Hair Happy

This is not a day I thought I would see this soon. G-girl decided to get her hair cut.

And she wanted me to do it.

Just for reminders, G-girl has traditionally had very, very long hair. When she turned 6, it was waist length.

When we "trimmed" and colored it in 2007, it was well below her midback.

I am not entirely sure what has changed for her, but here was the result:

Oh my. Oh my, oh my, oh my.

May 2006

Gardening Planting Schedule

4-27
P-daddy tilled gardens and put onion starts in Bed A and seeded potato bed with cuts and straw

Mulched and weeded roses in herb garden

4-29
Put in 3 Gallon Molbak's Tomatoes: two roma and one best boy. Oregano overwintered fabulously, put pot in tomato bed. Will split as time permits.

The shape of a summer

It's coming...... I know it is. The days have lengthened and the birds are restless. We pack so much living into summers here that we spend the first rainy months recovering. Somehow it balances out, so that by the time we arrive back here, in the early spring, we're more than ready to launch.

This entry is about the places and programs which inspire and frame our summer living.

I've already mentioned the garden on numerous occasions.... and the places we go to support that endeavor are many. It's also, for being a single-family activity, a way to keep close with our friends, most of whom also garden. It's so much more than a hobby.

Related to the garden is our treatment of the birds we host here. We like our birdfeeders. This year we signed up for a feed membership with Wild Birds Unlimited. I love those folks!

Hot on the heels of putting in our garden, the kids and I will be traveling home to Chassun. I expect to spend far too much time on the beach. G-girlie reminded me today that she wants to go to the waterpark there. I had already forgotten its existence, which is funny because I think of its host park all the time. We practically lived there most of the time, so much so we seriously considered moving closer because we drove there so much.

We usually have "homeschool scouts" at least every other week during the Summer, which is enriching. I know at least a couple of families who are interested in that, maybe more. :)

GH has its own entertainment, and the GH calendar alone could fill one's summer. We do make use of the Summer Sounds at Skansie, and we always intend to go to the films, but never seem to make the screenings. They finally have the schedule up on their site.

One of the shining jewels in the community here is the naturalist group Harbor Wild Watch. I am so impressed by both their initiative and their success. They've really been embraced by the community and they do an incredible job at bringing the wildlife in our waters to the clear attention of children in the community. We will definitely be participating in some of their planned events this summer.

Three of our five birthdays are during the summer, so there is that. We will clearly be camping again, as we love it so much. We're going to Penrose again, and will branch out depending on how the kids do.

We usually spend the 4th of July on our own beach, with friends. Carr Inlet lights up with our own little fireworks display, and it's a nice show for such a short walk. :)


The Renaissance Faire is an absolute must-do. I have the costume we purchased last year and I would like to make some for the children as well. P-daddy wants to get dressed as well, so we need to figure out a family identity. The Faire is moving this year, so we might not get to camp as we'd hoped, but I expect we'll go for the weekend nonetheless, maybe camping somewhere close but established. I am thrilled for them that they've gotten a new property like this. What they will be able to accomplish is probably going to astound a few people.

Also in August, my parents will be coming for a visit. That will be wonderful, as they haven't been here since we had just moved in. We'd only been in this house two weeks and knew nothing of the area. Now, we can show them around and enjoy the city with them.


*I reserve the right to update this with stuff I know I have forgotten.

Leafy Abodes

This will be the year of the treehouse for us. We really need to get one in out there. We have such a perfect yard for it-- half lawn, half wooded-- and I think it is a rite of childhood to build a boss-awesome fort / playhouse / treehouse. As a family we decided to go the treehouse route. So there it is.

We will keep a journal of it. This is definitely going to be a great engineering / naturalist / artistic homeschool project. Right now it's still in the decision making phase. We have very little sourced material so far, but I am going to see how free we can make it. This should be fun!

A starting link:
http://www.freeww.com/treehouses.html

A complicated link:
http://www.treehouseworkshop.com/faq.html

A dreamy link: http://www.treehouseworkshop.com/port_kids_01.html

A fabulously fun link: http://www.treehouses.com/treehouse/treesort/home.html

Many the firsts

This weekend was an amazing experience for the GH Hobbits. On Friday, we received both our tax return and a bonus for P-daddy. This coincided nicely with our friend getting the keys to HER fabulous hobbit home, so after a month here, our friend and her family moved out on Friday. Nikay and her tribe moved in for a brief stay because...........

P-daddy and I went away for the weekend.







No, Seriously.









We rented a houseboat in the Harbor and stayed for two nights, three days. We had plans to go into Seattle, but pretty much all we did was the tourist circuit in GH. Nikay said "I am surprised you're staying in GH," to which I replied "We love GH, but we never get to enjoy it because of time / money / tired children." Personally, sleeping on the water is a bit of heaven as well.



The kids were THRILLED. After a month with crazy-Mom, they were happy to be rid of me, I think, and the break ensured I have returned to them as the Mom they actually like. This is the longest I have ever been away from the kids, and N-man and D-meister have never spent the night away from their Mom. Apparently D-meister mentioned us briefly on the second night. We got plenty of calls, but not one with a tiny voice saying s/he missed us. It was all "where's the sifter" and "where's the sunscreen." Nikay kept them at the beach lots and lots, and baked cookies and cake with them. She came armed for battle too-- brought her own rice cooker, did her laundry and ours while she was here. Nikay rocks, seriously. There is no way this would have worked with anyone else. N-man doesn't remember life without her and D-meister met her when he was 6 weeks old. In all truth, there hasn't been life without her.

Last Monday, I wouldn't have even conceived of this happening, but it did, and it played out so well for everyone (I hope) involved. Now we're home, back on our own schedule, with love cups full and new friends to fold on in.

Onward!

http://www.pleasurecraftrentals.com/

Pause the Movie!

Lunch on Wednesday yesterday was Nikay's family, along with Pascha's of course, as they're hanging here until their rental comes open.

On the beach yesterday someone referred to my G-girl as a "hardy Northwestern girl, to be sure." It was a. meant as a compliment and b. truer than dirt. She and two of Nikay's children were SWIMMING in Carr Inlet in early April. That's insanity, sheer insanity. What had been intended as a short jaunt to the beach suddenly turned into a full blown homeschool scouts adventure.

