Hello all! I’m new to HSBA, and I’m thrilled to be a part of the team!

To tell you the important things about myself first, I’m a purple person. I knit. Even in line at the grocery store. I have tried to quit Diet Pepsi six times but have so far not succeeded. I don’t remember what my natural hair colour is.

Okay, now for the run of the mill stuff. I’m the author of four books, including To Love, Honor and Vacuum: When you feel more like a maid than a wife and a mother. I homeschool my two daughters, aged 13 and 10, and my 13-year-old nephew.

And I love it. Especially if I can knit at the same time.

Now, I want to present you all with an awesome homeschooling song that will be running through your head all week!

Tim Hawkins is a Christian comedian who is just hilarious. Watch this one first:

And then this one to instill in your children the importance of memorizing not just the Bible verse, but also its address:

Now that you’ve done that, be sure to watch his other videos, and then look for his CD! Great to listen to on long summer car trips.

Have a good one!

You knew it was fun, but did you realize how educational the fair can be? My kids love the petting zoo!

What about this guy? It’s difficult to tell from the picture, but he was big enough to ride!

Lessons in Physics: Can you race to a photo-worthy vantage point; find your kids on the ride; pan your camera on their smiling faces - in the dark, no less - and snap the photo at just the right moment as they whiz past you; and then race back through the crowd to the exit gate before they’re released into the masses?

The merry-go-round is the perfect way to unwind at the end of the night, especially if your insides can’t handle being flipped upside down another time.

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This post could qualify for a Better Blogging and a Foto Friday post, I’m sure.

I just wanted to share my latest favorite photo tool with you. I’m sure if you have seen some of my latest posts round’ about, you will have come across some photo collages. The best thing about them is that they require NO skill. All you have to do is download the FREE program Picasa and you can automatically create your own really neat collages as well. Try it! You’ll be a Picasa junkie in no time!

The photos above were taken at the Botanical Gardens in Austin. What a lovely place for pictures! I’d love to see some of your collages! Leave a link if you have a cool one to share!

 

Love in Him,

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Give a kid a camera and what do they see?

 

These photos were taken by my nine year old. She has taken a liking to my camera lately. Often times we think of kids as unable to express their creativity or incapable of adult thinking or tasks. I believe that if we just turn them loose with some good tools, they will surprise us every time! Maybe it is us - the parents - who need to see things differently.

 

In Him,

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Recently three of my kids and I took an impromptu field trip to The Center for Puppetry Arts for their homeschool day production of Duke Ellington’s Cat:

On the road with jazz great Duke Ellington is one cool cat. From the early days in the pool halls to the concert halls performing before crowned heads, this feisty feline has been at Duke’s side, sometimes even sitting in with the band.

But not everything is in rhythm. One day when Duke is to play a suite in honor of the Queen of England, the score has been stolen! Will the cat find the music and get it to the Duke in time?

This lyrical look at the life and times of one of America’s musical giants gets right in the middle of a career that spanned from the Roaring Twenties through the Civil Rights Movement.

The show features a mix of flat rod puppets (some are huge), shadow puppets, and short film sequences of stop-motion animation. The puppets seemed to glow in the dark thanks to the use of ultraviolet paint and lights. The cast of five puppeteers demonstrated a few tricks and techniques for us after the show. I was amazed that the vocals were performed live during each performance using cordless microphones mounted on headbands.

As well as original music composed in the style of Duke Ellington, the recorded music is a showcase of some of Ellington’s greatest compositions such as “East St. Louis Toodle-oo,” “Take the ‘A’ Train” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t got that Swing.”

Ticket price includes a create-a-puppet workshop, admission to the museum, and a special exhibit featuring the work of Jim Henson. We enjoyed the museum almost as much as the show. The room pictured on the left contained a floor-to-ceiling collection of strange and interesting puppets that sometimes seemed to have a life of their own!

