GAA+HOA

Two of my favorite things that we did with our homeschool this year was to gather a group of kids to participate in the Hope of America program and to work towards the Great American Award.

To earn the Great American Award, each child had to:

1. Write the Pledge of Allegiance with no spelling or punctuation errors.

2. Recite or sing the first verse of the National Anthem: “The Star-Spangled Banner”

3. Identify the 50 states on a map (1 help)

4. Match the 50 states and capitals

5. Recite the Preamble of the United States Constitution 8. Recite the Gettysburg Address (3 helps)

We organized a few "America Parties" and gathered the children together to practice the HOA songs and allow them to practice and pass off the items for the Great American Award. Those were some of my favorite homeschool gatherings of the whole year. I promised a pizza party for anyone who passed off three items and that was effective motivation. We had an Award Ceremony to celebrate their accomplishments at the end of the school year and it was simple but perfect.

4:30-5:30 - PIZZA PARTY

5:30 - AWARDS CEREMONY

Welcome to Parents, Family, Friends

National Anthem

By Maeva and Isabella Nicholas

Pledge of Allegiance

Led by Annalynn Stewart

Preamble to the Constitution

By Lydia Peaden

The Gettysburg Adress

By Henry Middleton, Carston Thomas, Tanner Thomas, and Wyatt Chezik

PRESENTATION OF AWARDS

Hope of America Song

This was such a neat experience. I especially loved listening to Lydia memorize the Gettysburg Address, but really it was all impactful. Sometimes it takes extra effort to organize events like these- but I think that they are an important part of this vibrant homeschool community.

I felt strongly about both of these events because 5th grade is supposed to be American History and these are common opportunities in public school. I knew that I wanted to put together a group to participate in the Hope of American program and it ended up being such a neat performance! There were a lot of songs to memorize, but the impact of singing them together during the performance was really neat. Lydia loved it and I definitely think we will do it again for Austin.

From their website: "Join with us as a chorus of fifth graders and sixth graders combine to sing the songs of the Hope of America. Over 8,000 students gather from 100 different schools. They sit in the formation of the American Flag. Songs commemorating The Declaration of Independence, tributes to our Founding Fathers, songs of appreciation for first responders and the military, and songs reminding us how much we love America and the responsibility we have to be a light. We are excited to see you there."

Caption: Hope of America was originated in 1995 under the leadership of Kathy McDonald with support from America's Freedom Festival in Provo. Even though she has retired, the students still LOVE seeing Kathy present at the rehearsals and performances! 

insta-june

Instagram was a heavy place this month with a lot of emotionally-charged topics and a lot of learning and unlearning, especially about issues concerning race in America.

These were the only two posts that I wrote - because it felt like too much to be posting silly little moments when so much heaviness was happening in the world. But I want it to be noted, that David and I want a future for our children, and all children in this country, that is filled with hope and unity. We are doing our best in our home, and outside of it, to be a part of the change that makes that happen. America is a wonderful place to live. She has her faults, but in her heart- she wants to live up to the lofty ideals that she represents.

 
{5.29.30}
These are my boys. Austin and Caleb, 2.5 years apart, also 2.5 lbs apart. I worry about them sometimes: Am I a good enough mom for them? Will I be able to teach them to be valiant, brave, and kind? Will kids make fun of Austin's speech delay? Will Caleb have enough attention as a third child? Will they be able to have every opportunity in the wonderful life I imagine for them? ... Do you know what I don't worry about? I have never once worried that someone will arrest and then murder them in the street simply because of the color of their skin. ... My heart hurts today. It hurts for all of the days that any mother wakes up with this fear (or any like it in her heart). I wish I could do SOMETHING. I wish this was Rosa Parks and I could decide to boycott the Montgomery Bus system and walk instead of ride for a whole year to show SOMEONE how I feel. To force SOME change, ANY change. Honestly, I feel like rioting just so that SOMEONE will notice. How can this even be happening in this country that I love so much? And that's the end of my post. No pretty moral at the end of the story or oversimplified determination to just do better myself. It's just raw sadness. Sorrow for my friends. Grief for my brothers and sisters who have slightly more melanin than I have.




