Snow Day Before and After

My garden yesterday....

the promise of Spring.

My garden today....

Not so fast!

My Homeschooling Journey - The Beginning

We thought about homeschooling when our oldest was only a toddler. I had this idea that I would find like-minded friends with children of similar ages and we would share the load. Take turns, teach the children things that we were interested in and then have some free time to ourselves as well. As Sofie got closer to school age, my thoughts had moved on, I looked at various schooling options and then registered her for French Immersion.

During Sofie’s Kindergarten year, my husband took a job in Australia, which meant Sofie would miss about 7 months of school. I wasn’t concerned, as it was kindergarten, and it wasn’t even mandatory. Sofie finished the last few months of kindergarten in Canada after an amazing trip away. We learned so much on our trip that I wasn’t concerned about how she measured up to the rest of the class on numbers and letters.

The last few weeks of the year were quite trying. Though Sofie enjoyed herself when she was at school, each day I had to convince her to go. And then, an end of the year bike safety assembly left Sofie never wanting to return to school, or ride a bike for that matter. In the summer we took an art class run by an amazing woman who was homeschooling her two daughters. These young girls were so bright, so confident, so well adjusted; I just couldn’t help thinking about the possibilities of homeschooling Sofie. Around that time Sam was offered another contract in Australia, a short one, he could go alone or we could pull Sofie out of school and we could go with him.

I looked into the different ways of homeschooling and found out about distributed learning. I researched a few programs and settled on a program called SelfDesign. I liked the philosophy of learner-directed and enthusiasm based learning, and the educational funding was appealing also. We knew a wonderful woman whom we often visited at Kidsbooks in Vancouver and it turned out she was a Learning Consultant with SelfDesign. It just seemed as if everything was falling into place. We registered for our year away from School and got started on learning outside of the classroom.

When Sofie finished her first year of home learning, we were in Australia and her sister Jane was due to begin school. I took the girls down to the local school, began the registration process and ordered uniforms. That night at home Sam and I talked, it just didn’t seem right, the girls were flourishing outside of a schooling environment and we really were enjoying SelfDesign. I called the school the next morning and cancelled the uniforms; we were now officially home learners, not just travelers whose children weren’t attending school.

Sofie is now entering her seventh year with SelfDesign and now Jane and Jack are enrolled as well. We have had the same learning consultant all along, except for the year that she was on maternity leave. I like that she is familiar with our family and our children and she knows their interests and learning styles.

SelfDesign is an independent online home learning program, funded by the BC Ministry of education. Part of the requirement in enrolling is a weekly report of Observing for Learning as well as a log of 25 hours of learning (pretty easy to reach when you look at all the learning opportunities around us). There are also 3 seasonal reports that require a greater in-depth look at what your child has been learning. As long as you maintain timely reporting, SelfDesign provides $1122 per student per year for learning expenses incurred through out that year. This comes in the form of a preloaded Visa card that is loaded 3 times during the year. Another requirement is that your child will participate in the government FSA testing in grade 4 and 7.

I sometimes find the reporting can be a bit onerous, but if I keep myself on schedule and don’t get behind, it really doesn’t take a lot of time, and it is a nice reflection on what we have done in the past week.

One of the reasons I enrolled in the first place was that as a fledgling home educator I felt the need for some accountability to myself and I liked a permanent record being created if my children were to return to a traditional school at some point.

We have over the years tried a number of curriculums as well as learning styles and for now I have scrapped the kitchen table ‘school’ time in lieu of finding the learning in everyday situations. We play lots of music, make lots of art and do lots of reading.

And at the end of the week, I jot down what we have done and send it off to our LC to glean the learning outcomes. If you were to take my children and measure them up with the ‘bricks and mortar’ school measuring stick, they would fall behind in some areas and stride ahead in others but at the end of the day, I am so proud of my children and the people they are becoming and I wouldn’t change a moment of it for anything.

Valentine's Day 2011

I was just thinking about how great Valentine's day is. What is not to love? The celebration of love and eating chocolate. Really it is hard to go wrong when you remember those two simple things. Then I went back to my post of 2010 on Valentine's day, and I was impressed with myself. I think I pretty much nailed it. It is about Love, not commercialism and it seems each year my love for this holiday grows.

Yesterday I brought out a couple baskets of paper, some fancy scissors, glue sticks, stamps, you name it and we all set to work making Valentine's cards. Jane set to work baking, at 10, she is pretty skilled in the art of baking. She is not so good at following the instructions (no idea where she gets that from) but she can make an amazing loaf of bread and her lemon cupcakes are very decadent. There was a flurry of activity in the kitchen and we all really had alot of fun inspiring each other with our ideas. The cards were so beautiful. This morning we got busy making more while the crowd cried out for heart shaped pancakes. Who could deny such a lovely request. Not me.

Our day was filled with friends and just being together. Oh, and chocolate and cupcakes of course. I decided on a dinner of pizza, where I made Sam his own heart shaped vegan pizza. Come on now, that some serious show of love. The children loved making cards for everyone and the girls took Piper across the street to deliver hers to her little friend. It was a really fun day.

So now as this day draws to a close and I know I have had my fill of chocolate, I am also filled with love for my family and friends.

