Spring Trees and School Thoughts

Lincoln, Ivan, and Adelia's spring trees

It's taken us long enough, but I think we're finally starting to get back into the swing of school since our move. The other day we did these cute hand print art spring trees, using our hands for the tree and a cotton ball for the blossoms. I don't think hand print art will ever get old for me. :)

I'm slowly but surely getting our school room all set up. I bought some cute alphabet letter cards to hang up across the top of one wall so that Lincoln could see each letter, and how it fits onto the line compared to the other letters. He's been asking me a lot lately if the letters he wants to write start on the top line or the dashed line, and which letters get to hang underneath the bottom line. Lincoln seems to be a visual learner, so I'm hoping the letter cards will be helpful to him. Just for fun, I bought a few other things to hang on the school room walls. Lincoln has been asking Aaron and I a lot about money lately, and if he has enough money in his money jar for certain things (usually eating out). So I bought a poster with all the different pieces of money on it, and it shows things like this is a penny, it takes 5 pennies to make a nickel, and 2 nickels to make a dime, and so on. We haven't done money in our math studies yet, and probably won't hit it very hard just yet, but the poster is a good conversation piece, and Lincoln likes it.

Another thing Linc has been WAY into is counting to 100. (Which really, I figure he has to have that skill before talking about money will make any sense, so we're headed in the right direction.) Almost every car ride we take, Linc attempts to count to 100. I encourage this whenever possible. He does really well. He can get all the way to 100 with a little help. What he needs help on is what comes after the next 9 number. Our conversations go something like this, Linc: "41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 45, 47, 48, 49...what comes after 49?" Me: "50" Linc: "51, 52, 53, 54...." So I also bought a numbers 1-100 poster for the school room. I think it will help him visualize what it is he's trying to do, and to be able to SEE what comes after what. And the poster will be really helpful when we get to the skip counting stage.

I also bought maps. A world map (smaller area than the one we had before) and a US map. We won't be doing any major geography for a long while, but the kids have fun looking at the maps. Their favorite thing to do is point to a place and say, "This is where I'm going on my mission." And then I tell them where they pointed to, if anyone they know had ever been there, and anything I know about it, and then we look at how far away it is from where we live. It's a fun game.

This week I finally implemented morning devotional before we start the school day. And it's going great. I love it. It really makes such a difference in the rest of the day. I have a magnetic board with a picture frame around it that I wasn't using for anything, so I turned it into our devotional keep track of thing. For the month of May our devotional will go as follows:

Song: When I am Baptized

Prayer:

Scripture: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38).

Article of Faith: 1 We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

Pledge of Allegiance:  

My friend Wynter gave me the idea to have devotional coincide with the things that kids are learning in Primary for a specific month. The song and scripture are from the sharing time manual for the month of May. The kids will take turns leading the music, saying the prayer, and "reading" the scripture. We will all say the Article of Faith and the Pledge of Allegiance out loud together. We'll do these same things all month, then it June we'll rotate out with the new stuff in the sharing time manual, and move on to the next Article of Faith. If I get really on top of it, I might just make FHE each week go along with this theme as well...but we've got to take it one step at a time, right? 

Lincoln and I finished lesson 50 in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons yesterday. We're half way done! Hooray! It's been going really well. The pace is perfect for Linc. And I can see that he's learning and that it's appropriately challenging for him. This morning we finished Explode the Code workbook 1. Lincoln is excited to move on to workbook 2 and so am I. This program has also been a really good fit for us. It's slower paced then TYCTR but I feel like it offers good review, and a good reading comprehension aspect as well as some (but not too much) practice writing words. 

I finally ordered a copy of Family Math for Younger Children used online. I've checked it out a bunch of times from the library, and decided that I would probably be better off just getting my own copy. So I'm excited for that. I also ordered some AIMS booklets that have math and science activities for Kindergarteners, that seem to be mostly active, on your feet, not sitting at a desk, type activities. I'm excited to see them also, the samples looked great, and they came highly recommended by my sis-in-law. I bought Getting Into Geometry and Sensational Springtime. And lastly for now, I bought the Math U See Primer. I've been debating in my mind for a long time which math program to try with Lincoln when we start Kindergarten in the fall. And Math U See just won't get out of my head when I'm looking through other options, so that's what we're going with. I'm excited about it. It looks like it's going to be a good program for Lincoln. When I watch the demos online, I really feel like this program is going to be a good fit. And if not, hey, we'll go with something else next time. Live and learn, right? That's the joy of homeschooling. :) 

Anyways, there are a few more thoughts in my head about our fall curriculum, but my kids are waking up from naps now, and I have to stop. Until next time...

Dug-out House

Aaron and the kids built this little dug-out house in our front yard the other day while I was inside making dinner. The boys were so pleased with it. I told them people really used to live in houses like that, and they looked at me like, "No duh, Mom."

I'm glad they're finding ways to have fun in our yard.

Does This Ever Happen to Anyone Else?

