In the Rain

Q and I were standing in the rain, on the playground outside the church where K was taking his annual achievement test. The rain was like an upside down sprinkler, dripping from the white fluffy clouds through the sun’s rays to land drop by drop on our hot skin. From the merry-go-round, G and A’s delighted squeals spun through the air. They were joined by those of a fellow homeschooler and her older brother, new friends made only 15 minutes before. An older man, easily 80, with bright white hair and a strong, but slower, step, made his way up the sidewalk to a door being fixed by a slightly younger man in his 50s. At this moment, I felt beautifully at ease with the choices that had brought me and my children to this place, on this day.

Just the day before, I hadn’t been so sure. We’ve been through a long period of transition. Beginning 2 years ago we put our house in Indiana on the market, moved to a rental house in NC, started a new job, had a baby, bought a new house, came back to IN for a funeral of a beloved relative only to have major van trouble delay our return to NC by 2.5weeks, moved my mom and brother to NC, and then discovered that my mom has lung cancer. The past weeks have been a blur of chemo and radiation. Any one of these life changing events would be enough to stress a family, but two years worth of nearly constant change and adjustment of expectation have taken their toll. Many days I have wondered about our choice to homeschool, fantasizing about less responsibility, and worrying about things I’ve never worried about before: are we doing the right thing?

I started learning about homeschooling long before it was considered an educational option by mainstream folks, and long before I had children to educate. I was 18 and had just graduated in the top 5% of my class from a small but competitive high school when I first read The Teenage Liberation Handbook. To say it rocked my world would be an understatement. The more I learned, the more convinced I became that it was an option I wanted to explore with my future children. I was open- minded in the way that people who haven’t traveled a particular path can be, and wholly unaware of just how passionate about the subject I would eventually become. Once I read John Holt’s books and had my first son, I knew that he would not be going to school unless it became important to him to go.

As we moved forward down this exciting path, I began to realize that I wasn’t homeschooling because of the potential negative aspects of traditional education, but because of the immense benefits to my family derived from going a different way. We weren’t shutting ourselves off from the negative influences of the world (never my worry nor my reason for homeschooling, but a concern often voiced by those within the school structure). Instead, we were broadening our world, and experiencing it as it really is, at all hours of the day, with all ages of people, carrying out the many and varied aspects of their lives. People running errands, going to appointments, fighting for their lives, buying their groceries, looking for work, seeking a place of prayer, putting gas in their cars.

When we moved to NC, the first of many major changes in our lives, we had to rebuild our support base. It has taken time, but we have a strong network of thoughtful, caring people guiding their families through this wild, tumultuous world. Somehow, the last few weeks had nonetheless managed to make me lose sight of all that we have gained and how much we have grown. Until this day when my oldest son hugs me tight, and then walks joyfully and easily down the hall to take his 3rd grade test with a perfect stranger, with no anxiety, no concern about succeeding or failing, making my heart swell. Until this day, when the freedom of my children to play unhindered in the rain with children much older than themselves in the middle of the day, with people young and old and in between all around, reminds me that we homeschool to see more of the world, and BE more of the world.

Time Passes

Catching up is hard to do, especially after 5 months of chaos. So this will be short on words, and full of pictures, and hopefully we're now back into the swing of things.

A list of good things:

1. G passed his blue belt test in Aikido.
2. K passed his orange belt test in Aikido.
3. Our garden is happy and growing, and our CSA is filling in the gaps nicely.
4. Q is walking full speed now, almost fluently running.
5. We went on our first camping trip of the season, and are looking forward to many more.
6. Q turned 1! Our final baby is officially a toddler.
7. K and G participated in the Home School Science Fair this past weekend, and had an awesome time. K's project was called "Investigating Robot Design" and G's project was called "Skulls". He used a deer skull that we found with our friends as part of his project. K won a cool door prize: a model spaceship.

There are many things I've missed, but these are the highlights. Some things haven't changed: G still enjoys gymnastics, K still loves going to ice skating, A wants to start gymnastics in the fall, we still love going to the cabin, and we plan to have a busy, fun summer.

Early December

Yep folks, at the end of his 6th month, Mr. Q began to seriously pull up. Now, he's cruising, and frankly can't get enough. He pulls up on everything, everywhere. Nothing and no one is safe -- as one mother at gymnastics yesterday can attest. She looked down to see a giggling, drooling monster happily scaling her jeans. I can't believe my tiny babe turned 7 months on the 1st of Dec. Insane!


Our December is flying past at an unacceptable speed. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, with games and a big meal and a lovely walk through downtown Hillsborough, one of the oldest towns in the U.S. We did use the web cam to "hang out" with my family, relieving our homesickness just a bit.




The short days are contributing to an all around funk, though the boys are managing to stay chipper by making lots of crafts and "selling" them in the shops that they set up in their rooms. The library/homeschool room/office is a constant flurry of paper, glue, clay, crayons, and pencils as they make books, statues, paper crafts, and other unusual items. Yesterday, we enjoyed a very inspiring cabin field trip to the Scrap Exchange, a local reuse/craft center. The boys had a blast and came home with a million more ideas.






