martinzoo

Kris tagged me for this 8 things about me meme. And since I know you all are just dying to know more about me **holding in a belly laugh** I’ll play along and try to think of some obscure, unknown things about good old me.

Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1.) I have only been in love with one man in my entire life, and thank God, he still sleeps right next to me every night.

2.) I have an overwhelming fear of getting lost. Whenever I go anywhere new, I mapquest and memorise each point in the route. Then I am filled with terrible anxiety until I get there safely. Embarrasing, but true.

3.) I have always been afraid of bugs and spiders, but now I run around the house and yard looking for bugs and critters for GB’s pet frogs and skink. My dh finds this highly amusing, since he can clearly remember me jumping up off the floor screaming because a cricket had just bounced on me. And I’m sure my father can relay several other amusing stories on this same topic.

4.) Sometimes I say things I wish I could take back. What a terrible habit. I’d like to know what’s going to come out of my mouth sometimes so I could censor myself…LOL!

5.) I adore kids. This is no surprise to my family. But they probably don’t know how much I think about it. I wish I had MORE kids…. like maybe 10. I always want a baby around. I love babies. And I love toddlers. And I love watching kids learn and play when they are young. And I even love watching my teenagers learn about life and enjoying it. I’d love to start again and experience the whole thing one more time. Nothing changed, but just do it again.

6.) I am easily entertained. I love to read….. anything…. fiction, non-fiction, magazines, cereal boxes. I love my TV shows. I am a reality TV junkie. I want to watch the bachelor find true love, and people overcome all kids of obstacles to become a survivor. I want to witness the birth of a new idol. I want to watch regular people get a better life…. it’s fun for me.

7.) I have lived in Massachusetts, Kansas, New York, Florida, Virginia, and Northern Virginia, which seems like a seperate state to me….LOL And someday I’d like to visit EVERYWHERE else. I really want to travel. This is a big wish on my wish list for life.

8.) The person I’ve most admired in my life was my husband. I’ve known him for 26 years, and he is the most moral person I have ever met. He never lies, ever. He will painstakingly see the other person’s side in an argument so that he can be fair. He is a wonderful advocate for our children’s rights. He is SO smart, and thankfully he passed that intelligence on to our kids. He works extremely hard to provide a good life for me and our children. And he is very indulgent. If I really, really want something, he’ll move Heaven and Earth to get it for me. That goes for our kids, too. See the previous post…LOL. He loves me as much as I love him. So the last thing about me is that I am a lucky, lucky woman!

I’m not sure if I even know enough bloggers, who haven’t already been tagged, but I’ll tag Dana, Steph, Stephanie, Sue, Willa, Sarah, and Sara. If you’ve already been tagged by someone else…. no biggie. It’s just for fun. Thanks for playing.

Prepare for a rant…. I will apologize now.

The Summer season is once again upon us. I would like this season to be different.

It used to be that I CRAVED the begining of Summer. Why? Oh, for so many reasons. First and formost, because there would be no school for the next three months (the season was longer then, too). But also because there were days upon days of swimming, playing, watching cartoons, and doing absolutely nothing. It was glorious! And such a fun time to look forward to.

These days, I believe kids still look forward to Summer, but it’s not the same. Yes, thank God, there is still no school. Except for those poor kids who must endure Summer school. Not because they are failing or need remedial help (I could understand and sympathize with that), but because their parents want them to keep up with their studies, or get a leg up on other children, or worse yet, they need cheap babysitting. I’ve known several families who did this. But these days Summer is just as filled up as the school year, with tons of activities. Yes, there is no school, but every moment is filled with something.

I believe our children are losing the art of self-entertainment. ***my opinion*** They are constantly provided with sources of stimulation. And I am guilty of this, also! I don’t want to be. But each Summer I find myself, and my reluctant children, rushing to swim practice and other activities. Our team would like you to practice twice a day. And lots of parents do it! They make the kids practice twice. The kids literally lose their love of swimming because they are in a regimented practice two times per day. And who wants to run up to the pool in the middle of the day, just to goof off, if you just had a morning practice, and you’ll be rushing back late afternoon for another one? I draw the line on this. I WILL NOT take my child to two practices a day. He’ll have to become a better swimmer slowly…. too bad.

