Thoughts as They Come, Influenced by the Holy Ghost

Thoughts as they come, influenced greatly by the Holy Ghost, as I have been praying and receiving answers:

I have been working hard planning college for my eldest. I recently prayed. I recently prayed to Heavenly Father for guidance. I felt strongly this morning that the plans for college are all wrong, in that I get a really bad feeling about it and had thoughts while dreaming and while in my subconscious, about the college plans. Because of this, I could not get back to sleep this morning. I hope I can nap later today to make up for lost sleep, but I felt an intense desire to commune with Heavenly Father whilst the children and all of the do-list item pressures are both sleeping.
     Even though I have purchased guides and other learning materials for one CLEP and one DSST test, I am now doubting that this previous desire of mine to have my children get University Credit in 9th to 12th Grades, is a good one. I think it is good that I have a desire to give my children the best education possible. I am just realizing through God’s guidance, that it is possible that He would rather I teach my children something entirely different.
     Yesterday afternoon, I was watching the YouTube video of a young man showing a good way to study and learn and a bad way to do the same, the learning being cramming for CLEP tests. I was watching so that I would know how to teach my kids well so that they could study for and pass many CLEP tests in their 9th to 12th grade homeschooling high school years. I often seek YouTube videos about such things.
     After watching half of the video, it was time to put one of my children down for a nap. As often happens when doing this, I also fell asleep for a short time. In this relaxed state, a thought came to me which likely was not my thought, but was likely the Holy Ghost whispering to my mind and soul. I saw the young man studying and imagined him studying with the same intensity, the Book of Mormon, the Bible, The Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, words of the Modern Day Prophets and the like. It occurs to me through the spirit now, that with that intensity, Joseph Smith sought answers from the Bible at age 14, before going to pray and ask God for answers.
     If Joseph was 14, he would have in our day been ready to enter the ninth grade as is my eldest child. There were many other things he could ahve studied with the same intensity. Why did he choose instead to study with intensity, the Bible? What kind of a difference did it make for him and for all of us, that what he chose to study with the greatest intensity at age 14, was the Bible? 
     This morning en la madrugada when I awoke to come commune with God and write my thoughts down, I thought of something else as well. Jesus did not find his first followers who were to become his 12 Apostles in grand, well-paid careers, but most of them as fishermen and very poor, humble people in humble occupations. His earthly father who raised him was Joseph, a carpenter. In Alma in the Book of Mormon, the humble people who were willing to listen, were those cast out of the synagogues because of the coarseness of their apparel (because they were poor as to the things of the world). 
     The state of these people was a state of not being busy taking on the influx of the thoughts and ideas of the world. That is why it was important that they be in the conditions they were in. The reason Jesus said it is easier for a camel to fit into the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God, I think, had less to do with money and more to do with the influence of the world. A person can have a lot of money and be close to God. Abraham had a lot of money and He was very close to God. I think it has less to do with money and more to do with this: Often those with money are those who sacrificed greatly to get that money.
The sacrifice to get the money in our day and time is the time our children spend getting the world’s version of “an education.” I distinguish is that way because God’s version of an education is very different, BUT what IS it? That is the question of this morning for me. What is God’s version of the BEST EDUCATION for my children?
     Jesus took people away from the influences of the world’s “curriculum” and “educational standards,” and, in the most common, everyday and humble settings, taught them eternal, heavenly truths from God. He did know carpentry, I am sure. He also knew how to read and do math. He knew the basics that a child learns until the age of 12. At 12, he went to the temple to teach the people there. He told his parents he was “about (His) Father’s business?” Age 12 in our day would be 6th or 7th grade. By the time middle school would have begun for Him in our day, he knew the scriptures so well that He taught the men at the temple things they did not know, and astonished them.
     I can see that the kid of education He got was enough of the basics, but also a HUGE amount of the scriptures and the truths of God. He knew how to speak in parables when He was older. Did He also when He was 12? It is very likely He did. There is a great liklihood that His mother was so close to God, that she was taught how to teach the Son of God through the Spirit (from the Holy Ghost). Perhaps she taught Him in everyday things, as He later taught others. I am sure she taught Him about prayer, love, the scriptures, doctrines, service and obedience to God.
     Can I not also learn to teach my children in the same way? In the Book of Mormon in Jacob 2:17-19, we find, “Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you. But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good–to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.”

