Happy Solstice, folks!
I don't post here as often as I'd like to, because I keep waiting until I have the time or energy or motivation to write something profound or philosophical, and less like a laundry list of what we've been up to, this week.
But, frankly, I don't think I'm looking for this journal to be particularly philosophical. I like being able to look back and see what we were up to, last week, last month, last year...
So, this past month:
We hosted Country Day, the geography group Sarah belongs to. The host chooses the month's theme, and she chose Slovenia (the country my grandfather's parents came from). It was an awesome day. She did her presentation on Slovenian folklore and mythology, and we both learned so much. I made ricet (barley soup) and made a failed attempt at apple potica (a rolled cakey dessert), people brought so many delicious foods and the kids gave so many interesting presentations. That night I went out and got myself some peach schnapps, which I had with the delightfully Slavic leftovers, and relished the sense of connection with so many of my foremothers.
The lego league team finished up their research on thermometers (the focus they chose, within the biomedical engineering theme chosen by the organization), put together their presentation, and presented to the judges at the local Lego League science fair.
We had another Country Day, with the theme of Japan, and I brought cold summer noodles (rice noodles with a really tasty, simple dipping sauce and some quick cucumber pickles) and Sarah gave a presentation on hinamatsuri, the Japanese doll festival. Aside from the usual computer presentation she puts together, she also did a little diorama example of what the traditional doll displays look like at the festival.
On our own, Sarah's working on typing, spelling, math, and drawing, and we're exploring ear training exercises, to pursue her musical goals. And we're continuing to read about NYC, the Hudson River, and Shakespeare (she was very taken by the adaptation of Midsummer Night's Dream we went to see last Spring, and we've been reading children's book versions of a few of his plays), and slowly filling in the Inventions timeline on our wall.
Joe wrote an awesome adventure for us, and is leading Sarah and me through it. She's a math mage, and I get to be a kickass monster hunter. She and Joe are also working their way through many books together -- the Bunnicula series, The Mouse and The Motorcycle, and the three of us are starting _The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler_.
Last night, during our Solstice celebration, we had the chance to explore how wax candles work, how flames work, how solstices work, and how lunar eclipses work, while staying up all night, singing, reading aloud from Pratchett's Hogfather, watching movies, watching the eclipse, crafting, making pizza together, eating brownies, and weathering the long night together.
I'm looking forward to a relatively quite couple weeks, just getting ready for Christmas in a laidback fashion, visiting with friends, and finishing up reading the books we currently have out of the library.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
We had a really good visit with my parents, the other week. We drove to look at the wind turbines being put up nearby, Sarah got to enjoy her new treehouse, there was singing and baking together, and a funny little Family Olympics my dad put together -- a course around their front yard, combining acrobatics, basketball, archery, soccer, the little trampoline, and followed up by a badminton game and a soccer match. My mom and I went to see a local open mic night, but we wound up being the only ones there. I'm almost disappointed I didn't bring my banjo with me (I'd brought it to the North Country with me, but not to the coffee shop) -- it might have been nice to just experience playing on a little stage, in front of a microphone. But a little too weird to play in front of just my mom and the coffee shop owner (and her two kids). But I'll be prepared for next time we're there over a Monday night, now that I've seen the place.
My mom lent us pictures from her recent trip to Slovenia, as well as a flag, some Slovenian art, and the recipes my great aunt used to make Struklji and Potica. (it was Sarah's turn to choose the theme for the geography group she belongs to, this month, and she chose Slovenia)
Sarah and I are starting to shift into our Winter homeschooling -- homeschool soccer finished up already, lego league's finishing up in a few weeks, and we've opted out of a few social possibilities and are starting to focus more on quiet afternoons at home or at small gatherings with friends or family. A little more of an academic focus, after a fairly unschooly Fall (we'd meant to be a little more focused all along, but it just doesn't work that well when we're out of the house every day doing one homeschool activity or another). I'm looking for a philosophy or Great Books discussion to work our way through together or maybe with a few friends -- either a book or a curriculum, or even just an article with suggestions. I have a few to check out, when I have my next Homeschooling Prep afternoon.
I'm continuing to work with the Simple Living Guide and the Getting Things Done book -- paring life down to the essentials and dealing with the necessary nonsense as efficiently as possible -- and they're working really well for me. I've opted out of a few tempting but unnecessarily complicated activities/social commitments, recently, and every time I pare my life down a little more I can feel the wave of relief that passes through me. We're challenging ourselves to see how much we can declutter in the next 4 weeks.
