The Case of the Freezing Mine, the Stagecoach Ride, the Crazed Spork Murderer, and the Invisible Ostrich Farm

Earlier this year, the Eagleridge student council decided to go to Bisbee and Tombstone for the 6-8 grade end-of-the-year trip. Earlier this week, we actually went on the trip. We all got to Eagleridge at 6:30AM and got on the tour bus. We then drove for about 3 and a half hours playing many dramatic games of Mafia in which the mafia really liked stabbing people with sporks.

At about 10:00AM we were told by the tour guide that an ostrich farm would be coming up on the right-side of the bus after we pass a trailer park. About half an hour later we passed the trailer park. Another half an hour passed and still no ostrich farm. Another half an hour passed and my friend Devin realized that it either was never really there, or was passed without us knowing it.  I have spent the last couple of days trying to find it on Google Earth without success. Three more hours later (or exactly 32 throwing spork murders later) we arrived in Bisbee, Arizona. After we got off the bus, our tour guide for the away-from-the-bus part of the tour met us. Bisbee was originally started as a copper, silver, and gold mining camp before they found the Copper Queen Mine when they decided to make it a city. After the tour of the city, she brought us to the Copper Queen Mining Museum. There, we learned all sorts of stuff from the equipment they used in the underground mine to how they separate the ore from the dirt in the open pit mine (the gasses from a bacteria imported from Norway literally burn away anything that isn't copper ore.)

After the museum, we got back on the bus and drove another twenty minutes until we reached the entrance to the Copper Queen Mine. We went inside a little warehouse next to it and were given bright yellow jackets, hardhats, and a car battery with a light bulb about big enough to cover the head of a pin, and we were told to haul the car battery around on the belt of the jacket. They then loaded us onto the mine cart: a somewhat small engine that stalled often but had a soft cushioned swivel chair. Hauled by this engine was twelve two by fours on wheels with two thin rods running down the length of the cart. Along with the unstable method of transportation, it was also informed five minutes after we entered, that the mine stayed a naturally flat 52 degrees! If you don't believe me here's a picture of a thermometer in there:

It was fun though, and we got to see many old crystal and mining caves along with a lift shaft, detonation cave, and a honey cart (the portable toilet). Here's a picture of the honey cart (I don't know why they call it a honey cart):

After we left the mine, we ate lunch on the bus and went to see one of the many open pit mines. The mine we went to see was the Lavender Open Pit Mine which was literally 80 ft. from the Copper Queen Mine. Apparently the shadow at the bottom of the mine isn't a shadow. Instead, the shadow is a mass of trapped rain water that is mixed with large amounts of copper, lead, iron, sediment, and bits of TNT. This combination makes a black toxic fluid that guarantees a painful death to a person in less than an hour if the person drinks it. Here's a picture of the toxic liquid:

After we went to the Lavender Open Pit Mine, we left Bisbee, and we were able to play another eight games of Mafia (all of which involved someone eating Teriyaki chicken while someone was being killed with a spork) before we arrived in Tombstone. Brief history of Tombstone: founded by a guy who was thought to be crazy for venturing out to the middle of nowhere and told all he would find was his tombstone. This guy (Edward Schieffelin) found silver and named the town Tombstone as an ironic joke. When we got there, we were broken up into two groups for the stagecoach tour. The other group went first. The group I was in went and found the biggest ice creams I've ever seen (a two scoop is about the size of four scoops). The stagecoach tour was a bit of a disappointment, but it was still interesting. To summarize: now you should understand the case of the freezing mine, the stagecoach ride, the crazed spork murderer, and the invisible ostrich farm. This case has been solved. Never trust anyone with a spork. ;)

In the Attic

I love to write. At Eagleridge, in our composition class, we have been writing lots of stories. Here is one of them I wrote. It is called "In the Attic."
One day I was reading the book Caddie Woodlawn when I got to a chapter where Caddie went into her attic and found some breeches and clogs. I wondered if there was anything in our attic and what it was. I decided to go find out.

Once I had the ladder set below the trap door in our bathroom, I was ready to climb it. I started climbing. Once I was at the top, I pushed open the trap door. It was big and heavy, but I was able to open it. I then climbed inside. It was very dusty inside and hard to breathe in, but I just covered my mouth and nose with my shirt and started walking forward. It was strangely quiet, but then I thought, "How loud should it be in an attic?" Finally I saw a few piles of boxes all pushed aside in a corner. I also saw some tables, chairs, and other types of furniture by the boxes. I went over to one box and peeked into it. Inside was some pretty, exotic fabric pieces. I went over to a table. On it was a deck of playing cards, an old 1950's black-and-white movie, a basket of old Christmas cards, a board game, and a small, pink diary with a bejeweled butterfly on it. Then I went over to a dresser. On it was a few toiletry bags, a hand-held mirror, and a pair of torn-up slippers. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a drawer slightly open and I opened it all the way. I took out the only item in the drawer: a box about big enough to hold a cat. I took the box with me as I went to go sit in an old, dusty armchair. I opened the box. Inside was a library book, a broken name badge, a library card, a bag of German money, and a picture of a teenage girl at a library. I wondered what all of these things were here for, so I left the attic to go ask my mother.

