Homeschool Formal Dances are Not in Someone's Basement!

When I started homeschooling my kids, sometimes I would get strange looks and concerned comments.

Now, with homeschooling on the rise, and homeschool students (reported) as between 3-5% of all students (that's 1 in 20 in the regions where it is most common), I get less of the concern and more of the funny questions.

So, since I had a few of those questions about my oldest daughter attending a homeschool formal, I thought I would write this post to clear some things up.

All of these questions are real questions I've been asked.

 Please note that this is supposed to be somewhat humorous and informational and not meant to be offensive . . . so, please put on your humor pants and think about what it would be like to be asked some of these questions.


1. "So, was the homeschool formal in someone's house basement?"

No, please tell me that you aren't getting all your information about homeschoolers from Disney channel shows . . . they aren't accurate. Really. Homeschool formals do not take place in family basements.

The homeschool formal that my daughter attended took place in a community center with a large room that doubled as both a dining area and a dance floor. The kids had to move tables between dinner and dancing because the space wasn't big enough for all the kids to do both activities.


2. "So, that picture with your daughter in it, was that all the kids that attended the homeschool formal?"

Hahaha. You're joking, right?

175 tickets for the homeschool formal my daughter attended were sold out three weeks early, and some kids who wanted to go didn't get to go. We need a bigger venue, or we need two formals. There were at least twenty kids my daughter knew that wanted to go but who didn't get their tickets on time.


3. "So, what do homeschoolers do at formal dances?"

Um, really? What do most kids do at dances? They dance.

Ok, I admit that most homeschoolers aren't twerking, and the dance my daughter attended included swing dance lessons for half of the dance time.

However, I think more of the kids actually dance. In fact, my daughter danced several dances with boys she met that evening and learned some really cool swing dance moves from one of them who takes classes. She even learned how to "dip."


4. "Wait, aren't homeschoolers too shy to talk to each other?"

Whoa, really? Homeschoolers too shy? Where do you live? Most of the homeschoolers I know talk too much, not too little, although there are a few shy ones. I think the percentage of shy homeschoolers is probably equal to that of shy public and private school students.


5. "But I thought all homeschoolers lived in the woods with no social contact with the outside world?"

Um, sorry. No. Most homeschoolers are extremely active. In fact, I think sometimes that homeschoolers take their extra-curricular activities a little seriously and competitively. "Oh, your kid is in dance, tennis, helps out the senior center, and rock climbs on the weekends? Well, my kid . . . ."

But again, please don't take my words and make them into a standard for homeschoolers. Some homeschool families revel in the freedom from structured activities and encourage their kids to build treehouses, explore, and spend most of their time out doors for fun.


6. "Oh, I thought all homeschoolers _____________(fill in the blank)."

I think the most common thread between all homeschool families is the love of freedom to be as individual in their approach as they want to be. Some homeschool families use standard school curriculum. Some unschool. Some favor curriculum from a variety of sources. Some do every activity possible, and some have an open schedule. Some homeschoolers are wealthy, and some are struggling to scrape by with monthly expenses. Some are single income households with one parent at home, and some are single parent households in which the parent works night shift and teaches their kids during the day. Some are Christians. Some are Muslims. Some are atheists. Some are Jewish. Some are Buddhists. Some are Republicans, some are Democrats, and some are members of the Green Party. There is no "all homeschoolers are _____" - that's because individuality is the whole point.


7. "Do homeschoolers get all their lessons done in four hours?"

Um, see #6. Some days the lessons are done in three hours, and some days the lessons are done in eight hours. It depends on the lessons. It depends on the level of enthusiasm. It depends on the family. It depends on the curriculum. It really varies.


8. "Wow! You must spend a lot of time teaching your kids. You must be patient. How do you do it?"

Well . . . when my kids were little they did all their lessons on my lap, or with me right there with them. Now, we choose curriculum together. I write up lesson plans. We discuss what they are doing for the day, and then they start. They read, write, and do most of their actual work independently. We discuss progress. I grade papers. I don't actually "teach/lecture" all that often - unless asking lots of discussion questions counts and that's limited to about an hour or two of time scattered throughout the day.

