Sep. 15, 2009
Powell River Vs. Guam
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It's been a week of reflecting and thinking about my former home in Canada, Powell River, BC.Partly this is due to a new magazine my mom shared with me. Powell River Living I moved to PR when I was 14. It was in high school that I met my husband, Les. We dated for four years and then got married when I was at the tender age of 19. This didn't thrill my parents as they felt I was too young to get married. And that I should finish my university education. I did attend two years at UVic, majoring in Elementary Education. But it was the early 80's and Canada was in a recession. Money was tight. Jobs were scarce. When it came time to return for my 3rd year of university, the funds just weren't there, despite my efforts to be frugal and save. So instead we returned home to Powell River and set up house there. Soon we began adding children to our family, and our first son, Kevin was born, while living in a cute cottage at Black Point. When Kevin was 8 months old I had the opportunity to go back to school at Malaspina College (now Vancouver Island University, Powell River Campus) for my Early Childhood Education Certificate. For the next few years I worked at various preschools and day cares throughout PR, adding two more children to our family (Adam and Stephanie). Then, in 1995, came the call to move to Guam. What a culture shock that was for me. Here I was, a small town gal, flying half way across the world - by myself! My husband and eldest son had ventured on ahead to assess the lay of the land. Two months later I was told to pack up, sell all we owned and join them in Guam. Upon arrival on Guam one of the first things I noticed was that the local Chamorros (native Guamanians) reminded me so much of the Sliammon Indians. Their looks, stature, skin coloring. It really opened up my eyes to how much alike all human kind is, despite a vast ocean between. Soon more similarities came to me. Living in Guam is really like living in a small town. First there was the isolation factor. Guam is located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, reachable only by plane or a very long boat ride. Powell River is isolated too. You cannot drive to Powell River, but must take two ferry boats from Vancouver area up the sunshine coast. So leaving the island of Guam or leaving Powell River takes some planning, money and time. Guam also has that small town feel in the grocery stores and post offices. Eventually you get to know the people behind the counter and it is not uncommon for total strangers to comment about how big your children have grown over the years. It helps that my kids are an anomaly with their pale skin and blonde hair. It makes them more noticeable and people remember them. The same can be said for living in Powell River. I'll never forget receiving a parcel from my mom and the post office lady in PR had written on the outside "Hi Colleen! from Marge." After 14 years on Guam I'm now on first name basis with the post office workers here too. Then there is the ocean. The same Pacific Ocean lies outside my windows. Unfortunately not the same fish. I really miss Salmon. Here we get Mahi Mahi, Tuna, Marlin, and many small "reef" fish that live inside the coral reef. If I want Salmon, I have to buy it at Payless (our local supermarket) for outrageous prices. And the waters of the Pacific Ocean are decidedly warmer on Guam. One of our family traditions is to go swimming on Christmas and New Years Day, not something we could ever do back in Powell River! I think the biggest difference between living in Guam and Powell River is the lack of seasons. I miss having 4 seasons. Here we only have two. Dry and Rainy. And both of those are hot! My poor Guam born children (Cassie and Eric) have never seen a crocus bloom, never seen cherry blossoms, never seen the maple leaves turn color and fall to the ground, nor have they seen snow, which is Eric's biggest regret. Even my other girl, Stephanie, has missed out on these seasons as she was so young when we came here. Only the older boys remember the changing of the seasons. Food is different here too. Guam is heavily influenced by Asia, so we have a lot of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Filipino foods. As well as the local favorites. Everyone eats rice here. Potatoes are not as common for meals. Chicken is a favorite as are beef and pork ribs. Everyone in Powell River is familiar with the beef shish kabobs sold during the Sea Fair. This same food is a local favorite on Guam! These are just some of the things I've noticed. |
Aug. 24, 2009
The Guam Homeschool Resource Center
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My husband, Les, and I have decided to start a new venture on Guam. The Guam Homeschool Resource Center. We plan to operate as an independent resource center for homeschoolers on Guam. Over the years I have found myself to be on the frontlines when it comes to newcomers arriving on Guam and wanting to know about homeschooling on our beautiful island. Part of it is due to this blog and others that I have. I've also been active in the Guam Homeschool Association as leader (two different occasions), newsletter editor, resource box person, and webmistress. As a result I have in depth knowledge on the ins and outs of homeschooling on Guam. Our Resource center will be a place where new families can come and ask questions about homeschooling on Guam. I will have magazines, catalogs and sample curricula to share so that families can have an idea what is out there. We also have Wi Fi access and computer stations for families to use to look up resources. I'm excited about this new venture and hope that we can provide homeschoolers on Guam a safe haven for exploring this new educational alternative. Check out our website: http://www.guamhomeschool.com |
Mar. 1, 2009
Southern Living
