The Dirt on Homeschooling.

My wife had a cool idea for a meme. She called it bloggers' remorse. The basic idea instead of talking the pretty stuff, the cool stuff, the things that WORK for their families. You talk about what doesn't work. For example,what really stinks about home schooling? What are the horror stories too awful to mention for the world to see?

This can be a challenge. It's so easy to post about the good stuff, the funny stuff, the cute stuff, the really cool stuff. Today, I want to talk about the not so pretty side of homeschooling.

Like having a 4 year old, outread your 9 year old. (More on that later.) Or, something our family is struggling with lately is a clean vs. dirty house. I'm not talking about piles of books, piles of clothes, piles of papers, etc. I'm talking about DIRT! When my wife was homeschooling, she was in the process of training the children to follow routines for cleaning, schoolwork, cooking, etc. (Read my lips B O R I NG!!) When I started homeschooling, I tried to do what she did. But one problem. I'm not her. I wanted to have fun, teach the children cool stuff, enjoy being with them 24-7. And I do enjoy all those things. But there's still a lot of dirt. Now, left to my own devices, I wouldn't mind a little dirt here and there. Neither would the kids. However, funny thing happens every day between 3:30 and 4:00 pm. My wife comes home from work. When she walks in the door, the first thing she sees is...you guessed it...DIRT. So I've tried to cut down on the school work and attack the dirt before she gets here, which frustrates me because, I didn't get as much "school" done as I wanted to. So either way, I am frustrated when she walks in the door, and sometimes I bark at her. And she barks back, and starts ordering the kids around. Clear off the table! Sweep the floor! Scrub the bathroom! Clean up after the bunny. So, at times in our dogless home, there is barking going on. We need to work on this. My first thought is, anyone selling a dog? If that doesn't work, we will need a magical homeschool genie to swoop down and show us the three easy steps to obtaining a clean home while homeschooling three active, creative, children. Until that happens, we're going to work on speaking to each other with kindness and love. And maybe, sweeping a little of that dirt, under the rug.

Keith Time: Amy Remembers Keith Part I

Some Puppy and Turkeyisms

It has been over a year but I have decided to contribute some fragments at the Half Past Kissing Time blog feature called Friday Fragments.



Last week I was doing puppy's reading program with her. She was reading a story about a tiger and I notices she was covering her ears. I asked her why she was covering her ears, and she said, "The scary part of the story is coming up and I don't want to hear it."

The other day she told me a joke she made up. It is actually a variation of a joke most of you should already know. She gave it a nice twist, and really stuck the dismount. So when our co-op newsletter was looking for submissions, I entered it for her.

Here is what my published puppy's joke looks like:

Knock Knock.
Who's There?
Nobody.
Nobody who?
Knock Knock.
Who's There?
Nobody.
Nobody who?
Knock Knock.
Who's There?
Nobody.
Nobody who?
Knock Knock.
Who's There?
Orange.
Orange who?
Orange you glad nobody said banana?

The very same newsletter is having a writing contest. They are giving away a turkey to the writer of the winning paragraph written from the POV of a turkey explaining why or why not the Turkey should be eaten for Thanksgiving dinner.

Bunny's response:

Hello. I'm Tom the Turkey. I want to be eaten because I am very plump and juicy, My feathers are able to be plucked out real fast. I bet I'd be real yummy! If you eat me for Thanksgiving, I wont bother you anymore.

Spider Droid's entry:

Pardon Me!

Dear Mr. President,

Hi. My name is Bill. How are you? You should be fine. Nobody is going to eat you at the end of the month. I am a turkey. Turkeys are not thankful for Thanksgiving. I need your help. Please pardon me!!!!!!! Mr. President you are my only hope of not facing my greatest fear, having my wishbone broken.

Puppy's two cents:

Hello. My name is turkey L3000. The first robot turkey. I do not want to be eaten because I have too many feathers around my robot body.

Those are all the fractured fragments I have for you today. This is a blog hop so hop on over to the other participating blogs.

Keith Time: The Humor of Keith, Ham on Wry.

HSD Rewind: Library Week

HSD Rewind

Originally Aired January 2009 (Edited for the second decade of the 21st century) We are taking somewhat of a fall break this week as we have 2 field trips, a birthday and a few doctor appointments scheduled for the week. Taking the week off from organized schooling reminded me of our Library Week tradition. Here is what I wrote about it in 2009:

Libraries are a staple in the Roller family. My across the street neighbor when I was growing up was the Elk Grove Village Public Library. We were never able to borrow sugar, but I could get a cook book out, if I wanted to. Now, many years later, while I don't live as close to one as I did, libraries are still near to my heart.

