A Lesson Adventure Can Be Anywhere

"The Park"

"The Park"

These words I hear from my sweet, precious twin girls almost every morning.  All three of my children love to be outdoors.  They were born to be out and about and off to an adventure of some sort.  Homeschooling this year using the Leadership Education (TJED) philosophy has been the best blessing.  I love what it teaches and instills in not only my children, but for myself as well.  At one of our local parks today, the children played for awhile and then started to get bored and my son Caleb I could tell needed a shift.  He needed a shift in activity.  I had brought a few sight word books and animal flash cards which all three of them had gone over when we first had gotten to the park.  I thought to myself, what can I do?  The wind began to blow and the tree branches with their leaves were swaying.  I immediately thought a science lesson on trees.  We talked about what things trees provide us with.  Caleb immediately knew that trees provided shade, sources of food, paper and I went on to talk about more.  Lastly, I wanted him to know how trees provided us with oxygen.  Immediately he responded that oxygen is needed for us to breathe.  I was so happy that we were able to have this short, sweet lesson and yes, it was at the park. 

But wait, the lesson did not end here!

My son started to sneeze.  Last year his doctor had diagnosed him with seasonal allergies.  He does not have it often, but when he does I feel bad for him, my poor little thing.  He sneezes, eyes get puffy and watery, along with the scratching of his face around his eyes.  So, right after he had sneezed, he pointed at a tree and said, "mom, look right here."  I did and he began to explain to me that that tree was in its season and that it was causing his allergies to act up because it had pollen.  I totally thought wow, my son just gave me a lesson on how a tree had pollen and connected it to his allergies.  Yes, I was amazed as any mom is when their child shares with them the knowledge that they have inside of them.  I gave him a big hug and then off to walk back home we went.  I felt good about our park outing today and enjoyed seeing yet another example of TJED at work in my home, or in this case the park!

Socialization within Homeschooling

I always have those people who feel the need to voice their opinion about how homeschooling my children is not good for their socialization.  They tell me that how could my children possibly get all they need socially.  Well, I always respond back to those same people nicely that my children have no problems socializing with those their ages as well as those younger and older. Of course, I give them a smile to show that I am happy in my decision with homeschooling in every possible way!

I believe that as a mother it is my right to choose what is best for my children and that includes their education.  I have friends who have their children in both public and homeschool situations and respect their decisions equally.  I believe the main thing is that we all want what's best for our children and every family is different.  We know that this is quite alright and respect each others decisions! 

My children on a weekly basis play at local parks, visit our local library, visit Fairytale Town, and do various activities that include being around children up to adults of all ages.  They do pretty well at handling each situation and I feel very comfortable within my element.

So, just in case anyone still wonders what I think about this term Socialization involving my children the answer is, I am very pleased and also thank you for your concern!

A picture with the Magician

 

The Holman girls with my kids

Drayon, Andrew and Caleb at Mikal's Birthday  

The Mott boys with my kids


 

I have many other friends with whom my children play with, but you get the picture.  They are totally socializing!

Small Blessings Can Become Even Bigger Blessings In Disguise

With many changes for my family in the past few weeks, it seemed as if it would take forever to get back on track.  What track, you might ask?  Our daily schedule that is for the children, my husband, and I.  The children went from having their dad work an early morning schedule and coming home later in the evening, to leaving in the evening for work.  There went the sleepless nights, fine tuning our homeschooling schedule and eating at what would be cinsidered not the norm hours for dinner.  So many negatives it had seemed.

 I just new that something had to give or I was not sure that I could keep on being "super mom" anymore.  At least I have been trying since I became a mother.  I prayed all the to have the strength to make this work for our family.  I knew there was a reason Heavenly Father had changed things in our life and the main reason was a better job for my husband that was also closer than where he had been working for before.

Finally, I saw the light!  It was wonderful and it did not all come at once, but rather a little blessing here and another little blessing there.  My son has now been reporting to my husband on his daily homeschooling adventures (a great idea from my friend, Laine).  He gets excited to let his dad know what he has been learning.  Caleb also started a daily schedule sheet that he marks off as he does each subject and completes lessons online from Brain Pop Jr. and Reading Eggs.  We were able to go to the park as a family yesterday before my husband had to head off to work and the kids were so excited to have their dad come along for the fun. 

We are still adjusting to this new schedule and before we know it, we will be going back to the old one.  But, at least for now we are trying to embrace these little blesssings in our lives and trying to enjoy these moments before they are gone.

