Swim Lessons

This is Allison the boys awesome swim teacher. Kade finally got his ear tubes out so for the first summer in forever, he doesn't have to wear plugs and a beautiful head strap. He was SO excited about this. The boys are making great progress in their swimming. Allison's mom Kim used to teach the boys when they were younger but then we moved farther out and I didn't want to make the drive. I decided this year it was worth it. I think they get more out of 3 weeks w/ the Neville's than they did all summer at the city pool. I just don't want to commit so much time to lessons again this year. I just wish I would have had Sophia take too. I thought she'd be too shy/chicken, but she wants to jump in so bad. Poor thing just has to sit on the step...it's torture!

Mom School
Pledge, pray...
Gospel: Book of Mormon (Helaman ch. 16), story from the Friend magazine.
Read Aloud: The Little House On The Prairie ch. 15
History: Final chapter of Story of the World vol. 1, & learned about Roman gods & Roman inventions.
Memory: First Presidency & Quorum of the 12 Apostles
Art: Pencil sketches of Visigoths invading Rome & colored a picture of a Visigoth warrior.
Science: Learned about Malaria
Jaxon
Math: Saxon 5/4 lesson 87 & 88
Science: ant & fly experiment...the effect cinnamon has on them vs. sugar (his idea).
Assigned Read: Work & The Glory vol. 2 (30 min.)
Free Read: Re-read some of the Magic Tree House books, Beyond The Dragon Portal (1 hour)
Writing: Wrote a blog post about Malaria & the fall of Ancient Rome.
PE: Swim lesson

Kade
Math: Count vacation $(change) and do different equations.
Assigned Read: Young Reader's Bible Stories
Free Read: Buffalo's Before Breakfast 2 chapters
Writing:
PE: Swim lesson

Jessica
Read: The Chosen, The Well-Educated Mind
Exercise: Run/walk 3.1 miles. 33:33 min.
Writing: Chapter Summary (The Chosen), journal & wrote letter to grandma Betty in cursive,
Gospel: Doctrine & Covenants ch. 6 &7, Bible Luke 4, 2 LDS General Conference talks (am I crazy, or were these talks written just for ME?)
Library: Picked up books on the 5 presidents we are studying and other misc. books. I watched a great DVD called Ronald Reagan A Legacy Remembered. It was fabulous, I was sobbing by the end. I really liked him, and think he is the best president our country has had (in my 32 year life), and definitely in the top 4! It's heartbreaking that he had to die of Alzheimer's, what a shame. It's also sad to me that his children had different beliefs and values (from what I gather), that must have tore him up inside. Here are just a few of my favorite quotes.
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same. Ronald Reagan
Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15. Ronald Reagan
Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged. Ronald Reagan
For more great Reagan quotes click HERE.

Today's sparks: As we were reading in The Little House On The Prairie, Jaxon showed interest in learning more about Malaria, how it's spread, how many die from it etc. We then studied it a bit on Wikipedia and so for part of his writing, he made a blog post about it. It was very interesting (though most of it I already knew), it's crazy to think it infects around 250 million and kills approximately 1 million annually. Jaxon also expressed interest in learning more about genealogy, so I'll try and tackle a little of that tomorrow.
BTW, here's a link to my friend Celeste's blog. It's addresses frequently asked questions we get.