Homeschooling

This post disappeared twice as I was writing it on my phone the other day. Maybe nothing is what I have earned the right to say about homeschooling. Maybe the message is that each family needs to discover for themselves what it means and how it can work for them. It will be an adventure...your very own. I love ours! What has yours been like?

Halloween

Our city, one of four in the conglomeration, holds trick-or-treat on October 30th. Last night was the night. Despite a frenetic, joyous sun dance the kids performed on the trampoline in the morning, it was pouring down rain by the time 5:00 rolled around. I thought about trading all of our candy for one other family's and calling it a night. Wishful thinking.

I returned home from a doctor apt. shortly after 5, to find  hoards of short, costumed people in my driveway, skipping up and down to my door while their patient, weary parents trudge along holding umbrellas. I parked on the street and dashed through little goblins and princesses to the warmth of a fire in the hearth and very little desire to leave again. Cate, despite having a fever, sore throat and stuffy nose, was happily handing out candy. We all had a bowl of Thierry's latest chili; with chicken, not beef, followed by way too much candy. The make-up was applied, the costumes were on and they were off (yuck!).

By the end of the night, wet kids were again warm, dry kids, the dog was zonked out (most likely by a dose of illicit chocolate), the fathers who had valiantly taken my place trick-or-treating were playing guitar by the fire and Duncan, who kindly took the little boys back out for a second round, was doing his homework in the basement. Officially, trick-or-treating was finished. Secretly, we were all still sneaking bites of chocolate when no one was looking. It was a good night.

20 Years of Marriage...almost twice

Photography by Joseph Maciejko, email below:
Joeprimus@aol.com 

Michaelmas Candle

Michaelmas 2013

I can't help it; this is my favorite time of the year. In deference to those who are mourning summer and dreading the cold to come, I have publicly, at least, tempered my enthusiasm...but it is fall and it celebrating Michaelmas was past due! We held the event at our house and invited our beloved homeschool group. These are the families without which I would be lost; the friends, the colleagues, the wonderful children I love to watch as they grow into great human beings.

The autumn is a transitional time of a special sort. The changes are in the air, the earth, in animals and plants and humans. The humans tend to be too busy to remember to stop and take notice, which is why celebrating Michaelmas is such a lovely thing to do.

This year we made candles of the poured type: into votive glasses or my heart-shaped muffin mold. After and during that we ate and drank, and the day ended with a recital (and acting out of) the Michaelmas story in a lyrical play.

It was simple, but so much fun. It was also the last day of warm weather we had this year. Temps dropped down to the 40s and 50s after that, and it even snowed last week!

Celebrate now...it doesn't need to be perfect or a huge party, it is good to gather together sometimes. Coming up: Martinmas, just after Halloween. November 11th.

Mama Fitness October Update

5:45 Bodypump class today; a new knot for my tennies, because the top of my foot is killing me; the "Nelson knot" from here: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more-sports/running-doc-don-overlook-laces-article-1.1217045. Full cotton gloves under my lifting gloves because the skin on my hands is bad. And happy as a furry dog, who has just been shaved on a hot summer day; I am here!!! Moving, following directions some parts of me would rather not follow; "one more time," is a least favorite, but much better than; "three more." 

Yesterday, I had a longish walk with the younger boys; through the neighborhood, along the bike path and into the woods. Everyone was happy, especially the puppy. 

Today; it's park day, so I will walk around the park a bit with the kids, before settling down to my knitting and chill time, then get in a short ab work-out between French lessons and dinner. 

Anyone else have that annoying pain on top of their foot, made much worse by tying a tennis shoe over it? Anyone with flat feet have a  preference for minimalist running shoes vs. full orthotics? Which kind? Shoes you like? 

Now, for my job; don't let today go by without moving. You will be happier, more energetic, and closer to an ideal you!

Living the Art of Eating Well

Dinner last night was brought to us by; the sun, soil and rain that nourished the fresh vegetables we ate, the pig whose life was given up for our table, coal from the earth, and the wisdom of millennia from one part of India, where tumeric, mint, garlic, cilantro, onions and ginger combine for a fabulous, unique flavor. The recipe I used was from a book loaned to me by a good friend, who also shares spices, advice and help as needed, as I take baby steps into the immense world of Indian cuisine. The menu? Pork chops on the grill, paneer tandoori, nan and a green salad.