From this scripture I see many steps:

• -“before you have the riches to share with others, first seek the kingdom of God” (first, become strong in being like Jesus. First, be strong in the gospel of Jesus Christ. First, build a strong foundation in Christ. First, read the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. First, learn everything God wants you to learn. First, get a Godly education, like the education Jesus received. This denotes an obvious priority. Before worldly education requirements (CLEP and DSST tests, high school, University) do these Godly Education items.

• -“And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches” (We must first obtain a hope in Christ. I think this means much more than it says. I think it means we must truly put all of our trust and all of our hopes and dreams, in Christ. We must only seek after what He would have us seek after. Our desires must be desires He would like us to have.)

• -“If ye seek them” [(Many who have a firm foundation in Christ never do “seek them,” and I think it is because they realize they are not needful. Jesus did not ever have them. A person can enter into the kingdom of God more easily without them. However, some righteous people, like Abraham, have obtained riches. For some, like David and Solomon, riches and power together influenced them into making poor choices. We must strive to be like Abraham, then, and only seek riches if we can still be righteous whilst we have them (and are free with our substance).]

• -“and ye will seek (riches) for the intent to do good–to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.”

• -“think of your brethren like unto yourselves” (the golden rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you).”

• -“be familiar with all” (know everyone, by being friendly and caring about their lives and days)

• “and free with your substance” (freely share what you have that is of worth with others–I see knowledge and the gospel as part of the “substance”)

• -that they may be rich like unto you (so they can be happy and comfortable in life, as you are)

• -“that they may be rich like unto you” (so that they will be happy and well like you)

     My kids have awoken. 

Homeschool Early College / Concurrent Enrollment at Weber State University

Early College / Concurrent Enrollment at Weber State University is only done one way. I discovered this with much research. I know they have even a link on their Early College page for you to watch a video FOR HOMESCHOOLERS about early college, but this is the catch. 

Your HOMESCHOOLER must (o.k., sorry, I have to tell you I am laughing out loud as I type now)—

Your homeschooler must take the early college or concurrent enrollment classes from a high school.

I don’t know–Maybe some of you really do not “get” it because you think that being enrolled in a high school is a normal part of homeschooling, but I just do not see it that way. In my opinion, that means you are dual enrolled (enrolled in high school and homeschool high school at the same time).

I am not a dual-enrolling homeschool mom. I do not want my kids in the public high schools at all, so this whole idea just makes me laugh so much!

O.k., but there is a way for your child to get an Associates Degree in General Studies from 9th to 11th grade at home and then attending 2 full time semesters at Weber State their senior year (12th grade). When they Weber State, they will not be in the “Early College” program nor in the “Concurrent Enrollment” program. They will be full-fledged, full-on college students. When they do the work (mostly) from home in 9th to 11th grades, they will be full-on, full-time homeschooling kids. 

How is this? This is done by a few very time-consuming but money-saving steps:

1) Figure out by learning about your child and talking with your child, what his or her interests are. Figure out which degree program would work best for your child (I am talking Bachelor’s Degree). Don’t worry about the costs or your child’s age at this time. Don’t worry about admissions just now, either. Pretend your child is 18 and admitted, for now. Just figure out the degree thing right now. There are career interest tests online that are free. Google them.

2) Figure out what are the requirements your child will have to meet. I am referring to the “GENERALS” or general requirements. There are choices, such as which life science to take, but you will see in another step, I will narrow your choices a lot more. Sorry! It will save money (maybe $25,000 to 30,000 dollars). If you have tons of money, then, by all means, just don’t heed this post at all–Go with the CHOICES because you can afford to.

