Checklists

It's that time again. That lovely point in the year when I should be having a one on one with my Westwind teacher, but since he's not here in Vanuatu, I'm making this blog post and skyping him.

So...I guess I'll just jump into it. Let's go youngest to oldest:

DANIEL MCKAY birthday April 2009 (currently 8 yrs old) In Grade 2.

Math Program Resources & Notes:

I've been using Rightstart Math all year. I've also used Times Tales. Daniel is very good at math. In fact, he's so good at math, he's done GRADE THREE math this year. He was soooo close to having all his times tables passed off when he was still 7 years old. Because of this, I'm going to use the grade three checklist for his math (even though he's in grade two.)

Grade 3 Checklist for Math:

5s 10s 100s forward/backwards to 1000 (any start point)

3s, 4s, 25s to 1000 (starting on a multiple)

Represent numbers to 1000 (CPS) *Concrete- hands-on, Pictorial- drawing Symbolic- written number.---He got quite good at the "old" Roman Numerals. that perfectly completes this.

Compare quantities to 1000

Estimate to 1000 using *Referents (known quantity)

Meaning of Place value to 1000 (CPS)

Estimate ± problems (2 digit numbers)

± to 1000

Mental Math (Add left to right/Reference tens & doubles)

Multiplication to 5x5

Understands division & relate it to multiplication facts

Fractions < 1 (CPS) compare with like denominators-he compared unlike denominators in this, but I think that proves a higher level of fraction understanding.

Increasing & Decreasing Patterns: Describe, extend, compare, & create (Including number patterns)

Sort objects or numbers using more than one attribute

Solve 1 step ± equations with symbol (Ex 3 + x = 10)

Understanding time (Seconds to Min.) (Min. to Hrs.) (days/weeks in a month)

Measure cm & m /use referents (Ex. 1 cm=finger width)

Mass g & kg (selecting and justifying referents)

Perimeter of regular and irregular shapes

Edges, Faces, Vertices of 3D objects

Sort (regular & irregular polygons) Triangles, Quadrilaterals, Pentagons, Hexagons, Octagons

Organize 1st hand data using: (tally, line plot, chart, list)

Construct & interpret bar graphs-he made this to measure the temperature for a couple of weeks.

LANGUAGE ARTS Resources & Notes:

We used Barton Reading and Spelling System. It is my semi professional opinion (I'm a certified dyslexia tutor, and have gone through training for dyslexic consultation and screening as well as being trained in Lindamood Bell special education) that Daniel is moderately dyslexic. He has not been officially diagnosed, and I'm hoping that he will not need to since I'm hoping that it will not impede his testing and college abilities. I might ask for testing in the future.

He is at the same level as Hyrum, so I will repeat some of this for Hyrum

He is in the GRADE TWO level for language arts

Grade 2 Checklist for Language Arts:

Experience quality literature:

We've read the ENTIRE Little House on the Prairie Series,  The abridged versions of Great Expectations, David Copperfield, Tale of Two Cities, and Oliver Twist. The abridged version of Pride and Prejudice. Many historical short stories. Choose your own adventure books about actual events in different wars, Treehouse books, and others.

Vowel and consonant sounds & blends:

Recognize sight words (High frequency words):-- He's comfortable with these, and quite a few more:

Recognize word families, rhyming & repetition:

Apply phonics knowledge to read new words--this is an example of words he has to read that are real and nonsense. The nonsense words are presented to make sure he is relying on phonics.

Understand plot through story discussion

Understand and identify contractions & compound words--this was taken during an actual lesson with Daniel about contractions

Alphabetical order (Picture dictionary) --ummmmmm Susan Barton says this:

Record key ideas & words from reading experiences (Ex. reflective journal/idea catcher)

Write 3-5 complete sentences and edit--it's a grueling process, but it can happen

Contribute ideas & allow others to do the same---How could you not when you're the middle child of 5 very loud boys!?!