Cooking at this time of year is such a pleasure. We are still enjoying the wealth of vegetables and herbs that come straight from the back yard to the kitchen.  I needed green peppers for dinner, I grabbed the one remaining pepper on the vine outside the door, and the specimen with the same color, from the grocery store, inside my fridge. A side by side comparison revealed that we usually settle for utter misery, if we buy our produce this way. The garden pepper was firm, smelled heavenly, and sang with a crispness as I sliced it. There was an actual, joyful noise that came from it. The other one? I'll save the ink, and not bore you. 

The tomatoes were from a friend. It has been a bumper year for tomatoes for some people, I am so lucky to have two friends, willing to share, among those expert gardeners. My garden's other contribution was the mint, which grows even where I don't want it to grow, which means it is always fresh. I can grow chives and basil too. Maybe I should focus on herbs next year and trade them for tomatoes. The kids have been eating them still warm from the garden; sliced and salted, at all times of the day. They want me to buy vitamin C, why again?

Tonight is football night. Only Cate will miss seeing Duncan play, as she has a double kung fu class. We started planning dinner for tonight two days ago, to avoid a repeat of last Friday's post-game "snack" of fast food taco-thingies, fries and sodas. We will have spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce and meatballs from an old family recipe. T. will be home early and wants to make the meatballs. The only thing to cook when we get home later, will be the pasta.  I am giving this up grudgingly, as this is my own specialty. As usual, though, once he learns a dish, T. makes it with such love and attention, that he exceeds my version of it every time. I will drive kung fu car pool and get us all to the game on time.

Search, Do: Repeat and Save the World

That is the way life goes here. The research on what changes as we all grow and evolve, and the all-important repetition may seem boring, but it is what allows a dream or a goal to take shape and flourish.

Monday morning at our house: T.and I up at 4:45, breakfast, out the door by 5:55 for our class at the Y, home by 7:12 to get ready for work and school.

A walk/run before school for those awake enough to come along, and lessons at 8:30. Somewhere in there, I throw in a load of laundry, start a loaf of bread, and take a quick shower. Today we are going to practice handwriting, read "Farmer Boy," have a little Spanish lesson, do some math practice and act out the story of creation (the animal and human bit) with puppets. The older two will work on their math lessons, complete a writing assignment, and practice piano.

Same gym class, same subjects, same old, same old. But we thrive on knowing what to expect when. It is what holds together a household of seven.

Of course, yesterday, after writing the above, one child started out the day with a melt-down that lasted all morning, disrupting our lovely, little, ordered world, in a big, noisy way. Did having a routine make it any easier on that child, or on the rest of us, suffering from the fall-out? It did in one way; by the time the rest of us had completed our lessons and were ready for lunch and a trip to the zoo, that one knew they would have to stay home and work on what had not been done that morning, and there was, finally, no arguing. I am not happy about these moments, nor proud of myself as a mother when they happen. I am sure though, that the structure helps things eventually return to normal, because it is what is expected. 

I am not a planner, I like to live a little more spontaneously. I have to work at this. And the trip to the zoo yesterday? Zilch, stupid, nada, it was closing as we got there because they had changed to winter hours that day. We did, though, have tea with a wonderful friend who called as I was trying to decide how to distract everyone from the disappointment of locked zoo gates. Great end to the day, thanks, friend!

What are you going to repeat today?

Spanish 101, Waldorf-style

We have incorporated Spanish for many years; singing, reading picture books, counting and using some phrases. I wanted to move forward with the language with the children, so I ordered a new book, and combined it with art to form a Waldorf lesson-a-day in Spanish. Besides the polite phrases we are learning to use with each other, we will draw the lesson from a very concrete sentence. This morning's dilemma? This is not the way ("La manzana esta sobre la mesa,") I ever said; "the apple is on the table," in Spanish!!! Thoughts, Spanish speakers? I would have said, "la manzana esta en la mesa." But I lived in Spain, not Latin America, and it was many years ago now. !Gracias!

Aah, September; School and the Rest

The cool, crisp mornings of autumn are finally here...and I feel uplifted in every way. I've been wanting to write a post of gratitude for the fall weather, but I was too busy enjoying it with my family and friends!