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Well, the move has begun. The Smith family is once again, packing up boxes and going on the road to a new (to us) home. Still on Guam of course. We have lived in our beach house for 3 years now and it's been a wonderful experience. But now it is time to move to something a little different. More room, more bathrooms (about time!) and typhoon proof. Always a plus when looking for a home on a tropical island. So we are moving down south to Inarjan. Southern living....ah..... It brings to memory my other stint of living in the South. South of town that is. Powell River, BC. My link to Canada. For years Les and I lived somewhere South of PR. We started at Pebble Beach, a run down apartment building that usually housed drug dealers and single welfare moms. We only lived there for a few months while we tried to find a more suitable, but still affordable first home. Then we moved out to Black Point where we lived in a quaint two bedroom cabin on several acres of land. Love that home. Had our first goat - Ozzie. She hated me. My eldest son was born in that house .. well, in the hospital .. but we brought him home to that house. Then we moved even further south and had a disastrous 2 months stay at Stillwater. One of the worst winters that year. The very quaint A-Frame cabin we moved into would have made a wonderful summer cottage. But in the face of a cold snowy winter, it wasn't the best. We couldn't even get our car up the steep driveway. I was attending college so couldn't afford to miss classes so we spent most of those two months crashing at friends' places in town. Fun with a 9 month old baby! We spent a few years in town but then the draw of the south called again and we ended up living in an old shingle mill office that we converted into a home down in Lang Bay. The house was old and draughty and we froze that winter too. But we did live near the beach and the boys had a great summer playing at Lang Bay Park. That was where we officially began homeschooling, back in 1991. From the old shingle mill we moved a little closer to town at Kelly Creek, and lived in a converted garage. Are you sensing a pattern here? Either quaint or living in converted buildings? After our 3 child was born we moved yet again to what I had hoped would be my last move for a long time. A beautiful two story wood home on 2 acres of land at Kelly Creek. On Serendipity Road. I loved that name! It was a great house. Lots of room for a family with two boys. Creek next to the property where salmon would spawn and we often saw eagles swoop down to feast on the dying fish. Bears in the back yard. Cows too sometimes. Never did I expect to only have 9 months in that southern country living bliss. And then my life was changed. And Guam became our new home. So far on Guam we have moved, lets see, from grampas to the apartment......then to the trailer....moved to Yona (south) just before the trailer was blown away by Super Typhoon Pongsongwa....from Yona to the beach house...and now we head south once more to Inarjan. Tonight we took the scenic route to Inarjan. Next time I'll bring my camera and time it at sunset. We drove through Piti to Santa Rita and took Cross Island Road to Talafofo. Through Talafofo to Inarajan. Total of 22 miles. Only 18 to take the Yona route. 32 miles if you go via Agat. You can guess which way I'll be going most of the time. I hope to get a lot of meditating on the Lord accomplished on the drives. |
Feb. 11, 2009
Smart advertising or blatant exploiting of Children?
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Yesterday my children brought their alligator/dinosaur/gecko costume to our driving school office. I assumed it was their idea, only to find out it was my husband's. The kids had been playing with the costume the previous evening and he had this brilliant flash of insight. Why not use the kids to help promote our driving school? You see, our logo for our driving school is a happy alligator driving a sporty red car. Why do we have such a logo? Well, when we first opened, we were using a classroom at Guam International Christian Academy (or GICA), who's mascot is a Gator - the GICA Gators. Shortly after opening our business, Mrs. C. the principal's wife brought me this picture of a gator driving a car. "I saw this and thought of you guys" she said. And so an idea was born. We have used this logo from that moment on. Now the costume that my children play with was the original Gator costume for the GICA Gator's sport team mascot. I had taken this costume home one year to repair the rips and tears in it and it ended up staying with us after the school closed down. My children have worn it in many play sessions, as fierce dinosaurs, leaping lizards, and even as a Gecko. It really is a favorite play item. So yesterday and today, for about 15 minutes, my children entertained motorists on Marine Drive, dressed as a Happy Alligator, covorting in front of our office. Smart advertising? My husband thinks so. The kids certainly enjoyed themselves. Pictures pending. |
Jan. 28, 2009
Chocolate
Posted in family
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With Valentine's Day approaching, I thought I'd talk about my favorite food, chocolate. Or rather, my 6yo daughter and her love/hate relationship with the stuff. Cassie has never really been my sweet tooth girl. She decided when she was about 3 that she preferred vanilla ice cream over chocolate, white cake instead of chocolate cake, and given the choice of a vanilla cookie over chocolate one, she would choose the vanilla. When she entered kindergarten, her best friend, A. told her "I don't like chocolate" and suddenly Cassie's vanilla preference had a " raison d'être". So for the next two years Cassie has announced "I don't like chocolate" when offered any of that wonderful concoction. Cool with me, that just meant more for me. However, lately I have noticed Cassie eating chocolate more and more often. Today she announced, as we were making oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, " I don't understand why A. doesn't like chocolate." "Hmmm..." I replied, "So are you saying you always liked chocolate?" "Yes." was her reply as she continued to pick out chips from the cookie batter. "So...were you just pretending to not like chocolate when you were friends with A?" "Yup!" "A. sure was lucky to have you for a friend I think." Imagine giving up chocolate for a year just to be a friend. I'm not saying this is what happened. But this is how I imagine it to have happened. How else can I explain a child of mine NOT liking chocolate? At least she has finally come to her senses. |
Jan. 8, 2009
New Life
Posted in family
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Today I had the privilege of meeting a new life. A sweet baby girl, Taylor, 5lb 12 oz. She was born to the daughter of a dear friend of mine. Baby Taylor chose to enter the world a little ahead of schedule, 27 days to be exact, if you can be exact in such an in-exact science as the birth of a child. At first I was nervous about going to visit this new baby. Her mother was my friend's daughter, whom I have known for most of our time on Guam, so have watched her grow up into a beautiful young woman. But I hadn't even seen her once during her pregnancy, though I talked with her mom often. I overcame my fear and went. And am so glad I did. It was so beautiful to see that look in a new mom's face when she has fallen in love with her very first child. That look was on A.'s face as she welcomed me into the room and then gazed back at her tiny precious baby. Her mom walked in a few minutes later and I hugged Grandma P.for the first time-- as a grandma anyway. Recently I heard the description of the bond between a mom and a nursing baby as being the purest form of love. I truly believe that. I saw it tonight. Nothing is more pure than the first love a mom has for her first baby. To realize that her perfectly formed toes and fingers, silky smooth skin and angelic look was created in side her womb by the hand of God. It's a beautiful sight to see that look. Thank you for allowing me to share that moment. |
