My Summer at Camp....by Mollie B

You know that essay that you've had to write on the first day of school, literally every year, about what you did over the summer? Well this is mine, and it feels almost impossible to write. This is probably the 4th time I've re-written it and I still can't find the right words to describe the last two months. I spent them at a Jewish camp on the Oregon coast where I learned more about myself then I think I'd care to know. So, to explain this all to you I think I'll start at the beginning.

The summer started out with a bus ride that was filled with anxious children and pixie stick wrappers. I still remember pulling into the camp and it feeling like I'd never left. The second the overweight bus driver cranked open that door, I could smell that familiar scent of home (also known as the mysterious kosher meat product the kitchen staff makes every night) and I'd never been so happy to smell it. As the staff all cheered for the incoming children, we ran to our friends we hadn't seen in what feels like forever. We hugged them until we were sure they weren't going to leave. We then joined a circle that included our age group, anxiously awaiting the destiny of our summer, also known as our counselor. You see, good counselor's can either make or break your summer! This year I got the best counselor's I could have possibly imagined but at this time I knew nothing about them except that people had said they were kind of strict.

During camp I did some of the most incredible things. On our five day camping trip with our unit, I got stuck on a zip line in the redwood forest. My glove became wedged in the pulley and I was just hanging...suspended...75 feet in the air. To explain to you the sheer terror of this, you have to know how ridiculously scared of heights I am. So there I was, just dangling on this wire, legs flailing, laughing hysterically like a crazy person. The entire time my best friend is screaming, "SHE'S STUCK! OMG SHE'S STUCK!", over and over. Finally I got my glove out, the momentum of which moved me a total of five inches which was still 50 feet from the podium. Getting myself safely to the other side was going to require a lot more upper body strength then I had. At this point there are tears streaming down my face. Suddenly hear everyone below scream, "HORSE!".  I look down to see there's a pony walking directly below me. Well, that gave me the final push I needed to get across that zipline. I needed to see that pony! As soon as I hit the bottom of the tree I ran to that pony whose name, I learned, was "Strawburry", not "Strawberry". Its very strange owners were two 10 year old girls who ended up pulling out a knife (not kidding) and saying that their dad made them carry it because, "you never who could be in the woods". On that note, we said goodbye to Strawburry and her owners, but not before I got a picture!

There were other great things that I did at camp, one of which was Color Wars. The grade that I'm in gets the privilege to lead a Color War team as captain. Two captains are picked for all four teams (red, green, gold and blue), one guy and one girl.  I was picked as team captain for the gold team. Now, to understand the magnitude of what Color War is at camp, you have to know how absolutely competitive I am. From the second they announce you as captain you have to be on your game. It's midnight and your painting posters or decorating your area of the dining hall with the right colors. If you're a good captain you won't be to bed until at least 2 am! You have to figure out your game plan, you have to win. In the morning we run into all the cabins screaming, waking the kids up, and then read off which team everyone's on. From that point on, for the next 2 days, you are your color. Everything you do will involve the team your on. Meals are themed with things such as spirit dinner or quiet lunch. Competitions are back-to -back and everything is worth points. I can sum up those two days of being captain as this: I cheered until I lost my voice and after I lost it, I still cheered. I threw up from eating a kids food waste (more points to the team with no food waste) I cried. I ran around like chicken with it's head cut off to get everything done, and still everything did not get done. I dropped our team cake that we had to decorate as a competition and then watched as it turned into a pile of crumbs. Cried again. I fought with my best friend because I was a captain and she was not. I made a group of spiritless 8th graders hate me, and fought with my co-captain. Then cried. I totally lost it and then pulled it back together about 4 times, and after all of that... we got 3rd place. Even though we didn't win, I can tell you that those two days taught me so much. I can now say I know what it feels like to tell kids to stop talking and they don't listen. I learned what it feels like to be disrespected, and also what it feels like when everything comes together. I felt what it was like to love a team with all your heart even though you didn't win. For the rest of camp kids on my team came up to me saying what a good captain I was. That felt really, really good. Now, I know how weird this must sound to anyone in the outside world, but it really does mean so much to these campers and to me as well!

The second that camp starts, time starts flying by and all of a sudden you realize there's only a few days left to be in this amazing place. Between the first day and the moment you realize its almost over so much happens. From cabin clean up to Color War, every moment is precious. I spent every morning eating powdered eggs and every night laughing with my best friends. I lived in cabin S-7 with a group of the most unorganized girls I have ever met (including me). Our cabin slowly but surely started to smell like dirty clothes and cheap spray on perfume, definitely not the best mixture, but right about now I'd do anything to be back in that foul smelling cabin. I slowly became closer and closer with every person in my cabin until I'm pretty sure every one of them knew my deepest fears, and I knew theirs. My counselor's, who I was not so sure on in the beginning, became our best friends/ therapists when we needed it, and God knows we needed it. From the stressful days of Color War to fighting with friends for no reason I can remember now, our counselor's helped us through it all. As the days began to dwindle, I realized how hard it was going to be to leave this place. At the last bonfire I cried like a baby while singing the lyrics to "Leaving On a Jet Plane". We stood around hugging each other while whispering things like, "I'll miss you so much" into each others ears with tear choked voices. As the bus rolled out of camp its final time I smelled the faint scent of tears with undertones of dirt from camp and I laughed to myself about the irony of it all. Coming to camp just to be utterly depressed about leaving two months later, still knowing I'll go back next year, and every year in the foreseeable future. 

Homeschool Co-op

What is a homeschool co-op? Simply put, it's a huge help in your homeschool journey. If you have one in your area, I would suggest checking it out. It is extremely helpful in teaching your child subjects that you might have little experience in, and also provides time for them to interact with their peers once a week.

Now, most of the co-op's that I have run into are religious based and will NOT let you attend in less you sign an agreement that states you believe in the same religious beliefs that they do. There are a few secular ones out there so keep looking if the religious thing is not you, or your child's cup 'o tea.

High school students having fun at Desert Valley Creative Co-op

Our area started a co-op and did amazingly well for their first year. Both of my daughters attended classes in political process, Spanish, literature ("A Tale of Two Cities"), finance, speech and drama. I was able to teach the middle and high school drama class and had an absolute blast! Sometimes homeschooling on your own in a small community can be isolating. Being a part of our little group really helped us in feeling like we were a part of something really great! It also broke up some of the monotony that can start to drag you down at times.

A great way to start your own homeschool co-op (if there is not one in your area) is start a local homeschool facebook page. It's a great way to get a critical mass together to get one of the ground!

Lord of the Rings Literary Lessons

"The Lord of the Rings" could well be considered one of the most influential novels of the past century. Tolkien, an Oxford professor, used poetry, invented languages as well as reference resources on genealogies and chronologies which makes it a great piece of writing to study. Our friend Kate, a professor of education, was kind enough to lead our small group in the unit studies and discussions that followed. The curriculum we used was from Home Scholar Books and I would highly recommend it! 

Thanks Kate for helping us on our journey to Middle-earth! A big THANKS to Kate for also teaching Mollie and Maddie SAT writing prep!

How To Build Your Own Animatronic Holiday Decoration!

Wow! It took WAY longer to get this out! I was hoping to get it out before Christmas, but time got away from me as usual. The first part of the video I look like a maniac crazy person, which my kids would say was true. Really, we just sped up the recording to make it a tiny bit shorter. I have a tendency to ramble. I am obviously NOT a professional actress!

Maddie shot this tutorial and edited it. My job was rendering it which is much harder than one might imagine!

So, Enjoy Making Max!