8.27.2011
Goodnight Irene
Hurricane update from Charlotte: it's sunny and a little breezy here, and all we expect to get from Hurricane Irene -- besides an assault of news coverage from crazy reporters standing in the water on Nags Head -- is more humidity...because we need more of that.
8.26.2011
8.25.2011
Overheard: Scholastic Edition
8.24.2011
Methods
I think I have mentioned before Nancy Wilson's helpful chapter in the book The Fruit of Her Hands entitled "Principles and Methods."
Her daughter today spelled it out again over at Femina: On Women, Divisiveness, and Hobby Horses.
PS This wisdom also applies to school choices. :-)
Her daughter today spelled it out again over at Femina: On Women, Divisiveness, and Hobby Horses.
Now here is the thing. Principles are the things that God lays out for us. Love your children. Serve the Lord. Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Children are a blessing. Be fruitful. Methods are the tools we use to try to accomplish these things.
Methods vary, even when the people involved are all following God. Do not get caught up in method camps and chisel away at the number of saints you can fellowship with every time you read a new article about that thing that has become the most important thing. Do not build for yourself an arsenal of inflammatory topics. Do not be quick to fire off heated comments.
PS This wisdom also applies to school choices. :-)
Fantasy vs. Reality
The fantasy:
Every homeschool teacher has her ideal planning environment. For some, it is a quiet house with the children off at friends' homes. The computer is free for the access and the printer is nearby. It's a chance to reorganize the bookshelves, sort through unnecessary stuff, and feel settled and established.
For others, it is a day at a favorite local coffee spot with books, planners, and a laptop spread out on a big table, basking in the sunshine streaming through a window and Patty Griffin crooning in the background.
Last week, I was able to have a day like the first scenario given. A friend took my kids for the day even though she has four of her own, and I was able to plow through a good amount of work for the year ahead.
But I still needed to spend time with my books and my planner. Was I able to live my dream? Did I spend the day at Amelie's in that sunny spot?
Well, not quite.
The reality:
Every homeschool teacher has her ideal planning environment. For some, it is a quiet house with the children off at friends' homes. The computer is free for the access and the printer is nearby. It's a chance to reorganize the bookshelves, sort through unnecessary stuff, and feel settled and established.
For others, it is a day at a favorite local coffee spot with books, planners, and a laptop spread out on a big table, basking in the sunshine streaming through a window and Patty Griffin crooning in the background.
Last week, I was able to have a day like the first scenario given. A friend took my kids for the day even though she has four of her own, and I was able to plow through a good amount of work for the year ahead.
But I still needed to spend time with my books and my planner. Was I able to live my dream? Did I spend the day at Amelie's in that sunny spot?
Well, not quite.
The reality:
 | ||||
| "Oh, look! This shirt has a hood on it." |
8.23.2011
Milestones
Sorry for my absence these last weeks. This is why I have doubts about my ability to be a "professional" blogger...I like the freedom to just disappear for a couple weeks and not feel guilty about it.
Anyway, we had VBS and my mom came to visit. We celebrated quite a few milestones in the last few weeks.
One little girl turned three...
Anyway, we had VBS and my mom came to visit. We celebrated quite a few milestones in the last few weeks.
One little girl turned three...
Here is the birthday girl in the middle of her two buddies, Alexa (l) and Elisabetta (r).
Last weekend David and I celebrated our twelfth wedding anniversary with a dinner cruise on Lake Norman.
Yesterday we started school. It's my fifth year officially homeschooling.
More to come...
8.11.2011
The Help
8.04.2011
The Five Stages of Wal-Mart Grief
Last night I headed out to our local 24-hour Walmart to buy school supplies. This weekend is our tax-free holiday in North Carolina; it began at 12:01 midnight (this morning). Here is my sad tale.
1. Denial
10:45 Drive the ten minutes to the store, blasting old 80's tunes on the radio. No late-night errand is complete without Chicago or Air Supply. Pull into Walmart parking lot, remarking how busy the place is. "There must be a lot of other people doing the same thing I am," you think. With a spring in your step, you secure a cart and decide, since you have a little time to kill, to do a little grocery shopping first.
Everything is going great! This is the best idea ever! I am so smart and thrifty!
11:10 Head to the school supply section at the front of the store. Pick up a few items on your list, trying not to give into disappointment over a seeming lack of variety. Remember the school-supply aisle at the rear of the store. Perfect. The better selection is hiding back there, and you find everything you wanted.
