Becoming Peculiar

"I grew up in a cave." or at least that is what a least one of my friends at college thought. So it kind of became my mantra for a few years anything I tried to convince him that I was a good little girl that really didn't know much about the world. I may have been naive and unexperienced, but the more I learn about the world the more I'm not sure that I wan to know.

http://www.happynews.com/news/952007/protecting-children-insulation-vs-i...

I just found this article on math instruction in which 12 children ages 9 - 12 learned all the math normally taught in grades 1 - 6 in 20 hours. That is 20 teacher contact hours. The students worked hard on their own, because they wanted to. It is amazing what students can learn when they are ready and want to learn.

http://www.mountainlaurelsudbury.org/Rithmetic.asp

I had read a similar article in a magazine a few years ago.

I have entered a new world, that I didn't know existed, but that I knew should exist. Somehow, I closed my eyes for a few years and it grew up and has flourished and I just now discovered it.

I have really learned to love General Conference the past year and a half because I have been actively reading and studying the talks when they come out in the Ensign. I have been doing this partly by participating in an online group of women where we are studying the same talk and sharing with each other.

I just discovered the world of lapbooking. Ok, well, maybe that's not quite true, I've seen it around before, but never really tried it before. To be honest, we still haven't really tried it much, my kids have only done 1 or 2 books, but so far they seem to like it. Mostly, I spent the better part of a week designing a lapbook and had so much fun. I am excited to be able to work with the kids to put it together.

I dislike shopping for dolls. I tried to find a doll for each of my kids one year for Christmas. One problem was I had a toddler boy. I wanted to buy a doll for him. I thought boys need to learn to be Dads. I knew as a toddler he would also want everything that the girls wanted. It was so hard to find dolls that were cuddly, didn't walk or talk, and weren't wearing teenage or adult style clothing. Luckily I finally found baby dolls that I like, and my girls (and boy) played with them and loved them for a few years.

I had an ephiphany last night while we were reading the scriptures as a family. We were reading in 3 Nephi 4:4 and it says, "that they might subsist for the space of seven years." Rebecca said, "We don't even have enough food to last for 3 months. I sat up straight, and said something like. I never realized Food storage was in the scriptures. However, as soon as I thought about it I realized that it is there, several different times, in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon.

Our Baptism Traditions start at age 7 when the child begins to create a baptism binder. I have gathers a few books and workbooks from Deseret Book with activities and lessons about baptism. During the year the child is encouraged to teach FHE lessons on baptism, to choose recitation scriptures about baptism, and to gather all material into a scrapbook called simply, MY BAPTISM BINDER. The primary theme for 2000 was "I will make and keep my baptismal covenants" so the Friends for that year are a great resource for stories, activities, and lesson ideas.