A Boxful of Memories

Soldier

I’ve spent the past several weeks sorting through boxes of keepsakes. I can’t believe some of the stuff I’ve kept over the years. When we moved three and a half years ago we made fewer and fewer decisions about what to pack as the days drew nearer to moving day.  Finally, at the end we just packed without much sorting—we were out of time.  When you have lived in the same house, raising seven boys for nearly twenty years, you accumulate a lot of stuff!

Then there’s the other issue – my mother died quite a few years ago and my father remarried and moved into his bride’s home.  Much of my mother’s belongings came to me since I was the only daughter and also the oldest. Some of her things were items she’d inherited from her own mother when she died nearly thirty years ago.

So now, I have all this stuff—photos, old glassware, postcards, newspaper clippings…the list goes on and on. Some of the items are quite valuable I would imagine, but since I’m not really interested in selling, I’m not compelled to have any of it appraised right now.  No, at this point I just need to figure out where to put everything. With a house full of active boys I don’t dare display the hundred-year-old ceramic plate but keeping everything in a box in a closet somewhere isn’t the best way to really enjoy these keepsakes either.

What I have finally decided to do with at least some of my treasures is to design shadow boxes. I think I’ll make one in memory of my mother first. My husband can build the boxes and I’ll choose some of her things that hold memories for me. I might include her nurse’s pin and her picture in her uniform.  I’ll probably include some of her jewelry, nothing terribly expensive, just items I remember were her favorites.

For my grandmother’s box, I already know I’ll include a pair of her glasses. Back in the 60’s she was quite stylish and wore those pointed rims with rhinestone decorations.  She also had a sequinned purse. I’ll probably do another box of items my grandfather brought home from his tour in Japan during WWII.

By making all of these boxes I can display at least some of the things that remind me of my family and what each person meant to me. I’m excited to get started on this project. I’ve found a few websites and books (listed below) to help get the creative juices flowing. Now all I have to do is get my husband to build those boxes… a pan of brownies should do the trick!

How to Create a Shadow Box

How to Display Keepsakes in a Shadow Box Without Gluing Them Down

Make a Keepsake Shadow Box

 

Box Frame MagicBox Frame Magic explains how to make the actual boxes to put your momentos in.

Making Memory Boxes has some great ideas for creating decorated boxes to keep the things you don’t choose to put in your shadow boxes.

Memory Keepsakes contains 43 different projects to make that help you preserve your memories.

Some Good Old-Fashioned Summer Fun

If you’re like me, you’re always looking for some fun things for the kids to do that don’t involve “screens” of any kind. By that I mean computer, TV, iPod, video game, you get the idea…

Here are a couple of books that are loaded with some of the fun things we did as kids and some new ideas that I can’t wait to try with my boys.

Summer Fun!Summer Fun! 60 Activities For a Kid-Perfect Summer by Susan Williamson is a great resource full of creative things to do.  Here’s a look at some of what you will find inside:

  •  chapter 1 – stilts, boomerangs, yo-yos, fortune cookies, and bubbles
  •  chapter 2 –  bug hotel, bats, and toads
  •  chapter 3-  strawberry jam, pretzels, and floppy hats
  •  chapter 4 – rain gauge, sign language, Morse code, and puppets
  •  chapter 5 – art projects, solar system supper, camping out, and  nighttime fun
  •  chapter 6 – redecorate your bedroom, drawing a floor plan, fun with string and yarn
  •  chapter 7 – learn a new skill, clouds, and sand painting
  •  chapter 8 – trees, mud, and beach fun

Also scattered throughout the chapters are sidebars entitled “Making a Difference” suggesting activities that involve doing something nice for someone else.  The author also manages to squeeze in segments with summer reading selections that tie in with the activities.

This book is a very practical resource aimed at kids ages 7-12. They will be able to complete most of the activities by themselves but a few will require adult assistance.