Once I had safely gotten down the ladder, I put it back in the garage and went back inside to show my mom this stuff. I found her checking her e-mail on the computer. When I showed her the items, she was surprised to see them. I asked her whose they were and why they were in the attic. "Oh, these are just some of the things they gave me while working at a German library," she said. "You got a broken name badge for working at a German library?" I said, astonished. My mom laughed. "No, no," she said, " That was the name badge I used while working at a library in Germany." " They gave you a library book also?" I asked. She nodded, "A library card also," she added. "This is the money they paid you with," I guessed. She nodded. "Is that you in this picture?" I asked. "Yes," she said, "that picture was taken by one of my friends in Germany, by the way, where did you find this stuff?" I blushed. "In the attic," I said. She laughed. "Go return it to the attic and don't go up there again without my permission," she said. I smiled and ran to go get the ladder.


While writing this story, I kept asking my mom questions some of which were not included in the story. It is true that my mom worked in a German library back when she lived in Germany when she was a teenager. She told me that she never wore a name badge though. Oops! I wouldn't be able to find that stuff in our attic though because ours is an "unfinished" attic meaning it doesn't have a floor. I hope you enjoyed my non-fiction/fiction story "In the Attic." What's in your attic?

The Long, Hot Days of Homeschool Summer

It's that time of year again! The season of, "How do your kids get their socialization?" will now be replaced with, "Are your kids 'out' for the summer?" Yippee, I'm already getting this question and school in my district just let "out" today! I CAN'T WAIT to hear this question all summer long! By the way, when does school go back "in" so I know when to get back into socialization mode? Alrighty then . . . here is yet another mystery uncovered...

As we know, the lunar calendar gave way to the Roman calendar, which gave way to the Julian calendar, which gave way to the Gregorian calendar, which gave way to the Public School calendar, and all soccer games Shall Be on Saturdays and church on Sundays (regardless of the parents' work schedules, but that is another blog post...) I digress.

Our current American school calendar of about 180 days with the summer months off, started around the 1900's so that rural kids could be home to harvest crops, and urban kids could be spared from sweltering in un-air-conditioned school buildings. I find it interesting that we are asking our kids to learn a TON more than kids in the 1900's had to learn, and we are asking our poor over-worked and under-paid teachers to teach a TON more than teachers of the 1900's, but we are using the same goofy school calendar. I know many parents fight the thought of ever changing the school calendar because they like having beach vacations in the summer (I'm one of them), and sending their kids to all the great enrichment camps (also guilty of that), but what about the other kids that spend their unsupervised summers watching TV, getting into trouble, and forgetting the previous school year? Here's where I ask myself, do we send American kids to school to get an education or to occupy their time while parents work? I don't have an answer for that. I can only speak for myself, which is: I send my kids to "school," whether "school" is to the dining room table, the couch, a museum, or yes... to the TV, to get an education. Therefore, "school" is not "out" for the summer around here. It's not a grueling schedule, (learning really shouldn't be grueling) and we pretty much lost most of May to all their various projects, but I'm okay with that because there was value in what they were doing. The beauty of homeschooling is that you can stop and start and re-adjust plans as needed. I can tell you that Rebecca has announced that she wants to learn Latin this summer (despite the fact that the three of us started French lessons earlier this year), we will continue with Fred and his Algebra, we're hacking away at America: The Story of Us on the DVR, we're immersed in Ansel Adams and his photography and getting ready to visit his exhibit and do something with Patrick's photos, we have a new-found interest in oceanography and oil drilling (hmmm... wonder why?), and we will blog. I'm sure other things will come up. We have a couple of vacations planned, but who knows... maybe they will be part of their education!

So to answer the question: "Are your kids 'out' for the summer?" No, they are not -- unless you consider that they were never "in." Hope this clears it up :)

Immigration Frustration Adaptation: AZ SB1070

Immigration
This blog post has been brewing for sometime. I have told myself that my purpose here is to expand perceptions about homeschooling so avoid the political. I just can't though, and here's why: I feel it's the same fight! People forming opinions about other people before they know anything about them. Profiling. You are brown so I have "reasonable suspicion" to believe you are here illegally. Your kids are homeschooled so they are pasty, maladjusted oddballs. At times I find it hard to believe it's the year 2010, and we're STILL dealing with these same issues. Here are some "Landmarks in Immigration History" from a history website we like: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/immigration_chron.cfm.
This timeline clearly shows that the more things change, the more they stay the same!