And patient? Well, I am learning to be patient. Years ago, there were days when my kids would absolutely refuse to do their work, and I would go to my room and pray a lot before coming back out to explain that yes, they were doing the work. Thankfully, these days they just need some nudging in the right direction now and then.


9. "Do homeschoolers hate public school?"

No. Some homeschoolers participate in public school part-time with classes, sports, or other activities. For the most part, homeschool families choose homeschooling because they love the ability to choose their schedule, their curriculum, and the way that they spend their time together. It's about the freedom of choice, not about hatred.


10. "Do homeschoolers take selfies with their parents because they don't have any friends?" (This is an actual question dealt with by my oldest daughter)

Please see #1-6. No. Although, as a family, we have taken "selfies" together on vacation - usually doing something goofy. My kids take selfies with friends. They use twitter, instagram, facebook, vimeo, and youtube.


Bonus: "Do homeschoolers wear pajamas all day?"

Not always, but sometimes, definitely yes! On rainy days, with no other activities scheduled, my kids sometimes do all their lessons in their pjs - and sometimes, I do too. :)


Do you know any homeschoolers? You might be surprised to find out that you do.


If you want a more serious look at homeschooling, I suggest checking out these blog posts and blog posts:
The Way We Homeschool describes different methodologies at Small Things although this blog is also dedicated to crafting and other areas, as well.

USO Party describes and shows pics of an amazing formal (not the one my daughter attended - which was really good but my daughter was too busy dancing to take pics), from The Pioneer Woman's blog.

Also, Blimey Cow's Seven Lies About Homeschooling has a humorous take on the myths surrounding homeschooling.

And if you want to know how in the world I have time to write and homeschool, check out this guest post I did on Tuesday at Laurel's Leaves: "Getting Past the Myth of Enough Time."

Celebrate the Small Things and Cherie Reich's Reborn Release

It is time to Celebrate The Small Things.

This blog hop is very easy - just post a celebration, however small or big, in your blog. Visit the original host, Viklit, and sign up on the linky to join in the fun!









Yikes, my post turned out long, so skip along the bold print if you are in a hurry!

1. Viklit has four new co-hosts to help with Celebrate the Small Things:
Diana Wilder
LG Keltner @ Writing Off the Edge
Cyborg Mom (Katie)
CaffeMaggieato @ mscoffeehouse
Thank you, ladies!!!

2. I broke through a mental and physical barrier last week and rode 47 miles (75.6K) last Saturday at the Lewis County Historical Ride! I had a asthma/breathing problem at mile 45, walked a mile, rode really slow for another mile, and sent my husband ahead for the car since the course was actually 49 miles. However, I rode a farther distance than I had ever ridden before, and I think I learned some of the wisdom of "butt in seat" for long distances. In other words, it doesn't matter how fast you ride, but how long you can keep your butt on the bike seat. (sound familiar to novel writing? it did to me.) It was glorious and agonizing, and afterwards I felt both triumph and defeat (Yay - I biked really far!, Boo - I didn't quite make the course. My husband drove me to the finish line, just so I could get there.)

3. Because I broke through that barrier, I found I could ride a base 20 mile ride in the mornings. By base, I mean that this is my new standard ride.

4. New handlebars are being put on my bike because I'm being held back from long rides by pain in my hands, arms, and shoulders. I get my bike back from the bike shop this morning!

5. Homeschool Co-operative classes are done for the year! Woohoo!!! (For those that don't know, a homeschool co-operative meets one day a week, and while there are several types of co-ops, usually parents combined talents to teach each other's kids different courses. I teach writing and literature. Other parents teach science, performing arts, math, etc. With just one day of teaching, we assign the students homework for the other four days and each parent supervises their own kid's homework. My kids don't do all their classes at co-op, so they each have some homeschool work to do before we take a "full" summer holiday. At this point, with the sunshine blazing this week, we are schooling half-time hours - which is all we really need to do to be done by mid-June).

