Let's Go Fly A Kite

One of the many advantages of living in our current home is that I can send my kids out to the "backyard" and they have the space to do this:

We finally broke out the kites on Thursday and the kids have been flying them every chance they can get (including a grand attempt in the pouring rain - what better way to learn about the effect of raindrops on butterfly wings?).

This windy time of year can be so much fun when children have a tangible way to explore it. It was quite exhilarating for all of us - even just us looky-lous.

A Day at the Museum

We spent Thursday in Salem at AC Gilbert Discovery Village. It is a collection of three houses in which each room is a fantastic exploration of time, culture, science, or substance.

Serious inspiration for the kids rooms (not China, but the platform/shelter, and the elaborate decoration of space).

Erik climbing inside a giant erector set (invention of A.C. Gilbert).

My sweet nieces making marvelous creations in the “Recycling Toy Inventor’s Room”.

Climbing around the humongous outdoor playground, complete with a life-sized dino dig and a giant-sized animal cell to walk around in.

I think my favorite part was when the kids decided to mount a full production of The Boy Who Cried Wolf. It was delightful. They performed on a real stage with costumes and everything.

Things I'm Loving

:: the prospect of planting all these lovelies today

:: the new blue in the office (/sewing room)

:: homeschool


:: discovering the trunk of a once shrub-inhibited tree


:: a freshly planted seed bed


:: new drapes for the bedroom - at long last


:: the sight of a weeded bed (now for edging, planting, and mulching)

:: lesson plans

A Return to Homeschool

Yea!!! Homeschool again!!! After much thought, deliberation, doubt, hope, ideas and prayer we have decided to homeschool the kids for the rest of the year. If we were not moving I would not pull them out of school, but since we are moving and everything is in an upset anyway, we have decided to seize the opportunity to return to our sweet homeschool life. I am so excited.

We have several things going for us this time around: a dedicated classroom space (that is NOT in the middle of the kitchen and family room); a "co-op" of dearly loved fellow homeschoolers to do things with; my sister - we finally get to hoe this row together; a farm (thank you grandma and grandpa) for life and work lessons; and experience.

Some people might say: "Why are you trying this again, when it didn't work the first time?" To them I have the following replies:

:: In the immortal words of Batman's Alfred, "Why do we fall? So we can pick ourselves up."
:: Aside from loved ones, I have never missed a thing, a process, an experience so much in my entire life.
:: All that missing teaches me what was lost was valuable, and needs to be recovered and cherished, and not taken for granted.
:: Lastly, seeing how far and how fast my little ones have fallen since returning to public school, how can I help but wrap my arms around them and lift them up and bring them back to who they were beginning to be?

My resolution this time is to engage in a support group; the priority I should have had the first time around. So, if you are a homeschooler, please drop me a line. Let's figure out a way to get together, share resources, exchange ideas, and help each other (and our children) find the most in this wonderful adventure called homeschool.

Missing Montessori

Man, oh, man! I really miss doing Montessori with my little ones. I can't wait for the new house, the new space. I miss the concentration and the ideas and the craftiness and the purpose in my daily life. I miss the organization and the thrill of watching my children discover new things that I prepared for them. Did I mention I love Montessori???

In case these pictures don't make sense, I will explain. The picture above is a counting activity that involves hand-eye coordination as the child ties the rods into bundles that correlate with the numbers on the cards (which the child places in order). Erik loved this activity.

I used the wooden three-dimensional shapes for Erik's geometry lessons. (All of these pictures are from last spring.) During an unrelated lesson with Erik, Anna found a space to herself, laid out her work mat (i.e. pretty pink blanket), pulled the shape basket off the shelf and began lining them up and touching each one, just like I had shown Erik - all by herself!

During this time I discovered my boy LOVES to paint. I would never have allowed "real" paint (I was a firm believer in only using water colors with small children) had it not been for my new-found desire to allow and encourage my children to explore their world with real materials (i.e. not "dumbed down" for kids, and not plastic, but actual objects that actually came directly from this earth without being melted down and mixed in with a bunch of chemicals before it was user-ready).

I love this picture. Erik set the entire table place setting by himself after a practical life lesson. He did an outstanding job. As a side note, we spent a lot of time working on setting a table properly and making it look lovely with flowers, table linens, and matching glasses for our lessons, but I don't expect it or do it in our daily life. Hmmm . . . I think I have some learning to do.

"I Am Not a Failure"

One of my friends said she got so discouraged reading other people's blogs because their lives seem so perfect. I try very hard to keep a positive outlook, and my blog helps me remember and celebrate the positive in my life. However, in an effort to maintain balance, I am sharing a negative - though Sean insists I should see it as a positive.

I have been homeschooling my oldest son, Djeryd, at his request, since September. It has been a tremendous joy for me; one of the most fulfilling things I have ever done with my life. But the time has come to send him back to public school. I will not go into the reasons because then people think they can give me simple solutions and solve it all, and they can't. It just needs to be.

And my heart is breaking.

And I have to keep telling myself, "I am not a failure."

And it hurts.