Because it's been happening to me a lot lately. I order A LOT of things from amazon.com, from diapers to rice milk and everything in between. Anyways, the last couple of things I've ordered have arrived in GINORMOUS boxes. I see this monstrosity of a box on my front step, I drag it inside, I open it up to find it shoved with yards and yards of packaging paper, and then somewhere down in the bottommost corner of the box is the little thing that I ordered. Like the picture frames for example. And the other day, I ordered some posters to go on the wall in our school room. The posters aren't any bigger than a place mat, and FLAT, and they came in a box as big as our computer desk. Seriously. And so I have to wonder, does this happen to anyone else? Is is some kind of joke? Do the people who work in Amazon's shipping department think they are just hilarious? Or are these giant boxes really the best fit they had to ship my stuff to me?

Just Can't Get Enough

I just can't get enough of this weather. It was 84 degrees today. We absolutely had a picnic lunch. Since we have no grass at the moment, we had the picnic on the driveway. I love that we live next to a field. Fields make great neighbors and for even better views of the mountains.

When Spring is like this, I wish I could live outside. Maybe if we lived outside, I wouldn't have to potty train Ivan...he could just go whenever he needed and it wouldn't be a big deal. (Ya, we're having issues today.)

The landscape guy is supposed to be coming tomorrow or Wednesday to rough grade the yard. Then we can start our garden! Yay!

Sunday Pictures

11 o'clock church, not only did the Swan family make it ON TIME this week, but we were all ready a few minutes early, so I took the kids outside and snapped some pictures. :)

The kids in front of our new house.

Temple Square Picnic

Picture taken by Lincoln

It was one of those days that was just too beautiful to pass up the opportunity to spend every possible second outside. So, we called all of Aaron's siblings that are currently living within an hour of us, and scheduled to have a picnic on temple square. Stacey and Rob and their kids, and Ryan and Melissa were able to meet up with us. Kelly and Esther had other plans, next time guys!

 Since it was so nice out, and the tulips were looking amazing, we attempted to get some pictures of the kids...but you know how that goes....

Here's what we did get.

Back: Audrey, Lincoln, Bennett Front: Jeremiah, Adelia, Ivan

Adelia became instant buds with her cousin Audrey, and let Audrey carry her all around temple square.

Picture taken by Lincoln

We also went into the Tabernacle and listened to the missionaries demonstrate the acoustics in there. It was amazing. We could here three straight pins drop loud an clear on the pulpit, without a microphone, and we were sitting towards the back. Pretty cool.

The kids were also really excited that we got to ride Tracks, even if it was only briefly.

Caught

I was caught in the act of mopping the floor! Aaron thought it was incredibly funny that I was on hands and knees underneath the kitchen table. Not sure why. The floor looks amazing however. :)

Gramma Tam Comes to Play

Mom came down to play with us today! I love when that happens. She brought her new iphone with her, and my kids thought it was the coolest thing ever. They especially liked that you could see yourself on the screen while taking pictures. I think I want an iphone.

I'm a Nerd! It's all too true

Aaron was gone on a business trip Monday-Wednesday, and whenever he's gone, I don't sleep very well because I get so nervous at any little sound. Anyways, Tuesday night, I put off going to bed and decided to see if I could dig up any family history information instead. It's been a long time since I sat down to do any family history, and I've been getting the itch to get back into it again.

I've been particularly interested in my dad's great grandma, Charlotte Hannah Burridge Steele, because I thought I remembered hearing my dad's mom, Grandma Lemmon, telling me stories about her when I was little, and I wanted to see if I could find out anything else about her.

Well, it took me about two seconds on familysearch.com (the old one, where you can look up books at the family history library) to pull up her name and do a search in the books to see if she was mentioned in any. Turns out the Steele family has a 92 page history that highlights the lives of quite a few of my ancestors, and that that history book as all been scanned in by some lovely person down at the church history library. So I got to sit and read it for almost 2 hours.

Here's an account of Charlotte Hannah Burridge Steele's life, written by my great grandma, Hortense Annette Steele.

CHARLOTTE BURRIDGE STEELE

Written by Hortense Steele Harrison

Daughter

Charlotte Burridge was born March 23, 1851 on a ship in the Mediterranean Sea. Her father was George W. Burridge and her mother was Hannah Shaw. Her father was a pay sergeant in the English Army and was stationed on the island of Malta, but his military duties took him to posts in and around Italy. During one of these trips by boat, my mother, Charlotte was born. When the captain of the boat was informed of the birth of a baby on his ship he was so elated, he requested that the baby be named after the ship. But due to the fact that it was such a long name and a difficult name to pronounce and not at all befitting for a baby girl, they had her christened Charlotte.

During their stay in Italy and on the island of Malta, my grandparents with their one child lived a very gracious and easy life. My mother was a beautiful child and was beloved by all who knew her. She was a year and a half old when my grandparent joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The way my grandfather became interested in the gospel was very unusual. He was walking along the street and saw a number of loose pamphlets blowing in the wind. He stopped to gather them so that the street wouldn't become untidy and littered. As he did so he glanced at the heading and name on the pamphlets. Among them was one telling of the gospel and advising all who read it to get hold of a Book of Mormon and read it. He went to the address written on the paper and asked all about it and secured a Book of Mormon. He never slept until he read the entire book. He went back to the mission headquarters and told them he wanted to be baptized and become a member of the church. He was so taken up with the gospel that he preached it to the soldiers in the army which was forbidden by the laws of England. As a result he was imprisoned, later discharged and sent home to England.

