Well...it was as great as all the others were ... but this one ended on a sad note in a way, for me ... I had a blast organizing the classes and meeting all my new homeschooling friends!  In addition, as if the early winter weather were not bad enough so with it comes an end to our Native American Classes.  Ms. Turtle pulled out all the stops for these classes!  She welcomed families into her home/museum and treated us as royal family members.  We got to see things most only see in books.  We learned things that noone prints in the "usual" schoolbooks.  Of all the stories she told the children (and adults) unanimously the favorite was … Her “Scalping Knife” … only used by Native Americans to take the pony tail on the person to humiliate them … well the case to this knife has actual hair on it  … and well… she swears her “EX” is still alive as far as she knows … but the case for this knife bares his hair … too funny huh?   The second best story was the one about the mud dauber and him teaching a Maiden to make pottery.  After each class Ms.Turtle would "gift" something to each child before he or she left.  There little eyes would always lite up so and she would look at them inquizatively and ask them if their favorite toy, hobby etc was... and the child would just be estatic as she had pin pointed it exactly ... Right before I was about to leave the other afternoon and had said my goodbyes Ms. Turtle says "Wait!"  She said she had to "gift" me something special for allowing her the priveledge of having all the wonderful families come into her home with open hearts and such a willingness to learn.  I was crying happy tears by this point.  It was a beautiful bracelet with bears ...a symbol of strength and protection. I will cherish it always.   Maybe next year we can try all this again???

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Posted by LittleEblingsAcademy

Can I move to Alabama to join your class??

Here is the link to Pan For Gold -- http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TrainingHearts/
She runs Blogger Friends School.

:o)

Thanks for the ideas for my own classes. I will let you know what I come up with.

Blessings, Beckie

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Posted by ComfyDenim

Having family that are Native Americans (They say Indians) - hearing the story about the knife and hair just made me laugh. That would be my mom, I'm sure, if she needed to do that.

I'm sure there are times when Dad has irked her enough to make her wish she'd had such a knife. *LOL*

And oh- what fun you'll have next year! Because you've done it this year and now you're a pro!

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Posted by ktneis

Here is our story, we own a house in MN with 40 acres. We have been trying to sell it all last year. No one wants a 6 bedroom house on dirt roads. So we have a nice vacation home in Ormond Beach that we fell in love with but had to sell as the Real Estate Taxes are outrageous. We have been going to the area for 12 years and we would love to live there but cannot afford the taxes and insurance now. They are working on correcting the problem. So we sold the house for a good price and now will have no house in FL. I love FL and Daytona area. We are closing in November and I get one last chance to live there for 3 tiny weeks. Then we will be upgrading our home in MN to try and sell again this spring. Problem is people in MN are praying that we stay here and we pray that God's will be show to us. We didn't like the answer we got, MN. hehe but it is just not our time to move and it is ok. FL is probably not going to work out if they are charging outrageuous prices to just own a city lot. That is where we are at the moment. It gets confusing even to the bloggers who have been following me back and forth to FL. Thanks for the birthday wishes. I wish I could attend the next Civil War class, you have great speakers.

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Posted by ktneis

A few weeks ago someone in MN was in the newspaper who took this program and told of how much control she had of her horses. The philosophy is to read your horse and teach it by playing games with them. In turn you have very obeident horses that trust you. There are many levels of the program and it is up to you how far you want to go. They have a website www.parelli.com so you check out their info. I purchased level 1 kit at a discount. You listen to the cd first lesson then go to a pocket guide and then onto the Theory guide and then back to the pocket guide, cd and where ever it tells you to go next. It is clear and to the point. The first part in cd 1 is boring as we already understand the concept of homeschool but she gives some good tips in it. They are short lessons that build on each other. In a sense it teaches you how a horse perceives us and how to be safe and have fun with them. They use Love, Leadership and horse language to train the horse and us to communicate properly without fear and cruelty. I like their approach. They also offer 2 day clinic for $100.00 per ticket. They teach you and thousands of others if they are in your area. They are in Jacksonville this soming weekend. We cannot attend as I think the DVD program is better for us so we can go back and reflect on the information again. Later today we are going to learn lesson 2, yesterday was to sit in the pen and let the horses come up to you and do not touch them until the 3rd time or so. Let them be curious and let them come to you. You can pet them and smile, no talking. Just sit in one spot for 30 minutes to let them do the trust thing. Also we have been trying to rub them with the rope on their bodys that is something they want you to do. Check out their website and product. Yes it is pricey but for us as new horse owners with small kids, it will be worth it for us and to have good horses we can trust.

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