Swimming is not the only source of stimulation that we put on our kids these days. We go out to eat so much that it is now considered a burden. You have to get dressed, get in the car, wait for a seat, eat, wait to pay, and then drive home. Eating ends up taking several hours and inevitably occurs at a time when the child is deep in some other activity and must find some kind of transition, or end in a melt down or battle of wills. Our family does this several times a week. It’s crazy. When I was a kid we were called to the table when the food was ready. We ate, then ran back to playing. Your friends would wait because, hey, it only took about 20 minutes to eat. You know?

Some folks do camps… church camps, sleep over camps, sports camps, Science camps (see how they sneak in that education - “Let’s call it camp!” There is so much work for the volunteer parents that it just doesn’t seem worth it. *** once again, my opinion *** Tons of money, tons of time, and cranky kids, that’s not my idea of a fun week. Do the kids really have enough fun to justify it? Or would it be just as much fun to fill a huge storage container that they could plow through at will. It could have craft supplies, books, CD’s, or any old stuff you could find at the dollar store. I know which one I would have chosen when I was a kid.

Some folks like to put their kids in sports… which is fine, to a degree. But they need some down time, too. If you have several kids and each kid does two or three activities a week, such as sports or scouts, or church activities, look how much time you are taking to get them there and how your day is actually spent. Yes, it’s fun…. for some parts. But don’t they get cranky? Mine have.

And here is the kicker: It costs us tons of money! Everything! The sports, the camps, the swimming memberships, out to eat, putt-putt, theme park tickets, going to see movies, extra educational opportunities. Do they love all this? Or are my kids just different from other kids. They don’t seem to love all this activity. They want/crave down time. They don’t care how much money we’ve forked over for them to have fun. They still get cranky and we…… we get a big bill.

It’s a vicious cycle. They get bored because they have nothing to do, so you fill the day with stuff to do. Then they don’t know what to do with any free time…. So they are bored and whine. We give in and find something else for them to do. Hense, they end up with no free time. I think they need to learn how to fill their own free time. Give them time to broaden their imaginations. Let them learn to problem solve in a structure-free environment. Here comes the big rant….. LET THEM GET DIRTY! Yes, they are a mess, but it’ll come clean later, and if it doesn’t? So what. They are kids…. kids should play. *** my final opinion ***
End of rant.

So my goals for this Summer are simple. I want to do less for my kids….. Isn’t that a weird thought? My Summer’s homeschooling goal will be to teach about nothing, and doing nothing. We’ll go to swim team ONCE a day. We’ll go out to eat less. Hey, let’s eat at home! If they want to go to the theme park, let them ask. Movies, putt-putt, lessons and other activities? Let them ask. Our time, and their time is precious. And our down time is, too!

Let’s break this vicious cycle! Bring back Summer! Sun, fun, and nothing!

While my blog has been out of commission, GB and I have been busy with a new unit. We started the Time Travelers, New World Explorers unit, by Homeschool in the Woods. This is such an easy unit. Every day is all planned out with text to read and activities and crafts to reinforce.

First we learned who an explorer is, “a person who travels in search of geographical or scientific information.”

We relearned the seven continents and five oceans by coloring and labeling a map of the world.

And we learned five reasons why someone would want to be an explorer back in the 1500’s and 1600’s. (1) They wanted to find a route from Europe to the Orient to safely trade for silk and spices. (2) They also wanted to find gold and become rich and powerful. (3) Power was possible with new land aquisitions, also. (4) Some men wanted to spread the word of God to new civilizations. (5) And of course, one of the most compelling reasons for any individual was to have some adventure. We made a cute little chart showing these reasons and hung it on our new “Explorers Wall” along with the map.

We spent one afternoon last week working on sailor knots. This is a pretty difficult feat for someone with poor small motor skills, but all were accomplished. Maybe someday those knot skills will come in handy.

Then we learned about the life of an explorer by trying to dry food like the sailors did. The recipe was called “Turkey Jerky,” but since my guy is a little vegetarian, we made fake bacon jerky (which he dubbed “fakey jerky”). We marinated it in soy sause, sugar, salt, onion powder and garlic for an hour. We also cut up apples and bananas and baked all of it in the oven for six hours at 150 degrees. The next day, he ate it at lunch and drank a limey. Limey’s were kind of like lemonade (made with limes) that sailors drank to ward off scurvy, a decidedly nasty disease that they got when there was too little vitamin C. He declared the jerky yummy and loved the limey’s, but really disliked the dried fruit. He said it was ruined.

