Emily Braman - Staff Spotlight

Emily  Braman (pronounced Bray-man), previously Emily Moffett is one of our fabulous teachers and academic advisers. Emily teaches English classes and is also the academic adviser for Alta.

Emily was raised in Simi Valley, CA  (In Ventura county) and loved being able to relate a little about "home" with the students at Heritage. She is part of a big family, as there are 7 children (5 boys and 2 girls). Her only sister is the baby of the family. She has 11 nephews and 7 nieces. The whole family loves music. She said you would fit right into her family if you volunteer to play the drums on Beatles Rock Band. Her family also consists of other teachers; her mom teaches Science at her old high school, her brother got his PhD in Medieval European History and now teaches at Weber State, her dad taught real estate classes for a while and another brother taught Environmental Science.

In her limited spare time Emily enjoys, hiking, gardening, camping, playing with her new puppy, going to the beach, going to bear lake, riding her bike, reading, writing, napping and going to concerts with her husband and parents. Recently she flew home for her birthday because her parents bought her tickets to see Crosby, Stills and Nash in Santa Barbara, CA.

Emily's favorite food from the Heritage Cafeteria is any and all of the cupcakes. She will always remember the first graduation at Heritage that she attended. She said "It was so fun to see a student thank his mom for doing something so difficult and scary - that he hated - so he could have a chance to grow." Emily also really loves going to all of the plays done by the Heritage students and she and her husband haven't missed a single one!

Work - Life Balance (Chad Hymas)

Written by Eric Chester

As a baby boomer teen born to depression-era parents, I never heard that term once. Didn't exist back then and if it had, it would have never come out of my father's mouth. Hard work was his life, and when he had a day off he worked. To my dad and those who were his age and older, balance was something you did to your checkbook when the statement arrived.

It wasn't until the late eighties when this three-word term entered the American lexicon, and it wasn't popularized until the late nineties. Now those three words are said in conjunction as frequently as "pass the salt".

When was the last time you made it through a day without hearing a coworker, friend, or associate talk about achiebing work-life balance? It's almost as if this had become the ultimate destination where everyone wants to go; a Shangri-La where life and work co-exist in perfect harmonyl the intersection of meaningful contribution, passion, relaxation and prosperity.

Who doesn't want to go there, even if only for a weekend visit?

Trouble is, true work-life balance is a myth. I've never met the individual who says they work just the right amount of time (and no more) and that their work provides them everything they need and want, making their life balance perfectly.

We know what work is. It's the "life" part of the equation that interrupts the balance.

Life is an all-inclusive term that encompasses our health and fitness, our social relationships, our family time, our personal interests and recreational pursuits, our spiritual growth, etc.

Now what King or Queen lives in a fairy tale existence where all of those things by themselves are in balance-not-to-mention, in balance with work?

I confess that my life is rarely "in balance". And I carry around a lot of guilt and angst about that.

This weekend, a good friend sent me this video of a brilliant Ted talk. It changed my perspective.

I'm certainly not going to stop working hard, nor will I abandon my desire to seek balance with the various aspects of my life. But what I've discovered from Dan Thurmon's inspiring 18-minute presentation is that it's okay-make that perfectly natural and normal-to be out of balance, as long as I do so on purpose.

So beginning today, I'm going to let go of my pursuit of work-life balance and focus on staying on purspose.

Heck, I'm even going to finally learn to juggle; something I've always wanted to do but never have purposely created the space to pursue.

Creating for a Cause - Burlap

On Wednesday May 8th we had our first Creating for a Cause Event. It was such a fun evening. We had an intimate group of about 25 people. We enjoyed a delicious catered dinner from Kneaders of soups, salad, sandwiches and of course dessert!

Andrea from Queen B and Me taught everyone how to make the crafts. And everyone could choose to make either a 4th of July Burlap Garland or a Summer Wreath that could be decorated however they wanted (with 4th of July decorations, or other bows and things).  It was a wonderful and fun evening!

The proceeds from the event will go to support the arts program at Heritage School.

We will be having our next Creating for a Cause Event sometime in July so please stay tuned for more details!






















Some of the lovely ladies and their creations!

Cupcake Decorating Competion

Last week the students were out of school in between semesters. Many of the students went on visits, but for the students that were still on campus there were many fun activities throughout the week that they could participate.

One of the activities that was put on by the Rec Therapy Department was a cupcake decorating competition. Each home was given one dozen cupcakes to decorate. The theme was movies, so they could pick any of the following movies as the theme for their cupcakes:

• Wreck it Ralph
• Transylvania
• Brave
• 42
• Rise of the Guardians
• The Hobbit
• Monster's Inc
• The Avengers
• Madagascar
• Captain America
• Tangled

The homes were allowed to bring their own props that they prepared ahead of time and the cupcakes, frosting, food coloring and some other food/candy items were provided to be used for decorating.

The students were given 45 minutes to decorate their cupcakes and then they were submitted for judging.

See if you can figure out what movie each group of cupcakes is inspired by.

Keeping it Simple

A weekly tip from the Love and Logic Experts

Do great parents use a large variety of good parenting skills? Not typically! Great parents don't overwhelm themselves by trying to use every trick in the book. Instead, they rely on a small number of skills, yet apply them with consistency. If you're feeling overwhelmed by your kids, could it be that you're trying to hard to do too many things? Might it be time to get back to the bare basics? What are these "bare basics"? Listed below are the top three I've observed from my experience with thousands of great parents and educators:

1. They demonstrate unconditional love. 

Kids feel this magical type of love when their parents spend plenty of time with them, when their parents focus on their strengths, and when their parents display empathy instead of anger or sarcasm when things go wrong.

2. Their "yes" is always "yes" and their "no" is always "no". 

Great parents are extremely careful to set only limits they know they can enforce. They remember this important rule for setting limits:
          Never tell a stubborn child what to do.
          Instead, describe what you will do or allow.
         

Would you like your kids to believe that every word you say is important?

3. They allow their kids to experience the logical and natural consequences of their decisions. 

Isn't it hard to watch our kids struggle with the consequences of their mistakes? While it breaks our hearts at times, allowing them to learn in this way gives them a tremendous advantage as they grow. They develop respect, responsibility, and a good grasp of good old-fashioned common sense.

The key of course is to display empathy rather than anger. If you ever find this difficult, listen to the audio: Keeping Cool When Parenting Heats Up

Raising great kids really can be a joy when we remember that we don't have to over-complicate parenting with too many skills and too much theory. Keep it simple and enjoy your kids.