Hi Friends! 

Thanks so much for stopping by the HSB front porch.  We really enjoy doing these articles and we also enjoy your feedback!  I personally love to hear from anyone who stops by and reads one of my blogs.

Last week I goofed up and well, I posted an article for our dear editor and then I posted the same one to my personal blog.  I guess my brain was in neutral.  :)  Anyhow, here are some of my thoughts on what has been going on at our humble abode.

I posted on my personal blog about a dear little bird that we enjoyed for several days--Wow, what an experience!  The funny thing about it was that a couple of folks looked at me with downright disdain over it.  I hope to write more about that over at Homeschooling Is Life, as soon as I can.  In other news, we are in a frantic last ditch effort to get our "creative arts" projects done for the county fair.  Every year, well, for the last couple anyhow, we have entered several pieces of our handiwork in the fair.  I'd like to say that we have been consistently working away all year on these.  Some of us have (aka: my oldest daughter) but the rest of us are finishing up with only one full day left to do all we need to do.

The county fair is an excellent avenue to pursuing a goal.  Just seeing their work on display will thrill most children's hearts.  Not everyone gets a ribbon, but if they do then they will be even more excited!  I hope you will check out your county fair this year and see what you can plan for next time.  Some homeschoolers do 4-H, but your fair should also have open competition.  You can pretty much do ANYTHING and enter it in the fair.  You can do baking, sewing, building, painting, photography, etc.  The list goes on.  If you have already done this, please let me know!  I'd love to hear about your endeavors.

                                        (Columbine~Watercolor by me)

Today, while we were working hard (with two kids who are battling illnesses, no less) I got to thinking about things.  Most of us were being exceptionally productive.  There was so much creativity going on, I just loved it!  I said to the kids, "I want our "homeschool"  to be like this more!"  Everyone was working on individual projects, yet there was cooperation going on.  Not perfect, mind you.  We are just like most families - we gripe, complain, fight and all that other stuff I could do without.  But we actually do get along pretty well when we put our minds to it. 

So with all that said, I just love to see my kids being creative!  I can't wait to see all our projects hung up and on display, and hopefully some will have ribbons attached!  If not, that's ok.  We really enjoyed ourselves with all this flurry of activity. 

I will post some of our projects soon, over on my other blog.  Be sure to stop by!

Blessings,

Nancy

Nancy Baetz is a homeschooling Mom of four, and the author of "Haircuts For Little Men," an e-Book designed to teach Moms how to cut hair at home!  She is also a contributor to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and The Girlhood Home Companion.  She's working on some other projects, but has NO IDEA when they will ever get done~ :)