Thursday, May 15, 2008
The Rhythm of Spring
Spring seems to have come for good now to this neck of the woods. My hands are cracked and full of earthen lines.... I am happy. The garden is shaping up and I am waiting somewhat impatiently for the tree to be limbed and I can put out the vibrant seedlings growing in the window.
Today was one of those days that seem to come naturally in the spring. I had thoughts to do a sort of intensive finish in our present areas of study to finish up our time before summer, but our family rhythm wasn't in the same groove.
So today we woke sort of lazily after a late night at the soccer field. Aaron, Caleb and I snuggled for a good read of Tintin first thing. Breakfast was had and Ar read to us from the Bible. We informally talked about Diego Rivera (his art! not about nitty gritty of his life!) and I pulled out Caleb's violin. He practiced while I cleaned up and kids were off getting ready etc. Hannah had already created a neat sign of congratulations for Bilbo, Caleb's caterpillar (he successfully attached to the top of his jar in readiness for his chrysalis). After some more music practices Ariel was on the Gutenburg Project reading a novel while Hannah was hanging laundry with Caleb. (I was I think by this time distracted looking at more fuel efficient cars on the computer- our minivan is terrible on gas).
Hannah's hair needed doing for her first feis so we got out all the gear, boys all went out for a croquet match and to string up a large spider's web with old yarn, and got going on the hair. We figured out how to download Inkheart from our library so we listened to that for the last hour of the curling.
At some point I made some lunch and we ate it out on the deck while I read out of some field guides about caterpillars. All the kids were pretty interested as we have about 16 caterpillars at present.
Hannah then went off to continue on with her pond building and found a caterpillar that we didn't recognize. Onto google to look it up but with no luck. Hannah and I continued to work on the veggie garden, dig and chat while Ariel played lego inside with the two younger boys.
Dinner (Ariel's now on the weekly rotation and he did a great job- we needed some new juice in the menu department as my mind always wanders to the garden these days and not to the kitchen!).....then onto my Ultimate game. Lots of Redwall on tape both ways, and home for a late bedtime.
This is probably pretty dull reading for any of you but I have been in a wee bit of an attitude rut and I wanted this day to be my reminder of the joy that comes from being home with my kids...present...living out our day to day lives....working...praying...and being together.
Today was one of those days that seem to come naturally in the spring. I had thoughts to do a sort of intensive finish in our present areas of study to finish up our time before summer, but our family rhythm wasn't in the same groove.
So today we woke sort of lazily after a late night at the soccer field. Aaron, Caleb and I snuggled for a good read of Tintin first thing. Breakfast was had and Ar read to us from the Bible. We informally talked about Diego Rivera (his art! not about nitty gritty of his life!) and I pulled out Caleb's violin. He practiced while I cleaned up and kids were off getting ready etc. Hannah had already created a neat sign of congratulations for Bilbo, Caleb's caterpillar (he successfully attached to the top of his jar in readiness for his chrysalis). After some more music practices Ariel was on the Gutenburg Project reading a novel while Hannah was hanging laundry with Caleb. (I was I think by this time distracted looking at more fuel efficient cars on the computer- our minivan is terrible on gas).
Hannah's hair needed doing for her first feis so we got out all the gear, boys all went out for a croquet match and to string up a large spider's web with old yarn, and got going on the hair. We figured out how to download Inkheart from our library so we listened to that for the last hour of the curling.
At some point I made some lunch and we ate it out on the deck while I read out of some field guides about caterpillars. All the kids were pretty interested as we have about 16 caterpillars at present.
Hannah then went off to continue on with her pond building and found a caterpillar that we didn't recognize. Onto google to look it up but with no luck. Hannah and I continued to work on the veggie garden, dig and chat while Ariel played lego inside with the two younger boys.
Dinner (Ariel's now on the weekly rotation and he did a great job- we needed some new juice in the menu department as my mind always wanders to the garden these days and not to the kitchen!).....then onto my Ultimate game. Lots of Redwall on tape both ways, and home for a late bedtime.
This is probably pretty dull reading for any of you but I have been in a wee bit of an attitude rut and I wanted this day to be my reminder of the joy that comes from being home with my kids...present...living out our day to day lives....working...praying...and being together.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
The 'Golden Mean'
I think our society tends towards a dichotomy -- XTreme precautions, to the point that you can't buy a real chemistry set anymore and laws are being proposed to restrict fast food; and on the other hand, simple neglect or indifference to a toxic environment. Everyone has to find their own balance for their own family and children. But there is a golden mean between any two extremes, and it seems to me that children learn more about risk by learning to handle it to some extent according to their maturity than by being kept from it altogether.
