I’ve promoted this conference, raved about her resources, and was prepared to spend four hours in travel to hear her speak in person. It’s because I used to be a Diana Waring fan. But after yesterday, I would have to consider myself to be….
a HUGE Diana Waring Fan! 
Seriously, if you can get to her Living, Laughing, Learning seminar – get there! (That’s you; people in Melbourne, Adelaide and Canberra!)
What was so good about it? It’s hard to say. My best guess would be that there were no boring bits. True! Imagine having a one sided conversation with someone all day, and every single thing they said held your interest. That’s Diana!
The “how to” aspects of homeschooling were not new to me, but it’s always motivating to be reminded of why you’re doing something, and especially when the person speaking is enthusiastic, and you know they’ve walked that road already (as opposed to high minded souls speaking out of their hats).
The session I enjoyed most was called “Box Free Living.” Diana shared openly about her faith, her children, and some of her mistakes and challenges. One thing that convicted me (oh! ouch!) was when she related a story about meeting President Bill Clinton. (I won’t tell it and wreck it for those yet to attend!) But I thought about how often I have maligned Ruddy Kevin and Stinky Anna, and it gave me pause for thought.
Have I prayed earnestly for them? Or do I, like Jonah, wish them to hell in a handbasket, and God speed on their journey? Sigh. It really brings new meaning to “love your enemies and pray for those who despitefully use you”. The thought that my dear friend, Susan, has mentioned the need to pray for our leaders before, did cross my mind after hearing this, but, I was busy being BB the Ironhearted, and didn’t actually hear her at the time. :/
One of the most delightful surprises was meeting up with my dear Amy friend, who had thought she wouldn’t make it. Why was this extra delicious? Because I had (oh, so selfishly) been remarking lately to God about how much I would love to have an Amy day to myself (instead of sharing our time with our multitude of children, all of whom are lovely, but…. I did say I was selfish!) And there she was! We both had taken just our big girls, who were quite delighted to keep their own company and let us chat over lunch. 
One of the lighter moments of the conference came with this screen shot:
(Sorry about the picture quality: it was a tiny pocket point and shoot. )
I haven’t quite worked out why, but Amy and I were the only ones who spontaneously laughed out loud when this came up? Folks, it really was funny. (It was!)
When I saw this pic (it was the Chicklette taking the photos) I asked why she would be taking it without Diana in it? Her response? I wanted to show Daddy that Diana Waring is a Mac user. (Umm. Of course.) I know you were wondering if she was a Mac girl or a PC user. Now you know. 
I was also able to meet in person, Michelle from Down Under Literature, who was present with her beautiful Australian resources. (Say hello if you go to the conference – she’s sweet!)
It’s impossible to say what was the best part of the day. Hearing in person, my “history hero” Diana; meeting up with dear friends and putting a face to some virtual ones; having a day out without baby (ooops! did I actually write that? BAD homeschool mama, lol!! 
) or …could it be just being in a place with people who, by their attendence alone, render me for just one day; normal, sane, regular, not standing out, just average, ordinary… instead of “that weird, homeschooling, Christian lady with all those children”?
Whatever it was, it was lovely!
Many thanks to the Warings, and the dedicated people who worked so hard to bring them to Australia!
October 11, 2009 at 9:54 pm
I am *so* glad you got to go…indeed it sounds like it was worth the effort for you.
And you got to have an *Amy day*. That’s so wonderful…and Amy got to have a *BB* day. LOL
Okay, I am really curious now as to what context the first photo was in…because you really have me wondering lol. But our conference is next Monday and Tuesday so I’ll wait till then!
And, (my message to Chicklette)- Go The Mac Users! Of course, Diana is a Mac user- aren’t all smart people who don’t like to follow the cookie cutter trends?
Whoohoo- I can’t wait to the http://www.dianadownunder.com/ conferences either.
Thanks for sharing!
October 12, 2009 at 12:04 am
Oh come on Mrs BB – you don’t have THAT many children. If you had say 9 or 10 – then they could safely cast such aspersions!
Glad you had fun.
Love Fee (the non-homeschooling – but probably still weird – Mama!)
October 12, 2009 at 7:35 am
Fee, I have had comments from people about my ‘large’ family when I have been out and about too. But I have just 3 children!?!?!?
Yes Susan, I have enjoyed my ‘Mrs BB’ day tremendously. My 2 younger children are extremely jealous…..but, that’s life.
Mrs BB…….thankyou for a very lovely day!
, I just can’t express myself as eloquently as BB, so I’ll just add ‘what she said’!
Oh, and I enjoyed Diana Waring too
October 12, 2009 at 8:15 am
What a full but wonderful time you had! Even better with the added surprise of Amy being there too…
I laughed out loud at your ‘going to hell in a basket’ comments about our illustrious leaders
you are so cute…
October 12, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Susan, I’m going to try not to complain (choke, choke!) that you get two days of conference. Try.
