HoneyAnne

I'll Moving

2008-09-20T19:30:00.001-07:00

Well, today was the last straw! I've been having problems with blogger since I started and this mornings struggle to get an entry out signed the deal. I am moving to a more user friendly place. For the few friends who visit please join me at www.honeyanne.wordpress.com

Why we homeschool - Reasons # 1 through 4

2008-09-17T12:26:00.000-07:00

sweetness in the mail

2008-09-10T19:10:00.000-07:00

Emma's Christmas present came in the mail. Little Lisa is so adorable - even down to her little vintage smock! I found her at Bamboletta's etsy shop. I have been looking for a nice Waldorf style doll for some time now. I shop Etsy because I want to support the handmade movement. Isn't it thrilling that a stay-at-home mom decided to share her talent and through the miracle of online shopping has been able to send out one of her delightful creations to touch my child's heart? It's serendipitous really.

I am tired of manufactured mediocrity. I want my children's first mentors to be inspiring, well made and meaningful. Thank you Christina Platt for sharing your talent and industry.

I was so pleased with the little extra 'sweetness' that Christina sent with 'Lisa'. A charming postcard illustrated by Sarah Jane (which I will frame for Emma's room) and some delicious organic dark chocolate made on Denman Island BC (which I didn't share with anyone I am sorry to say). I can hardly wait for Christmas so I can ... I mean, Emma can play with her little dollie.

Days of Summer

2008-08-30T14:21:00.000-07:00

Summer vacation is nearly at an end. The children were able to get a few canoe days in at the local lake.

Tansy went horseback riding. This is her very favorite thing to do any time of year.

Liam learned to ride his bike...finally. He had resisted trying for so long - always insisting he could walk wherever anyone could bike. Now that Liam can ride, he hasn't gotten off it all summer!

Tansy was able to go to her first Girl Guides camp. She stayed up all night giggling - of course! I think she was trying to earn a 'giggle-till-all-hours-badge'. I wonder if they have such a badge , if they don't they should.

Tristan, Liam, Adam and Jarrett went to Writing-On-Stone. This is only the most amazing place on the planet! I've never had so much fun watching a group of boys chase each other through the hoodoos. I think they were orks or something equally charming. If there were snakes in the area to begin with they didn't stay long.

My dear friend Amber came this summer. Emma was named after her (Amber Emma Mary). We spent a day together. It was a wonderful surprise visit.

Legacy

2008-07-06T00:11:00.000-07:00

I look into the eyes of my little Emma and see souls yet to be.

I am working on a Lift cottage meeting presentation which I hope opens discussion about family traditions and family legacy. My goal is to help others (and myself) better create or build on traditions and legacy in our homes. This whole topic was inspired by a lesson I am giving in church tomorrow. I have been moved by the idea of consciously planning for the traditions of my great grand children's children. (Am I a control freak or what?!) Just think about it - what kind of legacy am I leaving them? Can I instill in my own children the values and virtues which will manifest immovable convictions throughout future posterity? What convictions will those be?

If you plan to plant a tree, it is not for yourself but for future generations to enjoy the shade. Whether my great great grandchildren are born yet or not they are still a part of my family and I am a part of theirs. So, I endeavor to put them into my thoughts and plans.

One of those days...

2008-06-12T22:17:00.000-07:00

I had one of those days. You know the kind - pull your hair out or throw in the towel kind of days - the type of day that can't be described without a cliche. Yes, I had one of those kind of days.

I wish I knew the perfect formula to avoid days like this but I don't. All I can do is pray and persevere. God loves mothers - that's why he made chocolate and bubble baths. So, tonight before I slip under the covers I extend a hug to all those who had a bad hair day.

Divine Nature

2008-06-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

I spent my childhood in this grove of trees, building castles in their branches. I spent my childhood pulling off these floral bells (Lungwort for those interested in pretty treasures) and sucking on the sweet nectar inside.

A few weeks ago I was able to visit the homestead and take my children to the places I reverence most of all. I gave Tansy the camera and let her explore. She brought me back these sacred images.

Nature was a big part of my growing up. I spent most of my free time in the woodland which surrounded my home. These little spots are the places I dreamed and schemed - prayed and played. I would hunt for wild strawberry and raspberry. I fell in love with the lungwort, (although to me they were 'sweet bell') meadow rue, yarrow and golden rod.

I recall the first time the cool shade of Poplar and Pine lured me away from the yard. I was young, perhaps 9 or 10 and I thought the woods which cradled our small acreage were a vast forest of mystery (in actuality it was maybe 5 acres). Concerned I'd become lost, I didn't venture too far under the canopy - always sure I could see the house. However, with each visit I was tempted farther and further in until I thought nothing of home and everything of rich moss, shy mushroom and patches of light streaming through thick green branches. No child should live without exploring this magical realm. I do not often recall feeling as true to joy than during those explorations.

My parents are selling the acreage and moving closer to us. I am excited for the chance to have them near but I cringe at the thought of not being able to visit this brush I know and love so well. I cringe doubly so at the thought of not being able to share with my children this particular part of nature year after year.

But I was able to show them a little - and I hope that was enough to awaken a love for the 'wild'. I hope that they sensed within themselves something akin to the beauties around them - that they too have natures divine.

Birthday Bash Part 1

2008-05-13T21:23:00.000-07:00

Tristan turned 10 this year! 10! What is happening to my babies? I wake up and they've grown. Did I miss something?

Anyway, I digress, he decided to read The Wizard of Oz and use it as his birthday theme (He told me the book is much much better than the movie). So we drew a few of his favorite life-size characters and hung them on the wall. This is what the witch really looks like by the way.

The children were asked to come as their favorite Oz personality and they really got into it!

Here representing the 'Lollipop Guild' is a most adorable munchkin!

Dorothy came with Toto in her basket.

We can't forget the charming Tin Man

or the Wizard behind the curtain.

Happy Birthday my son. Try not to grow too fast, it's hard to keep up.

Little Farmer

2008-05-13T14:35:00.000-07:00

"Taxation is very much like dairy farming. The task is to extract the maximum amount of milk with the minimum amount of moo. And I'm afraid to say, that these days, all I'm getting is moo."

Terry Pratchett

Swan Lake Recital

2008-05-13T13:48:00.000-07:00

Several Saturdays ago it snowed and for some reason I banned our computer (I was probably writing something and needed complete privacy and quiet). The children disappeared for a time to the far corners of the basement. There they let the seeds of imagination and invention sprout until they had choreographed their own rendition of Swan Lake.

I was invited and sold a ticket. Emma and I sat in the audience of dolls and stuffed animals.

Spring outing

2008-04-30T12:05:00.000-07:00

There are days that must be spent out of doors. Yesterday was just one of those days. The children and I packed our nature journals and explored the backroads of our growing town until we ended up at a little park.

We saw Pelicans - which I have never in my life seen before. We watched them circle above us in perfect formation. The graceful sky gliding dance pretty much made my day.

Liam is seven and so I know better than to question why he does what he does. It makes complete sense in his mind and that is good enough for me. So I did not make any comment when he decided to wear his long johns under his shorts. Nor did I inquire how he managed to lose his shorts in the lake. If I were to guess I would have to say he lost his shorts in the lake so that he could have an excuse to take off his shoes and wade in the frigid waters. Good thing he wore his long johns though.

While Liam was up to his knees in muck, Tansy wandered away with my camera. She took pictures of trees, shells, duck prints, gofer holes, geese and pretty much anything that charmed her curiosity.

Days like this keep me sane. Days like this remind me how truly blessed I am to be able to have most my children at home with me. (I wish Tristan could have shared in our outing. We miss him while he is in public school). Thank you Father for days like this.

Dear Shawna: Math

2008-04-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

Shawna is our home school facilitator and we use our blog as a means of letting her know what we are doing with our education. These posts could be used as possible reference for other home schoolers (not that I am someone of reference but perhaps what works for us might work for someone else - you never know). So, with no further ado...

Dear Shawna,
Liam and Tansy are using the worksheets from math-drills.com.

Tansy is working daily on her multiplication and long division. The goal is to make sure she is proficient in the basics before we move on to algebra.

Liam has a firm understanding of the concept (he adds in his head and uses his fingers one and two digit numbers). We have never really sat him down for any formal math study. He has picked up his knowledge through play and perhaps observation. Any worksheets he does is a form of play now. He enjoys to do what we call 'window math'.

http://www.math-drills.com/addition/add_horiz_one-digit_001.pdf

http://www.math-drills.com/multiplication/mult030236_001.pdf

http://www.math-drills.com/division/div0301nr_003.pdf

Most of Tansy's work is done using waterproof markers on the windows in the kitchen. We call this 'window math'. This is one way we excite the children to do some figures.

Little Red Ridinghood

2008-02-26T16:28:00.000-08:00

Spring must be coming because I have been hunting flickr and etsy hungry for project ideas. I have found a few things I'd like to make (and a few things I'd like to save up my pennies for). This is my first attempt at what is called a 'creative Kokeshi doll'. Really, I think it is a great little toy for Emma to slobber on.

Little Red Ridinghood wasn't eaten by the big bad wolf but she isn't so lucky when it comes to the big bad baby.

I know, I know this is really a shameless attempt at showing off more Emma pictures. I can't help myself. But painting this little wooden doll was super fun. I can't go too long without creating something.

Joy

2008-02-05T13:19:00.000-08:00

"Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy."

Guillaume Apollinaire

To Beat of the Bum-Drum

2008-01-29T14:19:00.012-08:00

What is a bum-drum you ask?

One afternoon while I was standing at the sink doing dishes, out of the blue, little Liam (then four years) started hitting my bottom rhythmically .

"What are you doing?" I asked in surprise.

"I'm playing your bum-drums." was his pert reply.

Thus the 'bum-drums' came to be. Often it is hiding around the corner waiting for a bum to play apon. It has become part of our family culture - the kind of family culture that could only have been created by a boy.

I love my sons so I wanted to include diary articles about those amazing, ridiculous, hilarious, heartbreaking, gross things they do. My hope is to capture the essence of 'boy'. I hope you enjoy.

