Angel's Preschool Jan 2010

We are super lucky to get to be involved in a Preschool Co-op group. I've always wanted to do one of these for my children! One or two of my kids have gotten to dabble in a homemade preschool, but nothing as nice and organized as this!



We have 6 Mothers and their kids (3 girls, 3 boys) rotate hosting at their house. Which means that every six weeks I teach preschool at my house on Tuesday and Thursday morning from 9 to 11 a.m.

I had hesitated to join the preschool at first, because I had been worried it wouldn't be compatible with our Homeschooling lifestyle. It turned out, however, to be a perfect fit! Everyone gets to be involved, and everyone learns something. The younger kids get more help, and the older kids learn how to teach, mentor, and be patient.

My kids love getting to be the "big helpers" with arts and crafts during preschool. They love it when preschool comes to our house, because they can choose to read books in their room, or they can choose to come out and help me. They usually stay to help, for which I am grateful. My kids are usually too curious to stay away.

Courtney just loves it, because she feels like it is still play and work close to her level. I let her participate fully in everything, but I require Dorathy and Christopher to work if they come out from the reading room.

With my older 2 kids to help, I've been able to do some neat projects with the kids. Having those extra hands is a huge blessing to me!

The last time I hosted preschool we learned about houses. One day we got to decorate ginger bread houses, play with pretend tools, and then handle and use REAL tools. (This was the boys most favorite part: banging nails into wood!) The other day at preschool, we learned about houses all over the world. We played some fun games with the globe, colored pictures and sang songs, and then we got to eat an IGLOO cake! That was huge hit! We finished up by visiting a farm house (Mary Cate's Farm) and feeding some baby goats.

Hyrum's Birthday

Angel's Cousin Hyrum looks so much like her, they could be twins. In fact, several times when I've taken them out together, people have asked me if they are twins.

Angel and Hyrum had the same due date, but Hyrum was born a month earlier than Angel.

So, Here are some cute photos of them at Hyrum's 4th Birthday Party!

Nikola Tesla

The best part of Homeschooling is that I get to learn along with my kids!!

For January, Christopher is suppose to be researching the life and inventions of Nikola Tesla for his Science Boys Club, and boy did we get sent for a tizzy!

Did you know that Nikola Tesla is considered the most important inventor of the 20th century? He is called the Father of the 20th century. Did you know that his arch-nemesis was Thomas Edison? (Check out war of the currents below in the PBS link) Did you know that his research is responsible for providing us with radio, television, wireless communication, and alternating current? Our world is powered by his invention of alternating current, not by the direct current that Thomas Edison favored.

Nikola Tesla had a dream of providing free energy for everyone in the world. He had a plan of "electrifying the world" and scientists believe his theories are correct and could have worked if his "towers" had been built. He could have charged the ionosphere of our planet with energy, and then drawn from it like a well to power the entire planet. He was shut down by the corperations who were afraid they wouldn't get a profit. He created lightning. He was able to harness the electricity in ways that totally freaked people out...they called him a madman. But he could place a light bulb on the ground miles away from his laboratories and the light bulb would turn on. He was famous for sitting in a room filled with electronic lightning bolts everywhere, while calmly reading a book beneath the lights of light bulb that were unconnected to any electrical socket. The light bulbs picked up on the frequency of the electricity in the air.

He invented the particle beam "death ray" or the weapon to end all wars. (it's rumored to have been built, others think not) He also invented "HAARP" that could create a web that would incinerate incoming bombs. He also believed that HAARP could affect the earth's weather patterns. But he withheld information from people and countries out of fear that is inventions would be used for ill. Our military has adopted several of Tesla's inventions.

Supposedly, our government allocated all of Tesla's inventions after his death and hid them away from the world. (who knows? I'm not a conspiracy theorist here ;)

But Tesla's story is very sad. He died penniless in complete obscurity. He was ahead of his time, and people did not understand him. Other scientists ridiculed him. Some people used his research to patent their own copy inventions and Tesla didn't get credit for the original patents until after he died.


