Field Trips!

Ah, field trips. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My weary teaching heart can reach, for thou doest
Energize and inspire me.
I love thee for the excuse of skipping school,
Leaving dishes unwashed and carpets unvacuumed
While those weary of everyday chores load up the van
And voyage out.
I love thee for the smiles and the memories and the dreams
Thou doest inspire.
I love thee for the memories thou doest make
And the stories thou does generate.
I love thee, O field trip, in the winter
When the skies are grey and the weeks seem long.
I love thee, O field trip, in the spring
When the days are warm and our hearts sing songs.
I love thee, O field trip, in the summmer
When our bookwork is done and we're free to roam.
I love thee, O field trip, in the autumn,
When pumpkins and crisp fall leaves lure us from home.
I love thee, O field trip, at any time.
I love thee, O field trip, for escape, thou art mine.

Coincidentally, we are heading to the zoo today! Nora gave us two free tickets on Sunday. They expire this Friday, so to the zoo we will go :)

The zoo is a favorite field trip destination. Now, our world-class zoo is rather expensive usually BUT if you call in advance and make reservations as a homeschool family, you get the school group admission rate... which is $1.50 a child, free parking, and one free adult. This is a big savings over the regular $8 per child, $6.50 for parking, and $14 per adult. The catch is, you have to make your reservations 2 weeks in advance....which makes the weather a bit difficult to call. For a few years, it seemed Sweetling and I were doomed to rain on the days we have made our reservations. Rain and zoo field trips were just an ongoing tradition.

Our field trips do seem to be seasonal, so I think I'll group them like that.

Fall--

Fairy Houses: We started a new tradition this year. In september, we hike into the woods and build fairy houses. You see, fairies are flighty creatures. They frolic in the forest all summer long, with never a care for winter. Come winter, they are often left finding any old log or hollow tree they can to live in, but it hardly has the comforts of home. But, if you go in the fall and build them a house, and furnish it with bright leaves, white rocks, and acorn caps, then they have a happy retreat in the cold winter months. (They can, of course, use their fairy magic to seal up the gaps and cracks left in houses built with sticks by children's hands.

Leaf Hunt: One has to go on a walk through the park to pick up leaves (and other small items.) One brings them home and presses them in the phone book, with the intention every year of making a fall collage. Really, they just stay in the phone book all winter, and annoy the Jedi.

Pumpkin Patch: No fall is complete without a trip to a pumpkin patch for a hay/wagon ride and assorted other fall activities. This year, there was a small, very child-friendly corn maze to enjoy as well. Next year, I want to go to one of those hope-to-see-you-again-in-a-few-hours types of mazes.

Winter:

Children's Museum: This is a, no one can work any more and we need to get out and play, destination. We keep a museum membership active and we use it in the winter.

Sledding: Oh yeah baby. We only get one or two really good sledding days each winter. We bundle up and head to a local park that has a great hill that isn't very crowded during the day.

Train Exhibit: Every holiday the Museum Center has a large train display. We get in free due to membership, and its a fun little trip.

Krohn Conservatory: This is a Mommy sanity pill. After so many days of cold, grey, rainy, nasty days...I need a little warmth and light and beauty or I'll crack. So, to the conservatory we go to wonder around beneath the canopy of exotic plants, watch the waterfall splash over rocks, study the koi in the stream, marvel at the bonzai, and so forth.

Spring--

Park, park, and more park: Lets face it. Mommy is done with school. I'm tired of being indoors all winter. As soon as the weather breaks, we're gone. Bike riding, hiking, playgrounds...any destination under the yellow sun is good with me.

ZooBlooms: oh yeah. Tulips and sunshine and peacocks, oh my! We used to do the ZooMath days...but I decided the zoo is more fun when we just go.

Butterfly exhibit: Another Krohn trip, this time to see the butterfly exhibit in May.

Gardening projects: Every spring I have the best of intentions. We'll spend several day outdoors trying to make my dreams a reality. Negligence takes over during the heat of July and August, so these projects never take root. (ha ha)

Summer--

Park Programs: The local park board does an amazing job of putting on free summer programs. We usually take advantage of them on a weekly basis. Creeking is an all time favorite.

Library Summer Reading Club: Not quite a field trip, but we do it every summer, and head to the library at least once a week. Plus, the local libraries put on fun programs that we like to participate in.

