Whoops! Forgot to Announce the Carnival!

Sorry about that! The latest Carnival of Homeschooling: The Boy Scout edition is going on at Consent of the Governed. Quite a few "makes you think" entries, including posts from Why Homeschool and Principled Discovery. Head on over and enjoy.

Home Spun comic strip #252

Home Spun comic strip #251

Luckily, this year's production was given a deadline at the start and I'm happy to say that the plays were a success in spite of various obstacles, including uncooperative weather for yesterday's performance. I'm very proud of our group of kids. They performed two of their three plays under a steadily darkening sky and when the thunder and rain decided it wouldn't stop they made a makeshift stage in my friend's house and parents and friends squeezed in to watch.

Erynn and Joe's children have been organizing these plays for a number of years. From their first production of an adapted American Girl play to Shakespeare to original musicals, every year they get better, the cast grows (Chase and Sierra debuted this year), and parents are amazed as something special blooms from the chaos.

But it does involve planning. And organizing homeschoolers is akin to herding cats. A timetable for rehearsals and show times is the result of a great deal of calendar juggling. Summer is full of baseball games, camps, workshops, babysitting, and the usual assortment of classes that perpetually fill a homeschooler's day. But somehow, the play always manages to fit into the schedule.

Even if it needs to wait for October to find an opening.

Another year has passed...

A lot can happen in 17 years. And yet it can feel like a moment. I remember when I first sketched the idea for our wedding invitation...

I remember our wedding day. Smiling and playing with my new husband. Smiling so much my cheeks hurt.

I blinked and 17 years had passed. Almost 20 years since we first met. So much life and love fills the in-between. Gray hairs creep across our heads and babies grow into loving children. Through sorrows and happiness, my joy and blessing has been knowing my soul mate sits at my side.

You still hold my heart.

More wedding pictures at last year's anniversary post.
How we met.

A Sad Passing

I want to take a moment to note the passing of Randy Pausch on July 25. You can read details here. If you have not seen The Last Lecture, you should. It is inspirational. Mr. Pausch truly knew how to live. I wish to extend my heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. He was a great man.

Home Spun comic strip #250

I find it hard to avoid looking at the recommendations that pop up when I buy something online. They can be so tempting, especially when they refer to a subject area where I feel weak. I've followed many suggestions that result from ordering books on logic, math, physics, Latin, Spanish, and rhetoric. I'm not an impulsive shopper, mind you. I will read the product information and check reviews. I look to see if our library has a particular book recommendation so that I can preview it. Sometimes it can take me hours to order one math book! Our Amazon customer recommendation list is longer than most of the books I read. And yet every time I hit that "Add to Cart" button, a fresh set of ideas appears before me with the promise of a brighter homeschooling year. Resistance is futile.

Home Spun comic strip #249

Carnival of Herculean Effort is Up!

The Carnival of Homeschooling: 12 Labors of Hercules is up at Life on the Road. I love the analogies between Hercules tasks and homeschooling! Go on over and take a look at some of the blogs who have participated!

Home Spun comic strip #248

Pushing Buttons

I think our printer is dying. Or dead. We aren't sure yet. Last Wednesday, Sierra wanted to make a card on the computer for her friend. The computer gave an error message and I went through the usual fixes to no avail. Checked the paper feed, the ink cartridges, rechecked the paper feed, pressed the on/off and reset buttons. The buttons seem to be the problem. They have become decoration. I felt like someone waiting impatiently for the elevator during a power outage. I pushed buttons repeatedly hoping something would happen.

I feel like that sometimes when I homeschool. I remember the year I bought New Elementary Math. I had been using the Singapore Math books up to sixth grade with Marina, and New Elementary Math were the higher level books from that series. You would think I would have noticed a problem when I was still in Singapore 6A and called my mother or sister regularly because I had no idea how to do some of the problems.

But no, I carried on, blamed myself for my lack of math ability, and bought all the books for New Elementary Math. It did not matter that Marina was losing confidence and developing a dislike for mathematics. We had used this series for years and I knew it was the best math book for us. I wasn't going to give up. I would push that button until my thumb bled.

