One of the things I loved about early blogging (circa 2005) was it provided a way to chat about everyday life with people online. I’d write a few thoughts, people would respond, I’d respond, and it was fun. Sometimes I miss just writing a chatty post. So here we go. This is a post of total randomness from my life today.

My Facebook Positivity Pledge

I took a positivity pledge for my personal Facebook page for the month of September. I regularly post positive things anyway, but I also post and comment on current events quite often. I dropped all the current events topics.

It’s been interesting to focus on sharing pictures of beautiful birds, inspiring quotes and Michigan State football victories and keep my mouth shut about the plethora of hot topics that have been in the news the past few weeks. It’s also been interesting from the perspective of reading my Facebook feed as to how others interact with the different topics. It’s made me think about how people view me and my feed.

I also took the plunge and started unfriending people, something I’ve never done and that is incredibly hard for me to do. Some of it was due to the steady stream of negativity coming from their Facebook page. Some was simply because I’m an INFJ and I deal best with smaller groups of people I know well. I’ve become FB friends with some people I probably shouldn’t have because I don’t know them in real life and I have no connection with them (personally or professionally). Defriending someone is challenging for me, but I’m proud of myself for getting over that hurdle to do so. Does anyone else struggle with this?

Our Best Homeschool Year Yet!

This has been without a doubt our best and most peaceful homeschool year so far. It only took to the fifth year, but we got there! LOL! We started this school year in early August and have kept on track.

At this point I’ve found just the right balance of unschooling and mom-organized learning. That probably sounds like a contradiction, but it makes sense in our home. There are some topics we are basically unschooling. There are others that are mom-organized. By mom-organized I mean that Caroline has a workbox each day with 4-6 worksheets (handwriting, math, a morning work page, and phonics/language arts/reading type stuff) that I pick out for her. She generally does them on her own with a little instruction for me. We are both happy with the arrangement and it is what we’re going with until it doesn’t work any longer. LOL! I’m not sure why the combination of unschooling and worksheets works, but it does.

31 Days of…

I have a topic picked out for the 31 Days Series in October, but decided it was too much stress to try to post every day. I don’t need stress and pressure in my life right now. I decided as I complete the posts that are a part of the series, I would go ahead and post them. I’ve been trying to think of an easy 31 Day topic, but haven’t come up with anything yet. Do you have any ideas for me? Anything you’d like to see me do for 31 days?

Nine Years Old

If you’ve been reading my various blogs since I started, you might be shocked to learn that Caroline will be celebrating her ninth birthday in a few days. I know! How can that be possible? (If you weren’t around then, here is the category with many of the posts.)

We’re blessed with a funny, intelligent, creative little girl. Did I mention funny? Did I mention creative? An imagination that never ends. Kindness and compassion for those in need. So many wonderful traits to love about our Peanut. She brings so much joy to our lives, especially now that we’re all on the same page and understand our child.

And speaking of getting to the point of being on the same page…

Comments That Make It All Worthwhile

The other day, Kirsten left the following comment on my Deciding to have an only child post:

I found your blog by googling “my toddler hates busy bags” and found a treasure trove of amazing posts. I think you’re my “mom soul sister”. My 2 year old is very spirited and emotional. She’s also very smart (not sure if she is gifted). I’m a fellow Believer, and it’s very likely she will be our only child (I had cancer while pregnant with her so I hear ya on the “difficult pregnancy”), so this article really spoke to my heart. About trusting God to have more kids or trusting God to NOT have more kids. Thank you for your wonderful blog. I’m off to check out more of your spirited child posts!

First of all, I loved how she found my website (My Child Hates Busy Bags). I literally laughed out loud. But I also love knowing that all of the hours and weeks and months and years of effort I put into trying to unravel my parenting questions and writing it up here is helping other moms. It makes is all so much more worthwhile. Yes, it’s worth it to have a positive relationship with my child after a lot of stress and struggle. But it’s even more worth it to know that other parents are finding answers they need.

A New Kind of Bible Study

Ticia at Adventures in Mommydom linked to Kari’s Stone Soup for Five about a month ago when I asked in a group about favorite blogs and websites. Kari has a neat series of Bible studies that I’m interested in doing.

I love doing inductive Bible studies (or manuscript studies), something that was a big part of my life when I was on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. I could spend all day doing in-depth Bible study. I love doing Bible study and miss being involved in one or leading one. Seriously miss it. My life has not been the same since I’ve not been able to participate in regular Bible study. The studies that Kari has bring in some of the elements I enjoyed with inductive Bible study but make it a bit less time-consuming.

You can see some examples of how other people have done their Bible journaling with her studies. I’m thinking something like this will be good to do with Caroline eventually. The art aspect of it will appeal to her as will the visual learning aspect. I’ve downloaded my free Ephesians and now am just trying to get started. I have my colored pencils and journal! Just need to make the time. 🙂

So that’s life around here. What’s up in your little corner of the world?