Joyful Noise 2011

As you may or may not know, our family is part of Joyful Noise Homeschool Band. Joyful Noise is a band for home schooled kids. They have classes for Concert Band, Orchestra, Jazz, Guitar, Chorus, Recorder, and Marching Band. There is 4 levels in each class, beginner, intermediate, advanced, and elite. Beginner is for students who can't read music very well and who have had little to no experience with their instrument. Intermediate is for students who have played before and advanced is for students that has played for several years. Elite is for students who have played at least three years and want something harder. Elite students have to go through an audition to make it into the class. We started in fall of 2009, and have come quite far since then, in my opinion.

My brother, Pinecone #3, is no longer playing with us and is taking guitar lessons at home with my dad.

My sister has amazingly moved up to Advanced Band with her flute (go sis!) and currently has no opinion on it. Considering that most kids stay in Intermediate for a few years and that she moved up after only two years on her flute, I'd say she has got "skeel". She is currently learning the "Revenge of the Dust Bunnies", "The Invinceable Eagle", "The Royal March", "Midway March", "Majesta", "The Flight of Valor", and a bunch of songs in the Standard Book of Excellence, Book 3.

I chose to stay in Intermediate this year. I was not prepared for Chamber and I really want time to practice vibrato and shifting. I got 2nd chair in 1st violin, which is awesome for me. This year we have 2 cellos, a base, two violas, and 14 violins. This year, Mrs. Madjet has upped the difficulty and we are starting earlier on our concert books. She is requiring that those of us who are 2nd year Intermediate students use the shifting and our 4th fingers. As of now, I am working on "Turkish March: Ruins of Athens" and a few hyms. My friends Keila and Breanna are going to help me to convince my teachers to play some of the music from our camp in our concert. I am required to practice 150 minutes a week. My teacher wants me to move up next year, no matter what.

My little sister Pinecone 4, is playing in the Beginning Recorder this year. She practices all the time and wants to play the violin next year (which would be exciting for me and her because I would have someone to play with and she could get free lessons off me).

Compared to last year, I have way more friends at band. This year I know most of the Chamber class, the entire Intermediate class, half the Advanced Guitar class, most of the Elite band, Marching Band, and Color Guard, and a few of the Advanced and Beginner Band people. This year should be excitingly filled with people I know. Last year, the only people I knew were in my class and my two good friends.

Joyful Noise Band: UPDATE

As you may or may not know, our family is part of Joyful Noise Homeschool Band. We started in fall of 2009, and have come quite far since then, in my opinion.

My brother, King Peter, has moved out of Beginning Recorder into the Beginning Guitar class. His music reading skills are not the best but he is starting to actually enjoy his classes. He loves his teacher, Mr. Garwood, who constantly mixes funny, personal stories in with his teaching. Right now he is learning A, E, E minor, D, C, A minor, and G chords. He is also learning "Temporary Home" by Carrie Underwood for his concert.

My sister, Jill, has moved up to Intermediate Band with her flute (go sis!) and likes it a lot more than Beginner Band. She is currently learning the "Raider's March" from the Indian Jones movies, "Polka Dots", and a few concert scales. She tests every other week on certain songs from her flute books and so far she has passed on almost all of them. She is only a few more practice minutes from earning a Gold Honors tag.

I made it into Intermediate Orchestra (thank goodness) and really, really like it. I have new teachers this year, Mrs. Madjet and Mrs. Pettis, two sisters who can play every orchestra instrument. This year we have 2 cellos, a base, a viola, and 10 violins. We are working on our concert pieces, which include "Allegro from Two Trumpet Concerto" by Antonio Vivaldi, "Stone Mountain Stomp" by Carl Strommen, "Sakura, Sakura", "Habenara" by Georges Bizet, "Fancy Fiddles", and "Kesh Jig". We are learning and memorizing the C major scale, G major two octave scale, A major scale, and D major scale. I am required to practice 150 minutes a week. My teachers want us to be good enough by the end of the year to move up to Chamber Orchestra (even though most people spend 2 or 3 years in intermediate).