A couple times a year our family embarks on library week. We stop formal schooling for a week and visit at least 1 library each day.












Here are the kids at the main library in Madison, WI.

In all we hit 5 libraries in 2 states. Library Week works for us because:

1) Libraries are fun, inexpensive places to learn and relax.

2) While library week gives us a break from our regular classroom environment, it does give me many ideas for future studies.

3) A well planned library week allows us the opportunity to drop in on friends and family and to visit other towns and cities. This type of multi-task travelling is educational as well as economical.

Even though we home school, I think library week can work for any family regardless of their educational choices. Spring, Winter or Summer breaks make the perfect time for library week. This is actually when we have done most of ours, so as not to interfere with Awana, and co-ops. Even if you have no children or no children at home, visiting libraries with your spouse or significant other can make an excellent date night.

Meanwhile back in 2010 . . .

this post is included in this weeks carnival of homeschooling hosteud at The Home Spun Life. There are many other great posts listed there. Be sure to check them out.

Keith Time: When I Heard Keith Was Sick
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I wanted to be a 4hundrenaire.

Today is a big day in the life of my blog. Yes, it's true. Home School Dad is 400 today. 400 posts that is. It has been a crazy ride to 400 but I have loved every mile. It hasn't always been easy. Writing 400 hip posts is the same as writing 20 squared ones.MATH JOKE ALERT



As I did prior to 300 posts I have been tweaking the look of the blog in preparation for 400 posts. I hope you enjoy the new look, I certainly do.

Starting tomorrow I am adding a new feature called HSD rewind. From time to time I will be reprinting (not just putting links to) older Home School Dad posts. These regurgitated posts may come up from time to time. BODILY FUNCTION JOKE ALERT.

Don't have much more to say for 400. I think I've got at least another 400 in me. Thanks again for being part and parcel of the program, and that's no joke. NO JOKE ALERT

Keith Time: Let's go fly a kite.

Pictures

This isn't no Wordless Wednesday post a day early or anything like that. Like many bloggers I let my pictures tell much of the story here. Their grammar and spelling are far better (or is that far butter) than mine.

Each year my wife and I give photo calendars to our parents featuring our children. The above pictures didn't quite make the cut. I hope you guys enjoy them.

Keith Time: The Write word at the right time.

Birthday Traditions

It's a certain Spider Droid's ninth birthday I thought I could celebrate it here by telling about a few family birthday traditions.

Technically Speaking

Spider Droid will wear out a phrase every few months. Back this Summer it was technically speaking. Every other sentence would start with technically For example "Technically Speaking Star Wars Episode I was really the 4th episode that came out." If he were here, he might tell you that technically speaking he has only had one birthday is and this is the 9 year anniversary of that birthday.

Almost Birthdays

A relatively new birthday tradition is the almost birthday. It's a pretty simple tradition that is celebrated the day before the actual non technically speaking birthday. Click here to see a video of the almost birthday song.

Birthday Party in Bed

A Roller Family staple is starting the birthday off with cupcakes, singing, and present opening first thing in the a.m. Breakfast is optional. This is done regardless of any other celebrations that may ensue.

The Chuck-E-Cheese Birthday.

The age of 4 is a special year. It is essentially the upperclassmen year of pre-school. When each of our children turned 4 they had a Chuck-E-Cheese Pizza Party. It is special because it was always their first friend party. Our Kids can still be kids but they have all now aged out of their 4 year old rite of passage.

Birdthday Immunity.

All our children were born during the school year. We usually take school off on the Children's birthdays. Sometimes we do a special field trip, sometimes we just stay at home. We Home school, we can roll that way. Technically speaking, we are not taking Spider Droid's birthday off because it is on Monday, our co-op day. However, tomorrow Amy is taking the day off and we are going on a family field trip to the aquarium. The birthday boy is even bringing along 2 friends.

Birthday Shopping.

My wife's Mom takes the kid's out on or near their birthday for a special time of Grandma bonding. They go out to eat and then she takes them shopping to the store of their choice where they can buy a present or two. She even allows them to pick out a little something for the sibs left behind.

The Birthday Pole.

A now multi-generational tradition takes place at my parents house each year. It started when I was a kid at my Grandpa's house. At the visit closest to our last birthday, my grandpa would measure us grandkids on a pole in his basement and then our name and age on a label maker and stick the label where he had marked our height. Being 1 of 29 grandchildren, this was always a special time between me and my grandpa. I am glad my Dad continues this for his grand kids.

