I Miss Nursery :(

In my church, all leadership, teacher positions, and everything else is done by volunteers.  No one is paid anything.  We call them "callings."  The Bishop and other leaders evaluate what the needs of the Ward (congregation) are and then pray for inspiration to know who the Lord would have fill that position.

My most recent calling was as Nursery leader (Sunday School for kids age 18 months to 3 years.)  It was my most favorite calling ever!  I've been there for about 3 years and absolutely loved it, even when we had rough weeks with screaming kids.

I frequently begged the Bishop to never release me.  I insisted that a Ward can't afford to lose a Nursery leader who loves to be there and so he should just leave me there forever.

Sadly, apparently Heavenly Father thought I was needed more somewhere else (teaching the 4-5 year olds), I needed to learn and grow in another area, or someone else needed the opportunity to be with those sweet babies.

And so, I was released.

Of all the callings I have had, Nursery is proving to be the hardest one to give up.  :'(

I love those little ones!  I always say that Nursery is the best kept secret in the church.  It's so fun and the children are just adorable.  It's so exciting to see their tiny, simple testimonies just begin to sprout.

Last week was my first Sunday with my new class.  It was very hard to not think about Nursery and worry about how the new leader was getting on (there were 2 new children-criers-and not enough helpers assigned.)

This weekend our church had a Trunk or Treat and I got to see several of my Nursery kids.  I about died from the cuteness of them in their costumes.  I almost cried.

I'm so thankful for the opportunity that I had to serve in that capacity for the past three years.

One consolation, though, is that the new class I'll be teaching is made up of kids I graduated from nursery only two years ago.  And when they sang the Welcome song to me in Sharing Time (all the kids age 3-8 together), they asked which of the kids remembered being in Nursery with me.  Of the five classes of kids, I had three of them in Nursery.  And I taught the oldest kids' class when they were 3-4.  Crazy!

You Can't Have a Chemical-Free Home

How would you like to have a chemical-free home?  Sounds pretty great right?  "Sign me up and tell me how," right?

Well, it's impossible.

If you've spent any time at all around the natural/green cleaning world specifically, you'll hear all about how bad it is to clean our homes with chemicals.  You'll also find plenty of people willing to explain how to keep your home clean in a "safe, chemical-free" way.  Unfortunately, it's all a bunch of pseudoscience and ignorance.

I'm not opposed to using less risky things rather than Comet or 409; I use baking soda and vinegar all around my house to clean all kinds of things.  Aside from blue Dawn soap or water, baking soda and white vinegar are what I use the most, because they're really effective.

Well, baking soda is a chemical (NaHCO3).  Vinegar is also a chemical (CH3COOH.)  Water, "the universal solvent" is also a chemical (H2O).  In fact, everything around you, everything on Earth, everything you eat, even you are made of chemicals!

Don't believe me?  Consult any basic chemistry text book.  Or even Bill Nye the Science Guy.  He did an excellent episode for children about Chemicals is which he emphatically declared that everything is made of chemicals.  

So, if children can be taught and understand this, then why do adults who choose to promote "natural/green" cleaning insist on declaring that you, too, can achieve a "Chemical-Free Home?"

It's just plain false, dishonest, and misleading.

(Side note: I mostly don't blame the individual essential oil consultants, like the one pictured above.  That person is simply sharing the company line, repeating the things the larger company promotes and has deceived it's sales force into believing.)

"Well," they might say, "it's just an easy, short-hand way to express what I mean.  You know what I mean!"  Nope, I don't know what you mean because with your oversimplification you are manipulating a basic scientific concept, encouraging ignorance, and preying on the fears of naive people.  Plus, you're just making yourself look uneducated.  I would think that if I believed in a cause, I would not want to unwittingly say something that undermined said cause.

"Ok then, we can just say 'man-made chemical' free." This doesn't work either. Neither does an argument against "toxic chemicals" or "poison." This article explains it so succinctly: "A common misconception is that all man-made chemicals are harmful and all natural chemicals are good for us. However, many natural chemicals are just as harmful to human health, if not more so, than man-made chemicals." Also, "Everything is poison. There is poison in everything. Only the dose makes a thing not a poison."  Another good article can be found here.

What it comes down to is this: I wish the world of natural/green cleaning products would come up with a better way to express themselves.  I wish they could think of a short, eye-catching phrase that would get the job done, yet still be scientifically factual.  I don't care if you choose to spend your money on essential oils or whatever else your favorite blogger promotes.  Just don't call it chemical-free.

Points For Trying

Secundus was complaining about the semi-educational movie I wanted them to watch during lunch. We had watched the first half a couple days ago and I wanted them to finish it. She wanted to watch something else.

