Christmas Day Walk

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter Solstice and Essence

One of the coolest things about homeschooling the way we are doing it is that I have been able to set goals and follow my own interests more and more. I don't really like the word homeschooling as it is so limited. What we are really doing here is interest based holistic learning that respects the unfolding of the boys as whole people. In assisting my boys with following their passions over the years, I have come to see that it is not self indulgent to follow creative impulses as they happen. It is not a side dish or a way to avoid "real" work and learning. Rather, following creative impulses honors the essence of the self and is absolutely life-affirming. In fact it may be one of the most important elements in growing up to know who you are, and what it is you have to contribute to the world! So, as a parent I get to participate, too. There is no graduation... We are all developing, exploring, changing all the time.

One of my projects this year, Solstice to Solstice may be found over at http://pond360.blogspot.com/ I spent the year photographing my pond as an exercise in mindfulness. My project is wrapping up in the next day or two as I have come full circle around the sun. Go check it out and consider what creative impulses you have been squashing in yourself. Imagine making space for yourself, and the expression of your essence as we take another trip around the sun on this spinning planet.

 

Learning with Tablets

I just saw a story on CNN about kids in Ethiopia learning by using tablets. I find this so inspiring! http://www.technologyreview.com/view/429206/emtech-preview-another-way-to-think-about-learning/

During and After Sandy

 

 

 

Moxie and Chicks

 

Fall Fungus

 

 

 

 

 

 

UnCollege and Dale Stephens

If you are interested in educational alternatives, and have not run across Dale Stephens yet, head over to his website UnCollege.org and/or check out his SkillShare class "Learn Anything on Your Own" Dale left traditional school in middle school and is a champion of self-directed learning.

Volunteer Morning Glories

 

Moxie and Chicks at 2 Weeks

Oh, is it a challenge to get any photo of the chicks! They run and move so fast and meanwhile their mother is trying to lead them out of the coop!In another week I will let them outside again. The first time was equal parts success and disaster as the blond chick shoved herself through the chicken wire but everyone ate plenty of bugs and had fun. It is wonderful to see the mothering that goes on. Moxie really knows what she is doing. She'll scratch an area for her chicks, back up, and let them find things to eat. She catches a beetle, lets out a certain sound, they run to her, and she puts it down for them to practice catching. The fastest chick grabs it and runs. Peeping. As in "I have it...come and get me if you can." This is what my mom and dad used to call the Broccoli Races with our chicks raised indoors when I was a kid. Now it is the beetle races. Amazing. I read somewhere that Jane Goodall spent much time observing chickens as a small child. I can say that if I did not have other responsibilities I would be down there watching most of the day. Even when we raised chicks inside I'd get a stiff neck from watching them! Now there is so much more to learn. People think chickens are stupid. How you measure intelligence? Is instinct part of intelligence? If you don't know how to look, refuse to look at all, or look with preconceived ideas, you will not see what is to be seen. You can not even ask the right questions to see what might be studied! I grew up on a small farm and have seen lots of births, deaths, miracles and such. But I have learned more about mothering and chickens this summer than I would have imagined. And I have more questions. Why did Moxie disappear after the coyote attack? Where was she for those 8 days? How did she find her way home and run to me when I called her? Why did she begin to sit/go broody without a clutch of eggs? Did she lay them somewhere else? How did she "know" how to incubate, hatch and raise the chicks when she came from a hatchery and was raised in my house? Why is Moxie, the biggest pig of all my chickens, willing to shift to feeding the babies instead of gobbling everything for herself? How do chicks hatch, dry off, and start running? When I was a kid and even now one of my favorite books was The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White. Before Sam would go to bed every night he would muse about something in the natural world in his journal. He would ask questions. I think we would all be better off as human beings if we stayed curious and humble this way. There is so much we can learn about ourselves by paying attention, watching and asking questions.