I think I’ve mentioned before that I’m not nearly so entertaining as Dave Barry, but I still do my best to do some sort of  “Year In Review”, although usually it is in the form of a newsletter that I send out at Christmas.  Well, this year I didn’t send out a newsletter.  I have a lot of reasons for that, such as the obvious money-saving excuse, but on a deeper level, I think it is because I have come to the conclusion that, those who are truly interested in what is going on in my life and that of my husband and children, either call me regularly, or read this blog.

I love blogging.  I intentionally have not put up any ads on it, to make it cleaner and friendlier for my readers.  However, my best

Kendall the Journalist

friends never read this blog. And, if they did, it wouldn’t give them any new information.  I talk to them regularly on the phone or in person.  My extended family, to my knowledge, never reads this blog.  In particular:  my brother and sister and most of the rest of my family do not read this blog.  Nor do they talk to me.  I should mention, however, that my sister does call me on random occasions, and she always seems to know where I live and what my phone number is.  I can only assume that means she still loves me!   On the rare occasions that I call them, the conversation usually starts with them saying something warm and caring, letting me know that I matter to them and they keep a close eye on me.  Something like “Oh, hi!  Where are you?  Do you still live in North Carolina?”  Or “I don’t have your phone number.”  (Please note that I have had the same cell phone number for the last decade, and that for the past two and a half decades I have sent out the obligatory annual newsletter apprising everyone of my address and phone numbers.)

Now, my immediate family does read this blog.  My mom, Gaylon, Kendall, his fiance Lishi and Faith usually read it voluntarily.  Alex reads it if I threaten him.  He has Facebook friends to talk to, after all.  Some of Kendall’s friends read my blog, and I am pretty sure several of my homeschool mom friends read this blog.

I do have a huge, accidental readership, though.  Back in September, when we were preparing for Alex’s “Victorian Themed Birthday Party” I decided to blog about the research I had done on Victorian clothing, and how it differed from Edwardian clothing.  I titled that post “Victoria vs. Edward”.  Well, apparently if you are a Twilight fan, you will spend a lot of time Googling those names and coming to my blog.  I have gotten literally hundreds of “hits” from all over the world from people Googling those names!!  Sorry, guys!  Just a conservative, Catholic homeschool mom here.

But, I digress.  I was discussing why I didn’t send out my customary Christmas newsletter with some sort of year-in-review.  Well, the other reason was that I didn’t have much to say.  One year ago, we really thought we knew exactly where God was leading us, and what we would be doing.  Now, that year has passed, and we only know one thing for sure:  we don’t have a

Alex at the Piano in His Victorian Tux

clue!!  Gaylon is still working in Texas, the rest of us are still living in North Carolina.  Our house has not sold. (Duh)  In fact, we only had ONE couple come to look at it, throughout the entirety of 2009, and that was back in January.  Yes, of course we will try again in 2010.  We have to.  And yes, my mother still lives with us.  We love her, and hope she will stay with us forever.  So, those are the questions we usually get asked.  For the stuff you didn’t know to ask:

Gaylon. . . loves working for Network Plumbing in Merkel, Texas, but of course he misses his family and wishes we could all be
together.  He comes home about every 3 weeks.  (Note:  I think he does a lot more ranching than plumbing, but that’s just my
personal observation!)

Kendall. . . is now a Senior at  University of North Carolina, Asheville.  He is majoring in Journalism.  Last February he became engaged to the beautiful and delightful Alicia Skojec, and they plan to marry next summer (2010).  We are thrilled for them!

Alex. . . is a Senior in High School, and is still homeschooled.  He has not done much acting this year, but has really focused on his piano and guitar, and is excelling at both.  He is very active in his church youth group and is looking forward to going with them to the March For Life in Washington, D.C., next month.

