And The WInners Are (Not Me) . . .

It's time for Three Things This Thursday . . .

1. HSBA Winners.

I was nominated for the 2009 Home School Blog Awards at the HSBA Post. I was nominated for Best Homeschool Dad Blog and since the name of my blog is Home School Dad, I thought I was a shoe in.

My victory was not meant to be, as Families Again took that particular category. Congratulations to him, and all the other winners. In honor of all the winners, I will have links to all of them on my blog until the end of the year. I am only halfway through putting them up now, so if you won and don't see your blog, a link will be up soon.

2. Snow!

The kids were a little disappointed when they woke up this morning and there was no snow. They had heard, (or read or seen) a weather report that said it would snow overnight. They don't know what we know that weather forecasters are basically guessing! Well, they guessed a few hours late and it is now snowing. The kids are playing in it now as I had some light yard work for them to do as well. Let me look out the window and see how they are at multi tasking. Not bad, better than I multi-task.

They are excited as this is the first snow of the season here's an as it's happening picture of kid's playing in snow.

I know you see the kids playing, but where's the snow? The answer my friend is blowing in the wind. The snow is blowing in the wind. It's almost time for them to come in for hot chocolate, so I'll move on to ....

3. Carving out Time

Today after school Charlie and I are going to carve a bar of soap with a dull knife as practice for how to handle the pocket knife he is going to use at cub scouts tonight. Let's see that's Cub Scouts tonight, dinner plans tomorrow, A party and an outing Saturday, Church and Lucy's Birthday Sunday, Awana Monday, Bible Study Tuesday. Wow! We are busy! How do we carve out time as a family among the business of the holidays and just plain everyday life?

Amy heard an idea on the radio of reading one chapter from the book of Luke each day in December. So at dinner each evening after opening the advent calendar, we read a chapter.

How do you carve out time during the Holidays? I would love to hear from you. Consider putting in on a post and linking it below to Three Things Thursday.

Next Time: 74!

My First Tutorial!

You Can Do Better Than This!

Tutorials to show that some people are less crafty than others.

When my wife was teaching two elementary school children and one preschooler at home, it was pretty easy for her to see that crafts work very well for these age groups. The problem is that very few people are less crafty than my wife. Now that we have switched roles and I teach the aforementioned elementary kids and preschooler, it is extremely easy to see that I am one of those few souls less crafty than her!

This doesn't stop me from trying! Last week I was reading a post at Sandwichink.com when I came across several ideas for making Advent Calendars.

I decided that as a class we could make an advent calendar ourselves. You can also try it yourself. Here is what you'll need . . .

1 piece poster board 24-25 index cards or 3-4 pieces construction paper, markers, scissors, tape, glue stick.

Not Pictured: Foil Star stickers, colored pencils and pencil.


Step 1: Fold 3-4 pages of construction paper in half left to right and then fold in half top to bottom then fold again in half top to bottom.

Step 2: Cut out pieces.


Result: you will have 24-32 pieces a little smaller than the size of 3" by 5" index cards. 3 sheets is perfect if you are doing a 24 day calendar and not planning on making any mistakes. We used 4 sheets!


Note: Step 1 and 2 are not needed if using index cards.

Step 3: Fold cards in half lengthwise.

Step 4:. Color inside cards with Christmas or any other pictures. (My students had to include at least some bunnies and Star Wars pictures.)

Step 5. Number the fronts of the cards in pencil and then color with colored pencil. It's as easy as ...

Step 6: When all cards are colored and numbered place on poster board how you want them displayed. This way you can get a preview how it will look before applying the glue.


Step 7: Glue cards in place on poster board.



Step 8. To close cards use tape or stickers. We used green and red star stickers. One sticker did not seem enough to close flap so we used 1 green and 1 red on each flap.



Step 9: When calendar looks something like this . . .


(Cute 8 year old not included)


Tape calendar and display in prominent place in house.




Now that the Calendar is complete it's time to put it to use. Beginning December 1st have a family member open 1 tab.




