The Well Drained Mind

I'm excited to be a part of The Well Drained Mind, a new place for homeschooling moms. Here's a little bit of the philosophy behind this group blog:

"This blog is about how to maintain a sense of self in this all encompassing life altering decision we have each made, for all manner of reasons, to homeschool. There are plenty of blogs out there devoted to being a Mom. There are plenty devoted to the challenges associated with homeschooling. But I think there are few where many voices can speak to how we can maintain and grow as individuals through this process. . ."

I enjoyed redesigning the blog, which has a yummy hot chocolate theme. Okay, so it's coffee; I'm not a coffee drinker so I imagine it as a frothy hot chocolate. Homeschooling moms, stop by and visit: it's a place for you!

[And no, this isn't the big announcement. I'm quite shocked that no one has asked if I'm pregnant (I'm not), which is the usual response when I have an announcement to make!]

Because we all need a good laugh

I never fail to be encouraged when I read the writings or cartoons of Todd Wilson. When I read his cartoons, I laugh so hard I cry. Literally. He has a gift for making homeschooling moms feel better when you're having one of those "everyone else teaches/cooks/cleans/etc. better than I do" moments (or days, or weeks, or maybe years).

On another note: Does it make you a bad mother if you tell your daughter that V8 Tropical Splash is mostly made of carrot juice in an attempt to scare her out of drinking it all?

Schooling the Drama Queen

I've mentioned before what a drama queen my 7-year-old daughter is. On days when she is a little wired (like today), teaching her is a unique experience. Observe the following real conversations in our house this morning:

Drama Queen, proudly: Mommy I spelled purple-itioner!

When I looked at the dry erase board, it said "perpendicular."

---

10 year-old-daughter: Mommy, how many bones are in your foot? [I taught the kids' homeschool co-op human anatomy class in the fall.]

Me: I don't remember, honey; there are several.

Drama Queen: Your bladder!

Me: She asked how many bones are in your foot.

Drama Queen: Oh--I thought she said butt! Your bladder looks like a strawberry.

This conversation was wrong on so many levels I can't even begin to analyze it.

---

Anxious to finish schooling and get out into the fresh morning air, Drama Queen ran into the kitchen where I was teaching her brother.

Drama Queen: I finished phonics on the computer! I typed those letters and then the spaces and then the letters and then the spaces and then the letters.

Me: You mean sentences?

Drama Queen: Yeah--sentences!

All in a day's work

Do you ever have one of those days when everything goes right, your kids do all their schoolwork brilliantly, your toddlers play quietly and clean up after themselves while the washer, dryer, and dishwasher hum efficiently in the background--in essence, your home operates like a well-oiled machine?

I didn't think so.

On the home front so far today (okay, so it was yesterday 'cause I didn't finish this until now):

I grade a paper where "wouln't" is listed as the contraction for "will not."

An algebra lesson develops into a conversation in which I try to enter the mind of a 16-year-old boy and said 16-year-old boy tries to enter the mind of a 41-year-old woman, all unsuccessfully. My mommy radar goes off, propelling me towards my bedroom, in which (in what can only be described as a fit of insanity) I have allowed the toddler set to hang and watch Clifford, supposedly allowing peace and quiet for the algebra lesson. Engrossed in the antics of The Big Red Dog, no one notices my 21-month old daughter has poured half a bottle of baby oil into the carpet.

After a frantic Google search for "removing baby oil from carpet"--which yields lots of suggestions for using baby oil to remove stains from other things but only two useful suggestions for removing baby oil--I pour copious amounts of baking soda and baby powder on the carpet and scrub it with a brush, then attack it with my handy steam cleaner.

When I emerge from my carpet-cleaning frenzy, I discover that the younger kids have taken advantage of me and are in the middle of the street, and my older son has gone to his room with no expectation of algebra lessons in the near future.

What to do? Cook. So I start slicing and dicing and fill the crock pot with chili, because I have to actually accomplish something today, right?

My 16-year-old son and I do eventually reconnect (actually he and my 7-year-old daughter chopped the onions for the chili, then held wet paper towels on their stinging eyes) with a pop quiz in Russian [Here I was actually quite pleased, because I am never clever enough to come up with things like pop quizzes. I have a Cyrillic font, but I can't imagine attempting to type with it, so I wrote on the dry erase board; then I wondered if I should take a picture of the quiz as the only way to record it. . . ?] and eventually we get to algebra. I'm thinking Mr. Demme would not have been particularly impressed with my teaching today, but at least we did it.

