Homeschool Vote, Tuesday Plans

Well, well, what do you know? I clicked on over to the Homeschool Post and, lo and behold, my blog was listed on their site! Apparently someone nominated me for Best Crafts, Plans, and Projects Blog (and didn't tell me, how funny!) I'm honored. I don't expect to win, not by a long shot, but I am still mighty honored. You can vote once in each category, so head on over and cast your votes.

Today we're on a race to get schoolwork done, and then we're going ice-skating! YAY! I haven't been in years. Fred hates it. Yes, he hates it. Fine, be a party pooper. So I'm going with a friend and her kids, and Fred is taking our littlest man on a "special time" to a park playdate and out to ice-cream. He may be a party pooper sometimes, but he's definitely a good daddy.

And then, folks, we're going out for our anniversary dinner. This weekend marks 13 years. I've talked about our differences, and how we've started to overcome those. The point is that marriage isn't easy. At least not always. Marriage, like all other relationships, goes through seasons. We've had Up Months, and Down Months. We've even had a couple of Down Years. We've fought like cats and dogs, and then gone through periods when we couldn't even let go of each other. It takes a lot of work but, at least for us, it's gotten better and better every year. I love my Man!

Also at the top of my Blessings List today is the weather. I've heard some people griping about 70+ degrees in mid-November, but I love this!!! This is exactly my kind of weather. In fact, yesterday I sat outside, face to the sun, and told my kids that some days are so perfect they almost feel like a dream. The sunshine and light breeze does that to me.

Enjoy it, folks, because we'll have ice and darkness before you know it.

Almost forgot-- I'm twittering now. Follow, if you want. Check the right-hand sidebar. My name is PaintPlayPray. :)

link your email to blogger ID

Recently, it has come to my attention that lots of my replies have gone to a comment response stealer, noreply-comment@blogger.com.

If you would like people to be able to email you back after you leave a comment, here's how you change those settings... at least in Blogger.

Click on the Design link in the upper right hand corner of your screen.
Click on the Dashboard link in the upper right hand corner of your screen.
Click on Edit Profile, which is on the left hand side of the screen next to your picture.
This will take you to the Edit User Profile screen.

Look in the Privacy section.
Check the box that says, "Show my email address".
In the Identity section, enter in an email address.
Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on Save Profile.

And there you have it. Interactive comments!

So if you think I've totally been ignoring your comments lately, it's not true... you just don't have your account set to receive responses!

Interactive Art Sites

As you know we love art, and love to get messy with it. I'm all for playdough, paints, modeling clay, pastels, you name it. But we've also discovered some great non-messy interactive art sites.

Sketchfu is a fabulous little "paint"-like program that allows you to replay your work, and watch it develop. It's like time-lapse photography for art! You can see my last little bit of "painting" in the previous post. Wish I'd seen the option for the eyedropper and opacity tools! Would have made the work easier.

After trying that, we found Muzy, which has more tools and options. Might want to just start there. This is my first try at Muzy.

Drawing with a mouse is tough, guys. Maybe I'll get an iMac someday... a girl can dream.

Then there's Albright Knox Online Art Games, Bomomo, Jackson Pollock (hint: every time you click, the color will change), Planet Perplex (a lot of neat things like this, but I'd advise that you browse through first,)and Walker Art Center has interactive lessons and games, by grade. Plus so many others. If you occasionally need a less-messy art time, don't overlook the computer!

Enjoy!

Sketchfu-- one of my first tries at it

Learn how to draw cartoons, comics, and anime at Sketchfu!

A little Montessori here and a little Montessori there

Hop over to Modern Montessori Mama, and check out the parenting tips from "Mother Blogs." Yep, I'm featured over there. Apparently I'm more Montessori than I thought! ;) It's funny-- I DO use Montessori methods, and love the learning style, but I don't often stop to consider which categories my methods fall into. We're just doing what works for us, and what we believe is in the best interest of the kids. Montessori and Charlotte Mason score the best, in our book.

Lately, I've been talking more about events and art than about school. Perhaps because I've been doing far less "school" than I have in years. Papaw has officially taken over history and Spanish! Plus he's reading a chapter a day of Anne of Green Gables. It took him awhile to find a classic that we hadn't read, but he managed it. :) I've always loved the Anne books.

The extra time has been amazing. We've been doing more purging, crafting, and dancing at home. I'm kinda lovin' this arrangement!! Not only does he do the lessons, but he also grades them and plans the extra-curricular activities to go along with the lessons (for instance, they've been practicing a play in Spanish, to put on for us.)

I've also had more time in the evening to pursue my interests, now that lesson planning and grading takes a fraction of the time. I only have reading & writing, science and math now. And Bible, but that's not "just another subject." Oh, and Art...which we've been spending much more time on.

May you all have a fairy grandfather to help school your kids!!

Sooo, one of the things I've been working on is making this house more kid-accessible. They already have their plastic cups in a low cupboard, for easy reaching. And my kids' bookshelves are all low, and easy to reach. I purged some of our shoes, and had the kids gather the rest to put back. Nice little shelf, by the playroom entrance, for them to tidy their own sneakers when they come in.

