Multiple Intelligences

Here is my reply to a question in my ESL class.

Which of the intelligences do you use most in your instruction? Will this change now that you have discovered the benefits of teaching through all nine intelligences?

I teach in a small school,=) and read aloud to my students about two hours a day. This reading is often interrupted with conversations and questions on the topic. The children are then allowed to study according to their study plan that they have created. I find that my visual students often use this time to express what we have been reading and discussing visually. I, also, have a musical student who will often make up songs on the keyboard to go with our studies or he will ask me to look up music from a certain area or region for him to hear. For instance, with the Olympics he spent time creating what he thought Chinese music might sound like and then he asked me to find some traditional Chinese music along with what their instruments looked like. After we listened to this, he was surprised at how different his idea as to how it would sound was from what it actually sounded like. We then had a discussion on the difference and why it was different where he got to analyze the different sounds and different musical patterns. I like to allow the children this freedom and will continue to do this as it allows them to learn using their strengths. I will still read to the students about two hours a day even though it is mostly verbal, because of reasons too numerous to state here. (Here as in the assignment, but not here as in on this blog=)).

Just Questions, No Answers

Do we have the right to pass laws that regulate moral issues? If we do have a right, then what happens when the higher percentage of people become wicked and pass evil laws? Also if we do have the right to pass laws to regulate moral behavior is it then up to the majority of people to do this, or do a few judges get to decide? Will passing laws help the people to stay righteous longer? If we do not have the right, then should we have laws about sex and minors, child pornography and other moral issues? If we pass no moral laws and let anything go within society, will this mean our ultimate decline? Should there be criteria, such as, as long as it doesn’t infringe on someone who doesn’t consent it’s fine? If this is the case does the government have the right to say that I have to wear a seatbelt and that I can’t buy milk from my neighbor? Doesn’t this take away my right to choose? How does me buying milk from my neighbor infringe on anyone elses rights? What is the role of Government anyway?

What is Truth?

The Great Debate as most of you know is what Mortimor Adler said is a conversation going all the way back through time and recorded in classic works of literature. He called this a conversation and believed that when we stopped as a nation entering in to this conversation is when our educational system began to fall apart. This conversation has one main question; Is this true? We read Socrates and ask, did he come to the correct conclusion when he decided that if his country was the greatest country in the world and decided he should die, that he should submit to this. We ask Victor Hugo should a man really be able to leave behind his labels that the government says he should wear. We ask John Locke why a man has a right to property, and we even ask does he really have this right. We ask this and a thousand more questions and then we ask, why. We then read what these authors say and we discuss these questions with our friends and with our mentors. This is how we gain an education. This is how we become a thinking people, capable of judging what is good and bad and what is true. Will we disagree? Of course, and that is okay. We should disagree and we should discuss our disagreements.

This is in sharp contrast to a system that says, we will decide for you what is true and then we will put you in the system and rank you according to how well you have digested and agreed with what we have decided. Don’t ask questions unless you are told to and don’t have any ideas of what you want to learn other than the ones we have included in our standards for today. And this continues on for most of us through college, unless we jump ship.

I happen to believe the former is a better education and am currently having a really hard time trying to stay on the latter as I work towards my teaching credential, because of course I can’t possibly be a good teacher until I am properly stamped. I have three and a half classes to go and am so ready to be done so that I can again ask why, and feel free to disagree with ideas I come in contact with, of course I do disagree often, but don’t say anything on graded assignments. The ungraded discussions are a different story=).

This is why I read in my spare moments. I would grow stale if I didn’t. I read Howard Gardener-who I often disagree with, I read Louis L’Amour-who has sound principles, but I still find myself wondering why his characters do certain things, and I read many other authors. Then I take my readings and discuss them. I recently found this website http://www.gw.edu/misc/radio/ where they are doing the same thing. A group of people get together read an article or a book and then go on the radio and discuss it. Fabulous! Of course, these are mentors and thinking people, so they disagree, feel passionately and make one think. I love it.

Mosiah 23:14

"And also trust no one to be your teacher nor your minister, except he be a man of God, walking in his ways and keeping his commandments." Mosiah 23:14

My sister-in-law and I had a conversation about this verse the other day and I have been thinking about it more and more since then. What does it mean? When it says trust no one to be your teacher ... except he be a man of God... does this just mean Sunday school teacher as many seem to think or is this all of our teachers? The context of the verse is when Alma has led the people away from King Noah's people and they now want to make him the new king. He reminds them of the wickedness of King Noah and then in verse 13 he says "And now as ye have been delivered by the power of God out of these bonds; yea, even out of the hands of King Noah and his people, and also from the bonds of iniquity, even so I desire that ye should stand fast in the liberty wherewith ye have been made free, and that ye trust no man to be a king over you." Then he goes to verse 14. So the context of this verse is Alma's recipe for maintaining freedom. I believe it includes three aspects, he mentions no kings, and later sets up a system of laws and judges that are elected by the people, so this is the type of government most conducive to freedom. Then he says that both their teachers and their ministers, or religious leaders should be men of God walking in His ways. These are two separate categories, one is education and the other is religion. This is the three legged stool to maintaining freedom, a government that gets its power from the people, education and teachers that are coming from the right perspective, that is they have a Godly worldview and last religious leaders that are also following God. Take any one of these away and the people begin to loose their freedoms. I think that those who are awake to it can see that this is happening now.

