Monday, January 18, 2016

Seaman Lewis and Clark's Newfoundland

This is Deacon with Dax.

Lewis and Clark Historical National Park Field Trip






















Thursday, January 7, 2016

Embracing the Gifts of Children and Our Care of Them

It is a certain gift that your child has come unto you. Whether birthed of your womb or arriving in some other magical way. The child you have under your watch is indeed with you, near you for reasons much more certain and specifc than we may give rise to contemplate.

When the busy machine runs our lives and we forget our truth, we will forget the gift of these souls who are entrusted to us. For we must rememer not only our repsonsbility to the great whole but to ourselves to reconnect with the magical experience of motherhood, of teachers, of guides, of healers on this journey, in this place and in this time.

Whether you call it homeschooling or life. Wether you call it by any other name - it remains that our destiny will only be fulfilled when we recognize and embrace the sheer magnitude of the gift and gifts we have been entrusted.

Blessed Be.


Monday, January 4, 2016

Mid Term Home School Correction and Planning

If you are a fellow homeschooler you probably get that "itch" to adjust and regroup about this time.

While I'm not firm on this we tend follow the general local school calendar and so this would be mid term.

I like to take this time to do "corrections". Not correction for my students but for myself.

As a teacher, mentor and most of all a mother who has a bit of a controlling perfectionist streak I have to curtail. I do this by knowing my goals for myself and observing my children and their needs.

Here are the corrections I am putting in for this quarter.

1. Get back to basics - rhythm and routine keeping the anchor of meals and blessings
art and stories and most especially movement including Eurythmy.

2. Remember Dax (first grade) has very different needs than Ryder (4th grade) even though he wants so much to do the computer/legos and graphics animation - he still needs his soul fed with the rich stories of Grade 1 - especially the Enki Grade 1. I will handle this by cutting back on the lego time and animation time to 2-3 days a week and bring back the hand work and art work - with clay and sculpting that Dax loves so much.

3. Create a frame work for Ryder to step into his "tween" connections with a monthly meet up with other tweens.

4. Connect with more outdoor activities - slack line, unicycle, bicycle and skateboard especially for Dax while encouraging Ryder to do more of the physical agility movements that will foster his skills in math.

5. Continue with Werner arithmetic for Ryder but increase the time spent as he thrives on this.

6. Hold off on Trumpet for Dax and focus more on guitar practice with basic finger picking and songs in a community environment - Dad to be involved as he loves this interaction for his music lesson.

7. Coordinate with Dad for more specific principles and purpose and create a more stable repertoire for our home schooling journey.

What I have realized is that time continues to go by rapidly. If I stay present, be who I choose to be - first and formost a loving mother, the rest comes naturally.

I'm excited about the fact that the 147 parenting books that I have accumulated are ready to be released and that I now have just 10 that are my core library. I think I can cull these even further. I'm not ready to rip pages out like the suggestion from Tiding up book as I would prefer to share them with other moms but I might make a copy or take the specific notes on what  are key components to my parenting/homeschooling journey.

Right now I am feeling excited and so very happy about the process of our homeschooling journey.

I am ever grateful to the Enki Education and seeing the "sleeping" or digestion of math or stories that have rested and now come out as living in my children. It also reminds me that my child learns through what he lives.

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Pearson Field Education Center

This is a great place for adventurers of all ages. I can't believe we have such an amazing resource right here in Vancouver! It's free and each Saturday from 1-5 you can fly, make flying machines and learn through fun and hands on experience. The volunteers are awesome and so knowledgable!





Snow Day in the Pacific NW

Brings out the kid in all of us!

We haven't had snow like this since we moved here so this is a real treat!

As long as we don't have to drive anywhere - and we don't! So the snow day means we get to learn even more! Yippie!