Wordless Wednesday at LWM3B

An Ode to the Southern Girls

You may need to turn off the music so you can hear the monsoon snowflakes.

ps - It's an hour later and the world is now totally white. Not even the evergreen are green! ;) I love Iowa, I love Iowa, I love Iowa...

Mill Creek Academy 2008-2009 Academic Year

A curriculum post again. Feel free to meander on to the next blog on your list if curriculum posts aren't your cuppa. ;)

I think I've nailed down our choices for the boys' next school year. Our school year runs from July 2008 until May 2009. We use short but frequent lessons, focus on read alouds, and try to keep lessons under 3 hours a day so we have plenty of time to be boybarians!

Einstein - 8 years old

Phonics, Spelling, Writing & Reading:
Explode the Code - finish this phonics series
Spelling Wisdom - a Simply Charlotte Mason product. It's spelling via immersion. Not rote lists, but rich language and prepared dictation using today's 6,000 most frequently used words.
Writing Tales 1 - A beginning writing program. Gentle but thorough. You can see samples here.
Lively Latin - Unlike some classical homeschoolers, my goals for Latin are for grammar and vocabulary. I hope a couple years of early Latin will open doors for modern language learning of their choosing. We won't start this until the ETC series is finished. I can only handle so many language programs at once.
Evan Moor's Daily Paragraph Editing - Despite its title, I plan to use this only 1 or 2 times a week to spot common errors in writing, if I feel we get enough of this in WT1 we might use it during breaks. They are pretty short, basic paragraphs; most of them are only 4-5 typed lines.
Reading choices - I won't lay out an exact plan, as I will let their interests dictate, but we will try to get through many of the choices at Ambleside Online Years 2 and 3 (except for Pilgrim's Progress. Blech. We won't be reading that.), Sonlight Core 3 readers, and some from the Caldecott/Newberry List.

Math:
No big changes here. We will continue on with Singapore Math, 3b and 4a. We will do Primary Math, Intensive Practice and Challenging Word Problems 3. I am considering dropping Horizons since he finally has a good pace without all the extras I was using to slow him down.
Primary Grade Challenge Math, by Zaccaro. We love love love this.

History, Geography:
Some of Story of the World 2 will carry over into the next academic year. Over spring break, I will begin working on customized go alongs for SOTW 3 that incorporate Catholic history, historical fiction from Sonlight Core 3, art and artist history and biographies, as well as notable architecture aligned both chronologically and geographically with SOTW 3. These will feature books suggested by Simply Charlotte mason, Ambleside Online and Sonlight, as well as the Magic Tree House books because my 6 year old loves them. For American History, the list from A Book in Time is an excellent resource.

Science:
We are doing Earth and Space Science. We will be using Discovery Education Streaming (formally "United Streaming") as well as several reading books. I will post them on my sidebars as we get to them. We're using everything from Dr. Suess to Magic Tree House research guide to big inflatable planets from Learning Resources.
We will also be using the Earth Science part of the curriculum put together by Jessica of Trivium Academy. It can be found here.

The rest of the stuff we will outsource: Einstein will continue art classes at the art museum. He will take religious ed at the church. His PE interests this year are swimming, karate and fencing (?). I haven't found a place that will teach him fencing yet. Not sure why anyone wouldn't want to teach an 8 year old how to use a sword. ;) Also, as an extra curricular, he is hoping to join the Junior Lego league.

Picasso - 6 years/7 years old

Phonics, Copywork, Writing, Reading:
Explode the Code - continue to work through this series at his own pace.
Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading -he will not be quite finished by May. I hope to finish this in Fall '08.
Copywork - Happy Scribe copywork, as well as this, which was written by two homeschool moms and published on Lulu.com.
Reading: same as big brother, above.

Math:
Singapore 2a and 2b. We'll also do Intensive Practice and CWP 1. Like big brother, he will participate in the Primary Grade Challenge Math problems up to whatever level he can.

History and Science will be done with Einstein, same plans as above.

As for extra-curricular, this is my shy one and at this point he is adamant he will not do anything outsourced. I'm going to try to get him to do swimming. He attended art camp last year and announced at the end of it, "That was fun mom. I'm never doing it again."