SOCIAL STUDIES Grade 2

Research skills--As a family, when we research things, we often go to youtube, google search, the library online and order in books, and go to "Story of the World." We are very often looking things up that happen around us. For instance today they wanted to know why we use the qwerty keyboard, and we took the time to figure it out. (Makes me wish we used the dvorak system instead!)

Use a simple map to locate communities in Canada
and
Use cardinal directions (N, E, S, W).

Determine distances using near/far--Well, he certainly knows that Fiji is close to here, while Cardston is FAR away!!

Really? that's all the requirements? THAT'S IT?!? -Okay, we did SO much more than this for social studies. We are in the process of doing our modern history year. We started out with the enlightenment, went through the reign of terror, went on through the industrial revolution and the invention boom. Continued with world wars and cold wars and civil rights.

We also MOVE HALFWAY ACROSS THE WORLD!!! We have had non stop cultural lessons in food, music, language, dress, rituals, and so much more!!!

SCIENCE Grade 2

Inquiry--Daniel's inquiry have been so amazing!!! just a few days ago he asked "Since bones make blood, what happens with animals that have no bones? Do they have blood and if so, how do they make it?

(Exploring: liquids, buoyancy & boats, hot & cold temperatures, magnetism, small crawling & flying Animals.)--well, just to toot my own horn, this is where my homeschooling thrives. We are in our biology year. We have created models of cells, models of ligaments, models of lungs, models of ears, models of bone structures, dissected hearts, brains, eyes, and owl pellets.

We have done literally hundreds of experiments to explore the systems of the body and animals.


Now for HYRUM!!!

HYRUM MCKAY birthday June 2007 (currently 9 years old) Grade 3

Math Program Resources & Notes:

I've been using Rightstart with Hyrum all year and have seen steady improvement. He took Grade 1 twice because of his learning differences and because he has a summer birthday anyway. However, he has kept on the math tradictory that he was on, and so he has done GRADE FOUR math this year.

Grade 4 Checklist for Math:

Understand & compare whole numbers to 10 000

Place value to 10 000

± to 10 000

Apply x0, x1, ÷1 to any number----uhhh those scribble loops are supposed to be lots of zeros lol!

Mental Math up to 9x9 (doubles, skip counting, halving, repeated addition…)

Multiplication (2 or 3 digit x 1 digit)

Division (2 digit ÷ 1 digit)

Compare and order Fractions < 1 (CPS)*Concrete- hands on, Pictorial- drawing Symbolic- written number

± Decimals (Tenths, hundredths) (CPS)

Relate decimals and fractions

Read & compare surveys, schedules, tables & graphs

Explain mathematical relationships in charts & diagrams (biggest and smallest)

Write & solve a problem as an equation with a symbol as the unknown 36 ÷ # = 6

Read & record time (digital, analog & 24 hr.)

Read & record dates in different formats

Area of regular & irregular shapes (cm2 , m 2 )

Right rectangular & right triangular prisms (describe & construct)

Congruency (CP) (same size & shape)

Symmetry

Understand & Construct bar & pictographs

Many-to-one correspondence (Ex. 1 stickman =100 people)

Compare likelihood of events (more, less, equally likely)

SEE?!? He did it! He's done a grade 4 level math!!! I'm so proud of him!


LANGUAGE ARTS Resources & Notes:

We used Barton Reading and Spelling System. If you look at the district's notes on Hyrum, I hope you will find Dr. Conrad Boehme's account of his testing Hyrum. You will find that he is severely dyslexic, and has ADHD, anxiety and processing delay. But also you will find that he's truly gifted as well. Hyrum has also met with his local physician (Dr. Lloyd Clark) who recognized ADHD, and we went to Psychiatrist Dr. Foluso Ademola who also diagnosed ADHD and Oppositional Defiant Disorder. He also went to Lindamood Bell for diagnosing and was found to have major learning differences in the language arts area.

