It is our nation’s birthday week and and I want to tell you I get sentimental ever 4th of July. I am an immigrant; I came to the U.S.A when I was 6 years old in 1976. I remember getting out of church that sweltering July day; being that we lived in a beach town the humidity was off the charts. As we were driving home for some much needed afternoon swimming in my uncle’s pool all of a sudden people starting honking their car horns. I noticed all the cars on the road had their lights on even though it was 12 p.m. I asked my uncle what was happening and he said as he kept honking his horn that it was our country’s 200th birthday. I was amazed because I had just come to live in the U.S. a couple of months before and I had never heard of a country that celebrated its birthday. That night we swam late, we ate lots of water melon and watched fire works light up the summer sky and I have loved celebrating Independence Day ever since. It is one of my favorite holidays…have a great 4th!
Be Advised :)
CAUTION! Before you decide to home school you should know that not everyone is going to jump on your band wagon and support you. When both sides of our family learned of our decision to home teach we received mixed feed back from different people in our extended families. My sister thought I was just plain stupid to have gone to college and gotten my Bachelors only to sit at home with my 4 kids and in her words,” waste my talents.” My brother in law admonished her by saying,” Are you kidding? How can she be wasting anything when your sister is pouring out the best of herself into her children?” Thank you for that Larry! Has it been tough on us with one of us bringing in one pay check? Well, at times it has been but in the end our needs have always been met. We also have learned that you really don’t need as much stuff to have a happy, comfortable life. We may not have the latest gadgets or go on vacations every summer but we do have each other and that is really what kids want: A stable happy home life where they know they are loved by both of their parents.
Unlock Treasure
My 3 girls attend dance lessons at an academy. They have teachers they learn a lot from and other teachers they don’t learn much from. Do you want to know what is the difference? I will be more than glad to tell you! The teachers my kids consider good and they can’t wait to see week after week are teachers who impart to them in a noble spirit; they are patient with the students and supportive. When they correct the students they don’t tear them down with harsh destructive criticism; they use constructive criticism to build up the student thusly, the student grows. The other teachers are the complete opposite and they wear down the kid’s morale. Oh I’ve heard it from other grown ups that at times harsh critical words can aid the student in toughening her up and giving her a back bone. I disagree. ” No one has yet to fully realize the wealth of sympathy, kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of true education should be to unlock the treasure.” –Emma Goldman This quote shows me that in order to bring out the best in our children we need to value them and nurture them , it doesn’t work any other way.
Pleasant Words
Summer is here and school has been out for the past few weeks. The neighborhood kids have nothing better to do so they come over to hang out with my kids. I have a house full of kids several times a week and I smile because when they come here they feel welcome; they feel my home is a place where they can be themselves, where they are accepted. The heart of every home should be one that beats with acceptance; unconditional love. I love you with all of your flaws and faults. Every home should represent a little piece of heaven on earth. I am in no way saying that my family is perfect; we are all far from it. What we do have is a lot of love to go around and that makes my home an environment conducive to learning.
Proverbs16:24 Pleasant words are an overflowing of honey, sweetness to the souls and healing to the bones. It is imperative to use pleasant words when we are called to teach others. I think back when I was in school and the teachers who stand out in my mind are the ones who instructed with kind, encouraging words. They not only made learning more pleasant; it actually helped me to retain information. I have an old Jewish proverb framed on a wall in my home it reads: Let you words be sweet because you will have to eat them. More to come on this subject.
Part Three
Who is up for some States/ World Capitals Bingo? This game I came up with to teach my kids U.S. States and World capitals. Using some plain white card stock I designed a two sided board; on one side are the names of U.S. Capitals and on the other side are various capital cities from around the world. For chips I cut up red card stock paper into small squares.
The object of the game is to get a vertical, horizontal or diagonal row of capitals and then you call out Bingo! I have written then names of all the states and different countries on small cards. Once I call out the state or country the first student to raise their hand can answer and if he is correct, he has to look up the city he said as his answer on our Rand McNally Classroom World Atlas. Then we continue until the first player calls Bingo!