Dec. 31, 2008
2008 Year in Review
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Well, in a few more hours it will be 2009. At least here on Guam where America's Day begins. So looking back on 2008 I thought I would hit on some of the highlights of the past year. January 2008 saw me back in the classroom teaching the elementary class at GECA, Guam Evangelical Christian Academy. Two new girls entered the classroom so that now I had one K3 boy, one K4 girl, five K5 girls, one 2nd grade girl and one 4th grade boy. Thanks to the PACE system, teaching the older two was easy. Keeping the little ones occupied was more of a challenge. Thankfully my Story Time Felt business was put to good use and the kids had a great time learning fairy tales and acting them out. In February we got the unexpected news that we had to move our driving school office to a new location We had been in Barrigada for 3 years and had settled nicely into our location. Our business was growing. We had just paid for a nice ad in the new 2008 phone book. And now we had to move. Les found an office down on Marine Drive in central Guam, with a private beach, a five minute drive from our beach house. He had to do a little dream building with me to see the vision of this location as it was a bleak cement room, full of dust and debris from an old jet ski business. February passed in a blur as we worked late in the evenings painting this new office and preparing it for our move. March 15th was our opening day and we had 5 students for our first official class in our beach office. Our biggest challenge was keeping our existing phone number - 734-DRIV a number we had had for our business for over 4 years. Guam's telephone company, GTA, was not able to let us keep that number because the prefix was different for the village. But with some fancy fanangelling I was able to keep the number and business continued. It still took until almost September before our students figured out where we had moved to. I finished the school year in May and graduated my class of K5s, as well as promoting the rest of the kids to their respective grade levels. Cassie was one of my proud graduates. Summer months were spent putting together a website for our driving school business and building an online class. Les spent many hours putting together the program and working late into the night on the website. By the end of August we were able to launch our online class. The only driving school on Guam that now offered three locations for driver's ed - East Agana (our beach office), Yigo (opened in 2007) and in your own home via the computer! Exciting times. Meanwhile the kids grew and continued to learn and prosper. Kevin, stationed in California in the Air Force continued his education in Power Production and engineering, took several CLEP tests for his college degree and as of the end of December announced he was one credit short of his associates degree. Not bad considering he did it all in one year! He was also promoted to Senior Airman, 6 months early. We are very proud of our eldest son. Adam continued with his music and polished up his music CDs. We also bought a video camera in the summer and Adam has been unschooling himself in the art of filmmaking. Stephanie worked on her writing and art, and had several art pieces on display at the KAHA art gallery at Two Lovers Point for several months. Eric wrote and published his first Whiskers comic. And Les got into the publishing business as well, writing and publishing Monster Doctor. I'd say that 2008 was a very inspired year for the Smith family writers and artists. Les also sold an article to a local magazine, Everyday Home and Living Guam. Cassie started Jump Rope classes in September and has enjoyed the weekly exercise activity and fellowship with homeschooling kids. She can jump 20 times in a row consistently now and has great form. She also listens well to the instructor. Both her and Eric are tanned brown from the sun as they spend at least an hour a day swimming at the beach office. Our pet population has fluctuated and changed over the year. One hamster died. We gained two mice. The rabbit is thriving and enjoys his new outside cage that Adam built. We lost our favorite cat, Coach Z to a wild pack of dogs, but gained the sweetest momma cat, Connie and her one surviving kitten, Pillage. Nobby and Daisy are the two latest cat additions to our gang. Other cats that have survived the year are Scratch, Fargs, Pierre, Wafflebox, Peppermint, Hop Scotch, This'N'That, and Korn. Queen Victoria abandoned us to live at the Lutheran Church next door. We lost several finches and parakeets and are down to Coleslaw, our one winged parakeet that survived having his wing ripped off by Korn. Les continued in the wedding business, officiating over the Japanese weddings at the various hotel chapels. He also performed his civic duty as a juror for over 6 months of the year. The curse of being a registered voter. All in all, 2008 was a prosperous year for our family. We look forward to 2009 bringing much blessing to our household and those of our friends and loved ones. Happy New Year! |
Dec. 29, 2008
Newspaper Article
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Well, Les and I made Guam's newspaper. We were interviewed before Christmas by a PDN reporter about our homeschooling our children. I wasn't sure how much of our interview would be used but you can read it here: Parents teach their kids: Homeschooling an attractive alternative At first I didn't like that our portion was delegated towards the end of the interview, but then Les said that made for a nice strong finish to the story. I even ran into the reporter at the grocery store this afternoon and complimented him on doing a nice job. I also didn't like the comment that our driving school pays the bills but that is about all it does. We never said that. We did say that we weren't getting rich from teaching driver's ed though! It's all in the semantics I suppose. I do feel that our driving school does more than just pay the bills. Our children work for us and learn business management skills. It allows me to be with my kids and to be able to homeschool them. And I really like working for myself and being my own boss. Goes along with that whole adventure theme from yesterday's blog post. So now we have had our 15 minutes of fame. We can go back to our regularly programmed life. |
Dec. 28, 2008
Life is an Adventure
