Davy Jones of the Monkees is Gone

I couldn't believe my eyes.  I was just checking my email, and there was one from Billboard.  This is nothing unusual.  I write as the Christian music examiner, so I keep up on musical news.  But, the headline caught my eye:  Davy Jones of the Monkees Dead at 66.  What?  It couldn't be.  It was.

What shocked me a bit was probably my reaction.  I took the news with a heavy heart and even started to cry.  I never knew Davy Jones personally.  Well, ok.  There was the time I got my picture taken with him on my birthday.  And, I did get his autograph at a reunion show of Dolenz Jones Boyce and Hart when they appeared at Six Flags.  But, I never knew him.  Still somehow he and the songs he sang shaped my world more than I realized till today.

Me with Davy Jones at Union Station in St. Louis.

He was one of four stars in a televsion show-created band - The Monkees.  He took a lot of heat for not being a "real" musician even though he really was talented.  The show aired in the shadow of the newly-arriving Beatles to America.  Davy Jones was the Monkee with the British English accent that tied the band to the Beatles' popularity.  But, Davy was an actor with a baby face that never seemed to grow old.  The Monkees spanned generations for years in reruns and reunion tours.  In fact, he was still touring solo when he died.

I know that Davy did not write his own lyrics to at least most of what he sang.  But, the lyrics to the songs he did sing shaped my philosophy more than I realized.  All afternoon, after hearing the news of his death, I keep hearing in my head:

Cheer up sleepy Jean.  Oh what can it mean to a Daydream beleiver (believuh) and a homecoming queen.

But, there's another song that popped into my head that I always loved.  When I hear it, I see visions of the show as they walked along the beach and turned flips on the swingset (something I also mastered BTW) in my day - because of the Monkees.  That song also seems to fit the state of our culture, and fuels the fire for spurring me on in schooling my children.  The song is "Shades of Gray", and the lyrics go something like this:

When the world and I were young, just yesterday.....
Life was such a simple game, a child could play...
It was easy then to tell right from wrong
Easy then to tell weak from strong
When a man should stand and fight
Or just go along...
But today there is no black or white
Only shades of Gray...

Someone on my Facebook posted that today Davy literally took "The Last Train to Clarksville".  You will be missed Davy Jones.  Your youthfulness, your energy, your baby face, your accent and your positive attitude cheered up many fans from the moment you shined on TV in 1966 to your last appearance at the age of 66.

 

Organize your life on the go or at home with Clipix

 

Organization is the key to staying afloat in this busy world filled with demands of motherhood, relationships, marriage and a work life.   clipix is an online site that helps you group interesting websites, pictures, books, articles and ideas into categories that make it easy to refer back to or share with others.  They even have an iPad app to make organizing easy on the go when you’re not at your home or desktop.

Homeschooling can be a full-time endeavor of 24/7 one-on-one with your kiddos.  In the midst of this, I tend to have grand ideas of what I want to teach my children, crafts and activities I think would be fun.  However, when the time comes, I tend to forget where I saw the idea.

You have your day planned out and then wham!  Along comes an interruption. Clipix allows you to upload pictures, spreadsheets and documents from your own computer to group into one Clip.  Mark it as viewable only by you for privacy.  You can easily drag the Clipix button to your bookmark bar to make it easy to immediately Clip a link while surfing the net.   

Share your boards with anyone you like with their “syncboards” or keep them private, visit the Clipix community, search other Clipix.  Like and reclip others’ clips.  You decide who sees your Clipix.  Make your Clipix private or available to Friends or everyone.  One of my favorite features is that if the article or site you want to clip doesn’t have an image it’s no problem.  You can type in your own title as your thumbnail.  And, you can create multi-board by dragging boards into each other to combine them.

Grouping pictures by date or special occasion

I take tons of pictures.  Sometimes I even file them off in an organized manner.  Usually finding one involves my remembering the year or month it occurred and uncovering a disc, flash drive or photo album where it is filed.  This takes time.  With Clipix.com, I can file pictures on each child’s board and even include pics of things each child is interested in.  This makes a personalized photo album record of each of their lives,but it remains private.  It’s also a great place to include pictures of art work that’s too bulky to keep but you want a documented memory of it.

It looks like this:

Other ways to use Clipix include:

Planning birthday parties, holidays, vacations or gift ideas.

Here’s a screen shot of my boards so far.  Check back in a month, and I'm sure they will have grown:

Clipix and forget it till the time comes when I need to pull it up.  What will your Clipix boards look like?

Here's a video to give you an even better idea of what it's all about:

Visit Clipix and sign up today.  Once you get started, you’ll fall in love.  Please comment below how you plan to use Clipix and join me in the fun way to organize your life.

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Matters of Life and Death

This morning I woke up to the news that the mother of a friend I have known from childhood, lost her battle with cancer.  In the last few days, I also got the news that a neighbor and church friend lost her dad.  All this makes me think of matter of life and death.