No one could blame them, really; the tide was ridiculously low, and the sea creatures were out in the tidal pools. As the children ventured into them to explore, they got more and more wet. After being wet and acclimating to the chill, what was an --accidental, of course--headlong dive into the water? Before long the three tallest were well offshore, swimming in head-to-toe warm gear, from boots to coats. After some necessary photography, the Moms started the equally necessary task of starting a gigantic bonfire, both to warm our hypothermic children and to dry their clothes at least a bit, before we tried to hike back up from the beach.

I hadn't planned a fire, but I brought a lighter. Such a Scout! Be grateful, small frigid ones, that your Moms are handy with drywood!

While we were down on the beach, Nikay's son and Pascha's son went at it in the big style fighting that only rough-and-tumble boys can do. It was actually kind of disturbing to me, because my boys, while they do love to wrestle, are nowhere near as strong and tough as these guys were. I have often wondered to what measure Boyness was holding back when pounding on the N-meister, and in Raeden he found a well-matched opponent in strength, size and inclination. They LOVED it. For me, it was like watching clash of the titans. They would really hit each other using all their favorite methods, from kneeing and wrestling to full blown fisticuffs. They'd slug each other, hurl each other to the ground and pant, all the while grinning like Cheshire cats. They were clearly enjoying this huge test, pushing the envelope of what they'd ever been able to do with another kid, constantly exhilarated that the other guy wasn't getting angry or falling down crying.

What fascinated us all was that the boys would respect each other's limits within the context of their battle. They were wailing on each other while pretending they were Superheroes in a movie. When one had enough he'd say "Pause the movie" and the other would stop; they'd both sit, regain their gumption and then renew their attack. This went on for a long while, until someone got a bloody lip and didn't notice. The other fellow did, stopped, and waited for the wailing which didn't come.

"Why did you stop?" Lip asked.

"Uh, you're bleeding," came the response. Cue the wailing.

Our quick jaunt to the beach culminated in 7 hours of beaching-it, with wading, swimming, wrestling and cliff-diving. It was worthy of last year's homeschool scout / lunch on Wednesday tribe and it felt good. The kids had a blast and the Moms could sense the inevitable approach of a regular capacity to have an uninterrupted conversation.

Pause the movie-- the long, boring winter movie. I call Season Open!!!!!!!

The rest of the world is on Spring Break

And it seems pretty timely. Last week it spent all week cold and overcast, alternating rain, snow, sleet and hail. It was March going out with a BANG. In like a lion, out like a lamb? Try direct OPPOSITE of that.

This week, the sun has returned, and yesterday it got up to 56 in our little locale. The guests staying with us finally got to see the Mountain, and my tight grip on my garden fever is slipping exponentially every day.

So, my kids are playing with everyone else this week; homeschoolers and bussers alike are all on a level playing field right now, finally enjoying the outside sunshine.

Yellow Stripe

With friends and family cheering her on, G-girl got her first color belt in karate. She was cool as a cucumber out there, totally enjoying the exhibition.




But as soon as she got her new belt, she was off to run to her Mommy. I love that, to this day. She's not SO big yet. Sorry, Sensei, to have our family sully your belt line. Tee hee.

I like the mirrors in the Dojo-- in these pictures you can see Uncle Monkey and P-daddy amongst the spectators.



And then Daddy made a special cake for the celebration.

So I am an Easter Beaver

Which Chronicles of Narnia character are you most like? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Mr. Beaver Mr. Beaver 73% Peter Pevensie 70% Lucy Pevensie 63% Susan Pevensie 60% Edmund Pevensie 50% Aslan 47% Mrs. Beaver 43% Mr. Tumnus 43% Oreius 33% Ginarrbrik 30% The White Witch 13%

Spring has Sprung

More sunny days, more buds on the trees, the return of seasonal allergies.


And with it, some new revelations.

Spring light is not necessarily all good. Yes, winter light keeps me from remembering how coffee not a good thing for my teeth; and ew, for the first time I have three hairs on my chin.

This is the first Spring since 2002 that I have not been nursing. In the shower, I realized I was soaping my breasts, which I never did when I had a nursling.

I am a gardening fanatic. I have hesitated starting my projects because I know I won't finish the ones I have going inside if I start the garden. But I HAVE to start the garden. Right. Now.

I love going to the beach. Without the winter wind whipping the cold into the bones, I actually enjoy going back down there.

We have friends staying with us while they house hunt. They are also from the South, and I have enjoyed watching my friend encounter the NW with similar reactions to the ones P-daddy and I had when we moved here. A huge plus for her is that they're moving on the EQUINOX instead of on the Winter Solstice. They're about to get overwhelmed entirely-- in a good way-- and I can't wait to watch.

Spicy?

You Are Cumin

You are warm, unique, and pretty dominant. It's also pretty likely that you smoke or like fire. You are energetic and intense. You definitely stimulate people.

What Spice Are You?

I tag Mackenzie, Niki, Marie and Danelle!

A Girl Named Anna

(this is definitely a click the pix post)

Nineteen years ago, when I matriculated a prestigious woman's college on the East Coast, I met a girl named Anna. We were from different Carolinas, but we must have had something more important in common, because we have been friends ever since. We were in my first study group in college, we had the same major and we had overlapping circles of friends. We both held important positions on the college newspaper. We even liked the same royal blue. We stayed in touch all through school, and then periodically we'd touch base in the years that followed. She attended our wedding, and came to various oyster roasts that P-daddy and I would host. The last time I saw her was at our last big social event on John's Island, when I was pregnant with G. Shortly after that she met her partner and we were both busy, building our families. She moved across country, and that was that.



When we moved to WA, surprising everyone including ourselves, I was relieved to know someone was out here from back home. Anna lives in OR, and I was anticipating seeing her again soon after our arrival. It's not difficult to explain how I (and my P-daddy!) feel about Anna: we adore her. It is, however, unsatisfying to put it so simply, though: it doesn't impart the tapestry of affection and history, love and confidence we have for and in her. She's a good egg.

