Is it different in real life than it is on the blogs? Is it a good thing? Is it bad? Can it be both?

I have read blogs where the person is a little too transparent; I have read blogs where the person seemed to be transparent, but I knew them in real life, and knew that was not transparency they were showing; and I have read blogs where the writer actually is transparent.

The first thing I think that is important when we are being transparent in any situation is a little bit of discernment and a lot of self-control. You know what I mean, like that FaceBook status that is just a little more info than you needed to read about whatever or the Mom who loves her children but does nothing but complain about them in her blog posts. That is when you wish the writer had practiced a little more of both. It is disheartening, to say the least, but is that the kind of transparency we are supposed to be showing?

So, where do you draw the line?

What is transparency to you?

Is transparency just honesty?

Is it complaining about anything and everything in your life?

Is it being pious under the guise of ‘absolute honesty’ about life and situations?

Of course, it is a good thing to blog real-life situations and problems to show your friends and readers that you are a real person and not perfect. I do think that readers know the authors that they read regularly and are friends with. I like to read how a home school mom overcomes problems at home and with her life, but I certainly do not want to read all the juicy details.

So, what is your opinion on transparent blogging? How transparent is a good modicum of ‘transparency’? Or is transparency something that is a necessity on a blog as long as the person is real and of good character?

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What luck for rulers that men do not think. — Adolf Hitler

The meme will be posted on Thursdays, at both Eric’s and Hannah’s blogs.

There are no particular ages, and it is open to boys and girls.

It is particularly made for home school students, but not closed to non-home schoolers.

Please use the linked icon code in your post.

Please sign the Linky: There will be a Linky for you to link your post on. You will need to link your post to it, not your blog url.

Please mention LLM in your post and link back to my weekly LLM post on Eric’s or Hannah’s blog. This is so your friends can also find it and participate with us. We reserve the right to delete those links that don’t adhere to this.

If you have time, please leave a comment.

Here is the icon code your are welcome to use in your posts:

<a target="http://jacquedixon.com/?p=4922"><img src="http://i709.photobucket.com/albums/ww91/GleaningtheHarvest/Linking%20Icons/llm.png" border="0" alt="Living Learning Moments Home School Meme" />
</a>

Here is the Meme content:
For My Week:
A Photo:
The favorite thing I did:
The weather outside was:
I am reading:
My projects around the house:
I learned about:
I made:
I am working On:
I am looking forward to:
My Scripture verse for the week:
On my prayer list:
I am thankful for:

You do not have to post each topic, just the ones that apply to your week.

Living Learning Moments Meme Story

I used to participate in a weekly journaling meme. Way back then, a year ago, I guess, my younger daughter and my son who blog had asked me if they could also participate. I told them no, but I would make up some different, home school-related questions for them to do as a meme on their own blogs. With good intentions and not a lot of time, I made up the questions and started taking some photos for an icon for a meme.

That was months ago…..

….

They did a few of them, and because we then had no internet access for them weekly, they haven’t kept up on it. I have been promising I would get it up for them for this school year, and today, as they start, we would like to invite you to also participate.

Living Learning Moments is a name I coined after I started blogging. I was using Teachable Moments, and when I discovered that that was already copyrighted in use, I stopped using it and started LLM. Our home school is based on the term I coined, Living Learning Moments Home School, and I decided it would be a great name for their meme.

Thanks for participating, and if you are interested in more home school blogging activities, please read about Blogging to Learn. We also have online  US History Assignments 2009 that you are welcome to join us in.

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When we started our oldest 3 daughters blogging, we just blogged when we could. As we really found the purpose of blogging and saw what an impact it has on our friends, our selves and even the world, we decided that we should purpose to blog with intention. My intention for blogging was for the girls to journal about things like this – things they are learning or studying in addition to their other posts. I think they each have very nice blogs and most of their posts are thoughtful – or well-thought out.
I also want to be intentional with my blogging, because, I think that journaling and keeping record of our days is very important. I think it is important to our lives and to future generations. That is also why I scrapbook. However, if I sacrifice today and my relationships with My Lord and my loved ones; if I sacrifice loving, experiencing, and training our children, then recording all of this is rather futile.

