Crafty-crafts

Corn husks, twine, & fabric scraps make autumn decorations,
and step-by-step, they build attention spans in the group, too. 

The handicrafts we make in our home tend to be more crafty than handy.

CM advises that handicrafts should be useful, and our crafts in my family often fall short of that standard, unless you count fun and decorative as useful.

Even so, I see plenty of usefulness in crafty-crafting.

I've been using crafts with a group of kids at my church, either in Sunday School class with the lessons or during Quiet Time just for fun.

The kids in my group are highly spirited. That's the correct term, right? Maybe rowdy would be more accurate, if not as gentle. They are eager, really eager, to work on crafts, but honestly, they lack the listening skills, attention spans, and confidence in their coordination to do much on their own beyond using coloring books. I don't think most of them have had much experience with crafting, but that's all the more reason to begin.

So, we've been working on crafts together, some easy, some more challenging. Here's what I'm noticing about crafty work:

• Attention spans grow! They really do.
  In a group setting, the time restrictions force me to plan short projects. The kids are learning, week after week, to keep up their attention for our entire time together, knowing it will take our full session to complete a project. This is slow progress for some children, but it's progress I'm most definitely seeing

• Fine-motor skills improve with practice.
  No big surprise there, but I think the kids surprise themselves what they can do. The trick is learning not to rush, and slowing down seems harder to learn than the actual fine-motor skill.

• Kindness happens.
  I've heard that Amish people use group projects like raising a barn or making a quilt not only to raise a barn and make a quilt, but to provide a social outlet for people. They understand that with a specific task on hand that requires focus and work, those bothersome personality quirks of others are easier to tolerate and ignore.
  
  I have found this to be true in our spirited group. When not engaged in a craft or chore that requires attention and some effort, the kids pester each other, provoke each other, jostle, tease, and poke
  
  When the craft captures them, they get along. It's a miracle, I want to shout! I've heard unsolicited compliments and I've seen unprompted sharing during an intense crafting time. No reminders from me about behavior are needed during those magical moments. 

• Patience takes patience.
  One of the hardest things for the kids to do is to listen to instructions. They want to jump to the last step immediately. By crafting, you learn that things are constructed in a certain order. You have to build up to the last step. The kids are learning patience because they want their finished project to look good, and I'm learning patience in presenting the project in a way that makes sense to them.

• Accomplishment feels good.
  I notice busy-work like coloring-book pages are cast aside, dropped, forgotten. But a project that challenged their minds and hands is like a friend they made and want to keep. 

It's really fun for me to use some CM ideas with kids other than my own in my home. My sessions with the group are not pure CM, I know that, but I do think about things like making short lessons, creating a pleasant atmosphere for learning, setting high standards, resisting prattling and over-explaining.

The kids have made progress over these months, but I suspect I'm the one who is learning more. That's a sign to me that I'm on the right track when I realize that just when I think I'm the leader, I see that I am, in fact, being led. 

Today's gratitude is the handiness of making crafts.

CM education showing itself

This is new to us, doing formal lab experiments and lab reporting. Science isn't new to us, as we've covered science topics every year most certainly, but a regular school textbook and a box full of lab equipment are new elements in our homeschool.

We're ready for the changes.

The path through a wooded area to the river near our home.

This week's biology lab assignment was about local biomes. We headed out the door with:

• L-square
• measuring tape
• string
• stakes
• compass
• thermometer
• stopwatch 
• trowel
• lab notebook
• Ziploc bags
• and instructions on how to notice our local biome (ahem....aka CM "nature study").

Measuring the first location.

The assignment was to study two different local locations. And, the assignment was also about learning to take measurements and make observations, practicing how to record data properly, and writing lab reports.

I thought it was funny when my daughter (whose assignment this study was; little bro and I were simply lab assistants) got to the part of the assignment when she had to list the plants in the selected area. With a glance around her, she rattled off a long list of plants by name.

She commented, "We won't find this same list in our second location by the river. Well, we'll find lady's thumb because that grows everywhere in this park."

I smiled that she took for granted that she knew all these plants and where they grew. She might not always appreciate the nature journaling we do, but I knew she knew these plants and habitats because she has spent time with them and has drawn them in her nature journal. The area around her wasn't filled "green plants and stuff," but individual, identifiable plants.

When she first read the biome assignment, she had no problem coming up with local places to study. She knows her neighborhood and the things that grow here. That's a CM education showing itself. (Not that nature study is exclusive to CM, of course, and not that knowing plant names is essential for an education.)

My daughter also commented while she was recording data that I would be happier if we were drawing in our journals instead of just making recordings. She was right!  

