Maybe I Can Practice While I Vacuum

Believe me, I understand how vomitous it is to read yet another blog post by someone saying how busy they are.

But I am seriously, no-holds-barred, barely-can-find-time-to-take-a-shower, ready-to-run-screaming-down-the-street kind of busy right now. 

So please forgive me for my bloggy neglect. 

And to ADD to the busyness I am seriously thinking of taking up the harmonica.  I have no idea why.  I just want to.  My dad played a little, and maybe I’m just having missing-my-daddy issues.  But the harmonica looks like so much dang fun to play. 

On the downside, I’ve never really been able to get proficient in playing any other instrument.  Five years of piano lessons gave me the ability to plunk through a few elementary-age songs fairly well.  That is the height of my expertise.

To make it even worse, I have several family members who can pick up any musical instrument and make it bend to their will immediately. 

Stupid gene selection!! 

We have a neighbor who sits out on her back deck every night and plays the Native American flute.  Won’t it be cool when I just chime in with my harmonica out of the blue one evening???!!!  It’s almost worth it to learn just for that moment alone.

But the most positive side effect of all?  My boys will see that you are NEVER too old to let your interests lead you toward learning.  Golly, I love unschooling!!

Ditto…

Did you ever read a really good blog post…no, not a good blog post… I mean a really GREAT blog post, and it inspired you to write your little heart out??

Yeah?  Well, huzzah for you.

In my world inspiration basically just breeds frustration, which leads to anger, which leads to apathy. 

So when I read I really great blog post, and it inspires me, I know better than to think I will be able to replicate anything but misery for myself.

I think it’s probably better for me if I simply link you the post, and then follow up by saying…

Found While Blog-Hopping…

I find myself surfing further and further into the sea of homeschooling blogs, and it has become a rather fun new hobby.  Mostly because it brings me across gems like this one, that I read at Sardines in a Can this morning…

I like to visit homeschooling curriculum websites. It is kind of like rubbing your tongue on a mouth blister repeatedly to see if it still hurts…..visiting curriculum websites is how I make sure I still suck at homeschooling.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha…

LOVE it!!

Wandering Far From Home…

It’s been a little while since I took the time to tell you about my latest bloggy wanderings.  I get bored all-too easily, so I’m always searching for new material to inspire me, to make me laugh, and to hold my attention.  So I’ve wandered far and wide across the expanse of the WWW to find blogs that “spoke” to me.

In the last few months, I’ve added these wonderful blogs to my repertoire:

Who’s Learning; Who’s Teaching? – – not only is this blogger really great at making you feel just like you are part of her unique family, including a son with Prader-Willi syndrome, but she also just happens to be one of my friends IRL.   

On Bradstreet – – not sure how to best describe this homeschoolers blog except to say that the photos of her cozy and lovely house will “take you somewhere.”  Beautiful!

Rational Jenn – – I got to know Jenn’s blog via my SecularHomeschool.com site, and she is always a fun read.  Her Tweets ain’t half bad, either!!

Why not do some wandering of your own this week, and drop by any or all of these blogs.  And please feel free to share any of your new finds in the comments, so I can continue to wander…

Just Exactly How Wired Am I??

So the first thing in my inbox today was a surprising email from Obi-Mom letting me know that we had both made a list for “Top Ten Wired Mom Blogs!”  I got that feeling akin to what Tom Hanks must feel when his agent calls him on the day of the Golden Globe Nominations.

Well, if Tom Hanks were a geeky homeschooling mom, of course. (hey, he DID wear that dress back in the 80’s!!)

Anyway, I had to think for a moment (not exactly pleasant before breakfast) what it means to be a “wired mom.” 

Does it mean I have all the latest gadgetry?  Not even close.

Does it mean I keep up with the latest techie news?  Ok, maybe a little in between the de-cluttering and the waterfalling.

Does it mean I am 100% obsessed with the world wide web?  You bet your cotton-pickin’-mobile-wifi-enabled-laptop it does! 

I’m a wired mom.  And if you need me…I’ll be here. 

On the web. 

Forever. 

Or until my charge runs out. 

Whichever comes first.

Winners of the 2009 Homeschool Blog Awards

 

I interrupt this week’s Friday’s Hardwired Hints post to introduce:

FINALLY: Winners of the 2009 Homeschool Blog Awards!!! | The HSBA Post

This is the link to the list of 2009 Homeschool Blog Awards winners.  Sadly, Topsy-Techie didn’t make the cut, but I thank you to each of you who took the time to stop by and vote.

But don’t let my loss discourage you (hee)…head over and discover some terrific homeschooling blogs that we can add to our “network.” 

Have a great weekend everyone…

(HHH will be back again next week when I can stop hyperventilating long enough to pull it together, I promise!)

We’ve Still Got It

Image by bpende via Flickr

So from time to time, I look back at my bloggy beginnings, and I’m a bit in awe of the way things have taken shape over the last couple of years.  I wish I had a saved screenshot of Topsy-Techie in it’s humble first months…it would be a hoot to do a before & after shot here!

But I also occasionally look back to my goals for what I wanted to accomplish with my blog.  I happened to think a wanna-be techie mom, raising two geeklings – – one a techie-genius and the other a techie-addict – – was somewhat hilarious, and I hoped other people might find it to be so as well.  And then, of course, I wanted to share all the fun ways I had found to integrate technology into our day-to-day homeschool lives.

In some ways, I’ve really stuck to those original ideals.  My Friday’s Hardwired Homeschool Hints series, for instance, has been a way to share my favorite educational technology for homeschoolers on a weekly basis.  But in terms of other content, I’m usually all over the map.  Maybe that’s not a bad thing…it might possibly get REALLY boring to regale you with the tales of Uber’s latest programming conquests.

