Hi friends!

Well, we were given several boxes of peaches to process, so we started that job.  Whew!  After all the tomatos we have done and okra, peppers...what's a few peaches?

My kids decided we needed to fly a kite today, but first we had to buy one.  Had to go to three stores, before we found one very pricey kit.  But we had a great time!  Packed a picnic, brought paper and crayons for leaf rubbings and enjoyed the day.  Then for dinner, the little guy (10) and I made spring rolls with cabbage, turkey, corn, peppers, onions, green beans and carrots.  YUM!  And, EASY.  That is good for me!

I love my sitemeter :)  You already know that.  Look at this entry:

Homeschooling Is LIfe By Details > Visit Detail Visit 30,864
		[<<]  [>>]
Domain Name		btcentralplus.com ? (Commercial)
IP Address		86.135.34.# (British Telecommunications)
ISP		British Telecommunications
Location		Continent  :  Europe Country  :  United Kingdom  (Facts) State/Region  :  Northamptonshire City  :  Rushden Lat/Long  :  52.2833, -0.5833 (Map)
Language		English (U.K.) en-gb
Operating System		Microsoft WinXP
Browser		Internet Explorer 6.0 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; FunWebProducts; SV1; InfoPath.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)
Javascript		version 1.3
Monitor		Resolution  :  1280 x 800 Color Depth  :  32 bits
Time of Visit		Sep 22 2008 3:12:19 pm
Last Page View		Sep 22 2008 3:56:37 pm
Visit Length		44 minutes 18 seconds
Page Views		14
Referring URL		http://www.homeschoo...ByHisGraceInColorado
Visit Entry Page		http://www.homeschoo...yHisGraceInColorado/
Visit Exit Page		http://www.homeschoo...GraceInColorado/758/
Out Click
Time Zone		UTC+0:00
Visitor's Time		Sep 22 2008 10:12:19 pm
Visit Number		30,864

I wish this dear friend from Rushden would have left me a comment!  44 minutes?  You spent that much time over here?  Wow.  That is so amazing.  I'd love to know what brought you over here to Homeschooling Is Life!  I'm so glad you had time to read some of my blogs and hope it was an encouragement to you.  If you come back by and see this, please stop for a moment and say hello!

Blessings,

Nancy

By now you have probably heard the flap about the flags.  If you haven't, well yesterday at the McCain/Palin rally they passed out many of the 12,000 flags that were leftover from the DNC--seems they were left at Coors Field (I know, it's not called that, but who can spell "Invesco?) by the good folks up there.  Well, the GOP's said they rescued them from the trash, the DNC said we stole them for a political ploy.

Well, they are American Flags so I guess we might as well have used them!  They sure looked grand there at the jet center, don't you think?!

 It was a great lesson for the kids and an experience they won't soon forget, and we all have sunburns to prove it!  We kept telling them it was history in the making.  It is fun being a part of history, not just reading about it.

This is the best photo I could get of the Alaskan Governor and Senator McCain.  We weren't willing to get there at 5:00 a.m. so we didn't get a good seat, er, I mean place to stand.  But nevertheless we had a wonderful time listening to several speakers and singing along with all the wonderfully patriotic songs (and a few pretty rauchus ones.)  I told my 13 year old son that he had better enjoy it because that was as close to being at a rock concert as he was ever going to get!)

The Gov. and Mr. McCain both had pretty powerful speeches.  Although we have already heard them speak (on TV) and online, it was positively electrifying there! Nothing like a good political rally to get your adrenaline going.  Did you see the video that the RNC had about Gov. Palin?  It had some beautiful footage of Alaska.  I loved the photo of her and the caribou--with the voiceover talking about her being a moose hunter...oh well, moose, caribou, whatever!  Now I know why I like her so much!

Just thought I would add these two pics of some very creative signage!

It is kind of small, but can you tell that the pit bull has...what else?  Big red lips drawn on the dog!  I heard that Sarah's "pit bull" line was ad-libbed.  Not sure if it was or not, but both parties are getting a lot of mileage out of it.  I thought it was great.

And this one is pretty cute too.  We saw these two kids near where we connected up to the LONG line to get in to the rally.  BTW, we saw tons of families there.  Kids everywhere! 