Sometimes things don't work. Sometimes things work for a time and then stop working. This is not a reflection on our abilities. The math books served a purpose for a time just as the printer did. Once they stop working, we need to be willing to let go. Sometimes we need to give up to find our way.

When I accepted that our math curriculum wasn't working, we made use of the library to find something that did work. For algebra, it meant getting both of us over our fear of higher math. I started with the book Algebra Unplugged by Ken Amdahl. This book approaches algebra from a writer's perspective. It was a beginning for us. I continue to use the library to test out math texts each year. Once we find something that works, we buy it. I wouldn't say she loves math now, but she is much more tolerant and less afraid of it.

Eventually, I will give up on the printer. But I may plug it in one more time and push the buttons a little longer. I'm a slow learner.

Home Spun comic strip #247

How my children love books! Pages have been crumpled and ripped in the excitement of seeing the pictures and the need to see what happens next. Artwork has been added. Always in a non-erasable marker or crayon. Each child has left their own special mark on a number of library books. We own them now. The library has had many new books courtesy of my toddler vandals. I always report the damage because it's what I want others to do.

I used to worry about how much we paid in late fines and book replacements. I now realize it is a direct result of how much we use the library. Yes, books go missing for months every now and then because someone forgot to return it to our library book shelf, but they are being read. Our days of written-on and torn-page books is now past, but the love of books and libraries grows with every year.

Home Spun comic strip #246

Homeschooling Carnival at Red Sea School

The latest Carnival of Homeschooling is now showing at Red Sea School. Head on over and enjoy the "Summertime-and-the-livin-is-easy" edition. As usual, lots of interesting reads ranging from informative to fun. Take a look!

Home Spun comic strip #245

Our libraries offer a summer reading game every year. Each library does it differently, but all offer prizes based on how many books the children read over the summer. The intention is to get children reading more. The thing is, most of these programs top out at 50 books. If your child read The Hobbit in a week when she was eight years old, this isn't particularly challenging. It was useful for my more reluctant reader, Chase, who was all about the prizes and read for the pleasure of getting something. I signed up Sierra for the reading game this year hoping to inspire her to learn to read. We'll have to see how that goes.

Now if I could just find a summer writing game, I would be set.

Home Spun #29-31 Knitting Tangles

I'm still busy! Can you believe this? Where's my summer vacation? At this rate, I won't be relaxing until Christmas! These are some of my earliest strips. I'm posting them for Bonni, to make her laugh.

It's amazing how far we've come. Back when I wrote this, Marina was only starting to knit. Now she spends time on knitting sites and is working on her first pair of socks. Complete strangers come up to her when she is knitting and ask questions I don't understand because they speak in knitting code.

A Flash in the Dark

Call me nuts. I know you'll want to. I spent a few days this week following baby skunks around our yard, hoping to snap a picture. This is not as easy as it seems. For one thing, skunks are nocturnal, which presents certain difficulties with my less than professional, zero-night-vision camera. For another thing, skunks...skunk. Our cat has had first hand experience with the capabilities of the skunk.

But baby skunks are very cute. I desperately wanted to share my local wildlife with friends and family. My first attempts at photographing them was through a window. If you aim a not-so-great-for-night-shots camera through a window, you get a great picture of black. Then my batteries went dead. The next time we saw them Dusty was outside. We dragged her in and realized that she did not stink. Anymore than usual. I figured out that the baby skunks are very self-centered (what baby isn't?) and as long as I kept a certain distance between us, they would happily wander about and ignore me. So out I went with my camera and tried to take pictures from the doorway.

My batteries were dead. I thought I changed them? I whispered loudly through the door for more batteries. A second pair was passed to me. These were also dead. My subjects were wandering off. Doesn't anyone recharge these things? I tell Sierra to bring me a fresh pair of disposable batteries as the skunks wander off together to darker sections of the yard. By the time I fumble with the batteries, I realize I'm going to have to get closer and use the flash or else I won't have a picture worth showing. But the skunks wouldn't stay still and even with a flash I was shooting blind. My best shot that night was of the two skunks from their head to belly in a corner of one picture.