Faith. . .is a domestic goddess in the making!  She won three ribbons at the Western North Carolina State Fair in September.  Two 2nd place ribbons for a denim, appliqued jumper that she sewed, and for a crocheted scarf, and a 3rd place ribbon for a quilt.  We took a couple of quilting classes this Fall, and she is really, really good at quilting. (Me, not so much! LOL) She also got her own sewing machine and has been sewing amazing things.  She is a fantastic cook, as well.  She also taught herself to

Faith Shows Off Her Herbal Preparations

knit and has turned out some really pretty knitted scarves and pillows. We have been studying herbal remedies this year, and Faith has done a lot of work wildcrafting and preparing her own herbal remedies.  She is in 7th grade this year, and is still homeschooled.  She loves to read, especially Fantasy and Sci-Fi.  Her brothers have been happy to loan her all of their books.

Valarie. . . still loves “documenting the dead” (Genealogy) and homeschooling. I am also still working on some writing projects, that I might actually carve time out for this new year.  I am forever trying to lose weight, and nope, it’s not working.  But alas, I shall start anew in a couple of days with (hopefully) renewed vigor and commitment!

So, there is our year in review.  It has blessedly passed by quickly, and we are praying very hard that this year, our house will sell, and we will get to all be together again.  Because, even though we could have sent out a newsletter bragging on our kids in depth, the truth is that this has been a very difficult year, and we really are glad it’s over.  In fact, it’s been, overall, a pretty rotten decade.  We are praying a LOT that the next year/decade will be infinitely better. We appreciate any prayers on our behalf, and please know that we pray for our friends and family regularly, whether we hear from you, or not.

Happy 2010!!

This absolutely cracked me up!!!  If you homeschool, then you’ll love it.  If you have issues with homeschooling, please watch closely. . . twice.

I have been so busy lately, that I haven’t even had time to check my email, much less blog.  Faith and I have been trying to figure out why we are so much busier this school year than we have been in the past, and we really aren’t sure.  Maybe it’s the quilting, or the violin.  Who knows?  At any rate, we have been moving at the supersonic speed of life, and I am taking a few moments (that I really shouldn’t spare!) to do a little ‘catch-up’ on here!

Faith entered three items in the Western North Carolina State Fair this year: a appliqued denim jumper, a crib quilt, and a crocheted scarf.  She got 2nd Place Ribbons for the jumper and the scarf, and third place for the quilt!  I am so proud of her.  When I was her age, I didn’t know anybody who could sew or crochet or quilt who was under the age of, say, 110!  And I certainly didn’t have any friends who entered crafts in the County Fair!

We have also started “Quilting 102″, and it already seems like it is going to be a lot of fun.  In the midst of all the sewing and quilting, we picked up a bushel of apples, and have put up a run of apple butter, applesauce and pie apples.  Mom has baked and frozen several apple pies, and we have been enjoying fresh baked apple crisps, pies, and cakes almost every night.  (Yeah, I really need to get back on that treadmill!)

L-R: Kendall, Lishi, Faith, Alex, Valarie & April

Alex started classes at Blue Ridge, and that is keeping him really busy.  He is also still taking French from a private tutor, and that  seems to be going really well.  She assures me he’s doing great, anyway!  I have always thought French sounded like someone trying to speak with a mouthful of oatmeal, but that is, indeed, what Alex sounds like, so I’m guessing that’s a good thing?   In his spare time, he is working at the Outback and has just joined “Company” at the Flat Rock Playhouse. We had a really cool birthday party for him this year, too.  He decided he wanted a “Victorian Era Theme Party”, so we all dressed up like we were from that time, and had a blast!  We got a couple of cool family pictures, while we were at it. (I just wish Gaylon had been here.)

Kendall has been staying busy with his Journalism studies, and finally got interested in doing something with the blog he set up almost a year ago.  He hasn’t done a LOT with it yet, but it’s coming.  He is finally talking about it, and making plans, which is a huge step!  Check him out and leave some encouragement: Kendall Brooks, Unedited.

