The Road to Homeschooling

Beach Jewelry

2010-07-14T10:10:00.001-04:00

Original works based on what we found on the Maine beach that afternoon, even the necklace length of (rather coarse) rope.

Maya*made giveaway package

2010-06-24T10:50:00.001-04:00

I was the lucky winner of a book giveaway from maya*made a few weeks ago and the envelope arrived recently in some lovely packaging, including a tissue paper pattern. The mistress of all things reusable!

Summery day

2010-06-21T10:23:00.000-04:00

Waking up early to make blueberry muffins with the little lads made for a delicious morning (and delicious breakfast)! We measured, mixed, tasted, spilled, stained and worked out exactly how many cups of flour we'd already added and if we needed to add anymore... Turns out we added just enough! Of course, we added the blueberries at the 'wrong' time, but again, it turned out to be ok.

An afternoon at the lake beach on this hot, hot day with a big brother meant some splashing (What?! No tears from ANYONE?! Oh, miracle of miracles!), smashball, football, exploring the nearby stream that feeds into the lake, mud (sand) pies on top of heads, chasing each other, yummy snacks (and one egg that apparently was NOT hard boiled, oops!), big brother shark attacks and just more fun than you can shake a stick at!

Good thing we bought ourselves a season pass, we'll be more than making for the cost of it!

Back at last

2010-04-30T09:59:00.001-04:00

Oh, foolish mortal!
I can't believe it took me so long to figure out that I can email to my blogger account. I wasn't able to access my account on my ancient Mac, but plain ol' email has come to the rescue.
I'm excited to start keeping track of our learning adventures again.

Mushrooms for 2009

2009-10-27T15:15:00.001-04:00

A rather limited selection of mushrooms for this year, compared to last! And only 1 stinkhorn (and, gasp, I didn't have my camera with me) that was on the decline when we found it.

My 2 favorites are: the green mushroom we found in the Berkshires at an Audobon spot and a mushroom with a face that looks like a Fantasia mushroom! Oh, and the puffball that we set afloat on the stream last weekend. They don't sink!

Unconditional Parenting

2009-10-20T22:52:00.001-04:00

I must have checked this book out around the time Alfie Kohn had his article published in the New York Times. I'll admit I haven't read the article yet (I have it printed out and safely filed away on my bedroom floor somewhere - ah, there it is!), but it looks to be a synopsis of his book 'Unconditional Parenting'.

I have a lot to say about this book - still not entirely agreeing with all that is said. But absorbing a HUGE amount that I feel will be helpful, that has already been helpful. A child getting upset, making me angry, only adds fuel to the fire and, in retrospect, makes me feel childish for not handling the situation more like a grown up. (I think I can say I always feel badly after losing my temper, for so many reasons, least of all for knowing it was not at all how to go about resolving a situation.) I've been taking notes throughout the book and now I have to create a condensed lump of parenting knowledge to present to my husband so we can try some of these techniques together.

I have also come to realize, that when the children haven't received one of three basics at any given time during the day: enough sleep, enough food, enough time outside, that the characteristics that they each have become askew and jagged. So that it's not always the action that should be challenged by us, but rather, making sure their basic needs are taken care of to minimize outbursts, disagreements and difficulties. Offering them solutions and asking them what solutions they could employ to help them through those difficult times is also a wonderful technique.

I know I'll be more careful next time we practice violin. I tried today when I had 15 minutes. Unfortunately, it was when Huxley was starving, but hadn't realized it. So right after a session where I was sure he was going to crack the violin over my head, he asked for some leftover ravioli, followed immediately by a burrito and 2 pears! I have to plan those practices very carefully from now on!

Close to home

2009-10-13T20:50:00.000-04:00

After school pick ups today: dinner, make chocolate chip cookies, play with violin, read. A quickly moving process, but fairly manageable. It's so hard to 'keep my cool' when I know the clock is ticking and we have to finish dinner by x time, then move on to the next thing. It becomes even more hectic when something that I haven't factored in pops up.