Soooo I'm not sure what to say. He IS PROGRESSING for sure. I will use the Grade 3 reading checklist and the Grade 2 writing checklist.

Grade 2-3 Checklist for Language Arts:

Grade 3 Reading-

Experience quality literature:

We've read the ENTIRE Little House on the Prairie Series,  The abridged versions of Great Expectations, David Copperfield, Tale of Two Cities, and Oliver Twist. The abridged version of Pride and Prejudice. Many historical short stories. Choose your own adventure books about actual events in different wars, Treehouse books, and others.

Read easy chapter books silently and aloud-this is the chapter book he is reading right now.

Apply phonics knowledge to read and understand

Summarize main idea, character, setting, & plot

Alphabetical order using 1st and 2nd letter Use dictionary---ummm Susan Barton:

Grade 2 Writing-

Record key ideas & words from reading experiences (Ex. reflective journal/idea catcher)-

Write 3-5 complete sentences and edit

Contribute ideas & allow others to do the same-again=he has five brothers.

Social Studies Grade 3

Research (Ex. Global Citizenship, Communities in the Research--As a family, when we research things, we often go to youtube, google search, the library online and order in books, and go to "Story of the World." We are very often looking things up that happen around us.

Locates places in the world Use cardinal (N, E, S, W) and intermediate (NE, NW, SE, SW) directions Apply the terms hemisphere, poles, & equator:

Oh bother, my movie for this is corrupted or something and didn't work, but I promise he can.

(Global citizenship & communities in the world)-We are in the process of doing our modern history year. We started out with the enlightenment, went through the reign of terror, went on through the industrial revolution and the invention boom. Continued with world wars and cold wars and civil rights.

We also MOVE HALFWAY ACROSS THE WORLD!!! We have had non stop cultural lessons in food, music, language, dress, rituals, and so much more!!!

Science Grade 3

Inquiry-Hyrum is also asking excellent questions. He is always asking to research things. Like the other day he really wanted to know why our knuckles pop (it's actual bubbles!)

Building (Ex. Animal Life Cycles, Rocks & Minerals, Build with Materials, Hearing & Sound, Testing Materials & Designs)--well, just to toot my own horn, this is where my homeschooling thrives. We are in our biology year. We have created models of cells, models of ligaments, models of lungs, models of ears, models of bone structures, dissected hearts, brains, eyes, and owl pellets.

We have done literally hundreds of experiments to explore the systems of the body and animals.

MAXWELL MCKAY birthday Jan. 2005 (currently 12 years old) Grade 6

Math Program Resources & Notes:

I've been using Rightstart Math all year. This is the last year of Rightstart for Maxwell since it's just an Elementary program. This was a special Geometry year. I'm not sure if I liked it. It went very advanced some days, and was just drafting shapes other days. It used a lot of real life examples, which I liked, but I felt like there were holes. I think Maxwell needs a lot of more time on least common denominators, Multiplying and dividing fractions and decimals, balancing equations, and order of operations. YET he was doing the fibonacci sequence, the pythagorean theorem, and even simple TRIGONOMETRY!!!

Math Grade 6

Understand place value (> one million) (< one thousandth.)

Solve problems using whole & decimal numbers

Factors & Multiples (prime and composite numbers) LCM (least common multiple) GCF (greatest common factor)

Improper & mixed fractions

Ratio (3:5, 3/5, 3 to 5) & Percent (% is a ratio out of 100) Express % as a fraction & decimal (34% = 34/100 = 0.34)

Integers (CPS) compare & order (Ex. -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3…)

x & ÷ decimals (1 digit whole # multiplier/divisor Ex. $8.20 ÷ 4)--look above

Order of operations (BEDMAS) no exponents-

Represent & find relationships & patterns using graphs & tables (Missing elements, errors, pattern rules) Solve problems using variables

Preservation of equality (balance equations) use + - x ÷ Ex. (5a= 10) divide both sides by 5 to solve for a

Measure, construct, label, & classify angles (acute, right, obtuse, straight, reflex)

