School: April 2010

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Wow, after quite a bit of waiting ....and quite a bit of SNOW, we are finally feeling like it is Spring around here!  April flew by!  How did it get to be May already?  In April we had a few illnesses and quite a few days of horrible weather, but we plugged along.  But we also had some very amazing experiences.  General Conference was in April, BYU Women's Conference was in April, as well as some awesome TJed trainings.  What a great month.  I learned so much.  I have so many notes that I am trying to get typed up so that I can post them and share them.  

This time of year we start to get burned out.  The sun shines every few days and when that happens all we want to do is run to the park to play with our friends!  So that is exactly what we do!  We have been struggling with being gone from home too much, chores and getting along and have realized that we need to revisit the Core Phase for everyone in our family.  We need to ground ourselves again.  So we have started our summer vacation as of May 1st and are doing exactly that...spending the summer months being together, working together and playing together.  Core phase is defined as:

"The Core Phase is the first of the Foundational Phases, and serves as the foundation for all the rest of a child’s life. This is when parents nurture their children in the safe, cozy atmosphere of home and family life. During this period, they get a spiritual education by learning about the difference between wrong and right in the secure care of their mother and father. They are exposed to inspiring music, good books, and an atmosphere of learning through the family culture. 

"Play is a huge part of the Core Phase child’s education. As Maria Montessori taught, a child “learns everything without knowing he is learning it, and in doing so passes little from the unconscious to the conscious, treading always in the paths of joy and love.” Work is another big part of the Core Phase. Children learn what hard work is, and are lovingly instructed by their parents. The time children spend learning how to work and obey parents and rules provide valuable lessons they will use in many circumstances (including later academic work) and through the rest of their lives.  

"A child in Core Phase should:

• Learn the difference between good and bad, and how to make good choices
• Learn how to work, and how to be responsible
• Learn about God and his or her relationship with Him
• Play—which is the best way for a child to learn about the world around him
• Spend most of his time at home with his family, being nurtured and loved"

Here is what we did do for school in April:

Devotionals -

• We spent a lot of time talking about life missions.  It is amazing what the leaders of the church have said about this generation.
• Lessons 2-4 in the Gospel Principles book. 

Math - Individual lessons in Saxon; Kaiden - Algebra 1, Nic - 6/5 , Luke - 3, Afton - 1

Mom school - (where I teach them things that I enjoy learning about)

• We are reading out of the book "On Wings of Faith" written by Marshyl's grandpa, Fred Babbel.  He served at Pres. Ezra Taft Benson's companion and secretary during his assignment after WWII to take humanitarian aid to the members of the church in Europe.  It is fascinating to read about the miracles they received every day.  What amazing heritage we have!  We are marking all of the cities that they visited on our wall-sized map of Europe that we drew.

Words of the week: (We do this to build vocabulary skills for the ACT)

maladroit, dilatory

Family Reading -  We are reading "On Wings of Faith" by the kids great grandpa, Fredrick W. Babbel and the 5th Fablehaven book "Keys to the Demon Prison" (it is awesome by the way)

Individual Reading -

Dad - "Brisingr" by Christopher Paolini

Mom -"Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning" by Oliver and Rachel DeMille
           "Following the Light of Christ into His Presence" by John M. Pontius
           "From Clutter to Clarity: Simplifying Life from the Inside Out" by Nancy Twigg

Here is what everyone else is currently doing:

Kaiden (Love of Learning phase/transition to Scholar) -

•    Book of Mormon daily reading
•    Seminary
•    Weekly trips to the Provo temple to do baptisms
•    Duty to God
•    Piano lessons and daily practice
•    Origami

Nicolas (Love of Learning phase) -

•    Book of Mormon daily reading
•    Faith in God
•    11 year old scouts, working on his First Class
•    Read all of the 5th Fablehaven book "Keys to the Demon Prison"

Luke (Core phase) -

•    Book of Mormon daily reading
•    Faith in God
•    Working on his Bear badge in Cub Scouts

Afton (Core phase) -

•    Book of Mormon daily reading
•    drawing, drawing, drawing

Makensi (Core phase) - 

•    drawing and cutting and gluing...hopefully not to the couch!

Garrett - 

• talking...nonstop.  And we can understand him!  He speaks full sentences and can communicate anything that he wants us to know.