Sew Many Projects

Crazy things have been happening around my house lately. It's actually getting cleaner every day. I am turning into a cleaning/organizing/rearranging/crazy woman! I know the phase won't last long, so I am taking full advantage of it. I want to dump out every drawer, empty every closet, repaint every surface, and make every last thing beautiful. I love it when everything is fresh.

So here are a couple of my latest projects: Sean brought home a bookcase from work tonight that was ours, but on loan to work. I was planning on filling it with homeschool books. But . . . the sew-er (I hyphenated that word lest you think I meant sewer - like where the rats live (and Lex Luther)) in me said: "Wait a second! I have been longing for a sewing studio space, and here it is! Yippee!" So I cleaned out my overstuffed sewing drawer, emptied a box of some of my favorite fabric onto the shelves and . . . viola`! I have a studio - at least as close I will get to one in our present circumstances.

It is not much, but it makes me happy.

Another little project I made today was something I found in the book Vintage Style. It is actually made for clothespins for hanging wash on the line (is there anything more lovely?). I put all of Anna's little, tiny dolly clothes in it. She drug it around everywhere with her today. A success!

And last, but not least . . . in renegotiating the furniture to squeeze in the new bookcase/sewing studio (I know it is absurd to continually call it a studio, but I am exercising the power of positive thought), I brought in a small desk for the kids. It has cubbies and pencil holders fitted for the desk so it seemed like a perfect writing center for the munchkins.

I filled it with empty home-bound books, pencils, our new origami projects, and inspiration. Djeryd already has a million ideas to outfit it for some serious creative exploration.

To my utter delight, before Djeryd went to bed, he snuck a little "official" sign for his new desk. It says "Publisher". I am beaming.

The Homeschooling Life (on a good day)

After two long weeks of snow and festivities, everyone was ready to jump back into school. That is somewhat remarkable considering the groaning that often pours forth from my off-springs' mouths when the word "school" is mentioned. Since a lot of you have asked me about homeschool, I thought I would take this chance to give you a little snapshot of our day. Keep in mind this is a good day - the kids and I were all excited to get back into the swing of things.

Erik (who is enrolled in kindergarten at our local elementary school) decided he wanted to do homeschool with Djeryd today. He worked on patterning with a calendar and stringing beads. Anna like the idea of beading as well, and sat down with her string and the remaining basket of beads. We use big painted wooden ones.


While Erik busied himself with patterning, Djeryd did copy work (he has terrible handwriting), read a book about weather (he then "showered" me with interesting facts for the rest of the day), wrote about Christmas in his journal, and perused a book on ancient Egypt.

Anna amused herself with a tea party for herself and Tinkerbell until succumbing to the temptation of Erik's beading efforts.

After that she decided she wanted to write a few thoughts down on pink (of course) paper.

Around lunch time the kids were tiring of their studies and I needed to make some bread for dinner tonight. Erik and Anna pulled their little red chairs up to the counter and gazed, enthralled, at the wheat grinder for a solid five minutes while the heaping pile of wheat kernels dwindled slowly down an invisible chute. After the dough rose, Anna "helped" shape rolls (I don't think any of her dough actually made it to the baking pan - it all ended up in her tummy - thankfully it was a very small amount).

Even though today will seem ideal and magical to the casual observer, it was filled with the usual fatigue and frustration of any other day around here. The house is a mess, despite my having cleaned it all day long. I fret about my kids getting the very best education they can, and the fine line between flexibility and follow-through. I love homeschooling. Although it seems like every day consists of climbing a mountain blind-folded, it is more rewarding than virtually anything I have done as a mother (aside from giving birth, etc.). I feel like I'm changing the world by helping to build these wonderful little people in a tremendously personal way. It's taxing, but I wouldn't trade it for anything (most of the time). ;>

Crying Over Spilled Milk

Within minutes of tromping downstairs for breakfast this morning, I stepped in a small puddle of milk on my kitchen floor. Djeryd said Annaliese had spilled it while transporting her cereal bowl from the kitchen to the table. He then promptly cleaned it up.

Approximately one hour later I was in the middle of a math lesson with Djeryd. Papers, books, and schedules were spread across the table. Anna climbed into my lap to color (for some reason she cannot sit in a chair all by herself to do this) and accidentally spilled her milk-filled Minnie Mouse goblet all over herself, me and the floor. Spill number two.

Three or four hours later, Anna decided she wanted a drink of milk. She pulled the milk out of the fridge, carried it to her small kiddie table (on the carpet), and proceeded to pour the milk into her brother's blue Spiderman cup. She poured just a little too much and a small spill appeared on the table. Luckily this table has a slightly raised edge and the milk was contained. Spill number three.

Within minutes of cleaning up the previous spill (which Erik was kind enough to wipe up), Annaliese insisted on fitting a sippy lid onto the Spiderman cup. Of course, the Spiderman cup and the sippy lid were not made to work together in a spill-proof manner. Anna, of course, was not aware of this lid-cup defect (despite Mommy's gentle, kind, firm, insistent warnings). As I'm sure you can guess by now, Anna sat down on her chair, lifted the cup to her lips and drenched herself, the table, the chair, the carpet, and the wall in one last splashing milk spill for the day. Spill number four.

And you thought bad things only happened in three's.