When my mother was three years old her parents started for America. They arrived in Utah October 24, 1855, with the Milo Andrus company. From then on Mother encountered many hardships and made endless sacrifices, but she also set a beautiful pattern of life. While she was still a little child her experiences both serious and humorous began. Our dear Aunt Pauline Neddo remembered on incident that Grandma Burridge had often told the children.

She in turn repeated it to my sister, Mabel. It took place during the time that Grandfather Burridge was away from home on duty and Grandmother was living in a dug-out near Bro. Johnson's place in Clover. She had the two little children, my mother and Thomas, with her. Thomas was a small baby at the time. While Grandmother was busy working she looked out of the door and saw two Indians coming toward her house. She was very worried and frightened for she had no food or bread to spare to give them and she knew that would be what they would want. There had also been rumors that the Indians would take the children if they weren't successful in getting food or clothing.

She desperately prayed for guidance and inspiration. Turning around she saw the huge brass kettle at the side of the fireplace. She immediately tipped it upside down and put my mother under it and then sat beside it with the baby on her lap. The Indians came to the door and boldly demanded food and clothes. Grandma told them she had none to spare and to please go, but they were angry and wouldn't leave. My mother began to get tired and restless under the kettle and needed fresh air, so childlike she squirmed around and started to move the kettle across the floor. When the Indians saw the kettle moving with no one near it they were scared to death of it and ran from the house and away as fast as they could. Later they told others that the house had evil spirits in it. Grandfather was called to stand guard to keep the soldiers back during the war in Echo Canyon and had to leave his family often in dire circumstances. My mother often went to bed hungry and gave her share of bread and milk to her brother and sister because they were younger.

Her early childhood was spent in helping guard and care for her brother and sister. One of her duties was to watch and take care of the garden. The Indians were very meddlesome and would often try to come and steal the produce. My mother used to tell us of a time an old Indian squaw came and tried to take some carrots and turnips. As young as Mother was, she took a willow switch and drove her away.

My grandparents had settled in St. John in Tooele County. As the years went by. Mother learned to weave cloth and knit and help with every kind of work. She told me her first party, or dress-up dress was woven by her and her mother. They worked for days to weave the cloth and sew it by hand. It was made of course grey home-spun, but she said she was never happier with any dress she ever owned, for to her it was beautiful.

My father, Joseph Wilson Steele who lived in Lake View, Utah, met and courted mother. In October 1867 they were married in the old Endowment House. She was just sixteen years old.

They lived in Lake View or Pine Canyon as it was then called in 1881. They had six children by this time, Joseph Wilson, Esther Elizabeth, Hannah Jane, Charlotte Burridge, Pauline Burridge, and

Thomas George. My father moved to lover Clover Creek in Rush Valley and bought a piece of land where he built two log rooms and made a home for his family.

My mother's faith was one of the most beautiful things about her. She was so loving and understanding with her children and gave them a beautiful pattern of life to follow. As early as I can remember she was a faithful worker in any and every organization in the church in which she was asked to serve. From 1902 to 190- she was a counselor to Mae Tanner in the Relief Society and was also President of the Mutual Improvement Association.

All through her life no neighbor ever needed her that she wasn't there to lend a helping hand and to give comfort and her time and faith. She was so quiet and wise in her dealings with everyone including friends and family that she became the confident of all who knew her. As children we had no problem or experiences that we couldn't take to mother and depend on her advice and understanding. Her absolute assurance that if we prayed for guidance we would receive help was given to her children by seeing and hearing her pray daily.

Six more children were born to this family, Arthur Dennis, Sarah Beatrice, Mabel Ruth, Jesse Wilford, Hortense Annette, and Lamont Lafayette. In 1895 her twelfth child was born. During the years her oldest son, Wilson, died at the age of twenty-one and the third child, Hannah, died at the age of fifteen months.

As her family married and grew older and she had time to devote to herself she did temple work. She would go to Providence where her sister, Pauline Neddo, lived and together they would work in the Logan Temple. Their love and devotion to each other was beautiful to see and brought joy and comfort to both of them.

While I was still a girl in my teens my mother's health began to fail. She was seldom out of pain, but she bravely carried on and never complained. She loved to read. One of her favorite pastimes was collecting poetry. I have in my possession some of the poems she loved. In reading them over in later years, I found she had a keen sense of humor that helped to balance her life so beautifully.

My father died in May 1919 while he and Mother were living with my husband and me. Two years later in October 1921, Mother passed away in my home in Burmester, Utah.

They were laid to rest in Draper, Utah, beside their oldest son.

My mother lives on in memories of her children and is still the guiding light and shining example for each of us to try to follow.

 Anyways, I thought it was pretty cool that Charlotte was born on a ship in the Mediterranean Sea. Not many people can say that. The story about her hiding under that tub and scaring the indians away, is the same story I remember Grandma Lemmon telling me when I was little. I think if we ever have another daughter some day we'll name her after this Charlotte.  

I'm such a nerd. I just love family history. First thing Wednesday morning, I email the book file to my mom, and talked her on the phone and asked her to please as my Christmas present this year to write down her life story, and what she knew of my dad's and my grandma and grandpa's and anyone else's she could think of.

I emailed the Governor!

