Back to Public School, Committed and Carpooling

It's only May and her last eighth grade semester homeschooling doesn't end for 17 week days, but Emily has already made the James Bowie High School Color Guard.  Why audition so early?  Because spring band camp starts next week.  Oh no, the Bowie Band and Color Guard (The Guard) doesn't begin practicing when the fall semester hits, these kids will be putting in almost 300 hours rehearsing before the first day of school.  Why, you ask.  Because the James Bowie High School Outdoor Performing Ensemble are BOA Grand National Championship Finalists. That's why!

This year, The Guard practices 32 of the 80 days of summer break. That means 72 hours  learning the flag routine and 224 hours practicing it with the marching band in the Texas heat.  No wander the JBHS Color Guard member contractual agreement holds them to all scheduled rehearsals and events, leaving a little over 650 hours of free time in their  48 days this summer.

As a band ensemble mom, I look forward to helping car pool band and guard teens the 5 miles from their homes somewhere near the High School for their three times a day practices with the marching band. It will be interesting driving teenagers to Burger Stadium for their 8:00 am rehearsals.  Then I will make myself available to transport them back and forth for their two hour lunch and dinner breaks in their 13 hour days in the sweltering August temperatures. I will be making sure they have water, food, and a cool place to rest when they are in my care.  It will be a privilege to serve the children of these dedicated band families! Not sure if I'll be up for the 9:00 pm trip getting them back home safely, but by then most of their parents should be off work or the evening shift drivers can handle the task. We know these families are NOT taking vacation in August! Unless they have someone to watch their children, like we will.

How was I supposed to know last year not to schedule our 25th honeymoon cruise to Alaska in August? Thank God for retired parents who can travel here to stay with Emily, so she can make her JBHS Color Guard commitment! If you see my dad and mom dropping her off or picking her up, give them a shout out for me.  They are saving the day for me, for a week!!

So thankful for healthy parents and child who can compete with one of the best marching bands in the nation. I truly believe God has given me a blessed life.  With a supportive husband and an only child, we have more time and means to serve our community.  In each chapter of life, I simple sit back and wait for the opportunities to bless the people God brings into my daughter and my life.  It's better than playing Santa Claus once a year.  I look forward to the daily gig carpooling that will enable me to interact with Emily's new friends. And the week with my husband in the untamed wilderness of God's country!

Emotional Healing Through Homeschool

At the beginning of the 2014/2015 school year, we pulled our 8th grader out of public school. She had been begging me to homeschool her through most of her second semester of her seventh grade year. Her sensitive spirit was getting pummeled every day. She was taking to heart all of the mean things kids were saying to her in the hallways and under their breath in the classroom. She was called names, bad names, and really bad names. Her previous classmates and strangers spewed ugly words at her for no reason. Even the friend she spent the most time with outside of school would turn on her at school. This girl would call her a cow in the lunchroom and make comments about her breaking the seat at their table if she sat on it. She told her and the other kids at the table the seat wasn't big enough for her fat butt. My daughter took her crap and continued to be her friend at home. But soon, my child was not eating lunch at school and to avoid ridicule, she spent her lunch period in the bathroom. Alone.

I knew the situation was bad, because my daughter's sunny demeanor was turning gray. I was letting her ride her tough friendship out, knowing girl's friendships can be on & off in cycles. She always made friends easily, was very outgoing, enjoyed being around people. She was fun- loving, witty, but something had changed in 7th grade.  With all the girls.  She tried to develop a shield, but it closed her off. It didn't protect her enough. She was getting seriously injured as time went by.
And how was her dad & I equipping her?  We told her to hang in there, to stick it out. Not to believe the things people said about her. To forgive the mean girls. To show them how to be kind. Learn to go with the flow, and this time will pass.
She knew she was loved. By all of my friends, by her dad, by her extended family. But that wasn't enough. She needed to be accepted by her peers. Included into their social circles. Brought into their safe havens. She was alone. She was unprotected. And her bestie was the the one whose words cut the deepest. So she worked the hardest to win her approval. She let this girl abuse her, call the shots, demean her, and take away part of her self.

At home things were better than at school and we didn't really know how badly our child was being wounded. We didn't know the power of the lunchroom drama and our girl was too ashamed to reveal it. This girl flew under the parental radar like a pro. She held my daughter's heart in her hand and only squeezed it when we were not looking. Clever!
Instead of coming clean at a parent meeting between the girls and moms, the girl sat silent and made my daughter out to be a fool. Later she set up her up for a fall. It worked and her mother banned my child from her child. She believed her daughter's lies and severed ties between us all. Thank God!

We felt relieved. It was a loss at first but we've become healthier without these people in our lives. And we forgave them.

This week is spring break, and we are two-thirds finished with our eighth grade year of homeschooling together. My daughter has really blossomed cognitively, mentally, physically, and emotionally and socially.  She has made new friends at her homeschooling academies and rekindled old friendships worth keeping. Best of all, she has figured out she sold herself short in her previous relationship and mistakenly gave someone else power over her.

My daughter is happy, witty and fun-loving again. Her grayness has become a calm blue with highlights of sunny yellow.
So glad to have my girl back!

Stay tuned for more about our homeschool days...and plans for high school...

