Finding Hope in the Midst of Tragedy

The catastrophe in Newtown, CT continues to weigh heavily on my mind (as I hope it does on the minds of all Americans).  It's time for real change in this country.

I am not an expert on anything.  So who am I to opine?  It seems to me that right now, the world needs the voice of every sane, compassionate person and, for that, I think I qualify.

My opinions originate from the simple but powerful yogic philosophy "where you focus, the energy will go."  I think we are seeing the disastrous effects of a media and a culture overly focused on violence, sensationalism, guns, anger, and hatred.  What do we see every day on the news, our phones, our  computers?  More of this evil.  And what are we getting from ingesting that?  More of the same.  The media, I believe, has a major responsibility in contributing to the ills of our society by placing our focus on those ills instead of on the positive energy that also exists in the world.  The world (and everything in it) is the yin and the yang, the darkness and the light.  When we focus on the darkness, it grows out of control.  By focusing on the light, we can counteract the dark and help edge out the negative forces that are threatening to define us.  As consumers, we have the power to change this focus by not clicking on the violent, hateful stories, by demanding a more positive focus from our media sources, and by asking for more of the good samaritan stories, which are too numerous to count.

As individual citizens, we sometimes feel powerless.  I often wonder, how can I possibly change the world?  My voice alone won't make a difference.  What I forget is the power of starting small - starting with ourselves.  What are we doing to nurture ourselves?  How do we approach and allow for our own continual personal growth?  We can find activities that uplift us, people who inspire us and make us better, stronger, kinder, more compassionate and open-minded individuals.  Our power lies in shifting our own energy focus to the light within.  By changing our individual focus, we can begin to create positive ripple effects in our own small world.  Those ripples will quickly multiply and before long, we will see real change happening all around us.

Much has already been said about the need for gun control.  Some argue vehemently for it, others are vociferously against it.  In my humble opinion, more guns are NOT the answer - look where that's gotten us so far.  Guns place the focus on fear and violence.  Again, where we focus, the energy will go.  Do we want more fear and violence out there?  More guns will guarantee it.  To state the obvious (and statistics bear this out) a gun in the home is more likely to kill an inhabitant (i.e., a curious young boy handling a father's gun) than to protect those who dwell there.

I don't have global, wide-reaching answers.  What I do have is a prescription for myself.  I will continue to focus on the positive that I know is all around us.  I am joining my mom (thanks for inspiring me!) in Ann Curry's 26 Acts of Kindness.  The kids and I have already committed 2 today by taking homemade fudge to a couple of our elderly neighbors.  We'll continue to spread love and cheer and hope, all the while honoring the lives of the innocent children and teachers who lost their lives at Sandy Hook.

As for the perpetrator of this horrific crime, I will pray for his soul.  Yogic philosophy teaches that a soul reincarnates until it learns all its earthly lessons.  It's a given, in my mind, that Adam Lanza will reincarnate.  When he does, I pray that he will learn his lessons, atone for his sins, and make the world a better place.  He too had the light within him, he just couldn't see it.

The phrase 'charity begins at home' comes to mind as I write this.  Kindness and love begin at home, with the self.  Be kind to yourself and watch that ripple spread out to friends and family.  Be open, not judging.  Be loving, not hateful.  Be understanding - we can't know what the person next to us is going through.  And in this season of low light, on the heels of the Winter Solstice, be light and bright.  Share your light with others.  Smile when you don't feel like it.  Be kind to that person in your life who is rarely kind to you.  Let go of old hurts, forgive someone who needs your forgiveness.

We can each be the light that heals the world.

Wishing you all the blessings of the season.  Peace, light and love to all!

It's official...

I am an intermittent blogger, unpredictable, undisciplined, possibly even un-blogworthy?!  Nevertheless, here I am after a long hiatus during which I promise, we were very, very busy.  One trip to New England, one puppy, and many, many days of school later, it is now just 3 days from Christmas.  We started our break yesterday and we'll go back after New Year's.  Here's what we've been up to:

In science, we're working with water.

How many rocks can a tinfoil boat hold??

Thing 1 used Thing 2's pattern blocks to create tessellations.

The newest member of the family, Bear.  He's been tons of fun and the kids
adore him.  He has quickly become the 3rd student to enroll at the United school,
as we add puppy training to our daily routine!

Weekly Wrap-Up

It's been another good week at the United School.  Here's what we've been up to:

Look closely at Thing 2's desert diorama and you'll find 2 coyotes,
a chuckwalla, a gila woodpecker, a tortoise and a sidewinder.
Thing 2 had a blast creating this and, proud mama that I am,
I think it's pretty impressive for a kindergartner.

