Using T.V. as a Pain Killer

Every Day I'm struggling with pain and a part of me has felt proud that I haven't turned to pain medications to bring me comfort.  My doctor offered them to me a long time ago but I decided that would not be very good because I would want them every day since I'm in pain every day.  I knew that if I started taking pain meds. I might end up becoming dependent on them since we didn't know what was wrong or how long I would be in pain.  It was a good decision but the other day as I turned on a movie for my boys I realized that the T.V. had become a kind of pain killer for me, and that needed to change.  I needed to break away from it and discover new ways to cope with what I was going through.  I couldn't let my kids suffer (which is what I think to much T.V. is for kids).  Like any addiction I had to remove it from the living room.  I put our T.V. on a rolling T.V. stand and stuck it in our living room closet that only I can open.  I will bring it out only at scheduled times.  It might be hard (for me) at first, but even when dealing with my pain I can find better ideas for my little toddlers.

Easter Devotionals

Gospel Learning is a great time to learn gospel principles and start our morning off with spiritual insights and lessons.  With Easter coming up I've put together a devotional book with lessons and activities for the holiday.  It's been wonderful to focus our minds on the resurrection.  Today we learned about having faith in Jesus Christ and the resurrection, and made Easter Lilies. 

Aubrey and Autumn with their Easter Lilies!

Language Arts Lessons

Homeschooling takes a lot of planning, organization, and research to find great teaching products. Teaching four young children can have it's challenges, but being scheduled can really help.  I'd like to share how we organize our language arts day, and some of the great products we've found.   Here is our daily schedule:

Language Arts Daily Lessons Toddler-2nd Grade

Older kids

Journal writing/ Dictation 15 min.                    
Color a Letter Page 15 min.(younger kids)
Folder Work (workbook pages)  20 min.           
Looking at Books 20 min. (younger kids)
Language Arts Program (Phonics etc.) 20 min. 
Play blocks and puzzles 20 min. (younger kids)
Individual Reading Time 30 min.                      
Language Arts Program 20 min. (younger kids)
Practice writing 10  min. (younger kids)

http://www.lovetolearn.net/
We've been using this great website to get most of our Language Arts material. It's a business that is run by a woman who has been homeschooling her children for close to 25 years.  We also get a lot of things from amazon because they are usually less expensive than a lot of other sites out there.  Here are some of the great materials we are enjoying.

This is Happy Phonics, and it is a wonderful way to teach children how to read.  Games, little books, flash cards, and great ideas make up the program and it has helped both my girls with their phonics skills.  It's created by Diane Hopkins , the same homeschooling parent that runs the love to learn website.  She also sells a k-6 journal with paper for grade levels, a spelling program, and language arts helps in it.    We use it every day.

These are wonderful handwriting books.  I love seeing my children's handwriting skills rapidly grow with these books.  They are scripture based, so at the end of the week they trace a simple scripture.  They are really colorful and fun.  Kids love them.

 

Explode the code books are wonderful for teaching phonics.  They are workbooks that go through the different phonics rules and help teach spelling, and improve reading fluency.  Very helpful for solidifying phonics rules.

The spelling workout series is a great way for kids to get better at their spelling.  There is a spelling list for each week with different activities to solidify the spelling of the words.  Great resource for us.

Great for teaching all the grammar and punctuation a kid needs to learn according to grade level.

For Preschool we get a packet from Love to Learn.  It's exactly what we need.

I use some of the preschool curriculum for my toddler and a great book that has a lot of fun activities to help your child develop.  It starts from their first weeks of life and goes through 5 years old.  It gives age appropriate activities for every week.  It's a great book.  You can find it on amazon.

Whole Wheat Loaves

My family loves homemade bread.  Last night I made Round Whole Wheat Loaves for dinner.  Everyone loves the recipe and it is very easy to make.  Sometimes I don't have a lot of time to waite for the dough to rise so while I'm cooking something in the oven like a roast, chicken, etc... I just put the bowl of dough on top of the oven and it cuts down the rising time by half.  They are fun to make and delicious.  Homemade food really lifts the feeling in our home and I feel that my kids are more grateful for the time I've taken to prepare it.

Round Whole Wheat Loaves

4 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour

2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast

3/4 c. warm water

1 c. warm milk

3/4 c. shortening

1/2 c. honey

2 tsp. salt

3 eggs

1 tsp. butter, melted

1) In a large bowl, combine the flours; set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water.  Add milk, shortening, honey, salt and eggs.  Beat in half of the flour mixture until smooth.  Stir in enough remaining flour mixture to form a soft dough.

2)Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 min.  Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hr.

3)  Punch dough down.  Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half.  Shape into round loaves.  Place each loaf on a greased baking sheet.  Cover and let rise until doubled, about 35 min.