Part Two
LEGOS!
Building with Legos is a serious business
around my home. My 13 year old son and
his 10 year old sister have been playing
with Legos for years. They have built a
whole world of Legos and they dubbed it
LEGOLAND. My son can go on the Lego
web site, look at the schematics for a Lego
car model for a few seconds and then a few
hours later, he’s built the same car from
memory.
What’s really going one underneath all
that playing? Well for starters, building
with Legos teaches problem solving. It
allows for creativity which leads to some
great inventions! And also I believe there
are things going on in the child’s brain
that defy labeling. So next time your child
is engrossed with Legos, don’t pull her
away from them, go buy her another few
hundred blocks and encourage this type of
creativity.
Part One
Let’s play! That’s one of a child’s favorite things to do; unfortunately as they get older games are left out of their education. Why get rid of such an important tool? I have integrated games as a way of teaching new concepts and reinforcing material I’ve taught in the past. This will be a series of blogs where I will share some of my ideas on how you can create your own games and implement them into your curriculum.
Trivia games such as Trivial Pursuit are great for learning and retaining facts about different subjects. I created my own version. I found an old Trivial Pursuit game board and kept all of the game pieces; the only difference is I have come up with my own questions using the various subjects I’ve taught over the years. So my home version of Trivial Pursuit has different categories such as: Bible Knowledge, Art, Sciences, Geography, Famous Quotes, History, The Language Arts and Spanish. We have a great time playing our home version and as new material is learned, I add to my question bank.
See, I told you a little imagination is all you need…enjoy your day!
Are You Kidding Me??!!
I have been teaching my kids at home for a while now and I want to touch on a few very silly presuppositions that people make about home schooled kids. My kids get asked a lot by other kids they meet: ” Hey, so like do you get to do what ever you want all day long? Do you get to spend all day in your pajamas? Do you get to watch TV, play video games, or Facebook all day long?” Really?? The answer to all of these pesky questions is a: NO! NO! NO! NO!
So now I shall leave you with this video I found on Youtube; I hope it answers some of your questions…Good day!!
Just Believe (My Life Story) Part One
I met JR Rendon back at my old neighborhood and we’ve been friends ever since. He is a young man struggling with kidney failure since he was 14 years old. When I published AS CLEAR AS CLAIRE, I gave him a copy of my book. A short time later I ran into him and he asked me to help him tell his story. You never know how your single act of obedience will be used to inspire and even unlock someone else. Recently JR came to my home and he shared the details of his experience with me; afterwards I took his notes along with mine and used them to build the story. With his permission I am posting it here because it is his wish that people read it in order to be helped. Thank you JR for allowing me this honor!
JUST BELIEVE
We all have issues; you have a choice in how to overcome them. God has given all of us the gift of choice. In Genesis He tell us: “ I have set before you life and death; blessing and curse. Choose life that you and your children may live. Well, I want to share with you how I was choosing death for a long time and I was getting nowhere.
It all started for me when I was 14 and I realized I had no control over some of the problems in my life. I was fine one day and the next day something unexpected happened: I found out I was sick. It happened on a Friday when I visited my family doctor for a regular check up. Dr. Felter did his normal routine with me and asked me how I was . I joked that I wished I were taller and he told me not to worry because being tall was over rated. We both laughed because he happened to be only a little taller than me. Before I left his office he did order some blood work to be done for me and after he took some samples I was free to go.
I went home that afternoon feeling pretty good about my life. Once I got home I called Erik and Victor and told them to meet me at the skate park. I was going to pound all of my pent up energy into my board and forget all about the hassles of the past week. That whole week end I spent with my family; we hung out and had a huge cook out in our back yard. Some of my family came from Cali and it was fun to be with my cousins again. I had no
idea what was coming to me.
Monday rolled around as usual with the speed of a lightning bolt. Dr. Felter called my mom and I saw her face change in a flash; her smile disappeared from her small face only to be replaced by deep furrowed lines of worry on her forehead. That concerned me . Once she hung up with Dr. Felter, she told me,
“ Junior, hurry up and put some clothes on.”
