I had asked permission to post some content from “Born to Breed,” but CBS turned me down. I wondered why they turned me down because most other WE-tv shows were all over YouTube. It must have had something to do with the editing I wanted to do (like strip out the strippers in the intro–yeash). If you can stomach that, here is the Secret Lives of Women “Born to Breed” show.
UPDATE 12/18/09: The person who posted the show apparently did not gain permission from CBS. I figured as much, but I also figured their legal department would sort that out. Strange, it seems like all the other “Secret Lives of Women” are all over YouTube, but their legal department is concerned about our show. It may be because it is so new and still being aired.
That said, there is this clip from the “Secret Lives” website:
Public speaking is a big deal in our family. Training Minds Ministry, the organization I lead, has training camps for speakers and debaters, the largest camps of the kind in the nation. We take “training the mind for action” seriously.
And we start young. Below are two videos of some Jeub speeches given at the Colorado Junior Speech Tournament. Noah and his friend, Michael, took first place with a hilarious duo of a Calvin & Hobbes cartoon strip. Below that is a shorter video of the twins (4 years old) giving a speech in front of a room full of people. They did the Berenstein’s The B Book.
These are more than just entertaining: they are encouraging. Think about it. This is our future generation of leaders, thinkers, and speakers. Building these skills up in the young ones is what our ministry is about. Consider supporting us at www.trainingminds.org.
Rick Wilking works for Reuters as a photo journalist. He was there with CBS during the shooting of the “Born to Breed” episode. You’ll see a lot of the same shots that was on the show, but Rick captured the moment to a tee. Check out this video, posted in July… Read the rest of this entry »
Coach Kemp of PE+Plus credits the Jeub kids’ gymnastic ability to the fact that they are outside constantly. They sure didn’t get this talent from their parents. We have a trampoline, a zip line, a creek and sledding hill. Their playing is aggressive, and their self-confidence causes them to push the limit and try new things. Coach Kemp may be right.
Noah and Tabitha are best friends. They chose to do this routine and made it up themselves. They are about the same height. You’d think they were twins, but they are 18 months apart. You’d also think they worked all summer at this routine. Not true: it was only a 1-week camp, a couple hours a day. Here’s the performance:
WE tv is doing a documentary on our family. A camera crew of four (two producers, a cameraman and sound guy) came yesterday and filmed the children, Wendy power-walking, me taking the older girls to the office, and some interviews. The weather was absolutely beautiful and conversation rich. Today we’re wrapping up with a celebration of Cynthia’s Golden Birthday (she turns 17 today!) and some deeper interviews. Here is a video montage of the two days of clips, and some pics…
By the way, the “please, no pictures” from the cameraman, John, was a joke. =)
That last one is Isaiah with the camera and Micah with the sound, a role reversal. The WE tv crew was being “interviewed.”
Colorado just finished its first state qualifier in speech and debate last weekend. It was an exciting weekend! There were three Jeub competitors: Cynthia (16), Lydia (14) and Isaiah (12). A friend sent us this picture she took when Wendy went to judge:
BTW: Wendy is due at the end of the month!
There were two big surprises of the tournament. First, Cynthia went to finals in Extemporaneous Speaking. She’s a great speaker and already qualified to regionals in Impromptu, but she jumped on board Extemp just two weeks ago! Another club in the state allowed Cynthia to join their team. Students are given 30 minutes to prepare a 7 minute speech on a current event topic. We’re so proud of Cynthia for making it so far in Extemp!
The second big surprise was Lydia’s Original Oratory on “Creativity in Family.” She has done quite well with the speech in other tournaments, and this one she made it all the way to the final round. After she preformed in finals, she came out very disappointed in herself. “That was the worst performance I made this entire tournament!” she said. She was shocked as the finalists were called off in the award ceremony:
In two weeks the three will be attending a tournament in Denver. This will be the last chance at qualifying to our regional tournament. Cynthia has two events she still needs to qualify in, and Isaiah needs to make it with his Humorous Interpretation. We hope to post some videos later on these speeches.
