whatever

wendy - LOVE that chalkboard! And for only $5? What a steal! And don’t underestimate your potential to home school. We did it for a year and LOVED the heck out of it. The kids are back in school now but that was one of our very favorite experiences of all time! I’ll just leave it at that. 🙂

Elisa - The great thing about school is that they can go away, and you get a chance to miss them, and then they come back. Perfect.

Heidi Jo the Artist - Great photos! I hope you had nice Mother’s Day and fun celebrating your son’s birthday!
It is crazy to me how many people think they can NOT homeschool. We DO homeschool and I once too was in that mindset that we would NEVER homeschool. But, my husband opened up my eyes to the school system and how sadly broken it really is. My husband is a teacher (yes you read that right!) and sees many things first hand and we wish the school system was different for the sake of this country’s future. I’m sure it could be worse, but we most definitely think it could be better too. And anyone that says they cannot homeschool, I say to them…DO YOUR RESEARCH (on the internet or in books- anything by John Taylor Gatto is great, start with “Dumbing Us Down” which is a great start and an easy read)!
There are many ways of homeschooling besides the traditional textbooks. We personally choose a more relaxing homeschooling environment, “unschooling”, and it works for us thus far. It is amazing to watch your child/ren learn on a day to day basis. I love to see the light bulb go off when my son gets something! I love when my son asks me questions, and if I don’t know the answer we look it up together. I think it is fun to learn and I still consider myself to be a student and I will for the rest of my life. I don’t know everything, and neither does any teacher teaching in a school. You can teach your children so many things that can’t be taught in a classroom and they will get much more one on one attention.
I have days that aren’t perfect too, I think we all have bad days sometimes, but without the bad, I think we wouldn’t appreciate the good. Refocusing is great, I like that! 🙂
Oh and I love your chalkboard find too! I found a really nice LARGE bulletin board for FREE while out and about one day, but I gave it to my husband for his classroom. If I find a big chalkboard or marker board it won’t be leaving our home unless we move! 😉
Heidi Jo the Artist
My Shop ~
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Lori McDonough - Ok, why have I never discovered your blog before this? You rock…I’ll be back! Have a super day!
Lori

Georgia - Hi Meg,
I was wondering what software you use to make the photos into a collage / montage. I use photoshop, but me and photoshop dont seem to get on very well … lol
Look forward to hearing back from you 🙂
Georgia x

evan - i feel the same way about homeschooling my kids. school of rock but with crafts. so funny! you are a beautiful mom. i hope your mother’s day was amazing. actually i’m sure it was 🙂

Staci - I have to re-focus every day it seems 🙂 This moving stuff makes me VERY grumpy and very short with my kiddoes these days 🙁 I know once we get settled (will we EVER?) I won’t feel like yelling so much 🙂 My red stove makes me very happy though 🙂 Hope your Mother’s Day was good and that Scott has a very happy 11th birthday!!!! Thanks again for always keepin’ it real Meg!!!!!

gina - oh “fun” girls’ day of shopping eneded with me carrying a kicking screaming 4 yo out of Target today. But on the good side… breakfast in bed, by the same 4 yo and her sisters and dad, lots of thoughtful and wonderful! presents, the 6 super big mugs I plan to use as bowls at Pier 1 BEFORE said meltdown. 🙂
Love the chalkboard- what a find!!

Rach - Happy Mother’s Day!! May it be as wonderfully chaotic as every other day with a bundle of kids. 🙂

Leigh - I am with you on the whole situation that is going in your house! My youngest turned 13 today and I have 3, 14 year olds…attitude. I think I will go have a nap now. Hope you have a good mom’s day.

Sarah - It’s the “end of school” crabbies…it’s happening at my house too…so don’t despair! Love the pics anyways, deceiving or not…sometimes it’s nice to deceive ourselves!!! 🙂

Beth - I just have to comment again, on this Mother’s Day morning. I find such meaning in the ability to find blessing among the brokenness, and thank you for putting it to words so the rest of us remember to do that too. I love this story and it reminds me to find the good, look for the blessings, every day:
One day some people came to the master
and asked: How can you be happy
in a world of such impermanence,
where you cannot protect your loved ones
from harm, illness or death?
The master held up a glass and said:
Someone gave me this glass;
It holds my water admirably
and it glistens in the sunlight.
I touch it and it rings!
One day the wind
may blow it off the shelf,
or my elbow
may knock it from the table.
I know this glass is already broken,
so I enjoy it — incredibly.
~Achaan Chah Subato

Lori Danelle - Pizza at your house too? Little Ceasar’s $5 pizza every Saturday right before we head to church. I think my two year old likes it a whole lot more than I do!
I love your honesty. So many would go with the story the pictures told, but that’s not real life. . .at least not in my house!! Our downs happen more often than we’d like, but the ups make the downs worth fighting through.
http://loridanelle.blogspot.com

Christina - That is a sweet chalkboard! I wish I could find something like that. Wow.
I love your honesty! Isn’t it funny to look at pictures like that and know how it “really was”? I like to take the moments at the end of the day and reassess, though; it helps with the perspective. Have a wonderful Mother’s Day.

Kate - Seriously. You crack me up. You rock the big blue sky.

Jess - My birthday is tomorrow, I don’t look at it as either one of us is missing out. I see it as taking care of two birds with one stone. I’d be with my family anyhow, might as well take care of two things at once!

Mary - You really spoke the words I’ve been thinking.
Refocus
I’m dealing with a bad case of mommy burnout,
Glad to hear I’m not the only one that has those days

aimy - what is the name of your etsy shop????? 🙂

Lori - Thanks for keeping it real! We all need to refocus now and then. My kids are teenagers now, and I look back at pictures when they were little and get all teary-eyed…forgetting the hard days when nothing seemed to go right and I felt like a bad mom. AND I feel much better that other people recognize that homeschooling wouldn’t work for them. I have always said I would love for my children to be homeschooled, just not in my home by me! ha ha. Happy Mother’s Day!

Joni - Thank you for the refocus….don’t we all need that sometimes. On my blog sometimes I feel like I should add the following disclaimers to some of my photos and indicate what real life was like that day!
XOXO
Joni

Jenny Wenzel - So jealous of the chalkboard…$5??? That is a crazy GREAT deal!

Angela - Oh, thank goodness someone else knows that she’s not cut out to homeschool! LOL
Great pics. I loved them!

amy - LOVE the giant chalkboard. What a great find!
I’m just curious…when you post photos on your blog in a “collage” like this post, do you have an action or template for that or is it all you?? I love that look!

erica - thank you for the encouragement to refocus. i, too, needed that this week. and i understand you having to share a holiday w/ a kids birthday- my oldest son was born on my anniversary! if something gets skipped, it’s usually our anniversary (to a later date lol)

amy (not corey) - Is Talby playing “Guess the Missing Word,” by any chance? 🙂