{6.1.20}
When Lucy was first diagnosed with Albinism, I was trying to find a Facebook support group for parents. I am notoriously bad at internet searches and knowing how to find what I'm actually looking for, and I ended up stumbling across a Facebook group devoted to speaking out against violent/hate crimes against people with Albinism. In a "can't look away" daze, I scrolled through article after article of horrible reports. David made me stop and promise to never look at that page again, but my heart cried out "Is this something I need to worry about?? Is someone going to try to hurt my baby girl because she was born with a different genetic sequence?".
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You guys. I'm not actually worried about Lucy. We have enough power and privilege to make sure she's safe and will live a wonderful life. But there needs to be change in our hearts, our lives, our society to make that true for others who don't really have the power to make that true for themselves. We need to take a step back and LISTEN, then move forward together. I have been worried but have also been feeling peace and hope for the future. Things can change if we go to our knees to pray, then move forward with purpose. I am putting together an action plan for myself and will be sharing that along with many other resources and posts that I find valuable and helpful in helping us listen, learn, and then take action.
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My friends, I ask you to take some time to LISTEN. Take a step back from the uncomfortable feeling of protests and defensiveness of your own skin color. Listen to the stories without passing judgment. Listen with compassion and with a prayer to know how God wants to use you to fulfill his work in this situation. We have the ability to speak and have someone listen to us, and we have been asked to use our voices for good. We can make a difference.

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{below is a post I made on my Instagram stories at the beginning of July. Typing it up again here has made me again determined to walk the middle path. To listen, to stand, to BUILD. }

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I've been silent on Social Media for a couple of weeks as I've been trying to find my best words, to know what Heavenly Father wants me to do to push His work along, and to make this place a place of love and peace for all of His children. 

It's been a heavy month. 

But I want to share some thoughts. I want to be able to post on Instagram about my baby's first birthday and eating popsicles on the grass without feeling like I'm ignoring a significant issue in society. I feel like I have to make this post before I can do that, then hopefully I will be able to find a good balance. 

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I believe that Satan frequently presents his lies in pairs, in extremes. The grand plan is to make you feel that if you are against one, then you have to choose the other. And then you have to defend your choice at all costs "lest evil win". 

But the path of Christ falls in the tricky-to-navigate path in the middle. It takes faith, it takes, hope, it takes a willingness to be humble, to listen to both sides, to pray, to stand for truth and righteousness while still using the goodness of God to change within and reach out with love. 

This is a place where we stand and say "We will not allow racism to take place in our hearts and in our society. We will work to be anti-racist in our homes and communities. We recognize that there is hurt and there ARE problems and we use the grace of God to navigate those issues and do the work to better the society we are in." 

We listen to others and we do not tell them that their experiences aren't real because they don't match our own life experience. 

We repent, we diversify the books and voices we listen to, we find those of different backgrounds who love the Lord and we link arms with them in Faith. 

We mourn with those that mourn. 

We educate ourselves by listening to real stories of real people (both who think similarly and those who think differently), we do not use their stories to "prove our point" but we use them to understand the world that we live in. 

We also stand. 

I believe that policies will not fix the hearts of the people. Only people can do that. There is a slippery slope to asking policy (and government) to enforce what only hearts have the power to change. 

Governmental change for positive change is good. Extreme policy without extensive and careful consideration is dangerous and will have extreme and damaging unintended consequences for all parties. 

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We do not allow those with a flawed past, but who tried to do right in the sphere that they had, to be criminalized, and the good they did erased. 

"We should judge our historic figures by whether or not, on the whole, they were bending the arc of history toward a more perfect union." 

We need to understand our history, teach the complexity of humanness, and recognize the hand of the Lord in the lives of those that came before us. 

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We take our past and we BUILD our future. 

Today I celebrate America. I celebrate with solemnity and recognition of the work that can and should be done to create a future of goodness and light. I celebrate that we CAN build. That we can learn and change. 

I will walk the middle path, the path of love and strength. I will stand for truth and righteousness against both extremes in all circumstances and help build a community - a country to be proud of. 

"The Bible carried across the ocean by early colonists and settlers sparked not only the hope of freedom but the confidence that God could do wonders with flawed human beings. It has been noted from the Bible that Peter had a temper, Jonah ran from God, David had an affair, Paul was a persecutor, Noah got drunk, Miriam was a gossiper, Martha was a worrier, Matthew was a sinner, Thomas was a doubter, Moses stuttered, Zaccheus was short, Abraham was old, and Lazarus, of course, was dead. Each was flawed, each worthy of a monument. 