Anyway, when we arrived in Federal Way, she immediately made plans to come visit us. Alas, on the appointed day, we had a two day old so we asked her to postpone her trip. Then, nursing school started for her. Three years later, we finally got our visit! In she came, like no time had passed.

Yet it had. Eight years. It is always marker on my personal time line when I see Anna, but for my part, that meant three children, four houses, three vehicles one career and a cross-country move later. We discovered we'd both gotten into much healthier, physically fit lifestyles. We are both much greener than we'd ever been before, eating well and trying to tread lightly. We're in similar mental processes, trying to live mindfully and simplify our day to day. She's into yoga, I like pilates. We both have the established "grown up" households we'd try so hard to envision back in the day.

Time marches on for us all, yet with my entire life consumed by child and family, it is actually confusing to me to try and realize her perspective on my life here. My entire childbearing phase has passed her by. She'd never seen me with a child of my own, much less three children. She's never seen me nurse a baby or change a diaper. She asked me "What does homeschooling look like for you guys?" and I couldn't answer her. I-- the woman who will drop everything to talk educational theory--found myself loathe to go into it because I didn't want my time with my friend consumed by it. It shocked me, but the day after she left, it hit me.



I said to Anna repeatedly while she was here that in college, she'd always "seen me." She looked through the craziness and saw who was actually in there. I think I wanted that here, too. Here was someone who knew ME. As a woman who has disappeared into her life and family, I wanted to be seen as who I am. I wanted to be me. And for a few hours, I had the chance to explore who that even is.

We have plans to get together again very soon; I am happy we get to get to know each other all over again.

California Doesn't Have Homeschoolers

Not really. The way it works there is that each family who chooses to educate at home either signs on with a virtual academy or declares itself a discrete private school and goes from there. The caveat is that the private schools do not have to be accredited to be acknowledged as permitted. And so it has gone, for quite some time.

Recently, as most homeschoolers who do not live under a rock will know, an appellate court ruled that such "unqualified individuals" as parents should not be teaching their children. As a result, one family's court drama has suddenly impacted thousands upon thousands of lives in California.

The HSLDA has gotten involved, filing an amicus brief with the courts in an attempt to get the ruling restricted to the one family in questions, instead of applying to the rest of the state. The goal, called depublication, is a decision that can only be made by the California Supreme Court. "If the Court determines that the decision should stand, regarding this family, on the facts presented, but that the general pronouncements of law for all of homeschooling should not be determined by this case, then the Court has the option of “depublishing” the Court of Appeal’s decision. This would mean that the case is not binding precedent in California and has no effect on any other family."

Luckily for the Californians, Governor Schwarzenegger issued a statement in opposition to recent Second District Court of Appeals ruling on home schooling. He said on his blog that

"Every California child deserves a quality education and parents should have the right to decide what’s best for their children. Parents should not be penalized for acting in the best interests of their children's education. This outrageous ruling must be overturned by the courts and if the courts don't protect parents' rights then, as elected officials, we will.”

I am optimistic about the outcome for California; not only do they have a strong HSLDA membership (at least 13500 families), they have the support of both the governor and numerous celebrities (read: money) who homeschool. I am not an HSLDA member, nor would I choose to be, but they've gotten the info out there. Further, Home Education magazine has issued a calmer, more thoughtful approach to the proceedings and have posted extensive information here. I reiterate, I am not that worried about it in the sense that I think the Californians will handle it.

What has been curious for me is the local commentary in reaction to this highly publicized debacle. In the ruling, one judge cites "a primary purpose" of education as training "school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare," quoting from a 1961 case on a similar issue.

The issue has snowballed from punishing one abusive family who really didn't deserve to homeschool to endangering the rights of thousands of others. It annoys me significantly that there are homeschoolers I know online who just don't get why this would effect us here in Washington. They have a myopic view of it: "That's California, not Washington," or "We're not abusing our kids, so we're not at risk here." Worst, "I am technically a public schooler, because I use a virtual academy." That one really strikes me as naive.

Any time a court at that level sets a precedent like this one, it's a bad thing for the home educating parent at large. Not only are the judges admitting that public education is not about imbuing the children with knowledge, but about creating malleable little state subjects, they are stating in their decision that parents are unqualified to teach their children and have no right to even question the curriculum that is being used in the process. Those ideas strike at both curriculum choice and parental instruction, impacting the fitness of a parent to teach at home regardless of whether she is homeschooling or accessing a virtual school. If something were to happen to your virtual academy, as happened recently in Wisconsin, what then would you do? Your kids are home for a reason. If homeschooling is taken away but you're ok with that because you still have a virtual academy, do you honestly believe that the people who think parental choice in curriculum and home instruction is wrong are going to then leave you alone? Most teachers are fine human beings, but they are fully indoctrinated into that system: they perceive each child out of school as representative of money being taken away from the school. They believe-- and many seem to agree-- that more funds will equal a better education. Clearly, I am not in agreement with that.

As for my family, we will support the (Federal) Constitutional right of parents to educate their children as they see fit, everywhere in the US.

Mathathon Movie

Today we finish our mathathon! G has really put a push on this week and has been doing a myriad of math activities, worksheets and workbooks. I was pretty impressed when my wee jockette gave up her morning mile at the Y to do math while her brothers took their swim lessons.

So we're off, D-Meister in tow, to Federal Way. Have a good one!

It eats us

http://www.tacomaymca.org/files/library/94f27002a90ac0a2.wmv

Giving up caffeine

I have a number of friends who are giving up caffeine, and one who remains truculent, in the "oh no, no way" camp.

Along with cheese, I have a love-guilt relationship with coffee. I am well aware of the benefits of coffee-- a freshly brewed pot has antioxidants on a par with wine or blueberries. That, along with the ritual, the scent and the sheer palate-pleasing hedonism, makes this a battle I am not willing to fight. Losing cheese would be easier.

