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02/26/2003 Entry: "webpages, homeschooling, and buggies that boogy"
Boy I don't even know how many days has passed since I have had a free moment to write in here! Monday we had company for the afternoon which is always great and hectic all at once. I have been TOTALLY busy with my new website(s) I am working on for a wonderful lady up in New England. In case anyone wondered, she is my first "official" paying client. =o) Cool! Even better than that--she has actually fallen head over heals in love with the first page I have worked on for her! She emailed me this morning to tell me she looked at it before she went to work just so she could have her "fix" lol I'm pretty excited about it myself...she used words like "calliber", "wonderful", "love it", and such in description which just make me so thrilled! I could care LESS about the money that's the really weird thing, I just really truly want her to love it! Thank God she does!
Anyway, that has kept me busy...I am still working on her flash intro and a few other elements for her site, as well as content...and coming straight off of this one she has me for two more, a redesign on her bike/kayak rental site, and a whole new design for a property management site she will be running soon. I'll be busy for a while...combine all of that with the trials and tribulations of implementing a new curriculum and EEK...our life has been very crazy the last week or so! I haven't "officially" begun my new curriculum (which is a unit study approach which will include all of the children THANK GOD!)--but rather spending a great deal of time looking over book lists, making book lists, and trying to decide what resources to purchase and which ones my local library will have available for me. Unfortunately, as wonderful as our library is, they are still lacking on ALOT of books that I consider mandatory library stuff. I hope we could eventually donate some of the "better" books to them.
So I have been knee deep in curriculum choices, which believe me is not an easy thing--and I get a little irritated at the thought that although I will in all likelyhood spend well over $500+ this year on curriculum, books, and school supplies--that many years ago when I was just a baby homeschooler--at one of the support group meetings I went to someone told me how much cheaper homeschooling was compared to public school. My eyes were all aglow! "think of all of the lists of items you have to purchase for them to send in on the first day of school...and the wardrobe of clothes...and lunch money...homeschooling is much cheaper!" I nodded my head vigerously as if I were in on one of the best kept secrets like the fountain of youth. However, I have since decided that the woman who told me that--a) does not supply her children with any supplies necessary for their education (and yes, this includes paint, crayons, pencils, paper, along with all of the other books and curriculum they need--which I have supplied to my children--so if she is somehow avoiding this cost she must just not be doing it!) b) must allow her children to run around naked (as I still have to purchase seasonal clothes for my children as they grow) and c) she must starve her children (because my children still eat 3 meals a day plus snacks, which *I* have to prepare!) At the time...in all of my niavity...I laughed, agreed, nodded my head, and had visions of vacations my dh and I would have thanks to all of the money we were going to save by homeschooling our children. HA Boy was I wrong! Homeschooling is not cheap. Now, in all fairness, there are definately cheapER ways of doing it than I do. I buy books, good, REAL, quality books. I want my kids to LOVE books, and I don't think library books are the same...not like a book they bring home and write their name carefully in it so that they feel the ownership over it. Plus, libraries don't offer a wealth of Christian material...and in that area I do not scrimp on. I want my children to have the kind of books that I don't have to chew up and spit back out to them, making sure the truth is not lost in liberal agendas and rewritten history--but books they can read and know the real truths, whether historical, scientific or whatnot...I don't change the reality of what happened--but all of history and reality needs to be balanced with the right attitude...I don't trust very many people to have the kind of attitude I expect when it comes to what my children need to know about the past, present and future. Although, I do have quite a number of secular books on my shelves, I find that for the most part I lean toward OLDER books, printed in the 70's or earlier as they are still REAL books IMO...not watered down, changed for the sake of PCness, or infiltrated with "tolerance" a code word for "whatever we want to do is okay and if you happen to not agree with what we want to do then you are INtolerant"...eh...that's a whole NOTHER entry there... If there truly exsisted in this nation any attitude of intolerence it would actually be directed toward those who do not say things are okay when they firmly believe they are morally (not even spiritually--I know atheists who do not agree with abortion, homosexuality, etc and simply object on a moral level) I have known people who have spoken to me in private about issues who will turn around in a crowd and just nod their head and go along with the majority because they are scared of the repercussions. That is so sad. =o( Even sadder are the ones who don't take any stand. Fence-sitters. Ugh. So...at any rate...what was I talking about? Oh yeah...about money for kids stuff...yeah...when people ask me about homeschooling now, one of the first things I mention to them is that if they want to be in control of their children's educations they should be prepared to pay for what they need to move it in the direction they need to go. There are NO freebies for home educators. Now all that said...irregardless of the expenses, I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to teach my children. I am so THANKFUL and BLESSED to live in a country where this is possible. And I count the TRUE cost much less than the monetary value that can be placed on it, because in reality my return on my investment will be 100 fold. I already know that my children will become amazing, successful young adults who will do great things (maybe not always by the WORLD'S standards of course, I have one child who talks of becoming a missionary--if that happens that might not appear successful to the world, but in the Kingdom of God you better believe that is a monumental success)--I know they will have what they need to reach their goals whatever they may be. I know they won't be afraid to reach out for whatever they are pulled by. They will always shine. I would pay a million times over for this opportunity. Even if I am a little tired tonight lol =o) Too tired to go grab some smilies and stick them on here even lol Ya'll will have to pretend again. lol
Dh posted about his car...he's so proud...and I'm proud of him...and he didn't even bother to mention the first time he took it out to run it...it was so COOL...loud, fast, and it was just awesome...so I'm all like "let me try"...his first mistake was letting me try, his next was not taking it back from me when he realized it was a mistake to let me try...I wish I could phrase the painful truth in some other way that doesn't sound so terrible, but well...I broke it. I ran it into the wall going mach 5 and snapped some part on the axle. I nearly broke into tears and fell all over myself apologizing, and my dh, being the awesome man of God he is...he didn't even get mad at me. He didn't even FUSS at me or act upset...he was okay, we went inside and he fixed it, and then today he was able to run it again and while I was at the school supply store I got a call on my phone and he informed me that he had done the same thing I did and REbroke it lol Poor guy. So he has ordered some spare parts to have around for when these breaks happen again. I gotta tell you though, that little buggy boogies! It FLIES!! It's totally cool! And yes, I think I could drive one....if the space was really....big...and open....and there were no obstacles. hehe
I love you all very much I am off to bed now!! We have a birthday party to go to tomorrow at Chuck E. Cheeses. WHOO HOO party time at CEC. Hopefully I won't collapse before then lolol
Love to all!
~A
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