Lessons in Protecting My Child's Innocence

After saying, "No" for months, I activated my old iPhone for my teen daughter.  I knew this meant more work for me to keep a watch on her social media activities and protect her from sexual predators.  I was willing to invest in that, so she could have this luxury item.  Immediately she started filling up her screen with apps, so I did too.  I learned about a tracker app, Life 360, and now I feel empowered about keeping tabs on my daughter's physical location.  It checks her in when she gets home and I get an email.  Plus it shows registered sex offenders who live around us. Just letting her be outside can be dangerous these days. I rely on the buddy system most of the time.

So, Not only do I have to protect her from sexual predators near and far, i's my job to protect her mind too. The filth in the world now has a direct line to my child if I am not careful.  A friend recommended I always have the password for all devices that plug in.  Sage advice.  And I know how sneaky teens can be...I was one once.

Things have gone along well so far until recently, when I became suspicious of the hours of "reading" she was doing on her phone.  She had been asking me to get the app too and read things I am interested in. She told me she was reading fanfic about her favorite boy band and described what that was, no I didn't know.  I put her off, thinking all was good, not taking her up on her offer or checking into this further.  Was she trying to ask me to check on her? Making sure she was abiding by the conservative rule of thumb of our home? 

Not long ago She got a Facebook account because she became of legal age, but I knew that medium was passé.  Instagram and Snapchat were the next new apps teens were into.  I made myself aware of these foto apps by having accounts and sending out pix on them too. ( No I'm not trying to be a hip mom). Thank God I had worked with the youth at church to observe the changing trends of the next best app.  I would have been focused on watching the wrong app for insight into my daughter's developing social media habits.

That is just it, these apps trend in and out faster and faster and a parent can have a difficult time keeping a good grasp on their teens safety let alone protect their children's innocence. But I

won't be fooled or left behind in the uploading dust of my daughter. I have relied on other mom's advise and always welcome yours! Dad's too.

Now to my latest catch, the wattpad app.  It has a worthy description and it seems like a great reading and publishing resource.  Ya, right!  I finally took our girl up on her offer to try it and immediately became alarmed.  I was able to read some pretty racy stuff and there is even easily accessible rated R literature on this sight. Along with real authors, anyone can publish graphic pieces of a story and get immediate feedback by world hungry teens.  There are no rating filters in place, that I saw.  If you are reading other teens writings the format is very alluring.  The reader is left hanging chapter by chapter, until the "author" publishes the next excerpt. I imagine the feedback gives the young authorship more incentive to create a more adult text each time they post more of their fiction. And some start out with lusty scenes I never want my teen to read.

Needless to say, I have been awakened to the increasing intensity of this job of protecting my daughter's innocence.  We both deleted our wattapps and from now on I will take her up on her offer of checking out the true content of an app she asks to download.

What experiences have you encountered that might aid me in keeping some of my girl's innocence intact?

First Redecorating Pix

Our decorator Elizabeth Hall Designs (http://www.elizabethhalldesigns.com/) has helped us making choices with our downstairs living spaces. We are using the traditional style in the living room and breakfast area with western style in the adjoining family room. We got a few new pieces of furniture and all new curtains, which we are waiting to hang. The painters will be here next week to turn our drab living room walls into green and boring family room walls tan with one faux leather looking wall. Note: the entertainment center will move behind the chairs where the table was located. I hung an open frame around my family/home/blessing wall decal. The red chair will accompany my new secretary across from the new kitchen table. More pix to come...

Nanna's Style

Nanna didn't have money to decorate her home and didn't particularly want her walls to look like everyone else's with store bought pictures. She took a folk art oil class and enjoyed painting, so she began filling her home with her own painted things. Soon she was on her way to creating the home she wanted.

Nana's painted projects began to include crafts too. She got many ideas for things to paint from magazines, craft shows, and stores. She enjoyed shopping antique shops and collecting items to embellish. She was always sketching ideas for things to create and display in her home. She would incorporated textiles, metal, ribbons & twine. She also was an accomplished seamstress and she knew how to use a drill press and jig saw. Eventually she was making annual Christmas decorations to sell and share with family members. Each holiday there were different nick nacks she had spent hours making, so her decor was updated and fit her own style.

One of my favorite paintings is on an old wooden ironing board. She hung it with an antique iron piece and an old painted match holder.

This is one she did and framed.

She made each item in this vignette, including the shelf.

This was an old sled decoration she took apart and painted the bottom.

Here's a glittery Santa craft.

And this is the whole Christmas display. She is so good at decorating!

This is a closed off doorway, so they built a cabinet below and a niche above. She painted the interior, hung the mirror & placed a few old items with a live plant. So tastefully done.

She painted this lamp and framed a picture from a child's book.

Nanna created this corner shelf and another one like it on each side of the guest bed. She made the headboard from a fence she painted white. It is clever how she built the shelf with the cord behind it. The lace which overhangs the small shelf finishes it off well!

This chest was painted by Nanna and she covered a hole on it with the plaque. She used books to bring height to the ceramic duck and the cake stand to heighten the flowerpot. The two pictures were framed children's book illustrations. Everything is set on a doily or lace cloth and makes it look very feminine.

These are framed doilies, and the top one has an old button on it.

This dormer is decked out! Nana painted the cabinet and created and sewed the cat family. The antique mirror and oak shelf are mismatched but really work. The live plants are on hand cut/hand painted plant stands. She made the valance to go with the lace sheers. Can you tell her favorite colors are pink & green?

This is only a sampling of the decor she has had displayed in her home over the years. It is mostly one of a kind and is personalized for a traditional American home. Nanna has a true talent for interior design!