A Day of Hippy Home Education

We don't fall under one category of home education. I have a gr1 curriculum book, that Bug does work out of. I use it to keep me on track with the concepts she should be able to understand, though the majority of the time Bug chooses when to work out of this book herself (it is almost complete). We believe in child-lead education. They ask "Why does _____ happen? or "That Lion is so cool! Can we look up lions on the National Geographic site?" We go with whatever they are curious about. The Lion question lead to an entire unit on African Savanna Animals. I love Montessori concepts, and we have many games and puzzles. We love to incorporate life skills as well. We are what you would call "eclectic" home educators. Mostly though, we just let them play :) Here's a taste of a day in our home.

Folding towels= Co-operation, life skills, hand-eye

coordination and a sense of accomplishment. Just don't expect them to be perfect right away. The kids do get better with practise.

Washing dishes, each with their own jobs, and needing to follow several steps. Being able to work both independently to achieve the same goal is an indispensable skill. Plus, it takes a chunk out of the amount of dishes Scott and I have to do. (They LOVE dish washing, They cheer when I tell them it's time to do the dishes).

Sorting Laundry (sorting, life skills and coordination) and hanging up their own clothes. They take better care of their clothes now that they are the ones that put them away.

The African game we made up to review what we had learned during our African Animals unit.

(Reading, counting, teamwork, strategy, addition, multiplication, problem solving, geography)

Cuddling is a big part of our educating process.

If anyone is curious, how they learn to read and print without me sitting them down and teaching them. My short answer is: I have no clue. They just do. The slightly longer answer is, complete a task many times in front of them, when they ask a question about it: answer it and only it , don't go into major detail. For example: "What sound does that letter make mommy?" Mommy: "it makes a SSSS sound like a snake" Have alphabet puzzles, games and tracing mats available for them to play with at their own leisure. That's it. When a child chooses what they want to learn, when they want to learn it, they will. If you don't believe me the boy pictured above is my 4 yrold. He printed this completely on his own, by sounding out the words without prompting or help from any of us. I just walked into the living room and there it was with him and his big grin "Look what I did mommy!"

Music is a huge part of our day. Their step dad is a musician and practises regularly, which leads to the whole family joining in with drums, keyboard and voices. This is coupled with Music for Young Children classes (which are AWESOME).

One of my favourite things is reading to them.

So, that's how it works in my family, for now. Observe and adapt, don't get too attached to one way of doing things and know when to ask for assistance. That's my advise, I find it applies to every aspect of my life.

Why We Are Cleaning Up Hunter's Bay Trail, An Answer To Councilor John Davis.

This morning we put on our work gloves, one pair extra large, one pair small and two pairs of teeny tiny. The whole family was getting ready to participate in our first clean-up which was organized by Danial McCoy, with the Huntsville Environmental Group. The idea was that we would dig out and recycle the plastic shavings that had blown over from KWH's back lot and settled into our beloved Hunter's Bay Trail bank.

Kyle Kralik, Karin Tarizano, Danial McCoy

To say I felt overwhelmed would be an understatement. If the first 20 minutes of raking, it became very obvious that we weren't looking at one foot or so of plastic shavings. There were layers upon layers of it. The tiny roots of plants had grown entangled around them. We had bitten off more than we could chew. The more we dug the more plastic we found. We realized we would have to stop digging due to the threat of washing out the trail. Wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow we rolled the piles out to the parking lot and filled two 60 square foot boxes donated by KWH itself. When we realized we could not dig any further without compromising the bank we dug a small trench and lined it with logs to slow any erosion.

Layers upon Layers, this saplings roots have grown in and around these shavings.




John Davis, Brendan and Rudi Stade


Scott Gilson

Among the members of the Huntsville Environmental Group a few other faces made an appearance, John Davis and Karin Terizano of the Huntsville town council came out to do some digging. Karin got straight to work and helped to fill many wheel barrows. John was shoveling as well, but was obviously conflicted about the trail clean-up. At one point I heard him ask "Why are we even doing this? It's just fine the way it is." He pointed out that the PVC pipes these shavings came from carry our water, he didn't believe the shavings to be a threat. I'm glad he brought these thoughts forward, for I am sure there are many others who believe that plastic formed in 3 inch thick tubes buried below the frost line and not exposed to the hot summers and cold winters of Muskoka leach chemicals at the same rate as these thin shavings do. However, when discussing considerations when disposing of PVC www.lenntech.com/polyvinyl-pvc.htm states : " ...attention should be taken to the fact that PVC may leach out toxic chemicals and contaminate soil and water." Lenntech is a respected environmentally friendly water and air filtration system designing company in the Netherlands, and has worked with Shell and the US army. (for those of you who are sceptical of Internet information and where it comes from as I am).

