The First Vision

Early last year we took our kids to visit the newly remodeled Church History Museum. They have a 240 degree panoramic theater that they show a short video in. It's pretty cool, it feels like you are right there in the grove of trees, and it feels like you are moving. Near the end of the video the camera rises above the trees and as we watched this, I noticed my youngest sit up a little stiffer, and grab onto the bench.

You can watch this video at home now! It's called Ask of God. I believe that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ did come to this earth when Joseph Smith prayed to God for an answer to a question he had about the churches near him. The video is only six and a half minutes long. If you are ever in Salt Lake City, Utah please stop by the Church History Museum and see it on the cool screen designed for it! It's a great place to learn about some of Utah's history, and it's free.

Now, I would like to know if there is any way possible to watch this video on our VR headset! My husband says content has to go through a certain site to be available, and I can't just watch any website. Someone change that!

5 - The First Vision (52 in 2017)

I have probably taken on more blogging ideas than I can handle. Right now I'm doing 3 regular posts a week, this doesn't include reviews. I am having a hard time keeping up! I had an experience today that I couldn't let pass by.

This morning my youngest, N, pulled a paper out of her scriptures and asked me to look at the picture she drew during her Primary class on Sunday. It touched me so much that I asked if I could share then put it in her scrapbook. Here is her rendition of The First Vision. You can watch a video about what her picture depicts here.

For Those Who Influence Children

I was reading through the Ensign recently and was inspired by a quote in one of the articles.  It is about teaching children, and since I'm preparing to begin our new homeschool year soon, it hit home with me.

I loved it so much that I created a little poster to hang up. 

History Fieldtrip

Recently we had a history lesson about the Crusades.  We talked about why people want to visit places that are significant to their religion.  The lesson suggested planning a visit to a religious historical site.  Since the Church History Museum recently reopened after remodeling, we thought that would be a great choice.  Plus, another recent history lesson was about Johannes Gutenberg and we knew that the museum has a replica of a printing press.

The remodeled museum was wonderful!  We started by watching the movie in the new First Vision Theater.  Wow.  The video on the huge screen makes you feel like you are really there, and even moving at times!

One of the new exhibits has a table that you can practice being a scribe for the Book of Mormon.  The kids thought that was pretty neat!

Forgive some of the horrible pictures, I was lazy and put my camera on auto for most of this day..

The museum is really child friendly.  There are lots of things to keep the children's interest and help them learn.

This exhibit shows what it Liberty Jail would have been like, except for the temperatures!

 Everyone wanted to try lifting a temple block.

 There is a play area for children 4 and under. 

This is in the children's area, it is an interactive exhibit about art.  We visited on a school day so the museum wasn't busy at all.  We enjoyed taking our time and not feeling crowded.

After the museum, we visited the Beehive House.  This was one of Brigham Young's homes.  It's so neat to peak into life over 100 years ago, and it's nice to chat with the sister missionaries and learn from them!

Despite the wind, we had a wonderful day!

20th Anniversary of The Family Proclamation

I bet some people are confused by that title!  We will celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary in just a few days.  But the 20th anniversary I'm referring to is for The Family: A Proclamation to the World!  At the General Relief Society meeting held September 23, 1995, President Gordon B. Hinckley introduced this proclamation to the world and church.

Remember last year, when my children memorized The Living Christ?  They kept asking me if they could memorize the family proclamation next.  I resisted, and we kept working on scripture mastery.  Then sometime this past spring I realized this year was the 20th anniversary, so I couldn't say no any longer!  I don't remember when we started, but the children had a goal and they made it!  We started from the end this time and it was harder as we went along, but I am much happier with learning it backwards.  We have a couple of spots in the beginning that we are still trying to straighten out in our minds, as is to be expected when memorizing something this long!  The language in the proclamation is more difficult than what was in The Living Christ.  The kids can still say The Living Christ, and it's easier than ever for them now.  So here they are, 9 months older but just as awesome as ever!  Oh, and half of them are in pajamas... so that's clear ;)

(I'm not sure why YouTube says this can't be viewed in Restricted mode.. I promise it's safe to unlock for this video!)

We're excited that it's almost time for General Conference again!  You can watch it too, here is the schedule and viewing options.  #ShareGoodness

2015-2016 Curriculum

I am excited for school to start in a few weeks!  We're sticking with some familiar books and trying some new things.  Planning over the summer is so much fun.

Piano: Hoffman Academy.  I wanted to start my 2nd grader on this, but decided to let the older kids do it too.  They haven't taken lessons for a couple of years and have forgotten some things.  They LOVE lessons with Mr. Hoffman!  My oldest says remembering note names is much easier than it was when using just books.  I think the older two will advance faster than there are lessons available, but hopefully they'll be able to jump back into traditional lessons and books then.

History, Geography, Science, Literature, Art, Music:

The Family School Year 3

I don't have the books & cards yet.  They've been delayed, but at least I have access to the online version.  We are not using the workbooks/worksheets, after two years of what felt like planning double each week we will just print what we want.  We purchased our own binders and are waiting on the binder inserts and tabs from the school.  We still love the curriculum and are as excited as ever to get started. 

 

For Year 3 Literature we're studying 

Beatrix Potter

Heidi

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

As You Like It

Year 2 Celebration of Learning

Update:  I completely forgot to add our Geography celebration!  I didn't take any pictures because I was enthralled in the presentation.  My parents went to Europe on a Sound of Music tour about 8 years ago.  They went on a guided tour through many countries then spent extra time on their own.  They talked about the many things they saw, showed us pictures, maps, and books from their trip.  It was so neat!  

Recently we held our 2nd annual celebration of learning.  We turn our backyard into a museum and show all the projects we’ve worked on this past school year.  While the children act as tour guides, the grandparents, aunts, and uncles get to see all we’ve been learning about.  With 4 kids this turns out to be a lot of projects, but it’s so fun to see how they create each item in their own way.

 

Merry Christmas!

For a long time I have wanted to incorporate memorization into our day.  I still remember poems and sayings that hung on the wall in my grandmother's house.  We started by memorizing scriptures (Scripture Mastery), and finishing up the Articles of Faith for my 3rd child.  Then I had the inspiration to do this.

I wish I wrote down the date that we started, we think it was 8-10 months ago.  I wondered if we could do it, this is a lot to ask kids to remember!  We realized we'd have it complete by Thanksgiving, and as we began the last two paragraphs, the kids would sit in sacrament meeting working on a line or two.  They are amazing, they want to do The Family  Proclamation next.

As our contribution to the #sharethegift invitation this Christmas, we present The Living Christ.

Merry Christmas!  May we all grow closer to our Savior as we remember him and as we share the love with those around us.