Yes, there is also evidence that illegal immigration is actually down:
http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=53
http://www.immigrationforum.org/blog/display/in-arizona-its-politics-not-crime-driving-border-insecurity/
http://www.outloudopinion.com/2010/04/26/bad-land-why-hysteria-has-won-out-in-arizona-4-26-10

And that the law is unconstitutional and too expensive for Arizona to enact:
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/04/arizona_facts.html

And that cops should not have to function as immigration officers, and that this function will lead to mistrust within the communities they serve:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/29/arizona.immigration.lawsuit/index.html
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/apr/20/opinion/op-varsanyi20

And a whole host of other misconceptions about immigration:
http://www.immigrationforum.org/images/uploads/MythsandFacts.pdf
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2007/summer/paranoid-style-redux/getting-immigrat

Frustration
But what this law is really about is TOLERANCE and DIVERSITY. It seems like as our American population gets larger, and as the media can bring faraway places to our living rooms and increased air travel can actually take us to the faraway places, the reverse is actually happening, and we are becoming more segregated as a nation. You live in a blue state or a red state. You Believe or you don't Believe. I could go on and on. This goes for BOTH sides of SB1070 -- for or against.

Don't boycott Arizona because they passed a law that you don't agree with! Come here and let's talk! In 1995, when I lived in San Francisco, a friend of mine in a longtime lesbian relationship moved to the deep south right in the middle of their adoption proceedings to become new mommies. I remember asking her what she was going to do down there with the difference of opinion, and she said, "What good am I here in San Francisco where everyone feels the same way I do!" Whether you agree or disagree with the politics behind that, you have to agree that it doesn't make sense for everyone to have to congregate together based on their belief system. I have held onto that gem for the almost 13 years that I have now lived in Arizona and encountered many wonderful people that just have different opinions from mine. People of San Francisco: they think differently down here! This is the land of Wyatt Earp and block wall fences. You can live here 13 years and never see your next door neighbor -- it's easy! San Francisco County is 46 square miles and Maricopa County is 9,226 square miles. Where San Franciscans interact with their neighbors on a daily basis, Arizonans have sufficient space to hide from them. So tell me how it's going to help to boycott our state? Arizonans WANT to be left alone -- don't let them! Other cities have followed suit with boycotts of Arizona: San Diego, West Hollywood, Los Angeles, Oakland, Seattle, El Paso, Austin, Boston, St. Paul, and Boulder -- not to mention the sports teams and civic organizations.

The Arizona House of Representatives passed the "Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act" (AZ SB1070's true name) with a 35 Republican to 21 Democrat straight party-line vote. The Arizona State Senate voted 17-11 with just one Republican voting against the Bill. It's easy to see what's going on here -- there aren't enough Democrats in this state to fight this thing. The ones that are here don't vote because they feel their votes won't count. Call yourself a "Moderate Republican," a "Libertarian," or an "Independent" if it makes you feel better, it doesn't change the fact that when Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, was governor of Arizona for six years before becoming Secretary of Homeland Security, similar immigration bills came to her desk, and she vetoed every one of them. Now we have Jan Brewer, a Republican, in office a little more than a year, and we now have a "misguided" immigration law that does nothing to actually "support law enforcement" or "create safe neighborhoods." I actually WANT to support this bill for the mere fact that I don't advocate doing anything illegal. I'm a very law-abiding citizen! But we have 4 million kids in the United States that have atleast one illegal parent. One in seven kids in Arizona schools are sitting in that classroom either directly or indirectly due to illegal immigration. Estimates are that there are already 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants in the United States. So how is our local law enforcement supposed to fix a problem of this magnitude? Certainly not by profiling Latinos and risking a lawsuit later on for doing that. We're setting law enforcement up to fail.

I'm sure this is quite a huge mistake to post about this subject in my homeschooling blog, but I can't help but draw parallels between my struggles. When you hear that I homeschool my kids, instead of thinking of all the things that could be WRONG with homeschooling, why not think of all the things that could be RIGHT with homeschooling. When you think of illegal immigrants, instead of envisioning drug lords and human smugglers, which are the vast minority of illegal immigrants, why not think of the person that picked your produce and built your house! I grew up in Encinitas, California, the self-proclaimed "Flower Capital of the World," home to Paul Ecke and his famous poinsettias -- the plants that define Christmas. Well who do you think picked all those flowers and Christmas plants? LEGAL immigrants? Think what you want, but I can tell you a sad past-time of Encinitas teenagers when I was growing up was to go down by the donut shop early in the morning when "immigrants" were lining up for work, and yell "La Migra" and watch people scatter into the hillsides. Do you know anyone that WANTS to do farm labor? Aren't they filling a gap in our economy? I can also tell you that later on when I taught ESL (English as a Second Language) classes that I far preferred teaching immigrants to any other students for their determined motivation to learn and their gratitude that I was helping them. Now, as a nurse, I can work anywhere I want, but I CHOOSE to work at the County hospital where I am taking care of the under-served, many of them illegal immigrants, that have no place else to go.

