Last Few Weeks of School 2016

The month of May was overflowing with fun school activities.

STEM
I finished up the STEM semester with a field trip to a new trampoline jumping zone to reinforce free fall and rebounding principles from the previous lesson.  That unit held one of my favorite life applications, but these kids were too young to appreciate the life lessons given that the only "free fall" they've ever experienced this far in life is not getting the sugar cereal they wanted for breakfast. Ugh!  My lessons are obviously geared toward older students.  But while there we did at least get to practice free fall and rebounding.  One important demonstration I wanted them to try came from the experiment we did in class in which you place two or three balls on top of each other in this order from bottom to top, basketball, bouncy ball (optional), tennis ball.  If you drop the tennis ball by itself, it will only bounce back less than half as high as the height from which it was dropped due to energy losses from gravity, air resistance, heat, etc.  But if you put a bouncy ball or both a bouncy ball and a basketball ball underneath it, the combined potential energy is much greater. Then if all three land at the same time together (a smidge of glue helps keep them together), then the tennis ball will bounce up 40-80 times higher than the original drop height as the potential energy from the other two balls is transferred to the ball on top.  Similarly, if we go through life on our own, without relying on anyone or on God, our free falls (hardships) will never bounce us back to where we started.  But if we cling to Jesus (the basketball) who goes with us, catching us when we fall, His power will loft us up higher than we ever were before. That's the process of sanctification.  A similar effect can be experienced on trampolines if one person sets the trampoline by lifting off right before another person lands.  The preset will cause the second jumper to jump higher than he would go jumping alone. I bounced all over the place presetting the trampoline for my students.  If only getting students to soar high in life could be that easy!

As I was driving a van full of boys (and one quiet girl) to the field trip, I discovered that if you want to know which girl each 3rd grade boy likes at school, what each kid (or his family) thinks about current events & politics and how much 9-year-olds can comprehend about tax reform, the economy, gun control, and foreign policy, all you have to do is volunteer to drive for a field trip. It was like I was never there. I expected them to talk about Poke'mon or Legos, but wow, they are articulate and insightful about the world.

I also discovered while there that teachers develop super human hovering powers by the last month of school. It is a handy superpower to have because supervising energetic kids on a field trip the week before summer break leaves no time for a teacher's feet to touch the ground. ‪#‎STEM‬

Last Week of Middle School
The middle school year ended a day before grammar school finished for the year, so I'll start with our daughter.  I could not be more proud of her.  She took on a lot of extra responsibilities this year at home.  She cooked breakfast and packed her lunch every single day of school.  During over half of the year, she was involved in both school sports and the school's competitive middle school drama team, so she arrived at school before 7am several days a week and stayed after school for several hours after school every day of the week for sports practice, games, or to wait on me to finish teaching/tutoring/working.  She had more chores than most (or all) of her peers, spent the year reaching out to new students or less popular students to make sure every student had a friend, completed the final year of our mother/daughter coming of age Bible study, served in special needs ministry at church, sought the Lord through personal quiet times and Bible study, learned how to win and lose with integrity, faced giants on the basketball court (girls over 16" taller than she is at AAU basketball tournaments) without fear while busting limbs and joints in the process, loved her family and her friends well, and received top grades at school.  She was one of only a few students who made straight A's all year long, and she received the second highest score in the entire school on the national Latin exam, Level 2.  She only missed two questions, with the one student who scored higher missing one question.  Her Latin teacher this year does not believe in standardized testing and did not prep the students for the exam at all. They mainly just read books in Latin and learned Latin history. So, I we all expected her to bomb the exam.  That score was a huge surprise.


I can remember lamenting on this blog over how challenging she is to parent because she is strong-willed, high-energy, and independent like her mom but extraordinarily creative and right-brained unlike me.  But now, I am reaping so many benefits of those characteristics that once seemed difficult.  Now they are such a blessing.  This summer she has started cooking dinner, which is a good thing given how slack I had become with meals.  I think what I love best about this transition phase she is in is our talks.  She can now understand why I make the decisions I do for her and empathizes with the complexity and sheer exhaustion of parenting in this deceptive, digital, immoral, and entitlement minded culture.  She has spiritual wisdom and insight that challenges me, and she is becoming a very good friend. What a gift she is, and we love her with all our heart!

She hasn't done any gymnastics in over a year, but when I let her skip school (her retiring teacher skipped too and the subs did not care) to attend her brother's pool party, I could still see hints of gymnast lingering in her as she flipped off the diving board.

