Gratitude that makes me cherish every day, and grateful to the God who gives all good things, continues here…

377. the availability of any book at any time

378. amazingly created bugs that look exactly like leaves

379. little boys

380. the toddler stage

381. cupcakes

382. air conditioning

383. Facebook

385. Redbox

386. Flip-flops

387. Toys-R-Us

388. a new cell phone

389. a night out with a friend

390. talking dinosaur toys

391. clearance sales

392. department store customer price scanners

393. egg rolls

394. straws

395. bibs

396. music that no longer takes up shelf space but is purchased and played with the click of a button

397. world maps

398. three day weekends

399. the parrot stage of small children

400. boogies boards, platform dollies with wheels, steep driveways, children, and daddy

401. the Google Sky app on my phone that helps me see the stars and planets

402. those who walk before us and share wisdom

403. One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are – the book by Anne Voskamp

404. Ann Voskamp

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Last week I had a familiar conversation with a Mom at a birthday party that I’ve had at every birthday party I’ve gone to over the past four years. It goes like this…

Mom: So what grade is your son in?

Me: Fourth.

Mom: Oh, mine too. Where does he go to school?

Me: (okay, here we go…) We home school actually.

Mom: (awkward) Ohhhhh… (Pause… silence… looking wildly around the room for escape… need to fill the silence…) …I could never home school my kids. I don’t have the patience. Ha, ha, ha, ha.

Me: (awkward) Ha, ha, ha, ha. Yeah… well… I didn’t have it either before I started.

Mom: So do you have a background in education?

Me: No. I don’t. (if only she knew I didn’t even finish college… think I’ll keep that to myself at this point.)

Mom: (afraid for my children) Ahhhh. Wow. Huh.

Me: (silence… staring at my shoes)

Mom: Do you have some other home school families that you do activities and things with? (Please tell me you are socializing your children) I have a friend that home schools her kids, and that’s what they do.

Me: Yeah, there are all kinds of great classes and home school groups we’ve been involved with in the area.

Mom: (so even though they’re probably going to be socially retarded, ideological zealots, and limited to an elementary school education for life, at least she isn’t keeping them in cages.) That’s great. That’s really great. (searches the crowd for her son, pretends to notice something that needs her attention…) Oh Dylan! Hey Dylan! I’m sorry, if you’ll excuse me… (wanders away)

Though uncredentialed mothers home schooling their young children has been a traditional form of education the world over, since time began, these days in America a large group of mothers and educators are appalled by the idea.  By today’s standards, most American adults view anyone who is uncredentialed by an institution of higher learning as “unfit” to properly teach their own children beyond the age of five, without assistance from a professional. Those of us who are teaching our children at home, know as well as the matriarchs who taught their children before us, just how false this line of thinking can be, and what kind of wonderful success can be achieved through passionately and purposefully choosing to teach our children at home.

It is abundantly clear through the repeated conversations I’ve had with Mothers and educators of public school children, who question my decision to home school, that they are confused by, and sometimes even disgusted with, this decision we’ve made for our family. I think this mostly comes from people who know very little about home school and all that it means and entails. Part of the opportunity that can be shared through this blog, and so many like it written by home school mothers, is to open our doors and offer an honest transparent look into how and why we home school, the privileges and obstacles of the choice, and what goes on in our little residential classrooms. Hopefully such openness and communication will be a contributing factor in what should quickly be becoming a more widely understood and appreciated education option in our society.

I am an advocate of home school because so far it has worked wonderfully for our family, and many other families I know. But what I’m also a proponent of, is a “Parent’s Choice” in the education of their own children. I have the greatest respect for parents who have spent a lot of time getting to know what educational options are out there, and have used that information to make a very wise and purposeful choice as to where each of their children will spend a great majority of their adolescence learning. If your children are in a public school, private school, or home school because you are trying your best to ensure they get an excellent education with excellent mentors who are passionately investing in them, and inspiring them to greatness… I applaud you.

I in no way adhere to the idea that home school is the best choice for all families, just as I in no way adhere to the idea that public school is the best choice for all families. Each child, each parent, each family, and even each season of life has specific needs and priorities which dictate the details of what educational methods are the best choice for that particular time in a child’s life. Thankfully these days, in most areas of the country, parent’s have a fantastic number of educational options to choose from for their children amongst public schools, private schools, charter schools, online schools, and the traditional home school method.

And to open up the dialogue and give you a glimpse into why a mother like me would choose to home school her children, here is a growing list of reasons why home school is the right choice, right now, for my family:

-          I have been given the tremendous privilege of being able to stay at home with my children and not have to go to work, therefore I have the time and opportunity to invest in guiding their educations.

-         It is paramount to my husband and myself that our children understand every aspect of this world, and their lives, with the Bible as their foundational line of truth by which all other information is compared and tested. Home schooling provides a greater opportunity for instilling and reinforcing that worldview as it pertains to each academic subject.

-          I love the quantity of time my children get to spend building strong relationships with each other as siblings, playing and learning together daily.

-          There are so many positive opportunities for social interaction with peers for my children, through our church, family friends, recreational sports leagues, and community home school groups and I like the separation between academic time, and social time, as opposed to a distracting convergence of the two.

-          In public and private schools, curriculum, teachers, headmasters, and overall school philosophies change often, which can create a very choppy education with huge learning gaps in the spectrum of content covered.

-          I like being able to set up a comprehensive learning plan for kindergarten through twelfth grade for each of my children and to administer it knowing they will get a congruent education that wont leave gaps in their learning.

-          I love being able to provide my children with an education that has it’s foundational cornerstone starting in kindergarten, in the study of God, man, and history. It is not as important to me to enforce the memorization of dates and facts as it is to understand the stories of heroism, honor, villains, tragedy, loss, hope, service, sacrifice, goodness, and so on, so that my children’s education is about learning from the past and making excellent decisions for the future.

-          The opportunity to provide an education which caters to each of my individual children’s gifts, strengths, weaknesses, and interests.

-          I love to teach and doing so comes easily and naturally to me.

-          I love to continually expand my own education and I enjoy learning about how to best educate my children.

-          I like having the opportunity to discuss history, literature, philosophy, politics, science, and religion with my own children each day through what they are learning, as opposed to allowing such an engaging time with them to be enjoyed by an outside teacher.

-          In a private or public school I have no control over who my children’s mentors will be each year, including the teachers and the textbooks.

-          I love being able to hand select excellent, passionate, and inspiring mentors who have chosen exceptional curriculum and whole books as their teaching tools, to teach my children in the subjects I cannot personally cover with them adequately.