Trouble - 5 years old

Trouble's needs haven't been assessed. I will have a plan for him soon. He will be a preK specialneeds learner. His goals for 2008-2009 include:
recognition of letters and numbers
writing his name
basic math using math manipulatives
letter sounds

***UPDATE - Trouble's PreK learning materials can be found here.

Phew! Did you get all that? It should be an exciting year here at Mill Creek Academy!

Dedicated to Zoe

I hope my readers will understand a pause in my usual Wordless Wednesday. Today my heart is heavy. Many of you have read my oft references to my friends, the McTriplets. Through Mommy McTriplet's blog I have lurked and followed several blogs of babies much like my own Trouble.

Today the life of a tiny warrior is celebrated. 14 month old Zoe lost her battle to prematurity last Saturday, and today her family, friends and those who loved her most are celebrating her life. Zoe's mom said this about her daughter:

"We will be having a memorial service for her on Wednesday the 20th... We welcome any all who wish to celebrate her life with us and we ask that you not wear black. I want the room to be bursting with color just as she was bursting with love and laughter."

Zoe and her sisters are triplets born at 25 weeks gestation. Like Trouble, they spent months in a NICU. Today I ask my readers to please hold this family in your prayers. It is with such sadness that I remind readers that premature birth is a serious and devastating problem. Too many babies and too many families are facing this crisis.

I have changed the music for today to a song called "Amazing" by Janelle that I dedicate to Zoe and her family.

The Funniest Thing That Happened To Me This Week

I hear my iphone ringing in the other room. I break into a sprint, make the mad dash across the house to pick it up at almost the last moment before it would go into my voicemail.

"Hello? This is Darcy..." I answer. Someone once told me if you smile while you answer the phone, it makes you sound cheerier. It didn't seem to matter this time.

"Stop texting my phone!" shouts the irate male voice on the other end.

I pull my phone from my ear, look at it quizzically as if it might reveal something to me. I don't recognize the number or the area code.

"Uh, pardon me?" I reply sweetly and innocently to the angry man.

"Is this Jenna or Jessie or whatever? Stop texting me with p0r/\/ invites to your chatroom!" he growls, "this is my business line, you're interrupting my meetings, and I am NOT INTERESTED!"

At this point, I almost cough up my quad-shot latte through my nose. Can it be? I've been mistaken for a p0r/\/ hussy? Oh, this is too good.

"Um... sir." I teeter trying to collect myself, " I don't operate a chatroom business. This is also a work phone, a non-profit work number. I save babies. I do not solicit men to visit my chatroom."

I'm laughing as I speak, but he is not nearly as amused as I am.

"Well, it says YOUR number! And I've gotten HUNDREDS of texts the last few days" he says accusingly.

"I gather that, since you called me. Perhaps you should call your cell phone provider, and I'll call mine. In the meantime, I can assure you that I have not sent you a single text message."

"Well, don't text me any more!"

Clearly I was having a one sided conversation. Maybe he shouldn't be calling those 800 numbers in his free time, and they wouldn't distribute his number to all their hussy friends.

So I call AT&T and the girl who anwered the phone, luckily for me, DID find the entire conversation as funny as I did. "I've sent like what... 20 text messages my whole life?"

"22," she answers, giggling. "And none of them to his number."

"Should we call him back???" I ask her and we both burst into fits of girl giggles that one can only have when one's been mistaken as a p0r/\/ chatroom hussy.

I Crashed My Own Blog!

I'm sure that gives those of you who are in my design queue tons of confidence, but it's true. Some of you may have happened upon my blog and gotten a message that Life With My 3 Boybarians was inaccessible with an error code. I was freaking out! I admittedly use my blog for record keeping. Those links over there to our curriculum, but especially to our custom-made history schedule is accessed by me at least weekly.

How did it happen? So I discovered in my nosing around that Blogger has a whole draft platform where they have lots of cool widgets available that are still in beta. And I think to myself, "Ohhh... I really need that one!"

Lesson learned. Don't hack Blogger while Blogger's widgets are still in beta. It does unrecoverable damage to your blog. I couldn't access anything. So, I go to the the (un)Help(ful) Group. I was so afraid all was lost... all the hours here... all the videos... gone.