I finally convinced my best friend to come and play for Joyful Noise. She is playing in the Beginning Guitar class. I see her every Friday and we hang out for a few hours. We made it our goal in January to meet every person (est. 400 kids, more or less) who attends Joyful Noise by the end of this year. So far we have met 14 new people, not including the ones we already knew. :-)

Crown Athletics

This spring, I am going to be playing on Crown Athletics Knights Women's Varsity soccer team. I really enjoy soccer and am super excited to get the opportunity to play in a high school league.

Crown Athletics is a non-for-profit organization that provides high school and middle school level sports for homeschoolers in Georgia. These are competitive sports and only those who meet the requirements for the league and team can play. Crown offers football, basketball, baseball, softball, swimming, tennis, soccer, wrestling, golf, volleyball, cross country, fencing, and cheerleading. Crown is a Christian organization. The teams play against other private school leagues and many teams have won district or state championships. A few Crown Knight athletes from the baseball, football, basketball, volleyball, soccer, and cheerleading teams have been granted scholarships based on their abilities. Check their website out here.

This year, Crown Soccer has two new coaches and I think they are pretty cool. There is not a Junior Varsity team this year because the coaches have decided to spilt our team of 24 girls into an A team and a B team; the A team playing the better schools and more often, and the B team playing JV teams or not-so-good schools and playing less. How well we play in practice will determine which team we will play on for the games that week. I am going to play as a starting left striker for the A team :). We are going to have at least 27 games this year, with 1GISA tournament. That is way better than playing for the YMCA or Impact which only have 8 games a season.

Crown is pretty popular among most homeschoolers. A couple of my friends are playing on the Varsity Men and Women's soccer teams and a few others swim for Crown. This season looks awesome already and I cannot wait to start playing the games.

Aravis's Favorite Books

When I was younger, I used to like books and read them all the time. High school makes it harder to have time to read for fun and I don't find it as interesting as I used to. However, there are quite a few that I really enjoy and consider my favorites.

• Pride and Prejudice - This is one of the best books ever. My mom told me that a lot of people don't like Jane Austen but I think her books are really good. This is my favorite book by her.
• Anne of Green Gables series
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Cyrano De Bergerac by Edward Rostand
• City of Ember by Jeanne DePrau
• People of Sparks by Jeanne DePrau
• The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orzy
• The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series - This series is about Greek myths and is definitely high on my list of favorites. The newest series, Heroes of Olympus, is possibly better than the Percy Jackson series.
• The Chronicles of Narnia - This is an epic series. It is from the third book in the series that I got my name, Aravis. C.S. Lewis does a great job describing and putting an exact picture in your head of what is going on.
• The Harry Potter series - This series is awesome. It's got action, drama, fantasy, mystery, and an awesome plot. J.K. Rowling has got an amazing imagination.
• Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
• Inkheart Trilogy by Cornelia Funke
• 39 Clues series
• The Mysterious Benedict Society series by Trenton Lee Stewart
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
• An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott

2010 February Snow

Reckless me......

On Thursday I was jumping on the trampoline with one of my neighbors. We were practicing flips and were trying to stick them. I landed one and then tried to do another. On my second flip, I over-rotated and landed on my nose. Nothing else hit the trampoline mat. Just my nose. It really hurt and I was pretty sure it was bleeding when I stood up. My neighbor, an 11 yr old boy, looked extremely worried and a little pale. He asked me a bunch of times if I was okay or not. I wasn't bleeding, so I told him I was fine. We continued jumping and flipping. The next day, yesterday, I woke up to see that on the bridge of my nose was a spot the size of a pencil eraser. I poked it and it hurt so I showed my mom. She said it was a bruise, that my nose was rather swollen and that I might have broken it. When she said this, it made me think of something that happened to me last year........