Thing 1 chose a coral reef for her dioarama.  Cellophane doesn't
lend itself to photography, but see if you can find a giant sea slug,
several anemones, kelp, brain coral, and various reef fish.
Well done, Thing 1!  I especially love the anemones fashioned
out of clay and pipecleaners, Thing 1's very own creative brainchild.

Today we did a nature study at a wildlife rehabilitation center.  This beauty
is a sandhill crane.  Thing 2 circled back twice to look at the cranes.

I've spared you the photos of this bobcat noshing on a
frozen rat.  We heard every crunch and Thing 2 was fascinated!
This particular bobcat had been hit by a car in Southern IL.
He has lasting vision problems and neurological damage
and would be unable to survive in the wild.

Veronica had amazing appeal for a rat.  She really did!
We all had our turn petting her.  She was soft and silky.

Both kids got to hold Rocky the ring-necked dove.  And that's Ranger Kev
with his Santa Claus beard in the background.  What an amazing guy!  He does
nature hikes for homeschoolers in various area forest preserves.  (He homeschooled
his own kids back when no one did.)  We could have talked to him all day long
and he was beyond generous in sharing information about the animals with the kids.
Thank you, Ranger Kev!  You made our day.

Gratitude really is the antidote to complaining.  I am so incredibly grateful for this opportunity to homeschool my children.  How did I get so lucky?

May our blessings be many and our complaints be few.  Amen!

Election Day

No homeschooler worth her salt can miss an opportunity like Election Day.  Leading up to the day, the kids and I studied the candidates and read a little about the election process and the electoral college.  They know red states from blue states, elephants from donkeys, and Romney from Obama.  On election day, after a little more talk about the process and some speculation about who might win, we headed off to the polls.  I talked the kids through the process, explaining each step from looking up a voters name and address to verifying the signature to filling in the ovals on the ballot and turning it in.  And then, we headed off to our local library where the kids were allowed to vote in their own election - for favorite book. They even had mock voting booths.  Too cute.  And, they each got their own sticker to boot, just like mom's.

The Owl, by Thing 1

The owl how swiftly he flies,

his wings make no noise as they beat,

he swoops upon his prey without sign of approach ,

he flies back to his nest,

for a satisfying rest.

Thing 1 was inspired to write and publish a poem this morning.  This is the fruit of her Thursday morning writing journal.  She chose the accompanying picture.  Beautiful!

Thou shalt not complain...

...for the next 40 days.  I attended a yoga workshop on Saturday and was given a 40-day practice not to complain.  I love it!  It's a welcome and much-needed challenge.  It's all too easy for me to fall into relating to people by complaining and yet, I realize that it does nothing to improve the vibration around me.  Gratitude is the antidote to complaining, so gratitude is my practice.  Yoga is more than just asana.  Join me if you like! I'd love the company.  And now, in that spirit, let me share with you some of the things we've been up to.

On Halloween, we spent the second half of our day partying in costume.  We did mazes, dot-to-dots, and word searches, played games, did crafts, and baked cookies!

It's amazing what you can do with
a toilet paper tube and some cupcake liners!

Making mom's famous 100% whole wheat cut-out cookies.

Since Halloween, we've been up to a little of this and a little of that.  Check us out!

The kids were inspired to meditate as ghosts.  (You're supposed to laugh.  I did!)

The kids were inspired to make me lunch.  Isn't it gorgeous?

Ben LOVES his geoboards.

All in all, the kids (and I) agree:

That should read "Homeschool is great!"

What a difference a well-timed lecture makes!

Knock on wood for me; the kids are being total angels this week.  Apparently, they heard my cry for change loud and clear.  There's been (almost) no complaining, and they have been extremely cooperative.  I don't mean to leave the impression that my kids are generally uncooperative, quite the opposite.  They're typically very agreeable; we had just gotten a bit off track by the end of last week.  I'm glad to see we are back on track.  It makes homeschooling so much more pleasant.

I haven't been blogging mid-week much lately, but this has been such a spectacular last 2 days that I have to report.  Yesterday, we began with reading the bible.  (We are in Genesis 28, just after Rebekah and Jacob betray Esau.)  My plan is to read the bible on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until we are done with it.  After that, I would like to work our way slowly through other great religious tomes like the Torah, the Quran, the Guru Granth Sahib, the Vedas, and of some of the Buddhist texts.  Of course, they will all need to be children's versions and I have only located a few so far.  I'm excited to read them myself and to have the opportunity to expose the children to some of the universal teachings which hold true across all religions.  ("Do unto others as you would have done unto you," comes to mind.)