Yummy art for Mama...

2008-01-29T14:19:00.011-08:00

Liam and I share a favorite artist - Tasha - she is from Toronto. For Christmas Liam drew his study of Under The Stars with Kitty . I was so excited to get it for Christmas and am presently looking for the perfect frame to hang it. Aren't the colors yummy!

Liam's favorite reads...

2008-01-29T14:19:00.010-08:00

Liam has started reading this year quite on his own. We wanted to share 3 of his favorite books.

If you haven't read this series I would have to say you are missing out on something special. Liam loves to read this book - there are 4 in the series but this one is his favorite because it makes him laugh. He can identify a great deal with Tom Sawyer. What boy can't? The illustrations are wonderful and the stories are funny. Liam laughs out right while he is reading. He chooses this book time and time again.

I am personally an Arnold Lobel fan and he does
the illustrations for this book. Liam loves the stories.
He asks to read this book nearly every time.
It inspires wonderful discussions and family activities.

This is a Classic in our home.
Liam is a softy - and this is our mussy-cuddle time read together. When Liam reads any book he creates voices for each character. It's quite charming to listen to. He gives each animal their own voice in this book. We share many hugs and kisses after reading Nancy Tafuri.

Liam's Christmas gift to Grandma and Grandad

2008-01-29T14:19:00.009-08:00

He's six.
I'm a proud mama.

boy

2008-01-29T14:19:00.008-08:00

"What is genius? -

It is the power to be a boy again at will."
James Matthew Barrie

A Brother's Love - pictures taken Dec 2007

2008-01-29T14:19:00.007-08:00

"I use to be the cutest one, now Emma Is!" ~ Liam

Is there anything more wondrous than a brother's love for his little sister?
I don't think there is. Liam carries his little sister around with such pride and devotion. Just the other day he changed her diaper. The tabs were put on askew but tenderly. He was so proud to be of service to her. Moments like these make parenthood one of the most rewarding adventures I have yet to experience.

The Toxic Waste Challenge

2008-01-29T14:19:00.006-08:00

Toxic Waste Lovers Unite!
We at the Nicol home send out an invitation - a toxic waste challenge!

Get your hands on this stuff (Lethbridge Movie Mill) and take pictures of your reactions.

Send them my way www.stacyanne31@yahoo.ca and I will post them on our blog.

More Toxic Candy Encounters...

2008-01-29T14:19:00.005-08:00

Some friends give it a try...

Toxic Waste

2008-01-29T14:19:00.004-08:00

Jim brought home these horrible candies and we each took our turn trying one. I can't describe in words just how disgusting they tasted - I thought I'd let the pictures do the talking...

And now it's Tristan's turn...

Liam art - Nov 2007

2008-01-29T14:19:00.003-08:00

This is art in acrylics. Liam is the artist. I love the orange! He was learning about primary colors and secondary colors that day. He loves to paint - not so fond of cleaning the brushes afterwards - but the painting part he loves.

clay play

2008-01-29T14:19:00.002-08:00

These are delightful creatures that Liam made one afternoon.

Chasing seagulls - originally written Nov. 2007

2008-01-29T14:19:00.001-08:00

My boys chase seagulls. They seem to like congregating in the baseball diamonds (the seagulls not my boys). Here Liam tries to sneak up on them - slowly inching towards them until they can tolerate the threat no longer. In one torrent of white feathers they lift as Liam bolts to grasp at legs. He has yet to catch one but I am sure when he does we will have to name the poor creature, keep it in Liam's room and feed it french fries.

This is a tradition Dad started. One afternoon he called the children together and told them he needed to show them something. He had them put on their shoes. Once they were outside Dad was off like lightening chasing seagulls. The children watched in amazement. Had Dad lost his mind? Before they dared answer the question, each jetted after him screaming and laughing in due fashion.

I wonder what the neighbours think? No...I don't want to know.

Collecting: Dreams of pretty things

2008-01-24T11:24:00.000-08:00

Ever since I watched Iris starring Judi Dench and Kate Winslet I have fallen in love with this sleek beauty. No, it isn't a film about a pen. It's a film about Alzheimer's disease (such a tragic illness) but there was this scene in the movie - Iris is writing madly in her study with a fountain pen. The image is forever seared into that part of my brain which fancies pretty little things.

I am saving my pennies for her and I will call her Iris when I can bring her home. Iris and I will write many stories that make us happy - in our yellow study tucked in a corner of the basement.

Emma

2008-01-17T13:38:00.000-08:00

Emma is going to be 6 months at the end of January. She has been talking for months now. I heard her laugh for the first time just last week but can't seem to get her to do it again. She is almoooost rolling over - she gets that leg over but hasn't quite figured it all out. She can squirm out of position all too well. She likes to sing in high pitched shrills - yes, glass breaks. Not to mention, the drooling has begun. Floods and floods of baby saliva making puddles everywhere - a Nicol-baby trademark.

God is awake

2008-01-17T12:50:00.000-08:00

"Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake."

Victor Hugo

Christmas Morning #2...

2007-12-31T18:26:00.000-08:00

Because Jim was working Christmas morning I took the children, my sister Ruth and her daughter Iva up north to spend time with my parents and all the Aunts, Uncles and little cousins. We stayed with my sister Michelle. On Christmas eve most of the cousins slept down in the family room. I was designated to chaperon - translation...Ruth got first dibs on the bedroom upstairs -

Like I said in the post previous, morning came at 4:00 a.m. I lay in the dark listening to the children who were allowed to open their stockings until Grandma and Grandad arrived. I enjoyed the many squeals of delight.

"Sweet!"

"I got marbles!"

"I got crayons!"

"I got a frog!"

"I got socks and underwear?!"

"That's 'cause you've been bad."

"I love Santa!"

The grandparents arrived at about 8:30 - by that time all 9 children were on such a sugar high we couldn't keep them downstairs.

After that, glorious chaos broke out - each child was possessed with so much 'Christmas cheer' we were afraid for our lives ... we let Uncle Eddie face the mob while the rest of us sat at a safe distance and prayed for his safe return.

Christmas mornings...

2007-12-31T16:37:00.000-08:00

We had two Christmas mornings this year. How lucky is that?! That's right, two Christmas mornings. Each started at 4:00 a.m. I am not kidding. Merry Christmas to me. I am still recovering. This shot of Daddy is a mirror expression of mine behind the camera.

Dad had to work on the 25th so we opened gifts the Sunday before. It took some coaxing to get him out of bed. I think he had returned from an ambulance call at about 2:00 a.m.

These faces describe better the true meaning of 'Christmas morning'...

Liam opens his own little video camera. He loves to make home movies. I'm sure there will be plenty of footage of me in my 'jammies' (or worse) to come. He'll be charging popcorn on opening night, no doubt. This was exactly what Spielberg looked like when he opened his first video camera.

Believe it or not - she's actually really happy. Tansy had been hoping for a dollhouse and Grandma gave her miniature furniture.

When we put the gifts under the tree, we didn't put names on them so the children were left to guess who got the biggest packages. Christmas morning each child chose a box and we'd tell them who it belonged to. Here Tristan rejoices. He got the biggest box.

Oh the magic of a children! It is the elixir of youth.

Trim The Tree

2007-12-11T07:44:00.000-08:00

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:

the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.

~Burton Hillis

2007-11-13T12:11:00.000-08:00

I am in love with my children. Are you? I don't mean to ask if you are in love with my children - are you in love with yours? It is so easy to slip into 'bear mode' and start growling at all the little faults a child has - messy rooms, lost socks, broken toys, sticky fingers...need I go on?

Each morning I have been trying to pause and make a conscious choice. I've started saying to myself, "I delight in my children. I am in love with them. I love to spend time with them. When I am with them I feel young again. I am inspired by their energy and I find the energy within to keep up." And then I go out to face them.

Sometimes during the day I have to stop and reaffirm these thoughts because I become distracted by jam all over the table top, unflushed toilets, dirty laundry on the floor, toothpaste on the mirrors...I'd better stop there.

Someone told me there will come a time when I will miss the chaos that children create. Such chaos is a type of artwork, a masterpiece from their souls. Eventually when the creative energy of a child's mess is gone we will mourn it.

Of course I am not suggesting that we encourage sloth and or uncleanliness. Teaching our children the art of being 'neat and orderly' is very important. I am trying to get to the heart of what often gets in the way of a mother's affection. When I begin to feel overwhelmed during the day and want to 'pull my hair out', I am learning to stop and affirm my true feelings for my children first and then proceed with the needed corrections.

Wishing and hoping and thinking and praying...

2007-10-28T18:24:00.000-07:00

There is a song that I hum in my head whenever I stare longingly at this tantalizing picture of Canon-sweetness. "Wishing and hoping and thinking and praying, planning and dreaming each night of his charms that won't get you into his arms..."

I have kept journals since I could write. Later in life I began scrapbooking as a creative source of journal keeping. Since I can remember, I've felt a desire to document my life and my thoughts. Perhaps my life might be of some use to my posterity one day. I write for me and I write for them. I have always thought that journals, personal histories and family albums are precious heirlooms.

I was able to read some of my own Grandmother's journals. When my children were very young, my mother wanted me to compile them (not the children - my Grandmother's journals) into a book. I have yet to return to that project and complete it but complete it I will.

I didn't have a chance to know my Grandmother. As I read her words I felt that I was getting that opportunity. What a great gift I was given. I felt lifted by her strength of character. There is something very powerful about linking yourself to past generations. It can be therapeutic to the soul. Because she lived I live. Parts of her have been passed down to me. I am connected to her. What she has to say is for my good on a very personal level. That reverences and inspires me.

When Hurricane Katrina hit and I heard account after account of all those precious family heirlooms destroyed - lost, I began to think about my own. How could I safeguard my 'life's work'? How could I preserve parts of myself for future generations?

At first I began scanning my journals and saving them on disks. I packed my precious scribblers in large Rubbermaid containers. I know I can't perfectly cover my bases. Anything can happen but I feel that I must do all I can to preserve my writing.