But why is it important to have our teachers be men of God? A teacher is one that has been given the influence to help the student to formulate opinions, to develop thought processes, to gain ideas and to train the mind of the person to interact with the world from a certain perspective. It is not possible for this perspective to be neutral, because everyone has a bias. There are a few people out there that don't know yet, but most who teach profess to know something about what they teach and so they will have a perspective that they are coming from. If they are men of God then the mind of the students are more likely to come away with ideas about God, and His plan and purpose along with His hand in our world and our lives. If the teacher is not a man of God, the ideas and the perspectives of the students are more likely to be influenced away from God. My sister-in-law said she had been watching for anything in her children's school that were false teachings and she might need to correct, but I think Satan is a lot more subtle than that. He may not come directly out and teach their is no God, but instead he may just get the students to develop thought processes, ideas and opinions that do not have God in them. This subtlety is often much more dangerous. I think this is why Alma warns us away from it.

Proposition 8 and Freedom

Kevin and I went to a fireside on Sunday evening. Congressman Herger spoke to us on the relationship of the constitution and religious principles. I few comments he made stuck out to me. One was that indifference brings sadness and righteous action brings happiness. He asked us to stop and think about the first part of that statement. If we do nothing, if we are indifferent, we are allowing those who are willing to do wickedly to have their way simply because we are not standing up for our homes, religion and liberty. Congressmen Herger quoted someone and I did not get the reference, but he said that God reveals his secrets to the prophets, so that even those who are beyond the ability to receive their own revelation may know the will of God on certain subjects. And part of this revelation is the Proclamation on the Family. In this proclamation it states “we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.” We are currently facing this head on in California with Proposition 8.

We need to stand for faith, families and freedoms, because this is what builds healthy communities and a strong people. Not only are our families under attack, but if proposition 8 fails our religious freedom will also be under attack. And when our families and religions fail, so will our freedoms. The founding fathers have said that the constitution will not work for an irreligious people. The government will become corrupt and the freedoms of the people will be lost if they are an immoral people, who are not following the precepts found in the Bible.

Separation between church and state has been altered from its original meaning to such a degree that it has now become intolerance to religion. The founding fathers quoted the Bible more than any other book in their political documents. The capitol held church services in it until the civil war, there is a prayer room, and Christian paintings and quotes in numerous places in the capitol. Clearly, separation between church and state was not supposed to mean that we can’t discuss God publicly. It simply meant that no specific religion would have preference over any other religion. In other words there would be no State religion.

It wasn’t until 1962 that the meaning began to be so skewed, because of the special interest groups that began to get their foot into out schools-notice it is always the schools to fall first in legal cases, because it is the easiest place for special interest groups to attempt to control. In 1962 it was ruled that state sponsored prayer was no longer allowed in school. In 1963 it was ruled that state sponsored Bible reading was no longer allowed in school. In 1984 it was ruled that there could be no more displays of the 10 commandments in school. In 1992 it was ruled that there could no longer be prayers at graduation. In 2002 it was ruled that to say under God in the pledge of allegiance was not constitutional, though it was later reverse on a technicality (the father did not actually have custody of the child he was representing in court). This skewing of the separation between church and state has gotten to the point that not only religious, but moral views are coming under attack in school. In fact they are now ridiculed more often than supported, as such was the case of a girl in our ward who refused to watch an R-rated movie in history class, and the teacher told her she was immature and couldn't handle it in front of the class.

This skewed viewpoint in our schools that forbids the acknowledgement of God out of necessity means that history must be rewritten to leave God out, which opens the doors for special interest groups to skew historical facts to lead the children to believe something that did not happen did and things that did happen, happened for reasons other than the real ones. Science must also be skewed to the point that it has now become almost antagonistic to religion, when in reality it supports the presence of God. This new viewpoint means that things are no longer equal, but secularism is the government religion and is indoctrinated into the children by the government and the special interest groups that in many ways control the legislation.

When the four unelected judges overturned the will of the people same sex marriages became legal in California. If proposition 8 does not pass it is likely that any marriages preformed here will have to be recognized by every other state. We must help proposition 8 pass and we must preserve an institution, that of families, that is fundamental to society. If we do not this radical change to this institution will have dramatic consequence.

We know that children are best raised in a home with a mother and a father and that two mothers can not replace a father, and two fathers can not replace a mother. But if this happens adoption agencies will no longer be able to only place children in homes with a mother and a father. If they are not willing to place children with same sex couples they will have to close down.

This also attacks our freedom of religion as those who are in the clergy and will not marry same sex couples will have legal ramifications and risk consequences including tax consequences. In Canada and Sweden where same sex marriages are allowed churches are not allowed to speak out against gay and lesbianism, which violates freedom of speech and religion.

There are Nine European nations that have allowed same-sex marriages since the 1990’s. In these nations only 2% of same sex couples elect to get married. But what has happened in these countries is out of wedlock births have increased by 46%. These have led to 80% of first births in these countries to be out of wedlock, because marriage has come to mean very little. If this is not the break down of the family unit, what is?

Those of us in California have been asked to contribute generously of our time and resources to the support of an amendment that will uphold the traditional marriage and all that rests upon it.

Science Conversation

The other day when the kids and I were studying we had one of those lessons that would never have been allowed in public school, not only because we discussed God in it, but also because we never got to the topic that we were "supposed" to be discussing.

We were beginning chapter 2 in Madam How and Lady Why. This chapter is about Earthquakes. Towards the beginning it said "You asked me because you are a human being and a child of God, and not merely a cleverer sort of animal..." Here Aubrey stopped me and said, "We are animals." I asked her why she thought that. She said, "Lots of people say so, on TV and in books." Okay, but does that make it true? If lots of people said the moon was made of green cheese would the moon be made of green cheese? "Well, no, but they do say so." Okay, but what does God say? Let's look in Genesis chapter 1, verses 24-25, God creates the beasts and all of the animals. Man is not a part of this creation, and he is not classified with the beasts. But in the next verse God creates man after His image and to have dominion over the animals. To have dominion over something is to be in charge of it and to use it. We may do this, because we are higher than the animals, we are not included with them.