To gain control of blogging a bit, I made up rules that they were to adhere to.  We set up 2 days a week for each of the girls to blog. They each had 2 hours each day. They hated that at first, but it has worked out so far. Jocelyn, then 15, had a couple of American friends living in Turkey with whom she corresponded. She got the nicest letter from one of them who wrote about a blog she and her Mother are keeping as a nature journal. Blogging to Learn was a wide-open field.

They had specific blogging days on which they could blog. They were allowed a specific amount of time to blog on those days. This made sure they were not online, just wasting their times reading whatever their friends wrote and other posts or articles online. They had to manage their times wisely or they did not leave themselves time enough to post an article and comment on their friends’ blogs.

Here is what we started out with:
BLOGGING ASSIGNMENTS
Assignment must be 10 paragraphs long and include at least 3 sources. 2 from our bookshelves or public library and 1 may be from the internet.

You must make the post informative – like, Algebra works like this:. You may include pictures. You must spell everything correctly and not leave out words – in other words: THIS IS A WRITING ASSIGNMENT!

Topic Suggestions:

* Bible Verses and Studies
* A Historical Person, Place or Thing
* Homeschooling in America
* Animal Care
* Focus on Our Garden…. Pick a Veggie, tell All ‘Bout It
* Recipes
* Food – Health Benefits
* Medical/Health Natural Healing
* Child-Rearing
* Feminist Movement/ Keeper At Home
* Daily HomeKeeping Schedule
* Nature Study
* Any School Subject

*There will be no blogging until your chores are done: You will not be told what chores you have or that they need to be done. You have blogging privileges because you are mature enough to know what chores need to be done and how.

BLOGGING RULES – 13 & over

* You MUST post a Bible-related post each time you post.
* 1/4 of your posts MUST be Assignments (from above) each week.
* You can only post about worldly topics, i.e. movies, etc. 1x every 2 weeks.
* You can post for 1hour online. They must be typed up prior to getting online and checked. All posts must be handwritten, prior to typing them up offline. You have varied amounts of time to work offline on these posts.
* You can comment for 30m. You have 2H/week design your blog. You can Blog design online for 1H and offline for 1H. Blog design offline includes working on Paint, photos, etc..
* You have nominal time to research your Assignments
* All posts must be done on the day PRIOR TO your blogging day.
* Special permissions will be granted to extend these times.

BLOGGING RULES – 9 -12

* You MUST post a Bible-related post each time you post.
* 1/2 of your posts MUST be Assignments (from above) each week.
* You can post for 30m online. They must be typed up prior to getting online and checked. All posts must be handwritten, prior to typing them up offline. You have varied amounts of time to work offline on these posts.
* You can comment for 20m. You have 30m/week online to design your blog. You can Blog design offline for 1H. Blog design offline includes working on Paint, photos, etc..
* You have nominal time to research your Assignments
* All posts must be done on the day PRIOR TO your blogging day.
* Special permissions will be granted to extend these times.

Blogging TIMES

1dd16
Posting: 7am Wed. Sat.
Post Deadlines: Tues. Fri.
Commenting:pm Wed. Sat.
Blog Design: Tues.

2dd15
Posting: 7am Mon Thurs
Post Deadlines: Sun Wed.
Commenting:pm Mon Thurs.
Blog Design: Sat.

3dd12
Posting: 7am, Tues Fri
Post Deadlines: Mon Thurs
Commenting:pm Tues. Fri.
Blog Design: Mon.

As they became older and gained more friends and notoriety, thereby having more articles to respond to in their own comment sections and other websites to manage, they were given the time needed, with careful attentin to the times they were to do what, such as:

*Writing times
*Commenting times
*Graphics – design time

When we started writing for the online magazine, Growing in Grace Magazine for Ladies, we were challenged with finding enough time to manage the sites we have, write articles for our own blogs and those group blogs we also wrote on on three computers. It was a challenge, but we found the time to fit it into our schedules, because it became a part of our learning. Since we have discontinued writing for and supporting GGM, we are now writing for our own sites that became neglected when we were busy supporting GGM’s mission. We are happy that we have come full circle to continue with the ministries we had before GGM.