Preventing Birthday Spoilers

Our kids get very excited about giving their brother and or sister(s) gifts. So much so that they often spill the beans long before said beans are unwrapped. We do our best tricks to keep that from happening. This year any time the beans were in dang er of spilling, Amy would redirect by saying: Lovely weather we're having.

These are just a few ways that we celebrate birthdays here. I'd love to her how you make family birthdays special. Happy Birthday son, we love you!

There will be a few changes to the ye-olde blog this month. The first one is that I am discontinuing the next time notices for the month. This month my youngest Brother would have turned 40. To honor him in these pages I will be linking to posts I have shared about him in the past. I call it . . . Keith Time.

Today's edition: A Bet I wish I lost.

Death disrupts order

I have been systematically going through my top 25 labels as of post 300 and breaking them down label by label. I am up to # 8 and was about to wax eloquent on the many and various sayings of my precious little puppy.

This was until I saw the topic of the latest Men's Monday Meme, How do you handle the death of a loved one. This made me jump all the way from daughter at # 8 to brother at #2 with Keith for 300.

I will return to the puppyisms next time. For now let's turn to Tim the author of Families Again. He reported in his last post that his mom is possibly terminally ill and he's not quite sure how to handle things like last goodbyes and tying up loose ends. In his meme he raised these questions for any men who wanted to answer them:

How do you fellow men deal with things like this? What are your secrets? Is it okay to be weak sometimes?

As I alluded to, this reminded me of my brother Keith. Keith passed away in April of 2009. Coping with his death and remembering his life have become mainstays of this blog. Keith's death took me by complete surprise. However, he had been in and out of hospitals with kidney and heart ailments for almost three years. Some of the hospitalizations lasted for months. When he was in the hospital, I would visit him at least once a week, sometimes even staying overnight in the hospital. My purpose for visiting him so frequently was three-fold: helping him pass the time with games and watching shows together, being an advocate for his health care, and there is something compulsive in me about visiting people when they are in hospitals. Even though I never expected him to die, you never know.

When I was out of work in 2006, Keith became ill. Within a month, he was at the Mayo Clinic. I had found a job that didn't start for a few weeks, so I was able to take the entire family and Keith's daughter to visit him. After that, Keith's health and well-being was like a family project.

I found that the more I got involved, the easier things became for me. Especially after he died. I never find myself thinking, "Why didn't I do more? Why wasn't I there for him?" As for being weak, that's a difficult one for me to answer because I've never been one of those Let's Chop Down a Tree and Not Talk About Our Feelings, kind of guy. Even though at some points, Keith had only 10% heart use and 10% kidney use, I never felt like his death was imminent. Perhaps that's why when he was living, I never felt weak.

I did often feel drained from the frequent visits. At the same time, Amy's dad was also having months long hospitalizations and at one point, my dad had a hip replacement and spent several weeks rehabing. It seemed we were always visiting someone in a hospital. Amy was especially encouraging and understanding during those times. I was working outside the home at the time and would often be at home only to sleep.

After Keith died was when much of my weaknesses showed. In some ways, I'm still in shock. Today I looked at a picture of Keith and me taken when I was living in Russia. The first thing I thought of was I couldn't believe he was dead. The initial grief was seemingly omnipresent. I would cry for no reason. Some of those moments are well documented in these posts. My family was a tremendous blessing to me during those times. I remember a time where my oldest daughter wrote a letter to me that was incredibly encouraging.

When Keith was in high school, I was his youth group leader. Several times he came forward saying he wanted to follow Christ. I was always unsure whether he was genuine or just trying to please me. When he was in college, he began to grow in his faith. My grieving for him is lessened knowing that he is in heaven now and someday I will be reunited with him.

Since Keith died last year, I have been active in the lives of his widow and children. Spending time with them and helping them as they need it, has also helped me move on to the next stage of life.

If you are interested in participating in the Men's Monday meme, click here. If you want to see more things I wrote about Keith, click here.

Next time: A Lucyism by any other name

The Best Annie I Have Ever Seen

I grew up with the musical Annie. I remember when I was a kid, watching a program called In The News (a 2 minute newscast for kids in between cartoons on Saturday Mornings on CBS) about the Broadway premiere of the show. My mom used to play the songs from Annie on her piano and sing them as well. Besides the movie, and several t.v. versions I have seen Annie or it's kid's version Annie Jr. at least 5 times. These 5 times were not including seeing it performed last night.