Walmart is not that bad. The employees are friendly! That man wanted to talk Red Sox with me: I love that!
12:01 Congratulate yourself on completing your task in ample time. Walk to freezer section and put a celebratory choco-taco in your cart.
2. Anger
12:02 Begin march to front of store to check out. Wait a minute, why are the lines so long? Why do they only have THREE registers open out of twenty-plus? Why are there at least TEN customers in each line?! It's MIDNIGHT, people, why aren't you all in your beds?!
Grrr...no matter what time it is, there are always impossibly long lines at the checkout counters at Walmart. I'm tired. I don't like it here. Blarg. Why am I so tired? My bedtime in college used to be one AM or later. Oh wait, that was ten years ago. Someone hand me the Polident and tuck me into bed. Grr.
Attempt to soothe your anger with reading a checkout-stand magazine as the line wait continues for twenty minutes.
3. Depression
12:20 Finally make it to the head of the line. Start unpacking school supplies from your cart onto the conveyor belt. As the cashier scans the first of your carefully-selected portfolios and binders, you decide to get a verbal confirmation of what you already know: the tax-free shopping started twenty minutes ago.
"This is tax-free, right?"
"No, it doesn't start until one AM."
*cough* WHATINTHEWORLD!
"I thought it started at 12:01," you say, referring to the printout you got off the internet earlier in the day, which you diligently brought with you.
Cashier looks extremely annoyed, sighs deeply, and goes to find a manager.
12:25 Manager approaches, and over the din of the angry mumbles from the customers behind you, you hear her say,
"We started downloading the changed prices at midnight, but they don't take effect until one o'clock."
NONONONO
"Well, I guess I need that stuff back then, because I don't want to check out until I don't have to pay tax on it."
Manager voids the order while you restock your cart, apologize to the angry people behind you, and turn around back into the store, which has now become a bit more like prison.
Return celebratory choco-taco to freezer.
*sigh* I'm so sad. I'm so tired. Why did I think this was a good idea? Braving the crowds at Target with the kids would be better than this.
Just thirty minutes ago, you were high on school supplies. The smell of fresh pencils and new paper had obscured your vision....made you silly...made you stupid. You now see what your rose-colored glasses were hiding: every single aisle is jammed with boxes for restocking. The employees act like you're in their way, crossing in front of your cart without warning and not even acknowledging your presence.
The light is grey and harsh as you stumble around wasting time. You buy a few more groceries. You sit down on the bottom shelf in the book section and page through a magazine. The electronics department, over your shoulder, rings deafeningly loud with Michael Jackson's Number Ones and the movie Cars. An hour ago, this was fun. Now it's the stuff of bad horror films.
Will I ever make it home? Is any amount of school supplies worth this torture?
4. Bargaining
1:01
Maybe if I get in line right at one, they'll get me right through. If they just get me through the checkout line faster, I might actually darken the doorstep of this store this time next year. Or not.
In an ironic twist, the lines are remarkably shorter than they were an hour ago. You have just one customer to wait behind. This still takes ten minutes, since the customer is getting her daughter ready for college.
Also in an ironic twist, your (different) cashier smiles as she confirms that, yes, the tax-free pricing has taken effect. She is the picture of friendliness and courtesy.
It's almost as if the store -- nay, the entire Walmart empire -- is toying with you.
5. Acceptance
1:20 As the total rings up and your cart is filled up with the tax-free merchandise, you remind yourself that you're in Walmart. You should have known. Yes, there are five young children who need you at home, and they will be greeting you in about five and a half hours' time. But there's coffee. There's always tomorrow night for sleeping. At least you don't have to cram some shopping into an already-packed weekend.
1:40 Arrive home, carrying packages with you. Make repeated trips to car. Remark how quiet your neighborhood is at this hour. Unpack refrigerated groceries and wearily head upstairs to bed.
1:55 Your husband stirs in bed, sighs, and asks, "how did it go?"
You have no trace of sarcasm or malice in your words as you reply, "do you see what time it is?".
You've finally accepted your fate.
Your process of mourning is complete.
This post was originally published on 8/7/09.
1. Denial
10:45 Drive the ten minutes to the store, blasting old 80's tunes on the radio. No late-night errand is complete without Chicago or Air Supply. Pull into Walmart parking lot, remarking how busy the place is. "There must be a lot of other people doing the same thing I am," you think. With a spring in your step, you secure a cart and decide, since you have a little time to kill, to do a little grocery shopping first.
