Hello again..... finally

Wow. It's been a while. I looong while since I posted. That seems to be my opening sentence in quite a few of my posts. I'm not very original huh? LOL I do think about posting on my blog every day but other things just seem to come up and before I know it I'm off to bed and another day has passed without any word from Brandi. I have good intentions though - I just don't follow through. I get on the computer quite a bit to check my email but then it turns into researching things that have been my 'obsession of the week'. I have found myself being very curious about things lately and wanting to just know stuff. The past few weeks has been an obsession about vaccinations. It all started with this stupid H1N1 vaccine (horrible stuff! please don't get it!!) and then just escalated. Some of the things I have read just make me cringe. The saying, "What you don't know won't hurt you" is very true. LOL If I ever have another child there will be much more thought put into vaccines then there was with Brenna. I'm not so much anti-vaccination, just a more delayed schedule I guess. But I could go on and on about it so I'll just leave it at that.

Well we finally got Brenna into a Girl Scout troop and she is lovin' it! She's only gone to one meeting and we just went camping this past weekend. She had such a good time and gets along with all the girls. When I was little all my best friends were from my Girl Scout troop and I have such wonderful memories. The troop that she's in this year is pretty big and it seems like they do a lot of stuff. In a few weeks they will be having a Cookie Kickoff and celebrating it with a big sleepover at the school's gym. Everyone who reads this and lives in our city - beware! We will be hitting you up for cookie sales soon! :)
Camping this past weekend was a little different then what I remember and some things kinda made me open my mouth in disbelief. I had to work extra hard at biting my tongue (not easy for me by the way!). That was tough. LOL Apparently the Girl Scouts have now decided to start using Boy Scout juice! For those not savvy with Girl Scout terminology that is another word for lighter fluid. That used to be unheard of! Taboo! To say the least, I was very disappointed. Almost sad. They also had their own little twisted version of the "buddy system". It was mentioned at the beginning of camp but was never enforced. That was a jaw-dropper too. During the first few hours of camp I was constantly getting after Brenna and Kayla (her BFF and "buddy") - they finally got the point and didn't go anywhere without each other. I was very proud. But that's how it's supposed to be. I think I might be sending an anonymous letter to the Girl Scout Council very soon. That will be my way of opening my big fat mouth. And yes - I DO have a big fat mouth. LOL

So basketball season is now in full swing in the Spear household. Brenna has had practice twice a week for the past month or so and her first game is this Saturday. I love, love, love going to games every Saturday. They are very stressful though. Those poor girls hear all kinds of instructions from both sides of the court - parents and Coach. It gives me such a headache! Parents yelling, coaches yelling, girls looking all over trying to figure out who to listen to...... I just smile and watch and think to myself, "These poor girls are only 7 and 8. Give them a break!"

So this week is the last week for co-ops with our homeschool group. It has been a pretty successful 6 weeks and everything has been running very smoothly. Mom's chats have been much more helpful this time around then in the past (1/2 the moms chat the first hour and the other half have a class and then we switch for the 2nd hour). We've talked about recipes, kitchen tips and books we've read. I've acquired lots of wonderful information! In the past the conversations have mostly revolved around curriculum, which does not pertain to me at all. It's rather difficult being the only unschooling Mom in the entire group. I would give anything to have a relaxed (unschooling) homeschool group here. The closest one I have found is in San Antonio, which is about 4 hours from here. I am a member of the Yahoo Group and really hope to attend one of their park days or field trips someday soon. I just think it would be so awesome to actually meet other moms who do what I do. I have TONS of friends on Facebook and through email who unschool and that does help a bunch but I think it would be kinda cool to actually get together with some of them.
Speaking of unschooling - something kinda cool happened at Girl Scout camp this past weekend! The girls worked on a few badges and were in groups and did little activities. One activity they did was learning about habitats. They were given some little books and were told to pick an animal and draw a picture of it on the front of an index card. They had to get up in front of everyone and tell a little about the animal. As I was observing the girls I saw that Brenna had flipped over her index card and was writing something on the back. She had taken it upon herself, without being told, and jotted down a few sentences about the orangutan so that when it was her turn she was very prepared to give her "speech" about the animal she had chosen. None of the other girls had done this. The leader of the group had to probe the other girls for information and my little Brenna just stood right up and read her card and gave her presentation perfectly. I thought that was pretty darn cool considering she'd never been "taught" to do that. For a kid who doesn't do school that sure was a pretty clever (and schooly) thing to do.

Things like that is what solidifies my decision to keep doing what we are doing.

I was a very proud Momma. (ok, so secretly, yes... I wanted to shout to the world - "Yep!! She's unschooled! See! See how they can actually think for themselves and do things without being "taught" how to do it!? LOL)

Well it's about dinner time so I guess I better get off the computer so I can feed my family. :) I'm hoping I have the bug now to post more often again. Tonight I will post some pictures I have if I have time.

Till fingers and keyboard meet again......