Opportunities are endless

The kids were so fortunate enough to participate in a ski program put together by a good friend of ours for home school kids. The public school are offered the same program and our friend was able to get it offered to homeschoolers. So every Friday in January they have gotten to get two hours of ski instruction and then have the rest of the day to ski on their own. The opportunity has given them and me the chance to grow.

One of the big reasons we decided to Home School our 3 children was so they could have more opportunities. We are so blessed to have so many choices. I only wish more parents realized what is out there and believed in themselves as parents that they are capable of providing it to their children. One more step to being self sufficient.

If you are looking for a great High School choice for your kids Open High School of Utah is accepting registration for next year for 9th and 10th graders. Shelby has really enjoyed it.

Sports programs are teaching our kids to be mediocre

I coach my son's 4th grade basketball team. We have great boys on our team. They all have different levels of ability, yet they all have the same desire to improve and learn the game. I think that is the big reason I drafted them on my team. One thing I really have problems with is society teaching our children to be mediocre.

An example of that is not enforcing all the rules in a game. I really hate to hear people say "they are only 10". Well when do you expect them to learn to actually play the real game?

In 4th grade basketball in our town the coaches are on the court coaching and they officiate. I call fouls both ways. I call for traveling, ups and downs, double dribble, shooting fouls, etc. Today a coach for the opposing team actually said "Oh come on they are only 10, let them play", after I called his player for jumping up and down with the ball more than one time. "Really" I said to him. "When do you suggest we have the boys learn the rules to the game?" I got an eye roll.

Later in the game my son was defending the person throwing the ball in. He was doing just what I had taught him to do. He was jumping up and down and waving his arms to impede the view of the offensive boy throwing it in. Simple really. The other coach proceeds to tell my son he needs to step back 3 feet so his player can throw the ball in. I told him that isn't a rule.

So my team learns how to properly defend the ball and we are told because the other guy can't get it in that we need to step back. Whatever!

Oh and get this. They don't keep score. No winner or loser. What is the point. In life we need to learn how to win and how to lose. Life isn't all warm and fussy. I know everyone wants a chance, but when do we expect our children to work hard for what they want. It seems having everything "equal" and "fair" all the time breeds mediocrity.

It isn't just with city sports for our kids. It IS where it starts however. We don't let the players who actually have skills play to their potential.

One big reason I pulled my oldest daughter out of kindergarten was because she was told she couldn't read at school because the other children weren't reading yet and she needed to do what they were doing, which was learning letters. Rediculous! It's the same thing not playing by the rules in sports.

Next colleges won't be able to refuse admission because "it isn't fair that everyone can't go".

Great quotes to keep motivating you in your childs education

"In many places it is literally not safe physically for youngsters to go to school. And in many schools - and its becoming almost generally true - it is spiritually unsafe to attend public schools." Boyd K. Packer (BYU Symposium, Oct. 1996)

Why I homeschool: "there is a big difference between sending fully trained disciples into enemy territory and sending recruits to our enemy's training camp. If we do the latter, we shouldn't be surprised when they come home wearing the enemy's uniform and charging the hill of our home waving an enemy flag." Voddie Baucham, Jr.

“…you cannot give people of any age license to do whatever they feel like doing, even though it is right and good for them to make free choices. The constraints of what a person ought to do and should do may not be removed. Also knowledge fits into a hierarchy according to what is most worthwhile to know. It is reckless to destroy the distinction between the worthwhile and the trivial, to lose what is of enduring quality…” Susan Shafer Macaulay

"I am willing that every man shall believe what he wishes, print what he wishes, and say what he wishes within his Constitutional rights, but I am not willing that he shall exploit all his idiosyncrasies in teaching my flesh and blood, while I pay the bill! I insist that he shall have all the personal freedom he can carry, but I am not willing to extend that full and complete freedom into a gross license and then pay him to abuse that license to distort and debase the minds and hearts and bodies of those who belong to me and are dearer to me than life itself. " --- J. Reuben Clark

"Let us never lose sight of the fact that education is a preparation for life -- and that preparing for life is far more than knowing how to make a living or how to land on the moon. Preparing for life means building personal integrity, developing a sound sense of values, increasing the capacity and willingness to serve. Education must have its roots in moral principles. If we lose sight of that fact in our attempt to match our educational system against that of the materialists *, we shall have lost far more than we could possibly gain."

--Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 297

"If children are to be brought up in the way they should go, to be good citizens here and happy hereafter, they must be taught. It is idle to suppose that children will grow up good, while surrounded with wickedness, without cultivation. It is folly to suppose that they can become learned without education." (Joseph Smith, Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 273)

"A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty can be more pressing ... than ... communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?" -- George Washington

Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:9

Her children arise up, and call her blessed...Proverbs 31:28

Daily Plan

I have often been asked "what do you do during the day". I guess because it is "home" school, and most people play games and lay around at home, there is the misconception that not much gets done during the day. And new home schooling moms ask that question to see if they are doing enough or if what they are doing is what others are doing.

I thought about the road to where we are now and our routines have changed every year to meet learning styles and schedules.

We have always gotten up early and done chores before our school day has started. Every child has made their own bed since they were 4 or 5 (not beautifully mind you..but it was done). They also have a list of chores that they are responsible for that needs to be done in the morning. Laundry, bathrooms, etc. Music practice is also done before we start our school day. Each child takes a turn on the piano for 20-30. Now the house is fresh and there seems to be a nice atmosphere to start our day.

We do start our school day off with family prayer and we check our schedules for the day. Dad likes to keep up with what is going on. wink.

Every kid has a list of subjects that needs to be completed that day, whether I have one written out for them or the curriculum program we are using provides one for them. This has helped out with my reluctant son. This also coincides with counsel to set goals. Each kid has a "goal" for the day. After they meet that goal their time is theirs, so to speak. This has really worked well for us. The kids work harder, and have a since of accomplishment when they are done.

All my kids are active in sports. My daughters are swimmers and practice every afternoon. My son plays football, baseball, and right now he is playing basketball (I coach his team ). So we are busy until dinner most nights.

I feel incredibly blessed to stay home with my children. They are wonderful human beings that enrich my life every day.