Your child might be a sizzler if ...

Your child just might be a sizzler if you find yourself repeatedly asking, "Do you need to use the bathroom?"

And they consistently reply, "No, I'm just dancing to the song I'm thinking about."  Or "No, I'm just wiggling because I like to wiggle."

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Your child might be a sizzler if you have to stop, look and listen before entering the hallway, just to make sure you aren't about to be barreled into.

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Your child might be a sizzler if you spend more time pointing them BACK to their schoolwork or chores than you spend answering questions about their schoolwork.

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You might be in over your head if these apply to several of your children, and not just one.  "Lord, help us! Give us grace!  Amen."

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If you're wondering what a sizzler is, check out Carol Barnier's awesome website for parents of active, distractible children at SizzleBop.com, especially if you can relate to one or more of those points above.

Doing the sizzle-bop,
April E.

Inspiration for my week ...

I was looking at some of my favorite Bible passages this week, and thinking how these three always inspire me to continue to strive to be a better woman, wife, and mom.  They remind me to watch my attitude and words, to have a good attitude about work, and to love my husband and children unselfishly.  It's so easy to begin to shirk my work, and have a "serve me" attitude rather than a heart to serve them.  As I face a new week of school and parenting and housework tomorrow, I thought I'd remind myself of the importance of HOW I go about my work.  Because the way I do the work is just as important as the work itself.

Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.  

~ Titus 2:3-5 ~

...make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.  

~ 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 ~

Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands,    

~1 Peter 3:1-5 ~

Still striving to serve Him better,

April E.

Oh yes, I did.

I did, seriously, just threaten to take away my son's library card.  He's been reading all morning, not getting started on his math.  So I threatened to take away his library card so he wouldn't check out stuff to distract him from school.

Now, before you get all excited, or defend his reading ... it's a spiderman comic book.  It wasn't anything educational or inspirational or in any way related to his schoolwork. 

And please note that I said, "stuff".  He doesn't just check out books.  Neither of my boys with library cards limit themselves to books. They also check out too many movies ... and way too many wii games.  The wii games are really getting on my nerves.  It would be okay if they checked out one each month, or even just one each week, and managed their wii time better.  No, they check out several at once, and we are constantly having to restrict their wii usage. 

This is not why we have library cards, at least not to my old-fashioned mind.  So yes, I did just say something I never thought I'd have to say, especially not to my boys.  I threatened to take away the library card.  Somehow, I have a feeling I might be one of very few parents to threaten that, especially when not faced with astronomical late fees.

And it should be noted, he's still reading that comic book.  I'm about to go confiscate the comic book, because his math book is feeling very lonely.

April E.

Serial Globe-killers

We've killed 3 globes in less than 12 years in our home.  We just can't keep them alive here.  When we started homeschooling, we hung a US wall map, a world wall map, and we bought a globe at an auction.  Looking up locations from our reading, the news, and events in our lives was a daily part of our life.  We loved our maps!

But that auction globe didn't last long.  It starts with a tilt, and a wobble, and then the globe just starts falling off periodically.  We start off tightening the screw/bolt on a weekly basis, and soon we're tightening it daily.  The earth is slipping off its axis, gaining an unhealthy tilt.  I'm sure that changes seasons, tides, puts holes in the ozone layer, and is probably the source of the whole global warming phenomenon. 

So, we replaced that globe with another auction globe.  This one had a tall wooden stand and seemed like a quality globe, though I'm sure many of the countries in Europe and Africa were out of date.  Well, it wasn't long before the earth was falling off its tall maple stand on a regular basis.  So we got rid of the decorative maple pole and attached the globe directly to the round base, moving it up onto the entertainment stand instead of the floor.  But that didn't last long, either.

So my husband's sister and her family (fellow homeschoolers) gave us a globe for Christmas.  A brand new, straight-from-the-store, still-in-a-box globe.  I can't recall if it lasted 2 years or 4 years.  But I know it didn't last more than 4 years before it just wouldn't stay on its base anymore.  It followed the same progression as the previous globes, with loosening bolts and an ever-increasing tilt.  I think it's currently stuck in a very dirty closet that I prefer not to look into.

We've been globeless for about 2 years now, and I'd really like another globe.  I can't decide whether I should just consider globes a disposable product, meant to be replaced every 3 years ... or whether I should consider investing in a more expensive globe.  Would buying an expensive one guarantee that I could use it for ten years at least?  Could I find one that would last through 2 yo V's graduation, without getting  a second mortgage on the farmhouse?

I probably should consider them disposable ... er, I mean consumable ... homeschool supplies.

But are we the ONLY family that kills globes like this?  Please tell me other families have to replace their globes every couple years, too.  What about schools?  How long do theirs last?  I promise we aren't playing ball with them.  At least, they haven't ever done it while I've been home.

Still Globeless,
April E.