"But we are still like them in some ways." Yes, that is true. Scientists are now doing research on the brain that shows where in the brain we have a few similarities and where our differences lie. I then explained how they can scan the brain of a person or a rat and see the different areas that are being used when the person or animal is doing different things. Rats are more concerned with basic needs like food, shelter and safety, their whole brain is geared towards these needs. People have these needs too and the lower-back part of the brain is geared towards this. But the upper and frontal parts have functions that animals don't have and this is where we do our thinking and our wondering why. It is important for us to know the reasons of things and especially as you guys get older you will need to know all of the why's before you are grown, so I want you to ask me. "Can we ask you anything?" Anything. "What if we want to know why we have to go to bed so early?" Then ask, but I would advise you not to ask right at the time that I am sending you to bed, and do not ask in a disrespectful way. Here my daughter had to stop and act out the two ways to ask something=).

Of course, I then had to explain the different sleep needs of babies, children and adults and why the children needed to go to bed before Dad and I, but as they got older they would be able to stay up later and by the time they were adults they would probably have similar sleep patterns to Dad and I. They were quite pleased with this.

"How do rats use their brains when they run mazes?" I explained to the children their need for food and that they ran the mazes to get the food and by trial and error they soon learned the best way to go and could remember it and run the maze faster each time up to a point. "What if the maze was switched on them?" We discussed this and then my daughter said, "We are like rats too, because we first want food, house and stuff and then we want our other stuff." Yes, you are right. This is what a man named Maslow called our hierarchy of needs, which just means that we need to know where our next meal is coming from, that we will be protected and that we will be safe, before we will be ready to go on to say studying or something. Here my son adds, "Yeah, I am getting hungry and it makes it hard for me to think."

"So, if we are not animals, why do so many people say that we are?" Well, you have to remember that when we teach science we have to teach that there is a reason things happen and in our public schools, which most people in our country go to they are not allowed to talk about God, so they have to come up with another reason that things happen. A man name Darwin had a few ideas on this subject and then others have taken his ideas and added to them, so they now teach that everything came from rocks, including the animals and us. The rocks collided and came alive in the form of amoeba-type creatures and these then grew to fish, which changed to amphibians and after a big line of things these changed to monkeys that turned in to us. This idea can be taught in schools, because it doesn't include God and so this is what is taught as the reason why of things and in this idea we are just like the animals, we just got smarter.

Of course, this idea of evolution defies other scientific principals like the second law of thermodynamics, but they don't teach that, because then they would have to come up with a new way to explain things. Do you remember the second law of thermodynamics or entropy? Kamron says, "Oh, yea, that's like if a brick building is there for a really long time it will fall down, but if you have a pile of bricks it is not going to turn into a brick building unless someone does it." Right, if organized things are left alone they will become disorganized, but disorganized things don't become more organized unless someone or something acts upon them. This also means that life forms are not going to get more organized on their own-bricks don't collide and turn into buildings and rocks don't collide and turn into people. By leaving out certain scientific teachings in schools and including only parts of others they can get people to only hear half of the story and then those people think they know the whole story and start believing what they've learned is true and everybody else who thinks that God designed and set things up and continues to have an effect on the Earth are wrong. And now even in colleges and Universities they teach evolution and many ridicule those who don't believe in it.

At this point we decided to read about earthquakes another day, because it was time to clean up. But, my daughter once again informed me that she wants to become a scientist and study chemistry. This is about the tenth request to study chemistry, so I may have to scrap my plans for studying botany this next year and instead study chemistry. I am finding this is happening more and more and the children learn more if I follow their lead. So, it is time to research options for a chemistry study.

Who Are Our Heroes?

Are great athletes always heroes? No, no more than are brilliant men. I had a conversation about a great athlete awhile ago and was asked if I did not find him inspiring. I mentioned his divorce and the resentment his children had at his being gone so often, and said that while he may be a good athlete, he has failed in those areas of greater importance. So, no, he is not a hero. This same principle applies to straight A students. Does the Harvard graduate with honors automatically mean that this student is an inspiration? Before we proclaim anyone a hero, his or whole character needs to be looked at and ecspecially in the areas of priorities or areas that should be a priority. So does this mean that a child who does poorly in his or her studies, but is a hard worker and is striving to follow God is a hero. Yes. That is what a hero is. Someone who is really striving to follow God, inspite of difficulties.

"It would be better for us not to be able to cast up a single sum in addition and be humble before the Lord than to have ever so much knowledge and permit that knowledge to lead us to destruction." (Wilford Woodruff's Journals 5:428.)

Is this really true? Would it be better that we are ignorant in the three R's as long as we know how to follow God? What if we had a choice in education-one that instructs in the three R's, but tries to pull children away from God, or one that is taught by a spiritual, but uneducated mother who is entitled to the inspiration that God gives for her children, so that they may grow to serve them wherever God places them? Which should we choose? But wait, what if everyone else is choosing a different path? Should we still be working to raise a generation to God, when everyone else is raising a generation for pieces of paper that have man's mark of approval? Surely, the specialists are the ones to trust our children too, no?

"Do not let your children out to specialists... but teach them by your own precept and example, by your own fireside. Be a specialist yourself in the truth." (Gospel Doctrine, p. 302)

"Any man who will question the divinity of the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ, or will deny the so-called miracles of the scriptures is unfit to be a teacher of Latter-day Saint children." (Improvement Era Vol. 21, p. 104)

"And also trust no one to be your teacher nor your minister, except he be a man of God, walking in his ways and keeping his commandments." Mosiah 23:14

Does your children's teacher believe in God? What about the textbook writers, who are also the teachers? What about those who set the curriculum?