This afternoon, my girl played hooky.
Soon she'll no longer be a rookie.

Sixth grade ends in two more days.
Then on to the next adolescent phase.

Her teacher also decided to skip,
So into the pool our daughter did flip.

She flew like a bird with such finesse.
Soon I'll get to sleep in and get some rest.

I loved the lake and golf course view from this pool where both of our kids' end-of-year parties were held. I'm thankful that the homeowner's share their facilities with us.

At her 6th grade class pool party (same beautiful venue overlooking the lake in a gorgeous golf course community), she reminded me of myself at her age, preferring to hang out with the guys so as to avoid all the girl drama and playing games against the guys to increase her competitiveness and athleticism.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
No sunbathing at the pool for her or me.
We're not prissy or flashy, but we like to move.
We compete against guys, so our game will improve.

Grandparents' Day
Our son's 3rd grade class enjoyed lots of fun activities during the last quarter.  My parents came up for Grandparents' Day and took him out to eat lunch. He even let his sister join them for lunch.  I attended his recorder concert without them since it took place before my parents could get there through rush hour traffic, but the kids got to enjoy Nana and Pops over lunch all by themselves, for I was not invited. 

Bird Watching
The 3rd graders went on a field trip to a bird sanctuary to do some bird watching, but they never saw any birds.  Crazy! 

At least our boy gets to watch plenty of birds at home on the smallest parcel of land we've ever owned.  Orwell is a great bird watching guide who is always staring them down from the porch window.  The most annoying loud bird around here built a nest in the gigantic holly we just planted next to my fitness room window, so I get to watch the birds, too.

Orwell, Expert Bird Watcher

Eager, Early Entrepreneurs
Well, I found out why my offer to pay the kids extra cash for each extra chore they complete outside of their weekly chores isn't motivating my boy to do any extra work at home. Apparently, our 3rd grader is earning far more money by transcribing, editing, and helping sell comic books his classmates have been designing and writing. One kid, the son of an extremely successful dental/orthodontic practice owner in our area with offices spanning several counties, started the first comic book business, and then another student founded his own comic book company, adding some competition to the market.

My son even resigned with his former employer to take a higher paying job offered by the competitor until the competitor realized his wages were too high. Then my son had to accept mandatory pay cuts across the company which were necessary to keep the business afloat and barely profitable. (My son now has a better understanding of the minimum wage debate). The kids ran this business enterprise  all year at school during their free time, and I did not learn about it until May. I'm not sure when the teachers realized what the kids were doing, but now these comic books are available in the class library. Kudos to these boys' parents for raising entrepreneurs who are giving their classmates hands-on business management learning opportunities. They are discovering so many key strategies and factors to consider when starting and operating a successful business. They are also learning about economics and capitalism without opening a textbook. To my knowledge, this enterprise has been entirely student initiated, organized, and operated. As strict and structured as our school is, I'm surprised they even allowed it, but I love it and see it as the best kind of learning.  That's why we agreed to let our kids blow all their allowance savings on a candy store business they set up in the neighborhood.  They submitted business plans and went through each of the process steps, but they failed to consider losses on products that would not sell and ended up eating their excess inventory at a loss. They learned a number of lessons through that business, although I feared the neighbors might hate me for tempting their kids to blow money on candy that rots their teeth, but my kids knew healthy snacks that could be found at home would not sell. (Supply & Demand) 


Field Day
We returned from our trip to Oklahoma really late on Monday the last week of school.  By the time we got home and I had unpacked, it was 5am, so I too tired to help with field day at 8am. Given how little sleep our son had gotten that night (more like morning) after all that travel and how tired he must be after a whirlwind weekend in OK and given how tough the competition was last year, I wasn't expecting our son to bring home ANY ribbons for field day. He surprised me by bringing home four!

