Christmas Miracles

December 13, 2013

Miracles happen.  I believe they do.  Sarah Ban Breathnach, one of the sages of our time, suggests in her book Simple Abundance, that you ask for a miracle each day.  I do.  How we judge those miracles, if we even recognize them, makes all the difference in the world.  I believe it was divine intervention, or a miracle, when I ran into a an old college pal who is part of an amazing Boy Scout troop here in our area.  That troop turned out to be the right mix of boys and leaders who were a perfect fit for the Sun and my husband as he is one of the leaders now as well.

(This is the part when it becomes all about me.)  When I found out that the leaders paid for a large portion of the trip fees and supported camp fees for families who could not otherwise afford it, my fundraising instincts kicked in and I searched for the perfect means of bringing in much-needed dollars to the troop.  We (meaning me) decided upon the  Sherwood Farms Wreath  Fundraiser.  When deciding on a fundraiser, I have some personal criteria it must meet.  It must be:  consumable, environmentally friendly, food-free and a value for the patron.  This met it all.  We set the goal for the troop – $2,000 (or, enough money to purchase 10 new REI two-person tents.)  Despite my do-it-myself nature, I stepped out of the picture at this point and allowed the troop take over.  Guess what?  They met their goal and purchased the tents with the profit from the first fundraiser they have undertaken in over 20 years.  (Did I mention this troop is 75 years old?)

You are wondering where the miracle come in, right?   Of course, I think there are many miracles in this story.  The first is connecting my family to this group.  The second is the community support of the wreaths to purchase the tents needed for this troop (a very active group of boys and men!)  Now, here is the third.

During the wreath sales the troop was asked to work with a profoundly disabled youth, to bring him into the troop and treat him like any other boy.  They did.  I won’t go into details about this child, but I will say that being physically present is his only participation at this point.  No one batted an eye at the presence of this child.  He was welcomed as every child is by each of the boys and leaders.   And, finally, due to the presence of the troop and its wreath sales (which by the way, attracted several new Boy Scouts to the troop) another group took notice of this troop and awarded them a large donation which will serve as the seed money to pay the way for trips and camps for the boys whose families cannot afford to pay.

There is good in the world.  Miracles happen each and every day.  The media would have us believe in hatred, war and violence – and yes, those things exist.   But what also exists is generosity and love and…..miracles.  How have you made a difference in the lives of others this year and are you able to make a difference, even in some small way, each and every day?

https://www.facebook.com/PositivityToolbox

The Start of Something Good - Getting Organized

July 27, 2014

I’m fairly organized in a weird, loose kind of way by nature. My desk is not always the cleanest at any given moment, but my closets and shelves are organized. My car is usually neat and clean. I have a filing system…you get the idea. So, it has always been natural for me to use a planner. Actually, my friend Brian turned me only planners in college. He used a Franklin-Covey and it truly carried the contents of his life. (This turned out to not be a great idea as he was naturally forgetful and lost his planner on more than one occasion. Regardless….) I loved the idea of this and quickly found a planner that suited my own tastes. I’ve never like the big bulk of a leather monster that holds a forest full of paper. I have used smaller, preferably spiral bound, systems that are easy to use, easy to carry, and that reflect my own unique style.

I have used many different things and my favorite has been Erin Condren’s Life Planner. This year, after much obsessing, I decided to switch to her Teacher Planner to the tune of $72.50 with shipping. Obsess. Obsess. Obsess some more. Surely, I can find a system that suits my needs that I can print from home. Ideally, I would create my own (more on that later) but for now, I am going with a ready-made system. Okay, three ready-made systems. There are three that I found that I really like but not one that I truly love. They all have their merits and each have things that I dislike, making non of them perfect for moi. Obsess. Obsess. Obsess some more.

After church today I cleared my head, sat down, and printed the pages I liked and that I can use from each system. The systems I like are from Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool, DIY Home Sweet Home and World Avery.




Now you have it.  My current systems for organization.  Perhaps, one of them will work for you.