Check out this neat youtube video about "The Forgotten Wizard"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt8Y93k0pB0

Here is a good succintt Biography of Nikola Tesla's life:

http://www.teslasociety.com/biography.htm

"The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla"

http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/new/tesla.htm

Famous quotes of Nikola Tesla

http://www.crystalinks.com/tesla.html

PBS resource site on Nikola Tesla

http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/

Here is a 46 minute documentary on the works of Nikola Tesla, and my favorite one by far:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2188562935002257117#

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve Feast

We decided to start a new tradition of eating some middle-eastern style fare on Christmas Even as our big special evening meal. I wanted it to be a symbol of us remembering and honoring Christ's life. I hope that the kids like it well enough this year that we can do it again next year. Perhaps we ate some of the food he may have eaten while he walked the earth.

We had pistachios, unleavened bread with lentil stew, goat cheese and crackers, hummus, cucumbers, pommegranite, grapes, olives, and fish. We also had some candied almonds and baklava. And shrimp....just because I love shrimp.
We turned off all the lights, and ate by candlelight while soft Christmas music played in the background.
The kids actually tried some new things. They were pretty good sports about all the new foods; usually they complain and throw a fit. We had a really nice dinner to begin our family Celebration.
Julie was just happy to finally get to eat. It was driving her nuts to see all that food and not be eating it right away.Here the kids wait patiently to go fill up their plates at the buffet.After we had dinner, we had our annual Christmas Pageant. I read the Christmas story and we sang a song or two while we acted out the Christmas Story.Here we have 2 "wisemen" trying to look wise. What cute kids!Courtney wanted a turn to be Mary. She was really excited to have a baby Jesus to hold. At first she was very disappointed that Julianna couldn't be baby Jesus. But I had to explain to her that even though we call Julianna "baby" that she's really not a baby anymore. Our usual Mary outfit doesn't fit Courtney...but she was just happy to get to be the part.Angel of course, just had to be the Angel. She is the princess/ballerina/angel. She's all for any chance to dress up girly! We had a funny/sad experience, though. A couple of days before we put on our little pageant, I was talking to Angel about what we were going to do, and what her part was about. I told her that the Angel got to say "Fear not! I bring you glad tidings of great joy!" But when I began reading Luke 2 aloud, I noticed that Angel was trying to repeat everything I said. Then she began crying and crying, saying "I can't do it! I can't do it! I can't be the Angel!!" She was pulling off her costume in rage and disappointment when we finally understood that she thought she had to speak all the scripture lines that I was reading aloud, and she was very overwhelmed. Poor little girl! We finally got through to her that she didn't have to say anything. All she had to do was stand there and look pretty. She recovered and enjoyed herself after that! Here's Scott looking way more like a "wise man" than a shepherd! What a Ham! He can't help posing whenever there's a camera around.Julianna got to be one of the "Sheep". She LOVED her costume and ran all around the house with her little sheep bell going jingling everywhere. It was SO cute. I wish I had gotten more picture. After a while, she got pretty hot in all that sheepskin.
Our Christmas play was noisy, loud and fun....not really reverent at all, but the kids enjoyed it, and they knew what the true story of Christmas was about. I'll be sad when my kids are too big to dress up and act it out anymore. I'll probably cry on the first Christmas Eve that I don't have any cute sheep running around. How many years till I get grandkids? 12, or 15? I'm probably done having kids myself, and I still have a toddler in the house, but I'm already looking forward to having grandbabies! Crazy, huh?

Dorathy's Post on Best Friends

ATHENA

Athena is my BEST freind! Okay , writing in Blue-Violet ink is pretty unusual, I know , but this Color expresses her usual moods , so , why not? Hmmm? She plays with her imagination , like me! We (me and Athena ) make up our own sorts of animals .

