Yearbook Yourself

This was just too funny to pass up...

Overwhelmed?

Have you ever felt overwhelmed? Well, I think that feeling looks something like this...

where I am the donkey and the burdensome cart is my life.

What do you do when you are in this situation?
Anybody who reads my blog knows we are a TJED family (homeschooling family using the Leadership Education model). There are so many principles in Leadership Education that can be used by anybody, in any situation, public schooled or homeschooled, kids or no kids. One is the Six Month "No". This is where I sit down and make a list of everything I have on my plate - kids, husband, household, work, church, myself, etc. I list every teeny, tiny thing - grocery shopping, hair cuts, washing the car, things I've been asked to do, cleaning, kids sports, etc. Then I ask myself the following questions:

• Do I absolutely HAVE to do this?
• Can someone else do it? (delegate to...)
  
• What are the ramifications if I don't do it?
• How will it affect my family if I don't do it?

After truly taking time to ponder each item on the list based on these questions, I find that I can mark off several things that are really NOT necessary, freeing up my schedule for the stuff that IS important. Each time I implement the Six Month "No", I find new ways to balance my life...which allows me to stop being the donkey!

Detox

One of the mistakes I made when I first brought my children home was to push them. I have found that they need some time to "detox". It takes a good six months, which scares most people away from doing it, yet it is one of the MOST IMPORTANT things you can do to switch gears from public education to home education. During detox, we had the following rules:

1. No TV, video games, or computers during school hours - 9am-1pm at our house - 30 minutes break for lunch.
2. During school hours they were to keep busy with - books, educational games (board games, card games, etc.), educational toys, and educational videos that were on the approved list (included many classic movies).
3. I encouraged them to start projects - like building models, learning to crochet, painting, coloring, etc. These projects were also considered "school".
4. The only required participation was to Mom School - which is when I teach what is mine. Mom School includes our read-a-loud book and whatever else I decide to teach that day.

During this "detox" time, I spent my "school hours" working on my own education, for myself and as an example to my children. How do you know when detox is over? Easy! They start choosing to learn on their own, they ask questions and want your feedback, and they start coming up with their own goals. You find a child with a book they can't put down or a project they HAVE to finish.

I hope this all makes sense. It is so easy to do what we did as children and so hard to change and do something else.

She's a Maniac!

I am now writing for three blogs, President of the AZ LDS Homeschoolers, speaking at the HIP Retreat in August and helping with the HIP Forum in February...what have I done to myself? Did I mention that I'm a wife, mother, homeschooler, and I have two callings? *sigh*

My Three Blogs:

• Cinder Mountain Scholars - (you are here!) My family stuff and about our homeschooling life.
• Az LDS Homeschoolers - Our statewide support group with information on State Laws, How to Get Started, and more...
• In the TJED Trenches - A group of TJED moms who write about implementing the Leadership Education model in their homeschools.

Check out my newest post that will get me in trouble....Arizona Budget Crisis.

Techno Dance, Harry Potter, and a Rooster

Techno Dance
Each month there is a Stake Dance here that Marlayna has been trying to attend (when she feels well enough to go). This month's theme was Techno and she had a bunch of glow-in-the-dark stuff that she put on. She looked so cute! (but, would not let me take a picture). She is making friends, but the nearest LDS kids live about 3.5 miles away and we are too far out of the way to successfully arrange carpools. I have to say that I am very proud of Marlayna because she never worries about showing up at an event by herself. She just goes right on in and joins the fun.

When I was her age, I was attached to my "pack" of friends. I was scared of arriving to things like dances by myself, I needed someone to go with. I even needed other girls to go to the bathroom with me, for whatever reason, I don't know. I have been wondering why I was like that at that time in my life. Was I programmed that way and then changed later in life as I became more self-sufficient, or was this part of public schooling and just what everyone did?

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
I rarely do this, but we went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince yesterday, which was opening day. We waited in line outside for over an hour before getting into the theater and then waited another 30 minutes for the movie to start. Sam told me she had already seen it the night before. People started clapping when the movie came on. The last time I remember being in a theater when people did that was Star Wars. It was kind of funny.

I have to say that this is by far one of the best Harry Potter movies. It is PG and the only thing I would warn parents about is that since the characters are older, they do engage in a bit of kissing (snogging as they call it). They did an EXCELLENT job on the movie and choose the scenes that made for the best movie. It is a very good book too, so in all, I feel that it is better than some of the others.