4) With a sharp knife, make a deep x on top of each loaf.  Bake at 375 degrees for 30-3min. or until golden brown.  Remove from pans to wire racks; brush with butter.  Cool completely. 

Yield: 2 loaves (16 slices)

A Mother's Heart

About a year ago I decided that I wanted my kids to have a record of my life.  I wanted to share some of my experiences from my childhood, the great turning points, and celebrations in my life.  I didn't want to try and write it all out from memory and I knew I needed something to probe my thoughts.  I went on amazon and looked up Reflections from a mother's heart A family Keepsake.  I had gotten something for my mother that was similar for her birthday.  It's a journal that asks you to answer questions from your past, share wisdom you've learned, and advice you can give to your posterity.  I sit down and write some every Sunday.  It's great to go back in time, and reflect, and write your history at the same time.

"The beauty of the written word is that it can be held close to the heart and read over and over again."
-Florence Littauer

http://www.amazon.com/Reflections-From-Mothers-Heart-Countryman/dp/B004IEA306/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332705223&sr=8-1

Reading Online Learning Resources

I discovered some of the most amazing reading online learning resources for kids.  For a while I struggled with getting my 6 and 8 year old reading.  They could read easy things but they weren't having the break through I was wanting.  When we were attending Connections Academy the online virtual school we were introduced to Raz Kids.  It is wonderful and has helped my girls read more fluently.  The amazing thing is I only have to check on them and help them with quizzes sometimes.  It starts at the very beginning for the beginner and advances up to age 11.  It is very fun and helps kids by reading a book to them, having them read it on their own and then taking a quiz.   As they go they earn points to buy things for a virtual rocket.  My kids love it.  The books are great and interactive.  For the younger child Starfall is very fun and my kids have enjoyed it as well.  My boys are loving the alphabet songs and lessons.  One last amazing resource is BrainPop Jr., it has Language Arts, Reading, Science, Social Studies, Art, and Music.  It's a series of short movies about different subjects.  There is a funny robot named Mobby, that helps explain the subject, the kids love.  There are many more resources but those are some of the main ones.  I hope they can help someone searching for a way to help their child's Language Arts and Reading skills.

The Websites:
 http://www.raz-kids.com/
http://www.starfall.com/

There are some free examples on BrainPop, just click on a subject and click on one that says free in the corner.
http://www.brainpopjr.com/

Spiritually Centered Sundays

Sundays always seem harder when they are not scheduled.  The kids want to run around screaming, and they tend to get more irritated if I don't have a number of activities appropriate for Sunday for them.  It actually makes it more relaxing for parents to schedule Sunday because it usually will stay quiet and peaceful in the home.

Sunday Schedule

7:00 Breakfast

7:30 Clean up and get dressed

8:00 Listen to quiet and spiritually uplifting music while looking/reading books

8:35 Leave for Church

9:00-12:00 Church

12:30 Lunch

1:00 Clean up

1:15 Puzzles

1:45 Write a letter/Journals/Draw a picture

2:15 Read Scriptures, or inspirational stories, or walk by the lake

3:00 Explore The Friend Website or Bible Website, or watch Mormon messages, or have family singing time

4:00 Deliver Goodies to someone

5:00 Prepare Dinner

6:00 Dinner

6:30 Clean up

7:00 Family Gospel Lesson/Family Counsel

7:30 Quiet time in room

8:00 Bedtime

Of course this schedule may have to change if the time for meetings changes.

Here are a few helpful websites to help keep Sunday a Sabbath Day:

These are helpful activities for kids online:

http://www.lds.org/friend?lang=eng

http://www.kidsbibleinfo.com/

Here are some great printables for scripture reading and A.O.F. memorization:

http://scriptures4kids.com/

Here's a way to make a quiet book:

http://www.favecrafts.com/Quilting/Quilted-Soft-Book-for-Kids#

Here are some amazing ideas for Sundays:

http://lds.about.com/od/1/a/sabbathday_holy.htm

You can get great puzzles and Sabbath day books from here:
http://deseretbook.com/LDS-Games-Puzzles/c/31#q=&page=1&sort=popularity&facets=category:31
http://deseretbook.com/search/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=Kids+books&x=0&y=0#q=Kids%20books&page=1&sort=score&facets=
and here:
http://www.lovetolearn.net/catalog/index.lasso?page=hits&q=Jesus

MindWare

Our family loves MindWare products.  I feel like a kid again when I look through the catalog.  Their toys, and kits are so educational and fun.  They get kids interested in subjects like science, art and design, robotics, and a ton of other great things.  I love getting my kids interested in something new.  My seven and eight year old daughters helped me build a tin can robot from a root beer can we had.  It was so much fun and even the two younger kids were mesmerized by it.  I love to see the flame of imagination and inspiration spark in a child.  My eight year old says she wants to design and build her own.  If you take time to look over the catalog I know you'll find something your kids will love.  You can also find a lot of the products on amazon.  We are thinking about getting the Green Science Experiment Kit Weather Station.  I know the kids will love it, and spring is here so now is the perfect time.  Here is the MindWare website: http://www.mindware.com/Home/HomePage.aspx

Hope you have as much fun as we do.