The mother of my friend lived through struggles.  Her husband left her when her children were in elementary or middle school.  She had to move into a townhome to raise the 3 kids.  The kids were my friends.  I remember the heartache.  But, I also remember this woman's laugh.

I have always thought that when I'm gone, I don't want people to mourn my passing.  However, this has made me realize that when I'm gone, the thing I want people to miss most is my laugh.  More importantly - I want my laugh to bring joy to those around me now, while I'm still living.

I don't want my children to remember that I kept a harsh schedule.
I don't want my children to remember me on my not-so-happy days
I don't want my children to remember me scowling or screaming or upset.
I don't want my children to remember that I worked all day long.

I want my children to remember my laugh.

I want them to remember my laugh because it is a reflection of the joy Christ has put in my life.  I want them to reach out and grab hold of this joy.

I want them to know they brought happiness to my heart - Just because I was allowed the privilege of carrying them in my womb, birthing them and holding them in my arms.

I want them to know they filled my mouth and my heart with laughter.

I don't want this laugh to be remembered as a mocking laugh as if I am superior in some way.  But rather, a welcoming laugh - One that warms the soul of all who hear it.  Not, a cackle or a devious laugh - But, one that fills the air with an uplifting welcome mat of praise - Praise to the one who gave me the ability and reason to laugh.

Have you laughed today?

12 Reasons to Homeschool - What's Yours?

I saw this article today:

12 Most Compelling Reasons to Homeschool

I thoroughly enjoyed it and the concept behind it.  In the process of exploring the article, it made me start to think:  Why do I homeschool?

If you haven't asked yourself this question, you've - no doubt - been asked it from a stranger.  I will never forget the dropped jaw look on one asker's face when I responded that I homeschool because of Socialization.

Yes, sometimes it's a little fun to offer a shocking answer just to see the response.  However, there is truth to my reply.  I do firmly believe that homeschooling is the only environment where I can properly socialize my children.  I do not personally see any socializing benefit in plopping 30 same-age students into a classroom.  I do, however, see the benefit in crowd and lesson control in this classroom scenario.

But, socialization to me goes beyond just relating to your peers.

I often hear how homeschooled children are way too sheltered, and how will they ever learn to make it in the "real world"?  This question is so funny to me.  They are already in the "real world".  It is the group of 30 children sitting behind a desk among only children their own age (some even only among same age and same gender) who are not learning how to function in the real world.  Not even a jury of your peers provides for this much in similarity.

Homeschooled children, on the other hand, interact with all aged people.  And, this is what inspired me to homeschool long before my children were even ever conceived.  My husband and I sat through a business meeting with a woman, who happened to bring along her 8 year old daughter.  This little girl is the one who inspired me to homeschool.  She sat poised and happy throughout the entire meeting - not squirming or complaining or pulling out a handheld electronic game.  She even - *gasp* - interacted with us (the adults).  At the end of the meeting, I commented on how well this child handled conversation with adults.  Since the meeting was with a woman who worked part-time at a private Christian school, I had assumed her daughter also attended this school.  Wrong!  To my amazement, the girl was homeschooled.

The reasons behind why I homeschool may differ from my favorite benefits that come from homeschooling.  While I homeschool for socialization reasons (among which also include laying an adequate Christian foundation for my children), I find additional benefits in homeschooling as well.  For starters, my favorite benefit is the flexibility it allows me to not only be able to pick up and go at a moment's notice; but also to interject any and all learning tools.

What are your reasons to homeschool?  And what is your favorite benefit from homeschooling?

Learn to Sew and Cake Decorate at JoAnns

Buttons fall off.
Socks get holes in them.
Shirts get torn.

And, these are just the beginnings of how knowing basic sewing or crafting skills come in handy.

I saw this email in my inbox this morning from JoAnns Fabric & Craft Stores.  I see these emails quite frequently, so I wasn't surprised to see it.  However, I have always wanted to have my children take part in what they offer. I just never have signed them up.  So, I thought - perhaps, you'd like to see what JoAnns Stores has to offer too.

Here's the link to their Kids' Studio classes!

Your child (age 5 and up) can learn to sew a cute little felt robot-looking doll.  It's very cute and possibly well worth the cost of the class.

Children ages 8 and up can learn much more.  There are pillows to sew, quilting to learn, knitting, basic sewing skills as well as cake decorating can be learned at JoAnns.

Even if you're a skilled seamstress, sometimes the days just run away from us in terms of time.  Before you know it, the child is 10, 13, 18 and never learned the basics of sewing.  And, depending on the temperament of the child, the patience level required to teach hands-on skills like these may be something you just don't naturally enjoy.  After all, homeschooling your child does not necessarily mean you naturally have the skills of Laura Ingalls Wilder from Little House on the Prairie in every regard.  And, if you do happen to come by these skills naturally - My hat's off to you with utmost respect.  The rest of us might enjoy a class or summer camp at JoAnns.

Just thought I'd share!