But wait, I could never home school. I am not a leader and couldn't run a Mom's school. Run a co-op school, no, that would be too hard for me. Geuss what, it is too hard for everyone of us. We don't do it alone. You see, when God has a work that needs done He helps those in that work. Since God is always faithful, if He calls you to the work and you remain faithful to Him then He will qualify you. You see, God can do all things. God is our hero. He is who we want to follow, who we want to study and who we want to emulate. If your heartstrings are beginning to tug in the way of keeping your children with you, pray and ask if it is His call for you. If it is and you are faithful to Him, you will begin to see many small miracles and proof of God's faithfulness, and it is awesome.

"I can say that it is good and wise and judicious in parents to instruct their children in the way. If they wish the word of the Lord upon the subject, I will give it to you and you may, any of you, write it down if you please. It is the will of the Lord our God that we teach our children the way of righteousness from the Holy Scriptures and there is no better method than for mothers to teach them at home, and in the Sunday Schools." (The Teachings of President Brigham Young, Vol. 3)

"I am not what the world calls a learned man; neither is President Young. We never went to any college except the one sustained by the Latter-day Saints, and we have been in that from the beginning. Let me tell you, gentlemen and ladies, if we had been brought up in palaces, and been sent to school all the days of our lives to get all the education of the world, and were practical men only in these things, would we be of any advantage to this people? A man may pass through a course of education designed to fit him for a doctor, a minister, or a lawyer, and it is often the case that he comes out an ignoramus, or worse than useless member of society. When the flowers begin to bloom on the mountain sides, the ladies try to imitate them with artificial ones. Which would you rather possess in education--the real flower, or the artificial one? Would you not rather have true education, direct from heaven, than the artificial one of the world? The one educates the head and the heart, the other the head alone." (Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, 3:106)

Produce

When we came home from vacation, I went over to the old house to clean a little more, water and pick some of the grapes and tomatoes that were ripe. Kevin and I love open faced tomato sandwiches. All I do for this is chop the tomatoes, add garlic and parmesan cheese, mix and put it on toast. Of course, it only works with a real garden tomato, which are way better than the grocery store variety. I also had so many grapes that I froze a bunch whole by lying them out flat first, so they would freeze individually, then I put them in bags. Then the neighbor came over with a box of about fifteen peaches. Oh, yum. She then found out we had five children and she came back with a huge bag. I then had to run out and drop something off at my aunts who has a farm just outside of the city we live in. You can see it here www.dieckmannfarms.com, they also do a weekly delivery during their sixteen week harvesting season. She described to me how they stagger their harvest and how they used large fans to compensate for the low numbers of bees. She and her husband have fifteen acres of their own and then rent out another couple acres from the neighbors in exchange for some work they did cutting down trees. Well, anyway, she took me in her cold storage room and told me to help myself to anything I wanted and then proceeded to load my car with peaches, plums, poullots, cucumbers and cantalope.

She also gave me a jar of pickles she had just canned. I wish I could have taken a picture of her pantry-all of those clean glass jars full of homemade produce were beautiful. I got home and called my sister, who has a really good sized garden and cans. I ended up deciding to freeze most of the peaches in a light syrup, because I don't have the right equipment and couldn't find it-I will by next year, though. I found directions here http://www.pickyourown.org/peachesfreezing.htm. Right when I was done with this our Bishop came over with a present of tomatoes and lemon cucumbers. The lemon cucumbers are so yummy, I decided to attempt to save the seed and grow my own.
All of this fresh produce and I didn't even really grow my own garden. God has truly blessed me.
I am now itching to grow a garden and decided I would try to see what I could do with a fall garden and maybe I can use the sunroom as a green house. So I got pots and dirt and planted a variety of vegetables. The carrots just poked their heads up yesterday and I saw a few beans today. I will be overjoyed if I can pull off a fall potted garden.

Kittens Anyone

To the sorrow of my children it is time to find homes for the darling kittens. They have been so fun to watch grow. There are six blue point siamese, but it looks like the three girls have already found homes, so we have three male kittens who need homes, one is short hair and two are long. These are all descendents, through their father, of a cat named Zipper we had when I was little.


Here is the daddy.

Here is the mommy.

Utah Vacation

In the end of July the kids and I went to a family reunion in Utah. We went camping on Bear Lake, swimming, rafting and kayaking in the lake. We drove up to Idaho and went on a tour through a cave and then one night we went to see a play-which my kids loved, and have begun reenacting with toys and props.

Real Life Discipline

The issue of obedience has been on my heart lately, probably because we have had a lack thereof the past month. With us moving, going on vacation, the children sleeping over at cousins several nights in a row things have not been in a normal routine. My husband and I have also been discussing the convention on the "rights of the child" lately, which may have something to do with it. One of my children may have overheard some of this and began using a few arguments when talking to me. "You know I have rights to and I should be allowed to do whatever I want." "I don't see why I have to do what you say all the time, I have my own mind and can make my own choices." "I'm not your servent, I shouldn't have to do any of your work." "I can't get in trouble for saying that, because I am just saying how I really feel."

As soon as I started hearing some of these statements I knew I had an issue that needed dealt with, before an attitude of rebelliousness or disobedience set in. So I crossed everything off my calendar that would seperate this child from me for the whole week. In other words she would not be going to cousins, friends or even Achievement Days Activities and I would be remaining home. This, of course, brought on tears and a tantrum. So now I got to deal with the problem head on.

The first issue was bringing her back to a state of respectfully listening, so that we could have a conversation. This meant that she got to stand in the corner. At this point she tried refusing, but after further discipline she learned I was serious and she did stand in the corner for ten minutes. This was hard on her partially because we were finishing the Shakespeare play and the other kids were really involved in it and she hates to not be included in something that is fun. I stood my ground until we were done and then set the other kids to work and brought her over to me. I asked her if she had thought about her behavior while she was in the corner, she was flippant and I sent her back. Two minutes later I called her to me again this time she reluctantly acknowledged that she should obey and not talk back. I had gotten outward obedience, but not reached her heart. I knew that without reaching her heart, she would continue to be rebellious inside and so I had to revisit this issue until I had her heart.

