I am back!

It's been over a month since I posted here. In addition to my homeschooling, I had been working a 40 hour a week temp job. Alas the assignment ended early and my financial loss is your entertainment gain. Hopefully such a lag in posting won't kill this blog altogether. I am gratified that my last post during my self imposed exile from the blogosphere was one of my 10 most popular posts of all time.

I have had many great post ideas during my sabbatical and will be getting to those in the next few weeks. For now I am just going to try to get back into the swing of things. I haven't even read anyone elses blogs in the last 2 weeks and am looking forward to seeing what you have been up to.

I am writing this while the kids are watching an educational video, so I need to get back to them pretty soon.

Next Time: Whatever Strikes My Fancy.

15 minutes to spare

The main reason why I have stopped blogging for the next few months is time, specifically my lack of it. I still get 168 hours a week, like everyone else. I just don't have any extra time for non-essentials. I may have time to do a 1/2 way job on my posts, but not enough time to make the posts as good as I want them. So taking a hiatus seemed the best choice.

Well today due to a schedule glitch, I see that I have an extra 15 minutes at the library and time to produce a post. As you see how little I write in 15 minutes you will see why blogging takes up so much of my time: I do it slowly.

School started 2 weeks ago and has been going pretty well. The past few days I have been in excruciating pain with a recurring neck injury. So, we haven't got as much accomplished as I would hope. Puppy is in kindergarten and I am trying to keep her active while working with Spider Droid and Bunny.

We are in the midst of what we call birthday season. Bunny turned 12 over the weekend. Amy and I have birthdays this month as well. Our co-op begins next week and the kids new classes seem really cool. Awana started today. And Spider Droid's soccer games start Saturday. I am working a full time temp job 2nd shift for the next 13 weeks. Add homeschool and church and you have a busy life with no time for blogging.

And that's 15 minutes!

It's been a while . . .

I love this blog and for the next few months I will be too busy to give it the time it needs to be good. I hope to be back writng 4-5 posts a week by November. Until then I will be busy with more tangible real world stuff.

Hope to see you when I get back.

I"m Back

Late Tuesday night. My temp job at the box company ended. So, I may have a little more time for blogging in the near future.

I have lots of good ideas for posts. Here are a few . . .

Don't Know much about History.

Tweeting the Carnival.

Why my Son won't be seeing Green Lantern.

I will also be participating in a few meme's in the near future as well.

Until next time adieu.

Thursday Two Questions

I am trying out a new meme today. Called Two Questions Thursday. The basic gist (The central thought, the common idea, - It.s one of Spider droids vocabulary words). is that you ask 2 questions and your readers and those linking to you from the meme answer those questions. The meme is hosted @ Self Sagacity.

When I first started blogging I participated in Mnoga (Russian for many) Memes. I even hosted one for awhile after the original owner decided to let it go. Recently I participate in them less and less. I occasionally will post @ Friday Fragments or Six Word Saturday but it's definitely not an every week affair.

My two questions today are about memes.

1) How come the majority of memes start the day before? For instance here I am asking my two questions for Thursday on a Wednesday. Considering the relative ease on most platforms of predating your material. It is not hard to time your post to begin at midnight the day of your meme.

2) When not participating in a meme for the week, do you still read it? I faithfully submitted over 25 Works for me Wednesday submissions before I finally realized that hints from Heloise is just not my bag. I really enjoyed reading all the hints but noticed that once I stopped being a contributor I also stopped being a regular reader.

So those are my questions and I am sticking to them. To join in answer my questions as a comment and then click here for more questions.

Next Time: Little Review of the Prairie

Sunday's Cool: Dead Mice

Sunday’s Cool

A Link Up & A Look Ahead.

A Link Up: Spider Droid is our featured blogger today. A recent visit to a local prairie yielded two posts. I hope you enjoy Dead mouse on the prairie and Questions for a dead mouse.