America is made from the many foundational principles etched in our history and engraved on our monuments by the founders and by those who have followed. Our heroines and heroes are representative of one of the most redeeming attributes of our nation -- that America, at its core, is a redemption story. 

Over and over and over again, this nation has been renewed, restored, and redeemed. That should provide us, individually and collectively, hope for better days ahead." 

www.deseret.com/opinion/2020/7/1/21309953/the-monumental-mistake-of-banishing-americas-less-than-perfect-history

I have a prayer in my heart for our country. For each one of you, wherever you are at in heart and mind, and for the Lord to lead us and help us navigate this path together. 

Fourth of July

Happy Independence Day from our red-white-and-blue family to yours. 

It's hard to express my feelings of gratitude, pride, and determination that always come in waves on this holiday. Thinking about the incredible men and women who fought for freedom during the revolutionary war fills me with gratitude and pride. They were so courageous and did amazing and difficult things because they knew that their actions were more important than themselves - they were fighting for their children, and their children's children, for all those who would call America their home. It fills me with a determination to be brave, to do things that are hard, and to stand for what is right so that the generations that follow me will also be blessed. To teach my children what it means to choose liberty and fight for freedom. 

We had a "stay-home day" and just hung out around the house. David had the day off (he's had the whole past week off and it's been wonderful) and he spent a good amount of it holding Caleb so he could sleep because he was having a pretty rough day. Later in the evening we had David's parents, plus Amy and Kevin over for dinner and games, then the Rencher Family joined us while we watched fireworks. I turned on the Star Spangled Banner and was touched to think of those men and women who watched the U.S. flag flying over Fort McHenry while the British forces opened fire to try to knock it down. To think of those who gave their lives in an effort to keep the flag from being destroyed. To those who saw the flag still standing at dawn, though in tatters, as a mark that the United States of America would not be beaten - that they would stand, brave and true. It's a beautiful, heartbreaking, inspiring story of the people who knew this the freedom of this land was of vast importance. This land where the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored. Surely, the Lord was with those people - and all the people since who have followed him and stood for truth, righteousness, and freedom in this country. 

Ether 2:
9 And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity.
12 Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written.

Happy Independence Day!

“Most of us will not be called to help nations organize newly found freedoms, but all of us can be involved by making certain the light of freedom burns brightly within our own souls. We can be certain that, by our actions, we are examples of how freedom should be enjoyed.” 

–L. Tom Perry from his April 1990 Conference Address

"We dare not forget that we are heirs of that first revolution."

-John F. Kennedy

I feel the light of freedom in my own soul burn so brightly and I cannot adequately express my gratitude for those who sacrificed so much to create and protect this great country where we live. The brave men and women who stood up with their words and actions and founded the United States of America, as a land of freedom and bravery. The many, many, men and women who have continued to stand time and time again to protect this country and to continue to build a nation of patriots. 

We celebrated our nation's birthday with good food and family, and late that night as I sat with Lydia tucked on my lap watching fireworks - I whispered to her about how the fireworks celebrate America and remind us of all the brave men and women who fought to give us so much. 

 

{We put Lydia down to bed fairly early and then woke her up to let her come watch fireworks with us. I wrapped her up in a blanket and walked with her down the street toward the Thanksgiving Point fireworks, only to realize that the sweet girl was so terrified of all the fireworks going off around us that she was shaking. We came home and watched from inside our house for a while before we convinced her to come outside and just sit on our front lawn to watch fireworks. I'm pretty sure we could see three different big shows from our front lawn and about 6 more smaller arial firework shows going on in our neighborhood. It was incredibly loud and beautiful and scary all at the same time.}

When I went to put Lydia down for the night, I laid with her and I sang "The Star Spangled Banner" until she fell asleep because the fireworks were still going off outside her window. I hope to teach Lydia (and Austin) to love and appreciate and fight to protect this country that we love. 

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same."

-Ronald Reagan

"Our whole social order could self-destruct over its obsession with freedom disconnected from responsibility, where choice is imagined to be somehow independent of consequences" 

- Boyd K. Packer