I guess I'll stop rambling. I'll bet you're feeling really good about your day now. Glad I could help.

This Week's Carnival of Homeschooling

If there's one thing I learned during the Homeschool Blog Awards, it's that I'm not connected with enough homeschool bloggers. There were some categories where I wasn't familiar with any the other bloggers, and as one of my best friends likes to say, "That's ridiculous!" (You know who you are, my very expectant friend!) I can't wait to sit down with the list of nominees and winners and get my homeschooling batteries recharged. {sigh. . . pure bliss!}

I was contacted today about linking to this week's Carnival of Homeschooling. I was thoroughly entertained just reading the assorted quotes on income taxes, which were interspersed among the links to participating blogs.

A non-blogging fellow homeschooler told me today that she read my blog this week and sensed that blogging could fill a need for homeschoolers--not only a connection with others but an opportunity to share information and ideas. I hope to do more of that in the future. Stop by this week's Carnival of Homeschooling to see what others have to say about topics ranging from supporting your support group leaders to starting a garden and building a unit study around it.

Blessed schooling!

My sincere thanks...

to everyone who voted for My Home Sweet Home for Best Blog Design in the Homeschool Blog Awards. The results were released today, and this site won! The prize awarders are listed on the site, and it looks like a great bunch of companies. Many thanks to them and the ladies whose hard work put together these awards.

As many of you may have heard, one of the organizers, Heather at Especially Heather, was diagnosed with a brain tumor this week. Please keep her in your prayers and stop by BooMama's site on Wednesday to help raise funds for Heather's trip to the Mayo Clinic later this month. Donations are through PayPal and start at $1.

A Call to Prayer

I got up this morning thinking about the Homeschool Blog Awards and the health situation of one of its organizers, Heather at Especially Heather (she also designs for Swank Web Style). Heather found out this week that she has a brain tumor. She has an appointment on the 25th at the Mayo Clinic; apparently it usually takes 6-8 months to get an appointment like this.

BooMama is organizing a fundraiser to help offset the cost of the trip and medical expenses on April 18. Almost $10,000 was raised for Kelli earlier this year. Please pray for Heather, her family, and her doctors, and don't forget to stop by BooMama's next Wednesday. Donations are through PayPal, with a minimum donation of $1.00.

About My Design

Voting began yesterday for the Homeschool Blog Awards, and some of you may be visiting here while checking out the nominees. This little corner of the blogosphere, My Home Sweet Home, was nominated for Best Blog Design.

Last summer I read a post describing how to fiddle with your template and add a custom header; I was hooked. In September I purchased two books - one on Photoshop and one on Dreamweaver - and began learning and experimenting in earnest. This is my fifth template and represents an effort to create a non-seasonal, long-term design. I think my "diary girl" represents me fairly well: the same flippy hair-do (although hers is much nicer than mine); the blue eyes (I changed hers from brown based on a friend's recommendation). She's even got St. Basil's Cathedral in one of her pictures, which is appropriate since I was a Russian major in college!

Now for a little shameless self-promotion:

To vote for this blog in the Best Blog Design category, visit this page and click the circle next to My Home Sweet Home (bottom half of the list) then be sure to hit the "Vote" button at the bottom of the list or your selection won't count. For voting in all categories, go here and select each category to see the list of nominees.

Full Circle

I set up a blog on homeschoolblogger.com in the fall of 2005, but I just didn't "get it"--blogging I mean. I wrote a couple of self-conscious posts, didn't go out and meet anyone, didn't get any comments.

A few months later an issue of The Old Schoolhouse magazine arrived in my mailbox. It featured an article about the Homeschool Blog Awards. Blog awards? I'd never imagined such a thing! I promptly sat down with my magazine in hand and began checking out the award winners--fantastic stuff! I got it this time--blogging that is--and I set up a blogger blog after finding out some friends had just started blogs here. That article about the Homeschool Blog Award winners was what ultimately lured me into starting this blog last May. I was tickled pink yesterday when I saw I had a nomination for Best Blog Design on this year's awards.

Nominations are going on until Friday (April 6) at midnight. Go make a homeschool mommy blogger happy and submit a nomination!

