Lasso The Moon

Black History Month 2017

Black History Month.

Since we started homeschooling, we have not taken the time to study black history every February, because we've been following our history curriculum Story of the World.  It includes a lot of black history as it fits in the timeline of world history, but Emma told me this year that she misses the annual report on a hero that she did while in public school. Wait...you want to do extra history this month?  Um, YES.

We headed up to the library in search of our subjects.  Emma already knew she wanted to find books on Bass Reeves. We learned about him in the new time travel show Timeless.  He's the real man that the Lone Ranger is based on.  Yes, the real Lone Ranger was black!  Hollywood changed his skin color to make him more palatable to the masses.

Our library had one book in the Juvenile biography section, and we went ahead and Amazon primed the other one.

 

Ethan (10) has very little frame of reference for American black history, since he was in 1st grade his last year of public, and we haven't reached America yet in our chronological history study.  I thought he needed a good foundation, so he's learning about the Underground Railroad with these two.  They were both at our library, but I found them on Amazon too:

  

I feel a little weird adding Levi Coffin in there, since he wasn't black.  But he had a major roll in the U.R., and MLK said it was about the content of character, not skin color right?

I didn't want to leave out Esther and Elijah, even though they are little.  I'm geeking out over the books I chose for them!

 Esther (5) is doing her "report" on Bessie Coleman.  This book is filled with gorgeous illustrations, and is told through the eyes of people who knew her.

And Eli (3) will be reading this book about a boy who dreamed about being a baseball star, like his heroes in the Negro League.  I've already peaked at this one, and it's going to be way over his head, but you have to start somewhere, right?  Maybe I'll be able to find a good one about Jackie Robinson before the month is out.

If you are working on your own Black History Month reports, I suggest starting at the library to save some money.  But Amazon tends to be so fast and inexpensive, you can fill in any gaps that way.  Do you have a favorite black history hero that you think we should learn about? Please let us know in the comments!

Also, the pics above work as affiliate links.  The companies we promote have agreed to send us a little something if we send them a sale--at no extra cost to you.  It helps keep this blog up and running.  So thank you!

Happy Black History Month, friends!

Don't forget to pin this for later! 

Mom, teacher, or friend? Finding my place in my daughter's life.

 So there's this question that you as a parent are going to ask in the course of your parenthood.  If you haven't asked it yet, you will.  Am I her friend, or am I her parent?  And for me this week, this question got a little more complicated.  Am I her friend, her teacher, or her parent?  As a young mom of a toddler, this answer was simple.  Her mom, of course!  I have to keep her safe, teach her rules, maintain consistency with bedtimes!  But this year, with the new and wonderful and confusing stage of preteen, the answer is not quite so clear.

We sat at the table fighting about fractions. We were slugging it out over numerators and common denominators, and when to convert to an improper fraction, because THERE ARE JUST SO MANY RULES!

And as she sat there hopeful that she'd get to move forward, I was the one with the answer book.  I was the one with the red pen. I was the one marking one after another incorrect...and her spirit fell.  I saw it happen.  And I tried to make it right in that clumsy, insensitive way moms have sometimes: "Hey, it's no big deal!  We'll just practice some more! Why are you getting so upset about this? Listen, if you're going to have such a bad attitude about something as little as a test, then maybe you need to spend some time alone in your room." You know, super helpful.

I didn't realize until that moment when the dam broke behind her eyes, that it wasn't about the fractions.  It's never just about the fractions!  Especially when you're twelve.  I forgot that.  When you're twelve, your math test is your identity.  Your clothes are your identity.  Your talents are your identity.  The way your mom talks to you...

...is your identity. When you're twelve, you haven't come to the understanding of who you are, so the entire sum of what you know about yourself is the response you get from outside influences.  It wasn't about the fractions.  It was a question of being good enough.  Am I smart? Am I important? Can I keep up? Do I know as much as everyone else? Is my mom impressed by me?

 I looked at her beautiful, disappointed, crest-fallen face, and I was at a total loss. I was too exhausted by the week to come up with anything thoughtful, gentle, or helpful like the moms on t.v. do at times like these.  (Oh, what would Beverly Goldberg do!?) So I laid it down.  I put my arm around her and whispered a prayer into her ear.  I don't know why it's so hard to pray when you're weary.  The words came slowly--I didn't even know what to say.  So I just told Him the truth.

"Lord we're frustrated!  This seems harder than it should be! I'm not explaining it right, or it's getting scrambled, or she just can't remember when she needs to.  Help us. Protect us.  Don't let us fight over fractions! Help me to know when to be a teacher and when to be a Momma, and how to be both as often as I can. Protect our relationship--the most precious thing we have.  We're friends, and we laugh together, and we snuggle on the couch, and read books, and talk about music, and that's too great to get ruined by a hard day of fractions!  Help her to know that I love her.  Help her to feel my love for her." 

When I was done, she sat there heavily for a minute until I declared the school day over--sometimes you just have to call it.  But I've had that moment with me for a couple days now.  That moment when our hearts were bowed before His throne.  And we weren't mother and daughter as much as we were two sisters asking Daddy for help.  I want more of that.  I hope I remember to go to Him first next time.

Y'all!  Parenting a pre-teen is new and wonderful and terrifying!  I'm so excited about all the new things we have to share--like romantic comedies for example...seriously so much fun.  But this is entirely new ground we're walking on now, and I want to proceed with extreme care.  I asked some friends on facebook if they had any resources for parenting, growing up, or becoming a godly woman, and they did!  Here are some of their suggestions.  Just click on the picture to take you to the amazon link if you want to check them out.

 

        

For older teens (some mature content, I've been told!)

   

(affiliate links)

If you have another suggestion that has helped you through the raising (or growing into) in woman who loves the Lord, please share it!! I need all the help I can get!  Emma and I are starting with Becoming Myself.  I'll let you know what we think!

Much love, friend!

Valentine's Gift Guide 2017

Y'all, it's getting close to Valentine's day, but it's not too late to get your sweetie something that says I LOVE YA!  I found some super-cute gifts (and some perfectly ridiculous), and most of them are PRIME-eligible, so they can be on your doorstep before you know it.  Here goes!

For Her:

 

 

For Him:

For the Kids:

 

I had so much fun making these gift picks for you! I hope to make more gift guides in the future. This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you buy something through  link, the company will thank me with a small commission--at no extra cost to you!  It's a great way to support this blog.  Thanks so much, friend!