Monday, November 11, 2013
that artist woman: Poppy Art for Remembrance Day
that artist woman: Poppy Art for Remembrance Day: It's been a very busy 6 weeks, 2 "artist in residencies" down, just started my third as well as presenting at the Early ...
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
A Homeschooler's Defense
As a homeschooling parent one encounters many ideas of what how "home" and "school" fit together. Some consider homeschooling tantamount to abuse and assume that we do not actually teach our children proper academics. Others are condescending as they ask with great concern about socialization and the abnormality of my child's learning environment. Some tip their hats to me and say they wish they could do the same and a few beautiful souls smile at me and say the best decision they ever made was to homeschool their son or daughter.
This journey is a work in progress for us. My 6 year old has been in public and private kindergarten and we chose homeschool as we saw her joy in learning starting to die. Some kids do fine in a classroom environment but others, especially those kids who tend to think outside the box, are constantly impaired by the necessary structure of a classroom environment. Add in social distraction, meaningless "busywork" and provincially dictated curricular goals and you have a mix that for some children is actually toxic to real learning.
Academics:
My daughter is a strong-willed, creative, perfectionistic, people-pleaser. In our homeschool we are able to find topics that she is excited about and build in our language and math goals. Sometimes we have to sit down and just push through workbook pages to get it done; but the advantage of our school is that we can often do that in half and hour and then we can move on to the subjects that she is most passionate about. We can go directly to the library or the internet to look up information, make a learning plan and design a learning activity co-operatively! For my daughter, this allows her natural creativity to be expressed without being hindered by her perfectionism and tendency to look over at what someone else is doing and copy them. In grade 1 we have done: math cooking lessons with fractions, writing through grocery lists and letters to relatives, music and dance through our stereo and a cleared out space in our living room, we do research on animal behaviour and homes and build models using materials from our recycling box or pantry cupboard, and reading ALL THE TIME!
Socialization:
First of all I have 3 children so my children are learning positive play and conflict resolution behaviour everyday! Secondly as homeschool has become more common there are great co-op groups and even community centre programs developed specifically for our kids. My community also offers public school support for home-schoolers so we are enrolled with a local "distributed learning" school where E attends classes with a co-hort one day a week.
Wishes - Anyone can do it:
I wish I could really show these people who say they wish they could homeschool just how accessible h/s is. There are so many great resources available that no matter what your personality and teaching style you can find an approach that works for you. If you want to facilitate h/s but are not sure that you are capable of planning the curriculum and assessing your child than enrolling with a distance-learning or distributed learning group is ideal. In my local system we get the learning plan in the beginning of the year and meet with the classroom teacher three times a year to present our portfolio and he/ she creates a report card for the student. There are also great programs that provide everything you need for your academic year in a big box (Sonlight is one I know of but I'm sure there are others). For the more creative types you can always plan your own curriculum and just look up your provincial or state education standards to find out what specific points or learning markers you have to cover.
Homeschooler Community at large:
To all my fellow h/s parents out there, I commend you and thank you for the many blogs and groups that you help create and maintain! I have learned so much from you all and have a few blogs that I constatly turn to for inspiration:
http://www.se7en.org.za/
http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/
servingfromhome.com
The h/s community tends to be very co-operative and desires to see each other succeed. Each h/s student that does well in university or life in general paves the way for others to do the same.
This journey is a work in progress for us. My 6 year old has been in public and private kindergarten and we chose homeschool as we saw her joy in learning starting to die. Some kids do fine in a classroom environment but others, especially those kids who tend to think outside the box, are constantly impaired by the necessary structure of a classroom environment. Add in social distraction, meaningless "busywork" and provincially dictated curricular goals and you have a mix that for some children is actually toxic to real learning.
Academics:
My daughter is a strong-willed, creative, perfectionistic, people-pleaser. In our homeschool we are able to find topics that she is excited about and build in our language and math goals. Sometimes we have to sit down and just push through workbook pages to get it done; but the advantage of our school is that we can often do that in half and hour and then we can move on to the subjects that she is most passionate about. We can go directly to the library or the internet to look up information, make a learning plan and design a learning activity co-operatively! For my daughter, this allows her natural creativity to be expressed without being hindered by her perfectionism and tendency to look over at what someone else is doing and copy them. In grade 1 we have done: math cooking lessons with fractions, writing through grocery lists and letters to relatives, music and dance through our stereo and a cleared out space in our living room, we do research on animal behaviour and homes and build models using materials from our recycling box or pantry cupboard, and reading ALL THE TIME!