Last night's production was a little unusual in that it was performed by a troupe from the Penguin Project. The Penguin Project started in the Peoria, Illinois area and is theatre performed by children who are handicapped or have other special needs. The Peoria Troupe has spun off two additional troupes since then both in Illinois, one in the Bloomington/Normal area and this weekend in the Sycamore/Dekalb area.

I attended last night because my nephew who is a 4th grader was one of the artists in the production. The Penguin Project calls all their special needs performers artists. They pair each artist with a mentor, a student without disabilities who performs alongside the artists. Now if you think this would turn out like special ed students in a play with 1 on 1 aides you could not be farther from the truth. The mentors blend into the background and besides some limited physical assistance and a few line prompts were indistinguishable from the rest of the troupe.

Yesterday's performance had to be the best version of Annie I have ever seen. These kids could really act and sing and within 5 minutes you were not watching a performance of Annie with a disabled cast, you were just watching a performance of Annie.

Anyone familiar with Annie knows that the juiciest part of the show is not Annie, it's Miss Hannigan - the director of the orphanage. This version's Miss Hannigan was hands down the best I have ever seen and I say that meaning no disrespect for Carol Burnett. The girl who played her showed excellent comic bravada and a tremendous singing voice to boot. I could go and tell you which disability or special needs he and each other performer had, but the strength of their performances was what they could do and not what they could not.

Besides seeing a terrific rendition of a favorite musical was being able to see my nephew involved with it.. I have never felt of him as disabled even though he falls somewhere in the autism spectrum. This was his first acting role and he played various New Yorkers throughout the show. He did a fine job and more importantly really enjoyed himself. It was bittersweet as I know how proud his father, my brother, would have been if he would had lived to see him on that stage.

Here is my nephew getting congratulated by his sister as his mentor watches over him.

Next Time: Fall T.V.

Six Word Saturday

http://www.showmyface.com/ hosts an extravaganza called Six Word Saturday.

My Six: Swimming against the dead pool current.

A couple of my relatives are participating in a dead pool this year. A dead pool is basically like any office pool but instead of best actor or super bowl halftime scores you pick celebrities who you think will croak first (Kermit the frog excluded).

One of said relatives likes to talk about it all the time and preface it with "I know you don't like me to talk about this, but ..." I'm in many ways drawn to death. I used to have a page of my now defunct geocities site where I posted recent obituaries of the famous. I didn't have any qualms against calling the page, Currently Dead. But Death Pools? No Way!
I think there are just a few main reasons why I'm against death pools:

1) On some basis you are rooting for the death of someone else for your benefit. (Note: My relatives have no money at stake in their pool. Just bragging rights.) One of my relatives likes to tell me proudly who she picked correctly. The other is "jokingly" mad that someone on her list has been twice hospitalized but has not paid off for her.

2) I think it is insensitive to the families of these famous people to speculate on the demise of their beloved. Sometimes this speculation is on perfectly healthy famous people. Many dead pools give more points the younger the deceased. This point ties in and overlaps with my first. My relatives and I all lost a dear family member (my brother) in the past 18 months. I questioned one of my relatives about this asking her what would you say if I said "cool! I had Keith in my dead pool."? The reply was that He wasn't famous. But these famous people have relatives too. Where is the empathy?

3)The greatest reason I am against Death Pools is that it is counter to my entire philosophy of life: A)We were made by a creator for the ultimate purpose of eternal fellowship with Him. B) In life we have the opportunity to follow Him reject Him. C) Those who follow will have eternal fellowship, Those who reject eternal torment. D) As long as life continues there is opportunity to follow.

Many of you may not hold to the same philosophies as I do. That's not the point. The point is I would never want to hope in any way for the eternal torment of anyone. For me, participating in death pools or tolerating them would in my mind, be a way of doing so.

So thanks for visiting the Illinois Suburb of Downer's Grove today. You can participate in Six Word Saturday by clicking here.

Next Time: Overheard

Remembering Keith

They say dead men tell no tales. It's been a year to the day since by brother died and his death had written a chapter in the story that may not have been written otherwise. My brother died a few minutes after midnight on April 7,2009. It was literally the longest day of my life. My dad woke me up about 3 a.m. with the news. His death still seems surreal to me, but at 3 a.m. the day of it was the most surreal.

I had seen Keith less than 72 hours before and at that point, it seemed like he was getting better. The phone call from my Dad, said otherwise. I was in a haze when I got off the phone and went back in the bedroom and told Amy. The death of a loved one is the ultimate alarm clock and once I told her we were both wide awake.

Amy took the day off work and later that morning we told the kids. We knew how the girls would take it, it would zoom over Lucy and send Emma into a fit of tears. Charlie was the wild card, we did not know exactly how he would react. It turns out he was much more upset than we expected him to be. He ran out of the room, very angry.

