Spooky

Aley and Arlo have gotten into all things spooky. They ghost hunt with kits made of bizarre household items. Aley's is a case that held girly cookie cutters, with a calculator, balloon pump, calculator, and lip gloss inside. Before I left, I heard her ask Cheyne, "Can you make us some mac and cheese and drive us to the cemetery?"

Yeah.


One night they wanted to tell spooky stories by candle light. Aley's had vampires and cat people. Arlo's was short and sweet. I told the old family favorite "The Golden Arm."
Have I mentioned I love unschooling.....

We Are Back!!!

After a year's hiatus, we have decided as a family to return to our radical unschooling roots. I almost titled this post "Please Do Not Comment on This Post". But I am pretty sure I can handle the flack. Just rest assured this choice is a heartfelt attempt to live and learn authentically as a family in a way that all of us appreciate and enjoy. It is not a reaction to external circumstances, in fact we are a lucky family that, besides the schoolish stuff, has had a positive public school experience. I am also not "trying" to be something. I think in the past, I was trying lots of different things, different ideals, etc. To see which one fit. In the last three months, through prayer, honesty, late night discussions, and soil searching, I came to the astonishing discovery that who I wanted to be was who I already was. And it looks and feels totally different.
Some of the positives? I am really connecting with my kids. All the way, heart to heart. I am enjoying them. I am being a kind, loving mom instead of a frazzled, sort of confused mom. I feel like I have come home. And the kids are so happy and this new wide open feeling in our house is bubbling over. They are warm and courteous with each other in a way thatmakes my heart soar and my throat catch.
What do they do all day? Well, in these first few days-
* play hand after hand of crazy eights
* ditto with round after round of the clue decoder game and The Play's The Thing game. Followed by reading stories from our Shajespeare storybook.
* PLAYYYYYYYED
* Looked up the idiom "eating crow" after our hound dog got one
* visited The Gentry Safari

In other words we are, to paraphrase David Albert, "being, growing, doing, and learning...together."
I hope you can be a supportive ally if you are reading this post. Some guidelines I would suggest for questioning homeschoolers is....don't. Unless you are genuinely interested in homeschooling. The "mommy wars" have done enough. I respect you and your decisions, please trust that as a grown person I can absolutely be trusted to make void, whistic choices for my family. If you know me at all, this should be abundantly clear.

Aley

My third child turned eight on January 1. She is a delight, a storyteller, a Broadway style songstress, a snuggler, and a seeker. She is always teaching herself things, life cycles of chickens, multiplication, the hardness of minerals. She runs in an airy fairy manner, she layers clothes and gives weather reports. Her games with stuffed animals and puppets can go on for hours and rival any soap opera/musical I have ever seen. She is saucy and bossy and bold and yet dreamy and charming and soft. She is a baby whisperer of sorts. Once she had a little bloke so enamored of her that he cried and tried to follow us when we left the park!
She is peaches and cream and fairy tales and sparkly shoes.
Happy birth day Aley. I am so glad you are here.

January

This year I make no resolution. I think this is the year I am going to try to go into covenant with God and just make serious agreements with Him about my life, choices, and plans.
Scary, huh.

But that is where I am. I feel that Cheyne and I are seriously beginning to live the values we have held near and dear for so long. I feel like my kiddos are in a good place, doing well, and growing into incredible folks daily, and I feel that this is going to be a good year.
It all comes down to living simply, investing in relationships, and surrendering my heart to God daily.
I also have to be more open about my struggles and pain. I am very attached to "Who You Think I Am" and "not being the crazy girl". Recently a friend's revelation about observing some recurring depression traits I thought I was masking made me realize how closed off I can be, how unreachable in a way. I don't ever want to be the one with the probolem, or the situation, so I suffer a lot in silence.
So this is the new year, and NOW IS THE TIME.
I am going to live deeply with God and my community.

And open my heart.

And tell the truth.

And love my people.