Filed under: Blogs, SleepoverSummer vacation gives me newfound respect for homeschooling families! Here are a few homeschooling blogs for you to check out. Waltzing Matilda has posted an inspiring list of what her kids are reading this summer. Patience of Homespun, has a great post about how she home schools, and why she’s not choosing unschooling for her daughter — yet.Cher Mere, author of Gray’s Academy, wrote a lovely post about her husband for Father’s Day.At By Sparrow Post, there’s a a very good post that asks what the main purpose of education is. What’s your opinion? Finally, Phat Mommy is hosting next week’s Carnival of Homeschooling, if you’d like to like to submit a post.What are your favorite home school centered blogs?Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

How to choose the right Calcium supplement
Many people might be surprised to learn that while vitamins are essential for good health, it’s minerals that need more attention since they are harder to absorb and assimilate. Calcium is one of the macro-minerals, or the essential minerals, in our diet. The U.S. RDA’S have steadily increased over the years starting at […]

Minivan in a Jeep’s body
Filed under: Lifestyle, Moms, Toddler, Nolan, Adventures in parentingMy Jeep has undergone a radical transformation in the last two years, and it’s not because of any body or paint work I’ve had done. I purchased the utility vehicle in 2004, before I became pregnant, when climbing steep mountain roads to get to fresh powder was still high on my life priority list. Tucked under the seat was my thick collection of music: loud, angry music with hard beats, designed to get the adrenaline flowing on a steep, fresh line. The glove compartment revealed a few spare toques, some hand warmers, and a jumble of sticky notes with scribbles of the best places to stay and eat. A few snowboards jammed across the seats interfered mildly with my shifting ability, but who had time to install a roof rack?I thought briefly about my old Jeep this morning, as I heaved Nolan into his raisin-littered car seat. Sticky Happy Planet juice remnants cling to the seat belt. There’s no snowboard in sight, but the entire back seat of the car is cluttered with toys: a random teddy bear, a Batmobile, a dinky car, a half-deflated balloon. Also some muffin crumbs, and some rapidly-petrifying banana. My glove box is filled with emergency items: wipes, a spare pair of shorts, mini-sunglasses. My music collection is now sugary-sweet: lullabies and banana phones and there is no time to listen to Queens of the Stone Age in this vehicle. Besides, Nolan doesn’t like that music.”Ott!” he says,”Ott. Yuck.”There was a time when I would have been appalled at the thought of driving a mini van. It occurred to me today, that indeed, I do drive a minivan — in a Jeep’s body. It’s got more character now.Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Too young for piano lessons?
Filed under: Lifestyle, 6-7 years, MusicLast year, we inherited a piano from my in-laws. My husband plays beautifully, but despite many lessons as a child, I do not. I have always admired his talent and often wish that I had taken my own lessons more seriously. I was only seven when I began learning with a professional piano teacher and remember being frustrated because it was difficult for my little fingers to perform as instructed. Besides, it is hard to concentrate when your siblings are outside the door with a tape recorder, laughing at you.Ellie has shown interest in the piano and spends lots of time playing around on it. Her ability to pick out notes by ear already surpasses my own and I have every intention of getting her into lessons when the time is right. But how do you know when the time is right?Because of my own early failure, I am hesitant to start her too early. Once I decided I couldn’t do it, I never went back. Ellie is almost seven I don’t want her to have the same experience I did. I am willing to wait a few years before beginning her lessons if necessary. But is waiting really necessary? Was I too young to learn or was I just not talented enough? What is a good age to begin piano lessons?Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Eddie Murphy is the daddy
Filed under: Media, Pregnancy and Birth, Dads, Newborn, 0-3 months, Infant / First year, Celebrity babies, Rumors, Child Custody, Birth announcement, parental relationships, Celebrity parents Guess what, ya’ll? Eddie Murphy IS the daddy of Melanie C., aka Scary Spice’s cute little baby girl. Those of you who placed bets may now officially collect your due cash, as the DNA test Eddie was required to take just linked him to the new tot. At least that’s what celebrity media god Perez Hilton has to say on the subject. He tends to be first with this sort of (useless but incredibly entertaining) breaking news. He got his news from People.com just in case you need to check out another source! Let’s hope Eddie does the right thing by his baby, little Angel Iris Murphy Brown, even if he doesn’t want to continue his relationship with the baby’s mother. Of course, Melanie C. and the rest of the Spice gang are due for a reunion so perhaps now that she’ll be back in the limelight Eddie will cut her some slack. Seeing how cute that little girl is I would personally die to be her daddy (I mean, if I were a guy). Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

The Subskate, revisited
Filed under: Toys, SportsEarlier today, I wrote about the amazing Toypedo. It’s kind of the Energizer bunny of pool toys — it just keeps going and going. Interestingly, the Toypedo is made by Swimways who also makes the Subskate I asked about a while back. Well, we decided to pick up a Subskate as well, to check it out. Oh, the sacrifices we make for you, our dear readers!The Subskate is pretty darn buoyant, surprisingly so, even. For my six feet and 250+ pounds, however, it was kind of out of its league, but for the kids, it was a real challenge to sit or stand on it without falling off. Unlike a real skateboard, when you lose your balance, you just splash in the water because you’re already pretty much underwater. The Subskate, however, is trying to get to the surface so it’s difficult to keep it under you.Jared and the other, bigger kids tried standing on it; Sara just sat on it like a surfboard while I held it steady for her. Either way, I think it probably helps develop one’s sense of self in the water and improve one’s balance as well. Back when I taught swimming, after classes were done for the day, the other teachers and I would spend some time in the pool playing keep-away or just horsing about. We would try to stand on the kickboards as if they were skateboards; this is very similar, although when you lose control, the Subskate does not squirt out from under you as violently and dangerously as a kickboard.For me, while my size makes it little challenge, I found that it makes a wonderful water seat, much like the seat of a swing. It has just the right amount of buoyancy to keep me at a perfect level in the water. While I can’t recommend it as wholeheartedly as the Toypedo, I would definitely say that if you have a pool of your own, it would be a good addition to your arsenal of toys.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

This entry was posted on Friday, June 22nd, 2007 at 3:57 pm and is filed under Baby Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.