Interior angles of triangles (=180º) quadrilaterals (=360º)

Develop & apply formula (perimeter, area, & volume)
perimeter:

area and volume:

Triangles (scalene, isosceles, equilateral, right, obtuse, acute)

Compare regular & irregular polygons (sides & angles)

Translation (slide) reflection (flip) rotation (CW or CCW)

Plot points in 1st quadrant (whole number ordered pairs)

Transformation of 2D shapes on Cartesian Plane

Interpret & label graphs discrete (points) & continuous (line)

Gather & graph data from (questionnaires, experiments, etc.)

Probability (theoretical vs. experimental data)-our study of the Pick's Theorem fits perfectly in this.

 LANGUAGE ARTS Resources & Notes:

We used Barton Reading and Spelling System. If you look at the district's notes on Maxwell, I hope you will find Dr. Conrad Boehme's account of his testing Maxwell. Maxwell is your classic case of dyslexia. With the common strengths and weaknesses. He has made HUGE strides this year, but if you don't know his struggles, you might not realize it. He is confidently reading large fiction books, and reading out loud to large groups seamlessly. His writing is still largely dictated, because when it's not, it does not show his intellectual level. I plan to really tackle this problem this summer and start to ween him off writing help.

Reading Grade 6

Experience quality literature from a variety of genres

He read BY HIMSELF (oh hallelujah chorus in the background while I write that) "All of a Kind," many "Magic Treehouse," entire series of "The Littles," a few "Canadian Flyer" books, "Babe," the entire "Chronicles of Narnia," and he is in the second book of the "Harry Potter" series!!! Actually, he read at least a dozen more books than what I've listed, but I've forgotten them.

Identify main idea and supporting details
Discuss writers intention and purpose
Distinguish between facts, inferences, & opinions

oh boy...is it getting late? Is this post long enough? Yes I do talk with Maxwell about all of this, but I don't have a record of it. He would tell me how he knew Aslan was Jesus and how the Witch was Satan and why. We talked about how Animal Farm (a book we read together) went along with communism and was written to warn against it. We talked about how Little House is full of facts because it's true to life.

Identify & discuss 1st and 3rd person narration-we have actually talked about 2nd person too. We were reading these "Choose your own ending" books as a family and it was written in 2nd person, so I took the time to teach all of them the differences in 1st 2nd and 3rd.

Imagery, theme, mood, & figurative language (metaphor, personification, alliteration, hyperbole, synecdoche)-nope. haven't done it. I'm sure he's gotten some of this by osmosis of life, but yeah....

Writing Grade 6-note- most of the typing was dictated

Organize ideas (outline, thought web, venn diagram, etc.)

Research a topic using a variety of sources

Cyclones

Cook is a cyclone that I was in. It doesn’t matter if you use the word “cyclone,” “hurricane,” or “typhoon,” it’s the same thing:  a bad storm. I was excited and scared at the same time. 

I was excited when it was over that we had extra coconuts that had blown out of the trees. I was scared because we kept on hearing booms on our roof. In the end, we were safe and no damage was done.

We were lucky, unlike other people on the island. A village near by was flooded up to their waists. A bridge totally washed out. Some people who work for us had their kitchen (which was an outside lean to) blown away.

Cyclone Pam passed over Vanuatu in 2015, killing 16 people. It was the second most severe tropical storm in the South Pacific ever. Over 3,300 people lost their homes. The winds got to 280 km an hour. I was glad that Cook was not that bad.

There are different classes of cyclones depending on the speed of their winds. The categories range from 1-5. Category one is the one to not be likely to do damage and have winds less than 125 km/h. While a category five is extremely dangerous with widespread destruction and winds more than 280 km/h.

Cyclones start over warm ocean water. It heats the air right above it and that hot air rises up and cold air comes to fill the gap. It keeps on going and going until it’s a low pressure zone that acts sort of like a vacuum. 