• 1st place frisbee throw
• 1st place team overall
• 2nd place sack race
• 2nd place broad jump

 

I recovered enough by lunch time to take the kids to 3rd grade pool party after field day, however. I was too busy gabbing with other moms at the 3rd grade end-of-school-year pool party to get any pictures of him swimming in the pool. All I got were these pics of him playing ping pong and splashing in the kiddie pool during the lifeguard break.  Sorry, honey, but at least I captured pics of you dumping water on that cute little girl's head. ;-)

 

 

Our boy had all A's, mostly 99's and 100s the first two quarters, but after missing so much school during our trip to Israel, he lost his motivation and got 3 B's (a 94 is a B in the grammar schools), disqualifying him from any of the honor rolls.  He just doesn't care about grades like his sister does, although he will work for prizes.  At the IMACS math enrichment course, he is in a classroom of very gifted kids, and he ranks near the top of the class. They know how to motivate him with prizes, hands on learning, fun games, and no boring busy work. Despite our kids' differences in temperament and motivation toward academics, they have consistently scored the exact same overall battery percentile on the Stanford Achievement Test (the only standardized test our kids take each year, whether home-schooled or private schooled) year after year, and their scores on individual subjects are almost identical except their math/reading scores are reversed with our boy always scoring 100% on every math section and our daughter acing the literary portions. I don't care much for testing of any kind, or don't have much faith in them, but the similarities between their scores still amuse me.   When it comes to grades, we encourage our kids to give their very best for the glory of God (emphasis here for our boy), but not for the glory of self (emphasis here for our competitive girl).   Grades may or may not reflect that, but we see their effort and God knows their hearts/motives.

Socially, I think it was the best year yet for our boy.  He is overcoming his shyness, which was the primary goal motivating my husband to enroll him in school instead of being homeschooled.  At first he did not like to get up on stage at all and was reluctant to speak in front of groups of people.  This year, he was so thrilled to get the longest speaking part in the parent assembly (and all his lines were in Latin) that he insisted we all come watch him.  That's a big change.  The kids who have been there since kindergarten are now treating him like part of the gang, and he has a very close friend who lives nearby he sees all the time. Thankfully, these kids still get lots of recess, so he's getting tougher on the basketball court and plays hard with all his new friends....at least when the girls aren't chasing him too much.

Oklahoma Wedding & Centennial Art Exhibit

The week before school ended when life was crazy busy with recitals, Mother's Day, birthdays, Grandparents' Day, AAU basketball, end-of school-year field trips and parties, awards ceremonies, a graduation ceremony (I tutored four seniors this year, so I had to watch them graduate and was moved as always by the caliber of speeches delivered with a maturity in faith I never had until after college or ever), new projects at work, and so forth, we flew to Oklahoma for my husband's brother's wedding.

(PSA for whomever it may concern: May and December are the busiest months for any parent of school-aged children, so please try to avoid big events during those months.)

 My husband is the oldest of his brothers, but this brother is like his Irish twin, just 12 months apart. At age 42, he was a confirmed bachelor, but we always hoped he would settle down.  The wedding was gorgeous, and I think this trip was one of the best ever for me.  After writing the devotion on inner beauty and putting some thought and prayer into why I feel so insecure when I go out there. The the fact that the other brothers' wives are drop dead gorgeous - models who take such great care of themselves when I don't know how to put on makeup or style my hair and mostly just wear yoga pants and t-shirts - may have something to do with it, but if outward appearances meant so much to me, I would be spending the big bucks to to hire a stylist, dress more fashionably, don fake eyelashes, get botox injections, have my nails done more than once every 25 years and so forth.  If it doesn't matter to me when I'm anywhere else but Oklahoma, why does it bother me there?  Then the insecurity issues just seemed like a terribly dumb waste of energy and joy thief, so I kept myself busy helping out where I could and trying to connect with people at the wedding who looked lost or felt out of place and I never had time to feel insecure about anything.  The other brother's wives looked great, and their family photos were perfect, but life is too short to waste fretting over outfits, make-up and hair, and besides, I'm between 4 and 15 years older than all of them, so what do you expect?  It really was a great time.  Photos from our trip follow.

We woke at 5am, took Uber to the airport, and arrived at our first stopover in time for our favorite bagels for brunch.

The groom wanted gourmet burgers, friends, and apple cobbler for the rehearsal dinner. It was the best burger ever!

The couple's youngest daughter was the runaway flower girl.

The groom's oldest daughter was a bridesmaid.

Gorgeous outdoor wedding on an exclusive golf course

Her Family

Happy Couple & Daughter with Mother and Father of the Groom

 

I was supposed to man the registry, but the book was inside, so I just nagged people throughout the reception to sign it.

