Tree of Life Mothering

Have you wanted to start a group for boys that ignites a love of learning? I have 5 boys, and I have seen how fun it is to have them go once a week to a boys’ club between the ages of 8 and 12. This is different from Cub Scouts. It’s the Mastering Knighthood club. It has been a great social and educational supplement to our homeschooling routine. The boys are encouraged to learn by reading at home and coming up with a craft, activity, or game to share with the other boys. There are no writing requirements. 

The boys learn to lead each other in activities, learn the Hero’s Creed, and read and discuss one chapter book a month about a great hero who exemplifies the monthly theme. We are starting a Mastering Knighthood Club here in southeast AZ. It’s going to be great! Every September the boys can attend the Mastering Knighthood Summit in Utah where they put what they learn into practice from the clubs with an awesome simulation of defending a kingdom against evil. It gives me chills listening to the music in the video below, from the 2013 summit.

We get to attend the summit at the end of this week, I am so excited! My older son, pictured below, will be the Head Master Knight. All of my four older boys have participated in some way through the years, either as a teenage helper volunteer knight or as a participant. It has given them great lessons in leadership, teamwork, and choosing the right. Go here, read about the program, and scroll to the bottom to sign up. You will get details instructions on how to start your own club, in one pdf. The other pdf you get will give you the monthly themes and book recommendations for 2016-2017. Attendance at the summit is not required, it is just a huge, nice bonus if you can afford it! Huzza! Huzza!

Photo Credit: Jamie Martin from simplehomeschool.net

Doesn’t this page from an adult coloring book look so fun? You can get it free by buying a copy of Give Your Child the World. Both books are produced by homeschooling mom and blogger Jamie C. Martin. Buy the book and then go here to get the link to the form where you put your email address and Amazon order #. 

I am going to print out the pages and encourage my kids to color while we do our morning reading aloud during devotional. Maybe I will get them to read while I color, or we will pop a book on CD in and color all together!

You can read my review of Give Your Child the World here. It’s such a great book with tons of book recommendations for cultures around the world, both picture books and chapter books. I recommend it to all parents, not just homeschoolers. Enjoy!

You can even color Green Gables!

Photo Credit: Jamie Martin of simplehomeschool.net

For one of our recent movie date nights at home, dh picked Roman Holiday. It’s an old classic with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. As a clean romantic comedy set in Rome, it is a national treasure. Audrey is so lovely and Gregory so handsome so I enjoyed watching it. Dh actually fell asleep at the climactic end. So he asked me about it the next morning and I told him, “Well, it was OK, but it’s a bummer that there wasn’t more meaning to the movie.”

All during the next day, I felt frustrated about the movie. It was fun to watch, but… I was having thoughts like, “That movie didn’t do anything for me. Now that I am a tired middle-aged mom, it’s just not worth it to watch two strangers fall in love after touring Rome for a day, lying to each other, then kiss passionately in the backseat of a car, and then say good-bye forever.” (Sorry for any spoilers there.) Another thought was a repeat of what I had earlier this year, where I was thinking, “The typical boy-meets-girl, boy-chases-girl, boy-gets-girl is so shallow. All the joy and meaning comes after the marriage! I want to watch movies about married love and how to strengthen my marriage.”

But then, a strange thing happened. The second day after watching it, I started having thoughts about how I could actually relate to Roman Holiday. That movie actually did do something for me!

How many times have I felt stuck in life, just like Audrey did in her role as Princess Anne? How many times have I felt like escaping from my domestic and mothering duties and outside commitments to run away and play, even if it is just on my smartphone? How many times have I felt like the grind of being a homeschooling mom is suffocating the life out of me? Plenty! Actually, it’s not the actual homeschooling that has taken place at home that has nearly suffocated me, it’s the running around doing errands and taking kids to classes and activities that made me want to stay home to relax after chores are done. On top of that, every year in this last month of August, for the past oh, I would say, 6 years, I have dreaded starting another year of homeschooling in my small house. Because we moved last December to AZ and I have a bigger home (which also means bigger kitchen) I no longer have that August dread/disappointment/frustration/anger. Hip hip hooray! Of course I still occasionally feel like I want a change of pace, even in this new (to me) home. So I realized I actually learned a lot from that movie.

