Gabelma

that's a good idea too! Are you going to try this? we also make cookies and whatnot for FHE too as a family if we can... We have a special meal on the Saturday where we do this its great - I bake bread so its in the middle of the table and we have the Jewish Pencillin Chicken Soup, followed by a good desert. We light candles and put flowers on the table - then we talk about the chicken that gave up its lives, how Heavenly Father send the rain for the wheat so we could have flour for the bread - about the people who work at the 'flour factory' and then we say the blessing - its helping our 3.5 year old enrich how she says the blessing and us too we seem to grow closer to Heavenly Father we also hold hands to say our blessings now because my daughter says its a family together meal. She also knows its the start of the Sabbath and she can't go out until after we have Tuna Sandwiches on the Sunday evening - I will extend that but I think at 3 if she can do 24 hours of being great we can let her go out for a bit with her friends for an hour on Sunday evening, I am finding though she is incresingly choosing to stay in of her own accord. We also have a special FHE meal - chilli bean soup (nacho soup with beans), cornbread, strawberry milkshake and icecream, we have that after the lesson but before the actvity, we do discuss the food where it comes from but in less depth but we use the candles, flowers and nice napkins for it. We have the same meal everyweek trouble is our daughter now thinks if we make chilli bean soup its FHE lol(Ellie calls it Holy Ghost soup because it makes her feel warm and cosy like the Holy Ghost) - couple of weeks ago I forgot about FHE lost track of the day she didn't she demanded it, brought a jigsaw in and said OK Mummy just tinned soup will do but I am having FHE (well paraphrasing). I don't make FHE compulsory I just do it - and my daughter chooses to be there or not again she is choosing more often to be there. I got a super book called Learn to Pray by Marcus Braybrooke and its fantastic with ideas like this its not LDS but gave me ideas about how to teach my daughter to meditate and pray - like going for a picnic, collecting leaves, sticks, acorns etc then talking about them and the creation story as a result. I am using this as the basis of our FHE right now I know I should use the church manual but we started doing FHE with the same format when Ellie was 10 months old and she was still a little young for the ideas in it so we made our own way and I find inspiration appears from lots of places. Charley

LOL whilst tbh the idea behind the Celestial Kingdom to me seems a little like eternal hardwork and heartache personally like the idea of sitting on a cloud and in my own very tone deaf way scaring the birds by playing on a lyre. However deep down I want to design my own world - I love archtecture and I am in the process of designing my own home and how I want to live my life on this world. And the idea of picking the colour of the grass and maybe what I would do to make the trees look better appeals Plus I don't think the Earth is bad - I love the creations and find it majestic, intriguing and beautiful. The idea that even out of the greatest devestation comes the greatest good - like a forest fire - the forest nearly always grows back, or like drawing the WW1&2 some of the greatest inspirational stories appeared. What people do in this world can be terrible but nothing takes away from the beauty of it. I had an ex boyfriend that was a Druid and I learned a lot from him that makes me appreciate what we have got, and love the Lord for giving it to us. However bad something gets I can walk out of my door and look at something he has created or that he has given man the capacity to create. In someways I find a big industrial zone as beautiful and majestic as the sea or the mountains. Nature is beautiful and man has great potential Charley

Well, I think I will "sneek" in a prayer over the snacks...and try to engage them in talk about the gosple while we play a game or something...will see how that "flies"...It's worth a try! I've been at the point of giving up on FHE, now at least...I have another stratigy to try. Thanks! Somehthing you might try instead of a blessing is sit and talk about the snacks what goes into making them, where they come from, how parts of them are made etc Charley

Well in the case of my dogs and cat we are their family I hope they will be part of our celestial family - I have a lady in my branch that is convinced they will be - my first dog Sally was my best every friend so I hope we get to see her. When she died she had a blessing that promised we would - along with the fact she had been as loyal and wonderful a companion as anyone could hope for and it promised she would die surrounded by love. It was a beautiful blessing - I do know she had a great respect for my husbands priesthood and she would occasionally in her old age come upto him and put his hand on her head. Charley