The wedding was held on Armed Forces Day, and the groom is a veteran of the Marine Corps, so the colors for the wedding were red, black, gold, and white.  I was told the colors were champagne only, so I bought a champagne dress which is a very unflattering color on me.  My favorite dress in my closet is black and red, so I'm bummed I missed the memo on that one, but at least I had an excuse to buy a new dress, stressful as it was.  My mother-in-law made both cakes and did an AMAZING job as always!

We got a good laugh when our daughter jumped through and over all the single ladies of marrying age to catch the bridal bouquet.  She went into basketball player mode, kept her eye on the "ball" (of flowers), and dove for the interception.  She's in no hurry to get married, but she was proud of herself for using her new court skills so effectively.

Our boy snoozed on the way to/from the wedding, and both kids napped after our museum tour on Monday.

After church the next morning, I was tasked with keeping the baby awake in the SUV until after lunch. She was started to nod off, and all I had with me was a CVS receipt, so I had to get creative. I made hair bows, airplanes, Miss Baby USA sashes, bonnets, earphone, arms casts, necklaces, belts, scarves, and bracelets, and she was wide awake by the time we got back to the house.

Then my husband and I took turns feeding her, but she does not like dark haired men at all. She cracked us up with the way she treated her three dark haired uncles.  She would not even look at them.  When I would leave her in a room with my husband for even a moment, she would look away from him and storm off in my direction. When I fed her pieces of berry her eyes lit up with joy, but when my husband gave her anything, she refused.  When she saw me give my husband a piece from my plate which he then gave to her, she took it reluctantly, but she still would not look at him.  He even tried cheating by giving her something he thought she would like better than fruit, Cheetos, but she refused him again.  She is so funny, and I love her bunches.

She loves me!

She loves him NOT!

I don't want anything from you, not even Cheetos!

On Sunday night, the family came over to celebrate three of the four boy's birthdays. My MIL usually prepares a special birthday meal and dessert for each of her sons and grandchildren (she now has 10) with a family get-together at her house.  We usually miss these celebrations as the only son to live out of state.  They all live within 15 minutes of each other.  We are a 22 hour drive (or a $400-$600 plane ticket) away. While waiting for the rest of the family to arrive, our daughter went four-wheeling with Grandpa according to tradition.  He's an D.O., but never offers a helmet to his passengers even though pediatricians always ask me if the kids wear helmets when biking.  Anything goes when you live outside of town on many acres of land, I guess.

After dinner, my husband and I visited the raccoons and owls Grandma was rehabilitating at the time.  One of the owls was ready to be released and flew right out over our heads when we stepped into their habitat.  My husband helped build the raccoon habitat. It was a lot of work, and the materials are not cheap. Most people probably think licensed wildlife rescue and rehab specialists get paid to do what they do, but they do not get paid at all and most spend quite a lot of money out of their own pockets to do this work. 

 

Grandma also rescued a kestrel while we were there while playing hostess to this migrant geese who come there every year.

Monday was our museum day.  We drove over an hour to Five Tribes Museum to view the 2nd phase of the museum exhibit featuring my husband's grandfather's artwork as well as pieces submitted by family members to commemorate what would have been his 100th birthday. The exhibit began in the Oklahoma Hall of Fame and ran for 3 months, but other museums have asked to present the show as well.  The display was split between the Five Tribes Museum and a small exhibition center at Bacone College where my MIL attended and where her father attended for specialized art training as a young teen.

Visitng Bacone College (left) & Five Tribes Museum (right)

This piece picture at top in the scrapbook page below is called "Balance of Power", and it could not be more appropriate for our generation, even though he carved it several generations before us.  Most of his socio-political pieces have powerful and timely messages for us today.  

BALANCE OF POWER, Sassafras, 1977
"Over 200 years ago, democracy was born - the best form of government ever conceived by man for the overall good of we, the people. However, there is danger of losing it if we are not careful. The two heads on the snake represent the Federal and State governments. The hands represent the people. If either of the two heads is turned loose, it becomes too strong. Its base can be bit and destroyed. And we the people can ask too much from our own government and choke it to death. We can have a good government as long as we keep it balanced." - Willard Stone

Note the pictures of Bob Hope receiving a carving commissioned for him by Stone.  He also carved a piece for Reagan.  Pat Nixon is also featured in the photos with him shown above.

Another amazing story behind his work is that he wanted to be a painter as a boy but lost most of his thumb and parts of his index finger and middle finger in a blasting cap accident. He was devastated initially, but he overcame by finding another form of artistic expression, carving, which he could do with his remaining fingers. In this piece, he sketched and carved his own hand so you can see what his hands were like as he carved each work of art.