I totally just emailed the governor of Utah. That is not the kind of thing I typically do. Ever. And I totally just did it. I guess I'm a little worked up about this Common Core thing.

I believe in education. And I believe in having high educational standards. And I REALLY feel strongly that, if the Federal Government takes control of public education, having and meeting high educational standards will not be possible. The Federal Government is too massive to meet the needs of individuals in different areas. Think about it, does anyone writing the core curriculum in Washington DC give two craps about what the educational needs of my specific three children in the small town of Springville, UT are? I don't think so. And how am I, the mother, supposed to communicate my children's needs to an entity so large, let alone come up with a plan to meet those individual needs?

In my opinion, having the state control the educational decisions and setting the standards is good, local control is better, and parents who have educational expectations setting standards for their own individual child in the home is best. Our country's educational crisis is not going to be solved by big government or any amount of money we can throw at it...if the crisis is going to be solved it will have to be from the bottom up, by parents, stepping up and starting to do the job they should have been doing all along...being actively involved in the education of their children. And whether that education be public, private, charted, or at home, parents CAN and SHOULD be an active participant with their children.

So that's what I think. And I totally emailed the governor. Ha! Look at me go.

Common Core

I'd never even heard about the Common Core Initiative, until tonight. I've been doing some reading on it, and I think it's something people need to be aware of. I found this blog entry (pasted below) about it, that I think explains it pretty well, as well as explaining why it's scary. I am not a big fan of the federal government, and prefer that it have as little control over me as possible. I signed the petition to get Utah out of the Common Core asap. But you can read below and see what you think.

Dear Teachers and Schools,

April 15, 2012

Dear Teachers and Schools,

I'm a Utah teacher.  I've taught 3rd grade for two years, high school English for five years, and college English at Utah Valley University for two years.  Teachers often stay neutral on political issues. But the Common Core Initiative affects what millions of children will be taught and what future educators will be able to teach for many years to come, not only in Utah but in a majority of U.S. states.

I'm concerned about Utah educators' sustained freedom under the rules of the Common Core Initiative (CCI) and its testing arm, the SBAC. The experimental educational ideas of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS standards) --not identical to Utah's current version of Common Core-- come with few benefits and CCI has many long term liabilities to local freedom and values.

As an English teacher, I dislike the way the CCSS standards dramatically slash the percentage of classic literature permitted to be taught (to be replaced with info-texts). You might be thinking:  "but Utah uses the Utah Common Core, not the CCSS standards; so who cares?" Hold on; I will explain below how Utah's standards won't matter by 2015 in the "WestEd" paragraph below.

We Can Keep What We Like About CCI:

Many teachers do not realize that all the new standards that Utah started to implement this year were available in public domain; we did not need Common Core.  If we choose to sever ties with the Common Core Initiative and its testing arm to ensure freedom from federal or consortia controls, we are still free to use anything that's in the public domain, including the standards of Common Core.  But we should write standards under our own sovereign state power, as the Constitution requires. (If you are thinking:  "But this is a state-led initiative, not a federal initiative," hold on.  I will explain below, how the state-led claim is  technically true but not functionally true.)

The marketing of Common Core has been so excellent that very few people question it.  I attended last week's State School Board meeting and realized that even at the administrative and state level, very few people have taken time to read the legally binding documents of Common Core and its accompanying testing and data collection arm, that I have studied.  These documents testify that Utah has given up her freedom over education, yet I feel alone in my sense of urgency to investigate this issue.  (Documents attached if you care to read them)

Common versus Sovereign:

As a high school English teacher, I loved "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, a short story that begins as if it were introducing 2012 and the Common Core Initiative:

"THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General."

 Like the society in "Harrison Bergeron," Utah has volunteered to be bound to in-commonness at the expense of freedom and innovation.  Utah has agreed to a system of nationalized standards and assessments in which Utah has little or no voice. Utah must submit to the consensus of a consortium of states on key educational decisions. There are many ways in which Common Core impacts Utah's sovereignty over educational decisions.

There's ample proof that Utah has given away her own freedom  over education to federal and consortium control.  There is evidence (see "WestEd" below) that the current "Utah Common Core" will be swapped for the non-amendable CCSS.  The federal CCSS will rule, bringing with it the already determined slashes to the percentage of allowable classic literature (in favor of info texts) and other yet-to-be-determined changes, not amendable by us. There is no way for Utah or any state to control what is contained in, or will change in, the CCSS.

Federal Control:

The Common Core Initiative is a movement that claims to be completely free of federal controls, claims to be a "state-led" raising of educational standards, and claims to promote college readiness.

As you know, Utah joined CCI in 2009 and implementation will be complete in 2015. But did you know that Utah did not seek out CCI?  We joined both CCI and SBAC because the federal government incentivized it. Joining meant we got more points toward winning a competitive grant called Race to the Top.  We didn't win that grant-- not a penny-- but we are still bound to CCI and SBAC.  South Carolina Senator Mike Fair calls this error that South Carolina, Utah and other states made, a selling of our educational birthright without even getting the mess of pottage.  It's hard to sever ties.  In fact, you need (among many other things) federal approval to withdraw.

Common Core requires states to accept common standards, to which states may only add 15% more. (But that 15% will never be tested by the common test).