Dear Blog....

My Darling Blog,

How are you, I am well, I am so sorry it has been such a long time since I last wrote. I have thought of you often and always mean to write.

I don't mean to neglect you and I certainly never meant to put you at the end of a long list of 'to dos', but alas this is where we are. What with getting busy for the Holiday season sales and then planning holidays for the family, adhering to my commitment to make hand made toys for each of my four children, juggling family, friends and social commitments, knitting for my own enjoyment, reading the odd book/magazine, homeschooling the family, laundry, dishes, cooking 3 healthy, vegetable laden vegetarian meals a day, more laundry, moving our entire house of furniture around, preparing seasonal reviews, invigilating seasonal tests, more knitting, some yoga, a little me time if I can, organizing and facilitating getting my children to piano, cello, violin, guitar, soccer, swimming, sneaking some late night chocolate, spending time with my darling husband, trying to photograph my pottery so I can finally get it on etsy, more cooking, visiting some friends, it is sad but true, you my dear blog have come pretty close to last. Trust me, there is a toilet needing a scrub that can wait until I am done with you.

But, I do promise to try harder, to show you some love and respect. To spend some time with you, find some nice pics. Share my thoughts with you. I have so many ideas I want to share with you. But for now, this is it, I will be back, soon, I pinky promise.

Please wait for me,

lots of love,

Mary

It's Beginning to Feel alot like Christmas

I have been potting like mad over the last few weeks, getting ready for the upcoming holiday sale season. I will be selling my work at the Owl Designer Fair, November 26 and 27, 2010. I will also be selling at the Moss Street Market Holiday Market, December 11 and 12, 2010.

Here are just a few examples of the type of work I have been doing.

Beyond the Fifth Quadrant

A friend stopped by today to retrieve some tables that I borrow for the summer markets. As we stood chatting in the drizzle about our day ahead, I was inspired by her list for the day. She told me she was working on five projects. Five, wow, I was impressed. I had showered this morning and I was feeling pretty accomplished by that alone.

So when I returned inside, I decided I too should work on 5 projects, none quite as complex however as my friends, mine were more like tasks. I decided I would write down my five tasks, regardless how small they seemed and try and make it through the list. The 'Five Project Project' I called it.

1. Make Pizza for my two neighbours who recently had babies.

2. Change Piper's sheets.

3. Put the duvet cover back on my duvet.

4. Sort the coat closet.

5. Finish this weeks homeschool reports.

I quickly realized I didn't have the makings for pizza and swapped out #1, I would instead change Jack's sheets instead. I will make pizza tomorrow (and I will make enough to feed my family as well, dinner done for tomorrow, yippee).

I enjoyed this challenge, the tasks were simple and manageable and it make feel happy to check them off. We even managed to slip out for a walk in the rain to have coffee with a few of my closest friends up the street. And feeling rather accomplished, I managed to mentally add some more tasks, like washing the bedding, and organizing a bag of clothes for donation and give away.

In my continued search of finding ways to make my life and household run more smoothly, I like this idea of the 5 project Project and I may continue it, perhaps for 5 days. And what better way to end your day than to climb in nice clean sheets with fluffy duvets.

Ahhhhctober!

I love autumn, it is so wonderful. The air feels so fresh, dew in the morning on the grass, crisp leaves changing colours against a vivid blue sky. I love summer too, hot weather, pretty skirts and shorts, long evenings with friends. Winter is not my favourite, but I feel it is short, so I move onto Spring, new growth, fresh flowers, the promise of summers warmth. Sorry I digress, back to Autumn, you see, even though we homeschool so our year stays pretty constant, I still feel that fresh beginning of September. I remember back to school shopping as a child, a time to buy your new shoes, a new school uniform (being the last of eight, it was a 'new to me' uniform), but I always got new shoes. In my university days, it was new cords and some new sweaters. September is like a new year. We begin new lessons and start back up the ones we put on hold over the summer months. It is usually a very crazy month, trying to juggle everyones schedules, trying to remember everyones schedules and trying to get back to 'home learning'. I spend most of the month feeling like I am treading water, always feeling as though I am supposed to be somewhere. I keep a pretty good log, utilizing calenders and lists, but the feeling is with me until I am in the swing of things. So usually, by the time October rolls around, I am back on dry land, my head stops swimming and I work like a well oiled machine, bad on timing usually, but getting the job done all the same.

This October is no different. I even had one of those a-ha moments, a bit like watching news on tv when they lose the live feed and then the anchor says "...and we're back". Ever since we put our house on the market, and then took it off. I have felt a sort of one foot out the door mentality. Never really sure if I was coming or going. But now, as I tuck away my summer clothes and pull out some beloved sweaters and continue my search for the perfect pair of cords, I am back. Our fall schedules are in full swing. We are busy, but so far all happy.

We had a great Thanksgiving, I made pumpkin pies, one vegan, one not. They were both good. And now we are gearing up for Halloween. I am getting busy and am feeling very inspired by my pottery as I prepare for 3 upcoming holiday sales.

I am sad to say good-bye to summer, having felt like we were a bit ripped off by the weather this year, but I am fully embracing Autumn and all it has to offer.