The Kids Summer Games Book
Another title I found useful is The Kid’s Summer Games Book by Jane Drake and Ann Love.  This is a book jam-packed with the instructions for all those old games we played as kids like Spud and croquet. There are games for groups or just one or two. There are games that you can make, like Pick-Up sticks and Bingo.  They have water games and games for indoors on rainy days. There are even instructions for setting up a miniature golf course with things commonly found around most households.   The only caution I would have is that the book does contain some card games including poker. If your family has strong feelings about card playing you might want to skip that section of the book.


Early Pleasures and Pasttimes
Finally, if you really want to step back in time and wonder how folks entertained themselves before all the electronic gadgets we have today, you might enjoy looking through a book called Early Pleasures and Pastimes by Bobbie Kalman.  This book has some delightful old-fashioned pen-and-ink illustrations and explores activities like hopscotch, marbles, farmyard games and jump rope.  There are great discussions of picnics and festivals, family celebrations and holidays.  It takes a refreshing look at times gone by when family and friendship were the most important ingredients to having fun.

Enjoy!

 

Homeschooling Hinders Assimilation?

While browsing the internet the other day, I ran across this letter to the editor in the Tennessean that really ruffled my feathers:

“Home schooling in America has doubled in the past decade. What’s wrong with this picture? Students attending public schools, by necessity, associate with others who are different from themselves. This enables children to learn to think for themselves and to become tolerant of those who are different, preparing them for the “real world” once they become adults. Rather than being concerned with their children receiving a broad education, many home-school parents apparently are more concerned that they grow up with their own beliefs and prejudices. Home schooling makes these children’s assimilation into society much more difficult.”

When I read this type of article I am always amazed at the narrow-mindedness of some homeschool critics.  Perhaps he should instead look at why so many parents are deciding to homeschool their children. This man states that “students attending public schools, by necessity, associate with others who are different than themselves.”  I have a difficult time finding evidence to back up this statement as I am sure he would too if he cared to look for any.

From my perspective as a former public school teacher, I would say that the students in a public school setting are actually more alike than different. This is especially obvious at the high school level. Enter any high school in the country and you are likely to find some or all of the following:

  • A group of teens—all in different stages of puberty but all going through the same basic changes—struggling to understand life and surrounded by others who are also struggling and have no answers.
  • A group that generally eats and drinks the same type of food and beverages on most days, whether they are healthy choices or not.
  • A group of kids who speak the same language complete with profanity and the current slang.
  • A group that is learning the same things at the same time in order to meet some man-made standard that the school has been programmed to teach.

The author of the letter states that homeschooled students have difficulty associating with people who are different and they can’t assimilate. First of all, in regards to the short list above, the opportunity to encounter diversity is much greater outside the school walls in the “real” world than within them. And secondly, if assimilation is the goal, I don’t think that the teen sub-culture is the place I particularly want my kids to become assimilated.

Webster’s definition of assimilate is “to make similar,: to alter by assimilation: to absorb into the culture or mores of the population or group.”

Even more revealing is the definition of “assimilation. ” Webster says “the process of receiving new facts or of responding to new situations in conformity with what is already available to the consciousness.”  That sounds like brainwashing techniques to me. It’s that word “conformity” that really bothers me.  The author states that the association and assimilation he believes is lacking in homeschoolers is something that teaches students to think for themselves.  I think he needs to read his dictionary.

Health 101

Health NurseRecently we have taken a new direction as a family. We are on an adventure, learning together how to make better nutritional choices.  Since we are a homeschooling family I am always looking for things to work into our learning time and this seemed like a great topic.

But this is about more than Health Class—it’s about learning to take care of our bodies so that we stay healthy. We will be putting everything we learn into real life practice and we have some very good reasons to motivate us. Most families are aware of the national statistics on childhood obesity and diabetes. If you want to know more there is some excellent information at the CDC and also here.