Fee, lol! You know, some days, four seems like a LOT of children. And I don’t think the weird necessarily goes away if you’re not homeschooling – I think it’s the inherent weird that leads you in that direction in the first place: homeschooling just kind of nurtures it. The line, “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave” kind of fits.
Amy, I wonder sometimes if it isn’t that we have all the same of a kind, that makes it seem like a lot of children to some people. I mean, people exclaim, “FOUR girls!” in a similar manner to the way in which one may remark on someone with “TWO heads!”
It’s a mystery.
Amanda, I haven’t actually prayed for them yet (OH! you can’t appreciate the dilemma Jonah faced, until presented with the thought that God may actually answer the prayers when I utter them, and cause a change of heart toward Himself, when I finally gain the courage to utter them.) I know my ultimate concern should be for His glory, and what could be more so than a sinner repented?
But, grappling yet as I am with my Ironheart, and in this conversation further displaying how black it is, I can’t yet muster much sincerity in asking Him to reveal Himself to such as are so flagrant God haters as that pair.
But, I will. I will. I promise. I will do it.
His will be done! (how it hurts me!! lol!)
October 12, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Dear Mrs Beyond Bluestockings,
It was lovely to meet a virtual friend in real life. I too enjoy hanging around with a large group of like minded homeschool mums who think we are all quite normal.
I also loved box free living. I wish I could get hold of “the cows are in the corn” story.
Hope to meet you in person again one day.
Smiles
Michelle
PS. I’m not that sweet.
October 12, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Michelle,
PS. I’m not that sweet.
I don’t believe it!
Here is your request, compliments of Amy, who sent it to me some time ago…
An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.
“Well,” said the farmer, “it was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns.”
“Praise choruses?” said his wife. “What are those?”
“Oh, they’re OK. They are sort of like hymns, only different,” said the farmer.
“Well, what’s the difference?” asked his wife.
The farmer said, “Well, it’s like this – If I were to say to you: “Martha, the cows are in the corn”‘ – well, that would be a hymn. If on the other hand, I were to say to you:
‘Martha, Martha, Martha, Oh Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows the white cows, the black and white cows, the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, the CORN, CORN, CORN.’
Then, if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times, well, that would be a praise chorus.”
The next weekend, his nephew, a young, new Christian from the city came to visit and attended the local church of the small town. He went home and his mother asked him how it was.
“Well,” said the young man, “it was good. They did something different however. They sang hymns instead of regular songs.”
“Hymns?” asked his mother. “What are those?”
“Oh, they’re OK. They are sort of like regular songs, only different,” said the young man.
“Well, what’s the difference?” asked his mother.
The young man said, “Well, it’s like this – If I were to say to you: ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn’ – well, that would be a regular song. If on the other hand, I were to say to you:
‘Oh Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by To the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth.
For the way of the animals who can explain There in their heads is no shadow of sense Hearkenest they in God’s sun or His rain Unless from the mild, tempting corn they are fenced.
Yea those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed Then goaded by minions of darkness and night They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed.
So look to the bright shining day by and by Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn Where no vicious animals make my soul cry And I no longer see those foul cows in the corn.’
Then if I were to do only verses one, three and four and do a key change on the last verse, well that would be a hymn.
October 12, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Oh I LOVE the cows in the corn story. That is just hilarious.
Well Amy, that means I have a LARGE family also with 3 munchkins.
A homeschooler in my town has 10 (not a misprint!) children – you can imagine the look on people’s faces in the grocery queue when they count heads and say “Are they ALL yours”?!!
I agree totally Mrs BB about the inherent weirdness. I may not be homeschooling, but I’ll always be a homeschooler at heart!
Love,
Fee x
October 14, 2009 at 6:08 am
Fee, I thought the “cows and the corn” was pretty clever, too.
There are days I think I would like ten children. Monday is never that day (it’s washing day). But… other days even four children seems…over large-ish. It depends how they are behaving, and how much sleep I’ve had!
But even if I thought I could cope with raising ten children, it could only happen if I get to BUY the next six. Being pregnant is such a trial!
October 15, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Thanks for “The Cows are in the Corn.”
Michelle
October 18, 2009 at 2:06 pm
@ Beyond Bluestockings out of curiosity would you pray for your leaders to do a better job or for the opposition to win the next election ?
October 18, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Michelle, you’re welcome! Hope all are well at your house soon.
Luke, hello!
That’s a good question. I wouldn’t necessarily be praying for the opposition to win the next election.
While my inclination is pray that God would makes things comfortable and pleasant for me, which would involve either our current leaders having a drastic change of heart on a lot of issues that concern me, or that someone would come to hold office who considers the same things important that I do, it is not my duty before God to look for my life to be comfortable and pleasant – more’s the pity!