My friends are correct and right to release themselves from coffee. It's an anti-nutrient in many ways. It leaches our hard-won calcium from our bones and it stains our teeth. It's an addictive substance on which many a Mom becomes woefully dependent and for those of us who actually enjoy it's taste, it is an expensive dependency at that. For me, who takes my coffee blonde and sweet, it also becomes a delivery system for more fat (no fake milk here) and sugar (or, splenda) into my body. If I could even wean myself to black coffee, I would be satisfied.

But no.

I sit here with the proverbial angels on my shoulders, with the golden haloed one smiling sagely at my words, and the feisty red one staring off into space unconcerned, knowing that my idle musings here won't amount to a hill of (coffee) beans.

Crazy Week is over!

This is one of those weeks where we had something big every.single.day. Monday through Friday. Y sessions started back in force, we had an impromptu Lunch on Wednesday when a planned field trip got rained out, we had an overnight houseguest for two days and then we had Camp Seymour on Friday.

I will have pics from some of it (I think) but really I don't know. How's that for random?

I am just saying "Hi!" and "I am alive!" and I will be back later!

It's ON like a MathATHON!

This month Niki fired it up over on her place and we will be joining the families who participate. If you're local, come on and bring it! We'll be using the discount theater in FW as the reward site.

The kids are psyched about it. They're such good little sports, I swear. They love math too, so this should really help them bone up on their base skills, as well as branch out. We have the Right Start curriculum we have been trying out this year, the Montessori materials, and workbooks and internet printsheets out the yang.

I can't believe I was so stressed about math. As a baby homeschooler, in the "can I do this??can I really do this??" phase, I was really stressed about three subjects: math, foreign language and music. I can do music appreciation until the cows come home, but my teaching skills in anything other than voice and reading notation leave much to be desired because, well, I don't play an instrument. I badly want them to be able to play at least piano. I have relaxed significantly about the music, completely about the mathematics, and I remain verklempt about foreign language. I continue to speak French to them, for goodness sake, when I want to be teaching them Spanish.

So anyway, as we were doing our math today. I mentioned to G that we were invited to a mathathon, and she flipped out. Then she wanted to know if her math card games were included in the count, and I assured her they were. C'est finis! ;)

The Patriot Guard is Awesome

Westboro Baptist Church (I use their name only to identify them; I respect them as neither Baptists nor a church) is the horrible group that pickets any high profile funeral it can, be it soldier, celebrity or politician with their vitriolic signs such as "God Hates Fags." Their rhetoric makes no sense and they abuse some of the civil liberties we have left (freedom of speech, freedom to assemble) to torture innocent, grieving people. They embody evil to me, and because of the nonviolent methods they use, have gone unchallenged for quite some time.

I recently learned about this group, The Patriot Guard, which has taken up a mission of its own. They literally surround the evil protesters like a macrophage cloistering a virus. Equally nonviolent, yet equally determined, these people block the evil-doers from the sight of the funeral participants. As the video shows, Police officers apparently appreciate and respect the turnabout.

I applaud the Patriot Guard and I am so grateful they exist. Regardless of how I personally feel about the war, what they do is necessary to honoring the hearts of our citizens. This is a Good Work.

Unit Study at Hogwarts?

I need some fun! And Lapaz Homeschool just gave me some direction with their Unit Study on Hogwarts.

How much fun does that look? I know at least one other family who is into that kind of stuff like we are. This is gonna be fun.

Tiny snippet for the lazy people who won't click the link:

Potions, Charms, and Spells

(I will be adding these daily)

First year students will learn many skills that will be important for potion making, as well as some simple potions, charms, and spells.

Your teacher will supply you each day with instructions for this class so that you do not do something foolish by working ahead. You must keep a journal to record what you have done (including ingredients, procedures, spells, chants, wand motions etc) and what you have hopefully learned.

Study well, as knowledge of potions and charms is a powerful weapon against dark forces!

Potion 1: Goblin Slobber

Goblin slobber is a potion which is particularly effective against being followed through woods and caves. Just drip some goblin slobber on the path behind you and anything that is chasing you will be driven away.

You will need:

One flask of water

¼ measure instant goblin slobber(dehydrated)

1 full measure Manticore milk

1 full measure water

3 drops goblin blood

Cauldron (mixing bowl will do if you have not yet received your cauldron)

Your wand, of course.

1. Rehydrate the goblin slobber:Pour the instant goblin slobber into the flask of water. Stir briskly with wand to dissolve while chanting “soluloso aqualitem.” Repeat until fully dissolved.
2. Into the manticore milk pour the measure of water and the goblin blood and stir, repeating incantation.
3. The final step is to pour the two solutions into the cauldron and stir well chanting “goblinatum sloberosum.” You may need to adjust the quantities, so add them slowly.
   

(Note to professors: muggles will know these ingredients by different names. Instant goblin slobber= borax. Manticore milk= Elmer’s glue. Goblin blood= green food coloring. flask=quart, measure=cup)

Caucus Today-- or it doesn't count

Democrats caucus in this state despite how it appears on the absentee ballot you may have received.

Your ballot vote will not count in the mail-in primary if you are voting for a Democrat.

Why they do it this way (include democrats on the primary ballot) I have no idea, because it certainly creates confusion. It is all too easy to feel like you have done your civic duty when you lick that envelope and check the appropriate boxes.

Caucus is today at 1:00.

Click here to find out where you need to go to caucus.

The Democratic party in WA has this to say:Why is Washington State having Caucuses and a Primary? The Washington State Legislature was the body who voted to hold a primary. The means that the Washington State Democratic Party, which chooses how delegates are decided, had no participation in the decision to hold the primary, which will cost $9 to $10 million. The Washington State Democratic Party decided to choose their delegates through the Caucuses, as it always has. As a result, your vote for a Democratic candidate in the State Primary will not count toward delegate selection.

GO VOTE TODAY!

