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Congratulations to team members Paula, Kenny, Melody, and Becky who cycled this past week and made $500!

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TJED Teens Club

In an effort to build the TJED (Thomas Jefferson Education) community and provide activities with peers for my kids, I started a major effort to organize what is already in our area and create new opportunities. One of the questions I am constantly asked is, "Why are you doing this?" People either think I'm a control freak who wants to take over everything or they are waiting for the other shoe to drop and for me to start asking for money. Neither one of these is the case, I want my children to have the kinds of activities that I know will build statesmanship. That is it!

Yesterday we had our first TJED Teens Club meeting. It is basically a class, but set up to be more self-teaching and peer-teaching based. It is a club that I have developed myself after considering many options, curriculum, and other avenues like LEMI projects and commonwealth schools. This area is not ready for something that requires a high level of commitment, but they are ready to participate in simulations and discussions. I can do that!

For our first meeting I expected about 10 people....we ended up with 32. Great turn out! It went well, even though I goofed up a couple of things and forgot to let people break in between hours. Oops!

On the way home from our club meeting Nayna and Chris were so excited and happy. I realized that they needed this club more than I thought. Chris even told me that I "wasn't as bad as he thought I was going to be." I'll take that as a compliment from a 13 year old boy. LOL! They also said that I didn't even embarrass them. Well....that's good!

If you want to check out our club details you can see it at Springfield TJED.

"Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" by Bach - Performed by Nayna

Nayna has been so happy to finally have a piano...a real one not just an electric keyboard. She as been practicing several songs.

Taking the "No Poo" Challenge

I decided to try this "No Poo" challenge and try the recipes for hair washing that are suggested. I started Friday, August 13th. I broke down Wednesday and washed my hair with shampoo. I had put a couple of drops of essential oil in the vinegar rinse and I think that made my hair really greasy. However, I found it didn't really make my hair less greasy with the shampoo, so I am back to my No Poo solutions. There is a "transition stage" that my hair has been going through. I have noticed that if you want to go "no poo" then you have to stop all hair products...no smoothers, straighteners, or hair spray.

Examples of my hair on "No Poo" Challenge...watch my videos I made for moms4freefood.com. I had been using Recipe #2 below for 4 days. I washed my hair with Recipe #2 on days 1, 2, and 4.

Even if you do not want to stop using your current hair products, I feel having these recipes around for emergency preparedness is important.

Baking Soda and Vinegar Rinse Recipe #2

Eggs Recipe - I do not want to waste eggs on my hair, but I have heard it is a good conditioner.

I thought this post was interesting called "To Poo or Not to Poo...that is the Question."

Personally, I am not a "go green" kind of girl who thinks everything will kill us. However, I am conscious that things I put on or in my body do effect how I feel. Nayna and I have been dealing with Fibromyalgia Syndrome our entire lives. When I went back to coloring my hair I felt fine at first, but now coloring my hair is making me sick again. I thought that changing types of hair color (semi-permanent and natural hair colors) would do the trick. But, here I am a year later and my bones and joints ache like crazy. I can hardly function some days. I'm still researching ways to color my hair like the Egyptians did.

Behaviorism in the Schools

I started my Substitute Teacher training today. Well, all of one hour of it that they provide. The rest was handing us a manual and telling us to study it on our own if we want to be called to sub. I'm fine with that. Basically, the substitute positions are very competitive. They are telling us we should have "business cards" and to "market ourselves" to the schools and teachers so that they will request us often. Hmmpf!

I got to page 5 of my manual and was already stewing about the content.

Students behave or misbehave due to what it happening in the classroom more than the influence of outside factors. If the teacher changes the environment in the classroom, the behavior of the students will change. ~ "Substitute Teacher" manual page 2

So - no students misbehave because they have not been taught to behave? I know it says "more than", but as I read on I found more evidence of behaviorism and less about teaching children what is "right" and what is "wrong." In fact, you cannot categorize any behaviors as "good" or bad".

Do not allow yourself to be led off task by students protests and long, useless discussions. ~ "Substitute Teacher" manual page 5

I guess students must conform...no protesting allowed..."resistance is futile." I'm not saying students should be allowed to do whatever they want. What I am saying is that shouldn't students know why they need to know these things and why they need to participate in class. Discussing these things is useless?

I think I'm going to have a harder time with this than I thought. I hope that I can still take what I know about how people learn and be useful in the classroom without snuffing all forms of discussions. Hopefully I can somehow inspire the students I come in contact with and still perform to a level as to not get fired. LOL!

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Book Review: "The First Four Years"

We finished the original Laura Ingalls Wilder series. This last book is a bit sad. I did not enjoy it nearly as much as the other books. However, I loved how Laura talks about having a positive attitude through all her adversity. She does not sit around in self-pity or cry out about how unfair her life is. I think we can learn a lot from her books about family, hard work, and looking for the good in her life.

We read this as our read-aloud book for homeschool and it has been a pleasure. We also just discovered that we can go see Laura and Almonzo's home in Mansfield, MO about an hour away.

A Drive Through the Countryside

Sam and Chris

I was talking to my good friend Jane from Utah last night and was again surprised at how difficult it is to explain what life is like for us now. I really didn't understand until I started living it myself. Life is slower, yet still busy for basic family things. People are nicer, almost everyone holds the door open for each other. I've even had to convince people in line that they really were there before me and I have not been flipped off or honked at on the road yet, even though I never know where I'm going.