6. The Homeschool Formal is this weekend and my oldest is super excited to go again this year with a group of friends. (Yes, homeschoolers have dances too. We don't all live like the characters depicted in Footloose - which sadly means, there is no Kevin Bacon dancing around - although maybe my kids are thankful for that.)

7.  Had a great Writer's Workshop group this week. At the same time, I'm kind of sad because one of our group is going to move away. She's a super talented writer. You can read her work at figment. I keep after her to submit her work, or publish it, so if you can, please encourage her. 

8. My cover reveal went well last week! and I am super thankful for all those who helped with posts, tweets, and facebook shout outs! Thank you!

9. Yesterday, I purchased Reborn by Cherie Reich and read it last night, it is so good. I didn't sleep as many hours as usual, but that's ok. Full review coming at Goodreads and Amazon later this weekend. I'm giving it five stars! So, I am super happy to Celebrate and Present:

Are you ready to challenge Fate?

To save a kingdom, a prophetess must challenge Fate.

On the day of Yssa’s death and rebirth, the god Apenth chose her as the Phoenix Prophetess.

Sea serpents and gods endanger the young prophetess’s journey and sour the omens. Yssa is cursed instead of blessed, and her duties at the Temple of Apenth prove it. She spends her days reading dusty scrolls, which does nothing to help her forget Tym, the boy back home. But the annoying yet gorgeous ferryman’s son Liam proves to be a distraction she can’t predict, even though he rarely leaves her alone for two sand grains.

 

Her boring temple life screeches to a halt when visions of her parents’ murders consume her. Yssa races across an ocean to stop the future. If she can’t change Fate, she’ll refuse to be the Phoenix Prophetess any longer. Fate, however, has other plans for her and the kingdom.

Yssa must either accept her destiny or fight to change Fate.

Available in Ebook and Print!

To purchase: Amazon | Createspace | Google Play | Kobo | Nook | OmniLit | Smashwords | Other Retailers

 

Click here to add on Goodreads.

A self-proclaimed bookworm, Cherie Reich is a speculative fiction writer and library assistant living in Virginia. Her short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies, and her books include the horror collection Nightmare, a space fantasy novella collection titled Gravity, and the fantasy series The Foxwick Chronicles and The Fate Challenges. Reborn is her debut novel. She is Vice President of Valley Writers and a member of the Virginia Writers Club and Untethered Realms. For more information, please visit her website.

For a quick review, let's just say, that this novel is well-crafted with beautiful writing and has characters that pull you into their world and their story from beginning to end. I highly recommend Reborn if you like Fantasy with a sweet touch of romance.

What are you celebrating this week?
 

Celebrate the Small Things (and a few big ones)

Celebrate the Small Things is an awesome weekly blog post exercise in positivity hosted by Vikki at Scribblings of an Aspiring Author. Think of anything, like: getting the laundry folded, writing a sentence or two every day, surviving a tough day, spending time on the treadmill - and then celebrate them.

I feel like I'm cheating on this celebration this week. I have huge things to celebrate - gigantic, big, enormous, exciting things.

1. I formatted my novel in three different ways, and successfully uploaded it to two different sites. I had help from my husband with two of them, but we worked together too, and I did the third on my own.

2. I learned how to use author central at amazon, learned more about smashwords, createspace, and kindle, and finally wrote four guest posts!!! (I conquered that guest post fear, and realized that I was trying too hard to be "cool" like all the "coolio" bloggers I know and decided I should just write in my comfort zone instead)

3. I have a cover. It's cool looking. There might be a few changes made to it before Monday, but I do have one!

4. My kids survived a homeschooling week while I spent too much time with my book release prep. I did remember to tear myself away from my stuff to give feedback on writing, go through some math equations, and find out that my oldest daughter wants to re-evaluate her history curriculum. She feels she isn't retaining enough of the information. So, somehow tomorrow or early next week, I'll be figuring out how to make history more meaningful.

