I’ve been fiddling with my existing template, as well as looking for a new one… so things will be fluid here for a while.

I haven’t been doing WFMW long enough to have a “best of.” So I’m going to go ahead and post something new, because I’m so excited about this nifty neat free tool I happened upon through the blogvine…

At One True Media, you can easily put together video montages, photo books, etc. The one thing I’ve tried is the video montage. To put it together and share it via email and your blog is free! If you want a DVD of it, it’s a pretty penny, but I’m thrilled with what you get for free. 🙂

Here’s my first project – The Reunion Montage.

I told Johnny I’d get him this picture, and I’ve been forgetting…

and one with Davey –

Note – This post done with old-fashioned HTML, thumbnails and all, because the blogspot image thingy-ma-jig was not working. Rarr! I feel so fabulously nerdy!

I’m trying to figure out what to fix the Blessings for breakfast this morning, and I ask Grace, “What do you want to eat, Grace?”

She thinks for a bit.

“Ummm…. Chocolate.”

“Did you say Chocolate?”

“Yeah.”

Yessiree, that’s my daughter alright.

Katrina over at Callapidder Days is hosting a Fall Into Reading Challenge.

I don’t feel like I have a complete list, because I’ve had a very busy weekend, but I’m going to post what I have at this point, because I need a bit of a push to get some reading done. The Cumberland Books catalog is superb reading, but I should probably not re-read that until mid-December, eh?

So here’s what I have so far, in no particular order or fanciness –
Mere Christianity – C.S. Lewis
Uprising – Erwin Raphael McManus
The Complete Fairy Tales – George MacDonald
Adela Cathcart – George MacDonald
Wulf the Saxon – G.A. Henty
A Brother Beloved – Francena H Arnold
Three Shall Be One – Francena H Arnold
Twice Freed – Patricia M St John
Stories by O’Henry – (surprise!) O’Henry

I’m also wanting to go onto the Gutenburg Project and get some older biographies and autobiographies. But I don’t have time to do that tonight, so I’ll update my list later.

This is my entry to win a camera in the “Capture the Educational Moment” Contest sponsored by Spunky and Academic Superstore.

Well, Mama can’t resist an entry about her children’s educational moments.

We have been blessed to be a part of a growing homeschool support group in our area, which has been all kinds of wonderful for our family. One big blessing for us has been the Friday classes. We have two 10 week sessions each year where classes are offered that most parents can’t do at home. Things like art, taught by a true artist; choir, directed by a mom with a Masters degree in Music; Spanish, taught by a mom who was a missionary in Ecuador for years; strings classes taught by a proficient violin player.

Besides loving opportunities to visit with other like-minded moms, I love that these classes are not restricted by age. Our six Blessings, ages 3-10, can sing in choir and paint in art alongside children of all ages.

See?

This is my entry to win a camera in the “Capture the Educational Moment” Contest sponsored by Spunky and Academic Superstore.

My first impulse on hearing of this contest, was, as a homeschool mom, to write about some fabulous educational moment in our home. That could still happen, but for starters I’ve decided to write about my inspiration to become a teacher.

Miss Entz, my third grade teacher, was a life-changing teacher. She was of the few adults that I knew, besides my parents, who didn’t talk down to kids just because they were kids. She treated us with respect and we returned that respect.

Many of the “educational moments” from my time in Miss Entz’s class were due to her ability to think outside the box.

I struggled with grasping how cups, pints, quarts and such fit together, so she had me play at the kitchen sink measuring water into Mason jars.
I still think of the “greater than” and “less than” signs in terms of the green laminated alligator wanting to “eat” the larger number.
We performed the Nutcracker, and the Pied Piper, among other things.
We had “Christmas around the World” throughout the month of December, I think. My family lived next to the school, and I have in my head a photograph taken of me as St. Lucia, acting out the Swedish Festival of Lights by taking “breakfast” to my mother in bed (the whole class was in our house, and it was the middle of the day).

These are a few of the special moments Miss Entz gave our class. She inspired me to teach. And though I did not realize back then that I would one day be teaching my own children in my home, her respect and creativity stick with me to this day. If I’m half the teacher she was, my children will be very blessed.

I want time to write about our weekend camping trip with FoMM, post pictures of said camping trip, write about all my splendid little new projects, etc, etc. But I must go do breakfast with the Blessings. Maybe later.

I’ll just post this picture of me with a couple of my dearest friends (from the reunion a couple weeks ago):

We went on a wonderfully fun field trip with our homeschool support group today. We picked apples at an orchard – the first time our family has had the opportunity to do so. We’ve picked berries, and somehow I went with the expectation that it was going to be tedious that way, but no! It was easy and fun, and the apples are oh so fabulously yummy. The cost for the excursion with $4/child, including a hay ride, a small petting yard, a maze, a delicious cup of cider, a tall playset with nifty slide, and a bag for apples that holds 6-7 lbs. $4. 6-7 lbs. Around here, that’s a real steal. And some of the best and juiciest apples I’ve ever had.

You can kind of see the issue my camera had today. That “diffused lighting” effect? Not intentional. Got most of the way through the day before I realized I needed to clean my camera. Looking through the pictures, it created a wide range of effects, some quite pleasing.

Grocery shopping on the way home, roast in the oven, and now I need to start getting ready for our camping trip this weekend!