It was also a blessing to be with our friends.  We had the honor of standing by the parents of Adam Brickley.  (I just linked to his Google hits.  If you have time, be sure to watch or listen to some of his recent interviews in addition to checking out his blog.  But if you watch him on the Colbert show, just skip EVERYTHING before Adam comes on.  That guy Colbert uses some rank "humor" that will make you wince big-time.  He did a great job interviewing Adam though.) 

(Don't be surprised if you find that young man leading from the Oval Office someday!) 

Have a blessed homeschooling week!

Homeschooling IS Life!

Nancy

My dear friend "down under," Belinda from Lifestyle Homeschooling bestowed me with a wonderful gift!  She gave me the Excellent Blog award. 

Thank you so much!

The "rules" say - "By accepting this Excellent Blog Award, you have to award it to 10 more people whose blogs you find Excellent Award worthy. You can give it to as many people as you want but please award at least 10. Thank you out there for having such great blogs and being such great friends! You deserve this! Feel free to award people who have already been awarded…"

I appreciate all the nice blog awards that have been given to me in the last year, unfortunately I haven't made time to keep up with them.  I keep telling myself I am going to try to post them, but it hasn't happened!  I want to acknowledge the givers as being very special to me and my blogging experience.  I am also going to have to work really hard to find only 10 of you out there who deserve the Excellent Blog Award too.  There are so many that deserve this pat on the back!!

Thanks for thinking of me.  :)

Nancy

Hi friends,

Have you voted yet?  What a great way to show your support to the bloggers you LOVE, and the ones who minister to you daily; it's the Homeschool Blog Awards!  I didn't get nominated this year (boo hoo!) but thats ok!  I actually did get a whole bunch of neat awards from my friends this year.  I will get busy one of these days and post them all.  (Brag, brag, brag, humbly of course!)

I want to tell you about a neat friend of mine, who did get nominated this year and is up for the "Best Teen Guy Blog," Eric Novak!

How many teens do you know that blog their faith?  Well, we are blessed to have some right here on HSB, and that is where Eric started his blogging.  Now he has his own webpage, and his own business too.  Eric is quite a graphic-designer, and his writing is really taking a hold.  I tell you what, I met Eric through his Mom, Jill Novak.   She is a GEM!  She is in the running for "Best Artistic Content" with her "Through The Windowpane" blog.   Well, Eric is a super nice kid, and I wouldn't mind having him for a son.  He is very courteous whenever I call his Mom, and he also is very talented and has helped me many times with "techy" stuff. 

His blog, "The Voice of Experience" is all about God's Word.  He writes about what is on his heart, whether it is what is going on spiritually in his life or just sharing what is going on around the farm.  To me, this is homeschooling, Christian homeschooling at its best.  It is by God's grace, and I think we need to see more of it in the lives of our homeschooled teens. 

Eric is the one who made my graphics for me, for my Haircuts For Little Men e-book.  He designed the cover, and my sidebar banner ads.  What a great guy he is!

Go Vote For Eric!!!!!

 The voting ends soon!

Nancy

OK, so it's after one a.m. and here I sit.  Well, I was trying to fix my template!  I think it's a partial victory!!!  Say "YEAH!" for the unschooling Mama!

I got it fixed for the most part, but if you were to scroll down the sidebar you might find that it goes on, and on, and kind of repeats itself a bit.  *sigh*  I still haven't figured that out yet, BUT I DID figure out quite a bit of it all by myself.  It feels good to know that you actually CAN teach an old dog new tricks!!!

Hey, have you been over to the blog awards yet to do your voting???  I believe the voting is only for this week, so get over there and vote for your favorite blogs!  Thank you kindly for the nomination, what an honor!  I still haven't discovered all the unschooling/eclectic blogs out there (of course not!) but have enjoyed seeing those on the nominee list.  I still have to get back over there and finish up with all the categories!  It is so hard to choose isn't it?

My kids and I had an interesting day here.  Since they are "getting older" I feel that they need a little more of my concentrated efforts.  Unfortunately, most of the time I am unable to concentrate on a whole lot

but we keep pluggin away! 