In June of 2008, my sister Jill and I had joined our neighborhood swim team. It was Friday at 9:00am, and our last swim meet had been the night before. We were celebrating the meet with a
Fun Friday, a day when our coaches didn't make us swim laps and we fooled around by having fun. I had been watching my coach preform back dives off the side of the pool and decided I wanted to try. My first one was rather scary as naturally I don't really enjoy throwing myself backwards off of anything. However, I did fine and did it almost perfectly. Then I decided to do it again. Instead of diving, I ended up doing a back flip which, surprisingly, I did perfectly. A couple people had been watching and were telling me how cool that looked. I thought, "Well hey! I did twice before, let's do it again!" Unfortunately, this time, I didn't push off the wall when I flipped, and when I over-rotated a would-be back dive, I smashed my face into the brick edge of the pool side and scraped it on the concrete wall under the water. After that, everything blurs together, but I remember that under the water, my face burned like it was on fire, and that I climbed out of the pool, stumbling and screaming. One of the coaches ran over to me where I was sitting in a pool chair yelling pretty loud and asked to see my face. She gasped when she saw it and yelled at someone to call 911. I never actually saw a mirror or picture so I have no idea what I looked like. A couple of moms grabbed towels and a chair and made me lay on it. Someone called my mom and shortly after she arrived, the ambulance got there. I remember a bunch of people telling me not to pass out and me replying that it hurt too much to pass out. They thought I had broken my neck and put me in a neck brace, which was so uncomfortable. The E.M.Ts were really nice and got me into the ambulance pretty quickly. I am pretty sure I wasn't crying but I don't really remember anything. The ride to the hospital was pretty rough and bumpy. Didn't really matter though cause I was strapped to a hard board thing.

When we got to the hospital I sat in a waiting room for 30 minutes. Then the staff took me to the X-ray room where they took a CAT scan and an X-ray of my ribs. Turned out, nothing but my nose was broken, I cracked my right front tooth almost in half, and that I needed 11 stitches because I ripped open the area beneath my nose and above my lip. Then I went to a waiting room where I laid on the hard board bed thing for 3 hours. My mom and dad were extremely nice and did whatever I asked, which wasn't much since I felt pretty terrible. The nurse numbed me up and then gave me the stitches. They were an electric blue, although I wanted clear. She took off the neck brace and let me off the bed board. I was really sore and tired so I fell asleep, so I don't know what happened after that. When I woke up, it was 5:45pm and the doctor finally had come in and had given us a prescription for some extremely strong pain medicine. We were free to go and left around 6ish. When I got home, my nose and eyes were bruised and swollen and my face had a bunch of cuts and random bruises on it. It wasn't pretty so I just stayed inside for the next week, except for the swim team end-of-the-year party which was on the Monday after my accident. My coaches were really sweet and kept calling us throughout the weekend to see if I was alright. We spend the next few weeks going to doctors, one of which was a audiologist to get my hearing tested. I didn't get my stitches out for a couple of weeks, and by the time I did the swelling was gone and I looked fairly normal again. I have a scar under my nose although now it is really hard to see.

Right now, my bruise is almost gone and I didn't break it. Bruising my nose is not going to stop my from jumping on the trampoline, but I know one thing for sure, I am NEVER going to do a back dive off the side of a pool again......

Field Trip to Vulcan Quarry

A couple weeks ago, I went to the Vulcan Materials Company for a field trip. Vulcan is a granite quarry. We went there for our geology study of igneous rock.

When we got there, we waited around until everyone showed up. Then we went into a building where we watched a video that was about the quarry's history, how the machines in the quarry work, and about rocks. Inside the building are display cases with fossils, rock types, and facts in them. We were really waiting for the workers to finish blasting the granite. Near the end of the movie, a huge blast shook the building we were in. It felt a little like an earthquake. After the video was completely over, we went out to some huge rock piles and collected a few rock samples. A few of the granite rocks were mixed with green, gold, and pink minerals. Then, we went to see the actual quarry. We had to drive around in our cars for safety reasons. We looked at the machines and the giant pit where the rock was dug up.