I learned that if/when I am feeling stuck, it’s time to take a holiday, not a Roman Holiday, but a Homeschooling Mom Holiday! So here’s how to do it! You, like me, probably can’t take a day or a week off from mothering whenever you feel like it, but you can do the following to feel invigorated/ inspired/ and happy about life so you can face the grind. Do at least one of these things each day to inject some zest into your life.

1. Go to the library. Get a new book to read to yourself. Become friends with me on goodreads.com to see what I am reading. Better yet, get a whole stack of books that relate to some of your passions.

2. Get new books to read aloud to your children, picture books and chapter books. I have lots of recommendations here. You can also find a boatload of recommendations in the book pictured above written by homeschooling mom Jamie C. Martin. It’s less than $8 on amazon.com for the paperback and less than 10 bucks for the Kindle format! It’s such a great deal! You can read my review here. I found books in here I had never heard of before and have loved reading them to my kids. We are in two of the chapter books recommended for Europe. I read them to the kids while they do the dishes and fold the clean laundry. They totally intrigue me, every day they have me wondering what is next! As a bonus to buying the book on Amazon, you can email Jamie your order number and she will email you a download of her new companion coloring book for adults.

3. Find a new form of exercise to do. T-tapp, bike riding, and Pilates are my favorites.

4. Get outside in nature everyday. Soak in the sun to get some Vitamin D into your body while reading a book, or go walking or biking.

5. In the movie, Audrey’s character Princess Ann/Anya spends the day with a stranger, news reporter Joe Bradley. Of course, they fall in love. I am not saying to fall in love with a stranger, but do create romance with your husband. Do this by trying out something new you don’t usually do. Play with him like you never have before. You can get tons of romantic ideas here. Try sock wrestling! That’s where you each put on a pair of socks. The goal is to be the last one with your socks on, while you get your husband’s socks off! Write love notes for his lunch or send him a love text in the middle of the day. Create a love songs playlist on Youtube. Play it on your phone while you stand looking in his eyes, swaying to the music, before you go to bed. Thanks to one of my Eternal Warriors Healthy Eating Students for this tip!

6. Spend a week or two with a commitment to organize 15 minutes a day. You will be amazed at the order you can create and what you can attract when you create order. Check out my cute friend Becky Edwards’ packet of handouts here to guide you on an organizing journey. Better yet, take her next class, either online or in person!

7. Change up your clothes a bit like Audrey does in the movie. Her character escapes the palace in a blouse and skirt, and the next day she rolls up the sleeves to be more casual and magically gets a scarf around her neck. Don’t let the thought of changing your look overwhelm you. For help, find out what energy type you are at dressingyourtruth.com so you can find what looks best on you. We don’t all look like Audrey but we each have our own beauty! If you can’t afford a whole wardrobe at new clothing prices, have a yard sale or ebay sale with the usable stuff you clear out in step 5. With the money you earn, go thrifting. Most of my clothes come from thrift stores. Buy some new (to you) clothes, housewares, or dishes that fit your energy type.

8. Before Anya starts touring Rome, she gets some new sandals and then tries them out on the Spanish steps. It’s still warm enough weather that you can find a pair too, even at the thrift store! I have been blessed to find two of the cutest pairs of sandals ever at the thrift store in the past 3 years. They were high quality (Vera Wang and Aerosoles) and looked brand new.  I’m not into the gladiator-type ones she gets in the movie, these are more my style. The ones I found had black soles and gold straps. They are so perfect for a Dressing Your Truth Type 4/1, which is what I am.

9. Watch Though None Go With Me. It will give you a new perspective on life. I have it posted here, it is so beautiful! And it’s about married love! Another great movie about a loving marriage is A Vow to Cherish.

