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My boys follow the typical boy-pattern of always being on the move and rarely liking to sit still. I love homeschooling because I can tailor our studies to work around their natural ‘bent’ and even celebrate it. Psalm 139:14 tells me that my boys are “fearfully and wonderfully made”...

I am writing over at The Mothers of Boys Society today, click over to continue reading.

Labels: homeschool

This Week's The LEarning Never Stops Photo Challenge is
"properties of water". Enter the link to your photo in the linky below, please visit at least 3 other entries. To be eligible to win, you need to link back to either this challenge or to my blog. The linky will close at 10pm Sunday night. Two winners will be announced on Tuesday night. Link up for the challenge below with the linky!



*******************************************************************************
Announcing a giveaway for the challenge!



I will be giving away one PeeP FUNtabulous Birdie Cup/vase from loveartsworks' shop on etsy.

This giveaway is open to anyone living in the continuous United States,
all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. (look towards the bottom and click 'post a comment') Comments will close 6pm Tuesday, August 3rd. A winner will be chosen Tuesday night by random number generator. No extra entries for tweeting, etc...but of course I'd love it if you spread the word!

Labels: Lens

Dear blog,

Today I am rather busy getting Meg packed and onto a plane for Seattle.

In- between washing clothes/helping to pack and taking her to the airport, I also will have my face stuck in- between the pages of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society...I am on page 48 and am deeply in love.

We went to the OC Fair yesterday, it's a family Summer tradition. I bought my requisite bag of chocolate-drizzle popcorn. I am snacking on this while reading my book.

We are off to the pool now, where I can read & snack while the kids stay out of my hair..er, while they have loads of Summer fun while getting in plenty of physical exercise and vitamin D.

I'll visit when I come up for air,

TTFN,
(tah-tah for now!)
love,
Jenn

Labels: Jen's world

Labels: Wordless Wednesday

The winners of this weeks' L.E.N.S. Photo Challenge are:

1) Nancextoo Journal




2) Ten Kids and a Dog



Birds are one of my very favorite things, I was so happy to have them for a theme this week. Thank you, everyone who took part in the challenge- I really enjoyed viewing your entries.

Next week, the theme is "properties of water" -please, get as creative as you can with this!

I will also do a giveaway during the challenge, stay tuned!

Labels: Lens, Lens winners

It's time for Sunday links! Good stuff I've found around the internet.

**First a Boredom Buster Summer idea from Good N Crazy blog- a recipe for Strawberry bread. She made this with her kids. I was actually brainstorming today about hands-on stuff to do with my kids, since I've been letting them run free-range wild the last week or two..and cooking was on my list. This recipe looks pleasing and not difficult.

**Next, The New Spice Guy- Study like a scholar...



**We watched Hello Dolly with the kids the other night. Just another chapter in our quest to make sure our kids are culturally educated....

here's my favorite song from the movie- Barbara Streisand was just brilliant, beautiful voice, beautiful everything, and so expressive!


So, what are your top fav musicals?

The LEarning Never Stops Photo Challenge theme this week is
"Bird-ology" - the study of, or about birds.
Let's get creative!



please remember to visit at least 3 other entries. Linky closes Sunday night, 10pm Pacific time. Winners announced Tuesday night.

Labels: Lens

Day 4 task for the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog challenge is to analyze a top blog in your blogging niche.




So, I thought hard about blogs on my reading list that are bigger, more successful- that have a good size audience and have sponsors or ads on their site. Two that came to mind are;

1) Spirit Bee

I enjoy Spirit Bee because her blog is a friendly, cheerful place. Bright colors, whimsical fonts and a cute theme cleverly tied together. Her faith is evident and forefront in her writing and sharing. Spirit Bee has been blogging many years- this makes her special, I've read that most blogs are abandoned before they are 2 years old.


She blogs in a natural way about her world, parenting/family are top subjects- and homeschooling is right up there with a huge, healthy amount of posts. Ahh- there's a lesson for me, if you consider yourself a homeschool blogger, then post about homeschooling. Aha!

I noticed also, that Spirit Bee is very generous with mentions, blogroll and that she does a bit of guest posting around- she has a post up at Blog Her right now- My Early Homeschool Journey

Go on over and visit, you know you want to... go on, I'll wait till you get back...

