Good Job Caleb

Tuesday night Caleb received a cash reward to use toward a computer to help him in his college studies while serving in the U.S. Air Force.  I will probably be driving him over to the store this afternoon.   He was nominated by the Lakeland Chapter for the GFWC  - Florida, Youth Leadership Award in the area of Conservation.   The nomination included a letter of why this younger person should be considered for the award.  I will let the letter speak for itself.

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Mrs. Roth reading the letter as she makes the presentation to Caleb.

It is with great pleasure and excitement that the GFWC Junior Women’s Club of Lakeland recommends Caleb Mathre for the GFWC Youth Leadership Award in the area of Conservation. Caleb’s sense of commitment, loyalty, and service are truly commendable – he has made, and continues to make, a definite difference in our community and in the lives and habitats impacted by his volunteer efforts.

Caleb possesses tremendous personal conviction and understands civic responsibility. He demonstrates his belief in volunteerism and civic engagement through his actions as well as his words. He has been recognized as Camp Fire Sunshine Central Florida’s Outstanding Youth Member of the Year and is currently serving a two-year term with fifteen other young adults on Camp Fire’s National Youth Advisory Cabinet due in large part to his tremendous accomplishments as a volunteer. Caleb was recently nominated to represent Summerlin High School in the field of Environmental Service in Polk County’s prestigious Silver Garland Awards for Outstanding Volunteerism that take place later this spring. In May of 2012, he was recognized as one of a small, but distinct, handful of student volunteers by the Polk County School Board.

Caleb cares about his community, passionately volunteering his time and energy. He has used his lifelong involvement in Camp Fire, a national, non-profit youth development organization, as a vehicle and platform to harness his desire to leave a lasting imprint by helping those in need and to minimize the footprint society has left on the environment. He has completed more than 1,500 hours of volunteer service since entering high school – with more than one-third of those hours spent specifically on environmental service. He has personally removed extensive amounts of invasive, exotic plants, planted indigenous and Florida friendly plants, created butterfly gardens, worked in organic vegetable gardens, spread endless amounts of mulch and fill, cleared new trails and maintained existing ones, installed signs and fence posts at parks, cleaned beaches, and other tasks needed by the agencies and park systems hosting the service-learning projects. During these many hours, days, and overnights, Caleb has learned how to identify countless invasive plants and how they threaten the ecosystems they decide to call home, the importance of controlled burns, the challenges of erosion control and managing environmentally threatened lands, how to properly use tools and safely complete physically demanding projects, and how park rangers and non-profit staff and volunteers work to balance community needs with available resources.

Caleb with me and Ms. Holly of Camp Fire.

One of the things that continue to set Caleb apart as a volunteer is his willingness to step into leadership roles – helping others to volunteer and not being content to simply volunteer himself. He has held numerous leadership roles at school and in Camp Fire – each time learning more about the community, himself, and the finer nuances of leadership and motivation. During CF66, a challenging week-long service-learning trip for which Caleb has served as a team captain on three separate occasions, he continually demonstrated his personal resolve when he helped tackle the more challenging aspects of the position – addressing struggling group dynamics and finding ways to inspire individual team mates who did not possess his personal drive and passion to help. By doing so, his impact reached far beyond that of his individual service – effectively rendering the sweat-equity of a group of twelve volunteers instead of the efforts of only a few. Caleb has planned environmental service-learning projects in partnership with numerous Florida State Parks, the national park and county park system, the Nature Conservancy, animal rescue groups, Martin County Environmental Lands, Ocala National Forest, and various non profits of all sizes. He has also included outdoor recreation activities in trips to help expose fellow volunteers to the amazing experiences that can be found out-of-doors. Bio-luminescence kayak trips, snorkeling, outdoor cooking, night hikes, and lighthouse climbs have helped teens connect to the environment, resulting in more focused projects and enhanced long-term stewardship efforts.

Following graduation this year Caleb already has plans to continue to serve. He has already enlisted with the U.S. Air Force. We could not be prouder of Caleb and look forward to seeing all the areas he will serve in the future.

Caleb is truly an outstanding young man and we feel he is the ideal candidate for the Youth Leadership award in the area of conservation.

Will The Real Territorial Governor Please Stand Up

Growing up I was always taught that the first Territorial Governor of Florida was Andrew Jackson.  As we were reading through our Florida study this week it said the same thing.  But then as we were reading the supplement readings it started that the first Territorial Governor was William DuVal.  So I decided to solve this puzzle so that I was teaching my children accurate information.  As I started looking through books that I had and doing searches on Google it seemed that it was split about 60/40 in Andrew Jackson’s favor.

Andrew Jackson

But that seemed a bit to close to call.  It seemed among the books that the newer books were more likely to name DuVal the winner in my contest.