It is important to prioritize and schedule blogging assignments into your life. It is a great way to learn, but does need scheduling or much time will be wasted as you run into other interesting things than what you are trying to accomplish.

Happy Blogging to Learn!

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We started out with Blogging Assignments for our older daughters, and four years later, we have allowed our younger children to have blogs as a means to learn and do home school assignments on them.

Now that I have Eric, 11, and Hannah, 9, ready to write stories, essays, poems, and such, I am finding it is just as easy to assign them right onto their blogs and have them put them on there for me to check.
I will post several titles onto several posts for information I want them to blog an article about. I do not always have them type the writing into their drafts, because I do think it is important for them to physically write such things out also.
When I assign them something to write, I title the draft with the assignment name, such as: “Rolling Out Tortillas”. Then, in the text portion of the post, I leave a short description or instructions of what information I want included in the blog post/article. Here is an example of that:

Write about when you made and rolled out tortillas with Eric, Rachel, the boys, and LucyLillie.

Put the recipe on it.

Tell what tools you used.

Tell special instructions on what you should or shouldn’t do when you roll them out.

Change the title to reflect what your article is about.

By putting a draft post directly onto their blog drafts when they do something noteworthy, it makes it easier to remember what they can write about. I can also upload photos for them, already watermarked so that it will help them to remember what they did and perhaps give them ideas of what to write about.

A good place to start when having them write about a topic they may have to do a little research on is to ask them the five questions:

Who?

What?

Where?

When?

Why?

They are also doing a couple of memes and assignments. The memes and assignments they participate in are :

US History Assignments 2009

Saturday Psalm and Praise

Living Learning Moments (coming soon!)

Our Blogging Children:

Amanda, 19
Jocelyn, 17
Rachel, 15
Eric, 11
Hannah, 9

Happy Blogging to Learn!

Bible and Hebraic Scriptures

I am starting with Bible first, because the Word of God is the most important thing we can teach our children. God’s commandments and Words are life to us. It really is that simple. If the Creator of the universe made a binding covenant with his people that he will be their God and they will be his people, and gave his commands to them, then sent his son, the Messiah, to live out those commandments as an example to them, who then gave himself to die on a stake for their salvation, what better place to teach about life and our purpose and how to live than with the Word of God? It is a plan for our good and the everlasting salvation of all who believe, and His Words are life.

We have been Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ for over twenty years. We have always searched the Scriptures and talked about God and his instruction daily, including it in our learning. BUT… for the past few months, we have so enjoyed learning the Bible new and afresh. There is so much more to our faith than we have ever been taught. The phrases and situations and responses in the Bible have such deep meanings we don’t know of due to our culture differences. The overlooked feasts and holidays and definitions of mere English words are not enough to fully give life and meaning to what God has prepared for us and how he has revealed himself through his Word and His People. I am thankful beyond words that God has allowed us to see these things revealed to us and given us the desire to study them.

For daily Bible time, the readers each have a personal Bible time to themselves. Except to read the Torah scriptures together on Saturdays/or Sunday as time allows, we do not have a particular Bible study time. We study it as it comes up. Life is the lesson. What we do and how we live requires the Word put into action, and there is always a time to bring the Word into life. Sometimes one of us will read something and share it, and we all will talk about it and discuss it and search deeper. God reveals himself to us all day, in our lives, through his Word and as we work and play together.

*I am now recommending the Complete Jewish Bible as our choice for the written WORD.

Math, Science, Life Skills and Preparation

Speaking of work, we have been so busy here, it is unbelievable. Home School. Home Learning.

In the beginning of the month, we put up over 800 feet of Tposts and fencing for our goats. That’s a lot of measuring, counting, figuring and accuracy to be kept and learned. A couple of weeks ago, Eric and I tore down a wooden fence and put up some wire fencing in it so that the chickens will also be kept inside the enclosure. I will be glad for no more chicken poo and dusting holes. All. Over. The yard! No matter; they have plenty of space to range now.

In this time we discovered that we are going to have a bad summer for ticks. Ugh! We did a bit of research on ticks for a couple of days too.