Speaking of Spider Droid, he mowed the lawn for the first time this weekend unless you count this.

I was thinking it would still be a few more years before he would be up to the task. But he has been bugging me for days to let him try to mow. So even though he’s just 9, I’m thinking when someone wants to mow your lawn. you say yes!

A Look Ahead: This is going to be a short week school wise with Memorial Day tomorrow and me away at the home school convention on Thursday and Friday. If the weather ever gets slightly summerish we will get a pool pass and do some swimming. Blog wise, I will be putting up a post tomorrow about a fractions lesson we did last week. I hope to post it just in time to submit it to the Carnival of Homeschooling.

Memorial Day weekend also marks the start of my summer reading season. Each summer I try to read at least 10 books and review them. Besides reading for just myself, I also spend time reading to the entire family. We just finished Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder the American Frontier author (not to be confused with Laura Impala Wildebeest the African Savannah author). I will post a review in the days to come.

When I hosted the Carnival of Homeschooling earlier this month I mentioned a contest Circle of Moms was holding to pick the top 25 homeschooling blogs. The voting has been closed for some weeks now and I have decided to feature the top 25 blogs in a sidebar here. Mine are not listed in the order of votes received, (for that info click here) but rather by most recently published. 5 of the top 25 vote getter's were already appearing here, I hope you enjoy them all. Well that’s it for today’s edition. Thanks for stopping by.

Next Time: Raising the Bar on Fractions.

500th Post Proclamation

It's finally here. My 500th post here at HSD over the past few weeks I have been making some tweaks to the blog but have not really announced them.

First of all, I have joined the 2nd decade pf the twentieth century and am now on twitter. Going forward I will be tweeting a link to all my new posts. I will also be tweeting my Next Time announcement that appeared and have now reappeared at the bottom of my posts.

Secondly I have added two new pages to the blog. Earlier this month I hosted the Carnival of Homeschooling with a post about my Top 10 Films of all time. I have made that a page as well as a 500th post page.

There are a few other changes, but you can check those out yourself.

I promised something very special for 500 posts. To commemorate the occasion, I have written a song. Within the lyrics, there are links to some of the posts that have appeared in HSD over the last 2+ years. So without further explanation and WITH my apologies to the Proclaimers, I present . . .

I Just Blogged (500 Times)

When I wake up, yeah, you know I'm gonna blog
I'm gonna blog about playin' puppy on the floor.
When I go out, well you know I'm gonna blog
I'm gonna blog about a field trip to the store.

If it's Christmas, yes you know I'm gonna blog
I'm gonna blog about how much we like to bowl.
And if it's Easter, yes you know I'm gonna blog.
That it's not a little rabbit that makes us whole.

I just blogged 500 times
And I might blog 500 more
To blog and ask what you guys do
With children screaming on your floor.

When I'm teaching, yes you know I'm gonna blog
About something good that Bunny or Spider did.
And when puppysims come
I'm gonna post 'em here. She's really quite a kid.

When we travel. yeah, you know I'm gonna blog
Whether close to home or Washington D.C.
And when we get back you know I'm gonna blog
With words and pics and videos for all to see.

I just blogged 500 times
And I might post 500 more
Just to be the guy whose 1000 posts
Will make you laugh but never snore.

When I'm fed up, yeah you know I'm gonna blog
I'm gonna blog 'bout how my family drives me mad
But when I think straight yeah you know I'm gonna blog
I'm gonna blog about the super times that we have had.

I just blogged 500 times
And I might tweet 500 more
Just to be the guy whose posts and tweets
reveal the passion at his core.

So that's it for post #500. Unless I get a lucrative contract in the music biz. I will be back very soon inching my way to 1000.

Next Time: Paragraphy for a Monday Morning.

Post Card on the Edge (of 500)

I don't want to be one of those bloggers who checks in once a week or less often and comes back to tell you how busy I've been to blog. When I lived in Russia my roommate used to call me the post card king because each Sunday as we would write home. I would generally turn out post cards promising a longer letter in the future. By the moniker bestowed by my roommate you can tell that the longer letters hardly ever came.