10. Anya learns a new skill by buzzing around Rome on a scooter.  Pick a new skill you want to learn. It may not be as glamorous as touring the Eternal City on a Vespa but it will still be fun! Spend at least 15 minutes a day, every weekday, on it. Be sure to do it in front of your kids. It’s time for me to get back to learning how to draw! That’s one thing I love, and this love has brushed off on both of my daughters. I consistently did it for a time, and both daughters saw me do it. Now they are both great at drawing, because they have gone off and worked on it on their own with all of my drawing books.

11. Find someone who is more lonely or stuck than you are and go serve them with a treat, an act of service, new music, or all three. My blogging sister tipped me off about Justin Roberts’ music. It’s fun for adults and children.

12. In the movie, Anya and reporter Joe go out to a dinner party. Take a cue from them and throw your own! Since you most likely won’t have undercover government agents that get discovered, yours won’t turn into a brawl. Invite some couples over for some board games, like Apples to Apples, or Word on the Street. Or have a Girls’ Night Out with the ladies in your church group, homeschool group, or neighborhood. Invite everyone to bring a potluck dish to share and any clothing items they want to pass on. Then let them pick out what is being passed on to take home. (You get bonus points if you teach them about Dressing Your Truth!) It’s a “put and take potluck”!

13. Get a haircut or new hairstyle just like Audrey did in the movie. I have tons of hairstyles posted here! If you want to be bold, get a new hair color!

14. Take the Homeopathy for Moms Book club written by Paola Brown. Announcement coming soon on the next one I’m offering!

15. Plant something in a pot. It’s late in the season right now, but you can always plant herbs indoors any time of year!

16. Go exploring in your local area and find a cultural attraction like Anya and Joe do when they visit the Mouth of Truth. Google your area to find such places or use an app like Clio.

17. Get some humor in your life like Gregory Peck did in the movie. Pulling his hand into his sleeve wasn’t part of the script, he did it impromptu. So that laughter of Audrey’s is not acting. The book pictured below has been a consistent family favorite at our house. Buy it or borrow from the library, bring it to the dinner table, and surprise your family with some jokes they’ve never heard.

18. Discover a new frozen treat like Anya does when she eats her gelato on the Spanish steps. I have some healthful ice cream recipes here. If you want something sweet but not cold, you can find some recipes for sweets made with whole sweeteners here. Or branch out to try new recipes of other types of food. I’ve got some links for great recipes here and here.

19. Last but not least, watch Roman Holiday and see if you can get more inspiration for your own holiday.

Happy discovering of your own delights so that every day feels a bit like a homeschooling holiday!

The following is a true conversation:

My husband:  “Now, who are the people in this movie? Jo…Beth…?” (This was as we started one of our at-home movie date nights a few weeks ago.)

Me: (feeling amused that he is mistaking Pride and Prejudice for Little Women, being patient, and holding back laughter) “Um…I think you are thinking of Little Women. This is totally different. It’s Pride and Prejudice.” (Perhaps this is the way he might feel if I called a pair of needle-nosed pliers a crescent wrench. Except I would never make that mistake, because I honestly know the difference, and he didn’t. So, OK,  this would be like me confusing two different parts of a car, of which I am barely familiar.)

I guess we had been watching one too many “bonnet movies” as Glenn Beck calls them, for our date nights. Pride and Prejudice and Little Women are soooo different. Different authors, different countries, different continents, different time periods, different families. One is totally made up, the other is fairly autobiographical. But, to give him credit, both movies are about families of all girls. Perhaps when you are male, these movies that feature mostly girls as characters pre-1900 all run together.

So I decided we needed a break from bonnet movies. The next time we had date night, I picked up a DVD from the library, featuring a movie that my friend Sarah had recommended. It is called Though None Go With Me and I loved it.

It’s about a woman who falls in love with a small town preacher. She thinks her life will go one way when she makes a commitment with this preacher boyfriend that they will do whatever God asks of them They become engaged. Her life ends up getting completely derailed to a totally different path. The movie reinforces faith in God, being chaste, strengthening marriage and family, and serving others. Movingly, it shows the beautiful way of living an unselfish life, God-honoring life. It is clean and as a bonus, the star has totally cute dresses to fit into the setting of the 1940s. (My daughter and I love 1940s styles!)

