Homeschooling: What to do When Summer Break Drains the Brain? Sneak in Fun Learning Opportunities

Does Summer Break Drain the Brain? Try Sneaking in Educational Experiences Kids Enjoy

School is coming to a close, but learning shouldn't come to an end. We are just finishing up our first year of homeschooling.  After all the hard work, I'd hate to see it slip away this summer.  We've got plans to supplement with summer learning field trips, outdoor nature journaling, riding and music lessons, and 4H club. I'll also offer Friday day camps for friends of The Play Connection, Inc.

Outdoor Games for Summer Camp

The beginning of every school year is filled with review from the previous year.  Summer heat shouldn't melt our kids brains.  Summer Camp programs are great for socialization, pe activities, and becoming one with nature.  Opportunities to improve reading are everywhere. Playing the Alphabet Game on a long trip encourages billboard and street sign reading. Library trips offer a sneaky way to cool off, relax, and enjoy a new book. Do you read bedtime stories? Here's a fun summer reading list. 

Busy summers lend themselves to lazy days near the poolside or under a favorite tree curled up with a good book. Funny, kids never seem to curl up with a good math problem.  

Don't forget to practice math this summer.  
Leap ahead of the pack with daily lessons.

Do you practice math in the summer?  Keeping track of allowances, shopping for items at the Dollar Tree, or having your child watch the clock for break time, chore time, and lunchtime are easy ways to implement mathematics into your lazy summer days.  If you are worried about summer brain drain and the summer learning slide, you might like a more structured math program. 

Summer Brain Drain? Try this.

LeapAhead! is an easy, affordable, and flexible summer online math program. Keep your child engaged with math worksheets aligned with the common core standards. The program offers a fun math worksheet creator for members. I love the Challenge Math for gifted and talented students. The online summer math program is great for kids who need a little extra help too. This program works for both homeschoolers and brick and mortar students. 

PE GAMES

Let your computer act as a summer tutor while you enhance the online learning with fun math games and activities. You can make math a fun, summer activity too!



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ART: Elementary Homeschool Projects from our online lessons: Lesson One

Homeschool Sample Artwork for Homeschool Art from Connections Academy Online Homeschool

(How a Bricks and Mortar teacher ruined the love of ART)

We've been contemplating Homeschooling for a long time. We needed to find a house in the country with a barn, so we knew we'd be moving, but had no idea where. It seemed the perfect time to bite the bullet. 

I had dreamed of being an ART teacher but deplored my first college art professor and switched to THEATRICAL DESIGN and later to ARCHITECTURE. Ha-ha-ha. I have a diploma. I worked in various design capacities, but always preferred working with children. I am laughing, because, after having my own children, that is no longer my favorite thing. Now, I like to write (more about that later).

But, oh wow! Homeschooling gave me a chance to fulfill my first academic dream and become a real life art teacher! I could not wait to get started. When you cannot wait for something; well, you probably should. It never, ever turns out like you envision.

Things are finally starting to swing in my favor, so I thought I would start sharing our weekly projects here. I want to give all moms of budding artists hope and patience by sharing our grief.  We've learned so many great lessons along the way: How to clean up, How art can teach math, Patience is a virtue, Practice makes perfect, How to spell new words, How to make Mommy say bad words... you get it- you've lived it.  

Maybe you love math or music or language arts and it turns out to be your child's least favorite or worst subject. Time to put on your grown-up pants and grin and bear it with me.

Here is Jake's work from Connection's Academy Art LESSON ONE:  Draw a picture of yourself showing how you feel about school, specifically ART, use shapes and patterns within your drawing.



ANGRY.

Jake: "I hate art."
Mommy: "It is my favorite subject! I am not so great, but I try my best."
Jake: "I'm no good at it, and I don't want to do it."
Mommy: "Let's listen to music while we draw."
Jake: "Let's don't, and say we did."
Mommy: "Jake, here is a mirror draw your face."
Jake: "No."
Mommy: "Just Do IT!"
Jake: "This is not fun."
Mommy: "This is not fun."
Mommy: "Maybe this is why Mom's take up drinking wine."


Later, Jake informed me he had never used anything but crayons in his art class at school. They always had to color the ENTIRE page with neat, crayon coloring from corner to corner. WHAT? I've got the pictures and the grades to prove why he doesn't like art. 

