December 2009

Married nearly 15 years, no recent moves or job-changes, just when we thought that life would meld into one predictable and pleasant happiness… We had lots of ‘firsts’ in our home this year!

With his twelve-year-old birthday, Noah became eligible for many new experiences. He attended his first year at a BSA scout camp and has earned nearly 20 merit badges so far. As part of the Fitness badge, he and Levi participated in their first youth triathlon. Noah and Jeremy barely survived the Klondike (snow camp) in January, after which Jeremy has decided to leave the minimalist backpacking mentality behind when he attends the Klondike next month…more gear, more warmth! Noah flew alone to visit Grandpa and Grandma Brennan in July for a week of 1-on-1 (s0 to speak) and proved that his mother’s worries were unnecessary...he really is growing into quite a capable young man (and our favorite babysitter!). After years of anticipation, Noah received the Priesthood and was ordained a deacon at church. He now passes the sacrament to the congregation and has been to the Denver Temple several times already.

Being second-born doesn’t mean he’ll always be copying his older brother! Levi has been the first in several things this year. As the school year began, Dad and Mom observed our children closely to catch any signs of fall-out from the surprise changes made to school assessment practices this fall. All kept their grades high, but we just felt that Levi would thrive more completely being schooled at home. With his enthusiasm, we made the break and Tamara switched from teaching preschool last year, to teaching 5^th grade to Levi. Although it’s been an adjustment for Mom, Home School is going well. The unexpected bonus is that Levi’s cheerful, positive and helpful side has blossomed. We all love the new Levi (including Levi)! When he got his first opportunity to ride in a canoe and on a jet ski while camping this year, Levi took the lead…manning the paddles and even sneaking around the water patrol to drive the jet ski for several minutes (though the legal age is 14). Very excited for his new centennial uniform, Levi joined BSA just two weeks ago, and has nearly finished the Indian Lore merit badge. He is our first to swim the butterfly stroke, and was the youngest community volunteer for assembling Thanksgiving boxes this year.

Unfortunately, one of Leah’s ‘firsts’ this year was not so pleasant. After surviving the trauma of losing a tooth to the minivan dashboard earlier in the year, Leah also became the first in our family to have a root canal. The dentist commented on her bravery several times. For her 8^th birthday, she wanted her ears pierced. Although she seemed hesitant as the moment drew near (asking several times what it would feel like) she loves her sparkly daisy-shaped studs and remembers to clean and twist them every night. Turning eight also meant she could choose to be baptized a member of the LDS church. It was a wonderful day, and she looked like an angel in her beautiful white dress! This past summer she heard a high-schooler sing a solo during church and (her eyes glued to him with intent) she whispered fervently to me, “I want to do that!”Just a week and a half ago, she stood at the podium with me and confidently sang “Christmas Bells”(I joined her on the descant for the second verse). It’s so amazing to see this young lady evolve from cling-to-mom in her early years, to finding satisfaction and accomplishment in facing life confidently!

Seth’s biggest ‘first’ was joining the big kids at school this fall. He is thriving in afternoon kindergarten! He reads books to me and works hard on the ‘challenge’ homework packet. After reading picture books about the big yellow school bus for years, he finally got to ride on one with Mom for his fieldtrip to the museum. His most memorable display at the museum was seeing a beaded mask that Sioux ponies wore. His first time staying awake till midnight was not for a New Years Eve, but rather to attend WICKED with his family on Dad’s birthday. Though he is young, he was just as enthralled as the rest of us (until the last twenty minutes when he could hardly keep his eyes open).

Although our lives continue to change and evolve, these things remain constant…

our warm thoughts of you and our love for the Savior of us all.

Merry Christmas from the Leavitts!

October 2009

I feel a little odd as I sit here with a blank screen in front of me. Writing personal and family happenings no longer feels natural. I’ve spent the last three years writing preschool curriculum and parent-letters, creating worksheets and projects, and doing lots of hands-on gluing, cutting and coloring. It may take me a couple of months to find my family voice again after sounding more professional in my teacher-writing. I beg pardon if things start off a little bit dry…

As I reenter my left-behind practice of writing letters monthly, I’m so excited to have valuable and just-for-fun records to read and share with my children later! Levi just finished a family tree project for school and I had pulled out all of the family history writings that we have for his research. Included were my simple letters to family from 1999 to 2006. It was so fun to hear again about when Noah was toddling and could barely speak… when Levi thought at the age of two that he knew more than I (hmm…still sounds familiar)… Leah clinging to her favorite pair of pants as they came out of the dryer and carrying on a conversation with them… Seth entering the family scene and starting to suck his thumb (not quite so cute now)…These stories will bring out the smiles and laughs now and when our children have gone and left us!