When I read this tonight I went Yes! with a capital y. Just this month when my parents were visiting this whole controversy about plastic water bottles was in our paper every day (front page). I generally am a little more than neglectful about reading the paper, but my mom and dad read it and so they were informing me of the daily saga. We all have those Nalgene water bottles (I purchased them a while back thinking that they were good because they were hard plastic) but the paper was now saying they were no good. Probably that we would all have cancer by next week. Day by day it went on, describing the ills that await those of us who consume our liquids in these 'unfit' bottles and so on. I explained to anyone who wanted to hear that I think all this fuss about the water bottles is severely missing the point: as a society we drink milk full of drugs and residual pesticides, we drive around our vehicles way too much, we consume too much. Right here in this same city who puts the evils of number 7 bottles on the front page of the paper, the whole city is sprayed with poison to lessen our mosquito population.
Maybe this has turned into a bit of a rant. But it just seems like more and more we are growing away from a our own practical sense and wisdom into this chaos of complete dichotomies.
Following up on the newspaper, by day 4 or 5 we got to the point where now it was alright for people to drink out of the bottles, just don't give them to really young kids and don't put really hot stuff in them.
Maybe I am just a skeptic. Maybe I need to go to sleep. Probably it is a little bit of both.
If you want to read a good thought provoking read on this 'golden mean' visit Willa, from whom I quoted above.
When I read this tonight I went Yes! with a capital y. Just this month when my parents were visiting this whole controversy about plastic water bottles was in our paper every day (front page). I generally am a little more than neglectful about reading the paper, but my mom and dad read it and so they were informing me of the daily saga. We all have those Nalgene water bottles (I purchased them a while back thinking that they were good because they were hard plastic) but the paper was now saying they were no good. Probably that we would all have cancer by next week. Day by day it went on, describing the ills that await those of us who consume our liquids in these 'unfit' bottles and so on. I explained to anyone who wanted to hear that I think all this fuss about the water bottles is severely missing the point: as a society we drink milk full of drugs and residual pesticides, we drive around our vehicles way too much, we consume too much. Right here in this same city who puts the evils of number 7 bottles on the front page of the paper, the whole city is sprayed with poison to lessen our mosquito population.
Maybe this has turned into a bit of a rant. But it just seems like more and more we are growing away from a our own practical sense and wisdom into this chaos of complete dichotomies.
Following up on the newspaper, by day 4 or 5 we got to the point where now it was alright for people to drink out of the bottles, just don't give them to really young kids and don't put really hot stuff in them.
Maybe I am just a skeptic. Maybe I need to go to sleep. Probably it is a little bit of both.
If you want to read a good thought provoking read on this 'golden mean' visit Willa, from whom I quoted above.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
My blog is worth $3,951.78.
How much is your blog worth?
HT: Dawn who by the way has a blog full of great ideas (regardless of it's price!)
A Busy Day
Swimming.....homeschool coop.....dinner.....swimming.....all the things waiting for me after a day of being out....
I think one of the things I love most about homeschooling is being home. So when we are out for the day, busy and out the door at the outrageous hour of 9:30 am (gasp) it is always so wonderful to come home again. Even if it is to a heap of dishes that we were in to much of a hurry to wash (as we are not very polished at leaving the house in the morning in good speed- how do people do it every day??). Even they look inviting as I fill the sink with warm sudsy water and plunge in.
Being home gives me time to be with those four children I love. To see them shine, to help them when they struggle, and to stand back and admire the children they are and who they are becoming. Being home gives me time to look after my family and the home we live in. Not that we don't enjoy a day out, or in the case of spring, and increased load of fun sports and activities. But the coming home is always one of the best parts. It can often look like it did today....
....the three younger children came in the front door and out the back. The two smaller boys to the sandbox and Hannah up 'her' tree. She came down after a bit of some good thinking and decided to begin building her 'egg dropping device' (a carry over from todays experiment of seeing what the kids at the learning coop could construct that could cover an egg so it could withstand a good drop onto the concrete) .
....Ariel could be found fairly quickly on the couch with some books.
....After the dishes, getting the curry on, I came onto the 4Real Boards with a cup of tea.
We were all glad to be home and each of us debriefed from a busy day in our own way.
I think one of the things I love most about homeschooling is being home. So when we are out for the day, busy and out the door at the outrageous hour of 9:30 am (gasp) it is always so wonderful to come home again. Even if it is to a heap of dishes that we were in to much of a hurry to wash (as we are not very polished at leaving the house in the morning in good speed- how do people do it every day??). Even they look inviting as I fill the sink with warm sudsy water and plunge in.
Being home gives me time to be with those four children I love. To see them shine, to help them when they struggle, and to stand back and admire the children they are and who they are becoming. Being home gives me time to look after my family and the home we live in. Not that we don't enjoy a day out, or in the case of spring, and increased load of fun sports and activities. But the coming home is always one of the best parts. It can often look like it did today....
....the three younger children came in the front door and out the back. The two smaller boys to the sandbox and Hannah up 'her' tree. She came down after a bit of some good thinking and decided to begin building her 'egg dropping device' (a carry over from todays experiment of seeing what the kids at the learning coop could construct that could cover an egg so it could withstand a good drop onto the concrete) .
....Ariel could be found fairly quickly on the couch with some books.
....After the dishes, getting the curry on, I came onto the 4Real Boards with a cup of tea.
We were all glad to be home and each of us debriefed from a busy day in our own way.
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