5. Went to a high school informational night for homeschool families that included looking at different school options, including running start. I knew 95% of the info (partly because I used to be a certified public high school teacher), but my oldest daughter learned a great deal and came away enthusiastic about running start. Plus, I reconnected with some "old" homeschool buddies and "current" homeschool buddies.

6. I didn't get any decent cardio exercise this week, but I did stretch out for quite a while on Thursday and today I will ski.

7. Had an awesome guest post yesterday by L. Diane Wolf. If you haven't read it, check it out. Her new book, How to Publish and Promote Your Book Now, sounds like a treasure trove of information. I purchased a copy, and so far, well, I really wish I had read it six months ago. I highly recommend it.


What are you celebrating today?

News
Julie Flanders' Polar Night is out today on Kindle!!!













If you haven't yet, please sign up for the Champion in the Darkness book release party for Monday. To join the party, just sign up on the linky list and give me a simple shout out. You don't have to use all the information I'll send you if you are signed up. Quick shout outs are perfect! I'm just using a blog hop link so I know who to send information to this weekend. Plus, on Monday the rafflecopter giveaway will start.
Charity Bradford'sCharity Bradford's book The Magic Wakes is coming soon on February 19th!

Thankfulness for Life!

In the last five weeks, I've been caught up in specific blog challenges, fests, hops, and a wonderful guest post by Karen Lange. I'm thankful for all the wonderful hosts of those challenges, fests, and hops, and I'm thankful for Karen's gracious wisdom about blogging.

Meanwhile in the non-cyber world, life is barrelling along at a breakneck pace, and I feel like I'm bursting with thankfulness for life!

So I thought I would share a few bits of that with all of you with some pictures.

In our homeschooling life, my oldest daughter and my husband have been joyfully creating different experiments for her homeschool co-op Backyard Ballistics class. Their most recent creation for that class was a carbide cannon, but I have pictures of one that they made earlier: the potato gun.

This photo was taken in the last week of March, when my daughter had just undergone minor foot surgery (see note at bottom), so that's why she has a sock over one foot (it's actually over a big bandage) and a crutch on the ground next to her.

My youngest daughter has been building all our own science experiments with very little help (she doesn't want it). This last week, she built her own balance. We have one but she wanted to build her own from her science kit.

With a small group of homeschool friends we went out this last Tuesday and celebrated a particularly low tide in our area. These were just a few of our discoveries:

Plus, five girls, one boy, and three moms managed to bring home a few buckets of sand in our shoes.

And in our dance life, my youngest got her first full pointe shoes (slightly different than demi-pointe)

My oldest is up for her first pair of full pointe shoes, but her feet have this tendency to grow in May, so we are going to wait through the month and see if her feet get a size bigger in the next thirty days. We inevitably buy her new shoes the week before the June recital. Soft shoes like ballet slippers, and jazz shoes just stretch. Tap shoes and pointe shoes don't.  Their ballet teacher simply said to move from demi-pointe to pointe when they needed new shoes . . .so she has to wait.

*Her foot surgery involved removing what the foot doctor thought was a wart, but turned out to be a small bit of metal or glass cocooned in protective skin tissue. She recovered enought to ski in one week, and recovered enough to dance in two weeks, although her foot doctor just said last week that she is fully recovered.

Day 11 of 100 Days of Revision Update

Aagh. I'm about 1,000 words behind my goal today. And the last bit of revision still left me with an extremely awkward conversation . . .need to fix it, but I need to move on and fix the rest of the mess too. There is only so much rewriting a scene can take before it just shatters into meaningless bits.

The Hunger Games and History Lessons

Is it possible to link The Hunger Games trilogy with a history lesson?

Yes.

We discovered this as my youngest was in the midst of reading the third book in the trilogy, Mockingjay. She was delighted to share with me her laughter over the name of the country where Katniss lived. Panem and Circenses, which means bread and circus. I smiled, and then I thought, wait, what? how did I miss that when I read it? Bread and Circuses. There's historical significance there, and it goes with our recent history lessons about Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire.

