I'll be back to report my findings on Mother's Day or the day after.
In the meantime, how about a photo or two?
My youngest. Who is now 18.
I never thought of ducks as curious.
Have a great week, everyone! Catch ya' later.
5.05.2013
A Week Unplugged
That's what this week will be. When I say unplugged, what I really mean is unplugged from the excessively great time sucking vortex portion of the internet. You know, like Facebook and Twitter and other such things. I may need to check the balance in our bank account, pay a bill, edit some images, or some such thing. But nothing that leads to trolling around the web, losing all track of time, and frittering the day away. It's an experiment in what can I accomplish if I free up some time and space in my life?
I'll be back to report my findings on Mother's Day or the day after.
In the meantime, how about a photo or two?
My youngest. Who is now 18.
I never thought of ducks as curious.
Have a great week, everyone! Catch ya' later.
I'll be back to report my findings on Mother's Day or the day after.
In the meantime, how about a photo or two?
My youngest. Who is now 18.
I never thought of ducks as curious.
Have a great week, everyone! Catch ya' later.
4.16.2013
Creativity Exercises
On Saturday, I got up at the crack of 8:00 or so to gear up and head down to a local park for a gathering of photographers who wished to stretch their creativite muscles. We were each required to bring a random object, some sort of camera, an open mind, and we had to be there on time.
I wracked my brain trying to come up with a good, random object to be photographed. Something with flexibility. Sometime fun and interesting. Aha - Socrates, Caleb's sock monkey. I was pretty excited about this choice. A sock monkey, a garden at the park, and a camera = fun photos. Or so I anticipated.
But these creativity exercises were about thinking outside the box, about being creative with whatever comes your way, about doing something different. So we were paired up with another photographer (10 of us total) and we each had 20 minutes to photograph our partner's random object in 10 images. Oooh, what a tricky leader/instructor we had. Obviously, my partner had it easy with Socrates. He came up with some pretty fun shots.
What did my partner bring? A pair of statues.
They turned out to be a very interesting couple to photograph.
For the second exercise, we had new partners and one person had to walk and walk and walk until the partner said to stop. Wherever you stopped, you would mark that location, and then you had 10 minutes in which to shoot 10 photos no further than 10' away from where you stopped, using the random objects or not. Naturally, my partner (our illustrious leader/instructor) was nice enough to stop me in the middle of a dirt trail. Fortunately, with my 10' radius, I could get to a few things. And I had a zoom lens on my camera, so that gave me some flexibility. Here are a few of those:
And for the third exercise, we had yet another partner and you had 10 minutes to take three photos in which you tell a story. My partner? Yeah, he got to tell a story with a sock monkey. Easy peasy, right? Me? He handed me his wallet. I had to tell a story in three photos with his wallet. Okay then.
Okay, it's not a Pulitzer Prize-winning story, but it's a story, nonetheless. Sometimes you have to work with what you have.
I wracked my brain trying to come up with a good, random object to be photographed. Something with flexibility. Sometime fun and interesting. Aha - Socrates, Caleb's sock monkey. I was pretty excited about this choice. A sock monkey, a garden at the park, and a camera = fun photos. Or so I anticipated.
But these creativity exercises were about thinking outside the box, about being creative with whatever comes your way, about doing something different. So we were paired up with another photographer (10 of us total) and we each had 20 minutes to photograph our partner's random object in 10 images. Oooh, what a tricky leader/instructor we had. Obviously, my partner had it easy with Socrates. He came up with some pretty fun shots.
What did my partner bring? A pair of statues.
They turned out to be a very interesting couple to photograph.
For the second exercise, we had new partners and one person had to walk and walk and walk until the partner said to stop. Wherever you stopped, you would mark that location, and then you had 10 minutes in which to shoot 10 photos no further than 10' away from where you stopped, using the random objects or not. Naturally, my partner (our illustrious leader/instructor) was nice enough to stop me in the middle of a dirt trail. Fortunately, with my 10' radius, I could get to a few things. And I had a zoom lens on my camera, so that gave me some flexibility. Here are a few of those:
And for the third exercise, we had yet another partner and you had 10 minutes to take three photos in which you tell a story. My partner? Yeah, he got to tell a story with a sock monkey. Easy peasy, right? Me? He handed me his wallet. I had to tell a story in three photos with his wallet. Okay then.
Okay, it's not a Pulitzer Prize-winning story, but it's a story, nonetheless. Sometimes you have to work with what you have.
