Mama needs a break

Posted on by JustAskMaia

🗣️ LISTEN!

Mama needs a break! I don’t care judge me. Raising a house full of children, running a busy firm, 33 weeks pregnant, DURING covid19. BRUH!

God wakes me up every morning at 6:48 and refuses to tell me why so I am forced to just be up and productive. 🙄 When I do get to go to bed around midnight, if I’m lucky, baby decides NOW is the best time to do the Macarena on my bladder. I am constantly asking the ancestors what I did in my past life to subject my current life to such umcooperativeness ← yes I know that’s not a word Leave 👏🏾 me 👏🏾 alone 👏🏾!

Between black lives Matter being an actual issue, trump being somebody’s president (not mine) and countries shutting us out of their world, I SWEAR I am living in the book 1984 by George Orwell. Is this really the matrix or am I being punked like Jim Carrey in The Truman Show? I’m no conspiracy theorist but come on now! What gives? I’m also not religious (any more) but I’m this close 👌🏾 to looking up and declaring I see Jesus in the sky. Lord take me nah!

Sweet baby Jesus lying in a manger, what is going on and what did I bring my children into. This has GOT to be a sin. What did God say to me to convince me to THIS? It was a setup. No way He told this all to me and I was like “Yeah! That sounds hella dope, sign me up G!” Naw. Not buying it. G got jokes and I’on think they’re funny.

What are you guys doing to keep sane? No foreal, I need tips. Speak up!!

Words mean something.

Posted on by JustAskMaia

Sitting here having a conversation with McRush about words and the root of them.

I posted a while back on Facebook that I do not teach my children to say I am sorry, I apologize, or any variation thereof. Some people feel like I am cold for having this approach, you know because people are oftentimes so quick to judge. I will admit that for the most part I can seem a little distant and skeptical until you get to know me. This stems mostly from a history of being hurt and betrayed, lied to and led on. I am very forgiving though because, I believe, you either genuinely do not know any better or I just took too long to know the real you. I have learned that I cannot concern myself with your ignorance (for not knowing better) or callousness (for not caring about me the way I did you).

While I am easily a crybaby, usually from holding things in, I am not a very emotional person. I am, however an open book. I hide nothing and that includes my discontent.

The purpose behind me not allowing my children to say I am sorry is actually two fold. First, they are my children and they are far from ‘sorry’. They are smart, outstanding, and humble little people who are finding their purpose in life, there is nothing to be sorry about. Second, by stating you are sorry, you are implying you regret what has happened when in all actuality, you shouldn’t regret anything that happens in your life.

Things happen TO you or FOR you. Either way it is a lesson learned, and without learning a lesson, you will continually repeat the same “mistake” in life until you do.

If #7 is running and swinging his arms and as he runs past #8 hits him, naturally he would look back and say “I’m sorry” but keep going. But at a better glance, he isn’t ‘sorry’ because he kept running. Stating that you regret something happen is stating that you wish in never happened AND will take precautionary measures to assure it does not happen again.

What makes your words mean something are the actions in which follow your statement. For this reason I teach my children the root of the word and SHOWING their concern rather than their regret.

In the aforementioned incident, what #7 should do is stop, turn around and check on #8 as well as seeing if there is anything he can do to make the situation better.

Words mean nothing if your actions do not support it. Learning the root of words will keep you from saying things that you really don’t mean as well as forcing you to take the time to analyze your actions and learn from them.

I do not believe you should regret anything in life. Regret serves no purpose except to weigh you down with guilt and possibly shame. I do not have time for either. This oftentimes can be misconstrued as heartless and unkind but cannot be further from the truth. I, in fact, am very kind and full of giving. Anyone who knows me can vouch for me. I just have no time for foolishness and antics when it comes to living my life. If you have ever seen the show Bones, I am Bones.

-Rush

 

Caught in the middle.