Everything is going great! This is the best idea ever! I am so smart and thrifty!
11:10 Head to the school supply section at the front of the store. Pick up a few items on your list, trying not to give into disappointment over a seeming lack of variety. Remember the school-supply aisle at the rear of the store. Perfect. The better selection is hiding back there, and you find everything you wanted.
Walmart is not that bad. The employees are friendly! That man wanted to talk Red Sox with me: I love that!
12:01 Congratulate yourself on completing your task in ample time. Walk to freezer section and put a celebratory choco-taco in your cart.
2. Anger
12:02 Begin march to front of store to check out. Wait a minute, why are the lines so long? Why do they only have THREE registers open out of twenty-plus? Why are there at least TEN customers in each line?! It's MIDNIGHT, people, why aren't you all in your beds?!
Grrr...no matter what time it is, there are always impossibly long lines at the checkout counters at Walmart. I'm tired. I don't like it here. Blarg. Why am I so tired? My bedtime in college used to be one AM or later. Oh wait, that was ten years ago. Someone hand me the Polident and tuck me into bed. Grr.
Attempt to soothe your anger with reading a checkout-stand magazine as the line wait continues for twenty minutes.
3. Depression
12:20 Finally make it to the head of the line. Start unpacking school supplies from your cart onto the conveyor belt. As the cashier scans the first of your carefully-selected portfolios and binders, you decide to get a verbal confirmation of what you already know: the tax-free shopping started twenty minutes ago.
"This is tax-free, right?"
"No, it doesn't start until one AM."
*cough* WHATINTHEWORLD!
"I thought it started at 12:01," you say, referring to the printout you got off the internet earlier in the day, which you diligently brought with you.
Cashier looks extremely annoyed, sighs deeply, and goes to find a manager.
12:25 Manager approaches, and over the din of the angry mumbles from the customers behind you, you hear her say,
"We started downloading the changed prices at midnight, but they don't take effect until one o'clock."
NONONONO
"Well, I guess I need that stuff back then, because I don't want to check out until I don't have to pay tax on it."
Manager voids the order while you restock your cart, apologize to the angry people behind you, and turn around back into the store, which has now become a bit more like prison.
Return celebratory choco-taco to freezer.
*sigh* I'm so sad. I'm so tired. Why did I think this was a good idea? Braving the crowds at Target with the kids would be better than this.
Just thirty minutes ago, you were high on school supplies. The smell of fresh pencils and new paper had obscured your vision....made you silly...made you stupid. You now see what your rose-colored glasses were hiding: every single aisle is jammed with boxes for restocking. The employees act like you're in their way, crossing in front of your cart without warning and not even acknowledging your presence.
The light is grey and harsh as you stumble around wasting time. You buy a few more groceries. You sit down on the bottom shelf in the book section and page through a magazine. The electronics department, over your shoulder, rings deafeningly loud with Michael Jackson's Number Ones and the movie Cars. An hour ago, this was fun. Now it's the stuff of bad horror films.
Will I ever make it home? Is any amount of school supplies worth this torture?
4. Bargaining
1:01
Maybe if I get in line right at one, they'll get me right through. If they just get me through the checkout line faster, I might actually darken the doorstep of this store this time next year. Or not.
In an ironic twist, the lines are remarkably shorter than they were an hour ago. You have just one customer to wait behind. This still takes ten minutes, since the customer is getting her daughter ready for college.
Also in an ironic twist, your (different) cashier smiles as she confirms that, yes, the tax-free pricing has taken effect. She is the picture of friendliness and courtesy.
It's almost as if the store -- nay, the entire Walmart empire -- is toying with you.
5. Acceptance
1:20 As the total rings up and your cart is filled up with the tax-free merchandise, you remind yourself that you're in Walmart. You should have known. Yes, there are five young children who need you at home, and they will be greeting you in about five and a half hours' time. But there's coffee. There's always tomorrow night for sleeping. At least you don't have to cram some shopping into an already-packed weekend.
1:40 Arrive home, carrying packages with you. Make repeated trips to car. Remark how quiet your neighborhood is at this hour. Unpack refrigerated groceries and wearily head upstairs to bed.
1:55 Your husband stirs in bed, sighs, and asks, "how did it go?"
