First Blog Award for The Outer Edge of Normal

from Christine at Adventures in Homeschooling. Thank you! Christine’s homeschooling blog is fairly new, and it inspires me. For her, homeschooling seems to be a natural extension of her parenting and her family’s RDI lifestyle. She also reminds me of all the terrific things I wish I was doing with my preschooler. I REALLY, REALLY need to carve out some time just for Missy.

She wrote: “Now here is the thing about these awards, they are kind of light and sweet and they kind of remind me of chain letters except that they don’t come with the dire warnings of terrible consequences for not passing them on in a timely manner — for which I am obviously grateful. But I am even more grateful that each time I receive one I am reminded of why I blog. I started blogging as a form of therapy. I needed to connect. I was searching. For what? Well, for you. I needed to know that I wasn’t alone in all this. And I needed to hear stories reflecting real experiences of real people. I needed something other than the picture painted by the popular media. No, what I got wasn’t all sunshine and roses — but a lot of what I read, what I wrote and the people I connected with helped me to heal. And once I felt healed (or mostly so I knew that I needed to keep lifting my voice up so that other people could hear it when they were in need.”

Amen to that. Here are a few of the bloggers who teach and inspire me:

1. Adesa — Who offers a day-to-day account of how unschooling works for her and her boys — and how she translates their lives of spontaneous learning into educationese. She’s also a phenomenal friend in real life.

2. Andrea at Dean’s Academy — Who offers glimpses of her life of fun and learning with her boys and reminds me how much I enjoyed doing Five in a Row with Marty.

3. JoVE at Tricotomania — Whose posts are always thought-provoking, and who has offered me such a wealth of ideas and support. She is a terrific writer and thinker.

4. Kelly at Learning Aspergian — Who is a smart and savvy mom who nurtures and teaches her kids who have very different, complicated needs.

5. Maura at Woodstone Prairie — Who is one of the most wise and compassionate moms I know. We met when I first started blogging (that was … uh … what? 50 blogs ago for me? *LOL*). We were at Homeschool Blogger and I’d been blogging at some outrageously early hour about how sad and scared I was about Marie’s illness. Maura stopped by and offered me — a total stranger — empathy and support. And I’ve been hanging around ever since.

6. Queen Bee — Who inspires me with her creativity, organization, and perseverance. And she is an incredibly supportive blog friend. I wish we could get together in real life for that pie — or a good stiff drink.

7. Meg at Get In, Hang On — Who, among many other things, has taught me a lot about navigating the high school years.

8. Piseco at Mind Games — Who does so many fun things with her BEAUTIFUL children, and keeps me stocked with more ideas of fun things to do with my preschooler than I could ever conceivably use.

9. Robin at Martins’ Zoo — Who is so creative and has such fun learning with her son; I wish she lived closer so I could drop Marty off at her house. He’d have such a blast! (And Robin is reading this and thanking God that I live in a different part of the state).

10. Rosie at Dragons in the Flowerbed — Who is a deep thinker and writes so eloquently about motherhood and learning.

11. Tammy at Aut-2B-Home in Carolina — Who inspires me with the way she guides her lovely daughter, Pamela, with the help of RDI and Charlotte Mason.

12. Sara at Learning Umbrella — A fellow bibliophile who has created a warm, rich life of learning with her littles.

13. Tara at Periwinkles and Pine — Who seems to be loving learning at home with her son Owen, and posts fabulous experiments and nature photos.

14. Theresa at Lapaz Home Learning — Who is one of everybody’s all-time favorites. I soak up so much creativity and inspiration there — about homeschooling, unschooling, nature study, Montessori, and more. If only I were putting it to better use.

15. Willa at Sierra Highlands — Who is a wise and loving mom, writer and philosopher. Her posts ALWAYS challenge me to think.

Damn! I read a lot of blogs. And I’m not even finished yet.

I am lucky to have developed so many blog friendships with people who are always teaching and inspiring me. I kind of see you all this way — in the words of E.B. White –

It is not often someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.—from Charlotte’s Web