When she is older, the main character is played by Cheryl Ladd (as in Charlie’s Angels). I didn’t even know Cheryl Ladd was still around, and it was a pleasure to see that she is still beautiful and wonderful. (Her hairstyle as the older woman did bug me a bit though, I kept wanting to comb it.) The fact that I know who Cheryl Ladd is totally dates me, I know. I mentioned this movie. including Cheryl Ladd’s name, to a young single woman who is slightly older than my firstborn and she thought I was talking about some disease or something like “sheralad.”  LOL!

Anyway, please watch this movie for your next date night, you will love it! The full movie is embedded below for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Today’s back-to-school video features Connor Boyack, the amazing guy behind the Libertas Institute. Libertas works to get liberty-based legislation passed in Utah. In this video, Connor details how he homeschools his son using his son’s passion for Angry Birds.

I’m not a huge fan of video games, just ask my kids, but even so, I found Connor’s approach refreshing. I love his idea of Passion-based Education, as long as we are always helping our kids to keep their passions grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Connor is my favorite political blogger. You can catch him here, too, but he blogs more at the Libertas Institute site. A bunch of my girlfriends had him come speak to our Zion Women’s Retreat in 2012.Wow, was that really four years ago?! Two years ago I had him speak for the award night for the Hero Project class I taught. He did a perfect job! I so appreciate his anti-statist perspective. 

I remember at the Zion Women’s Retreat we asked him how to homeschool based on his anti-statist, Zion-based, liberty-based philosophy. Not we, but some of my friends. I was chuckling softly, as they asked him that, thinking, “Girlfriends, why are you asking him? You are veteran homeschool moms and his oldest is probably like 3!” He freely admitted he wasn’t in the thick of homeschooling yet. Well girls, now we have an answer, at least for the early years, four years later. Just remember, he is not an expert. None of us are. We are all still experimenting. It is helpful though to look at those who have the fruits of what you want and follow those people. “By their fruits you shall know them.”

Connor has a new book out based on passion-based education. Here is a podcast interview all about it below.

So two weeks after my out of the nest daughter visited, we got a visit from her older brother, our returned missionary son. They are both software engineering majors at BYU-I. She just finished up her internship and he’s starting one at Familysearch tomorrow! I am so excited for him! He came home for a little summer break, after spending most of his break at my awesome brother’s house, before he goes back to the grind of being responsible working every weekday. I don’t think it will be much of a grind for him though since he will be doing computer stuff, which is his passion! Just like with my daughter, it’s so fulfilling to see the fruits of my homeschooling. I love seeing my kids go out and learn, be responsible, serve others, and earn money doing what they love! I am so envious of him! I love Familysearch and think it would be so cool to work there!

It was so great having another capable adult here at home. I could dispatch him on errands to take kids places and of course he babysat. Sometimes I wish I could just freeze time right now and have everybody stay home and never leave the nest. It’s great having so many helping hands in the form of older kids ages 22, 20, and 18. It’s just sad that they aren’t here very much to help me! (The 18 year old decided he couldn’t break away from his work in Utah, since he spent time with us in San Diego). Other times I look forward to doing what Elder Richard G. Scott’s wife did when her last child left the nest. That was to turn one of the kid’s bedrooms into a family history research office and spend all day doing family history work! That thought allows me not to be sad about all of them eventually leaving.

He got to be here on the very day of our 25th wedding anniversary! So we got to take him to the temple with us to do sealing ordinance work with family names. Some of these names were names he remembers taking to the temple to do baptisms years ago. That was wonderful! I look forward to the day when I can be in the temple with all seven children and have no “empty chairs” as Pres. Benson spoke about.

These flowers were outside the temple when we emerged. So pretty!
 

Just like with my daughter, I got to do the six hour round trip to take him to the Phoenix airport. This time it wasn’t planned though. He was going to drive to his new apartment in Utah county but the car he was driving had problems. So he stopped in Tucson and called my husband, who happened to be there for a business meeting and was able to help him. So we had to tow the car to the fix it place here in town and get him a flight home, which involved me driving him to Phoenix. I actually enjoyed the drive, it gave me a chance to have one-on-one talk and then listen to my podcasts on the way home. It also got me out of Saturday chores, hee-hee! 