 

We purchased a bronze of this piece, "Boots and Feathers" for our home and to help pay for nursing home care and rent for Stone's wife (my husband's grandmother).  My MIL is the child represented in this piece which represents the blending of cultures as the native Americans adapted to the new cowboy/western cultural around them. Holding on to the old traditions while adapting to the ever changing world around us is a never ending balancing act - upon which absolute truth must be our foundation to hold us steady and on the narrow road. Since my husband is a descendant of native Americans, and my mom is a direct descendant of Wild Bill Cody, it seemed a fitting representation of our family as well. :-)

"Something to Believe In" is one of the family's favorites. The young Indian brave talking to his turtle friend depicts his own struggle to hold on to his dreams of becoming an artist after the accident left him with only seven full fingers.

Trail of Tears Trilogy (commissioned by the Cherokee Nation)

Uprooted

The Exodus

I wish I could have gotten a better picture of this pencil drawing by Grandpa Stone called John 3:16. The symbolism and message are awesome. There is a poem that goes with it that Jeff's mom is going to try to locate for me for a fuller explanation. You can see the hand of God reaching down to man and man reaching up to God with Mary and Jesus and the red blood line flowing from God into her womb and interestingly, wrapped around Mary's head), for Jesus is both God and man. Mary and Jesus are holding a cross and resting in the hand of God. The foundation is the earth ("For God so loved the world") and hatching out of each egg beneath them is a face representing different races, nations, and tongues with the words, "WITHOUT REGARD TO RACE CREED OR COLOR" written on the block beneath the egg. The 3 points to the flame represent the Trinity, and a flame is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. I'm sure there is much more to it than what I just grasped during my initial examination, but it sure is lovely. And consider that he drew this without most of his thumb, index and middle fingers.

His daughter Evelyn wrote the poem, "River of Life", to go with it.

This corner featured family pieces. The pieces in front were carved by Willard's son based on Willard's drawings

This blue patina carving by Jason is one of my favorites.

My husband's mom had a number of pieces chosen for the exhibit.  I love her mixed media 3D paintings.  She also submitted a gorgeous stained glass mosaic.  The prettiest glass art she's ever done IMO is the window in her master bath shower.

Our daughter submitted a piece (thanks to some art coaching from a professional artist friend of mine who offered to teach her pro-bono).  Our friend never touched a brush, but I could see her influence in the impressionistic style our daughter used. Her great grandfather typically carved images from nature, so she chose to do a self portrait of herself holding her bunny.

Each time I get to view Willard Stone's work (Jeff's grandfather), I marvel at both his talent and his message. As we walked through museum exhibits honoring his centennial (an extension of the original exhibit hosted by the Oklahoma Hall of Fame) yesterday, I considered how extremely divided America has become over crimes of the past.
Stone understood racial oppression. His family was uprooted from their land by white men and forced to travel the Trail of Tears until they settled in the Arkansas/Oklahoma area. He had every reason to be angry and bitter. But his people did not dwell on past grievances or seek revenge, for vengeance is the Lord's to repay. Instead, they poured their heart and energy into building a new home for themselves and found joy and strength in their resilience and in their faith. They chose an attitude of gratitude which lifts up and prospers instead of planting seeds of bitterness which destroy.

Many of Stone's sons and grandsons (including my husband and his brother) served in the armed forces, and their family supports freedom and democracy with a reverence and degree of patriotism that entitled, spoiled, embittered Americans cannot comprehend. Why do we continue to hold grudges based on skin color or crimes of the past? If Stone could forgive white men who so mistreated his people, why can't blacks and whites forgive each other for crimes committed hundreds of years ago by people with whom that person may have no relation?

Inspired by the Bible, white men led the abolition movement. Inspired by the writings of mostly Jewish people and the perfect life of a Jew named Jesus, blacks found the courage to help their brothers escape to freedom. Whoever we are at war with right now could be the descendants of a civil rights heroes. And even if the person we call our enemy is related to a chief KKK leader, I know that God's purposes on earth are all about redemption. He doesn't just clean up dirty hearts; he gives us new hearts washed in His righteousness.

PLEASE, for the love of all that is good and right, let us follow Stone's example by laying down our hatred and exchanging it for forgiveness, love, and respect. The one who suffers most is always, regardless of who oppresses whom, the one who refuses to forgive!