She was a hardcore grader for an elementary teacher who made the kids use crayons as a medium! In fact, she killed his straight A+'s in first grade with a B- and a comment to try and be neater. He was devastated. I told him, "Ya gotta do what ya gotta do." He did it from that point on. 

Man, I'd hate art too if that were my teacher's philosophy. Why do you need an art teacher for coloring with crayons. Seems like a lot of busy work to me.


Recommended Reading:

Lesson Two
Lesson Three
Lesson Four

The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas: 500+ Fun and Creative Learning Activities for Kids Ages 3-12 (Prima Home Learning Library)*

Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters (Bright Ideas for Learning (TM))*

Back to School Life Lessons from a Dyslexic's Mommy

Life Lessons for Homeschooling

Back to homeschooling dealing with brain drain. By now, most kids are back in school full-time.  As homeschoolers, we officially started August 12 with Connections Academy, since there were no scheduled live lessons we eased back into it.  Life lessons for homeschooling quickly ensued. Enjoy!

Brick and mortar schools have late start Monday, so why can’t we?  We started late (10:00) did a lesson, took a break, did another lesson, ate lunch, did another lesson, went swimming (hey, it counts as P.E), and then called it a day.  Although, it sounds easy- it wasn’t!  I’m great at giving advice, remember this post on summer brain drain?  Well, turns out, I didn’t follow my own advice.  How much brain power can one lose in a few weeks, right?  

W-R-O-N-G!

School is back in session.

Jake is doing great, on task, a little hurried so he can get back to his video games, but overall excellent.  He had a perfect spelling test, near perfect Math homework, and he was all smiles and ready to roll.  He hates school, but it comes easy.

Mayhem.  Mayhem.  Mayhem.  That’s not her given name, but that’s what we call her, Mandy Mayhem.  We woke up, brushed our teeth, freed the chickens, collected eggs and tomatoes, took a walk to the pond, and then made scrambled eggs and toast.  Everything was fine. She was excited to start school- and then we started school.  GRR.  “I can’t make this work- the page disappeared- do I have to read this?”  AND  “I can’t find my Notebook- where is a pencil? –You wrote in my sketchbook!”  On a positive note, reading her assigned story, Iris and Walter went well.  It seemed she’d retained more than I thought.

AND THEN…It was time for written work.  “Number your page for a spelling test”, Mommy politely said.  “Are you ready? This is just a pre-test”, Mommy smiled ignoring the tantrum.  “Don’t worry, it is only practice.”  There was much complaining, whining, and pencil pounding. “I’m sure those letters are backwards!”  “I can’t remember how to spell that word!”  “Which letter comes first?”  And so, it resumed.  All the work, we’d done last year, on the “it’s probably not dyslexia just age appropriate transposition of letters and numbers” was lost.

The paper wasn’t numbered from 1-15.  There were big words and small words scribbled all about, there were capital A’s and small a’s intermixed in the same word.  There were words, that had just been practiced in a worksheet, spelled on tiles, and read in the story.  Not one word was written correctly.  Although, if  you paid close attention and understood the common transpositions, backward or upside down letters, you could decode the correct spelling word.

DeKs, backward J-oB, sAD, LTis, S A backward C- K, DutS, and pockt.

I think its interesting, that the only misspelled word is the only one written in appropriate all lowercase letters.  Did you need a translator?  Desk, job, sad, list, sack, dust, and pocket.  A teacher would have taken one look at the sloppy mess and given up.  Mommy took the time to decode it.  Then, I wrote lines in pink highlighter, filled in the word 'desk' written correctly, and asked her to recopy her words with proper capitalization.  

Dust, chop, Desk, Durm, backward j-ob, t- backward a and g, letts, snack, rook, Rib, engine, mess, and list.

 She did a great job on chop, engine, mess, and list, but snack and rook aren’t on the list.  I will have to decode those later. The good news is the words are written within the lines with appropriate letter size, and numbered from 1-15.  We’ll focus on that for now-  2^nd grade.

Teacher asked if I wanted to pass her last year.  “What kind of question is that?”  She had straight A+’s in first grade.  She hated it.  It was “boring” and too easy.  Except, if the teacher and I hadn’t taken the time to decode the hand-written work…  Did you see that?  Handwritten work?  That’s right, she doesn’t transpose when typing!  Unfortunately, in second grade, she is required to turn in handwritten papers in preparation for academic testing. Bummer, next year I won’t waste those summer months.