Posted on by JustAskMaia

There is a man that I look up to very much, yes someone outside of McRush. He is a very wise man and a very prosperous business owner, which is why I look up to him and have been even before Rush Consulting Firm was thought of. He keeps me on my toes with his creative ideas and desire to continue to move forward. He gave me some advice awhile back and I was hesitant yet equally as eager to take it. For those who know me or my Facebook page, I am very vocal when it comes to Reflections, whether it be for self accountability (which I blogged about and if you didn’t read it, you should) or for the injustices and/inequalities of Reflections. I am very unapologetic and dedicated to moving forward in what some would call the revolution, but I call Stand up.

This amazing man told me that I should clear my Facebook of things on my personal page that would be deemed as biased which in turn would potentially turn away clientele. I thought that he had a point and so I tediously went through my Facebook page and deleted all of my ‘controversial’ posts. I was compliant and I did not feel as sad about it as I would have thought. HOWEVER, moving forward as well as thinking back, I should have left it although I still agree that in general it was a very wise decision, just not for me.

Let’s think back first. Rush Consulting Firm, rather the intent for Rush Consulting Firm, was for the empowerment and building along with self sufficiency FOR Reflections not the general population. Yet going along with the general conception, I was quickly seen as an asset to ‘other’ communities rather than that of Reflections. Business is business and I rarely turn it down so I found myself oftentimes promoting to all as opposed to some which is where fine tuning my very public Facebook comes in.

Now let’s look at moving forward. The goal for Rush Consulting Firm still remains, in my heart, one of the biggest assets to Reflection’s community. Although it’s like pulling teeth, I will not lie, to get Reflections to support, I still have much confidence in my vision for my company. It is a matter of showing that Rush Consulting Firm is indeed an asset.

As I look through my Facebook feed, It really breaks my heart all of the stories I hear about police brutality towards Reflections. As a mother and wife I cannot take the pain of so many people lost at the hands of police. I want to yell and scream and cry and fight.  Therefore I find myself here, knowing the advice is very good advice but do I post about it?

Let me say that I know posting means NOTHING! Nothing! You can post and cry, you can post and march but change will not come until we stand. I am so tired. Everyone is waiting for a leader, someone to follow, but that is what is wrong with the community of Reflections, we are not taught to lead ourselves. We are so busy fighting among one another; who is more black, is Jesus real, black on black crime vs police on black crime. We are literally fighting the injustices of our people, the injustices for our people, AND our own people. When will enough be enough? What is wrong with us?

I know the revolution isn’t for everyone, but are we really this naive as a people? I do not know about you but I will NOT die with my hands up and I will NOT die on my knees.

All power to the people.

-Rush

Homeschooling 101

Posted on by JustAskMaia

So you want to homeschool.

I often get many questions and blessings about homeschooling. It is usually followed up by statements like, “I wish I could homeschool but I don’t know where to start.” or “I don’t have the time.” Well I am here to bust both of those questions and many more in this blog to help you get started.

First, in case you do not know, I am a Business owner of a small consulting firm called Rush Consulting Firm. This business is my pride and joy. It is one I built from the ground up and am able to work anytime and anywhere. With that being said, though my schedule is very flexible, it is still a very demanding position as I wear many hats within the company. So while I can bend my schedule like some of you may not be able to, that also means I work, oftentimes, into the early morning hours of the day. I do get tired and I do get cranky but homeschooling is definitely something I am committed to. I have a cheat for those moments that will allow you a moment to breathe and regather yourself while your children still learn even without you around.

I will say right up front that I do not follow any type of curriculum, I do what I call ‘free teaching’. What that means is while there are a plethora of academic platforms to educate your children, I choose, for personal reasons, not to use any of them.

I will admit that I was thoroughly confused as to where to start and what to teach but I was, and still am, so determined to educate my children according to what I now know as an adult as well as where they are currently in the own educational position that I had to put in some creative work and research to better advance the minds of my children.

I will also forewarn you that, I am all about teaching my children self love and self respect in addition to others, which is something that is not taught in the public school, or private school for that matter, education system. I believe in positive affirmations and daily reminders of who they are and what they can accomplish while including their fellow peers.

