I believe (I can't remember?) that's our newish stupid state motto. An equivalent runner up in badness would have been "Life with an Altitude". Either way, it's fitting.
Our house is located within a few feet of 6000 feet above sea level. It keeps our temperatures about ten degrees cooler than Salt Lake City (~4220 feet) and the main Wasatch Mountain valley where 80% of the state's population lives, and it also brings on our autumn earlier.
Just two weeks ago I could go out at 6:30 in the morning for a jog in only a T-shirt and be fine. Now our overnight temps are hitting the high 40s, gasp, and this morning I had to wear a jacket for my jog.
*clings to summer* Don't go! Not yet!
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Now playing: Bananarama - Cruel Summer
via FoxyTunes
20 August 2008
18 August 2008
Home is where the hair shines
Last week was our family vacation, the one week Blaine gets off work every year. The first two days he was working on a freelance project that didn't finish on time, but that's okay; we went to Seven Peaks waterpark for not free and we had a great time. (We'd "earned" free passes to Seven Peaks last spring through a reading program, but I left the passes home so we had to pay to get in. *shoots self in foot*) But Wednesday through Saturday we went to Zion National Park (first time for me and all the kids) and we camped and we hiked and we didn't shower and we had a seriously so marvelous time, even though daytime temps were 104º. (Nighttime temps in the low 90s or high 80s.) We went through lots of sunscreen and tried to stick with shady hikes and we're barely even pink, and we saw almost everything there was to see in the area we stayed in. There was this fantastic free shuttle system and lots of stops and we hopped off wherever we wanted, always there were bathrooms and water, and then a few minutes later another shuttle would come by and we'd hop on and go to the next place we wanted to visit. After we parked our Suburban in our camping spot we didn't drive it again until it was time to leave.
For me one of the great highlights was when Blaine and the eldest four went off on a hike to Angel's Landing, an arduous thing that takes five hours round-trip and climbs up up up ending on a perilous, rail-free walk along the plateau rim.
(Here's a link to a pictoral someone else made of the hike; the picture above is what Angel's Landing looks like from below, as I saw it.) I had been shuttling and hiking and doing this and that all around the park with the three littles, trying to kill five hours in a cool way since our campsite was unbearable midday in the 104º heat. I'd decided we'd puttered and hiked long enough and we were shuttling up canyon toward the River Walk (a lovely paved trail alongside the Virgin River, easy to walk and with plenty of places to hop off the trail and play in the shallows, and we all needed cooling off). I used my walkie-talkie as we were getting to the Big Bend shuttle stop which was a view for the Angel's Landing hike, asking where they were. Blaine said excitedly, "We're in the saddle! We just made it to the rim!" And right in my seat on the shuttle, with Macklin in my lap and Kyrie smashed up next to me, I could look out the open window in the ceiling and without even a lean in either direction see Libby in her bright red shirt waving from the rim of the plateau. I saw other arms waving too, but Libby's shirt was the one that stuck out at that distance. The timing was perfect, the position was perfect, and it made my heart smile to sit there in the shuttle and be a little part of the hike going on hundreds of feet (a thousand?) above me. (They had the camera with them, so I don't have a picture of the waving arms. Alas!)
Then Saturday, when our Zion campground reservations expired, we began the trek homeward and on a whim stayed in Fremont State Park campground, also with no showers. It was a pretty big change, daytime temps in the high 80s and nighttime temps in the high 40s, so we were all bundled up in virtually every article of clothing; but the moon was full and the stars were gorgeous and there wasn't a cloud in the sky so we left the rain fly off the tent and the full moon smiled down on our sleeping faces all night. We went to a cute little museum dedicated to the Fremont Indian people whose ancient dwellings had been discovered/destroyed by the construction of I-70, and walked through a canyon that had vast amounts of petroglyphs and pictographs, and climbed into a reproduction of a pit house. So fun.