And don’t get me wrong… the decision to home school is not without it’s obstacles. For example:

-          While there are social benefits to choosing home school, such as limiting things like negative influences, peer pressure, peer induced materialism, bullying, and social distractions during the academic school day, it has been a challenge to provide opportunities for strong peer relationships. There are plenty of activities my children attend with other children their age, but the lack of repetitive free time with the same children each week has made it more difficult to find a “best friend.” We finally found one great family with many similarities to ours, and children with equivalent ages who we were spending regular time with each week, and then they moved out of state. Now we are back at square one in trying to find other families with young children to form strong bonds with. We are accepting applications. (That last part about the applications was a joke.)

-          It is a challenge keeping home school kids physically active. They are not walking distances from class to class each day, running around on a playground for an hour with peers at lunch, and attending an entire period of P.E. While my children are actively involved in community sports, they are still behind in the number of hours each week spent involved in vigorous outdoor activity.

-          If either of my children ever become personally passionate about a particular team sport they desire to pursue competitively into high school, we will have to consider whether putting them into a public or private high school for the benefit of a sports team becomes a priority.

-          Competition, creativity, and social awareness are all aspects that create refinement in individuals through the constant contact with and emersion into social groups. It remains to be seen in our household if the depth of interaction needed to create well adjusted young adults, can be attained through a more limited exposure to peers, than the “dog eat dog” social structure of cliques and competitiveness, experienced in a typical American school, which is in some ways preparatory for life in the real world.

These are the kinds of obstacles we home school moms face, and lose sleep over at night, as we ask ourselves, “Am I doing the right thing?” I am confident that every mother, no matter what type of schooling she has chosen for her family, faces her own list of gray-hair-inducing obstacles that she worries about for her children. For each of us, in this way, the struggle is the same; to set priorities and pursue the best options we can, to meet the most important needs of our children first, and work as hard as we can to overcome the obstacles they include.

What form of education have you chosen for your family, and why is it best for them? What are the benefits and what are some of the obstacles your children face in their educational environment? What keeps you pressing on in the path you’ve chosen?

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She’s barely four years old

Her hair curls all on it’s own

She loves pink

She loves shoes

She gardens

She swings

She’s artistic

She’s confident

She jokes

She dances

She argues

She sings

She keeps me on my toes

She has a major sweet tooth

She loves swimming in the summer

She doesn’t care for baby dolls

She mothers her stuffed animal puppies

And before we put her to bed at night, when we gather as a family to take turns praying…

sometimes…

it goes like this…

Me: “Okay Remy, it’s your turn to pray.”

Remy: “I’m not going to pray tonight. I’m just going to talk to God.”

Me: “Okay.”

Remy: “God, I just want to tell you that I really love You and when we die and You take us up to Heaven I want You to have bathing suits for us so we can swim.

And God I pray that on that day we come to Heaven that You would come and live with us and that we would have plenty of food.

And if we don’t died, but You blow your trumpet we could still go to Heaven if You come to get us.

And I really pray that You have lots of stuffed animals for us to snuggle with because we really love that, and maybe You could just tell us that we can stay up because that would be our favorite.”

Trying to conceal my smile I open one eye peeking at her and wondering if she’s finished I ask, “Amen?”

“No!” she replies. “I already told you… I’m not praying tonight. I was only talking to God.”

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As parents, many of us are highly vigilant about the types of movies and television we allow our children to see. The use of foul language I don’t want my children repeating, is the first major deterrent for me, when looking for programming suitable for my family. And to be honest, it’s not only my kids I’m thinking of when searching for entertainment without obscenities. I myself hate sitting down to watch a good movie or TV program and then being accosted for 30 minutes or more by verbal profanity and the misuse of God’s name.

When I was a teen in the 90’s, the word “B_ _ ch” was not heard on TV in any of the programs I watched. I remember how shocking it seemed to start hearing that word at 8 o’clock at night on regular basic cable television shows. I’m not sure teens today even realize that word was ever considered “foul language” due to it’s casual and constant usage in virtually all teen and adult programming and movies. It seems teen shows in particular splash that word around like the networks or producers will score some kind of points, the more times the “B” word is said.

There are so many good movies out there that are made miserable to sit through simply because of the barrage of unnecessary expletives included in them. And, being a Christian, the extra element of hearing God’s name stepped on, spat about, abused, and misused in films and television programs, is enough to get me to change the channel and avoid heading to the theaters to see a movie that, were it not for the language, could have been a great film.

Don’t even get me started on how often and casually God’s name is taken in vain! There’s a texting acronym for it, for crying out loud! I told you… don’t get me started!

But does this mean I’ve abandoned Movies and Television entirely?

No. Not at all. Jesus Himself taught us the power of story telling, and I love seeing human drama played out on screen. I’ve learned, laughed, cried, been amused, forewarned, and inspired by all kinds of movies and Television, and I love sharing those same kinds of experiences with my husband and children.

Thankfully I’ve found TWO fantastic tools that help myself and my family determine when and where to see what types of movies and TV shows.

And stay tuned, because I’m giving one away!

The first tool I love is the TV Guardian. We’ve had one in our home for the past 8 years and we love it. In fact we love what it does so much, that we even gave one to Nana and Papa for their TV.  The TV Guardian is a box that you connect to your television, which filters out profanity and misuses of God’s name, by reading a programs subtitles (not visible onscreen). While silence covers the profanity, a subtitle with a replacement sentence is briefly shown on screen so you still know what’s being said, but in a less offensive way.

TV Guardian is now taking orders for their brand new model, being released this June.  A great feature to the new model is that it comes with a remote you can use to:

- switch between three different levels of profanity blocking – Strict, Moderate, and Tolerant

- turn ON and OFF the religious filter – When it’s set to ON, TVG will filter out the offensive ways Hollywood tends to use Jesus and God. When turned OFF religious programming can be viewed without the use of Jesus and God being filtered out.

- the Hell/Damn filter may be turned ON and OFF – also useful when watching religious programming

- Sexual references may be turned ON and OFF

(At the bottom of this post I’ll be giving specifics about how you can enter here to win a brand new TV Guardian (value $120) simply by leaving a specific comment .)

The other tool that helps our family immensely in making decisions about what we will go to see in the theater, what we will wait to watch at home with the use of our TV Guardian, and what isn’t worth watching at all because of other content issues, is the website, PluggedIn.com.

Plugged In is a ministry created by Focus on the Family, a ministry founded by Dr. James Dobson, author of the books “Bringing Up Boys” and “Dare to Discipline.” The focus of the Plugged In ministry is to “Shine a light on the world of entertainment” particularly for the purpose of  helping parents understand the entertainment vying for their children’s attention every minute of every day. They offer reviews of popular music, video games, movies, and television shows, and we NEVER go to the theater without first checking it’s review on Pluggedin.com. NEVER!!!

Plugged In breaks down the content of movies for parents, so we can make our own decisions about what films are right for our family. Their reviews do include some personal opinion like a typical movie critic would do, but more importantly they provide the exact content in the film within categories such as: Spiritual Content, Violent Content, Crude or Profane Language, Sexual Content, and Drug and Alcohol Content.