What has this all got to do with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi?

Well, it all started with SouleMama. She is the reason I keep an online journal. It is through her that I saw the value of mixing pictures with text. A new world of journaling opened to me. Not only can I write to future generations but I can share these records with extended family and friends!

I've been using my little 735 hp photosmart digital camera and she has been a good little friend but she can't do all the things that a Rebel can. It's time to hand her over to the children and upgrade!

Not only that, I have joined with two other women (Peggy Hillyer and Karina Witbeck) in creating Lift. We each will be blogging for the website and I want to be able to take some great pictures to mingle with our website, blogs, essays and books - but that is a whole other entry. I'll save that for later.

I can't resist...she's too inspiring...

2007-10-11T09:50:00.000-07:00

I have a few favorite blogs I read faithfully each morning...I am not much into reading the daily newspaper...I am into a different kind of news...a more intimate news...one that inspires me and brings me joy.

I love my diarists. Several I know very well. They are my close friends.

A few diarists I have never met and they don't know I visit them each day (which sounds rather creepy when you think about it ... I'm like a virtual-peeping-tom...anyway, as I was saying...)

Their lives touch mine. Jane Brocket is one of those diarist. I love the way she views the world. She lives in color - literally. I hope you visit her blog but I must first warn you dear reader - reading Jane's entries leads to weight gain. Yes, some posts consist of at least 350 calories.

Yarnstorm makes me happy. When I read her words and digest her photos I feel like there is some hope in this big mess of a world. I feel myself lifted into that part of me who wants to dance in the grocery isle, wear a big feather hat to church, walk barefoot in the park and drink hot chocolate from vintage tea cups. I am lifted into that higher part of me who sings a little louder, talks a little brighter, loves a little deeper - lives a little truer. I value this beautiful globe we live in because it is filled with beautiful places, beautiful things and beautiful people.

Some Bad News...

2007-10-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

Tristan came home from school yesterday with some bad news...
He looked at me in all seriousness and I felt a sudden surge of alarm.

"What's the bad news?" I asked.

"Mom,"
He paused in dark reflection, my concern mounted.

"When I grow up I'm going to get pimples and hair on my butt..."
His eyes grew big and round as he exclaimed in dramatic horror,

"... puberty!"

I suddenly remembered the consent form I had signed the week before so that Tristan could go to a special 'health' class - you know, the one where they separate the girls from the boys to talk about the changes they will go through as they get older.

I still chuckle when I think of his face. Of course, he wasn't sincerely concerned. Like his father, our Tristan is quite the comedic actor. I laughed so hard I think I pulled something that day.

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-10-08T14:37:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't feel right if I didn't take a minute to express my gratitude for the multitude of blessings I enjoy. I feel like the Lord is smiling down on me this season. We have a new addition to our family but I have to also share how grateful I am for my precious other 3.

Tansy is growing up into such a beautiful young woman. She is a second mother to Emma. It makes my heart soar when I see them snuggling and smiling at each other. She is inventive and sensitive. She is independent and a leader. She aches to spend time alone with me - just us girls thrifting and shopping for clothes. She is coming into her own. She has her own unique style. I am blessed.

Tristan is my little prince. Each morning he gets himself up, unloads the dishwasher, makes himself breakfast, feeds the dog and pops his head in my room to say goodbye for the day. Some mornings he leaves breakfast for me. Today we were digging in the garden- breaking up clumps of dirt, happy just being near one another in the fall sunshine. Every now and then he would bolt off in comic terror as the wasps made love to the multicolored sweater he was wearing. I am blessed.
Liam is more than a boy - he is a force, an energy, an untameable spirit. Like the wind, he can not be contained. Liam calls me 'my lovely'. He can't keep his voice down in church. He needs to kiss me and Emma at least 100 times a day. I am blessed.

My Jim. My love. My best friend. He isn't content unless he is rushing out to save someone having a heart attack. He chases seagulls, brings me ginger ale when I feel down and thinks Bruce McColloch's open letter to the guy who stole his bike wheel is absolutely hilarious.

He laughs even harder at Bruce McColloch's open letter to the people who watched the guy steal his bike wheel.

I don't quite get the humor but he actually throws his head back and laughs at this stuff. He makes me laugh. I am blessed.

We bought a new home. It is just the home I imagined having. I feel blessed to have all this space and all these windows. I feel blessed to have a library, a sun room, a laundry room, a cold room and a jacuzzi tub.

I have my health. I live in a free country. I am able to stay home with my children. I am able to worship as my conscience dictates. I have a loving family - good friends. I have books in my library. This list could go on and on and I would still be missing something to add. I am blessed. I am blessed. I am blessed blessed blessed!

Happy Thanksgiving my friends.

Our Family

2007-09-24T20:55:00.000-07:00

These were taken on Sunday. We had Emma's baby blessing at home with family and friends around. It was a special day for us all. (I'll post pictures of our friends but I need to get permission first).

Emma is Smiling!

2007-09-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

2007-09-24T20:52:00.000-07:00

3 Generations

2007-09-24T17:27:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh! Aren't we gorgeous!? This is my mother Iva, myself, my daughter Tansy and lil' Emma. She is seven weeks now.

My mother and I are bibliophiles - only I love the classics and mom is more inclined to a good mystery. We have a weakness for used book stores. We both appreciate old children books - early 1900's. I found the complete collection of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (1940's) by Betty MacDonald! (I just had to share that - when it comes to books I am a bit of a braggart).

Speaking of books...the one displayed in the background beside the white teapot (which I found at a thrift shop for $3 btw) belonged to my maternal Grandmother . It is over 100 years old. Betty Zane by Zane Grey. I remember reading this very copy in my youth. It isn't for reading anymore. It is much too fragile and old. I think my mother is a tiny envious that it has been displayed on my bookshelf and not her own...wink wink.

We also love love love to go to garage sales and thrift stores. I think I inherited this from her. It is truly horrible when we get together to go thrifting - we both blow our budgets shamefully! Yes, yes - budgets have been blown - blown shamefully.

I'ts a Girl!

2007-08-20T17:12:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to post for several weeks but things have gotten in the way. Where to begin, where to begin!

Let's go back to August 30th - moving day. Jim got me up at 4:00 IN THE MORNING to do some last minute cleaning and packing before we were to be completely out of the house by 7:00. We were all moved into our new place before noon. I went to work on unpacking all the rest of the day and didn't get to bed until 11:00 p.m. It was a long day.

August 31 began at about 9:30 a.m...

...and so did some contractions.

I found that if I laid down they went away and I knew that I had overdone it but I just couldn't stay down. I'd get up to unpack something and a contraction would remind me that I needed to sit down and relax again. By 4:30 those pesky contractions were coming regardless of what I was or was not doing. I went in to the hospital. At 36 weeks I was in labor, my doctor shook his finger at me for over exerting myself with the move and off I went to have a baby in a much bigger hospital that had a NICU - just in case.

At 9:30 p.m. Emma Mary was delivered by the nurses - all 5 pounds 6 ounces of her . Once my water broke she exploded into the world in less than 90 seconds. The doctor arrived just in time to deliver my ... placenta.

Emma didn't cry (I didn't hear her cry for 3 days) but she was healthy and perfect. They took her off to NICU while I wolfed down a turkey sandwich. 3 days later we brought her home...

...to boxes. She's okay with it though. She's such a good baby and we are all enraptured by her. She gets lots and lots of kisses (her forehead and cheeks are chapped because of them). She's okay with that as well.

Summer Reading Favorites

2007-07-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard of Clara Dillingham Pierson? Well, let me introduce you to this delightful author! I have fallen in love with her quaint little nature stories for young children. Liam and I have been reading them on-line together. He always wants me to read 'one more'.

Clara Pierson wrote several books for her kindergarten class around the turn of the 20th century. I couldn't find much more about her except that she taught in Michigan. Right now, we are reading Among the Meadow People and it is enchanting. Not only do we learn about the secret lives of insects and animals that live in the meadow but each story has a character building moral.

We read them on-line for free at www.mainlesson.com otherwise known as The Baldwin Project. However, I have enjoyed this book so much that I am buying it as well as Among The Forest People, Among the Night People, Among the Farmyard People and Among the Pond People.

I hope you give Clara Pierson's books a tickle. I don't think you will be disappointed if you enjoy nature stories.

bumble anne bags is open!

2007-05-23T08:00:00.006-07:00

We've done it! We've made the bags! We've created a website! We've designed our logo! We're open for business! Tansy and I are so excited.

Our bags are affordable and 'bumbly-fun'! We try to make our bags out of recycled material and I hunt for vintage fabrics, buttons, and other accessories (what a chore - NOT). Everything we make is machine washable and original!

We hope you take a look at our website and tell your friends about us!

Flowers in the Garden of Life

2007-05-23T08:00:00.005-07:00

"Only that which has character is truly beautiful." Gari Melchers

This is my 9 year old (actually he was 8 when I took this picture) wonder boy. He is an big brother or a pest depending on which sibling you ask, a soccer goalie and an artist. He is also my heart.

I was reading somewhere that children are like flowers in the garden of life. I thought it was a swell analogy and it has changed the way I look at my children. So often I don't 'see' them growing in this family garden. I am not paying attention to who the are, who they are becoming. I don't take the time to sit and enjoy what God has planted here. I get distracted by the monotony that plagues a mother - the cleaning, cooking, laundry, correcting, worrying and so on.

Over dinner we decided what type of flower we each were. We agreed that the baby, Liam (who is 5) was a ‘dandelion‘. Tansy was a 'sweet pea'. When it came to Tristan, Tansy piped in, "He's a stinkweed." But he is my ‘sunflower’ hands down. Daddy was unanimously deemed a 'snapdragon' and I took the title of ‘lily‘.

Word Collecting

2007-05-23T08:00:00.004-07:00

Since I was very young I have been collecting words. I think it started around the time Anne of Green Gables came out on the CBC. I had never heard language play that way and I was enchanted. We had taped the made-for-TV movie and I would sit in giddy anticipation with scribbler and pen ready to capture those words that charmed me so. From that day forward a love affair began and it has never waned.