The reason I was created, and continue to draw breath, is to bring glory to God. This should be my highest aim, and so to that end, I will pray that His will be done.
While I would ask Him for mercy for Australia, and that He would turn the hearts of the people back to acknowledge Him, if it pleases Him to continue to chastise and afflict us with the schemes of men in order to achieve His purposes, then so be it. He is able to be glorified in displaying His wrath, and He is able to be glorified in displaying His mercy. Whatever is going to best achieve His glory must be my desire, and this is what I will pray for.
Of course, I’m hoping it’s His mercy we see, and that people will turn away from the utter madness we are seeing in the bills being passed and submitted for consideration at present.
Thanks for your visit, Luke.
October 19, 2009 at 9:41 pm
p.s. Just found out aforementioned homeschooler with 10 kids is expecting number 11!!
October 20, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Eleven
That woman deserves a medal. Or a holiday. Or a housekeeper.
Tonight, poor Mr BB rang from work and innocently asked, “How did your day go?”
I gave him a rambling, incoherent account of the dramas, and said in my most un-homeschoolery, un-AboveRubies-ish manner: “I’m done being a mother and I need to run and hide” {I did apologize later
}
I have to wonder…eleven children…eleven? If each child interrupted my train of thought once only in an hour, and that interruption lasted for only one minute, the longest I would ever get to think for would be 4.45 minutes at a time.
And that’s a best case scenario. We all know children need to ask something or tell something more than once an hour, and that they don’t only take one minute to do so, and that they don’t space the interruptions out kindly and evenly among siblings.
So… that makes the equation:
11 children + multiple unpredictable interruptions per hour + unlimited interruption duration =
insane.
It would drive me insane.
Fee, if you ever hear me hint that more than four children would be nice, smack me. Then remind me of today!
October 20, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Oh Mrs BB – I feel your pain! I remember days like those. My most memorable day was DH coming home (when he still was my DH!) – and him walking through the door with me barging my way past him saying “I’m going for a walk” in my most self-controlled, steeliest voice – because I was about to explode and either scream or cry or maybe all three at the same time?! Thankfully I haven’t had too many of those in recent times. School is a blessing in some ways, not in others!
As to the 11 kids … my observation is that the more you have, the less you become involved – apart from the smallest person. This lady with 10 (soon to be 11) is the calmest, most serene mother I think I know. She never seems to lose her cool, just sits and observes her brood racing around all over the show. The older kids are very hands on with the youngsters and do a lot of the running after/playing/keeping an eye on things that a mother with a mere 3 or 4 kids would do herself. The little ones seem to go to their bigger sisters/brothers with questions or problems, so in a sense it actually frees you up just to concentrate on the smallest 1 (or 2 or 3 – depending on how close together they all are!).
Each to their own I guess. I always think “how huge must her grocery bill be”? She has 3 teenagers (2 boys and a girl) plus hubby and herself and another 7 kids to feed now with another on the way! Not to mention the fact you would need about 5 trolleys to do the weekly shop?!
Fee x
October 21, 2009 at 5:06 pm
BB,
I found you at The Flipside of Dandelionend. I too love a good homeschool conference. It is such a nice boost, reminding you of why you homeschool. My only complaint is why do they have them at the end of the school year? I come back all fired up and ready to teach, but the kiddos are wrapping up for the year. They should have a little mini conference or some sort of pep talk for me in the fall. Then I’d get all excited about the upcoming year. I know, I know, all the new pencils and stuff should be enough.
October 22, 2009 at 11:09 am
Thank you, Fee. I need the odd reminder that those days are just.. days. On the whole, I love my life: it’s a bit of a challenge though with Miss Two, who has been the first child to bring understanding to the term “The Terrible Twos”. I declare: I didn’t get it before Blossy!
Having three doting, older sisters to love, protect, cosset and pander to her has given Blossy a distorted idea of her place in this world. It’s just a little crummy that the lot falls to me to inflict a daily dose of reality on her delusion! Some days it’s not pretty.
As for the 10 or 11 children issues – I don’t think I would mind so much the grocery bill or the mountainous cooking tasks, because really, once you get to even four children, all of the beautiful little delicacies I would labour over in my previous life (BC) have gone out the window, and each dinner has an element of the ‘army mess hall” feel.
No, for me, it has to be the time to think that I struggle with most. I am NOT a multi-tasker. I know one day I will be facing an empty nest and maybe miss all those interruptions, but it’s hard to believe it now
Hello Tami!
Why do they have them at the end of the year? Could be for all the mothers who have reached the end of the year and are wondering why they are doing this to themselves?!?
I do appreciate the inspiration of meeting with other educators in a conference setting. It’s very encouraging. Perhaps you could buy the book/CD from the conference, and save it for the start of the new school year.