At the time I had to go on to something else. The next day she cried all morning, because it was the day she was to miss her activity. I explained to her that this was neccessary until she learned to obey happily. I told her my reasoning behind it and then invited her to come with me on errands. She reluctantly agreed. She then picked on her brothers, got in trouble and felt genuinely bad. I knew it was time to approach her again. So I took her in my arms, hugged her and talked to her about how she felt when she acted meanly and disobeyed. I then asked how she would have felt if she hadn't. We talked about all of the fun things one can do, when one obeys the rules. We talked about what it would be like if Dad and I refused to do things just because we didn't want to. She hugged me and then she went on.

The rest of the day was much better and she occasionally stole a hug and said, "I am trying to obey Mom. You know, it's like that story that says If you obey, you will be happy all day." She prayed that night that she would learn to obey. Yet, I knew the situation was not done, because I don't want her to obey me, because I say so. This kind of obedience can only last so long, like until I make my next parenting blunder.

So I waited and the next morning another opportunity for discussion presented itself. We were eating breakfast and started talking about God and how he wants us to return to him and how we will be judged after we die. We talked about how as we repented our sins would be washed away and at the judgement through Christ we would be found clean and be able to be with Heavenly Father again. After talking awhile, my son turned to me and said, "Mom, this is very important for us to know. Thank you, for teaching this to me, it is the most important thing in the world." I told him that is why God had set up families with parents, was so that parents could teach their children to follow God. He had commanded the parents to do this. I then took out my scriptures and showed them Moses 6:57-58 "57 Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or cdwell in his presence; for, in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of his Only Begotten is the fSon of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous Judge, who shall come in the meridian of time.
58 Therefore I give unto you a commandment, to teach these things freely unto your cchildren, saying:" I then asked them if they knew what God had told the children to do. I flipped to Ephesians 6:1, which all my children have memorized, but when they began to recite, I slowed them down and said let's read it. "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." Then I said, you see, parents are supposed to be following God, they are supposed to be "In the Lord" and then when the children obey their parents, they will be "in the Lord" also. It's a pretty cool plan, isn't it? They agreed that it was and we talked about how Daddy and I were not perfect, but we were a little further along then they were, so we were allowed to be their parents and help them to return to Our Heavenly Father. I then asked them why else they think God might ask children to obey their parents. They thought for a minute and then my daughter said, so that we can practice obeying our Heavenly Father. Exactly. We need to practice obeying someone who loves us, and wants what is best for us even when we don't understand all of the reasons we are asked to do something. My children agreed that made sense and then willingly did their school and helped with the chores that needed done.

I followed this up with smiles and hugs and kind words when I've seen her doing kind things and extra things and peace has been restored. It is interesting to see how much happier and content she is versus a week ago. It is nice to again have her heart.

What is going on?

I have been reading and learning about some political stuff lately and first I was saying no way would that happen here. Apparently I am wrong, and I admit I am getting a little scared by all of the legislation that is attacking the family and the children right now. You can read a copy of SB 1322 here, http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_1301-1350/sb_1322_bill_20080714_amended_asm_v95.html. This in effect, removes the ban on using schools to teach communism in California, with the intent to persuade others both in a classroom school and in the community to join procommunist groups and ideas.

Rob Reich is currently working on a piece legislation that would attempt to enforce homeschool students access to opposing worldviews and minimal autonomy and would attempt to limit value systems being passed on from parent to child. He says, "Children are owed as a matter of justice the capacity to choose to lead lives--adopt values and beliefs, pursue an occupation, endorse new traditions--that are different from those of their parents. Because the child cannot him or herself ensure the acquisition of such capacities and the parents may be opposed to such acquisition, the state must ensure it for them. The state must guarantee that children are educated for minimal autonomy." The link is here http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000010/200204230.asp.

In a 1,200 page bill, there is a small paragraph that would require distance education students to be watched in there homes. The link is here, http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i46/46a00103.htm. Big Brother, here we come.

Of course, then there is the bill that is attempting to make preschool mandatory, even though the studies came back showing that most students did better academically if they were home with a caregiver until Kindergartener or later.

Well, we have already passed laws that allow children to have abortions without parents even knowing through the schools and laws that children must be taught sex and alternative lifestyles in school. It appears that many of the special interest groups that run the schools feel, we the parents, can not be trusted to raise our kids to have the ideas they want them to have and so they must take over. Oh, and the University of California just passed a requirement that says they won't count any classes that come from a Christian perspective when students are applying for enrollment. Other religious perspectives still seem to be okay, as long as it is not Christian. And the UN Convention on the rights of the child, has a lot of things in it that should scare parents. More information on that can be found here http://www.parentalrights.org/blog/. Okay, I'll stop with gratitude that my kids aren't in the immediate system controlled by antifamily special interest groups. Yet, I fear for those trying to get into our homes.

"The time will come when only those who believe deeply and actively in the family will be able to preserve their families in the midst of the gathering evil around us." Spencer W. Kimball Ensign, November 1980.

Do Homeschoolers Need a Credential?

I was asked if homeschoolers should be required to get a teaching credential, and replied as follows. No, they should be able to teach their children without a teaching credential. Look at the theory behind homeschooling, which is that one can learn outside of an institution, does this learning outside of an institution stop just because you are an adult. No, adults are also capable of learning the information they need to do what they need to do outside of an institution, so it makes no sense to require them to earn an institutionalized degree if they can get the information they need better elsewhere.

