The History of Arizona has Begun!

That’s me in my yellow suit jacket, except my eyes are green.  I actually did have a very similar banana-yellow suit for my going-away outfit from our wedding in 1987… but I’m dating myself.  I found this cute picture while searching for pictures for the cover of my binder for the class I’m teaching… Arizona History.  It’s a one semester required-for-graduation course… that has the potential to be EXTREMELY boring.  Really.  Arizona History on a timeline of all history is about 3/4 of an inch long, well, not counting the Ancient Peoples.  So my job, as it has turns out, is to make the history of Arizona come alive and be remembered forevermore in the minds of these five high school homeschoolers.  No small task.

As I searched for quality curriculum…. the choices were about as small as the history itself.  So I ended up finding a somewhat interesting reader… not a text at all… written for the Bicentennial celebration of our great nation.  The book is short, yet stacked with quips from interesting individuals and not-so-familiar stories.  Perfect.  Add to that, a boatload of hands-on activities that will have the kids experiencing Arizona like never before. 

During the first class, I was breezing through the planned activities and projects, so the kids would have an idea of what to expect.  When I read, “Make ancient pottery replica” a hand shot up belonging to a former Ancient History student of mine.  “Are you going to smash them and bury them again?”  HAHA!  That was the BEST activity EVER for studying archaeology!  They painted their pots so carefully!  And then without them knowing, I smashed and buried the shards in my barren flower beds in the backyard.  When I sent them out with their tools for the dig, they were a bit surprised until the first painted pot part was uncovered.  I’ve never seen so many eye-rolls in my life!  And the eye-rolls continued when I told them for homework they had to glue them back together!  Anyway, I’m NOT smashing pots this time.

A large map of Arizona was also brought out to show them the route we will take for a two-day field trip to the southern end of our state.  Sarcastically, I pointed to a large pink Indian reservation and told them that there was a cool dude ranch located there that we could have stayed in, but that pink area is the part of Arizona that Obama gave to Mexico and it’s not safe.  (It’s only partially a joke… he had signs put up IN AMERICA that say the area is dangerous because of border jumpers INSTEAD of protecting our border and making any effort to stop the flow of illegals!) Anywho, the students responded with several amazed faces, “WHAT!?”  “He did?”  “Are you kidding!?”….. YES, I’m kidding!  Sheesh!  Kids these days will believe anything!

Currently, I’m knee-deep in maps and National Monument brochures.  Why am I such a nerd?  I’m not sure!  But without nerdy history lovers, where would we be?  Repeating all the same dumb mistakes of the ancient peoples ~ that’s where! 

Great teaching begins HERE! (fist pump!)

Weekend Report

Whilst I was away scrapbooking amidst the pine trees, my family and our home-group from CCV had a garage sale to help raise funds for our adoption.  They are SOOOO awesome!  I did sell some of the bigger items on Craigslist too… and there are four or five more things to sell, but we made over $1,200 so far!  My teenage daughter and I pulled out all the like-new designer kids clothing from the piles and piles that were donated and plan to consign them next week.  That should be another couple hundred dollars.  Whoooo HOooooo!

The best story from the entire weekend was from Saturday morning at the garage sale.  For those who don’t know, we live in Phoenix, AZ…. home to MANY illegal aliens…. who ALL shop at garage sales.  AZ is also the home to the infamous SB1070 bill that enables officers of the law to ask for identification from anyone they pull over, who happens to look like they could be an illegal alien.  (I would love it if Obama came to AZ and got pulled over and asked for proof of citizenship…. but I digress.)

Anyway, there is a man in our home-group who is a policeman who works nights.  He arrived home from his beat and dropped by the garage sale to see his wife and offer his support to our family.  Well, his presence in his uniform didn’t go over so well with the shoppers.  In fact, many dropped piles of chosen articles where they stood, slouched to their vehicles in the cul-de-sac and escaped without showing proof of citizenship.  When everyone figured out what was going on, Mr. Policeman’s wife sent him home to change his clothes… and to stop hampering business.  As soon as he left the cul-de-sac, six cars came right in and the shoppers resumed shopping.  It was hilarious!

Police Surveillance

For those of you not in the Phoenix, AZ region, you are most likely not aware of our hard-core Sheriff Joe Arpaio.  He is bad to the bone… which means he is doing his job, but for those who are sympathizers with illegal aliens he’s downright nasty. 

I have personally enjoyed learning of the creativity of our law man.  He built Tent City, which houses inmates in tents because the prisons are overflowing… in the desert in Phoenix… all year long.  When the inmates complained of 110* temperatures, they were given extra water, fans and were told that the USA soldiers in Iraq were living in tents where it was over 120* and they hadn’t committed any crimes!  HAHAHAHHA… am I the only one that found that humorous?  And he has a PINK Vacancy sign!  :oD

THEN, the prize decision… he had all the inmates underwear died pink, so they wouldn’t be smuggled out of the prison.  Apparently this had been an issue?????  It created such a fan base, that he is now selling pink Arpaio boxers as a fund raiser.  I love a man who laughs at danger.  He limits movies to only G rated flicks.  (You get to watch movies in jail???)  He cut smokes, coffee and work out equipment.  It ain’t no picnic in the pink desert.

This week his posse (that’s really what they’re called!) conducted a sting sweep on a candle manufacturer here in the area.  There is much controversy over the covert operation because some fellow “legals” were held at the crime scene while 40 or 50 people were legally apprehended.  They were texting their lawyers, who weren’t allowed access to the crime scene… OK, I’ve watched enough Ironside reruns to know that you can’t enter a crime scene just because you’re a lawyer. Duh!

Anyway, last night the police surveillance came a little too close to home.  We woke up this morning and realized that the police had been watching us all night long… in our bedroom… without a search warrant.  I have never felt so violated and exposed in all my life.  We’re considering calling Sheriff Joe.  Here’s our proof:

If you have not witnessed police in their sneaky hiding places, you may not even notice the officer of the law.  Here’s a zoom in for you:

WHAT NEXT?  Tapping our phones?