Drum roll please! Lydia, the family’s filmmaker, spent literally 30 hours on this video. And this doesn’t include capturing the footage. Lydia went through all the different photos and videos from the past year. It was quite the year, as the pics show. The video goes quick, so you will likely want to view this more than once:
From Lydia Jeub Productions is this short drama of true love, starring the Jeub Twins and their older brother Josiah. Too cute for the average viewer, and you MUST keep it playing to through the bloopers in the end…
Lydia Jeub has done it again, this time with the help of co-editor and big sister Cynthia Jeub. The two put together clips from the 2007-2008 competitive season in the NCFCA. Great job girls!
If you are interested in getting involved in this fantastic community, consider coming to Training Minds Ministry’s Debate Camps. Click here for more information.
We’ve been back from our Midwest Adventure for a few days now. We’ve barely had enough time to relax. Horse Camp started first thing Monday morning, and we rolled in from a 15 hour trip from St. Louis at 9:00 pm Sunday night! Yeesh. But, we wouldn’t trade the fun and excitement of our four week trip through the Midwest for anything.
Summers are the busiest time of our year. Though our homeschool is put on hold, business is enormous. Monument Publishing, the publishing company I own and some of the kids are employed through, publishes the bestselling curriculum for the NCFCA and sold nationwide. This is literally my third 16-hour work day since we returned home (Wendy has been holding the fort). I just posted new material on our website at www.speechsupplies.com. Check it out if you’re interested.
Our grand finale from our trip was the NCFCA National Tournament in Birmingham, Alabama (which is in June the hottest place in the universe, did you know that?). Lydia didn’t break to outrounds, but she did do well and had a remarkable challenge–and honor–among the best expositors in the nation. You may have watched Lydia’s speech at an open tournament earlier this year (see here). She has come a long way! Here she is competing at Nationals:
Lydia put together a video of PE PLUS Field Day. Special about this year is the introduction. Dave Kemp, friend and phy ed teacher of hundreds of kids in his PE PLUS program, has been doing this for over 20 years. His mom, Pat “the clown,” recently came down with cancer. In fact, on Field Day, she was going in for her second chemo treatment, but took the time to thank everyone for their prayers. She’s full of life and has a huge heart (as you can see from her clown outfit). We’re still praying for Pat the Clown!
When we spoke in Minnesota, one mom asked how we afford extracurricular activities (the question is at the end of our Cheaper by the Baker’s Dozen CD ROM). We choose one “activity night” for the entire family, most years being AWANA on Wednesday nights. With such a large family, we aren’t able to cart the kids around to individual activities all over town all at different times.
However, when a child shows considerable talent in a particular area, we are drawn to give that child the special attention needed to develop that talent. In fact, we rushed home from Minnesota to get Noah into a special gymnastics program offered by our phy ed teacher (Dave Kemp of PE+). It was a 4-day class of 2 hours each, consisting of students of all talents and years of experience.
Noah has never taken gymnastics, but in these four short days developed a routine that was a head above the rest. He truly has a natural talent. Check out the Google video below. He makes every move look so incredibly natural, and remember, he had only four days of training…
“Train up a child in the way he should go” – Proverbs 22:6a
Isaiah, my oldest son, turned 12 yesterday. I plopped my Macbook on the dinner table and took a video of his blowing out candles (see below). It is so neat to see so many faces giving him their love in the house. Watch how Hannah gives Isaiah big hugs, how Keilah cheeses for the camera, and how Joshua is fascinated with the computer. All so much fun in the family.
Isaiah’s big birthday present was successfully completing Colorado Hunter’s Education Course! Friday night and all day Saturday was spent down in Colorado Springs working through the material. Isaiah studied hard the month before and was very nervous at his first “non-homeschool” exam. There was a lot on the line: limited elk draw is due April 1, and if he failed the test, he would not be able to carry a gun his first year hunting. Isaiah sweated it out and, with excellent teaching from his hunter’s safety instructor, pulled through. Lots of smiles in the Jeub home last night!
Well, the first kid is up this Easter morning as I type out this post. Easter eggs pepper the living room and each has a bowl of candy hidden for them to find. May God bless your day reflecting on the greatest gift to mankind: Jesus the Christ. He displayed ultimate love by voluntarily submitting to the scorn of men, all for our sake. Jesus has made more of an impact on the Jeub household than any person. He is alive and well, and He is the reason for the smiles in the house. God is love, and may you experience His love on this “Son Day”!
Over 600 speeches took place at the NCFCA Open Tournament in Colorado (one of three in the nation). Approximately 300 students gathered at Colorado College for a chance to qualify to the National Tournament in June.