So to answer your question, Councilor John Davis; I can not tell you why all of us were "doing this" but I can tell you why I was. I helped to clean out 120 cubic feet of PVC from a river bank because I was worried about chemicals leaching into the water way my children play in. I sifted through piles of shavings and dirt pulling out organic material with my children to show them that it is our responsibility to clean up the environment. I raked down clumps of plastic knowing that there was no way we could clean it up in one day because I believe that every journey starts with one step, or in the case of the Hunter's Bay clean-up; 5 rakes, 5 shovels and a small group of people who are not scared of a little hard work.

Bye Bye Beautiful Hair.

I have beautiful hair. No really I do, see:




Completely natural ringlets. I never have to comb or brush my hair with anything more than my finger tips. Just Tea tree shampoo, no conditioner, no haircare products at all. In fact if I get out of the shower and not touch my hair in the slightest it dries looking like this. So why the hell do I have this urge to tease it, knot it and crochet it into funny looking bundles all over my head? I had dreadlocks 6 years ago, I cannot explain the feeling of having them, I cannot explain how it is that I feel more feminine with natty snakes pointing ever which way outta my head then I do with my curls blowing in the breeze. I do know however that whenever I dreadlock my hair there is usually some other big change or commitment in my life happening at the same time. So after eating some disgusting pieces of fatty pork tonight, I turned to my partner and told him, "Tommorow I become a vegetarian, again" Which is kinda messed-up cause we plan on raising rabbits for meat when we build our self-sufficient farm. Well cross that ethical blood and fur covered bridge when we get to it I guess. Wish me luck, it begins tonight...

I'm Screwing Up My Kids by Homeschooling

The other week I gave up on homeschooling for 15 minutes. I had a day of frustration in which nothing I introduced them to was sinking in, they did not seem interested at all in my perfectly laid out "this-is-what-I- want-you-to-learn-today-and-this-is-why-you-will-think-it-is-fun-and- therefore-retain-it-all-so-that-in-the afternoon-when-I-ask-you-about-it you-will-re-affirm-my-excellent-teaching-skills" lesson plan. That afternoon when my teaching ego had imploded with lack of impact, I had 15 minutes of "who do I think I am trying to teach my kids? I'm totally going to screw them up, I'm missing something important I know it. They'll have access to so much more in an institution than here." I broke down into tears telling my partner that next year I might put them into school. He calmed me down, he told me I needed more support. He told me that every teacher has bad days where they think they are not doing well enough (or I told him that as he held me and coaxed me on, that's the thing about good listeners you never know where the great advise came from). Either way, I went on the Internet the next day looking for curriculum to help me in my struggle. The Montessori was mostly from 3-6 which I would only need the tail end of. Waldorf had a great art and imagination-based math. However I was not a fan of the use of violent fairy tales in their reading curriculum. For some reason I was feeling that we needed this structure:



I teach, they listen. This is how children learn.


Being in discussions with friends who are institutional teachers, there has always been an emphasis by them on curriculum, grade level and testing. All things that are necessary within the public school system. I began to see a need for these things. I began to base my idea of learning success on the very system that I didn't believe was suitable for my daughter in the first place. How had I fallen into this trap?

I had a play date with another homeschooling mother soon after my little break-down. We were discussing how being within the community is a great place for children to learn and how it was the way children were educated in the first place. Then it dawned on me, why do we call the process of educating our children at home "homeschooling"? As if large teaching institutions (schools) always existed as the normal way to educate our children and in keeping our children with us we are in fact trying to bring this institution into our homes. Where as what we are doing is taking "schools" out of the picture and allowing our children to educate themselves via experience in the world they are inheriting. It seemed so backwards to me. Recently my 5 yrold has been telling people she's home schooled when they ask what school she goes to. Perhaps it would be a more accurate description for her to say "I don't go to school." and leave it at that.

Doulas, and The Men (Or Women) Who Stand Behind Them

It's Friday afternoon, I've been with a client since Thursday morning and it's looking like it may still be a few hours before the baby is born.

I have a 5 year old and 3 year old at home, and I know they are taken care of. I know my partner will drop them off with their grandma before his night shift starts. I know they are well fed, they have practised their music and read their books. I know that I can come home at any time after a birth, climb into bed and take a long nap.

I know that on the ride home after a traumatic birth, I can cry my eyes out. He will not ask questions that I cannot answer, he will not try to "make it better". He will just be there. As a doula I know how hard "just being there" can be.

My volunteer births take me away from my family, they take gas money from our account.

