Mormon Bloggers

I got a call this morning around 10:30 am from Sam’s new school that he will be attending kindergarten this year. They wanted us to come in for another evaluation.  I was confused because we already did one of those when we registered, but they told us that that was to see if your child needed special help, this one was to show their progress when they took it again at the end of the year.  All right, I told them, we’d be there in 30 minutes. So I pumped Sam up for it by letting him wear one of his new school shirts.  We drove over to the school and found our way to the kindergarten class.  As we stood there waiting for our turn, Sam took the opportunity to study the class room and the layout.  Sam doesn’t always share his thoughts, so I found myself wondering what he was thinking.  ”What do you think of this class?” I asked him. “I don’t like this class,” he told me. “It’s scary.  I... Read the rest of this entry »

I think we can all say that the end of August is ALWAYS a super busy time of the year.  Why?  Three wonderful, sweet words:  Back. To. School. I don’t know about you, but I am just about ready to drop kick my boys right out the door!  The end of the summer fighting and bickering has escalated to an all new high and I have lost so much hair due to stress, that I think I am starting to lose my eye brows as well! Helicopter — homemade style… The boys and I hit the back to school sales today.  Wondering if they would actually have one of those summer growth spurts people talk about, I actually measured them in the doorway at the beginning of June and then did it again yesterday… My eyes just about bugged out when I saw that BOTH boys had shot up a whole inch each!  No wonder their pants are floating above their ankles… But nothing surprised me more than Sam’s super growing feet.  At the beginning of... Read the rest of this entry »

Man … life is a whirlwind around here. For most moms (those that don’t homeschool) Summer break is a busy time. They look forward to school starting so that life can slow down for them. For me, typically it’s the opposite. Summer is a breeze and it’s when the kids go back to school that my life gets busy, because … well … after all I am the teacher also. This coming year, our 10th year of homeschooling, I will be homeschooling only one child. It’s bittersweet. It’s hard to explain. This past summer has been insane busy though for us. Our oldest (14 yrs) went away three times this summer making for much preparing for those adventures. The older he gets the more he has to do. It’s all good, I’m glad he’s enjoying life. It just makes for a busy Me. Then of course we have been getting ready for his new adventure of attending the local high school. Yesterday was his Freshman orientation. I resisted the urge to bring... Read the rest of this entry »

With many kids heading back to school soon, parents’ attention is once again turning to academic issues. For many children, math is one of the harder subjects to master. It’s easy to see why—math deals with abstract concepts and many times requires kids to transfer information on the page into mental images. However, recent research is showing the continued importance of early math concepts to children’s future learning and achievement in math. One study looked at children as young as kindergarten and found that their understanding of basic math concepts predicted math achievement years later (through 5th grade). Some of these foundations concepts included skills like being able to estimate a given number on a number line of 0 to 100. Students who were able to master such skills in first grade were much more likely to grown rapidly in the math knowledge in the years following. The researchers proposed that the primary reason for this is that if these foundational math skills are... Read the rest of this entry »

For many teens and adolescents, summer break means a completely different sleep schedule. When I was growing up, my sister and I would use those last few weeks before school started again to stay up late and sleep in as long as we could. Then, with just a few days left, our parents would have us try to get on a normal schedule before school started. Needless to say, it was always difficult to stay awake that first week in class. Our bodies hadn’t adjusted completely to our new routine.  Sleepiness at school can have negative effects on a child’s ability to perform and retain information. Below are a few tips to help your child get back to a more regular sleep schedule for school. Several weeks before school begins, start to set limits for the latest bedtime and wake up time. Make sure to enforce these times and as school draws closer, gradually move these times earlier. Help your children enjoy the last few weeks of summer by encouraging early morning activities... Read the rest of this entry »

So today I am proud of me. I probably shouldn’t be too proud- but today I declared my major. Yay me! But I am so behind and really shouldn’t be proud, and you probably shouldn’t be that impressed considering I should be graduated. The people that I started school with have already left. But it’s a big step for me!  Read More →

I adore Autumn. It’s my favorite season of all. So when August 1st hits, it so closely resembles “Autumn” that I start getting in Fall mode. Sadly, here in Florida Fall won’t hit for months …. sigh. I’m especially excited because this year (just several months ago) we had a wonderful large front porch built on the house. I love a front porch … for sitting and enjoying company, quiet time and the weather and also for the decorating potential. I am looking forward to Fall decorating my front porch this year. I will certainly be sharing that with you when the time comes. This past weekend was busy. Saturday we did a lot of running around. Our 14 year old is starting our local high school as a freshman in 3 weeks after being homeschooled the whole time. He has been going to football weight training all summer and is excited about playing football this year. That boy loves football. We went to Dick’s Sporting Goods Saturday and got him some things... Read the rest of this entry »

Thank you so much for all of your kind comments on yesterday’s post! My writer’s block seems to have disappeared and I want to apologize to Teach. She felt bad yesterday about the off-hand comment she made about nobody caring if I posted or not. She just meant that maybe no one would notice if I took a day off here and there, not that I should quit writing because no one was listening. My  Read More →

For the last 4 years, I have been very bitter.  Bitter that I had to go to work when The Princess was only 2 years old.  I was able to be home with all 3 of my boys, and I didn’t understand why I couldn’t be home with my girl.  But over the years, I have received several revelations.  I have talked about this several times here.   But in the last month, I have come to the biggest revelation of all, which has eased the bitterness. Heavenly Father knew I was going to have to go to back to work, and he prepared the way for me.  Back in 1998, I was prompted to go back to school.  I didn’t know why at the time.  It took me 2 years, another child, and 2 carpal tunnel surgeries, but I made it through.  I got my Bachelor’s degree.  And then I didn’t use it. But, when it was time that I had to go back to work, I had a degree to use.  I didn’t have to go and work at Wal-mart for minimum wage.  I didn’t have to work nights... Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday was Terryn’s end of the year school party. The parents were invited to come in the morning and spend some outdoor time with their kids. Then they were invited inside for a snack and afterwards the children gathered in a circle and sang songs.  Terryn is still quite the loner. He usually plays by himself. He loved playing in the sand pit with the different excavators, tractors and shovels. Then he was off to drive around the wheeled contained that held the balls. Some kids decided he need help and at one point there were four kids all pushing this container around. When they got tired of that, they resorted to diving inside of it and getting pushed around while inside. They had a man come and make little figures for the kids. I’m not sure what the dough was made out of, but when Terryn picked one out he stuck it in his mouth and bit the head off. Nice. Then he spit out the head. I guess it didn’t taste very good. The guy was pretty talented though. He... Read the rest of this entry »

This photo comes from the time in my life I like to call my “fountain days.”  What happy memories come flooding back as I think about the free-spirit I was back then feeling the invitation of refreshing bubbling water.  And its impossible to think about fountain-hopping without also thinking of my old friend Jason. I started college when the internet was still a novelty.  Sitting in the campus library I signed up on a Christian dating site and quickly met two fantastic people.  One of those people was Jason and it was only a matter of months before I hopped on a plane to New Jersey to meet him. My mom dropped me off at the airport a little confused and a lot scared and horrified.  I figured that out when I didn’t think to call her upon arrival and she hunted me down by phone at Jason’s grandmothers home.(Important clarification: Jason and I were always just friends.  Our hotel rooms always had two beds and we never even held... Read the rest of this entry »

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