We are Home Schooling!

Why? I keep getting asked that. People assume it is because we are "having problems". Absolutely not! We love Valley Elementary and Landon's teacher is awesome! She has been great to work with. So, with that out of the way, I will tell you *why*. :)
Number one reason is we believe homeschooling offers a much broader education that can be tailored to meet each child's individual needs and interests. Homeschooling isn't the old fashioned thing people sometimes think of. Homeschooling has evolved into a very exciting, social and wonderful opportunity!
It provides me the opportunity to teach in ways that are specific to my children's learning styles. I will be able to do loads of hands-on activities and explore my children's interests on a personal, in depth manner.
Every moment is a teaching moment, in a homeschooled home. No question goes unanswered, no event in nature is passed up and absolutely, no learning opportunity is ignored. Homeschooling parents are not just observers and lecturers. They are active participants in the learning process. They encourage their children to be inquisitive and guide them through their learning process, with a really hands on approach. I like to think of myself as a "learning coach".
It's a chance to magnify our family bond! Afterall, we will be together pretty much all of the time, laughing, learning and playing together! What more could I want than a stronger family?
The community, also, offers a lot for homeschoolers. A huge misconception about homeschoolers is that they wont have a social life. It is quite the contrary. There are MANY homeschooling groups in Utah and Weber County specifically. In fact, the very valley we live in is known for having a lot of homeschoolers. We have a few homeschooling families in our ward, actually, with kids Landon's age.
When we first moved in people would say, "So where will he be going to school?" I couldn't quite understand that question because we have only one school in the entire valley. One day I asked someone why everyone asks me that. She said, "Oh just because so many people homeschool here, that you never know!"
All these homeschoolers in my area, in Weber County and across the state get together very regularly for what's called "homeschool groups". These groups get together to play, interact, go on feild trips together, do classes together and any thing else that we, as parents, feel is good for our kids. (My friend, who's been homeschooling for years, says that she, on average, sees other homeschooling families at least 4-5 times a week. In addition to that, her children get to play with the public schooled kids when they get home from school.)
Landon's kindergarten teacher was awesome when I told her we'd be homeschooling. She said that she fully supports us in our decision and that she thinks Landon will do really well. She willingly put together a list of things for us to cover at home and offered to have Landon come in, to her, throughout the school year for assesments. She gave us internet links of places to find lesson plans, gave me a list of what the State's requirements are for kindergarten and just overall, has been awesome at helping me get started. She's said I can ask questions and bounce ideas off of her whenever I need to.
At the moment, while Landon finishes up the rest of the 1st quarter, I am putting together a classroom and getting lesson plans together. Our classroom is really cute and we have all kinds of typical classroom "stuff". As the state suggests for kindergarteners, we will be focusing on Language Arts and Mathamatics. The exciting part, for Landon, is because we are going to be working one on one, we are going to have time for science (and other subjects like social studies, health, etc.). Landon loves science and was quite disappointed when he found out that public school wouldn't offer him science until 3rd grade.
We should have a full spectrum of subjects to dive into! This year, Landon has chosen to take a Musical Theater Class, as part of his homeschooling. (The performance is in May, so plan on it, if you can!!) He went to his first class last week and loved it!
We were too late this year, but next year we hope to get enrolled into a Utah charter school called K12 Inc.. They provide you with curriculum, supplies, a teacher to call, all testing material and a variety of subjects (including foreign language), all free of charge! Of course, charter schools are public schools, so he would be considered as getting a "public education", only it would be done at home, in anyway we feel suitable and at any pace we need. They just tell us what needs to be covered and they take care of the testing!
Hopefully I have enlightened you, as to "why". We are excited to begin. Landon is looking forward to it and keeps asking why we can't start now. We've, also, told Landon that his schooling options are his choice and that he can return back to public school at the end of the semester if he is not happy with homeschooling. If he does decide to continue moving forward with homeschooling, but changes his mind in a few years, that's okay, too. His wishes are going to be respected.
I will keep you updated on our activities and our progress!

A Time of Change

I love walking by myself, in our mountains.

The skies can be captivating.

And the colors, amazing!

Right now the Autumn beauty surrounds us.

Some days are rainy...

Some days are sunny...

Some days you want to run and hide!

And some days are just nice.

Whatever the day, excitement and beauty can be found!

Home Storage Item of the Week:

This weeks item is: MILK (dried milk, canned milk, rice milk, baby formula, soy milk, etc...whatever works for your family!)
Here's a picture of my Written Inventory, on my freezer:

I have organized my pantry, so that everything is in eyesight and labeled. This way nothing gets wasted.