For starters, I enrolled in Homeschool Legal Defense Association in the event that I incur any legal issues, because I’m going to be honest, as a black woman I am always mindful of my rights as a parent and I am also aware that I am still black. (That is my stance and it is not up for debate.)

Let me tell you why I pulled my children from the public school system.

My oldest son has always been an advanced honor student who had made a’s and B’s his entire life through the eighth grade, when he was enrolled in High School, I was told he had to go to a particular school which was predominately black. In my experience since moving to the south, That usually means less care (teachers not being paid their worth, struggling academically, less resources, etc) but I didn’t know then what I know now and I went along even against my better judgement because my son was smart. Well, turns out, I was correct. While there were a handful of awesome teachers and administrative staff there, my son kept coming home with straight F’s. Now I am no fool, I know my son paid a part in this as well, however, I should have known this school was not going to give my child the push I know he needed to continue to accelerate.

My other oldest was diagnosed with ADHD, I am not even going to get into that whole agenda. But due to this, he struggled in school because the teacher, due to lack of understanding and compassion, would simple place him in the back of the class, oftentimes giving him an attitude for asking questions, and write inappropriate notes on his papers and in his planner.

My oldest daughter was too smart for the level she was in and often would simply be advocated as teachers assistant to help teach her peers in class. I could already see that this was going to lead down a road to boredom and failing grades.

So, I pulled them. All 5 who were currently enrolled in the Public school system. Now there are 7 technically but of course my rule is, ‘If I’m teaching, you’re learning’ so all 9 are in class Monday through Friday with light review work on the weekends. I am free to teach my children on any level I please, because again, I do not follow any curriculum.

How do I do it? Google. Just kidding. That is my starting point however. I literally googled ‘What should my child know by the end of [whatever grade they are in]. I teach all of my children a level up and that is where the weekend review comes in, That is stuff ‘on their level’ to be sure I am not moving too fast and they know what they should.

For my littles, I go to the dollar tree and get the educational workbooks. I take them home and dismantle them into one page lessons. I separate the by grade level and I make packets that consist of 5 to 6 pages (they are front and back, so you end up with 10 to 12 pages of work. I designate the packets into their individual work spaces and in the mornings, they know to grab a packet and get started. You can do this up the fifth grade from the dollar tree but Barnes and Nobles also have activity books up to the eighth grade that you can do this with. It usually takes them anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour or more to complete these daily packets. Then you can take a break or continue on teaching.

We have a Goodwill here that sells by the bulk. Thank goodness for this because its where I get most of my academic books from. I believe the books are 50 cents a pound versus 2.99 a book at regular Goodwill stores. I have every level of every book you need to graduate your child from high school and probably college. Anything from literature to microeconomics. My oldest even works from some college books we have. My children excel daily and I can see it. That is something I never experienced in public schools. We also use Khan Academy which is available on an app as well as youtube. My children utilize it for a clearer understanding of what I teach in class in addition to jumping ahead.

I signed up for ABC mouse for my 3-6 year old children but it was too easy and they breezed through it in one day, so I cancelled my subscription. I have learned that my children, and I am sure many others, learn much better in a one on one environment. And while I have nine children I teach, They still get plenty of one on one everyday.

I buy index cards and everything goes on them! Colors, shapes, numbers, sight words, alphabets, addition, subtraction, multiplication, sentences structures, you name it and I am pretty sure I have a stack of flash cards.

The state I am in mandates 4.5 hours a day of learning, and I know some of you may say, I just don’t have four hours to dedicate. Well, remember, this does not have to be a consecutive four hours but also this includes self or Montessori style teaching as well, remember those packets?

Also, trips to the grocery store can be used as a math lesson. Trips to the zoo can be a counted as a science trip. A family trip can be a geography lesson. Paying bills can be an economics lesson. So keep these little things in mind.

I have been slow to put this together because I want to make sure I cover most, if not all of your questions. It does not have to be hard. If you have a difficult child, it will do you and him/her some good to spend more time together to better learn one another. They are human too and thus have emotions. Having sessions discussing this could also be counted as a psychology lesson. <—- See what I did there?