I am trying to find time to work on a genealogy website that I have been playing with for about a year, myself.  Hopefully, I will get some time this year.  I really have some great ideas, just no time to implement them.  But, hopefully I’ll get it up and running soon!

Anyway, that’s the update.  I have to get moving now, because Faith and I are headed to Mary Jo’s Fabric Store in Gastonia today, on our way to pick Gaylon up at the aiport!  Yay!

Faith and I have been taking a quilting class, as part of our homeschool studies this semester, and we are almost done. It has been a lot of fun, and we have both learned so much! Well, the other night, as Faith was finishing up her quilting homework for the week, her new kitten, StellaLuna decided to help out a bit. It was way too cute, so I took a picture.

Stella, The Quilting Kitten

We are beginning our 15th year of Homeschooling this year!  Wow.  It seems like it was just a few days ago that I first started teaching phonics to Kendall and Ryan.  Time has flown.  Kendall started his 3rd year of college yesterday, and Alex will start his first year of college classes on Thursday, thanks to the Dual Enrollment option here in North Carolina.

So this is going to be a very different year, with both boys in college.  Alex and I will be studying some stuff at home, namely 20th Century History, and he will be taking French again with Mrs.  U.  At the college, he will be taking College Algebra, Expository Writing, and JAVA Programming.  To top it all off, he will be working several nights a week at the Outback, where he just got hired on as a bus boy.

Kendall will be working on “The Blue Banner” this year, as part of his Journalism degree requirement.  “The Blue Banner” is the school newspaper for UNC-Asheville.  He is really excited about it, and I am anxious to see some of his stuff in print.  He will also be starting new job in a couple of weeks, and is looking forward to having a steady income this winter.

Faith and I actually started schooling a couple of weeks ago, on a very laid back schedule.  Next week will be a “full” week.  This year, in addition to the regular school subjects (History, Math, Science, Latin, Language Arts, Religion) she is also taking violin lessons and we are taking a quilting class together.  So, it promises to be a very exciting and fulfilling year.

Okay, after a great deal of prayer, discussion, and downright agony, we have decided that even though Gaylon is working in Merkel, Texas, only 20 minutes from Abilene, that it is just not the right place for our family to live.  Abilene is so, ah, West Texas.  And we are so. . . granola!  Let me explain:  West Texas (for those of you who have never been there) looks just like the backdrop of a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western.  And the people there pretty much have the same attitude as the cowboys you see in the Pace Picante Sauce commercials:  “New York City?  Get the rope!”  Just substitute the things we love for “New York City”.  For example:  “Homebirth?  Get the rope!”  or “Vegetarian?  Get the rope!”  You get the idea.

There are no health food stores in Abilene, to speak of.  And by “health food store”, I mean something along the lines of Whole Foods Market.  Not some hole-in-the-wall place that sells ridiculously overpriced vitamins.  They have a homeschool group, apparently, but they have not responded to my email, which I sent almost two months ago. There are no midwives nearby, unless you count the one I found in Brownwood, which is well over an hour away.  Organic gardnening?  I doubt it seriously.  Actually, I seriously doubt you could even get any kind of garden to grow there.  I sure as heck couldn’t in Southeastern New Mexico when we lived there! They don’t even have Verizon there!  No, really!

So, let’s talk about where we DO want to live.   We have decided that Austin is as close to Asheville as we can get.  The major differences are that Asheville has these amazing Blue Ridge Mountains and is practically sitting on the Appalachian Trail; but Austin has the beautiful Hill Country of Texas, complete with fields and fields of Bluebonnets, and Austin has Tex-Mex.  Mmmmm. . . . tasty!  Austin is full of “culture”, as one of my best friends, Donna, puts it.  And she would know.  She lives there.  When I asked her if they had health food stores there, she laughed and informed me that Whole Foods Market was actually started in Austin!

