Welcome Central Valley Today viewers! Today I talked about kids eating free! All the details are over at NerdFamily Food! Check it out!
Our Life Mentality
May 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
“In a world of rugged individuals we strive to be individuals who make up a rugged family.” That was my first thought when I heard the phrase “Making Together Better” and the contest Brica is holding for Type A Conference sponsorship.
I know, I sound a little corny but we can say that “making together better” is really good summary of Nerdad and mine’s life mentality. (Frankly, I would include the kids but they are a little young to have a well defined life mentality.;) In today’s society it is easy to have great activities going all the time but family completely isolated for each other. And frankly, we didn’t go through all the trouble of have 4 kids to not enjoy life with them;).
We apply “make together better” in a variety of ways! 1 way is to use it as a threshold when we decide what “extra” activities we do! And I mean for all of us, including mom and dad! While I would love to be a killer blogger who is on every story and every headline and hits every awesome conference. NerdDad would love to have phenomenal software business. The kids would love to take Irish dance, choir, Awana, Robotics, be in a drumming group, Boy Scouts, Heritage Girls, sports and play with their friends every day.
There just isn’t time to do all that and spend time as a family, much less eat and sleep. So we have decided to plan our schedules to make not only our individual lives better, separate from each other, but make our lives better together as a group.
So we do! There is only so much time so if an “extra” activity can bring value to the whole family, it gets a priority!
When I decide what blogging things I attend and focus on I take my family into account! I love working on video games and movies and tech because I enjoy that with my family so much! NerdDad sometime chooses to spend his extra development time making a game for the kids because it brings a value to the family! The priority activities for the kids are ones that more one of them can do! Robotics is a huge priority because not only do a couple of the kids do it but NerdDad coaches!
Not to say that we never do anything that only 1 person will enjoy but those activities have to fit around everything else! We are not a family who smiles upon the idea of always having to be on the go or eating in the car for us. Not that it is wrong, just not what we want;).
We make together better by making together a priority!
Thanks to Brica for the opportunity to try to win a Type A sponsorship! Check them out at their website as well as Facebook and Twitter! And if you feel so inclined tell them I should win;).
Carnival of Homeschooling
May 8, 2012 By 5 Comments
Texas Turtle coffee anyone?
Welcome to the Carnival of Homechooling! Won’t you come on in, get a cup of coffee and make yourself comfortable? We have quite a few great entry’s this week so lets jump right in!
No matter what your education style is we all agree that life happens. One of the blessings of homeschooling is that homeschooling can work with the chaos of life! We have some great entries that specifically look at life and the flexibility of homeschooling!!!
Holy Spirit Led Homeschooling as a great piece on why they have The Year Round Homeschool and flexibility is a key point!
Why Homeschool talks about the chaos of moving back into their house and homeschool in Life Goes On.
Everything Home with Carol has a great piece on teaching with flexibility in Math on His Turf.
Life is complicated as homeschooling parents! Getting started is its own craziness! Den School talks about their First Major Homeschooling Mistake, I don’t see any problems 
.
A Little Homeschool Blog talks about the necessary evil of Multitasking and the Homeschool Mom. I don’t know if I am good at homeschooling but heaven knows that I do a lot of it!
With all the craziness life it is nice to read articles from Barbara Frank about Keys to a Successful Homeschool Convention Experience (part 3) do we can be quipped to handle this all just a little better!
I really think a great way to manage the chaos is found in Parent at the Helm in R*E*S*P*E*C*T: Find Out What it Means to Your Kid. It really can calm everything to feed our kids well too! Mel’s Mouthful on Mothering looks at 32 Snacks for Energy to feed your kids!
Then we get to the nuts and bolts of homeschooling! Starting with Close Shave and their Learn English Comedy Podcast. Our Curious Home has a great and beautiful piece on their field trip to The New England Aquarium last Thursday. No Fighting No Biting has a great peace on 4 Children Reading Under the Covers on getting kids to not just read but loving it!
Homeschool vs Public School talks about Combining History, Geography, & Economics in Your Homeschool.
Practical Pages has a great piece on Hands-On Knots! Great piece for even older kids. Then over on Free Homeschool Deals has a wonderful Free Printable Set for Little Mommy: Caring for Babies. My 4 year old will love this!!!
The last article to close out this week’s carnival is with a wonderful article that reminds me of what I am striving for! Homeschooling Atheist Mom has a piece by her daughter about how Homeschoolers are Weird (and frankly, I am glad!).
That wraps up this week’s carnival! I want to thank everyone for these awesome articles!!! I encourage you to go and read them and then make sure to comment! Bloggers live on comments;).
Why don’t you join in the fun? Submit you article for next week’s Carnival of Homeschooling!
Have a great week of homeschooling! And remember, it is a marathon not sprint!
