Shelli Bond Pabis ~ Mama of Letters

Red Clay Co-Op

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:18:27 -0400

Recently a homeschooling aunt named Sarah, who lives near Athens, has spearheaded a new homeschooling co-op for the area. She wants it to be a secular co-op because there are no, active secular co-ops in the Athens area. While there are many good co-ops here, they are all religion-based (including some of the curriculum), and some of them require a statement of faith. While I respect each homeschooler’s beliefs and choices of teaching material, I will be using mostly secular resources.
The reason I bring this up is because sometimes it is hard to know what homeschooling materials are religion-based or not. Sometimes it is stated clearly on a website and other times it is not. I have been thinking that it would be nice to have a place to turn to in order to find specifically secular materials, activities, etc. This is part of the reason I have decided to support Sarah by helping to build a website for the co-op.
The website is new, so there’s not much there yet. I have invited other homeschoolers to contribute to it, and it will also be a place where the activities of Red Clay Co-op can be announced.
This is a long-term project. One thing I didn’t want to do by committing myself to this is stress myself out. So I am going to work on it when I can and build it up slowly. I’m not expecting much participation by others because I know homeschoolers are busy people and, like me, barely have time for their own activities let alone writing for a website. But maybe over time, it will become a useful resource and more people will contribute to it.
I hope that the group can get going too. There are a handful of people who are interested in some of the upcoming classes that Sarah is trying to organize. This is no small feat. As for myself, I’ll just be happy if I can find a group of like-minded parents and children that I and my boys can hang out with.
Right now, it’s too hot to do anything, but the co-op should get going in the fall. Sarah is planning for the classes to begin then, and I’m thinking of initiating a field trip when the weather gets cooler.
If you’re interested, you can view the site at http://redclaycooperative.wordpress.com/
And if you’d like to write for us, I’d love that! Read the Submission Guidelines.

Wild Ginger

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 22:32:22 -0400

We have many wild and beautiful plants growing in the woods all around our house. I have spent considerable time rambling through the yard with my little boy, and I’ve often wondered what some of these plants are called. A couple of weeks ago, I invited my botanist friend over, and she helped me identify the foliage. Though, of course, it’s not surprising, but I was still amazed how every little green thing has a name. This wild ginger is my favorite of all, and I’m so very happy to have a name to call it by now.
Someday when my boys are older, we will make a science project out of identifying all the plants, trees and mushrooms growing in our yard.

Smoosh

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:25:58 -0400

Passing By

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:30:43 -0400

Have You Ever Played Cow Poker?

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:28:22 -0400

When I was a little girl and we were on long, road trips, my mother kept me occupied by playing games such as “cow poker” or “car poker.” We had to look out the windows and count the cows on our side of the car. Whoever had the most cows by a certain destination won the game.
I remember another time when my mother told me to look out one side of our motor home and count Easter bunnies. I got really irritated when she saw lots of bunnies out her side, but I had not found one on my side. So she let me switch sides with her. You can imagine how upset I got when all the Easter bunnies were then on her side of the road!

Georgia Countryside

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:11:25 -0400

This is why I love living in the country ~ I get to drive by scenes like this. I’ve wanted to photograph this old barn for years, and I finally got the chance the other night. How I wish I could walk up to it and spend a good hour there in the sweet light.

Little Feet

Tue, 8 Jun 2010 20:18:06 -0400

Though they are much bigger than these sweet feet.

Ducks

Fri, 4 Jun 2010 22:24:16 -0400

Dragonfly

Fri, 28 May 2010 19:51:34 -0400

Panning Technique

Tue, 25 May 2010 13:59:24 -0400

Aidan’s mission while we were at Anna Ruby Falls was to throw twigs and rocks into the water. Here he was very busy walking back and forth from the bridge to where he could find more rocks and twigs. We were at this spot for a long time while he worked.
I used the “panning technique” to capture this image, and I’m pleased with it not only because it illustrates how busy my little boy keeps himself, but I love the blurred greens, blues and browns in the background.

Click on the “Sneak Peek” button to see how I captured this image.