Out and About

The Dangerous Book for Boys is now available at Sam's, and we have our very own copy. Woohoo!!! Check out the video here. Love it.

Lindsey has a great 3-part article about learning to be content at home.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Anna has a short but oh-so-encouraging piece about homeschooling. She doesn't talk about homeschooling very much on her lovely blog, but recently her 15-year-old son Giles got a 33 on his ACT and received a full scholarship for this fall. This post was in response to some questions she received regarding her success as a homeschool mother. One of the most helpful things I've read in quite awhile.

Giles plans to be a photographer. You can see his amazing work on Anna's blog, and also on his own, here.

I met Mrs. Mobunny several years ago on a parenting message board (which I no longer visit; that's another story). Although we frequently "locked horns" in disagreement, I couldn't help but love her. She was always gracious and so likeable. She sent me a big box of little girls' patterns one time, which I still use. And recently she wrote a wonderful bit of teaching your sons to have a good work ethic. She begins:

We have been surrounded by cement for a majority of our married life. This means that our children have also been surrounded by the same thing. We have never lived on a farm, by a farm, or anything like a farm. We don't have a 2 acre garden, we don't raise llamas, we don't build fences for cattle and we don't have barb wire fences that need attention. We've never had chickens that needed a hen-house or a goat that needed a shed. The closest we've come to having 'animals' has been two bunnies in our back yard. And yes, when we had them, Daniel took care of them.

So, what do you do with boys that are not in an environment that causes them to run in flowery meadows with collie dogs, dig holes for fences or paint boats? You FIND things for them to do.

Near the end, she says:

So, don't do your boys a disservice by letting them lay around and read, watch TV, play video games, be idle, whine about the heat, or try to have them do domestic things to expel their energy. Boys need more than that. Don't cause them to be soft, don't allow them to prefer somebody else do the hard things.

The middle is worth reading. (By the way, I assume the part about tying sisters up is tongue in cheek...I can sure see my guy trying to do that...LOL)

I'm re-reading my battered softcover copy of Mama's Way by Thyra Ferre Bjorn. Beg, borrow, or steal--no, better not steal--a copy. It's a short and easy read, but one of the sweetest faith-building books I've ever read. She gets to the heart.

Last night I ran into a lady from church while I was trying to find my 6-year-old shoes that look like they should belong to a little girl and not like a, well, um...don't want to attract unsavory google hits...so I'll just say that I didn't want them to look too grown up, much less like something that should belong to an unwholesome grown-up. That started a conversation about modest dress, a passion we apparently share. This sweet young grandmother said, "Once, just out of curiosity, I googled 'modest clothing'. My word, it looked like something for the Amish!" She's right. It's hard to find something in the middle...Modest, but up-to-date. Here are a couple lovely companies that have stylish, modest options. Beautiful.

Christa Taylor (This company gives 30% of profits to Christian missions.)

Shade Clothing