“Don’t agonize, organize.”  – Florence Kennedy

2nd Grade Curriculum

Fidgeting and The Washington Post

July 10, 2014

So all of my friends in alternative education are floating this article around. I see these regularly, articles that allow folks to feel good about their choices in life. We all do it, so no judgment there.   The article was written to highlight the reasons that ADHD/ADD diagnoses are on the rise and only addresses only one of the possible reasons.  The Washington Post was basing their blog posting on the blog post from Timber Nook, a developmental outdoor camp located in New Hampshire.  Timber Nook is a great resource and has a wonderful blog that is a great reminder for folks to do what is natural for each and every one of us – going outdoors - and they summed up the issue in one succinct sentence.

So, what does Timber Nook say?  “The problem: children are constantly in an upright position these days. It is rare to find children rolling down hills, climbing trees, and spinning in circles just for fun. Merry-go-rounds and teeter-totters are a thing of the past. Recess times have shortened due to increasing educational demands, and children rarely play outdoors due to parental fears, liability issues, and the hectic schedules of modern-day society. Lets face it: Children are not nearly moving enough, and it is really starting to become a problem.” True dat.

But, what are the other contributors and how do we as parents come into this equation?  Have you recently handed your toddler or preschooler your iphone or an ipad?  If so, you might want to read this article the dangers of putting technology into those small precious hands.    Or this article, listing 10 reasons to keep handheld devices out the hands of the 0-12 year old crowd.  Check out this article about technology decreasing our ability to focus.  I know, you can argue that your child has great focus.  She can sit for three hours while playing first person shooter games (don’t even get me started).

But, that’s not the same is it?  It’s not the same as sitting down with a new book and being so enthralled that you read it from start to finish (this is a regular occurrence in my home).  It’s not the same as handing them a model set and watching them build for two hours before coming up for air (yep, my son does this).  It’s not the same as sending them out into the backyard with nothing but a blanket, a bow and arrow and their imagination and telling them they cannot come in until dinner time (yes, we do this at our house).

I don’t mean to mislead you.  There is no perfection here.  My husband and I do things wrong – on a daily basis.  And, we have a television, a subscription to the Netflix DVD service and a handful of favorite movies that we watch again and again.  We have a Wii, but only have two types of games – Lego games and games that make you move like Wii Sports Resort.  There is no TV in our car and our daughter (age 8), instead of staring at a DS, listens to books on tape when we are in the car.  James Herriot’s Treasury for Children is among her favorites.  Our son is now 12 and we stepped a little more into the world of technology with him this year.  He is now playing Minecraft and Age of Empires on the computer and now has his own iPod which he most often uses to listen to music – preferably soundtracks from favorite movies – and occasionally plays games.

There is a part of me that truly regrets having introduced the television or any gaming components to our kids.  But, I can tell you, that they are healthy and balanced and find as much joy in a five-mile hike at a local park as they do sitting on the couch staring numbly at a screen.    I’ll leave you today with a couple of things.  The first is a blog post from Mollie Hemmingway over at Mommyish.  Mollie reminds us that sticking a screen in front of our kids takes away from teaching them the basics in life.  “But the fact is that we think our job as parents is to teach our children how to dine appropriately. That means that we teach them to converse with us, ask and answer questions, eat appropriately (as in, no, you should not stick the eggplant in your ear, thank you very much) and for the love of all that’s holy, learn how to drink with a straw.”

The second thing I’ll leave you with is an image of my 12 year old son training for the Appalachian Trail.



“And I leave the children the long, long days to be merry in in a thousand ways, and the Night, and the trail of the Milky Way to wonder at….”  ~Williston Fish, “A Last Will,” 1898

Look Who Cannot Wait

Boredom is the mother of invention, or so they say.  The moon was a little bored this afternoon, so she pulled out her microscope, gathered leaves and began a study of botany.  I gave her a new journal that I was saving for August 1st.  She gathered other supplies such as beeswax crayons and happily spent the next hour recording her “findings.”  Love it!  Hopefully we can carry this enthusiasm through the year.