You have no trace of sarcasm or malice in your words as you reply, "do you see what time it is?".
You've finally accepted your fate.
Your process of mourning is complete.
This post was originally published on 8/7/09.
8.03.2011
Sneaky Summer School
Some homeschoolers school year-round. I do not. I embrace a long summer break with enthusiasm. It gives me time to "put away" the last year, literally (bookcase reorganization and paper cleanouts) and figuratively (measuring goals, evaluating progress). Then I can move on and plan, dream, and shop for the next year. This summer we were able to repaint the schoolroom in a nice cheery green. It is easily the brightest room in the house, which I hope makes us all excited to be in there.
But I do have my ways of sneaking in learning all summer long. We've been doing a summer reading program, and we've enjoyed a few documentaries from the History Channel about people we studied last year.
Right now the kids are LOVING the BBC's Planet Earth. When I say "loving," I mean begging to watch the next episode, talking about it in their spare time, and staying glued to the TV when it's on. I read many online exhortations to avoid the Americanized version, which features Oprah Winfrey as narrator, and opt for the British version with David Attenborough instead. Attenborough does a noble job of accompanying the mind-boggling HD cinematography only when necessary and allowing the film to speak for itself a good bit of the time.
We are renting the series from Netflix but it's been so popular around here that we're thinking about buying it.
HELPFUL SIDENOTE: David Attenborough is not to be confused with his brother, Richard Attenborough, the well-known British actor.
But I do have my ways of sneaking in learning all summer long. We've been doing a summer reading program, and we've enjoyed a few documentaries from the History Channel about people we studied last year.
Right now the kids are LOVING the BBC's Planet Earth. When I say "loving," I mean begging to watch the next episode, talking about it in their spare time, and staying glued to the TV when it's on. I read many online exhortations to avoid the Americanized version, which features Oprah Winfrey as narrator, and opt for the British version with David Attenborough instead. Attenborough does a noble job of accompanying the mind-boggling HD cinematography only when necessary and allowing the film to speak for itself a good bit of the time.
We are renting the series from Netflix but it's been so popular around here that we're thinking about buying it.
HELPFUL SIDENOTE: David Attenborough is not to be confused with his brother, Richard Attenborough, the well-known British actor.
NOT DAVID ATTENBOROUGH. Not that anyone around here made that mistake. No.
8.02.2011
Clueless Girl's Guide to Making Yogurt
Two weeks ago I made my own yogurt for the first time. I used the Crockpot Lady's guide. I understand that there are faster ways to do it using a pot and a stove, but I really enjoy this method because you don't have to pay a whole lot of attention. It's as easy as turning on your crock pot, turning it off, and then some simple mixing.
You get extra points if you use raw milk, did you know? My friend Jennie orders and delivers this good stuff to me every couple of weeks. I can't afford to have my kids drink it all the time, but I figure some is better than none, right? The yogurt recipe uses a half gallon.
Here's the yogurt I used. It should be plain. It doesn't have to be organic OR Greek. You can buy a little container because you only use a half cup.
Here is my crock pot during the process. If you have a curious husband or children about, it helps to make threatening signs about opening the crock pot. Andrew especially liked the one that said, "Mom will freak out if you open this."
The last step, after you add the yogurt, is wrapping up your crock pot so it stays warm overnight. I wish I had a picture for you of this sight: a strange-looking mass of towel and blanket mounded on the counter. It's pretty funny.
And that's it! The yogurt is a little runnier than storebought, but you can either add gelatin or powdered milk to combat that, or you can simply strain off some of the whey using coffee filters or cheesecloth.
The price of this yogurt -- organic, raw milk yogurt -- was less than four dollars for a yield of two quarts and then some. If I were a good blogger I would have the price comparison here for you, but take my word for it that you can't buy it that cheap.
The last step, after you add the yogurt, is wrapping up your crock pot so it stays warm overnight. I wish I had a picture for you of this sight: a strange-looking mass of towel and blanket mounded on the counter. It's pretty funny.
And that's it! The yogurt is a little runnier than storebought, but you can either add gelatin or powdered milk to combat that, or you can simply strain off some of the whey using coffee filters or cheesecloth.
The price of this yogurt -- organic, raw milk yogurt -- was less than four dollars for a yield of two quarts and then some. If I were a good blogger I would have the price comparison here for you, but take my word for it that you can't buy it that cheap.
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