It’s so helpful to hop on Plugged In, click on the review for a movie we’re interested in going to see, scrolling down to the “Crude or Profane Language” section, and immediately being able to determine if I should even consider taking my kids to see it.

I’ve copied the following “Crude or Profane Language” sections from the Plugged In website, for films rated G – R, to show how helpful their reviews can be, and to also show what movies might be better watched at home with a  TV Guardian.

Herbie Fully Loaded (G) : Misuses of God’s name are used a handful of times. “Jeez” is said once. Mild putdowns include “jerk.” “Crap” gets tossed around a few times.

The Rookie (G) : While on the field, one player misuses the name of God (it’s the second time God’s name is used as an exclamation). Four mild profanities (one of which is sung in a song) include the words “h–l” and “d–n.”

The Astronaut Farmer (PG) :  Three s-words, a half-dozen uses each of “a–” and “h—,” and two uses of “b–ch” vie for attention. “Jeez” pops up and God’s name is coupled with “d–n.”

Inkheart (PG) : One use each of “d–n” and “jacka–.” Several times, characters misuse God’s name.

Elf (PG) : A dozen mild profanities (“h—,” “d–n”) join such expressions as “friggin,” “pi–ed,” “sucked,” “son of a nutcracker,” “up yours” and “oh my g–.”

E.T. (PG) : Several crude expressions, five profanities (including two s-words) and a half-dozen exclamations of “oh my g–.”

Holes (shown on the Disney Channel) (PG) : Unfortunately, God’s name is abused almost 10 times. About half a dozen mild profanities (”d–n” and “h—”) crop up. Crudities and put-downs such as “schmuck,” “jacka–,” “cow turd,” “fart” and “Neanderthal” turn up, “crap” being the most common.

The Water Horse (PG) : Jesus’ name is abused a couple of times. God’s name is exclaimed six or eight times. There are also a half-dozen exclamations of “bloody,” two of “h—,” and one each of “d–n” and the Scottish version of “a–.” “Crikey,” “blimey,” “what the devil?” “my sainted mother!” “mother of God,” “holy mackerel” and the Scottish interjection “jings” punctuate moments of surprise.

Indiana Jones, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (PG – 13) : Mutt uses the s-word twice. God’s name is exclaimed a half-dozen times. Other swear words, such as “d–n,” “h—,” “b–ch” and “bloody” are sprinkled in between.

The Blindside (PG-13) : Leigh Anne does not approve of swearing. “Don’t use the a-word,” she tells her husband. But she didn’t edit the screenplay for The Blind Side. Onscreen, we still hear “a‑‑” a half-dozen times, “b‑‑ch” and “h‑‑‑” four or five times each, “p‑‑‑” once and “d‑‑n” two or three times. God’s name is misused a handful of times. “T‑t” is said a couple of times. The racial slur “n-gger” is vocalized once by one of the thugs.

Erin Brockovich (R) : Nearly 50 f- and s-words make the film’s otherwise clever dialogue intolerable. Erin’s fondness for the f-word becomes central to her character. Additionally, Jesus’ name is abused and other, milder, profanities intrude, some of them spoken in front of the children.

The Last Samurai (R) : An s-word and a handful of milder profanities. God’s name is abused a half-dozen times (once it is combined with “d–n”); Christ’s one time.

3:10 to Yuma (R) : Two or three f-words; more than twice that many s-words. “D–n” is used in excess of a dozen times—and most often in conjunction with God’s name. Christ’s name is foully exclaimed at least twice. Milder profanities pop up a handful of times (”h—,” “a–”), as do the crude words “p-ss” and “b–tard.”

And remember, the TV Guardian filters out language on cable and network television programming, DVDs, videos, Blue Ray, and On Demand movies. As long as what you’re watching is available in closed caption, it will automatically be filtered, without you needing to have the subtitles on and viewable.

So now for the BIG GIVEAWAY!!!

TV Guardian is giving away one of their brand new TV Guardians with remote, to one of my randomly selected readers. The Winner will have their choice between a standard or HD compatible unit ($120 /$160 value).

All you have to do to enter is:

- leave a comment on this post telling me one of your favorite movies of all time. That’s it! (Comments that do not include a favorite movie will be deleted and disqualified)

- Please only one entry per person

- Open to U.S. residents only

- entries will be accepted NOW through Wednesday, May 19, 2010, at 10pm PST.

- one WINNER will be randomly chosen and announced on Friday, May 21, 2010.

- the WINNER will have a new TV Guardian unit reserved for them and will receive it in June, 2010 when the units are released for shipping.

Enter now, and in the mean time, head on over to TV Guardian.com and get more familiar with all of it’s features and benefits. It you’d like to see a demo of the TV Guardian working in action, click here.

Also, be sure to check out PluggedIn.com… there’s all kinds of fun stuff to discover!

Thanks for visiting and in the famous words of Siskel and Ebert… “We’ll see you at the movi…” er… uh… well, maybe not. Maybe you’ll be in your living rooms more often now. Hey… it’s cheaper. The screen is smaller, but the snacks are better and they wont break the bank. Your living room has really comfortable seating and soft warm blankets. True… you probably don’t have 3-D capabilities or IMAX, but look on the brightside… you probably also wont get MRSA from the seats.

I’m gonna go now.

Just leave a comment.

Bye.

UPDATE: Now through Monday, May 17th, 2010 as a Mother’s Day Special you can purchase a TV Guardian for $20 OFF! What a deal!!! Buy Now HERE.

Also linked to Frugalicious Friday

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Have you ever seen this Disney cartoon about Ferdinand the Bull?

It was one of my favorites as a small child and I’ve shown it to my own kids many times.

Ferdinand was different than all the other bulls. He wasn’t interested in snorting and fighting and demonstrating his anger in as ferocious a manner as possible. Ferdinand preferred to “sit just quietly, and smell the flowers.”

I’ve really been trying to work on being more of a gentle mother, slow to anger, and softer in my speech and tone toward my children in the times when they exasperate me.

I’ve found that the most difficult time of day for me to remain calm, keep a patient demeanor with my children, and speak softly to them, is at bedtime. This is such a dissapointment to me because I’ve always had visions of making bedtime the most precious time of day.

I feel like bedtime should go like this…

7:30 -

Mommy – “Children put on your pajamas and brush your teeth, then come and see me for a story.”

Children – “Yes Mommy.”

7:40 – 7:50 -

Mommy reads story, children sit quietly and adoringly, enthusiastically listening to whatever story Mommy has chosen.

7:50 -

Bedtime Prayers

7:55 -

hugs and kisses and exchanges of gratitude and affection for a great day together

8:00 -

Children are quiet in their beds, Mommy quietly sits on the couch and begins her time to herself-  Bible Study, email, blog, reading, TV, and adult conversation with her enchanting husband.