Time stood still for a while. Because Keith died the week before Easter, there was 1 week between his death and the funeral. After that the days slowly passed into weeks, the weeks turned into months, and before long it was Veteran's day and I was commemorating what would have been Keith's 39th birthday with a memorial here on the blog.

Now almost another 5 months have passed and we are at the 1 year marker. I still miss Keith fiercely. It also still feels like the whole thing was a gigantic hoax. I fully expect Ashton Kutcher to come out any minute with Keith by his side and tell me how I've been punked. Alas, that probably isn't going to happen. Keith never had the impulse control to keep a joke that long. As much as I'd love to have him here with me again, I know he's with the creator, and having the time of his life.

Things Fortnightly

Time now for Things Fortnightly.


Thing 1 Diagnosis Blogger


Last week's episode of House was centered around a sick blogger. While there were aspects of the program that I was not fond of, the blogger theme worked quite well. I especially liked the dynamic between the blogger and her friends/followers.


There is a scene when her friend is visiting her in the hospital. The patient is blogging and her friend is reading her posts as opposed to just visiting with each other. This was unexpectedly poignant to me as the last time I saw my brother alive, I was visiting him in the hospital and showing him video's of my kid's biking that I had posted on my blog.


Thing 2. Nostalgia for teenagers


Have you seen the Because of camp commercial? As a former camp counselor, and a camp guy, I think it is pretty cool. I do have a problem with Emma Robert's part. She says that because of camp she built lasting relationships with people she keeps up with to this day. My problem with that is: She's 19! She was probably 17 when it was filmed! I have t-shirts that are older than her! If camp is such a life changing experience where you maintain lifetimes of friendships perhaps we could get a spokesman who is at least the drinking age!

Thing 3: My 8 year old gets it!

We have been in the car a lot lately. Field trips, doctor appointments, family visits: the stuff life is made of. This means I have been subjecting my kids to talk radio. It seems I have passed the talking to the radio gene on to Charlie.

One of the radio hosts we have been listening to lately has a habit of calling the USA the greatest country on God's green earth. After hearing that about 3 times, Charlie starts talking to the radio and saying it is not the greatest country! Other people like their countries just as much, and things of that nature. We as a family are very thankful for our heritage as Americans. We are looking forward to our trip to Washington D.C. later this spring. But Charlie gets that our patriotism stems mainly from the fact that we were born here. As he continued his conversation with the radio, he went on to say how much better a country Heaven is than America could ever be. While Heaven is not on God's green earth, Charlie still knows what country it is better to have your citizenship in.

Thing 4: Chuck and the World Chucks with you.

There are some Internet acronyms that have just not taken off yet. So when I say Chuck is the BTSSB you might not know of which I speak. Chuck is certainly the best thing since sliced bread, and in the last Things Fortnightly, I shouted its praise from the tops of something. Two weeks after the BEE (Best Episode Ever) things in Chuckville are still kicking it old school. The most recent episodes Chuck Vs. The Final Exam was particularly awesome. It had an excellent "Man who Shot Liberty Valance" moment that blew me away.


Thing 5: I see that hand (I just choose to ignore it.)


We took a field trip this week to a working fire house.

At the end of the tour, the fireman who was showing us around asked if anyone had any questions. Lucy raised her hand, which given her penchant for Lucyisms, usually frightens me. The fireman called on her and she asked a pretty good question for the general population, which means an amazing question for a 4 year old, and a pretty miraculous one coming from her. She asked when do you guys (fireman) sleep. The fireman said that when he is working a night shift, he tries to go to bed early, so he can get some sleep before the calls start coming in.

Some of the other parents, and children asked some more questions and then Lucy raised her hand again. She not only raised her hand, she said "I have another question." The fireman called on her again and this time she said, "My favorite color is purple.". Now, that's the kind of "questions" she usually asks!

Well those are my things for This Thursday. Thanks for stopping by

To play along just click on Mr. Linky.

Next Time: Snack Time

Sickness Disease

Last Wednesday night Amy as she was driving home from a Naperville hospital after visiting her Mom who was in for pneumonia felt arm and chest pains and drove herself to our local emergency room. I rushed over there and they admitted her early Thursday Morning. They ran every test you could think of EKG, Ultrasound of the heart, X-Rays, blood work, and some of these multiple times. They were able to rule out heart attack, mini strokes, basically everything. Yet for most of her visit, her arm still felt like something or someone was clamping on it. Eventually that feeling subsided and they released her with a clean bill of health. Our family doctor will check on her in a few weeks to make sure everything is okay.