Socialization:
First of all I have 3 children so my children are learning positive play and conflict resolution behaviour everyday! Secondly as homeschool has become more common there are great co-op groups and even community centre programs developed specifically for our kids. My community also offers public school support for home-schoolers so we are enrolled with a local "distributed learning" school where E attends classes with a co-hort one day a week.
Wishes - Anyone can do it:
I wish I could really show these people who say they wish they could homeschool just how accessible h/s is. There are so many great resources available that no matter what your personality and teaching style you can find an approach that works for you. If you want to facilitate h/s but are not sure that you are capable of planning the curriculum and assessing your child than enrolling with a distance-learning or distributed learning group is ideal. In my local system we get the learning plan in the beginning of the year and meet with the classroom teacher three times a year to present our portfolio and he/ she creates a report card for the student. There are also great programs that provide everything you need for your academic year in a big box (Sonlight is one I know of but I'm sure there are others). For the more creative types you can always plan your own curriculum and just look up your provincial or state education standards to find out what specific points or learning markers you have to cover.
Homeschooler Community at large:
To all my fellow h/s parents out there, I commend you and thank you for the many blogs and groups that you help create and maintain! I have learned so much from you all and have a few blogs that I constatly turn to for inspiration:
http://www.se7en.org.za/
http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/
servingfromhome.com
The h/s community tends to be very co-operative and desires to see each other succeed. Each h/s student that does well in university or life in general paves the way for others to do the same.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Navigating the New Normal
Well after welcoming baby #3 to our family on June 1st I am trying to pull up my blog socks and update. Navigating the new normal in our family means letting some housekeeping go, trying to get out and enjoy summer and finding out my kids' amazing thresholds for long car trips! Life has been fuller in the past two months and I am grateful to have so much.
My thoughtful moments are few and far between but I was reminded this morning that we shouldn't judge others by what we see on the outside. This reminder came in the form of a facebook post that went something like this: the 15 year old with the toddler is not a slut, she was raped at 13; the fat man has an out of control thyroid; the ugly old man was scarred in battle when he fought for his country as a young man... How often do we jump to the wrong conclusions?
I just got home from a solo parenting nightmare of taking all three kids, including a nursing infant, on a 12 hour drive for an extended long weekend/ family reunion. I was so blessed on the drive home to have a stranger walk over to my table and tell me that I was being a great mom. My vanity was stroked and my internal conscience wished I lived up to that praise. To earn this comment I had made frequent stops, allowed the kids a couple of hours to splash and play at a lakeside picnic area, and put on a dvd in a quiet parking lot while I rested and fed the baby. By the time we arrived at this restaurant after 8 hours on the road and with 3 more hours ahead of us, we were rested, happy, and enjoying each other's company. How ironic that in a situation I would usually find very stressful I was reminded of what my best parenting should look like. My lesson learned and hopefully remembered is: it doesn't matter how long it takes - enjoy the journey.
Translated to life at home:
- it doesn't matter if we're late
- plan ahead and be organized so that I'm not stressed out
- get enough sleep (even if it means calling in reinforcements and taking a nap occasionally)
- find time to focus my mind and spirit
- most importantly the kids are my priority and my concern needs to for their needs ahead of a clean house, beautiful meal, a social engagement, etc...
Looking after their needs has a funny way of eliminating the things that can cause me to boil over and lose my temper with them. Usually they're acting out because they're being ignored or just not given enough activity and direction. I'm a big fan of letting them devise their own entertainment (probably a future blog topic), but I am realizing that the opportunities for making great memories with my kids is passing quickly and the more that I slow down and don't sweat the small stuff, the better our memories will be after the fact.
Life is a journey that I want to enjoy.
My thoughtful moments are few and far between but I was reminded this morning that we shouldn't judge others by what we see on the outside. This reminder came in the form of a facebook post that went something like this: the 15 year old with the toddler is not a slut, she was raped at 13; the fat man has an out of control thyroid; the ugly old man was scarred in battle when he fought for his country as a young man... How often do we jump to the wrong conclusions?