Tonight, luck was on my side. We had pizza. Sierra had taken hers outside and dropped the crust near the bird feeder. I don't know why she did that, but it worked in my favor. Apparently, skunks like pizza.

You'll notice that by the third photo the skunk was looking directly at me. I decided I should quit flashing him. Then Dusty came up the path. I figured I would get her in before we discovered the limits of the skunk's patience.

Home Spun #134-136 Don't Complain

I am posting reprints while life is busy.

Carnival of Homeschooling at Super Angel

Mmmmm. Ice cream. Is there a better reason to check out this week's Carnival of Homeschooling at Super Angel?

Home Spun #122-124 The Flower Experiment

I'm posting reprints while life gets in the way. I hope you enjoy revisiting "The Flower Experiment." If you have a favorite strip you would like to see again, please let me know.

On Enjoying Life

Every now and then I like to explore a quotation collection. It's a weakness. Today I explored quotations under the subject of life at the World of Quotes site. Some of my favorites:

Enjoy life. There's plenty of time to be dead.
~Hans Christian Andersen

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.
~T.S. Eliot

Too much sanity may be madness. And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be!
~Miguel de Cervantes

All animals except man know that the ultimate point of life is to enjoy it.
~Samuel Butler

I know not everyone will agree with my perception of life, but I'm glad I could find some quotations that speak to me. I wish I could help everyone to understand my perspective. I think the "Life is suffering" crowd tend to get more coverage because they are "serious" and I am "not serious." It's funny how wanting to enjoy life labels you as someone who is shallow and irreverent. As an artist, I revel in Creation. I love the natural world and appreciate what I have been blessed with. There is such beauty and happiness in life, how can I avoid enjoying it? I believe it is there for us to marvel at, not to fear. I try to stay present minded that I might enjoy the now, instead of mourning the past or worrying over the future. In my life I have gone through periods of depression and I know how easy it is to focus on the negative and become buried in sadness. But it is just as easy to lift yourself with the simple joys that surround you. A flower in bloom, a fledgling bird following its parents, a firefly lighting up in darkness, all these small things bring a smile to my heart. Laughter recharges a weary soul. I want to share that happiness with others.

Home Spun comic strip #244

Have a fantastic Independence Day!

I'm not sure if I will be able to get next week's comics up in time, so I will post some reruns next week. May everyone have a safe and happy July 4th weekend!

Home Spun comic strip #243

Carnival of Homeschooling at About Homeschooling

Be sure to check out the latest Carnival of Homeschooling: Celebrating July 4th at About Homeschooling! Lots of interesting posts and a holiday weekend to leisurely enjoy them. Woohoo!

Bumbling through the Garden

I love bumblebees. I consider them the big shaggy dogs of the bee world. Appropriately named, they bumble about through the garden, happily buzzing from flower to flower. I've even found bumblebees resting on flowers in the evening, the good dog asleep on a fuzzy rug of yellow.

Of course, one must always remember that dogs bite and bumblebees sting. Yesterday, Sierra rescued a bumblebee from a bucket of water by scooping it onto a stick and set it on a flower. She was so proud of her heroic deed she called me outside to see where she had set the bedraggled fellow. If only she had stopped at that point. I went back inside and not ten minutes later she was screaming that the bee was stinging her. As she ran to the door I could see the bee on her shirt, buzzing and angry. I pulled the shirt off and tried to carefully shake the bee away, but it would hear none of it. It continued to poke at the shirt, clinging tightly with its chubby legs. I finally left the shirt outside and went in, where Marina was applying a paste of wet baking soda to Sierra's stings.

I asked Sierra what happened to the bee. It seemed so upset. After a long series of questions I learned that the bumblebee had fallen off the flower and Sierra felt the need to try to force it onto a stick so she could place it back on the flower. We all have our limits. The bee wasn't too happy with her poking it and ended up jumping onto her hand and stinging her. She managed to sweep it off her hand, but it continued to attack her.

And so another lesson learned from watching animals:

There is a fine line between being helpful and bugging.