“ Mom, I’m tired I was gonna go skate …” she interrupted me,
“ C’mon we have to go NOW!” I didn’t say another word and did as she said. On the ride in our white family sedan my thoughts were racing as in a Nascar speed track ; all my thoughts were crashing into each other and I felt loco.
Once we arrived at the hospital we went to emergency and they did all the routine work on me. They asked me for a urine sample and then gave me a bed to rest in because I was in for a long wait. Finally after what seemed forever and a day a young doctor with a heavy Russian accent came in to speak to us. I read his name tag: Dr. Malkov and I tried hard to listen to what he was saying.. He told my mom that there was blood in my urine sample . I looked from my mom to the doctor and I panicked because the looks on both of their faces was not a good one. Shortly afterwards I was transferred to Sun Valley hospital where they specialize in helping people with kidney failure.
I was starting to feel like a specimen on a petri dish from all of the blood tests, x-rays, biopsies and cat scans I had to endure. And, after all the results came back, my tormentors my doctors could not figure out why I was so sick and growing sicker . I was admitted into the hospital and kept under close observation for the next three weeks. When my sentence expired, I was released and the doctors still had no idea as to what was wrong . I felt pretty good as I made my way home that day.
I had not been home for long when my condition took a turn for the worst. All the food I ate, I would vomit and as if I needed any more cause for concern, I started spitting up blood. Great, I had made it out of that blasted hospital for almost a whole week and my mom had to rush me back before I even had a chance to go skating again with Erik and Victor. Once at the hospital I began vomiting blood; so I was hooked up to an IV and the doctors tending to me began administering medications in order to stop the bleeding and the vomiting. Meanwhile x-rays were ordered for me and once the results returned they showed blood in my lungs. I had to stay for more observation in the ER for 2 nights.
After the two days I was transported to another hospital where the doctors ordered lung and kidney biopsies for me. Once the results returned, the experts informed us that they had found scar tissue in my lungs from all the bleeding. At this time I learned I had kidney failure and that I would have to undergo dialysis and meanwhile I would be placed on a waiting list for a kidney transplant.
I was dumbstruck along with my parents; I felt fear running through me as never before- a chill would course through my veins that not even the hot sun in this scorching desert I call home could dispel. My parents, Sharon and Manny both shared my fear and that day I remember crying my eyes out. Man, I didn’t know I had THAT many tears and still they wouldn’t stop coming.
At this point in my journey I began to feel a strong anger toward God. I would think; ’Really, God? Why me? I hated that I was having to miss so much school. Soon it became tougher to keep up; I went from being a some what out going kid at school to someone who decided to completely shy away from people. I missed so many days that on the weeks when I did go to school I would show up only to feel judged and snubbed by the other kids. So I decided to put an a coat of armor as self protection. I was so sick of everything and everybody and I put on my best tough ass look that I could muster as a way to cope with all of this misfortune.
Before I discovered about my sickness I would put up with all of the mean teasing from bullies at school; and believe me that was no picnic but at least I believed in myself enough to just shrug off the stupid hurtful words. Now though, things were different and I felt my patience ebbing low and I got to where I wanted to beat the next person who called me “Big Eyes” to a bloody pulp. Prior to the illness, I had been able to talk to just about anyone who tried to friend me. Now I had become quite shy and I tried to stay away from people so they would not talk to me. I remember hanging my head low a lot and the bad attitude I wore now was what I thought was giving me the strength to get by each day; I was so wrong but back then I didn’t know it. My bad attitude toward everything was hurting me more than I could ever imagine.
I began dialysis right away; I had lost a lot of weight and my nice brown skin was now sallow and pale. I hated looking at myself in the mirror. I had to go to dialysis 3 times per week and each session lasted 3 and ½ hours.
