Be Real

I just found out recently that someone was intimidated by me.  ME!!  I never thought of myself as intimidating.  Intimidated, yes, but not intimidating.  When I asked this woman why she felt that way, her answer was because I seem to "always have it together."

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*Ahem...*

Now that I have control of myself, let me graciously say....NOT!!!!!!!

It is amazing how we can get an idea of how someone really is when we only see them about 3 hours a week.  The woman who mentioned her intimidation now lives out of state and we, obviously, no longer attend the same church.  When she did, she only saw me Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights.  She saw me smiling, dressed with clean and matching clothes.  She saw me laughing with my friends and sitting with my family; our arms around each other, holding hands, or holding a little one on my lap.  I guess I may have look pretty put together.

What this woman didn't see - what most people do not see - is the hurrying around the house before church.  She doesn't see the Wednesday night dinner dishes still piled on the shelf as I didn't plan far enough ahead to get everything cleaned up before running out the door.  She doesn't see the times where kids have to rummage through the DIRTY laundry sack to find a pair of matching socks to wear!  She doesn't hear me raising my voice at my children to "get with the program!!"  She doesn't see the tears I sometimes shed on the way to church in desires of having it together like so-and-so.

Should I walk into church looking as disheveled as I feel?  I don't believe so.  For testimony's sake, I put a smile on my face.  However, I sometimes think this does more of a dis-service to my sisters in Christ than it does bless them.  Those who know me well know that I struggle.  Yet, they don't even know the extent.  My pride keeps me from sharing too much.

I recently read one of the best books ever written for moms.  Todd Wilson's "Lies Homeschool Moms Believe" is directed toward homeschool moms, but I think all moms struggle with some of these lies.  I won't reiterate his entire book.  I will highly recommend you find a copy and read it (it only took me about 4 hours).   One of his main points was that by us moms acting like we have it all together we are often a discouragement to other moms.  We all know at least one person who looks like they can do it all with no stress and we compare ourselves to her.  When we're standing in the midst of our home looking at our dirty counters, listening to our children arguing, seeing the books piled on the kitchen table, we think about that person.  We beat ourselves up with the thoughts that "so-and-so never goes through this.  She is so organized.  She would never allow her home or family get out of control like I do!"

Finding out that someone actually thought that I was one of those moms who seemed to have it together really confirms my beliefs that even those "perfect" moms are intimidated and wish they could be more like someone else.   You've heard it said thousands of times before, but believe it this time - NONE OF US IS PERFECT!!!

By merely taking the time to talk with various moms, I find out that even the most "put together" struggles with fears, intimidations, anger, stress, etc.  There is a formula to help us from being intimidated by one another - take time to talk and be real with one another.

I apologize to anyone if I have ever appeared to have it so together as to be intimidating.  It is only by the grace of God that I am even able to put one foot in front of the other some days.  Just ask my husband.  For the bitter truth, ask my kids.  But, I don't think my pride could stand that kind of honesty!


*NOTE:  I recommend a video interview with Todd & Debbie Wilson over at Home Educating Family Publishing. *

Last week

This is our last week of school! As you can see, we are doing whatever it takes to get everyone through!

Guess I'm out of the running for "Homeschool Mother of the Year"!



- Vicki

Happy Mother's Day

Yesterday was Mother's Day. At our church, We spend time honoring the moms by opening a couple of mics for people to stand up and let everyone know how much their mom means to them. The lines of people are huge and it is a time filled with love, smiles, laughter, and tears.

Three of my children opted to honor me in front of the church. One of them, however, exploited the realities of my mothering when it was her turn.

"Thanks for homeschooling us even though you tell us about 100 times a year that you're going to send us to school. Happy Mother's Day. I love you!"

Yeah - in front of 500 people. Me, the head of our church's homeschool co-op.

I had to laugh, though. And, I did feel better when a couple of parents came up to me afterward and say "You say that, too?"

I love my kids - even when they're blatantly honest!!!

All I can say is....

...ONLY THREE MORE WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are We Done, Yet?

Anyone else ready for the end of school?  I feel like we're just biding our time.  I seriously think we have just about everything done.  Are we really that on the ball or am I missing something?  I'm definitely missing my motivation!!

The Human Calculator

In my last post, I talked a bit about the "Human Calculator."  Whereas my kids LOVED the Duggars, my husband LOVED this guy!  I didn't go to his workshops, but I did see this video.  The guy is amazing.  Take about 8 1/2 minutes and watch.

The MidWest Homeschool Convention 2011

Above is a photograph (curtesy of my husband) of just a portion of the exhibit hall at the MidWest Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio which took place March 31-April 2.  This was our first year attending this event and we definitely plan on going again next year.  There were amazing speakers and I could have spent a whole day in the exhibit hall.  My only complaint was that I was constantly choosing between awesome workshops and disecting curriculum!!

We were introduced to a fabulous new Math curriculum.  Mathletics (www.mathletics.com or http://blog.mathletics.com)  is a wonderful on-line tool where the kids play games, answer questions, parents can print workbooks, and keep track of their children's progress.  Though non-Christian, I enjoy the way they teach concepts and I love how my kids WANTED to play the games while we had the free trial.  Seriously - let them compete live against other kids from around the world to see who calculates equations the fastest and they were happy.  Me?  I was staring in disbelief.  Really thinking that's the route we will be taking with them this next year (maybe sooner).  Their spokesperson is known as "the Human Calculator" and is the world record holder in mental calculations.  My husband went to both of his workshops and made sure our children were there to see him.  They all thought it was the coolest thing!

I also discovered Learning Language Arts through Literature and Easy Grammar.  I will be using these books for our English next year.  I love how LLATL is much like FIAR as far as using one book all week to teach various English concepts.  Their grammar isn't strong enough for my liking, which is why I added Easy Grammar.  I really like the concept of teaching prepositions first and teaching important grammar skills without overkill.

The plan was not to buy anything on Friday (convention began Thurs, but that was our travel day) - just check out what we wanted.  So, Saturday was the day to buy...and that didn't happen until the last 45 minutes the hall was open!!  Frantic, but tons of fun!

I'm waving up at my hubby. I smile when I'm shopping....for books!

Meeting the Duggar family was a huge deal for my kids.  At first, I was not real comfortable with the excitement of "Duggar-sightings" but I realized that all kids will have heros and I am very grateful that theirs are godly.

On Sunday, we headed over to the Creation Museum.  I'll be posting a little of that in a few days.  All in all, a great weekend!!