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As we near the end of another year, it has me thinking about what we have accomplished and what is in the future for our family. Les and I have a nice little outside living room, our "thinking" garden, where we ponder our life and where most of our deep discussions take place. Tonight's discussion revolved around the idea of "success". What is it? How do you define it? Is it different for everyone? I think it is. For instance, in my family, I often feel that my older brother is held out as a model of success. He graduated from University (the only one of us three children who did), has a beautiful wife, three great sons who are good students, athletic, musical (they get mostly 'A's, are in hockey, band, and play guitar). He owns his own home and I believe his own business, if he hasn't gone back to working for the BC Gov't. Successful, handsome....I love him but it's hard to live up to that definition of success. As for me? I married a firewood cutting logger, who has through our lives together, been a daffodil picker, ice packer, ceramic pourer, roof painter, forest fire fighter, shake cutter, driving school instructor, notary public, court reporter, office manager, high school teacher, pastor and a wedding minister. I have probably even missed a few careers in there. We have lived in 3 different cities, 4 different villages, 1 province, 1 state, 2 islands, and more homes than I can keep track of. Over our 26 year marriage we have lived in apartments, trailers, beautiful wood homes and some not so beautiful. Our family has moved half way across the world and have survived 3 major typhoons and several minor ones, not to mention countless earthquakes. We have birthed 9 children and seen 4 enter into the arms of their Savior Jesus. And yet still we are here. Together. Happy. Enjoying life together. And looking forward to another 45 (God willing) more. Are we successful? Maybe. In a way we are. Life has been fun. We can look back at so many great memories. And even the not so great ones helped bond our family closer together. Life has been an adventure for sure. Not everyone in the world can say they got to live on a tropical beach. Or that they got to climb a mountain and camp beside a stream where bears walked by less than 5 feet from your shelter. Or to have seen the Great Salt Lake and helped bag sand bags to stop the great floods of SLC in 1982. Or to have driven the coast of Oregon with a newborn baby. Whether it has been here on Guam, in Canada or in Salt Lake City, my life with Les has been well worth it. An adventure. If my children grow up and have their own adventures then I believe they will have reached success. It doesn't take a school or a degree to do this. It is living life and wondering at the glory of His Creation. And remembering that Life is an Adventure. Live it well. |
Dec. 22, 2008
Boxing Day
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I was asked in a comment on my previous blog what is Boxing Day. My first instinct is to answer this according to what I remember it being. For me, Boxing Day was the day we would go to visit all my mom and dad's friends. People would have "open houses" where they would have all kinds of Christmas snacks and goodies laid out and you'd go around town visiting your old friends, the ones you only visited this one time a year. You got to eat a lot of crackers, salami, pickles and cheese (this was my favorite platter!), cookies and other candies, and chips and dips. Of course, this really doesn't explain what Boxing day really is or where it originated. So I had to google it. I learned that traditionally this was a day to give gifts to those less fortunate than themselves. From Wikipedia here is what they have to say about Boxing Day: A Christmas box is, in English tradition, a clay box used in artisan shops. Apprentices, masters, visitors, customers, and others would put donations of money into the box, like a piggy bank, and then, after Christmas, the box would be shattered and all the contents shared among the workers of the shop. Thus, masters and customers could donate bonuses to the workers anonymously, and the employees could average their wages. The habit of breaking the Christmas box lent its name to Boxing Day. The term "Christmas box" now refers generally to a gift or pay bonus given to workers.[5] The Oxford English Dictionary attributes it to the Christmas box; the verb box meaning: "To give a Christmas-box (colloq.); hence the term boxing-day." The date coincides with the Feast of St. Stephen.Guess that explains it well. Now of course, like Christmas, Boxing Day has become a day to have sales in stores. It is celebrated in the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. And some other Commonwealth countries that have a mainly Christian population. As a child, I used to think it was named Boxing Day because you boxed up all your Christmas wrapping garbage and put it in the trash. So though it is a few days away, Happy Boxing Day! |
Dec. 21, 2008
Don't Do It
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If you are considering going to K-Mart (Guam), Walmart, Target, or whatever your super store is in your area, DON'T DO IT! Honestly, it is just not worth it. I made the mistake of going to K-mart yesterday, the last shopping weekend before Christmas. My first clue should have been the parking lot. It was full, Even those spots far from the doors were filled. I suspect that even the parking on top of the building was filled. Inside K-mart it didn't seem as crowded. What shocked me the most was the prices of items. I could have sworn that the Battleship game had been $17.99 last month. Now it was $24.99 with a sign saying "25% OFF Sale!" bringing the price down almost to its original price! I was looking for a nice Christmas dress for my 6yo. In the children's clothing aisles there was not one dress for little girls. In fact, all of the clothes for her size were like something out of a bad 70's show. Neon colors, weird paisley patterns, retro style I guess, and all made out of nasty nylon material that looked like it wouldn't hold up to more than three washings. Not to mention totally inappropriate for a 6yo to wear. Whatever happened to kid's clothes? It seems like the fashion industry wants us to parade our little girls around in clothes designed for teenagers. Even then, I'm not sure I would even want my teenager to wear that style. I wandered through the toy aisle looking for some stocking stuffers. My kids don't need more toys so I really wasn't interested in what was displayed. However I couldn't help notice the prices and wonder "who can afford this stuff?" The one section that had affordable toys, was full of bright green boxes that sported "Only $10" signs. For $10 you can buy a "Barbie-like head" to style and comb and apply makeup to. Only it already had makeup on and the makeup for application was plastic. The hair looked like one good comb would rip it out of the plastic skull. Cheap imitation hotwheels cars adorned other boxes. In general these "affordable" toys would probably last no more than an hour after opening on Christmas morning. I saw many families with carts full of these bright green boxes. I wanted to shout "NO! Put it back! Save your money!" Instead I put my cart back and escaped the store as fast as I could. I assume this same scene is being played out in store after store across the world. My advice, to all who are facing the last few days before Christmas shopping frenzy, is go home, drink some nice warm cocoa (or iced tea if you live in the tropics), put on your favorite Christmas movie, and don't go out of your home until Boxing Day (Dec. 26th for those who don't know what Boxing Day is). |