My mom lent us pictures from her recent trip to Slovenia, as well as a flag, some Slovenian art, and the recipes my great aunt used to make Struklji and Potica. (it was Sarah's turn to choose the theme for the geography group she belongs to, this month, and she chose Slovenia)
Sarah and I are starting to shift into our Winter homeschooling -- homeschool soccer finished up already, lego league's finishing up in a few weeks, and we've opted out of a few social possibilities and are starting to focus more on quiet afternoons at home or at small gatherings with friends or family. A little more of an academic focus, after a fairly unschooly Fall (we'd meant to be a little more focused all along, but it just doesn't work that well when we're out of the house every day doing one homeschool activity or another). I'm looking for a philosophy or Great Books discussion to work our way through together or maybe with a few friends -- either a book or a curriculum, or even just an article with suggestions. I have a few to check out, when I have my next Homeschooling Prep afternoon.
I'm continuing to work with the Simple Living Guide and the Getting Things Done book -- paring life down to the essentials and dealing with the necessary nonsense as efficiently as possible -- and they're working really well for me. I've opted out of a few tempting but unnecessarily complicated activities/social commitments, recently, and every time I pare my life down a little more I can feel the wave of relief that passes through me. We're challenging ourselves to see how much we can declutter in the next 4 weeks.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Yesterday was gorgeous and lovely and crisp -- outdoors at the park with many-many homeschool friends, sitting under a tree with my Simple Living book, watching Sarah play with old friends and make new ones.
The first chapter of the book is on Time. How am I using my time? Does it match up with my underlying values and priorities? How do I want to have spent my time, when I look back over my life? Who do I want to spend more time with?
I sat particularly long with this advice: when you find yourself tempted to buy something, or do something, or commit to something, look deeply into your motivation. Why do you want to have this or do this? And then look deeply into the consequences and opportunity costs of buying or doing this thing. How many hours would you have to work to pay for this thing? How many evenings with your family would you have to give up for this commitment? How much more rushed would your weekends become if you take this class? Maybe it's worth it anyway. But maybe not. Really look at it, from every angle. And consider this: you don't have to read everything that flies in your door. You don't have to do every neat thing that comes to your notice. You don't have to do everything. Learn to be discriminating.
She also has a lovely couple paragraphs on intimacy. Arguing that our time crunch is actually an intimacy crunch. It's so much easier to keep rushing along, adding more things and more commitments, than to sit quietly, getting to know ourselves, and then opening ourselves to others. She points out our tendency to have fewer, larger get-togethers, instead of smaller, more intimate dinners. I've noticed this, myself -- I often leave large gatherings feeling less connected, not more. But smaller gatherings are harder, more embarrassing -- it feels more vulnerable to say "hey, do you want to come over for dinner on Friday?" Like I'm putting more of myself on the line. Something to consider.
She also talks about the practice of the Sabbath, even for those of us who are not religious, and about the idea of siestas (not necessarily a nap, but a period of enforced downtime in the midst of the day -- turn off the phone, step away from the computer and TV, and just dawdle, on your own or with your family).
Could I X out my Sundays, starting with my open Sundays in November, and keep them sacrosanct for time with my family? Not just time with family, but unhurried, Sunday-drive type time with my family (like grandma and grandpa did when their kids were little. Sundays they would pack a huge picnic lunch and take their 3 kids for drives out the Island or upstate, stopping at park where grandpa would take the kids swimming or skating or playing baseball and grandma would read under a tree)? We already try to make Sunday a family field trip day, when we can manage it. Could we make it a commitment, barring extremely rare exceptions (weddings, and the like)?
I think, maybe, once we fix the laundry situation, we could do that. Saturdays could be our days for errands and seeing people and Friday and Saturday nights could be free time for going out on our own or together, and Sundays could be held for lowkey picnics or field trips.
"... take control of your life and time. Create your own inner law and then follow it."
The first chapter of the book is on Time. How am I using my time? Does it match up with my underlying values and priorities? How do I want to have spent my time, when I look back over my life? Who do I want to spend more time with?
I sat particularly long with this advice: when you find yourself tempted to buy something, or do something, or commit to something, look deeply into your motivation. Why do you want to have this or do this? And then look deeply into the consequences and opportunity costs of buying or doing this thing. How many hours would you have to work to pay for this thing? How many evenings with your family would you have to give up for this commitment? How much more rushed would your weekends become if you take this class? Maybe it's worth it anyway. But maybe not. Really look at it, from every angle. And consider this: you don't have to read everything that flies in your door. You don't have to do every neat thing that comes to your notice. You don't have to do everything. Learn to be discriminating.