There are several large homeschooling support groups there, and I have contacted two of them so I could get on their mailing lists and get a feel for the homeschooling community before we get there.  I have been blown away by how friendly the folks are there.  But, I shouldn’t be.  Texans are the friendliest people on the planet.  Austin Area Homeschoolers has 1375 members on its email list.  That’s a LOT of homeschoolers!  And that’s not even counting the really big fundamentalist, Christians only, group.  Or the other group that I contacted, the Holy Family Homeschoolers, which is the Catholic homeschooling support group.  So, I am very excited and hopeful.  The kids and I are very anxious to get there and get settled, and quit living in limbo.  Mom, who of course is going with us, is also very excited and hopeful.

So, please pray for us.  Pray that our house will sell really, really soon, so that we can get on down there and get settled in before the school year gets going.  I know the economy is not so good right now, but with our God, all things are possible!

I’ve been reading a lot of really good blogs lately, and can’t help but think that there are so many ways that I could improve this one.  I could make it look more “professional”, somehow.  I could focus on just one of the things that interest me, like political commentary, or family life & homeschooling, or genealogy (which I think I will still just make an entirely separate website for that), or Catholic Issues/Apologetics, or, or, or. . . .

The problem is, my brain goes in too many directions at once, all the time.  And I can’t even blame the children for that, I’ve always been this way!  For example, last week, I wanted to blog about so many things that I wound up not blogging about anything.  For example, I had a really great blog post floating around in my head entitled “Dude!  Where’s My Plane?” about Obama pretending he didn’t know that someone took AF-1 and did a low flyover of NYC, terrifying the people of Manhattan and causing them to evacuate buildings and have major PTSD flashbacks of 9/11!!  All for a “Photo Op”????  I hope Obama is smarter than that, but at the same time, that would simply mean that he really is that sinister, to intentionally terrify his own people like that.  (Good thing he didn’t try a stunt like that over Dallas or Houston!)

Or I could talk about homeschooling.  About Faith, and how she’s been so busy lately digging up herbs in our yard and woods, and drying them, chopping them and making herbal remedies!  Our kitchen smells kinda funny from time to time, but I am so proud of her! Or about Alex, and how he did so well in school this year, and how funny he was co-hosting the HCHA Talent Show last week (see pictures all over Facebook!!), or about how Kendall is finishing up his first year at UNC-A, and how much he is enjoying studying Journalism, and how cute he is running around with a digital microphone and interviewing everyone he can.  I could say that Gaylon is still in Texas, and that we’re still in North Carolina, and it still stinks!  Our house hasn’t sold yet (duh.) and we are going to move to Texas at the end of the summer anyway, to be with him and get the kids plugged in.

Then I thought about how I’d like to discuss how well my genealogy research has gone lately, and how much I have enjoyed getting in contact with cousins I didn’t even know about down in Central Texas on the Adams side.  We’ve exchanged pictures and information and it’s just been incredible! And did I mention I’m building a website just for genealogy?   That way I can not only separate my genealogy from my political and religious views, but I can keep from boring to death the few readers I have who are not related to me!

And then there is my Catholic Faith, which I am usually pretty low-key about, because I have so many friends who are not only Protestant, but have been taught that Catholics are not Christians, and must be ’saved’!!  My Jewish friends are much more understanding of me being Catholic, probably because of that whole persecution thing.  But I absolutely LOVE being Catholic, and there are so many things I could ‘blog’ about, that might help people understand our faith, our beliefs, our Christianity.  That would probably be best in a separate site, as well.