I just got home from a solo parenting nightmare of taking all three kids, including a nursing infant, on a 12 hour drive for an extended long weekend/ family reunion. I was so blessed on the drive home to have a stranger walk over to my table and tell me that I was being a great mom. My vanity was stroked and my internal conscience wished I lived up to that praise. To earn this comment I had made frequent stops, allowed the kids a couple of hours to splash and play at a lakeside picnic area, and put on a dvd in a quiet parking lot while I rested and fed the baby. By the time we arrived at this restaurant after 8 hours on the road and with 3 more hours ahead of us, we were rested, happy, and enjoying each other's company. How ironic that in a situation I would usually find very stressful I was reminded of what my best parenting should look like. My lesson learned and hopefully remembered is: it doesn't matter how long it takes - enjoy the journey.
Translated to life at home:
- it doesn't matter if we're late
- plan ahead and be organized so that I'm not stressed out
- get enough sleep (even if it means calling in reinforcements and taking a nap occasionally)
- find time to focus my mind and spirit
- most importantly the kids are my priority and my concern needs to for their needs ahead of a clean house, beautiful meal, a social engagement, etc...
Looking after their needs has a funny way of eliminating the things that can cause me to boil over and lose my temper with them. Usually they're acting out because they're being ignored or just not given enough activity and direction. I'm a big fan of letting them devise their own entertainment (probably a future blog topic), but I am realizing that the opportunities for making great memories with my kids is passing quickly and the more that I slow down and don't sweat the small stuff, the better our memories will be after the fact.
Life is a journey that I want to enjoy.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Expecting Miracles
My loving and very insightful husband has been "encouraging" me to take a less is more attitude towards this evolution in our lives and as much as I don't want to be fixating on stuff, I can't seem to help finding an awful lot of pleasure in planning out a living space that reflects my personal sense of design. I'm sure there has to be a balance here that it's not a bad thing for me to enjoy aesthetic endeavours but how do I guard against the inherent materialism in it all? Really a beautiful couch is nothing without a loving family to cuddle up with on top of it. And what is the point of having furniture that causes you to yell at your kids to "keep off it/ don't touch it/ and whatever you do stay out of the drawer with the sharpies!"
So here is my conclusion of the moment; I like pretty things, I want my home to be visually and emotionally appealing to my family and friends. I think this means I can indulge my sense of aesthetics but will choose something that doesn't feel like an extra bank account is required for purchase price and will hold it loosely in my hands. I want to store up my treasures in heaven not in my house.
I was reading a fave blog the other day (www.carolinecollie.com) which included a reflection on Psalm 128. It tells us the blessings and riches we have within our families. My children are my most important investment and my thoughts, energies and priorities need to be with them. I need to keep working at this balance and as I wait for the newest miracle to arrive I know this process of my own thoughts requires some miracle working too :) The other passage that I try to meditate on when confronted with this issue is Philippians 4:8 "Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Furniture can be very lovely, but it generally doesn't measure up to the rest of the list.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Mama knows best
So today Declan and I went through our daily ritual of me picking him up and taking him to bed for his nap under total protest from him. He tells me he's not tired, he doesn't want to go to sleep, he gets angry and tries to fight it out, then magically - I ask which song he wants to sing and he cuddles up to me and tells me "Baby Lion." This ordeal which lasts all of 45 seconds tries my patience daily, I know he needs a nap but he doesn't. He can't accept my decision on his behalf until I distract him and his own body betrays his growing independence. He falls asleep in less than 10 minutes and wakes up happy and ready to cuddle me again an hour or two later. So why do we have the same mini-battle everyday? Is it his need to assert himself or is it more profound?
Once in awhile these moments with my kids remind me of God. I believe that God loves me even more than I love my kids and in the same way I know what is best for them - he has my best interests in mind as well. I believe all of that in my head, however, it doesn't get all the way to the rest of me. My will, my heart, my lazy body all want the things that I perceive as good. I certainly don't want the parent proscribed nap when I'd rather be playing (or in my case reading a novel and eating chocolate :). I tend to be a doer and not a thinker - hence this blog. This is my place to slow down and think, ponder, reflect and hopefully listen to a still small voice that actually wants what's best for me.