I admit that keeping a journal is far more interesting than making lab notes, though I suppose others might disagree. But I wonder if my daughter would find lab notes boring (she doesn't) if that were her only exposure to science study. Her journals and written narrations are full of her personality and the things she finds interesting. If science involved only filling in data tables, I wonder if she'd care as much as she does.

Measuring the second location.

It doesn't look like modern schoolwork to draw in a nature journal. It doesn't look like test prep. Drawing in the outdoors seems like a Victorian pastime for idle ladies and gentlemen, not a transferable skill in an indoor, fast-paced, screen-based world.

But, nature journals aren't just about the drawings. They are about:

• sticking to a long-term project
• making a project your own individual work
• caring about presentation and accuracy
• developing curiosity
• working through a challenge and accepting mistakes (that's a big one!)
• communicating what you've learned about the world
• seeing that the world is bigger than yourself
• enjoying personal progress. 

Not that you think about these lessons while drawing a crab-apple sprig, but I can see from a distance now that these are some of the lessons we've learned. Seems like good "prep" work to me. Plus, we can add the bonus lesson of nature study: making memories.

I doubt my children notice or appreciate how their CM background gives them a firm foundation. It doesn't matter if they notice now or not. It's their job to discover in their own time the route they have taken and to make their own conclusions about it. 

In the meantime, we make room in our lives for science textbooks and lab experiments. We're ready.

Today's gratitude: the gift of perspective that time gives.

To market, to market

A spot of color on a gray day.

Before getting out of bed this morning, I heard on the radio that it was a rainy, chilly day. What motivated me out of bed and out of the apartment was the lure of the fabulous oatmeal-raisin cookies at the Tuesday farmers' market in my neighborhood.

The joke was on me, I guess, because the vendor didn't make oatmeal-raisin cookies today. Oh, poor me, I had to settle for a walk-along apple pie.

My daughter is studying nutrition has a high-school elective this year. Actually, nutrition has been a life-long interest of hers, and even as a toddler, she loved to page through books about health and food. Today she set up an interview with the farmers' market manager. The manager agreed to meet next week to answer questions, though she also said, "I really don't know much about nutrition."

The foliage this year is strange. The hurricane blew through before I noticed much color, and it seemed that trees went directly from green to bare. A few days ago it snowed, yesterday was hot enough for short-sleeves, and today sends a wet chill to the bones.

When we arrive home from the farmers' market and I put my key into our door to unlock it, I say, "Home again, home again, jiggity jig." I keep waiting for the kids to tease me that I recite that nursery rhyme too often or to roll their eyes that I'm babying them, but the ritual has been going on for over a decade and still no protest.

To make up for some missing days of gratitude, I'll list a few things:
* Nursery rhymes that stick with you for life
* Farmers' market
* Autumn color
* Hot apple cider

First of the season

We were outside yesterday morning when it started to rain, and we were outside afternoon when it started to snow. Last evening, my husband and son were outside with the snow accumulated, and the kids and I were outside this morning as the snow melted away to slush and then to mush and then nothing at all.

The view on our morning walk today.

Day 8 Gratitude: I'm grateful for cloudy, cozy, snowy days, for being in them, and from coming inside from them.

(I skipped Day 7, but I'll quickly scribble down that I'm grateful for homeopathy and the way it soothed my cold and sore throat yesterday.)

Election day gratitude

It was easy to pick today's gratitude item. On election day, I feel grateful for the right to vote. No further comment necessary. You get the gratitude, I'm sure.

On our morning walk.

I walked to the poll this morning with the kids, but the line was out the door and down the block, and we kept walking. I went back later on my own, and the place was much less chaotic.

Tonight my teen and I watched the results come in. At the next presidential election, she will be old enough to vote. When I mentioned that to her, I think even she was surprised at how fast time is going. 

We added current events "formally" to her studies about a year or so ago, and tonight I saw her in a new light as we discussed the election, the candidates, the issues. She's turning into a young lady, and I'm grateful about that and a little sad too.

Day 6 Gratitude: Voting.

Walk it off

Today was one of those days.

Everything I did, I fumbled. Every thought I had was jumbled.

Lunch? Burnt.
Art project? Missing supplies.
Covering grammar with the kids today? Well, I guess it wouldn't be a stretch to say we covered interjections, but I really don't want to hear a narration of that lesson.

Not a Good Day.

Then, this evening, I had to take a walk. I didn't want to take a walk. I wanted to go to bed instead.and avoid the minimal effort of going outside on this "sure feels like winter" evening. But, it was after dark, and I had to walk my daughter's friend home after a visit.

And, as always happens whenever I take a walk, my mood lifted. Just like that. The day ended as a Good One.

Day 5: Grateful for a simple walk outdoors.

(When I put on my warm coat for the first time this season, I found a few bucks in the pocket. Whoohoo. I'm grateful for that surprise too.)