Lydia earned an invitation to Region 3 Qualifier by breaking to semi-finals in expository speech. Her speech on amateur video making was “risky” in the respect that she depends on a video camera and our Macbook to operate correctly. She even films the judges at one point, an impressive feat.
We are very proud of Lydia and her hard work perfecting this speech. We were somewhat disappointed when she didn’t break to finals, but then we watched the final round together. There were phenomenal! We were very impressed, and we took notes for improvement. Lydia will be working hard to improve the speech in time for Regionals in Seattle. Go Lydia!
Wendy was sort of bumbed that we didn’t have a big bash, but we simply said, “Well, maybe we’ll so something next week,” just to tie her over. She was a good sport about it. Of all the kids, everyone down to Tabitha knew of the surprise we had awaiting her.
We made plans for Wendy to come into the office for some “alone time” to get the kinds of things done that a mother of 14 never seems to find the time for at home. She came, but little did she know that the Jeubs invited friends to come and surprise her! They arrived at 6:30 on the other side of the office building. She hammered away at her work while we got refreshments, gifts, cake, and people to throw her a bash!
Watch the 4-minute video below and see how successful the surprise was. It is quite exciting! Happy birthday, Wendy, we love you!
The kids and I worked on a photo montage yesterday reflecting on the events of 2007. This is typically how we plan our Christmas letter. We lay out all our photos that we gathered and then come up with stories on what we did in the past year. We’re putting that Christmas letter together this week (have you sent us yours yet???). For now, enjoy the montage!
All day Saturday we attended the Colorado Junior Speech Tournament. Approximately 100 kids and their families gathered in a Colorado Springs Christian Church to compete in this small, yearly tournament. It is run totally by NCFCA students who compete in the “big league,” and the competitors are between ages 5 and 11. We had six of our kids (Isaiah, Micah, Noah, Tabitha, Keilah and Hannah) compete. We had the most children from any one family.
None of our kids broke to the finals, but that’s okay. We barely had enough time this year to memorize our speeches. Though we weren’t as prepared as we would have liked, we had a great time fellowshipping with the other families and observing the other speeches. The program of speech and debate, of which the ministry I lead centers on, is a great program for home-school families desiring to train their children for a greater purpose in life. The skills learned are second-to-none.
One of the reasons we weren’t as prepared as we would have hoped is that we just finished sending 9 kids through the Chicken Pox. Along with work and Wendy’s 9th month of pregnancy, we only had so much time for practice. Lydia was the only one without the Pox, for she wasn’t exposed until we returned from elk hunting. That was 14 days ago, so guess what happened? When we returned home last night, she had pox all over her body. According to medical professionals, the most contagious time is right before breaking out in pox. So, we exposed lots and lots of people!
Funny, last year at this time we had Whooping Cough. Everyone stayed away. This year we have Chicken Pox, and everyone wants to come over and play Twister with our kids. Our midwife brought her son over last night and did a housecall for Wendy, and he and Lydia shared the same straw from a drink.
Anyway, here’s a good capture of Hannah (5) doing her speech from Junie B. Jones:
A friend of mine and partner in ministry, George Escobar, is revving up to release a ground-breaking video. As leader of Advent Film Group, George has pulled together a crew of Christian students and film leaders to create a movie: Come What May. This movie is about a moral conflict a champion debater faces, and his struggle to choose what it right. Watch the trailer…and I’ll be posting more information as the movie becomes available!
Lydia (13) has done it again. Following her debut video of her little twin sister, Havilah, comes the montage of her little twin brother, Joshua (1). The video is put to “Made to Love” by Toby McKeehan (used with permission from TobyMac). Watch the video and let Lydia know how you enjoyed it. She appreciates the feedback. Enjoy!
We climbed Mt. Herman last week. I took Cynthia, Lydia, Isaiah, Micah, Noah, Tabitha, and Keilah…and left Wendy home with the rest of the kids. The trip was beautiful. There is a death-defying shot that I got on the camera…about when we are at the top. Quite exciting!
I’m going to be posting soon about Speech & Debate soon, the country’s only nationally recognized home-school extracurricular activity. The activity–espoused by the National Christian Forensics and Communication Association–brings out the best in young people. The ministry of which I lead, Training Minds Ministry, hosts debate camps in the summer to train young people in the skill of speaking and debating.
