Educating myself

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a training session related to my former "paid" profession as an accountant.  As I sat surrounded by those who are immersed in the business world, I wondered what in the world I was doing there.  How was any of what I was learning - accounting standards - relevant to where I'm at in my life now?  Why was I clinging to the designation I earned years ago, but which bared little application to my daily work?  How had I managed to fall so far behind in the changes in my industry, and would I ever catch up, if need be?

At first, I concluded that the only reason I was in the room was to ensure I had a contingency plan - if I needed to return to the work force to make money, I could.  As the day went on, I discovered a couple more reasons. 

I thought about how my children may become more engaged, lifelong learners if they witnessed their mama making time to learn something new.  Perhaps the shiny binder I brought home from the training session would look more like "learning" in their eyes than when I learned how to crochet a hat or some new-to-me knitting stitches. 

Then I thought back to the days when I had completed StrengthsFinder 2.0, and how the author encouraged his readers to invest even more in their strengths than in their weaknesses.  I used to be really great at accounting.  I'm sure I could catch up to all the changes with relative ease.  And, I could use all that talent I've pushed to the side of my "teacher's desk" to help out some really worthwhile causes.  Choosing who I share my talents with could be a strong statement to my children about following their hearts and values, rather than the almighty dollar.

As I sat here tonight, I thought of one more reason.  I'm in a wonderful position to teach my children about money, about business, and perhaps we will even be able to stretch it as far as corporate social responsibility.  As we ate supper and listened to the news, we heard a story about a company that has been on quite the roller coaster ride - Research In Motion (of Blackberry fame).  From a short 30 second news bite came a discussion on financial statements, shares, net income, dividends, debt, and investments.  And it was a real discussion, with back-and-forth dialogue, questions, and contemplation.  The vocabulary would never allow us to pass a university class, but it made sense to the audience in the room. 

Yes, the book learning and the real-life learning shall continue for this gal.

Club Day. The Birds of Prey Version.

Today the Birds of Prey Club is starting a new theme.  I really have come to the end of pure birds of prey themes, so we are starting a unit on Arctic animals and peoples, inspired by one of Nicholas' much loved owls, the Snowy Owl. 

I stumbled upon this theme quite by accident.  I received an email from Greenpeace in December, advertising a new website they'd set up, Arctic Rising.  It's a toolkit that young and old can use to raise awareness about threats to the Arctic. 

I thought it would be too big of a leap to simply start exploring the issues facing the Arctic environment and Arctic peoples.  So, we're starting off slow by exploring some of the Arctic animals, including the adaptations they've made to survive in such a unique environment.  Our plan today was to identify some animals and then head to the park to see how some of the adaptations they've inherited help them to thrive.  We were going to explore camouflage, inspired by the colour changes of the Arctic Fox and Arctic Hare, by playing hide and seek with winter camouflage and without.  Then, we were going to explore a simple physical adaptation of paw size for walking in snow.  We were going to play predator and prey with and without snowshoes. 

But it was not to be today.  The weather turned bitterly cold, and not all the Clubbers were dressed for the outdoors.  So, we'll save those ideas for another day.

Today, we read the book Ookpik:  The Travels of a Snowy Owl.  It tells the tale of survival of a young Snowy Owl from its birth through its return to the Arctic after migrating for its first winter.  It has fabulous illustrations, and there was just enough factual material woven into the story that we could have a couple of discussions about adaptations of the Snowy Owl.  It was amazing how quiet this group of rowdy boys were for the entire story.  Then, we broke out the art materials and the boys had an opportunity to draw or paint something that touched them from the story.  This was a very open-ended activity, where they could draw a landscape, an animal, or what they thought it might feel like to be one of the animals from the story.

As I was scouring the internet for other ideas, I came across a website that shows promise for inspiring future meetings.  I think this little club will be the neighbourhood's foremost experts on the Arctic by the time we're done this theme!