Shhhhh.....

What the Sunday School kids made.

It's my turn to supervise Quiet Time at church.

During worship service, little kids may go to a classroom for quiet activities, and this month it's up to me to make that happen.

As an added bonus to the challenge of keeping kids quiet, this season the kids are meeting in a room that is directly above the sanctuary. The sound carries.

And, while the goal is to be quiet, the bigger goal is that we enjoy each other's company.

It's not fun for anyone, including me, if I have to say over and over again, "Please don't step so heavily, please don't stomp, please don't bang your chair, please don't drop that!, please don't drop that again, please talk without shouting, please cut the loud laughter, please don't move the table, oh why oh why did you wear those heavy boots today and please can't you tie them?"

Finding an activity that keeps the kids engaged and that is enjoyable for the teacher to implement is a Godsend. Really, it is.

Today's project worked for the group, and it happened to coincide with my November blog project about gratitude. The kids painted clothespins and a round piece of cardboard. Everybody wrote something they are thankful for on the clothespins and then clipped the pins to the board.

I think the wreath looks rather festive. To give credit, I found this project by an online search for crafts and looking at what others have done. I wish I had thought of it myself, but I didn't. (By the way, I used sponge-tipped paint, which avoided the mess of liquid paint and brushes. Easy clean-up! Quiet!)

For Day 4 of this gratitude project, I'm grateful for Quiet Things.

Plutarch lives on

Empty stands at the marathon finish line.

Last evening the mayor announced the cancellation of this year's New York City Marathon.

His announcement came a few days after Hurricane Sandy wiped out parts of the city and one day before the race was scheduled to be run.

After we sighed with relief, my family talked about how the decision was made. We talked about leadership, voicing opposition, listening.

We talked about the need to be firm and decisive during crisis, yet flexible and willing to change direction.

What happens when leaders and the people don't agree, we asked each other. What would happen with a different decision? How important is timing? What's the best way to communicate?

And, as we talked, I saw that our Plutarch studies influenced us and how we approached the news story.

We are in the habit now, thanks to Plutarch and Anne White's study guides, to examine the idea of leadership and talk about what qualities are essential or detrimental to leaders. We consider context and character. We notice, think, and talk, and sometimes disagree. I'm grateful for the habits we've honed by spending time with Plutarch and the leaders he wrote about.

I should note that our first attempts at Plutarch were not successful, but that's another blog post. For now, on Day 3 of my Gratitude Project, I'm grateful we stuck it through our initial struggles with Plutarch.

A hotdish is not a hot dish

Buenos dias, amigos.

I love my neighborhood and all the people from different places that live here.

My kids have teachers and coaches from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Brazil. They spend time with others from Japan, Israel, Germany, Hungary, Ecuador. The other night we met neighbors for dinner at an El Salvadorian restaurant, but one of our other favorite local joints is an Irish pub with real live Irishmen and their funny accents and stories.

The different groups don't necessarily blend together, but we all live together, and I like that.

But what I'm grateful for today, Day 2 of my gratitude blog project, is a little oasis in my neighborhood of Midwesterners.

My church, located on a diverse street in a diverse neighborhood, has a small congregation with a big representation of people from the American Midwest. And among the people from the Midwest, there are a handful of people from my state, Minnesota.

I don't pine for my home state or want to move back, but I admit I like spending time with people who are from where I'm from. I guess people from other places feel the same way.

For one thing, I like being among people who appreciate self-deprecating humor. If I tell a story making fun of myself, New Yorkers tend to respond by giving me a pep talk and telling me I should think more highly of myself. A Minnesotan will laugh. I like that.

And I like being around people who party with a potluck, show up with a small hostess gift, and know what it means if I say, "I'll bring a hotdish."

Stand clear of the closing doors

Hurricane Sandy blew through the city earlier this week, and my family is safe, dry, and with power. Others in the city are truly suffering, and their hardships will continue for a long time. My thoughts go out to them and to the people who are helping them. 

At my subway station, still closed.

With the start of November, I thought I'd start a Gratitude List. This is Day 1, and I'm grateful for public transportation. 

I want to say, "I love you" to the Bx7, to the extra-long Select bus with the accordion bend in it, to my beloved M4, and to all the other MTA buses that carry me around.

The buses were taken off the streets for only a couple of days because of the hurricane, but the streets felt eerie and empty without them. I was happy to see the bus pull up to the stop where we waited for it yesterday. I was less happy when the bus was so crowded that I questioned the sanity of humanity, and my son and I decided to walk a couple of miles and let others who really needed the ride to take it. We walked faster on the sidewalk than the stuffed bus moved along Broadway. Still, I'm very grateful for the buses in NYC and for the sign that life is getting back to normal, if only piece-meal, in the city.