On Tuesday and Thursday, then, we'll begin our day with yoga.  We did just that today.  It was so refreshing to begin the school day with movement, music, and meditation.  I taught a short set and then we did a chanting meditation (Kirtan Kriya) which both kids know and love.  I'm not sure if it was the physical exercise or the centering effect of the meditation, but we had an especially engaging day of learning.  The kids worked diligently on their basics this morning: math and literacy.  Thing 1 has completed her spelling unit for the week already and is starting another one.  (We normally only do one unit  per week.)

Then, over the lunch hour, the kids pulled out materials to construct dioramas for science.  We're studying biomes.  Thing 1 has chosen to do a coral reef diorama and Thing 2 will do a desert.  They worked for well over an hour at that and I didn't have the heart to tear them away, even though I wanted to do a unit on the election.  This is one of the advantages of homeschooling.  I can allow their work (and their attention span) to come to a natural conclusion.  What a gift!  They did finally tire of making clay models of anemones and cacti, and then we launched into our election unit.

We lingered over decorating some posters I had found at the dollar store on the party system and only had time to briefly discuss the candidates.  We'll pick it up again later this week or next and then, we'll have our own election at home.  With only 3 votes, it won't be as exciting as a public school mock election, but they'll get the idea.

And that's all the news that isn't!  Stay tuned...

Weekly Update

It's been a little too long since I blogged.  Things have been good, but we continue to face challenges in certain areas.

Let's start with the good first.  I started reading the bible to the kids this week.  It's part of Thing 2's curriculum and we've been skipping it since the beginning of the year.  The kids are beginning to think of it as a taboo subject which is not at all my intention.  References to the bible are everywhere in our culture, in literature, even in our country's history.  Religious convictions or not, the bible has played an important role in history.  Everyone (myself included) should know at least a little about the bible.  (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristin-m-swenson-phd/five-things-everyone-shou_b_835721.html)

That said, I do want to temper the bible with healthy doses of science and reality, so after reading Genesis, I taught a lesson on the Big Bang and evolution.  The kids were truly interested, asking lots of questions, so we decided to take a trip to the Field Museum to see their Evolving Planet exhibit.  That was on Tuesday.  The kids were so engaged!  It was one of those moments of pure homeschooling joy.  What better way to bring evolution to life?  Even better, mid-week, very few people were at the museum and we had the exhibit almost entirely to ourselves.  We meandered through, reading the descriptions of each period and watching various videos.  I felt like the kids really began to understand the history of our planet and the history of life on earth.  Beautiful.

The rest of our week unfolded in a fairly quotidian manner.  We continue to do math and literacy daily.  Thing 1 does spelling and grammar 3 times a week.  We were a little light on literature and history this week, but we'll pick it up next week.  Which brings me to our struggles...

Thing 1 is a whiner.  OK, perhaps that's too harsh.  How could I say such a thing about my own precious child?  Well, you teach her 5 days a week and live with her!!  You'd say it too.  This issue - the complaining, the whining, the "but I'm too tiiiiiired Mom" is easily my biggest current challenge in homeschooling.  This is not something she would ever have done at public school.  She wanted to impress those teachers.  Apparently, the unconditional love of a mother doesn't do much to motivate a child.

So what to do about this?  When Thing 1 and I had a frank discussion last night at bedtime about the issue, she suggested (in a whiny tone, of course) that I should just "lessen the work."  Not the answer I wanted to hear.  The whole point of homeschooling is to provide a broader education than the public schools and if I lighten the load, we will only be doing the bare minimum.  Instead, I think next week I need to crack down on the whining.  I gave a lecture about how lucky the kids are to be homeschooled.  I told them that other mommies send their kids to school so that they can go to the gym, have lunch with their friends, and get a part time job.  "I could do that too," I said!  "No, no, don't do that!  We love being homeschooled!"

So, I explained, next week, I will vociferously enforce a no whining, no complaining, no bad attitude policy.  We shall see.

Other than that, I have to say, I do enjoy being home with the kids.  It's a more relaxed environment.  We don't have to do the mad dash to school every morning and we get to spend lots of time together.  We get to rush off to the museum on a moment's notice to study evolution and snuggle on the couch daily.  Despite my own whining and complaining,

Too busy for a meaningful life??