Instead… most evenings here go more realistically like this…

7:30 -

Mommy -”Okay, go brush your teeth.”

Child 1 – “But I’m not done with my dinner yet!”

Mommy – “I served dinner at 6:30! What do you mean you aren’t done yet? Hurry up! It’s bedtime.”

7:45 -

Child 1 – “Can I be done with my dinner even though I didn’t eat it all?”

Mommy – “What?! You’re still eating? What is going on? Yes! Fine! Just be done. Go brush your teeth. Hurry up!!! You should have been done a long time ago!”

7:55 -

Mommy – “Why aren’t your jammas on yet?!

Child 2 – “I don’t know.”

Mommy “Go get your jammas on NOW! Hurry up! I don’t want to have to tell you again!”

8:00 -

Mommy – “Okay, go get in bed.”

Child 2 – “But mom, I haven’t brushed my teeth yet.”

Mommy – “What!!!!!!!  GO BRUSH YOUR TEETH NOW!!! What in the world have you been doing all this time?!!!”

8:05 -

Mommy – “Go get in bed!”

Child 1 – “But Mommy I want you to read me a story.”

Mommy – “No way! Not a chance. You took way too long to get ready for bed and now it’s already past bed time. No story tonight!”

Child 1 –  minor meltdown over no story

8:10 -

Mommy – “Okay, that’s enough! It’s time to pray! Be quiet! Everyone… sit still and be quiet.”

8:10 – 8:15 -

Family Prayer

8:15 -

Mommy calm but grumpily – “I love you both. Lord bless your sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Children – ” Goodnight Mom.”

Mommy – “Goodnight.”

- hugs and kisses. Everyone is tucked in. Light is off. -

8:20 -

Mom sits down on couch and lets all the built up tension and exhaustion from the day melt off. Big sigh. And now… peace. Ahhhhhhh

8:25 -

pitter patter of feet on the kitchen floor

Child 2 – “Mom, I need to go potty.”

Mommy – “Go.”

8:35 -

Mom yells from couch, “Are you still in the bathroom?”

Child 2 – “Yeee-ess.”

Mommy – “What in the world are you doing in there?! Get to bed NOW!!!!”

Child 2 returns to bed

8:45 -

Sounds heard from the bedroom

Children – “No! Stop that! Quit it! Turn off the light!”

Mom yells from couch – “Hey! What is the light doing on?! You two are supposed to be sleeping!”

Child 1 – “I’m looking for my pink puppy.”

Mommy – “Well get it and get in bed! NOW! This is ridiculous! It’s almost 9 o’clock!”

9:00 -

More sounds from the bedroom -

Child 2 – “Turn off the light!”

Mom yells from couch – “Hey! Get up and turn off the light. NOW! I don’t want to hear another word!!! GO. TO. SLEEP!!!!!!”

9:15 -

Pitter patter of feet

Child 1 – “Mom I need another drink of water.”

Mommy – “No! You had your last drink of water for the night already! Now get in bed!”

Whimpering Child 1 – “But Mom, my throat is really dry. I neeeeeeed it.”

Look of death from Mommy – “Get your last drink RIGHT now and get in bed!”

You get the picture. Many nights in our house have been some kind of close variation of this scenario.

Shameful.

Did you notice how much of that angry shouting was carried out by me while sitting firmly on the couch with no intention of bothering to get up and address my children face-to-face where I could speak to them more calmly with love?

That’s “Mother-of-the-Year” material right there huh folks?

Sheesh.

I’m working on it. I promise.

That’s where Ferdinand comes in.

One night as all of this was going on, Ferdinand came to mind.

I calmly regained my composure, sat down at my kids bedside and told them,

“Kids…. do you remember that cartoon about Ferdinand the Bull?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, well, I want to explain something to you. Every day Mommy works very hard all day long. From the time I get up, until the time you guys go to bed I am busy making meals, cleaning up messes, doing chores, teaching lessons, running errands, and all of that stuff. And I am so blessed to be a stay at home Mommy. It is such a privelage to be here all day with all of you and to get to spend so much time together, but it is also a lot of hard work. When you guys go to bed, I get a chance to sit and do things that are just for Mommy. I get to read a book, write in my journal, work on my blog, watch something other than cartoons on TV. Your bedtime is my time to relax and be done with so much work for the day. I become like Ferdiand, and all I want to do is sit quietly and smell the flowers. But when you two take all this extra time to get ready for bed because you are goofing off, and when you start getting back up out of bed to go to the bathroom and get drinks of water, it disrupts my quiet time, and it often turns Mommy into a raging bull just like Ferdinand when he got stung by that bee. Now, I don’t want to yell and get angry and be like a raging bull. I want bedtime to be a peaceful loving time between us when we cuddle and love each other and settle down after a busy day. I’m going to work very hard at having more patience at bedtime and trying not to yell and become an angry bull, but I need you also to work harder at getting ready for bed quickly and being quiet and going to sleep without getting back up after I’ve tucked you in. Deal?”

“Deal!”

This Ferdinand analogy has been able to help me remember to remain calm and smell the flowers all through the bedtime process, appreciating the details of these precious times together that will only last so long. It’s helped me to be more patient and gentle in my speech, even when my kids don’t perform their bedtime rituals smoothly with obedience.

I don’t want to be an angry bull. I want to be a calm, loving, gentle, and patient mother who is creating positive memories for her children. I’m working on it.

And, if my kids are dragging their heels while getting ready for bed or making noise after I’ve tucked them in, I calmly say as a reminder, “Hey in there, don’t make Momma into an angry bull. I’m out here trying to smell the flowers, ” and most times that reminder settles them down.

I’ve even overheard one of them saying to the other, “Knock that off. You better stop it. Don’t make Momma into an angry bull.”

The other thing that has been helping me to remain calm and keep an attitude of patience about me at any time someone or something threatens to steal my peace and patience, is being grateful for all of the many blessings I have.

And so my list of gratitude continues for…

9. Ferdinand the Bull

10. children to tuck in

11. toothpaste and toothbrushes

12. last drinks of water

13. bunk beds

14. bedtime stories

15. family prayer

16. favorite stuffed animals

17. soft pillows

18. warm safe homes to sleep in

19. sweet dreams

20. quiet time alone

Here’s the Ferdinand video just for kicks…

This post linked to the Finer Things

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I’ve had a great response to things people are interested in, in my Online Store.

The most popular items people seem to be interested in so far are the Bringing Up Boys and Bringing Up Girls books by James Dobson, the Animal House kitchen items, and the products I have in the pre-school section.

These pre-school Books by Kumon are some of my favorite first books that I’ve used with my kids.

Kumon is a learning system made up of both curriculum and learning centers which administer lessons in math and reading from pre-school up to college.

These pre-school books can be found in my online store on this site, as well as at your local bookstore. I’ve even seen them from time to time at Costco.