I got absolutely no reply from Blogger. So then, I thought to myself... if I could just remove the line of code for that troublesome widget maybe I could fix my blog. Makes sense, right? But I couldn't access this blog at all. So... (and I hope this restores any lost confidence from my design queue members...)

I went to my other blog over at Graphically Designing, and clicked Dashboard. From there I was able to see both this and that blog. Rather than trying to open up LWM3B I clicked Edit Layout then Edit html. It opened! From there I was able to find the code for the new, hacked, beta widget and delete it. I clicked save... and...

it fixed! Yippee! Never have I been so glad to be a nerd!

And since 80% of my readership is now drooling on themselves from lack-of-interest or left my blog completely, never to return again... if you're still here this is for you!

Friday night we had a family game night. We bought Yahtzee and Apples to Apples Junior. ( If you're a homeschooler those would also be known as math and language!). It was so much fun! I remember Yahtzee from when I was a kid. But even little Picasso was able to play... not only that but he won. You know it's a great game when the six year old can beat Daddy. But the most hilarious was Apples to Apples. If you have a child between the ages of 6-10 this is a must-have! You get 5 cards... they say things like Washing the Dishes, Charlotte's Web, Power Rangers, George Washington, or Science Tests. Then in the middle is thrown an adjective card, like... Cuddly, Fragile, Smelly, Powerful. And you have to choose a card in your hand that you feel fits the adjective. What ends up happening is things like... Smelly Science tests.... cuddly George Washington... or Powerful Washing the Dishes. The boys were erupting in peels of laughter. We had a ton of fun! I highly recommend it.

Long Overdue Weekly Report

It's been awhile since I've done any sort of weekly report. I love hearing what other bloggers are up to, but one of my New Year's resolutions was to eliminate some of the things that may be fun but require a disproportionate amount of time for their value. All those fun videos fell into that category. I actually really enjoy seeing my past videos, so I do think I'll still do them occasionally. But here's where we are.

Einstein has finally had the long-awaited light bulb moment with reading. He has read Ralph S. Mouse, as well as three Magic Tree House books in the last two weeks. More importantly... he read the Treehouse books in one sitting! I was beaming. He's never been one for fiction up until this point. He would pour over an encyclopedia, or flip pages in his dictionary, but until the very recent past, had never picked up a story to read.

Even though he is nearly done with second grade academically, I wanted to spend some time reviewing and reinforcing phonics before we jump into 3rd grade stuff this summer. He started with Explode the Code (ETC) 5 and will finish the whole book in about 2 weeks. I plan to move him through the rest of the series at whatever pace is comfortable for him. Thankfully, it's all review from OPGTR. As a bonus, it's helping his writing confidence. I feel good about this getting him ready for Writing Tales and Lively Latin.

He is taking a math break. Not to say we're ignoring math, but the wall he encountered doing double- and triple - digit division in Singapore 3a was just a little too much for him right now. We are still doing math games, skip counting, doing kitchen and practical math, but I made the decision to set aside Singapore 3a until March. Stuff like this used to really freak me out... I am getting much more comfortable with the gentle ebb and flow, grow and plateau of learning. I am not at all worried about Einstein's math progression. Since he is ahead of grade here, it gives us some wiggle room.

We are wayyyy behind in history. This happens to us all the time. It took us 1 1/2 years to get through SOTW 1 and it looks like SOTW 2 is going that way, too. In the last two weeks we've talked about Spanish Muslim Moors, Charles Martel, Charlemagne, medieval France which launched us into learning a little about Paris. I think it's darling that my boys call the Eiffel Tower, Le Tour Eiffel, with a French pronunciation. It's almost as cute as the way they say "refrigerator". History is interesting, and I'd like to roughly stick with a 4-year rotation, but my boys have already done more history that I'd ever done... and i rather make it enjoyable and have fun with the tangents and interest-led side explorations than stick to some arbitrary schedule.

