The nearest large city to us (Edmonton) recently built a new art gallery which is very, ummm, high design I suppose you could say.  We drive by it every once in awhile just because it looks so…interesting from the outside .  We haven’t been in to see the art yet, but it’s definitely on our ‘to do’ list – maybe when we’re in the city waiting for our baby to be born!

One of the really lovely things about the Phoenix art museum is that they’ve taken advantage of technology to make many of their art works available online! There is a link right from their home page that will let you go through many of their collections online, past featured collections, and more!

Of course, nothing really compares to seeing art in person; the texture just isn’t the same. If you live near Phoenix, their art museum is HUGE (200,000 sq. ft!) Over 18,000 objects! They even have a Fashion Design collection (a rare find) that includes 5,000 objects of men’s, women’s and children’s dress and accessories dating from the late 17th century to the present.

I think that would be my children’s favorite part, they have really enjoyed the clothing displays at our local museum out here, and the larger, provincial museum in the city.  We’ll have to settle for the online experience though – Phoenix is VERY far away from us!

It is truly AMAZING what a huge difference a child that dawdles makes in a homeschool!  Dawdling can mean the difference between 3 – 4 hours of work and 1 hour of work, literally!

I’ve seen my daughter take an hour to do ONE math page, or 20 minutes, the same goes for her other subjects as well.  We have the most troubles when we are just starting up again – after illness, after a holiday, after a weekend, or really any other sort of break.

What has really been motivating her lately is giving her grades.  I can’t believe it.  Grades.  From a mom who said she’d never grade.  Sigh.  ACTUALLY homeschooling in accordance with my daughter’s needs changes my preconceived notions once again!

She asks for her grades, she begs for them, she asked me to print her a tracking form for them yesterday!  It is really a motivating aspect for her, and I – of course – include attitude in her marks .

Whatever works!

This is a bit of a flash-back, and a peek into a part in my life that most of my readers don’t know much about (thankfully!)  When I was a young woman and looking for direction in my life and a career choice after high school, I seriously considered hair dressing.  I thought it was such a romantic profession.  I would wear technicolor dresses in a little technicolor house with a little technicolor garden and cut hair for a living during the day.

The only thing that stalled me out on this career path was the requirement of our local beauty college to visit with 2 – 3 practicing hair dresses and get a feel for the career before applying.  Truthfully, I was a bit too shy to approach a variety of hair dressers I didn’t know well in order to do this!

It’s all fine though, I eventually went in for secretarial training which still continues to serve me well (I can type very quickly!) Truthfully, I would have had a hard time making my curly, sometimes frizzy hair look ‘stylish’ enough every day to really pull off the hair dresser job in any case .

Some Arizona cosmetology schools are making it even easier to get degrees in the beauty field by offering three-day/week flex schooling, which would make it easier to work and go to school at the same time (that’s what I did for my secretarial training.)

The closest I’ve ever come to working as a hair dresser is cutting my husband’s hair.  I actually didn’t do too bad a job last time, but it DOES take plenty of practice!

Have you ever heard your child say those words?  Lately I’ve written a few posts about my search for a grammar program that would work for my oldest daughter who has become very curious about grammar and has been ‘into’ verbally correcting the spoken grammar of others (even though her formal understanding of the concepts is limited, she’s been working off of her oral, intuitive understanding of grammar.)

In any case, I was blessed to be able to mooch a copy of Simply Grammar – a Charlotte Mason grammar text that has been revised by Karen Andreola (I haven’t actually read any of Karen’s other works about CM.)  It arrived in GREAT shape and we’re slowly working through the exercises together (we’re on lesson 2.)  We aren’t doing a whole lesson and ALL the exercises at once, we are doing most of the exercises verbally, and she’s having so much fun!  I do revise the language at times to make it more modern or understandable, but she really enjoys the vintage illustrations.