Let me just give you a quick run down on my kids and what they are doing lately.  Oldest daughter made me an Easter dress!  I might have to hang it up and take a pretty photo for you.  She also made one for herself, a lovely long "puritan" looking dress with an apron.  Next, my oldest son has taken up furniture refurbishing.  He has painted and stenciled and re-upholstered a couple of my dining room chairs and I am very impressed!  Next down, my daughter in the middle is learning calligraphy and doing that quite nicely.  She has been singing quite a bit lately and I pray that I can find an outlet for her singing talent.  Baby boy, "8" still loves to cook and he could keep me busy with that venture 24/7.

My oldest daughter has been doing a word study on "Water" in the Bible and is working her way through the Old Testament right now.  She also was invited to a Passover Seder last week and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I started a impromptu unit study on "the Eye" this week with my younger children and they seem to be enjoying it for short periods of time.  They would rather be pretending to solve mysteries instead.  Hmmmm maybe I could come up with an "eye" mystery for them....any ideas?

We had snow, ice and rain here this week and everything was encased in ice for over 24 hours!  All the plants are intact though.  Even our tomatoes, which were already out in the garden did great!  They were safe and snug in their "wall'o'waters."  Although that information might have been saved for my homestead blog.  :)

Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!

Blessings!

Homeschooling Is Life!

Nancy

p.s. don't forget to vote!!!!

I know I do anyway.  It's hard not to!  Especially with such smart little whipper-snappers all around me.  The other day when my little guy was doing his "math" he asked me if it would help him to understand things like "DNA" and that kind of stuff!  Yup, that's my boy. 

 Then there was my little sweet girl who made up this joke:  "What did the candle say when it was almost burned out?"  "I'm at my WICK'S end!"  They have such a sense of humor.  And some of the puns these kids come up with.....I need to start writing them down!

Well, lets see.....this is going to be one of those rambling blogs....just catching up.  You know, have you seen this wonderful feature on your profile page, called "Interests?"  Well, I have had this crazy blog for a year and a half, and I never filled out the first part 'cuz I thought, "why do they need this twice?"  So I never filled it out.  But LO and BEHOLD, if you put in all your interests, then you can click on them from the front page of your blog, and viola'! You will get a list of all the other bloggers with those things in common with YOU!  Cool, eh?  So, you know what?  My first interest is "antique books."  I love those, have a few I have collected.  And NOBODY on HSB has that same thing on there.  Come on!  Really?  Pshaw!

So then my next one is "Art."  Can you believe it?  104 other folks like art. 

How fun!  Nobody else likes "Garage Sailing" though.  Maybe I should put "Yard Sailing."  Maybe nobody but me "sails" to them.....I dunno.

Happy November everyone!!!!

Nancy

©Nancy K. Baetz Homeschooling Is Life! 2006

Good Morning friends!  I hope your day is a blessing.

I received my weekly sitemeter report today and I had my 10,000th visitor this morning! This dear person spent 27 minutes and 7 seconds on two page views.  How's that for detail?

I thought it was pretty neat, and I am humbled and blessed by my readers.  I wanted to say thank you dear friend from Korea!  I pray that your time here at Homeschooling Is Life was a blessing to you and that the Lord somehow used my thoughts to touch your life today.

Please come back and visit again, and leave me a comment.  :)

Here is a map, courtesy of sitemeter.

Have a wonderful day today, enjoy your families, enjoy yourself!

God is Good,

Nancy

This has been a wonderful "winning" week for me!  First, I was most graciously picked for blogger of the week.  I have NO idea how they pick those, and someone accused me of lining their pockets for it, but alas, I did not.  No bribery here! I was wondering, however how much to bill them for. LOL! 

It has been so fun getting all the responses and meeting so many new blogger friends!  Then, just for being picked, I got a sponsor prize....Marybeth Whalen's book!  I can't wait.

THEN if that wasn't enough, I entered a contest over at Jennie's blog  with this entry (click here) and I won that too!  I can't wait to get my "Clean and Flip" book!  By the way, have you read her blog??  She is the most creative Mom you can imagine.  Her comics are the GREATEST!!! They are seriously the most funny things on earth!!!