Homeschooling And Making Use Of My Local Resources

 

 

I absolutely love homeschooling my children.  It was something that I had prayed and prayed about over and over again.  The spirit was always strong in that yes, I was to take the step and do it.  My family makes it work and I enjoy the Thomas Jefferson Education way, along with the South Sutter Charter School.  Right now in our lives I could not see it any other way.

My son is so eager to learn so many different things and I enjoy that we can both learn new things together and as a family.  There are those that might think that my children do not get much socialization, but let me assure you they do and so much more.  My son has learned how to deal with not only those his age, but those younger and older as well.  Since we have taken the homeschooling route I have made sure to learn about and use all of my local resources that I can for my children on a weekly basis.

My family and I are so lucky to live near a wonderful library.  We are there at least twice every week.  They have so many free programs for children, school age and adults as well.  We love their Story Time program that the youth services librarian has put together. The children that go there get to listen to her read a couple books, sing songs and have fun play time every week.  It is a great program for children up to age five.  They always have something going on for everyone and it is a great free resource for not only checking out books, movies, science kits and free passes to the Children's Museum, but also for so much more.

There is a program where we live called First 5 and they are another wonderful resource that my family uses.  They have weekly play groups for children up to age five and they get to do fun art projects, have toys for the children to play with, read a story during snack time (they provide the snack).  Every six visits the child gets a free book to pick from a box and take home to add to their library.

The internet has so many free websites that can help with many subjects and I am grateful to be able to utilize these as we absolutely enjoy getting free history audios to download for use with schooling worksheets and lesson ideas all from the world wide web. 

Our home is a great resource as well!


                                                                                                                                

Just take a step back and look at what's all around you, there are so many more resources that I could go on, but you get the picture.

Homeschooling continues to be a blessing for my family and with learning about and utilizing our local resources it can be an even greater experience!!!

The Glass Is Always Half Full

They Are Twins And Individuals

First 5 Play Group

   


    My Dad growing up always reminded me that whenever something might not be going as you would like that I must remind myself that the glass is always half full, not half empty.  If we only think of the negative then we are just throwing out the positive as well.  With having trouble in certain areas with my precious Kylie I want to always think of the positives and with the help from my friend Laine I have been able to access what the issues are for her and now start making it a more positive outcome for her.  Little things such as having a backpack filled with her favorite things to take when we leave the house, to having some projects that she can work on alone with siblings nearby and learning what kind of schedule is better for her has been helpful.  Of course, fine tuning will still be needed as we merrily go along.  I have support from my family and close friends and it makes all the difference in the world.

    Yes, Kylie and Caylee are twins indeed.  But, they are two individuals just like Caleb is an individual and they need to be treated as such.  I am learning how to deal with the different personalities and what can and cannot work with our family and just having patience and the willingness to do the work is what will get us there.  What a positive and great difference for Caleb with homeschooling.  He enjoys our learning environment and being able to go to play groups and field trips with his family and I love his eagerness to learn.

The hugs, kisses and I love you's from my children make it all worth it and then some!

Along Came Morning Without Sleep, But Along Came A Treat

         It was a long night with an even more long day ahead.  Morning came and my dear friend Joanna sent me a text and I was not even up yet.  I am a morning person and like to arise before the children, but just could not get going.  I wanted to bake us muffins for breakfast and we had  already planned our morning to go visit our local Fish Hatchery.  I managed to get up and get myself ready and I am so glad that I did.  With the girls being tired from frequent wake ups the night before it was Mommy to the rescue.  I have made it a point to be as calm and happy as I can no matter what.  Daily morning prayers have helped a lot. 

            The Nimbus Fish Hatchery was a great place to take the kids for a homeschooling field trip.  We learned about the life cycle of the salmon, saw how their color changes,  and looked at actual eggs during their different stages.  Also, we were able to watch some of the workers tagging and checking on the steelhead trout and go to the fish raceway to feed the fish.  All of the kids had a blast and Caleb and the girls were happy to have their Grandma and little friend Andrew come along with us for our little adventure.  The workers were all very nice and you can tell that they enjoy their jobs.  I will definitely be taking the children again soon, as I enjoyed the experience as well.

                                   

                            

           



         After coming back home the day did get more hectic and Mommy was very exhausted and tired, but we got a few things done along with our afternoon monthly meeting with Caleb’s educational specialist for school.  Scott and I are very grateful for her helpfulness and guidance on certain issues with the type of schooling we do and enjoy the Thomas Jefferson Education method of learning.  This was another daily adventure in the life of the Sanderson Family.  All of the sleepless nights and difficulties that a day might bring is all worth it to have these precious moments that my family can share together and I hold so dear.