Hugs and Kisses

We end our day with hugs and kisses, and have for years. Somehow, as the kids grew up they stopped liking kisses, but hugs still remain a constant after bedtime prayers. Now, my kids journey every night to Grandma and Grandpa Mackley's room for their nightly "hugs and kisses." In this instance it is to hug Grandma and Grandpa and come away with a chocolate kiss.

I loved this article, "The Magical Power of a Kiss" by Gary and Joy Lundberg,and it reminded me of the importance of kissing. I have noticed in my marriage that when I greet my husband with a "honest-to-goodness I-love-you-to-the depths-of-my-soul kind of kiss" that our marriage and day to day life is much better! I'll have to have a good kiss prepared when Brad come home tonight.

Video Book Reviews

We had a book review to kick off our Reading Competition.
Everyone shared a book - and we took video's. Here are the kids. I'll post the adults soon!

Reading Challenge

We are issuing a reading challenge to our extended family. The genesis of the reading challenge was this article Book Challenge 2009 in the LDS Homeschool dated November 24, 2008.

Here are the rules for the Growing Georgeson's Book Challenge.

Read Age Appropriate Books
Reading buddies can split the number of pages
Can't count the same book twice unless you are under the age of 4.
Teams will be decided on Sunday 7th of December by a random drawing.
Page counts start on December 1st - so start reading and counting.
Keep track of Book Title, Author, and page Numbers.
Scriptures, magazines, books all count, internet does not.

Be prepared to give a short book commercial of 3 of your favorite books on Sunday. These could be taped in advanced and posted on your blog. (Think Reading Rainbow style, or use your own imagination.)

The Amazing Online Friend

I just stumbled across a huge upgrade to the LDS church's website for kids. I didn't even know that the site was geared towards kids until tonight. On their page for the Friend Magazine they know have online coloring pages, and video's that are going to be updated monthly and you can listen to the Friend read outloud.

This is not a substitute to reading the friend to your kids, but is more geared to accessibility. It is however, a great way to build reading fluency. Your kids can put on the headset, open up the friend and follow along, and build their reading fluency while having fun.

Online Friend

Reader's Theatre

If you have never participated in a reader's theater you are in for a treat.

We really enjoy them, and they have been a big hit at our annual Growing Georgeson Homeschool Halloween Party. (Doesn't that sound official) We invite a bunch of families over to our house for a potluck halloween lunch. Everybody brings a creative halloween dish to share and before we much we perform 2 reader's theatres. Our favorite is The Little Old Lady who was not afraid of anything it is a great story for the whole family because even the non-readers can participate pretty easily and the simple props can be found around the house.


Here are 2 Christmas Scripts and and Easter Script from the Friend Magazine that we have also performed. These involve music which I've downloaded and burned onto a cd ahead of time in the correct order for the script. I also typed up the lyrics for the songs so everyone could participate.

Christmas in the America's: A Christmas Program
A Nativity Presentation

Why We Rejoice: An Easter Program
Testimony of Easter


This year I decided that I needed a Thanksgiving Reader's Theatre. I found some great scripts with just a quick google search - check out these and try this out with your kids!

ABC's of the First Thanksgiving by Marci McGown

Thanksgiving Idea's and Writing Reader's Theatre's and Other Links

A List of Reader's Theater Scripts

Aaron Shepard's Reader Theater's Page

A Turkey Takes a Stand - Lois Lewis


Now all I have to do is choose which one to use this year!

Scavenger Hunt

Today we went on a small nature scavenger hunt. We had to feel somthing smooth, rough and wet, I found a rock for smooth, a pinecone for rough and a walnut that had been in water for wet. I also had to find a seed, the green ball with spikes on has lots of seeds inside

I also had to find a red leaf ,a yellow leaf, a orange leaf, a green leaf, a leaf that had two colors and a leaf falling. I also found a leaf with three colors on it.

Sycamore Tree

We were at the hospital and we were visiting our grandpa at West Valley Hospital. We found this tree. It's a sycamore tree. I thought it was a sweetgum tree because it had a seedball. - Isaac


When we picked a seedball we decided that it wasn't exactly the same as a sweetgum tree, so we had to identify it when we got to a computer. It is most likely a california sycamore or at least some member of the sycamore family.