The U.S. Dept. of Education funded (and works closely with) each group that played a role in developing the national standards and both consortia contracted to write tests to CCSS standards. The U.S. DOE closely supervises data collected by the tests. The groups who did this educational work (that the federal government was not constitutionally  allowed to do) were groups paid by federal grants. They include West Ed, Achieve, Inc., The National Governors' Association, and the Council of Chief State School Officers. The U.S. DOE holds tight control over the tests and has requirements for each group of states to coordinate tests "across consortia," to give status updates and to provide access to information about the tests to the U.S. DOE on "an ongoing basis." (See "SBAC Cooperative Agreement.")

The standards themselves are not unquestionably high across disciplines.  Texas opted out of Common Core because it had higher math standards already and didn't want the 3 billion dollar implementation cost of adding Common Core. Massachusetts actually lowered state math standards by joining Common Core. Professor Sandra Stotsky, who served on the Common Core Validation Committee, refused to sign off that the English standards were authentic for college prep. Stanford Professor Michael Kirst said: "the standards for college and career readiness are essentially the same. This implies the answer is yes to the question of whether the same standards are appropriate for 4 year universities, 2 year colleges, and technical colleges. The burden of proof for this assertion rests with CCSSO/NGA, and the case is not proven".

The CCSS are common, one-size-fits-all standards that restrict local innovation, and the ability to further raise standards, regardless of whether the standards are currently higher or lower. The tests that go with the standards don't allow local innovating either. Since educational standards and decisions are meaningless without political freedom, there is little sense in analyzing whether the Utah Common Core standards are now better or worse;  Utah can't control any aspect of the CCSS.

There are two sets of standards (Utah Common Core & Common Core State Standards) that Utah will need to choose between and only the first  has an amendment process. See "WestEd" below.

SBAC is the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.  Utah belongs to this group, but the state in charge (and the fiscal agent) is Washington State.  Although Utah received no money from the Race to the Top grant, collectively the SBAC did win a grant to develop a testing system. Utah is bound to obey the terms of the SBAC's grant which include many freedom-closing mandates and expensive requirements. As a condition of the grant, all member states must adopt the Common Core (CCSS federal standards) No analysis has been done by Utah on CCI/SBAC implementation costs.

USOE,  the Utah State Office of Education, is a powerful office. Yet the USOE did not legally analyze Common Core; it was flatly accepted as true doctrine.  A USOE lawyer told me a few days ago that she thought that the "Cooperative Agreement" I referred her to didn't exist or was a hoax.  After I sent her the PDF, she then changed her response and said she disagreed with my interpretation of it.

The same USOE lawyer answered my question: "Why is there no amendment process for the CCSS standards?" by saying: "The whole point is to get to a place where there is a 'common core' - that would mean the same standards for all the states that adopt it.  If the states had the freedom to 'disagree' and 'change' them, I guess they would no longer be 'common'."  So freedom is not a priority to the USOE legal team.

The day after she wrote me that email, a directive went out at the USOE that no one (the legal department included) was allowed to answer further questions from me, a Utah teacher asking appropriate questions. They were told to direct me to the Public Relations department. So then I wrote to the Utah Attorney General for help and am still waiting for his response.

Another teacher, a friend, and I visited the Governor in his office two weeks ago to plead with him to reject Common Core.  We talked, gave him a binder and a jump drive containing evidence that federal control and consortia-control of Common Core jeopardized Utah's educational freedoms, and asked him to sever ties with CCI and SBAC.  He said we were confusing him and promised to have us back in three weeks with Superintendent Shumway and his lawyer in the room.  (I can keep you posted.)

WestEd  - As the project manager/test writer for the SBAC, WestEd holds an important role in the CCI.  I wrote a letter to WestEd in which I inquired, "Please help me understand how the individual standards of a member state of SBAC will still be relevant in light of the fact that all the SBAC states take the same test. For example, if  Colorado added 15% more calculus to their math standards than the federal standards had, while Utah added 15%  more geometry, how will those individual state standards be addressed by the test?  If the WestEd's test contains neither Colorado's calculus nor Utah's geometry, because their standards were actually higher than those of the federal government's, how will the test benefit the SBAC states?"

WestEd replied, " If a state chooses to add their state-specific 15% to the Consortium test, then that additional information can be included in their  local reporting, but is not considered the Smarter Balanced test.  In order for this system to have a real impact within a state the state will need to adopt the Common Core State Standards (i.e., not have two sets of standards). As a condition of the grant, all member states participating in the assessment must adopt the Common Core."

Did you catch that?  "…Not have two sets of standards".  What happens when states want to compete for high scores on a common test?  They will need to teach to the same set of standards that the test uses.

Why haven't we been told more about Common Core?  Hypothesis:  Superintendent Larry Shumway sits on the board of WestEd. He also sits on two of the boards that contracted the development of the CCSS standards. It's not strange that he has not provided transparency for Utahns about Common Core's mandates and costs.

A Spiral of Silence 

Marketing of Common Core has been target-specific. The national PTA received a two million dollar donation to actively promote Common Core. But CCI proponents didn't promote it outside the school system and CCI was never up for public vote or legislative input. It slid under taxpayer, parental, and legislative radar.  The Governor told my friend he did not recall having signed it.  He probably trusted those around him to do their homework.