7 years have passed since this illness came into my life. I still go to dialysis and I’m on the waiting list for a kidney. I have since discarded my bad attitude like a cheap coat you throw away in the dumpster because it was dragging me down and impeding my process. I have also stopped asking God, “ Why me?” Now I have more of a clear understanding and I see that none of this is God’s fault. God did not make me sick as I was under the wrong impression before. I blamed God for this and it drove me far away from Him which is not what I wanted at all.
God uses everything , good and bad that happens to us for HIS glory. No, He is not getting any glory from my sickness; He IS however getting glory from how I choose to handle this. The choice is mine: Do I trust Him completely no matter how this turns out? Or, Do I keep trying to make sense of it all and try to take care of it myself with out His help? He gets the glory when I allow Him to take care of me because that’s when He shows up and shows off. God loves it when we trust Him even when there is no apparent reason to keep trusting Him. Little did I know that in all of this He was growing my faith by leaps and bounds. Everything works for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose.
Ask yourself right now; am I willing to TRUST that God is God and that he can and will help me in whatever situation I may be facing? Or, am I going to go on doubting Him and struggling to make it work on my own. All God asks of you is obedience and the rest He takes care of. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him and that takes FAITH my friend.
As I look back on these last 7 years I am able to see how God has had my back through this whole ordeal. Once I almost had a heart attack and the next day I got out of my hospital bed and started walking around because I felt good; this surprised all of the doctors. Miracles are real and I believe that God does big and small miracles for us all the time; we have to be in tune though and believe that He is who He says He is.
I have come to accept where I am right now in my life. I don’t fight it anymore; my bad attitude had me in the same place the children of Israel were in when they left Egypt. They complained bitterly that God had brought them out to the desert to abandon them; this angered God because they would not trust Him. Without realizing it, their grumbling made a short journey into one that took them the long way through the desert .They reached the promised land 40 years later when they could have gotten there in a week‘s time. Well, I know what they went through personally because of my sour attitude and all of the complaining I did.
As I see it now, God was never and has never been out to get me. He chose me, hand picked me even to demonstrate His love and power to and through me. God taught me that just because the doctors give me a bad prognosis, it doesn’t mean I have to live my life in fear. If I TRUST Him, I can over come whatever comes my way. Before when I was letting the sickness rule me, I was miserable because it was in control which drove me to a terrible, unbearable depression. Looking back now out of my fear I was choosing death every single day and I spent my days wallowing and brooding in self pity. We don’t move God with our begging and our tears- FAITH is the only way to get God to move on your behalf. It doesn’t work any other way.
So when I stopped playing the self pity woe is me game, that’s when everything changed for me. Hind sight has shown me that I made these past 5 years harder on myself and this held me back from making any progress; my wrong choices made my journey much longer and harder to bear . Blaming God is pointless. I chose this for myself, He had a better plan for me and out of fear, doubt and unbelief I chose wrong. The day I chose to shut my complaining mouth up and I asked God to forgive me for all of my complaining was a pivotal point in my life. Ever since, things have begun to move for me. Everyday that passes by is bringing me closer to my kidney transplant.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Impossible is nothing. Keep trusting and believing. Believe and let live!
COPYRIGHT
May 30,2011
WRITTEN BY EVA SANTIAGO BASED ON THE FACTS JR RENDON TOLD
The Heyday of The Blood
One day during the last school year, my daughter Esther read this story as an English class assignment. I found the following excerpt from The Heyday of The Blood to be relevant to our times. I hope you enjoy the excerpt and I encourage you to find this short story and read it in its entirety.
THE HEYDAY OF THE BLOOD
” I tell ye Joey, I’ve lived a long time and I’ve learned a lot about how folks is made. The trouble with most of ’em is that they’re ‘fraid-cats!”…..
” The only way to manage this business of living is to give a hoop and let her rip. If you’ve just about half lived, you just the same as half die. And if you spend your time half dying, someday you turn in and die all over;without rightly meaning to at all, just a kind of bad habit you’ve gotten yourself into.”
“Some live and some die; but folks that live die happy anyhow…Live while you live and then die and be done with it !”
Eva Santiago 