It's BOX DAY!

I don't know if this is common in any other subculture, but in the homeschool world, I hear the odd reference to "Box Day" (or sometimes "Unboxing Day"). This would be the exciting day that your school books arrive in the mail.

Ok, maybe it's just exciting for the mamas. (!)

Specifically, I think Sonlight curriculum devotees get into this because you order ALL your schoolbooks for the year and they all come in this HUGE box, which is printed with totally fun graphics so your kid can take the box when it's empty and play with it like it's a stage prop. So sometimes it's bricked all over and looks like a castle. Or palm trees and vines so you are now in the jungle. Pretty fun stuff when you're 7.

It's been a few years since we've had a Sonlight "box day" but I was TOTALLY excited to receive my box the other day--from Amazon!  I had ordered one copy of each of my books so I could see them in real life (and assure myself that they all looked the way they did online) back in the early to mid days of June. I had been initially bummed to get the notification that they wouldn't arrive until at least 4 weeks after I'd ordered. (Man I'm getting spoiled with Amazon Prime...used to getting stuff in 2.5 days or less...).

Then around the time they were supposed to have arrived, I received a notification email that they had JUST shipped and would now be arriving after the start of August. What!?! I sent some emails to customer service and things went from bad to worse as misunderstandings led to my arrival date pushed to the end of August.

It was around this time that I had placed some posts about my books in some Highland Dance resell FB groups, and they were receiving some attention (Yay!). I had two inquiries from abroad, asking about shipping to Australia and Northern Ireland. As far as I knew, the books should have been available pretty much everywhere that had access to Amazon on a computer.  I found out otherwise.
Two calls on two separate afternoons, into customer service availed me of the information that at this time, Amazon can't ship to Australia due to COVID19, and Australia doesn't have their own Amazon printing service to do it within the country.  The only countries that have this are France, Italy, Germany, England, Japan, and of course, Canada and the US. The Amazon in England could also not ship to Northern Ireland due to a combination of COVID19 restrictions, and the Brexit situation (which I was woefully uninformed about...I think the Amazon rep thought I was pretty brainless).

Sometime during these calls, my author copies were mentioned and the rep looked up what could be the problem causing them to take more than two months to arrive.  He didn't really uncover anything however and I got off that phone call with nothing solved.

BUT.....THEN THEY CAME!

I was so excited...and nervous...and excited...and nervous...but they look AWESOME!!  I'm so pleased (and relieved!) but more pleased! While I still hold on to a hope that someday I'll be able to somehow have them printed with hard backs and spiral bound, these KDP versions look fantastic. The exact size I had been imagining. All the printing, borders, graphics, lists, etc, were all clean and clear and perfect. I will have to do a high quality photo show and tell in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, make your orders for any of the five levels of My Highland Dance Notebook RIGHT HERE!

Reaching the Top...and beyond: The Premier Level

Finally we reach the pinnacle level of the Highland dancing world...Premier! It's tremendously exciting when a dancer arrives at the Premier level. It usually signifies at least 3-5 years of hard work (some dancers advance more quickly than others, and some dancers begin later in childhood). And speaking of hard work, did you know that during the Highland Fling, a dancer jumps 192 times? And that this is the equivalent to running a full mile?!
By the Premier level, a dancer knows and is regularly practicing around 14 dances. Opportunities for creative choreographed dances are also a fun part of festivals and some competitions and these are often done in a group.
The Premier level Notebook accommodates tracking and documentation of all these dances, and takes a more mature perspective in the journal section with prompts like "Highland dance has been so rewarding for me because...", and "Accomplishments I'm most proud of". Whereas the previous levels encouraged dancers to seek out more advanced peers to model after, the Premier level notebook asks dancers to consider younger beginners and how they might mentor and inspire the upcoming generation. This community-building is essential in the proliferation of Highland Dance!

So, full disclosure here...my daughter didn't actually reach the Premier level. For reasons I can't really go into, we felt it necessary for her to step away from her studio. I communicated with other dance teachers about continuing in a different studio, but the issues we were facing had long tentacles...that affected the community around us. When I finally did find a studio that I felt comfortable enrolling her in, a combination of factors emerged. One was that after taking some time away, my daughter opened her mind to the idea of engaging in another extra-curricular activity. "I've been dancing and competing for five years mom....I want to try something different". At the same time we were watching our middle daughter painfully burn out of a competitive gymnastics program that had been taking her away from the house for up to 18 hours a day. The sports psychologists solution? Get her out of the gym and into other activities. So when my dancing daughter expressed interest in joining a swim club, we did not dissuade her...although I was very sad to see Highland Dancing exit her life. 

Through these publications however, I feel I've been receiving some measure of that back! My daughter has collaborated with me to some degree (and allowed me to post whatever pics and video of her I want online) and without her influence, these books would not serve families as well as (I hope!) they do.

Having said that, I welcome feedback! I did my best to research how other regions (mostly in North America) operate to be sure these books would have the most commonalities I could manage, but if you see anything grossly inaccurate or just not ideally laid out, please do send me a note! I am able and willing to make updates and adjustments to the books.

Climbing the Highland ladder...to the Intermediate Level

Today I'd like to give you a close up of the Intermediate level Notebook. This has been our highest seller so far. :)

Intermediate dancers are often in their early teens, although keep in mind that some children move more swiftly through the levels, or begin dancing later than others. 

In the intermediate level, dancers are working on 8-10 dances, although 3-4 of these are continued from the Novice level and are likely quite confident. 

As with the notebooks leading up to this, the Intermediate level book has note and practice chart pages, check lists for competitions and pages to document what medals or placements your dancer earns in competition. Because competition can become quite stiff by this level, an Intermediate dancer can move into the Premier level after one year, regardless of whether they've achieved 6 stamps on their card.

This was the year my oldest daughter began noticing some physical strain from her dancing. She experienced pain in her feet and so at first she took a couple weeks off. After returning to dance, the pain did as well, and so we decided to have her take more significant time off. We coupled this with a trip to an osteopath, a type of health specialist we were not familiar with.

We've long been a family who regularly visits a chiropractor. I can detail a number of significant and amazing benefits we've seen from consistent treatment with a highly qualified chiropractor. This meant that I was quite open to taking my daughter to an osteopath, whose work was described to me as the "umbrella" of treatment under which chiropractic falls--however it also deals with soft tissue disorder and not just bone, as chiropractors do.

The first osteopath was recommended by my daughter's dance teacher, however, after a few visits, I wasn't feeling confident that this was the right doctor for us. I don't recall how I found the second specialist, but she has become a trusted practitioner now for my family, and with her treatments, my daughter began seeing improvement and relief from the pain of plantar fasciitis. 

Highland dance is a wonderful pastime, but families should be aware of what type of concerns could crop up.  May all your dancers be blessed with healthy feet!