Nayna

One weird thing about living here is that the sky seems HUGE! There are no mountains to judge where I am at in the world. In the Phoenix Metro Valley there are mountains surrounding the valley that let you know where you are at. In Flagstaff we could always tell where we were based on the mountains and hills. Here in the Ozarks, it all looks the same! Every farm road and rolling hill looks exactly the same. Directions are given by stores and man-made landmarks as well as odd things like "stump of that big oak" on the corner of Farm Road 79 and Highway Z. I'm learning to give the right directions so people can find our house.

For all my Arizona friends and family, I thought you might enjoy a little view of "God's Country" as everyone calls it here. This is a small clip of a civil war driving tour we took a couple miles from our home. All our Missouri friends will just think we are being silly video taping the trees. LOL! It is about how Arizonans feel when people take pictures of themselves in front of cactus.



Beautiful isn't it!?! If only it was as cool (temperature) as it looks. It was actually a very humid and muggy day, but we had a blast anyway.

3-D Puzzles

Over a year ago I picked up some 3-D wood puzzles at Michael's craft store. We tried the helicopter but everyone was sick of it after a few hours. Friday I was going through more storage items and finally found some of the homeschool art items I have been looking for, among these items I found the 3-D puzzles. I decided that since everyone is "so bored out of their minds", to bring them inside and just leave them on the table.

Pretty soon Nayna got hooked...

It took a couple of days, but she completed it all by herself.

Book Review: "Phaedo" by Plato

This dialog is longer and is the story of Socrates facing death, and finally taking the poison in prison, surrounded by his friends. The conversation has many interesting subjects, including the existence of the soul and whether it lives on without the body. Many conclusions are correct and many are incorrect. It is truly sad that they did not have scriptures by which to learn the truths that they sought. Rather they leaned unto their own understanding, which had fallacies amongst the truths.

I do believe that Socrates was a great thinker and Plato's records of his teacher and mentor are fascinating. My only warning, like with all of Plato's writings, is to keep your canon close. There are times while I was reading it when I needed to stop and reaffirm the correct stance on spiritual things like the pre-mortal existence of the soul and to cast out teachings of reincarnation. Plato is very convincing and so one must guard against loosing their testimony of certain things, at least that is how it is for me.

I can clearly see where New Age and Humanist worldviews come from and why they are grounded in a few truths amongst their untruths. I'm glad that I read "Understanding the Times" before reading Plato.

Personal Progress Book Holders

For Christmas last year we decided to have a "Home Made Christmas". At first everyone was a bit dismayed and then it turned to confusion over what anyone could possibly make that anyone would want. In the end, it ended up being one of our best Christmas' ever! We got some pretty neat stuff. I also noticed that everyone was more interested in what they gave than what they got.

Personal Progress Book Holder
One of the gifts that Sam made for Nayna was this Personal Progress Book Holder. It folds out, having three pockets for Personal Progress book and journal, For the Strength of Youth pamphlet, and the Young Women Camp manuals. Nayna also has a small Book of Mormon in hers.

I found instructions on how to make them here. I decided to make one to try out the instructions. These instructions call for two pieces of fabric and Sam made the one above with only one piece. Obviously the two pieces takes longer, but I like how it turned out.

My fabric is not as cute as Nayna's. I just used left over scraps from the pioneer clothing we made for past treks. I was thinking it would even be cute to make patchwork covers with any scraps we have around. I was thinking it would be cute to personalize them with buttons, appliqué flowers, their name, etc.

I definitely want to do this as a Young Women activity with my Beehives. They all complained about how they can't find their books. Maybe this will help. ;-)

Modesty and Virtue

I have been thinking a lot about this topic and was considering writing a post when I saw this post at Being a Mother Who Knows. I don't think I can say it any better.

I would like to add that I found this little book that has 10 "Truth or Bare?" fashion tests. We implemented these little tests a few years ago with Sam and Nayna. It has worked really well for quick judgements on clothes. However, after reading the post I mentioned above, I would add that we do need to prayerfully consider not just our clothing, but our behavior.

From Bored to Busy

Nayna and Chris' Art - A Combined Effort

I don't know why I always do this, but every time we move to a new place I always feel like we will be eternally bored. Yet in a matter of weeks or a few months our lives are just as busy and hectic as they always are. This move is no different!

We are now busy as bees...

• Callings - Mike is a Sunday School teacher for 16-17 year olds. I am the 2nd Counselor in Young Women's. Chris is 2nd Counselor in Deacons.
• Weekly - Nayna (changed from Marly, she doesn't like Marly anymore) will be in homeschool choir. Chris is still hoping the football team works out. Plus, we have weekly park days for socialization and our Mutual activities.
• Monthly - TJED Teens Club, book colloquium, scout campouts, Temple trips, and church dances (called Super Saturday's here).
• Work - Mike is still working 60-70 hours a week. I am starting my part-time substitute teaching job.
• Volunteering - I am organizing several events including a Face-to-Face with Greatness seminar in October and trying to recruit other speakers for this area. Chris and Nayna help with that as well.
• Daily - Of course we are still homeschooling. I am only working 1-2 days a week. The kids will have their tasks to complete and will suffer the consequences if they have not completed them.

Considering that the St. Louis Temple is a 3.5 hour drive each way and we are trying to go once a month, which takes up a whole Saturday (and 1 1/2 tanks of gas), then I think we have successfully booked all our weekends. LOL! At least the yard is cared for by the owner. I thought our Flagstaff house had a lot of mowing, but Missouri is a whole other story...it MUST be mowed every week or it is a jungle.

Second "Freebie Fairy" Visit

Wow! More Freebie Fairy gifts...

Chris was so happy to have a new "game stand" and shelf unit for his room. He also was the beneficiary of the closet shoe organizer, which he just needs to use now that we have it. I think he is the worst offender of the "where's my shoes?" family rule.