Banana the Rooster
We bought 9 chickens, one died a few days after we got it (too bad there is not a guarantee on chickens), and now we have 8. We started noticing right off that one chicken was not like the others. This chicken acted as though it needed to protect all the others when we come out to feed them, change their water, and muck out the poop. It would run up in front of the other chickens and stand between us and them or try to gather them all together as a pack.

After a while, we realized that this chicken, Banana by name, is in fact a rooster. As chicks you can't really tell them apart, but we sure can now. He is one proud fella. It is kind of fun to hear him crow in the morning. The kids are hoping to have some chicks born, so we will allow a few of them to stay on their eggs after we get them established at laying.

Christian's Merit Badges

Switching troops during the life of a scout can be a tricky thing! I do not have the cards for all the merit badges that Christian completed from our old troop. He finished First Aide, Emergency Preparedness and Citizenship in the Community before we moved, three of the "required for Eagle" merit badges.

At scout camp in our new ward, Christian completed: Pioneering, Personal Management, Photography, Bird Studies, Mammal Studies, and Fish and Wildlife Management. With all these, he should have finished his Star. But, we cannot get all the information together to prove it. Kind of a bummer since now he will have to wait until the next Court of Honor (if I can get all the info together or he will need to do them again).

Christian had a great time at camp and came back with a ton of stories. Our new troop has many good qualities. The Court of Honor was out in the woods in a beautiful spot at Shultz Pass. I guess living in the woods brings it close enough to have events like this frequently...and only 15 minutes from home!

The only drawback is some of the discrimination going on (not just in scouts, but in Flagstaff in general). We have been termed "Phoenicians" because we moved up here from the Valley. That term brings with it many derogatory comments about how silly or weird "Phoenicians" are...and since we are considered in that category...well, let's just say there have been some hurt feelings. I fully admit to being shocked by many things in our new environment and making comments about them has brought some of this on us (my mistake). The leaders wonder why my son does not care about scouts anymore and the entire ward is now making comments about how Christian never smiles...well, he used to smile all the time! Maybe they need to look in the mirror to find the source of his unhappiness.

4th of July and Mike's B-day

4th of July
I have a bunch of pictures of the 4th of July, but have not downloaded them...

We spent the morning at the parade. I was disappointed that most of the things in the parade were "commercials" for various businesses around town. Very few Independence Day floats and even fewer American themes. Have we forgotten what we are celebrating here? Independence, freedom, "the American Way"...where have these themes gone? The best part of the parade was a Samba group, they were very talented, and a few bands were good too. I was impressed with a couple floats, but some of the churches and the gay pride march were awful.

The very BEST part was spending the time together as a family. Mike was home, Sam was home, and we all spent the entire day together. I had prepared some good food and we ate throughout the day, napped in the afternoon, pulled all our poppers and lit all our fireworks, and went to go see some fireworks (which were disappointing as well - even the kids kept asking to go home because it was lame).

Mike's B-day
We celebrated Mike's birthday on Sunday, since we would hardly see him on his actual birthday. He loves lemon, so we made him Lemon cupcakes (per his request). I made some of his favorite meals and he received Season 8 and 9 of Seinfeld, his all-time favorite show. He has been asking for those seasons for awhile. I wish we could have done more, but time and money just did not allow it. He was able to take a good nap and spend time with us, so in all , a good birthday.

I am so happy to have Mike as my Eternal Companion. He is truly the love of my life and my Best Friend all rolled up into one fantastic person. He works so hard to support our family, take care of our needs, and spend fun time with us. Mike has always been so supportive of me and anything that I wanted to do. He is a loving father and a great friend. Together, we are a complete and balanced. I love you, Mike!

Now What?

Now that I finished my 5 Pillar Certification list (see my last post), I don't know what to do with myself! I typically spend a lot of time during the summer:

• looking for curriculum (our curriculum is already decided)
  
• deciding what to teach the kids next year (already decided)
  
• updating my own web skills (I'm stuck and can't progress)
  
• designing blogs or websites (not interesting anymore)
  
• reading (can still do that)
  
• learning a new skill - like sewing or something (don't have money to start new projects)
  

But, this summer I'm having a hard time finding peace and joy in my typical summer pursuits. I think it is because of our new environment. When we lived in the scorching valley in Queen Creek, the outdoors was not something we ventured out into often during the summer. If we did, it was to swim and then run back home to air conditioning.

Now that we live in the beautiful pines. I want to find things to do outdoors. After all, we will be stuck inside during the winter. Also, we do not have an established circle of friends yet to do things with. We are making friends, but, it has only been 3 months so I can't expect to be invited to everything or for the kids to have best friends yet.

So, I feel that an adjustment in our yearly schedule is coming...the ebb and flow of life is changing for us because we actually have SEASONS now.