This is my 499th post and one of the reason why I have not been posting as regularly is I have been promising some big doings for #500 and I wasn't quite ready for it.

I am nearing completion of the 500 preparation and should have that post for you on the tails of this one.

After that I hope to me less post cards and more actual correspondence with my loyal readership.

Next Time: 500

Friday Fragments: Levis, Bunnyisms and Give-a-ways

My clock say Thursday evening but it really must be Half Past Kissing Time, The time of the week for Friday Fragments!


Fragment 1: In October I mentioned how one of my favorite musicians Allen Levi only updates his blog about once a month. In fact, His last post was only written at the excoriation (his word, not mine) and cajoling of faithful readers. The post was a masterpiece. His prose is almost as good as his lyrics. (By the way, IMHO, His music and lyrics are so powerful I would just rename the Grammys to the Levis.) His post about 2 sets of fathers and daughters just oozes poignancy.

Yet with as good as his blog is, he only updates it kicking and screaming, which leaves his readership wanting. Allen, must blog more. So, I have decided to do something about it. I have written a song: Since I can't carry many tunes with or without buckets don't expect any viral videos any time soon. (Some people have said that my singing may cause a virus.) Be that as it may here are the lyrics to my song.

Blog Allen Blog

He likes to sing
He likes to play
He doesn't like to blog
But that's OK

He likes his dog
And he likes his town
He doesn't like to blog
So word gets around

But he's really good at blogging
Eloquent, sincere, and charming
So the fact he doesn't like it
Can be quite disarming

Blog Allen Blog
We think you're quite a guy
Blog Allen Blog,
we need a regular dose of Levi

He hooks us in August with a song a day
And before we're saturated he just goes away
He can go a month or more without a single post
When he does it's great
But then the blog goes comatose

Blog Allen Blog
Come and press some words together
Blog Allen Blog
Your posts keep us on our tether

He's a poet
He's a critic
He can be a clown

The cyber space
is a better place
When he's around

Blog Allen Blog
I'm an Allen Levi geek
How about posting twice a fortnight
Which boils down to once a week



It can be a poem
It can be a song
It can be a recipe
A video of planting a tree
A thought on a sermon
A song about Ethel Merman
A tip about killing vermin

Blog Allen Blog



To hear some good music (Allen's) click here to go to his website.

***********************************************************************************
Fragment 2: As you know Levi's come in pairs. So I think it's time to give an update of my favorite current t.v. show (Chuck) starring my second favorite Levi (Zachary)

Zachary Levi Autograph
Originally uploaded by TravelShorts

Last year I was very clear in my opinion that Chuck was humming along in season 3 with brilliant episode after brilliant episode. Season 4, in no means a disappointment, has not been as consistently good as season 3. Instead of building from episode to episode, it reminds me of a title of another Chuck's (Swindoll) Book: Three steps forward. Two Steps back.



Despite it's unevenness (one mediocre episode of Chuck is worth a handful of CSI, NCIS, or the rest of the alphabet soup that's out there.), I still love Chuck and hope it staves off cancellation for yet another year.


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

Fragment 3: I don't dabble in to too many Bunnyisms here at HSD. My 5 year old puppy tends to get all the good lines. Bunny had a doozy this week. I was reluctant to mention it, since it doesn't really put me in a good light. The fact is that I am very inconsistent in the way I structure the household and discipline the children. This past week I was much more consistent much to the chagrin of a certain 11 year old.



After handling some preteen rebellion, she came up to me and said " I liked you much better before Mom taught you how to parent." Well it is not her earthly Mom teaching me to parent but our Heavenly Father. I just need His grace to get better and better at it.