Some people collect leaves and press them between pages. I collect words. When I read a book I will write down word combinations in my ‘word collection’ journal. My daughter collects words as well and we compare our finds now and again. I would be very curious to meet anyone with the same hobby. Let me share a few:

Butterfly summer
Magically spun
Gentle corner
Stung with cold
A long ago Queen
Cheery charm
Petal-strewn
Surrounded with tradition
Friendly arrangements
Soft spoken advice
Weedy chaos
Fabric-by-mail
The enchanted realm of childhood

Don’t they sound like playful blog headings? These words paint pictures in my mind that inspire me to write. I am not the most talented writer but I love to do it. As a goal I am going to write under these headings to help sharpen my skills as a writer and to try to inspire my daughter to do the same.

Mother ~ Daughter Adventure

2007-05-23T08:00:00.003-07:00

For a two years now I have been thinking about trying my hand at a small business making bags and aprons. I have been inspired by the creative efforts of Soulemama. I had initially planned to partner with a friend but as the years have passed we have taken different paths. For a few months I have been sewing totes and enjoying my creative efforts.

Little did I know but someone was watching. She was always asking about the bags.

"Momma, may I have a bag?"
"Momma, are you making bags again?"
"Oh, I like that bag! Can I have it?"

Then it hit me. "Why don't we do this together?!" I asked her if she'd like to be my partner.

"Can I be the President?"
"Yes, we can both be the President."
"Can I design bags?"
"Absolutely."

Tansy was somewhat interested. So together we brainstormed business names. I came up with a name that I have been quite fond of for years but she thought it was too 'sweet'. She wanted something more 'spunky'. We have Decided to call our little business
bumble-anne bags.
Tansy became more interested. We are presently working on the Logo.

We also came up with a business plan and the more we discussed it the more excited we became. Now she is thrilled about our new business venture and we chat away like girlfriends about it.

This is such a wonderful opportunity to create a memory with my daughter. I'll keep you posted on our little adventure together!

Saturdays ,Convictions and Peggys

2007-05-23T08:00:00.001-07:00

I went to a Leadership Education Forum this past Saturday. It was very uplifting. I was worried that it would confuse me after making up my mind (prayerfully) to send my two oldest back to public school. It didn't. Instead, I felt a calming reassurance I was doing the right thing in our home. With clarity I felt what my purpose and call is. Without doubt ; without second guessing I was cemented in my conviction of the Legacy we are creating in our family.

Now for the work. Ah yes, the work.

I am very inspired by a woman named Peggy. Let me explain.

I don't like work. Truth is, I try to avoid it at all costs. The harder something gets, the more likely it is that I will opt out. This is one of my many character flaws. I will work hard at something if I am enjoying the work but when it starts to get uncomfortable . . . see ya!

Despite this flaw, I tend to be attracted to things that take a great deal of hard work because I know that ultimately I am meant to do more with my life. Aren't we all?

This is were my adoration for Peggy comes in. Here is a woman who has taken the hard road. Sometimes I wonder what she is doing! She organizes forums and seminars. She has created a floating university for parents. She puts on retreats for the youth. That takes juggling and planning; that takes money and sleepless nights; that takes leaving comfort zones and sacrifice - that takes work!

She has 6 children under the age of 8 - two of which are babies. She struggles with timidity and insecurities (although I can't understand why - she's such an amazing woman). Her husband is an actor so until he lines up that one big break, things are tight. Although I am sure they have kind intentions, she has opposition (the kind only a homeschooling parent can appreciate) from family. Did I mention she has 6 children under the age of eight? Two of which she has adopted. And still she keeps going with these dreams and plans to keep Leadership education alive.

Why? Is she crazy? Overly idealistic? A masochist?

Or does this have something to do with conviction, courage and purpose?

People don't do hard things unless they are either crazy or convicted. This I believe. Why on earth would a group of people break away from the main church in England to worship as their conscience dictates; under the threat of imprisonment or death; get on a ship and sail to America only to meet similar opposition unless they were either crazed, idealistic masochists or spurred by courageous, purpose driven conviction?

Peggy would joke that she is crazy but she isn't. The girl has conviction. Because of that conviction she has been making sacrifices to do the hard work that needs to be done in order to create the learning and living environment she knows will lift her family to the place they are meant to be. It hasn't been easy and I can't fully appreciate just what that means. I can only sense it with a sympathetic shudder.

That kind of determination moves me. At first, I was so glad she felt the 'call' to keep leadership learning burning bright in our area because then I wouldn't have to worry about doing any of that hard work. But because of Peggy, I am able to hear clearly what my call really is and because of her example I am less afraid of the work that needs to be done to answer it.

With conviction comes work.

With work comes reward.

With reward comes more work.

With work comes peace.

All I have ever wanted is peace. There is only one way to peace and that is through work.

*crap* I mean, yippee!

Of Fairies, daughters, and motherhood - of poetry and ideals

2007-05-15T12:52:00.001-07:00

Years before Tansy was conceived I was looking through a book and fell upon this picture of The Tansy Fairy. I was so taken by it (this was right at the time commercialized fairy-mania started charming the west) that I imagined my child looking just like this. I was so captured by this picture that I vowed that I would name my first daughter after her...I did just that.

I thought to myself at the time, ‘my daughter is going to look just like this fairy. She is going to have round rosy cheeks and dimpled knees and I am going to love her.’ Curiously enough, she did grow to look like this fairy but she also grew in ways I hadn’t thought of at that time - that time before I began to look with a mother‘s heart.

Here is my first born - my only daughter. She is so much more than rosy cheeks and dimpled knees (which knees she has outgrown). She is a writer, a mentor and my spiritual advisor in many ways. Her spirituality catches me off guard so often that I wonder at her. And I am to be her guide? Maybe I should just sit back and be the student. Didn’t Christ tell us to become as little children?

I know that sometimes I forget His words. I get caught up in preparing my children for adulthood. They grow so fast - why do we push them? We sometimes get so caught up in the pushing and preparing that we miss the point. “And a little child shall lead them”.

Sometimes looking with a mother's heart becomes distorted by expectation, worry, guilt and pride.I think that looking with a mom’s heart and looking with a poet’s heart are the same. A poet normally looks for the beauty in life and finds it in the strangest places. Out of pain a poet finds beauty. In the mundane a poet finds art.

Robert Frost wrote, “Poetry begins in delight and ends in wisdom’. So should looking with a mother’s heart!

I heard that children are like flowers and I liked the analogy. I wonder if, ‘children are life’s poetry’ is not more fitting. Not poetry we write but poetry we delight in and then gain wisdom from. And if that is so - if we can see our children as living poetry doesn’t that make us the same as well? Didn’t someone somewhere write, “If you can’t be a poet, be the poem”?

Troels wrote something that impressed me very much, ‘Like with some shy animals that will not allow you to approach them, but if you turn your attention elsewhere they may choose to approach you.”

I contrast that against something Dr. Phil says (yes, I do watch him now and again, I’ll admit it) - he says that we write on the slate of who our children are. I wonder at that comment.

Why should we try? I mean, wouldn’t it be better to be the best poem (or example) we can be and let our children approach us (or learn from us)? I guess that happens regardless. But I know that I tend to ‘go after’ my children to clean their rooms, mind their manners, do their homework, say their prayers etc etc. And I am not saying that these things shouldn’t be taught a child...I guess what I am addressing is how these things are taught to a child.

Using Troels shy animal analogy, an animal will run off when you go after it but if you turn your attention elsewhere - I suggest inward- it will approach you. That makes the thought of being approachable take on a whole new meaning for me. I think that being approachable means living the life I have the best I can. It means doing what I know to be right. It means stopping what I know to be wrong. It means seeking out the beauty and enjoying it where ever it is.

My adopted philosophy is to leave the child to explore and seek, guiding her through example. Of course I am not suggesting that we leave a child to explore danger and seek where evil intent prowls, I am just saying that we need to check our expectations and our plans so we are not smothering our children with them. I am saying that we need to watch with poets eyes at the children around us.

Oh dear, have I exposed myself as an idealist. It is true, I am. I try not to go over the top but I am prone to rant and rave. I can’t let go of the ideal I’m afraid, it is the north star to which I navigate my life.

Reason or rationalization? A rant of limitless proportions

2007-04-18T09:39:00.000-07:00

I am having a baby in August. A baby. I haven't been pregnant for 6 years. Why this fact has tipped me upside down is a mystery to me. It's not like this was a surprise. We decided to have one more child.

I've been sick and tired. Nothing new there, I was sick and tired for the last 3 pregnancies. However, this time around there has been a deep changing within. Many of the things I loved before, many of my goals and dreams aren't important to me. I am just not interested in them anymore.

Homeschooling, Leadership education, Art of Womanhood and the newsletter - I don't want to do it anymore. Just like that. Overnight. Huh!!!? For the first 3 months of this pregnancy, my bookshelves (which has been my pride and joy) made me ill to look at. I had no interest in reading another classic. Even the idea of scholar phase overwhelmed me to nausea. I was very confused by the strong feelings I was experiencing so suddenly and without warning.

I equated it all to morning sickness and expected that when I was feeling better I would get back to reading and writing. I have returned to my writing but I haven't really picked up a book. A friend is having a book discussion on C.S Lewis's Abolition of Man for May. I could try to get into it. I've loved the idea of reading C.S. Lewis in the past . . .

I am the editor in chief of the Art of Womanhood newsletter. This has been a wonderful opportunity and a dream I have had for many years. I had wanted to start my own newsletter (actually I wanted to start a magazine) for woman - to inspire them in their roles as women, mothers and housewives. That's exactly what Art of Womanhood does! Now, I want to drop it. I don't want to do this newsletter because it is too much work. My dream!!!? Where did that come from?!!!