2) Meg at Tuckers Take Tennessee

Another blog I added to my favorite's list- and when this assignment came up, I thought of her, but could not remember the name of her blog. I gave a shout-out on twitter, looking for the pretty, blond, Southern homeschool blogger who had a welcome video on her sidebar.

Her site is very pleasing to look at, very well organized with many drop down menus. It is easy to navigate. Her welcome video caught my attention right away, it's a bit different- and her personality, sweet and memorable- was evident on it.

She has been blogging a little more than a year, and already has quite a following. She hasn't blogged about homeschooling much, yet- her children are still young. She has many giveaways, guest posters, reviews and crafts. There is a lot of interesting content for moms here. She also has started up a few Christian Women groups and memes. She is a busy, fun person- and shares her knowledge freely, as evident by the several, detailed tutorials on her site.

Her blog is a fun, bright place and her faith is also very evident, through her posts, memes, and Bible verses she shares about. Go visit Meg, too- you'll have fun. Promise.

If you can think of successful bloggers in my niche of family & homeschooling, please share in the comments!

Labels: 31days-blog

Labels: 31days-blog

We had a real variety of entries this week, some were 'in training' with their photos, trying-on bokeh, while others had interesting/different views. Again, each week, it is really, really hard to choose just two winners.

The winners of this week's photo challenge are:

1) Christine McKeel Photography

In this photo, she managed to capture the grass in front-sharply in focus, while getting the nice, soft bokeh grass effect in the back.


2) Prairie Tales


I choose this one because she stepped outside the box of scenery bokeh- which I admit, is what comes to my mind when I think of capturing a great bokeh shot. Instead, she went for this out of the ordinary view of a cake. Love it. And it's cake..what's not to love?

Great job everyone, beautiful photos, I enjoyed viewing them all, and I was inspired to get out and try some more bokeh shots.

thanks for playing!

Check for upcoming challenges on the right side-bar.

Labels: Lens, Lens winners

When I first ran across Pro-Blogger's e-book: 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, I knew I wanted to do it. At the time, I knew I was a little too busy. I also knew that I tend to start things and not finish them. It's a Jen thing.... So, when I found out that the SITS forum over at Blog Frog was forming a group to work through the book together- I was totally in! (though I bought the book and linked up on the start day..-it's a Jen thing...)

(If you want to join up, I think you still can- click on over, Pro-Blogger is even giving a discount to the group!)


Write your elevator pitch:

It was suggested that you might consider putting your elevator pitch on your business card...so after much debating, writing and scratching out- I came up with this:


The assignment also suggested a longer elevator pitch, which really took some work on my part. -I'm sharing that part over at the SITS forum.

I enjoyed the stretching this assignment gave me. I was really challenged to think about the goals I have for my blog, the reasons I re-visit other blogs, and which direction I want to take my little spot on the internet. I also had to think about the sort of posts I've been writing and how they meet or do not meet my goals.

Thank you SITS and Blog Frog for giving me the push and encouragement to tackle this project!

Labels: 31days-blog

I can't do it all. Most of the time I don't do it all. Some days I do well with juggling all the different tasks/cares/responsibilities/fun. Many days I limp along and get it done ungracefully.. -and then there are the days when it all comes crashing down on my head.

We call it, living the Jen life.

Sky says I'm my own worst enemy, and I know he's speaking wisdom there.


{photo by Alexander Somma -used by permission}

I struggle with how real to be here on the blawg- I want to be honest...and yet, I kind of doubt many come by to hear me whine.

I have this feeling though, that there are many moms & specifically homeschool moms who struggle like this. I don't have any easy answers, I'm figuring it out as I limp along. But, I wanted you to know that I'm just like you, that I have horrible days. I have days when I am late to everything and I hurry through a lesson and get it done 'good enough'.