I am jumping the gun a little (I am planning to post about this more in a couple of weeks), but I just received an email from a home-school debate family in Minnesota. They put their creativity to work and created a video using Chris Rice’s What a Heart Is Beating For. You will be amazed at their ingenuity. They blend humor in with truth, giving great value to Luke 6:38. Great job, Froemmings, for a grand 4-minute video!
We sure are enjoying our new MacBook. Why didn’t I leave the PC world years ago? I am now an avid Mac user, and the following video is proof of it. After spending the entire day filming the kids with my compact camera with video options, I spent perhaps two hours with Lydia creating this movie. Show me a PC program that can do that! I love iVideo. Enjoy the show!
I took six of the 13 kids skiing yesterday. What a blast. Though I personally spent the entire day on the bunny hill training our first-year skier, Tabitha, I wouldn’t trade it for an entire week on the slopes. I captured a great video of all of us skiing down Loveland. Check it out…
God provides for families in many ways. One way is by hunting. Pictured here are six guys from four families. We were blessed with four cows on Opening Day last Saturday. This first-year hunt will grow over the years. Between the four fathers, we have 30 children. Our vision is to grow our hunting party and pass on a heritage of hunting to our younger ones. The two boys in the top right our the first of the second-generation hunting party.
Part of making the elk hunting trip successful is making sure everyone knows the terrain. We broaden the scouting trip to younger children. I brought Lydia and Isaiah with in August to scout the territory. I captured this video of a herd of elk scooting through the woods…
The camera crew left last night after 8 days of filming the Jeub Family for The Learning Channel. Tracy Chaplin, the director, and his crew of two cameramen, a sound technician, and assistant director, will (contrary to most people’s expectations) will be missed. Tracy, Nate, Doug, Ian, and Derek have become nearly “part of the family” as they shared in a mutually convicting and growing experience with us. I can’t tell you how honoring it was to reflect on our life with 13 children for a camera crew who honestly wanted to know. I will post more on this in my next post, but I want to give this serious thought.
Till then, here are the final video shots I will be posting of our Learning Channel filming experience. The episode will be run January 15, 22 and 29. Be sure to tune in to watch our family in action…
The Birthday Bash is a yearly celebration we host at our home. We typically have 120-150 dear friends and family join us for horse rides, popcorn, face painting, games, treasure hunt, a pinata, gift opening and a meal. The 2006 Bash was extra special with a camera crew from The Learning Channel ready to take hours and hours of footage for a January 2007 special on large families. You won’t be able to see that footage till January, but for now, here are some videos from our own cameras…
Wow, what a good time we have been having with The Learning Channel crew. Yesterday, Tracy and the crew came to work with Cynthia and me. They captured a lot of great captions about what I do for a living. Meanwhile, Wendy was working hard herself at home to prepare for a birthday party, and the kids were getting many chores done.
Below are two video clips. The first is of Wendy and some friends who came over to help get things done. The second is of the kids folding laundry. See how a family of 11 children at home do it!
Yesterday was an exhausting but fun day. We took the bus to Denver and Castle Rock to shop. We went to US Toys, Sam’s Club and WalMart. We believe God blessed our shopping, keeping it within the budget we set out to keep. We almost missed our evening appearance to AWANA. The bus ended up breaking down in our driveway and we needed to run to AWANA in the van. The camera crew were extremely gracious and understanding…and they put in an incredibly long day.
Below are two clips that we captured. The first is Wendy in Sam’s Club explaining some tricks of the trade when shopping for a big family. The second is game night at AWANA…
The Heppners aren’t the only family that will be featured in the upcoming series of large families on The Learning Channel. The Jeub Family will also be featured. In fact, we have the camera crew at our home right now doing the filming. I will be posting snippets of these captures on our blog over the next few days till the camera crew leaves. Here is the first downloads:
The crew has been incredible. Very, very professional. Tracy Chaplin and the guys are capturing a week of The Jeub Family. Today we did homeschooling, a trip to PE+ (a local phys ed class the kids attend), and tonight they will film dinner and Wendy going out to a small group bible study. Stay tuned…
The kids watch some video shots on Tracy’s computer.
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
Over 600 speeches took place at the NCFCA Open Tournament in Colorado (one of three in the nation). Approximately 300 students gathered at Colorado College for a chance to qualify to the National Tournament in June.