Adaptation
As a footnote to this post, I want to mention how I have no plans to leave Arizona anytime soon despite it's crazy politics. Anytime I want, I can hop in my car and 20 minutes later be kayaking amongst dramatic canyon walls with only a Great Blue Heron following me. On my way home from work, I can drive alongside orchards with the heady smell of orange blossoms coming in my car window. Every spring I can hike in the hillsides around my town and see yellow Mexican Gold Poppies, purple Lupines, and orange Globe Mallows on display. Every late May, I can look outside my living room window and watch my Saguaro change from bud to beautiful blossom. Every summer, I get to watch amazing thunderstorms and later be rewarded with the smell of wet Creosote. Every fall, I can drive 20 minutes and sit under a grove of red and yellow Pistachio trees. Every winter, I can drive a little more than an hour and play in the snow. And most importantly... Arizona is homeschool friendly! So when I contemplated whether or not I wanted to speak out about something that I feel is so grossly wrong, I remembered that to remain silent is to fear losing rights that you may hold dearly.

What is Age?

Well, I've now been to more book signings than movies this year. I look at this as yet one more feather in my cap towards Ultimate Dorkdom. My husband brought me a glass of water last night while I was lying in bed, and he was at a loss as to where to set it down because of the 17 books (and he counted them) on my nightstand that I am currently reading. I love books!

My brief interchange with a quasi-celebrity went like this: my 12 year-old son and I stood in the bookstore line with a copy of Dave Barry's, I'll Mature When I'm Dead. When we got up to Dave, he asked for whom he was signing the book. To which I told him that it was for Mike, my husband. So he wrote in the book, "Mike, Do NOT grow up - Dave Barry." And I said to him, "That's perfect, I'm married to a child." To which he turned to my son who was holding up his cellphone to take a picture and said, "So who is this?" And I said, "That's the child's child. He's the only one that can work the cellphone camera." We all had a good chuckle out of that, then we sat down to listen to Dave tell us excerpts from his book. It was a pretty packed house, and Dave was very funny. My son was CRACKING UP. Until this point, Patrick was pretty much along for the ride, hoping that I would buy him something later. People sitting in front of us were actually turning around to see my son laughing so loudly. I looked around the room, and Patrick appeared to be the youngest person there -- by a lot. This observation got me thinking about why that might be. If you have been following this blog, you know that my kids partake in their fair share of kid-specific activities: everything from scouts to camp to their homeschool band. But my kids are equally comfortable around a variety of age brackets, and I think this is yet another wonderful aspect of homeschooling.

Starting with homeschool park days, kids all play together with a variety of ages -- there are toddlers all the way through teenagers. I remember one of my first impressions of homeschooled kids is how sweet they were with all the other kids at park days and not cliquey at all. Homeschooled  kids get used to welcoming new families into their group all the time so they are not standoffish with newcomers like some schooled children are. These park days are often pretty unstructured so the kids become resourceful at starting and making up new games to play, unlike P.E. classes at school where the activities are directed. Even when they go to their homeschool enrichment program, they have many multi-age classes. Right now, my kids are knee-deep in group-work building a medieval castle, a cardboard boat that they will be sinking sailing in next week, a balloon orchestra for the talent show, a reader's theater, chorus, and band performance, and that's all just this week! Sometimes they are the youngest in a group, and sometimes they are the oldest, but isn't this how it is in the real world? Don't we work with people that are all different ages? We must get along with all of them. We are not segregated by our chronological age. I'm always puzzled when I'm filling out something for one of my kids that asks what "grade" they are in. My 10 year-old is technically in 4th grade, but she looks 14 years old, acts out imaginative games like an 8 year-old, enjoys going up for children's story-time at church with the 6 year-olds, works out of an 8th grade math book, and knows her Greek mythology like a 54 year-old college professor. So what grade is she in? Here's where it just doesn't matter in homeschooling -- you can be in whatever grade you want. So on top of getting along with all different age kids, my kids also seem to really like adults -- or atleast their parents. I don't know if this is because we spend so much time together with them day in and day out, or if it's just because we are way-cool (I'm sure that's it.) However, I certainly never wanted to hang out with my parents when I was a kid, and I have to think that there is a closeness that develops between the parent and the child when the parent is also the teacher. I wouldn't trade these years for anything!

Cinco de Mayo Powerpoint Presentation by Rebecca

http://www.slideshare.net/mvrober1/cinco-de-mayo-by-rebecca