Back to Washington - a tribute to Arizona

Jonny accepted a job on Whidbey Island (Oak Harbor) in Washington. Assuming that he has no problems with gaining security clearance for the Dept of Navy we will be moving this fall. He has had clearance before when he worked at the shipyard in Bremerton so we don't expect any problems now.

I am so excited, I am going home! But Arizona has been good to us. Jonny's family is here and we have wonderful friends; it will be hard to leave. Jonny's best friend is here and that is a friendship that is... I don't even know how to describe it- words don't do it justice. A person can go his whole life and not have a friendship like this one. I have never connected with a group of women like the ones in my homeschool group; it is truly unique. We have similar interests: economics, government, preparedness, self-reliance, oh yes, and education. We each felt alone and out of place before we found each other. Now we teach, inspire, and edify each other. We have never bickered. We have differences of opinion and religion, and we debate about issues, but it is always with a spirit of love. It really is the kind of associations that all friendships should be. We have never even had any fights among our children. It is almost magical. I will miss these women terribly. Jonny's Dad isn't going to understand. Steven's best friends are his cousins; that will be hard. Even the ward has been so good to us. I have grown and stretched; sometimes painfully, but for the better. I am a better person for my 5 Arizona years.

But we both feel good about this. Jonny will be given a start date after he has clearance in about 3 weeks. We don't know if he will then have 1 week or 4. If he has longer we will all move up together, if he has shorter, he will go up, stay with family and we will follow probably at Christmas. We will try to sell the house; if it doesn't go we will try to rent it. I would rather not have a house to worry about.

The close of this chapter will be hard, but I am looking forward to the next chapter.

14 down and 12 to go!

This one was a short one. Instead of the usual 5 week 3 credit course, this one was a 3 week 1 credit course. It was essentially an introduction and orientation to what will be expected in my 12 week student teaching that I will do in the beginning of 2011. Now I get to take a week break, and I need it! I haven't taken a break since May. I will spend a lot of the week doing some classroom observations (I need 100 hours worth) and getting ready to start homeschool next week.

Happy Birthday Jonny

Well, yesterday actually. We all made him a cake while he was at work. Rebecca did some last minute decorating after it was done, evidenced by the finger prints and missing frosting. We made Navajo Tacos, one of Jonny's favorite foods. I don't do it often just because I don't like to fry. But I make fry bread for Jonny's birthday and for New Years Day- at least that has been the tradition lately. I have discovered that if I use coconut oil, it is much better. Coconut oil is somewhat sweet and has a higher smoking temperature so the house doesn't smell smoky for the next two days. After dinner, we watched the new Journey to the Center of the Earth movie. It was much better than I thought it would be; I liked it. All in all, a pretty good day.

Show Low HIstorical Museum

Yesterday we went down to the Show Low Historical Museum. It was pretty fun, but most surprising to me was that the kids like it too. I have never really done that sort of thing. Isaac would always run all over the place and I would spend my time chasing him. But I realized that we needed more field trips this year and that it was time to brave it. On Thursday mornings at the museum, the "carvers" are there. So I figured that if the kids are bored sick with displays, at least we could watch the wood carvers for a bit and we could leave after 10 minutes.
Luckily the lady at the door didn't freak out when I brought my four children in. She gave us a tour and then we watched the carvers. The museum is in the old Police station building, so they had a 3 bed holding cell complete with toilet visible down the hall. So the kids got to be in jail. We saw the first switchboard in the area, old typewriters and computers. Rebecca LOVED the doll collection in the antique toy room. Steven liked the soldier room. I loved the old kitchen replica room. We saw an old drill press and jigsaw in the blacksmith shop room. We saw 1500 year old Indian pots from the 4 corners area that were in perfect condition. Then when the tour was over we were able to watch the wood carvers work on their projects. Isaac kept going around the table asking each person what they were making. To top it off, the kids got suckers on their way out. So our first field trip of the school year went much better than expected.