The stretch of subway line closest to my apartment isn't running yet, but there are stations within walking distance of my place that I can use. Whoohoo. I'm very happy some subways are running again, not only for me, but for all the people who need them to get to work. (My husband rides his bike to his job.) I will be grateful to stand clear of the closing doors.

As I am typing this, I received a phone call from a friend who is going through her phone book and calling New York friends to say hello and ask how they fared the hurricane. As thankful as I am for public transportation, I'm reminded that I'm more thankful for friends. Of course.

Essay Test for Mom

I asked my daughter, "So, what did the teacher say about your essay?" I tried not to sound anxious.

I sent my daughter to a one-day essay-writing class for teens. She has never taken a writing class before. The only writing assignments in the past years from me have been written narrations, Charlotte Mason style. I introduced the essay format only a few weeks ago for the first time, though my daughter did have a smattering of written assignments in a Shakespeare class last year. Written narrations have been essentially her only writing assignments until this fall.

I signed up my daughter for the class not only for her to receive instruction and feedback from someone other than me, but because *I* wanted to know how we were doing. How does her writing compare to her peers? Did I ruin her writing by waiting until this year to give formal instruction? Should I have asked her over the years to write about her summer vacations, or about what she wanted to be when she grows up, or about her opinion of grilled cheese vs. peanut butter sandwiches? Is she hampered by not mastering the mechanics of a three-point paragraph? Did I mess up by waiting so long to tell her why clauses and phrases are separated by commas most of the time, but not necessarily always?

"Well, what did the teacher say?"

Nice place for an essay-writing class, don't you think?

"Mom," my daughter said, "the class was so much fun!" And I relaxed.

Apparently the instructor complimented her on her vocabulary (thank you, living books!). on her references to examples in literature (thank you, living books!), and on her engaging writing style (thank you, living books!). She also commented on my daughter's legible handwriting (thank you, copywork from living books!).

The area that needs correction is proper use of commas and semi-colons. I already knew we needed to cover the technicalities of punctuation. Not a surprise, and not a problem.

"That's it?" I asked. "Anything else?"

"No, except the teacher told me to keep writing and to keep reading. She said the best way to learn to write is to read a lot."

I know I've heard that advice before. Oh, thank you Charlotte Mason. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Charlotte Mason Carnival: Syllabus and lots of links

Welcome to the Charlotte Mason Carnival for September 18, 2012!

The theme for this carnival is

Principle #13

In devising a SYLLABUS for a normal child, 3 points - (a) He requires much knowledge, (b) varied, and (c) communicated in well chosen language.

Not everyone who submitted blog posts to the Carnival this month connected with Principle #13, but as we all know, Charlotte Mason advised us to make our own connections. All ideas connected to a CM education are welcome. At this party, the more ideas, the merrier. Let's get to them:

* LindaFay at Higher Up and Further In shares a blog post about Mother Culture. Mother Culture has been on my mind quite a bit these past few months, and I thank LindaFay for writing about the topic. You'll find the post at Mother Culture: What it Is and What it Is Not. As a second entry into the carnival, LindaFay also writes How to Teach Your Child to Outline.

* Celeste and Angela are friends who write a blog together, and they are joining the Charlotte Mason Carnival for the first time. Celeste shares her post First Grade in our Home and Angela sends in a Progress Report about kindergarten. Welcome to the Carnival and welcome to homeschooling Charlotte Mason style!
* Looking for inspiration about Bible memory work? This blog post at Journey-and-Destination might be the spark you needed: Bible Memory.
*   Check out the post Ultimate Guide to Nature Study at Our Journey Westward. It's a post worth bookmarking as a resource.
* For ideas about those precious years of early childhood, read Preparing your little ones for a Charlotte Mason Education at HomeGrownBabies.
* I can relate to the submission by Jimmie's Collage! See what I mean at Being the Homeschool Oddball.
* Hearts and Trees pulled a winner from her archives entitled Why Include Handicrafts in your Home School? I can always use inspiration about useful handicrafts.
* We have not one but two lovely submissions by Nancy at Sage Parnassus. Joy Reigns and Constitution Day. Nancy finds the best books and ideas to share with us. She knows what we like!
* I've been following Harmony Art Mom for quite awhile, and this post is an example why: Picture Study Using Art Calendars. 
* And look at this! A blog post at Letters from Nebby about this Carnival's theme! Whoohoo! You'll find a thoughtful commentary about Principle #13 at A Varied Education. Thank you, Nebby!
* Barb at Handbook of Nature Study has wonderful advice for a problem many of us face. Read her words of wisdom at Nature Study: Struggling With Consistency and Focus.
* The blog On Just a Couple of Acres was noticed by a fellow homeschooler, who suggested that the blog post about using the Bible as a primary curriculum be submitted to the Carnival. I love the spirit of encouraging others to join in the Carnival. Here's the post (plus beautiful photos): Our Home Education Program.
* One of the many things I personally love about Charlotte Mason is that her ideas go beyond academics. Educating Mother gives us an example of this in her post Good Health is not only a Blessing but a Duty.
* Big cheers for another blog post about the Carnival theme. Thank you, Silvia at Homeschooling in a Bilingual Home, for A Syllabus for a Normal Child.
* Epi Kardia's contribution this month is sure to intrigue those of us who love etymology. And doesn't everyone love etymology? Check out: King Alfred's English: A History of the Language We Speak - a Must-read! 
* Do we have any readers among us? Yes, I thought so. All you readers will enjoy thinking about the ideas at Dewey's Treehouse: In which we remain stubbornly attached to our squiggly lines and paper pages (Response to "Literature is the new [dead] Latin").
* And then we have Shakespeare. Amy at Fisher Academy shares super-great ideas about reading and comprehending Shakespeare with your kids. I could have used this post a couple of years ago, Amy! But whether you're just starting out with Shakespeare studies or are experienced, you'll get some good ideas at Shakespeare: Cymbeline.