So, that's our craft and we're sticking to it. I want to hear about your crafts especially if you are as craft challenged as our family is.



Next Time: And the Winners are (Not Me) . . .

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.

I knew it!

Congratulations, and I told you so!

Before Amy and I moved, Amy and I worked with our church youth group. I noticed a compatibility between our pastor's daughter and a friend of her older brother, who was already in college. Over the past 10 years, I have "hinted" that they should consider marriage to each other. Today, they finally follow my advice and walk down the aisle.

My hints which contained all the subtly of the proverbial brick wall were all but acknowledged and unheeded for nearly a decade. I persisted because their story mirrored Amy and mine that they were good friends who did not see the efficacy of such a match (sorry Jane Austen aficionado) that was apparent to me.

Obviously, they finally got the memo and a few hours ago Jimmy and Beth were married by her father. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who saw this before they did. When they announced their intentions, I tried to remind them that they had me to thank and their answer was get in line. I and now my blogging public know that I should be at the front of that line and that’s good enough for me.

So, congratulations to the happy couple! For more six word Saturday go to Showmyfacedotcom.

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.

It's Not Even Thanksgiving!

The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, so they say. In our house, if the tree is of the Christmas variety this phrase is especially true. Over the past few weeks there has been a proliferation of Christmas decorations everywhere our family has been. They always bring out the same reaction from my oldest daughter, "It's not even Thanksgiving!" Now our youngest daughter has joined in on the refrain.

On October 1st I blogged here about how Halloween displays had been up since early September. It seems that holiday preparation (read commercialization) extends every year. Today, I heard long time Chicago radio voice Garry Meier talking about how it is too early to play Christmas music and suggest to hold off playing them until the Friday after Thanksgiving. He is absolutely right! I was glad to hear someone other than my own family members suggest it.

I don't have the exact dates but by mid to late July the back to school sales had already begun near me. Labor Day was September 7th, and I saw Halloween displays on the 10th! As soon as those Halloween displays were removed they were replaced immediately with Christmas! I often see Easter displays a week before Ash Wednesday. 40 days isn't enough to sell a Holiday?!?!

In my opinion marketing these holidays for such a long time has a number of adverse effects:

1) It takes away from the meaning of other "lesser" holidays. Thanksgiving has been changed from a day to thank God for his provisions and has now been marginalized to an old McDonald's ad slogan: food, folks and fun. Actually it's more like food, folks and football. I ate dinner at an excellent restaurant last night that was advertising their Thanksgiving buffet. But instead of the traditional cornucopia and the like, they are already dressed in full Christmas mode, tree and all. One would hope they won't be piping in the Frank Sinatra Christmas album as they were tonight, but one can never tell.

2) It takes away from the meaning of the holidays they are promoting. The over saturation is so much that some people are ready for it to end weeks before it gets here. I can understand that in a political campaign, but when celebrating such special events as Christ's birth, resurrection or the founding of America we want the days to be special not something to be endured.

3) Running from holiday to holiday creates more stress than good will. Rest is good. A few weeks between celebrations is a good thing. Rest gives us the opportunity to celebrate holidays all our own. Yesterday Lucy declared to Amy you're the best Mom ever. Tonight is Mommy night. When she woke up this morning, Lucy furthered her proclamation and decreed today Mommy Day. Mommy Day so far consists of Lucy coming in our room every few minutes with a new gift or card for Amy. The latest was a folded up piece of blue construction paper which Lucy called a laptop. This freedom also gives us the opportunity to celebrate something equally important, everyday life.

Next year I plan to post about what in my perfect world is the best way to celebrate each holiday as they occur. Let me just say now that getting back to traditional observances and time lines would be great. Advent generally runs from December1st to the 24th. I would be perfectly fine if I didn't see any decorations or hear any carols before then. I would also be okay if "Black Friday" was the official "unofficial" start of the season. Any sooner and hey I've got daughters to contend with! etiquette