THINGS WE BOTH LOVE:Chocolate Pudding ,Play-Dates At Each-Others House ,Birth-day Parties(Why Not?) ,Vidio Games(Again , Why Not?) ,Telling "Awesome"True Facts ,Making And Illustrating Books ,Oh , And , Most Of All , Playing Outside And Watching Favorite Movies(Wonder Pets ,My Little Pony ,Pokemon ,Ect.)

THINGS WE BOTH HATE:Mustard(ESPECIALLY) ,Pepperoni Pizza ,Being Interrupted ,Being Seperated AND ,Being Bothered By Our Younger Siblings!


BY DORATHY DOTSON (Which means THE END!)

Bird-Sighting!!!

Ever since Courtney fell in love with birds 2 years ago, our whole family has become avid bird watchers! Last year we added a bird feeder and some other fancy accessories that make it super fun to watch the birds through our dining room windows.

I never ever thought in my wildest dreams that I would get SO excited every time we see a new bird! We've seen some neat ones this winter. I can't believe that for most of my life I never noticed the birds all around me. The different species, habits, and behaviors are just fascinating.

Under Courtney's inspiration, we've been gathering tons of bird books, and we are slowly getting better at bird sightings. It adds a lot of entertainment to our dreary winter days to watch the birds play in the water and fight eachother over birdseed.

This Sunday, I saw a new bird!!! I was sitting at my table, working on a book, when I kept on hearing a funny noise. I looked out through the window, and noticed a little bird pecking at the pine tree in the corner of our front yard. Then I perked up....it was a WOODPECKER!


I don't think I've ever seen a woodpecker in action before. I've heard them. I've seen pictures of them. I've seen movies of them. And who hasn't heard of Woody Woodpecker? But this was my first real sighting!!! I was SO thrilled. I excitedly showed all the kids, and they all thought it was pretty neat. From it's beautiful red head, we assumed it was a red-headed woodpecker.

THEN....today on our nice winter walk, I was walking around the tree in our front yard where we had seen the bird with Julianna when I noticed this:
And This all over the four trunks of our brushy pine tree:

From the looks of it, this woodpecker has been hard at work. Our tree has obviously been a major source of his food. I wonder how long it took for him to drill that many holes?!?. I hope our pine tree survives his incessant thirst for tree sap! Yikes, it is UGLY!!!! Eeeeeewwww.

After I did some research online tonight, I discovered that this bird is in fact a Red-Breasted Sapsucker. Obviously, his main source of food is tree sap. It lives in Oregon all the way up the pacific coast into Canada. I hope it hasn't made it's nest in this very tree. I can't imagine what my trees would look like by the end of winter if that were the case!!

If you want to see what one looks like click here.

For some more good info on this kind of woodpecker, check out this site.

At this particular website, I found out that they used to be shot as orchard pests, but they are now protected because they are considered a "Keystone species".

So I guess we'll just have to live with the woodpecker drilling ugly dripping, sticky holes all over our tree. As long as it doesn't kill our fruit trees, I'll be okay. I guess they drill shallow holes, and then lick up the sap as well as eating any bugs they find under the bark.

Another interesting fact is that the Roufuss Humingbird closely associates with this woodpecker and follows it around since it loves to suck sap out of the holes the woodpecker makes. Maybe that is why we've seen several hummingbirds in our yard this winter. They don't usually winter over. Perhaps the hummingbirds nesting near our house are also using those yucky holes in our trees to feed themselves. I guess I won't feel so bad about it if it is helping the hummingbirds.

I guess I just didn't know that any woodpecker kept on pecking on the same tree for so long! I thought they flew around more pecking a little at each one! I guess our tree is a sap buffet. Yuck. My kids were intruiged/weirded out to see all the holes. Christopher wanted to taste the sap to see if it would be like maple syrup. I told him this was a pine tree, and the sap would likely taste like glue. After that, all the kids lost interest, and quickly ran inside to get warm.