Dec. 18, 2008
Chairs
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I've been reading about chairs lately. I picked up a book off the 50% shelf at Bestseller called "3 Minutes to a Pain-Free Life". It is quite interesting. Dr. Weisberg has developed a daily 3 minute stretching routine which is guaranteed to rid you of pain. I'm still reading before I try his method. One thing I have learned is the cause of most of our pain is the Chair. Its introduction to our life has changed our spinal column, from its natural "s" shape to a "c" shape. This change is the root of all our muscular/skeletal pain. Unfortunately, my body is too messed up to give up my chair. Which is why I am glad I had a chance to sit in a particular set of chairs today. It was the day of our Homeschool Gingerbread making class which was being held at Tamuning Baptist Church. After the kids (with the help of the moms) had put together the Gingerbread Nativity scenes we all headed into the Sanctuary to watch a 15 minute video on King Herod and the Birth of Jesus. As I walked in I recognized the chairs. I turned and asked the pastor where they got their chairs from and it was confirmed. The chairs came from our old church home, had been passed on to a Christian School that I worked at, handed on to another church, and finally made their way to this place. it was like coming home to a familiar friend. As I sat my tired body into a chair and prepared to watch the movie, I felt myself feeling very much at home. The church was cosy and had a good 'feeling" to it. Holy Spirit nudges I suppose. As I shared this with Les later this evening, he reminded me that we had prayed over those chairs. Many times. These were chairs that many students sat in, students whom we had the privilege of praying for and ministering to for the past 6 years. These chairs were old friends. So I'm not quite ready to give up my chairs. They are a comfort to me. But I sure would like to have a pain free body. |
Dec. 17, 2008
Biker Chick
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It turns out I have a biker chick for a daughter. I found this out today after our afternoon Jump Rope Class. Cassie has been taking this class for a few months now and has gone from having no idea how to jump rope to knowing most of the basic skills and has reached her personal high of 27 jumps in a row. She only has 113 more to go to reach the first "level". I have high hopes for her. Her teacher showed up today on his Harley. We were the first ones there waiting, in this outside, covered playground at the Asan Community Center, and he roared up on his bike all decked out in biker gear. Cassie was standing a few feet away from me and she dashed into my arms and buried her head against me. He then proceeded to transform from Biker Dude to Coach Dude by shedding his gloves, helmet, vest, etc. Each step along the way he entertained Cassie with his transformation. Later after the jump rope class was done, he transformed back into Biker Dude and drove off on his Harley. I didn't think too much of this until later this evening when Cassie came out of her bedroom and announced, "I'm a biker chick" as she sported a jean jacket, dark black slacks and a striped pink t-shirt. Her wild blond hair framed her sun-reddened cheeks and she had such an impish look in her eyes. So thanks Coach Dude. Now I have a biker chick. |
Dec. 16, 2008
Defending the Faith
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I found myself today in a most interesting position. This morning I received a call from a reporter for our local newspaper. He wanted to talk to me about homeschooling on Guam and to get information for a story he wanted to do. Guam public schools are taking a beating in the news. Parents are looking for options. There was a riot where at least 10 students were hurt at Okodo High School. A middle school had to send children home early today because of water outages. Funding issues and lack of books are always being discussed in the news. So I guess the news is ripe for a homeschooling story. It always makes those of us who homeschool on Guam a little nervous when a reporter wants to do a story. We like to remain under the radar (watchful gov't eyes) as much as possible. All it takes is one senator to get a hold of an idea to make homeschooling "better" and ruin the freedoms we have. They did this to the driving school laws and licensing requirements. So I was glad I got the call. The only problem was he wanted to bring a photographer so that he could take a picture of me doing a lesson with my kids. I almost laughed at the thought. I had to explain we are not a typical homeschooling family. It was a good interview and I feel we made some positve comments in favor of our method of homeschooling. Les was able to be there so we were both able to show how we support each other in our homeschooling. I believe we were able to put quite a positive light on homeschooling and unschooling (though I never specifcially used this term during the interview....I did mention that over the phone) He saw right away that we provided a very rich educational environment. He even joked that our library was probably bigger than Jose Rios Middle School's (I have a feeling they don't even have a library!) and he could see that our situation was very unique...owning our own business which affords us the freedom to homeschool. I did explain how we have homeschooled while working full time as well and that teaching your child at home does not need to be confined to the 9 to 3pm hours. Our parting conversation. The reporter asked a very interesting question. Have we prepared our children for an institutional style life? Could our children go out into the corporate world and survive? We looked at each other and thought about our oldest son, who has entered the ultimate instituition...the US Armed Forces...specifically the Air Force. He is thriving there. So we nodded "yes". What we hope to have conveyed is that character development was the secret. You teach your children good character and they can survive in any environment. |
Dec. 15, 2008
Homeschooling.....Anyway.....