This first one I want to show you is a book for pre-schoolers used to better acquaint them with the alphabet.

One of the things I love about these books is the suggested age level on the top right corners of all the books. This makes it easy for a busy mom like me to sift through the selection quickly and find the books that will work with the skill level of my child.

Kumon workbooks like these, range in suggested skill level from ages 2 – 8.

In the Alphabet Book there are these fun and simple dot-to-dot lessons, but with letters instead of numbers. Each dot-to-dot starts with letter “A” and moves to consecutive letters of the alphabet.

This beginner lesson is used to introduce children to the first 3 letters of the alphabet so it only goes up to letter “C”.

This elephant lesson is further along in the book so the letters go all the way from “A” to “Z”.

Each lesson also has a corresponding page of alphabet letters to practice tracing.

Alphabet lessons in this book progress to more typical dots-to-dot with no outlining grid to follow…

And a mastery in tracing and recognizing both upper and lowercase letters from “A” to “Z”.

Here is the book of Numbers.

Again… notice how great these books are at giving you just the information you’re looking for right on the cover. In the top right corner you can see the suggested age level for the book and it lets you know it covers lessons and games for numbers 1 – 30.

There are additional Kumon workbooks that progress up through greater numbers.

This Numbers Book also contains dot-to-dot lessons.

I love that the beginning dot-to-dot lessons in both the Letters and Numbers books provide a highlighted white grid around the projected path each created line should follow.

When my 3 year old wants to do dot-to-dot games without this kind of path, (like on kids menus at restaurants for example) her lines from one number to the next take on such strange and totally non-DIRECT paths, that when she’s done it’s hard to tell what the final picture is.

The dot-to-dots in these Kumon books start out with highlighted paths to train on, and then eventually progress to more advanced dot-to-dots, without highlighted paths.

The Numbers Book also contains corresponding pages of number tracing.

When I’m busy at the table working on Home School with my 8 year old, my 3 year old will bring these books to the table and joining us she announces,

“I’m doing school too.”

I’ve never required that either of my children do work in these Kumon Workbooks. I’ve just kept them available to my children, on a shelf they can reach next to some crayons and pencils, and both of them have ended up learning from the books on their own time because they’ve wanted to.

I love when learning happens like that!

The Numbers Book advances to standard dot-to-dot exercises, as well as fill in the missing number exercises like this.

None of these Kumon Books are expected to be the primary source from which your children will learn. They are just an additional resource to reinforce lessons already being taught. While little ones may be interested enough in doing these workbooks on their own, it’s beneficial to have a parent’s involvement or at least nearby to keep the child progressing according to the directions of each lesson.

Here are a couple of Kumon Books that insist a parent be nearby and ready to help.

Both my kids have REALLY loved the Cutting Book.

Cutting is one of those things that you might not allow your pre-schooler to do very often, simply because it’s unsafe unless you’re supervising. For this reason they may not have as much access to time spent with scissors, as they do other skill building tools such as books and crayons.

Then, when you finally take the time to sit down and do a craft project with your pre-schooler, which includes cutting, you realize how neglectful you’ve been of allowing them to cut, and how much they struggle with it simply because they haven’t had much practice. And then you both are so anxious to create your project, and they are so frustrated with trying to cut out all the shapes, that they say,

“Mommy will you just cut out the shapes for me?”

And you oblige because you’d like to make some progress as well, and keep the day’s schedule somewhat on track.

And then once again… they get no practice at cutting.

Or am I the only one this happens too?

If I’m not the only one this happens to…

Here is a fantastic Book to get both you and your child more frequently practicing cutting.

Because my pre-schoolers have LOVED this book, it’s hard for me to forget to do it with them… they ask to do it every day!

And the great thing about this book is that the lessons are short, but challenging enough that when we’re done, my little cutters are ready to move onto something else.

This book starts out with cutting strait lines.

In lesson 5 displayed above the cutting has progressed to being able to create a little craft. Once all the pieces are cut out you can tape them together to make one long train.

In the Cutting Book, projects progress to cutting curves, shapes, and eventually more intricate objects like animals.

And here is the Pasting Book.

It really should be called the Cutting and Pasting Book because each lesson offers the opportunity for both.

And of course if any of the cutting required in this book is too advanced for your pre-schooler, you can do all the cutting and allow your pre-schooler to just get some practice at pasting.

Using the Cutting Book and the Pasting Book will allow your child to advance in both areas, and they provide a great way to have some quick, fun, skill building time together at home.

The Pasting Book starts out simple like this.

Cut out square. Glue on Apple.

It progresses like this.

Cut out eyes, nose, mouth. Glue on Pig.

The pasting exercises don’t really advance in difficulty, but there are some variations in the fun you can have with them like in this lesson where squares must be pasted correctly in the grid like a puzzle to form a picture.

Kumon makes several other Pre-School development books such as, Drawing, Tracing, Telling Time, Mazes, Coloring, and more.

I’ve loved using these books with my kids and I’m sure you’ll love using them with yours.

To purchase check out my online store, or click the advertised links below.

Spend some time playing with and teaching your pre-schooler today! You’ll be glad you did and so will they!

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“Mama is busy. Go play with each other.” I say that a lot now that I have more than one.

“Mama isn’t lucky like you. She has lots and lots of work and chores to do and she doesn’t get to play. Now run along and enjoy yourselves. Mama has work to do.”

Have you ever gotten completely burnt out by doing chores day, after day, after day, after day. The same ones. In the same house. With no pay… no vacation… no incentives… and no end in sight!

Just work, work, work! The dishes keep coming. The laundry keeps coming. And the most hopeless part is that they always will.

And then you start to ask yourself, “What in the world am I doing? What has my life become? Where do I belong? Where has my joy gone? How in the world do I get it back?”

The temptation for me is then to begin dreaming of the day I’ll have money… lots more money. I’ll have a big beautiful house with so much more space than where I am now, that doing chores will be easier and more enjoyable. There will be room to stay organized and there will be room to get away from messes when I need to just breathe. I’ll have a laundry room where all the laundry will stay until I can get to it. I’ll have a huge kitchen with a great big granite top island, and in it’s spaciousness, dirty dishes will be almost unnoticeable in the corner over by sink.

Right now if there are dirty dishes they take up all my counter space (which isn’t much) and you can’t even make a sandwich until they’re dealt with. If there is one load of laundry unfolded on the floor in my living room, there is no space to walk. It’s an eyesore and creates a traffic jam. And the toys… oh the sea of toys that creeps right back out into every square inch of my home, the very moment they’ve been put away.

Yes, the temptation is to believe I’m enduring all of this just until I get my dream home.

But then reality sets in and I realize that day may never come.

And besides the fact that such a day may never come, I start to feel so shallow finding my joy in the hope for material things. “That’s not the point to life,” I remind myself. But lost… and confused I ask myself again… “Then what is?”