Mostly, I feel like I bounce from one big event to the next. First it's getting my homeschool records done for end-of-year, to next getting Meg to an Irish Feis. Next getting ready for vacation and camping. Then I have a breather of a few days before I have to start epic cleaning for our Bible Conference and having people stay here. Then they leave, more arrive, finally a quiet house and bam- we have 2 weeks of youth Bible school for my 12 year old. This means 2 weeks of driving her around every night and hosting the kids for dinner at least one of those nights. Then bam- it's Irish feis time again. Then bam- put oldest on a flight to Washington for her Bible camp, and then I'm getting on a flight to join her. Then bam, it's start of school again.
Whimper.

In between I have paper work to do for the beginning of school, laundry, cleaning, cooking-when I remember. This week I had two days where it all came crashing down on my head. One of those days I cried.

Sky was good though, after he lectured me on my own folly (linear brain that he is, he couldn't resist) he took me to a favorite restaurant for girl food to soothe the soul. He's good like that.

So, here I am...sitting on a ton of laundry, tired and disorganized-trying to figure out how to get any of it done.

Working moms- total hats off to you, I do not know how you do it. I have all day to somehow get it together, and I don't.

So, I'm still a continued work in progress.

How about you? Have you figured out a good, workable system for family life? Or are you like me, keeping the plates spinning-except on days when you don't?...

Labels: homeschool planning, Jen's world

Labels: Lens

The challenge for this Saturday's
The LEarning Never Stops Photo Challenge is bokeh.

I heart bokeh. Everyone needs a little bokeh in their life....

Need a translation? Need an example? Here are two I pulled from the blawg...

In non-technical blog-speak, bokeh effect is a blurry background. See on the photo above- the grass-like plants are in focus in the front, and the background is all blurry and out-of-focus.



Here's another example- I focused on the yummy snack, getting real close to it- I actually had my camera setting on 'aperture'- the little 'A' button on the top left of my nikon. My camera then chose the shutter speed for me. I like either/or scenaros, it just simplifies things for me...

Before I found out about the aperture setting...I learned a neat little bokeh trick- use your micro setting on your camera, it's usually a button with a flower on it. Get in close to a subject and make sure you are focused just on the subject- you might have to play a little tug-of-war with your auto-focus...I did with the grass picture above. If you are focused on the closest thing, the background will be blurry. If no blur, try getting closer to the subject and re-focusing.

Here are links to better, more professional descriptions of bokeh, how to get it and how your aperture settings work-

• Bokeh by Miz Booshay at The Pioneer Woman Photography

• Addicted to Bokeh at The Pioneer Woman Photography-with links within for "what the heck in aperture parts 1,2, 3" - she is a wealth of information!

Now you are armed, so get out there and capture some great bokeh!

See you Saturday, July 17th for a Bokeh-Fest!

Labels: Lens

Labels: Wordless Wednesday

Here are the winners for The LEarning Never Stops photo challenge-
Red, white & blue

1) The Family Trifecta



Beautiful shades of red, white and blue. It's art- the photo and the food!




2) Learning Laughter Love

-All the shades, and it's a craft they did! Beautiful and a creative direction. Loved it!

********************************

Next weekend's photo challenge, July 17th will be 'bokeh'. I will have a post tomorrow explaining what bokeh is, how to get it easily using your camera's settings, and I will have a link or two to other blogs explaining how to use your aperture settings to achieve beautiful bokeh- I'll also post a photo of two as examples.
*bokeh is a blurred background

thank you everyone for participating, I hope you all had a chance to visit around and see the great entries- we had some really wonderful photos shared.

Labels: Lens, Lens winners

"They wanted to take photos in front of an orange tree, could I point them to one? ...It was Christmas time in Orange County, citrus trees everywhere were heavy with fruit. To my new Russian friends, it was miraculous..."

I'm writing over at Smartly OC today, hop over to read "My Russian Winter"

Labels: guest posts, Russia

interesting stuff I found this week on the world-wide-web

...because it's wide, and has awesome stuff....

• First, just found this, and I'm in love with this song. I've always loved Amy Grant's voice...

• I heart this blog. She is in California- look, we're neighbors, kind of...and she decorates in shades of white (who dreamed there were so many variations of white? there are!) and links to other places that decorate in white. I love this look. I also love red and gray and yellow.