My husband has Type 2 Diabetes and we have tried to watch our sugar and carbohydrate intake but recently we have gotten more serious. As we grow older we are beginning to deal with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and general aches and pains. I have struggled with weight issues most of my parenting years and giving birth to 7 children did nothing to help me keep my girlish figure. Now I am facing the need to take off a significant amount of weight or be forced to look at medication for high cholesterol as well as blood pressure.  With both of us wanting to be more healthy and to live life with enough energy to keep up with the grandkids we decided we had to do something.

So we have started getting serious about our eating habits and our exercise habits and I am happy to report that we are making progress. The best part is that we have made this a family adventure and our boys are starting to read nutrition labels and ask questions about whether something is good for them or not.  It’s not going to be an overnight success but we are working together to break old habits and form new healthier ones.  One resource that has been a tremendous help to me is SparkPeople.com. If good nutrition and living a healthy lifestyle is something you desire this website will be worth checking out.  There you will find an amazing amount of information and support for making the kind of changes that stick.

Healthy eating,

–Sheryl

School’s Out!

We officially ended our school year on Friday. Then we counted…108 days until we officially start again on September 8th.  We try to take Memorial Day weekend until Labor Day weekend as our Summer break.  You’ll notice I said, “officially.”  That’s because we never stop learning. We are “officially” finished with this year so the kids can say that they are now in the next grade but…we never stop learning.

Actually, it could be argued that, even though Iowa’s homeschool law only requires 148 days, we homeschool 365 days a year. Would there ever be a day when we didn’t learn something? Now I’ll admit that we don’t learn as much on some days as others but we do learn something. And I know that despite the fact that we are not “doing school” for the next 108 days, we will be learning a lot in the area of nutrition. We won’t be using textbooks or taking tests to see what we know but we will be learning about healthy eating and about how our bodies use the foods that we consume but I plan to go into more detail about that in another post.

We’ll also be reading for the summer reading program at the public library.  A couple of my boys are learning to play the guitar and another one is learning computer programming.  We will spend time taking walks around the pond in the park behind our house and when we come home we will get out the bird book and the bug book and look up the different critters we saw on our walk. One of my sons will likely draw pictures of what he’s seen as well.  We might listen to bird calls on the computer and try to identify those little, feathered fellows that hid from us and only gave us clues to their identity through their songs. Then there are those rainy days when we will be inside. We’ll spend those days reading, watching movies, cooking up something in the kitchen or playing a game or two. We might get out the art supplies and see what we can create.

So you see, we are only “officially” done with school for the record. We are never really done….the kids just don’t know it!

Happy learning,

–Sheryl

Parent-Taught Driver’s Education

car11I read an editorial from the Washington Times today on the HSLDA website entitled “Choice Sought in Driver Training.”  The article talked about the challenges that homeschoolers are facing when it comes to teaching their children to drive. We are able to teach every other subject but most states still will not allow parents to teach their children this important skill.

“The bottom line is that no one cares more about the safety of their children than the parent as no one has more to lose than the parent when a child is ill-prepared to receive a driver’s license.”

This is exactly what we have believed for our own family for many years. We have three adult children now and none of them took driver’s training through a school or a drivers’ education company. We decided long ago, after looking at the statistics regarding teen drivers and accidents, that we didn’t think we wanted our kids to be part of those statistics.

So we made a radical decision.  We decided that our boys would not learn to drive when they reached the age set by the state (in our case, the age of 16). In both states where we have lived the law allows you to get a license to drive without taking an actual course. The catch is that you must be 18 years old.  We made the decision that we would be the ones to teach our children to drive. No one else has as much at stake as we do if our child isn’t well prepared to get a drivers license.

Our boys have received their learner’s permit just after their 17th birthday, have driven in every season’s weather conditions, and then taken their driver’s test on or shortly after their 18th birthday.  We feel like they are much more mature by the time they take the wheel alone and unsupervised. And they are safer drivers.

We also do not allow them to ride with inexperienced drivers because we feel there is just too much risk.