Yes, We Can

Make Sure You Vote

Carseats Make my Head Spin

Washington has changed legislation again so the kids will be in seats way longer than I thought they would be when I bought them all. I had two Alpha Omegas (with which I remain happy, despite a lot of online carseat gourmands complaints) which would have been all I needed had we remained in SC. It kind of boggles my mind that in my home state , G would soon be out of her seat and in P-daddy's home state, only D-boy would be in a seat at this point. Yet here, I can expect them to be in seats for a very long time. Only Maine is stricter, according to this map I found. (click to see it)

Children under the age of 16 years must be restrained in a vehicle according to the following steps:

. 1 year of age AND under or weighing less than 20 pounds:
a rear facing infant seat

. Between 1 - 4 years old or 20 - 40 pounds:
a forward facing child safety seat

. Children under 8 years of age, unless 4 feet 9 inches tall:
a booster seat with a lap and shoulder belt

. Children over 8 years of age:
a properly-fitting seat belt or a booster seat with a lap and shoulder belt

NOTE: Doctors and safety experts recommend that children ride in booster seats until the lap and shoulder belt fit right, usually when they are at least 4'9" tall, or around 8 years old.

So this week, the ugly and ratty boosters I bought for the big guys were replaced with larger, highback convertible boosters. The ugly ratty ones will live in P-daddy's car now, because while ugly, ratty and now uncushy, they are still legally sound. They love the new seats, but because we grow tall children, both seats are extended pretty high, and I will be sewing in additional padding where there are gaps. D-boy still fits very well in his seat, even at5 point, but I am thinking about him too. This seat has never been in an accident, but it is 4 years olds already-- maybe 5. I don't want to replace it at all because aside from the cover needing a good laundering, it's in great shape. I really thought I was done with carseat considerations.

Birthday Weekend

Today was a C-family birthday, and we celebrated with a party at Odyssey-1. So did about 936 other small children. While the Moms sat stupefied, the kids apparently had a great time. Happy Birthday Girliness!

P-daddy will celebrate his old-man-ness on Sunday. I haven't planned a party this year because he didn't seem to dig the one we threw him last year. He has, however, requested an ice cream cake. Good luck to me!

I need a spa day

I think I will be able to write more when I have had a spa day.

I have had a lot of real-life time in the past week, with friends and children and church, and there's simply nothing left of my intellect when I sit down at the computer.

I owe a picture-- a very titillating picture-- and I have not forgotten about it. I think I will need help with it.

Yay the Readathon is over.

Lessons learned:

Never underestimate the drive of children to consume books to the exclusion of all else.

Never underestimate the powerful attraction of chocolate as an additional incentive.

The kids are really good at inflection and storytelling.

Boyness really likes the movie Zoom.

They're so cool!




OK so I already thought they were cool, but hey.

Readathon Casualty

I am happy to report that another family has joined us in our Readathon!

I have to say

On the day before my P-daddy leaves on an all-week business trip,
I do NOT want the bathroom ceiling to be leaking.

Thank you.

ETA: It was some serious condensation on and around the pipes and we are oh so fricking happy about that.

Danger, Children! Danger!

I watched the video embedded below and was struck by how often I nodded in agreement. It got me thinking about the experiences that have informed my opinions surrounding child safety. Where are the lines for us, when we as parents try to balance providing a safe life for our kids with going too far and stymieing their growth?

I spent my time in the body of a first time-only child parent, and I paid my crazy-protective dues, like most other parents. While that waned a bit with the onset of my second child and my growing trust for the first, it waxed again with the diagnosis of my daughter's anaphylactic allergies and the vigilant lifestyle we had to adopt to literally keep her breathing. I didn't want to cloister my children or have them not experience the world, so I think I put some extra thought into how they would be taught to approach life. Fear of the unknown wasn't going to be fostered; we were going to be prepared for as much as possible.

To that end, I let my wee girlie play with knives at the tender age of three.

Ok, so she wasn't playing with them--I wrote that for shock effect. She was actually helping me chop things for cookdates, but it did look odd, maybe even startling, to other people. My reasoning was simple: as a professional chef, I had many sharp objects in and around the house. My knife kit was readily accessible. In fact, I obviously did not want her 'playing" with my equipment, so I taught her how to use it, how to respect it. It's a tenet of the Montessori philosophy as well, to treat children as being in possession of the physical and mental faculties they do possess. Children that young can absolutely be safe and productive in their pursuits so long as they are taught what to do and how to do it, and more importantly, when they know they are trusted to do it. In fact, it is part of the natural urges of the child to take that kind of initiative, especially during sensitive periods of her life, and try to master her environment. Montessori wrote "If the child is prevented from enjoying these experiences at the very time when nature has planned…the special sensitivity will vanish… (AM95.)"

I had been happily plugging along in my Montessori-soaked homeschool milieux, watching the kids really respond and thrive with that method, when we moved to Washington state. As the parent of three children by then, I felt relaxed and tolerant of the things children do. I allowed them a lot of freedom, and expected the calm and focus we'd had in SC in return. Not so much. The cross-country move really rattled our two year old, and with the birth of our younger son quick on the heels of our relocation, our little family was in an uproar. It took some months to return our house to "peaceful" and the children to "normalized," but we got there. Enter the C-family.

Relaxed and tolerant I was, but these folks--whose three children were each born within months of ours-- were well on the other side of it. My son in particular was not a graceful toddler, and physically he had a disproportionately large head (there was nothing medically wrong, he just had a big head for his little body, which has since grown into nice proportion), so he was forever getting hurt just walking around. He'd run into walls, trip over his feet, and let's not discuss the stairs. I was fully capable of letting my kids take supervised liberties with their own environment, but the C-family seemed to actively encourage danger, as far as I was concerned. Their children climbed cliffs like monkeys, raced bikes and scooters around the parks (at 2 and 4, I was scandalized!), and perched atop boulders higher than my head, all clearly out of reach of any adult. Their particular style of child rearing was based largely on the way the Niki had been raised within the Continuum Concept.

Much like our modern attachment parenting, Liedloff espouses full contact at all times while the babe is in arms, and then as soon as the toddler begins demanding freedom, to give it. With regards to young children and big pits in the jungle, she writes : "We act as though human nature were something to be afraid of; to constrain, modify or fight; to subdue and overcome. Somehow we have gotten away from believing that we evolved in a way that works. We believe that our nature has to be modified, opposed and controlled from the very beginning. Our nature, like that of every other animal, works fine the way it is. But we do not trust human nature. We distrust it in infants, in children, and in ourselves."