Usually with this one summer week we go to Priest Lake in northern Idaho where B's family has two cabins on a lake. I've posted about the place before. This time we couldn't afford the gasoline it would take to drive the 800+ miles each way, so we settled for sites closer to home. At least, at the time we thought we were settling. But every day the kids were raving about how much fun the trip was and what a great time they were having. :D
And it was a great cap to the summer. Now I feel like we can go back to school in two weeks, and we haven't missed anything or forgotten to do anything important. Best of all, I'm showered and I smell good and my hair is shiny again.
For me one of the great highlights was when Blaine and the eldest four went off on a hike to Angel's Landing, an arduous thing that takes five hours round-trip and climbs up up up ending on a perilous, rail-free walk along the plateau rim.
(Here's a link to a pictoral someone else made of the hike; the picture above is what Angel's Landing looks like from below, as I saw it.) I had been shuttling and hiking and doing this and that all around the park with the three littles, trying to kill five hours in a cool way since our campsite was unbearable midday in the 104º heat. I'd decided we'd puttered and hiked long enough and we were shuttling up canyon toward the River Walk (a lovely paved trail alongside the Virgin River, easy to walk and with plenty of places to hop off the trail and play in the shallows, and we all needed cooling off). I used my walkie-talkie as we were getting to the Big Bend shuttle stop which was a view for the Angel's Landing hike, asking where they were. Blaine said excitedly, "We're in the saddle! We just made it to the rim!" And right in my seat on the shuttle, with Macklin in my lap and Kyrie smashed up next to me, I could look out the open window in the ceiling and without even a lean in either direction see Libby in her bright red shirt waving from the rim of the plateau. I saw other arms waving too, but Libby's shirt was the one that stuck out at that distance. The timing was perfect, the position was perfect, and it made my heart smile to sit there in the shuttle and be a little part of the hike going on hundreds of feet (a thousand?) above me. (They had the camera with them, so I don't have a picture of the waving arms. Alas!)
Then Saturday, when our Zion campground reservations expired, we began the trek homeward and on a whim stayed in Fremont State Park campground, also with no showers. It was a pretty big change, daytime temps in the high 80s and nighttime temps in the high 40s, so we were all bundled up in virtually every article of clothing; but the moon was full and the stars were gorgeous and there wasn't a cloud in the sky so we left the rain fly off the tent and the full moon smiled down on our sleeping faces all night. We went to a cute little museum dedicated to the Fremont Indian people whose ancient dwellings had been discovered/destroyed by the construction of I-70, and walked through a canyon that had vast amounts of petroglyphs and pictographs, and climbed into a reproduction of a pit house. So fun.
Usually with this one summer week we go to Priest Lake in northern Idaho where B's family has two cabins on a lake. I've posted about the place before. This time we couldn't afford the gasoline it would take to drive the 800+ miles each way, so we settled for sites closer to home. At least, at the time we thought we were settling. But every day the kids were raving about how much fun the trip was and what a great time they were having. :D
And it was a great cap to the summer. Now I feel like we can go back to school in two weeks, and we haven't missed anything or forgotten to do anything important. Best of all, I'm showered and I smell good and my hair is shiny again.
07 August 2008
Homeschool, opportunities, universities, and life
We're looking into a high school for Emma. In the beginning I had mixed feelings, divided roughly thus:
But then I looked at it from Emma's perspective, instead of filtering it through all my financial obligations, my desire to have her at home, my anxieties; I pondered the entire opportunity as it affects/benefits Emma. This is her life. This is the beginning of the woman she'll become. This is my unutterably beloved daughter, for whom I want every benefit, every advantage, every possible good thing in life.
And then my feelings were no longer mixed. I want what she wants. I would sacrifice almost anything to give her opportunities that are good, positive, and worthy of her.
There's a private boarding high school six miles down the road in Mt. Pleasant. It's the same school where Blaine briefly worked as assistant director of admissions. The majority of the students are typical rich kid prep school students; a minority are kids who have struggled with drugs or gangs or alcohol and have a court-mandated need for heavy supervision and a strict boarding-type situation. There are several international students (Africa, Asia, Europe), and a few locals. We have several homeschooling friends who have sent their children there as day students, and the education is superior. The classes are small but rigorous, the teachers are highly educated and competent, and the facilities, for such an itty bitty place, really rock.