I suppose most people are somewhat fatalist and just accept each moment for what it is; good, bad and ugly. I want to choose the freedom to trust that there is a higher power who actually knows my name, address, age, height and weight and is busy constructing the new person in my womb. That freedom allows me to seek guidance in my life and promises the possibility of more than just a moment to moment existence. This full understanding offers me the chance to believe that my kids will have supernatural protection from unknown future dangers and the hope that their lives will turn out beautifully as I entrust them to God's care. I am still learning this trust - in fact it's a big ongoing lesson in my life right now :) But today as I move throughout the decisions that affect each moment I hope I am not screaming "I'm not tired, I don't want a nap..." instead, I will try to say yes to my divine parent - mama knows best.
Once in awhile these moments with my kids remind me of God. I believe that God loves me even more than I love my kids and in the same way I know what is best for them - he has my best interests in mind as well. I believe all of that in my head, however, it doesn't get all the way to the rest of me. My will, my heart, my lazy body all want the things that I perceive as good. I certainly don't want the parent proscribed nap when I'd rather be playing (or in my case reading a novel and eating chocolate :). I tend to be a doer and not a thinker - hence this blog. This is my place to slow down and think, ponder, reflect and hopefully listen to a still small voice that actually wants what's best for me.
I suppose most people are somewhat fatalist and just accept each moment for what it is; good, bad and ugly. I want to choose the freedom to trust that there is a higher power who actually knows my name, address, age, height and weight and is busy constructing the new person in my womb. That freedom allows me to seek guidance in my life and promises the possibility of more than just a moment to moment existence. This full understanding offers me the chance to believe that my kids will have supernatural protection from unknown future dangers and the hope that their lives will turn out beautifully as I entrust them to God's care. I am still learning this trust - in fact it's a big ongoing lesson in my life right now :) But today as I move throughout the decisions that affect each moment I hope I am not screaming "I'm not tired, I don't want a nap..." instead, I will try to say yes to my divine parent - mama knows best.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Historic words for a modern life
Today I wanted to start memorizing some bible verses with my family. Tagging onto a study I'm doing with my mom's group, I chose a Psalm of Ascent: Psalm 131. The Psalms of Ascent were traditionally sung by Jewish pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem to celebrate the major feasts of their faith. Their way was often difficult and full of danger. In a modern context we all find ourselves on a journey to a personal goal or perhaps a real place. The most worthwhile pilgrimages are usually challenging and refine us ultimately creating the opportunity to fulfill our goal and reach our destination. In light of my previous posts this short passage is incredibly relevant to my personal goals, my pilgrimage.
Here is my paraphrase:
I try not to be proud,
I try not to look down on others,
I haven't done anything great or noteworthy,
I certainly haven't done anything miraculous in my life.
But I choose calm and quiet, like a baby with it's mother,
I choose peace, like a baby with it's mother.
Listen closely, the only hope I have to reach this place is in the Lord, for now and for everyday and every moment to come.
I choose peace.
Shalom for today and everyday.
Here is my paraphrase:
I try not to be proud,
I try not to look down on others,
I haven't done anything great or noteworthy,
I certainly haven't done anything miraculous in my life.
But I choose calm and quiet, like a baby with it's mother,
I choose peace, like a baby with it's mother.
Listen closely, the only hope I have to reach this place is in the Lord, for now and for everyday and every moment to come.
I choose peace.
Shalom for today and everyday.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Organization
This is my quest for today - clean out some clutter and try to organize our house better. It starts with clearing surfaces and piles; and what emerges is a lot of unnecessary stuff. Why do I compulsively collect? What is this need to accumulate? Consumerism? Hedonism? Selfish Ambition? I need to implement the one in - one out rule except that I need more to leave and less to come in.
I think Zen philosophy holds that an uncluttered space reflects an uncluttered mind and I'm sure the opposite is true as well. I'm tired of living surrounded by clutter, and longing for a bigger space is probably not the answer so... time to de-clutter this mind!
I think Zen philosophy holds that an uncluttered space reflects an uncluttered mind and I'm sure the opposite is true as well. I'm tired of living surrounded by clutter, and longing for a bigger space is probably not the answer so... time to de-clutter this mind!
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