HomeSchooling
That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not alone and isolated from anyone. You belong. - F. Scott Fitzgerald
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mantra.
It’s because the days move so quickly that I cling to them so tightly. Having a senior in our home constantly reminds me – nine doesn’t last. But goodness – how sweet it is. Sweet, I tell you, to watch the kids craft magic out of yarn and sticks – a horse, a unicorn, a tiny doll. Pretend play in the woods. Bow and arrows from sticks and string. Forts built. Towers created. Conversations pure and innocent about trees and deer and songbirds. And I don’t always photograph this kind of magic Because I’m afraid that if I do they’ll recognize it as unusual and stop themselves. I want them…
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field trippin’
If you live within an hour’s drive of Brevard, North Carolina and you have never visited the Pisgah Wildlife Education Center – you have been missing a jewel of a place. Tucked in at the base of two mountains and surrounded by streams and the lovely Davidson River, the Center has been one of our family’s favorite field trip destinations for several years. Can you ever really go wrong with mountain air, sunshine and outdoor education? Oh – and all of the classes are offered at no cost. No cost! Because of life and circumstances, this week was our first trip up there this school year. And to add to…
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battleground.
I’m not raising babies any longer. I was watching Otto rest in our bed last night, Kevin and I lying on either side of him – gazing at his freshly cut mo-hawk. (His request. His repeated request, actually.) He’s so capable. Been wearing big boy boxers for almost a year. Sticking his hands in his pockets. Conversing and sharing his thoughts and ideas. My days at home have changed. Oh – and how they’ve changed. I’m no longer shuffling nap times and scheduling my mornings to be home at a certain time. No directing of toddler-time activities and monitoring the play dough intake. There’s not a calendar on my fridge…
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hullabaloo
The definition of hullabaloo is “a commotion, a fuss”. I guess that’s about accurate. Last night was the sweetest hullabaloo of which I’ve ever been a part. Our co-op decided it would be great to celebrate finishing a term of class together. We wanted to give the kids a gentle opportunity to share their hard work out loud and a bit of a time for the dads to see what the kids have been up to for the past twelve weeks. The night was precious. Verses delivered with gusto by little ones. (Otto said, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean BACK on your own understanding.”) Cathryn, at…
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Keigley CAMPaign: Huntington Beach
Lately it feels as if all forces conspire against me in completing a blog post in a regular or timely fashion. And I’m missing my writing consistency. But it’s early (ish) morning and I’m pounding the keys for a few quiet moments. Huntington Beach. I think it’s the state park farthest away from our home. Are you kidding me? That’s all I kept repeating. Otto was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. (And eventually only his underwear.) I was thinking about sunscreen and Kevin and Mosely were flying a kite. (A really cool box kite that we found completely intact in the sand dunes.) It’s November. No.vem.ber. I think we just…
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driving home (the beauty of an iPhone and modern technology)
Today we are leaving this. And to leave the ocean is always bittersweet. But to have even touched the waves in November is pure gift. It was our November camping trip. The one we almost didn’t take. Because it’s cold. Because our second car died last week. Because it’s a busy busy month. But we did go. All the way to the ocean. I think we’re all glad we took the risk. And tomorrow I’ll tell you all about it.
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Tricks of the Trade. 4.
Like my family closet idea, this idea is not really mine. I probably grabbed it from someone else’s blog or brain in some form or fashion. And now you can have it too. It’s simple and it’s easy and that’s what makes it a good idea. Serve your kids lunch in a muffin tin. There you have it. Anti-climatic. Not at all dramatic. Lunch in a muffin tin. I drove right on over to Ye Olde Dollar Tree and placed down $5 for 5 brand new muffin tins. (In the spirit of full disclosure – I might have purchased six. I can’t really remember.) The small cups are perfect for…
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A Day in the Life: Part Two
I warned you last time. This will probably be anti-climatic. Cliffhangers are not my strong suit. So. Here I go anyway. The day was glorious. The sky was beautiful. Snacks were tasty. School work was being done and complaining was at an all-time low. I was considering crafting a make-shift tent from our picnic blankets and sowing our apple seeds for future meals and fashioning new clothes for the kids out of leaves and bark and never returning home again. It was that divine. Jump Off Rock is a public park. People were coming and going. That was no big deal. But around 1:25 an elderly man accompanied by his…
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A Day in the Life: Part One
The forecast for the entire week was glorious. Warm afternoons. Cool mornings. The type of day designed by the creator of days to be spent out of doors. No climate controlled, temperature regulated kind of day. (Not that those days even exist when you live in a one hundred and eleven year old farm house.) I looked at the week’s forecast and I knew three things. 1. These days are an unadulterated gift. Cold weather is coming. 2. Cold weather is particularly disheartening at our home where last winter we could see our breath in our kitchen on a regular basis. 3. I need to stockpile good days of warmth…
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long enough .
And I would sit here by this gravel path all morning with my Hawkeye. I would watch the sun grow high and the sun fall low with my boy, And it would still not be long enough.
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How To Enjoy A Corn Maze
1. Bring along a lot of your pals. And the children of those pals. 2. Approach the barn area so indecisively and scattered looking that an employee intercepts your gang and asks why you look so out of place. 3. Underestimate the vastness of the many acre corn maze before you and allow children free range to run as they please. 4. Realize the corn maze is larger and more complex than at first was recognized and try to run to catch up with your wayward crew. 5. Leave behind the one mom with the stroller to push through the rough dirt paths. 6. Toss the weakest link on your…
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Wildwood: Creative Narration
I don’t give my children tests. Well, at least not my elementary student children. They don’t receive a multiple choice, true/false, fill in the blank piece of paper when they complete a chapter about Columbus or learn about narwhals in their science book. (They don’t ever really use textbooks either, but that’s another story.) As an advocate of a Charlotte Mason education, we employ the use of narration in our daily school routine. Narration means just what it sounds like. We read a chapter, learn about a subject, finish a novel – and when we do that – I ask the kids to tell me the story back in their…
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this might be a rant. or it might be the truth. or it could be both.
I’m not anti-higher education. I’m really not. (Although I think you already know how I feel about a system.) Shoot, I loved college. It was a good time. (Which promotes my point exactly.) I love learning. I mean, I’m dedicating my very life to the process, you know. But the more I teach, the more I learn, the more I realize that what I want to produce in our homeschool is not educated adults, per se. Not diploma-holding citizens. Not specific-abbreviations-past-your-given-name people. I want to produce learners. Thinkers. Imaginers. People who know how to find information and who want to get to that information. People who can think. And I’m…
