It is time for a new episode of behind the monitor. I am in a funk. Yes, I may indeed have a bad attitude. I find myself a little overwhelmed looking at life and a little post conference let down. Am I alone in my overwhelment as I face a new semester?
Oh, I realized I never posted here my vlog from NYC during BlogHer. You can check it out on YouTube and let me know what you think!
I was reading about Parent’s Day that is coming up at the end of July (which I had never heard of before) and I was also reading other news/headlines. I saw the beginning of one headline that really made me think about parenting (ok, made me want to rant;), “Usher’s Former Stepsonâ€. To me, there are no “former step kidsâ€.
(Continue reading over on the LabelDaddy Blog)
Here is the 2nd episode of my personal video diary!!! I talk about my day, my views on 50 Shades of Grey and why I choose to homeschool. So what do you think about my reasons to homeschool? What do you think about my views on 50 Shades of Grey. Please let me know in the comments and let me know what you would like me to talk about next!
This past weekend I went to the Type A Parent Conference for the first time. I had heard such great things about previous Type A conferences that it was a must do for me. While I was expecting a wonderful conference, I had no idea what I was getting!
There were so many awesome sessions that taught me so much (and so many I didn’t have time to go to)! Lynnette Radio taught a great session on Goggle+. Melanie Nelson blew my mind on maximizing my Facebook pages. There was some awesome knowledge that was passed on! Knowledge that calls for action! In some cases that pushed me to considering action that left me emotional. To the point that in the Speaking Engagement class it left me on the brink of tears. But that wasn’t the most powerful part for me….
In the days and weeks before leaving for Type A I have felt like I am in a hard place in some of my “real life” relationships at home. So when I walked into this environment of understanding and acceptance, I was overwhelmed. I was a little emotionally overwhlemed to be in an environment where people just get me. Not that we are all the same by no means! But an environment where differences are cherished and the fact that we, as bloggers(or what it is that makes us odd bloggers), often seem on the outside looking binds us together.
I have never quite gotten over being a loser in grade school so I was nervous about how I would be accepted beyond my friends like Anne and Robyn. I mean, granted I had met quite a few people at other conference before but I was sure they wouldn’t remember me or care to talk to me. But as I met new people and reconnected with people I met before (or talked to on Twitter) I was more and more at ease. And I have to emphasize that it isn’t because we are all the same! We are all from different religions, geek levels, political views, the whole gamut. It seems like acceptance was based on merely being nice! And while you just need to be nice, they all seem to value your weird and quirky interests even if they don’t share them! Imagine!
It was so hard to leave all my new friends, partially because they are so great but also because I am left with a frustrating conudrum. I don’t understand why. Why do these twitter/conferences friend that I have just met make me feel so accepted yet the people in my day to day life just don’t seem to get me? They think I have weird interests and that I am weird, nice but weird, able to do things but weird, really just kind of odd.
Oh well, BlogHer is in a month. And as soon as Type A Parent Conference passes are on sale for 2013 I will be buying 1. And until then I will continue to live on Twitter and with my virtual friends…
I have always been afraid of water. I think it is the horror stories I heard as a kid (granddad had a heart attack and died in a reservoir), the fact I almost drowned at 5 and I am a control freak.
But I love the water. I like to be near it, I tend take pictures of it every time I can and I like to vacation by it.
I am fascinated by water. I think it is where my nerdiness may have begun because I am fascinated by it. Even as a small child I wanted to understand how and why works the way it does. And that is all science! The more I understand the more I realize how powerful it is. And the more I understand the science behind water the more I understand how much more I want to learn!
Ok, I thought this was hilarious! His tips are a little useful but his delivery is great! Perfect for a little Hump Day Humor!
Let me preface this with the fact I have never denied. Kids are a little nutty. But even knowing that I am often surprised by them and how they handle things. Take this morning for example….
We have a loft set up with Legos, K’Nex and a Super Nintendo for the kids to play in. So my 6 year old has been playing a ton of Zelda on the SNES so this morning I told him that he couldn’t play Zelda with out my permission. I wanted him to build some cool stuff with Legos and take a video game break. Then the other kids were stoked because he had been sucking up all the video game time. He wasn’t thrilled but no melt downs or anything.