So, what to do?  What to blog about??  It’s not like there are all these people reading my blog, and hanging on the edge of their chairs waiting for my next post!  Most of my close friends don’t read my blog at all, and of my family, I think only Gaylon, Kendall, Mom and occasionally Faith read it.  And of course, Lishi, (Kendall’s fiance) who is one of the only people who ever leaves me a comment. (And of course, Laura R. and Laura S.!!  I love my Lauras. . .)  I know there are a few folks scattered across the country who read it, but they never comment.  I tried a Poll once, and only a few folks participated in that, so perhaps the bottom line is this:  I blog for me.  If someone doesn’t like what I have to say, they certainly don’t have to read it.  Lishi’s brother, Steve Skojec, always has really great taglines for his blog, like “Cogito, Ergo Blog” (I think that was it. . . . I don’t remember exactly, and now he’s changed it) or his current one “You Didn’t Ask, But I’ll Tell You Anyway”.  Okay, that one really fits my situation, as well. LOL.  I’ve never met Steve, but I love his blog!

So, yeah.  My blog will probably continue to be a collection of randomness, and my title, “Chasing Thoughts” is probably very appropriate.  Maybe someday I will actually be able to focus on one thing for a great length of time.  But then, I will finish writing those books I’ve started, and not worry about blogging!

Ready for the Father/Daughter Dance

Today has been a really wonderful, busy, day. This afternoon, we attended the Annual Homeschool Valentine’s Skating Party.  It is always a lot of fun, and the kids love it.  Alex gets to flirt with all the pretty girls, (and for some reason, they flirt back) and Faith gets to hang out with her friends.  I get to visit with all of my friends and try to not eat all of the amazing goodies that everyone always brings.  It is hard to believe that this is our 14th such party.  The skating rink has undergone a massive makeover during that time, and many of the faces have changed over the years.  I remember Kendall learning how to skate there, and today he couldn’t join us because he was in class. . . at college!!!  Wow. . . I can’t believe how old I’m getting!!!

Tonight, Gaylon took Faith to the Father/Daughter Dance at our Church.  Faith has been so excited for weeks now, looking forward to her special night with her Daddy.   She got all dressed up, and I even let her wear a tiny bit of makeup for the big event.  Gaylon made sure that he flew in from Texas this weekend, just so he could be here to take her to this dance.  They are so crazy about each other, and I think it’s wonderful.  I never had that sort of relationship with my own father, and am so grateful that God has blessed me with a husband who is crazy about our children.  It’s awesome!

Tomorrow morning, I will make my traditional Valentine’s Day breakfast of heart-shaped pancakes, and we will all stuff ourselves.  Food = Love, right?   Then, tomorrow night, it will be my turn to celebrate Valentine’s Day with Gaylon!  All of the kids are spending the night with friends, and Mom is even going down to a “Pajama Party” with some of her friends down in South Carolina.  So, Gaylon and I will have the house to ourselves for the entire night. . . I can’t remember the last time that happened!!!  Now our biggest decision is whether we want to have cornish hens or grilled steaks.  Ummmm . . .

Gaylon has been in Texas for a week now, and as predicted, our lives have kept rushing right along. We all miss him, and can’t wait until he comes home for a vist.  But we have stayed very, very busy.  And that has been a good thing.

The week started out with getting back into the groove of homeschooling after the Christmas break.  Faith and I decided to jump back into the groove by erupting the volcano she built a few weeks ago.  Not as exciting as we’d hoped, but still fun. We also started working on taking down all the Christmas decorations.  I am not sure how we end up needing more totes every year!  But taking down three trees and tons of decorations is no small task, and it took all of us three days to get the job done. (Gaylon used to be in charge of this every year.  I think he planned this!)

My friends have kept me busy, as well. Saturday evening we had a 4-H Potluck at Marcia’s.  I though it was going to be on Sunday, but was very happy when she called to tell me they were waiting for me.  Faith and I headed straight out, and it turned out to be a lot more fun than sitting at home and feeling sorry for myself, which was my original plan.  My friend, Joanne, spent the afternoon over here last Sunday after Mass while our daughters played.  What a wonderful thing!  Then on Monday I got to have tea at Joy’s, along with several other ladies from our town, while we did a brief Bible Study.  Very relaxing.  Tuesday found us over at Bonnie’s.  Her husband had emailed me and asked if I could come sort through all of her homeschooling materials and sell them for him.  I am glad to help, and it took two afternoons just to gather up all of the books and resources and bring them home.  It was great to see Bonnie’s family. . . I still can’t believe how much I miss her.  I’m not sure her death will ever become real to me.  And sorting through all of her homeschooling books brought back so many sweet memories. Yesterday, my friend Cindy came over and we drank tea and had a sweet visit.  Tonight we have a surprise birthday party to attend. And our weekend promises to be just as busy.  As does next week.

