4-H Results

The girls did very well on their projects.

Sami turned in 5 projects. Of her projects...

• Herbs, Reserve Grand Champion. She turned in samples of oregano and basil.
• Collections, Champion with Honorable Mention. She used her Webkinz Collection.
• Painting, latch hook pillow, and cat poster, all Blue Ribbons.

Megan turned in 4 projects. Of her project...

• Sew for Fun, Reserve Champion with Honorable mention. This was her butterfly pillow.
• Collections, Blue with Honorable Mention.
• Painting and latch hook pillow, all Blue Ribbons.

Good job, girls!

McCormick's Creek

We spent all of last week at McCormick’s Creek State Park. My in-laws rented a fairly primitive cabin in a heavily wooded section of the park. My father-in-law was only there two nights (he was working), so it was mostly just my mother-in-law, my two girls, and me for the week. I was the “man” of the house all week.

It’s funny that some people consider this being out in the country. There are fourteen cabins in the woods, but they are all close together like in a suburb. I know that it would be completely impractical to give each cabin its own acre of land, but a little more space would have been nice. Like, more than 50 yards. I like my privacy. I also like not having the idiot cabin next to me having his porch light on all night shining right in my eyes, when it’s too hot to close the curtains to shut out the light. They even had a window air conditioning unit running. Wimps.

Each cabin has very basic furniture, but we had to supply everything else, like pots and pans, linens, and good humor. We had to bring our own cleaning supplies, since we have to clean our own cabin when the week is over. We had to bring enough stuff that it took us about two hours to unload and unpack. It was exhausting. I started thinking that a couple of extra bucks to spend the week in the hotel would have been worth it.

There were two sets of tiny twin bunk beds in a room that was smaller than a walk-in closet. I didn’t know that a bunk bed could be smaller than twin, so I’m assuming that the park staff found a sale on toddler mattresses and stocked up. With the two bunk beds in the bedroom/closet, there was approximately 12 square feet left to get dressed.

The living room had a fold out couch that was malfunctioning and couldn’t be folded out (after two nights of forcing the bed out, maintenance was called and was able to fix it in two minutes). There were “primitive” chairs and tables for that woodsy touch, and (thank the Lord) a ceiling fan. No air conditioning meant that the fan was most welcome.

The bathroom was just fine, except for the three times that we had to call maintenance to get the toilet fixed. The toilet, strangely enough, was hooked up to the hot water supply. Every time one sits to potty, your butt got a good steaming. No one lingers on a toilet when you are, literally, sweating you’re a$$ off. It turns out that the hot water, however uncomfortable, keeps the condensation out of the bathroom and keeps the floor dry. The hotel is sounding better.

The toilet wouldn’t shut off and kept running water through. Did I mention that it was attached to our tiny water heater? That meant that we didn’t have any hot water for a shower. I would normally fix the toilet myself, but this was a power-flush model (not gravity fed). Maintenance came out and tried to fix it. After three people came and scratched their heads at how to get it to stop, they decided to replace the whole top tank.

Two hours later, with the new tank top in place, we got a new problem. The toilet whistled. I’m not talking a quiet little “peep” like some toilets do. I’m talking about the screech you get when someone drives down the road with low steering wheel fluid and it wakes up the whole neighborhood kind of whistle. It sounded like someone was killing a cat and a screech owl at the same time. Maintenance couldn’t get the whistle to stop, and started to talk about moving us to another cabin. We were horrified at the thought of moving and we quickly accepted the screaming, screeching toilet. That hotel is sounding pretty good right now.

A couple of days later, we found out that the new tank that was installed wasn’t installed correctly. Now when we flushed, we got a spraying shower of toilet water and screaming. We called maintenance again, but since this time it was after hours, we got the night maintenance man. He was nice, but he wasn’t all there. He saw the problem, said that there was nothing he could do, and told us that we could put our towels around the toilet to absorb the water all over the floor. EXCUSE ME??? OUR TOWELS??? He finally offered to get some old towels from the maintenance shop to wipe up the water. While he was away, I figured out that the tank was leaning back and wasn’t seated right, so he did call in the supervisor. They got some 2x4 boards and propped the tank forward so that at least we could flush. We were leaving in a day, so I told them not to replace the tank until we left. They agreed. Hotel, anyone?

We did have a good time with our activities. The girls made sure that I didn’t get to sit and have too much quiet time. We spent several hours/days at the waterfall playing and swimming. We went for a nature walk in the woods, where we learned that whining is in endurance sport and can, indeed, last for more that 1 ½ miles. We let the girls go shopping in town, where the girls spent an hour picking out the just-right Webkinz while planning their next shopping trip. We went to the recreation center and spent approximately $50 on gum ball capsule toys.

We went horse back riding, too. Sami got a horse named Pal, Meg got a little horse named Little Bit, and I got one named Thunder. I found out quickly why my horse was named Thunder. It farted the entire hour ride. I’m not talking little dainty farts. It was named Thunder for a reason.

