I need to apologize. I told some people I would have this up sooner, but life happened and I am just now finishing writing it. Last weekend I was able to attend the Latter-day Learning Homeschool Conference for The Family School curriculum.
The Family School Curriculum is developed from a school in American Fork, Utah called American Heritage. It is a K-12 LDS based private school. And can I just say It is BeeUtiful! If we had the money to send our kids there {and we lived there} we would for sure send our kids there for Jr. ?High and High School. Isn’t it pretty. You should see the inside. The walls are lined with pictures of Christ, our forefathers and amazing paintings of historical events. I have never been in a K-12 school where right when I walk in I can feel the spirit in the building. It was amazing.
The mission for American Heritage School is the same for Latter-day Learning which is this…
We serve parents by supporting their efforts to raise children, in harmony with revealed principles of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, that they may:
- be useful in the hands of the Lord in building the kingdom of God on earth;
- increase faith in and knowledge of the Plan of Salvation;
- develop a love, understanding and appreciation for America and the founding fathers;
- develop the basic academic knowledge and skills necessary to be able to make self-education a life- long pursuit;
- learn to reason and discern between right and wrong, truth and error;
- develop character and self-discipline of mind and body; and
- conduct themselves in all aspects of life as Christians.
I feel so lucky to be able to teach at home the way they do there with The Family School Curriculum. What a huge blessing it has been! It is WAY cheaper then sending my kids to private school and I get the reward of being their teacher.
The conference started Friday afternoon with a big family field day, 5K/Fun Run, and dinner. The kids had so much fun playing in the bounce houses, running in the race, climbing the rock wall and ridding the kid 4 wheelers. It was really fun to be there with a bunch of homeschooling families. {and they weren’t weird people LOL}
The next morning the conference started with a key note speaker, I can’t remember his name, sorry. He talked about the principle approach method. With this curriculum they use a method called 4Ring.
The four R’s are…
Research – Where you research a subject.
Reason – Find a principle from learning that subject.
Relate – Relate that principle to your life.
Record – Write Academic Principle, and Gospel Principle. Do an art or writing project to go deeper into the subject.
I love this approach in teaching my kids. In all subjects I can liken it to our beliefs.
Sidenote: A lady said to me the other day when I told her that I liked to be able to teach the gospel in my home during school, that that was overload and that they got enough at church and reading scriptures and saying prayers each day. I wish she could come to my home and see that it is not like that at all. No I don’t sit and teach scriptures stories, and make them read their Book of Mormon all day. We get to learn really cool subjects and then pull out principles from each subject. We learn principles and methods that help us lay Christ and the truths of the restored gospel at the foundation of academic learning, and it is amazing! Principles that will help my kids as they grow to learn to be kind, to be good, to serve others, to love and to keep the commandments. It’s amazing is all I can really say. It is amazing to sit and talk with my kids about a book we are reading or science, and then turn it around and help them relate it and liken it to their own life. I think it helps the actual subject sink in better than any way I have ever taught.
Anyway, The first class I went to was my mom and aunts class where they talked about how the Family School came to be. No they didn’t develop it, but played a HUGE role in getting it going and making it more into a “Family School” and not individual grades.
Then I went to a class called “The Happiest Homeschool on Earth” where a lady shared with us some fun ideas to bring into your daily lives. I will have a separate post about this class! It was really really good. After that class we went to lunch at Costa Vida with all my sisters, some cousins and friends. It was so fun to sit and discuss school. Some homeschool in a group, some homeschool by themselves, and some don’t homeschool, but are interested in it.
{My cousin and my sister with all our new babies!}
I then went to a class all about the “Opening”. That is the time during the day that we do the flag, pledge, learn poems, review “Bit” cards, sings songs and memorize scriptures. It was a fun class and I will also write more about it in another post.
I then went to a class about teaching young kids to read and write using the Riggs method. I use this method and it just helped me to realize what I needed to get back on track with in teaching my kids. Making sure they really know their sounds and their phonograms BEFORE I have them reading.
The last class I went to was awesome. She talked about having good relationships in your family and how you can achieve that. Traveling together, singing together, learning together, exploring together. She had so many awesome ideas!! I am hoping to get her power point and share some of it with you.
{I took this picture because I love that these pictures are just hanging up in a school!}
Anyway, it was an amazing conference. I was so glad I was able to go and learn and be uplifted to just keep doing what I am doing!
The year one curriculum is all edited and ready to go you can purchase it HERE! I used year one this year and it was awesome! Since I started they have even made the lessons better, so they say, even though I thought they were already amazing! Year two is coming later this summer. I would for sure start with year one and go from there!
Feel free to email me if you have any questions about the Family School, or just homeschool in general! (thethingsilovemost{at}gmail{dot}com)
This is one conference that I wish that I had the means to go to. Really sounded awesome! And really somebody said that they thought teaching principles from the scriptures in homeschooling was overload. REALLY!!!! She must need to remember Nephi’s admonishment to “liken” all scriptures unto ourselves. I think of that as everything in our life should have a gospel connection. After all, if we are to become like our Heavenly Father, then we must learn to think and act like him in all situations. Hoping to use this curriculum next year with my kids. I think it will be a lot less stressful for me and hopefully I will love homeschooling even more as well. =)
What a great experience! Ad if you could ever teach your children “too much” about God 😉 I’d be interested in learning more about what their science curriculum is like
@Cari I know, right cari!
That sounds like an awesome conference I would have liked to go to. I’m looking forward to your post on “The Happiest Homeschool on Earth”.
I so wanted to go! We are starting Year 1 this upcoming school year and I am ELATED to use this system!