Back in the saddle? sort of

Having been very distracted lately with other happenings in my life I have noticed that our hs is not at it's best and things have sort of slid. Being aware that is what is happening has led me to renew my commitment to my boys hs. I am re-planing their Indian study, no they have not finished it and yes it has been about a month or month and a half. I went to a great teacher store in the Springs and got a unit study on Indians. I am reading it now and preparing myself for what we will do out of it. I also am thinking about doing a thanksgiving unit. It's right around the corner and it ties in with the Indians.

Some things I am looking at for this unit are a strawberry drink, beef jerky, blue marbles(something to eat), zuni poetry, possibly coiled pottery, green Chile, Navajo weaving, sand painting,fry bread, pictograph, sunflower cakes, making paper and round Mayan calendar. Looking at the list now I think I may have to give some of these up no matter how fun they sound. Sometimes I get to caught up in how fun something sounds and keep adding to a unit making it incredibly long. Then the kids don't have fun, they don't learn and we are all miserable. I am slowly figuring this out. There will also be reading involved and research on the kids parts
to find answers to

1. Where they live
2. What was their culture like
3. Foods they ate(list at least 3)
4. Belief system

I am also thinking about a time line. While picking up the book at the teacher store they had one for Indians. It's pretty detailed but I'm sure I can figure out a smaller version to put in their notebooks. Conner still likes the lapbook idea but Colin really wants to move forward and do a notebook. I haven't done this before but that is okay, I will learn along the way.

Saturday is generally my planning day but I seem to have forgotten that in the past couple of months so lots to catch up on and getting back in the swing of things. There is also house cleaning to do, yeah(Not). I am finding more and more how nice it is after working hard to clean my house I feel so satisfied at the knowledge of it being clean. I am also not stressed by the endless things that need to be done. This has fallen off my track as well. Not that I am a neat freak or anything but I wouldn't mind having things orderly, kwim. I am going to attempt to organize my home. I have things here and there that need it and I have things here and there that are already done but need to be tweaked a bit or redone again as they have fallen out of the order.

In other news we went with our church to rake up the yards of the elderly. I really enjoyed helping out and I think my boys did too. Austin didn't make it as he went with the youth group up to Denver to a group gathering up there. So it was just Colin, Conner and I and they seemed to enjoy doing this. A couple of the folks gave us yummy goodies to thank us for the hard work we did. The gratefulness I saw in their eyes made me an emotional ball. What a simple thing to do and yet it made a difference in the lives of others. Something I and perhaps you would take for granted , raking up the leaves in your yard, is something some people can't do and they truly appreciate it.

I know I have a tendency to read into these things and make them relevant to me and how I view the world . What can I learn from this ? How can I teach or show my young impressionable boys this? I love to reflect, its sort of an obsession but I feel that I am trying to improve myself as a person and pass that on to my children. I like to think that I am a good person but I am human and I still make mistakes but I would like to say that I try to learn from them. I hope that my boys see this and that they too will strive to continually make themselves better people. So often we can get stagnant and then we do the inevitable and make a mistake. It is human nature, I just want my boys to know that yeah you will make mistakes but try to learn from them. So now that I have gone of another tangent back to our raking story.

I spent alot of time thinking about the people we helped and their gratitude. I thought of all the things that I do take for granted. I thought of all the rights my children seem to think they have. For example they get to spend an hour on the computer every day. They do ask to go on the computer but more than once have they asked "can I have my computer time now?". Do you see the implication in such a simple statement? My computer time? umm it's a privilege not a right. These are the things that were juggling through my head yesterday. Alot of people are scaling down on Christmas this yr, we are one of them. Most people do this out of necessity but some(those fortunate souls) are doing it as a choice as it seems to have been blown out of proportion. It seems as if you don't spend at least a hundred bucks on each child you are somehow a Scrooge? really? Seriously? (eye roll). When I see people so appreciative of something so small and so taken for granted it really makes me want to reevaluate my ethics and stand on many things such as Christmas or other holidays or birthdays. They all have gotten so out of proportion. It doesn't even seem to be about the holiday or what its original purpose was but more about the gifts and how much you spent. I am guilty as charged on this account as many of you are. I envy those who can make it so simple and beautiful. Ok maybe they really got to me or maybe I am already an emotional ball because of other happenings in my life. But to be so grateful for people just raking your yard? Wow. I am beyond impressed.

Ok now if you will just drop a note letting me know just how nutty you think I am to be this wrought over raking up yards I would much appreciate it. *sly grin*
Have a great day.

Vanessa