About Me

I'm a mom, a teacher, a student, a wife, and a scout leader. I am actually an education major currently working on my practicum in a 2nd grade classroom. I also home school my two children. I'm also a cub scout leader, a girl scout leader, and at church I'm the children's music leader. ;) I tend to stay a little busy. My state requires homeschoolers to keep a portfolio. I am going to use this blog as my portfolio.

What am I?

Monday, December 29, 2014

FHE - New Year's Goals


Opening Song: I Will Follow God's Plan, Children's Songbook pg 164

Opening Prayer

Discussion: What is the next holiday? (New Years!) Do you know what most people do to prepare for the new year? They set goals. What is a goal?

I chose quotes and stories from this lesson: Setting Personal and Family Goals

These led to some great discussions.

After our discussion and the kids decided what they wanted their goals to be, they made collages using magazines. :)



It was fun. The lesson talks about "roads" to get to our goals so we then discussed what "roads" the kids can take to get to their goals.

Closing Prayer

Food!

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Singing Time: Songs of the Heart

Last Sunday of 2014!!! Singing Time today was Songs of the Heart. It was super simple.

Before Primary: Prepare a jar and cut out hearts


Read Doctrine and Covenants 25: 12 For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.

Pass out a heart to each child. Have them write their name and their favorite song on them. For the rest of singing time, pull out a heart and sing a child's favorite song! So simple.

I think it went really well. The kids seemed to have fun and it was fun getting to know the children's songs and why those songs were their favorite. I also had that child come to the front and help lead the song or do the hand motions with me.

Sr Primary Favorite was A Child's Prayer
Jr Primary Favorite was A Child of God and I Love to See the Temple


Friday, December 19, 2014

And that's why...


Today I was reminded of why we chose to switch to homeschool. When I was in elementary school, my class had about 10-12 students in it. My teachers knew me. In fact, I am Facebook friends with four of my elementary school teachers -- kindergarten, first, fifth, and gym. Crazy, right? It's because the classes were small enough that the teachers could get to know the students. They acted like they really did care.

So, I sent in the withdrawal forms to SCVCS November 24. One teacher emailed me back and three teachers called me. Today, I received a notice that my first grader was receiving her history books for the next semester so I emailed her teacher. This is one of the teacher's who called me, so I know she knew we are leaving. However, her response was stating she didn't realize we were leaving and that we need to fill out the withdrawal form. WHAT?!!! I already did that!!!

This is just a reminder of why we're leaving. The teachers have too many students (my son's 3rd grade class has 150 students) to keep track of. They have no idea who is who. They don't know their interests or what they're working on unless they are looking at their notes. In the past, the teachers had the same group of kids for 3 years. The teacher taught a group of grades. It worked out beautifully because the teacher got to know the students and the students got to know the teacher. Now, the teachers can't keep track of all their students. I was so annoyed today!!! My sister had issues with withdrawing before which is why I thought giving them almost a full month's notice would be enough for them to get things straight, but apparently not. Apparently they still forget. *sigh* I'm just so glad we made this choice because now I know they have a teacher who cares about them and loves them and wants them to succeed.


It's official!

We are legally home schoolers in our state!  Yay! Today is our last day with virtual school and we'll start home schooling in January.  I'm so excited!