Visitors we Love!

We had the best visit with our friends who came from California. I love the WHOLE family. The kids all got along great. Later I will post more, but here are a few shots of the gang.

Because of the configuration of the ages, there were plenty of different combinations of friends who could hang together; girls, boys, youngers, olders, tweenies with adults, etc. These two loved hanging out!
Aren't they a gorgeous family? This is at the Kennedy Memorial in Hyannis. We drove by the compound, but maybe those shots will be on my friend's blog.

We went to see the Fort Hill area in Eastham, and there was plenty of poison ivy to avoid, but I think we did alright. Ticks were also present to join in the fun, as usual on Cape Cod, but we seemed to do okay there as well.

This is outside the Three Sisters Lighthouse at the National Seashore. The kids all went up in the light house. I've always thought that I would like to be a lighthouse keeper, but the tour guide made the lamp lighting schedule sound a lot like a nursing schedule and I am all set with that *grin*.

I didn't have enough to do......

....so I decided that I was going to cave to the lobbying by my son.

It was so very very worth it.

The plan was to name him Boba Fett. But, Declan decided that he was too sweet and should be called Butterscotch. They love each other!

See for yourself.

We rescued him from the local animal shelter. I think he has spent more time in Declan's arms than in the cage since we got him home. He is the sweetest, lovin-est guinea pig I have ever seen, not skittish at all, even when the Queen of All Puggies and Creatures in the House had to give him her inspection.

Pledge of Allegiance

Oooh la la.

Of all the things I worried about, the pledge of allegiance was not one of them.

Both of my children want to opt out of that ritual. Declan thinks that the "under God" part is "not good".

We are not a religios family, as in consistently going to church. I would say we are spirtual. But, my son feels a deep connection to both God and Jesus. He said, about the pledge, that "God rocks, and should not be in with the flag or anything because he has really important things to do."

My daughter, true to form, feels that the pledge is part of the on-going brainwashing that occurs in school and does not want to (her words) "engage in anything that takes away from her individuality."

Separately, each child has approached me about this pledge of allegiance.

My son, once he realized after some discussion, that "under God" meant God was MORE important than the flag, said he would keep pledging.

Ella is just going to mouth the words and not say them out loud.

I'm baaaaack :)

Well, we have had an eventful month, those Joyful Learners and I.

It was very nice to hear that people were missing the blog, but it was also making me even more conflicted. Ella has decided to try school, and Declan also wanted to go. Due to some other issues in our lives, I thought that this might be a good time to go with their desire to try.

It is very hard to make this decision. Many people in my life who I know through homeschooling have made a point of telling me how much their own children will never want to go to school, and how grateful their children are for the homeschooling lifestyle.

This makes me feel (whether it is intended or not), that they have an implied judgement on my failure to make my children *love* being homeschooled, or that they want school because I am an unschooler, or not really an unschooler, or whatever the implied judgement is.

Granted, I am not in the best most secure head space right now, so I could be making this all up.

Anyway.

Ella was *very* clear. She LOVES her life. She is happy. She likes her friends, she loves her family, she is secure. She is grateful. She is learning. She wants to try school.

She has been wanting to explore school for a good 6-8 months now. I did what most "good" unschoolers would recommend. I expanded our world, I connected more. I facilitated. I validated.

I finally realized that I was making a big mistake.

I had finally hit that place (her wanting to try school) where I was not letting her make her own decisions. I was, in fact, manipulating her into "appreciating" the gift of unschooling, while at the same time denying her wish to try something new.

If it had been skydiving, I would have said, "Let's explore that!"

If it had been driving a car, I would have said, "Hmmm....how can we fill that desire?"

But it was school.

And I was saying, with all my gyrations and interesting strewing, "WHY!?!? What am I doing wrong? What can we do differently?" All the while implying that her desire was wrong.

So I said, "Okay. Let's give it a go."

Now, I am wondering where this will lead us, where this will leave this blog, what I am going to do in this new chapter of relating to the kids and school.

But, I am back here. And will be keeping you updated on the Joyful Learners in school for the time being.

Shake Things Up

Okay, the Christmas decorations are down, the day is grey and the video games are getting old (I guess that's what happens when you have a LEGO Star Wars marathon).

So, it is time to start shaking things up. We have had some fun around here making things and creating science experiments, and we are really s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g our comfort zone by going vegetarian.

When we are transitioning away from holidays, it seems we have to put a little more effort into being engaged. Here are some things we've done to shake off the cobwebs of Christmas and get more into the fun of winter (an oxymoron if *I* ever heard one, but my kiddos like winter and who am I to say anything.....)