Gaylon has been keeping really busy out in Texas, too.  He has been enjoying his new job, where he gets treated well and enjoys the work.  He has also really been glad to get to spend time with his mom, Dorinda, who came in to help him get settled in her RV before she heads on to her next stop.  He has had a bit of trouble with cell phone signal, but that seems to be pretty much worked out now.

So I’m hoping time will fly, and Gaylon will be back with us before we know it.  We had our first house showing last Saturday, and although that couple didn’t decide to buy it, it was encouraging to know that there still are people out there house hunting.  Maybe the next potential buyers will buy it.

I don’t  have anything in particular to say, really, just a lot of random thoughts I would like to share.  Starting with clothing.  Mom and I went Christmas shopping yesterday at the mall down in Greenville.  Our annual tradition is to find a really beautiful dress for Faith to wear for Christmas.  So, the hunt was on.  And on.  And on.  I am not a prude by any stretch of the imagination, and am very laid back about weird fashions, in general.  But I have reached the end of my tolerance on this.  “Skanky” is NOT a fashion.  It’s tacky, sleazy and I will not pay for it.  More importantly, my daughter doesn’t want to wear that sort of clothing, and even if she did, it ain’t happening!  Have you SEEN what they are selling to 11 year old girls????  Who decided that young girls were supposed to look like, ah, how shall I say this delicately. . . prostitutes???

We checked all the usual suspects: Dillards, Belk, etc.  We skipped Macy’s because they officially told their employees they were not allowed to wish anyone a Merry Christmas.  No more of my money for them.  I was getting really, really discouraged, when we finally ran across a store that still sells elegant, tasteful clothing.  Expensive, but worth it.  Thank God for Coldwater Creek!  We found some really lovely things there, and Faith is going to be so thrilled.  But not nearly as thrilled as Mom and I were to find decent clothing.

We found slinky shirts and scanty lingerie being passed off as formal gowns.  We found lots of clothing for the gang banger in your life.  We found some obscenely expensive t-shirts and ratty jeans.  I have to wonder what our world would be like if clothing companies, department stores, designers, etc. decided that they weren’t going to sell that sort of garbage anymore.  What if they decided to sell flattering, tasteful, simple clothing that made everyone look NICE?  Oops. . .sorry, I’ve slipped into my little fantasy again.  The same fantasy in which everyone spends an entire week saying only kind things to everyone they meet and the media only reports good, happy news.  Imagine with me what that would be like!!  Wow. . .

Okay, back on planet earth, I have some happy thoughts, too.  We helped out with a local organization’s Christmas gift distribution today.  The Storehouse here does an amazing job of taking care of folks in our community who are in need of food, clothing, whatever.  Lynn, the self-described “demented elf” is the lady who runs it, and she is nothing short of amazing.  Our 4-H club volunteered to help, along with lots of other homeschoolers and various others in our community.  There were literally thousands of gifts there!  It was heartwarming to me to see all the warmth and love there.  The kids were blown away by how many families were there because they couldn’t afford to buy presents for their children.  A real eye-opener, to be sure.

An added bonus was getting to see our old pastor and catch up with him for a bit.  He is a wonderful man, with a heart of gold and a warm loving spirit.  I got to see lots of other folks that I hadn’t seen in quite a while, and that was really nice.  With our upcoming move looming large, it’s a sweet blessing for me to get to visit with old friends before we leave.