And then I answer my question and say, “Life is not about material things, it’s about serving God and serving others. I start to think about the women I know taking trips to Mexico, working in soup kitchens, teaching Bible Studies, and I begin to feel my life… which lacks all those good deeds… has really become a wash.

“Doing laundry and dishes, picking up toys and playing board games instead of going to Haiti and helping orphans and widows? How did I get this way? What am I doing here? How did I get so lost? How did my life get so off track and become so worthless?”

Back to square one.

I’ve been tossing and turning like this for days.

And then… today…

Everything changed.

After one short moment… one pause in all the monotony of life…

My eight year old came to me sobbing with a list of questions and doubts that have been weighing on his heart, about God.

We spent a bit of time talking about his doubts and searching for the answers to his questions, and agreed to talk about it more in the evening, and even more tomorrow.

And in the silence that followed our conversation, I was reminded what I’m doing here.

I am a missionary in my home, mothering not just children, but souls.

I spend a lot of time taking care of kids, messes, meals, clothes, toys, rules, games, books, but I had forgotten… neglected… to focus on their souls.

Before I had children I planned and plotted about how I would be a great mom. The things I would teach them. The ways I would disciple them. And then they came and teaching them about God was so simple because they just believed and agreed with whatever I said. I think it became so easy, and felt so taken care of that I sort of set their souls aside agreeing with myself to resume discipleship when they became teens and all the difficult questions would come.

Those questions came today. And I’m so glad they did. And I’m so glad God used my son to remind me what I’m supposed to be doing with my time, where my greatest work lies, where so much of my joy comes from, and what a privilege it is to be home with my children.

Not in an office, not on Wall Street, not on a stage, not in Haiti,… but right here.

In between the laundry, before and after doing dishes, during weeks when blogging must be put off until the next, because I am far too busy sitting, listening, talking, asking, digging, enjoying, engaging my children, and Mothering their Souls.

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Ah Shakespeare.

One of the world’s most revered writers of all time.

Whatever your personal feelings are about the Writings of Shakespeare, making sure your children have a familiarity with them is a highly beneficial endeavor.

This post is intended to be an encouragement to parents and to myself. No matter how deficient our own educations in Classic Literature may have been, we can approach the texts now, little by little, and hope still to benefit from their many gifts.

If we are going to spare our children from the same ignorance we have experienced into adulthood regarding the works of Shakespeare and the like, we should begin introducing them to such works, in a fun and enthusiastic manner, while they are still very young.

“Give me your children until they are seven, and anyone may have them afterwards.” – The Jesuit, St. Francis Xavier

His Influence and It’s Demise

Shakespeare’s writings have had a permeating affect on American culture for decades and it is only in this most recent decade that we have begun to see the decline of his writings as course requirements amongst elementary, high school, and astonishingly… University students.

In this modern day culture, lessons in morality and true character in the classroom are mangled at best and entirely shunned at worst. The bar for literacy has been set at the most basic levels in the name of “No Child Left Behind” and thus many teachers refrain from introducing any literary works that may be deemed “difficult.”

Though great efforts are being made in creating phonetic literacy, this generation is suffering from the lost pursuit of literacy in the Literary Great Works. The result continues to be a decline in eloquent self expression as well as in an individual’s ability to analyze with true logic and a grounded moral compass, life’s most difficult, and in some cases even simplest, dilemmas.

The benefits of reading Shakespeare have been altogether forgotten by many, and for others never taught or recognized in the first place.

I am included with those who had very little exposure to Shakespeare growing up. My high school years did include an obsession with the movie version of Romeo and Juliet starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Claire Danes. I watched it about 1 million times, and thus put many of the actual words of Shakespeare from that single play, to memory.

I was also exposed to a few excerpts in textbooks from Romeo and Juliet, and Julius Caesar, when required to take turns with peers, reading in class. These lessons seemed more focused on an exercise in reading aloud, (once again phonetic literacy) than on actual appreciation for the writings. We each attempted to keep one eye on the book, while the other was more faithfully tending to homework for another class or constructing a handwritten note to be stealthily passed.

There was very little discussion about the actual words, characters, plot, conflicts, metaphors, language, or messages we were being exposed too. There certainly was no expectation placed upon us to grapple with the difficult task of reading and analyzing any of Shakespeare’s works, on our own.

Character Analysis

“A lively and lasting sense of filial duty is more effectually impressed on the mind of a son or daughter by reading King Lear, than by all the dry volumes of ethics, and divinity that were ever written.” – Thomas Jefferson

There is something about stories that affect our human understanding with great power. We are able to learn far more empathetically and with lasting impact, from myths and fables, than from factual snippets in textbooks. Both likeable and despised characters, mixed with dramatic plots, prove time and time again to teach each of us far more than the most well intentioned lecture.

Shakespeare’s works are filled with just such characters and complexities. As we read Shakespeare, we are learning about the world around us, past, present and future. As we figure out his characters, we are figuring out life’s characters. Struggling with the complexities expressed in his works, prepares us to struggle with the complexities we ourselves will face. The stories inclusive of the works of Shakespeare provide a mental realm for our students – a type of flight simulator – where they can hash through situations and acquire knowledge and understanding that will afford them a great advantage when it comes time to venture out into the real world.

Not only do the works of Shakespeare provide us with an opportunity to analyze character qualities, puzzle through moral dilemmas and make ethical decisions, they also introduce us to an exquisite array of the language arts including but not limited to, vocabulary, metaphor, poetry, symbolism, and eloquence.

Language Arts

“Shakespeare must be singled out by one who wishes to learn the full powers of the English language.” – Thomas Jefferson

One of the most important acknowledgements our children can experience through the reading of Shakespeare, is the observation that truly great writing is possible. Beautiful language has been lost in this generation and continues to decline with the acceptance of pervasive slang, and sound bytes of thought, expressed through the likes of Twitter, Facebook, and texting.

I love this excerpt from an article in the Cape Cod Times written by a former farmer and sailor:

“…Everyone fluent in English should read Shakespeare. The Bard’s 17th-century idioms and archaic stage conventions aren’t easy reading, I’ll admit. But everyone should wade through a few of his plays, for the following reasons.

1. It’s essential to know that it’s possible to write that well because somebody actually did it.

2. The rest of us can scribble and mumble but the Bard’s shining example can help us to polish our own deliveries. Woo a lover with poetry and she’ll respect the effort even if you have spinach stuck in your teeth. Berate a swindler in iambic pentameter and he’ll think twice about swindling you again.

3. Modern stagecraft has better lighting and modern cinema displays more thrilling special effects, but Shakespeare understood and expressed universal emotions better than anyone else ever has.

4. Exquisite language, vivid imagery and elegant cadences will never become obsolete. Understand the master and you understand profound, eternal truths.