Some things we have done to get the fun rolling again are:

*museums (especially small-ish ones, like plastics or associated with a college. I think we'll hit the MIT museum next time we're up there.)

*a new crafting tool (next time this happens, I have my eye on a wood burning tool, I may get it sooner, but right now we have enough craft material lying all around the house for me to want to buy something new. Both Ella and I are a little in love with the Crafty Chica)

*bowling, roller skating, or a video arcade (last time at the arcade,my dd got a Newton's cradle http://www.officeplayground.com/newtonscradle3.html with her tickets won on the games, and there have been some unbelievable discussions that branched off from that toy!)

*a new music CD or video or computer game...or season three of the Gilmore Girls

*a road trip (even just to the next town over)

*the supermarket to buy strange fruits and veggies and figure out how to cook them (we have a coconut sitting on our counter right now waiting for a smashing)

*a day/week of foods from a different place, or eating on the living room floor instead of the table, or breakfast in bed

*checking out books from a different library (somehow I come out with completely different kinds of books from the library on the other side of town...we've been all over looking for our Gilmore Girls DVDs)

Spectacle of Lights

Last night we went with Meg and her young friends, Paul and Doug, to go to the Spectacle of Lights. Declan had a blast riding the carousel. Once you are up there spinning around it is pretty fast and high, but he hung in there.


We went through the whole display of lights, which was extraordinary! We saw some friends there, which is always nice. I am still adjusting to the small town nature of Cape Cod (in the winter especially). We saw three families there that we knew! People always wonder if home schooled children are going to be well-socialized. It was nice to see that last night my children made friends easily with the two boys they'd never met, and then saw plenty of people that they knew from their wide world experience.

Taking a few outside shots before the big freeze

This is Declan's new favorite face. I think of it as the "Mom, what you are doing right now is crazy" face. I had just pulled to the side of the road to snap some *priceless* pictures. So, yeah, he is usually right when he makes this face.

They are so loving to each other. They can drive each other nuts. This is the picture I will hold in my heart when they are making each other crazy.

Even the cat was getting a Christmas shot taken. We laugh all the time about Cute With Chris and have been taking photo shoots of our cat.

This is the 1856 General Store. There are two benches outside. We always sit on the Democrat side. After 20 years, they switched the sides so now the Dems are on the right (facing the store). I have not quite adjusted. Some things should remain the same. The benches in their rightful positions were immortalized in this ornament, but now....well....I suppose I will adjust. I just keep sitting in the wrong, or should I say, right side. Wait, I now sit on the right, left side. See.

It is a topsy turvey world.

"Mom, why are we at the beach? It is December. We are cooooooollllllllldddddddddd"
This is the most awesome train set. Coolio.
These are not the presents under our tree. Declan had had it at this point. As Madeline will attest, red heads ARE more sensitive to cold and heat and he stayed in the car. Ella was considering taking her shoes off. That girl loves the cold when it is on her terms.

I really love the older gravestones around here. There are lots of lost at sea ones, sadly, and here is a Captain's stone.

Isn't this an awesome pattern of lichen?

I would love that on my gravestone.

This is my attempt to be artistic with the camera.

Visiting Chloe

This is a place in Dover, New York called the Stone Church . It is really beautiful, and you should link to the site if you really want good pictures. Declan and Harry, Chloe's son, are both five and they played so well together.

Although Declan was a little tired at the start, after we got in the shade, we basically chased Harry and Declan to the stone church.

This is the view at sunset from Chloe's backyard. She was such a wonderful hostess and it was so good of her to have us come and stay. I am sure it isn't easy having me, my mom (the rabid Red Sox fan) and the kids come and stay in your home, but she was very nice about it.

It is so nice for my mom to have this continuing link to Lila, as it is just about a year since she passed away. It is one thing to lose a person, but to lose all connection to her family would be just too hard. Chloe has really been a wonderful bridge to make us still feel some kind of connection to her still, as I hope we are for her.

We were all talking about how much Lila would have loved seeing Chloe there, but would have wanted to make sure that the people she works for are treating her well.

This picture typifies the whole trip. Declan and Harry ran ahead of us pretty much the whole three days. I think Declan is still tired from it.

This is one of the vistas from Chloe's work. Her family seems very contented and happy there in this beautiful setting and great part of the country.

Ella said most of it was like a fairy garden, since there were little stone steps and big ferns and babbling brooks. It was so clean, Ella could walk barefoot through the woods, which was really fairy-like.


Oh, there is so much to write about, and life just keeps flowing on! I am trying to get to everything!

Look what we found!

We are pretty sure it is some kind of jelly.

But, we had an interesting debate about whether or not it was a horseshoe crab without its shell that got stranded.

Off to the library!