I've been very excited about homeschooling for many years. Now, I want it to go away. Bam! I want my children to go back to public school where someone else can be responsible for educating them. There I said it truthfully. I don't want the responsibility that seems to be an anvil on me. It's too much pressure. It's too much work.

Reason or rationalization?

This baby coming is worrying me. I wonder what I was thinking when I decided for one more. I try to tell myself this baby is a blessing but I can't ignore what has come with each child; Postpartum depression, anxiety, fatigue, heaps of laundry, painful breastfeeding experiences, feeling overwhelmed and helpless. All of which I have gotten through before. I am so glad for each child the Lord has sent. This baby is a blessing.

What is four children? Many women in this community have 6 - 9 - 12 children. Am I a wimp? I just can't see how I can homeschool, carry on with Art of Womanhood and work towards a scholar phase with that year of the baby looming. It's my breaking point and it hasn't even happened yet.

How will I get up in the morning to start that routine of the day when I am up all night feeding? How will I cope with the depression, be an example of life long learning, nurture my children's love of learning and keep dinner on the table? For me, it is difficult to stay happy that first year of a baby. Maybe it will be different. Maybe no depression. Maybe the baby will latch wonderfully. Maybe the baby will be a good sleeper. Maybe I will have energy to spare.

A friend, Heather Burton, believes we can do difficult things. I believe it. I am just in a spot where I don't want to do it. I don't want to struggle through it and I resent the idea that I might be giving up the grand prize at the end. This could make me stronger. If I can homeschool and stick with the newsletter, if I can keep up my studies and cope with postpartum life then I will be a pillar of strength. I will have gone through the refiners fire. I will have arrived at 'amazingness'.

Mediocrity looks pretty good to me right now. Why can't I just be happy with who I am and what I have right now? Why am I always chasing the grandness of it all? Why can't my progression be small steps to small victories? Why can't that be sufficient enough? Why can't I enjoy the quiet of my life?

reason?

My dear friend Peggy finds it frustrating because her mother-in-law isn't supportive of her decision to homeschool. I am very worried of the comments homeschoolers will say when I send my oldest back to public school. I've heard them before about others who have gone back to public school. I've said them before about others who have gone back before. I wish I had never passed judgement.

Do you know what I want to do?

I want to sleep. I want to dip fresh Focaccia bread into balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I want to sew a bag and buy a teacup. I want to plant primrose in my garden. I want to restock rice in our food storage.

I am sewing!

2007-04-02T09:13:00.001-07:00

Let me tell you of my experience in sewing. My mother put me in 4-H sewing when I was 12. I used a very old sewing machine that might have been my grandmothers or someones' grandmothers'. It seldom worked. I spent most of my time a.) fighting with the sewing machine and b.) ripping out the stitches I managed to sew. My 4-H leader did most of my sewing because I was so behind. Needless to say- I have hated sewing since.

In the late 90's my husband bought me a sewing machine which I used a little. I made a dress for my daughter (with a lot of help from a friend) and I made some curtains and other odds and ends. I didn't hate it anymore but it wasn't my favorite past time.

Suddenly, all I want to do is sew. Totes! I made these and I had such fun! No help from anyone. Granted, they aren't hard to make but they bring me such pleasure. I love love love totes! I can not have too many. They work for everything. I am hoping to sell a bunch of them locally.

Thrifting treasures

2007-04-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

It's coming close to that time of year again! Yes, yard sales and thrifting adventures! Look at these goodies I found at my favorite thrift store. They make me so happy I just had to share!

For months I have been reading other women's blogs and drooling over their thrifted treasures. It has inspired me to journal what I find. I can't describe the pleasure this hobby brings me. The only rule I have is that I must love-love-love it if I am going to bring it home with me.

Rollie - Pollie

2007-03-09T17:38:00.000-08:00

Tansy and Tristan put on a little skit the other night. They played a rollie-pollie old couple who did a whole lot of toppling over after staged collisions. In fact, that's the script in a nutshell. Yup - Oscar quality performances at our house.

My Nemesis

2007-03-09T11:14:00.000-08:00

I married a gamer. He spawned more gamers. I am the only one in my family unaffected by this mutation but I've learned to adjust to their strange obsessions. Our solution - Saturdays are for gaming. Simple. They can play all Saturday after the chores are done of course, if they want (and they most emphatically want).

Tree School

2007-03-09T10:31:00.000-08:00

One sunshiny afternoon last summer, Liam decided that he wanted to go to 'Tree School'. Soooo- using ropes, pillows and blankets, I made these cocoon-like seats in our willow trees. I made one for each child. They took their books and sketchbooks to Tree school and spent all day learning in their little nests.

Tansy spent the afternoon reading about Greek mythology. In her sketchbook she illustrated each story in pencil. Tristan thought it would be appropriate to take a book about monkeys to his tree school. She spent the afternoon looking at monkey pictures and pretending to be one.

Exploration

2007-03-09T09:54:00.000-08:00

In October of 2006 we took the children to a near by fishing hole to explore the waters edge. We spent that afternoon trying to catch minnows in a bucket (failing miserably) and seeing how big a splash we could make (much more successful).

This was a lesson in exploration. I wanted the children to just explore and understand that they didn't need an outline to learn something. The motto for the day was, "Look. Look. Look. To Look is to know." unknown

It was a lesson for me as well - a lesson in letting go. It was hard to keep myself quiet when I thought they might get soaking wet. I needed to learn to trust in the value of a child's curiosity by sitting back and letting them explore.

Little Rascals

2007-03-06T10:18:00.002-08:00

This picture of our 'Alfalfa' was taken a few years ago. No, it wasn't Halloween. After a weekend binge of Little Rascal movies, Tristan decided that he needed to pay tribute to the late Carl Switzer. He spent the whole day in character.

Glimpses -A Typical Day With our Boys

2007-03-06T10:18:00.001-08:00

Boys are gassy.

My boys have perfected this fact into an art and a perpetual performance in our home.

Here is a little script of just one of those performances.

Liam is ... flatulent.

Tristan: Ewwwww! Your fart smells like cookies!

Dad: What's wrong with that? Cookies smell great.

Tristan: Not those kind of cookies - poo cookies!

Flinching and Education ( meant more for the investigator )

2007-02-14T16:15:00.006-08:00

Originally written
Tuesday, 30. May 2006

It is a quiet morning and I found some time while the children are absorbed in games of make believe to write some reflections I’ve been having because of Adler’s essay (posted before this one).

Getting this essay came at a good time for me. I have been listening to well meaning people question the choices I am making with regards to our family’s learning. As much as I would like to claim I am unmovable in my convictions I much confess I flinch now and again. So this essay reminded me what I was trying to accomplish and why.

I think school or colleges should only be condemned when their policies and practices get in the way of my educating myself. I think generally, people look to find fault or look to blame something else for their troubles. I don’t think it is the schools' or colleges' job to educate me or my children. I really don’t. A school might be in the business of educating but I don’t think they replace my responsibility to my own education.
I see it this way... I want an education. Say, I want to learn to read. I seek out someone who can show me how. They show me. I learn. I can read. The teacher gets my thanks and maybe some of my money but beyond that I owe him nothing more. From there on I am pursuing my own education by using this new developed skill. That is a simply put as I think it.
Adler says this;
“The very best thing for our schools to do is to
prepare the young for continued learning in later life by giving them the
skills of learning and the love of it.”

Yes, I agree here. However, I am not going to count on or rely on some one to do for me what I should do for myself.

So many of us send our child off to school and we expect a teacher to educate that child. We all believe that is a teacher‘s main priority, right?

Here is where the problem is I think.

Schools don’t focus on teaching you how to think. They focus on teaching your child what to think. If the teacher gives Bobby enough of the what to think Bobby will hopefully learn how to think for himself in the process. I am sure there is some success in this because children are bright but unfortunately with age comes the dullness of life’s distractions. What happens, perhaps, is that when Bobby graduates and no longer get the ‘what’ to think from teacher he loses some ability ‘how’ to think and his education ends there...unless, of course, he starts to get his own education now that all the legal requirements are fulfilled.

What’s my point? My point is that no one should assume responsibility for my education but me. The message I try to send to my children is the same, ‘no one is responsible for your education but you.’ You can find others who know more and get from them what you need. I think in that case a mentor is much better than a teacher but that’s a whole different blog.

Some might say, “a child doesn’t know what he needs.”

To which I feel almost like laughing. No one told an infant that they needed to walk. They knew it on their own. We don’t send our babies to walking and talking schools. They instinctively know and learn without an institution claiming responsibility to educate the babe. (Although with all the little Einstein programs and developmental toys out there...Gad! But I am not going down that road. Nurseries burst with color sound and texture but a child is most stimulated by LOVE- always has been always will be).
Anyway, a child does know what he wants to learn. A child knows what he wants more than most adults do. When children like something and they go after it, they touch it, they ask a billion questions about it, they smell it , taste it, pull it apart. Children know what they want to learn and all we can do is be there with the billion answers and better judgment so that our children aren’t put in harms way. Done. But I’ve said this a gazillion times, or as my son says ‘five thousand hundred billion’ when he means to say ‘a lot’.

Education is simple - Read, write, discuss & explore. It is, admittedly, hard to do but it is simple.

A son says, “I like dinosaurs.” We pull out the Dinotopia series and start reading it. We pull out dinosaur books and start drawing pictures. We go to a Dino museum, give our child a camera and a sketch pad and chase after them not to climb the exhibits or open the ‘staff only’ doors.

Kids know.

A daughter wants to be a ballerina. We read the many reditions of Swan Lake and take her to the performance. We get her a tutu and slippers. She writes stories about ballerinas, she draws pictures of ballerinas (and leaves them all over the living room floor because the fridge is completely full of dinosaur pictures!). We find her a mentor and let her go to classes. We watch her dance and clap and kiss her.

Kids know.

A son catches a spider and pulls his legs off. We read Charlotte’s Web and talk about it. We get a tarantella from the pet store call him Harry and buy him crickets to eat. Harry gets out once and we take him back to the pet store replacing Harry with posters and rubber tarantulas.