Examples:

Shakespeare said, “Cry ‘Havoc!’ And let slip the dogs of war!” A modern warrior might say, “Let’s bomb those bums back into the Stone Age.”

Shakespeare said, “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I.” A contemporary might whine, “What a wicked, wicked dink I am. What a loser.”

Shakespeare: “My salad days, when I was green in judgment.” Ordinary schmo: “I had lotsa fun when I was a kid, even though I was sorta dumb.”

Shakespearean villain facing a tragic end: “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It’s a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Modern sourpuss: “Life sucks.”

Shakespeare: “Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look.” Modern private eye: “That guy looks like a sleaze bag.”

Shakespeare’s amorous young man: “But soft! What light at yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!” Modern teenager: “Gee, yer cute. Can’t stop thinkin’ ’bout cha.”

(Excerpt taken from the Cape Cod Times article titled “Why Everyone Should Read Shakespeare” written by Tom Gelsthorpe a sailor and former farmer,)

Discipline and Patience

Not only does the reading and analysis of Shakespeare’s writings leave us with the tools to improve our assessment of life’s situations and an increased ability to create respectable writing and rhetoric, but the journey itself provides a practice in patience, discipline, struggle, and accomplishment.

Students of Shakespeare quickly realize that if they ever hope to achieve any semblance of effectual and beautiful writing or persuasive speech, it will be accomplished through no less than a disciplined, labor intensive analysis of literary Great works, and an extensive accumulation of vocabulary and skilled, organized, well communicated thought.

Hard work and struggle are valuable lessons recently forgotten.

With children of a very young age, the focus should be on making Shakespeare fun through an introduction to his plays, stories, and biographical content. The goal is to instill in them a love of learning, and a fondness for stories and their authors. Laying such a foundation will prepare our children for the later years when the more difficult work of analysis of the actual texts will come. If prepared in the suggested manner at a very young age, approaching the authentic works will merely be an opportunity to more deeply understand an already well known and beloved friend.

I’m Convinced… Now What?

Even if you believe exposing your children to Shakespeare is a worthy endeavor, you may be left with the following road blocks…

1. I don’t know anything about Shakespeare. How can I possibly begin to teach it to my children without sounding like a bumbling idiot?
2. My children are very young. There is no way they are ready for Shakespeare.

With concern to roadblock number 1, let me assure you…

I’ve already explained that I too am thoroughly deficient in my understanding and even abilities to read and analyze Shakespeare. I will not let that stop me though, nor will I allow it to keep my children from its benefits.

As a mom who desires that my children have a better education than I did, I have already made the commitment to continue my own self education at home through books… indefinitely. I am learning about Shakespeare and his stories for the very first time right along side my 7 year old. What I do not tackle with him because it is beyond his reading and comprehension level, I hope to approach in my own stolen away moments, how ever few and far between they may be, along with the works of Plato, Pascal, Dostoyevskey, and others.

I refuse to remain an ignorant victim of my own lacking education in great literature, history, science, math, philosophy, poetry, art, and music. I’ve taken my education into my own hands. And it’s true… I will never now be able to accomplish what I could have in my youth when I had all that free time for learning, which I chose instead to waste. However, a lack of time compared to what was available to me then, doesn’t in any way discourage me from pursuing whatever little I can find time for now. And trust me… when I say “little” I mean it. I’m no different than you are: dishes, laundry, diaper changes, meals, shopping, church, family, shuttling, scuttling, and more. But still over time… little by little… it can be done.

With regard to road block number 2… Just as you are now introducing young children to age appropriate simplified versions of stories from the Brother’s Grimm, Aesop’s Fables, and the King James Bible, so can you make simplified works from Shakespeare traditional picture books and read-aloud stories in your home.

Here are the books through which to do exactly that.

Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children edited by Edith Nesbit is the most excellent source I’ve found for children and adults, to understand the basic story-lines from the works of Shakespeare. There are a lot of books which I have checked out from the library and then happily returned; glad I didn’t spend my money on a permanent copy. “Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare” is not one of those books.

This is a book that should become a purchased mainstay in your home, alongside other cherished collections of fairytales, myths, and fables. The stories have been rewritten at what I would call a child’s intermediate reading level, and they provide a great opportunity for family read aloud time when characters and plot can be explained and discussed.

You may also find this book a valuable tool in your own pursuit to understand the works of Shakespeare. Reading the stories in this book will prepare you to then approach the actual works with a good grasp on plot, setting, and characters.

Let’s face it. For those of us trying to play catch up in our understanding of Shakespeare, there’s enough work to be done even once you know the story, just in trying to tackle the language and metaphors.  Once I’ve got a good understanding on the plot through use of the Children’s book, I can more freely enjoy the beauty and symbolism in the writing.

The same will be true for your kids. Introducing them to the stories and plot lines while they are young will allow them to more easily ingest the actual writings as their reading and comprehension abilities grow.

The Shakespeare Can Be Fun series by Lois Burdett takes the great works of Shakespeare and reintroduces them in an easier to understand format which still uses vocabulary from the originals to expose children little by little to the authenticate language. It is also written in a rhythmic rhyme that is fun and dramatic for children to read aloud. The illustrations in the books have been created by 8, 9, and 10 year olds and they accompany impressive summary excerpts written by the same age group. Each book also includes a list of suggested activities in the back, which compliment the story and enhance the learning experience with respect to the setting, character analysis, and exploration of themes.

Richard Monette, the Artistic Director for the Stratford Festival, writes in the foreword of the Tempest for Kids, in the Shakespeare Can Be Fun series,

“How often have we heard adults proclaim Shakespeare to be too deep or difficult for them; and how often has their sense of inadequacy and exclusion been fostered in childhood by dogged reverence of well-meaning but uninspired school teachers? ‘This is Great Literature, and it’s good for you,’ goes the classroom mantra, and thus is perpetuated the idea of Shakespeare as medicine to be swallowed stoically rather than a giddy pleasure to be pursued at every opportunity … Thank goodness for Lois Burdett who teaches her students that great plays are great playthings, and that making theatre is a marvelous game, to be played with all your might… When one succeeds at firing the imagination of a child, nothing can quench that enthusiasm – and when one fails, nothing can ignite it. To the child to whom (Shakespeare) is introduced as a Very Important Man, indeed, Shakespeare may well remain a distant and impenetrable stranger. To the child fortunate enough to be introduced to him by Lois Burdett (author of Shakespeare Can Be Fun) he has every chance of being a friend and playmate for life.”

These books are great for handing to a young reader, allowing him to read it on his own. It is great fun to then tackle it a second time as a fantastic, dramatic, family read aloud.

Shakespeare for Kids – His Life and Times with 21 Activities by Colleen Aacesen and Margie Bluhberg, is a great book to work through while reading Shakespeare’s stories. This book will acquaint you and your children with the life and times of the man himself. The creative activities help cement details of the setting and era from which Shakespeare wrote, into your children’s hearts and minds.