I am lucky to have a storage room, in addition to my pantry. As you can see, it is quite bare, at the moment, but in time, it will build. The idea would be that I "shop" for my pantry from the storage room. Then, I will use my written inventory to keep track of what I need to buy from the store, to replace the used items from my one year's supply in the storage room.

Also, I am starting to put together our emergency 72 hour kits. I'd like to have them completed and hung in my storage room by the end of November. There are many different lists, but here's what we are trying to compile for our kits:

1- Back Pack per person (DI has nice bags for $1.50)
2- 3 Days of food (remember there is no fridge or cooking available)
- protein/granola bars, trail mix, dried fruit, crackers, cereal, tuna, beans, canned turkey and chicken, veinna sausages, etc... ("pop top" cans can explode, better to go with a traditional can)
3- canned juice
4- candy/ gum
5- water
6- change of clothing (long and short sleeved shirts)
7- undergarments
8- rain coat/poncho
9- emergency blankets
10-cloth sheet
11- plastic sheet (you can buy big plastic sheets for painting)
12- flashlight with batteries
13- flares
14- candles
15- waterproof matches/ lighters
16- can opener
17- dishes
18- small foldable shovel (we are just getting two of these, one for me, one for Chris)
19- radio with batteries
20- pen and paper
21- Axe (you can buy small folding ones)
22- pocket knives (these open cans, too)
23- rope/ twine
24- duct tape
25- first aid supplies
26- toiletries (feminine supplies, too)
27- cleaning supplies
28- medication
29- work gloves
30-dust mask
31- whistle
32- 15 " pry bar (people could be stuck under rubble, in an earthquake)
33- saftey vest
34- scriptures
35- copy of patriarchal blessing, geneology records
36- copy of immunizations
37- copy of legal documents
38- insurance policies
39- cash
40- credit cards and phone cards

You'll have to be creative as to home to make it fit and maybe you can skip out on some of the stuff. Obviously Korbin isn't going to need an ax or a pry bar! Use what will work for you.
Also, an AMAZING website I found for homestorage and emergency prepardeness is:
simplylivingsmart.com
Check it out!!! AWESOME!!

My Head is Swimming!!!!!!!

Oh it's been way too long! I was never real great at math, but now not having done it for 9 years, I can't remember a thing!
I am trying to do some reviewing before I take my placement tests for school. I started clear down at the math 950 and my plan is to review up to 1010. Honestly, though, I expect to be put in something lower than math 1010. Math is just my weak spot!
Anyway, I did a review test for the first few chapters of math 950 and I did okay. I just can't for the life of me remember "order of operation". The easy stuff, I do, but when it starts to get more complicated I just don't remember.
And I can't remember at all how to figure out the unknown side of a box.
I'm done for the night and I've decided that if I'm going to be doing work and homework on my computer it needs to be moved!!! It's hard concentrating with dart gun wars going on all around you. lol.
Chris says I should just flunk the placement test and start out in 950. That'd be easier, but it'd be a waste of my money and I'm worried they wouldn't accept me if I flunked out the math placement test. I don't know....I guess I'll be studying for a while.

My New Job

I did training today for a part time job I am going to be doing, for fun. I mentioned that I wanted to do it, before, but now I am actually able to. I am going to be working as a Peer Parent.
I will be contracted by DCFS to go into homes and teach parents, usually single moms, parenting and home management skills. My clients will either have children currently in foster care or have children that are at risk for going into foster care. The program is awesome!
We have a set criteria we need to cover, but I can cover the material in any ways that I think will be suitable, assuming they are tried and true. (I can't just go and teach some bizzare parenting method! lol!)
I love the flexibility this job offers me! I get to decide how many hours a week I will work, when I will work and how I am going to teach the material. I will be teaching a variety of skills including: Abuse & Neglect, Anger/Stress Mgt, Budgeting/Finances, Child Dev, Child/Home Safety, Communication, Daily Responsibilities, Discipline, Education, Home Mgt, Medical Care, Nuturing/Bonding, Nutrition, Supervision and Support Sys/Community Resources.
My job, also, entails paperwork and documentation, which I get to do from home (only about an hour a week, per case). I, also, will be attending Team and Family Meetings with the client's caseworker. I am actually in charge of the initial meeting. (That slightly intimidates me!) The meeting helps us determine what the client needs to work on and then it is up to me to put a plan together of how to teach it. Occassionally, I will have to attend court with my clients. (My reports and documentation go before the judge.) And I get a little fancy name badge that gives me access to using the copy machine in the DCFS building...that makes me feel sooooo special...j/k!
Most important to me is my family. I am only going to be working a couple of evenings a week and Chris will be home with the boys. This is just my way of adding spice to my life! lol! It's a chance for me to get out of the house and have some "adult time", which I need. So, in the end, I think it'll make me a happier mom!
Anyway, I will let you know how it gets on! I'm not sure when I will get my first client. I think there is still paperwork I still need to turn in, but it'll be exciting!!!