Kids know.

Ha! No flinching today. Sorry for the rant. It’s almost like throwing up - once you start you just can’t stop.

Food for Thought

2007-02-14T16:15:00.005-08:00

Schooling Is Not Education
By Mortimer J. Adler

CHICAGO - For more than 40 years, a controlling insight in my educational
philosophy has been the recognition that no one has ever been - no one can
ever be - educated in school or college.

That would be the case if our schools and colleges were-at their very best,
which they certainly are not, and even if the students were among the best
and the brightest as well as conscientious in the application of their
powers.

The reason is simply that youth itself - immaturity - is an insuperable
obstacle to becoming educated. Schooling is for the young. Education came
later, usually much later. The very best thing for our schools to do is to
prepare the young for continued learning in later life by giving them the
skills of learning and the love of it. Our schools and colleges are not
doing that now, but that is what they should be doing.

To speak of an educated young person or of a wise young person, rich in the
understanding of basic ideas and issues, is as much a contradiction in terms
as to speak of a round square. The young can be prepared for education in
the years to come, but only mature men and women can become educated,
beginning the proms in their 40's and 50's and reaching some modicum of
genuine insight, sound judgment and practical wisdom after they have turned
60.

This is what no high school or college graduate knows or can understand. As
a matter of fact, most of their teachers do not seem to know it. In their
obsession with covering ground and in the way in which they test or examine
their students, they certainly do not act as if they understood that they
were only preparing their students for education in later life rather than
trying to complete it within the precincts of their institutions.

There is, of course, some truth in the ancient insight that awareness of
ignorance- is -the beginning of wisdom. But, remember, it is just the
beginning. From there on one has to do something about it. And to do it
intelligently one must know something of its causes- and cures - why adults
need- education and what, if anything, they can do about it.

When young adults realize how little they learned in school, they usually
assume there was something wrong with the school they attended or with the
way they spent their time there. But the fact is that the best possible
graduate of the best possible school needs to continue learning every bit as
much as the worst.

How should they go about doing this? In a recent book I tried to answer the
question, "How should persons proceed who wish to conduct for themselves the
continuation of learning after all schooling has been finished?" The brief
and simple answer to the question is: Read and discuss.

Never just read, for reading without, discussion with others who have read
the same book is not nearly as profitable. And as reading without discussion
can fail to yield the full measure of understanding that should be sought,
so discussion without the substance that good and great books afford is
likely to degenerate into little more than an exchange of opinions or
personal prejudices.

Those who take this prescription seriously would, of course, be better off
if their schooling had given them the intellectual discipline and skill they
need to carry it out, and if it had also introduced them, to the world of
learning with some appreciation of its basic ideas and issues. But even the
individual who is fortunate enough to leave school or college with a mind so
disciplined, and with an abiding love of learning would still have a long
road to travel before he or she became an educated person.

If our schools and colleges were doing their part and adults were doing
theirs, all would be well. However, our schools and colleges are not doing
their part because they are trying to do everything else. And adults are not
doing their part because most are under the illusion that they had completed
their education when they finished their schooling.

Only the person who realizes that mature life is the time to get the
education that no young person can ever acquire is at last on the high road
to learning. The road is steep and rocky, but it is the high road, open to
anyone who has skill in learning and the ultimate goal of all learning in
view - understanding the nature of things and man's place in the total
scheme.

An educated person is one who through the travail of his own life has
assimilated the ideas that make him representative of his culture, that make
him a bearer of its traditions and enable him to contribute to its
improvement.
Mortimer J. Adler was chairman of the board of directors of the Encyclopedia
Britannica. Article from The New York Times.

Lessons in Lumber...

2007-02-14T16:15:00.004-08:00

Originally written
Wednesday, 8. March 2006, 13:38:22

When we bought our first home, in the back corner of our lot there resided a log pile. It had been there for a very long time. Most of the logs (no doubt meant for the fire place) were useless with rot. It was an eye sore that needed to be fixed. Naturally my husband, sensing that I had work for him to do, didn’t feel that it was a priority. We did not have a truck to haul the mess away to the dump with. I did not know anyone in town well enough to ask any favors so I was left to my own ingenuity. It was early spring and I saw that we had a fire pit in the back yard. I decided that log by log I would burn that pile of old wood in the little fire pit. It took me several weeks before each log was consumed. The rest of the bark and debris that wouldn’t burn I put in dozens of bags which I took - bag by bag - to the dump in the back of our family vehicle. It was a big job but I had it done after a few months much to my satisfaction. I worked hard and that felt good.

Now I must contrast that story with a very similar experience I had as a child. I was given the job to move a heap of tree limbs and broken branches to a burn pile across the yard. It was a mountainous mass for a 10 year old to move. And it took months of crying, complaining, procrastinating and faking injury to get it finished. The problem I had here was that I focused on the pile. I did not think about the branch at hand (although that is exactly how I moved that pile). It did not give me a sense of satisfaction. I was relieved the torture was over but not satisfied in a job well done. I worked hard - complaining - and that did not feel good.

When I think of the responsibility I have taken on as a home base learning mom I think of those wood piles. I have a big job ahead of me. I am not about forcing a child to learn (actually, I am all about that because that is how I was taught but I am taking the steps to end the cycle). It doesn’t work. It is harmful. I am however, about guiding them towards excellence. I do want my children to “learn accurately; to read, to write, and count readily and competently; to acquire a sense of history and develop a taste for literature and the arts”. [Jacues Barzun] What parent doesn’t?

I have a huge job ahead of me because I need to work hard at my own self education so that I am prepared for the questions that come my way. In a Thomas Jefferson Education this is a principle titled, ‘You not Them’. I have a great deal to learn. The wood pile is a mountain! How on earth am I going to learn it all? Why, one log at a time of course. As I study one subject, one book, one idea at a time I will be ready a little more each day.

For example, I am reading The Fairy-land of Science by Arabella B. Buckley. Chapter by chapter I am learning something new (and loving it). I am reading to learn. I am not reading to get the book finished. Let me say it again (only to remind myself) I read to learn - to understand - to grow - to expand - to prepare.

Hard work feels good when it’s over. Worrying, complaining, procrastination, making excuses, ignoring is hard work too but it doesn’t feel good. That reminds me of a quote I once read;

"We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same."
Carlos Castaneda

Heroes and Sheroes con't

2007-02-14T16:15:00.003-08:00

My husband can't stand the sound of her voice - but to me it's like pure water rushing over my soul - I wonder if she'd cringe at my poetic attempts. That voice, deep and rich, rising up out of a spirit that knows something - moves me unlike any voice. Last summer I listened, over and over again to her (via internet) speak at Coretta Scott King's funeral. She lifts me - almost tosses me up with her words...her song. I remember looking at her and thinking, "Goodness she is getting older." I prayed that moment as I listened to her sing 'I shall not be moved' that she would not be moved from this life just yet.

She speaks to my woman soul - tossing me up and up and up ...

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman

Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Maya Angelou

Heroes and Sheroes

2007-02-14T16:15:00.002-08:00

Orgininally written
Wednesday, 18. October 2006, 22:29:2

"Fear is a habit. I am not afraid."

This is Aung San Suu Kyi.

She is a non-violent, pro-democracy activist, the leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma. Such a leader is not welcomed by the militia dictatorship there...

Her example lifts me into my humanity. Her story is one of great sacrifice and she faces it with the heart of a Lion that lies with the lamb. Please read this essay she wrote in the 90’s. See if you are not lifted - you have nothing to be afraid of...

http://www.dassk.org/contents.php?id=416

“The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.” Aung San Suu Kyi

Life Long Learning

2007-02-14T16:15:00.001-08:00

Originally written
Wednesday, 1. March 2006, 13:51:44

Some already know that we have decided to take the children out of public school for the fall and some already know that we are also moving back ‘home’ this summer. I am so excited for both! I am looking forward to starting home based learning again that I am already planning and scheming (here is where I am rubbing my hands together and smiling).

The children are very anxious to start home base learning. They wanted to start a while back but we are going to finishing out the year at public school. I am glad they came to this on their own and I am relieved at how anxious they are to get going.

A few words come to mind when I think of our families hbl style.
Exploration. Creativity.
Classic. Family. Faith.

The other day I read the email of a very enlightened woman who talked about how she can really only give to her children what is ‘hers‘. It has resounded within me for the past few days. There are things I am aware of that I am good at, talents I have been developing my whole life and some I have just started to develop. These are the things that are 'mine' that I can give to my children.

This year I am focusing on giving my children what is mine. I am committed to becoming a scholar in these areas. I am also committed to teaching my children scripture stories and our family history starting with Great Grandparents(who they were and what they did). I am committed to exploration this year. I am committed to having early morning walks. I am committed to teaching them how to manage a home. I am committed to exposing my children to as many things as I can. I am committed to inspiring a love of learning (not forcing or pushing anything).

I want my children to understand that learning is a life long commitment and that it is their responsibility to educate themselves.

And of course I am blogging our journey as a family. I am documenting it for many reasons; so that family and friends understand what we are doing, it’s a part of our family history, it’s a resource for others who might be interested, it’s a place my facilitator can go to see what we are doing and it is a creative outlet for the whole family.

Looking Good - Jane Eyre style

2007-02-14T16:15:00.000-08:00

Originally written
Tuesday, 3. January 2006, 22:39:43

Recently, I had subscribed to daily emails that gave tips/advice (fun or silly depending) to help me become more charming...why not hey?

The other day I got an email about Frump ... that I should avoid it at all cost. Now, this email slapped me in the face because well...I have gained some weight and have become rather 'frump-a-licious'.

According to the experts, there is no such thing as 'frump-a-licious. (frump meaning the lack of care in one's appearance - don't do one's hair, wear grubbies in public etc).

It has been bothering me ever since. I have always been the type of person that for the most part, when it comes to fashion, has not really (depending on the day) cared what I looked like. I can go out without make up and I have been know to frequent the grocery stores in my pj bottoms (when laundry has been neglected or I feel particularly bloated...yes, it is true). I have always maintained that it really doesn't matter what a person looks like, it matters what they are like on the inside.