Movies: Either at the $2 theater or for free at the main theaters as part of their book club (bring a book report and come to our free showing at 10am on Wednesday), going to the theater isn't a treat we take advantage of often, but during the summer we'll do so about once a month.

Drive-in Movies: We did this for the first time this summer. I'm not sure how much the Jedi enjoyed it, but the kids and I had a blast. I'm hoping we can talk him into it again next summer.

Swimming: We mooch off of friends who have pools. Or friends who have family members with pools. Or friends who's family members have friends with pools. We're big pool moochers in the summer.

Childen's Museum: Come August, it's too hot and humid to do anything outside (unless we can mooch a pool day). So, back to the Children's Museum we go.

Road Trips: Every summer, I have great plans for daytrips. We manage at least one, sometimes two of them. This past summer, the most memorable was the trip to a nearby sculpture park. There was a lot of walking involved, some really great pieces, a tree that was nearly hit, a van that was nearly stuck, a little bit of drizzling rain, a sharp spike in the humidity after the almost rain, and some drive-by art viewing from the air-conditioned van at the end of the long day. "Look kids, art," became the catch-phrase of the visit.

School again, school again, jiggity jig: Not a field trip. But by the second week of August, we hit the books again, breaking up our first couple weeks with a trip or two to the children's museum. Its too hot to do anything outside, and kids cooped upside with nothing productive to do get bored and cranky and whiny. Besides, getting an early start helps justify field trips and sanity breaks needed in the middle of winter. This August was an exception because in the first place, our books didn't ship until September. In the second place, we got a wii. For a week, there was nothing but a solid wii party with many different friends going on at our house.

And now, I'm off to pack lunches for the zoo. I should also check to see what time it opens. Thanks for reading my1,334 words. No, I'm not neurotic. I'm psyching up for National Novel Writing Month.

Pages and Popcorn

After school and a quick trip to pick up milk and eggs, I talked the children into watching Speed Racer with me. Meaning, of course, I stood in the living room and called, "Who wants popcorn and a movie?" It's like a magic child summoning spell. As opposed to the non-magic kind of spell I suppose. Sweetling started getting the movie set up while I went into the kitchen to make the popcorn.

Yes, we have bags of microwaveable popcorn, but for some reason, I wanted to make it. I put the butter in the microwave, trying to ignore how much butter was soon to be poured over our snack. I got down the Whirley Pop pan, put in the tablespoon of oil, and poured in the 2/3rds cup of kernels. While I was working, I was thinking. How many typed, single-space pages is 1667 words anyway? Five hundred words per page seemed like a reasonable estimate. So, 50,000 words is like, what, 100 pages? One hundred pages is a completely obtainable goal. It didn't even sound like that much. Surely I did some math wrong.

I stood there, redoing my math in my mind and twirling the handle of the whirley pop. And, in fact, I did do some math wrong. The Whirley Pop takes 1/3rd cup of kernels, not 2/3rds. I became aware of this fact when the kernels were well into their popping process. Suddenly the whirley pop handle would no longer turn. The whirley pop lid opened of its own accorded and began spewing out popcorn. I very sensibly shrieked, and then turned off the heat. Did you know that popcorn in a hot pan will continue to pop even when the gas flame is extinguished? I grabbed a bowl to pour the excess popcorn into...and discovered that the popcorn, while quick to spill over the pan, onto my stovetop and onto my floor, was strangely resistant to being poured out of the pan. Contrary stuff. Apparently, before the popcorn pushes its way out of the pan, it first fills up every available space inside the pan. I had to pry the popcorn out with the end of a spatula. (And yet, once out of its confinement, it was once again fluffy.) I poured more tablespoons of butter over the popcorn than I want to own up to, and headed off to watch Speed Racer.

Despite the fact that we had two large bowls of popcorn (there was too much to fit in our normal popcorn bowl), Sweetling wanted a cinnamon roll mid-way through the movie. Noticing that it was nearly 5pm, I told Sweetling she needed to have dinner first. Cause, you know, responsible parent and all. But cinnamon rolls sounded really good. So, still being the responsible parent, I made us some scrambled eggs and we had cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs for dinner while we watched more Speed Racer.

The Jedi came home at about half-past five. He said, "It smells like popcorn in here."