And, no, we don’t know when we are planning to move.  Our house must sell first.  However, we have found a realtor that we really like: Janis Moore with Keller Williams.  She is sending a professional photographer to come take pictures of our home next week!  I am very hopeful.  Even in this economy, God can sell our house!

Tomorrow will find us back down in Greenville to do Christmas with my lifelong friend, Emily, and her family.  We pick a day every year to get together and exchange gifts and of course, eat!  We are all looking forward to that.  Then, on Sunday after Mass, our 4-H Club is going caroling.  Afterward, they are all coming over here for hot cocoa.

I have had a warm fuzzy feeling all day, and it was topped off tonight in the coolest way.  Faith and Alex each have a friend spending the night, and we hadn’t seen or heard any of them for quite a while.  I went up to check, assuming that the boys were probably playing video games, and that the girls were probably watching Christmas movies.  Nope.  All of them were playing a board game together, having a wonderful time!  And people ask me why we homeschool. . .

So, that’s it for my randomness tonight.  Now that my Adobe InDesign class is over I will have a bit more time for this blog.  I love it, but it has been really busy lately.  Peace, out.

It feels like I hit the ground running on Monday morning, and things have yet to slow down!  On Monday, Faith and I loaded Pippin up and took him to the vet to be neutered.   When we picked him up at 4:30 that afternoon, the poor little guy was absolutely stoned!  At one point, when he was trying to walk, he just fell over!!  However, he made a quick recovery and is doing great now.

Faith and also started working on her new denim jumper.  She has been after me to teach her how to sew, and this is what she wanted to start with.

On Tuesday, Faith and I went into town to pick up some extra fabric we needed for her jumper, and for a quilt she is planning to make.  Then we had lunch.  That evening, Alex and I had dinner with some friends, then all of us headed over to the Flat Rock Playhouse for a Spotlighter’s meeting, then got to go to the Dress Rehearsal of “Tuesdays With Morrie”.  It was a really poignant play, and gave us both a lot to think about.

Wednesday was spent with more sewing, and of course, schoolwork. I spent some time working on the website I am tring to get up and running for my genealogy research, too. It’s coming right along, but still nowhere near ready!

Thursday was spent doing more sewing, and hanging out with my friend, Lisa, in the afternoon.  That’s always a nice break!

Today has been spent finishing up the jumper, 90% of which Faith sewed by herself!  It is beautiful, and it looks so sweet on her.  Now we just finishing up packing so we can head over to the Eucharistic Congress.

Packaging is everything.  So, in an attempt to get folks excited about summer coming to an abrupt halt, and in the spirit of American Commercialism, everywhere we look these days there is some sign, poster, or advertisement that says “Back to School”.  I am too old to be fooled by such.  I know what those signs really mean:  “End of Summer”!  End of Freedom. Which, for as long as I can remember, I have dreaded.

Perhaps it is because I am a product of the public school system.  In public school, kids are expected, almost encouraged, to hate school.  They are segregated by age and sent through their days in assembly-line fashion, but expected to remember all the new information that is directed at them at least long enough to regurgitate it on an exam. School is often more like prison than a freeing and enlightening of the mind. But it is very effective in mass-producing students who cannot think for themselves.

We chose to begin homeschooling 14 years ago for many reasons, but they can almost all be boiled down to freedom of thought. As homeschoolers, our children are free to choose many of their topics of study, we can sleep late, or call a trip to the grocery store a field trip in economics and nutrition.  Homeschooling is, if nothing else, an exercise in freedom and enlightenment.  No wonder public school officials fear it so much.  We produce thinkers.  Homeschoolers not only think for themselves, they question and challenge.  They seek Truth.  In the socialistic setting of the public school, thinking is dangerous. Questioning and challenging are discouraged or even punished.

No wonder hordes of young men and women think Obama is such a great choice.  They were never trained to think, to question, to challenge.  They hear what he tells them, and, because they were trained by the public school system to accept what they are told as the gospel truth, they blindly believe he’s honest and can be trusted.  After all, he has a microphone, doesn’t he?  He’s using all the right buzzwords that they were programmed to get excited about: hope, change, belief. He looks and sounds like he means business.