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The next Charlotte Mason Carnival will be hosted by North Laurel on October 2, 2012. The topic is Principles #14 & 15 - (14) Children should 'tell back' after a single reading or hearing: or should write on some part of what they have read. (15) A single reading is insisted on, because children have naturally great power of attention; but this force is dissipated by the re-reading of passages, and also, by questioning, summarising.

For information about submitting a blog post the Charlotte Mason Carnival, please click here. 

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Thank you to everyone who submitted articles and a special thanks to people who encourage bloggers by reading posts and leaving comments.

CM Carnival!!

Hello all!

It's been awhile since I've posted on my blog, but today marks the day for a Charlotte Mason Carnival! I'm running a bit behind setting up the carnival here on my blog, and I ask you to please check back late tonight for the carnival entries. Oh, the anticipation!

Thank you to everyone who submitted blog posts to the carnival. And, thank you to everyone for your patience while I lag behind...the carnival is coming!

Easy and not easy: baking bread

This morning I had homemade Irish soda bread and strawberry jam for breakfast. I'd show you a picture, but I already ate it up.

My daughter decided a couple of months ago to bake a fresh loaf of bread once a week, and she's been keeping up the habit. Each week she picks a different recipe to try, and some varieties we've enjoyed are onion buns, Russian black bread, focaccia, braided challah, and this week, a quick Irish soda bread.

She's gone from someone who wants to bake bread to someone who does bake bread. Each week she tells me she learned something new, either about ingredients, techniques, storage, or how to handle our less-than-perfect oven. She told me, "Mom, it's so easy!"

Yes, it's easy and it's also not easy. There are plenty of reasons why a bread-baking habit is difficult in modern big-city life, but she made the habit easy on herself when she decided to try one loaf a week, and she made it easy on herself by creating an enjoyable environment.

I doubt she purposely said, "I'm going to create an atmosphere for success," but that's what her actions did. She picks her recipe in advance and shops for any missing items. On baking day, she wakes up early to have the kitchen to herself (we have a tiny kitchen), she plays music she enjoys, and she wears an adorable apron (a key to success in the kitchen is a cute apron, of course!)

She didn't try to keep the family in a constant supply of freshly baked bread, though her family would certainly enjoy that, but sticks to one loaf a week that she looks forward to baking. Slow and steady, she has become a bread baker who knows what she's doing and who wants to learn  more.

Hmmm...slow habit development, encouraging atmophere, sound familiar to Charlotte Mason fans? Of course, you don't need to read and follow Charlotte Mason to bake bread once a week, but it does seem me that a CM lifestyle had some influence here.

Shakespeare, must be summer. Weekly highlight from last week.

Last Monday we waited for four hours for free tickets to see As You Like It, the Shakespeare in the Park production this year. Sound crazy, but it's civilized and comfortable to wait with other Shakespeare fans in Central Park. In fact, my daughter and I love doing it, and this year we dragged along my son. 

I don't know when the first people in line arrived in the park that day, but the kids and I were there by 9:00am. We were pretty far back in the line, but close enough to the front to be confident we'd get our tickets, plus extras for our neighbors who we asked to join us for the show. 

We spread out the picnic blanket, and pulled out our diversions. I brought along a book (My Antonia by Willa Cather), my nature journal, and pencils. The kids brought the same, plus a deck of cards. We walked to the little cafe by the ticket office to buy our breakfast. Other people in line ordered their breakfast from a deli nearby, and the delivery guy found them in the crowd. And, I suppose, the organized folks in line bring their own food.