Even though CCI was funded by, and is largely controlled by, the federal government, it was labeled a "state-led initiative." The federal government paid groups to do what it was not constitutionally permitted to do.  The Congressional Budget Office never could do a cost analysis and the taxpaying public was kept in the dark. Remember, the Constitution and G.E.P.A. laws clearly forbid the federal government from controlling or making decisions related to states' education.

If teachers or administrators don't like CCI,  they don't dare speak against it because it's been handed down as an unassailable doctrine of raising school standards. They fear losing their jobs by speaking out.

There is a survey that must be taken by anyone hoping to apply as a candidate for the Utah State School Board.  The very first question is:  "Do you support Common Core?" Can anyone who does not agree with Common Core be elected to the State School Board?

Fight for Educational Freedom

The Common Core question comes down to this: would Utah rather have education in common with a majority of other states, under the partial or full control of others' ideas about what is good for our kids, or would Utah prefer to have sovereignty to make educational decisions?

A great American, Ezra Benson, said: "I say to you with all the fervor of my soul that God intended men to be free. Rebellion against tyranny is a righteous cause. It is an enormous evil for any man to be enslaved to any system contrary to his own will… once freedom is lost, only blood –human blood – will win it back."

There is a petition that Utahns are signing to sever ties with CC/SBAC.   Links to documentable evidence are available at  http://utahnsagainstcommoncore.com and http://whatiscommoncore.wordpress.com (my own blog) as well as athttp://commoncorefacts.blogspot.com/.

Please consider the long term impacts of Common Core and let your Utah School Board, Superintendent Shumway, and Governor Herbert know how you feel.  Now is our window of opportunity.  If we wait, we'll be too financially and in other ways invested to withdraw from Common Core.

Thank you for your time.

Christel Swasey

Utah Teacher

Assorted

The following are a collection of assorted thoughts from out of my head:

 -I'm getting antsy about my garden. I keep feeling like we need to plant, or be getting ready to plant. But we can't do anything until we have the yard rough graded (which means make it level). The guys is supposed to come some time this week with his Bobcat to do it. After that I hope we can do a few raised beds out of cinder block. After the yard is graded, Aaron can start putting in the sprinkler system too. Then once the sprinklers are in, we can soft grade it and then put in the grass. Depending on how long it takes Aaron to get the sprinklers in, we may or may not have grass this year. But I'm okay with that, as long as we can get the garden in. (The garden is not dependent on the sprinklers being in, we can always water it by hand.)

-Finally got a square wood dowel for the sliding glass door. It's amazing how much safer I feel at night with that thing in.

-Finally went into Rod Works. Wow. I could spend a lot of money there. I found a few things I'd like to go back and get that would look really nice with my subway art on my front wall. I'm doing my house in yellow, red, green, and orange fall colors. I've always been an earth tones person.

 -Potty training is going...well, it's going. Ivan does really good in the mornings. He can go all morning, most every day without an accident. But after nap time it's like banging my head into a brick wall. And, of all weird things, the middle of the night....like 2am...is the only time he can (or will) tell me that he needs to go. At all normal hours of the day it's a complete guessing game. I have trained him to take care of his own accidents though, at least the wet ones. He knows to go upstairs, take off his wet stuff, put it in the laundry room, get in the tub, wash his legs off, and then find new underwear and pants for himself. I figure, I'm not the one having accidents, so as much as possible, I'd like very much not to be the one cleaning them up.

-Finished reading Stuart Little by E.B. White as a read-aloud with the kids. It wasn't my favorite. I liked Charlotte's Web much better. Next we're going to read The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron. I remember loving this one as a kid, and since my kids are really into space and astronauts, I think they'll like it too. After that I think we'll read the BFG by Roald Dahl.

-Isn't it great that each of us has our own different abilities and talents? I've been coming to this realization lately, and I think it's awesome. It's ok, if my strengths are not the strengths of others, and more importantly, it is ok if I have weaknesses where others have strengths. For example, I have quite a few friends and whenever anyone needs help, they are very quick to offer to take care of children. "Do you need help? I'll take your kids." Kind of a thing. And I've always felt bad because for me, watching kids is about that last thing I will usually volunteer to do. I'm more of a "Do you need help? I'll make you dinner." kind of a person. I struggle with the kid watching, especially if it's going to be more than a one-time thing. I have a friend who watches someone else's kids as a favor for several hours one night every week indefinitely, and in my mind that qualifies her for the Celestial Kingdom, because it's not something I could sign myself up for. And I've always felt like I'm lacking because of it. Then the other day I was talking to another friend, and she was telling me about how she feels very strongly that taking care of others' kids is one of her talents and abilities in life. And it was like a light bulb clicked on for me. I'd never thought about the ability to give that type of service as a talent before. But it totally is. And it's not one I have! Maybe there are people on this earth, who struggle as much with bringing a meal, or cleaning a house, or doing yard work, as I struggle with watching kids. And it's ok! All types of services need to be provided at one time or another. Heavenly Father gave us all different talents and asks us to use our talents to help people. That means I should use the talents I do have to help, rather than feel bad about the ones I don't have. And yes, I do watch kids sometimes, and there are some kids that are a lot easier to have than others, and I feel like I make those judgements as they come up. But it's not something I regularly volunteer to do, and now I'm learning that it's ok because I have different talents that allow me to serve in other ways. So, to make a long thought short, I'm glad to know that Heavenly Father didn't make us all exactly that same. I'm glad there is diversity so that all kinds of needs can be met. I don't know if this even makes sense, but there it is. 