The rotation of the earth is what makes it circle. The air condenses in the centre and turns into clouds that rain. The circle rotation when it gets big causes an eye to appear. It is calm and cam even be sunny there. 

They start to slowdown when they hit cold water or earth. They die away in a big old rain storm.

When Cook hit, we were able to look at the storm tracker that the meteorologists provided, and we knew how bad the storm was and how close to us it was getting, and we even knew when it would move and where. It was quite the experience to be part of a cyclone.

Bibliography

Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology, (2017). About Tropical Cyclones. Retrieved from http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/about/

Brainpop, (1999-2017). Hurricanes. Retrieved from https://www.brainpop.com/science/weather/hurricanes/

National Ocean Service, (2016, October 10). What is the difference between a hurricane, a cyclone, and a typhoon? Retrieved from  http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/cyclone.html

Wikipedia (2017, April 12) Cyclone Pam. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Pam

Write multiple paragraphs (vary sentence types & openers)

Use punctuation (capitals, parenthesis, colons, ellipses, etc.)-well, above you can see some of that but below you can see how he's studying how words are made as well.

Choose form, venue, audience (publish edited work)-publish? um well, I hope you can get what you need for this question from what I've given already.

Create bibliography (use variety of reference material)-see cyclone story above

Word processing (spacing, graphics, headings, & fonts)---He's really good at photoshop. Does that count?-yeah, plan on working on this in summer.

Articulate own ideas (communicate with stories, reports, talks, posters, media presentation, news cast, etc.)-He was supposed to make a poster to advertise something fun for the Order of Good Cheer for the men of Samuel De Champlain to do.

Oral Presentations (gestures, pacing, projection, eye contact)--Maxwell did an oral presentation on reef fish of Vanuatu to about 20 people. He included varied facts of many different fish, and the presentation lasted about a half hour.

Write news article (headline, byline, etc.)

Time Travel Is Possible

By Maxwell McKay

I am a time traveler. I went into the future by one whole day. March 1, 2017 never happen for me. I got on a jet, and although only 11 hours had passed for me, when I landed, over 31 hours had passed on the earth below.

You may be wondering how I did this. I crossed the international date line.

The international date line splits the world’s days. The world is split up into 24 wedges. One wedge is one hour in time and is 15* degrees apart from each other. There are 24 wedges because the earth takes 24 hours to spin around once.

The middle of the 24 wedges runs right through England who made most of the early maps. But 12 wedges later (which is half of the wedges) is the international date line. This line runs through the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

On one side of the international date line is one day, while on the other side, it’s the next day. For example, in American Samoa, it could be 7:30 am on Monday, but in Samoa it’s 7:30 am on Tuesday. Those two counties are only a few miles apart, but they are split by the International date line.

For both American Samoa and Samoa, the sun is in the same spot. But it would be confusing for travellers to not know where to start or end a day. We needed to decide on  where on earth the hours would change, and where the day would start and end.

I flew from Los Angeles to Fiji which took 11 hours. I left on Feb 28th and arrived on March 2nd. Crossing the international Date line made me a time traveller!

SOCIAL STUDIES Grade 6

Research-as you can tell from his English, we are researching things that are pertinent to our life ALL THE TIME. As a family, when we research things, we often go to youtube, google search, the library online and order in books, and go to "Story of the World." We are very often looking things up that happen around us.

Mapping (physical characteristics on map)- he's certainly got cyclone meteorologist mapping down! And he stared at a map for HOURS while we were on planes. He studied the map of this island and found the estimated square kilometers. We are going to study geography extensively next year as part of my social studies cycle.

Historical Models of Democracy: Ancient Athens & Iroquois Confederacy, Citizens Participating in Decision Making---He had a short unit on the government of early Canada. Also We are in the process of doing our modern history year. We started out with the enlightenment, went through the reign of terror, went on through the industrial revolution and the invention boom. Continued with world wars and cold wars and civil rights.

