For the third year in a row now we will be holding our Where Does the Rain Go? awareness day and silent auction of decorated rain barrels. This year is very special in that we have many schools and artist involved as well as our own Balanced Life Skills students sharing in the fun of decorating the rain barrels.
To see how the paint day went at our studio at Balanced Life Skills, here is the link Rain Barrel Paint day 09.
This is one of the most fun days. Kids get to enjoy being creative and both parents and students learn about the need to get all of our storm water to infiltrate the earth. Rain barrels are just one way. This year our education program will take part in Earth Day celebrations at Quiet Water Park with some of the barrels on display. The following week the barrels will be displayed around our area at various locations prior to the silent auction on May 15.
Follow our progress and visit us at Quiet Waters on April 18th for more information on rain barrels.
What’s your tree? interview
An interview conducted by my instructor Tom Callos with Julia Butterfly Hill in regard to her work on a project called “What is your Tree?”
Interview
What she talks about in this interview is what our school is all about. Please feel free to comment on this.
“O, the places you’ll go!”
As a parent or teacher, it can often be hard having confidence in what you are doing, especially in times when everything you see and hear is telling/showing you that you are wrong. It takes conviction, discipline, compromise, and most of all it takes love. It takes love to tell your child “no” in a loving manner. It takes love to be the “bad parent/teacher” by not giving into every demand. It takes love to turn around and smile at your child when we say these things instead of saying it as if the two of you are equals in life and are arguing on equal ground.
The word of the month is confidence. As I was looking through the student journals, I always take interest at reading little things the students write down. I ran across someone whose knowledge book was “O, the places you’ll go” by Dr. Seuss. I remembered reading this book. In fact I remember reading a lot of books when I was younger. Now I never read them alone because I strongly disliked reading, or anything else really that required me to focus that long on something. But I read. I read because my mom read to me. She would make me sound out words, never scolding me for incorrectly saying the wrong word or crying when I get tired of reading.
Let me tell you who my mom is, but first a little about me. To say I was difficult Continue reading ““O, the places you’ll go!””
Return from Alabama community service
I have returned from the trip to Alabama and it has taken me a couple of days to get back to the journal. It was a very good trip that I enjoyed the company of teammates and students. Our most fortunate thing was that despite there being torrential rain with thunder, lightning and high winds every night, we had sunshine and good weather when it was time to work. In fact I never had to get the rain gear out.
I was able to work on 3 of the 5 projects that took place and put a little time in the kitchen too, to help Patti Oji with meal preparation. The project I spent the most time on was the house addition built for the older blind gentleman. in just 3 days we built on top of the already prepared foundation, the walls and all siding, roof, electric, plumbing complete and ready for the drywall.
The only disappointment was we never met the man we were doing the work for. Some of the crew met his son and he was very appreciative of the contribution we were making. I will have the photos up very soon.
Parenting for personal excellence
Being a parent is the hardest job in the world. Not just because there is no manual but mainly because our emotions are involved and we are so committed to out child or children. In line with our series on building confidence we have seen and learned how so many children today are ashamed when they cannot achieve perfection. One nine year old boy I read of recently said, “If I try something and it doesn’t work out, sometimes I don’t even finish it or try again, because I worry that I won’t get it right ever.”
What a shame that is that his concern is not about him doing his best and persevering, but there is something else out there that has him worried. What can we do as parents?
- First teach them that we all have different strengths and weaknesses. We cannot all be great artist, or the quarterback, or musician. There are multiple intelligences in the world and we as individuals need to take step two.
- Second encourage them to seek personal excellence over perfection. It’s all right for them to be imperfect. We are all works in progress and everyone of us is continuing to work on improving in some area of our life. Sometimes it is good to share with them our own mistakes and the lessons we are learning from them. That will show them that we are not afraid of mistakes and that we are willing to confront them and correct them.
- Third we need to show them that we are happy with them when they do the best they can do. That means that not just the perfect picture, spelling test or math quiz goes on the refrigerator. It is a good idea to show case work that is less than perfect, especially if they put a great deal of effort into doing it. One ten year old girls said, “I hate it when mom puts my spelling test on the wall when I get a hundred and she throws away the others, even when I just get one crummy thing wrong.”
Doing these things will allow our children to form their own personal standards of excellence, instead of feeling as though they must conform to the standards set by others.
Confidence & body language
Our body language conveys the message of our thoughts and it can be read by almost everyone. We know how it works. Chin up, shoulders back, chest out, brisk walk, strong voice – all convey the confident attitude.
On the other side of the coin chin down, shoulders slumped, slow walk, dragging your feet, weak voice all convey an lack of confidence. The interesting thing here is that our physiology has an effect on our emotions and confidence. If we carry our body in the manner that demonstrates no confidence we will have less.
But you say I don’t feel confident. Then try this. Put your body in a confident position, smile and visualize yourself doing the task you are not so confident about. Then as you approach the task keep that smile, hold that body position, and allow your friends and parents to encourage you. You will be surprised at the results.