It rained every day, up until the last two days when we got a heat index of over 100 degrees. The wimpy idiot in the cabin next to us is feeling pretty smug at this point, with his air conditioning and all. I didn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me envy his air conditioning unit. I waiting until dark, and snuck over in his bright porch light, and quietly whimpered.

I should finish out by saying that we did have a good time. I grilled out a lot, got some reading in, and we played a lot of games. Despite the rain, we did get some good time outside. The girls even played with sidewalk chalk, blew bubbles, and rode bikes. I can’t wait to go again next year, but this time I’m bring extra fans for the windows.

Growing Up

I was watching my youngest daughter sleeping this morning. I love that she is eight years old. She is old enough to participate in all sorts of activities, yet young enough to see the wonder and magic in the world. She is very smart and can carry on an intelligent conversation.

While pondering this I realized that she will be nine years old in three months. It shocked me into the realization that she is growing up too fast! My oldest is ten years old and I already went through this with her, but I think it hit me harder this morning because I don't have any more "babies" to go through this.

It also makes me realize that I don't have an endless supply of time to make sure that they are educated enough to comfortably ease into college. I know nearly every homeschooler feels this way, that they are afraid of missing teaching their children something and leaving their children shortchanged. I felt that way even more this morning.

I hope I stay rational and not try cramming stupid facts and figures down their gullets. Stay the course and keep learning fun and meaningful. In the mean time, I'm going to research a pill that will prevent the girls from growing any more so that I can always have my little girls.

Tea Party

The Brown County Public Library had a Tea Party last Saturday, hosted and sponsored by the Friends of the Library. The whole occasion is fun yet formal. The hostesses bring their best china and linens, and bring wonderful homemade fingerfood. Sami's picture made the front page of the Brown County Democrat above the fold, but Megan was thrilled that her arm made the front page. Thank you, Brown County Democrat, for putting so many nice pictures online.

Emotional Development (A Tween is Emerging!)

My oldest daughter has always shown a lot of emotion. She is the type to let everyone know how she feels. She doesn't lash out, scream, or announce how she is feeling in words. She shows how she is feeling in her body language.

She has always been prone to crying. When she is confused, upset, sad, angry...pretty much any negative emotion...she cries. Now that she is ten and her body is going through numerous changes, the crying has increased. It would seem that she is on an emotional set of scales, and it is balanced just evenly, and anything that tips it starts the crying.

She is also finding it difficult to find balance in knowing what is and isn't a real problem. She appears to be looking for fault in everything, and makes big problems where no problems exist (at least not big problems) so that she can complain about it and have a "rational" excuse to be upset.

For example, when we were at the pool yesterday, she was putting on her brand new swimming goggles (she lost the last ones two days earlier, but that's another story). She just couldn't get them to fit right. After five minutes of finding fault with every aspect of her new goggles, she put on mine that she really likes. After swimming for five minutes, she brought them back saying that she just couldn't see clearly out of them. They were fogging, or there was sun screen smeared on them, or something that just didn't matter. She layed on the lounge chair and pouted and cried quietly for a few minutes. We "talked" (meaning that I talked and she listened) about how this wasn't a big of a deal, and she should be happy about what is going right.

I wouldn't let her back in the water until she calmed down and felt better. Once she did calm down, she decided to swim without any goggles and was happy then. She announced that she felt better, and I could tell by her body language that she did indeed feel better. She just needed to get her feelings out. I did manage to get her new goggles adjusted, and then she was happy with those, too. She was happy the rest of the day.

We've been going through this nearly every day. If it's not swim goggles, it's food. Or clothes. Or shoes. Or toys. Or TV. Or a game. Or a book. She is searching for something to blame her emotions on so that she doesn't have to feel this lousy with her new hormones on her own merit. If she blames something else for making her feel this way, then it won't be her fault.

We've been talking about all the changes that her body is going through, and that her hormones are wreaking havoc on her emotions. She doesn't think it's right nor fair that she should have to feel this lousy just because she is becoming a young woman. I don't enjoy these emotions myself, but I explained to her that God made women emotional and loving so that we would love and nurture our families. Understanding the problem is the first step to dealing with it, but it's too early for her to see the benefits of feeling strong emotions.

I am very grateful that she has not been nasty or hateful when she feels bad. That would make dealing with this much worse. We will get through this. She is a good girl and a loving girl. I feel bad that she is struggling with her hormones. I have trouble with my hormones as well, so I am able to help her understand them from an experienced point of view. We will get through this with much patience and love.

Vacation

The girls and I are going on a little vacation with my in-laws. Dave is still in Iraq and won't be with us, but that is what Dave wanted. When he is on vacation, he wants to spend most of his time at home with us and not in a big group setting.