She also has a lovely couple paragraphs on intimacy. Arguing that our time crunch is actually an intimacy crunch. It's so much easier to keep rushing along, adding more things and more commitments, than to sit quietly, getting to know ourselves, and then opening ourselves to others. She points out our tendency to have fewer, larger get-togethers, instead of smaller, more intimate dinners. I've noticed this, myself -- I often leave large gatherings feeling less connected, not more. But smaller gatherings are harder, more embarrassing -- it feels more vulnerable to say "hey, do you want to come over for dinner on Friday?" Like I'm putting more of myself on the line. Something to consider.
She also talks about the practice of the Sabbath, even for those of us who are not religious, and about the idea of siestas (not necessarily a nap, but a period of enforced downtime in the midst of the day -- turn off the phone, step away from the computer and TV, and just dawdle, on your own or with your family).
Could I X out my Sundays, starting with my open Sundays in November, and keep them sacrosanct for time with my family? Not just time with family, but unhurried, Sunday-drive type time with my family (like grandma and grandpa did when their kids were little. Sundays they would pack a huge picnic lunch and take their 3 kids for drives out the Island or upstate, stopping at park where grandpa would take the kids swimming or skating or playing baseball and grandma would read under a tree)? We already try to make Sunday a family field trip day, when we can manage it. Could we make it a commitment, barring extremely rare exceptions (weddings, and the like)?
I think, maybe, once we fix the laundry situation, we could do that. Saturdays could be our days for errands and seeing people and Friday and Saturday nights could be free time for going out on our own or together, and Sundays could be held for lowkey picnics or field trips.
"... take control of your life and time. Create your own inner law and then follow it."
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Our weeks are going to be even a little more full than I'd thought, as Sarah's decided to join both Lego League and another class/club/activity being organized by a new friend to explore different world cultures together. I'm delighted by all the activities she's interested in, and happy to make room in our week for them. But...
I've gotten so used to having all the time in the world to sit at home together, doing crafts, reading books, making music... And having the option of multiple field trips or spontaneous playdates in a week. We're suddenly looking at, at best, one free afternoon a week. It's a little intimidating.
This week Sarah had a great time at our local Not Back To School day at the zoo, seeing a few old friends and making a new one. We also got in a few days of playing school, finishing up the last bits of our most recent themes -- history of math, building/engineering/architecture, history of books and libraries -- and getting ready to jump into all our new ones. The timeline on our livingroom wall is getting awfully full...
On Friday, at Fairy Scouts, we did Alien of the Week club, read a few more chapters of _The Girl Who Could Fly_, and watched Pippi Longstocking together. This was our last Fairy Scouts meeting, at least for awhile, as our two fellow scouts are starting school on Monday. Sarah and I love them both, and I think we're feeling both sad for ourselves and excited for them at this new adventure of theirs. They're both such fierce, independent, thoughtful young ladies, and their new school sounds wonderful -- I'm looking forward to hearing all about it. I'm... envious of their new teachers a little, I think -- I butted heads with both of them so very often at TMcAFS, oh my God, but the school, and my own experience, was so much richer for their presence.
L suggested the same thing Sarah and I had discussed when I first told her about their plans -- that after they settle into their new schedule, perhaps we can start meeting once a week after school, as scout troops often do. I certainly hope we can do something along those lines. We're filling up the spaces in our schedule, but new friends certainly can't replace such dear old ones.
I've gotten so used to having all the time in the world to sit at home together, doing crafts, reading books, making music... And having the option of multiple field trips or spontaneous playdates in a week. We're suddenly looking at, at best, one free afternoon a week. It's a little intimidating.
This week Sarah had a great time at our local Not Back To School day at the zoo, seeing a few old friends and making a new one. We also got in a few days of playing school, finishing up the last bits of our most recent themes -- history of math, building/engineering/architecture, history of books and libraries -- and getting ready to jump into all our new ones. The timeline on our livingroom wall is getting awfully full...
On Friday, at Fairy Scouts, we did Alien of the Week club, read a few more chapters of _The Girl Who Could Fly_, and watched Pippi Longstocking together. This was our last Fairy Scouts meeting, at least for awhile, as our two fellow scouts are starting school on Monday. Sarah and I love them both, and I think we're feeling both sad for ourselves and excited for them at this new adventure of theirs. They're both such fierce, independent, thoughtful young ladies, and their new school sounds wonderful -- I'm looking forward to hearing all about it. I'm... envious of their new teachers a little, I think -- I butted heads with both of them so very often at TMcAFS, oh my God, but the school, and my own experience, was so much richer for their presence.