We also MOVE HALFWAY ACROSS THE WORLD!!! We have had non stop cultural lessons in food, music, language, dress, rituals, and so much more!!!

Science Grade 3

Inquiry-Maxwell is always asking awesome questions about science. That is what sparked the Reef fish presentation. He wanted to know if Sword fish really stab things (they don't.)

Building Trees & Forests, Air & Aerodynamics, Evidence & Investigation, Flight & Sky Science--well, just to toot my own horn, this is where my homeschooling thrives. We are in our biology year. We have created models of cells, models of ligaments, models of lungs, models of ears, models of bone structures, dissected hearts, brains, eyes, and owl pellets.

We have done literally hundreds of experiments to explore the systems of the body and animals

OKAY!!!! so there you have it! My Checklist! I bet you're pretty happy I organized it all like that eh? Love you guys and all you do!!!

Baptism, tie die, and bugs.

Sorry it's been awhile. (That's me specifically talking to John my teacher.) I need to get on the ball and get you all the info you need. I'll be doing that this week. (In email form as well as blog updates.)

We've had an amazing couple of weeks, and in the middle of it all, a cyclone shadowed our lives for quite some time. It danced around our archipelago, and got to a FIVE (the worst a cyclone can get.) But in the end we never felt of Donna's wrath.

Another thing that has through our schooling for a loop is the arrival of the PROFFITTS!

Side story-Matilda, my house girl, recently got the courage to ask me "Why do you believe Eric is a prophet?" LOL!!! We had to explain it to everyone, and it was quite the laugh. Can we say Lost in Translation?!?!

We made some leis for them when they arrived from flowers and leaves on our property, but we started them late, and we didn't get them all done. It was fun anyway:

But before they came we studied the Vietnam war. As part of this, we learned about hippies and their protests. I think it's a good thing in this world to have extremists on each side of issues, to help balance out the world, I just hope I never stay at the end of the pendulum swing myself, for I do not believe it's a wise thing to never see anyone else's point of view but your own.

We made tie dyed shirts to celebrate. I had a traditional Island Dress made for me which I dyed, but the fabric did not keep the colour like I had hoped. So for family photos I just used the one I bought in Hawaii.

Behold my hippie monkeys:

Not sure where the video went, but we did learn about the Space race as well. Josh, my nephew, built a rocket out of fertilizer chemicals and sugar. It didn't go too high but was still fun. 

We watched "Hidden Figures" as part of our learning which was perfect because I wanted to briefly go over Civil Rights as well.

But I didn't want to delve too deep into this subject. I remembered four years ago when we had an extensive unit on it. My kids didn't even notice skin colour at all until I talked about civil rights, and I don't think it was actually positive. Through "hidden Figures" I stopped the movie a few times for discussion, and Daniel was confused because he thought the skinny girl WAS white. I guess because of her facial features and straight hair.

As it was I thought I would just show them one movie about Martin Luther King Jr. and I regret it. It was the kind of movie that was "Let's show you examples of bullies and horrible people-now don't be like that and here's a man who overcame them with love."

But little kids can just pick up on the bully part and mimic it or get hurt by it.

Well-we are LIVING integration. So that's enough of an education.

As for science we had a really amazing thing happen. An entomologist visited us! Seth's from BYU and came to church, and we brought him home with us.  He took us on a bug hunt and a couple of days later he gave us a presentation.  

He specializes in dragonflies and found a never before described dragonfly while he was here! He's sad he missed the fire flies. He's also interested in them. Apparently he was told by the fire fly world expert that there are no fireflies in Vanuatu. But I've seen them myself! Seth quickly believed us and was sure that it was a uncharted species, not just a subgroup, and it would mean funding for him to find one.

 We took him to where we found them right as the sun went down, but no luck. Maybe we will find them someday and send them to him, although I think they're only out in the "summer."

Check out that spider on Daniel!! But that's not even the craziest spider experience lately. Check this out:

We also found a python snake with our entomologist friend.

