Proud moments in home schooling

A few weeks ago, I was driving around the town contemplating my failures as a home-eduactor. I mean, are my children learning anything? Just as I was in the depths of my "what am I doing and why am I ruining my children's future with my inability to teach anything worthwhile?"-mode, Ammon interrupted my thinking with this: "Mom, I've got a joke for you. Which Greek god laughs a lot? Laphrodite!"

I know it's not funny. But he learned about Greeks and their gods, including Aphrodite, from me. AND he learned it over a year ago. I stopped worrying.

This gets even better. We were camping near the beach a couple weeks ago. (Sidenote: my computer has been ridiculously uncooperative and is not letting me upload pictures with ease. Hang in there. I'll keep trying.) A camp-worker (not officially a ranger) came to our campsite to invite us to attend a little class to learn about sea otters. Ammon really, really, really wanted to go. So, his aunt Tammy and I took him over there. (Another sidenote: did you know that sea otters, once hunted for their pelts, were thought to be extinct? When they built Highway 1 in California, they found 30 lonely sea otters hanging around the Monterey area. They protected the species by law and biologists and their friends have worked very hard to allow sea otter populations to grow. Unfortunately, the species has plateaued somewhere between 300-500 and they have stayed in the Monterey area. They once ranged at least from the Baja peninsula all the way up the Pacific coast.)

We learned that sea urchins are one of the primary sources of food for sea otters. Sea urchins eat kelp. So (for obvious reasons) sea otters hang around kelp forests. That's where the good food is. The teacher asked, "When there were no sea otters in this area, what do you think happend to the kelp?"

Ammon raised his hand and said, "The kelp started disappearing, too." Now, you may think this is no big thing, but I LOVE that he was able to make this connection about the way ecosystems work. Ammon knows that when wolves were hunted and killed until they were entirely extinct from the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, elks (and other herbivores) had no natural enemies. They ate so much grass and so many small trees that aspen trees began to disappear and grass began to disappear, leading to tremendous erosion especially around riverbanks. When wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone in the early 1990s, elks retreated to the more forested areas. Those grasslands grew back and the smaller birds, insects, and mammals who thrive in grasslands and in the trees are coming back in abundance.

My point (yes, I have one) is that Ammon understands the role of a predator in an ecosystem--the predator is necessary for the well-being of the vegetation. He learned that from me. I taught him about Yellowstone and he applied that same concept to Monterey Bay. Yay Ammon!

Welcome home to me.

After driving 2220 miles, we are finally home. I kind of wish we had gone two more miles so it could be an even 2222. But that's just my grandpa coming out in me. My grandpa really loved number patterns. I am too tired to write much about our AMAZINGLY FUN vacation, but I will share a couple of my favorite moments. These moments have nothing to do with the vacation, really, but for some reason, they make me smile.

First, a little background: When we go to California, we have a few friends we look forward to visiting. This time, our trip didn't include hanging out in the hometown. We were camping and going to Disneyland. We had time to be in Lodi for only one day: Father's Day. So, even then, we shouldn't be in Lodi, but visiting Chris' dad in Galt. Anyway, we finally decided to go to sacrament meeting and then skip out on the rest of our meetings (I know, it's terrible) so that we could visit the Kuehnes. The Kuehnes are the parents of Chris' high school girlfriend. I know, it seems weird, but I could write pages about why the Kuehnes are so important to Chris. And they've accepted me as one of the family. So, that was the plan. And amazingly, the Kuehnes were available.

As we started to get ready for church, Nathan (NATHAN!!) said, "I can't wait to go to my new primary class and see new people and see what I can learn." NATHAN!! Nathan's not really a church-lover. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I told him we weren't staying for primary and he was so disappointed, he begged to go. NATHAN DID THIS!! How can a parent argue with that? Well, even if we could argue, we shouldn't. So, we left the kids at church and visited the Kuehnes without them. :-) Nathan had a great time and learned about patience.