In the meantime, she’s going to relax with some art and sensory play with her favorite medium, clay.  This is a great fun dough product perfect for sensory play for children with autism or other processing disorders.Crazy Aaron's Putty World Super Scarab Putty  is unique.  It has thermodynamic and phosphorescent properties perfect for science exploration. Thermodynamics explores the relationship between heat and other forms of energy. The putty changes colors when touched.

Thermodynamic putty.

Recommended:


Homeschool Projects for Elementary

The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain*

Homeschool Curriculum Resources

Supplemental Resources for Educators

Thanks to Oriental Trading for these curriculum resources.

Whether you're a homeschool parent or a classroom teacher, these curriculum resources from Oriental Trading are a great way to supplement learning. From the hundreds of items in the Oriental Trading catalog, we chose these items to supplement our homeschool curriculum. If you're looking for supplemental homeschool curriculum resources, be sure to check them out.

This post contains affiliate links.

Airbrush Marker Set, Money and Time Flashcards, Fraction Spinners, Ruler Tape, and World Map.

Last year, both kids attended Indiana Connections Academy online. We started our homeschool journey with them and after a few years of homeschooling on our own, decided to enroll again. It allowed both kids to take assessment tests. We discovered they both had jumped another grade level. However, Mayhem had some math learning disabilities and special needs.

Homeschool Curriculum Resources 

Connections Academy was great about testing her and getting her the help she needed, but this year we decided it would be better to once again go it on our own. This way, we can better address her mathematics learning gaps.

So, Jake will attend INCA as a 9th grader... Did you get that? He's officially in high school this year. Yikes! Mayhem is officially a 7th grader. By age, they should be in 5th and 7th. Which makes me skeptical about that assessed math disability.

There's certainly an issue, but she works very well at 4th & 5th grade level math. Her language arts assessment was college level and science and social studies were all above grade level, which is why they placed her in the 6th grade last year.

Homeschooling on our own allows us to tailor the curriculum to her specific grade level needs. We are using MobyMax to help with that. MobyMax finds and corrects learning gaps.

Tri-Facta math game for multiplication and division memory.

We ordered this educational math game, Tri-Facta, from OT. It's sort of like Scrabble for numbers. Even though Jake is a math whiz, he enjoyed the game.

It's a nice alternative to flashcards. We also got Time and Money flashcards, cool ruler tape, and fraction spinners. Everything You Need to Ace Math in one Big Fat Notebook is an awesome math book for reluctant mathematicians. It's written in note taking form and explains math concepts in a fun, easy to understand manner. Click here to find the resources at Oriental Trading.

If your kids like to color, this World Chart map (pictured below) is a great supplemental activity for geography and social studies. It comes with a booklet of facts. The idea is to find the fact's map location and then color it. We also got an airbrush set for future art lessons.

Social Studies Lesson: Color Chart the World Map.

Social Studies Resource from MindWare, Color Chart Map.

Just for fun, Teacher a.k.a. Mom, drug the kiddos out of bed for a 'I just woke up' shot to share on social media. Everyone always shares their back to school first day of school pictures and we didn't want to be left out.

For us, the first day of school means getting up a little earlier- okay, a lot earlier, but not as early as a traditional school day. No new haircuts, no new backpacks, no new shoes, no new school clothes. Just old pajamas. Well, really, old comfy clothes for sleeping. No matching necessary. We'll get dressed if we run out of food and need to make a trip to the grocery store. A trip to a fast food restaurant doesn't require getting dressed...

Recommended:

Homeschool Lessons from Kids Creative Chaos

Indiana Field Trip Ideas

Homeschool Curriculum Resources on Amazon

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What are the Pros and Cons of Using iPads in the Classroom Today?

It's not always easy to motivate and engage children in a large classroom setting. Large spatial environments can distract some students and overwhelm others. Children can lose focus staring at other kids or at random objects in the classroom. All students learn curriculum at a different pace and academic level. Keeping instruction at the same level for every student can cause lower-performing students to get lost in the shuffle. On the other hand, the more academically advanced students can get held back by the rest of the class and become bored with the lessons, decreasing their motivation. Today, technology serves as one of the best ways to engage children at their personal skill level. A new trend in classrooms is teaching academic subjects using iPads. So, what are the Pros and Cons of Using iPads in the Classroom Today?