I am currently getting my teaching credential and homeschooling. I can honestly say that I will never use the two classes on English language learners, the class on classroom management, nor the student teaching of a classroom for three months, among other classes, in my homeschool. I did find the Learning and the Brain class interesting, but I also find I already know way more than all of the other students and most of the teachers about learning theory, how to teach multiple ages, and multiple subjects at the same time. I also am much more aware of different curriculum options and how they would work with different types of students, because of my own research. All in all my own research prepared me a whole lot more to homeschool than the teaching credential I am working on-it is almost pointless in a homeschooling environment.

Aubrey's Baptism

Aubrey was ready and very eager to be baptized last Saturday. She couldn't wait to be washed clean and to officially be a member of the church. She very eagerly and from her heart made a commitment to follow God. My older kids have both taken this step very seriously, which I am grateful for. She was very happy to have her daddy baptize and confirm her, as was I. It is one of those moments that make this Mom so happy to be a mother to these wonderful children. Aubrey got her scriptures afterward and was very excited about this. We have a kind of tradition in our family that the children get their first set of scriptures and case at their baptism and then they are invited to take turns with us reading scriptures at night. She took this right of passage very seriously and proudly reads to the family from her scriptures each night. She often stops to ask a question or to give an impromptu narration of what is going on. I encourage this as the conversation is a pearl in itself.

Our Lives as a Ministry

When I heard Sherri Dew speak at women’s conference, she said one thing that struck me, which I have often thought of since. She said to let our lives be a ministry. This idea has come up again and again in the weeks since then. Cindy Rushton did an online homeschool conference, and in one of the talks, she was speaking about how important it is to put our families first, but then also to enlarge the stakes of our tent. In other words, our family and our home is to be the example and we are to invite others into it, to allow them to have the benefit of the ministry we our performing in our own homes. I like the idea of teaching others how a family that loves and learns together works by opening the doors when appropriate and inviting them in. Of course, this presupposes that our homes are running in a fashion that others would want to emulate. This idea also means that our ministry does not ever interfere with our families, rather it is an extension of it.

Later in the week, I was reading Finding God in the Hobbit, by Jim Ware, and the idea came up again, from a slightly different direction. He shares how when he was young he would read books and then want to live them. One night he wanted to be like Tom Sawyer and so snuck out of his room to meet a friend and sneak down to the railroad tracks where several ramshackle old shacks stood, in the hope of getting a glimpse of some of the railroad tramps. He never made it, though, because his friend never showed up. He then relates this to one summer as an older teen he had a young teacher in Sunday School, who would spend his days trying to share the gospel and do God’s work. On Sundays this young teacher would share the scriptures as one long story of God’s love to us and his plan for us. One day it dawned on the teenage boy that his teacher was taking the story from the Bible and doing exactly what he had done with books as a boy. He was acting them out. He was recreating the story in his life by doing what God had done. He was living the story. In other words he was allowing his life to be a ministry.

Sometimes I have a tendency to want to stay in my home because I can create what I want there, but as a follower of Christ I think it is important to go out and share who we are and what He has done for us, and also to invite others in to our home and let them see how we are different from many other families, because we have the good news of Christ-the gospel.

The Pear Tree

Aren't these beautiful fruit?

Our Garden, or Lack Thereof

We didn't really plant a garden this year, since we knew we were moving. But we still had the grape vines, which are doing great. This is what my husband will miss the most about our house. I took pictures and thought I'd share. Also our pear and apple tree are producing fruit for the first time this year. My father-in-law grew a bunch of tomato plants from seeds which he saved from a tomato he liked last year and so he gave us some and I did put them in the ground.

In Praise of Dictation and Shakespeare

When Kamron was in kindergarten we had started one of those fill in the blank spelling workbooks. After having him diligently work through about three pages I scrapped it. To me it was not worth the struggle with me pencil-allergic son to get him to spell the and in and cat and dog. I figured he was sure to pick up these words on his own without figuring out which of the ten choices fit in the specifically shaped blank. Then last year, my slightly less pencil allergic son was writing an essay-his spelling was terrible. What had I done? Now, I still didn't fill bad that he hadn't been doing spelling workbooks, but clearly something had to be done. I thought of getting a high priced spelling program, but before I did that I decided to try what Charlotte Mason said to do, which is dictation. Maybe it would help with his spelling. So I began pulling the most interesting sentences that I could find from the books we were reading and I gave them to Kamron, one at a time. I told him he would have two days to study the sentence and then I would hide the sentence and read it to him and he was to write it down in his best handwriting, getting all of the spelling and punctuation correct. He studied and he wrote out words he thought were tricky. I coached him on looking at a word until he could see it with his eyes closed, and then we hid it and I read it to him. At first I made sure he got each word right by immediately correcting any mistakes. Within two weeks his spelling errors in all of his writing diminished by half. This last week, we did this sentence from The Hobbit -
"He dreamed that a crack in the wall at the back of the cave got bigger and bigger, and opened wider and wider, and he was very afraid but could but could not call out or do anything but lie and look."
his 'd' in dreamed was backward and that was it. I am so happy to have Charlotte Mason as a mentor, her methods are so often right on target.