The pit is 1 1/2 miles long and 1/2 mile wide and 600 yards deep. It was beautiful. Next we drove to a observation platform the quarry had set up that over-looked the pit. There was a lot of water in the bottom, due to the recent flooding issues Georgia has been having. It was a bright aqua blue because there was a lot of magnesium in the water.

After taking a bunch of pictures, we left. This field trip was fairly interesting and I learned some stuff. I am glad I went.

Band

Every Friday, we go to Joyful Noise Band. Joyful Noise is a band for home schooled kids. They have classes for Concert Band, Orchestra, Jazz, Guitar, Chorus, Recorder, and Marching Band. There is 4 levels in each class, beginner, intermediate, advanced, and elite. Beginner is for students who can't read music very well and who have had little to no experience with their instrument. Intermediate is for students who have played before and advanced is for students that has played for several years. Elite is for students who have played at least three years and want something harder. Elite students have to go through an audition to make it into the class.

I am in beginning orchestra playing the violin. I can read music pretty well since I have played the recorder and have (and still am) taught myself to play the piano, but since I have never even picked a violin up, I was put in beginner. Jill is playing flute and is beginner band. King Peter is in a beginner recorder class that is teaching him to read music.

In my class there is sixteen people. We have one viola, one cello, and fourteen violins. The ages range from 10-14, with me being the oldest. My teacher, Ms. Scott, plays the viola and is really cool. She is always super hyper and loves to goof around. She allows some talking in class as long as it is when she is not talking. Our class is an hour long and at the end she makes us read scales that she writes on the board. For the past two mos or so, we have been learning pizzicato which is REALLY easy. However, two weeks ago Ms. Scott FINALLY let us bow of some sheet music because we have a concert in a couple weeks. Right now I have to memorize two songs and be able to play them by heart. Every day, I have to practice 30 minutes. Then, on Friday, we log our minutes in a book.

I really love band and my instrument. I hope to continue for a long time.

Violin

A violin is a bowed string instrument and is the smallest instrument in the violin family which includes the viola and cello. It is also called a fiddle no matter what kind of music is played on it. It has 4 strings, G, D, A, and E. Music is produced by drawing the bow across these strings, with the fingers of the other hand pressing on the strings to make other notes.

The first modern violin was made in the 16th century. It was brought to Europe from the Middle East. It immediately became popular with street musicians and nobles. In the 18th century some changes were made to the length and shape of the neck. The most popular old violins are the Stradivari. These violins are made of high-quality parts and produce beautiful music. The most ever paid for a Stradivarius was $3,544,000.

A violin is made up of many parts. The wood parts can be made of maple wood. The sound of a violin varies depending what kind of wood it is made of. Parts of a violin include the scroll, the decoratively carved piece of wood at the end of the violin; the peg-box, the hollowed-out wooden box that houses the tuning pegs; the neck, which sticks out from the main body and hosts the fingerboard where the fingers are placed to change the pitches in the notes; the body; the F-holes, the two identical holes on opposing sides of the bridge; the bridge, a delicate device used to hole the strings up made of wood; the tailpiece, the black piece of hard plastic that anchors the strings at the end of the violin; and the chin-rest, a wooden or plastic device used to keep the violinist's chin in place. The stings are made of steel, though they can also be made of stretched, dried, and twisted sheep's gut.

There are many sizes of violins. There are 4/4, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/10, 1/16, and even a 1/32. The extremely small sizes are for little students, as young as age three. A 4/4 is a full-sized violin that has a body that is around 14 inches long. The fractional sizes have nothing to do with the instrument size. For instance, a 3/4 is not three-quarters the size of a full-size. A 3/4 has a body length of 13 inches and a 1/2 has a body length of 12 inches. Violins smaller than 1/2 are very hard to find and are not normally of good quality. Sizes vary slightly between makers.

A violin is played using a bow. A bow is a long stick with a ribbon of horsehair strung between the tip and the frog, the end of the bow. On the frog end there is a screw, which is used to tighten or loosen the bow hair. The bow hair is taken from the tail of a white (technically, a grey) horse. Rubbing the bow with rosin, a sap from pine trees that has been dried into a hard block, causes the hair to grip the strings and make them vibrate, therefore making music.