Getting the Tree

Sorry for another late Christmas post, but had to put on the pics of us getting our Christmas Tree!

We spent about 2 hours outside till it got dark. Each kid wanted a different tree, and they all wanted ones too big for our living room. We ended up getting the first tree we really considered..duh! It was a Grand Fir. I love how they smell. Unfortunately, we let it get too dry so it didn't hold up too well during the Holiday Season. I think next year I want to try out a a noble fir again. Those are pretty neat.


I wish I could have captured Julianna's first reaction to the Christmas tree. When she woke up from her nap, it was totally decorated. She stared at all the lights and ornaments and in delight said over again, "WOW, Wow! WOW, wow!"

Girls Clogging Class

This clogging Recital happened on Nov 19th, 2009, so here it is a little late!

This is Jaime, she is my girls' clogging dance instructor...and she is AWESOME! (sorry some of the pictures are dark, I brightened them as much as I could.) She teaches clogging because she loves it, and she wanted to have a group of girls around her daughter's age to be able to clog together. She doesn't charge anything, even though she now as a group of 21 girls. I am sure it is a sacrifice of time, energy and money to have this group. Wow, what a blessing for all of us!
Here is Courtney, in the youngest group of dancers, performing to "Little Purple Pansies" If you can't tell from the darkness of the photo, she is dressed as a purple pansy!
I wish I had a better picture of how ADORABLE all these little kids looked as flowers!
Here is Dorathy dancing to a Hawain Elvis song. I think Jaime likes Elvis...and they are fun songs to clog to!
Here is me and Julianna during the Recital. She was a little stinker and was very loud, noisy, and restless during the whole performance.

It didn't help that it was past her bedtime. We spent a good time in the halls with me trying to shush her screaming. I'm sad that I missed out on a good portion of the recital.
Angel wanted to dress in her Tinker Bell Costume so she could feel like she was a part of the recital. She wants to clog so badly so she can be like her big sisters, but she really isn't ready for it. She cries when I don't take her to practice with the older girls.

Angel was SO excited when she got to go up with a bunch of kids during the time when Jaime invited the kids in the audience to come up and learn some clogging steps. She felt So grown-up and happy!


When she got off the stage, she told me, "I'm big enough to be a clogger now!"
Dorathy and Athena were partners one of the songs. They are best friends, and are so hilarious together!

Western song. The kids did about 10 songs, and LOTS of costume changes! I was so impressed; what ambition! Our all time favorite song was the "MONSTER MASH" song. I couldn't get photos of that one because all the lights were out. The kids were dressed in all black except for white socks and white gloves. Jaime had black lighting set up, and it looked SO COOL to see just their hands and socks dancing around. The audience was DELIGHTED! Julianna was amazed and entertained. It was the only song she held still for!

Courtney and Jaime were dance partners for one dance.

This was the first Dance recital of my girls' lives, and my Mom and Dad were so sweet. Not only did they come and watch and help me take care of siblings in the audience, but they also got my girls bouquets of flowers!!! Each girl got one giant pink gerber daisy to take home. They were so excited.

Courtney, Dorathy, Athena, and Ivy bask in the glory of a dance well done.

Even better, every participant's family brought platters of cookies, so we had quite a spread of refreshments. That was a big hit! That was Christopher's favorite part of the performance ;)This recital celebrated the first year of Jaime's clogging class. She also gave all the kids certificates and lollipop bouquets. It was such a reward for all of them.

Thank-You Jaime!!

Our Token Economy

We'll it's a new year! And a new year is the perfect time to begin a new program!

For the last couple of months Scott and I have been listening/learning about a new parenting program by a fellow by the name of James J Jones. It's called "Let's Fix the Kids", and from the first seminar on tape we heard, we were hooked, and I knew it was the one for Scott and I. Our family is a happy one, but it's definitely FAR from perfect, and this program had many of the tools for us that we've been lacking. We're only halfway through listening to the tapes and WOW!!! If our family has already changed and improved so much in the last 3 months, I'm excited to see how we progress as we study the rest of the materials.