William Pope DuVal

Finally, I think I found the best answer on Wikipedia.  It lists Andrew Jackson as the Military Governor appointed by James Monroe.  He served from March 10, 1821 through December 21, 1821.  Although, he actually packed up and went home in October.  Under Territorial Governors,  William Pope Duval is listed as #1.  He was appointed by James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Jackson.  He served from April 17, 1822 through April 24, 1834.  I think just length of service qualifies him to hold the place of first Territorial Governor over Jackson who served for less than year and didn’t even stick around to finish his term.

Also interesting to note is that if you look at the dates, Florida was without leadership for several months.  After DuVal, Florida had five more territorial governors before gaining statehood.

Early area of Tallahassee

During Florida’s territorial years East and West Florida became Florida’s first counties Escambia and St. John’s.  The former capitals of East and West Florida became the county seats of Pensacola and St. Augustine.  Two groups headed out from each county and where they met up  they began looking for a site for a new capital that would serve a united Florida.  The found a nice site in the middle of the panhandle.  While the local natives were not happy with the plan Tallahassee became the new capital city for the Florida territory.  And while the population has shifted greatly since those early years Tallahassee has remained the capital city for Florida.

I is for Incredible Kids

Layout I created for the 2012 – Absolutely Incredible Kid Day

When we started attending Camp Fire I was intrigue the first year Incredible Kid Day came around.  They have up dated the program and it is call Absolutely Incredible Kid Day but I needed an I not a A and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to share about this wonderful program.  The official date for Absolutely Incredible Kid Day is the 3rd Thursday of March.  BUT there is never a wrong time to let kids that they are special.

The neat thing about Kid Day is that it is an opportunity to be deliberate  in letting the kids you know, both your own and others, about what makes them special.  This is not a letter of empty praise or flattery. I always used the opportunity to let my kids know about positive things I saw in the character.  To compliment them on efforts they had made to overcome a bad habit.  To encourage them to strive even more.  To validate their hopes and dreams.  Every adult knows a child in their lives that could use this uplifting pat on the back.

Since you’ve missed the actually event this year maybe you can take the opportunity of the end of the school year to reflect and write something as a way of marking the end of the year.

And if you would like to get involved next year visit the Camp Fire site for official information including downloadable stationary.  In addition, to encouraging children you know Camp Fire also encourages you to sponsor a child you don’t know.  There is an email address at the above site for more information on the program or on sponsoring a child.  Also, if you have connections through service in your area you might find out if there are foster, at risk, homeless, or other children who could use an encouraging word either next March or now.  So many of these kids get presents for Christmas but think how exciting it would be for them to get a letter of encouragement that is not associated with some holiday.

I think it’s great to remember that world is filled with Incredible Kids.

Two For the Price of One

This week I have both this week’s 365 layout and the one from last week.  Since I was gone last weekend it didn’t get done.

So here is the April 28 – May 4, recap.

April 28 – May 4, 2013

I had a busy week.  The kids were finishing up our some of the school items we are doing for the review.  The big one we needed to finish was the 20th Century.  The cover is pictured on Thursday.  Monday we had Caleb’s Silver Garland Ceremony.  The lighting and having just a cell phone camera didn’t lend itself to good pictures.  Rain on Tuesday was really needed and the seeing the rainbow was a great bonus.  The big even for me last week was getting to attend the Mom’s Retreat in Day Spring.  Friday I show off the front of my new t-shirt.  Saturday I have a disection picture.  Some might think it is gross but I thought it was so cool.

And now for this week

May 5 – 11, 2013

This has been a really great week.  On Sunday I finished up my Mom’s Retreat and came home to a great fellowship dinner at church.  The picture for Sunday though is Hannah on the stilts she bugged her Daddy to help her build.  I found out when I got home that Nook HD had a major upgrade.  It now uses the Google Play store as well as their own apps so my Nook has the Kindle app on it.  I know have the best of both worlds on one device.  So I had to take a picture of that for Monday.  Caleb is always eating in his bed and Tuesday he had the cat and dog trying to stare him down.  He sent me this picture from his phone.  The cat is hiding behind the computer.  Wednesday’s theme was snacks so that’s what I have a picture of.  I also had a neat moment from one of my nursery kids which I blogged about earlier this week.  Thursday I took Hayden got to meet again with his Job Corps counselor and they are reactivating his application .  This is really great news.  But I didn’t have a picture for that so since I hadn’t used it before I am including the cute back to my Mom’s Retreat t-shirt.  And Friday, I got the best Mother’s Day gift.  I new car.  We got the most basic model and the budget will be tight but it was really something that was needed and will make all those trips to Lakeland much easier this summer.  Caleb has enjoyed cleaning and waxing it for me.  Note this is as close as he gets to using my car.  

Spanish for You – Fiestas – Review

Spanish for You! is in the business of bringing language study to you in a fun and affordable way.  It works to develop fluency in its students.  It combines speaking, reading, and writing.  Spanish For You! is available in different theme packages and you can start with the theme that is the most interesting to you.  If you continue to another theme you will continue to build your skills.  It is available in multiple levels to make it easy to combine all your children in the study.  Packages include a study text, MP3 files, lesson plans, and student worksheets.