Rut

I've been rather quiet in this space the last few days, and I've struggled to write inspiring posts of all the creative, fun, wonderful projects we've been doing.  The latter because we've fallen into a rut and aren't doing creative, fun, wonderful projects, and the former because I've been internally wondering how to break out of this blah spell we're in.  And I do believe we're all in the depths of this spell.  Children seem to be moving slower and slower in the morning, I find myself nagging more often, and I just sense a general malaise around us.

I find it incredibly hard to sit by and wait for things to just work themselves out, because while I do believe that some things are bound to happen simply because of fate, I also believe that one has the power to create their own destiny.  After all, if one is to create an intentional life, then one must know what they want that life to look like and take consciously decide to take whatever steps are necessary to get there.  So that is where I will start in delving into this problem - by asking myself, "What did I want this homeschool to look like again?"

My vision for this homeschool is a place where children are active learners.  In fact, they decide what they will learn and how best to solve the problems that may get in the way of that learning.  My children are curious - they want to learn more and they know how to find out the information they seek.  My children are resilient - if whatever they are doing doesn't lead them to their desired outcome, they will try again and learn in the process.  Their learning will be messy, experiential, and intrinsically rewarding.   

So, what to do when the ship isn't exactly sailing in that direction?  My head has been spinning around that question until a walk today helped to show me what our homeschool looks like in a better light.   Yes, there are little things I can do to reduce the conflict in our days.  I sat down with Nicholas yesterday and we talked about the bookwork he needs to complete by the end of the week and the consequences if it does not get done.  We also talked about goals he has set for himself and broken them into smaller activities.  I also let him know that I would prefer not to remind him about these goals.  Each of the children have been told when the kitchen is closing for breakfast and they have told us when they need to be woken up so they can eat their meal with enough leisure to suit them. 

And during my walk today, I had the little "aha" that I need to relax a bit and recognize that some of the stuff that happens in our house will not look like school and embrace what makes us unique.  Often, I find myself fretting that we aren't doing enough of a defined subject and worrying about the judgment others may throw our way.  Today, I paused long enough to see that all that stuff that doesn't look like anything is actually my children diving into the subject matter of their interest and devouring it.  They build fantasy worlds around the topics that inspire them.  They draw pictures.  They act scenes out.  They read about it.  They search for movies.  They are using all their senses to bring these topics to life.

Here's to keeping my chin up in the days and weeks to come!

Mr. Moon

There are moments that I'm so humbled to witness and where I feel in awe of the incredible complexity of my children.  The moment I experienced today blows my mind so much that I struggle to put into words what I saw in the window to the soul of my littlest Astrin.

All started out very harmless and routine.  I was helping Astrin on to the potty.  I usually sing to her while she sits, and for whatever reason, I sang Mr. Moon this time.  Here's how it goes:

     Mr. Moon, Mr. Moon
     You're out to soon
     The sun is still in the sky
     Go back to bed 
     And cover up your head
     Until the day goes by

As I finished the song, she frowned.  Then she asked me to sing it again.  This time, she frowned and her lower lip pushed out into a little bit of a pout.  But again, she asked for an encore.  Her eyes looked troubled.  After the fourth song, she couldn't contain it any more.  She burst into tears.  I held my little one as she sobbed into my shoulder.  "No go bye," she wailed.  Now I understood.  She thought I was singing of a farewell, which very well could be tearful. 

"Oh, baby," I crooned as I wiped those very real, sad tears away and rubbed her back.  "It's not good-bye.  It's just come back a little later.  Rest for a little longer.  Get a little bit more sleep until night time."

Our conversation took a turn as she became very concerned about the whereabouts of her cousins and aunt.  Where were they? she demanded to know.  While I told her factually where they were, in retrospect, perhaps telling her they were safe and we would see them again soon would have been more helpful to her.  I don't know.  

Such strong emotions for such a little one who often happily relishes the role of being the baby of the family and all the silly, clownish stunts being the baby entails.  Did I catch a glimpse of empathy for a moon being cast out?  Or sincere sadness for the farewell of a friend?  Or relating farewells in a song to the absence of family that she adores?  Again, I don't know.  I do know that I am thankful for the reminder of the fragile souls, hearts and minds that I live, learn, and grow with every day, and that they need and deserve every ounce of love and support that I can give them.