"Yes," I agreed. "I made some."

"For dinner?" he asks...and for some reason looks puzzled.

"With cinnamon rolls," I clarify.

"Ok, Charlie Brown." And the Jedi headed downstairs to his computer, which is so much more logical than his wife. (I later offered to make the Jedi some scrambled eggs too; he elected to eat cold leftover chicken instead.)

I decided that this was probably not the best time to ask the Jedi what he thought of National Novel Writing Month. I saved that discussion for after Tae Kwon Do. It went like this...

"So, there's this...thing...called National Novel Writing Month."

Blank stare.

"And the goal is to crank out 50,000 words in a month."

"To write a book in a month?" comes the incredulous clarification.

"No, no, no. Not a book. Just 50,000 words of a story. Not in a publishable format. Just a free-writing, really."

"How many college papers is that equal too?"

"Well," I say, impressed with my mathematical foresight, "a doublespaced page averages about 250 words. I'll just be single spacing my writing, so that's about 500 words a page I think."

"So, about 100 pages."

"Yes!" I'm thrilled that my math wasn't completely off. But I'm more thrilled with how easy that goal sounds.

"That's like 3 pages every day."

"Uh-huh," I agree, still happy.

"Every day," stresses the sensible Jedi.

"Well, yes, it will be the every day part that will be difficult, but I can crank out that much writing for any of my little board rps when I'm involved in them." (This isn't quite true....just ask Christopher Robin how many days it takes me to get around to posting. But, the Jedi doesn't need to know all the nitty gritty details. After all, reality is already on his side. Sooner or later it will swing around and make his point for him.)

Here's my bio from my user profile on the NaNoWriMo site:

This is my first year attempting the NaNo. I think I'm doing it, just to know that I have done it. I attempted natural child birth for the same reason. There are just times that I need to prove to myself that I can do it. I'm strong enough. I'm capable enough. I started Tae Kwon Do in August for a similar reason. I needed to know that I was tough enough to spar with the men who were double my weight, that I could stand my ground against a bigger, stronger opponent.

That makes me sound like a tough, determined individual. The thing is...most of the time I'm soft-spoken, gentle, fun-loving. I teach preschool and walk through the halls of the church with a chipmunk puppet. I participate in praise dance and wear a flowing white dress. I throw the crusts of my toast out for the birdies. I pick up fall leaves and press them in my phone book. I spend my day homeschooling my two precious children.

I'm not a hard, do-or-die type of person. But every now and then, its good to know that I can kick through a board. (Even if I did kick the instructors three times before I nailed my board.) And so....50,000 words. Here I go.

Now my question is....do I want to make a separate blog for my NaNo story? I'm never going to actually get this writing in any shape to submit to a publisher. And I'm missing a few critical elements, like, you know... a plot. So, I'm not writing with the goal of maybe polishing it up and selling it. But, if I'm going to write 50,000 words, I'd like someone to read them, maybe. So, should I post my story on a blog? What do you think?

ps...all of that was 1,123 words.

How to Write a Novel in a Month

This is copied from NaNo's website. Nora isn't even home for me to rail at her. Rail and wail. Both.

1) Sign up for the event by clicking the "Sign up Now" link at the top of the site. It's right at the tip of the runner's pencil.

2) Read the ginormous email our noveling robots send you. It will have "Love" in the subject line.

3) Log into your account and use the links on the My NaNoWriMo page to set your timezone, affiliate with a region, and tell us a little bit about yourself.

4) Begin procrastinating by reading through all the great advice and funny stories in the forums. Post some stories and questions of your own. Get excited. Get nervous. Try to rope someone else into doing this with you. Eat lots of chocolate and stockpile noveling rewards.

5) On November 1, begin writing your novel. Your goal is to write a 50,000-word novel by midnight, local time, on November 30th. You write on your own computer, using whatever software you prefer.

6) This is not as scary as it sounds.

7) Starting November 1, you can update your word count in that box at the top of the site, and post excerpts of your work for others to read. Watch your word-count accumulate and story take shape. Feel a little giddy.

8) Write with other NaNoWriMo participants in your area. Write by yourself. Write. Write. Write.

9) If you write 50,000 words of fiction by midnight, local time, November 30th, you can upload your novel for official verification, and be added to our hallowed Winner’s Page and receive a handsome winner’s certificate and web badge. We'll post step-by-step instructions on how to scramble and upload your novel starting in mid-November.