We will be at McCormick's Creek State Park. It is a homeschooler's paradise. There are numerous creeks they can explore for fossils, water falls that they can play in and climb (if they are big enough this year), nature galore, hiking trails, horseback riding, nature center, and a swimming pool. There is a cave that, in years past, we could climb through and explore with flashlights, but I think it will still be closed due to issues they are having with their bats and white-nose disease; it is thought that humans may be carriers, but they don't really know what is causing it.

We will be staying at a cabin that has basic furniture, bathroom and a tiny range, but we have to furnish everything else (sheets, pots and pans, coffee pot, cleaning supplies, etc). It's a lot of work for me and my mother-in-law (I call it a working vacation), because we still have to cook and keep everything picked up, but we still end up having fun in the end.

There is no TV, and that is just fine with us. The girls don't miss that at all. They've planned their own activities to stay busy this year. They've got latch hook kits, books, games, books on CD, bikes, sidewalk chalk, and lots of paper art material. I'll bring their bird books and bug books so that they can identify what they find when they are exploring. In years past I've tried to provide educational material to keep them busy but, as you can imagine, that didn't go over so well. I'm embracing our inner Waldorf/Unschooling hearts this year.

Two downfalls of going on vacation is that: #1 - we've have to arrange animal care for our animals, and #2 - We have to come back halfway through vacation to turn in their 4-H projects and get their leader's signatures. Oh well. At least it's only 1 1/2 hours away.

I just need to pick up some poison ivy cleaning lotion, and we'll be set. :)

4-H Projects

The girls are getting through their 4-H projects quite nicely. Sami has five projects, and Megan has four. While initially I thought that they chose too many projects, I wanted them to learn that choices have consequences. It turns out that, while they are working like little demons to get their projects done, they are enjoying making their projects very much, even with the deadlines. I'm very proud of their good attitudes in making their projects, even if they hate the paperwork.

I've been pretty proud of me this year, too. At least as far as their projects are concerned. I've managed to stay out of their way and just give them the tools they need to get the job done. I've helped where help was asked, and given advice when it was obvious that it was needed. I started giving unsolicited advice a couple of times, and it completely backfired. They need to do their projects their way, both for their self confidence and for the actual judging at the fair.

I could see myself easily turning into one of those parents that does a project for the kids, just so it looks like what I would want it to look like. Have you seen that Subaru commercial, where the Boy Scouts built and raced little wooden cars? The kid in the commercial built his own car, and it wasn't perfect; another kid had his "perfect" car handed to him by his parent, implying that the parent did it for him. I hate those types of parents, and yet I wanted to do it soooooo badly.

Do I feel that way because I want them to succeed? Obviously, if I do it for them, they aren't succeeding at all. We would all fail. So why do I still get the urge to jump in and help where it isn't needed? I guess I want us to look good and impress other people. Yes, I can be that shallow sometimes. I am human, after all! But I am still growing and maturing, even at 43 years of age.

4-H and Twaddle

The 4-H Motto is:

I pledge my Head to clearer thinking,
My Heart to greater loyalty,
My Hands to larger service,
My Health to better living,
For my club, my community, my country, and my world.

This is our second year doing 4-H projects, so I can't speak from a viewpoint of one who is experienced with years of 4-H. This is my view as a relative newbie and a homeschooler.

My kids are hands-on learners. The love to pick things up, investigate things with their hands and eyes, take things apart, and put things together. This part of their 4-H projects is great. They get to create things and investigate things and turn them in to the fair for others to see. If they do well, then they can earn a ribbon for their efforts. 4-H projects give them deadlines and rules so that they learn to work within real life parameters, and that procrastination is not their friend. What I don't like about their projects is the twaddle paperwork.

For example, Sami is doing an herb project. Growing herbs is great, as is learning how to harvest properly and how to dry/preserve them for later use. In order to turn in her project, though, she had to complete five of seven requirements, which included a word search, regurgitating answers throughout her booklet of what was just read in the previous paragraph, and answer trivia questions that weren't even in the booklet but the answers were on the next page and the kids just had to copy down the answers.

For a kid who is just learning writing skills, this was torture. She was literally in tears trying to complete a project that normally would bring her joy. Doing the twaddle work was like bringing a party pooper to a celebration. Like creating a painting that your little brother smeared with mud. Like playing at the park and getting knocked down by a bully. Sami was learning, excited, smiling, asking questions...and then came the joy killer. It took the joy right out of learning.

It's been forever since I was at public school myself, but I remember doing twaddle work. Read something, memorize it, regurgitate it, and forget it. I think for 4-H to be autonomous from public school, it needs to quit modeling its projects after public school assignments. Kids don't need busy work. They need to learn and have a joy of learning.

Where in the 4-H Motto does it say that they need to pledge their Head to memorizing and regurgitating? Clearer thinking...loyalty...larger service...better living...no where does it say to waste time doing twaddle. It's counter productive and opposite of the 4-H motto.

This is why I've turned to unschooling and put away the workbooks for now. Kids need to love learning, not just regurgitate facts on a piece of paper. There will be time for that later in life.