Friday we visited the Gila Valley Temple.
Before a temple is dedicated, everyone who wants to is invited to come and take a tour.
The tour was a perfect length and overview of what temples are all about.
It is a beautiful temple and was a beautiful day to spend together as a family!
I am going to put this calm picture of Sylvia up just to counterbalance what’s to follow.
Today while in a store, Luke, Isabel and Sylvia were playing in the toy department. I let them know that I would be over in the shoe department for a few minutes. While I was browsing down the shoe aisle with Hazel in the cart, I thought about how nice it was that I could leave the bigger kids for a bit. When I got back to the toy department, Luke and Isabel were doing pretty much the same thing they were doing when I left them. Sylvia however, was crouched inside of a clothes rack…NAKED.
Here is one of the many creations of this afternoon. Today when I recognized it as “art” (and not just a mess as I usually call it) Sylvia seemed very happy that I “got it.”
Isabel and I had fun with her new birthday present from her aunt, making T shirts! Or in this case, making a onesie!
I LOVE Isabel’s cute style of drawing and her great perspective.
Luke makes these LineMan mazes/video games on paper. If you look closely, you can see the magic ax you need to get, the picks, spikes, and “warps.” (I feel like I am the best mom in the world when I sit down and play his LineMan games.)
Here is Hazel doing her thing.
Just thought this was a perfect example of how boys play. I don’t get it…(but I love it.)
Just a few things Sylvia has said lately.
In our backyard I assume she saw some crickets and yelled at them, “Oh cricket boys!”
Outside at the top of her lungs, “Birds, come and land on me!”
Ironically, loud noises really bother Sylvia, so when our back door alarm went off she covers her ears and says, “That’s annoyed to me.”
Today was a great day. A great day to me is feeling successful at three main things. Here are the three items I juggle (in no particular order.)
1. Spending quality learning time with the kids (AKA homeschooling)
2. Working on my art
3. Cleaning/Cooking
Mind you, these are NOT the most important things to me, just the three tasks that I need to make sure I do every day. Most important things would be things like, having fun with my kids, loving my husband, being a better person, blah blah blah.
I know I’ve mentioned our fun History curriculum before. Today we learned about Alexander the Great. Luke already knew the knot story! I sure didn’t, and that is the great thing about homeschooling, I get to learn with them!…or like today, FROM them.
SOAP BOX…
After someone finds out that I homeschool, their first question for me is, “So did you major in Education in college?” I used to feel very self conscious, but now I am proud to answer, “Hell no! I got “F’s” in school!” I’m not putting down college, I would like my kids to go there (if it’s what they need to do to get where they want to be.) But I know I have an advantage. I am learning along with my children, not lecturing to them, and I hope that I am a good example to them that you never get to a point where you know everything and you never stop learning.
I’ve said this before, but, why would I need someone else to tell me that I am qualified to teach my children? I know their weaknesses and strengths better than anyone. I know what they need and I’ve been teaching them since they were born. WORD.
Bucephalus
The Pharos Lighthouse
Another fun “every other Friday” where Joey doesn’t have to work and we all go on a field trip. This time we visited the Pima Air and Space Museum. It was a lot of fun. So much information there!
Hazel driving.
This was the most clothed picture of a woman on the airplanes.
Because I giggle at the name Bungay Buckaroo, does that make me immature? I also loved another airplane name, Petulant Porpoise…very creative.
They had wagons there for the kids which was great. An old man came up to us and said, “Let them walk, it’s good for them!” After that I wanted to go up to the shuttle filled with old people and say to the driver, “Let them walk, it’s good for them!” HA.
In the space place, they had a moon globe (you know, a globe of the moon) I really want one now. They are about $55 online and my birthday is coming up in November!
About six months ago Joey bought us the Rosetta Stone Homeschooling version for Mandarin. Isabel is the one that is motivated and great at doing her lessons. The rest of us, not so much. Since then, we have met and made a friend here in Tucson who speaks Mandarin. Lucky for us, she wants to teach Mandarin to children for a job but needs experience, so we end up with FREE lessons! Anna comes over every Wednesday morning. This morning was our second lesson from her. At the end of each lesson we have a puzzle or something that we need to memorize. This week we need to work on “The Friend Song.”
Don’t get this stuck in your head.
Yesterday Isabel turned eight!
A game at her party. The girls had to cut the flour with their butter knives and if they made the dime fall then they had to pick up the dime with their mouth.
Of course the game isn’t as fun when there is one person who purposefully makes the dime fall just so she can stick her face in some flour.
Playing one of our family’s favorite game, Thimble!
Isabel wanted a cheesecake for her birthday this year…thank you Costco!
I am so grateful that Isabel has been able to make some really nice friends since we’ve moved.
This morning when I woke up I knew what we needed to do. So while I was still lying in bed, my first words of the morning were, “We need to have breakfast at McDonald’s!” I haven’t had McDonald’s breakfast in years. I took our history along and we had a fantastic time. No one was there (at least not in the play place) and after we ate, we did a history lesson, and then they played. By the way, I don’t like saying history lesson because really it’s just me telling them a story from history, while they color a worksheet from the workbook (only if they want to) or do a corresponding word search or something. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE The Story of the World Curriculum??? I know that they love it and are learning because if a word or story from our history pops up during the day (outside of our lesson of course) then Luke and Isabel get excited and say, “Hey! we know about that!” To me, a good curriculum is one that the kids like (if they don’t like, they don’t learn) and it needs to be easy for me! I am seriously thinking that this blog needs to be titled, “The Lazy Home Schooler”.
Some pictures from this week…
Here is Luke with a salamander that he caught after scouts this week. I had no idea there were salamanders here in Tucson.
Here is outside of our library. That’s Luke and Sylvia down by the dried up fountain.
Sylvia is constantly making “recipes”. I am pretty nice and like to let my kids do or use things and make messes, but if I had been watching, I would not have let her use our strawberries. Probably better I wasn’t watching.
Sabrina School 