I was wondering if anyone had incorporated any family traditions that are a little different but teach or introduce the gospel to their children. We have just started a special meal on the Saturday night we light candles, read a scripture, discuss where our food came from how it was grown etc and say a special blessing and for us this now starts the Sabbath. And we have started making a family quilt for Family Home Evening my daughter really drinks this kind of thing in, like we have chilli bean soup on Monday because it reminds my daughter of the Holy Ghost (makes her feel warm inside lol she is only 3) Would love some ideas Charley

Arabic? So, I'm confused. Are these books teaching you how to speak Arabic? Its a computer programme the idea is it teaches you the language as close to how you would learn your own native language (in my case Northern English, yours American English) - if you type Rosetta Stone into ebay you can get the company's site which will let you try out the programme.. I also got some books out of the library which are learn Arabic Script for beginners. But I do want Ellie if possible to have a grounding in Latin and another European Language even if she isn't very good. Now need to start petitioning the Lord to send us a missionary that speaks Arabic lol Charley

have your spent a lot of time in Iraq our branch president has been there for a lot of time in the last year - its been a traumatic experience for a lot of people in our area right now. Its funny I grew up around war stories but I guess I am getting to experience a little of what my Grandparents and Great Aunts and Uncles went through. We are currently trying out the Arabic module with my daughter - have just started. After what you have said I think I will invest in a French Module as there is a lady that runs a class here from the age of 5 my French is very basic but did manage to have a conversation with a lady at a campsite this week surprised me because I thought I had forgotten it all Charley

Have they been tested for learning difficulties? Most children exposed to books and who are read to will learn to read and write of their own accord by the age of 8. I know a family who's children were completely unschooled and never had any formal learning at home, their son and daughter were 13 and 14 before they got the hang of reading and writing - they discovered whilst their daughter was doing her psychology degree that both children were quite severely dyslexic - however their daughter went on and did a masters degree, their son had a Phd in a Geology related subject. I was fortunate that I learned to read before I went to school otherwise the dyslexic side of me I think would have been more prevelent - The vast majority of home ed children will be several grades ahead of their schooled collegues will also be able to enter college several years earlier as they will have a greater emotional maturity. But like you get good and bad schools you get good and bad homeschools. The parents in our home ed group who are in my position and home ed from day 1 tend to be highly educated themselves and saw school as a very boring , limiting experience. The children that were taken out of school have usually suffered a major trauma whilst at school and their parents priority isn't the academic education of their children its repairing a child who has suffered years of bullying orr something similar. Charley

Rebel did you do the Rosetta Stone language programme? we are using the Arabic one with Ellie right now and contemplating using Spanish, French or German Charley

What I ment was reading, writing, arithmetic and algebra are the building blocks of every other academic subject once you have a good grounding in those things you can study anything you wish, if you are lacking those subjects your ability to learn is seriously impaired. After that my children can study whatever they want or not - they wil have the principles and its time to govern themselves. Sounds like your kids are flourishing and that they are happy children - when school works for children its fantastic. When it doesn't its life and soul destroying - I want to know for sure which my are children before I let them go - my daughter is lively and outgoing and with homeschooling it is my job to make everyday an adventure but its not that hard, we don't need to wait until fall for school to begin. Most home ed kids love learning so much there isn't a summer break, for example when we were doing chickens we went and visited with one little boy and his Mum who showed her how to take care of chickens and then we went and visited another little girl and her Mum who have special chickens and Llamas - those children spent the time teaching each other and exploring I barely saw her. I have friends who have shown her about sheep and weaving etc Its so much fun why stop? We are going to camp with the local home ed group next week and go to a museum about the Highland way of life, last week was a natural history museum. And probably the home ed group will chill out and have a picnic the week after. Home Education is what the parents and children make of it. We are involved in the community and home ed allows time for a lot voluntary work, we can go and spend time in old peoples homes or picking rubbish up from a beach I don't know what my daughter will become she is clever, has musical talent and good coordination and is so far doing well at gym - its up to her if she aims for Prime Minister, Mother or Road Sweeper whichever will give her the most satisfaction. She wants to be an ENT Doctor has done for nearly 2 years now - she attends every Doctors appointment with a Doctors case lol and my Doc is really good lets her practice taking temperatures, and showed her how to use the blood pressure monitor etc At present because that her goal, we are looking at books on the human body, make sure she goes to every appointment - I do a lot of science type things with her. If that changes then we will do what she is into at that moment - I say if because I did at university the job I chose at 5. However I do want my kids to do more than just register to vote I want the to understand that her Great Gran and Great, Great Gran didn't have the vote on equal terms with men when they were born, that they have ancestors her Mummy knew that fought and went to hell and back so she could have that right. When she put the cross on that paper it should be with a certain amount of awe and reverence and with a great deal of gratitude. I want the decision they make to be as informed as they can be - I do what I can to make sure my kids meet the candidates before elections Charley