Health and Exercise

I love to exercise, but it can be challenging when you're dealing with chronic pain.  It's been very challenging to get my daily workout in.  Sometimes the pain is so bad and I'm so exhausted I just can't.  When I can because of the nature of my pain it has to be lower impact.  At least for now.  I like to use Leslie Sansone's walking program.  I always feel better after doing it and I like that I'm doing something for my health even if it's not what I'm  use to doing.  Once upon a time I could climb mountains, run, dance, and other sports.  But it's important when dealing with chronic pain to take what you can get.  I can also do basic yoga, or at least all the poses that don't hurt.    There are also easy strengthening exercises that make life much better.  But it is VERY important not to overdue it when dealing with chronic pain problems it can exacerbate musculoskeletal pain, such as costochondritis, which is what I have.  Here are some websites about the exercises I've been talking about.  I hope they help you if it's been hard to get active.  They are wonderful for those who haven't exercised in a long time as well.  They ease you into exercise.

http://www.walkathome.com/try-walk-at-home/

http://www.amazon.com/Leslie-Sansone-Pounds-Ultimate-Collection/dp/B00265T7O2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1332586223&sr=8-4

This is a great DVD for beginners:

http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-For-Beginners-Barbara-Benagh/dp/B000H8RVSO/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1332586282&sr=1-1

This website is great for basic strength training and stretching.  It has pictures and I like seeing how to do something.

http://www.the-fitness-motivator.com/BasicExercises.html

Hope this helps someone struggling with the thought of even trying to exercise due to pain or prolonged lack of exercise.  These really are wonderful!

A Day in the Life

I have four amazing children and each of them is unique and talented in many ways.  I love teaching them and seeing them learning new things each day.  It's exciting to me to know they are getting an education that will inspire them to improve their talents and build new ones.  For me a day of learning has to be scheduled.  We can't always follow the schedule perfectly but an outline makes everything easier.  Fridays and Saturdays are reserved for chores, sports, play groups, appointments, field trips, daddy dates, and so on.  Sundays are our day of Sabbath worship, rest, and some service.

Mon.-Thur.

6:30- Kids morning routine (dress, brush hair, make beds etc..)
7:00- Breakfast
7:30- Morning chores (cleaning off table, rinsing dishes, unload dishwasher from night before, and load)
8:00-  Gospel Learning Time (a time for spiritual devotionals)
8:30- Poem memorizing, short game, and calendar
9:00- Math
10:30- Language Arts
12:00- Eat Lunch
12:30- Exercise
1:30- Social Studies/Science
2:30- Music/Art
3:30- Language Studies (Spanish, or Sign Language)
4:00- Free Time (play with friends, play individually, activity at Library, or help mom make dinner)
5:00- Dinner
5:30- Bath/Shower and evening routine and chores ( hair, teeth, P.J.'s,, rinse dishes, load dishwasher, etc.)
6:30- Relax, read, play games, listen to classical music
7:00- Family Scripture Study, and music time
7:30- Individual reading/email family and piano practice
8:00 -8:30- Bedtime (15 min. extra for a child each night to talk with a parents one on one)

This is usually how it goes but not everyday is perfect.  We do our best and get done everything we can.  But we have a great time and feel very productive when we can meet our goals.  Dealing with my health problems can make some days difficult to do, but I push myself and can get most of the things done.  Some things may fall through the cracks like morning chores Language studies etc.  But in a perfect world this is my schedule.  :)

The Homeroom of Life is "The Home"

Getting this blog going has been a true labor for me, but with everything going on in my life it is therapeutic.  I'm a homeschooling mom of four children, have a husband who is attending medical school, and am battling health problems.  It can be challenging at times but I have learned so much and am still learning a great deal about life.  Everything I do is a reflection of what I've learned and the things that bring me the greatest joys in this life.  I have so many goals I want to accomplish, sometimes it can be overwhelming.  This blog is an effort to show myself and others just what I do everyday and that it is more than I think at times.  I plan on sharing important health information, activities I do with the kids, and how to cope with having a sweet husband and daddy that we don't see as much as we would like.  I also love having an organized life and plan on sharing tips on staying organized.  I'm often asked how I do all I do each day.  I plan showing that with this blog.  Hope you can get some helpful information and enjoy what I have learned.