And the culprit is:

SOY!!! I have finally determined that Korbin's allergies are a direct result from drinking soy milk!!! This is very exciting news for us!!
As you may have known, Korbin has had allergies since he was 12 months old, like literally 12 months old. Do you remember that Korbin had a terrible cold on his 1st birthday?? Well, that cold never went away. It lingered until just recently. Obviously I chalked it up to an allergy, but I couldn't quite figure out what.
The weirdest thing is every time we went to someone's house over night the allergy went away. So, my first thought was the pollen in in my area. But, then when we camped just across the road and the allergies still went away, I couldn't quite understand it. I started to fear it was something in my house.
After MUCH, MUCH researching and pleadings in my prayers, I finally stumbled apon a book called, "The Allergy and Asthma Cure" by Dr. Fred Pescatore, M.D.. The book is facinating and explains everything very scientifically, just the way I like it. The doctor writting the book has been working as an allergist for years. He has developed a program to completely cure allergies and asthma, through dietary and lifestyle changes. He promises you that if it does not "cure" you, it will definetly GREATLY lessen your need for medications. He has had patients with severe, life threatening asthma on multiple medications, that are now asthma and medication free. It's a really awesome book, but what I love about it, is it gave me what I needed for Korbin.
It'd take too long for me to explain how I figured this out exactly, but when I started to put the peices together, I realized that one thing changed when Korbin turned one. He went to the doctor, who okayed me to move on from formula to soy milk, saving me $100 a month! Every time he went to someone else house or went camping, he did not have soy milk. So, my next question was, "Well, if it's soy milk, then why not the soy formula?"
It then occured to me that formula, be it soy or diary based is always processed so that that proteins in the base of the formula are broken down, so that they are easily digestable. While the dairy proteins in the formula were not broken down enough for Korbin's body, the soy proteins were. I later found out that their are 15 proteins in soy and that you can be allergic or sensitive to only 1 or a few of those proteins. Meaning, that if the formula had gotten rid of that protien or made it more digestable, then it wouldn't have affected him, like it did having the protein whole.
So, I now have a VERY happy toddler, with a clear nose and his eyes have GREATLY improved. We stopped the soy on a friday evening and by that night he was beginning to look better, by the next day he was almost clear and by the Sunday he was totally clear and allergy free. The allergies have yet to appear, about 3 weeks later!! He is so happy and his disposition is content and fun! He is more alert and sleeping more "normally" for his age.
He was sleeping 14 hours a night and 4-6 hours a day, just a month ago...no joke! The time he spent awake, he spent crying. He's now sleeping a good 11-12 hours at night and having a 2 hour nap, but when he's awake, he's HAPPY!!
I'm beyond happy to see my little baby so healthy and doing so well!! Although, it's not been life threatening and their are much worse problems, it's been rotten seeing my little baby sick for 6 months, especially already having to spend 3 months of his early life sick. That's half his life! lol. Good job he's got a good MANY more healthy years ahead of him!!
Oh and P.S.- Select Health FINALLY offered us health insurace! It's my second most exciting thing of the week! lol!! (We have been struggling to get insurance b/c of a stupid agency and Korbin's past medical history.) The ugh part is that they would only offer us coverage, if we were willing to pay a MUCH higher premium because of Korbin's history. Well...what do you do??? Be grateful we got coverage, I guess, and hope that in a year or so of good health, they'll lower our cost. We can hope, right?