Prince Caspian has been so much fun. Einstein is always so disappointed when it's time to stop. Picasso has managed to sit through the story, too, because he is hoping to see the movie in May. When I told him it will be here on the 18th, he corrected me with a quick, "No Mom... Price Caspian arrives in theaters on May 16th!" Trouble has missed most of the fun, and will likely be very disappointed when he isn't invited to see the movie. I think it's going to be a little too intense for him.

Picasso is working his way thorugh ETC 1.5. I find myself questioning why I ever abandoned this series to begin with. He is really getting a lot out of it. He is still working his way through OPGTR, so this serves as reinforcement. So far so good. He started a couple weeks ago, and like Einstein will work through the first book in about 2 weeks.

He started multiplication in Singapore 1b in January. He claims he doesn't know how to multiply, but can now skip count: 2,3,4,5,9,10,11. We still have to learn 6,7,8 and 12. He still needs to skip count his way through his multiplication problems, but at six, I'm comfortable with that. We are looking into upgrading Timez Attack for reinforcement, speed and a fun way to earn productive screen time.

We have also just finished the Old Testament of Tomie dePaola's Bible Stories. We'll begin the New Testament on Monday.

Without getting too wordy and long, I can say I'm feeling more comfortable in my skin balancing the role of mom, teacher, employee, wife, etc. I think I've learned to loosen the reigns on school a little bit, and as a result I have much happier students and a much more laid back mom.

Happy Homeschooling

ps - I did 20 minutes on the elliptical yesterday. Yay me!

My Valentines

My Boybaric Valentines.


My timid Valentine.


My silly Valentine.


My black-n-blue Valentine.


My late night Valentines.


My "yes-they're-sober" Valentines.


My yummy Valentine.


My beautiful Valentines.


My One 'n' Only Valentine.

Pants on Fire

Six and a half minutes.

That's how long I survived the first round on the elliptical machine.

Which is pretty good considering my first urge to get off came at 42 seconds.

So that leads me to my next topic: I don't believe you. Those of you who say things like, "Oh, I love my elliptical!" and "That's so awesome you got a machine, you're going to love it!" "It's the best workout ever!"

I'm not trying to be funny here. I just really don't believe you. Not even a little bit. I hate it. I hate it from about 35 seconds on. It hurts me. My legs burn. It's NOT fun. When I'm done... with all 5 min and 30 seconds... I don't feel good. I feel nauseous and an incredible urge to sleep.

So, all of you workout queens out there... you don't fool me. I feel so betrayed.

Another QnA at LWM3B

Here are some of the questions from my comments and inbox lately that inquiring LWM3B minds want to know.

Q: You have awesome music, Darcy. Where can I get myself some tunes?

A: Well, first will someone please go tell Kysha that my music is awesome? Even when my 4 year old helps? Okay, next I say exercise caution when deciding if you want music. A lot of people find this feature extremely annoying. Bloggers who like to have a lot of windows open at the same time (uh, me) have crazy things that happen when our own blogs are open... then we go visit our friends. Want an example? Open my blog and the Nester's blog at the same time. Another example? Abba is blaring when I'm trying to hear my future daughter-in-law sing itsy bitsy spider. It's madness, I tell ya.

If you still want music after all that... here's how you do it. Scroll down my blog... waaay down. See the very bottom footer? There is a little music widget down there. Click it. It should take you to the site where you can make your own. That easy. It's free. I love free. And Kysha... you can also skip to ABBA if you want.


Q: Did you ever find more PB Loco?

A: Yes! But not at the SuperTarget. I made the 1/2 hr trek to the closest one only to find all they had was Sun Dried Tomato and some Jungle Banana flavor. Blech. Luckily for the boybarians, their Nanie loves them very, very much. She sent us a case of PB loco and I wish I could have recorded Einsteins whoops of joy and the way Picasso danced around the kitchen. We currently have 3 open jars and Einstein has eaten a variation of PB Loco for every meal since then. Okay, I have had my share of it too. Thanks, Nanie.


Q: Did your elliptical machine ever arrive?

A: No. After two days of "unreachable conditions" the freight company tried to ship it back... to the pacific northwest! Can you even believe it? Today, Handy Man called me and told me he drove to a town about 45 minutes from here to pick it up from the freight company. My Lenten Promise starts tomorrow; the elliptical will be here late tonight!