Something in me clicked in the first few months of knowing these people. I knew my limits for N-man were sound because he really was having a hard time, but I relaxed trying to protect him all the time. It was his big head and he needed to learn how to manage it. As I eased off, he got better, less clumsy.

Liedloff goes on to say "One is never do anything for a child that it can possibly do for itself, even if it takes a while longer. Because every time you do something, not only do you give the child the message that it's inefficient or incompetent, but you're actually preventing it from learning; from having faith in its own ability to accomplish and figure things out. Let them figure it out. If it gets up onto a sofa or a chair and it can't figure out how to get down, leave it there until it can. It will try one leg and try another, it will figure it out. Or you might eventually give it the next step, helping with one step but not the whole thing. Give the child the message from the very beginning that you expect it to figure things out for itself."

I already had it in my belief system to cultivate extreme independence in my children with their household tasks and their education, but I had not given them autonomy over their physical selves. They were so precious to me that I couldn't imagine not trying to keep them safe. What changed for me was subtle. I began to perceive their physical bodies as something they could protect better than I could. I had given them the skills they needed around the house and about their education, but I needed to let them figure out how to use their own bodies to ascertain their own limits. I had to learn to trust the child, again.

Look--I will be frank, I am still not down with my 7 year old walking the top of our play structure as if it were a balance beam, 8 feet off the ground. I have to turn my back when they are climbing the cedar trees, so high I could never hope to reach them. But when they do get stuck, I don't pull them out of their jam, I coach them out; I will make them feel secure enough not to panic, I will help them know where place their feet, and if the situation demands it, I will talk with them about whether they should be doing whatever it was they were doing. But likewise, when they accomplish physical feats I would never have expected / allowed / wanted, I will let them be proud; I won't chastise them or tell them they're out of line. It's hard for someone like me. It really is. But I believe that I am keeping them safer by letting them learn their own limits.

There remain plenty of things in their early childhood about which I am adamant in protecting them: the burdens of the adult world; hatred; contempt; cruelty; common bullies. I was shocked and mortified when my 6 year old daughter came home from a music class asking me about the two towers that had fallen in a big city. I continue to advocate for my daughter in group settings, to keep peanuts and treenuts well away from her. I joined forces with another mother recently regarding our children's karate class, when the Sensei had the children perform an amazingly inappropriate "game" that involved much larger children actually walking across the room atop the other students' prone bellies, without supervision or restraint. That was a good lesson, even for me, in what I am discussing. Most of the children knew this wasn't a good idea, but they were told to do it anyway. What should they have done-- obey their instincts or obey their instructors? We both contacted the Sensei and he permanently pulled the exercise.

I have a function as a mother, as a parent, as a protector. I just feel it is incumbent upon me to ensure I am not protecting them from themselves--too much.

Some cool links:

The Dangerous Book for Boys

The Daring Book for Girls

The Boys Book: How to be the best at everything

The Girls Book: How to be the best at everything

January Readathon

The big ones needed a boost in reading, I felt, and maybe a goal towards which they could work. As long as the goals are not imposed on them arbitrarily, my kids really like working towards something. They like to "win." So when I saw a certain movie for sale on netflix, one I'd wanted for the kids for Christmas but could not find, I was tempted to buy it. Five dollars! Voluntary simplicity doesn't really allow for that kind of thing two weeks after gluttonfest, so I really couldn't. Until......those two ideas came together.

So, our January Readathon came into being. I wasn't really sure whether the kids would "get it," or even if they would care, but get it they did. I told them that if we read fifty books within a certain time frame, they would get a chocolate cake screening party of this movie as their reward. (FA homeschool homies, if you want in, I will send you my super-groovy checklist and make room on the couch!)

I Am Nerd though, and before we began our evening reading tonight, I laid out some ground rules. It doesn't matter this time who reads the book, as long as they are really reading it. It doesn't matter if all the children are present when we read the books, given our set up here, a collaborative count is just fine. Because it is collaborative, we will count chapter books and nearly-picture books the same for this go-round. There will be no midnight waking of the parents to present a freshly consumed pile of books. We have a clipboard on which we write the title and author of the books we've read, and who was present when we read it. But most important to me, before we began, I asked Girlie what she thought we would "win" if we finished 50 books in a week.

Smart girlie. She knew I wasn't asking about cake. (Although that is what the N-man bellowed happily from the side of the bed!)

"We'll know more words," she said, "and we'll get lots of practice reading!" She sounded downright excited. Then she launched into this explanation of how she's been spending her reading time. She sounds out some books, then reads them to the point of memorization. She told me that she uses those books to help her in her writing, when she doesn't know how to spell a word or in other books where she's trying to figure out a new word. (I guess I should reintroduce the dictionary to her :p .)

This sparkle, this independence! I knew she was reading on her own a lot more than I actively saw. The child wrote and illustrated a book for me for Christmas, (plot arc and all!), even made a hardcover out of cardboard. I have noticed her writing skills really shining (remember this??), but I don't press her for what / how much. I really don't quantify my children's gains as much as I check them off on my own tally sheets as I notice them. This evening I saw both of them clamoring not only for the time we spend reading together, but to actually get at the literature. My girl was a late reader, in my eyes, and this love for reading is what I have been desperately craving to see.

N-man is ahead, were I to compare the two. At his age, she was not where is with phonics. I think he'll take to reading like I did, and be truly literate before his 6th birthday. He also had a few surprises tonight. I told him during a private moment that he is ready to read, and that if he wants help sounding things out I will work with him as much as he wants. I think he thinks he'll have to wait to read when she did.

I stopped after 45 minutes, during which I had taken turns reading the stories, gotten completely booted off narration duty altogether for some of them ("I want to do this one!"). I told them we could do lots more tomorrow, and reiterated to G that anything she read on her own would count, but to WAIT until morning to show me the titles. She bolted to her room and came back with four more early readers and belted them out just to squeeze in some more. (As I wrote this, she sent two more down the hall with her Dad to report.)

I really initiated this as a means for me to give them something more, to give a little something extra to the winter homeschool thing. But it certainly turned out to be quite the opposite. I am pretty heart-happy right now, and I am not ashamed to admit it.

