, I'd have to come back and do the test all over again. It was horrible. But the worst part was when they made me drink this barium stuff. It was a white thick substance that makes me want to throw up, just thinking about it. I had to lay down on this machine that turned me around (so the barium could coat my stomach lining). Okay--no burping allowed (after drinking dry carbonation), drink this milky white substance, and we'll turn you around on this machine. Fun, huh? After about 5 minutes, I think I burped a new record for myself--good thing they had seen enough--I didn't have to come back.

All for what? Well, I didn't have ulcers. Six months later I was in the hospital having surgery to have my gall bladder removed.

Raiders of the Lost Book of Mormon Geography

If you don't want to watch the video, here's a summary of it.

DNA Evidence: The Book of Mormon IS True

I know that a few years ago an anti-mormon video came out saying that the Book of Mormon isn't true because there is no DNA evidence of people coming from the Middle East (European-type DNA). Well, their argument was premature. I just watched a video tonight that completely blew me out of the water. It was a 4-hour documentary about the DNA evidence that the Nephites really DID exist. The man who presented the material, Rodney Meldrum, gave a very compelling argument that the BOM lands were actually here in the US, and the Indian tribes that Joseph Smith was commanded to send men to preach to were the actual descendants of the Lamanites. If you read about the Hopewell Indians, you see that they existed about 200 BC and mysteriously disappeared in 400 a.d. He gives countless evidence supporting his theory. It made so much sense. He uses a lot of scriptural evidence from the BOM, as well as what Joseph Smith said. I'm not saying that it's true what he says, but his theory made more sense to me than any of the Mesoamerican theories. If his theory is correct, the river Sidon is the Mississippi river, and the Narrow Neck of Land, as mentioned in the BOM would be up by the Great Lakes, between Lake Eerie and Lake Ontario. So maybe there is only one Hill Cumorah after all. He backs up all his data with scriptures, scientific discoveries and data, and with what Joseph Smith said. Read his FAQ's, and come to your own conclusions.
Big Springs, MO (Near the Ozarks). Meldrum believes this to be the Waters of Mormon. You'll have to watch/buy his DVD to see how he comes to that conclusion.

Stuart's Attempt at Manhood

Stuart came to me this evening after his shower and said, "Mom, I'm bleeding." "What happened? Did you bite your lip, or fall down?" I asked. "No." Then I got this idea. He WAS in the shower after all. "Did you cut yourself shaving?" He got this sheepish look on his face and shook his head 'yes.' He was so embarrassed, and the cut was painful. I asked if I could take a picture (for posterity's sake) but he refused. So, I put a tiny corner of TP on his cut and sent him to bed. He kept putting his hand over his mouth and yelling at his sister to stop staring. I couldn't help but laugh. . . not too loud, though.

Caves

Caves are sooo cool. We went to the Sea Lion Caves in Florence, OR on May 22nd. It's one of the largest sea caves in the world. The Sea Lions don't spend much time in the caves during the summer. They have a webcam on their site, so you can watch the sea lions. It was pretty cool, but smelled like an animal pen. Despite the foul odor, it was still worth seeing.

I remember visiting the Wind Caves in South Dakota. It is one of the largest caves in the world, and they believe that they haven't even discovered all the tunnels.

We will be visiting Timpanogos Cave this month. I haven't been since I was a child, but I want to take my son to it.

After my mission I went with a bunch of my friends to the Nutty Putty Caves on the other side of Utah lake. The entrance to the cave is a hole in the ground. I crawled through a narrow passage (actually called the birth canal), and then took a direct left into another hole. I got stuck in a fetal position. It was one of the scariest experiences of my life. I thought I would be stuck there forever. The caves are now closed because too many people get stuck there and have to be rescued. I was one of the lucky ones. I was only stuck for a few minutes.

One of the coolest caves I have ever been in, was actually a salt mine. It was a salt mine near Salzburg, Austria (where part of "Sound of Music" was filmed) You dress up as a miner and take a train ride through the tunnels, slide down a huge slide, and row across an underground lake.

Theology: LDS god is in harmony with the Bible

I went to the science ficition museum with my family yesterday and saw some references to Orson Scott Card's Sci Fi books. It reminded me of an article he wrote that I read in December. Card happens to be LDS. I thought it was an interesting comparison of LDS and Traditional Christian's beliefs. This was written due to all the media publicity of Mitt Romney's LDS faith and his race for the Presidential nomination Here is the link.

Nazca Lines

I just finished the book, "Evil Star," which is a sequal to the book "Raven's Gate" by Anthony Horrowitz, and part of the setting takes place in the Nazca Desert, in Peru. I thought this was so fascinating, that I had to add it to my blog. Here is a website that talks more about what the Nazca lines are. One of the most interesting things is that you can only see the pictures and lines from the sky. This one of a monkey is my favorite. This map of the desert shows the placement of several geoglyphs. I saw a few videos on youtube about geoglyphs, one even showing geoglyphs in many different locations around the globe using google earth.

Jack London's Mentor: Joseph Smith, Jr's Niece

I was at a DUP (Daughter's of the Utah Pioneers) luncheon with my mom last year and they were reading about pioneers in California.  One of the stories they told (and you can find it in one of the books on their website) was about Ina Coolbrith, who was born Josephine Donna Smith. She was the daughter of Don Carlos Smith, the brother of Joseph Smith, Jr.  After the death of her father, and because of severe persecution, her mother made her promise never to 
reveal her true identity.  It wasn't until later years, after her death, that one of her Smith cousins (I can't remember which one) revealed her true identity.  

Ina Coolbrith was the librarian who inspired Jack London and also poet George Sterling.  If you can get your hands on the book sold by the DUP, it is a very interesting saga.  You can find more about Ina Coolbrith on the internet.

Vinegar Painting

Okay, I admit it, I hate painting.  Even though I love watching craft shows (like Carol Duvall), I can't stand it when the painters come on and say how easy it is to paint. It may be easy for some, but to me, it's not only difficult, but boring.  But vinegar painting actually appealed to me.  I was surprised and pleased with my reults.  Unfortunately, I have one more piece of furniture in my garage that is only halfway painted.  There aren't enough warm months in the year to work out in my garage on these types of projects. Click on the photo to see my layout up close, and to find out what I did to create this look.

Chupa Cabra

If you have ever been to South America, you may have heard of the Chupa Cabra.  Translated, it means "goat sucker."  When I was on my mission in Brazil, I remember the story of the Chupa Cabra being printed in the newspaper.  One lady, in all seriousness (and I should say, also acting a little scared), said to me (in Portuguese), "Look at this creature!  What a horrible beast!"  She was fanning the front page of a newspaper at me with an artist's interpretation of what a chupa cabra looked like.  I had to suppress a laugh.  I was thinking "What a horrible drawing!"  I told the lady that I didn't believe the story one bit, and it was not an actual picture, but someone's drawing.  There could actually be a chupa cabra, but there is little evidence that it actually exists, much like the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland and the Sasquatch in the forests of the Northwest.  Of course, It took sixty-seven years from the time the Giant Panda was "discovered" by Westerners until its live capture. So some animals are able to evade capture for decades.  See a chupa cabra on YouTube.

The Mystery Tribe

I read this article in the National Geographic a few months back that caught my interest.  A man named Waldo Wilcox had guarded hundreds of acres  of Fremont Indian ruins for over 50 years, leaving bones and artifacts literally untouched.  It is the best preserve of Indian ruins ever discovered.  You can read more about them here.  Also, here is an interview with Waldo Wilcox.