CVT: Tablet Shopping
May 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Welcome Central Valley Today viewers!!! If you are looking for my recommendations and issues to consider in buying a tablet please pop over to NerdFamily Things and check them out!
Awesome Tribute to Adam Yauch
May 6, 2012 By 1 Comment
I don’t know if you heard but Adam Yauch (better known as MCA) from the Beastie Boys died last week. I admit, I am not the Beastie Boys biggest fan by any measure. But I totally remember sitting in the front yard with my best friend Cindy and listening to them on the boom box.
They changed the landscape of music and left many of us with musical memories that are huge. They didn’t seem to fit so they made their own place. My deepest condolences to not only his family and bandmates but also to all his fans.
I just love this tribute as only Coldplay could do;).
CVT: Bird Feeders for All Ages
April 30, 2012 By 1 Comment
Home made bird feeders are so much fun!!! And so cheap and easy. I have 3 different sets of bird feeders you can make. Choose based on the age of your child, how much you want to help and the materials you have on hand!
I have Bird Feeders Even Toddlers Can Make! All you need is Cheerios and some odds and ends. There are also Peanut Butter Bird Feeders for young students that need peanut butter and bird seed! There is even Popsicle Stick Bird Feeders that you can fill with anything!!!
These feeders make a great jumping off point for bird watching or the beginning of a bird unit!!!
(Welcome if you are coming here after seeing me on Central Valley Today! The links will take you to the various bird feeders I showed on KSEE 24 today!)
GCB: Don’t Laugh with the Other Side?
April 27, 2012 By 2 Comments
(This is basically the same as my vlog;)
I admit it. Not only have I been watching GCB over on ABC, I have really been liking it. I wasn’t sure I was going to watch it because I know what it stands for and was afraid it was just going to be Christian bashing. I watched pilot on Hulu the day after it came out but during the pilot I had a twitter conversation with the fabulous @GraceDuffy, while she was watching it live. I said that I was afraid to watch it because I thought I would both find it funny and be offended. She said I would;). Well, I found it funny and was just a little offended.
So what am I yammering about?
This last weekend I was at a women’s retreat with my church and a few of us were chattering as we were prepping things for the next morning. I don’t even remember what brought it up but I made comment about feeling old but yet still oddly relevant. I mentioned that on the previous week’s GCB (where they put on the musical) that the final song was DC Talk’s Jesus is All Right With Me and how that came out when I was in high school (and had front row tickets to the concert).
All of a sudden I hear, “Jackie, don’t tell me you watch that show!” I was thrown off there for a second and responded that I didn’t understand why not. Yes, I know what GCB stands for but it is actually about a specific group of girls and not just bashing Christians. I also said that it is so funny because we all know those people and well, it is funny. I mean I heard as a child it being that boobs make your cross hang straight. In real life!!! Now granted I have theological issues with their pastor but I am not attending his church (and I will probably write and complain about them in another post;).
You know the reason I was given as to why I shouldn’t watch it? Well, then non-Christians will think we are all like that and something about it then being ok to ridicule and dismiss us. And really struck a cord with me but maybe not to the same effect this person meant.
Do we think that if we don’t watch this non-Christian show and we don’t laugh with them they won’t know these people really do exist. I think it is actually our inability to laugh with people outside our faith about characters like these that makes people outside the church assume we are actually these characters. I mean talk about taking ourselves to seriously! I think that it is seeing a real Christian in the face of farcical Christians that illustrate true Christian character.
And make no mistake, Christians laugh at themselves and others in the church. Churches hire comedians that make fun of not only the characters but things we actually do. Why is that ok? Is it ok to laugh as long as the other side doesn’t see you? If that is the case, I think it is a silly rule. I laugh and I will probably laugh no matter who is laughing with me….As for that making fun of ourselves. Watch the video. Tim Hawkins even makes fun of ways people pray. It is hilarious;).
(And some time I will tell you how Ned Flanders was the best Christian on TV for a decade, until he started sleeping around;)
Brittany Spears and Marriage?
April 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
So Brittany Spears’ fiance is 1 of her conservators. Now this doesn’t bother me in the way some would think, that maybe this would be a conflict of interest for her fiance. I mean, those who know me know that I believe when it comes to marriage it is in for a penny, in for a pound. My problem is that you have a 30 year old woman who the court thinks is so unstable that she needs 2 conservators to manage her (& her vast wealth) but she is getting married? If the court is still worried about her mental ability and judgement, can she even enter a legal contract like marriage?
And what man would marry a woman that needs him to be her conservator? It is like the dude who became a girl’s legal guardian and married her.
I really have problems with everyone’s judgement in this situation. I worry for her!
Do-Re-Mi Dance Break
April 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The speaker at my women’s retreat last weekend mentioned this. I was shocked how many people hadn’t seen it yet!!! So get your mid-week happy heart going!!!