Dehydrating Potatoes

check out the pencil!

Unfortunately, we buy honking big Idaho Russets, and it took a full 36 hours to shrivel as advertised. When we repeated the experiment with a small red potato, it only took an hour.

This book has some really great ideas, catalysts for actual experiments, but I think their fact checking was completely absent. Their "raw or boiled?" egg experiment, for instance, was completely backwards. Thank goodness this Mom knew better beforehand!

The reasons we do...

Everyone thinks her child is beautiful. Everyone.
I realize this, and here I am about to wallow in it.

My baby just turned three. He is very likely my last child, despite the last few months' surcease of my "I am so done!" ranting. With his physical demands on my body easing, with his behaviour turning from maniacal toddler to a child of my recognizable tribe, my heart has tempered its resolution to never bear another child. This is not to say I ever will. But at least now I wouldn't cry. A lot.

~I digress.~

I was looking for pictures of the very, very fine sweater and came across many of D-baby as a baby. Before the maniacal toddler-- the child we called "Perfect." This particular set always makes me smile because I remember it so clearly. As the third child in a pretty close family, D-baby never belonged wholly to me like the other two did. I never was able to spend a lot of non-nursing, non-diapering time with him, just he and I. I had other children to attend, and he had siblings who doted on him. The older children, as small as they were, really did participate in caring for this little guy. Who knows what his worldview is, having that intense belonging? I can't even begin to imagine.

Anyway, on this one day when he was about 15 months old, he and I got to take a walk together. That's it. It wasn't all that long, and we only went around the neighborhood, but on this day he and I were able to go together, alone, and I brought my camera. He's such an infant in these pictures, clearly still "toddling," and the vibrant colors of the Spring here just accentuate how tiny and young he really is. I love them.

I love him.



And then, I had to release him back to the family.

Montessori and Dyslexia: The Einstein Effect

A post of mine here really resonated with a dear friend of mine, exciting her. Her reaction to the specifics of the Montessori method were so affirming for me. It seems so clear to me, how wonderful it can be to just take another view on education, but when other people get excited about my excitement, well who doesn't cherish that? My own struggles with ADD and the comorbid dyslexia were really very mild, because in my specific case, the school environment was actually good for me due to a variety of factors in my home and school life. Chief among those school factors was a very early diagnosis of "giftedness," and a removal at least once a week from the traditional classroom. From my earliest years in public school, I was sorted out and given a different way to do things-- because I was gifted.

Because I was gifted.

This is important to note: even as a child of eleven years of age, I realized that the way they were approaching my education was so cool, so interesting, that every student would benefit from it. They gave it to us, as a prize for being "smart" when we came to them. How much more does the child who needs that different approach benefit from the extra time and consideration? To this day I can rattle off the names of people I saw fail out of school, one way or another, who really had it in them to do so much better. No one gave them the option to learn things in a way appropriate to them. They were just counseled to do better, to try harder, to "really listen." Maybe Montessori isn't for everyone; I can accept that. But in my experience, it sure works for most. It's not so much that Montessori caters to individuals who learn differently, it's that the method allows for so many different individual approaches to learning. It's that subtle, child-centric distinction coupled with tactile materials that makes it so effective.

I did some quick research tonight while I was thinking about this in general, and came across the following (clickable) snippets.

From Myomancy:

The modern classroom with its tightly controlled and scheduled syllabus is not a good environment for dyslexic children. Any children who falls behind the learning curve is in deep trouble as they have no opportunity to catch up. The classroom is like a production line than forces children to move on to the next class whether they are ready or not. However the Montessori classroom isn’t like that.

Devised in the early 1900’s by Dr Montessori, it is an approach to education that is child centric, focusing on individually-paced learning and development. The Montessori Method should suit a dyslexic child better. Allowing child and teacher to spend time on their basic literacy regardless of the rest of the class’s ability level. As the Montessori method also does away with traditional grading of students there should be less issues about confidence and self-worth. In fact, Montessori and dyslexia should be perfect together.

Another way that Montessori and dyslexia go together is the teaching materials used. Montessori has always used a multi-sensory approach to teaching involving wooden letters to handle and sandpaper letters that children trace out with their figures for a strong tactile feedback. Lots of the Montessori teaching uses physical objects for teaching basic number skills. Making learning movement based, rather than purely paper-and-pencil, increases the opportunities for hand / eye coordination and cross lateral movement.

From Montessori Life:

Dyslexia is caused by anatomical differences in the brain. If an appropriate preschool program is offered to this child and reading, writing, and spelling are introduced through a Multisensory Structured Language (MSL) approach, the learning difference does not become a learning disability. This neurological difference cannot be cured but it can be treated, so that the child can have functional written language skills.

This article goes on in the specifics but I loved this line: the learning difference does not become a learning disability. That's Montessori for you: Difference does not equal disability.

Furthering that idea, there is a school in Florida whose mission is to educate dyslexic children using the Montessori method. This is my favorite snippet to share here, because it also discusses Albert Einstein. I love me some Einstein. He was brilliant, but was also ADHD and dyslexic. From the website for Einstein Montessori School:
"Zach Osbrach founded this school to better educate children with reading and spelling delays. Our dyslexic students have achieved the highest reading gains among their peers in the state of Florida. Our extensive testing has shown a 285% increase in reading gains." Their FAQ on dyslexia and its life prognosis is fairly extensive. Yet it is their page on Einstein, and why they started the school they did, with which I will end this post:

Einstein showed language impairments at a very young age. His speech was severely delayed. He only began to talk at the age of three, and had trouble with language throughout elementary school.

During a parent meeting, the Headmaster told Einstein's parents that he did not have the ability to be a successful professional. He recommended that Einstein attend a trade school. In fact, his teachers thought he was borderline retarded.

Young Albert did not listen to them. Instead, he moved to a different type of school. This school de-emphasized rote memorization. Unlike his old school, they stressed creative thinking and hands-on learning. Young Albert's academic performance improved dramatically.

Einstein suffered from dyslexia. He is a clear example of a person who would be labeled as learning disabled in today's educational system. With the right approach to education, these labels cannot prevent great accomplishments, as proven by Einstein and others.