We're thinking ahead to college. My kiddles are very likely going to need a good university education to land the careers they want; and let's face it, my children's parents aren't wealthy enough to pay for it all. The kids are going to need scholarships, they're going to need to know how to study and how to succeed without $$$ from us. I could handle the high school academics, but this will give them opportunities to play on teams, to be involved in student government, to learn art and dance and...all the things I can't do at home, and that look great on scholarship applications.
Also compelling is: when else will she get a chance to experience the diversity of high school? College is a place to specialize. You have to choose a path and follow it and learn and get out. High school is the time to experiment with subjects and try out for a play and do all of those things that don't make the university cut. I get excited just thinking about how high Emma can soar.
So we toured the campus. (How much would I have loved this campus? Even just as a day student, how much would I have loved to have a college-like experience at 15?) We filled out reams of applications. And last week Emma was accepted. But there was still one more hurdle to clear, which we just did today: financial aid came through, substantially reducing the portion we'll pay of the [SKY HIGH] tuition.
It's pretty exciting, even if it is a totally new frontier for this homeschooling mom. I'm going to have a hard time letting her go, but I'm so excited to see where she flies.
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Now playing: Muse - Butterflies & Hurricanes
via FoxyTunes
- Half of me thought, "Nooooooo!" I love homeschooling my children. My own degree was for teaching high school math and science, so I feel capable. And most of all, I love having my children around me all day—not in a stop doing math and go clean the toilets sort of way, but in an I love you and like sharing your entire life sort of way. I think of all the things she'll miss, of how she'll be a little out of the family loop, and I think, "This isn't for us at all."
- Half of me thought, "Yay, one less student!" As much as I love homeschool, it gets increasingly complicated as I add more students, and as the grade levels climb. It's kind of a relief to think I won't have to worry about adding in a high school curriculum.
But then I looked at it from Emma's perspective, instead of filtering it through all my financial obligations, my desire to have her at home, my anxieties; I pondered the entire opportunity as it affects/benefits Emma. This is her life. This is the beginning of the woman she'll become. This is my unutterably beloved daughter, for whom I want every benefit, every advantage, every possible good thing in life.
And then my feelings were no longer mixed. I want what she wants. I would sacrifice almost anything to give her opportunities that are good, positive, and worthy of her.
There's a private boarding high school six miles down the road in Mt. Pleasant. It's the same school where Blaine briefly worked as assistant director of admissions. The majority of the students are typical rich kid prep school students; a minority are kids who have struggled with drugs or gangs or alcohol and have a court-mandated need for heavy supervision and a strict boarding-type situation. There are several international students (Africa, Asia, Europe), and a few locals. We have several homeschooling friends who have sent their children there as day students, and the education is superior. The classes are small but rigorous, the teachers are highly educated and competent, and the facilities, for such an itty bitty place, really rock.
We're thinking ahead to college. My kiddles are very likely going to need a good university education to land the careers they want; and let's face it, my children's parents aren't wealthy enough to pay for it all. The kids are going to need scholarships, they're going to need to know how to study and how to succeed without $$$ from us. I could handle the high school academics, but this will give them opportunities to play on teams, to be involved in student government, to learn art and dance and...all the things I can't do at home, and that look great on scholarship applications.
Also compelling is: when else will she get a chance to experience the diversity of high school? College is a place to specialize. You have to choose a path and follow it and learn and get out. High school is the time to experiment with subjects and try out for a play and do all of those things that don't make the university cut. I get excited just thinking about how high Emma can soar.
So we toured the campus. (How much would I have loved this campus? Even just as a day student, how much would I have loved to have a college-like experience at 15?) We filled out reams of applications. And last week Emma was accepted. But there was still one more hurdle to clear, which we just did today: financial aid came through, substantially reducing the portion we'll pay of the [SKY HIGH] tuition.
It's pretty exciting, even if it is a totally new frontier for this homeschooling mom. I'm going to have a hard time letting her go, but I'm so excited to see where she flies.
----------------
Now playing: Muse - Butterflies & Hurricanes
via FoxyTunes
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