So in closing, Be creative, take charge of your child’s growth and development. Trust me, You will never regret it! You will definitely learn as well along the way. And if you have any questions, I am always available. My contact information is on the front page of the blog.

-Rush

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To entrepreneur or not…

Posted on by JustAskMaia

I have known my entire life that I never wanted to work for someone besides myself. I also knew I was destined for, well, more. I couldn’t quite put my finger on that ‘more’ but I knew that I would know it when I seen it. At fifteen, I worked at Burger King and McDonald’s and Taco Bell. When I was seventeen I got a night job in the mail room at Corestates bank (which became First Union which became Wachovia which became Wells Fargo). I would get off at 7 am and rush down Center City to my second job, United way, and work from eight until two and then I would rush down to my first class, English, at Peirce College. My whole life has been about the hustle and bustle, which I never really minded being a city girl and all but there was nothing to show for my hard work, dedication, and drive except a very exhausted me.

In 2009 after the passing away of my daughter, Madison, I decided I needed to live! I started my company Rush Consulting Firm from literally nothing and I just kept pushing. Every time I wanted to quit I thought about the times I never quit on my bosses out of a sense of obligation. Every time I felt like I just couldn’t do it, I reminded myself of all the late nights and early mornings I pushed for companies who never even noticed my hard work. And every time I felt like a failure, I remember the courage it took to build what I have built.

I want to say that entrepreneurship is not for everyone, but I know that is not true. Even if you decide not to leave your full time job, I implore you to never give up on your dreams. Just a few minutes a day, a couple hours a week, a few weeks out the year will have you feeling more dedicated and refreshed to do more, be more, even in your everyday life. There is something amazing about giving a little bit of you to yourself that makes it all worthwhile, and if you can inspire someone along the way, even better.

I know what some of you may be thinking; Time. Let me tell you a little something about time. Time is your most valuable asset. Time is something you can choose to be generous with or selfish with. Time is something that is yours to do with as you please. Time is one of those things that you can never get back. So you can spend your life planning it or you can spend your life living it, but its your time to do with as you wish.

As a wife, mother, and serial entrepreneur, I can say that sometimes things will get hectic but for me, I choose not to make a fuss over time as long as I spend it the way I desire to. I have 9 children and I home school them all. That is in addition to running a seasonal toddler boutique where the items are made by hand, by me; I also run a successful Consulting Firm where I do everything from coaching to speaking, resumes to job placement, and, our specialty, helping people start the business they always wanted to. In addition, I host Meet and greets called Heels&Hustle where we bring together women who do, did, and want to start their business for the purpose of networking, collaborating, and mentoring. Trust me when I say that I know all about time management and that is why I believe, no, I KNOW you can do it too.

Entrepreneurship IS for everyone. Whether its full time, part time, seasonal, or weekends only, be sure to give it a go. There are people around you that believe in you and your vision and they are just waiting for the opportunity to support you. You can do it.

-Rush
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Are we recounting votes AGAIN?

Posted on by JustAskMaia

Hilary Clinton lost. She got the majority of America’s vote, although not really because over 93 million people did not vote and that’s just the ones that were registered. So America is throwing a tantrum and finger pointing like a bunch of toddlers. I am definitely not a supporter of hers so I may be a little biased. She has to many hidden secrets like the fact that her husband as well as herself have close ties to pedophiles like Jeffrey Epstein, or her Klu Klux Klan friends, that is what this email controversy is all about. But even still I couldn’t care less. I mean really, tell me the last time an American President directly affected your life? They are just a puppet to sit and do what they are told. Sure, they will have great ideas, just like the rest of us, but implementing them will be close to impossible.

This is not the first time and will not be the last time that we had a president elected that we do not want, yet we still pull the same thing. We march and we protest and in the end very little changes. The Government was not created for us, especially the black us, but in this point all of us in general. We all know that Americans thrive off titles, it has even trickled down to the church which is supposed to be separate from state (yeah right). Everybody wants to feel like somebody and some of those somebodies want to tell others what to do –> enter the government.