There are two ways to play the violin. One is bowing, which is drawing the bow across the strings. The second is pizzicato, which is plucking the string with the fingers, producing a guitar-like sound.

Proper positioning is needed to play the violin. If standing, one must have the feet slightly spread apart and the left foot slightly in front of the right. Equal weight must be on both feet. The left arm, which is holding the violin if the person is right-handed, must be relaxed, and the elbow, which is bent must be under the violin. The left hand, if bowing, is at the top of the neck below the peg-box, and the fingers are placed on the top of the finger-board. The right hand is holding the bow, with the middle and ring finger wrapped around the frog, the pinkie arched on the screw, the index curved sideways on the stick, and the thumb slightly in front of the frog bent outwards, the tip touching the bottom of the stick.

Border Collies

Border Collies are a breed of herding dogs that originally came from Scotland and Wales. They are considered the smartest dogs in the world. They are super-hyperactive and are good for herding livestock. They are affectionate towards people they know and are sometimes protective of certain family members. They need lots of mental and physical stimulation.

Border Collies are medium-sized dogs that have a double coat. They come in many colors the most popular being black and white. Other colors are black tricolor (black/tan/white or sable and white), red and white, and red tricolor (red/tan/white), blue, lilac, red merle, blue merle, brindle and "Australian red"/gold. They have pointed ears, slim bodies, blue or brown eyes, and fluffy coats. They live 9-12 years.

Border collies mostly have sweet, loving temperaments. They strive to please their owners and are normally very obedient. They are only truly happy when they have a job to do. Chasing a Frisbee, a tennis ball, agility, herding or even tug-of-war is considered work to them. These hard-driven dogs, if they don't have a job to do, will find ways to amuse themselves, whether you like it or not. This includes digging holes, eating furniture, chewing the floor, chasing cars, bikes, or kids, and barking for no reason.

Border collies are excellent at any dog sport. They are very good at agility, herding, freestyle, nose work, Frisbee, Flyball, and search and rescue. They are especially good at agility with their lithe bodies and incredible jumping abilities.

Our particular two dogs are opposites of each other. Gen is fast, skinny, introverted, agile, hyper, and always focused on work. Bosco is stocky, friendly, mellow, and un-motivated. Gen has pointed ears, is mostly black with white on her nose, paws, stomach, chest, and on the tip of her tail. Bosco has floppy ears, a white collar, a blaze on his face, mostly white legs, and a white tip on his tail. However, Gen is much smarter than Bosco and learns tricks much faster. She, unfortunately, has issues with other dogs if she doesn't "meet" them first. Bosco adores every person and every dog he meets. We love them both though, even if they get on our nerves sometimes.

Pure Fashion

This year, I applied for a program called Pure Fashion.   Pure Fashion is an international faith based program designed to help young women find their innate value and authentic feminity. Every year, they hold a fashion show where girls, aged 14-18 show off cute clothes that are modest and trendy.
        
Each year they select 30 girls per city to model.  These models go through a 7 month training course where they meet once a month. They are taught the skills of becoming confident leaders in their schools and in public. During the training sessions they focus on things such as table manners, social etiquette and public speaking skills. They learn the basics of growing into capable and respectful young women. Models are also taught the art of makeup, pure dating, and hairstyling. They also are taught respect, compassion, and love towards others through outreach and mission programs. At the end of each training program, the models are allowed to show off their skills on the runway. The fashion show introduces the latest fashions with entertainment from popular singers, speakers, and other public figures.

I attended the Atlanta spring show this year and was VERY impressed by the entire process. I decided that I would apply for the 2009-2010 year. To apply, all I had to do was fill out an application form with my information and answer some questions. Two of my good friends applied too. After attending an informational meeting all three of us learned that we had got accepted!!! I was SO excited. Our first meeting was the Opening Session and we were split into 5 groups. We spent time getting to know each other and learning about Pure Fashion. The national director Mrs. Brenda Sharman came up and spoke to us about Pure Fashion. While I was at the meeting Mom spent this time at the Mom's Track, where they are studying a book called 'Sexy Girls: How Hot is Too Hot'.  In all, it was a ton of fun and I can't wait till the next meeting in October!!