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

iPads can make learning more simple than working on a laptop or desktop, but not everyone agrees that using iPads provide the best education for kids--and fulfill the needs of learning the curriculum and the content standards. We're sharing some pros and cons of using iPads in the classroom so you can decide for yourself.

Pros of Using iPads

Students Love Working on iPads

It's no secret that kids love technology. iPads in the classroom can engage even the most bored and distracted students.

Students Possess the Ability to Interact With Many Apps

The iPad interacts with a variety of apps. Software developers seem to have an app for everything from learning math to learning the weather.

Apps give students more choices for learning. New apps are readily available and improving with technology.

Tablets Can Work as a Second Computer Monitor

Today, students use their iPads as a second computer monitor through the functions of programs like Sidecar. Learn how to use Sidecar in this informative article.

Ebooks Serve the Same Value as Textbooks

Some people believe ebooks can replace textbooks You can always download ebooks if it's easier for your style of learning.

Students don't have to worry about bringing their textbooks from their lockers to class because all their ebooks can be stored in one place. This also solves the issue of kids forgetting to bring their textbooks. It also saves trees.

Great Learning Tool For Students With Disabilities 

The iPad has several handicap accessible applications to help struggling learners and disabled students, including apps created for students with cognitive and learning disabilities. 

iPads are Easier to Read Than Textbooks

Textbooks used year after year can become difficult to read. Students put marks in texts, underline, and highlight chapter sections. They often write notes in the margins that cover important text. This often makes the text unreadable. eBooks keep their original format.

Another advantage of using iPads is that students with visual problems can use accessibility tools such as bolding and enlarging the text.

iPads are Lightweight

In middle school and high school, students often need to carry heavy textbooks from class to class. The iPad is portabie and weighs much less than a textbook.

Other than textbooks, students need to carry binders, notebooks, calculators, and other educational tools in their backpacks. There's no need for students to cram all those educational materials into their book bags and break their backs when they could just carry an iPad.

Students are able to have all their learning materials on their iPads. This helps them stay organized and makes life easier on parents and guardians, too.

Should you limit your Child's Smartphone Usage?

Cons of Using iPads

Typing on iPads Can Be Frustrating for Kids

Typing on a computer keyboard is much easier and faster than typing on an iPad. It can be especially frustrating when kids need to create large documents. Even though some iPads have keyboards on them, using a computer keyboard is easier and faster.

One exception is that you can sync your iPad to an Apple wireless keyboard. This is a good idea if you plan to do much typing. However, not all schools have access to Apple wireless keyboards. The student may need to provide their own.

iPads Don't Support Adobe Flash and Javascript

The top criticism of Apple products, including the iPad, is its inability to be compatible with Adobe Flash Player and Javascript.

Many educational websites use Flash. This can limit students to access these tools. However, some people believe some of the newer apps provide ways around Adobe Flash files and Javascript.

iPads Need to Be Charged

Just like a cellphone, iPads need to be charged. A desktop computer in a classroom can be plugged into an outlet. It doesn't require charging.

When power isn't up, learning goes down. Kids can forget to charge their iPads and busy teachers may not have time to check that every single iPad has a full charge to last the entire class period.

Needs Wi-Fi to Operate

Using iPads in the classroom relies solely on maintaining a good Wi-Fi connection. When Wi-Fi has a poor connection or the internet is down, learning stagnates.

All of those devices on the school network can slow it down and eat up all the bandwidth. This can also slow down learning in the classroom or even compromise the lesson.

It's much easier to store educational materials that can be accessed later on a computer than it is on an iPad.

Students Can Get Distracted by Social Media

Tablets are a great learning tool, but they're also a distraction for students who would rather play on social media. It's easy for them to get off task and quickly log into a game, instant messenger, or Snapchat when they should be working.

The Final Word on Using iPads in Today's Classrooms

Compare these pros and cons to decide for yourself if you believe iPads are effective in today's school classrooms and homeschooling environments.

Looking for more educational tips? Explore the blog.

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What are CLEP Exams?

Early Childhood Certificate Online

How did Coronavirus affect the Housing Market?

 Has the 2020 Pandemic Changed your Living Situation?