I am now deeply conflicted.
Dreamy Whites

• I just stumbled upon Paulette Insall-Artist & Mom, her blog is beautiful and inspiring. Go on over if you want to be inspired to get some art on.

• Must have this bird-hook @Red Sail

• or maybe this rabbit-hook

• I also need, need this birdie cup from Love artworks shop on Etsy. Really, I need it.

How about you? Found any must-share stuff on the 'net?

Today's the LEarning Never Stops learning challenge is 'red, white & blue'. Use your creativity to explore what that means or looks like to you!

Linky will close 10 pm Sunday night, winners are announced Tuesday evening. Please visit at least 3 other entries.

good luck!

Labels: Lens

Photo by jpctalbot

I have maybe a medium fear of spiders, after reading Kit's tale of tarantula escape-"Please don't read this if you are Arachnophobic, Seriously" over at Blogging Dangerously, I thought it time to delve into my phobia and reason it out.
Or not. -the reasoning part, that is..

As a child, I was pretty fearless. I once found a tarantula walking down our street (we lived close to orange groves) and I still can't believe this, but hey, I was there...I took a large, glass mayo jar and scooped the hairy thing up. It's unbelievable, really, because nowadays, being in the doorway of a room with a loose tarantula in it would cause my arm, and then my body- to do that shivery-jiggle-heevie-jeebbie thing and then I would run screaming the other way.

Clearly, my growing fear of spiders must be hereditary, because- I remember running into the house to proudly show my mother my 'catch'... she was blow-drying her hair in the bathroom...she hopped from one foot to the other, cringing and screaming at me to get it out of there. I think she might have burst into tears, too- that part is a bit fuzzy, I was busy high-tailing it out.

This defining moment, though- might have triggered my problem with spiders: I was maybe 8 years old, I walked into my room and out of the corner of my eye, I saw something hide in the crack of my bed, next to the wall. Somehow, I thought I had caught a fairy or a doll playing in my room and then hiding from me...it's weird, but-yeah, that was my thought process. I laughed and jumped on my bed.
And a big, hairy spider jumped out at me.
I ran out of the room screaming.

Since then, my aversion to spiders has grown into a fear. I can't watch the spider part of The Lord of the Rings, and Sky is the official killer of all things Arachnid. I can't even pick up a dead one with a napkin. Seen the scene in Malcolm in the Middle where a tarantula bites Hal on the face? Yes, the stuff nightmares are made of...

Sky and I visited Taiwan in 2004. The stay in Taipei went well, but while we were visiting a church in a small village-waiting to find out who we were going to stay with, I looked across the room and saw the dried exoskeleton of a humongous, tarantula sized spider hanging on a curtain. It was bigger than Sky's out-stretched hand. Since it molted, the important question was, how big is it now? I remained in mortal fear of meeting one of these the rest of my trip.
I regret not taking a photo, but I was worried about offending the church people.
It looked like this spider I think, it was big like a tarantula, but skinnier and longer.
Youtube Taiwan spider

Demi went through a stage of loving and being fascinated with spiders. His room still has a wallpaper border with these cute, cartoon spiders on it. But, no pet spiders will ever live in a house with me.
No stinking way, with cherries on top.

How about you? What are you afraid of?
Any good spider stories?

Labels: Jen's world

I'm guest posting today over at The Homeschool Village, I hope you hop on over and visit!

Labels: homeschool

Labels: Wordless Wednesday

We had some creative entries for the theme-'numbers', I enjoyed seeing the different directions taken with this challenge.

Here are the winners for this week:


1) Aimee @ Aimee's Land, a great shot!



2) Butterfly Wishes and Wonderland dreams

thank you for taking the LEarning Never Stops Photo Challenge, I hope you will join us next week for the theme-

' red, white & blue'

see you Saturday!

Labels: Lens, Lens winners

I am so sorry internets! ..because of all the busyness at my house, due to our Bible conference-I forgot that today is Saturday!!

So, here is the linky for this week's the LEarning Never Stops photo challenge.
The theme is Numbers.
go ahead, be creative with your subject!

I will keep the linky up an extra day because of the holiday on Sunday..so the linky will close
10pm Monday night.

Next week's theme is 'red, white & blue'

Labels: Lens