School is back in session; 11th grade and encouragement for my 16-yr.old daughter. She published her first book about a month ago!!!
Here is a link, and shame on me for not posting about this sooner; we are all sort of basking in her glow.
 She is largely on her own for her studies, with a German tutor and a math tutor, but I impose some reading to give her new perspective and look into subjects she would otherwise pass by. Here is the book I have given her to read for science; it is an excellent summary of scientific history for the past 100 years and further back. I enjoyed it, and I think she will too, as soon as she is done grumbling about how long it it.
The Making of the Atomic Bomb: 25th Anniversary Edition

10th grade and public high school for my son who is 15. He is playing football for the first time. I am a mother, I worry. I am also proud of him; he has been so motivated to get into shape, train and run and lift...and learn all about the game. He is giving us lessons this week, as we all gear up for the Homecoming game Friday night. Growing up in a sailing, cycling and rugby-loving home, you get to discover everything about football all on your own.

Duncan; second row from bottom, far left

2nd-year kindergarten is what my 6-year-old guy has going on. He has Super-Gael the Gnome stories from Early Years Curriculum by Melisa Nielson, nature and gardening time, counting and manipulating bigger numbers than last year, cooking and baking with me or with Dad, painting, singing, music and knitting.

3rd grade for my son who just turned 9, has the happy chance to fall on the same year that his Sunday school class focuses on our Judeo-Christian heritage and the Bible. And this is my year to teach that class at church too.

6th grade begins with a bit of a return to 5th grade. My daughter is 11, going-on-12, and we did not finish it "all" last year, but we focused on ancient cultures and botany, as she was very interested in plants and growing them. We will continue with a study of Greece to lead us into Rome. We read the myths of Greece last year, but the parts I do not want to miss are The Trial and Death of Socrates
 and Alexander the Great . Some heavy reading is in store for the week. The Romans are better suited for a 12-year-old anyway. 

We started out the year with local history and geography, expanding to the rest of North America and South America. We learned about the Native Americans who first lived here, and about the settlers from the East who arrived not so very long ago in the big scheme of things. I chose one biography to read together, someone I knew would capture their interest and hearts for a spell; John Paul Jones, in a book called The Pirate Patriot.


Charles, grade 3 and I,  have continued on to follow the story of the family in A Journey Through Waldorf Homeschooling, Grade 3, whose Jewish grandmother comes for a visit. We've begun reading stories from the Old Testament, or as I learned while prepping my Sunday School lessons, it is also called; The Hebrew Testament.  We have already been incorporating Native American stories and fun history books about their way of life, because my boy has been interested in this piece of history for awhile. His big goal is to build a really cool tee-pee, mine is to find a place to store said tee-pee. 

Outings were rather severely limited for the first couple of weeks. A good friend took them to the pool often, which was fortuitous, because it was darned hot. Every single day for weeks on end it was in the 90s or above. The motivation to leave the house was not strong, and they took turns getting a yucky virus for a week or so, as well.  

We joined our local art museum, The Figge during that time, and enjoyed being amazed and creative in air-conditioned bliss.

A trip to the "Tractor Place" was absolutely necessary, because we had a guest with us from BVI; or the British Virgin Islands. No one minded, from the youngest up to myself. This is a museum-like display place for various John Deere tractors, combines and harvesters. You can climb up the biggest machines and sit in the cab, or knit while the children climb and explore the interactive programs.

We were offered a zoo membership, for which I am so grateful. It is one of those places that feel as though you do not have time to see enough in one visit. They give mini-lessons on a different animal twice a day too, so we make sure to find the animal du jour and the 2 waiting zoo keepers for the talk when we are there. Like the art museum, the first visit is like an intro for kids; they are too excited re-discovering everything at high-speed that we do not have a minute to settle down and focus. The visits are invariably richer and less frenzied the next time around.