There are lots of interactive activities. When my daughter moved the levers (pictured below), she activated a large puppet head on the wall in front of her. We also had a lot of fun on a scavenger hunt searching for items throughout the museum.

What’ll Ya Have???

No trip to downtown Atlanta is complete without a visit to The Varsity, America’s largest drive-in, for chili dogs, onion rings, and a frosted orange! Thanks to my dedicated documenting of the day and failure to take a picture while we were there, I snapped this one out the window as we drove away. Don’t try this at home!

A playful blend of fact, fiction, and history, Duke Ellington’s Cat entertained us all. This fabulous puppet show runs through March 16, 2008, at the Center for Puppetry Arts in downtown Atlanta.

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For this week’s Foto Friday, I would like to spotlight my friend Randi at “I have to say…” Randi takes beautiful pictures which she uses not only on her primary blog, but “me and my girl,” a separate blog with crafts for mothers and daughters. Her craft tutorials are full of photos to guide you, such as this sweet little headband tutorial.

Randi’s readers will recognize this shot which formerly graced her blog header:

I love this beautiful family beach shot:

Do we mama’s ever grow tired of photographing our babies? I think not:

What a cool and creative shot! I’ve already told Randi I’m totally stealing this idea:

Randi is not only educating her children, she educates her readers, too. Here’s a great photo tutorial for making homemade French bread, and pictures of the cutest twirly skirt with a link to the online tutorial.

Thanks, Randi, for making your blog such a beautiful and inviting place!

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Sometimes you need a little fun to break up the monotony of a school week. Not to say that homeschooling is boring - far from it. Yet… when the occasion arises, we should jump on the chance to get some R&R. I’m one of those people who really enjoy a good party and a piece of cake; especially when it comes to kids! I’m a big kid at heart. I especially love a slumber party and lots of little toes to paint and silly giggles.

This weekend we are having a party for my daughter and we are going to eat unhealthy hotdogs, drink grape soda, paint our toes, do some crafts with paint and rhinestones, paint faces, and stay up giggling past midnight. The photos here in this post aren’t from this weekend’s party, obviously… they are from my niece’s birthday party last year. I was the designated artist auntie with the face paints. What a blast we had! It almost makes me feel like a kid again to go to slumber parties.

Isn’t that what life is about: to be enthusiastic about learning, living, loving… to be filled with joy and thanksgiving for this journey we are all on? I think Jesus was a dynamic person who was fun to be around. I think he laughed loud and smiled big. I think you could see the joy and passion in his eyes. I want my life to be about sharing the joy He gives me with my children.

Because I am thankful for them… and hopeful for their futures… and praying for the day all of us are enjoying an eternal party together with our Savior.

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This week I am highlighting homeschooling photographer Nan at Life is Like a Lunchbox. Nan is a pastor’s wife and mother of four sons. She lives in Canada and takes amazing pictures there, like these:

Here are some homeschooling shots of her family:

Field trip to the local science center

Nature hike

Record-breaking library receipt!

Stop by and visit Nan; she’s a lot of fun and her photos are a delightful mix ranging from bizarre to breathtaking!

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This week I’d like to highlight another fabulous homeschooling photographer. Some of you might have already visited her Rubber Room, and if so, then you know Hallie has quite an eye for beautiful photos.

She likes to tell me that it’s her fabulous camera, but whatever. You be the judge. Take a look at these beautiful shots.

 

 

 

 

And something else you should know about Hallie is that she dabbles a bit in digital scrapbooking. If you ever visit her blog: Confessions From The Rubber Room you’re likely to see her lovely photographs embellished in all sorts of fancy frames like this:

 

 

Every once in awhile she hands the camera off to another budding photographer in her home, so she can get photographic evidence that she does put in a hard day’s work with her online bookstore, Blue Thistle Books.

 

Somewhere in between utilizing all that creativity and selling homeschool curriculum she still finds time to teach her young un’s the finer points of Redneck Cuisine.

That’s what homeschooling’s all about, Folks. Hop over there and say Hey!

 

 

 

 

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