OK, I've just had a very negative e-mail interaction with a puppy breeder.  It was insulting and condescending and driven entirely by the breeder's admission that she was simply "too busy" to help educate me and my family.  'Busyness' has become the bane of our culture.  Anymore, it seems everywhere I turn, people wear their 'busyness' as a badge of honor and use it as an excuse for everything.  I get it.  We are busy, but let's bring some consciousness to that and actively work at building more meaning and quality into our interactions and into our daily lives instead of using it as an excuse to erode the quality of our relationships and lives.  Grrr....  Check out this link:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/the-busy-trap/

41 days under our belts!

Lazy blogger that I am, here's our week in photos:

maple helicopter dragonflies - my apologies for the shadow!

Grandma's beautiful handiwork

graph paper samplers (we're studying colonial times) 

solenoid train signal (google it!)

more solenoid fun

We're baaaack!

After a week and a half off, we are back at school.  We started back last week and this is our first full week.  It was great to have some time off and I see how much it renews our energy for school.  We'll have to take more regular breaks.  The kids and I did decide one week off at a time is enough.  We were glad to get back to our routine.  Turns out, for all my (and their) complaining, we are creatures of habit and we love our little school in the basement.  It's a very pleasant, bright, happy place to be.

So, without further ado,  here's what we've been up to:

Thing 2 filling in the ocean around the continents.

Learning primary and secondary colors with Skittles!

Playing Row, Row, Row Your Boat on the lapharp.

Playing Row, Row, Row Your Boat on the flutophone.

Leaf rubbings - 'tis the season.

 Hope this works.  My first video.  Thing 1 explains our science experiment here: 

And in the 8th week, they rested...

But first let's wrap up the 7th week.  We limped through it, but we now have 34 days under our belts and that feels great.  We made a paper chain this week in anticipation (already!) of our 100 day party.  Photos of our week below!

Teddy bears riding the number train

Decorating for fall

Sorting and counting by 10s
(Gotta love the table scatters from Target's  Dollar Spot!)

The kids' idea of injecting some fun into our week

With 34 days under our belts already, this colorful paper chain will help us see the light at the end of the tunnel - our 100 day party!

More fun with magnets - this time using iron filings

Thing 2 can't get enough of pattern blocks
(Saxon homeschool math rocks!)

End of Week 6

We had a great week.  Grandma came to visit and subbed.  The kids loved it and can't wait for her to sub again.  In the words of Thing 2, "Grandma's a real teacher, Mommy."  'Nuff said.

It was a short week but still, after 6 weeks of school, I feel like we need a vacation.  I think we'll limp through next week and then take a week off.  I am ready for it and hope it will renew my energy.  I've gotten a bit tired of our routine.  I think the kids have too.  It's time to mix things up, starting with a much-deserved vacay - 1 week and counting!

And finally, our week in pictures:

Hard at work on spelling.

Hard at work on science (complete with magnetic duck in bowl).

Daily calendar routine

Paper collage inspired by Leo Lionni's "Frederick"

Wrapping up the week in pictures

We ended week 5 today.  Thing 2 is beginning to read!  And Thing 1 and I are continuing to negotiate our new teacher/student relationship.  We'll get there.  I won't lie and say it's all roses.  At least a few times each day I wonder why I am doing this and whether I should just put the kids back in public school.  But also a few times each day, I marvel at the amazing things they are learning and all the insightful questions which springboard into meaningful discussions (which we now have time for!), and revel in the moments when we are at peace side-by-side and living in the flow.  6 in one, half a dozen in the other?  For now, I will take it!  Enjoy your weekend.

Fun with pattern blocks

Doing grammar

Helpful student cleaning the whiteboard :)

 

Weekly Update?

Is that what it's coming to?  I suppose the excitement of the daily blog has waned and for now, the weekly update will have to do!

We are joining a co-op on Tuesday mornings.  Thing 2 had a great time when we visited.  Thing 1 was her shy self and will take a few weeks to warm up.  All in all, it's a great thing for us.  We need the community and the time away from home and our classroom.  Although we love the classroom, being in one room every day is tiring.  The co-op will do us all good.

Thing 2 read his first book today.  He's decoding words in the -am and -at families.  Amen for the Bob books!

I am struggling to motivate Thing 1 to work as hard for me as she would for a teacher.  When it comes time to write paragraphs, she's always looking to do the least amount of work possible.  A short lecture (and yes, a threat to send her to school) brought her in line today.  Maybe she's just testing and we'll move through this.

Photos to come!

Picture Update

I've been a little lax with the photos the last few days.  Here's what we've been up to (today was a good day, by the way!):

Learning the flutophone

Crazy for dot-to-dots

Patterning

It's a beautiful thing!

Celebrating the letter 'S' at lunch (photo by Thing 1)

Opposite poles attract - magnetic cars

A favorite from today

Art - Thing 2's miniature room (in progress)