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I didn't have anything to blog about today so I decided to browse a few blogs on here to see if I could find some inspiration. I wasn't prepared for what I found, but I am so thankful I did. I stumbled across Thoughts on Homeschooling Anyway and after reading a few posts and her "about me" I found myself crying and thanking God for pointing me to something I needed to read. I only wished I had found this blog 3 years ago. You see, 3 years ago I lost my baby Maggie, my 9th blessing, and 4th to go home to Jesus before her time. She lived only 2 hours. Homeschooling Anyway is the website linked to the blog and lead me to a family who had similar circumstances. Losing a child....and homeschooling anyway. Life went on even after Maggie was gone. I don't know how I did it, but after reading the grief article on Homeschooling Anyway, I found myself nodding and crying once again (the tears will always come no matter how hard I try to hold them back) because she was speaking my words....word for word! I think this is another reason Christmas has been so hard for me these past few years. In 2005 I was supposed to have a new baby girl to cuddle. Alas, she was born too early and with too many problems. You can read Maggie's Story (you'll have to scroll down to the Dec. 27th, 2005 entry), As a result I find myself very melancholy at this time of the year and it's hard to appear eager and pleasant for the rest of the family. I know this will pass, that time will make the wounds less raw. I'm grateful for websites like this one I found today. To be able to read that others have walked the same road and have survived. We are survivors in our family. I was just reading my 2007 Christmas Letter and smiling as I remembered how life did go on and how blessed I am to have the family I have. God has indeed richly blessed us. |
Dec. 13, 2008
Disappointments
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Well, I managed to blog for 10 days in a row before falling off the blogging bandwagon. Considering my tendency to procrastinate I'm not at all surprised. You see, because I procrastinated on getting ready for my Story Time Felt booth at today's Annual IRA Book Fair, I had no energy for blogging these past two days. Unfortunately, breaking my blogging spree was hardly worth it. Nor were the late nights working, cutting felts, organizing, stressing, etc. For all my hard labor I sold only two items for a profit of $17. Probably works out to about $0.50/hr when you think of all the hours I put in. Sigh. I don't handle disappointments very well, To top it all off, the added stress put more stress on my knee so I ended up hobbling around in pain all day at the fair. I tried to smile for customers and be pleasant but I'm sure a wince crossed my face more than once today. I came home, took an anti-inflamatory and crashed on the couch for the rest of the afternoon. Thankfully, Les had a slightly better day. All the driving school students showed up, though again we had only one new student in class. Our classes have been really dead in our main office and that is worrisome. I keep telling myself, it is a sign of the times, relax. It will get better. Les did the grocery shopping I wasn't able to do with my bum knee and we had a nice relaxing dinner. But I still find myself depressed. I simply love the felts and wish others could see how wonderful it is. Now that I have it all bagged up and labeled I might as well take my traveling show to all the preschools and try to drum up business that way. I think that is the real ticket with this stuff. All the ECE students that stopped by my booth loved the stuff, but they are poor students who are just entering the field with no money for inventory. It is the actual directors that I need to get interested. Surprisingly not one daycare or preschool director came to my booth today. If I had a preschool I would have been at the IRA book fair today, looking for deals. Here's to a better week ahead! |
Dec. 10, 2008
Your Baby Can Read
Posted in reading
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I've been watching a few late night infomercials lately. Here is the one I watched for a few minutes last night. http://www.yourbabycanread.com/ It's a fascinating infomercial and you can see that the babies are really reading. It is almost miraculous in a way. I found myself laughing and chuckling as they showed a 2.5yo reading a complicated sentence that included words like parallelogram & trapezoid. You'll see it if you watch the video on the above link. It gave me a major flashback to teaching my oldest son, Kevin at a young age. I have a video of him at 1.5 drawing pictures on a paper at the kitchen table and saying and pointing to shapes I drew. "What's this?" I point to a shape. "Issa Hexagon" he says correctly. I really need to figure out how to copy that tape to computer so that I could share it here. Until I do all I can say is its a really cute video and one of the few things I'm glad I caught on tape. I also have him reading his favorite book, Dr. Seuss The Ear Book. Everyone thought he had it memorized but I really think he was reading this at 18 months! What I see from the above program, is that someone had the sense to try to bottle up and sell what I did naturally with Kevin. They start early relating words with actions and pictures to the children so that when they finally learn the concept of phonics they already have a great repertoire of sight words. Probably more than your average 2nd grader. Now their methods were not like mine. I didn't use flash cards and sit my 6 month old in front of videos. I just used his natural curiosity. The whole story is written over on Gather.com at In the Beginning... I wish I had the energy with all my children that I did with Kevin. They would all be budding geniuses. Not that they all aren't in their own way but they have all learned to read in different ways. No two children of mine have learned to read exactly the same way. Adam, second oldest was taught all his phonics, showed no interest in learning to read, was happy lining his cars up in neat organized rows and drawing intricate drawings on paper. But reading? It wasn't until a few days after his 6th birthday that he picked up a magazine at the doctor's office and saw his name in an article. Suddenly this little boy was interested in reading. He wanted to know why this magazine was about him! And he was reading. Stephanie, third in line attended a christian preschool from 2.5 yo to 5 years. I worked upstairs in another office and then eventually ended up as the administrative assistant for the preschool. They used the Abeka program so Stephanie was taught to read in K4 and was reading fluently by 5yo. Then along came Eric. I ended up working full time when he was about 8 months old and so he was raised by his dad and his elder brothers. He was exposed to books, loved to draw and be read to and thoroughly enjoy life (he is my enthusiastic child). Taught himself to read using Calvin and Hobbes Comics at age 5 1/2 cause he was tired of asking someone to read it to him. He just sat down and started puzzling it out himself. Now there is only Cassie left to learn to read. She is 6. Last year I taught at a small private school and had her in my class. We covered all the phonics readiness that she needed but she just doesn't care to put it into practice. She is happy and calmly says "I can't read that" as she patiently explains to her bigger brother why she can't tell him the name of the cartoon she is watching if it's a new one. I'm sure programs like Your Baby Can Read are great, but they can be costly too. All of my children learned to read in their own unique way. I wouldn't have such a cool story to share that celebrates this if I had used a canned curriculum. Guess this is further proof of my unschooliness! |
Dec. 9, 2008
I've Been Had!