L suggested the same thing Sarah and I had discussed when I first told her about their plans -- that after they settle into their new schedule, perhaps we can start meeting once a week after school, as scout troops often do. I certainly hope we can do something along those lines. We're filling up the spaces in our schedule, but new friends certainly can't replace such dear old ones.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
We're shifting more fully into our fall routines, this week and next. This week Sarah and I had a long talk about all the freedom she has, the fact that she has the opportunity to pursue any interest or passion she chooses. I want us to start having a larger picture in mind, and if we're doing a mostly child-led approach, I need her to start thinking about what her bigger picture is. How does she want to be spending her time? What interests does she want to start putting more energy into?
We talked about different things she's curious about -- archaeology; different periods in history; a little more about the history of math and writing; a little more on fairy tales, folk tales and mythology -- and we're going to be planning some themes and field trips around those. Mostly, though, she wants to pursue her interest in rock and roll, so we're looking into drum lessons, and have started doing ear-training and singing exercises on our own. We're also continuing the History of Rock workshops that Joe's been doing for us.
We're also shifting from two or three themes each month to 6 or 7 themes per season -- with room for shorter term themes or interests as they come up. Our fall themes are: History of the US, NYC, Communications (written communication, oral communication, philosophy, making books, etc.), Nature study, the Hudson River, her continued badgework (reading, adventures, bravery, potions) and lifeskills (sports, cooking, shopping, etc.), and Math (split between waldorfy math stories focusing on fractions and regrouping and division, and the Living Math history/philosophy of math approach). We're integrating some Oak Meadow Waldorfy stuff into the communications and science work we're doing.
Our weeks are starting to look pretty nicely packed. Monday we'll alternate between seeing our local homeschool group and visiting relatives. Tuesday I'm hoping Sarah will decide to join a Lego League being organized by a friend (she's intrigued but unsure). Wednesday we'll be volunteering at GSE and doing some science classes at a local environmental center. Thursdays we'll alternate between homeschool soccer and a local homeschool park day. Fridays will be field trips and playdates, with an emphasis on NYC and the Hudson Valley for the field trips. And Sundays we're expanding our family field trip plans to start including more friends.
I'm really looking forward to this Fall.
We talked about different things she's curious about -- archaeology; different periods in history; a little more about the history of math and writing; a little more on fairy tales, folk tales and mythology -- and we're going to be planning some themes and field trips around those. Mostly, though, she wants to pursue her interest in rock and roll, so we're looking into drum lessons, and have started doing ear-training and singing exercises on our own. We're also continuing the History of Rock workshops that Joe's been doing for us.
We're also shifting from two or three themes each month to 6 or 7 themes per season -- with room for shorter term themes or interests as they come up. Our fall themes are: History of the US, NYC, Communications (written communication, oral communication, philosophy, making books, etc.), Nature study, the Hudson River, her continued badgework (reading, adventures, bravery, potions) and lifeskills (sports, cooking, shopping, etc.), and Math (split between waldorfy math stories focusing on fractions and regrouping and division, and the Living Math history/philosophy of math approach). We're integrating some Oak Meadow Waldorfy stuff into the communications and science work we're doing.
Our weeks are starting to look pretty nicely packed. Monday we'll alternate between seeing our local homeschool group and visiting relatives. Tuesday I'm hoping Sarah will decide to join a Lego League being organized by a friend (she's intrigued but unsure). Wednesday we'll be volunteering at GSE and doing some science classes at a local environmental center. Thursdays we'll alternate between homeschool soccer and a local homeschool park day. Fridays will be field trips and playdates, with an emphasis on NYC and the Hudson Valley for the field trips. And Sundays we're expanding our family field trip plans to start including more friends.
I'm really looking forward to this Fall.
Friday, August 20, 2010
We got back to our homeschooling routines, this week, and today's Fairy Scouts is at K's house. So I've got the day to myself, for planning and organizing and such. I'm taking a portion of the day as a retreat, because this was a fairly rough week, emotionally, and I'm feeling the need for a little detoxing.
I don't usually post about this stuff here, thinking of this as mostly our homeschool space. But more and more, even as we're moving into a more schooly homeschooling style in some ways, I'm also expanding my perspective to consider our whole lives to be part of our homeschool style/experience. So I find myself posting about my retreat plans.