The guest? Funny you should ask. I could either respond; "a charming, quiet, but quick-witted young exchange student, who came to discover the Midwest and stayed with us for a month". Or I could say; "some tall-ship sailor, 17-turning-18, who met my daughter and requested permission to visit and camp out in someone else's backyard." You will remember that Cate sailed upon a historical replica of a tall ship back in July. She spent a week aboard the fabulous Unicorn. Sailing has been a passion of hers for years...it's sort of in her blood. So when she met another young person with as much love for sailing and drive to continue it, they hit it off and became fast friends. They are both writing books and both planning and plotting to get back on a tall-ship as soon as they are able. He turned 18 while he was here, so we honored him with some true Iowa treasures.

With the delicious cooler weather, tea time is once again a favorite moment of the day, replacing iced coffee or smoothies.

We have been very blessed this summer and this fall season. I hope you have been too.

DIY Laundry Soap: Best-Ever!

There are many variations of this to be found on Pinterest and online, here is a super-easy, effective one. It smells lovely and makes enough for over 600 loads of laundry. The addition of Oxyclean (or its generic equivalent thereof), helps add brightness and removes stains. Changing out the Fels Naptha for lavender soap adds the calming, clean smell of lavender, my favorite. My source? A sweet mother of seven sitting next to me in our kids' kung-fu class!

4 lbs. Baking Soda
4lbs. Washing Soda
4lbs. Borax (20 Mule Team)
3.5lbs. Oxyclean
3 bars of Fels Naptha soap, grated
(I used one bar of this, 2 bars of a natural lavender soap)
Container: one big plastic tote works great for mixing
Smaller containers for storage

Pour in and mix all ingredients. Use 1Tbsp. per load.
The first 3 ingredients come in boxes with close to this exact amount, some are 3.7lbs, some 4.1. I happened to have leftover pouches or bigger boxes of some ingredients; I just used the Borax box to measure out quantities. It is approximately equal amounts of each ingredient.

DIY Laundry Soap

 

Crunchy Not-Wanna-Be

Grating a bar of lavender soap into a large bin of mixed natural detergents, I had shed all traces of my previous existence. Really? I have to make my own laundry soap? Yet there I was, enjoying the whole thing too; nuts.

"Crunchy" for me meant a bad hair day, when I needed so much gel to calm the frizzies that the word defined the texture atop my head. The sort of mother I was meant to be was, first of all, loving and engaged with my kids. Then efficient, keeping it all together, teaching them their ABCs, math facts, and in time, world politics and involvement in one's immediate community. Next, elegant and chic, or at least sort of always somewhat put together. Earth mother was not my goal.

Here I am, 16 years later, in an average house in an average neighborhood, having nursed five babies for too many years to count, given birth three times at home, washed a million cloth diapers, making each meal from scratch, growing herbs and 3 tomatoes per season (the clay in our backyard really stinks for vegetable-growing)...and grating soap to wash the family's laundry. Oh...and we homeschool, of course. 

Though my goal was not crunchy per se, it was and always will be, to do things in a way gentle to the earth and in the best interest for health and well-being. To that end, I will cook real food, bike where I can, reuse rather than re-buy and toss, and even grate soap on a Sunday morning.

Life is beautiful. Crazy, but beautiful.  Recipe for the other crazies, can be found above.

Life Lessons

I am sitting calmly with a cup of coffee and my computer, letting my frantic son figure out how he is going to get to school this morning. It's not as easy as it looks. He missed his bus, something that happens a little too often, and his father and I have agreed to let him work it out for himself. I really just want to drop everything and take him, but that would not be such a great favor to either of us. He needs to put down his ipod and get ready in the morning and I need time to prep things before the other kids wake up. On the days when I rescue him, I neither exercise nor write, having instead to jump right into hungry kids when I get home from the 30 minute ordeal of traffic and (mostly) bad music in the car. 

I love the extra time with him, and even the bad music. Subjecting me to it in the car is his way of sharing with me what he loves most; music, in all its varieties and with all the horrors it can also engender (screamo, anyone?) I love seeing his taste evolve and become more complex with years of listening and playing. 

I also love to be home and ready for the littles, the house straight and school things out and ready. It's nice to have fresh muffins or bread made when they wake up. Life is full of choices, and some of them tear you right in half.

Ah, one down for today; he just went out the door; he found a ride with a friend. Perfect. Now I can make blueberry muffins with Charles, get the paper unrolled for our timeline and even spend a minute on the trampoline. What a great start to the day.

Climbers with Style: V and G