4.15.2013
Spontaneous Family Day
While Sundays usually have some family time involved, we thought our day was going to look a bit different than it did. But it was one of those serendipitous moments when the plans changed and we had the day wide open before us, with pretty much nowhere to go and nothing to do (well, nothing urgent or planned). So we had a family day.
Actually, we squeezed in a couple of haircuts before the fun and games began. Poor John - it's been super windy around here and having his hair all in his face has been rather frustrating while trying to work. He wasn't fond of my bandana idea, either. Now he can see and work without all that hair interference.
We played Clue, which I know I haven't played in probably 8-9 years. The boys have probably played a little more recently, but not sure that it's been within the past 4-5 years. It was a blast! Interestingly, the murderous Mrs. White was guilty three out of four times! She's a treacherous one, that Mrs. White.
We also played a couple games of Yahtzee. It's been awhile since I've played that one, too. We made a run to the frozen yogurt joint in between games, though, which cooled the dice off significantly. Our second game was quite underwhelming. Fun with sad scores.
Oh yeah, John & I made a quick run over to the grocery store, where we were greeted in the checkstand line with this!
Yikes!
Since we had yogurt at around dinner time, no one was terribly hungry, so we watched a few episodes of Numb3rs on Netflix and snacked as the need arose.
All in all, a spontaneously wonderful day.
Actually, we squeezed in a couple of haircuts before the fun and games began. Poor John - it's been super windy around here and having his hair all in his face has been rather frustrating while trying to work. He wasn't fond of my bandana idea, either. Now he can see and work without all that hair interference.
We played Clue, which I know I haven't played in probably 8-9 years. The boys have probably played a little more recently, but not sure that it's been within the past 4-5 years. It was a blast! Interestingly, the murderous Mrs. White was guilty three out of four times! She's a treacherous one, that Mrs. White.We also played a couple games of Yahtzee. It's been awhile since I've played that one, too. We made a run to the frozen yogurt joint in between games, though, which cooled the dice off significantly. Our second game was quite underwhelming. Fun with sad scores.
Oh yeah, John & I made a quick run over to the grocery store, where we were greeted in the checkstand line with this!
Yikes!
Since we had yogurt at around dinner time, no one was terribly hungry, so we watched a few episodes of Numb3rs on Netflix and snacked as the need arose.
All in all, a spontaneously wonderful day.
4.04.2013
End of Eight Years
When I began the homeschool journey, Caleb was just entering middle school (6th grade) and Zach was still at the local public school for 5th. If I were to homeschool all the way through high school, it would be a total of eight years. Not as long as many, but that seemed SO FAR AWAY. But here I am in April of 2013 and that eight-year-mark will arrive next month. Color me stunned.
What ever will I do with myself with no homeschooling responsibilities?
I've decided to start a list. Because I like lists. Mostly I like lists because I like to check or cross things off of lists. (Do you like to check them or cross them off? I'm sort of random, so I'll do both. But not on the same list.)
1. I will lighten my cyberlife by unsubscribing from any remaining homeschool lists, unfriending and unfollowing people with whom I have no relationship beyond homeschooling, and I will remove myself from any other online homeschooling ventures. Not because I don't love homeschooling any more, but it won't be relevant.
2. I will round up all the curriculum, resources, and other such stuff, and sell it or give it away or whatever it takes to get it out of my house and free up some space around here. And I will write long, run-on sentences just for the fun of it because I don't have to be in teacher mode even though I am always an editor at heart.
3. I will stop attending the meetings of the homeschool group I've been a part of for these past eight years. But I still get to meet with them afterward just for fun.
4. I will convince my boys that we should still have Bible and prayer each morning just because I love that time with them. Unless, of course, they don't live here (ha! ha!) as that might be a little inconvenient.
5. I will engage more in my photography business.
6. I will do all those things I never had time for (cleaning out my junk in the garage, purging the closets, finish painting the family room and trim throughout the house, etc.).
{sorry...I just fell out of my chair from laughing so hard at the idea of "doing all those things I never had time for"...bwahahahaha!!!}
7. I will do whatever else God has in store for me of which I know nothing right now.
Doesn't that all sound lovely? I highly doubt it will go that way. Life rarely goes according to plan. I'm pretty sure that #1-3 will happen, but the rest? We'll see how that goes.
What ever will I do with myself with no homeschooling responsibilities?