(Update: As of 10 pm Friday nite - it's here! Handy Man is assembling it right now! Dainty, I am already cursing your name for this.)


Q: Are all those cute girls your college roommates?

A: Nope, but they are just as fun as a whole gang of college girls! I met those amazing mommies through the March of Dimes. They are all mommies of miracles, both survivors and angels. We come from all over the US and try to get together a few times a year. Not only are these women some of the strongest women I know, but they dedicate oodles of hours to volunteering. They are very selfless when it comes to making sure other families find the NICU a less terrifying place than it was for us. It is very empowering to have a set of girlfriends who truly understand the ache, fear, isolation, grief, hope, triumph, and joy that starts (and sadly, sometimes ends) in the NICU. There are others, too... that couldn't come that time, but that I've talked about in my blog before. You can meet most of them over there on my blogroll. 'Cept for Dainty and ksc. They're slackers like that. But McTriplet Mommy, Miracle Monster Mom, Phamily Matriarch (Chuc' Mung ` Nam Moi'!) and Little Wonders (Happy birthday to the Wonder Triplets!) are all clickable. So is QuadMom... she's coming for a girls' weekend tomorrow! In case you were wondering... thats 2 sets of triplets, 1 set of quads and a partridge in a pear tree.

Q: How did you make that adorable picture of your boys over there -------> on your side bar?

A: Photoshop. By making all three photos the same width, in the case of my blog about 175 pixels wide, I was able to stack all the pictures into a single image. Then using the text feature, I just wrote their names and ages on each one so you could see the boybaric creatures I blog about all time. I'm thinking of adding Handy Man over there, too. Wouldn't that be *handy*???

Q: So... is Handy Man really a "handy man"?

A: Hahehehaeahhooohoohheahehaha! Hooohee, that's funny! While he is handy, it's just a fun moniker. Handy Man is actually a residential designer. That means he designs houses, like an architect - only his degree is in Urban Design instead of architecture. This is also why there is usually a plethora of blue prints in the background of my photos.


Q: You said in a blog that you're a "work at home mom". What do you do?

A: I am a web moderator for a NICU Family Support site. I work part-time from home. The site provides parent-to-parent support for families who have a baby born too soon, a baby born with birth defects, for families who have experienced pregnancy or infant loss. It is an excellent and sound medical resource as well as a place of hope and comfort for so many parents who are at their most fragile. I am proud to be part of the team that makes sure there is a soft place for NICU parents to land.

Q: How are you ever going to recover from this?

A: I never will. But maybe this pic of me and Handy Man will redeem myself a little bit. I no longer have a mullet and I wear more sensible clothes now. I'll try to find the one of me at 14 in a HUGE men's XL shirt of Bart Simpson that says, "Don't Have a Cow Man." (Nanie do you have that one somewhere?)

Doesn't Handy Man look like a little boy??? Awww, he's so cute.

That's it for this installment of QnA from YOU. Thanks for playing along.

It's a Marathon

I imagine even the most experienced teacher has doubts at one time or another. I am nowhere near what I would called experienced, and I have them all the time. But unlike a school teacher who can blame the parents, the system, the curriculum choices made for them, the requirements to prepare for standardize testing... if my students fail I have only myself to blame.

I am not uncertain about the choice to homeschool; that one I feel pretty confident about. It's the multitude of decisions within the decision to homeschool that make me doubt, question, hope, and wonder...

But, boy oh boy (oh boy!), I certainly go around in circles about my homeschooling choices. Laps. Think of your high school track. I do those in my head all the time. I visit and revisit choices. Then, I visit them once more to make sure I made the right choice.

Do I push too hard? Do I not push hard enough? Did I choose the best curricula, program, even style of books?
Will they learn enough? What is extracurricular? What will matter the most when they are 18 and fly from the nest?
Why does my 6-year-old not like school? He doesn't like anything... is it his personality or is it my approach?

Should I finish phonics before starting Latin, or would Latin boost phonics? Should I be alarmed that my 7-year-old, math-loving child hit a brick wall about long division and "hates division"? Why does a 7 year old need to know long division? Why am I questioning the well-proven track of a recognized math program? Why wouldn't I question it?

