Day 8: Puppies, Penguins, People & More

After lots of searching and deliberating, the girls have compiled the list of ten non-profit organizations that will benefit from Project Toteschooling. It was fun to see what they deemed important. No surprise animals were in the mix. But I also loved seeing that they are concerned for other kids less fortunate than them. One more step forward in battling entitlement in our household!

We will take our Thirty-One earnings each month and divide it equally between a donation to a non-profit and a contribution toward a family "something" (yet to be determined).

Here's the list of the winning NPO's:

September: Central Oregon Veterans Outreach 

Supporting numerous Veterans and their families by providing a wide variety of housing alternatices, as well as job search preparedness and placement assistance.

October: Bend Spay and Neuter Project 
Providing affordable, preventive veterinary care and a food bank for cats and dogs at risk.

November: Warm Up America! 
Committed to motivating, training, and coordinating volunteers nationwide to knit and crochet afghans and clothing for people in need. 

December: The Penguin Foundation   was established to protect and preserve one of Australia's most important natural assets - the little penguin

January: Kids in the Game
Eliminating barriers and making it affordable for every child to play sports!

February: Project Night Night donates over 25,000 Night Night Packages each year to homeless children 12 and under who need our childhood essentials to have a concrete and predictable source of security and an increased exposure to high-quality literacy materials during their time of upheaval.











March: Afghans for Afghans is a humanitarian and educational people-to-people project that sends hand-knit and crocheted blankets and sweaters, vests, hats, mittens, and socks to the beleaguered people of Afghanistan.

April: Pencils for Kids By providing classroom supplies, programs, libraries and schools to communities in need, Pencils for Kids works to create a world in which all children have the opportunity for an education.

May: ANIKE Foundation is to promote educational development in Africa by providing educational resources from developed nations to needy institutions in Africa.

June: Hope 4 Women  has been bringing dignity to women around the world since 2006. 

As always, if you'd like to join us in our endeavor, here's a link.

Pillows for Pups

A new month is coming up & Project Toteschooling has chosen The Bend Spay & Neuter Project as our beneficiary in October.

One of next month's hostess specials is their great customizable pillows. They're 70% off for the host of a qualifying party.

The above is one I designed for our family. The Thirty One website walks you through the personalization line by line & then let's you see a mock-up of the finished product before you order. Kind of fun, right?

And next month they will be adding embroidery options to the pillows. 

Here'a link to the Thirty One site. If you'd like to host an online or catalog, email me  at mylifewithpurls at gmail.com. 

If you don't want to host a party you can purchase the pillows at regular prices at the website also. 

Thanks for supporting Project Toteschooling!

The Start of Bend Bunny Barn

Notice the hat that got for entering votes. 

We're entering our fourth week of school and it's right on time that I start to question my methods with the girls.

Their friends are settling into their public school experiences, photos of homecoming celebrations are flooding fb and this little voice starts to say, "Are you sure this is the right way?"

But then, I witness this happen in my kitchen before breakfast... the girls working together, in a fair, systematic way to develop a large project together. This time it's Bend Bunny Barn - the culmination of their 4h bunny breeding endeavor.

I was completely engrossed in reading and didn't even know what they were working on until I started hearing words like, "That's one vote for..."; "Now we will need..."; "What do you think about..."

No different from any other kids, now that they are 13, 11 and 7 their opinions are strong and largely inflexible (especially where sisters are concerned). So the current conversation definitely caught my ear.

It can be so challenging to forge an independent path for your kids especially in this day & age of social media where opinions aren't as carefully delivered as they would be face-to-face. Few parents would disagree that the public education system is broken and yet they are the same who are first to fire question after question at you about the choice to homeschool. 

The fact that, without my interference, my kids are working on a project in a kind, fair, creative way leads me to believe The Smithgirls are doing just fine. 

(Please excuse the backgrounds in my photos but these are real, not staged photos. Also, Q bought the face masks at Dollar Tree for Lilly as a joke because our house is small and Lil & her germs just won't stay still. It was hysterical that they made her wear one this morning so she could participate.)