My new favorite sign was found on a little shop in Capitola--a little beach town. The store caught my eye because they sell taffy--Taffy Town taffy! The owner of Taffy Town lives here in my neighborhood in Utah. He doesn't sell much taffy in Utah, but he sells a ton along the coast. A lot of people believe you can only get such good taffy in the Bay Area. Those people are crazy. I can get it down the street. Usually for free, because they have a lot of it. Anyway, these crazy taffy-sellers had a sign on the door announcing that their credit card machine was down. It concluded: "Thank you for your patient's." (I know that many of my more loyal readers will appreciate this example of ignorance.)

I was sitting on the beach with my brother-in-law and two sisters-in-law. My brother-in-law's friend was also there. He glanced over and said to us, "This is just like being in Hawaii, isn't it?" The four of us looked at him and then stared out at the ocean. There was complete silence for a moment. Then my brother-in-law said, "I guess so, except that the water is freezing, the beach is filthy, the ocean is muddy..." My sister-in-law said, "Yeah, this is definitely a California beach."

California is beautiful and has its place in the world, but let's not try to compare.

I know I had more favorite moments I wanted to write about, but my brain is very tired and I'm surprised I came up with this much.

Katella Ave.

I have a friend (really more of an aquaintance) who named her daughter Katella. Why? Because it's the name of the street where Disneyland is located.

Well, here we are staying on Katella Ave. I am thinking of my friend and her daughter. Actually, that was just a fleeting thought. Really I am thinking about how excited I am to take our children down the street to Disneyland for the first time!

Last week, we camped at New Brighton Beach with extended family. It's been a wonderful vacation so far. I love being with Chris's family.Two of my favorite lines this week have been from my teenage nephew. First when he said, "Don't worry. I've got your back, Grandma." And then when he said, "Wow. Grandma's got game." I love the relationship he has with the whole family, but especially Grandma. (You've got to admit it's fun hearing that he said those things sincerely to his grandma!)

Anyway, if I haven't been blogging much or commenting on your blogs, now you know why. It's because I'm busy having fun. :-)

Stinky feet

Do your kids stick their feet in each others' faces and say, "Stinky feet!" and think it's a great joke? Because mine do.

As we got home from church today, Bethie took off her shoes and immediately stuck her feet in Nathan's face. "Smell my feet!" she said. Nathan said, "No way!" and took off running to the other room. Bethie started crying. She said, "Mom, will you make Nathan smell my feet?"

So, I did. I mean, come on. We're a family. (I'm not sure why I added this last paragraph. It's all a lie.)

A picture is worth a thousand words, unless...

...you just don't know what to say. I mean, who is that guy??

I was sorting through many, many old photos and came across this photo. Who is this guy? Do you recognize him? Because I sure don't. I'm thinking of putting his picture on a milk carton. He's not missing; he's mysterious. I should probably ask Chris, since this picture was taken at Chris' father's house. He may be a relative. Alas, Chris is not home. Please identify the mystery man. If you get it right, you'll win a prize. I may even send you this photo!

And speaking of pictures being worth a thousand words... (That was just to get your attention back to the title.)

...sometimes the words are worth much, much more than the picture. Like this:

Not exactly a great photo. It's dark, the flash didn't work, Chris' hat is covering his hair, etc. Chris has great hair. I like to look at it. But listen to this great story: Beth was helping me sort through the photos. Each picture was greeted with a pleasant and dramatic, "Awww! Look, it's Beffie when I was a little girl!" Or "Awww! It's Mommy holding baby Nathan!" And then she saw this one. There was an audible gasp, followed by an awed exclamation: "DADDY IS LOST IN SPACE!!"

I would have just thrown this picture out until Beth gave me a new memory to accompany it. :-) Love that girl.

More holiness give me

For some time, I have wanted to add a themed element to my blog, meaning that I would have a consistent thing to write about once a week or so. I finally decided what to do. My inspiration is the hymn "More Holiness Give Me" by Philip Paul Bliss. This hymn was written as a prayer. The author was contemplating Matthew 5:48, which says, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." The lyrics of the hymn are a prayer and supplication for God's grace as the singer strives to become better. Every week or so, I will focus on one phrase from the hymn and write a little of what it means to me.