A Special Day for a Special Lady

Today was my Great-Aunt Mayme's 95th birthday! We have a 3-day annual meeting at church this weekend, so we threw a surprise birthday party/card shower for her this afternoon between services.

Earlier I told you a little bit about Aunt Mayme. At lunch we recalled some classic Aunt Mayme garage sale moments. Aunt Mayme could have been a professional garage sale holder. As a matter of fact, the family feared the authorities were going to show up some day and require her to get a business license; her sales were so frequent and lucrative. I would love to know how many thousands of dollars she generated for the family over the years out of her garage. Once, a lady was having difficulty finding her purse to pay for her purchases. Aunt Mayme had sold it to another customer, who was in the process of driving away with it.

The sweetest thing for me was communion this afternoon. I took communion with my great-aunt and my 7-year-old daughter. What a treasured moment in time to wash the feet of family representing both my past and my future. Aunt Mayme commented on how special it was for her as a 95-year-old woman to be able to take communion with her great-great niece.

Here are some photos of the day, including my Great-Aunt Mayme, Aunt Linda, and I; and the one on bottom also includes my dad and as many of my kids as we were able to grab at the time.

Sweet 16

Henceforth, my fifteen-year-old son will be referred to as my sixteen-year-old son. We had so many things to do on his birthday Thursday--last day of homeschool co-op, chorus classes, baseball game--but I always take the kids out to eat on their birthday. We were so busy getting the other kids taken care of after co-op that he forgot and ate two hotdogs, so all he got was a birthday ice cream cone. I owe you a lunch, Stack!

Isn't he cute?

Happy Birthday, Honey!

Hubby Dearest celebrates the big 40 today! I am one year and five days older than he is, and this is the first year in... well, the first year ever that he hasn't rubbed in our age difference for the entire five days. He put a new pump/motor in my washing machine last night (we haven't been able to do laundry since last Wednesday) so this is a happy day for everyone! Bun, we have dinner reservations for 6:00. If you have trouble finding me, I may be passed out from exhaustion in the laundry room floor. I love you!

Resolved

I know the word resolution gets overused at this time of year and even holds a somewhat negative connotation for many: decisions made with good intentions, abandoned too soon, subsequently leading to disappointment. I, however, love this time of year and the fact that even acting on those worthy impulses for a limited time shows me what we are capable of doing, with a little resolve.

I have done my workout video for 12 days. [I'm supposed to "feel a difference after 10 days and see a difference after 20."] I did it for 5 days after Thanksgiving, but didn't really keep up with it after we got back into school. I am NOT a morning person - no sirree! - but I got myself up early this morning, did my workout, read my Bible and my Intellectual Devotional (in that order), and ate breakfast, all before the kids got out of bed, AND I was in full make-up 35 minutes before our official school start time of 9:00 a.m. [I told you I wasn't a morning person; with an earlier start time we would have been doomed to failure years ago.] And did I mention that I even squeezed in a quick post, too?

Our schooling went well today. I watched math videos with four different kids; had a good Russian lesson with one; finished a book about Nathan Hale with another; discussed Eratosthenes with another; and even had a fabulous and funny read-aloud session from the Book of Virtues on the couch.

To top it all off, I made the Party Potato Skins that Barb posted this weekend for supper, and they were everything that I'd imagined and then some.

Any mix of these things on an ordinary day would be amazing, but altogether on one day they are nothing short of extraordinary.

Yes, this first day of school in 2007 may be an anomaly, but it shows me what can be done and gives me a little hope for what we can accomplish in any given day, with a little resolve and a whole lot of grace.

Blessings to you and yours!

Feeling Good

Psyching myself up for back to school (this has been going through my mind all morning)...

Feeling Good

Birds flying high
You know how I feel
Sun in the sky
You know how I feel
Reeds driftin' on by
You know how I feel

It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good

Fish in the sea
You know how I feel
River running free
You know how I feel
Blossom in the tree
You know how I feel

It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good

Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, don't you know
Butterflies all havin' fun you know what I mean
Sleep in peace when the day is done
And this old world is a new world
And a bold world
For me

Stars when you shine
You know how I feel
Scent of the pine
You know how I feel
Yeah freedom is mine
And I know how I feel

It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me

And I'm feeling good

SAT essay tips

There is a very informative post on Jeannie Fulbright's blog about the way the new essay portion of the SAT is graded. This is a must-read for any student who will be faced by the most frightening and random thing to hit standardized testing since - well, I don't know - but I would be quite worried about it if I were in high school. It's also interesting to get a little insight into what it's like for the graders.