This is the second time in less than 2 years that she has gone to the doctor with legitimate symptoms and they have not been able to find anything wrong with her. It is incredibly strange.
These visits both remind me of what happened with Amy when Lucy was just a few days old. We had been out of the Hospital for less than 48 hours and Amy could not find any comfortable position to lay down in and was having trouble sleeping. We called my Dad in the middle of the night and he came over to watch the older kids. I remember it was snowing pretty hard as I drove Amy and Lucy to the hospital at about 2 in the morning. We didn't know whether to keep Lucy with us or keep her at home because she was less than a week old. Once we got to the Hospital they sent me back home with Lucy while they began tests on Amy.

I got back there about an hour later. After a long battery of tests they determined that Amy's heart and kidneys were both working at about a 25% level. They admitted her to the Heart Hospital. I drove home at about 8 a.m. I was devastated, I had had no sleep the night before and I just prayed a ll the way home. 4 years prior I had donated a kidney to a family friend. I was tempted to despair as now I would be unable to donate one to Amy. I wondered how I would possibly be able to raise 3 kids on my own if anything were to happen to Amy. But mostly I was struck with how much I love Amy and how much of who I am is tied into her. I did not understand how I would make it without her in my life.

When I got home I took care of the kids and started calling people for prayer. This was on a Sunday morning. By Thursday Amy was released and both her heart and kidney were at basically 100%. We never got an adequate response as to why the levels had gone down and then gone back up.

What was really strange was that less than a year later my brother was hospitalized with about the same kidney and heart levels as Amy had experienced. Amy and I both expected that his levels would go back up to normal as hers did. Keith's diagnosis was not the aberration that Amy's had been. He died less than 3 years after the condition was found.

I have had other friends and family members pass away from cancer and other illnesses in the past few years. My experience on that ride home in December of 2005 has built an empathy for the relatives, especially spouses of sick, dying and deceased people. Even though my experience with Amy turned out to be only a false alarm, it gave me a glimpse of what others go through.

I am not sure why I am sharing all this. I have been thinking about that time and thought the need to get it out there.

Next Time: WFMW

1 Year Ago Today . . .

The FAQS of Life: My life in Frequently Asked Question Format

Special Blogoversary Edition

Q: Do you know what is special about today?

A: Yes. Today is a special anniversary.

Q: An anniversary of what?

A: It's the 4 year anniversary of date multiplication day. Just 4 years ago on 1-6-06. You see 1 times 6 = 6.

Q: Doesn't that happen quite frequently? Aren't there 4 just this year?

A: Oh, that's right! January 10th, February 5th, May 2nd and October 1st.

Q: Is it maybe a different anniversary?

A: Can't think of any.

Q: Does this ring a bell?

A: Literally, no it does not ring a bell. But figuratively, yes, this here blog is a year old today.

Q: Are you doing anything special to commemorate the day?

A: Yes?

Q: Are we back to that joke again?

A: Yes

Q: What are you doing to commemorate the day?

A: I thought you'd never ask. I have been making changes to the format of the blog over the past few weeks and I am unveiling them today.

Q: What's new?

A: Not much. We had fish today. Don't usually have fish at home. It was quite tasty.

Q: No I mean what's new with the blog?

A: Well first of all, I am starting a new segment where I feature a new blog in the top right corner of my blog.

Q: Cool. What's it called?

A: Featured blog .

Q. Catchy. Who are you featuring now?

A: Cornforth Adventures. It is an excellent blog. I have known the Cornforth's for several years and it is nice to follow someone in cyber life who you know in real life. She has great music on her blog. I'm even listening to it right now. She is also been a consistent commenter and encourager of this blog. Even when we don't see eye to eye she gently states her points without destroying me in the process.

Q: Will you basically be featuring blogs that you already link to?

A: No. I will probably feature all those but I will also be featuring many others.

Q: Has your blog changed a lot over the past year. If so what about it has changed?

A: Yes, it really has evolved. In the first few months I was changing links and music and other things on a weekly basis. It was wearing me out. I did a lot of experimentation over the first few months as well. I really learned my lesson from the NABLOPOMO incident. Blogging is not an end in itself.

Q: Didn't you write about that in the End of blogging?

A: Sure did. Tackled it in Danger: Blogging as well. It is a theme I kept going back to. I constantly need to be reminded to put this blog in it's proper place. Another thing that changed was that the blog often took on a more personal nature than I thought it would when I started it.

Q: What do you think that was due to?

A: It was definitely due to the passing of my Brother last April.