10) Win or lose, you rock for even trying.

Blame Nora

That could almost be a song title. Almost.

Now, I had heard of National Novel Writing Month before. I quickly concluded that those who participated in it were either a) crazy or b) extremely talented.

Sunday at church Nora came over to me before the service started. She's just a few pages from finishing the first draft of her first novel. She is so excited...and justifiably so. She has started a blog, and wanted to share it with me. I open up my way cool phone (thank you, Jedi) and zipped an email off to myself with Nora's blog address.

And then Nora tells me that she's going to participate in this National Novel Writing Month. Only she doesn't say that. Oh no, she uses some crazy combination of letters a mildly dyslexic person can't hope to unscramble without the help of a secret decoder ring. Oh yeah, says I, after she had translated her gibberish, I have heard of that. I'm not sure what else I said, nothing intelligent I'm sure. And then an excited Nora flashed away to go rehearse with the worship team. Having emailed myself her blog addy, I was certain to remember to go check it out later, and I forgot all about the NaNo..something something something.

At this point, I feel like I should explain why Nora doesn't have a cool blog name. I figure since the aspiring author posts on her blog with her full name, I can use Nora on mine. Plus, I can't spell Aspiring Author. Spell check tells me its corrrect, but it just doesn't look right. I'm sure I can spell Nora.

Toa of Boy is playing on Webkinz. Sweetling is working hard on schoolwork. I was updating their attendence online, and checking and clearing out my email. And I came across Nora's blog. So, productivity fell by the wayside while I went to go check it out.

Fifty thousand words in a month is 1667 words in a day, says Nora. Hmmmm. The point isn't to put out a polished, finished, perfect manuscript. Hmmmm. The point is to spill the words onto the page without worrying about the results. Hmmmm again.

So, how much do I write when I put up a blog entry? (Too much, I know. Those brave few who read my blog can attest to how much excess keyboarding they have to wade through to get to any point of almost interest. It's like panning for gold. How much silt and gravel has to be slurried around in the hopes of a fleck of something shiney.) Right now I'm at 433 words in this entry. That's still a long way away from 1667. I pulled up Fawn and Richard. I have 5 pages typed up for Aztersil. That's 2566 words.

Do I want to write 1667 words in a day?

Those of you who know me, aren't real worried. Ah, you say, here she goes again. A few of you are taking a pool. Lets see how many days this lasts. And you are right, you are absolutely right. There is no way I'm going to find time to write that much every day. No way.

And yet. Hmmmm.

I'll let you in on a small secret. I started, and never got back to, a blog for a character concept I had. You remember the dresses I was looking at and the character pics I put together. I had been considering trying to tell a story from a first person point of view, in a journal, or diary format. Vaya's husband, the Gentle Giant, did a little banner for me in photoshop. The problem is the word count. There's no way I'm outputting 1667 words a day. Plus, I don't want to wrap up her story in a month. The point of the blog was to give me something to daydream about. If I just hack through a word count, what do I have to keep my imagination active through January and February? So, hmmmm, maybe not.

You know what I've concluded? Friends don't tell friends about National Novel Writing Month.

Ten Timely Facts

Yes, after a long absence, I'm back to the Homeschool Memoirs Assignments. Why? Cause this weeks assignment involves no computer or technical ability for posting photos. Nor does it require creative clever rhymes. And its all about me. So, low effort, ego-centric... right up my alley.

Ten, or so (cause you know counting and trimming would be work), fun facts about me.

1) Math is not my friend. Oh, it tries to lure me in, but in the end I always want to know more about the little squirrel's story, and have lost interest in the exact count of his nut collection.

2) My hair is frizzy. It shall be forever more frizzy. It defies the straightening iron. It will, however do neat little ringlets with the curling iron. You know, the kind of ringlets that were cute and popular in about 1840.

3) I shall never master the chokehold in Tae Kwon Do. If I'm ever assaulted, and my survival depends on trying to get my attacker in a chokehold, I'm done for. In fact, we were taught, and supposed to practice this move last night. I got dubbed "Charmin" by the other ladies in the class, cause they said I just looked like I was doing a teddy bear hug. You figure out the logic there on your own.