I asked her why she didn't like this show. Her response:

"I just don't like the theme, the characters, or the who/what/when/where/why of it."

Well, I guess that about covers everything. It certainly gave me a chuckle.

Maybe I should have quizzed her to see if she could really tell me what all those things she supposedly hated were. She gets credit, though, for thinking of something that sounded impressive.

Fairy Dolls-Handmade by Our Friend

My friend's 12 year old daughter started her own business and I am beyond impressed.  She makes these little fairy dolls, complete with names and backstories, and sells them on Etsy.  She's so creative!

My girls thought these were the coolest little dolls and both decided to place custom orders to support their friend.

Primus got hers for a birthday gift for Secundus and had it made to look like Secundus' character in the make believe game they play.

So go check out StorybookKingdom.  They're all so sweet and reasonably priced.  Support a young entrepreneur!

2016 Family Theme: The Refiner's Fire

At the beginning of every school year, Hubby gives us Fathers'/Priesthood blessings.  They're always special, inspirational, and awe-inspiring.  I have a testimony that the things he says doesn't come from his own mind.  They are words that are given to him to say from our Father in Heaven.

This time something that was talked about a lot in my blessing was trials and enduring with faith.  At one point Hubby said, "There's a scripture in Malachi that you're familiar with."  I was quite puzzled. That evening I opened up my scriptures.  There are only two things that I highlighted in Malachi: the verses about tithing, and the verses about Elijah turning the hearts of the children to the fathers.

 Neither of those seemed to apply to the topic at hand. At the end of the tithing verses, it says,

"...prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."  

That's a great reminder of God's unending love for us and of His desire to bless us.  But it didn't feel like that was the one I was supposed to keep in mind this year.

So I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to guide me, to help me recognize what He wanted me to learn.  Then I started reading.

When I came to Malachi 3:2-3, it hit me.

2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:
3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

The Refiner's Fire!  I am familiar with this symbol! 

However, even though these verses are quoted two other places in scripture, I don't feel it's the most helpful reference.  Malachi seems to be talking about a specific group and event, rather than general instruction to a wider audience.  And it doesn't give much clue in itself of what it means, what the significance is.

Of course, that didn't stop me.  I felt prompted to look up other places in the scriptures where it talks about the refiner's fire and found these great ones.

 1 Nephi 20:10 For behold, I have refined thee; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. (Quoted almost word-for-word from Isaiah 48:10)

Zechariah 13:9  And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.

I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for this reminder.  Life is meant to be a test.  The tests and trials we endure are like the refiner's fire.  They hurt.  But in the end, we will come out better for it.  We can be more pure if we submit ourselves to the Master's plan.  And then, as quoted earlier, if we are faithful through our challenges, then the windows of heaven will be opened to us and our loving Heavenly Father will bless us beyond our imaginations.

This experience I had also strengthened my testimony of the Priesthood Blessings.  Hubby is not a scriptorian.  He doesn't put any thought into what he's going to say before giving blessings.  He largely doesn't even remember what he said afterwards.  If this was just him saying things to me, he would not have told me to look up a scripture in Malachi.  That would be totally random.  If you were to ask him to name 5 books in the Old Testament, Malachi would not be one he would say.

The counsel to remember something from Malachi clearly came from God.

But why was I told to look in Malachi?  Clearly those other two scripture verses I found are more edifying. But the book of Malachi is short.  Only 4 brief chapters.  Very easy to read through in one night.  And the topic I was supposed to find really jumped out at me quickly.  If I had been prompted to search Isaiah, 1 Nephi, or Zechariah, I could have been reading for weeks and still not be sure what I was supposed to find considering they're filled with so much good stuff!  Plus, I needed the reminder about blessings pouring through the windows of heaven from Malachi.

But why wasn't I just told in the blessing, "Remember the parable of the refiner's fire."? Sometimes we need to work for it.  I wouldn't have gained the aforementioned testimony of this coming from God if Hubby had simply said that.  Also, when we have to go searching for greater understanding, we're more likely to remember what we learned.

I've read several bloggers that pick a theme each year for their family.  A guiding principle that they constantly reflect on and internalize.  I'm going to do that for the first time this year.

I'm going to be teaching the kids about the refiner's fire and making a poster so we constantly have a reminder.

Life is hard.  But if we endure with faith, we will learn and grow and be better for it.  The kids aren't too young to start learning and understanding that.

You can watch a great, short video about the spiritual implications of the Refiner's Fire here or here.