 “You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.” -Clay P. Bedford

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7th Grade Curriculum

July 15, 2014


I guess it was inevitable. The questions. Why are you homeschooling? What curriculum are you using. My cousin uses (fill in the blank), are you using that? Oh, you are piece-milling it. Not using a complete curriculum? I could go on. After months of researching and planning, making spreadsheets and placing orders, I give you our 7th grade homeschool curriculum (with 2nd grade coming soon.) Please note than unless otherwise noted with the name of a supplier, we will be using the library as a source for books.  (Click on the image to see the full-size version)

Source Links:

Copywork/Handwriting
Calligraphy of the Middle Ages
Copybook Cursive

Literature:
6th and 7th Grade Literature Guides
Science:

National Geographic
Elementals Science

Math:
Teaching Textbooks

Pray for Peace or Create Peace?

 July 30, 2014

A few days ago I saw a quote from the Dalai Lama.  It said, “ Peace does not come through prayer, we human beings must create peace.”  Typically, when I see quotes from the Dalai Lama, I am immediately moved by the wisdom shared.  He is, after all, the Dalai Lama.  But, does that make him right all of the time?  On Sunday I sat in church and listened to the priest and a beautiful sermon on the parables and as so often has happened the past few weeks thought about, prayed about, the situation in Gaza.  There were other things on my mind as well, refugee children, Ebola, increased unsafety in my neighborhood.  The Gaza situation, indeed all of the unrest in the Middle East continued to be forefront in my mind.  The Dalai Lama quote came repeatedly into my mind.  Do my prayers help?  Does praying for peace stop Hamas from sending missiles from civilian areas into Israel?  Does praying for peace end the Israeli assault on Palestinians and protect innocents who have been used by militants as a shield these many years?  Do my prayers stop the hatred that is in the hearts of those so intent on destroying one another?  I do not know the answers to these things.

What I do know, for myself, is that peace is first prayed.  It is a thought, a word, a spark of intention that must grow within me to be carried out to the world.  I do not always have peace.  It angers me that Hamas leaders would use their own people to hide their cowardly attacks.  I am outraged that Israel has continued its aggression toward civilians.  I am worried that unrest in that part of the world will continue to spur attacks such as the one on the Iranian embassy in Lebanon in 2013.  And, I have fear that these atrocities will continue to spill over into the rest of the world, as they have done in the past, and affect my peace here on my own piece of land that I love so much.

I cannot create peace for those affected in the Middle East.  But, I can pray.  I can pray for my own peace – inner peace.  I can continue to hold a light for those in peril and those causing the dangers.  I can hope that the peace I pray for today allows me to create in and around my home which will hopefully set an example for the two young charges growing up in this home, in this world.  Are you praying for peace?  And, are you allowing those prayer to help you create a greater peace to share with the rest of the world?

Southern Spirit

November 13, 2013

Last Christmas my sister-in-law asked me what I would like to see with my name on it under the tree.  I had recently stumbled upon the magazine Garden and Gun and asked for a subscription.  My mother-in-law also purchased me a magazine subscription – to Mary Jane’s Farm.  As the year wore on, my time became more limited and I found myself devouring MJF but moving to Garden and Gun a little more slowly.

This week, as I was cleaning out my paper cupboard as part of my holiday prep, I found the April/May edition still in its  wrapper and sat down with a glass of sweet tea and read it cover to cover.  While I delighted in the fact that most that month’s focus was on Nashville, I particularly enjoyed the story about a man and his dog.  Here is a link to the story if you are Southerner looking around for a reminder of life in the South.  You might even enjoy it even if you “ain’t from around here.”  Good Dog:  King of Oxford by Jim Dees.

“That sinuous southern life, that oblique and slow and complicated old beauty, that warm thick air and blood warm sea, that place of mists and languor and fragrant richness…”  Anne Rivers Siddons, Colony