4) No amount of crunches in the world is ever going to reverse the effect pregnancy had on my stomach. An extensive amount of plastic surgery, and the elimination of all things chocolate, might be a start. But if two months of TKD haven't done it yet, its just not happening. My tummy will be a misplaced piece of pudgy elephant hide forever. If I had a trim tummy and a cute belly button, I would be tempted to get a little tummy/belly button ring. Since I'm allergic to 99% of every earring I've put in my ear, this might be a bad idea anyway.

5)I've never been tempted to get a tattoo. a)this involves needles. b) this involves making a decision I'd be stuck with forever. BUT, I noticed a lot of the American olympians had tatoos of the olympic rings. If I were ever in the olympics, I'd totally do that. So, you see how likely a tatoo is in my future.

6)Despite my pudgy belly, I can buy my underwear from the little girl's department, cause they are cheaper there.

7)It looks like this list is not going up on the blog I keep with my co-op students.

8)The only "favorite" thing I've had for any amount of time is a favorite color, yellow. (Is yellow an appositive in that sentence? I think so.) All my other favorites, books, movies, songs, etc...phase in and out.

9)I live and die by spellcheck.

10)I'd love to dress in ethnic and eclectic clothing, but settle for jeans and tops off the clearance racks.

11) Just as well, since I would quickly get tired of some of my eclectic choices.

12) Sweetling is here to inform me I am no longer in keeping with the ten timely facts. Sweetling, bless her heart, does her best to keep her free-spirited mother on the straight and narrow.

13) Practically any sweet and delectable item can be made a breakfast food if one serves a side of scrambled eggs and cheese with it.

14) I love the flute, the hammer dulcimer, and the harp. I can play none of these, despite the fact that the Jedi bought me a flute many years ago for Christmas. Musical instruments require consistency and hard work. Not two of my better qualities.

15)Gardening also requires consistency and hard work. Despite the lies printed in books with deceptive titles like "20 minute gardening," "the low maintenance garden" and "the weekend gardener".

16) From October to March, my hands are perpetually cold. I keep a pair of thin gloves in a drawer by my desk to wear when I'm typing and doing school.

17)Flat surfaces are clutter magnets. Jimmy Hoffa might be hiding in my hall closet.

18) Maintaining any degree of artistic ability requires regular practice. Why are the loveliest things in life so demanding?

19) I can memorize entire psalms, a part in a script, or a lengthy monologue. These things stay with me for a day or two after I present them, then my brain, without any conscious direction from me, does a memory dump.

19) Sweetling is now objecting to my numbering scheme.

12b) Take that Sweetling ;)

8a) Sweetling says, "What?!?"

20) Sweetling has concluded that she has a crazy mother. And yet, your father married me anyway :) Sweetling thinks that this is because the Jedi is silly too. This was actually brought up in a Father's day sermon our pastor gave. His wife was Sweetling's Sunday school teacher. She had, a few weeks before, asked the children for some adjectives that described their fathers. Sweetling said her Daddy was "silly". From the pulpit, the pastor related this story and said, "Now I don't know if you know Mr. Jedi personally, but if you do, I think you'll agree with me in saying that 'silly' is not a word that I would have ever picked to describe this brother." (He went on to talk about how important it was for a father to laugh and play with his children.)

21)I want to end this list on one more thing. Oh, I know. I want to take a family vacation this summer. I don't know if that's going to be financially manageable. And certainly, of the big 'three' family vacations, none are happening. One of the big three would be to DC, one would be along the Oregon Trail, and one along RT 66 (for Sweetling). None of those are likely, but I really want to do something. Caves are out, the Jedi hates them. So, where could we go from Cincinnati, Ohio? We like nature and we like history, and we wont have a big budget. We also don't camp. Any suggestions?

Show Me the Music

For those few of you who happen by and are wondering, where is her song? Let me say, I read the Homeschool Memoirs assignment *right* before going to bed. I was *so* excited about it. I laid there, wide awake, putting together witty rhymes. When I finally drifted off, I had the beginnings of a masterpiece. After all, I had set a precedent.

Come morning I could only remember the first verse:

Some people say we're zany,
A few think we are crazy,
All agree we're brainy,
A homeschool family.

And it doesn't even follow the a,a,a, repeat final line scheme.

When I'm feeling more enthusiastic, I'll try to figure it out....again.