It just so happened that as I was reading Charlotte Bronte's Jane Erye she addressed the same topic but she put it in words that didn't so much slap as they did gently nudged.

"I rose; I dressed myself with care: obliged to be plain - for I had no article of attire that was not made with extreme simplicity - I was still by nature solicitous to be neat.It was not my habit to be disregardful of appearance, or careless of the impression I made: on the contrary, I ever wished to look as well as I could, and to please as much as my want of beauty would permit."

There you have it. Ever the sage that Jane is. It's really that simple, beauty is an effort to do the best with what you have. She wasn't a handsome woman herself, she being rather little, pale, with irregular features. She was plain...Jane. And yet, I love her...she is one of the most endearing female characters ever written (so far anyway). Jane teaches how we need to take what we have and fully use it to our advantage.

Appearance to her, I think, was a way of reflecting on the outside who she was on the inside. She wasn't trying to catch a man, she wasn't vain, she wasn't obsessed. She color coordinated her spirit with her body if you will.

So, there you have it, I am going to cease all disregarding of my appearance and careless making of my impressions. May this tiny little thought help where it may...if only to get you to read Jane Eyre (again and again)...and to let you know that you are indeed beaut-a-licious!

Our Christmas Tradition

2006-12-06T17:21:00.000-08:00

We put up our tree today. The children were a flutter with excitement. Every year we carefully hang the ornaments only to discover we forgot to put the lights on first.

This year we did not forget to put the lights on first. . .

we forgot the garland.

And like each past year, between groans and protest, we had to take everything off. The garland was wrapped around the tree followed by a second aplication of read balls, precious trinkets and shiny bells. This is our Christmas tradition. What's yours?

Inspired by Soule

2006-11-28T21:32:00.000-08:00

I found I had the time to visit one of my old favorite blog sites. (Just a quick side note - it's interesting how reading blogs has replaced the television for me.) I particularly like soulemama and her world in Maine. She inspires me with her constant doing, living, loving and being. I remember now what I am trying to accomplish with my own life. I want our home life to be as readable as Soulemama's. For me, she is a true diarist and her dairy inspires me to live a little closer to home.

The other day (just yesterday in fact) I was talking to a person in my life. She is hurting and making some choices I'm glad I don't have to. As she talked to me about her dilemma I couldn't help but see how small her life was. I am not trying to be insulting or judgemental for I'm trying to honor where she is at and where she is trying to get. And yet I see how she hasn't really been living to her full potential these many years and now she is paying the consequences. It got me to thinking about living a large full life and how determined I am to make sure I do. Soulemama's blog about pinch pots reminded me that living large happens in the smallest details.

Living large happens in the smallest details. It happens day by day and in the corners of our bookshelves. It is collected on windowsills and in the laundry. It lays amongst the dust bunnies under the sofa. It happens while we read to our children and to our inner child.

I thought about the principles (I have been obsessed with principles lately) I must follow to make sure I live the largest fullest life I possible can. This is what I came up with...

Love & serve God
Love & serve others
Work hard
Make sacrifices
Seek truth and knowledge
Develop talents & use them to help others
Enjoy nature
Laugh as much as possible

I think of all the people I believe have lived or are living life in a big way and I see that they follow these principles. When I look at the times my life has been small or at the smallness of others lives, these principles are lacking.

I hope that I can be as dedicated a diarist as soulemama. I hope I can live 'closer to home' by looking closely at every little detail and appreciating just how blessed I truly am.

I use to love this quote by Roald Dahl because it reminded me of childhood and the magic of imagination but these words take on a whole new meaning for me this evening. Magic happens everyday in our homes, we just need to look with new eyes...

"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't beleive in magic will never find it."

Believe and Live.

Meet the children . . .

2006-10-26T15:52:00.000-07:00

Name:
Tansy

Phase:
Love of learning

Personal Goals for the year:
-To read the intire Lemony Snicket Series (she is on book 6) and the Narnia Series.
-learn French, pig latin and sign language.

Interests:
-reading, drawing, American girl dolls.

She is right now creating the world of Imp. She has been sketching pictures and creating characters and how they live.

If I could do anything in the world I would...

...do what Jesus would want me to do because He will reward me with blessings.

Name:
Tristan

Phase:
Transition into love of learning

personal goals for the year:
-he wants to learn everything he can about dinosaurs
- learn about mathematics (Saxon Math and Mathematicians
are People too)
- read with mom the Dinotopia series
- build a dog house

Interests:
-Dinosaurs, playing with my friends, building things.

If I could do anything in the world...

...I would have 5 puppies.

Name: Liam

Phase: core

Goals for the years: get candy

Interests: Computer games, playing computer games and asking if it is time to play computer games yet.

If I could do anything in the world...

...I would give people $100.

7 questions . . .

2006-10-26T14:08:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about Dr. DeMille's 7 Principles to great teaching lately and how they fit (or if they fit) in our home.

What does 'classics not textbooks' look like in my home?
What does 'you not them' look like in my home?
What does 'inspire not require' look like in my home?
What does 'structure time not content' look like in my home?
What does 'simplicity not complexity' look like in my home?
What does 'quality not conformity' look like in my home?
What does 'mentors not professors' look like in my home?

For the next while I am going to explore these 7 questions and have an answer. Right now the answers are pretty hairy. I am trying to apply the ideals I have into action. That is not an easy thing for a highly idealistic procrastinator to do. I am good at thinking about it and making it look good on paper but not so good at the 'applying to action' part. Sigh.

What came of a nap . . .

2006-10-26T13:36:00.000-07:00

This is a post I wrote last month and sent it to a forum I am on. The response was so positive that I thought I'd publish it here and share it with you.

Today was a nightmare...absolute. By 11:30 a.m. I was in tears, pleading to a Father in Heaven to lift me from my frustrations and set me down somewhere near the equator - alone and with a nice cool drink. Do you ever have one of those days?

My children 'got messy' (which by the way, is a motto I created, thinking that it would inspire them to explore as children should- like they need to be inspired to do that! Geesh!) painting one another's faces - what a wonderful start to a day of learning don't you think? Somehow, somewhere it went wrong and I can't tell you how - it happened all so fast. I was left wondering why I had gotten myself into this...and frantically looking for a way to get myself out.

I thought to myself...'we need more structure...bring back a set curriculum to follow...bring back the conveyor belt'...but of course I had been there- done that and structuring content doesn't work...it isn't best. I knew that. Sending them back to public school wasn't an option either...I know too much and I've come too far to go back now...I had to think of something else...

How was I going to honour my children's phases? How was I going to teach them the lessons of the love of learning phase and still make them accountable for their learning? How was I going to inspire my children to think that learning is more fun than anything else? How am I going to inspire my children that books are awesome and that they can learn anything they want from them? So in finding an answer to these questions I did the only thing a mother can...

I took a nap.

Afterwards the answers came when the tears had stopped and my sinuses drained. I want to share what I came up with and I hope you don't mind. It may not be for you but it is another break through in our home...

My children have a few rules during our scheduled time (not content) -no computer games, no television, no friends. Learning time is family time and it is fun time. However, they really love these three things and so fun family learning time has become something to get through so that they can get to the 'real fun' - computer games, television (movies really) and friends. And yet when they let themselves at it they love to learn...if they let themselves at it...sigh.

Anyway, I get a lot of...'mom, I did my zones (chores), I read a chapter in my book, yeah it was good. I learned I should be nice or something. I drew a picture - it's a flower or a bird, I can't remember. 2x4 is 8, so can I call Tabatha? Can I watch a movie (curse Disney!)? to which I reply 'no' and when I try to explain why I am saying no, they can't hear me because they are in tantrum-mode about how cruel I am and that I couldn't possibly be their real mother...and how they wished they could run away to Nintendo land or where ever. Can you empathize?

So...here's what I did...I wrote a list of things that they needed to answer before they could do the 'really fun' things they wanted to. Then I got really silly (naps help with that)...I grabbed a yard stick and I talked in a German accent (a really bad rendition of Einstein) and I sat them down on the floor before me. I thwacked them with the yard stick when they got unruly (truly! they laughed their heads off - I don't know why but they love when I do that. It doesn't hurt them because of course I don't hit them really hard but it makes a loud 'thwack' and that sends them into hysterics - I would suggest you buy a yard stick for this very comedic purpose)...anyway, for the next 20 minutes I explained to them that if they could answer these 12 questions they could play computer, watch television and have friends over all at the same time if they wanted.

1. Did you FILL UP your mind with stories?
I had a big glass and a jug of juice to demonstrate. I said, 'this glass is your mind and this jug of cool sweet juice is stories'. I asked my son if he filled his mind up with stories, he said "YES". I gave him the I-think-your-telling-a-whopper look. So I poured a little juice in the cup ...not even enough to swallow. I then asked my daughter who read a chapter in her book the same question and I gave her a swallows worth. I then explained as I poured the glass to the top with juice that THIS is filling up your mind with stories and I drank it down (and burped for effect - how ladylike I know).
2. Did you EXPLORE and ask lots of QUESTIONS?
We talked about exploring and what that could be...exploring in books, music, art, nature, the back yard, up our nose (I have two sons), on field trips, in our imagination, in the Lego box...etc

3. Did you LOOK FOR ANSWERS in lots of BOOKS?

4. Did you work on your weekly goals?
My son is in cub scouts and my daughter through our church have goals they work on and complete until they are 12. Each Sunday they pick one goal to work on during the week.

5. Did you read to Liam?
He is our core phaser 5 year old and we are all responsible to read to him or tell him a story of some sort.

6. Did you do something NICE for someone in the family?

7. Did you LISTEN to GOD'S WORDS?
Each morning we read as a family from our central classic.

8. Did you FEEL for the HOLY GHOST?
I discussed that this was a time for quiet and reflection...prayer perhaps or just thinking about good things. It's a time where they try to feel peace and love from God. I want them to have a connection with their Saviour and making ourselves still takes practise. I want them to start now.