We don’t tend to stop work at the end of the year. While we have a week or two off to actually go away, anything more than that and the girls find it too difficult to get back into the routine of working. It’s not that I am so mean (honest!), they have actually asked to not have holidays unless we are going away somewhere. So we have a day off each week to do serious adventuring, and work year round.
Thanks for your visit!
October 22, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Praying for the enemy…this idea came up in a conversation earlier today. I don’t pray for Barack Obama’s agenda. I hope it fails. But I do pray for Barack Obama the man. I pray that nothing terrible happens to him, just as I make that prayer for everyone I know. But in my secular world, we are diametrically opposed and so I work against his agenda in whatever way I can.
Of course, nothing serious in life is without humor…another reason I pray for Mr. Obama personally is the thought of Joe Biden being president…
October 23, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Hi All,
No, not a homeschooler, but do enjoy lurking through this site greatly, don’t hold it against me (as if you would!). On behalf of all the “school schoolers” out there, may I appologise for ever giving the impression that you may have been “that weird, homeschooling, Christian lady with all those children”? Personally, I had never known homeschooling existed until I became friends with someone who was going down that path, so really, never gave “you lot” any thought!!!! We were discussing the size of families at a mother’s group that I go to, and some of us had large families and some of us didn’t. We were sharing how one child can be just as challenging as six, or just as easy. It all depends on the children and of course your own character. One mother had actually been accosted by a nutter in a shopping centre accusing her of ruining planet earth by breeding so many children! There was the flip side too, the mothers there that had one child, were equally annoyed/miffed with comments like “and you only have the one” or “when are you going to have another”. We all had thoughts about what the most “difficult” number was, some thought odds, some thought evens. Personally, I look back at when I had one child and wished I realised how easy it was compared to having two, and so on and so forth. Maybe it’s just rose coloured glasses. Anyway, sorry for these ramblings, and please don’t prejudge any of us “school schoolers”, be patient with us, and we may just learn something! I would’ve enjoyed the conference too!
Bye for now,
Heidi
October 24, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Burstmode, while I am coming to accept that it behoves us all to pray for our leaders, I confess I would find it (if possible!) harder to pray for your president than I would for my prime minister. That’s saying quite a bit.
I find it curious in the extreme that the powers who decide such things could believe it appropriate to consider him for the Nobel Peace Prize. I can’t help thinking that must reduce the value of the said prize to something akin to the toy in a Mc Happy meal.
…another reason I pray for Mr. Obama personally is the thought of Joe Biden being president…
Heidi!
Hello
I’m pleased you’ve come out of lurking mode, and into chat mode, lol!
Shall I make a confession? If I had met myself 15 years ago, I would have thought…“that weird, homeschooling, Christian lady with all those children” and I might have even thrown in “opinionated” and a few other choice descriptives
Funny how our ideas change, isn’t it?
What you have described with the idea of wishing you had realized how well off you were with just one to manage, then with two, etc, could be any number of conversations I have had with mothers, including my own.
I think part of it is that it truly is physically easier to lug one baby around/in and out of car seats, etc. But, I do think that it’s like the thought of having your youth over, only with the experience of age.
I know for myself, each child has bought, (along with the trauma, lol!) a little more self discipline, a little less selfishness (just a little – I’m definitely a work in progress
) and a deal more organizational skill.
With each baby I’ve cared less what the rest of the world thinks and have been more confident in my choices, so while having one may have been easier (May? It was!) it was harder in some respects because you are suffering from second guessing your parenting at every turn, susceptible to the view of the “experts” around you, still mourning the loss of some freedoms, and that is without the isolation of leaving a vibrant working world and coming home to…one screaming infant. (I’m really not making motherhood sound pretty, but honestly, the first child is hard!)
So, yes, I agree that one can be hard, and anything other than one can be hard. Parenting can be hard, some days!
Thanks for your visit, and for sharing. Rambling is encouraged here
(And we won’t hold it against you that you are a schoolie
lol!)
October 26, 2009 at 10:44 pm
This is a most interesting post! It’s important to pray God’s will for our leaders regardless how opposed we are to their agendas.
My sister home schools her 3 boys successfully. This sounds like the kind of event she would love to attend. I’ve got a six month old baby boy and my husband and I both are planning our son’s education. Wonderful post!!
October 27, 2009 at 11:50 am
Hello Wildstorm,
Thanks for your encouragement. It’s great that your sister is ahead of you with her children. If you choose to go the homeschool path you have someone close to bounce ideas off, to explore options with, to remind you why you do it on the days it doesn’t go quite to plan!
Diana does a lot of speaking in America; I wonder if your sister may have heard her already? It’s the first time she has made it to this neck of the woods, and we are very grateful!
Thanks for your visit