3) Search on weber.edu for the CLEP list and the DSST list. Print the lists. You need them. These are lists of $90 tests your child can take to gain 3 credit hours per test. Normally, 3 credit hours at Weber State would cost you and your child $500 or more per credit hour ($1500). I say $90 instrad of $80 because there is a test proctor fee. (I am guessing it is ballpark $10, but I really don’t know).

4) Figure out which requirements for Associates (and which will be able to help toward Bachelors, too) can be fulfilled by the CLEP and DSST tests. 

5) This one will be very time-consuming. Figure out the whole Associates (every class) and the whole Bachelors. This will require asking your child about some preferences, reading the class descriptions to him or her. This, for me, took a lot of searching, researching, printing requirements and phone calls to Weber State. I copied and pasted class numbers, titles and descriptions, pasted them into a plain text file and edited them. If you did not know, I am a Graphic Designer, so then I used InDesign and made it look really spiffy. lol. I am sure you can make it look pretty good in Word if you are not a graphic designer. Don’t feel bad if not. You have important and awesome talents, too.

6) This step took repeat tries to work it until I felt it was at the pinnacle of perfection from my point of view. I had to get it to where it was realistic to the unschooling-ish lazy style we have around this house. What I mean by this is, I did not want to rush in a study plan for any of these tests.

I do not have it in front of me, but I believe that I wrote something like this down.:

• General Math and Pre-Algebra
• Chemistry 101 homeschooling DVD and the work that goes with it
• “Cover Story” DVD series (English Language Arts)
• various illustrated and fun (made for kids aged 9-15) books about the Western Civilization I test time periods
• CLEP Western Civilizations I Test Prep book
• DSST Principles of Public Speaking test prep book

With the taking of the tests after studying for a while, one could get 6 college credits.

Hope is not an evil but a good thing. This is the only way to do the the “Early College” program at Weber State University as a full-time homeschooled child. Granted the books, workbooks, textbooks and DVDs do cost money. Homeschooling IS still cheaper, though. I maintain that claim. (Read my post about that.) It is also cheaper to homeschool college near unto full Associates Degree. You can do it! I believe in you!

Your child’s Associates Degree will be your child’s official High School Transcript (9th -12th Grade) from an accredited school (yeah, a University.–Beat that!) If your reason for not wanting to do it this way (LDS followers) is that you want BYU (Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah) for your child, don’t fret. This will be an impressive, knockout High School diploma to show BYU. Then you will just have your child start at BYU as, guess what—an incoming freshman. (Sorry, but, hey, on the bright side, this child could be an incoming BYU freshman with a job that pays better because of the Associates Degree).  Your child will likely get a great scholarship also, to help you with the expense of BYU.

Anyway, check this out. BONUS! If your child graduates with his or her Associates Degree from a Utah Higher Education School listed by the time he or she would have normally graduated from High School, your child comes closer to qualifying for the New Century Scholarship. The Universities listed are the 7 big Universities in Utah and one College (Westminster). There are a few other details (such as University GPA, # of credits taken in a certain semester with a different certain GPA and a 26 composite on the ACT by June 15 of the High School graduation year). This will save you even more money if your child gets that scholarship. Not only that, but doing this will likely help your child qualify for even more scholarships on top of that one! 

Ready to Read!

My son is ready to learn to read because he sees me teaching his big brother to read. This is exciting but it makes me nervous. I have been on pinterest pinning things about teaching letter sounds with lowercase letters. I am enthused about going to the file cabinet to find the Montessori letter sounds activities. I need to soon find little 3-d objects so he can do 3-d Montessori letter sounds activities. 

This makes me feel overwhelmed a little, too. I homeschool many kids and here is a new one ready to learn to read. Now I will have many things to tach yet another homeschooler. It is not that I have not already been helping him learn. It is just that learning to read is a big, important growth step in learning.

At the same time, I am nervous that my eldest child will be a high-school aged kid this coming fall. The more homeschoolers, the merrier, and seeing her become an adult is beautiful. Nevertheless, it makes me nervous. How have ai done? Have ai taught her well? Is she ready for the big world of adult life? What shall I make sure she is taught before she is an adult?