And, yes, my bookcases are still arranged by color. I'm a visual person, and I -always- remember what color the book is. This system makes it much faster for me to find what I'm looking for. Plus, it just looks better! And it's easier for the little ones to reshelve books.

I'm in the process of implementing some other hands-on, easy-to-reach kid areas, Montessori style. The more the kids can do on their own, the more confident they feel. And the less I have to do for them. I'm seriously considering kid-sized cleaning supplies for Christmas this year! :)

Pregnancy Photo Shoot

Let me introduce you to Tracy and her beautiful family.

My sister and I took them out for a fun little photo shoot around town yesterday. I love all of the old buildings, textured brick walls climbing with vines and moss, and the fall foliage.

Aren't they adorable??

And Tracy is just stunning.

This is just a sampling of the 300+ pictures we took.

Plus, she's so much FUN! We had a blast goofing off with poses and props.

"Can I really handle 3??"

Yes, Tracy, you can do it!

Get ready for more pregnancy pictures. I have a TON of expecting-mama friends right now.:)

Things I Will *Try* Never To Do Again List

(a pictureless post. My camera has sustained a hopefully-non-life-threatening injury)

After reading a friend's Things I Will Never Do Again List, I've decided to make my own. Although, I'm going to add the disclaimer that these are things I'm *trying* to never do again. If I screw up once or twice, I don't want to feel like a total failure...problem of a black and white thinker. I need my own backdoor system, to carry on after mistakes.

Okay, here goes.

I will try never again to...

(I'm going to copy this one, verbatim)
1) Feel spiritual guilt about taking anti-depressants. I go through this every couple of years. I am doing great on my anti-depressants, then someone comes out of the woodwork and starts pressuring me to get off of them. Starts telling me that I am just not praying enough. Or reading my Bible enough. Or allowing God to heal me. At first I blow them off. But then it starts to eat at me and I start to question. I wean off of the meds and I do fine at first. But slowly but surely, the depression creeps back. I wrestle and wrestle with going back on the meds. I finally relent. Bingo. Find myself praising God for the gift of anti-depressants and His amazing mercy. I think I will just skip that cycle from now on.

Thank you, Ellen. I couldn't agree more, and didn't want to change a single word that you wrote. I'm probably a lifer for anti-anxiety meds and, most of the time, I'm fine with that. Until a person (usually a fellow Christian woman) intimates that I'm simply not relying on God enough. Ironically, in the past the women who have suggested this would probably greatly benefit from anti-depressants themselves. Can we just accept that medication in this form is as beneficial and necessary as meds for other conditions, like diabetes and chromosomal disorders, and so on? Thank God for the right medicine to help us treat the problems of a fallen world.

2) Feel the necessity to explain my reasons for homeschooling. I don't expect others to defend the choices that they make in the best interest of their family, so why should I feel the need to explain? You do what you believe is best, and I'll do what I believe is best. If your kid has a rough day at school, I won't be the first in line to suggest you yank him out. And when I have a rough day homeschooling or my kid misbehaves, I won't listen to your suggestions of public school & defend my decisions. I don't need to explain (unless you are truly an information-seeker, or just curious, or need encouragement.) We homeschool because it works great for us and we love it. 'Nuff said.

Most people get this, but a few probably never will. (deep sigh and head shaking)

3) Put my safety (or any member of my family's safety) in danger, due to social pressure. This was also on Ellen's list, but I'm thinking specifically of what I allow my children to do. No, we do not allow spending the night with friends. Probably never will. Yes, I have my reasons. No, I don't care if every other 5th grader has sleepovers. No, I don't think that's wrong, it's just wrong for us.

I also do not allow my kids (not any of them) to ride their bikes out of my sight. Or go in the home of someone who I don't know well. No, I won't let my little boys go in a public restroom alone. Yes, that's just how we do it, because it's what's best for us. To each his own.

4) Fit into the jeans that I bought before LittleLad was born. Something about that fourth kid changed my hips. Size 2s and 4s are probably out of the question for me forever now. So be it. The clothes can go to a new home. People, I run around all day chasing little folks and I need my calories to sustain the energy! I eat healthy, but can't/won't starve myself to fit into the itty bitty jeans; I can live in a 6. Besides, I'm thinking it's a bone issue anyway. Whateva'. I got sick of trying to slim down, and instead bought more lounge pants and looser jeans.

5) Leave my cell phone outside. Okay, this is just a personal goal, after my long and unfortunate track record with water-damaged phones. I need to be more careful, more responsible, and just plain luckier!! From now on my phone will go straight from hand to charger to purse to charger... and not on the trampoline (left overnight during a storm) or in puddles, pools, or toilets any longer!

That's all for now.

Bottom line is that I'm *trying* this thing of being true to who God made me and wants me to be, regardless of what anyone else thinks. My family fits together like a beautiful puzzle...yet we sometimes try to cram the pieces in where they don't belong. Or, worse, we grab a random puzzle piece from who-knows-where and try to make that fit into this masterpiece.

That's just not going to work.

Now it's time to get off this computer and get down to business. The kids are all snuggled in bed and, although there are dishes in my sink and laundry on my couch, I'm going to paint.

But first... do you have anything you will never do again?