Julius Caesar rose to popularity with the people partly because he gave out bread, and supported the games at the coleseum. The Roman Empire continued to give the people appeasement through those same practices until it collapsed. For a more intellectual rundown of this, go see Wikipedia on Bread and Circuses.

Suzanne Collins cleverly intertwines historical significance in naming the nation in The Hunger Games trilogy Panem and Cirenses. I continue to be amazed by the detailed depths in her writing.

I'm also thankful that I homeschool my kids, because I don't think we would have caught that part otherwise. True, my youngest is rather young for reading The Hunger Games, but when she is capable of reading everything in the house, where do I draw the line and when? It's a blessing and a difficulty to have an avid ten year old reader. I am constantly challenged to find books for her that are "just for fun" books. 

And to think I used to worry about my kids reading skills 5-6 years ago . . .things have changed.

So, do you know of any good books out there for ten year olds that can read at a high school to adult level?

And did you already know about the Bread and Circus history lesson in Mockingjay?

365 Days of Blessings, Day 184

1. Finished NaNoWRiMo despite all odds.

2. Husband is taking care of me, sweet guy.

3. My mom made me soup.

4. My kids and I had a writing/reading/poetry/language arts day today.

5. Soft kleenex.

6. Headache relief.

7. The sound of water pouring into a glass.

8. Orange juice.

9. Cranberry juice.

10. God loves me.

Scripture Blessings:
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

365 Days of Blessings, Days 182 and 183

So, yesterday I had a really blessed morning, and early afternoon, and then the sore throat kicked in. I tried to ignore it. Today I feel like my head is in a vise, and I have knives in my throat. So, I should just wait another day to count blessings and give thanks, right?
Wrong. I think I need to give thanks today.
So here goes:

1. Kids practicing for the Christmas program, re-telling the Nativity story with songs and fun.

2. A great worship service.

3. Lighting the first advent candle, and starting to prepare for Christ's birthday.

4. Seeing a feisty little girl get baptized yesterday . . . her eyes when she got wet, and then the wide reaching hands when she saw the baptismal candle. She just glowed, and it was sweet.

5. I am able to count, even with a head ache - I had to throw that one in here because I almost labeled this as number six. Whew.

6. Singing joyful praises to God.

7. Hearing a great sermon, packed with a wake up call for the season of advent, the beginning of a new church year. Wake up, Happy New Year! (It's a Lutheran church thing)

8. Hearing the choir, combined with the bell choir, a trumpet player, and a pianist. Wow.

9. Looking forward to celebrating next Sunday with the Kraft family, a missionary family that focuses their work in Bolivia, and includes the whole family from age 7ish and up.

10. My youngest daughter made three angel crafts in the last 24 hours. She is ready for the Christmas tree to be up, so she can hang her new ornaments.

11. My husband brought home a wreath.

12. My classes at the homeschool co-op are wonderful.

13. My mom is a huge help when I'm sick.

14. My youngest daughter watched a movie with me today - a kind of "get well" tradition involving humor, and laughter. Over the Hedge was our pick today.

15. We saw Tangled yesterday and really enjoyed the antics of the chameleon and the puppy-like horse.

16. Tea in large amounts.

17. Soft couches with big pillows.

18. A second Turkey, bought on sale, and roasted today, will feed my family for a week, and I won't have to cook for a little bit. Besides, roasting is easy. I just had to get up every half hour and baste. Not so hard with a kitchen timer, and thankfully my family doesn't do stuffing, so that takes out the work part of turkeys.

19. The bicycle made it into the van for tap company. The new tap trio routine for my girls and a friend of theirs includes a bicycle, three jumpropes and three energetic girls in tap shoes.