Smiling

Things that made me smile today...

  ~ Fixing an oops in the knitting project I'm working on instead of having to rip it out and start again

  ~ Being in awe as Jaelyn dabbled with expressionism

  ~ Enjoying the busy sounds of little ones experimenting with balloon rockets
  ~ Checking out Jaelyn's art in a youth exhibition at a local art gallery
  ~ Brainstorming ideas for Nicholas' World Conservation badge project
  ~ The slow cooker that had a warm, delicious meal ready for us when we returned home today
  ~ Listening to my littlest one singing "One for my Baby" by Frank Sinatra

  ~ Overhearing excited chatter as a little one returned home from his Scout meeting

I'm so thankful for the joys in our life.

Minding a toddler

I admit...I still haven't got my head around how to manage all the children simultaneously needing attention.  And I only have three!  Today, I felt pulled away from focusing attention on the older children by the force known as Astrin.  From putting crayons in her mouth, to using said crayons to draw on the table, to repeatedly redirecting her other activities, I felt spent after an hour. 

What have I done so far to keep my littlest one happily occupied?  Colouring is the main activity that seems to keep her happy.  I wonder how many times I can go to the well with that one before it gets old.  We've also experimented with various toys, like block sorters, wooden blocks, building train tracks, and Lego.

Tonight, I find myself scouring the internet for tips.  It's interesting that finding just a couple of doable tips can inspire some of my own ideas.  Here are some that I plan to try:

  ~ providing a small stack of books for Astrin to flip through and read to us.
  ~ seeing what happens when I set up a small, Astrin-sized table for her to do her work and play at.
  ~ having a stack of sewing cards or a bag with beads and pipe cleaners handy.
  ~ plunging into the world of messy by having a bag of mixed-media items (pictures from cards, yarn, buttons, feathers, etc.), a glue stick and sturdy paper for art beyond the crayon).  Well, maybe not buttons - they'll likely end up in her mouth.  But you get the idea. 
  ~ adding watercolours to the mix of art supplies.

And where did I find such inspiration?  Here are a few sites I checked out:

  ~ Simple Homeschool
  ~ Se7en
  ~ The Happy Housewife

I'll also be perusing my copy of Teaching Montessori in the Home for other ideas of items we can make that are provide her with basic learning and keep her little hands busy.

What are your favorite toddler tips?

Chilly means get stretchy

We were greeted this morning to very chilly weather...-41C with windchill!  I called off our morning trek and we instead opted to do yoga in the basement, where there was room for all of us to spread out. 

We whipped up our yoga practice on our own.  It was somewhat of a challenge to find something to engage everyone, as well as safely practicing with the toddler zipping around and the dog believing that yoga mats are for him to flop down on.  Nonetheless, we prevailed!  Here are some strategies we tried to make our practice enjoyable:

  ~ Every child and adult had their own mat.  It was relatively easy to ask Astrin to return to her mat so that the other children could have the space they needed to get into the pose.  That being said, we didn't mind if she crawled through our legs while we were in Warrior II or under our backs while we were in reverse table-top.
  ~ Many of the yoga poses are named for animals, so we made the animal sounds to go with the poses.  For example, we went through a cat-cow sequence while meowing and mooing, we wagged our tails and barked while in table-top and downward-facing dog, and we barked and clapped like seals while rolling on our backs.  Silly, but fun.
  ~ While we explored the breath at the beginning of our practice, by seeing what it felt like to fill our bellies with the breath, I didn't instruct the breathing as we moved through the poses. 
  ~ The children picked a pose or two that they like to do and we did them together.
  ~ The children had an opportunity to create a pose of their own.

There are a plethora of books and videos out there that are tailored to doing yoga with children.  Some in our library include:

  ~ Yoga Kids ABC's with Marsha Wenig
  ~ Yoga Journal's Family Yoga with Rodney Yee
  ~ Storytime Yoga with Sydney Solis
  ~ Little Yoga by Rebecca Whitford and Martina Selway

Om!