We start then with the first phrase, "More holiness give me." What does holiness mean? According to the LDS Bible Dictionary, holiness describes things or places that were "set apart for a sacred purpose; the opposite of holy is therefore common or profane."

Praying for God to give me more holiness would mean that I am asking for Him to set me apart for a sacred purpose. If I am thus set apart, I am no more common or profane.

One of the first instances of something being set apart as holy is when God rested on the seventh day, following the Creation. "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made."

At that time, the Sabbath day was made a holy day to God, a day set apart, sanctified, and separated from all of the other days. A day of the week was made holy, and it is our charge to keep it holy. I feel that this is an area where I can improve in my life: By keeping the Sabbath holy, a person can also be made more holy.

I associate being sanctified with being made holy. How is a person sanctified? There is only One who can sanctify or make holy another.

From Hebrews 10: "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all....For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified."

The Old Testament refers often to sanctifying oneself, often to enter into the temple or participate in sacrifices and offerings. 2 Chronicles 29: "And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place."

From modern revelation, Doctrine and Covenants 43: "Purge ye out the iniquity which is among you; sanctify yourselves before me."

So, we conclude that to be holy and sanctified, we must be separate from the common and profane. A person can set themselves apart from the things of this world. We must purge out iniquity and filthiness from our own hearts, through repentance, and accept and embrace the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, who makes possible our personal holiness.

The pleading of "more holiness give me" can seem abstract and unattainable, but certainly a day-to-day increase in holiness is possible. The Book of Mormon prophet, Nephi, counseled, "But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul."

I believe that any action I do during the day can serve to increase my own holiness when done with an eye single to the glory of God and a pure heart. Mundane activities like folding the laundry (I'm eyeing it on the bed over there) can be a service to God when instead of making it a chore, I make it a service for my family. Our small actions can be holy, and we can have more holiness in our lives.

My goals for this week: pray for holiness, separate myself a little more from the profane things of this world, consentrate on keeping the Sabbath day holy, and pray that the Lord will consecrate my activities for His glory.

Dear diary,

Sarah has struggled to learn to read and write. It's been a long time coming, but it's coming! And I am so excited that she is trying to sound out words and write down how she is feeling. Her spelling is phonetic and creative. I'm just so happy that she is trying!

Today I had a great day. Well, I liked today. I love today. But Ammon did get hit by the baseball and I am really sad about that. Okay, okay. I should really calm down. That (is) all I wanted to say.

The good, the bad, and the ugly

After baseball last Wednesday, Ammon wrote this in his journal:

In case you can't read that, it says: "I had a great day today. I was really good in school, and good in baseball. I hit the ball twice. Today was perfect. It was super completely and totally the best day ever. I mean it."

And then there was today. Baseball was a little different. Ammon did not hit the ball; the ball hit Ammon. The other team had a pretty great pitcher (for a kid), and he threw that ball hard. Unfortunately, this pitch was a little inside. And we ended up getting this:

Awww, isn't he cute? Ammon's good-lookin' even in skeletal form. Don't worry, there's no fracture. But there is a lot of swelling. I tried to take a photo of the swelling, but it doesn't show the intense pain involved. Just trust me: It hurt!

An eye for an eye

For some reason, maybe just because I really like the macro function on my camera, I thought this sounded like a fun game:

Guess whose eye you see! (Hint: they're all my children.)

Good for the soul

I try very hard to avoid discrimination, prejudice, and bias in all its forms. I try to like all seasons equally. But it's time I come clean.

Confession: June is my favorite time of year. I love the long daylight hours; the bright, warm evenings; the cool, but still warm mornings; the sunshine in the day; the occasional rain; and the green all around. In my opinion, June displays Utah in all her glory.

That's really all I have to say. Still, it seems like a photo-worthy blentry, don't you think? So, I stepped out on the front porch and took this little snapshot (not bad for a front-porch view...sans the ugly vinyl fence):

And then there's this backyard view from the other evening:

Ahh....June!