When you work from home as a social media marketing consultant for small business and an online social media influencer, AND homeschool your kids, you can literally work from anywhere.  A few years ago, we took advantage of  that and bought a cottage in the middle of nowhere on a little lake. If I knew then, what I know now, I would've held out for more money when I sold it in 2020. Even so, for owning it just over two years, I made a little money on the deal. So, what's up with the housing situation anyway?

                                    This post contains Amazon affiliate links for your convenience.

Lake house, fixer upper, mid fix stage.

In 2019 the kids decided they wanted to attend public school to pursue building trades and band. As a anxious homeschooling mom, I wanted to feel comfortable with this choice, so we moved back to my hometown and we rented. Lucky for me, it wasn't real renting. My brother had purchased a rental and we moved in while I looked for a more permanent place to call home. Since everyone was out of the house, I decided to go back to working in a brick and mortar environment too and I took a job for Habitat for Humanity.

Then, I looked and I looked, and I looked. Rentals were few and far between and most of them were either outside of my price range or beneath my standards. Let me tell you, I had pretty low expectations, but I wanted my kids to feel safe. I tried to purchase my own home, but every time a place went on the market it sold before I even got a chance to look at it. What was left were the homes that no one wanted. The homes that couldn't get  loans due to major issues or the homes that were priced well over their appraised value. Though, I considered making the leap and purchasing one of these houses, I held out for a home that wasn't a fixer upper.  

However, the home we bought, would've sold for considerably less in 2019, before the pandemic. In fact, the flipper had purchased the house at a 2017 auction for only $25,000. After looking at several houses that were priced outside of my comfort zone and not really what I wanted, I jumped on the opportunity to buy my home at $131,900. Sure, in most communities, that's a great price, but in my hometown the median home price is $85,000 and the houses in the neighborhood were going for considerably less. I needed to love this house for the purchase to make any sense. It was a risky move, will it retain it's value?

However,  despite the housing market situation, I decided to take a risk and make an offer below asking price. The homeowner countered, and I accepted. It was oddly easy, as most houses were selling over the asking price and this house had everything I wanted. Just before I closed, I found out that the house had been the place of a brutal murder. Probably should've countered the counter offer. I was the only one bidding. I'm not mad. I'm thankful to finally have an affordable, safe place to call home.

After the pandemic, the prices of homes in rural areas like New Castle, Indiana have skyrocketed. For those who are looking for 3+ bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, there's a housing shortage. Since Covid hit, more people are realizing they too can work from home. And they can live anywhere. So, they're abandoning high cost urban areas and retreating to rural communities where the cost of living is easier on the wallet and life is simpler. This means, rural areas can raise home prices and because rentals are in high demand with millennials, they can also raise the rent, pricing out low-income families. In turn, many affluent urban areas are actually seeing a decrease in rent as people flock to small towns. You can learn more about that in this article on how 2020 changed the housing market.

After reviewing the article, I took special note of what this is doing to low income families. Working at Habitat for Humanity, it is my job to help low income families find affordable housing and help remove some of the barriers to home ownership. With increasing cost of building materials and virus constraints, many area Habitat affiliates have had to put building new homes on the back burner. Families have had to wait for over two years for their homes to be completed, and Habitat affiliates are losing money and need to raise more funds just to complete the houses. 

The chart below lists several counties neighboring the one where I live. If you aren't from around here, the data may not tell the whole story. However, Hamilton and Hendricks counties have some of Indiana's most affluent neighborhoods. Marion county is the home to Indianapolis, which has seen a slight increase, but compared to cities like Chicago and New York, Indianapolis is an escape to a more rural life. It appears the Coronavirus has changed the housing market. More and more people are realizing they can work from home, and that means that home can be anywhere they want it to be. There truly is no place like home, so why live in a house in a place that you don't love?

Affordable rentals in New Castle, Indiana.

We want to hear your thoughts! Have you moved or considered purchasing a new home in the pandemic? Tell us about it in the comments.

2/1/2021

Delaware County

Indiana

$600

3.30%

$45,065

114,135

Small metro

2/1/2021

Hancock County

Indiana

$790

9.00%

$69,392

78,168

Large fringe metro

2/1/2021

Hamilton County

Indiana

$1,116

-0.90%

$105,062

338,011

Large fringe metro

2/1/2021 Marion County Indiana $996 21.70% $50,458 964,582 Large central metro

2/1/2021

Madison County

Indiana

$792

20.20%

$55,142

129,569

Large fringe metro

This chart from Zumper tells the story with data.