The school year is still not quite perfect. Jeremy and I and the older boys just don’t agree with Landmark Academy’s change in grading scales this year—from percentiles (A,B,C,D,F) to formative assessment with levels of knowledge & skill proficiency. It all sounds great in theory, but the change-over is incredibly difficult and we don’t see it as a benefit for our children at all…who are all above grade level in their test scores. J and I have talked to each other about different options in schooling (but I LOVE everything else about our neighborhood charter school). Home schooling feels completely overwhelming to me and the public schools are not tempting to me during the middle school years. We’ve searched online for research on this new assessment concept and other schooling options and I’ve spoken with teachers and the principal and other administrators. I believe that this is an attempt to better the education of children, but will only end up down the road as another educational fad that couldn’t accomplish what was intended. We’ll see how the year goes. Those poor teachers—already asked to do a humanly impossible job and now required to sink time and energy into overhauling their assessment and grading processes! Hopefully, my children continue to find success in their own educational goals…if not, we’ll look at other options very seriously next summer.

Jeremy is in love again…He traded in his commuting car (an ‘06 Nissan Altima) last week for an ’06 Nissan Titan crew cab (enough seats for our whole family). My silly female observations: 1—It’s a nice, neutral white and rides very smoothly. 2—It has a shell on the back to keep the rain off our camping gear. 3—I’m glad my sweetheart is so happy with it!

September 2009

It’s six o’clock in the morning. Jeremy is at the church. The youth that meet there Monday-Friday mornings need some muscle in the building for protection…and then if they get out of line for their teacher… ;) It’s too dark to go walking yet, and I’m not sure if the kids would like being left entirely alone at such an early hour. There is the possibility that Seth may wake up and need me for something; the others are pretty self-sufficient in getting breakfast, etc.

School started for our little bunch two weeks ago. Noah started seventh grade (still at our neighborhood school, which is K-8). Although he works hard in school and with homework, he’s decided that school is not fun this year. One of his close friends changed schools and well…he’s just getting to that age mentally when school changes from a mix of fun and education to a vocation that you put seven hours a day into because you have to. His favorite subjects are math and science. Yesterday he came home and showed me a problem on his homework which his teachers had gone on and on about being a difficult problem, and which he had figured out in just a couple of seconds!

Levi is in fifth grade and happened to get the teacher he had been hoping for…one of the handful of male teachers in the school. He’s optimistic about school, loves fun (i.e. recess and discovering how far his mini-stapler can shoot a staple), and is so darn smart and efficient that he rarely has homework that takes him longer than 15 minutes or so. The one class that he detests is Spanish. The first day of class when it was time to pack up the teacher began jabbering her expectations to them in Spanish (you know, put your things on your desk, line up, no talking, etc.). Levi was completely put out that someone would require something of him and not have the decency to make sure he could understand what was asked. I wonder if his perspective will soften over the course of the year…

Leah is doing well in second grade. She forms such an emotional bond with her teachers that it always takes a couple of months in a new year for her heart to be completely won over by the new one. So, at this point she doesn’t quite love her teacher yet…not like she loves her K and 1^st grade teachers, anyway. She is in a bit of a rowdy class this year (as she puts it) and her tender heart is nearly crushed when her teacher must be “hard on us” because of other children’s choices. (I’ve met her teacher and she seems so sweet that “hard” must be a subjective word indeed…we’ll see how the year goes). Leah loves every class at school…especially Spanish! She says that she’s so good at Spanish already because she watched Dora and Diego cartoons when she was little. J I remember her often at the age of two running in a circle through the kitchen, entry and living room. Instead of a hum or a squeal she just made a continuous rolling R sound. She’s bound to be the strawberry-blond young woman called to serve a Spanish-speaking LDS mission someday!

Seth has adjusted quite well to afternoon kindergarten. (Yes, our baby is at the ‘big school’ now). It’s been more of a difficult transition than I had expected. His teacher is a male, new to our school, afternoons are a bit sleepier time of day, and Seth has had me for a teacher throughout his preschool years (of course I was easy on him! He’s my baby!) Things seem to be working themselves out, though. I’ve been communicating openly with the teacher, and the thing that has made the biggest difference is that he now sits at a table with his very best friend. It is helping with the separation from Mom to have Jake right there. The curriculum is not challenging for him other than making his letters sit in between the right lines. He’s already sounding out three-letter words. And, Seth is a boy…what can I say?! He doesn’t come home with exuberance pouring out about his day or his new friends. He calmly hands me his papers. In answer to my questions he usually gives me one or two-word answers like, “good” “doing papers” “yes” “recess.” When he lets loose and tells me all the details in long sentences, it’s still in a pretty reserved, matter-of-fact voice…with just a bit of enthusiasm and a smile sometimes.

I’ve signed up with each of my children’s teachers to volunteer in the classroom on Mondays. That means that each child will get me in their class on alternating Mondays for 30-45 minutes. I’ll be covering lunch periods for the teachers and helping with a myriad of things in Kindergarten. It should keep the ‘teacher’ part of me satisfied since I don’t have preschool classes of my own this year. I could volunteer more than that if I choose, but we’ll see…I really like those three hours each afternoon that I have completely solo…yes, a-l-o-n-e. J Hmm… what will that give me the opportunity to accomplish this year? I’m excited to find out!