20. My husband took the girls to dance class, bicycle included.

21. The Lord gives me shelter, so I can rest.

Scripture Blessings:"Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." Psalm 91:1

365 Days of Blessings, Days 165 and 166

Counting my Blessings and Giving Thanks and Praise for:

1. Story writing with kids. Ideas bound across the page with live action and hints of mystery.

2. Putting a roasted dinner in the oven, and knowing I don't have to do anything more for dinner for at least an hour.

3. Friendship.

4. Dogs who jump.

5. Cats who sleep on rainy days.

6. Pecans.

7. The smell of pumpkin soup.

8. Plans for a harvest stew.

9. Band Angels . . . Band Aids with words of comfort from God's Word.

10. Celebrating my youngest daughter's baptismal birthday with a candlelit breakfast, and a song.

11. Praying with my kids for the swift recovery and complete healing for a young girl we know and love.

12. Learning a little Latin.

13. Playing with the snippets of language I know with my girls. We can say hello in at least six languages. I'm not sure we would survive if more words were required of us, but saying hello is fun when you are saying it in German, Japanese, Latin, French, Spanish, and Hawaiin. Oh, and sign language too.

14. Remembering more French that I think I should after many, many years away from practicing it.

15. My youngest knows how to say John 3:16 in sign language.

16. Practicing the sign for "Hallelujah" in the car sitting at a stoplight, and then realizing how it might look to other drivers :-O :-)

17. An amazing woman I know who keeps it all together, homeschools her kids, takes care of kids whose parents need a break, prepares for in-laws, has friends over, and keeps her household running smoothly - all at the same time. BTW, this is not me.

18. I finished the base word count for NaNoWriMo today. However, after being behind for at least 3 days, or is it 4, I need to write just a bit more each day.

19. Silly bands found at a Christian bookstore.

20. The light of Christ.

Scripture Blessings:

"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Corinthians 4:6

365 Days of Blessings, Day 159

Stuff I'm thankful for, and count as good, good blessings today:

1. Relief at finally fulfilling my word count for the day for NaNoWriMo. I struggled today, but I still achieved my goal.

2. New widget on the right, the NaNoWriMo Progress bar.

3. I had a very simple plot point to fulfill today, and yet my characters kept making it more complicated. Yet, I'm thankful. I know now what my MC is like under major stress, running through dark underground passageways, holding a dying child in her arms, meeting up with another group of refugees and being reunited with her parents . . . in less than 2,000 words. Wow. I even answered a question about my character that I didn't even know I had . . .

4. Writing daily, and writing more than I usually do daily is good for me.

5. My kids are signed up for the Kids NaNoWriMo, and they are fulfilling their daily word goals with joy and enthusiasm.

6. My mom is writing daily now too, although she's not officially doing NaNoWriMo because she would rather have the option that the kids have, and choose her own word count maximum.

7. Time to talk with dear friends.

8. A science experiment involving soda and balloons - fun stuff.

9. Getting into the swing of a new math curriculum.

10. Tomorrow is Friday. Usually that's not a big deal for me, but this week I am so thankful for the coming weekend.

11. God shields us and protects us.

Scripture Blessings: "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people."
Ephesians 6:10-18

365 Days of Blessings, Days 135 and 136, Manic Monday and Too Busy Tuesday

Manic Monday

1. Map-building for plotting with my writers' workshop adventure class.

2. Shakespeare live, with students reading through part of Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 1 with paper swords for a sword fight.

3. Facilitating for a different writing class, and just listening in on some of the teaching there. I like hearing different methods for writing process. I find it interesting, fun, and fascinating.

4. Having an awesome conversation with another homeschool mom!

5. Having awesome conversations with dance moms.

6. Doing the dance mom walk, 2 miles.

7. Writing character sketches, and character setting sketches. So much fun!

8. Dance fun, and excitement with dance kids happily chatting, playing and dancing together.

9. Ballet class with Damaris, an excellent ballet teacher, and a wonderful friend.

10. Home to watch the last 20 minutes of a movie before bed-time.

11. The scene in The Silver Chair when Prince Rilian is freed from the silver chair.

12. Praising God in all circumstances.

Too Busy Tuesday

1. Letting the girls sleep in a little bit.

2. Seeing neighbor friends on a wonderful 2 mile walk with sunshine overhead.

3. Fruit and toast for breakfast.

4. Talking about our history lessons. We love history.

5. Harriet Tubman.

6. Hatshepsut.

7. Writing dialogue with my daughters.

8. Picking out paint for our bathroom, and countertop colors and materials.

9. Watching the girls pick out paint colors for their room, hoping to combine neon green and blue.

10. Dance, dance, dance again with the dance mom walk coming soon.

11. Prayer.

Scripture Blessings:
"When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed." Matthew 14:34-36

365 Days of Blessings, Day 122

365 Days of Blessings, Day 122
I love green, but I've been feeling a need for blue sky blue, so here it is.
Blue like sky, blue like freedom, blue like dreams, blue like water . . .