We are also doing something else she recommends, which is to study Shakespeare from a young age. This term we are studying "Twelfth Night." We are not tackling his actual play, but the version by the Lambs. I begin by giving a little background information and then once a week we read about 3 pages and then act it out. This helps the children to keep all of the characters straight. We got to the point in the play where Orsino asks Viola, who is dressed up like a boy to go and help him woo Olivia. Aubrey broke down in laughter, and sits up and says, "Let me guess Olivia is going to fall in love with Viola, because she thinks Viola is a boy and then everything is going to get mixed up." Of course, this is exactly what does happen. They could not act it out seriously and so turned it into even more of a comedy than it is. Their cousin studies with us 2 to 4 days a week and has been here for the whole play so far. Aubrey is Viola and their cousin was the ship's captain at first and then became Orsino. Kamron on the other hand wanted to stay the long lost twin brother, who, last we heard, is still tied up to the mast of a ship. So he's over in the background, with his hands behind him like he's tied making blub, blub, blub noises. Aubrey began to do both parts of Viola and Olivia amid laughter and they never did get through it, but I'm sure they will remember it so that's okay. Who knew Shakespeare could be so funny? Oh, by the way, "woo" is apparently an absolutely hilarious word if you are between 8 and 10 years old.

Brothers

Hike

It started out wonderfully. Beginning by crossing a footbridge over the little stream. It was gravelly, so we opted not to push strollers and I took the baby on my back, while Kevin carried the water and supplies. We soon realized that we would have to slow our pace to about 1 mile per hour, so that all of the textures of sand could be felt, all of the bugs could be seen, all of the shady spots could be enjoyed and the trickling of the stream could be heard. We went about two-fifths of a mile and turned around. It fell far short of the two and a half miles needed to reach the falls, but we considered it a good attempt for the younger set.

Driving to the Hike

So Kevin and I have heard about a hike at Beale Falls and we have been wanting to do it for some time. We were enticed by descriptions of a meandering brook, varied scenery, easy trail and spectacular waterfall and swimming hole at the end. So we got in the car and drove.

Kamron Will Be Missed

Next Sunday is our last Sunday in our ward. I've been told I will be missed, but for each time someone has said that about me, I have heard ten comments about my children being missed. I have had several people admit to picking a spot to sit in Sunday School based on where my husband is sitting with Baby Seth. They all want to be in the row just behind, so that they can watch his smile light up his face and his eyes brighten at the slightest provocation.

Then there is my oldest. There is something about him that has developed over the last couple of years that I did not quite expect. He is quite innocent in many ways, and sometimes that will make other children be inclined to shun someone. For instance, he will create songs that go with his lessons at church and sing them for his class. I admit I was a little nervous as to how the other children would react as they can often be cruel when a nine year old does something that is percieved to be uncool, and his class has boys from nine to elevan. But this didn't happened, because there is something about Kamron that made whatever he did the cool thing to do. For one, he is so confident in himself and he feels so assured that everyone does and will like him. He has told me, "I don't know why everyone likes me, but they do. I am almost everyone's favorite." Hmmm. Yet, this has made him pretty forgiving of others also, as, if they are rude to him, he is sure they are just having an off day, or perhaps they just don't know how to be friendly. He, also, loves Sunday school, scouts and to sing and learns all of the new primary songs after going through them a very few times, this and the fact that he knows the scripture stories and can participate well in the lessons has made him loved by all of the adults.

Also, there is one thing that quite suprised me over the last six months or so. His class of six to twelve boys was often the most irreverent and hard to contain, then a few months ago their behavior underwent a marked improvement. They all began singing and really trying to learn the songs, participating in the lessons and staying on their chairs. We were all quite baffled as to the cause as neither we, in the Primary Presidency nor their teacher was doing anything different. Then after church one day one of the boys came up to me with a huge grin and said, "I got the pipecleaners today! It's going to be a dragon." I looked at him and said, "Oh, really," not having any idea what he was talking about. I asked Kamron, and he told me that he was trying to get the boys to listen better and behave at church, so he gives them points and whoever gets the most points gets a pipecleaner guy. I taught him last year to make little men out of pipecleaners and since then he has become quite ingeneuos at it, making crowns, dragons, soldiers, full costumes and hundreds of other things. I have even used some of his pipecleaner creations as props for my lessons at church. I didn't know before this that they had become the much sought after reward that was keeping all of the boys in line. Later, I suggested that we do an activity and teach all of the boys how to do pipecleaner sculptures. He looked at me and said, "Mom if all the boys can make them then they won't need to earn them from me." Ahh, point well taken, and I can smile as he stumbles across attributes of friendship, leadership and economics.

My Phases of Motherhood

When I had my first child, there was a learning curve, but for the most part I felt like I was on vacation as I had begun staying home and with the three of us there really wasn’t much to do.

When I had my second child we bought a house and that plus a toddler and a baby kept me busy, but I felt equal to it.

When I had my third child, we were back in a cramped apartment as my husband returned to school. My oldest was now a kindergartener and I did not feel quite equal to teaching him, and having a toddler and baby in 750 square feet of space with no yard. It was then that I realized that if I was going to succeed at this I would have to step up quite a bit and simply work harder. It was also during this time that I went to a women’s enrichment class. The topic was on getting children to do chores. I was astounded by the list she handed out of what children were capable of, broken down by age. I actually raised my hand and said, “Can you honestly expect a three year old to be capable of these things?” She smiled and said hers were, because she had trained them. Well, I decided if it was all about training then I would do it. Fruit was slow in coming and it was a bit bumpy like most of my first endeavors, but I persisted.

When my fourth child was born, we were back in a house and I was working hard and I was training hard. I also began for the first time home schooling two children at two different levels, and I had a baby and a toddler. Sometimes I felt exhausted-I took a lot of naps.

When my fifth child was born, life got easier. A lot easier. Incredibly easier. My oldest two children are such a huge asset that I admit sometimes, I’d rather they didn’t spend the night at relatives quite so often. My third child is beginning to bare fruit, and my fourth is in training. I am still busy and my days are quite full, but I find everyone gets what they need, our house is reasonably clean and the children are reasonably well behaved and I am not doing all of the work. Part of it, I’m sure is that my expectations may be a little more realistic. Also, it is helpful to me that I sincerely delight in my children almost all of the time. Not through conscious training, but by example my older children have learned to delight in the younger and even my husband has been known to copy some of my phrases and tell me cute and funny things that the children have done, if I ever miss any.