I was showing my daughter the winning blog entry I wrote and she said "No wonder you won!  You wrote it at 1:41 A.M!!"  And I say to that, "you just never know when the muse is going to hit."  LOL

Speaking of contests etc., I just have to say that I have entered EVERY berry-picking contest over at Jen's blog and never won a thing.  Zip, Nada, Zilch.  Not even a homeschoolblogger T-Shirt, ahem, which by the way has my name on it. I want a shirt.

 But this has been a Winning Week, and I won't turn it into a Whining Week.  So to that I say, "Nanny-nanny-boo-boo" I guess I will just have to buy my very own! 

 So there.  

  And speaking of contests, be sure to leave a comment over at Lorrie's blog and get a chance to win a great book by homeschooler John Notgrass.

So anyway, Thank you all for this great week (it isn't over yet!) and for the fun I have had blogging and enjoying the comments. Umm....Deja-vu.  Didn't I just say that???  Oh Gee.  Sorry, I guess I am just giddy from all the attention.  (God is so good to me.)

And if you are wondering why I am not blogging about unschooling today.....well, if you need your uschooling blog fix, go to Julie's blog and find out all about balance in the unschooling home AND read one of the best blogs I have ever read on the subject!

Be sure to check out the link to her son's blog, and read about him tagging the master blogger, Hugh Hewitt!  Julie and I will be at the CHEC conference this coming weekend and plan to blog while we are there.  I guess it's all the rage now, and we want to be in on it too!  I can't wait to meet the Somervilles who will both be speaking, and Teri Maxwell and Zan Tyler are going to be there among many other homeschooling vanguards!! 

OK, enough of my name dropping.  I am going to take a nap now.  :)We are REALLY tired today, we got up at 5-ish to go to Country Roots Farm where we are doing a work share.  It is an organic farm that is about 47 miles south of us and we are doing a lot of hard work in the intense heat.....but it is worth it!  Tomorrow we get our first "share" of the produce that is ready.  We can't wait! 

 I *promise* to post some photos.

Blessings!

Homeschooling Is Life,

Nancy

I just got done reading a great article by Spunky, in the Spring issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.  It's about blogging, imagine that!  She did a great job of helping bloggers to define what their blogs are for, or at least she defined a lot o'blog categories, using a vehicular allegory.  I hope you get your copy of the magazine so you can read it!

Anyway, I have gone through my blog lately, deleting out old nonsensical posts, and have been trying to see if there is anything of merit here.  A few things stand out, but only a few and I am biased, of course.

So lets say you just dropped in and are wondering what this blog is for.  Well, let me try to explain it, and in doing that I might just come to a conclusion myself!

I have always loved to journal, but remember one time re-reading several years worth of them and then tossing them into the fireplace.  Now before you think I destroyed something valuable, let me say this.  I destroyed them because they were sad, full of bad memories that I didn't want to ever read again and certainly didn't want to spread the "cheer" around.  What good is that? 

This venue is perfect for journaling, it's quick, painless and fun!  Plus, you get to make friends with other Moms on the same journey, only taking different routes and modes of transport.  It's kind of like being connected by walkie talkies, except I guess you can say we have writey bloggies.  LOL.

Homeschoolers need support.  We need daily support from our spouses, friends and from the Lord, first and foremost.  We can get up first thing and pray and seek His face.  Then we can seek the faces here that are going through the same things.....and be encouraged.  Or we can encourage others on the journey.  I covet those encouragers!  They mean so much to me. 

This blog also gives me an opportunity to share what I am doing as a mom, not just as homeschool "teacher" (more of a chaperone) at home.  There, I do a lot of facilitating, and checking inventory, and being a second conscience to my kids.  Life teaches them, I just help make sure they have daily doses of it.  We read, I attempt to lecture, we play, we explore, I continue to attempt what I think I am supposed to be doing.......then it all falls through and they learn "IT" in spite of my grandios schemes.  I expose them to those things that are important, My values, my Lord, my love for them.  I try to encourage them in their interests, and not stifle their creativity.   Oh, but I just forgot, I meant to tell you more about me apart from the Mom hat.  Boy that hat is stuck tight!

I know, I know.  You there, stop it for one minute.  I KNOW it's not about me. 