9. Did you listen RESPECTFULLY to mommie when she taught you something new?
We have a problem with interrupting and leaving the room when I have something to share. I underlined this one and told my 5 year old that he was responsible for this one most of all...

10. Did you FILL your JOURNALS with what you DID or what you LEARNED or what you FELT or what you DREAMED of or what you LOVE today?
Journaling is a must but how they do it is up to them. My youngest journals in picture form, sometimes I take dictation. Sometimes they scrapbook with pictures or items they found (feathers, dead bugs and such>things) or words...my son (8) writes sometimes in point form.

11. Did you do your zones (chores)?

and most importantly...

12. DID YOU DO YOUR BEST?

I promised them that by the end of the year they won't need this list because they would be doing these things naturally. I promised they won't need to even ask me if they can play at a friends, they'd say, "mom, I am going over to Tabatha's now, see you before dinner" and I'd be okay with that. I promised them that they would think learning is more fun than any old Disney movie - Scouts honour even!

And they jumped up and started a day of learning even when formal learning time had been over hours ago! NO LIES! What is most important is that each day I am answering these questions too. I am learning right along with them. I ask what they are interested in and then I get books and start reading in front of them. I get into it. I'm excited about dinosaurs or bugs or Japan (except when we found a dead salamander during our walk that had been run over by a vehicle and his poor insides where on his poor outsides...I just couldn't join in with the poking and natural curiosity that boys have...anatomy will be left up to someone other mentor thank you very much!) I have weekly goals too and a journal that I draw, paste and write in. I ask a million questions (lately the reoccurring questions are 'what have I gotten myself into?' and 'why me?') but I am looking through books to find the answers too. I share when I can and I take the time to listen to my children when they just can't wait but tell me what they found!

It means leaving my comfort zone but as Abigail Adams wrote to her 9 year old son,

"These are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life or in the repose of a pacific station that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed when contending with difficulties."

Inspire not Require

2006-10-25T10:43:00.000-07:00

Inspire not require is one of the most difficult principles to apply in leadership education. I have been struggling with it for a long time but I think I made a break through last night!

I went to a discussion with some liber-mom's in our community to discuss what core phase and love of learning looks like in our homes. Many of us are having conveyor belt education hangovers (well, I know I am). This sharing between friends inspired some deep thinking on the matter. I know my biggest obstacle is this Inspire business. My mind began to focus on how Sunday School works. I recalled the many times I have taught toddlers, young children, youth and adults at church. I began to recall how I have been taught in Sunday school and Eureka! I realized the key to Inspire not Require!

How does a Sunday School class work? We are invited to come and listen. We invite others to - come and listen. Simple. No tests. No written reports. No demands. No expectations. The teacher provides information and invites the student to hear it.

If I had a class that seemed uninterested I wouldn't get mad. I never forced anyone to accept the Sunday lessosns. If I had a problem, I simply asked myself the question, "What does this group need?" or "What does this child need?" and then I would prayerfully try to find the answer. If I was losing a classes interest I wouldn't give them detention or homework. I never would scold. I would try to find a way to reach them. I would engage them in discussion. I would ask them to help me in someway, whether holding a picture or writing on the board for me. I never demanded it of them they could decline if they wanted.

If I needed my class to be more reverent - I became more reverent. If I needed them to understand their scriptures better I began to study them more diligently myself. If I needed more kindness in the class I was more kind to the students and to others. I endeavored to be always an example to follow.

I tried dilligently to speak from my heart, inviting them to learn the words of God. I invited discussion - a sharing of personal experiences and ideas. Nothing submitted was ever wrong or out of context - never a pass or fail - I tried to fit what was said by a student into what we were learning. Everything could apply. If a child was unsure I would simply give him the answer or ask someone else to help out. There was no pressure to learn.

There was always routine in class. We did things a certain way - the lessons were pre-planned but I was always flexible depending on where the class was in their lives. I didn't worry about making every planned point or even finishing the lesson if the discussion took us down a different avenue and it was a good avenue to go down. I used the spirit to guide the class.

If a child was unruly I only reminded him of the rules. I never yelled or scolded. Sometimes I would take the child to a parent if the child was crying for them or if the child was being too disruptive. It wasn't a punishment. It was just a way of saying ' When you don't disrupt our group you can return.' The child was always invited back whether it was the next moment or the next Sunday.

This is Inspire not Require! This is the type of model I am trying to use in my home. It just feels right to me.

What's your Everest?

2006-10-21T07:58:00.000-07:00

I've been told and I believe that the sure way to success is to keep the end in mind and to work hard until you get there. When we started home based learning I had to honestly ask myself why I was doing this.

What am I trying to accomplish in my home anyway?
Am I willing to do the work - make the sacrifices - take the heat to get there?

I came up with a list of objectives . . .

We are preparing to meet God.

We are preparing for our life missions/purpose to make the world a better place.

We are establishing a tradition of life learning through Leadership education.

We are preparing to be self sufficient.

With this end in mind we go forth each day. It isn't easy. It is the hardest thing I've yet to do. Motherhood is demanding as it is, some days I wonder why I took on this added responsibility of home educating. It isn't that I think that I am better than other mothers or other educators for that matter. Why do some people look at Mount Everest and wish to plant their flag on the top of it? I do it because the option is there and I would love the opportunity to teach my children - to take on the challenge and see it through to the end. So I've taken it with my little flag in hand.

Many people have told me that they could never do it because they don't have the patience. I have stopped saying that they could do it and that they would find the patience. They don't home school because they don't want to - isn't it wonderful how that works! I am not being sarcastic or judgemental in the least. I have been baffled by rumors that home school moms think they are better than the average mother. Teaching my children at home interests me. It is my passion. I don't expect everyone to have the same passions, that would be terribly dull. We all have different dreams and visions for ourselves - or maybe we don't - perhaps we all want the same things we just have different ways of going about getting to that 'end'. What a wonderful life this is to have freedom to choose for ourselves what we do with this time we have!

We all have our Everest's to climb - this is mine. I hope you all the best in climbing yours. Truly I do. I am here cheering you on your way as you ascend it. I believe you can do it.

Lessons from the wild...

2006-10-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

May I share with you a few lessons I learned when I went on a 7 day canoe trip in the BC Rockies last June? I am really glad that I was able to spend that time with my father but I also took away some life changing (I am all about change) lessons from the mountains...

It was a challenging experience up in the wild...but extremely rewarding. I came away with two impressions. The first was from the mountains themselves. Each morning I awoke to them, as I travelled they lorded over me, constant and overwhelming in their beauty. As I started to look with poetic eyes, I viewed them as my sisters.

The mountains are 'woman' in the sense that they steal and break hearts. My father has gone on this canoe trip (a 117 kilometre circuit of trials and lakes...mostly lakes) every June for eleven years now and said that he will continue to come back until he can no longer physically do it. These mountains have stolen his heart completely and they began to steal mine.

I had to ask myself why...what is it about them? It is her beauty true but there is more...what truly wins the heart of man is her generosity and pure integrity. She is always giving - giving scenic delight - cool breeze to us when we were canoeing under the hot sun - crisp glacier streams when we were thirsty - the lush vegetation all about us...and yet on the flip side she is exact and brutal - true to herself without apology and this struck me most of all - winds could come up and weather changed quickly - the breeze to our back could change and blow at us on the lake - the lush vegetation could become a labyrinth of no return if we wandered off too far -the wildlife was unpredictable and we had to be on guard for bear - mosquitoes were a constant blithe and so on. Many a man have lost their lives in her bosom. She breaks hearts without apology. No regret for it and yet, men love her still. We could curse the cold winds and rains that came from her as we paddled to our next camp. It did not phase her. The mountain is what she is and yet she is always changing.

My father says that the wild is never the same. Each year the lakes change - the land changes. It changes where it needs to. It repairs where it is needed. Something falls away, burns away, rots away (a tree...a mountain stream...a rock slide down one side of the mountain) as is needed.

I want to be like the mountain - firm and unmovable but always changing. I want to live without apology for who I am - generous - a pillar of integrity. That is the lesson I took from my 'sister' mountains.

But I also took away another lesson. The scenic beauty of the mountain starts very small. It is made up of the tiniest treasures. As I portaged along trails I began to notice the forest floor. When the trees hide the peeks my eyes rested downward to the plants growing there - mosses, flower, fern, grass, mushroom, shrubs - oh so green. Each different from the next. I think that I am a botanist at heart, my camera took many a picture of these green gems of the forest. They indeed make up the very wilderness.

If you were to look with a critical eye -an unhappy eye - you would see much flaw in the wild. Fallen and rotting trees, lots of them. Yet as you soften your eye you would see what these gems do. Mosses cover the rot, flowers thrive at the base of tree stumps, ferns blanket about the fallen trees. I realized that there is a subtle beauty to the mountain region that builds up and grows into it's overwhelming allure.

It is the same with people. We each are a scenic creation but we are essentially created by individual subtle beauties. We all have flaws just like the forest and we must! For, like the forest, if we didn't then there would be no need for the mosses, the ferns, the flowers and those, poor reader (as I am ranting terribly) make up exactly what the forest is. I see a little more clearly that we each are made up of little things that add to the amazing charm and splendour that is woman (or man).

Each flaw is an opportunity for literally- new growth. I embrace flaw (sorry for the overused cliche) I change flaw where I can but like the mountain I live without apology. I consist of flaw - and your are welcome for it - I believe now more than ever that it is only through mistake that we can grow bigger, brighter and better. Of course I mean that in changing and learning from mistake and flaws this can only happen...does that make sense?

It is through subtle beauty that we thrive. The grand comes from the small and subtle -an accumulation of the small and subtle - Anyway, this is very long but I hope a little thrilling. It was a self changing experience and I would recommend it to every woman. I hope I described what I learned well enough but I fear (unless this is common knowledge to all and I am just slow on the up take...as could very well be the case) it is a lesson best learned on a weeks expedition into the wild and not through second hand telling (or babbling). I hope it inspired where it might...