There is a line in one of my favorite movies, The Devil Wears Prada, in which Emily says to Andrea, "I rarely say this to anyone other than myself, but you have GOT to calm down."

I think it's easy for me to forget that learning is marathon, not a race. It's okay to hit learning blocks like long division (by the way, I am so with him on the long division woes. Blah.). Homeschool is not "school at home"; unlike an institution balancing hoards of children, I need only assure my own three of success - however that may be defined for them. I need only account for the well-being and growth of three students. Three students in whose success I am extremely invested.

Educating one's own children can be daunting for Type As like myself. I want so badly for my children to love learning that it's a constant inner struggle with myself to make sure my ambitions don't suck the life out of the journey. And just when I think I've ruined their love of learning... I catch Einstein curled up with Ralph S. Mouse. He was reading of his own volition, a book he choose for himself, not prompted by me, not "part of school" because.... he wanted to. I turn around to catch Picasso reading a Froggy book to Trouble and laughing about flies in cake. It's not The Iliad, but it is a 6 year old reading independently for pleasure. On his own volition.

And like food for my soul, it is just the thing this mother's heart needed.

I am finding that, as I find my own path on this journey, it is much more important to me the time we spend with books, great stories, engaging authors, beautiful illustrations, and lots and lots of WORDS. I find I am starting to care less and less about workbooks, worksheets, and things that school teachers need to measure their students' understanding of material. I am growing more confident in oral narrations, and being able to gage for myself their comprehension and appreciation for books. It isn't school at home. The tools teachers need for 25 students aren't the tools I need for 3. As a product of traditionals schools myself, it is hard to unlearn the typical evaluation metrics.

Man, I am getting so stinkin' smart now that I'm about done with second grade. ;)

Happy Mardi Gras and Thoughtful Lenten Season

Today is Mardi Gras, or Martedì Grasso, as it's called in the Roman Catholic Church.

For those of you who have spent your lives in a cave, this is also the last day before the Lenten Season, which starts tomorrow with Ash Wednesday and ends with Easter.

As a child in Catholic school, we were reminded of the 40 days and 40 nights of "sacrifice" by Jesus and encouraged to think of things we could sacrifice. Being a silly willy nilly of a child, I always wanted to sacrifice things like brussel sprouts or my mom's stuffed peppers (Sorry, Mom. You really are a magician in the kitchen, but despite your promises I would someday love them... that someday hasn't arrived.) As I got older and wiser (*coughhackcough*) I jumped on the bandwagon of giving up things like chocolate and soda. But really? How much of a sacrifice is soda when Christ had nails driven through his body, carried a cross, was insulted and shamed and then died, quite likely asphixiating? No Diet Cokes felt... so... trivial.

Eventually I realized there really was nothing I could "give up" that didn't sound silly even to my own rationalizing.

I still understand that Lent is supposed to be a reflection on that time. I also realize that my contributions to humanity will never be as great as sacrificing myself for all human-kind. Or at least, no one's asked me to yet.

So, what can I do for the next 46 days?

Today, on this pancake-eating, Fat-Tuesday of a day... an elliptical machine is suppose to be delivered out here in the Arctic Tundra. It's 5 pm, and the freight company said between 11 am and 3 pm. Ha! I hope that a commitment to better health is a wiser investment of my 'Lenten sacrifice' than giving up chocolate or soda. But... as an out-of-shape, 30something mom who has endured 3 c-sections... don't be surprised if you hear me screaming from Iowa,

"My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?!"

Keepin' it Real and the Value of Camaraderie

So much going on here! Notice the new song? Trouble picked it out just for YOU. It's from Shrek 2; and fits nicely with his current obsession with all things Shrek. What Trouble may not know is that he is MY hero.

First, I need to acknowledge this package that arrived at my door this morning.



Oh my goodness! It wasn't signed, so I'm not sure to thank (Mom? Was that you?). So THANK YOU! Handy Man and I enjoyed some great coffee this morning. In fact, it was the best cup in awhile. You know how some mornings it just tastes better? Mmmm... look at it! Pure bliss! I owe it all to the wonderful sender of the beautiful, delicious illy.





