The Problem with Blogging

Bolstered by some lovely comments on my blog lately, I thought I'd post a light-hearted little pseudo-rant... the other bloggers among you may relate ;)  You see, one of the problems with blogging (there are a few) is that people you don't know form a mental image of you.  I guess how good an image it is depends on how good a blogger you are.  It is so hard to get the balance... share your questions, and people could either value your honesty or think you are a clueless moron who needs lots of advice; share your weaknesses and failures, and people could either relate to you or think you're a basket-case; share your opinions and people could either find you inspiring or arrogant, or worse, think you have all the answers & feel a failure in comparison.  The truth is, we're all made up of all the above - so the risk is always there: in your mind I could be a clueless but arrogant basket-case or an honest relatable inspiration...?  I know which I'd like to be, and I also know which I have more of than I'd care to admit. 
Let's just say that some of my life (usually where my fabulous children are concerned) is inspiring; some of it is confusing (but that's OK; I'm enjoying the journey to finding out some answers), and some of it involves making and recovering from idiotic mistakes (not so happy about those, but hey - if it helps people not to feel stupid in comparison, at least it's not all bad).  If you can handle that, so can I ;)
Why did I write all of that?  I don't know really - perhaps it was something to do with a webpage I happened upon where a Blogger-with-a-capital-B was bemoaning the fact that there were people out there who have the audacity to blog without having any blogging qualifications (oh the horror) !!! Did you know there are courses on how to write a "proper" blog?  You can now take a degree in blogging!!!  Here was me thinking I'd just write a little self-indulgent journal of our journey into Home Education, and share it with people kind enough to be interested.  I don't have advertising on here - but that's not to say I won't one day if it my lil blog ever got big enough to generate proper revenue (after all, HE'ors aren't paid to educate our children - and money is kind of useful) - it's just not why I do it.  So this is my tiny little stand on behalf of all those who dare to write blogs without being "qualified", just for the fun of it - and on behalf of those oh-so-discerning and valued people who like reading what we write ;)

So anyway, on to today's little diary entry (it has to be a quick one)...
The boys spent AGES on Reading Eggs & MathsWhizz today.  I got to sit with them while they were doing their various curricula, which they love - I can't always be with them when they're doing their online learning, but they do like it when I can - plus I get to see how much progress they're making, so I try to do it as often as I can :)  While not on the computer, there was LOTS of trampolining and bicycle riding today - I'm grateful for the weather, which may have turned colder and distinctly autumnal, but is still dry enough for them to play outside :)  We also had some time with a craft activity: one of the things I was looking forward to about Autumn was all the lovely Christmas crafts we could make - and today was our first one, inspired by a lovely Home Edder I've met through a group on Facebook.  It couldn't be simpler really - put a layer of pony beads into metal cookie cutters (Christmas-shaped, of course!), and bake them in the oven for 10mins.  Result: lovely decorations to hang on the tree!  Caution though - there are two things to watch: firstly, keep the kitchen well ventilated - the baking plastic absolutely pongs!  Secondly, use a skewer or similar to make a decent hole (for hanging thread) soon after they come out of the oven - I did try to make a little hole but it was too tiny and closed up, then I left it too late to make it any bigger :(  Still - I'm sure we'll be making more, so lesson learned.  They still look fab :)

 Eldest's tree and Middle's angel used glow-in-the-dark pony beads; Youngest's candy cane and Mummy's star used glitter pony beads.

the finished result - pretty!

And to finish, Eldest has also been keeping up with his diary throughout the day, and since it was well received in yesterday's post, I'm including a bit more here... not the whole lot though - he wrote so much! Who knows, if he keeps it up it may turn into his own blog!

September 20, 2012
6:51am
Yes it's 6:51am and I'm writing already, "amazing"!  Watching birds in my garden, they've got lots of colours.  Why couldn't God have given the colours to slugs instead?
...waaaaaaaaaiting...
I'm waiting for (Middle) and (Youngest) to wake up.  I'm going to NOT WRITE until they wake up!.....
6:59am
NOT GOING TO YET.....
7:05am
OK will write something, "blah".  There, done. Now where was I?  Oh yeah.....
7:09am
Nope.....
7:23am
(Youngest) awake so I'll play with him now
8:47am
Finished breakfast and dishwasher.  Mum asked me to take my Calvin and Hobbes books upstairs... I'll think about slugs while I do it...
10:37am
Finished biking.  (Middle) on computer still.  Wondering what it would be like to be a slug.