Quote

There are two freedoms- the false, where a man is free to do as he likes; the true, where he is free to do as he ought.
Charles Kingsley

a good quote

Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.
Albert Einstein

Happy Birthday Rebecca

Rebecca turned 2 today. This is rather bitter-sweet. She is starting to potty train too and is now doing pretty well. Her independent streak is showing up more. She wants to dress herself, but does not quite have the motor skills to do so and becomes frustrated, yet still refuses help.

Balance

I have been pondering the concept of balance lately. We are told that we need to maintain balance in our lives; too much of one activity can throw off the balance of our lives. But how can I “maintain” balance? I thought of it in the sense of a balance scale or a teeter totter; I felt that I needed to have both sides level in order to maintain anything. I was continually frustrated because everything was always rocking one way or the other; I felt I had no control.

I finally realized that "level" and standing still was not natural. The world and universe are always in flux. If not, there is no growth or progression, only stagnation. I realized that instead of trying to keep things level and control every aspect of life, (I'm not a very controlling person, so this was very unnatural) I needed to learn the art of rocking back and forth. There are times and seasons to our lives, waves and calm. Balance does not fit.

I heard another good analogy recently: That of juggling. "How can you juggle everything you do?" Answer: "Exactly, I juggle." When you juggle, it doesn't matter how many balls you have in the air, you still only have one, maybe two, in your hands at one time. You take care of what is needed and trust that that ball will come around again later in its turn.

I had taken “maintain” too literally. (Maybe it is the wrong word in this instance.) I don’t need to maintain balance in my life. I need to instead focus on what is important now, know when to deviate from the plan, and trust that when I am making good choices, it will all come around again.

A Rooster

Well, it's official. One of our hens is a rooster. I have been suspecting that our New Hampshire Red might be a rooster. In this breed the hens have combs, so I didn't think much of it for quite a while. Then I started to notice that this is a pretty big comb; those tail feathers are much prettier and bigger. The bird is bigger then the rest, and is definitely dominant. Last week I finally decided it must be a rooster. And today, we are hearing crowing. I hope the neighbors don't get mad.

13 down, 13 to go.

I finish another class this weekend. Yeah!! This one was Ethical and Legal considerations. It was interesting. Because education was taken over by the government, courts have ruled that first amendment rights (freedom of speech, expression,association, and 14th amendment rights (due process)apply to public school teachers and students, but not to private. The Constitution states that "Congress shall make no law..." In this case, Public schools are considered "an arm of the Government" or "one of its creatures." So, if you tell off your boss, or wear something offensive to school at a private school, you can be fired and that is the end of it. But if the same thing happens at a public school, that individual can sue for his job back and, considering the circumstances, get it back.

For some reason, this surprised me. Why should it be any different at a private and public school? Almost all of the cases we looked at were of this type.
I mentioned this to Jonny. He pointed out that if they were going to be consistent, 2nd amendment rights should also be allowed. He is right. If they were trying to be consistent, a teacher should not be denied the right to carry firearms onto school property. Not that I am advocating such a thing. The point is that it doesn't make sense.

The only time I could see where public school was not considered and arm of the government was in the case of copyright laws. Schools can not fudge on the copyright. In this case, the courts have ruled that public schools are not an arm of the government and thereby have to obey copyright laws. - probably the doing of the textbook writing companies.

It is just the inconsistency that gets me. I thought schools were there for the students, not to employ teachers. - what was I thinking?!?

The other interesting part of this class was my research into high-stakes testing. I was supposed to write on the value of high-stakes testing (tests being used to determine grade promotion, teacher and school quality, etc. mandated by the No Child Left Behind). I could not find anything positive. All I found was article after article, and study after study, on how this was bad policy for everyone involved. It is ineffective, not producing the desired results, very expensive to implement, and in many ways doing harm instead of good.

But, I'm off to my next class.