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



Fragment 4: A few weeks ago, I started giving away an mp3 of an on line home school conference. So far, I have had only 1 entry. So it looks like I know who is going to win. Sure you may not home school yourself. But you may know someone who does. You could be a big hero in someones life to win such a useful prize for them. I have decided to lengthen the contest 1 more week until March 7th. Click here to see complete rules and to enter by leaving a comment.

That is all my Fragments for now. Other's are just a click away.

Why I blog.

This might more appropriately be titled why don't I blog, as I have been essentially asleep at the blogging wheel for several weeks now. So considering my recent blog output (or lack thereof) it was kind of interesting that I was one of 5 bloggers speaking downtown Chicago at a round table discussion of blogging. The round table was held for sales executives at Feld Entertainment who produces events like Disney on Ice, Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus and Monster Jam. As you may recall Feld gave me two tickets to see Monster Jam with Spider Droid in exchange for posting about the event here and here.

The purpose of the round table (For the purpose of full disclosure: It was actually two rectangular tables) was for Feld to pick our brains to see how better to partner with bloggers to promote their events. The event helped put my blogging in perspective.

As I left the meeting and realized that the building we met was next to the the Tribune Tower across from WGN Radio and directly above the Billy Goat Tavern.. Here is a video of a SNL sketch based on the Billy Goat.




Here is a you tube video of the actual Billy Goat.

I ventured downstairs and went to the Billy Goat.

I was early for the lunch rush and was the only non employee in the place. The man in the video took my order. I ordered a Cheeseburger and a coke. The place was starting to fill up as I left. i went up the stairs crossed the street to the WGN building and saw the booth where they broadcast their programs.




This reminded me of why I blog. Not to get free tickets or to post give-a-ways on my blog. But because life is an adventure. An adventure I like to share.

Six Simple rules on How to get 50 or more comments on your post about home education.

Sandy Laurence recently did something I have not been able to do in over 2 years of blogging. On February 28th She posted this piece about what she thought were some disadvantages on home education @ Type-A-Parent. Within a fortnight she had received over 100 comments on her article.

What Ms. Laurence achieved that I have not, was to generate more than 100 comments on one post. The most comments I ever received was 40, when I was giving away 50 state quarters. That's not even a comment a quarter!

I don't want to just pound away on Ms. Laurence's piece as she is not the only blogger in the past couple of years to surpass my high water comment mark by posting about homeschooling. Sylvia Biu wrote a piece a couple of years ago called Homeschooling is a Bad Idea. To date she has received almost 60 comments about it.

So based on these and other posts about Home Education, I present:

How to get 50 or more comments on a post about Home Education.

1. Write a post about Home Education.

2. Come out against it (or at least be leery of it).

Both pieces question the effectiveness of homeschooling in their title and their first few lines. Both topped the 50 comment mark. Phillip Faustin started out well in that regard in his 2007 piece, entitled "Homeschool is Dangerous." Except Phillip really came to the defense of Home Education. The result: 0 (Count them) comments. I am not saying that all good pro home schooling pieces will garner no comments. But it has been my experience that these negative pieces get much more attention.

3. Present misinformation as fact.

Sylvia Biu says this in her second paragraph:


Homeschooling was originally thought to be a good idea, but recently it has become the subject of late-night comics. Now, it is mostly frowned upon for all but severely disabled children or those otherwise unable to attend school for whatever reason.

WOW. That's like saying that democracy used to be a good idea but isn't any more because it has become the subject of late-night comics. Then the second "fact" follows one of my favorite rules for passing on information. Say it: don't back it up. Mostly frowned upon by who? Don't know. Doesn't matter. Sylvia Biu said it, that settled it. Not likely.

4. (Very similar to #3) Start with facts and sprinkle-in falsehoods.

Here is a prime example from Ms. Laurence's concluding paragraph . . .

The vast majority of American children successfully attend public or private schools.

That starts out like a solid fact. The vast majority of American children attend public or private school. Throwing in successfully, throws the fact under a bus. I guess it depends on what you mean by successfully. If you mean anything other than they get there and back, it's not successful. Consider these quotes from the Time Magazine review or "Waiting For Superman." . .

