Wednesday, May 14, 2014

What We Did On Our Media Fast

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What We Did

During the last week of April, our family fasted from media entertainment. If you'd like to see the details, the whys and the hows, click the link to the following post: How to Have a Media Fast.

We began our fast on Easter Sunday, and unfortunately I awoke to horrific, crippling back pain. The kind of pain that dredges up extremely unfeminine, old man grunts and groans and forces one to walk shuffle like an old man, too. Well, the pain sort of started Saturday evening after sitting at the Jeep place for longer than it took me to birth my third child. Anyway, I was disappointed because I was planning on gettin' after some spring cleaning after homeschooling.

Instead of doing some serious Cinderella style cleaning, I spent the first couple of days stuck to a portable tens machine. So thankful my dad gave me one a while back - it really helps with my back pain episodes! This isn't the exact one I have, but if you have back pain and can't currently afford a chiropractor (like me) , you may want to consider something like this: Zewa Spabuddy Sport Tens Pain Therapy.

Oh well, not being able to move around much, I was able to really sink myself into books from The Staff and the Sword trilogy, (Cast of Stones, A (The Staff and the Sword) Hero's Lot, The (The Staff and the Sword) Draw of Kings, A (The Staff and the Sword)) a fantasy series recommended by my oldest son. He read a lot, too, during our fast.

After a few days I was able to at least purge and organize my Creative Memories armoire. I don't really make albums anymore, but my daughter and I use all of the supplies for other crafts. And, well, I'd gotten lazy about putting things where they belong. *sigh* It was a mess, but now it's all organized!


Shiloh spent lots of extra time creating  Rainbow Loom jewelry and even some animals she made up. She even taught me how to make a Fishtail bracelet. :) She spent even more time being productive by filming a couple of how-to Rainbow Loom® videos. So proud of her! Would love for you to show your support and watch her videos - so far she's made 2 of them.

Also, since she's long been done reading the Puppy Place series, she started a new animal series, a fantasy one, called Survivors. (Survivors #1: The Empty City)


Lincoln and Shiloh had some supervised fun with fire. Lincoln started out melting army men with a magnifying glass, but then it turned into trying to recreate a science project that Shiloh and I just couldn't get to work a couple of weeks ago. It still didn't work, but they managed to catch some leaves on fire. Don't worry, the hose was never far from my daughter's hand!


Besides reading an awesome young adult fantasy trilogy that Mullin and I had already read (By Darkness Hid (Blood of Kings, book 1), To Darkness Fled (Blood of Kings), From Darkness Won (Blood of Kings, book 3)), Lincoln spent quite a bit of time creating Lego stop motion videos. I love the one about toast!
 


Lincoln publishes a new stop motion every Friday, so check them out!

The last weekend of the media fast, Dad took the boys to Flagstaff for what was supposed to be a camping trip. However, due to full-to-the max campsites, they had to stay in a hotel. BUT, it ended up being a blessing because of pouring rain which would have soaked them through in the little tent.

They spent time at Lowell Observatory and got to see some of Jupiter's moons and toured cliff dwellings that quickly turned into a winter wonderland. Snow! What a blessing for my boys who rarely, if ever, get to experience the incredible wonder of ice flakes falling from the sky.


While the boys were in Flagstaff, the girl and I did a little shopping and had lunch, a cheap lunch. ;) My dad also took us out to lunch one day - Freddy's Frozen Custard. Mmmm, they have such yummy French fries!


All in all, it was a good week. And believe it or not, we all survived 7 days media free. :)


What We Thought

Oldest child admitted that he was pretty bored and struggled with finding things to do. (Yeah, we don't have acres for the kids to roam or anything. Not a lot of outside opportunities for us here.) He said he did miss being able to play some video games but didn't really miss social media all that much. His favorite part of the week was going to Flagstaff! I did hear him playing his piano a lot, but I guess I always do. ;)

Middle child said it was fine and liked seeing what he would do with time that was usually spent on media. He set stop-motion-making and Bible-reading goals and met them. He mentioned, though, being disappointed that he missed Blimey Cow's Monday video. Of course, he also enjoyed his trip to Flagstaff.

Youngest said it was just okay. She did enjoy making all the Rainbow Loom stuff and spending time together, but she missed her STAMPY time for sure! She did plant a real garden during the fast in honor of her beloved Stampy. :)


The fast wasn't really that difficult for me since I hardly ever watch TV or listen to music at home. I did use the computer for work related stuff, but I didn't use social media. It was good to get a break from it, but I honestly don't think I am crazy addicted to any of that stuff. What I realized is that if I am going to fast from something that will cause discomfort in my life, I'd have to give up fiction and chocolate. Now that would hurt!! :)

One thing I noticed during the week was that there was less sibling rivalry and more playing together. Lincoln and Shiloh sure do make up the BEST stories with stuffed animals!! I also made more time to cook with my kids. I think that was the week Lincoln and I made manicotti together. We played some board games, too. Little stuff like that kept us busy enough when we weren't schooling.

Anyway, that about sums up our week of media fasting. Hope you enjoyed and are encouraged to schedule your own media fast!

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