After eating, the kids ran to the Pinetum nearby, where there are swings with long chains, the kind that make you feel like you're flying. They explored the Turtle Pond and counted 50 turtles before returning to the picnic blanket to tell me. They practiced capoeira in the grass, and soon some ladies (and not young ones!) joined them and had a cartwheel contest. I spent the time with my book and with my drawing of a lady's thumb plant I plucked from among the weeds growing along the fence behind me.

My daughter performed in As You Like It with a children's theater group last fall, and we all know the play well after seeing it many (many) times. It's fun to know a Shakespeare show that well, but it's even more fun to see our progress over the years with Shakespeare. We've come a long way from when I first read Midsummer's Night Dream in Lambs' Tales with my oldest child, when she made paper dolls for the characters and acted out the scenes with the dolls as narration. (My husband still doesn't like Shakespeare, however, and I'm guessing he never will, except when his kid is in the show, and even then he's nodded off. Gotta love the guy.) 

At 1:00pm, everyone in line stood up and walked to the ticket booth to pick up the free tickets. In the evening, we returned to see the show. Then, late at night, we went home. My daughter and I talked about the play with our neighbors on the subway ride home, and my son fought from falling asleep. 

Another kind of constipation

I heard a new phrase the other day, and though the phrase was new to me, I knew immediately what it meant and how it felt. 

My neighbor mentioned to me that he had "creative constipation." It's not the most elegant of phrases, but definitely descriptive. 

Sketched while waiting outside my kids' capoeira class.

I know what it feels like to suffer creative constipation. It's uncomfortable! I think Charlotte Mason understood the feeling, too, and that's why she included nature study, nature journals, living books, poetry, artist study, composer study, handicrafts, and mother culture in her curriculum. These pursuits matter, they are important, and you could even say they are essential for a healthy (un-constipated) life.

The cure for creative constipation is easy, fortunately, and the remedy works instantaneously. All you have to do is do something creative or immerse yourself - for awhile, at least - in the creative work of others. For me, the best cure is working on my nature journal. Reading scripture also is a top cure, as the words in the Bible tap me into God's creation. Working on a craft with my hands, putting effort into making a meal, sitting outdoors and observing what is happening around me, listening to beautiful music, reading literature, looking at artwork and thinking about it....all these things provide relief to creative constipation. 

I took a break from running errands to sketch flowers in a planter I noticed.

Relieving the constipation (really, I need to find another word as this one is getting off-putting in repetition!), isn't hard and it doesn't take that much time. The remedy, for me, is putting creative work first in my day. Before the day's tasks begin, before breakfast, before taking a shower, if I start my day immediately with something creative, the constipation is cleared. Once I put creative work first by giving it my first hour, it grows like a weed during the day, and I spot opportunity after opportunity to see creation in almost everything. It's truly a miracle how that works.

The day after the conversation with my neighbor about creative constipation, he knocked on my door and handed me a fistful of colored pencils that he had but didn't use. He is into photography more than drawing, and he knew I would put the pencils to use. I told him it was one of the best presents I ever received, and he said that statement was a gift right back to him. What a sappy conversation, I know! But, it reinforces what I believe about creative work - it brings out the best in us and in each other.

Cherry tomatoes from the farmers' market, sketched using pencils my neighbor gave me.

As I write this, I'm also in the midst of putting together next year's homeschooling plan. Despite all the chatter around me about college requirements and testing standards, I'm putting our creative work as top priority with the faith that the energy - and relief -  we receive from it will carry us through the other demands in our lives.

Charlotte Mason and the Crazymakers

I saw a young man on the subway platform yesterday carrying the book The Artist's Way under his arm.

I wondered if he thought what I thought when I read the book:

We are surrounded by crazymakers.

The author of The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron, defines a crazymaker in her book, but I define the word in my own way.

My definition of crazymaker: A person who gets between you and your self-confidence and/or who stands in the way of you accomplishing the work you want to do.

As homeschoolers, we're vulnerable to crazymakers who undermine our enthusiasm and decisions.

Examples of crazymaker talk:

• Are you qualified to homeschool your children?

• I heard about a lady who homeschooled. She ended up drowning her kids.

• I read about a homeschooling family. All the kids sailed around the world on boats they made themselves and then went to Ivy League schools before they were teens. So, what do your kids do? 

• I could never homeschool. I don't have the patience, and my kids like to have friends.

• Are you home all day? It's abusive to keep kids locked up all the time. 

• It must be nice to spend afternoons at the park or to go grocery shopping in the morning, but shouldn't your kids be at their desks learning?

• Only the elite are rich enough to homeschool.  

• Only the uneducated are dumb enough to homeschool. 

• Instead of abandoning the school system, homeschoolers should help fix it.