So they never bother to check his voting record.  I wonder if they even know they can do such a thing.  They don’t bother to question his contributors’ motives.  Who is funding his campaign?  What do they stand for? Make no mistake: nobody is going to donate money to a political campaign if there’s nothing in it for them. Why do foreign investors think giving Obama millions of dollars is a good idea?  What are the changes he is promising?  And, if  he is able to actually implement them, what will that look like in real life?  What will be the long term effects of the changes he is proposing?  Can we even pinpoint exactly what those changes are?  The summer break mentality is not up to the task of choosing the next leader of the free world.  Our educational system has failed us by producing generations of people who cannot make educated, informed decisions.

As a nation, we cannot afford to take a ’summer break’.  We must Think.  Question.  Challenge.  Seek Truth. These are skills and habits that should be employed all year round, for the rest of one’s life.  We cannot shelve our brains for the summer, or it truly will mean the end of the American Summer. The End of Freedom.

We went to the North Carolina 4-H State Congress in Raleigh this past Monday and Tuesday.  The Congress actually lasted all week, but we only needed to be there for those two days.  Alex and Faith both earned Silver Medals for their presentations! Since it was their first time to go to Congress, I think that’s really amazing!

Alex’s presentation was on “Oil In Our World”.  He explained what oil is, discussed some of its many, many uses (did you know that aspirin, heart valves and artificial limbs are all petroleum products??) and finally the concerns of oil, environmentally speaking.  Sadly, folks out here know absolutely nothing about oil or the oil industry, except what the liberal media tells them, so I don’t think the judges fully understood everything he said.  (Which is not to say he should have gotten a gold medal.  The girl who won that absolutely deserved it!  Her presentation was on debunking the global warming myth.  We loved it!)

Faith’s presentation was on Fireflies.  She did an awesome job discussing their habitat and range, their body parts, lifecycle and behaviors and even did a little section on “Fun with Fireflies” on how to attract them to your own yard and then study them.  Her presentation was called “Magical Fireflies”.

Both kids already have topics they plan to do for next year.  Alex wants to do Public Speaking, and speak on the Death Penalty.  Faith wants to discuss Global Warming vs. natural climatic changes, and she plans to learn how to create a Power Point presentation to use in lieu of posters.  To say that I am proud of them is an amazing understatement!

As a side note:  It was 105 degrees while we were in Raleigh!!!!!  It was awesome to get back here to the mountains and enjoy our 68 degree evenings and 83 degree afternoons.

My friend, Jill, has developed an amazing website, and is adding even more wonderful information to it. I have added a link to it in my Homeschool Links section, but here it is again: Homeschool-By-Design. She has done an amazing job of covering all the bases, and I’m really impressed! Check it out.

Our Girl Scout troop is working on the ‘My Heritage’ badge. One of the activities is to create some sort of presentation about your family heritage. Our troop is planning on making a scrapbook page at our next meeting, so each girl will have a special keepsake about her own family. In the process of planning for this meeting, our wonderful troop leader, Christy, found a free software program, available for download, for creating and keeping track of a Family Tree. She inspired me to do some digging of my own, and I discovered that a program I paid around $50 for a couple of years ago is also now available for free.

So, I thought I would share the sites, in case anyone would love to start working on their family tree, but didn’t want to pay for software.

The site Christy found looks really great: MyHeritage.com. They have lots of cool stuff on their site to help you out. The program I used to use that is now free is called FamilyTreeLegends. They also have some neat stuff on their site, and both programs do ’smart matching’ where, if anyone else is using their software and has the same information as you, the program will notify you, and hopefully connect you with someone else who is working on the same family as you are! And, if you just feel happier buying a software program, I still recommend RootsMagic! (See my Genealogy Page for more information on this program!)