In the meantime, have a little fire scarecrow. (Yes, this is why I shouldn't write anything after midnight).

In the meantime, here's a picture of Toa of Boy at co-op yesterday. This, obviously, is science:


And here's a picture of Toa of Boy AFTER co-op yesterday:

Submission

Smurf, you may as well just stop reading here. You'll have a much better day if you do.

So, Holly@AimingHigh got me started thinking about this topic. (Not that she's considering me for her cool Visa graphic. No, no. That's ok. I plan on whining at her bitterly over this slight.) But since submission is often the dirty S word of the Christian doctrine, I want to take a moment to talk about, in my own fashion, what it is and isn't. Now, if you want to read a more, um, mature, rendition of the definition of submission, here's the link Holly posted.

Here's my interpretation. Submission is NOT being abused, taken advantage of, treated as inferior, being a doormat, being apologetic all the time (which I struggle with), putting up with snide sarcasm, cruelty, emotional degradation, or any of a host of ills and evils that HAVE NO PLACE in a loving marriage. The scene that pops immediately to my mind is from the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. The two main characters are getting a ride to a train stop. The driver pulls up in his beat-up pick-up, jumps out all scruffy and nasty looking, makes a grotesque snorting sound to clear the snot from the back of his throat, and then bangs on the truck's passenger door. "Get yer lazy butt out here and help these men with their trunk!" He hollers at the little woman. She puts the baby she's holding on the bench seat and silently comes to stand at his side. "She may be small," he brags, "but she's strong. Her first kid came out sideways; she didn't scream ner nothin.'" That is NOT submission. And yet that sort of degradation and bleak existence is what comes to most modern women's minds at the term submission.

The great controversial passage on submission in the Bible begins with the injucntion to 'submit to one another in love.' What then, is my interpretation of submitting? Prioritizing the needs and desires of another. Not to the exclusion of your needs and desires. But its doing something for the other person even when you don't want to. And let me say, as a mother, this is not a foreign concept. Really, when I started thinking about it, I do this everyday. Everyone does. Not many people really get up every morning excited about doing laundry. You do it, because your family needs clean clothes. Even if you yourself have enough underwear in your drawer to go another couple of days, you do the laundry. Or the cleaning. Or the cooking. You change the diaper, you wipe the snotty nose.

It breaks down more often when its our spouse in question. The thought is, you're a grown up, wash your own dirty socks. I'm tired, my sock drawer isn't empty, and I want to read a book. (And I'm picking laundry as my example, not because its a traditional woman's role, but because its one of my least favorite household chores.)

So, I'm not that great at submitting when a child is not involved. And to be honest, I'm not that great at submitting even when a child is involved. You can ask the Sweetling how often school has gotten canceled cause Mommy really really wants to read her book.

And no, my goal is not to become a doormat. My goal is to be more considerate, to be more compassionate, to be more responsible. To be a little less like Veruca Salt.

I read Holly's blog last week. I still maintained I got tricked into reading something thought provoking. She titled her entry "Let's talk dirty." That immediately caught my attention. And then comes this entry about submission.

Sunday, we sang 'sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow," which brought Holly's blog entry back to mind. I prayed specifically for an opportunity to submit. To honor the Jedi's request even when I didn't want to, even when it conflicted with my own plan. Lo and behold, the opportunity was given to me as we were walking out of church. "Let's go," said the Jedi when we were all gathered. "Dolphins play at one." And there sat a snack table. So, I got to the door, and turned around and headed back to the snack table. We got outside and the Jedi asked, "Did you head back, or did Toa of Boy." Indignant, I announced that I had headed back, thank you very much.

And realized I had blown it. My next prayer was for an opportunity to submit, and the wisdom to recognize that opportunity when it came.

Character Concept, Part 2

Now, before you start looking through my blog for a part one, there isn't one. How can I have a part two before I have a part one? Cause I'm random, remember? (The part one is actually found in the post Dresses or some such. If I were a friendly helpful person, I'd link it for you, but right now, I'm busy typing and stuffing my face with chocolate cake.)


So, I spent at least two hours today looking through images on deviantart. I could spen all day looking through images on deviantart and loosing myself imagining stories behind the artists' visions. There are a few images that each have a character quality that's relevant to my current daydream. (Christopher Robin, this is for my chickie in a box. I'm justified in spending time on this, cause I don't yet have an aztersil post to reply to.)