But I want to talk about me for just one minute.  One of the neatest rewards of homeschooling, (beside the obvious, watching your child grow and blossom) is growing and blossoming myself!  Not only have my kids benefitted from a tailor made tutorial education, but I have been getting one myself, the whole time.  Do you know how many times I have been sucked into the vortex of learning.......while the kids were off on their own tangent?  It's an almost daily occurrence.  I know, I should stay on track with what THEY are learning, but HELLO!  My "education" (the formal stuff) was bad.  REALLY bad.  Forgive my yelling.  It was pitiful.

So, I have had a second chance.  And I rejoice in it!  Sure, old habits die hard and I have issues.  I NEVER can figure out certain rules of grammar, ie. apostrophes.  But in the grand scheme of things, I don't really think they matter as much as some folks do.

What matters is that I am blessed, thankful, praising God even in the trials.  Enjoying my kids, even when they drive me nuts.  And thankful we all can forgive and start over when things go wrong, and when I drive THEM nuts. 

Homeschooling, is Life  and I am thankful to the God of second chances!

Nancy

Right~  now, go read this awesome article!

Have a FABULOUS week at home with your kids!  Enjoy them, learn from them, pray for them, teach them, laugh with them, cry with them, hug them, read to them, watch them grow and SERVE them with love and a sense of duty! 

That is all it takes.

Homeschooling is Life!

Blessings,

Nancy

I have been too busy to blog!  Serious problem, serious oversight.  Or maybe I am just "sobering up" as a friend put it.  Not that blogging and keeping up with friends (real or imagined) isn't a "good thing," Martha, but you and I both know how it can be consuming. 

 So, instead of being inebriated online lately, I have been drinking in my children, my family, my housework (right) and even the dutious events that go on in the culinary corner of my humble abode.

I do miss the fun with y'all, and I really enjoyed reading the link from Patricia's post about LaShawn Barber---she really knows how to blog, that woman.  Wow.  That is one thing I have wanted from the start, for this blog to be the real me.  What you read is what you get---although I am happy I can edit this, Lord knows in real life I need major editing :)

Anyway, have missed you all but have had fun checking my site meter to see who has been stopping by for a visit!  Be sure to drop me a line, I will be changing my comment feature back to "anybody" instead of just registered users.

Blessings and remember:  His Mercies are New Every Morning, Great is Thy Faithfulness!

Nancy

I have decided that Blogging is just a nice way of saying "Ditching."  OR maybe, just playing hookey from real life.  (At least for me, tonight.  It has been an interesting day, one not worth repeating.)  But I might as well give you some of the highlights.

Lets see.........well, last night the car broke down at the library.....so I had to leave it there over night.  I did pray a lot for it.....so I wouldn't have smashed windows or something.....and God answered.  The only negative thing was that I left a bag of ice in the back seat last night.  Good Job.  It wasn't there today when we picked up the car.  VERY curious.

So, then.........lets see, the toilet overflowed today.  Just water, not a ghastly mess, just wet.  Great.  Oh, well, the floor needed to be mopped real good.  What a blessing!  You just never know were you can find those little perks in life.  You just gotta look REAL hard, and there they are.

And what else......um.  My son fell and skinned his shin and knee real good.  (Or real bad, however you like to say those things.)  And my other son kinda sprung his thumb on the couch when he punched it.  Well, there is another blessing, Praise God!  He could have punched his brother!  See, there are more of those unwitting little blessings hiding here and there.  Yessireeee.

And now, that's just about all I want to report.  I am not at liberty to tell you all the top secret disasters that happened today.  (You know what would happen if I told you.  Just ask anyone who's husband works for INTEL or HOMELAND SECURITY.  It is not a pretty picture.)

Sigh.  We used to just go hang out in the parking lot and avoid the teachers, you know, when we were "ditching."  Now we just hang out at the computer and blog goofy stuff.

Ok, so most of them are serious.  Right????

Off to bed you go. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

love,

N.

Ever wonder just how far you can go using someone elses intellectual property before it becomes illegal?  (Not that you will find any of that here, heh, heh.--the intellectual stuff, not the illegal stuff, silly!)