But today, I’m heading back to my roots.  Gonna fill you in on a little of the true geekiness that’s been going on around here in T-T land.

• Uber loves coffee.  He loves coffee shops even more.  Our town has its fair share of ones to choose from, and several are within walking distance of our house. So, Uber starts out many of his mornings by walking to a local coffee shop and chilling.  This morning when I asked him what he did while sipping his java, he matter-of-factly explained that he was working through some hexadecimal problems and figuring out how they could apply in real-life situations.  He then told me he had given the barista there his email in case she needed some tech support.  I didn’t bat an eye at any of this.
• H-T loves video games.  You would think I mean that he loves to play them, but trust me – – that is a secondary interest.  His first love is watching videos ABOUT video games online.  Ratings, reviews, cut scenes, and sometimes people actually just acting out the game as the game characters.  Scary thing is, I’m pretty sure H-T would be making these videos himself if he weren’t so pre-occupied with watching them.  It’s the weirdest pastime I’ve ever heard of.  And he can spend HOURS at it. 

The thing about raising two geeky teens that I find the MOST hilarious, though, is listening to them call each other to their respective rooms:

“Hey Uber!  Com’ere!  You’ve got to see this new video game trailer!!

“Hey H-T!  Com’-ere!  You are going to FLIP when you see this new Linux interface!

I consider myself fairly technologically savvy, and I assure you that this is all greek geek to me.  But I adore it.  It is a unique and unusual way to live…and I wouldn’t trade it for the world!

So… It Looks Like I Owe Someone Some Money Now

That’s right.  Someone has actually nominated Topsy-Techie in this year’s Homeschool Blog Awards for the category of “Best Unschooling Blog”.  I even get a button!!

Of course I never know about these things until its almost too late, but thanks to one of my gal-pals who IM’d me tonight, I found out in time to be able to grovel and beg and humiliate myself enough to actually ask you to vote for me. 

That’s right…a contest I didn’t even know I was in until 15 minutes ago, now has my competitive “ire” up.  I blame it on Firefly Mom.  She created this monster by taunting me with her fieldtrip bragging.  Now I’m like a bull who has seen the red cape.  I’m out for blood, baby.

So I’m not sure who to thank for this lovely honor, but I figure I owe you big time.  So whatever the prize is for winning this thing…if I get it, you’re entitled to half.

What’s that you say?  There is no prize??

Oh, in that case, you can have the whole thing.

Loose Ends and Giveaways

I think I need to start a whole weekly meme called “loose ends Tuesday”, because every Tuesday seems to be dedicated to just that, lately.  So here goes…

If you haven’t entered the October giveaways at SecularHomeschool.com yet, be sure and stop by and enter before the end of the month.  I am giving away some premium accounts at Spelling City™ and some free preschool accounts at Time4Learning™.  You need to be a member of the site to enter.

My other random giveaway-related item is from Blog2Print.  I’m thinking about taking the plunge and putting this year’s blog posts into a keepsake book.  I mean, my blog posts are pseudo journal entries, of sorts, and our family has been through lots of different things this year that I wouldn’t mind having record of. 

With Blog2Print, you can take those posts and turn them into a beautiful book layout where you get to pick the cover (hardcover or softcover), the images, the order and number of posts included, and even which comments you want to add.  You can even get just a pdf of your book!

And Blog2Print was nice enough to share a discount code with me that is good through November 9, so if you think you would like to order yourself an early Christmas present, now’s the time.  The discount code is for 20% off your finished blog book.  Here is the code: fall4b2p

I hope you take advantage of some of these opportunities! Have a totally random Tuesday everyone…

Readin’, Writin’ and….Meditation??

As always, in a perfect ironic twist, I blog far less when I am teaching the Blog Writing Course.  Time is simply at a premium, I guess – – especially with 18 new bloggers to keep track of!

But the course is going well…even Uber is taking it this go-round! He is having SO much fun with this unschooling experiment.  In fact, I can’t believe the incentive he has taken toward his own education once I handed over the reigns.  I’ve been flabbergasted, to be honest.

Currently, Uber is teaching himself lots of techie stuff (no surprise  there).  He is learning LINUX, networking and network administration, and database management.  Those, obviously, take up a lot of his time, but he is also making room for Ancient Greek History, blogging, healthy living and fitness, nature journaling, piano and Japanese.  He is also taking Geometry via YourTeacher.com, which he is really enjoying, btw, if you are ever looking for a cool high school level math curriculum!

H-T needs a slight bit more encouragement, but there is no lack of miracles for him either.  My son with dyslexia is reading like never before!  In fact, he isn’t waiting for the audio-books to arrive via the mail before starting in on new stuff.  Before, he would pick out his books from the library, or buy them, and then order the accompanying audio-book from his Library of the Blind and Physically Handicapped membership.  This way, he had auditory support for following along with words and phrases that might be too difficult for him to tackle. 

No more.  His reading doesn’t wait for anything, these days.  He just grabs three or four books that pique his interest at the library, and next thing I know, he has worked through them.  It’s kind of freaking me out a bit, actually!

He still has his YouTube addiction, but he has been putting it toward worthy endeavors of late.  He has worked his way through an entire series on WWII, and is now studying the holocaust with equal interest.  His other current interests include drawing, meditation (he’s asked to turn his room into a zen room…if you have ideas or info on this, I’m all ears!), guitar, and American history.  And his biggest project of late was that he asked to be in charge of the Halloween decorating of the porch this year.  You can bet I’ll be posting pics of that when he is finished!  He’s still doing math via Time4Learning, as well.

Anyway, that’s my interest-led learning update for this week.  So far so good! 

Hopefully, I’ll find more time to update again in the very near future…