Home Storage

Back when we were still newlyweds and living in Antioch, TN, Chris woke up in the middle of the night and woke me up. He told me we needed 12 days of food storage. He was very specific that we needed 12 days. He said he just had a "feeling" and that he said he felt it was urgent that I go and buy the food the following day. So, the next day, I bought our 12 days of food storage with some savings that we had left over from when I was working, before I had Landon.
In TN, we were always living paycheck to paycheck, with only pennies to spare. We didn't have a phone line, a TV service, internet, debt and even spending $10 on a pizza was near impossible, but we were always provided for.
Weeks later, after buying the food storage, we found ourselves without any money or a job. As we sat down to budget the remainder of our savings we realized that we only had enough money to get our family and things back to Utah. We didn't have money for a single thing more. It was, also, then that we realized that we had exactly 12 days before heading home to Utah and because Chris had followed the promptings to get food storage, we had exactly 12 days of food. We felt very blessed.
Over time, I have built up a food storage, but unfortunetly due to Indian moths, in our old house, it all had to be thrown away. So, I am again, starting with very little food storage. Probably only enough to last my family a month or two and that'd be with some very strange combinations.
I am rebeginning a small program that our last ward put into place, as well as doing some things of my own. If you'd like to join me in the goal to aquire 1 years worth of home/food storage, then let the fun begin! I certainly don't know it all, very little, in fact, but I have some good handouts behind me. lol!

Here's how it works:
Each week I am going to post some items for you to buy for your home storage. It may not some like much, but over time, it will build. It's better to be taking small steady steps than doing nothing at all.

1- Buy the largest amount you can afford and what your family will use.
2- Mark each item with a date and rotate them as you use them.
3- Replace items as you use them.
4- If you found other items on sale, pick them up and buy the thing I post another time.
5- If you miss a week, don't worry and skip it. Eventually, it all comes full circle.
6- If you can, set aside an exact amount of money each week that you can spend on these items, in addition, to your regular budgeted grocery bill. (Do what you can afford, even if it's only $10 a week.)

This weeks items are:
Week 1- hygiene products, soap, shampoo, deodorant, etc.

Also, water is going to be CRUCIAL in a time of disaster. Most of our dehydrated or freeze dried foods that we buy for emergency supply NEED water. Not only that, but our bodies need water to survive. I am going to do a seperate post on water. (I have an AWESOME hand out, from a class I took.) For now, I try and buy 2-4 gallons of water a week, as part of my grocery bill. (I've just budgeted that in.) So, I'd encourage you to build your water supply, also.

As we all know and have been hearing for a long, long time, "WE ARE DUE FOR ANOTHER EARTHQUAKE." Just be ready. It may be days before emergency crews reach us. We can't rely on other's preperations. We have to be ready.
Not only that, but economic times are not as stable as they were just a couple of years ago. We have recently, heard personally, of many people being laid off. People that have been with the companies for years and have been great workers, people we know. Some very good friends of mine are in this situation right now and they are struggling to buy food each week. Also, last night, we overheard a man say that a very prominent Utah company laid of 50 people yesterday and are planning more lay offs. I'm definetly not trying to say it's "dooms day", but we just ought to be ready.
So, now I will step down off of my soap box and if you'd like to do this little thing with me, then get ready.

Landon's WOW Photography

Landon is participating in his first Reflections contest, at school. The theme is "WOW". We've had some amazing, "wow days" just recently with the storms we've been having.
Landon took all the pictures completely by himself. I handed him the camera and put it around his neck (in case he dropped it) and he moved the lens to his desired "look" and then snapped the picture! He was awesome.
He can only submit one picture. Let us know which one is your favorite. Landon has not yet chosen a name, but I have labeled them 1-4. Let me know which number is your favorite!! ....remember, the theme is "wow".
1-

2-

3-

4-

Landon 5 3/4 Years Old

I took some pictures of Landon. He was sure cute and fun to be with!! He's an angel!!

Mr. and Mrs. Incredible!

Today we got our "Foster Roster" in the mail. (It's our monthly newsletter from Foster Care.) Even though I don't know these people, I just had to share.
Dave and Ann Gray, of Willard, just hit their 100 mark for the number of children they have fostered! They have been fostering since 1991. Even after a car accident that took the life of one of their kids and injured the husband so that he could no longer work, they still continued to foster!
The Grays said, "We take them into our home and our lives because we want to help them. In our home, they are loved from the moment they arrive until the moment they leave. They now know that someone truly loves them. Someone is willing to give them love, attention, affection, food, clothing and shelter for no apparent reason at all."
"They can take this feeling with them for the rest of their lives, even if they were only one month old when they learned these facts and they were only facts for a few months. With all of our children, the difference is spectacular."
They said they are now looking foward to fostering their next 100!!! So, hats off to Dave and Ann Gray. They are truly Mr. and Mrs. Incredible!!!