Anyhow, I have seen some interesting things  here and there--like photos that link back to a website (and the blogger called them theirs) and recently a rather large collection of information taken right off someone else's page----without permission. 

 I myself have gone on wild goose chases trying to get permission to republish certain images, only to find that the user obtained them without asking.  It can be a tangled web, no pun intended.

So just how do we sort through all this?  Believe me, I already know how crazy and complicated copyright permissions can be.  But just incase you would like a little "Cliffs Notes" blog version of Fair Use rights and all that legalese, go see what our dear resident lawyer type person has to say about it.

Nancy

I found a great page that will tell you ALL about site meters!  I am a little leary of linking to anyone's page---because you never can check out all of their pages and you might run into a problem.  But, that disclaimer made, here is a great page that will tell you what is available, how to get it, how to use it and all those other fun things for those of us who LOVE graphs and maps and stats and well, checking up on those wonderful commentors and friends reading our blogs.  (I had a great time tonight looking at all those dots on the map of North America.  I could even see exactly what city my page viewers were in!)  Hope you don't feel that was too "Big Brotherish.)  Just one more amazing technological advancement there for our entertainment, I mean "advantage."

Site meter info here.  (Oh, beware!  It's on blogspot )

Blessings to all of you anonymous people---who will now be known as dots on my site meter map.  Unless, of course you decide to stop in and comment!  One can never have too many friends, right????  It's not what you know, it's WHO you know!

Nancy

After trying it in the wrong area, I finally consulted the expert (Jodi) and she showed me how to do links, it is RIGHT there at the bottom of my profile page.  DUH.  Sometimes I can't see the forest for the trees.

At any rate, I am excited that I can now share some of my favorite links with you all! 

 So far, I haven't put all my favorite homeschooling sites on there, that is going to be a tough one, because there are so many that are near and dear to my heart.  I will put my "top ten" on there, soon.  But for now, I just put a few of my favorite's mostly reference type---check them out and see. 

 Webster's online (the 1828 one, not modern.) 

 BibleGateway---ever need to find a verse, but can't find your Bible?   I love this resource! 

 Alta Vista's Babelfish translator, now THAT is cool.  You can translate most any language back to English! (and vice-versa) This works great if you are dealing with people that you unfortunately have a handicap in communicating with.  For instance, I was doing some business with a museum in France, and as much as I love the language, I don't speak French.  So when I recieved a letter from them in French----Viola!  I used the Bablefish translator, and we were on the road to understanding. 

I have also used it to write "notes" to my neighbors, who are from Mexico.  Although I speak some Spanish, I found that this can help me if I need to try to explain something that is a bit more than small talk.  But, it does have some drawbacks, as the grammar and syntax are not always correct. 

Now, lets see, I also put Crossroads on my links, which is the ministry of Berit Kjos.  It is a Christian apologetics ministry, with so much meat in it you don't want to miss it!  Berit is one of the most intellectually solid Christians I have ever known!  She has reviewed many of the popular "cultural" books and icons, news events and historical events---and dissects them according to God's word. I  have learned a lot from them, and hope you will take the time to check her website out.

Oh, and last but not least, my link to the Kron Chocolatier, who sells the BEST truffles on the planet, in my humble opinion.

I have some more really unique and fun links to add, and will get to it soon.

Hope you are all enjoying this blogging journey as much as I am!  Thank you, to all of you who have stopped in for a visit! 

Happy Homeschooling!

Nancy

Oh, I am so excited! 

 I finally figured out (with a lotta help from my friend Jodi) how to make linkable entries!!! 

Woohoo!  How could it have been any easier!?

 OK, for those of you who just a few short moments ago, were as ignorant as I when it comes to this stuff, here is what you do:  If you want to link to a website you have mentioned, just go to your edit entry page, highlight what you want as a link and then click the little globe on the task bar with the chain"link" on it.  Then a box pops up and you just put the URL there.  (That is the web address---for those of you up and coming HTML experts!)

 LOL!  Haha, I can even do this now in my sleep.......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Please let me know if this was helpful for any of you.....or am I the only one trying to squeeze what's left of my brain cells into some semblance of coherence???

Blessings, bloggers.

Nancy