We haven’t always been popular with this decision but it’s usually the other party who gets upset, not our children. For the most part, our boys have accepted our convictions in this area without complaint. They know that we have their well being as our highest priority. Yes, there have been mishaps. They are not perfect drivers and have gotten a few tickets for things like forgetting to turn their headlights on. There has also been one serious accident but no one was injured, just the vehicles.

It could be argued that we are holding them back and being over-protective. It could also be argued that it is inconvenient to have teens who have jobs and activities and are still dependent on their parents for transportation. My perspective on this in that I am willing to be a little inconvenienced if it means my children are safe. I also don’t worry about seeming overprotective. We only get one shot at raising our kids. I would rather be a little over-protective than err in the other direction. And from my kids’ perspectives, they haven’t complained about being smothered lately. We have four more boys at home and are planning to continue this method of driver’s training for each of them as well.

Besides the fact that I am trying to keep my boys safe there is also one more consideration. When my sons are all grown up my grandchildren will be riding with them!

Safe driving,

–Sheryl

The Proof is in the Pudding

We’ve all heard the saying.  “The proof is in the pudding” is actually a shortened version of an old English saying dating from around the 17th century. Some sources date it as far back as the 14th century but it first appears in writing much later. The entire quote actually went like this: “The proof of the pudding is in the eating,” which meant that the results of your efforts would only be seen when you put it into practice or to the test.

Report CardToday I have reason to apply that old saying to our homeschool. We have put untold hours into our children’s education for these last 18 years and while we have seen excellent results with each of our boys we had never put our results to the “test” of higher education. My oldest two boys didn’t choose to further their education at a college level and that was fine with us. One is in a high-level information technology position and the other is in the retail business. We want them to pursue what interests them and not just follow the crowd, which seems to think that the only way to succeed is with a college degree.

It wasn’t until our third child finished his homeschooling and expressed an interest in a field that required a degree that we had the opportunity to see if the “pudding” was up to the test. We found out yesterday that in his case it definitely passed the test.  He just finished his second semester of the classes he is required to take to obtain a degree in Criminal Justice.  He took 4 classes and yesterday received his grades…straight A’s.  Combined with last semester he finishes his first year with a 3.95-grade point average.

Okay, now I’m done bragging.  But I am not done encouraging you to stick with it!  There are many areas in life that require a long wait to see if your efforts will pay off. In the case of homeschooling, our son’s college accomplishments have been a source of encouragement to me. I feel like I can breathe a little. I really am accomplishing something with all this time and energy!

Of course, you don’t need to homeschool to have these same feelings. While you are raising your children you often wonder what your kids will be like when you finally get to the end of the road. When you release your grown children to live on their own in the world will they make it?  All parents wonder if they are doing the right things in the day-to-day parenting decisions they make, regardless of which educational method they choose.  My hope today is that you will use my experience to give you the courage to keep going!   Whether they are homeschooled or not, whether they go to college or not, the time and energy you put into your children are worth it.

Be encouraged!

–Sheryl

My Definition of ‘Homeschooling’

Yes, I have homeschooled my children. But that doesn’t mean that homeschooling is right for you and your family.

I’m also a degreed, licensed teacher for grades K-12 and have taught in public schools. I also had a child enrolled in a private school.

When I talk about “homeschooling,” I don’t want to imply that I’m against public or private education. I’m not. It may be the best solution for some families. “Homeschooling” to me can mean any supplemental education or tutoring your child receives that helps him or her succeed in school — or life. It can be at home or in a classroom inside a brick-and-mortar school building.

I say all that because I feel like I have something to offer you and your children to get them on track with their education, no matter what form of education that may be. Whether it’s through this blog or one-on-one, I might be able to help. Maybe your child struggles with a structured classroom environment. Perhaps math isn’t their best subject. Many students just need the right environment and the right tactics to help them learn. I can help motivate your child to be the best they can be. Sometimes all you need — or all your child needs — is a fresh, outside perspective on learning.

Then the light bulb clicks on in their mind…and nothing can stop them.

Happy learning,

–Sheryl