Our family was chosen to review the Fiestas Theme which is one of the themes offered.    Fiestas allows you study Spanish while learning about a variety of Spanish holidays   Also, with learning holiday related vocabulary, you also learn common words, the use of verbs, and the alphabet.  Here is a sample of Fiestas to give you an even better look at this program.  The program combines reading and writing along with speaking.  There are MP3 files to aid in learning Spanish.  The lesson plans are complete and leveled by age.  They are set up for 4 study days per week and include not only specific work for each day but also suggestions for games and other optional activities.  The student book is available in a soft cover. There are also sample units in e-book version.  We reviewed a fully downloadable version.

It was great to have a chance to try out the Spanish for You! language program.  We worked on it about 3 days a week due to other activities we had going on.  I noticed after a few days both Joshua and Hannah would throw out one of their vocabulary words during normal conversation.  They worked together to practice their flashcards.  The worksheets were simple yet comprehensive.  It was really easy to use and I found loading the MP3 files onto my Nook made them convenient to use at the school table.  Since we used a fully downloadable version I printed one copy of the student text full size for mom and then a booklet version for each of the kids to use.  While we received the complete 3rd through 8th grade level as a family we used the 5th-6th and 7th-8th levels.

 

I really enjoyed the program and love the way that it is set up.  It is a great idea  to teach vocabulary around themes because I think it makes it more concrete and meaningful.  One complaint I have about other language programs especially for elementary aged children is that it is mostly speaking and vocabulary based and Spanish for You! has addressed this issue.  There is a perfect mix of reading, writing, and speaking.  There are lots of fun activities suggested throughout the lesson plans.  As a busy mom I’m always impressed with detailed and easy to use lesson plans.  Once the materials are printed out it is easy to use on a daily basis.

I definitely think that Spanish for You! is the type of program that the more you put into the more you will get out of it.  While Joshua and Hannah both seemed to enjoy it neither one wanted to put too much work into it.  The one game that they both really enjoyed was playing Hang Man and they loved trying to stump each other.  Even with the small amount of effort they put forth they were picking up vocabulary and grasping the concept of Spanish grammar and the way that the verbs work.  I think even after a year of Spanish in high school, which I honestly don’t remember, I had a much better understanding of the way verbs work myself.  I would like to try working through this material again in the fall.  I think having a party at the end of each unit including items from the vocabulary list would be a lot of fun.

Spanish For You! – Fiestas is available in multiple levels from 3rd through 8th grade.  The prices vary by which level package you choose.  We received the 3rd – 8th grade package which sells for $64.95.  The complete list of available themes and prices check out the Purchase page for Spanish For You!.

You’ve seen how Spanish For You! – Fiestas worked in our home to check out how other families made use of Fiestas or the Estaciones theme just click on the graphic below.

The Sweetest Idea

Yesterday, during Kid’s Choir the sweetest thing happened and it was such a cool idea I decided to share it with you.   One of our fifth graders brought some left over Valentine’s.  She took one Valentine for each of the children and the adult helpers and but their name in the TO: section.  She then held them topside up and went around the room and had everyone take one card.  Then we were instructed to put our name in the FROM: section and to write something special for the person in the TO: section.  After they were all completed she passed them out and everyone got one card with a special personalized message.

I think this was such a clever idea for so many reasons.

• You are making use of left over supplies
• Everyone is included
• Everyone gets a special message
• It is a reminder (at least to the adults) that it is important to say kind things to others

My card was actually from her.  In addition to being with her during Kid’s Choir, she is also on of my Wednesday nursery kids.  So her message really touched my heart.

The front of the card.

My very sweet message.

Papa’s Pearls – Review

Papa’s Pearls:  A Father’s Gift of Love and Wisdom to His Children and Grandchildren by Diane Flynn Keith was a pleasure for my family to review.  This is short book that makes a great impact.  The book is 17 Chapters that share lots of wisdom that Papa shared with his family over the years.  The Pearls are shared within stories and antidotes from the life of Papa, his children, and grandchildren.  Some of the stories have you laughing and others will bring tears to your eyes.  The Pearls can be applied to all aspect of life from business to dealing with your family.

We read one chapter per day.  Since we were also studying the 20th Century at the same time my children especially loved the stories that included facts about the things that were happening in Papa’s life.  After we finished each chapter we would talk about how we felt about the different bits of wisdom and if they would be something we would like to apply in our family.  One of the most convicting Pearls for me as a mom were found in Chapters 7 and 8.  ”I Love You, You Know That, Right?”and “Where’s My Hug?”.  It was reminder that we need to be telling and demonstrating our love to our children through both words and touch.

Reading through the Papa’s Pearls was like visiting with a beloved family member.  Papa’s stories also brought back memories of pearls shared by a treasured family friend several years ago before she passed away.  I truly enjoyed this book.

If would like to pick up your own copy head to the purchase page.  You have a choice of ordering through Amazon or ordering an autographed copy directly from the author.  The book sells for $14.97.

Check out other families experience with this book by clicking the graphic below.