It was fun to talk to him too, although it’s different than with daughters. I found out that months ago my husband allowed him to merge our Amazon Prime account with his Audible account. So now I can listen to all of his Audible books! The Way of Kings here I come! He’s been listening to it and loves it.

We explored the psychology of Amazon Prime. He said that many times he will realize he is out of something, and instead of going to Walmart in town, he will just order it on Amazon Prime. I said, yeah, it’s so easy to order stuff from there when I realize it will only take 2 days to get here. He explained the psychology of that. He said that when you order something, you probably aren’t going to order something until after it gets here, because you are so excited waiting for that thing. But then after it comes, you quickly move on to finding something else you have to buy. It’s very profitable for Amazon for our wait to be only two days, so that we have many cycles of buying, waiting, and figuring out we need something else. If we had to wait a week we definitely wouldn’t be buying as much stuff. I wonder if this was a happy accident or did Jeff Bezos figure this out beforehand?

My daughter who left the nest over two years ago got to be here for a whole week! (I wrote about when she went off to college here. Can you believe it’s been over two years? It was three years ago last month that she and I took off on the grand adventure to check out BYU-I for two days so she could make sure she wanted to go there.) I am so pleased with this baby girl, now grown! She is everything I wanted to be and more! She got a 4.0 last semester (winter) in her program at BYU-I, software engineering. For the summer she has been in Kansas City, earning great money doing an internship for a company that makes GPSes (How do I spell the plural of GPS?) It is so gratifying to see the fruits of the homeschool education I cultivated for her. 

She is a lot more adventurous than I ever was. So that means she does rock climbing and fake rock climbing and fell about 10 feet, right before our San Diego reunion vacation. For insurance purposes, she had to come to her new home here in AZ to see a doctor. I have never done so much driving in one week, than while she was here! I took her to three medical visits in Tucson, over an hour away. It was just her and me so we got lots of one on one visiting. Ever since that last year before she flew from the nest I have felt gypped of time with her. She was so busy that last year, working part time out of the home, doing tons of schoolwork to prepare for college, and taking ballet lessons 2 to 3 times a week. This last week hardly made up for that gypped year, but it did make a dent. We also got to go to the temple, both of us, with my husband, and listened to the BYU speech below. (It’s really good by the way, so be sure to watch/listen!)

The first medical visit was to have the doctor take a look and get an X-ray. The second one was to get the MRI. The third one was to get the doctor’s interpretation of the MRI. So what was the long-awaited for diagnosis? Simply, a bone bruise. What! Whoever’s heard of a bone bruise? That’s it! No break, tear, or sprain! Whew! I just wish we could have found that out in one visit. I told her that someday she gets to invent an app that will allow us to do MRI scans without doctor visits. Then we can just text the image in and get the results without leaving home three times! I have never heard of a bone bruise before.

We had such a grand time talking. The Tucson D.I. (thrift store) was down the street a few miles from the doctor’s so that first visit we went thrifting and spent over two hours trying on clothes. I don’t think my husband realized how long we would be gone. But I did, so I left a crockpot full of food for dinner. We got a super haul! She found the cutest casual brown leather Mary Janes and I found a ton of cute tops, skirts, some capris, and some gold sandals to replace the ones I have now that are falling apart. (The top and the capris in the top photo are part of the booty.) It was great to talk and revisit old memories and reevaluate what happened years ago. We talked about how we both love creating beauty, that that is part of our missions. I told her that sometimes the thought creeps in my head, “What’s the point of having beauty?” I realized as I said it that that is just the enemy’s voice. She pointed out, from listening to the BYU speech above, that having beautiful things around us, helps us to pretend to be happy, even when we are not, and that ultimately helps us be happy. You’ve just got to listen to the speech. It’s about the importance of earth life, the arts, and how “pretending” fits into all of it. 

