Some ideas

This year we are going to have the theme of "courageous young explorers." The kids will be courageous young explorers this year, exploring the world around them, and exploring within themselves. I've given them some tools that explorers need, for them to use throughout the year. With each tool, we talk about it. For example, a flashlight. Explorers need flashlights to see in the dark. We also need the light of Christ to help us see in the dark. As we explore this year about the world and about ourselves, we will need the flashlight and the light of Christ to help us explore and learn. We've also done a compass, a magnifying glass, binoculars, and the flashlight. I'll probably get a canteen (Christ is the water of life, what we need to fill our canteen spiritually, physically and emotionally this year), some rope (choosing good friends, having good habits, etc), a map (praying, reading the scriptures, patriarchial blessing), some kind of tool like a hatchet or pocket knife or something (sword of faith), backpack, etc. The boys have had a ball with this so far. And when we were being explorers at the tidepools and Alex started whining because his shoes got wet, I said, Explorers don't whine when their shoes get wet!! And the boys laughed and forgot about it. And another time when things were kinda crazy, I said we were having an adventure as explorers! And it worked. I got the idea from listening to the talk in the April 2010 General Conference Priesthood Session by David Beck. I told the kids about what he said about explorers: going out of their comfort zone, doing what no one had done before, etc. We'll also learn about different explorers this year.
Other ideas for themes of the year I had:
discoverers

courageous young explorers
champions
leaders
adventurers
detectives/ private investigators (completing top secret missions)

missionaries/pay it forward/teachers (teaching what they know to others, helping others with what they know)

Other ideas:
1. Ask a question about what you are about to study that day to get them interested, and focused on what you are saying because they are trying to find the answer. For example, at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, we were about to see a short presentation about sea creatures of the deep. Before it started, they had the questions, "How do the animals live under all that water pressure?" etc.

2. Homeschool for me is about: Preparing my kids to have every opportunity when they grow up to do whatever they want, Helping them love learning and encouraging their curiosity, Keeping their bright minds sharp by challenging them (vs. wasting the great minds God gave them), and Having a relationship with them. I remember my Nana taking me to the tidepools and other fun things, and I didn't remember the names of all the animals found there, but I remember the feeling of having fun with Nana, and all those fun times were building a framework of a relationship and a feeling of love, security and self worth and an identity. Being here with my Nana right now, I have been thinking: I don't remember everything that she did for us, but I remember Nana's house was always fun, and that she loved me unconditionally. All those forgotten moments are threads in a beautiful quilt of a relationship and feeling loved. From that foundation, I have the confidence in myself as an adult to know that there are people who love me just as I am, that I can succeed in the world, etc. My parents did the same thing for me, but I was just thinking about the tidepools, and that Nana took me when I was the boys' age, and wondering if my boys will remember this trip in a few years. But then I realized it's not the remembering, it's the feeling and the building of the foundation of the relationship--their springboard.
 I need to remember HOW I'm teaching and interacting with my kids. If I am frustrated, impatient, angry, etc. they will not be associating school/ learning and fun, and I will not be building that foundation for the relationship and give them the feelings of love, security and identity. HOW I teach is just as (if not more) important than WHAT I teach. Listen to D. Uchtdorf's 2 talks from the April 2010 General Conference about this. I am Christ's hands to my children. How would He treat my children? What and how would He want me to teach them?
click here for Uchtdorf's talk on Patience
click here for Uchtdor's talk on love

3. Homeschooling is so much fun! This week while everyone was having their first day of school sitting in a desk in a classroom being told "Be quiet!" (while the moms stay home and clean--my worst enemy and life-sucker), I was having fun with my kids at the Monterey Bay Aquarium doing science, doing writing by playing restaurant (and learning how to cook), and doing math by singing math songs in the car on the way to our next fun thing!