Americans also can't afford the fantasy that we have the world's best educational system. The U.S. is near the bottom of advanced countries in math and reading scores. We may not pass sleepless nights worrying about Finland, but that country's kids get a world-class public-school education, and ours don't.

And this about film producer Davis Guggenheim . . .

What he found in his two years of researching Waiting for "Superman" (with co-producer Lesley Chilcott) was that a lot of schools aren't right for any kids.

That hardly seems like a definition of successful. But point out this or any other inconsistencies in her piece to Ms. Laurence and you get . . .

5. Defend your right to have opinions. (Even when people are questioning your facts.)

In more than one of her comments and in a subsequent post trying to clean up her previous mess, Laurence said something like this:


.. .this IS a blog. These aren’t research papers. Each article I’ve written has contained my opinions.

She was right about one thing, this is a blog. However her post contained facts, or at the very least opinions written so they looked like facts. For instance What she said about the vast majority of American children did not seem like an opinion, it seemed like she meant it as a fact. Blogs might not be the place for facts, but if you are going to use facts, use them properly. I will save any more of my opinions about opinions for an opinion piece I will be placing here soon.

Also opinions can be argued, refuted, and even refined due to the presentation of facts. I would think that the owner of opinions, especially an owner who shares those opinions on the Internet would welcome the presentation of facts to the discussion of those opinions.
6. When you do state opinions make them as preposterous as possible.

Consider Slyvia Biu who said . . .


First, unless a parent is himself a previous honor student or a genius who mastered more than just the three R’s, a child may not receive quality home education. Even if a parent earned a degree in one or more areas, it may not suffice and could limit the scope of a child’s knowledge, unless a parent excelled in other major subjects or supplements with tutors in areas in which he may be weak.

Sure it's an opinion. She says may not and could limit. But come on, really! How many public or private schools only employ teachers that are honor students or geniuses? How many of those teachers have earned a degree in more than one area? This is just an example of setting the bar higher for home educators than other educators without any reason. Her opinions were so off base that many commented just to tag her out. (Baseball reference, couldn't resist.)

So, if you want a homeschool post with more than 50 comments follow some of these simple rules and you should be just fine. Here is a bonus tip if you want to make the century mark.

Bonus Rule: Be abusive to your commenters.


Sandy Laurence had a few choice words for her commenters. Like this . . .

Well, at least I’m getting reader participation. I expected people to disagree with some of what I said, but I figured the good homeschoolers would be better at reading comprehension.

Or if that wasn't direct enough she later said this . . .

Did you really read what I said? Are you offended because you’re one of the homeschoolers I described in my post? If you’re not one of them and, instead, are doing a good job with it, I’m not talking about you. Get over yourself. And brush up on reading comprehension.

Thanks for your well-thought-out comments.

In her follow up post she tried to explain her rudeness by saying that it was because her piece was edited and she didn't realized it was edited. So she thought people were misreading her. I understand what it means to be edited for newspapers and other blogs. The first thing I do is read my piece as it appears in publication. She could have done that ,and as I tell my kids, you don't have to say (in her case type) every thought in your head.

That's all I have at the moment. If you want, you could prove me wrong by helping me get 50+ comments on this post. I think (and hope) it only follows the first rule. Feel free to pass it on to friends and neighbors because, when all is said I done, I just want more comments. Please!

Sorry, I got a little carried away there. But that doesn't mean I don't want you to comment :)

For those joining from HSBA Post click here or on the graphic tto head back to the Green Edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling.

Six about 25 before 500

Six Word Saturday time at Show my face dot com and my six words are packed and ready to go. They're standing here outside your door. Oh, sorry about that, I was listening to John Denver on Pandora earlier.

Here's my Six:

Blogging about blogging, an acquired taste.