Many of the artists on deviantart sell their prints. So, if you like something, by all means go check out the artists and their work.



(computers hate me. It took me ten tries to get this post even legible. This is why I skipped the homeschool memeoirs assignment to share summer photos. AND, to add insult to injury it ATE, yes ATE three of the five comments I had to the memoir assigment I did do. They were there. I selected them. I hit publish. It published two of the five. It ate the other three. Have I mentioned that? It ATE them.)

Study Spots

I see no point in tiring anyone with my inventive excuses as to why I haven't done the homeschool memoirs in oh, what, three weeks? Or why its Saturday before I even start Wednesday's post. Those of you who know me know that this is just par for the course.

My favorite spots to study. (The original assignment, which once again I haven't read fully, was probably for a single spot...but I'm a rebel. See Holly, I told you that submission was just not my strong point.)


In no particular order--

The armchair by the big picture window in the living room. I sit here, all by myself and read a book. Reading does so count as studying. If I'm reading aloud to a child (which Toa of Boy is just starting to be interested in and which Sweetling outgrew about five years ago, much to my dismay), there is just room enough for a little body to squeeze into the chair next to me. The windows look out into all the mature trees of our backyard where squirrels race and play. Sunlight and fresh breezes stream in.

The waterbed. This is great for sprawling to read aloud or to help Sweetling organize her thoughts for an essay. We haven't tried doing Toa of Boy's phonics lessons here yet...but we might, oh we just might.

The kitchen table in the morning with a cup of hot chocolate. Please note that this location only rates as a favorite study spot if a cup of hot chocolate is involved. This is where I sit and do my devotions. It used to be that Sweetling sat and did hers here at the same time, but now she's off on her own (most often in the armchair by the living room window.) This is also where we have snack and devotions for Sweetling's "God's Girls" club.

For Sweetling: the backyard. This doesn't work as a study spot for myself or for Toa of Boy, cause neither of us can stay focused. But on nice days Sweetling takes her algebra out to the little plastic picnic table and works. Or she takes her literature selection out to the swingset and sits in one of those double bench seat swings to read.

Our school room. I'm actually not sure this rates as a favorite. I like it, and I want to talk about it, but its not actually a favorite. Its just on the list cause this gives me an excuse to talk about it. Our house is a bi-level or a split level, I always get the two confused. You walk in, and are immediately on a little landing. Up half a flight of stairs is the top level that has a living room, a small eat-in kitchen, three little bedrooms, and the only bathroom. The lower level is walk-out along the back of the house, and below ground along the front of the house. It has four rooms. The computer/school room and the master bedroom are along the back, ground level. In the front, below ground, is the laundry room and a closet/storage room that was going to be a master bath when we first bought the house, until we actually got some estimates from a plumber. That plan went quickly down the drain. (Ba dump dump.)

The computer/school room is the largest room in the house and it is roughly divided into two sections. Along the short exterior masonry wall are two corner computer desks set up to make a fat t. The Jedi's computer is in one corner and one half of the T is his domain. The other desk holds two computers, one on each end of the right angle. They are used mostly for playing Age of Empires and other network computer games. Sweetling also occasionally uses one of these when she needs to get online during school, and going all the way upstairs to her bedroom is so far away ;)

The interior wall that separates the schoolroom from the laundry room is dark faux wood paneling, and it has two bookcases and some shelves holding our reference books as well as some vintage 70s fisher price little people toys for playing between lessons. The other long wall, across from the paneling, is also an exterior wall. My computer table juts outward from this wall to divide the room in two. It is the line of demarcation between the Jedi computer zone and the school zone. My computer desk sits on one sude of the table, by the wall, and the other side of the table is open for a working on a lesson with a child. (Open, if you don't count the various stacks of papers, books that didn't get put away, stuffed pencil cup, one or two webkinz, and overflowing desktop organizer.)

The school room side has a large glass double patio door that lets in a lot of light. The short masonry wall and the other long exterior wall are both painted white, so that helps offset the faux paneling as well. Sweetling's little desk sits in front of the non-opening side of the double door and faces into the backyard. *Right* next to her desk in the corner of the room is a tall bookcase which holds her school books and supplies, and the top shelf of which holds teacher books. Two low shelves, each about two feet high, are placed together to make an L and corner off Sweetling's 'area'. In front of this L, and between it and my table, sits Toa of Boy's little desk. All of his books and supplies as well as some games and puzzles are stored on the low shelves. Both desks were ordered from a school supply company online, and are the traditional lift lid student desks.