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In the last few weeks I've been noticing a trend in our family dynamics. I was putting all the blame on myself for this. It involves me always coming across as the bad guy. The one to declare whether or not we can afford to buy something. The one who has to say "no" when kids ask for extras. I was beginning to feel like the Grinch who stole Christmas....or at least like the Grinch who wasn't about to let Christmas happen - at least not as elaborate and extravagant as the children would like. Some of this attitude stems back to my childhood where my brothers were notorious for buying themselves the book they wanted to read 2 weeks before Christmas, after I had already bought and wrapped that very same item to give them. I felt they were robbing me of my gift giving joy! Now for all I truly remember this may have only happened once with each of my two brothers. But the trauma still exists in my mind. And when I find my older children doing the same thing it infuriates me! I lose my cool! Once you get teen and adult children still living at home you will discover this. They have their own money. They have no real responsibility other than that which I impose on them. They know what they like and they have the ability to obtain it (cash, car, freedom). So every year around this time I find myself talking like a broken record. "Remember no buying yourself that video game you just have to have! No more going to the book store. Wait until after Christmas and if you don't get what you want you can use your Christmas money (if you get any) for this." This nagging gets me down and makes me feel like the constant bad guy. It is not just for gifts at Christmas. This is something I always find myself doing. "Sorry, no ice cream, no soda, no chips, no candy, no treats, no desserts...I only buy FOOD" I'll say when I come home and everyone complains that I didn't buy anything to eat. If someone has a "hankerin" I'm the one who denies that child a fullfin' of the hankerin'. And why is this? Because one parent has to be the mean one! And whether I chose the role or not, I've definitely been handed the card. The Mean Mommy Card. Tonight the realization hit me that I've been had! Les has a great relationship with the kids. They go on walks, they have long talks, he takes them to special events and on special outings. The kids love being with their dad. I love that they love being with their dad. Neither Les nor I had the greatest Dad role models, though I admit my Dad has come through in my adult years for me. Looking back I can see that he had a rough time of it when he was raising me and I have to forgive him for not being the perfect dad back then. I wish I could say the same for my husband's relationship with his father. Needless to say I'm thrilled that my kids have such a great relationship with their dad. And why is this? Because he gives them their hearts desires! I get to be the one who always says "no" and he gets to be the one who always says "yes". It is simply no fair. But I'm on to his ploy. I'm just going to have to start saying yes more often. |
Dec. 8, 2008
Puttin' in a Plug
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Okay, confession time. I'm trying to do the NaBloPoMo project this month. It's where you commit to writing at least one post to your blog a day. It's actually pretty good for me as it gets me blogging more, and it gives me practice to write. I've always loved writing and keep hoping that some day I'll write a best seller. I mean if Ms. Myers can do it with Twilight I think I can do just as good of a job. At least in the writing part. Ideas, is another story. So I'm taking the easy way out tonight and instead of coming up with an original topic I have decided I want to give a plug for some of my other blogs. My "other" blog that equals this one in usage usually, is Memoirs of an Unschooling Teacher. Today's blog over there is about reading curriculum. Check it out and then come back here to read more. This weekend I have a big show coming up. A big show for me anyway. I will be having a table for my Story Time Feltsbusiness at the Guam's IRA meeting (International Reading Association). This one will be held in the Agana Shopping Center (our mini-mall) and is their annual book fair. So there will be lots of teachers and educators there looking for good deals on books for Christmas. I'm hoping I can sell my felts there. I have puppets, masks, finger plays, stories told in felt from fables, to fairy tales, to classics, and felt dolls. I'm nervous and excited. I really need to sell the felt to give me that boost of confidence I need to share this with more schools and daycares on Guam. I feel like I'm sitting on a gold mine and am not sharing it, but at the same time, I'm afraid I don't have the tools to dig the gold properly! Just lack of confidence in myself mostly. I'm also hoping to sell some of Les's Monster Doctor books. He wrote , published and printed these books and we bound them all by hand. Each one is truly unique. Hopefully our binding technique will hold up! The story is about a parallel universe where monsters live and work, and is written in short stories that blend together to describe a unique alternate world. Suitable for 8 to 12 year old readers. My next plug is for my driving school business. Better Drivers. We have been operating this business on Guam for 6 years now and have two offices, one in the northern area, Yigo, and our main "beach" office in central Guam, East Agana. Business has been slow lately. A sign of the economic times I'm sure. So if you live on Guam and need a driver's license, give us a call! We even offer the complete classroom course online. We also made a decision tonight (after having zero students in one office and 5 in the other) to extend our office and class hours to offer more flexibility to students. We will keep our regular Monday & Tuesday night class, but for the rest of the week we will offer "drop in" type classes where students can drop in when they want and I will set them up with the class. We will use our online course as a way to do this with ease as well as that one-to-one experience that many students desire. My final advertisement is for my stamping up business! Christmas is almost here so it may be too late to buy stamps to make cards for Christmas, but there are always other occasions to purchase stamps and papers and scrapbooking supplies. So if this is your thing, you can buy online from my Stampin' Up website. Thanks for reading this far! |