When I'm on-call, so is he. My cell phone lies between our pillows at night. We are a one car family, we have to work around my births and visits. My children are not yet old enough to stay by themselves at home, so while I am at a birth he is responsible for finding childcare if he has to go to work. We cannot travel far when a mom is 37 or more weeks.

I could not do this without him.

This weighs heavily on me. There's been this guilt nagging at me. I ask too much of him. At least I get to witness miracles for all this hard work. What does he get out of it?

Last night he told me that by supporting me in my work he felt he was doing good in the world. That this is how he helped the community.

It got me thinking... how many people are out there standing behind and holding up those who are standing behind and holding up others? How fragile and beautiful this structure is.

It's become apparent that I'm not the only one volunteering for a teenage mom in labour...my whole community is.

Vikings and Homeschooling

I've been feeling like I've been slacking a bit with homeschooling. Child-led learning is great, though sometimes the child does not seem to want to lead, or to stay on any particular path for longer than 15 minutes. So we've been playing lots of card games, computer reading games and doing Christmas crafts. Today, after Super Why on kids CBC, the show Are We There Yet? came on. They were visiting Iceland. They played on a longboat, went to a traditional thatched/sod home, ate traditional bread cooked over a fire the played games. So to get the kids excited I took them outside to play some of these games. One was arm wrestling. It's done standing on a plank of wood, you bow, grab opposite hands and try to force your opponent to step off the plank by arm wrestling them. Then the really fun one, place a pillow case over each child's head give them each a pillow. Heh, heh I love homeschooling! We also pretended to row a long boat across the North Atlantic from Norway to Iceland (of course we ran into mermaids on the way). Then we made this simple longboat craft:
We cut a rectangle in construction paper.

Folded it in half and cut it on angles on either side.

Taped the ends together.

Taped a sail to a mast made of a toothpick.

We placed play-doh in the boat to hold it open and hold up the mast. Then poked toothpicks through the side of the ship for oars.

Ta-dah!

Then we made a representation of Norway, the North Atlantic and Iceland for the kids to sail/row their longboats across. Then the play-doh was spotted and that lesson was over.

Hard Times

So here it goes. Deep breath and just say it. I'm poor. Money has been an issue since I split with my husband. I did receive back-pay from CTB and I used it to buy Bunk beds so my kids didn't have to sleep on the floor on a mattress. I purchased toys (many of their toys stayed at their father's) and children's clothes. I also purchased teaching tools, a camera to film classes and births and a cheap laptop so that when I'm stuck in town after busing the kids in for a "daddy day" I can do some work. I paid to take some workshops to update my breastfeeding knowledge. Granted, I still have those things and they have been useful and have allowed me to make some money but class participation has been low and not just for me, the health unit's classes numbers have been dwindling as well. After doing my taxes for 2007 and 2008 I was told that I received a cheque for something I wasn't suppose to and now I owe it all back. So I've been putting off doing my taxes for 2009, knowing that I was going to owe more money once I did, because the government sent me money I never asked for. There is also an arrangement for child support that is 2/3's less than it should be in order to cover my end of signing my portion the house over to my ex's mother.

I quit my part-time job, to focus on teaching, doulaing and my kids. I figured with some investment of time, energy and education, I could make this work. Well I couldn't. There I said it, I'm failing. I think that's the hardest part. My partner and I have an agreement, he pays the bills, I pay for gas and food. Well, I have 2 more weeks of food to buy and only 1 weeks worth of money to do it before I get my next support cheque. To keep up my end, I'm going to have to go to the food bank. I've been there before. There was a time as a single mother that it was necessary. What's worse is that last week my partner made a negative comment about people putting bank's food into the backs of their new trucks. I explained that they could have thought their job was secure when they bought the vehicle only to be laid-off a couple of months later and now they couldn't possibly sell it for the amount that they owe. We have a fairly new car (purchased only months before his wife left) and now we are in the same boat. I've mentioned that I may have to go to the food bank this month, he just says "No, we'll be fine."

I'd like to say that I'm not too proud to go there, but there is a part of me that is ashamed. I don't know why, I don't look down on anyone who goes there. I guess I'm worried about my business and what it says about me as a doula if I have to go to the food bank to feed my family. I'm also worried about my partner, who I believe has a harder time with the idea of going to the food bank than I do.

I usually like to end my posts with something uplifting, or at least some way that I intend to fix things. I'll do my taxes and perhaps now, the amount the government owes me in CTB will equal to the amount that I owe them and I'll break even. Then come January I'll be able to receive my CTB on a regular basis and once again be able to feed my family without assistance.