Our addition is still going…. going…. Do you know about our addition? We started it in July 2002. Yep, count it, 7 years. That’s ok, 7 is God’s number. But, we are finally down to the nitty-gritty and so close, I am getting impatient! I just can’t wait to get it done and get into it! I imagine that Matt will feel like a huge burden has been lifted when we get that final nail or that final piece of furniture in. He and Eric and the girls have been putting in bathroom vents, re-wiring electrical, re-doing drywall, hanging siding on the out building that Mom is living in. The girls and Eric have been putting on coats of primer and painting the ceilings in the past couple of weeks. We just found out a couple of weeks ago that we have 5 more things to do for the final inspection to pass, and if we had picked a better contractor to start with, we would only have 3 things… no, don’t ask. At least we have an actual deadline to get it done and all our furniture moved in. That is coming up soon, because we are having friends over, so I am hoping this all gets worked out fast!

On the other hand, choosing paint colours was about to drive me bonkers! I can pick out colours. I’m just afraid we are going to colour 10 gallons of paint different colours, and then I am going to regret the colour choices! Really, I guess that won’t bother me so much because all the furniture will be moved! And I will have an actual bedroom!! That in itself is worth it. It will be so very nice to get everything and everybody situated. I am just so proud of my husband and my family for all the work they have done. We literally have been going, going, going on getting everything done around here.

Nature Study and Science

We also got 3 new bunnies last month, and six ducklings and five Silver-Laced Wyandotte chicks a couple of weeks ago. We also found that a Momma hen had hatched 14 chicks on her own a few weeks back when Eric stumbled upon them looking for kittens! The hatched chicks and the ducklings are a big hit. The Wyandotte chicks I got for me, because I could’t get that kind when we first got chicks a couple of years ago.The rabbits all had girl names until we realized the the helpful people at TSC don’t know how to s*x rabbits. Now they all have boy names…

We just put the ducks and chicks outside for the first time last week. Matt gets good deals from Lowe’s, and was able to get us another 10×10 dog pen last year that I attached chicken wire to the bottom of. While I did the wire-attaching, Matt et al. had chin-up contests on the bar above the door. I am so glad that the weather has been inthe 80′ for the past few days. I hope to get the cage covered and leave them out there all night! They do love it outside in the sunshine though.

Writing, Research, History, Home Ec and Management

In addition to all of that, I finally found time to squeeze out the article list to the Growing in Grace Magazine authors and contributors. We will start to wrap up and ready for June 09 *gulp* this week?

I am also trying to maintain the Training Children blogs. It is hard, though! Training Sons To Be Men is moving so very slowly. Eric just doesn’t have as much time on the computers as I would like him to so that he can research and write with and for me. Training Daughters, Teaching Wives has plenty of writings on it, and Rachel is helping me add to it.

Amanda, Jocelyn, Rachel and Hannah write and research for GGM, so those articles are theirs and on their blogs or TDTW too. Amanda is blogging and designing blogs at TDP Designs. Jocelyn is still designing blogs at A Ponderingheart Boutique and managing Feelin’ Feminine. They can both design Wordpress, Blogger and Homeschoolblogger.com themes.

The usual delicious meals continue at our home and we are beginning to love preparing the house for Shabbat each week! I dare ya’ to show me some better cooks than my girls. Our Littles are always included in the cooking and baking too. Don’t want them to miss out on a love of learning and life.

Gleaning the Harvest

God gave us Gleaning the Harvest as a blessing for his people and a mission for widows and fatherless home school families. It is not a business, but some aspects of it have to be run as one. It is a learning experience and a blessing. We have seen God touch his people and move them and expect him to do a lot more in it as we have more moments to put into it. God commands his people to care for the widows, the fatherless and strangers. May he bless that families on it, those waiting to be a part of it, and the givers who remember this command.

HOME School, Living Learning Moments

This is our life. We HOME school. It is what we do. Yes, our children get out a few workbooks and put it down on paper, but for the most part, application is what works best. I tried the textbook, sit in the desk for hours method for the first seven years of home school. Home schooling life has brought us together as a family and brought out a love of learning and willingness in our children.

There is so much to learn. I love our lives and what God has given us. I know he has given us all this for his purpose, and it is really exciting living it and expecting his plan to come from it.

May the LORD bless you and keep you and give you his peace.

Shalom~

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