Q: How did blogging affect your grieving process?

A: I think it both helped and hurt. It helped in the sense that I had an outlet to air my feelings. It hurt that it created an idea inside myself that because I blogged about it, I had dealt with it fully. But that's enough about that now. Ask me another question.

Q: Gladly. What have been some of the more surprising aspects of blogging over the past year.

A: I think most surprising is that I have started 2 more blogs and each of my oldest kids have started their own. Lucy can't wait until she can get in on the act.

Q: Isn't she already the act with all her Lucyisms?

A: She sure is.

Q: Do you have any more?

A: This past week she was on her way home from AWANA. She asked Amy if she (AMY) was a Christian and Amy said "yes, why." Lucy told her that she (LUCY) was not a Christian. Amy asked "why not, don't you believe in Jesus?" Lucy said, "Yes, but I'm not a Christian". Amy asked why not? Lucy said, "because I don't want to go to Medieval Times".

Q: Medieval Times! What's That?

A: It's a dinner theatre experience where there is jousting and knights and much merriment.

Apparently Lucy had heard about Jesus being King and tied it together with Medieval Times.

Q: That's quite a story, How do we move on from that?

A: Ask me what I'm doing tomorrow.

Q: Why can't I ask you right now?

A: Aren't I supposed to be handling the jokes?

Q: And shouldn't I be asking the questions?

A: Good point.

Q: What are you doing tomorrow?

A: Eating the leftover fish. Oh! On the blog! I am making a change t0 3 Things This Thursday. From now on I will call it Some Things This Thursday. That way if people only have 1 or two things going on they can still contribute.

Q: Any closing thoughts you'd like to share?

A: I'd like to thank everybody who followed the blog this past year and say I am looking forward to having you along for the ride in the years to come.

Next Time: Some Things Thursday

74

Jeanne and Lucy share a birthday!

My mom and my daughter were born on December 6th. In different years of course, in fact, in different centuries!

This year they are both celebrating significant birthdays. My Mom is turning 70 and Lucy is turning 4. Now 4 may not seem like a significant birthday, to you, but at our house it has quite a bit of significance. It is affectionately know as the Chuck E. Cheese Birthday.

When Emma turned 4 we had her first kid party at Chuck E. Cheese's. We did the same thing when Charlie turned 4, two years later. 4 is the perfect age for Chuck E. Cheese and Lucy has been looking forward to it for a long time. The party is actually today, for logistical purposes. But Lucy is cool with that.

My older sister flew in from Virginia last night and we had a family surprise party for my Mom at a nice restaurant. The kids did not come, just my parents, their kids and spouses. It felt odd to have Keith's wife there without Keith. While his absence was palpable, it was still nice to celebrate Mom's birthday as a family.

Happy Birthday Mom! Happy Birthday Lucy! On the day that some celebrate St. Nicholas, it is great to celebrate what a gift you both are to me!

Six Word Saturday is brought to you by Cate at Show My Face Dot Com. Head over to see more six words than you can stick a shack at.

Next Time: Christmas on the Radio

A November Keithsake

As most of you reading this already know, the timing of my blogs in November have been a tribute to my Brother Keith. He would have turned 39 this month , so I have been posting every 39 hours. This is the last post of the month

In addition, on November 11th, Keith's birthday I posted every 39 minutes with memories of Keith. By clicking here you can see all the November 11th posts in their entirety (albeit in reverse order). I am also editing these posts into a word document. If anyone would like a copy of that document, let me know.

Now, as my blogging reverts back to semi wheneverly postings that you have become accustomed to, this does not mean I have stopped remembering Keith. I will continue to remember him, miss him and celebrate him on these pages and in my life beyond these pages. I am thankful to have had a brother like him and am glad I will be reunited with him again someday in Heaven.

Next Time: My first Tutorial.

Home For Thanksgiving

My cousin (first cousin once removed) Jenna is a typical high school senior. At least she was until she was diagnosed with Leukemia late last month. Her family, friends, church and school have rallied around her at this time of need. Yesterday her school,Benet Academy, hosted a blood and bone marrow registry drive. Jenna's story along with a promotion of the event was recently featured in a local newspaper. There was an amazing turnout, much more than had been predicted.

I spoke with my cousin Amy (Jenna's Mom) briefly yesterday at the event. As excited as she was about the turnout and the outpouring of love for Jenna and her family, she was more excited that Jenna has come home from the hospital for the Thanksgiving Holiday. She will be home until Monday when she goes back to the hospital for her second round of chemotherapy.