Tomorrow is our weekly home blessing. After this happens, and the school room is tidied up, I'll take some photos to post. Right now, the school room is very untidy and not wanting to have its picture taken.

Hymns for a Kid's Heart

Sweetling has a girl's club that meets at our house every other Friday. We started this last year, when we could no longer participate in American Heritage Girls (which is a great program and we were sad that it no longer was fitting in the life of our family.)

The girls call themselves "God's Girls" and they do a brief Bible study/devotion, work on a project or learn a new skill, and then have some time to play and hang out. I was a little stuck on what to do for our devotions this fall, and then the Wednesday before the meeting, this came in the mail (check out my cool linking picture)...



I flipped through it, and it seemed perfect. It has a short story about the childhood and life of the writer of a time-loved hymn. It has a reference to a scripture passage that goes along with the hymn. It has the lyrics of the hymn, and a CD. And Joni Eareckson Tada is one of the authors, so you know its good. (And yes, I had to go look up how to spell her name.)

I showed the book to the girls, and read to them some of my favorite bits of the introduction. They were interested in reading the book and using it as a basis for their devotions. So, we started with it that Friday.

The first vignette was about Reginald Heber, who lived from 1783-1826 and who wrote "Holy, Holy, Holy". The book begins its story by saying, "Two wonderful things about a young boy named Reginald Heber amazed everyone who knew him. First, he just loved books." Immediately, the girls, who all love books, were right there with Reginald. The story painted a fleeting picture of his home in England in the late 18th century. "The other special thing about Reginald," continues the story, "was his love for God." The girls were completely absorbed.

Our first devotion activity was born from the following passage: "There was a contest at Reginald's school one year, and he wrote a poem that one the top prize. He knew that God had given him the ability to write. After the ceremony, Reginald decided to go back to his room to thank God." We stopped and discussed what abilities and gifts we had been given. The girls each took a moment to write in their journals a brief prayer thanking God for the unique gifts and abilities He has given them.

We finished reading the story about Reginald, and we read how in his hymn, he used the words the Bible says the angels sing when they worship God in heaven. We read a short devotion by Joni Eareckson Tada about the throne room in heaven, and we read a few verses from Revelation 2. We read and discussed the lyrics for "Holy, Holy, Holy," and we ended our devotions in Sweetling's room singing the hymn along with the CD. (With Sweetling climbing up on her loft bed to operate the CD player.)

It was perfect. The girls loved it, they read a section of scripture that they hadn't before, there was a practical and personal application, and we had a sweet worship time with the music. (And we still had plenty of time for a project *and* to play.) This Friday, we'll be doing the section for "A Mighty Fortress is Our God."

Two of the girls gave me permission to share (anonymously) the prayers they wrote in their journals:

Dear God,
Thank you for all the talents that you gave me and all the gifts that some people can't do. Thank you for the abbility to read, write and speak to my friends. Thank you for making me be myself. Amen

And...

Lord, thank you for everything. I know that sometimes I call myself stupid, Dum, and horible, but I know that I am Your creation, and You Love me. Amen.
PS. if blessed be your name would show up in my life, I would love it.
I Love you
Amen.

Dresses

I have no one to inflict my pictures on anymore, so I inflict them on the web at large. Its like random acts of violence, except it random acts of costuming...

Anyway, I'm looking for arabic wedding dresses for a character concept. The top one is my favorite.

Friday Fill-In

1. October is a perfect fall month.
2. Things with lots of little legs scare me!
3. Leaves are falling all around, it's beautiful to watch and lovely to crunch them under foot.
4. My favorite horror movie is "Aliens" because I managed to watch it almost all the way through...there are still some scenes that I have to close my eyes.
5. Long walks in the woods = good memories.
6. It was a dark and stormy night, so I made a cup of hot chocolate and snuggled up in a blanket to read a good book.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to taking my first belt test for Tae Kwon Do! Tomorrow my plans include kicking through a board (I hope) and Sunday, I want to finally get around to making cupcakes to take to the local fire station!