Recommended Reading:

Ultimate Home Repair Guide

How to Create a Safe Family Home

How to Fix Common Home Repair Issues 

Read Free Books Online: Moon Magic Chapter 7

Moon Magic: YA Fiction Novel Online

Do you have an eReader or Kindle? Do you read free books online? We've been sharing our YA fiction book online. If you're new, start here- Moon Magic Chapter One. If you've been reading the story, the last chapter published was chapter six. Eventually, this will be published as an eBook. Remember this material is copyrighted and not meant to be published on any other website or platform. Moon Magic is a young adult fiction novel with suspense and historical fiction sprinkles. Enjoy!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Get the full published YA novel here, Allegedly Mystic

This post contains affiliate links.

Read YA Adult Fiction Online

Moon Magic

Copyright 2017

Chapter Seven 

A History Lesson

You can’t protect your children from everything. Serenity had learned that long ago. She lived in constant fear for her daughter’s safety, so she homeschooled until the third grade when Auri had begged to ride a school bus like the ‘normal’ kids. It went well until everyone hit puberty in the fifth grade. 

Well, almost everyone. 

Puberty wasn’t typical. Nothing was typical with Aurora, so it took a little longer for the complete transformation. By seventh grade, it was nearly impossible to keep the big secret from her daughter, but Serenity did. At least that’s what Aurora let her think.

It was humiliating to talk to her mom (or anyone for that matter) about her period, hairy underarms, legs, and other hairy places. Difficult, but not impossible. Aurora kept secrets too. It was impossible to strike up a conversation about sanity. “Hey, Mom, I think I might be insane. Yep, I was fine until I hit puberty and then I started making people do crazy things. I don’t do anything really. I just feel. I keep trying not to feel, but this hormone thing makes that really difficult. If I could just feel happy all of the time everything would be fine. Everyone would be fine.” That conversation was never going to happen. Her mother would have her committed.

An awkward afternoon was spent hashing out the school day. Serenity had a series of safe actions in place to help keep an eye on Aurora. Every morning before school she’d ask, “Do you notice anything different or unusual today?” Aurora always had a smart aleck response, “I still haven’t started my period. Don’t worry, you’ll be the second to know.” 

After a snack of cream cheese and jelly sandwiches, Serenity felt energized to push a little harder. As soon as Aurora stuffed the first bite into her mouth, Serenity asked, “Did anything odd happen at school today? Did you feel funny when other people were around?” Did you notice any strange animals following you? 

 “Strange animals?” Aurora gulped down the last bite and shook her head back and forth.

If someone else had had a hand in her child rearing… Well, Aurora couldn’t help but think that she’d be normal. At least a little more close to normal. Environment can make or break a person. Aurora was broken. Her head filled with a scream, but she smiled instead. It was Serenity who needed psychotherapy. Aurora knew she wasn’t like the other kids- she just didn’t know how different. It was her mother who was obviously different. That much she knew for sure. 

No encouragement was needed. Serenity burst into a history lesson. “Did you know your great, great, great grandfather was a Native American Shaman. I think somehow our DNA is imprinted with the memories of our ancestors. I think maybe we see and feel things others don’t. The Creek Indians fought hard and most of them died battling for their land. The mess that followed, ‘The Trail of Tears,’ played havoc with our ancestors. The Creeks that stayed behind crossed over the Cumberland River and joined forces with the Cherokees and blended to stay on their land. They learned English and got along with the White man. They civilized to stay alive. Most shunned all of their ancestral beliefs.”

“That’s awesome, Mom. Can I go now?” Aurora jumped up to leave but was pushed back into her seat by the palm of her mother's hand. “Aurora, listen to me, this is important. Our white ancestors feared the Creek. Our Creek family was shunned and mistreated. The Creek Indians had a reputations of evil! To survive, they had to give up all that they were, all that they lived for, asking forgiveness wasn’t enough because so much prejudice remained. The Cherokee were good people, but there connections weren’t as strong. She stopped, gave her daughter the side-eye, and then screeched. "Aurora, do you know what I’m saying?” Aurora snapped back, “A bunch of boring crap, is there a point?”