So cut to play time in the loft. Since the kids are out of my sight I am sensitive to sounds. So when I hear the 4 year starting to cry I call all 3 kids who are in the loft downstairs to me to find out what is going on. The Nerdpud wants to play the  6 year old’s profile on Zelda and he said no. I totally backed him up on this.  There are only 3 profile slots on Zelda so this is always a little of an issue. NerdPie, my 8 year old, had said her sister could play on her profile and I thought that was great. But the 4 year old was still teary. You could tell she was flipping through arguments to use (because she kept starting sentences and trailing off) and then she had a moment of truth. She exclaimed, “But he has all the cool stuff!!!” I held firm and she shuffled off and found a way to play for 30 minutes in spite of her disappointment;).
Last Zelda story of the morning. While the baby was playing Zelda the 8 and 6 year olds were building away with the Lego’s. We now have a variety of Zelda fairies through out the loft along with the wizard and a sliding door for the sanctuary.
Kids, they are kind of crazy but a lot of fun;).
“In a world of rugged individuals we strive to be individuals who make up a rugged family.” That was my first thought when I heard the phrase “Making Together Better” and the contest Brica is holding for Type A Conference sponsorship.
I know, I sound a little corny but we can say that “making together better” is really good summary of Nerdad and mine’s life mentality. (Frankly, I would include the kids but they are a little young to have a well defined life mentality.;) In today’s society it is easy to have great activities going all the time but family completely isolated for each other. And frankly, we didn’t go through all the trouble of have 4 kids to not enjoy life with them;).
We apply “make together better” in a variety of ways! 1 way is to use it as a threshold when we decide what “extra” activities we do! And I mean for all of us, including mom and dad! While I would love to be a killer blogger who is on every story and every headline and hits every awesome conference. NerdDad would love to have phenomenal software business. The kids would love to take Irish dance, choir, Awana, Robotics, be in a drumming group, Boy Scouts, Heritage Girls, sports and play with their friends every day.
There just isn’t time to do all that and spend time as a family, much less eat and sleep. So we have decided to plan our schedules to make not only our individual lives better, separate from each other, but make our lives better together as a group.
So we do! There is only so much time so if an “extra” activity can bring value to the whole family, it gets a priority!
When I decide what blogging things I attend and focus on I take my family into account! I love working on video games and movies and tech because I enjoy that with my family so much! NerdDad sometime chooses to spend his extra development time making a game for the kids because it brings a value to the family! The priority activities for the kids are ones that more one of them can do! Robotics is a huge priority because not only do a couple of the kids do it but NerdDad coaches!
Not to say that we never do anything that only 1 person will enjoy but those activities have to fit around everything else! We are not a family who smiles upon the idea of always having to be on the go or eating in the car for us. Not that it is wrong, just not what we want;).
We make together better by making together a priority!
Thanks to Brica for the opportunity to try to win a Type A sponsorship! Check them out at their website as well as Facebook and Twitter! And if you feel so inclined tell them I should win;).
Welcome to the Carnival of Homechooling! Won’t you come on in, get a cup of coffee and make yourself comfortable? We have quite a few great entry’s this week so lets jump right in!
No matter what your education style is we all agree that life happens. One of the blessings of homeschooling is that homeschooling can work with the chaos of life! We have some great entries that specifically look at life and the flexibility of homeschooling!!!
Holy Spirit Led Homeschooling as a great piece on why they have The Year Round Homeschool and flexibility is a key point!
Why Homeschool talks about the chaos of moving back into their house and homeschool in Life Goes On.
Everything Home with Carol has a great piece on teaching with flexibility in Math on His Turf.
Life is complicated as homeschooling parents! Getting started is its own craziness! Den School talks about their First Major Homeschooling Mistake, I don’t see any problems ;).
A Little Homeschool Blog talks about the necessary evil of Multitasking and the Homeschool Mom. I don’t know if I am good at homeschooling but heaven knows that I do a lot of it!
