See you in a bit!

I am beginning to do a short stint of work outside of our home, and I have a feeling that I won't be back on here for a little bit. I apologize in advance. I look forward to seeing you soon!! :)

Today

I'm really not a complete sheltering my kids kind of mom... I let them climb tall trees, play sports, watch the news (with me only though, so we can talk it through), have friends, just do lots of stuff. I look at homeschooling as a chance to prepare them rather than solely protect them. As they get older we shift more and more from protecting to preparing... But I do worry. I worry about the "today" that they're growing up in. I worry that they are growing up familiar with terms like "compromising photos", "school shootings","private drug rehab", and those much more intense. I applaud that we are talking about hard things, and not just brushing them under the carpet, but it makes me sad that some of the hard things have been trivialized to pop news....

Okay enough deep thinking for tonight :). My brain is ready to shift gears to the mindless activites that occur after kids' bedtimes: folding laundry, watching a non-animated tv show, balancing the checkbook (maybe I should save that one till the morning :).)

G'night!

Reclaiming school

Any other homeschoolers having a hard time getting back into it after the holidays? I JUST now feel like I'm starting to regain some semblance of a schedule... I stress about sometimes, but in my happier times I take a deep breath and remember that each sunrise holds a fresh start :).

Finding your way online

As you know if you've looked around, I've got a couple of kiddos here. I love having internet access for them, but it also comes with the responsibility of teaching them how to use it wisely. We have parental guards, locks, and filters in place. We have our computer located in a main area where there are no "secrets" online, but still, we need to teach them how to, little by little, make more of their own choices, good choices, online.

Even once you get through the moral choices of what to look at online, it can be challenging to find quality stuff online. Searching for good information, or for an ideal product or service on the net can be a real hassle. There are some new services to specifically help with this issue. Hottest Products is one of services designed to help with this. Their site is jam-packed with a ton of items that are conveniently categorized in an orderly fashion, from Wedding Planning Guides to television services to learning to play the piano. Good stuff! Check it out and let me know what you think....

No more hiding

I hope you enjoy me sharing these little blurbs. I figure that if they are helpful for me, they might hit upon someone else that could use this tidbit of wisdom today... What do think about it?

No more hiding Gen. 3:9-10: But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid" (NIV). After Adam and Eve ate from the tree, they realized they were naked. In response, they hid from God and sewed fig leaves together to cover their nakedness. God's response to Adam's sin was a question: "Where are you?" Now, you can be certain that God had not misplaced Adam! He asked the question for Adam's benefit, not His. The legacy of Adam and Eve's act is that we are still hiding today. Shopping, food, drug and alcohol abuse, and sometimes even exercise represent our "fig leaves." Still, God continues to ask us, "Where are you?" He is calling for us to come out of hiding and into a relationship with Him. What an example for parents! Call your kids out of hiding by asking open-ended questions and listen to their answers with understanding, rather than meeting them with judgment and shame. If you need to give consequences for their disobedience, choose to give those consequences with empathy. Meeting your kids with empathy helps them come out of hiding and into relationship.

E-cards

It's amazing how quickly young minds learn! My ten year old, and even my eight year old, can navigate around the internet (with safeguards in place) so adeptly, and are able to figure out all kinds of things. They amaze me. I truly don't know how they learned this stuff, as we homeschool, and they are with me most all of the time. I've never really sat and taught them this stuff. It wasn't computer lab at school, just trial and error and watching me I guess. Anyway, my ten year old has this thing with e-cards. She loves sending them, and will even send them for me if I mention forgetting someone's birthday or something like that. She knows her way around several sites. I think I'm going to be able to impress her with finding one that she doesn't know about yet (always good to occasionally be able to look cool in front of your kids!! :)).

Cardfish is an exciting new personalized greeting card and messaging service that allows users to send innovative multi-media cards to their friends. You select a card, send it to a friend, and then when they open it and watch the video clip, Cardfish Phone call calls them at a specific point in the video, just when it makes it very funny. I like it.... There's even a free discount code for people to try the service out, using the word FREE as the coupon code. Fun, free, good stuff, right?

So, we'll see. I think I'll send one to my daughter, placing my phone right near her when I know she's checking email... Maybe, for a brief moment anyway, I will be "cool mom". Here's hoping, right? :)