Also! Our school room is getting an 'Extreme Schoolroom Makeover". We have a college dorm-like hodge podge of bookshelves. We have several, but we've outgrown them. Currently, a stack of gorgeous leather Brittanicas is sitting on my floor. For shame! So Handy Man is making the entire back wall built in shelves. Above the right side computer work stations he is also building shelving up there, as well. He moved everything into the center of the room, tore off the trim, and I can hear the saw and router working hard in our garage. I need to send extra props to Handy Man because it's f-f-f-freezing out there! He is working in the garage with a little space heater that's hardly doing anything. I went out only to deliver him some hot illy, and shuffled back in. Brrrr! Handy Man, we really appreciate your hard work in the freezing cold. You are so good to us.

So this is for all you homeschoolers who think homeschool moms only blog the beautiful, perfect, tidy spaces. This is the reality of my schoolroom. We haven't been in there all week.

That ^ is my photoshop rendering of the space where the shelves will be.


Handy Man, hard at work.

And you-whoo, Nester, this is totally for you. We hung curtains in the schoolroom!



The fabric reminded me of Anna Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study - or it would, if the book were in color. It felt like a nature journal, and I loved the plants, cocoons and butterflies all over. The cocoon reminds me a little of Trouble's birth... forced before he was ready. The beautiful butterflies remind me of the gentle grace of all my boys. AND! I didn't sew them. They were purchased from Ikea and they came with an iron, no-sew kit. All we did was cut to the desired length, fold over the iron on part, and heat. Aren't they pretty?! Thanks, Nester! I would have never attempted something like this before I "met" you.


Lastly, I'm going to weigh in on something a little outside my comfort zone. I hope I don't alienate anyone. I've noticed a growing group of homeschool mom bloggers deciding to quit blogging. While many of them chose bible quotes to support their decisions, I'd like to offer an opinion of my own. My family is Catholic. I don't pretend to know the culture you talk about when you talk about "Titus women", Proverbs something-or-another, or "helpmeets". But I can speak a little about the value of blogging. Women who are abandoning their blogs because they feel it isn't Godly or is selfish may be forgetting some things that I've found very comforting. When you invest time in your writing, you give yourself the gift of time. Moms, you are more than just your kids' moms and your husbands' wives. Investing in yourself... be it writing, reading or researching.. is valuable. I don't know about you, but writing is my way of organizing my thoughts. Some of the women abandoning their blogs talk about investing time in "real" relationships. I understand that for many of us, we are separated geographically beyond what is ever possible for face-to-face meetings, but I urge you not to discount the value of a comforting word.

When I visit your blogs and leave you a message, I am no less sincere than if I pick up the phone or have coffee with a girlfriend. The blogosphere is a viable way for mothers who may be otherwise unable to meet like-minded people for conversation, friendship, support, camaraderie. When I was first introduced to "networking" online, it was foreign to me, too. I was stuck at home with a very fragile baby and two toddlers. I couldn't go meet other moms for mommy-n-me groups. I couldn't take a sick baby to a park. I had no other way to meet those who might understand my life. The same can be true for homeschoolers. Sure, we aren't stuck at home. We see museums, parks, science centers, field trips, stores, dance classes, etc. Some of us have active local groups. For those of us who do not, the relationships formed online should not be so easily dismissed.

I also feel that allowing yourself an outlet - creative, for frustrations, for organizing thoughts, for networking, for learning - allows you to grow. Blogging exposes you to new ideas, new people, unusual customs, and resources you might not otherwise discover. It allows you to see others' gifts, and take comfort in their trials. I urge those of you who feel blogging is only a waste of time to reconsider what you've gained, or furthermore... what you offer to those who visit you. So many of you have been an incredible blessing to me. Hopefully, some of my trials and triumphs and the absolute insanity here could mean something to you, too. I have made some *real* geniune friendships networking with other moms online. It isn't impersonal. My network of friends has provided comfort, laughs, support, wisdom and friendship. I urge bloggers to reach out to eachother. As technology grows, your friendships are not limited to those in your geographical area. You can find meaningful relationships that are not bound by state lines.

E Pluribus Unum.

Warmly,