365 Days of Blessings, Day 122
1. God gives us freedom.

2. Sleep.

3. Learning more about William Wilberforce, Abraham Lincoln, and Harriet Tubman, as well as other reformers of history who lived in the late 1700’s and the 1800’s. My youngest daughter is studying this time period currently, and I’m reading her books plus a few extras.

4. My oldest daughter is learning about the earliest history of India, 1800-1700 B.C., and we are enjoying that time period . . . although, as she says of the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Egyptians – “It’s all about fighting, destroying, getting power, and building temples over and over again.”

5. Our upstairs bathroom has been gutted, the plumber is gleefully pulling pipes out of our house, and we are hanging out at my parents’ house. I’m just thankful my parents live next door.

6. We have been set free from our house, and our routines, but we’ve chosen to keep home-schooling anyway.

7. A new appreciation for water.

8. My oldest daughter’s ability to practice her Latin words and conjugations to the tunes of Thousand Food Krutch.

9. Gleeful girls with brand new gold stretch pants . . . I wouldn't wear them, but hey, they can wear them well and with joy.

10. The water is on for the night . . . thank you, Lord.

Scripture Blessings:
John 7:38
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

365 Days of Blessings - Day 117

365 Days of Blessings, Day 117

1. God takes very real, earthy stuff and makes miracles happen. Just see the Creation story in Genesis, or the story of Jesus' birth in Matthew and Luke to see what I mean! Plus, there are many other examples too numerous to name here.

2. Birds fluttering the branches of trees just outside my window.

3. Writing from a new place with a new view. I used to write in my dining room most days, looking out at our backyard and a giant cedar tree. Lately I've been writing in my kitchenette, looking out the window onto our driveway, bushes, pine and deciduous trees of all kinds, and blackberry vines.

4. Starting my day with scripture and a short story, then a super short walk.

5. Writing a story in less than two pages, knowing it needs more work, but feeling the sense of accomplishment that comes with saying, "The End."

6. Writing on my novel, and knowing the end is nowhere in sight yet.

7. A squirrel climbing a tree, moving up far beyond my sight at least above thirty feet and not seeming to plan on stopping.

8. The sound of the washer and dryer. I'm so glad I don't have to wash my clothes by hand.

9. Having a successful math lesson with my daughters. Proportions and division with remainders made sense today!

10. A long chat with my Dad about . . . everything, politics, health insurance, food, and caffeine addiction, with plenty of storytelling mixed in.

Scripture Blessings:
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden."
Matthew 5:13-14

Please note: tomorrow I will be posting day 118, but I will also be writing a post about "writing compelling characters" for THE GREAT BLOGGING EXPERIMENT. I will be postponing the Blessed Blog Award giveaway until Saturday.

365 Days of Blessings - Day 115

365 Days of Blessings, Day 115

1. God's word is comforting, like a quilt wrapped around me on a cold morning.

2. Finding the book of Matthew to be so familiar that reading it is like hugging an old friend.

3. Despite two power outages or surges that messed up our alarm clock, and despite feeling slightly sick, I helped my husband get ready in time for his vanpool. He helped me yesterday, and I helped him today. That's just what we do, and I love that.

4. Being able to return to bed and write under the covers for a little while.

5. Using the writing prompt "the language of fire" to write a section of The Crystal Sword, when Clara is refined by the refiner's fire and defeats her enemy.

6. The feel of a smooth page under my right hand while my left guides my pen across the page (I wrote these in my journal first today).