The Jamestown celebration came to our neck of the woods this weekend. GB and I, along with my dh and my dh’s sister and brother, T and D, traveled a whopping 15 minutes from our home to check out Chesterfield’s big Historical celebration.

In 1611, Sir Thomas Dale was sent to the Virginia colony to act as Deputy Governor. He arrived in Jamestown on May 19th with men, cattle, and provisions. But what he found was shocking to him. The town was swampy, dangerous, unhealthy and really needed tremendous amounts of improvement. He was a very stern leader and that was exactly what Jamestown needed. He soon had many improvements being implimented. And, in fact, helped establish the first code laws of Virginia, called “Articles, Lawes, and Orders Divine, Politique, and Martiall”( also known as “Dale’s Code”).

Later that year, he sailed up the James River (named for the King) looking for a better site than Jamestown. He began construction at the point where the James River meets the Appomattox River for a new town that he called Henricus (named for the King’s son, Henry). This site is in Chesterfield County, where I live today. I was totally unaware until a month ago how much History we share with Jamestown.

Henricus was close to where Pocahontas grew up with the Appomattox tribe, converted to Christianity, fell in love and married John Rolfe in 1614.

Sir Thomas Dale was hoping that Henricus would replace Jamestown as the capital city in Virginia. And plans were developed to create the first college in the new world at Henricus. Those plans never came to fruition because of the Indian Massacre of 1622, when the entire town was destroyed and a third of the colonists were killed. But historians believe the plans were used during the establishment of the College of William and Mary in 1693.

This weekend the Godspeed (one of the three ships that originally sailed from England to the colonies) sailed up from the Jamestown celebration. And we had our own celebration here in Chesterfield. I’m not sure how many people they were expecting, but there were a lot there and it was SUCH a fun adventure. My only disappointment of the day was that during our tour of the Godspeed, we were not allowed below decks, like you are when you visit in Jamestown. Other than that, it was a great day.

We started with a tour of the Indian village. They had genuine area Indians with wares to sell, a fire pit was burning with such a fantastic, smokey smell, and people were milling about everywhere.

We then moved on to the soldier’s quarters. GB and his Uncle D tried out the armor and the housing, which seemed very tiny, but actually would sleep 7-8 soldiers ~ amazing!

We toured the citie, and saw a blacksmith, a woodcutter, the town garden, and GB played Nine Man Morris with a period actor who seemed surprised that GB already knew how to play. He said GB was the best he’d ever played, which overjoyed GB, but was diminished when he admitted that GB was only the second person there to play him.

We saw the very first hospital for the colonies. As colonial buildings go, this one was pretty big. While we were in there, I counted 12 beds, but I know they had the capasity for many more. Once again, GB had to try out the straw bedding. He gets such a kick out of that. He says it’s not as uncomfortable as it looks.

We saw Governor Tim Kaine while we were there. We were surprised that he had such a small entourage. But that’s probably why nobody was paying any attention to him. He left after the recreated wedding of Pocahontas to John Rolfe.

A big highlight of the day for me was getting to talk to Connie Lapallo, who wrote the book, Dark Enough to see the Stars in a Jamestown Sky. She was doing a book signing and seemed to be enjoying the festive atmosphere. I wish I had been further along in the book than I am, but I have only gotten to the part where the main character has begun her trip to the colonies. I’m really enjoying the way it is written. It’s easy for me to make it interesting to GB since it’s written in story format, but it also contains so many details about life in England before they left and the hardships they faced along the journey, that I feel as if it is a real History lesson, also. I’m looking forward to them landing in Virginia, so I can really immerse myself in how it felt to be in such a strange new world.

I took tons of pictures to share with everybody, but the site won’t let me upload them. It says I’ve gone over my space allocation. So, I’ll check with Andrea and see if I can get more space. I’d hate to have to delete parts of my blog and I’m hoping that’s not what it means.

**Edited on 5/27/07 ~ Thanks to technically proficient teenagers, I can now put pictures on my blog without using my allotted space. I’m using a program called Photobucket. We’ll see if I, too, can become proficient.