Some of the things that James Jones stresses right away is:

1. Stop lying to your kids...everytime you are inconsistent, every time you don't follow through with what you say you are going to do, you are lying to yourself and to your kids, and it destroys' trust and credibility. Only say it if you mean it, and be consistent and always follow through.

2. Homes can have and should have ZERO CONTENTION, ZERO ANGER and ZERO ARGUING. Some of Christ's most clear and powerful commandments are "Cease finding fault with one another" "Contention is not of me" "If ye are not one, ye are not mine" etc. which points to a zero tolerance for anything in this category. He points out that many many adults are addicted to anger, criticism and/or rage, and it's a bad habit we pass on to our kids. It destroys and damages lives. He encourages parents to do this experiment before implementing any other part of the program. EVERY SINGLE TIME you say an angry or critical thing, you have to pay that person $10.00. Keep a walletful of money on you, and everytime someone catches you being angry/critical you HAVE TO PAY UP, and if you say "but" or "that wasn't..." ....then you pay them double. Mr. Jones says this program has never failed him, it makes people become AWARE of what they are doing and just how damaging it is, and the punishment is just too painful. Who can afford to be critical or angry when it costs you $10 or $50 a pop? (adjust the $ amount to your financial capabilities. If you're wealthy, make it a $100.00 a comment)


These are just the first 2 in a long list of parent traps we moms and dads fall into as we are trying to do our best, thinking we are helping our kids when in fact we may be hurting them (i.e....no rescuing, but using logical and natural consequences.)

He also argues that the Democratic parenting model is just as destructive as the authoritarian and permissive parenting models. Is a child the equal of a parent? NO! That's why we have parents, they have EXPERIENCE and WISDOM that the child does not have, when a family tries to work out like everyone has an equal vote, problems arrise. He outlines what he calls the "original parenting plan" showed in the Garden of Eden in How Heavenly Father dealt with Adam and Eve. He bases everything on Our Father in Heaven being the perfect parent model, and we have just apostasized from it, and we need to study the scriptures and attend the temple to better understand how to become like our Heavenly Father in raising our kids.

He says the way we parent is by respecting our children as agents unto themselves, but with the parents presiding in authority. The parents provide the basic necessities, the teaching, the firm and clear rules, and then give the opportunity for children to obey or disobey. Everything has clear consequences, both good and bad, and the children are allowed the freedom to discover/learn on their own why it's better to obey. He points out over and over that if your child wants to do drugs, have sex, do a crime, there is NOTHING you can do to force them not to. What are you going to do, lock them in their rooms for the rest of their lives? That's abuse. He instead encourages you to set your home up in such a way that they learn from a very early age that all actions have a power and weight, and let them discover the good and the bad in little inconsequential things before they get to the life changing/making/breaking ones. So a lot of this I knew and believed in, but the the way it's taught, and the tools he gives for helping parents set it up to fit their own families, I really appreciated. He calls upon the parents first and always to change their own behavior..and of course that naturally "fixes the kids".

One of the biggest changes in our home is the use of a Token Economy. Some people use money. We use points to get the privileges. Mr. Jones thinks it's very empowering for children as young as 6 to be in charge of buying all their own "supplies" and entertainment from money they have earned themselves. We may never switch to money for our economy, but I will always make sure my kids have money making opportunities and extra jobs to fulfill that role.

Mr. Jones stresses the incredible importance of children learning to work. In Erik Erikson's child development model, between the ages of 6 and 12, the biggest lesson a child learns is how to work...either to the building up of confidence, or in the feeling of inferiority. (Industry vs. Inferiority) He also accentuates the amazing ability to motivate your children...they need to NEED. Fat cats don't work. They have to WANT something in order to WORK for it. You find whatever it is that motivates your child (treats, tv, computer, etc) and you make those things not an entitlement, but a privilege to be earned. Love is unconditional, always, but things....even your bed and toys, those are privileges, not entitlements.