My Sister's House

I just wanted to share some adorable pictures from my sister's playroom. Her four daughter's rooms are all very girlish and adorable too. She is about to have a good reason to redo her decor, as she will soon be blessed with a little boy. He'll never want for female attention.

Women's Conference

My oldest sister spoke at Women's Conference last month and all of my sisters and sil's on my side of the family, my aunt and my cousin all got to go. It was a lot of fun. A bunch of us from Ca drove out together and had a really good time talking the entire 12 hours, both ways. That was the first vacation without my husband or kids that I have ever taken.
Starr did a really good job. She spoke on embracing our roles as young mothers. She spoke of her struggles with her kids and how the scriptures have helped her to know what to do. She always amazes me at the depth of insight into the scriptures that she has. She then shared a memory of our Mom doing her hair and how we were able to do a last service for her when she died and we dressed her and did her hair. I cried and told her she should have warned me. But it is true, the service we give as mothers is a service they will give back to us as daughters.
She talked about how there is a time for some things and their is a time to let things go. She shared how she had developed her talents and had made money on them, but was now feeling prompted to concentrate on her children not making money. We will have time to do all of the things we desire or else the desires will leave us as we do the work that God has specifically appointed us.
We got to hear Sheri Dew, Sister Beck, the Prophet and almost John Bytheway. We didn't get into his, because it was packed and so instead we did service in the service hall which we found to be hilarious. Anything can be hilarious when you get that many women together.

We all went out to dinner together and had the tables next to us rolling when my cousin pulled out a neon blue doughnut and my sister proceeded to blow it up right there at dinner. Hey, sitting on bleachers all day ain't the best for a sore and pregnant tushy=).

A Reply to a Letter

Dear ,

I just wanted to encourage you and let you know you are not alone. I was married in the temple, but my husband left the church after about two years. It was hard, and I'm sure you know more about what that little word means than I need to express, but we finally came up with an agreement that since he knew he was marrying an active Mormon he must allow me to raise the children in the gospel. Then I prayed a lot and loved him a lot. I still shared a lot with him, just not very much about the gospel, yet it seeped in. I then sought preisthood blessings and had many special experiences and was told that this was my husbands trial, but that he would come back into the church while I was still raising my children. This then directed my path and my decisions-I simply lived life as if he would come back soon. About eight months ago, eight years from when he left, my husband struggled and we struggled and he reached a place where he was willing to pray and follow the answer. We were blessed with experiences so strong over the course of two and a half weeks that he prayed and asked God to slow them down, because his physical body was so exhausted. My husband is now actively striving to follow God, which at one point looked impossible, but God is faithful, I promise you He is, and God will keep what ever promises He makes to you through preisthood blessings if you are faithful. His promises to you will be different than the promises made to me, but get them and then rely on them.

We are in a fight, a war, in fact, but the blessings of God will far outway all of the trials, the turmoil and the heartche that we experience now. He'll bless you as you teach your precious sons and then, who knows, those sons may be an instrument in softening the heart of their father and grandparents.

As far as studying the gospel with your children I, too, have used the plan from this link http://www.schoolofabraham.com/storiedscriptures.htm. I find it best to just read and talk and let the discussions and the spirit take over. The children often ask questions and we talk. It really is that simple. We sing primary songs and sometimes read the Friend. We also have at least one religious book that we are reading aloud going all the time. Our Favorite was "My First Mission," by George Q. Cannon. The Gospel Doctrine lesson manual is good too. We have also gotten the "Faith Preceeds the Miracle" by Ezra Taft Benson on Audio and listen to it when we run errands. I personally love the surety and examples in this book.

I pray to God that you feel the Savior take the other side of the yoke as you do what you are feeling called to do.

Melissa, Mom to 9yos, 8yod, 4yos, 3yos and 1yos

Short Update and Reply to Question

A quick update as it is late. Life is busy, we are selling our house and moving to Yuba City. My husband just got a really good job in Colusa and we have been abundantly blessed.

I wanted to answer a question I received about which charter school offers the most money=). It is South Sutter, they currently offer $1800 a year per child in the lower grades. I am not sure how much they offer for high schoolers. Incidentally, we are switching to them this year, not actually for the money, but it is all part of that long story with many changes that I haven't told you about. South Sutter does not have a resource room or on campus classes. They do, however, pay for parks and rec classes in Yuba City and since Horizon does not have a campus in Yuba City It makes the most sense for us. Plus there is a possibility that we may move to Colusa and Horizon does cover that county, while South Sutter does.

A Random Cute Picture

Logan says I need to put this one up, because the one of him in the previous post looks sad. I guess this balances it or something.

Here is another random adorable picture of my baby who just turned one. I took him in to get his first year picture at the studio last Friday and a woman walked by looked at him, recieved one of his endearing smiles and said, "I don't know this child, but I want a picture of him to hang on my wall just because he is so cute." I have to admit, even if I am his mother, he is a feast for the eyes. I love to just sit back and watch all of their expressions. My husband did a photo essay of each of the kids with a bunch of expressions a few months ago. It is so fun to see and be able to save them in pictures.

Gymnastics

Brennen and Aubrey in their gymnastics classes. We only did the class for a month, but may sign back up in the summer, when I'm not working in the schools.



What Logan and Seth get to do during gymnastics=).

"I am still alive"

I am busy, but the truth is I lost my password and couldn't figure out how to log back onto this thing. I wanted to make a comment on another blog and so I finally went to the effort of getting my account info from blogger again.

My son, Logan, has starting saying to people he hasn't seen in awhile, "You are still alive!" So, for all of those in the blog world I am still alive.