*Update*: Here is a follow-up post with more tips.

The Highlight of the Social Season!

Since September, the children in grades 1-8 in our homeschool co-op have been studying human anatomy, ballroom dance, etiquette, and sign language. With the exception of anatomy, these classes have been geared to culminate in a cotillion, which was held last Thursday morning. Chairs were arranged beyond the dance area for invited guests. My mother-in-law, our retired neighbors, and my husband were able to attend. I can say, without a doubt, that this was one of the highlights of our thirteen years of homeschooling.

The mothers were determined that the kids get the full experience, including a six-course meal. We didn't want to risk breaking our good china in transport, so eventually we decided to rent china, crystal, linens, and silverware, which came in special carrying cases. Amazingly, we only had one broken water goblet and one missing napkin.

This turned out to be a very emotional experience for the mothers! One mom said she felt like her son was getting married. I cried when the 4th-8th grade kids performed Nicol Sponberg's "Resurrection" in sign-language; it was very moving.

The mothers dressed in black pants with white shirts and served the meal. I mentally chanted "serve from the left, clear from the right" until I felt like I could get a job at a local restaurant. I have a new respect for everything a server's job entails. Refilling glasses and clearing plates sure keeps you on your toes!

Although Clayton wasn't old enought to participate in the cotillion itself, he was one of the children in the pre-K/kindergarten class who performed in sign-language during the program.

I am going to publish a series of posts for each of my children who participated.

Redeeming My Time

I have a long personal struggle with scheduling my household. In my grandparents' home, you ate at noon whether you were hungry or not; lunch was always the big meal; "early to bed and early to rise" weren't just suggestions. My mother rebelled against that kind of structure, and as a result we had a very loose "schedule" during my childhood. That worked for a family of four living in a relatively small town, but I can tell you from years of experience that it doesn't work for a large family living in a big city. I want - no I need - to redeem the time that God has given me, establish priorities and give them proper attention, and actually feel that I've accomplished something by the end of the day.

Being scheduled, organized, or efficient are three very distinct and different things.

I am organized. My CDs are grouped by artist and genre; the books on my bookshelves are arranged by subject area; everything has its place in my kitchen and bathroom drawers and cabinets. Being organized is not the same as being scheduled.

I am efficient. I can cook supper while folding a load of laundry while administering a spelling test while bandaging a scraped knee while talking on the phone while installing a program on the computer with one hand tied behind my back. Being efficient is not the same as being scheduled.

I am not scheduled. Take lunch, for instance. Lunch is usually late, the menu sometimes doesn't change for days at a time (mac 'n' cheese may be fun on Monday, but after four days in a row, it gets a little old), and sometimes the table doesn't get cleaned until supper time. I have actually made a "master lunch menu" which we've started to implement this week. This is my first baby step toward scheduling. Today I trained Sabra and Christian to make Tuesday's lunch. They were thrilled and so was I. Some of you may have been doing this for years and wonder what's the big deal. I, however, have failed to delegate properly and resisted scheduling, not recognizing that a good schedule involving well-trained children should free my life, not complicate it.

Master Lunch Menu
Monday	pancakes
Tuesday	piggies in a blanket
Wednesday	pasta
Thursday	Spaghettios/grilled cheese
Friday	mac 'n' cheese
Saturday	sandwiches

Scheduling suppers shouldn't be too complicated with a basic skeleton schedule. Sunday nights are popcorn and cereal nights (a lifesaver, as well as a family favorite); I think I'll go back to my old routine of homemade pizza for Fridays; soup sounds good for Wednesdays; I'll need something uncomplicated for Thursdays since that will be our busiest day of the school year. I'm working on a meal list containing my repertoire of supper recipes. I've got about 20 listed so far, just working off the top of my head without looking at cookbooks. I spent a lot of time last week on the road with my Palm Pilot and keyboard in my lap, typing away Excel spreadsheets with assorted lists and schedules. I've gotten my inspiration from my 10-year-old copy of Managers of Their Homes (better late than never) and the Large Family Logistics "Do the Next Thing" email reminder loop from Yahoo. I just noticed that Large Family Logistics has a sample lunch schedule which looks much more appealing than mine. Maybe I can branch out once I establish some sort of routine.

Next time I'll share my journey toward scheduling school.