Tales From the Den - Homeschool Blogger

The Fair

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 14:00:00 -0500

A few weeks ago, we entered several items in the Western Kentucky State Fair. I think we did very well for our first year! I did not get pictures of Toby's bread (2nd place) or Lynae's biscuits (3rd place). I was very proud of both of them, since neither has made what they entered very often. And I consider this to be the heart of biscuit country, too!

Nor did I take a picture of Toby's chickens, a couple of tired old hens who looked as though they'd rather be anywhere but at the fair. One of them placed 3rd, and the other was Grand Champion! (That tells you a lot about our fair.)

Lynae worked very hard on a cross stitch project, but due to a couple of setbacks, wasn't able to complete it in time for the fair. She's looking forward to next year!

Toby and I each placed 2nd behind friends of ours. I was surprised at the comments my friend made regarding my entries, but tried hard to be polite. I hope Toby and his friend didn't have any similarly awkward moments between them.

Here are pictures of our other entries which placed:

A duck Toby carved and painted for my birthday gift - 2" long, 5/8" high (2nd place)

A necklace Lynae made for 4-H (blue ribbon)

A belt Toby made, which will go to the state fair in August

Baby blue jay (2nd place)

Neighbor's horses - I didn't think this would place! (1st place)

This man has a story to tell (1st place)

They didn't even know how rare this boy's smile is! (1st place)

Still here, treading water

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 14:15:00 -0500

Well! July has come and nearly gone without so much as a single blog post until today. Ever have one of those seasons so full of drama that you can't even bring yourself to share it? That's where I'm at.

As the home-selling drags on with no start date for hubby's new job, a move up north hardly seems real right now. Are we in God's will and supposed to just patiently trust? I can do that. Did we make things happen in spite of His will and end up on a dead end? I'm willing to turn around. The hardest part is not knowing which it is. And so, I've asked for a sign. It doesn't have to be something huge and amazing, though I'd certainly accept that from God. I just want to hear the creak of a door or the sliding of a window.

In the meantime, I need to find a polite, pat answer for all the people who continually ask if we've had any offers on the house. Obviously, if we've had an acceptable offer, I will be shouting it from the rooftop! But how to say that? Simply saying "no" tends to invite advice or discussion, and I'm not really up to it most of the time. If you have some clever idea, please share!

Life's a dance...

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 12:48:00 -0500

Tango: Just over two weeks ago, I told hubby that what I really wanted was for him to tell me that he would take my to-do list and work on the (relatively) small projects on one of his two days off each week, and that I should focus on keeping the house showable and working on school with the kids. He said he would work on my to-do list, and that he'd like me to keep the house showable and work on school with the kids. Well dontcha know, I spent that weekend unpacking school books and setting up an assignment sheet, and we dug in the following Monday!

Breakdancing: It's been going very well. Ok, there was that time someone decided to take 12 hours on a simple assignment and didn't finish his work until 5:30 am, but having chosen to fight that battle with him, hubby and I had to win it, and by the grace of God, we did, and everyone survived. And there have been other, smaller battles engaged with that same someone, leading me to wring my hands and scratch my head, yes. But five years of parenting him has taught me that he likes keeping me a little off-balance, and sometimes the best response is to return the favor. I think I'm getting the hang of this exhausting dance. I do fall flat on my butt sometimes, and we both hate that part. But he and I are equally determined (stubborn) and between us and God, I think we'll be all right, though "all right" might not look anything like what I have in mind.

Electric Slide: Yes, it's been going very well. The big kids are working independently, and we're all pleased with the curriculum we've chosen. I've begun holding "meetings" with them... one-on-one time to go over their work, help them with anything they don't understand (they're always welcome to come to me with questions, but sometimes it's a concept rather than a specific problem, and they don't bring it to me right away), and talk about any changes we need to make.

Chicken Dance: My little guy is thrilled to have school work to do! Sometimes he shakes with excitement when we do workbook pages together. He wants to read so much he can taste it.

Bunny Hop: Baby girl likes being involved, too, but at 4yo I'm not putting much effort into that. I tend to keep her occupied with toys, books, puzzles, and other stuff she can do on her own until the big kids are done with their work and can teach her letters, numbers, etc. That's as good for them as it is for her.

Hopefully, school will continue to go well until we get a closing date and turn our attention to packing and moving... or until the end of the school year, whichever comes first.

The Lanyard

Sun, 14 May 2006 09:51:00 -0500

by Billy Collins

The other day as I was ricocheting slowly
off the blue walls of this room
bouncing from typewriter to piano
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,
I found myself in the "L" section of the dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word, Lanyard.
No cookie nibbled by a French novelist
could send one more suddenly into the past.
A past where I sat at a workbench
at a camp by a deep Adirondack lake
learning how to braid thin plastic strips into a lanyard.
A gift for my mother.
I had never seen anyone use a lanyard.
Or wear one, if that's what you did with them.
But that did not keep me from crossing strand over strand
again and again until I had made a boxy, red and white lanyard for my mother.
She gave me life and milk from her breasts,
and I gave her a lanyard
She nursed me in many a sick room,
lifted teaspoons of medicine to my lips,
set cold facecloths on my forehead
then led me out into the airy light and taught me to walk and swim
and I in turn presented her with a lanyard.
"Here are thousands of meals" she said,
"and here is clothing and a good education."
"And here is your lanyard," I replied,
"which I made with a little help from a counselor."
"Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth and two clear eyes to read the world." she whispered.
"And here," I said, "is the lanyard I made at camp."
"And here," I wish to say to her now,
"is a smaller gift. Not the archaic truth,
that you can never repay your mother,
but the rueful admission that when she took the two-toned lanyard from my hands,
I was as sure as a boy could be
that this useless worthless thing I wove out of boredom
would be enough to make us even."