Today as I celebrated Thanksgiving with my family, I thought what a blessing it is to be home for Thanksgiving. Then I thought of my brother, Keith who was not home with his family this Thanksgiving. I remembered all the Thanksgivings he and I spent together throughout the years. I felt a twinge of longing and sadness and then I was reminded of Kermit the Frog's words in The Muppet Christmas Carol (Yes, I realized he didn't write them. )

Kermit (as Bob Cratchit) : Life is made up of meetings and partings. That is the way of it. I'm sure that we shall never forget Tiny Tim, or this first parting that there was among us.

I also take solace in the fact that Keith, is indeed, home for Thanksgiving. He is in his heavenly home. While, we have had a "parting" from him this year, we also can have a "meeting" with him in heaven some day. Jenna's continued progress, the love showered on her and her family, the memories of a brother I loved and the promise of a reunion with him in heaven are only a sampling of the many things I gave thanks for today.

Three Thanks Thursday

Every Third Thursday I like to mix things up here at 3TTT with a special themed edition. With Thanksgiving on the horizon, I have decided to blog about 3 things, for which I am thankful. If you are planning on blogging about what you are thankful for any time in the next week or so be sure to link the post to Mr. Linky below.

Here are 3 things I am thankful for . . .

1) I am thankful that I spent regular time with my brother prior to his death last year. I saw him twice in the week before he died. His death was unexpected, so it's not like I had a chance to say goodbye. But, I did have a chance to visit with him and spend time with Him, and I will always be thankful that I took the opportunity to do so.

2) I am thankful for my wife's encouragement. I had a men's group meeting this morning and went to a men's retreat this past weekend. Amy encouraged me to attend both these events and shuffles her schedule around to make attendance possible. I really appreciate that she is interested in my growth.

3. I am thankful for the pioneers of the homeschool movement. Because of their passion and perseverance, My family and so many others are homeschooling with much less obstacles than they faced.


So those are my 3. Please blog about 3 things that you are thankful for and link up. I am also thankful for you, my readers and followers.

Three Things This Thursday

Back to your regularly scheduled blog.

Here are 3 Things for This Thursday.

1. Remembering Keith. Yesterday starting at midnight. I posted memories about my brother Keith every 39 minutes as yesterday he would have turned 39. He died this past April. You can browse through all 37 installmets by clicking here.

2. Fall programming. Hadn't got a chance to watch anything new this week. Here are some videos from our "work" day Tuesday.

3. Next week is already the third Thursday of November. We will be having a themed edition. Think and blog about 3 things you are thankful for and come back next week and link up to 3 Thanks Thursday.

Those are my 3 Things for This Thursday. Please join in!

Life and Death go on

This is the last post of the day. All I can say is whew! What a roller coaster of a day! I was up at midnight launching this and woke up at 5 a.m for a men's group at church. I taught school today and still managed to make sure these posts kept coming every 39 minutes.

It feels a little (even for me) heavy handed to go on about Keith all day. I had friends and relatives having surgeries and tests today. I just heard that a dear friend from high school's father passed away this weekend. (Please pray for the Broten family in this time. ) I also have a 1st cousin once removed who is battling Leukemia. (Pray for Jenna and her family as well.)

Do I really have the right to focus so much energy on my brother when there is so much need elsewhere? I think, yes. Preparing to celebrate Keith in this manner and then celebrating him as helped me appreciate his significance but also to see that there are so many people out there who have lost or are losing someone just as precious as Keith.

I hope by recounting his story, that others are blessed and encouraged. I know I have been in writing and editing these memories. I would like to thank all those who have contributed to this collection. I especially thank My wife, Amy, who encouraged me and anchored me in this project.

Died in 2009

One of the big highlights at our house growing up come Oscar or Emmy time was the listing of those who died in the past year. Here are just a few who passed away the same year as Keith did . . .

Bea Arthur - Actress. Died April 25th at age of 86. Best known for work in Maude and Golden Girls. She was actually just portraying our Grandma Friedrichs.

Corazon Aquino - World Leader. Died August 1st at age 76. Beloved president of Philippines.

Walter Cronkite - Anchor Man. Died July 17 at age 92. Longtime CBS News icon.

Larry Gelbart - Television and Movie Producer. Died September 11th at age 81. Creator of M*A*S*H (the T.V. show not the movie, acronym or potatoes).

John Hughes - Movie Director. Died August 6th at age 59. Known for his work on Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles. Ricardo Montalban.

Died January 14th at age 88. Veteran actor best known for his work on Fantasy Island. Keith and I know him best for playing Khan. In Star Trek II Wrath of Khan.