-Found out that a coworker who Aaron is pretty good friends with, and his wife, are in the process of buying the house across the street from us. I hope it works out for them, that would be cool.

-Tried to freeze some roll dough a couple weeks ago. Took them out Sunday, thinking they'd work just as well as Rhodes' Rolls...I was sorely disappointed. They didn't raise much, and they tasted gross. I need to do some research and figure out how to freeze dough so that it will work. It would save a lot of space to be able to freeze dough rather than already cooked rolls, and it would save time to have frozen dough rather than having to mix dough all the time for fresh rolls. Any suggestions?

-I am determined that, after we get rid of all the people's stuff that's being stored at our house that's not ours, we will no longer be a storage unit. I'm having a hard enough time storing all the baby clothes we are not currently using. They take up so much space! I think it's the move, it's put me in a throw-everything-away kind of mood.

-I don't know about you, but I'm ready for warm weather.

-We recently bought the kids Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss. I didn't read it before we bought it. I had no idea it was a giant tongue twister waiting to happen. My kids love me to read it to them, I can't figure out way. I get so tripped up on the words, that I can't tell if they get anything out of it. It's funny. I'm starting to memorize parts of it because I've read it so many time to the kids, and I'm discovering that saying it from memory is WAY easier than trying to read it, my tongue doesn't get nearly as tangled. So I wonder if the tongue twister has something to do with the actual act of reading, rather than talking. Hmmmm....

-Lincoln's just a few pages away from finishing Explode the Code workbook 1. He's done really well with it, and he likes doing it. Lots of times I tell him to go play in the play room for quiet time, and then find him in the school room instead doing his workbook all by himself for fun. Whatever floats his boat, I guess. We just received workbook 2 in the mail, and he can't wait to get started on it.

- I keep thinking I need to make some kind of devotional chart/schedule to start out our homeschool day with. Nothing elaborate, but maybe just a prayer, a song (the one they're currently learning in Primary for that month), a scripture (again the one that goes along with the primary theme of the month), and maybe an article of faith. If I kept it simple, then it would be doable, and I think it would really help us focus and start the day off well.

-Speaking of primary...I miss my primary calling :( It's been so weird the last couple of weeks to have to sit for two straight hours.

Aaron is Not the Only One Making Things Around Here

Aaron was out of town for a couple days last week, so the kids and I went up to my mom's to get crafty. I've been really liking subway art lately. I've seen all kinds floating around out there, but I know that it's probably a good idea to only put up one piece of Subway art per house, so I've been searching for just the right one. I saw something similar to this on Pintrest, and knew I had to make one for myself.

I bought the board and the stain at Home Depot, and stained it the night before going up to Hooper. In Hooper my mom and I did the yellow with Swan at the top (she did the stippling, I had no idea what that was or how to do it). Then we used her Cricut machine to cut out all the vinyl  letters in the different sizes and fonts. It took an entire day, but I'm very pleased with it. It's going to be the main piece on the wall right as you walk in the front door. Right now it's the only piece...but eventually I'll decorate around it, and then hopefully the living room will start to feel more homey, and less like an office cubical.

(Eventually, eventually Aaron has drawn some plans to build himself a nice desk, and when that happens we'll move the desk/computer into the family room, and buy some furniture and a piano for the living room, but that's all a very long ways down the road.)

Our Easter Activity

I did get my act together enough last week to do one Easter centered activity with the kids before the actual day.

We talked about how Christ died and was resurrected and how because of him we will all be resurrected too after we did. Easter is in the spring time when everything is getting a new life. Because we can be resurrected and because we can repent, Christ as given us a new life too. So spring reminds us of Christ in that way.

Then we did a little chick art project, so remind us of new life. I thought it turned out cute.

Ivan's and Lincoln's on top, mine and Adelia's on bottom.

Letter Day: R is for Rodeo!

A couple weeks ago, I hosted Letter Day and did the letter R. I decided to do a rodeo theme. I dressed the kids up like cowboys. Then I had them ride a horse. Next we did barrel racing I step up three pots in the living room and gave them a stick horse (a stuffed Eeore from Winnie the Pooh tied to a foam T-ball bat with a ribbon) and had them race around the barrels.

Then we did cow roping. They had to ride the stick horse across the room to Suzy, who was holding a stuffed animal cow, and they had to wrap the cow in rope and then race back to the other side of the room. Suzy did a great job of making it a challenge by having the cow move around so it was difficult to rope.

Next I had the kids pretend to be bulls. I was a rodeo clown and waved a red handkerchief  at them and they had to try to catch me.

Then I told them about how sometimes at rodeos, they let a bunch of roosters run wild int he arena and people (usually kids) get to come down and try to catch them. So we pretended to be roosters, and let Adelia and Ryan try to catch us. It was a hoot.

To wrap things up, we went to the table and colored a big R that was wearing cowboy boots and a hat. 