Dec. 7, 2008
My Weekend
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Every once in a while I like to read when someone blogs about their busy day or weekend. So here is what I did this weekend to give you all a glimpse into my life. Yesterday, after teaching my Saturday morning driving school class (1 new student, 6 returnees), I then unpacked and with Les's help set up the fiber optic tree Les and I bought at Kmart on Friday night. We set this up on a table in a corner of our office. Since our driving school office is right on Main Street I figure this is the place that I need to get into the Christmas spirit and decorate. We are going to create a little winter scene on another table in the opposite corner. Once I get it all done I'll post pictures. I couldn't find the quilt batting that I wanted to use as snow so I thought I'd head to the local craft store and see what they had. I was hungry though, so first I went to the closest mall (our medium sized one - we have three - mini, medium and large LOL) to the food court and ate some Mongolian Barbecue. Then I headed into the mall to find the ice skating rink that was supposedly there. I couldn't imagine where they had put it. However I walked down the main hall almost to the end and there it was! A rectangle shaped rink at the junction of two halls. The "ice" was some kind of synthetic material, waxy almost and people were actually skating with ice skates on it! Amazing. I'll have to take Cassie and Eric over there this week to see if they want to try. Looks like they even have ice attendants hired to help the kids, which is good as I am not going out on there with my bad knees! Then I headed over to Ross to see what they had for Christmas decorations. That section was wiped bare, so I wandered around looking at stuff. It was nice to be by myself and shop and I came to realize I am a solitary shopper. I want to be by myself with the ability to wander the aisles at my pace and not have to worry about waiting or having someone wait for me. I found the cutest teapot with cats on it and a mug with cats and bought both for my DD. I also found some mint tea so all together that makes a nice little Christmas present for my mint tea drinking daughter. That was all I ended up buying, though I did look at dresses for Cassie and shirts and ties for Les, but couldn't find anything I liked. I then had to head to our bulk grocery store for cat food and coffee. Essentials in our household. By the time I was finished in there I was too tired to face the craft store so decided to come home and rest. At home I rested for about 1/2 hr before Les was home and wanted me to go out in the garden with him. It was around 4pm and a good time to enjoy life outside on Guam. We found about 20 coconut trees that are growing in a swamp area that we are going to have to do something with. I offered them to our local homeschool group but if I have no takers by next weekend I think we'll plant them along the beach line. We've heard that if you stagger trees along the coast like that it is a good wind and wave break if there is a storm. Might as well do what we can to protect the property. The big kids wanted to go off to the office to use the fast internet and computer, but before I would let them go I had them help me take our bird cage outside to clean out. In the process the inevitable happened and our one-winged bird got loose. Steph managed to catch him and put him in a box while we finished up the cage. I was worried because his broken wing was bleeding from the stump after wards, but he is fine this morning. I had a bit of a nap and then made tacos for dinner. Loafed around the rest of the evening watching TV and napping. Sometime around 12:30am I woke up on the couch and realized I should go to bed. Les was dozing in the chair and got up too to head to bed. But we couldn't find Eric and Cassie! Last I remembered they had headed outside to play at around 11pm. Sure enough they were still out there having a great time. We got them back inside, went to bed and told them to go to sleep. Around 1:30, Les had to go shut the TV off and they were both still awake. Bigger kids were ensconced in their rooms oblivious of what their little siblings were doing. Needless to say this morning no one wanted to wake up for church. Les had to do weddings so left (after making his own coffee...bad wife!) and then I wandered out and got online. Before heading off to church I managed to fold two loads of laundry and start a load. Eric and Cassie woke up long enough to stumble to the car to go to church. I didn't even bother waking the bigger kids. When Les can't go with me, I confess I do the cop out and don't create more stress before church than necessary. I would have even left the little kids at home except they both woke up five minutes before I was leaving. After church I stopped at McD's and treated the kids cause they were good and played nicely in the classroom together. At home I found the house all cleaned (floor swept, tables cleared, dishes put away) which meant that Adam wanted to go to the office again. LOL. I started my pot of turkey bones to simmer for soup, made some wonton jelly tarts (wontons baked in muffin cups, and then filled with mixed berry jam I made over the stove in five minutes) and am now waiting for the afternoon coffee to brew so that I can have a cup. I will then head next door to Ace Hardware to see what kind of Christmas decor I can buy for our office. I finished the soup for supper and made baking powder biscuits to eat with the soup and with jam for dessert. We rented Horton Hears a Who and Gone Baby Gone to watch in the evening. |