Monday Memoir - Week 17

As you read this, we should be gliding down the ski slopes.  Say a prayer it's gliding and not falling if you would please!  I'm looking forward to reading your posts!
Here are the two questions for this week.  Grab them, post them, then come on back and link up. 

What pets did your family have growing up?



Describe your best or worst experience with an animal.



What pets did your family have growing up?

When I was young, we had two main pets. A standard chocolate French poodle named Pierre and a cat named Princess. Pierre was my family’s pet before I came along. Princess was a stray cat that mutually adopted us.

As I grew older, Pierre died. That was very hard to take. We took in two more strays – a German shepherd we called Boots and a Pointer we called Betsy.

Then came the two bunny’s – Tiny and Tina.

Princess died from throat cancer, Tina from impacted hair and Tiny lived a long life before departing.

My mom is crazy about animals. Personally, I like having pets if they add value to the family, but I’m not overboard about them.

Describe your best or worst experience with an animal.

I used to love horses. Still do, I just recognize the time, money and effort involved in keeping them now. Trail riding is fun. Would like the opportunity to do that more.

My worst experience, however, would have to be with the dogs that lived down the street from us when I was in about third or fourth grade. The family kept the dogs locked in the garage day and night. As a result, they had turned mean. One day I was walking down the street and somehow they got out and attacked me. Luckily, it was during winter in Wyoming, so I was heavily layered. The owners ran out immediately and pulled them off. I ended up with just a bruised stomach. That was lucky! Makes me very wary of loose dogs, however.

Monday Memoir Sneak Peek - Week 17

This weekend we're headed to the mountains providing the snow doesn't stop us.  Why we are heading into snow when we just got out of it is beyond me...  Well...  That's not true.  We're going to see family and then going on a homeschool ski trip.  Should be lots of fun.  The boys have never skiied and I haven't done it in twelve years.  Hopefully we all come back sans injury.

Here is a peek at the questions for this week:

What pets did your family have growing up?

Describe your best or worst experience with an animal.

Won't you come back and link up?

Five Question Friday

Join me in a little Five Question Friday? When you are done visit the My Little Life blog to see what others had to say.

1. Where did you meet your spouse and did you instantly know it was love?

I went to work at the company my hubby works for.  I remember seeing him for the first time on the outdoor basketball court shooting hoops after work.  He has some great skills - yes, I was impressed.

We got to know each other through work and went on a few dates.  It didn't take long for me to know he was a keeper!

2. What is your favorite room in your house?

My study.  My computer is there, all of our books are there, my lizard and fish live there.  It's just a comfortable place to work and do school.  There are tons of shelves for books and two desks making enough room for the boys and I to work together in there, especially when it's computer work.  We have four Norman Rockwell prints on one wall and two windows on the other.  French doors open to the main part of the house.  I spend A LOT of time in here!

3. Can you wiggle your ears?

Not a chance!  I only know my ears are there because I see them in the mirror and hang earrings off of them.  Other than that, I can't feel them, and I definitely can't wiggle them.

4. What is your evening ritual?

After dinner, there is usually computer time.  I work on my online classes or something for homeschool or play an online game.  Then about bed time, my hubby tucks my youngest into bed, and we retreat to our room where we watch sports or a cooking show then off to sleep. 

5. How many hours of sleep do you need to function?

I need an inordinate amount of sleep.  In fact, there is almost no time in a day that I'm not sleepy and nap eligible.  Not fun, really.  I'd love to just be wide awake one day!  We usually get at least eight hours of sleep a night.  I can function on six, but I'm a grump to be around.

My Child's an Adult?

My son turned 18 yesterday!


I was talking to friends today and one replied – “Wow! You’ve successfully raised two children to adulthood.” I’ve never quite thought of it that way. Wow! Adults. Now, I use the term loosely, of course. 18 is hardly an adult as we all have learned. I mean – I was an adult at 18, or so I thought, but now I look back and I was SO not an adult. There are days when I’m still not sure I’m an adult.

I wonder who decided that 18 signifies adulthood? My son pointed out that he can now be drafted, join the military, vote and buy a cigar. (I vetoed the cigar noting that in my house even “adults” can be grounded.)

He graduates in one week from high school and starts college in early February. Two college students – that does make my head spin.

So what does having an adult child mean? Am I still allowed to swat their butts when they get sassy, or tell them to change their shirt, or assign a curfew? I’m assuming the answer to all is YES! Well, as long as I am financing their adult lives anyway. When did parenthood boil down to bank accounts? I’ll take all the parental leverage I can get!

So – I’m going to take a nap. My head hurts from pondering the repercussions of raising children to adulthood. God says – “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” I’m going to hold onto that with both hands, tightly. Personally, I would have liked a pause button – get them to a good age and hit pause. Of course, then I’d have ordered a Mute button too. Wouldn’t that be fun.. :-)

We have Winners - Congrats to Kyra, Morgan and Denise...

RelaxZen Shots

http://www.relaxzenshots.com/

Congratulations to the winners of the RelaxZen Shots giveaway!  I will be contacting you via email to get your addresses so that I can mail you your RelaxZen Shots.