Like Dashiell not eating or using 'gentle hands'. That ends up chewing away another chunk of time. But I suppose these are all teachable moments, when I can lead by example. Remember patience, don't raise my voice, remind him that I love him but his actions are not ok. He needs to try to make choices that he can be happy with and proud of.

But these quick turnarounds from daycare/after school care to home to dinner to bed are so hard on the children. I become impatient too easily some days. They act out very quickly, their energies, as we all come together are all on different planes and feelings get hurt so easily. I need to determine an intermediary step that can try to bring us all together to the same place, even if it's momentarily, to help with those transitions, that remind us to be loving, patient and gentle.
--------------------
And now daddy comes home from a week away. And Nanny (my mum) arrives on Saturday. Home will change again and again as we bring people back into our house. Fingers crossed!

Simple, peaceful, slow

2009-10-12T09:49:00.000-04:00

My 3 1/2 year old has been hitting a lot when he's upset so Simple Parenting is a lifesaver (or at least, I hope it is) giving me some ideas to try out to dissuade him.
Next step, getting him to not say 'Stupid' and 'Shut Up' when he's upset!

I've taken off 3 days of work while Michael had to go unexpectedly out of town, through in a weekend and that's 5 straight days off and it's been wonderful. My patience has felt endless, my ability to slow down, leave multitasking to one side and watch as we all experience our days and evenings has been marvelous. THIS is what life is about. I've never really enjoyed working and only do it because we have to for $ reasons. And I've deplored having 3 hours (tops) with my children each weeknight and most of that is 'processing' them to get them fed and in bed. This long weekend has given all a glimpse into what fulltime homeschooling could be like for us in a few more years. Now I need to have a look at the archives from this sight! Enjoyparenting.com/

The Mama-Om site looks inspiring too and I think she's from my old stomping ground in the PNW and practices Non-Violent Communication, which I'm starting to explore myself.

What we've been up to

2009-10-04T10:51:00.001-04:00

Yesterday made Chez BeeperBebe's chicken noodle soup including the homemade noodles. Way fun! Kind of messy, but i think that was the fun part. Eating it went over well too.

Trying to finish making a rag rug from a already ripped blue flannel sheet that my lads helped me rip into long strips. Gonna try knitting it up today. Our old bathroom rug is VERY old, discolored, gross and falling apart. That's what happens when a 9 year old throw rug gets used every single day! Using Cocoknits.com as a starting point, but my rug will not have the fancy pants cable down the middle. I wouldn't have a clue how to go about doing that!

Made granola today and might check out Mikes Corn Maze in Sunderland with our wellies on!

Our first Suzuki group violin lesson. That was intimidating - and the lesson was for my kid! I'm still not sold on this method, makes the children look like lemmings and the reward system is not the sort of thing we do. Lastly, insinuating that a child is "lazy" because they don't practice everyday? I don't know, seems rough to say to a 3 to 7 year old.

Now the children are making an uber-train track in the living room, then Huxley's working on my flannel yarn ball. He helped me undo the knots in it earlier, now he's making his own ball of yarn with a renegade piece that ripped off the main yarn.

Trying out new things

2009-10-02T20:14:00.000-04:00

Book: Potato Printing – found out about it via Tiny Happy. So intriguing that a random crafty library book from the 60’s is available in separate hemispheres.
Book: Simple Food for Busy Families – a great reminder that the freshest and produce and dried bulk items can be used to give us what our bodies need.
Homemade tinctures – 5 Orange Potatoes and Design*Sponge both recently extolled the virtues of elderberries in helping with immunity. AND I found an elderberry bush on the outskirts of the park down the road. I hope to get a full cup of berries from it – but those berries are so, so tiny!
Eat More Kale – Maya Made’s way to make kale taste delicious. (I have to admit I’ve never liked the cooked flavor, but add a little olive oil, tamari and maple syrup and ‘WOW’ it’s rather yummy and I could definitely eat this at least twice a week)! We’re aiming for dark greens two times a week as a new commitment to treating ourselves better. Plus, it’s growing in our garden like a weed. Honestly, my husband’s been mowing half of the kale that came up in spring.