Amy and I have many similar interests and opinions but we don't agree on everything. That is to say, that not all of hers are correct. For example, I some times engage in what I call meta blogging. Blogging about the process of blogging or even blogging about the minutia of blogging. I think she calls it, choking the life blood out of her soul. This doesn't keep me from doing it, just from asking her to edit those pieces. I mean who wants to read a post that starts: "Anyone who still has a brain cell left please read something else!!!"?

This, is one of those pieces.

Back in 2009, when I was just a novice blogger, I noticed that the 100th post was a big to do. There were generally give-a-ways, hyperbole and a sprinkling of ballyhoo when someone would go to 3 digits on their blogometer. I was not immune to such excitement, I love celebrating milestones. I even love celebrating milestones that aren't really milestones. If I had it my way I'd commemorate each and every post. . .

We now take you to HSD behind the scenes. . .

Dave: for my 217th post I wanted to give away a tray of Lasagne. Amy wanted to know why and I said because the first time I remember eating Lasagne was July 31st and as you know 7 times 31 is 217.

Amy: That really didn't happen. But yes, He is that crazy. And yes, this is really Amy and I can prove it. Note the font, Trebuchet. Dave is allergic to Trebuchet.

We now return you to this post, in progress.

So, I noticed recently that I am chugging along on my way to 500 posts here at HSD. I have decided to commemorate the event some way for the past few weeks I have had a countdown to 500 in the left hand corner of the blog. Starting with the next post that will be replaced with an estimated date of the big event. My best estimate as of today is sometime in early May. No, I don't have ultrasounds, so this will have to do.

I am planning to celebrate # 500 with a special post. I have some ideas but have not ironed them all out yet. The rumours about me hosting Letterman are way too premature. I understand his guest correspondence is written in Trebuchet.

For more Six Word Saturday click here.

HSD Rewind: Blogoversary edition

It has been exactly 2 years since this blog started. Here is a reprint of our first post from 1/6/2009.

Why We Home School:

Three precious reasons:Princess Puppy, Bunny and Spider Droid!

Meanwhile back in 2011: Thanks for being part and parcel of this crazy look at whatever it is we look at here.

Coming Soon: More of the same and a bit of the unusual.

Blog Rolling with the Changes

Blog Insider - A look at the widgets, gadgets and whatnot's of Home School Dad

Tonight's Episode: A Simple way to improve your Blog Roll.

I have been doing a lot of meta-blogging lately. The majority of my posts have been about my blog rather than about stuff that is actually interesting to readers. At least that's my wife's take on it. The other day after reviewing my post about videos, she said in her BMPV (Best Miss Piggy Voice) "I don't understand any of this."

Well, I have good news and bad news for those who agree with her. The good news is that I will soon be posting again about the subjects that made me famous in 3 counties. The bad news is it does not start with this post.

Today, I am going to take up that provocative subject of Blog rolls. A blog roll is a list of blogs that you follow with a link to them. In the past I had always been tweaking my list of blogs on my blog roll. This was due in some part to the fact that I am always finding new blogs I want to share with the world. But it was mainly due to the fact that some of the blogs I follow post so periodically that I wanted to only feature blogs that were more current. It's kind of a publish or perish sort of thing.

This was working out okay, but it meant that every once in a while I had to go back and see if those other blogs had put out anything new lately. Than I happened on a cool way to list only current blogs but not lose touch of the old ones.

On Blogger there is a feature on the blog roll that allows you to limit the amount of blogs that shows on your list. While I now have 50 blogs on my roll, only 25 are listed at any one time. These are the 25 that have posted the most recently. Currently, the 25 listed are all less than a week old.



What I really like about this is when, a someone in the lower 25 posts again it automatically springs up to the top. Some of my favorite blogs post intermittently. Allen Levi's blog essentially went silent after his 7 songs in 7 days this past August. But every couple of months he puts something on and I will be one of the first to know. Out Walking took a bit of a summer sabbatical but is now putting up his usual 1 -2 provocative pieces a week. With my new system, he came back to my attention without my having to search for him. I mentioned the blog, Rocks in My Dryer when talking about Works for Me Wednesday last week. She hasn't posted since July, But if and when she comes back I (and my readers) will know about it.