And here are three YouTube videos about the history of gold and the refining process:
Modern Marvels documentary
Short video of refining by hand
How It's Made clip

How to Prep for State Testing

I got the following message from the Assessment Department of our charter school with a link to a survey:

"The Assessment Department is seeking help from our parents. Every year we get questions about how to help with testing anxiety in students. We can direct parents to online resources but thought it would be better to get some input from our own families. 
"If you have any tips to offer to your fellow families about easing testing anxiety or general tips about preparing your students for testing, please share them! We have created a survey for this purpose and will consolidate and share your feedback with our families. "

The picture below shows a couple of my responses.  Maybe I was too honest?  ;)

I don't mind jumping through the necessary hoops to be a part of the charter school.  For us, the benefits of the charter outweigh the hassle of things like testing requirements.  But I refuse to act like the state testing matters.

Memorizing with Music

Music is an excellent tool for memorizing things.  Here are a few of the things that the kids and I have committed to memory through the use of music over the last few years:

All 13 Articles of Faith
The Books in the Old Testament, New Testament, and Book of Mormon in order
The names of all 50 states in alphabetical order
The Preamble to the Constitution
The United States Presidents in order

This year we already learned all the states' capitals.  We practiced it 2-3 times per school day and after practicing only 2 weeks with the video and 1 week with only the printed lyrics, the girls already can quote the whole thing.  It took Tertius a bit longer.  It was adorable when Quartus started singing the Presidents with us last year.  I can't wait until he attempts to sing this one, too.

Eventually we'll memorize the entire Family Proclamation and even the whole Periodic Table of the Elements!

Forgiveness Is An Act of Love

When we discussed forgiveness in our Spouse and Family Support Group (for those who have a loved one in addiction), I came to the conclusion that,

Forgiveness is largely an act of love for oneself.

Loving and taking care of oneself is often something codependents struggle with.  If you love yourself, you will forgive others, regardless of if they ask for forgiveness. I forgive so that I may gain peace.   Also, if you love yourself you will set boundaries and protect yourself.  This concept is not at odds with forgiveness.

The following quotes are taken from the Spouse and Family Support Guide, chapter 12:

"Forgiveness includes a process of letting go of burdens that keep us from experiencing the Savior's peace."

"We will find healing as we forgive others."

James E.Faust: "The Lord requires us to forgive all men for our own good because hatred hinders spiritual growth.  Only as we rid ourselves of hatred and bitterness can the Lord put comfort into our hearts."

"Forgiveness does not mean that we condone our loved ones' poor choices or allow them to mistreat us."

"As we forgive, we leave behind feelings that...have the power to canker, fester, and ultimately destroy."

"Forgiving someone when we have been wronged or hurt can be very difficult-especially when these offenses are regularly repeated.  But this is part of what it means to be a disciple of Christ."

James E. Faust: One reason for postponing forgiveness "is waiting for the wrongdoers to repent before we forgive them.  Yet such a delay causes us to forfeit the peace and happiness that could be ours."

Our Learning Spaces

Welcome to our Homeschool!  Come on in and get a tour of where we do our learning!

Ever since we moved into this house, I have hoped to get the kids outside more and use this awesome covered patio in the back yard for an additional learning space.  But that just hasn't happened.  I occasionally have declared an "outside day" and gotten them to sit at our small outdoor table or on blankets on the grass.  But it's never become a habit and not something they choose to do on their own.  

This year I was determined to change that!  I needed to make the patio more inviting and comfortable.  So first I got some leftover carpet from a friend and then moved our school table out there.  Now, if someone needs a large table space to spread out on to do a project or we're doing group learning, we'll have to do it outside (because, let's be real, the kitchen table is never clean enough.)

You can see to the right of the table in that picture above I have foam squares that link together to make another comfy place to sit and play or work.

Here's our school room.  I'm standing in the doorway from our living room, next to the kitchen.  You can see that every wall is just filled with books and educational supplies.  Tertius is sitting on a beanbag chair where the school table used to be.  We all usually prefer to sit on a couch or the floor to do our work, anyway, so a table really isn't needed in this room.  (Not pictured: the living room is a great place to do school work.  But all of our stuff lives here in the school room.)

Considering so much studying is done on laps all over the house, we have several boards and trays tucked beside a bookcase for easy access.

If anyone wants to work at a table but doesn't want to clean the kitchen table or go outside, then we have 3 desks.  This one is Primus' favorite spot to be because her legs are just getting too long to comfortably sit at the little school table anymore.

This cool little desk has a bunch of storage space, which I love.  It used to live outside on the patio but wasn't used very much, except by bugs making homes.

Finally, this tiny desk converts to an easel and isn't really big enough for anyone but Quartus.  He loves having a little space just for him to do his preschool workbooks.


What does your Homeschool look like?  Do you have a dedicated school room?