Taking a deep breath, Serenity leaned in resting her elbows on the counter and and holding her chin in her hands. “The point is, Aurora, the Cherokee danced for Mother Nature but they didn’t know how to fully harness her powers like the Creek did.” Then, she looked over at Aurora and smiled awaiting a response.

“That’s nice, Mother, or should I say, Your Supreme Weirdness. And, big fat no! I haven’t seen any flying monkey or pigs following me home from school.

*     *     *

Aurora wished she hadn’t always been so rude to her mother. What if her mother never woke up? She’d be all alone and she’d never know the whole truth about her ancestry. 

Now, she longed to discover her true genetic makeup. As a teenager with no job or money and a lame arm, the best she could do was research online and with microfiche at the public library. Believe it or not, they still had microfiche machines in the basement.

She needed to get a DNA test. Todd Lowder, her mother’s boyfriend and her Social Studies teacher, had gotten one done. Apparently, he’d been told that he was part Cherokee. Isn’t everyone? Born mixed, half black and half white, he was anxious to find out if he were more African American or Native American or just another European hodge podge. 

Todd circulated a copy of the complicated graphs around the classroom. The results showed that he was mostly from some sect of people in Siberia. That could mean anything, based on current genealogy theory. It seems nothing is simply black and white, not even the color of one’s skin.

The oral traditions in Kentucky were strong. Aurora wanted black and white proof of her ancestry. Was she Cherokee? Creek? Everyone seemed to be part Native American of some sort, but no one had any proof. Serenity Waters had named her daughter Aurora Waters. Strange, but not illogical. However, Aurora might as well have been named Merry Christmas. Names seem to fit the traditions of the people. The only tradition this Waters family had was celebrating Christmas every year. Well, Halloween too, but Happy Halloween didn’t sound like a real name.

That wasn’t all. Aurora had been giving her mother grief. She wasn’t completely sure what Serenity was getting at when she had asked, “Do you feel anything unusual?” She did feel something, but what if her mother was talking about something else? She didn’t want to risk freaking her out with the wrong unusual feeling. Everything was unusual when you were a teenager. Then, there was the big, white, feral cat. He kept popping up all over the place. Outside the band room. At the bus stop. Whenever she felt overwhelmed, he appeared, but he wouldn’t let anyone touch him. He’d look up at Aurora, blink his eyes, purr, wiggle his tail and then disappear. Sometimes, she thought he was beckoning her to follow him.

When everything was deafeningly quiet chaos broke out in Aurora's head. She was fairly certain that she’d heard the so called Great Spirit calling her and positive that whispers from the ancestors tortured her. Maybe other people had the same thing but never took the time to pay attention? It was hard to be certain. What if those were just voices in her head, the kind that make you crazy? No way could she confess. If she feared she might be insane, what would everyone else think?  

If she did hear the Great Spirit what would people think? Buddha, God, the Great Spirit. Jesus, Zeus, didn’t they all have something in common? Human Spirit. Right vs. Wrong. Buddha and Jesus had both walked the Earth as men sent down by a higher power. Religion made Aurora uncomfortable. Other people called it different things, but Aurora’s mother had always taught her that God and the Great Spirit were one in the same. Serenity's bedtime stories had detailed how he watched over his people and sent down his helpers to guide them. Apparently, the Native American’s had learned to harness the powers that guided them. Maybe that was the big secret her mother was hiding.

It was time to eat crow. Aurora needed a plan. Unfortunately, Todd was  in the best position to help. She assumed Serenity probably hadn’t confessed to all of the weirdness in their lives. But, perhaps, she had told him about the Indian heritage and Shaman bloodline.

Todd had been Aurora’s favorite teacher up until he’d called her Mom about a quiz she’d failed. That opened the door for her Mother to ask about her school life and they'd swapped horror stories over dinner one night. The rest, of course, was history. He wasn’t Aurora’s favorite person. Odd Todd. “Easy ‘A,’ my ass, the idiots didn’t know what they were talking about." But, she was thankful for homeschooling, even if Todd had to help out. At least, she didn’t have to live with the constant snickers and glares from the other kids. Anyway, Todd would know how to track these Native American ancestors- that made him worth something.

Chapter Eight 

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Moon Magic Starts Here

Allegedly Mystic, the published version of Moon Magic.

Cinquain Lesson 

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