Here is a link to a quick report CBS did on Pure Fashion last year.  Next month Nightline ABC will be interviewing us and they want to do a story on one model as you progresses through the year.

Emeralds...

For my Rocks and Minerology block study I had to write a report on a gemstone of my choice and so I chose Emeralds.

These stones are the green variety of the mineral beryl. The name comes from the Greek word smaragdos, which was given to most green stones. Emeralds are a green stone, with a hardness of 8, a white streak, and an imperfect cleavage. They are mostly translucent or transparent.

Good emerald sources are mined in Columbia, Austria, Norway, Russia, Brazil, Wales, South Africa, and North Carolina. Columbia produces 90% of the world's emeralds. They can be found with a quartz, granite, limestone, mica schist, or pegmatite host stone.

Emeralds are very rare and valuable and were important to many cultures in history. The Egyptians considered it as a symbol of life and fertility. The Aztecs considered it the stone of renewal. In the 17th century, it was thought that if you held the gem in your mouth, you would not have epilepsy. It was also thought to assist women in labor, drive away demons, and protect the wearer’s chastity. It was said to be good for the eyesight, stop fevers, prevent pain, and stop bleeding.

Emeralds as jewelry are very beautiful. There are 4 popular cuts for this stone: the mixed cut, the synthetic cut, the emerald cut, and the cabochon cut. If the stone is too cloudy to be pretty, it is tumble-polished. As emeralds are the traditional birthstone for May, it is popular for people born in this month to have jewelry made of this stone. Emeralds are also the stone for the 20th, 35th, and 55th wedding anniversaries. The largest natural emerald is the Bahia Emerald, which is 180,000 carats and is worth 75 million dollars.

Manhunt

Most weekend nights you can find Jill and I playing with the neighborhood kids a game called Manhunt.  It's pretty much hide-and-seek but with teams.  We find that four to eight people on a team works best. More or less players usually means the game will end up in an arguement.  We have found that the best ages for this game are between ten and fifteen years old.  This game is best to play at night between 8:45pm-11:00pm. Our particular street likes wearing black clothing to blend in with the dark surroundings.

We begin by making the best players captains and then from there, they select their teams by using the "you pick one then I pick one" method. The team who picks first counts first. The base is normally a tree, stop sign, sewer drain, or electrical box. There are boundaries which are usually the end of our street to the base on the top of the hill.

The hiding team cannot hide within 20yards of the base. While the 'hunting' team counts to 50 the other team hides.  Places we like to hide are front and side yards (with home owner's permission), bushes these are the best hiding spots as most of us climb into the middle of them, trees, air-conditioning units, underneath cars and anywhere with shadows from the street lights are good spots too.  Backyards are considered cheating and are not permitted. Two people have to make it to base to win, unless the teams are equally matched then half of the team has to make it to base.

While the hunting team splits up to find people. One or two stay behind to guard the base, but they must
be at least 10 yards away.  Puppy-guarding is NOT accepted and this usually is when arguements start which end the game. One hand is acceptable for tagging unless it cannot be helped. Pushing, tripping, kicking, clothes grabbing, and head-butting are forbidden as it is very painful and can seriously injure someone. Occasionally parents watch and supervise, but it is not necessary I just think they enjoy watching. Cell phones are not allowed to be used to call and find someone on the hiding team, but they are useful for keeping track of the time and for any emergencies. Flash lights are also not allowed.

This game is so much fun.