“Of primary importance in the study of any literature is the context in which it was written. Every story is written by an individual living in a particular culture and period. Consequently, each author’s work is, in a sense, a relic of the period in which it was written… (Each author) writes folk, fable, truth, and fiction from his own sensory experience. He tells of sunsets he has seen, trips to lands he has traveled, and conversations he has enjoyed. He may use these sensory experiences to create fantasy worlds, languages, and places beyond his reach, but they still smack of the human reality he has experienced.

A passing knowledge of the history of the time in which a piece was penned is therefore invaluable in its study. Social and class structures, moral sensibilities, roles for men and women, theological and philosophical trends and more are at the root of many a tale as authors use their literary genre to examine, criticize, or reflect on the life issues of their time and place…. In addition to understanding the historical period behind a piece of literature, a good reader must also acknowledge the personal history of the author. While fiction is not necessarily autobiographical and cannot be read as such, knowledge of the character and life of the author can at times provide a window into a work.”

(Adam and Missy Andrews from Teaching the Classics – Institute for Excellence in Writing)

You can see an example of one of the activities we recently enjoyed doing from this book, here.

Having a Volume of Shakespeare’s complete works, or several individual books of his actual writings, when your children are very young, is mostly a benefit only to you, if you should choose to take advantage of it. The more familiar you become with his texts now, the more prepared you will be to further teach and discuss Shakespeare with your children as they grow. Once you’ve read these children’s versions with your kids and have a good grasp of plot and story, try reading the actual works on your own and see what kind of beauty and understanding you can draw from the originals that you never before saw… or perhaps never before even attempted.

By passionately and playfully introducing  our young children to great authors, their biographies, historical context, and simplified versions of plot in their writings, we will have prepared them for life, to be warmly familiar with otherwise daunting Literary Masters.

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There is so much to learn about becoming a parent.

Isn’t this a great book? So helpful. There are lots of books like this that really help prepare you for parenthood.

Here’s another great one. Again… so helpful.

But guess what.

There is something you need to know that isn’t included in any parenting book.

This is a well kept secret… a deep, dark, difficult secret to deal with.

What I’m about to tell you is not easy for most expecting parents to hear.

Are you ready?

Here it comes.

Along with all the new preparations you are making to become a parent, along with all the things you are trying to learn, there is something no one else has shared with you, that you are going to have to learn…

You are going to have to learn to draw!

Now take it easy, take it easy… I know what you’ve been through.  We’ve all been there.

We all believed we were artists when we were five. Our mothers told us our drawings were amazing and hung them on the refrigerator with pride.

Then one day, in the sixth grade, we were asked to draw our shoe.

Ta-daaahhh! We thought as we completed the assignment.  Piece of cake.  Just wait until the teacher makes an example to the whole class of this beauty.  I even included the details of the tied bow and the little holes that the laces go through.  This is AWESOME!

And then, as you looked around the room your pride rose even higher because you saw a couple of students still working on the assignment when yours was already done.

Not only talented, but quick too.

You decide to get out of your seat and meander over to a best friend’s desk and chit chat until it’s time to turn in your work.

And then… you see it.

The drawing of a shoe that your friend has created, which in one quick and jolting moment alerts you that… your entire life as an artist has been a lie!

You stare at the shoe. You know it is a picture of a shoe. You can see that. But for the life of you, your brain can not in any way, shape, or form figure out how someone… namely your goofball friend… found those kinds of details and shading possibilities by looking at their stinky, old, STUPID shoe.

It’s ok.

You see… you’re among friends.

We’ve all been there, and we’re going to get through this together.

It’s simply time to come to terms with the fact that the art you abandoned at age twelve, now must be picked back up again and pursued.

How do I deal with this?

I practice.

You’re going to need to start practicing too.

Pull out those Disney DVDs, flip them over to the backside, and start copying the characters. Memorize the methods… you will most certainly be tested on your skills when you least expect it.

When you’re new little one reaches the age of two or three is when it’s going to happen.

One day, when you’re out to dinner with your sweet little family and you’ve just handed the waitress your menu after placing your order, your darling little angel is going to flip over her child’s paper placemat, hand you a crayon, look at you with those big beautiful adoring eyes and say,

“Mommy… draw me a picture.”

or

In my case with Remy it was,

“Mommy, draw me Lightning McQueen.”

Now you might get lucky and instead of a favorite Disney or Nick Jr. character, your little darling may ask you to draw a house, or a tree…

But if this is currently what your trees look like… this is not going to cut it.

Your very small child whom has admired you and your husband as infallible heroes up until now, will no doubt find the first crack in that facade, if she asks you to draw a tree, and this is what you produce for her.

And trust me, it’s going to get far more complicated than trees.

It’s only a matter of time before she asks you to draw a, “Beautiful Princess.”

Again… this is not going to cut it.

Luckily however you have stumbled upon this website, and I am here to help you… ALWAYS.

This is a fantastic new book Remy and I have been using.

It shows you how to draw and paint all kinds of princesses and ballerinas.

It even shows you some neat figures you can make by gluing on embellishments using different textured papers.

It’s really a fun book.

I believe the book is intended for eight or nine year old girls to begin learning how to draw princesses and ballerinas themselves. I’m telling you though, this book and others like it are wonderful for parents of babies and toddlers. This will prepare you for that moment at the Macarroni Grill when your munchkin expects you to start creating a castle on that paper table cloth they so thoughtfully provide you with.

Yes, the book includes instructions on how to draw a castle.

Wonderful, fantastic, step-by-step instructions.

Here is the one Remy and I created.  I drew and Remy colored. And after I had created all these sweet little princesses, Remy said,

“Mommy, draw a big scary dragon.”

This is not in the book, but remember… my firstborn is a boy.  I’ve been through all of this before but from the male perspective which requests dinosaurs, aliens, robots, monsters, and of course… dragons.

And please remember also… one of my goals in life is to become an author and illustrator of children’s books. I’ve been practicing drawing my entire life.

After that sixth grade shoe incident instead of abandoning art, I committed to practicing, practicing, practicing. I see the same passion for art now in Remy.

So after I drew that monstrous dragon attacking the castle, there was just one problem.

The princesses all looked way too happy to be dealing with an attacking, ferocious dragon.

I quickly came up with a solution to the problem.

The two most important keys to parenting:

#1 Be prepared

# 2 Be flexible

And don’t worry… if you have little boys, there are lots of books just like this princess one, to help you learn how to draw robots, aliens, and Star Wars characters.

These books make great gifts for families of all ages.  I especially like them for families with very young children so that kids and parents can grow in skill with the books.  I would even be so bold as to include a book like this in a gift basket at a baby shower with a note to the parents that it’s time to, “Start practicing.”

You can find “How to Draw Princesses and Ballerinas,” and other books like it, for sale below.

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