Now it is essentially true I could do the same thing just by subscribing to these blogs. Yes, and no. I like having what I like available for everyone to see. This method works much better for me. If you go through my blog list and do not see a blog you have seen before. Click on the See All button below the last blog on the list. It is very likely you will find it there.

So now that I have proved once again that Boring is just not a suburb of Portland, I will wrap up this look at the making of the making of this blog.

Next Time: An Unpaid Political Pronouncement.

Best and worst of 7 word September

Blog Insider - A look at the widgets, gadgets and whatnots of Home School Dad


Tonight's Episode: 7 Word September



September is a big and busy month in our family. Big because Amy, Bunny Girl and I all celebrate birthdays in September. Busy for the same reasons and also when you throw in a new school year, soccer season and Awana into the mix. Last year on kind of a whim I decided to title all my September Blog Posts with exactly 7 words. This was first of all as an homage to Six Word Saturday at Show My Face dot com and also because September has the prefix for 7 in it's name. This often gets missed as it is the ninth month of the year.



As this month as passed by I noticed something in the minutia of meaningless statistics. If you did not know this about me, I brake for the minutia of meaningless statistics. According to my blog archive, I published less posts in September 2009 than I did in any other month that year. With today's post I have published more posts in September of this year than any other month so far in 2010. The most of posts, the least of posts, not quite Dickens, but it's something.

If you noticed 7 Word September, I hope you enjoyed it. If you didn't, I hope you at least liked the posts.

Next Time: My Son the action hero

Blah Blah Blogging

It's time to review labels again.

Label #16 (3 Way Tie) Blah Blah Blogging.

This blog has not been immune, at times, to instead of blogging about home schooling or crazy family members or first place baseball teams, to occasionally just blog about blogging. This label nostalgia is a pretty good example. Last weekend when I posted that I had not posted for awhile is another.

Over the 20 months Home School Dad has been the blog sensation sweeping the nation I have made a few observations about blogging. I'd like to share a few here.

1) You could always spend more time blogging. Early on I became overwhelmed with how much time I could pour into the blog-o-sphere. But no matter how much you spend, it seems like you could always spend more. Not letting blogging consume me was a hard calf to corral the first 6-8 months. It is now pretty easy to not get swept up out of control. This balance was hard to come by but it is certainly something I will want to pass on to the blogging class I teach this fall.

2) Some ideas just don't work. I sometimes get an awesome idea for a post. Sometimes it's just an excellent title. Often times, these ideas and titles pretty much write themselves into epic blog posts. Other times, no matter how hard I try, I just can't bring the idea home. This is where my wife/editor is so helpful. She'll read it and say "I have no idea where you are going with this." Sometimes I can salvage the idea, but every once in a while that dog will just not hunt. When that is the case, the best strategy is just to let the idea go.


3) Some ideas aren't worth the work. In my first few months of blogging, I used to look back at my previous months worth of posts, choose the 5 I liked best and put them in a box in my blog called Dave's fave five. This became an incredibly arduous process. First of all, it was sometimes hard to choose the 5 best because I thought everything was great. Other months I thought nothing was any good. It usually depended on whether I had a nap or not. Then after I decided on the 5, I had to link them and label them and mark them with D and put them in a blog for David and me. By the time I got it all done it was about time to do the thing over again. Part of running an effective blog is to know when to go the extra mile and when to pull the plug. A number of months ago I scrubbed all references to Dave's fave five and I've never looked back.



So from time to time I am going to still blog about blogging, but like they say at the Porcupine Salesmen Convention: Don't ignore what got you here, porcupines and more porcupines! And my porcupines are definitely home schooling and being crazy. Two porcupines that I know a lot about.