7. A phone call from a friend last night, giving me support and encouragement.

8. This wonderful quote from Jerry B. Jenkins' book WRITING FOR THE SOUL, "Write because you believe in something. I write because I believe that's what God wants me to do." I highly recommend this book to all writers, especially Christian writers.

9. Researching the properties of different crystals for my novel, The Crystal Sword. Yes, it's fantasy, but I want to have a little bit of slighly reasonable background for it.

10. Books for homeschooling that we've read so far: The Golden Goblet, The Hittite Warrior, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, the Moccassin Trail, and By The Great Horn Spoon. That's a combination of 6th grade and 4th grade historical fiction books. We're off to a good start.

Scripture Blessings:
"In those days John the Baptist came, saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.'" Matthew 3:1

"Produce fruit in keeping with repentance." Matthew 3:8

"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." Matthew 3:11

"As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, who I love; with him, I am well pleased.'" Matthew 3:16-17

355 Days of Blessings - Day 107

365 Days of Blessings, Day 107

1. The Lord protects us, comforts us, and strengthens us in the midst of life's storms.

2. The awesome shoulder, advice, and thoughtfulness of my husband! In the last week, we've had lots of opportunities to talk, and I needed that!

3. Home-school cooperative!!!

4. My first day of teaching classes is done! Mistakes made, yes, but I took notes, and made plans for improvement. I really hope that my students will come away with a love of writing, and an enjoyment of Shakespeare (2 different classes).

5. Writing in a classroom with 9 kids that I just met today. Wow!

6. Writing a lazy sonnet, and looking forward to reading my Shakespeare class' lazy sonnets.

7. Hearing my kids' excitement over their classes and lessons, and being given a play-by-play account of their day in the car, and at home, and in the car again on the way to dance class.

8. My oldest daughter's confidence and persistence in making friends. Today, I watched her get ignored in a group conversation, trying to break in over an over . . . until finally, on her fourth try, the other girls turned, listened, and included her in the conversation.

9. My youngest daughter's excitement at learning. She wanted to teach me everything she learned today.

10. Back to the regular dance schedule . . .hanging out and eating dinner in the studio with al the company kids and company parents. What a fun group of people!

Scripture Blessings:
"And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son." Zechariah 12:10

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
John 3:16-17

365 Days of Blessings - Day 102

365 Days of Blessings, Day 102

1. The Lord is good, truly, amazingly good.

2. Amazed by the healing ability of my own body, I walked a 1/4 mile this morning just two days after straining my knee water skiing. Ice, stretching, (self)massage and a measured amount of rest are wonderful healers.

3. My mom is going to teach art to my kids this year for homeschooling!!! We talked over our ideas this morning, and she went off with plans forming. She might not be able to teach them all year, but she is going to start tomorrow . . . with either origami or drawing. She had a drawing book in her hands, and plans to look at another one, so I think we'll be starting with that, every Friday at 11a.m.

4. A phone conversation for an hour with a friend this morning! I needed that! Plus, talking on the phone for an hour is an amazing feat for me . . . I have a phone phobia, which is like saying I live in a cave in today's phone-frenzied times.

5. The heat is on . . . I must not be the only cold one in the house . . . because my husband turned it on. The cold rain is coming down, but it's ok when we can be warm and dry.

6. Prayers for people in need of shelter. I think God answers them . . . with us, through us, and sometimes in spite of us.

7. A new homeless shelter is being built in Tacoma for families with kids. I wish we didn't have a need for homeless shelters in our country, but I am glad we take care of those in need.

8. Food banks. For a very short time in my childhood my family received food from a food bank, and I am thankful that I can give to them now.

9. Watching fun, heart-warming movies like BOLT with my family. Who doesn't love a funny hamster, a cat with attitude, and a dog with superhero issues?

10. The first day of homeschooling is done.

11. Four wonderful, encouraging women made my night last night at the homeschool co-operative teacher's meeting.

12. Reading poetry.

Scripture Blessings:
"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you."
James 4:8