Now, Kaelynn is only 7, and this is designed more for 9-year-olds so we’ll see how it goes .  She really likes the parts where she gets to compose her own sentences, but she likes filling in the blanks as well.  Even I am learning – I don’t have a very good understanding of all the formal grammar terminology either.

Thought I’d give an update because I had asked for advice and thoughts here a few times!

I’ve been spending some time browsing a truly lovely Music Box website today and I was struck by how many wonderful gift ideas I came up with in such a short period of time!  All of their products are high-quality and are made in Italy with excellent sound movements from either Switzerland or Japan.

They have a small selection of wooden Christmas Music Boxes which includes some simply striking cross-inspired designs featuring inlaid wood.  Some of my favorites though were for children and girls.  As a mother of three girls on the ground so far, I loved their very special music boxes, such as the “Some Day My Prince Will Come” music box.  It is green and has a frog on it, and would make a very special gift for a young woman who is waiting for God to send her a special prince!  I love it, it would make a truly unique purity gift for a sixteen-year-old who has a small jewelry collection or would like to start one.

There are also choices that are appropriate for men (my husband doesn’t actually wear any jewelry so I wasn’t so inspired in this department), and boxes designed with anniversaries and weddings in mind.  There are gorgeous natural, butterfly designs for nature lovers, and boxes featuring musical instruments.

These very special, heirloom-quality gifts are sure to please a wide number of gift givers and receivers alike!

Heartburn.  It’s just one of the inevitabilities of the last trimester of pregnancy isn’t it?  So far I haven’t broken into the Gavascon yet, but I am a regular consumer of Tums.  Good thing they’re tasty!  I prefer the original, extra-strength mint myself.  Good even when you’re nauseous without the dubious flavors available in the mixed fruit selection.  What if I don’t like one of the mixed fruit flavors?  What if one of them makes me queasy?  Just safer to stay with mint.

Mmmm.  Those were yummy .

Our family doesn’t personally use any Herbalife products, but I know it can be hard to find consultants for companies if you’re new to an area or aren’t well networked. If you like Herbalife and have been wondering where to find it, Herbalife International has a very good search engine that will help you find a distributor near you.  They even have a map function to help you visualize where the closest distributor may be.

Today I printed out some free geography downloadables that I found over at Confessions of a Homeschooler.  The Continent Hop is a free floor game that you can print and laminate for your little ones to learn one of the first ‘facts’ to learn about geography, that there are seven continents, their approximate locations, and their names.

So, we had at it tonight and our 7 and 4 year-olds wore their Dad out by having him call out continent names.  He got pretty creative and turned it into a bit of “Continent Twister” telling the girls to go to two continents at once, or having them hop to two or three continents in series.  He then mixed it up further by telling them to hop to where elephants come from and so on.

Continent Hop is FREE, just scroll down to get it.  Simple concept, but VERY fun for little ones who all have a touch of “Wiggly Willy” in them!

It is so easy for us to become tied up and trapped by the distractions and snares of this world.  Life here isn’t easy, and some forms of ‘escape’ seem to promise something better: pleasure, fun, entertainment.  When the trap slips closed however it soon becomes apparent that all the ‘fun’ that was promised is in fact slavery, that all the ‘good times’ that were promised are haunting, devoid of meaning, and ultimately destructive of all that is truly good in this life.

The Way Out is a website that helps those looking for just that, a way out through Addiction Treatment and recovery services.  Freedom from addiction is possible!

Having children is such a truly precious experience.  One of the things I love about having little ones around is being a witness to their pure and heartfelt expressions of faith.  A few days ago we were saying some prayers before bedtime, and my two-year-old had done a bit of praying and had fallen silent.

I started again, when she said with great exasperation, “Mom!  I’m a-talkin’ to Jesus!”

It was so precious!

The longer we walk with the Lord and the more our life with Him becomes evident in our day-to-day living, the greater the expressions of faith we are seeing from our children.  It truly is a blessing!