The problem is not the president, or the president elect. The problem is the people, WE the people who have failed one another time and time again in the terms of unity and self governing. We have lost our morals and our standards and most importantly we have lost our common sense. We continue to attempt to hold one another to a standard that we fail to hold ourselves to. We have found more pleasure in watching someone else and their failure instead of being accountable for our own. We would rather be like others that we see on television or even in real life than to simple be ourselves. We are no longer happy with who we are until we are like someone else.

People watch reality television and stay glued to social media to see what someone else is doing with their life, meanwhile, ours is passing us by. We would much rather go by what someone told us instead of researching it ourselves. Learning is becoming obsolete. We push college yet will only hire people with experience. We don’t trust one another so we are constantly moving along in life with a hidden agenda. We don’t truly care about one another’s happiness and well-being, unless it directly affects us of course.

School loans are ridiculously impossible to pay back. Health insurance is almost impossible to maintain. We have people who have fought for our country living in the streets while we selfishly walk pass them without a second thought. We have homeless babies because their mom and dad cannot find a job. We have hungry children who go all summer without a decent meal while school is out because the job mom and dad do have is just barely making the bills. We have people killing one another over minor tiffs because that is how their environment has taught them to react due to poor schools, and irritated parents (you know that whole horrible/lack of job issue). Governments not willing to put money into urban areas for recreational centers, job assistance, small businesses, etc. yet steadily putting up sidewalks in deserted areas, two way street lights on one way streets, etc. in short, corrupt politicians who are allowed to hold office until death pulls them away.

We would much rather fund wars and pretend to have a war on drugs although the drugs are not only brought onto American soil by the government but also heavily guarded in places like the Mideast for private profit.

No, we would much rather protest having a woman in office that has no problem aborting babies up to their due date or defending child rapists while having pizza parties with known pedophiles and having lunch with KKK members. Perhaps we would be better off with a woman who is as emotional an indecisive as a young teenager who knows everything about life in their own little mind. Does she know the ins and outs of the government, absolutely. Is she qualified? About as much as any other lying politician, but is that what we want?

I am convinced we do not know what we want. I know some will take this to think I voted for Trump. Who did I vote for? Wouldn’t you like to know. It doesn’t matter anyhow. I have been stating for the longest that the electoral votes choose our presidency. That is why it is important to vote your local elections because the elects are supposed to vote according to our popular vote but if you don’t vote them in then, well, you get the point.

So by all means, keep protesting. You see how far its gotten us, this time I mean us a in black people.

-Rush
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Nosey black people

Posted on by JustAskMaia

So I come outside to find a portion of peace with Roger (pictured below) and unbeknownst to me there are three police cars and a white car which looks like a Chevy Malibu (you can thank McRush for my knowledge of cars). Two police officers are searching the Malibu and one officer is keeping them, occupied, for lack of a better word.

There is a woman standing in her yard where the people were pulled over on her phone with an attitude, loud. Catercorner to her is a large group of people standing outside just looking. Now, I know I am going to catch plenty of backlash for this but why are you watching? You have nothing better to do? My people! Does watching the incident unfold make you feel better about your life? Does it give you something positive to converse about?

I am sure many of you, both black and white, will respond stating something along the lines of; ‘With the string of murders of our black people, we should be watching to be sure nothing happens to them.’ To that I respond, Yeah right. First of all our community has been nosing in other peoples businesses well before that with or without police presence. Second of all  what exactly would you do if something were to happen besides grab your phone and record?

McRush hates when I categorize us in a negative manner because really, lets face it, all races have their nosey tendencies. But, I can only speak for mine because I am black, not too black according to a few of my fellow peers, but just black enough to reap some benefits.

So here I sit my beneficial behind in the grass observing the observers and blogging about it. I guess that makes me nosey too. Hmmm.