With all the craziness life it is nice to read articles from Barbara Frank about Keys to a Successful Homeschool Convention Experience (part 3) do we can be quipped to handle this all just a little better!
I really think a great way to manage the chaos is found in Parent at the Helm in R*E*S*P*E*C*T: Find Out What it Means to Your Kid. It really can calm everything  to feed our kids well too! Mel’s Mouthful on Mothering looks at 32 Snacks for Energy to feed your kids!
Then we get to the nuts and bolts of homeschooling! Starting with Close Shave and their Learn English Comedy Podcast. Our Curious Home has a great and beautiful piece on their field trip to The New England Aquarium last Thursday. No Fighting No Biting has a great peace on 4 Children Reading Under the Covers on getting kids to not just read but loving it!
Homeschool vs Public School talks about Combining History, Geography, & Economics in Your Homeschool.
Practical Pages has a great piece on Hands-On Knots! Great piece for even older kids. Then over on Free Homeschool Deals has a wonderful Free Printable Set for Little Mommy: Caring for Babies. My 4 year old will love this!!!
The last article to close out this week’s carnival is with a wonderful article that reminds me of what I am striving for! Homeschooling Atheist Mom has a piece by her daughter about how Homeschoolers are Weird (and frankly, I am glad!).
That wraps up this week’s carnival! I want to thank everyone for these awesome articles!!! I encourage you to go and read them and then make sure to comment! Bloggers live on comments;).
Why don’t you join in the fun? Submit you article for next week’s Carnival of Homeschooling!
Have a great week of homeschooling! And remember, it is a marathon not sprint!
(This is basically the same as my vlog;)
I admit it. Not only have I been watching GCB over on ABC, I have really been liking it. I wasn’t sure I was going to watch it because I know what it stands for and was afraid it was just going to be Christian bashing. I watched pilot on Hulu the day after it came out but during the pilot I had a twitter conversation with the fabulous @GraceDuffy, while she was watching it live. I said that I was afraid to watch it because I thought I would both find it funny and be offended. She said I would;). Well, I found it funny and was just a little offended.
So what am I yammering about?
This last weekend I was at a women’s retreat with my church and a few of us were chattering as we were prepping things for the next morning. I don’t even remember what brought it up but I made comment about feeling old but yet still oddly relevant. I mentioned that on the previous week’s GCB (where they put on the musical) that the final song was DC Talk’s Jesus is All Right With Me and how that came out when I was in high school (and had front row tickets to the concert).
All of a sudden I hear, “Jackie, don’t tell me you watch that show!” I was thrown off there for a second and responded that I didn’t understand why not. Yes, I know what GCB stands for but it is actually about a specific group of girls and not just bashing Christians. I also said that it is so funny because we all know those people and well, it is funny. I mean I heard as a child it being that boobs make your cross hang straight. In real life!!! Now granted I have theological issues with their pastor but I am not attending his church (and I will probably write and complain about them in another post;).
You know the reason I was given as to why I shouldn’t watch it? Well, then non-Christians will think we are all like that and something about it then being ok to ridicule and dismiss us. And really struck a cord with me but maybe not to the same effect this person meant.
Do we think that if we don’t watch this non-Christian show and we don’t laugh with them they won’t know these people really do exist. I think it is actually our inability to laugh with people outside our faith about characters like these that makes people outside the church assume we are actually these characters. Â I mean talk about taking ourselves to seriously! I think that it is seeing a real Christian in the face of farcical Christians that illustrate true Christian character.
And make no mistake, Christians laugh at themselves and others in the church. Churches hire comedians that make fun of not only the characters but things we actually do. Why is that ok? Is it ok to laugh as long as the other side doesn’t see you? If that is the case, I think it is a silly rule. Â I laugh and I will probably laugh no matter who is laughing with me….As for that making fun of ourselves. Watch the video. Tim Hawkins even makes fun of ways people pray. It is hilarious;).
(And some time I will tell you how Ned Flanders was the best Christian on TV for a decade, until he started sleeping around;)