Trying to get conversations about our day turned into rather uninformative answers: "Good", "Yes", "No". So I came up with three basic questions to encourage everyone to recall what happened to them during their day when they were away from everyone else so we can share our stories.
Daily discussion questions for dinner time conversation:
1. What is something from today that was memorable (be it exciting, challenging, scarey)?
2. What is something from today that you wish you could have changed?
3. What are you looking forward to tomorrow?
Family meetings:
We’re trying this on a weekly basis, after our family day together on Sundays.
1. We talk about challenges we’ve faced and, if it’s a habitual thing, how can we approach things differently in future, or try to remember what were we thinking when we did the action we’re trying to change/stop? What were we reacting to?
2. Share praise for a trying (even if it meant failure)

Mothering Giveaway

2009-09-18T17:20:00.000-04:00

Check it out - a free year long subscription!

Good Food

2009-09-11T21:39:00.000-04:00

Bitten: Peach Sauce "Saving the Peaches"

Bitten: Arepas "The Versatility of Corn" Stuffing them didn't seem necessary, but putting them on the side of a bowl of black beans, cheddar, sour cream, toms, onions, etc. was very easy.

Bitten: Pie made simple "At Last... A Foolproof Pie" I keep the lump of pie crust in the fridge, then slice off sections, roll them out into unrecognizable shapes to put on top of the fruit.

Bread & Honey: Roast your veges! "Hippie Chow" Beets+Carrots+Potatoes or Peppers+Eggplant+Onion+Garlic Chunks mix cubed veges with olive oil, salt, pepper at 400 til tender. Put on any kind of grain or in a pita, pick a sauce. Voila!

This Inspired Life: Don't forget the frosting. "Zucchini brownies"

Finger knitting

2009-05-29T23:47:00.000-04:00

Gave finger knitting a try - and it worked, at least for me. Four wooden spoons are currently taking the place of my fingers right now so I can go to bed.

The knitting mushroom was - uh, kind of a bust! The mushroom fell apart into two pieces as did the crochet hook. The yarn was constantly slipping off of the staples too.

When Nanny and I introduce these to Huxley and Dashiell tomorrow, I think the finger knitting will be a LOT less frustrating and show faster results before focus begins to wane.

It makes me rather giddy trying out an activity the night before to find out where difficulties may arise and to know an alternative to offer up.

More good stuff

2009-04-09T13:29:00.000-04:00

- Writing with a mechanical pencil again (because I couldn't find my pen) is such a nice reminder that I can erase something. I love the feeling of the pressure used with the pencil too, it just glides across the paper, the angle changing making a sharp or soft line or curve.
- Discovering one of our lupines returned!
- Opening a belated birthday present and both laddies loved playing with it so much that I woke up and found them hovering over a table with the playing cards.
~Heather

2009-04-08T10:20:00.000-04:00

What is lovely about the day?

A super concept (and so simple) to focus on the positive outcomes of the day. The more negative (learning opportunities or challenges we used to call them) will always there to balance out the wonders of the day, but it's nice to remember those lessons learned, imagination used, skills refined or just those beautious moments that you never want to forget...

For Tuesday, April 7:
- Discovering the baby bunnies at the farm were still in their nesting box (they were just hiding).
- Finding out that Dashiell likes to help me with the kitchen chores and can do it really well! (And it's a distraction from the constant ice cream requests he howls out.)
- Huxley can dress himself and is getting much better at taking direction (because "He's really 5 now").

- I can really cross a few 'to do' items off of my list!
- The surprise gift my husband brought to me unexpectedly (thus the surprise).
- That the yoga class is affecting my body and spirit wonderfully (so KEEP GOING).

~Heather