I've decided to start a list. Because I like lists. Mostly I like lists because I like to check or cross things off of lists. (Do you like to check them or cross them off? I'm sort of random, so I'll do both. But not on the same list.)1. I will lighten my cyberlife by unsubscribing from any remaining homeschool lists, unfriending and unfollowing people with whom I have no relationship beyond homeschooling, and I will remove myself from any other online homeschooling ventures. Not because I don't love homeschooling any more, but it won't be relevant.
2. I will round up all the curriculum, resources, and other such stuff, and sell it or give it away or whatever it takes to get it out of my house and free up some space around here. And I will write long, run-on sentences just for the fun of it because I don't have to be in teacher mode even though I am always an editor at heart.
3. I will stop attending the meetings of the homeschool group I've been a part of for these past eight years. But I still get to meet with them afterward just for fun.
4. I will convince my boys that we should still have Bible and prayer each morning just because I love that time with them. Unless, of course, they don't live here (ha! ha!) as that might be a little inconvenient.
5. I will engage more in my photography business.
6. I will do all those things I never had time for (cleaning out my junk in the garage, purging the closets, finish painting the family room and trim throughout the house, etc.).
{sorry...I just fell out of my chair from laughing so hard at the idea of "doing all those things I never had time for"...bwahahahaha!!!}
7. I will do whatever else God has in store for me of which I know nothing right now.
Doesn't that all sound lovely? I highly doubt it will go that way. Life rarely goes according to plan. I'm pretty sure that #1-3 will happen, but the rest? We'll see how that goes.
4.02.2013
Homeschool Prom
Yesterday I mentioned not really pulling any April Fool's Day pranks for the past few years. Apparently, I forgot about last year. This was classic - to John and me, not really the boys so much.
It was a Sunday morning and the boys were sleeping in. We got them up and had them come upstairs fairly soon so they wouldn't have time to realize what day it was. I proceeded to tell them that since we were nearing the end of our homeschool journey and we didn't want them to feel like they'd missed out on anything, we were going to plan a Homeschool Prom. A little back story here - the boys haven't had any interest in girls or dancing or anything remotely prom related. So already this sounds pretty horrible.
I went on to let them know that planning and decorating would be part of their school since we had a month or more to put it together. We'd hold it in the garage. John has a stereo out there, so no problem for the music. There's a refrigerator, so we could set up a table with refreshments. There's plenty of room to dance. They know more homeschooled boys than girls, so in order to even that out, I said we could invite some girls from the bowling league.
I went on and on about the entire event and at one point, I heard Zach quietly saying, "No thank you," repeatedly.
Caleb eventually figured out what day it was and what was going on. Shortly after that, I let Zach know, too. Oh, I also let him know that I'd been recording it - first on audio, then video. I think he said something about how mean I was. Really, Zach? I offered to let him wear shorts with his tie and jacket.
So apparently I'm not quite as nice as I thought yesterday. John and I thought it was rather funny, though. Caleb remained fairly calm, though I doubt he wanted to see it actually happen. Zach, on the other hand...he had much more of a reaction. But I think he was pretty relieved to find out it wasn't real.
And no, I'm not sharing the audio or the video. The boys will thank me for that.
It was a Sunday morning and the boys were sleeping in. We got them up and had them come upstairs fairly soon so they wouldn't have time to realize what day it was. I proceeded to tell them that since we were nearing the end of our homeschool journey and we didn't want them to feel like they'd missed out on anything, we were going to plan a Homeschool Prom. A little back story here - the boys haven't had any interest in girls or dancing or anything remotely prom related. So already this sounds pretty horrible.
I went on to let them know that planning and decorating would be part of their school since we had a month or more to put it together. We'd hold it in the garage. John has a stereo out there, so no problem for the music. There's a refrigerator, so we could set up a table with refreshments. There's plenty of room to dance. They know more homeschooled boys than girls, so in order to even that out, I said we could invite some girls from the bowling league.
I went on and on about the entire event and at one point, I heard Zach quietly saying, "No thank you," repeatedly.
Caleb eventually figured out what day it was and what was going on. Shortly after that, I let Zach know, too. Oh, I also let him know that I'd been recording it - first on audio, then video. I think he said something about how mean I was. Really, Zach? I offered to let him wear shorts with his tie and jacket.
So apparently I'm not quite as nice as I thought yesterday. John and I thought it was rather funny, though. Caleb remained fairly calm, though I doubt he wanted to see it actually happen. Zach, on the other hand...he had much more of a reaction. But I think he was pretty relieved to find out it wasn't real.
And no, I'm not sharing the audio or the video. The boys will thank me for that.
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