If you do take the older 2 out of school at any point its widely recommended here to have a period of deschooling, basically not doing anything formal. Usually 3 weeks to a month does and allows everyone to asses how they want the schooling at home to go Charley

hi Tim we met in Chat - I'm Charley live in Scotland with a cat, a dog and 2 kids Charley

Jem-mime-ah - it was the name of one of Job's daughters. My husband did say it reminded him of syrup and had rascist connotations in the UK its vaguely posh Charley

LOL not sure I am extreme in anything but I do, do the holistic thing, I wear my babies, cosleep, recycle, fair trade, organic, cloth nappy, homemade cleaners etc And I love hippy style festivals one advantage of home ed our children get to expeirence so much, my ultimate goal is to build an off the grid adobe house/ceramic house or Earthship and collect animals. I'm not perfect with it but having children has made me even more determined to do my bit to appreciate the Lord's creation I am not sure about Charter Schools because I am in the UK but I think the conference will be useful - I found being able to see materials useful when we went to the camps. It may be a bit more hard sell than I had - I really like the Draw Write Now books would not have known about them and prior to that I was going to spend a lot more money on something called Handwriting Without Tears - have you heard about Sonlight Curriculum? its Christian based but was actually recommended to me by a Muslim lol - I would never use a full curriculum but they have been recommended to me by home ed families round the globe, but I have bought some of their materials off ebay instead to save money. I just think most kids with basic reading, writing, arithmatic and algebra can learn anything with just a bit of guidance a basic understanding of these things can help you do anything including working out the speed of a black hole:) And have you met a 3 year old that isn't inquisitive? Charley

we resolve the conflict just like we would any other issue as a parent, Charley Dr.T how many children do you have - do you have plans for how you are going to go about it? I gather from your previous posts you are not a raving hippy like myself so guessing your reasons are probably different. Charley

I love this name and whilst not pregnant again yet, my husband says this name is out in the US is it really that much out? Charley

So, what are you saying? Either I'm not a Mormon or I am a liar...which is it? I think there is a huge difference between never going to have an abortion yourself but recognising the harm abortion being illegal did to women who tried all sorts of illegal methods to get rid of a child. Charley

Best advice I got was from my Mother in Law she said forget its scripture - read it like you would read any other book. You know for first time I started carrying it round in my bag because I was excited to find out what happened next I was just reading the stories. Charley

lol, with that description, he'd probly be placed on american terrorist lists. walkin' thorugh the airport might get him detained or even arrested. Don't forget he'd have long hair and beard and be wearing a dress hmmmm..... probably be a bit smelly too by our current standards:) TBH I don't know if I will recognise him - relying on him to want recognise me. Charley