Hippotherapy

I currently volunteer at a stable called Green Acres Equestrian Center, helping with a program called Hippotherapy. Hippotherapy is a form of therapy used with mentally and physically disabled people while riding on top of a horse. In my work the child sits on the horse riding in either a saddle or on a thick saddle pad depending on the severity of their condition. There is always a certified therapist, a sidewalker, and a person leading the horse with the child. The therapist, who normally walks on the left side of the horse, works on areas the child has trouble with like talking, saying certain vowels, movement of the head/arms etc. The sidewalker, who walks on the right side of the horse participates by asking questions and doing whatever the therapist requests or suggests. During a 30 minute session, the therapist and sidewalker ask questions, sing, and work on flash cards and manners. The child could be laid on his/her stomach or turned around backwards to get a different feedback. Puzzles, pictures, stuffed animals and balls are all used to get children to do different things.

Hippotherapy can help with:

• Different types of paralysis
• Autism
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Down Syndrome
• Epilepsy
• Cerebal Palsy
• Alzhiemers
• And a lot more.

The horse itself must meet NARAH's standards (North American Riding for the Handicapped Association). That means it must be a gentle, non-spooky, and patient animal with a high tolerance level for noise, rough handling etc. It cannot shy or spook when something is dropped. The horse is led around a covered ring using a lead rope and halter. Most of the horses at Green Acres are very friendly and docile athough one or two are a bit frisky and distractible. They use ponies to large quarter horses depending on the size of the child or adult. At Green Acres, they set up an obstacle course where a few jump standards are set up so the horse can weave in and out, a few cross-rail poles are laid on the ground so that the horse will go over, and two orange traffic cones to go in between. There is also a small basketball goal with small foam balls that the kids can use during a session.

The movement of the horse's hips and the rocking motion of the walk helps the disabled children to use sign language, move, sit up, walk, speak for the first time and give them the ability to form proper words. I have worked with most of these kids for a little more than a year now, and I am always surprised at their major improvements. When I first met one little 5 year old girl a year ago, she could barely walk and could not speak at all. Now she can walk, speak in an understandable manner, and has been doing very well in school.

The speech therapists at Green Acres are also certified by NARHA. There are three at Green Acres, Mrs. Joan, Ms. Jocelyn and Ms. Debbie. Mrs. Joan is the owner of the barn and the head instructor. She supervises most of the sessions and does a few herself. Ms. Jocelyn and Ms. Debbie do most of the  therapy sessions. The volunteers have to be 14 years or older to sidewalk and lead, according to NARHA's rules.

Three days a week Green Acres does hippotherapy. I volunteer once a week in the early afternoons before the public school kids get out and usually work with Mrs. Joan or Ms. Jocelyn.  In the summer, hippotherapy is in the mornings because of the heat.

I really enjoy working at Green Acres, not only because I get to be around horses, but because I have gotten really fond of the kids and love working with them. The people at Green Acres are wonderful, hardworking nice people. I really enjoy working with them also.

Referee Training for Soccer

Today I finished and completed a class for Soccer Referee Certification for the state of Georgia. I am doing it because I will get paid for refereeing games and because I LOVE soccer. I started playing soccer when I was 7 or 8, played up to U-12, took a year break, then started up again. I am playing this year in a U-16 all-girls league.

When I started the class I thought, "Well, hey, I know the sport pretty well, this will be easy." Not so. There are so many things that referees do that even after playing for all those years, I didn't even think about. For instance, a AR or an Assistant Referee (the one with the flags) has to constantly check for offside, while paying attention to the ball to see whose throw-in it is. They have to remember what flag signals to use, make sure it is the correct signal, and be the center referee's second pair of eyes.

The center referee's job is even harder. The center is often blamed for bad calls that were fair and he/she gets yelled at by parents, coaches and players. The center must watch out for fouls, correctly call goal kicks and corner kicks, decide whether or not an offence deserves a yellow or red card, be alert at all times, and keep from getting hit with the ball. They also have to remember the signals they have to do with their hands. That is just a brief summary of some of the responsibilities I learned about today.

In the class, we had to memorize half of the rules on Friday, and then I learned the other half today. We also did some practice reffing, and then took a 50 question test. I passed with an A-. I am now an official R-9 referee. I plan to ref at our local YMCA games, and look forward to doing U8s and U10s.