• Homeschoolers ruin their kids by giving them free rule of every decision. The kids will never make it in the real world.

• Homeschoolers dictate everything their children think and don't allow the kids any freedom. The kids will never make it in the real world.

• Homeschoolers are right-wing wackos.

• Homeschoolers are left-wing nuts. 

• I would be bored out of my mind if I homeschooled. I didn't go to college just to stay home with my kids. 

• What about socialization? What about chemistry labs? What about sports? What about your career? What about getting into college? What about cutting the apron strings? What about fitting in? What about algebra? What about prom? What about the real world? What about getting along with peers? What about testing? 

And so on, and so on.

Sometimes we are the crazymakers.

Sad to say, even homeschoolers can be crazymakers with each other. If you feel inadequate or defensive after spending time with other homeschoolers, chances are good there is a crazymaker or two in the group.

• You use that curriculum? You use curriculum? You don't use curriculum? 

• My kids taught themselves to read at three years old. All kids are capable of doing that if parents provide the right environment.

• My child didn't read until after she was 12 years old, and the first thing she read was the encyclopedia from A to Z followed by the entire Harry Potter series in one weekend. Reading at an earlier age is only the result of parental coercion.

• You might want to know that the snack you just gave your child is poison. We don't eat like that in our family.

Okay, I'm exaggerating, but let's curb the crazytalk in our homeschooling community.

Charlotte Mason has advice.

Charlotte didn't use the term crazymaker in her writing, but even so, she did offer a way for us to deal with crazymakers.

If you're familiar with Charlotte, you know what I'm talking about when I say Mother Culture. For those who don't know, Charlotte urges mothers to constantly keep learning, and creating, and exposing ourselves to new ideas - just like we encourage our children to do. By nourishing our own growth, we keep crazymakers at bay. It's not 100% effective, but it's very good.

When you spend time with your own hobbies, think about new ideas, breathe fresh air, visit new places, read good books, you gain perspective. Then, when a crazymaker starts doing the crazy-making things that crazymakers do, you'll recognize the antics for what they are and either avoid them or patiently tolerate them without offense. When you are filled up with Mother Culture, you have it within you to do that.

The tricky bit with Mother Culture is that it requires self-motivation and self-discipline. You can't wait for your husband or child or anyone else to say, "Take care of yourself." Take care of yourself on your own like the big girl that you are.

What eventually happens is not only do you reap the benefit of whatever you're doing for Mother Culture, but you hone those good habits of self-motivation and self-discipline. You will become fulfilled and strong, attributes that are antidotes against crazymakers.

Not only that, but by learning new things, you'll become flexible. In my opinion, flexibility helps us from becoming offended by opinions that differ from our own. And, it might make us open enough to consider a differing opinion and change our minds once in awhile. After all, sometimes a person isn't a crazymaker but someone who is simply different than ourselves. If we're willing, we might even learn something new by being challenged, as crazy as that sounds.


(For people who have read The Artist's Way: I happen to think Charlotte Mason's idea of Mother Culture is very similar to Julia Cameron's idea of Artist Dates. Do you see the similarities?)

No way will we stay inside

My kids woke up before I did this morning, and I heard them talking outside my door.

"It's almost 40 degrees already," I heard my son say to his sister. "No way will we stay inside."

I got up, fixed my coffee, and set the kids up with their math assignments. As soon as they were finished, we headed to a park in the neighborhood.

On our walk to the park and on our walk through the park, seeing early signs of spring, the kids talked about memories of past spring times.

By now, they know what flowers will be the first to bloom, and they looked for them today and predicted  what flowers will appear next. We noticed the robins are starting to arrive, but the mockingbirds aren't here yet.  We heard a blue jay hollering at someone and saw the resident woodchuck scurry down his (her?) burrow.

When we sat on the park's lawn to work on our drawings, my daughter said, "Remember when we used to play here?"

I suppressed a laugh because it wasn't that long ago that the kids played on the lawn. In fact, they played on the lawn today! But I knew what she meant. The kids have been playing on that lawn since they were babies.

As they kids reminisced like a pair of old grandparents, it occurred to me for the first time that the habit of being outside together prolongs that wonder-filled time of childhood. Time out doors seems to last longer than regular time - it lasts longer in the moment, and it lasts for a lifetime in memories.

You are told a lot about your education, but some beautiful, sacred memory, preserved since childhood, is perhaps the best education of all. Fyodor Dostoevski 

Cat poop on the shower curtain and other highlights of the week

On the way home from the grocery store tonight, I sat next to a drunk man on the subway. I didn't do it intentionally, but these things happen.

He leaned forward to the another man across the aisle and said, "Is this the 6 train?"

The man across the aisle said, "No. Get off at the next station and go back downtown to catch the 6."