are important and possibly to a higher degree, found in homeschooling. Holding your own child accountable, responsible, and being dependable and honest, because they are your own children seems to be exactly why someone would chose homeschooling. There are not 20+ other children that vie for those qualities. My brother-in-law worked in public school in CA making $100,000. That's not bad for public school. I used to be a school psych. I’ve seen what happens in the school with those “educated educators” that you hold so high. I also went through public school myself and had great teachers. They're not all great. I agree with this in its entirety - my friends and I have all worked in some form of education (I have a large number of teachers, social workers and child psychologists in my friends because of where I lived at college) and I have worked as a high school admin and taking school groups round a museum right now I help my friend in the library promote literacy in schools. The difference in taking a home ed group round a museum and a school group round is very difference - the entire group tends to be interested, they come prepared with questions, the older children help the younger children, because there are more parents availible I can concerntrate on what I am doing rather than looking round to see who is manhandling the exhibit. A home ed group does tend to be louder but in someways thats nice. A school group tends to have a lot of children who are too embarassed to seem to be interested. My friend at the library was also surprised the first day he had the home ed group in - the little ones were all excited joining in the songs only the one 18 month old was disruptive. And the older ones he was amazed with - they just got on and did what was asked of them, they made sure that those with learning difficulties had help - the very children that often get left out in a school group were the first to be picked and looked after. School is fantastic if you are average trouble is I wasn't average, because of my dyspraxia I stank at anything like art or PE was waay down the bottom - it took me longer to write anything. Yet mentally I was streets ahead of most of the other kids so I was bored stupid, I got good grades without needing to work - very few teachers can find the time for a kid like that - either one that needs the extra help or the one that needs extra stretching - there are a few. There was a fantastic craft and design teacher that spent ages with me and I can now produce small wooden toys, and my Chemistry, History and English teachers taught me how to learn instead of teaching me their subjects and found ways to get me interested.... Its not the teachers fault I got left behind I just wasn't a good candidate for school. Like Mum says I was very like my daughter until school destroyed me. I'm not even going to touch the bullying My brother younger than me was destroyed by teachers in the first few years instead of encouraged, I remember him coming home in tears when he was about 5 he had spent ages colouring in a Santa neatly, but he had coloured him in Green and Yellow he was called a complete idiot etc - then when he said Santa wasn;t real anyway she went on to announce to the class that he was a numbskull his legs were slapped and of course Santa did exist. My brother never entirely recovered from that incident, left school at 14 with no qualifications if it wasn't for my Mums hardwork he would never have got anywhere. My brother next up had the problem he was tall - so more was expected of him. Its not good to be the big kid in class. Both my kids are tall for their age right now. Charley

yeah that would be good I want to get my brother something - he is 26 but even so he is much younger at heart. Also my daughter is 3.5 going on 15 (put it this way she wanted an ipod and a digital camera for Christmas, has her own style lol gets embarrased if Mum is not stylish enough:)) we are having a lot of teen style battles - what gets you to listen to your Mum? Charley

I'm not knocking teachers or schools - my local schools are fine small class sizes encourage the arts etc, and I am sure my children would cope and do OK in that enviroment. However I think both of them will flourish much better and be more likely to reach their full potential being home taught. My daughter because she is a little odd, intelligent, possibly autistic and fun, people at church call her a 'character' kids at school are not that kind but I want her to retain her character, home ed will allow her to do that. I also feel that elementary/primary school children are too pressured in 2007 thats not the teachers fault at all they are in a straight jacket, they have ridiculous targets to meet - I am a fan of Montessori education (to a point), and agree with her that play is a childs work - I don't feel children get enough time to play and explore freely, I find it interesting that people over 65 seem to agree with me, without exception the older people around me want to know how they can help me home ed my kids and wish their grandchildren were kept at home longer. There are recent studies backing up my decisions. There is enough studies and evidence that say at least in the UK that our school system is failing boys so my son will do much better at home - Both my Mum and my MIL regret not pulling my husband and I our of school and using home ed with us Plus as a Latter Day Saint parent I have the gift of the Holy Ghost when my daughter was born I was given a blessing that told me to always go with my first instinct, as those instinct are from Heavenly Father. So I parent by instinct - my strongest instinct is that if I keep my daughter close now I will keep her close to my Heavenly Father. I have had enough answers to prayers that home ed is what Heavenly Father wants for my children and my family. And I do feel that he knows my children better than I do or any teacher even if they do have 4 years education. Charley

My take is I am not going to knock anyone who has had revelation from God - but I know I am in the right place when I go to church and as such I have to accept 'the church is true' whether or not its because that is because it where I can best know God - or because it what God wants for anyone is where my testimony sometimes wobbles a bit. Like Mamacat I have a varied background and came via various forms of Christianity, Hinduism and Pagan faiths I love the way I can incorporate a lot of the things I have learned and still have Christ as my saviour. I don't think it matters which faith we follow we pray to and worship the same God that God will guide us the best way for us if we listen (I know some people find that view offensive sorry if you are one of them) Charley

I have 2 Mormon 9:31 Condemn me no for my imperfection neither my father because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest to you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been. John 14:27: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let no your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid. Charley

How about buying the Book of Mormon Stories for your neice and her daughter? I often go back and just read the stories. Also if you can get them the animated stories on DVD/VHS are really good. Charley