April

Guest Post: Lee Binz - The Four Homeschool High School Advantages

A few summers ago my two sons graduated together from homeschool high school. They were both invited to compete in an all day full-tuition scholarship competition at their first choice university. 108 students competed for those ten full-tuition scholarships, Two of the winners were homeschoolers. Both were mine. I found myself wondering, “How did that happen?” I believe we received scholarships because of four advantages: curriculum, SAT preparation, documentation, and character. These advantages are available to all families that homeschool through high school.

The Curriculum Advantage

Many homeschoolers have a very rigorous academic plan. It doesn’t matter if they choose to unschool, or if they follow a classical education model. Homeschoolers will succeed when they learn on purpose. They will succeed when they do the “next thing” – when they keep moving forward in their homeschool journey. They can invest their money and their time in their weaker areas, as well as their areas of strength.

Homeschoolers have the advantage with curriculum. We can make sure ours is tailor made to suit our students. We can make sure they are always challenged, but that they completely understand concepts before moving on. We can provide broad exposure to a variety of subjects. There is no quagmire or restrictive bureaucracy in your homeschool. There is no school board or teacher's union. With ultimate flexibility, we can make sure the curriculum will always fit our student. We can keep our curriculum challenging but not overwhelming in every subject all the time - or we can make a change.

The Testing Advantage

My sons had great SAT scores because we studied for the SAT test. I read that increased test scores meant increased scholarship money, so we studied two or three times a week. Each time we would do one section from the “10 Real SAT’s” book. It’s not a waste of time to study for the SAT. Students learn vocabulary, get a great math review, and learn essay writing skills. Halfway into his first quarter of college, my son said “I’m so glad you taught me how to write a quick essay! It really helped me on my midterm today!” Again with test scores, homeschoolers have the advantage. We can use SAT prep as part of our homeschool curriculum, and study it during school hours.

The Comprehensive Records Advantage

When we applied for admission, I gave the colleges a lot of information. Many homeschoolers prefer to keep their educational information private. It’s okay for colleges to ask us for our information because it’s an exchange. We give them information about our homeschool, and they give us admission and possibly scholarships.

The minimum information they need is a transcript. I chose to provide more information than the minimum, and it really helped. For everything on our transcript, I wrote a course description, listed the books we used, and documented how I graded the class. Homeschoolers have the advantage regarding educational information. We control our homeschool records and we can determine exactly how much information we provide to colleges. Our comprehensive homeschool records were so successful and so many homeschool moms requested help creating similar records, that for the next three years I worked on developing the Comprehenive Record Solution.

The Character Advantage

Character is the fourth reason I believe we were given great scholarships. My sons were invited to participate in the scholarship competition at Seattle Pacific University because of their comprehensive records and their SAT scores, but that’s not why they won.. I was nervous about them competing in something so intense, but the kids had fun. When the boys came home that day, they both said, “I don’t know if I won, but I had a great time! All the kids were so nice!”

Later I was told that the evaluators were looking for character. The students were observed when they walked between events. Were they friendly and kind to others? How did they interact with their peers? When character and socialization are evaluated, homeschoolers have the advantage. We can mold and shape the character of our children while they are at home with us, instead of allowing them to be conformed to their peers.

 So how did that happen? How did both our children win full tuition scholarships? Simple; we homeschooled them through high school!


Lee Binz, The HomeScholar, specializes in helping parents homeschool high school. Get Lee's 5 part mini-course, "The 5 Biggest Mistakes Parents Make Homeschooling High School." You can find her at http://www.thehomescholar.com/ .

Monday Memoir - Week 16

Yes, it is still cold here.  Well, cold for the South, at least.  There is still some snow on the ground.  If you're from around here, you understand that that is a big deal - snow sticking around for a week.  It's usually gone in a day.  I want to be warm - not hot, but warm. 

Here are the two questions for this week.  Grab them, post them, then come on back and link up. 

What types of inclement weather did you have to deal with as a child? Have you ever been through a monster blizzard, hurricane, tornado? How did your family handle it?


What states have you lived in? If you could relocate to anywhere in the U.S., where would it be? Why?



What types of inclement weather did you have to deal with as a child? Have you ever been through a monster blizzard, hurricane, tornado? How did your family handle it?

I’ve been through several blizzards living in Colorado and Wyoming, but nothing that was too big of a deal to handle. We would occasionally have a tornado out in the prairie areas. I’ve never been threatened by a tornado, but I have crawled on top of a roof to watch one way out in the distance. It sounds a lot more reckless than it is. You can see for miles and miles and miles (just like the song) in the flatlands of Colorado. Completely foreign to my Southern friends now. One viewing did manage to get me blown off a roof. Again, not as bad as it sounds. I was going to get down and didn’t anticipate for the wind. Ended up down a lot faster and a lot less safely than I originally anticipated. A few scratches and a big bruise on my pride, but other than that all was Ok. I’d probably still do it today – I’d always much rather see things for myself than read about them.

What states have you lived in? If you could relocate to anywhere in the U.S., where would it be? Why?

I’ve lived in Wyoming, Colorado, Washington and North Carolina. Right now, I’m in no rush to get out of NC. I still do love Colorado, but home is here. We’ve been here so long now. I would love, one day, to buy an old farmhouse and renovate it. So, I would relocate to someplace rural. I was thinking the mountains, but this cold snap has made me think twice about those frigid winters. Maybe just farther out in the county. I’m gonna have me some chickens one day!