She also talked about how much she loves BYU-I, with it’s emphasis on personalized teaching. She said that is the spirit of BYU-I. She said she was eager to get back to school there in the fall to return to her “educational roots” and have some of the same joyful roommates. We also talked about guys and that was good to hear what’s going on with her regarding them. 

I’ve learned so much from this girl! Including that it’s OK to mix prints. She loves doing that, as attested by her wearing the floral print shirt and checked shorts in the top photo. In her honor, when I drove her to Phoenix so she could catch her flight, I wore a floral top and floral skirt, of differing prints. I miss having her home still, and look forward to an eternity together!

Last month, June 2016, we had a “de facto” family reunion in Utah. It wasn’t planned as a family reunion per se with set activities every day, like swimming or boating or sightseeing. God, through His loving Providence, arranged things so that I had many separate events in Utah where I could see family and friends. I saw His hand as he arranged for all of these things to happen, within two weeks of each other and not all on the same day! I am so thankful for Him orchestrating all of this.

It was so refreshing to see my sister who I haven’t seen in over a year and all of her 6 adorable kids, ages 2 to 13. I also got to see my two sons who live away from me, hear my nephew report on his mission to Armenia, see my brother who lives in India right now on a diplomatic assignment, and see a niece off on her mission. The only family members missing were my husband, who had to stay home and work, my sister in law who was recovering from surgery, and my daughter, who is away in Kansas City for the summer working at a software company. I got to connect with my parents and siblings, talk a ton with my second cousin who is also a homeschool buddy, visit with homeschool friends as well and pick up some LDS books at a thrift store for a $1 a piece. (Pretty much impossible to find at the thrift stores in my small AZ town!) I also got to go to the temple for another nephew when he got his endowment before his mission to Virginia. God is so good!

So here is a rundown of our cousin vacation in Utah before I forget these memories!.

Day #1 Saturday

We left our home in Arizona to drive 9 miles to St. George in order to see my kids’ cousins on their dad’s side. This was the first time I have been apart from my husband for more than three or four days! He stayed in Arizona to keep working. He got to go to Utah two weeks before to see our son in a ballroom dance recital. Now it was my and the kids’ turn to go to Utah. We have to save dh’s vacation days for the Shumway family reunion in July and then our return to Utah in the fall for our son’s missionary farewell. (He has been living with friends in Utah to finish his homeschool activities before he goes on a mission. He will be receiving his call in the next month or two!)

Despite all efforts in planning we did not depart on time, which was 9 AM. I had to breathe deeply and remind myself that it’s OK to delay departures for a big trip in order to have a “teaching moment” with my kids. As we were about to leave I noticed clean clothes and toys scattered in the living room. Arrgggh! Like most moms, I get these frustrating moments when I am tempted to feel that I’ve failed as a mom. I get reminded that my kids still haven’t learned their “duties” and choose to walk by and not take care of responsibilities. I hate coming home to a messy house so I insisted they take care of these things. 

These cuties, some of our cousins, were all waiting for us in Utah! Some of them came all the way from Maine.

We finally left and drove north and west. wending our way all through Arizona: Tucson, then Phoenix, then Wickenburg, then through the Hoover Dam area, and then stopped in Mesquite for dinner. Fortunately, we did not have a flat tire in the lone wilderness of AZ on that stretch of highway between Wickenburg and Wickiup like we did three years ago! Then we went to our designated overnight place, which happened to be a luxurious vacation home owned by my friends’ parents in the St. George area. She generously let us stay there, which was such a nice treat. The kids loved playing in the swimming pool with the water slide. We got there after dark. Even though it was time for bed there was no way I wasn’t going to let them go swimming, since we had been in the car all day and needed to do something active to wind down. The pool had a huge chest next to it full of water toys, so the kids had a water gun fight at 10 PM at night. I enjoyed relaxing next to the pool, watching them, and writing in my journal. I had been in a pool and hot tub two nights before when my husband and I went on a overnighter in Tucson. Sometimes I just don’t want to go to the effort of getting on my suit, getting wet, and then drying off! So I stayed dry.

