"Little Women" Family: Visiting Liz and Mark

Friday, December 07, 2007

Visiting Liz and Mark

For Thanksgiving, we went to Oregon to visit Liz and Mark. The roads were great for us! We had a wonderful time, for the most part (we ended up with the flu during the second half of our trip). Thanksgiving Day was really neat. Grant especially enjoyed visiting with Mark's family, who he is really close with. Mark's brother, Glen and his wife Summer, were there and it was really nice seeing them. The only problem, if you can call it that, is that I didn't cook a thing. I tried to help, but they insisted that everything was taken care of. And it was all so yummy! Then we played a really fun game called Bunco. And there were even prizes for the winner and the loser. It was really great! Anyway, here are a few pictures. (There are more on Liz and Summer's blogs.) Mine are: Ethan wearing the Turtle costume we bought for his birthday, me wearing a true "hick" T-shirt-- "Save a Horse, Ride a Tractor" LOL!!, our girls taking the advice, Rachel with Grandpa's hammer, photographers in training--we start 'em young, twins Karina and Sariah (who lost her two front teeth, while we were there-- so cute!), and our kids together.

My Favorite Part of The Book of Mormon

3 Nephi 17:21-24

"21 And when (Jesus) had said these words, he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.

22 And when he had done this he wept again;

23 And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones.

24 And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them."

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/3_ne/17

To learn more about The Book of Mormon or to get a free copy: http://www.mormon.org/book-of-mormon/

Our homeschool program!!

My style of homeschooling is "public school at home." We began homeschooling on our own, the 1st year. Then we were enrolled in the Washington Virtual Academy (WAVA) for 3 years. Now we are enrolled in ORLA. Our girls are taking several classes at an Elementary School that is no longer used for a typical Elementary School. Instead 450 homeschooling students (K-12) take classes there with certified teachers (you choose which ones and how many) but you do have to be at the school with them until they are 12 (in another room with toys for the younger kids) or sign them out to a friend. Then you fill in the rest at home. For example, my girls take Music, Art, P.E., and Science at the school 2 days a week and then I teach them Math, Language, and History at home, on the other 3 days. The school also pays for an additional $300 a year of curriculum (like the Math, Lang, Hist.) We do have to keep up with a certain number of hours per week. We also have a "home room teacher" that helps us with everything, like deciding what extra things to do at home and making sure we don't miss anything. We are really enjoying this program-- it truly is the best of both worlds! If you have any questions, email me. :)