Garage Shelves

There's no use trying to hide it, my husband is pretty amazing. And that's a fact. He spent the weekend making garage shelves. It's so nice to have some things organized and some space cleared out in the garage. For the first time in 6 years we get to park our car in the garage. Yay!

It's a tight fit, and there's still lots more stuff that needs to be organized, moved, returned to it's rightful owner, and gotten rid of, but our van officially lives in the garage now. I love being a home owner.

And here's Daddy's little helper. I think she spent almost as much time in the garage as he did on Saturday.

Also this weekend, we had the pleasure of having our two good friends Tindy and Ben come and stay Friday night with us. They were in town doing a wedding photo shoot, and we got lucky enough to snatch them away from work for some dinner Friday night. Then Saturday afternoon, Tindy and I left Aaron and Ben with the kids and ran over to check out Rod Works, a home decor store. I've always wanted to go in there, but never been willing to drag three kids along. It's as awesome as I imagined it would be...dangerous place, if you have any money to spend. I'll be going back some day.

Sunday evening we had Kelly and Esther and Asher and Ryan and Melissa over for dinner. We always love a family party, and wished everyone else could have been there too. We did get to see Stacey and Rob and their kids today though. They stopped by on their way to Salt Lake. Lisa and Sydni and families, and Chuck and Debbie, we missed you guys! When are we all getting together this year?

Pieces of Me

Poetry. One of those pieces of me that has gotten lost, and almost forgotten about, in the shuffle of wivery (is that a word? The act of being a wife...wivery? It is now.) and motherhood. As I was unpacking and going through some things, I found an old binder with some poetry in it that I wrote in high school. I also wrote a lot of poetry when I was in college too, but I can't find any of those poems anywhere. Which is really too bad, because those ones are a little better, I think, and I would like to read them again. Anyways, it was still fun reading the ones from high school. Some of them were silly, some were exercises where I was playing around with a certain form or style, and some of them are just plain garbage. I think, though, that I will share a few. Remember I was 17 when I wrote these. :)

My Heart and Soul
by Krystal Lemmon

The pen and ink, my heart and soul
Devoted to the written word;
Feelings caught on a paper bowl.

When life becomes a bitter curd
To write relaxes and relieves,
What was complex appears absurd.

A dream world on the page conceives
Silver arches bracing trials
Man can press on now, he believes.

Journals contain thought as a vial
Holds liquid; saving it for later.
Make memories through beguile.

Words to me: paint to a painter
Beauty is finding the right one
Pen and ink to my desires will cater.

His Message
By Krystal Lemmon

To win feels good if worked for;
Losing can be productive.
Out of situations more
Is acquired through positive
Thinking than by going through
The motions learning nothing.
Hard arduous trials too
Refine and perfect something
Which otherwise would lack
That compelling quality.
When on winning streaks don't slack;
Developing amenity
By settling with what's been done
Is most harmful. Set high goals
For thyself, accomplish one
At a time. Temptation pulls
Thee, but keep they dreams in mind.
Don't forfeit long term ambitions
Because today you were blind
With veneer joy's compensations.
My contract does not promise
A lifetime of effortlessness
Or peace, for there is a price.
Easiness I ne'er did express
To thee, that is not my way.
But offer thee comfort
That thy struggles will someday 
In my kingdom prove thy worth.


Writer's Block is Like...
by Krystal Lemmon

Force-feeding an infant.
You wouldn't eat that
Mush of goopy imitation
Vegetables either. The
Brat wails when the lid
Comes off releasing a musty
Sick-to-your-stomach whiff.
Yet still you take a spoonful
And try to coax it in his mouth.
But for all your happy gestures,
Or imitation baby language and
Airplane noises, the green/orange
Glop of yuck is spit right back
Into your face mixed with drooling
Criticism. And that wide-eyed
Innocent thing laughs at your
Dismay, as a subtle reminder
That this garbage isn't good enough.

Tall, Dark, and Sarcastic
by Krystal Lemmon

Towering tall stretching with stars
Head higher fabricates farsightedness
Benefiting your view.

Witty words and sarcastic sentences;
Concealed compliments flow freely
From your vocal mind.

Long locks, brown boyish, and curly
Waking wisps dangle down
Over your ears.

Eyes alter, cerulean to cobalt
Sparkle, splashing, excitement exaggerated
When you're amused.

Locked lids display delight in
Cuddling comfortably, braking breath
You're so relaxed.

Arms assured enclose me easily,
Pleasantly pillowed, ceaselessly satisfied
Against your shoulder.

Teasing, tantalizing; mocking, messing around
Obscurely uncover myriad meanings
All of them good.

Conversation continues without wanting more
Two together works well
For both of us.

That's enough for today. Maybe another day, when I'm feeling nostalgic about the things I can't seem to find the time to do anymore, I'll post some more. There are lots of poems. I miss the ability to take an emotion, or a thought, or an experience, and twist it into something (more or less) beautiful, and feel like there is a mode of expression that can at least semi-accurately capture the things that are on the inside of yourself. But writing poetry takes lots of time. Lots of quiet time, lots of reflecting, lots of editing and changing. And those long stretches of solitude seem to escape me these days...but maybe some day I'll get back to that place.