-Rush
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Slacking

Posted on by JustAskMaia

I really am trying to stay on top of blogging and keeping you all up to date on the happenings of the RushBunch but you know me, I just get so slack when it comes to blogging or sleeping, I oftentimes choose sleep. As crazy and chaotic as that sounds, I sometimes will grab a nap instead of my laptop.
As I am typing this I am literally drained and all I want to do is go to sleep however today is a birthday and the house is all the way live, not that its any different from any other day But they are wired on mini cupcakes and ice cream.
I believe I am truly out to sabotage myself. Every since I have started homeschooling and running my business from home, my home simply has no structure. I am hoping that this move will assist me in re implementing things like early bed times, hair days, general house cleaning day, and the like instead of me deciding on a whim what I am going to do that day.
I remember the days when I got up at 5:15 to prepare for my daily prayer/motivational call at 5:30 and my days flowed so smoothly because the night before I had sat down to schedule out the entire day all the way down to the littles bedtime at 7:30. Oh how I miss those days. Its funny when you break a cycle its hard to get it going again. I am glad to have known such structure and have something to work towards because if not, I would not know life could be more relaxed and thus not lose my mind!
Anyhow enough rambling, although that is pretty much what my blogs are…
Today was supposed to be a lounge around day but yes, we forgot we were going to do something for the birthday girl. The good news is our children are very easy to please so when we asked her what she wanted to do, she said have a pizza party and watch a movie. When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she replied, “flowers”. DONE! the downside is whenever we leave the house we are oftentimes gone for hours because we remember something else that needed to be done. Needless to say we didn’t get home until after 7:45 so the whole 8 o’clock bedtime is surely out the window. I have learned to be okay with that.
it is 10:01pm and we have just started the go-to-bed process with the littles so we are looking at a 12:30 bedtime… sigh.
One day I will get to bed by 10 pm. Today is not that day…tomorrow isn’t looking to good either.
-Rush

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Where we are.

Posted on by JustAskMaia

Hello my loves. I have not been blogging as of late because everything seems to be on a whim right now and completely unstructured. If you think your life is hectic, try running a business where you are consistently running other peoples businesses while maintaining your household, homeschooling, packing, and self evaluating simultaneously with 9 children and NO schedule! Ugh. it is literally a madhouse around here. I can’t ever find what I am looking for until I am no longer looking for it but have moved on to looking for something else. Dinner often slips my mind and we wound up eating out, which I absolutely hate. and sleeping in has become a staple for my sanity however I am usually abruptly awakened by screaming hollering babies and children whom have clearly lost their minds because they are running through my house. I oftentimes, lately, feel like I am in a prank reality show.

But alas, all is not doomed. We recently bought a house, in case you did not catch the memo on my personal social media. I have started taking classes on the side to further advance my platform for Rush Consulting Firm, and we have finally closed our Social Services case so no more back and forth to court. That alone was a weight lifted off of me and McRush because though it was not the path we chose to take, we took it in stride. Sometime soon we will be back in court to further finalize the decision for good. I am sure I will get a lashing from family but, you cannot please everyone so, I digress, I only know how to do what I feel is best and have prayed about. (If you have no idea what I am talking about, red back some and you will be filled in.)

Homeschooling.

Homeschooling the RushBunch is still exciting and new everyday. On my extra hectic days we choose the Montessori approach. I always have what they should be learning for the day, usually the week, and they have to work together as a unit to get their works completed. However, I cannot wait until we move into our new home an get situated so we can get back to class as usual. I am trying to convince McRush to paint the wall in chalk paint in the classroom. I don’t believe I am even considering such a task. Years ago I was adamant on not doing such as thing as I felt it would promote writing on wall. But alas, I have evolved. I lift my wine glass and shout, “write away children! Write away”. It is really something how you watch your children grow and evolve only to realize your own evolution in the end.

Speaking of evolution, McRush and I have found ourselves on a new Spiritual journey.

Life really has a way of making you reevaluate life. I love it and I am excited for the growth. I won’t be keeping you updated because (shhhh) there may be a book. I may post a question to ponder here and there for general purposes so be ready to have a discussion.

-Rush

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