"I'm going to the Bronx," my seat mate said.

"This train doesn't go to the Bronx."

"Then I guess I'll go to the Brooklyn Bridge."

"This train isn't headed to Brooklyn either. We're going uptown."

"I'm drunk," the man said, "but I'm happy. Downtown, uptown, everyone should be happy!"

And the guy across the aisle said, "That's a good idea."

With train directions sorted out as best as they could be, the happy drunk noticed me. He said, "Hi. You like to read?"

I was reading a book, or actually, I was holding a book and looking like I was reading, which is sometimes a good strategy when you want to be invisible on the subway and avoid talking to strangers. It's not a fool-proof strategy, though.

"Yeah, I like to read," I said.

"Reading makes you happy. That's good. Everyone should be happy," he said.

And then he said, "God bless you, lady. I love you."

The train entered a station, the man exited, and the people sitting around me watched him walk on the train across the platform which was going to neither the Bronx nor Brooklyn.

When I got home, I told my husband a man on the train said he loved me. My husband didn't think it was as amusing as I did.

~ * ~ * ~

Earlier today, half-way through her math problems, my daughter said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you there was cat poop on the shower curtain this morning."

(The litter box is in the bathroom. I'm not sure how the poop got on the curtain, but it did.)

My daughter had cleaned the mess when she discovered it, which is a good thing, and the remaining stain came out in the wash, which is another good thing. And, I learned in the laundry room while washing the curtains that Joe on the 5th floor is retiring this month, Veronica on the 3rd floor is going to have a baby, and the funky smell in the basement is gone. All good things.

~ * ~ * ~

My son says he's in training. Any opportunity to work out, he takes it. On Monday he asked me to time how long he could sprint up and down the park path, and today he handed me the stopwatch to see how long it took him to jump rope 50 times. Later, he asked me to time him writing his copywork, but I said, "Let's put the stopwatch away for awhile."

This season he is doing two kinds of martial arts, playing soccer, and waiting for the spring baseball try-outs.

He also is in training making fart noises under his armpit. Too bad for him, I am not a fan, and I banned the practice from the kitchen.

Later, I banned it from anywhere within my ear shot for the rest of eternity.

I haven't heard an armpit fart in days, and I'm counting that as a highlight of the week.

~ * ~ * ~

Narration to the rescue

Last night was One of Those Nights.

I couldn't sleep because too many negative thoughts in my mind were bouncing off each other, making me feel jostled. The chaotic feeling frustrated me and kept me awake.

I kicked myself for staying up too late. I kicked myself that the reason I stayed up too late was because I was looking for misplaced tax documents all evening. I found the documents before going to bed, but that simple fact didn't stop my ricocheting thoughts.

I kicked myself for not having the paperwork properly filed. I kicked myself for speaking to my kids in a sharp tone yesterday. I kicked myself for missing an opportunity to be kind to a new neighbor last week. I kicked myself for forgetting to buy cat food and for once again mailing my sister's birthday card late.

I entered that dark middle-of-the-night zone and where I exaggerate my faults and image worse-case scenarios. I told myself:

Our tax accountant will yell at me for my documents not being in chronological order and will refuse to do my taxes but won't tell me until April 14 and then I won't have the proper forms or the know-how to fill them out and I won't be prepared with a stamp to mail the envelope because I always run out of stamps and then we'll get hit with a big fat penalty we can't afford and I will have to get a full-time job or maybe two jobs and I won't be able to stay home with the kids anymore and my kids will go to school and I will never see them because I will be working two jobs and we'll become estranged and because of that they won't visit me when they are older and I won't get to see any grandkids I might have in the future all because I misplaced some tax documents tonight. 

I really want to spend time with my grandkids someday and I was heartbroken that I won't.

Crazy. Crazy, irrational thoughts. Be gone!

Then, I had an epiphany.

I am currently reading the book 1493 by Charles Mann and I'm thoroughly enjoying this history book. I told myself there in bed, "Narrate what you've read."

I forced myself to think about how the book opens. I focused my mind to go through world history as the author unfolds it and to remember details that fascinated me when I read them. When my thoughts wandered, I stopped them and brought them back to the book like a mom takes the hand of a wandering toddler to guide him back in place.

It didn't take long at all before my mind calmed. I actually had a good time in the middle of the night staring at the ceiling, slowly and silently narrating a book.

I've turned to prayer in the past in this type of situation. I think the idea to narrate a good book as a way to calm down was the answer to my prayer before I even said it. Before I asked for a peaceful mind, the way to get one was already there with me. I must remember to say thank you.

I drop off the tax paperwork with the accountant later this week.

Everything is in order.


Top photo: We visited the Pinball Hall of Fame recently in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
Bottom photo: At home, late winter.