On the classic learning front, K and G are diving into Spanish. Also, G and A are making great strides in their reading fluency, while K is tackling spelling, his least favorite subject. A strong, fluent reader from an early age, K has not enjoyed the process of spelling in the least, but he now readily admits its usefulness. :-) All are having great fun with math, history, science, and music. In fact, *I* have learned to play three snippets of classical music (including Musette in D), with chords, due to K's tutelage and support. Home learning really does include the whole family!

Music

This morning, K decided to take a break from piano practice to play a duet with Q. It was a very modern piece! Check out the Liberace dos both boys are sporting. ;-) The rest of the day has been a whirlwind of math, origami, art, spelling, and Native American tales. Once R gets home, our Thanksgiving preparations will begin in earnest.


Yesterday, the cabin "field trip" was a board game party in one family's basement. The boys had a blast playing games (Animal Soup, Cadoo, Trouble, Guess Who?, among others) with their friends and the moms. Chinese food was enjoyed by all. Afterward, it was off to G's gymnastics, and back home for game play with dad while mom was at her ESL class.

Here A protests the assumed rules of Trouble:


K and G played a lively game of Cadoo with two of their friends:


Q and his friends played with the big box of blocks:

Chevre

On Monday, we had the cabin field trip to the beautiful Elodie Farms. We met the owner, Dave, the goats (32 in all), their guard donkey, Ed, and their pushy field mate, a paint named Sadie. We were able to tour the milk room and the little kitchen where the milk is pasteurized, made into cheese, and stored until it makes its way to the local farmer's markets, grocery stores, and restaurants. Afterward, the boys and their friends fed the goats sweet tarts, hard bread, and pretzels before we had our own delicious snack of various cheeses with crackers. My favorites were the Jalapeno and Sweet Pepper, while K and G particularly enjoyed the mild soft goat cheese. We weren't able to milk the goats this time as we had hoped because all of them were pregnant and no longer producing. Apparently goats are very, very fertile; it's unusual for them to not get pregnant.

The day started out sunny but cold, and soon became cloudy and very cold, so we didn't stay as long as we would have liked. We did get in some chicken holding time, so all was not lost. Any day is a good day if it includes holding a chicken!

Q is now an officially mobile baby! He is crawling, and trying to pull up, and can make it just about anywhere in the house. It's now time to really baby proof, something I have resisted with each of my kiddos until the absolute last minute. Well, it's officially the last minute! ;-) This week has been filled with lots of tears of frustration as Q tried to reach these latest milestones, and now that he has, he's back to his usual friendly, happy self.

My Christmas spirit is raging, as the boys will attest! We've been singing and listening to Christmas carols, and have rounded up all of our Christmas stories. We have our own plans for Thanksgiving this year, which don't include the Macy's Day Parade (we're saving that for a less crazy year, 2009 perhaps), but do include yummy food, a big bike ride, and lots of games. It's strange to think that we won't be with family this year, but maybe we'll set up the web cam on the laptop and invite our families over that way!

Sweet Somethings

K passed his yellow belt test! Woohoo! He was a tad nervous, but felt quite prepared.

G hopes to test for his blue belt in a few weeks. Sometimes, it totally surprises me that two of my boys have entered the big kid stage. Crazy!

A's dental work was a success. It was a difficult experience, particularly for a newly 3 year old, but he handled it well. Hopefully, our dental woes are fully behind us, at least until we enter the orthodontia period.

Q is 6 months!! He is up on his hands and knees, trying to get mobile, though he ends up going backwards as much as forwards. He puts all of his weight on his legs, dashing my hopes that he won't walk for another year. ;-) He's also begging for solids, so he's had a bit here and there of organic banana, avocado, and squash.

We won a year's worth of classes at G's gym! I never win raffles/drawings, so this was a very pleasant, much appreciated surprise, particularly given all of the expenses we've had as of late.

Improv and ESL are going well. One of these days, I'm going to quit stretching myself and just do things that come really, really, insanely easy to me. Like sleeping. Or drinking hot beverages. Just coast a bit, ya know?

Finding Balance

With four children under 8, it's hard to find balance. There are so many great opportunities for each of them that it's difficult to keep us on a sustainable schedule. After pushing myself crazily through the past few weeks, however, I realized again just how important balance is. This week I had a minor meltdown that made me certain that I've been doing way too much.

So, we're paring back. We still have some really fun activities coming up: the state fair, Walking with the Dinosaurs, and a Billy Jonas concert. Overall, though, we're changing our tack from one of "Yes, certainly!" to one of "No" or "Most likely not". We're not throwing out our favorites (like Cabin and Aikido and Gym and Ice Skating), but new commitments are going to have wait until the spring, or longer. One of the reasons that we homeschool is to find our own sensible path -- it doesn't seem very sensible to undermine that with an overburdened schedule.

We need more time to sit quietly and watch the clouds; to read books like The Green Fairy Book, and discuss the Grimm Brothers' very long and interesting lives. We need time to bake spice cookies and make applesauce and cook curry cauliflower and rice. We need time to talk about the elections and what challenges our country is facing now, and what challenges it has faced in the past. We need time for art and knitting and music. We need time to walk and bike and think and talk. Time to breathe.

I think we'll start our winter hibernation a bit early this year. :)