Children with learning disabilities have one or more processing or learning weaknesses. At Einstein Montessori School, we would rather not use the term "learning disabled," because many of our great thinkers had dyslexia--geniuses and statesman like Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Leonardo de Vinci, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Winston Churchill, Walt Disney and so many others. Most of us do not think of these men as having been "disabled."

This is Community

There is this sweater, you see. It is a soft sea-green, cable-knit hoodie with a subtle periwinkle-blue trim on the cuffs and waist. It is a quality brand name, it zips up the front and it has lasted through both G and N. We've had it so long, I couldn't even remember where or how we got it, but I do know N has gotten more use out of it than G. While I knew I hadn't bought it from a store, because generally that's not how we do things, I thought I got it from a consignment somewhere. Maybe a clearance sale. Never mind that, it's a fine, fine sweater.



The thing is, now that it is D-boy sized, he doesn't want it. It's not his color, he says. This is the boy who now insists his name be said correctly (no nicknames), that his clothes be spotless (water spots are no exception, off they come) and that his boots be by the door without fail when he comes in. So when he says he won't wear this sweater, he oh so very much means it.

But I love the sweater. It's a fine, fine sweater. It's in great shape and needs to be worn. So I put it in the closet and saved it for Nikirj's Bitty Princess. I fretted a bit, because it's not pink or lavendar. It has no sequins or ruffles, no lace or glitter. I worry that instead of being loved, it will be scorned for the second time. Finally, I decide the sweater must be given. It can't be boxed or donated. It must be presented.

For lunch on Wednesday this week, we traveled to the C-family abode. The sweater came with us, and as we made our greetings, I said to Bitty Princess, "I have a present for you! A princess sweater!" Hype, hype, I must hype the fine, fine sweater. Any reaction I might have gauged from Bitty Princess was lost as her mother began to chuckle.

"Oh cool!" She said simply, "Becca's sweater came back. That's such a good sweater, isn't it?"

Blink Blink. Blink Blink.

"We got it from YOU????" I bellowed.

"What, you didn't remember that?"

My embarassment morphed into glee as I cavorted about, happy that the sweater made it's way back home, full circle. Quite by accident, of course, as I really forgot it ever came from there. (Still. I am ashamed. No recollection.) I love stuff like this.

And so, this is community. Child number five (maybe) in the fine, fine sweater. It's making its rounds as the years pass among us, and it's taken on a symbolism; it's now imbued with the warmth of friendship, of filial love for other people's children. We want them to be warm, we want them to be loved. We want them to be in possession of fine, fine sweaters.

Math Manipulatives

The more I work with math and my children, the more I "get" why manipulatives work as well as they do. G just added 4332 and 2464 without even having the slightest idea when she sat down that she could do that. She sort of resisted at first, because although I presented the place value stampers as a game, she saw bigantous numbers and knew I was up to mischief. I am sure me telling her she was going to tell me the sum of those numbers didn't help, but I was going for the shock value of her success. Well, mischief managed. She swiftly took over the stamping and told me the sum. Then she smiled.

I've read about children in Montessori environments doing advanced calculations swiftly and accurately, but I never really understood how that works-- they're just beads-- until I began to show my own kids how it works. It's a little unnerving to go into the unknown, but so satisfying when it works. And oh, how it works! I've not wanted to make / purchase the beads because I have felt that storing them in a home situation would be too unwieldy. Today, working with stamps of a similar design, I changed my mind. This was fabulous, and fast.

I didn't spend a lot of time with manipulatives when I was a child, and math became a source of extreme difficulty for me. If you miss one small kernel of understanding, you lose the option of understanding most of what comes after. It makes me happy to see my kids not only just soak it up, but hold "math" in a sort of cavalier regard.

Edited to add links for BBB:
Base Mathematic Lesson Plans (this is not what I used for this post, we were working with a Montessori three-part lesson)

You can purchase stamps here

but one of my favorite math / science equipment purveyors is here.

I did a quick google search and found this for you, to better explain how we began what we were doing. We have the actual bead materials shown in her initial photograph, but instead of the beads described for the lesson, we were using the stampers. The current lesson, which is related today, is based on this presentation.

Lots of things to blog about

But blogging is just not happening until this wave of tummy-crankiness passes.

(and aside, I look forward to being a grup again, someone who would never utter, much less publish, the words "tummy crankiness")

OK-- one thing will make it in. We've gotten about half the school room re-installed. Actually, that's less than accurate, because I have a great many new materials the children haven't seen yet. Yesterday, P-daddy took the doppelgangers out while ~N~ and I stayed home with our weak constitutions. We used that time to great advantage, really enjoying being together. He and I worked together in the school room for at least an hour, with me introducing some cool Montessori math stuff, among other things. (I love it when 5 year olds truly understand the quantity of, say, 4322. It trips me out.)

I don't know what happened while they were gone, or whether D-person just misses me from being laid out all week, but he came home to be a very affectionate tyke. He let me carry him about and just squeezed me really hard before explaining to me that "You my teeeeech-ah. You my teeeech-ah, Mommy!"

So, I have lost eleven pounds this week and had our daughter explain to us out of the blue that the sun glows bright because hydrogen is converted into helium. My P-daddy has taken exquisite care of his infirm family without reverting to testiness. We spent the evening yesterday rolling about in the living room as a family, laughing. It's been a balanced, pleasant week.

We rang in the New Year with a stomach bug

Initially we thought it was D-boy (sniff sniff no longer D-baby) having drunk too much salinated pool water at the Y, but 48 hours later, ~N~ wiped out. After staying up until 3.30 am to help him, I had to go to sleep. An hour after P-daddy switched off with me, I started going. At least the flu itself is FAST-- literally 24 hours-- but I am weak and sore today. Now, we wait for ~G~ and P-daddy to fall. Hopefully they won't, but I sure wasn't expecting what I got, either. My brilliant daughter has followed my instructions and is hydrating herself to the nth just in case.

I will choose to celebrate this as a New year's purge. We're quite literally shedding the old, and opening ourselves to the new. And I got to lose all my holiday overindulgence along the way.