It secreted a nasty smelling oil when we picked it up. Didn't know snakes did that.

As for English, Maxwell is almost done with the Narnia series (!!!) and we've switched Dyslexia tutors to Analaea. I am bribing my boys. When they get enough English points, they get a whole day on a device! (since they get no time on one at all any more, I think it will work.)

Hyrum is way excited.

As for math, Maxwell is finally to a fun part in his math book of creating geometrical shapes from panels and finding out about their volume and such:

I really don't know what to think of his math this year. I'm not sure if i'll do it with the other boys. Maxwell learned the basics for Trigonometry last week including Sines, Cosines, and Tangents and their applications, but it was quite the struggle, and I feel like the program hasn't taught basic things well enough like balancing equations.  

But of course, maybe they teach it and we forget that he's learned it. That's what happened recently. We were learning about ratios in forms of fractions because of Trigonometry, and suddenly Maxwell gets confused about fractions being division problems.

At the moment I thought "This math program has so many holes!!!" but right after I taught Maxwell, I taught Hyrum, and guess what? We were learning how fractions are division problems. Proof that Maxwell was certainly taught the concepts and we forgot it in the midst of all this new info.

Division has not been easy for Hyrum at all. In fact, often on the edge of his paper he'll write the multiples of numbers so he can have reference for his division. I think this is excellent of him.

Sometimes his ADHD takes over and he needs to move while doing his math. This is his new favourite thing:

This is what he did while I took this video-he fixed his mistake later:

Daniel's math has been steady. He's learned how to find areas! I'm so happy about that:

This program teaches the metric system but it also teaches imperial. Daniel's been learning how to change feet into inches, but when they ask you to "measure yourself and record it in feet and inches and in just inches" we can't find a measuring tape with inches! Only metric here.

Makes you realize how ridiculous the imperial method really is.

Also, Daniel had a birthday and turned eight!! Auntie Becky made him a special tropical breakfast.

And of course that means it's time for his baptism. He met with the missionaries the week before, and we even roasted a pig in a pit for the lunch after!

So we (our friend Ezra) prepared all night for the pig feast.  He dug a pit and brought his special rocks. Rocks that he has used for pigs many times that he brought with him when he came from his neighbouring island.

He put the rocks in a fire for hours until they were glowing and looked like sparkling dragon's eggs. He took huge leaves and covered the rocks in the leaves and put them in the huge metal chests full of pig goodness. Then he lowered the chests into the ground and put rocks on top and covered it all in huge leaves and buried it all.

It reminded me of dutch oven cooking taken to a new level (or rather the original level.)

Dustin's family members that are here, members of our branch, and other friends all met on our veranda as we had a small meeting. Becky gave a talk about baptism that included the restoration for those that weren't members. Daniel was so cute and raised his hand and wanted to share what he knew, and basically gave the talk for her.

I gave a talk about how we all hear the Holy Ghost so Differently and what it is.

Eric and Analaea sang his "born again" song that he composed. I love that song so much. I feel the spirit every time he sings it.

We then went down to the ocean. The waves were crazy, but as we looked up and down the shoreline, we realized it wasn't going to get better somewhere else. Daniel had asked his cousin, Josh, to baptize him. I think it was special and sweet for them to have that bond.

As they were going into the water, Josh lifted Daniel over the rolling waves. But during the actual ordinance, all was calm. It was our little miracle.

As they headed out of the water, however, the waves were NOT calm, and even as Josh lifted Daniel over them, they still got surrounded.

We got back to our porch when the Davies had shown up. Dustin bore his testimony of blessings as he explained the ordinance to non-members there, and then gave Daniel his blessing. In it he was blessed with safety in times of trials.

I feel so blessed to have the gospel in my life. To have been surrounded and brought up by such faithful loving people. I'm so blessed to carry this on to my son who whispered to Auntie Shi at the end of it all: "I felt it. I felt the Spirit with me."