I had another frustrating mom moment during this trip to St. George. Towards the end of the trip, through Las Vegas, my younger kids kept babbling, chattering idly. That totally got on my nerves. It bothered me that they seemed incapable of talking about anything meaningful. We had been listening to books on CD but they didn’t want to pay attention. Maybe they were just done listening for the day? I got this huge stack of books on CD. We alternately listened to three books that day, 1 for adults, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, and 2 for kids, Heidi and Across Five Aprils. Those books for kids apparently were not engaging enough for them.

On the way home I noticed the same thing happened, in the last two hours. This time I offered them to use some apps on my iPad. It worked, the babbling went away. The best part is that they weren’t just playing a silly game, but they were doing Scratch, so they were learning coding. 

Day #2 Sunday- Missionary Report of our Cousin in St. George

This was our day to enjoy cousins in St. George. The cousin who is the same age as my oldest daughter, 20, reported on his mission to Armenia. He had been home for two weeks. He gave a powerful talk where we felt the Spirit. He emphasized how just as Jesus Christ asked Peter, “Dost Thou love me?”, Jesus is asking each of us that today. “Doest Thou love me?” What is our answer? If we don’t know the answer, then, my nephew challenged each of us to go home that day, to the scriptures, and then to our knees to find the answer. If we do love Jesus, then we are to feed His sheep. This is why my nephew decided to stay on his mission when it got hard. 

Later at the open house at my sister-in-law’s home I got to visit with some homeschool friends. One of them mentioned that the DeMilles took off the “not” parts from the list of the Seven Keys on their web site. I am rejoicing! I never really liked the “inspire not require” thing. That one phrase has caused so much damage in the homeschool community! I will resist the tangent, since I’ve already blogged about it. Anyway, that afternoon we drove four hours to Highland to arrive at my parents’ home where we would be spending the next week and a half. It was sooo nice to get there before dark and see my parents, brother, his wife, and kids. I had come home! My brother lives around the corner and up the street from my parents, in the same ward. This was the first time since having kids that I visited my parents’ home for more than just one night.

Day #3: My Sister and Cousins from Maine!

My baby sister  just happened to have the reunion for her husband, his parents, and siblings, and their kids, the week before this. So she decided months ago to spend the following week with our parents. When I heard about this plan, and that our brother from India would be coming as well, I just had to be there too! She got in with her kids on Sunday night from their other family reunion so Monday we got to play with them! After two days of driving, it was so relaxing to just hang out and visit. We had a Family Home Evening that night with Grandpa and Grandma, and my brother’s family. My son Dallin came down to join us so he and I had a lengthy conversation while the rest of the family broke into smaller groups of activities after the lesson and ice cream cones.

My daughter with some of her cousins.

Day #4 Service for Grandma

We spent this day hanging out some, but actually did work too. My other sister came over with her son so now the kids had even more cousins to play with. The sister from Maine and I made a menu for the week and plans for cooking, then a shopping list. While my mom, Grandma, went shopping, we rounded up the kids to do service for her. My sister got half the kids to work on putting tomato starts in pots. The other bunch of kids and I tackled cleaning out Grandma’s fridge to get ready for the new food. We threw away a bunch of stuff that my mom will never know about. shhh, don’t tell! This was somewhat cathartic, as I had meant to do this at my home before I left but didn’t get around to it. Maybe that night my husband did the same thing with my fridge! (Ha-ha, fat chance!) When my mom came home with a whole bunch of groceries to feed the crew for the week, we weren’t quite done. I had run out of energy. (Did I mention it was super hot? True to form, my parents had not turned on the swamp cooler yet so I was dying. I finally got them to turn it on a few days later. For some odd reason they tend to wait until after Independence Day!) I skipped cleaning out the top shelf of the fridge. Then we put groceries away and started fixing dinner.

My sisters and I with our niece.