Let me tell you, this works! We are all loving it, kids and parents alike!

Here is what we call our TOKEN ECONOMY:

Easy Jobs-25 points Medium Jobs-50pts Hard Jobs-75 pts Challenging-100pts
Make Bed Empty Dishwasher Wash Dishes Wash & Fold own Laundry
Set Table Clear Tables Pots & Pans Clean Whole Bathroom
Feed Dog Wash Counters mopping Keep fire/water on
Dust Clean Bedroom Wood 15 or 20 Get wood 25+
Mirrors ZONES Water Rabbits Put EVERYONE bed
Windows Wood 5 or 10 Garage Trash Out Mow Grass 1yrd
Sweep Feed Rabbits Poo diapers Rake Leaves 1 yrd
Take small trash out Vacuum one room Lucy for walk 15+ Clean up yard
Get Mail Pee diapers changed Julie Down Nap Vacuum car
Take Angel Potty Excercise 30 min Clean Fridge
Wake Julianna Nap Clean Half a bathroom Put Angel down Nap Wash down cupboard

Tutor a sibling: 50 pts per hour

Babysitting: either free TV and Computer games when kids are asleep OR

100 pts an hour with all kids up, 50 pts an hour when kids are sleeping, or 25 pts for 1 kid




200 points Educational 30 min PBS show
200 points Educational Game
300 points Library Movie
400 points Research Online 30 minutes
500 points 1 treat from Treat Jar/ or One cookie
600 points, toppings 25 points a piece 1 Scoop of Ice Cream, Any flavor
600 points 2 hour movie (redeemable on weekends only
600 points 1 hour fun computer game (weekend only)
800 points Trip to the Library
1,000 points Trip to 1 store, use your own money
2,000 points Choose a book, Mom and Dad buy for you!
1,000 points Go to a friends house
1,000 points Playdate, 2 hours
2,000 points Go Out for a Dessert
3,000 points Go to the Aquatic Center
3,000 points Have a Sleepover, 1,000 pts for xtra guest
4,000 points Go Bowling
5,000 points Go to Movie or a Play
6,000 points Go to Zoo, Museum, or special outing
7,000 points Go out to Lunch with Mom/Dad
8.000 points Go out to Dinner with Mom/Dad

KID OF THE DAY PROGRAM!



Privileges of the Kid of the Day:

1. Gets to say the Pledge of Allegiance
2. Gets to start Scripture Study
3. Says a family Prayer
4. Gets to choose an educational game in afternoon
5. Gets to go out with Mom/Dad on occasional special outings
6. Gets to help out in the kithcen
7. Goes first when we are starting new games
8. Gets to choose special Projects during school time
9. Can help choose the meals for that day
10. Occasional special one on one time with parents
11. Can get first chance to get the mail


Monday -- Courtney
Tuesday -- Angel
Wednesday -- Christopher
Thursday -- Dorathy
Friday -- Julianna
Saturday -- FREE DAY
Sunday -- REST DAY


Holidays/Vacations are different

Kids can switch days when conflicts arise

The Laundry Fairies!

Meet the Laundry Fairies!

If you have 4 adorable little girls in your family who change their oufits if they get a single drip of milk or water on their shirts, and put their jammies in the hamper after one night because it's easier than opening their dresser drawers, then you will get this.....

A HUMONGOUS GIANT ENORMOUS pile of clothes to wash, sort, fold, and my least favorite...put away.
My little Laundry Fairies prefer climbing and jumping on the mountain instead of helping get it put away...to them, everything is a toy! Hey look, Mommy dumped four huge baskets of clothes on the couch....that must mean it's for us to play on! WHOOPEEE~