Next Time: In Praise of Allen Levi.

Six Word Saturday

Six Word Saturday Time:

My 6: I haven't forgot how to blog!

It's not that I've been super busy, I really haven't been. It's not that I haven't had anything to blog about, Lucyisms still abound here and there's always plenty of things for me to tell you. It isn't like I said I wouldn't blog while the White Sox were on their current hot streak. If I did, who knows when I'd blog again. The truth is if it wasn't for the kind transmission by my wife on Monday, I would have maintained blog silence for a week.

Blogging just hasn't been my bread and butter this summer. I am gearing up to teach a blogging class this fall at our home school co-op. So, I actually have been working on blogging on the down low. More on that later.
I am also trying to get use to the keyboard on my new laptop and I keep on typing my new words in the middle of my old ones.

I hope all is well for my readers, if I have any left. I will be back to blogging with abandon soon.
Head on over to See my face dot com to check out more six word Saturday.

Next Time: Toy Story to 3-D and beyond!

How to handle stress

Tim of Families Again checked in again with this week with some good questions for the Men's Monday Meme:

How do you deal with stress? Is there really a good way to do it? Is there a Biblical way? Is there a medical way?

Generally I don't deal with stress well. There are basically 2 ways to deal with stress outside of the biblical way externalize it or internalize it. Basically to me that means give yourself high blood pressure or give it to someone else. I tend to do both. This past month my daughter has been learning the biblical antidote to stress found in the 23rd Psalm:

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.6 Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Such a simple stress reliever! I remember a comic strip I read the year I graduated High School. It was the comic strip Kudzu by the late Doug Marlette. The real star of the strip was the Reverend Will B. Dunn. In this particular strip Dunn is reading the 23rd Psalm in a modernized version. He reads: The Lord is my therapist. I shall not freak out.

Funny at the time, but actually a pretty good dynamic equivalent translation. I tend to freak out a lot while trying to educate my children. God's "therapy" is to restore my soul.

One way to increase stress in your life is to put undue and arbitrary pressures on yourself and family. Sometimes we can even take the things in our life that relieve stress and twist them in a way that increases stress. For example, I noticed that Tim of Families again is a daily blogger and part of NABLOPOMO (National Blog Posting Month). In my second month of blogging, February 2009, I tried my hand at NABLOPOMO and it was horrible for me. I felt under so much pressure to blog each and every day. No one forced me to blog each day, but I took that stress on.

These days my blog is what I intended it to be a creative and emotional outlet. It's been almost a week in between posts. I have plenty of topics I want to get to, but I am not putting that extra stress on myself or my family. To See this Weeks Men's Monday Meme click here.

Next Time: Schemers

Something's Got to Give

Life has been very busy at casa de Roller lately. I am working a temporary job in the evenings and weekends. Each of our three children is busy with an extra curricular activity. I have decided to slow down the blogging until my temp job ends. I wish I had done a little more Bulk Blogging like Kristin talked about an her most recent WFMW post.

I will be publishing Things Fortnightly tomorrow. But then I have nothing planned for a week or two until the temp job ends. Remember that today is your last chance to comment on this or any of my posts since last Monday for an opportunity to win a copy of my Washington D.C. Journal and a few D.C. knickknacks.

Next Time: Things Fortnightly

Six Word Saturday

Toady's Six Words: The dangers of blogging after midnight.

Last Saturday after I wrote my Six Words for last week, I was working on a guest blog about being a home school dad for a blog called Daddy's Home. Before I knew it it was 1 in the morning. I got ready to go to bed but decided to first add a blog to my blog roll. Because I was so tired, I accidentally deleted all 15 or so blogs from the blog roll. So at 1 A.M., I tried to remember all the blogs, find them and link them back to my blog. It was 2 a.m before I finally got to bed.

It is 11:15 p.m. now and I am going to post this before I blow something else up. For more Six Word Saturday head over to showmyfacedotcom.

Next Time: Films