Day #5 Picnic

We spent this day hanging out and gearing up for a picnic in the park. I also had to teach my Eternal Warriors Healthy Eating class online, so the kids played with their cousins while I did that. In the evening, we gathered everything up and went over to the park. The older kids played croquet and the younger kids roamed around. Everyone roasted hot dogs. Somebody decided to roast the hot dogs on sticks, held over the coals, instead of placed directly on the grills so the hot dogs took forever! Watching the croquet game reminded me of the days when my sibs and I played croquet while we were teens.

Day #6 BYU Day!

I had not planned to visit BYU-Provo when I left Arizona, but I got talked into it. I spent three years there and graduated and tend to think that I am “done” with that place. It’s an attitude to repent of I guess. It’s not that I hate it, I would be happy for my kids to be students there, I just forget that it has some cool things to see even if you aren’t a student. I discovered that my sister planned to go to the BYU Museum of Art with her friends from her old neighborhood from before she moved to Maine. When I was talking to my husband about her plans, he suggested that I take the kids to tour BYU. We have a lot of family heritage involving BYU. I got my bachelor of science degree from BYU, so I think of it as a place to study, not as a place to tour with kids. But the more I talked to my husband about it the more I decided it would be a good thing. We did take the kids there about 8 years ago to expand the vision of the older kids, and now it was time to take the younger kids, as they were 2, 3, and not even born during that last visit. As I toured the campus, tons of my memories of studying and courtship with my husband 25 years ago flooded my mind. I almost wished I could be a student again. Almost! I am glad to be done with jumping through somebody else’s hoops!

Day #7 Museum of Curiosity Day

We took the kids to the Thanksgiving Point Museum of Curiosity. It’s like the Ashtons read my mind years ago. The Ashtons are the people who own Thanksgiving Point. Two decades ago when I had just two little kids, I remember distinctly thinking, “I wish somebody in Utah Valley would build a children’s museum here! I want an indoor place to take my kids to play during the winter time that’s not Grandma’s house or the Playplace at McD’s or the small carpeted play area at the mall. So  my dream came true! The above pic shows my daughter and her cousin climbing up one of the netted walkways in the huge jungle gym room that has enough noise and climbing stuff to satisfy any ADHD child. I was so glad that I didn’t wear my flip flops and that I am 70 lbs lighter than I used to be. I was able to climb with ease with my daughter and niece.

Day #8 Temple Day!

On Saturday my nephew received his endowment at the Oquirrh Mtn. LDS Temple. He was preparing to go on his mission to Virginia. So I got to be there with both sisters, my sis-in-law, 1 of my brothers, my parents, my bro-in-law, my niece, and my son. Happy day! This temple has a special place in my heart because I “attended” the dedication of it via satellite on Sunday August 23, 2009, and then had my 7th baby later that same day! So the temple is as old as my baby.

After reading The Read Aloud Handbook years ago I got totally inspired about how much reading aloud builds kids’ brains. Since then I have wanted “a family culture built on books.” I like to think that my older kids who are grown and gone have fond memories of our nights reading aloud. I loved sharing nights reading aloud such gems as Little Britches, The Toothpaste Millionaire, and Holly Claus, among many others.

Yet we struggle with building this culture with the four younger ones still at home. When we go to the public library, my littlest kid still picks out more DVDs than books. We still feel tempted to watch a movie at night instead of just simply reading aloud. Don’t get me wrong, I like watching a meaningful movie or even a fun movie as an escape from the pressures of real life. But words from books can convey so much more than movie images, and build brains much better. So I continue to fight for our entertainment and education to come mostly from books.

That’s why I am so happy to share the following Read Aloud Revival podcast episodes. This podcast is all about “building a family culture based on books.” 

Go here to Sarah’s page to listen to her latest episode. It is all about why getting your kids to fall in love with books is more important than teaching them to read.

Then here’s Jim Weiss on tips and tricks for reading aloud.

And here’s Andrew Pudewa on why it’s important to still read aloud to older kids.

Here’s a list of 5 things Sarah says you can do to build your culture around books.

Happy reading aloud! There’s nothing you can do with your kids that gives you more “bang for the buck!” Watch these two videos above and below to give you more inspiration. Rebecca Bellingham talks about why reading aloud changes us and Linda Sue Park talks about how books can change the world by creating empathy.