Thinking about my retreat time, considering how I want to spend it, I thought of some of the reading I was doing the other night. Following up on some annoying symptoms I've been having, I came across this question -- "what are you afraid of losing?" Which, of course, is the underlying issue I've been dealing with for the last couple months, the fear of loss. The associated affirmation is "I willingly release with joy". Which, okay, yeah, I can work with that idea. But I don't really know what it means. How can you release with joy? Accept that it's time to let go of something, maybe. But joy? I don't understand that. Not that I don't think it's possible, I just can't get a grip on the concept. So for today I'm sitting with it, just contemplating the question. How can I release with joy? What does that mean? What might it look or feel like?
I think this is how my day is going to go:
* morning mantras
* breakfast
* sweeps (that is, basic tidying up)
* exercise
* homeschool organizing -- researching field trips and classes, collecting the books and supplies we're likely to use next week
* retreat time:
- self-hypnosis
- journaling and/or art therapy
- mindfulness meditation during food prep
- lunch
- chi kung meditation (if I can find the CD)
- further declutter the house and clear out email as part of the "releasing with joy" work
- watch a movie (yeah, this is part of the retreat work -- one of my self-prescriptions is to curl up on the futon with a blanket and watch movies that comfort me, especially movies I associate with my childhood)
* pick Sarah up, head out for the evening
I don't usually post about this stuff here, thinking of this as mostly our homeschool space. But more and more, even as we're moving into a more schooly homeschooling style in some ways, I'm also expanding my perspective to consider our whole lives to be part of our homeschool style/experience. So I find myself posting about my retreat plans.
Thinking about my retreat time, considering how I want to spend it, I thought of some of the reading I was doing the other night. Following up on some annoying symptoms I've been having, I came across this question -- "what are you afraid of losing?" Which, of course, is the underlying issue I've been dealing with for the last couple months, the fear of loss. The associated affirmation is "I willingly release with joy". Which, okay, yeah, I can work with that idea. But I don't really know what it means. How can you release with joy? Accept that it's time to let go of something, maybe. But joy? I don't understand that. Not that I don't think it's possible, I just can't get a grip on the concept. So for today I'm sitting with it, just contemplating the question. How can I release with joy? What does that mean? What might it look or feel like?
I think this is how my day is going to go:
* morning mantras
* breakfast
* sweeps (that is, basic tidying up)
* exercise
* homeschool organizing -- researching field trips and classes, collecting the books and supplies we're likely to use next week
* retreat time:
- self-hypnosis
- journaling and/or art therapy
- mindfulness meditation during food prep
- lunch
- chi kung meditation (if I can find the CD)
- further declutter the house and clear out email as part of the "releasing with joy" work
- watch a movie (yeah, this is part of the retreat work -- one of my self-prescriptions is to curl up on the futon with a blanket and watch movies that comfort me, especially movies I associate with my childhood)
* pick Sarah up, head out for the evening
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Sarah and I have been pondering how we want to organize our Fall semester -- pick a curriculum, write our own curriculum, continue picking a couple themes each month, go back to picking books at random from our collection each morning.
Today we spent about 8 hours wandering around the city -- taking the ferry in, traveling up to Pommes Frites for belgian fries and over to the Doughnut Factory to see the place from Throwdown with Bobby Flay, then meandering through Central Park, attempting to go to the Zoo (got there too late -- can you believe they close at 5pm?!) and then sitting in the lowering dusk, listening to Shostakovich at the Naumberg Bandshell before starting the long trek home. Telling Sarah and K our stories of wandering the city as high school and college students, and the stories of our grandparents and great grandparents settling in the Lower East Side for years before making the journey out to the ancestral homeland -- Queens!
And now I want to lobby for making our entire Fall curriculum *NYC* -- exploring the city itself, as well as the depth and breadth of our family connection to the city. At the moment she declares she's never walking again (today was a *lot* of walking, in fairly humid city air), so I might give it a few days before I start my campaign...
Today we spent about 8 hours wandering around the city -- taking the ferry in, traveling up to Pommes Frites for belgian fries and over to the Doughnut Factory to see the place from Throwdown with Bobby Flay, then meandering through Central Park, attempting to go to the Zoo (got there too late -- can you believe they close at 5pm?!) and then sitting in the lowering dusk, listening to Shostakovich at the Naumberg Bandshell before starting the long trek home. Telling Sarah and K our stories of wandering the city as high school and college students, and the stories of our grandparents and great grandparents settling in the Lower East Side for years before making the journey out to the ancestral homeland -- Queens!
And now I want to lobby for making our entire Fall curriculum *NYC* -- exploring the city itself, as well as the depth and breadth of our family connection to the city. At the moment she declares she's never walking again (today was a *lot* of walking, in fairly humid city air), so I might give it a few days before I start my campaign...
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