Spring Banquet

Sat, 27 May 2006 16:45:00 -0500

We had our PACHEK Spring Banquet on Thursday evening. It was more wonderful than I could've imagined. We entered to find the room full of balloons, and the tables... oh! The tables! Each table was covered with paper, on which we found questions, quotes, and discussion starters. There were books for answering various questions, crayons, rulers, pencils & erasers, Skittles, and M&Ms. The kids had lots of fun with all that, and so did the grown ups!

Families displayed some of their children's schoolwork from the past year. We saw a huge bug collection, a castle model, a Civil War display, marshmallow sculptures, paintings, and several other neat projects. There was a potluck dinner with more than enough food to go around... and around.

As we finished eating, some of the children gave musical or other presentations. We certainly have talented young people in our homeschool group! This was followed by each family leader introducing his (or her) family and recognizing special achievements.

The last presentation was very special to me. Two of the other PACHEK leaders presented me with a thank-you gift -- a poster of Kentucky memorabilia to remember them by. I plan to have it signed before I move!

The evening was a beautiful celebration of homeschooling. I hope it becomes a PACHEK tradition!

Holding out just a little longer

Tue, 6 Jun 2006 06:30:00 -0500

It's been a month since I started itching to unpack all the school books. The kids are looking forward to it as well. So I finally made a list of what we need to get done before we can unpack the books. Hopefully we can finish the painting and spiffing and repairing and packing on the list by the end of June. It doesn't change anything... we'd have had to finish those things before starting anyway, and we'd have started in July most years anyway... but I think it'll keep me focused. I love lists.

Thank God I paid attention!

Tue, 13 Jun 2006 02:25:00 -0500

For the past several days, it seems that everyone I talked to (and it seems I've talked to everyone) asked if we'd sold our house yet. Over and over, I admitted that we hadn't actually shown the house since the end of April. 6.5 weeks ago, to be exact. That would be depressing, but for this: we've been very busy with other obligations, and haven't been prepared to show the house for quite some time.

Yesterday morning, with my teenager (gulp) on a 4-H trip and my husband at work, darling daughter and I put our heads together for a special girls-only planning session. We decided what we could reasonably accomplish in a day's time, and came up with a pretty long list. I said to her, "I have a feeling the realtor will call today and ask to show the house. And we're SO not ready for that!"

We worked, gave each other back rubs, and worked some more. The littles helped wherever they could. We didn't get the dogs bathed and groomed, but we covered nearly everything else on our list. That felt pretty good.

And then, midafternoon, the phone rang.

We had just over two hours to get the house totally spuff (Armstrong past-tense of "spiff") and be out of here. OH -- guess that feeling was the Holy Spirit. Woo-hoo! So we skipped afternoon naps and kicked it into high gear. This place looked as spiffy as it could look. And supper was in the crockpot; we were good to go.

We didn't go far... we sat in a neighbor's driveway until they turned into our driveway so we'd know what time they arrived. Then we did a couple of errands down the road and waited for them to leave. After 45 minutes, they left and we were able to come home.

Supper sure did smell good when we walked in the door. Loren got home a little after we did, and he called the realtor to see how the showing had gone. The realtor seems hopeful... said it went well, and that supper smelled great. LOL

So... we'll see what comes of it. Maybe we'll get an offer. Either way, I'm glad I paid attention yesterday morning.

Toby is supposed to come home tonight. I'm so excited! I can handle loosening apron strings, no problem. But it was a bit much to say goodbye to him the morning of his 13th birthday so he could judge livestock on the other side of the state. It'll be great to have him back.

June Pearl of Wisdom

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 09:35:00 -0500

Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.

I found this little gem of a verse yesterday as I read Psalm 34 on another blog.

It seems the family is currently in a little behavior cycle in which this verse serves as a timely reminder as often as we can remember to say it. I don't doubt that before long, we will all have it memorized and, it being God's Word, I am certain we will begin to see less evil and more peace... soon.

Sailing Through the Blogosphere

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 12:22:00 -0500

Recently, I've branched out and begun exploring the favorite blogs of some of my favorite bloggers. I can see, now, that this could become an addiction. There is one blog, which for now shall remain nameless (though you can find its link on this very page), that has been open on my browser, in some form or another, nearly the entire time my computer has been on for the past week.

One thing I've noticed is that all tracks eventually lead to SpunkyHomeSchool. Not one to easily join any crowd, I wasn't even tempted to check out Spunky's blog. But this morning I decided to trust the collective opinion of those whose opinions I continually read and appreciate, and I clicked over to see what Spunky had to say. I wasn't immediately hooked, but kept browsing until I hit upon a gem. As brain-tied as I am, I always appreciate it when others express my opinions or beliefs more logically or eloquently or convincingly than I could myself. That said, read what Spunky has to say about youth groups. As far as I'm concerned, she's right on!

I've also noticed that I'm woefully deficient in my exposure to classic literature. The irony of being convinced of this through the reading of blog after blog is not lost on me. Thankfully, I recently brought my children a huge stack of classics from the library, so as soon as I turn off the computer, I can dive right in!

Ok, realistically, I probably won't begin reading until I've finished editing a book for a friend, applying for my children's social security cards, updating another website (or two), and reading dozens more blog entries. But it's on my radar, and the books are in my house, and that's a start, at least.

Ok, here's the deal

Tue, 2 May 2006 19:26:00 -0500

There's no way I can keep up more than one blog. I wonder if I could transfer the posts on my other blog to this one? Hmm... it might not work, and it might be more trouble than it's worth. Until I figure that out, you can read here: Under the Oaks