tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2846696382539285092024-03-05T14:02:12.509-08:00Om Schoolliving simply, learning naturally, noticing the little things, and practicing peace in every step.OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comBlogger83125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-78974018022497584672011-12-23T10:04:00.000-08:002011-12-23T10:07:15.512-08:00Stone Thoughts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2TxFLJ0pimJ4p_qEtsrLyVzliAQw5lixzCzo4gi6lVCpbhN-sgogwKNeUmCSomA73gDQRGmp3wto1Fi6ISm2gbl9X7dW2Ehn6mejpWBbO3eDtWDScLDDLlV3k3lH500fsKgUKfjWoVkQ/s1600/stones_1600x12001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2TxFLJ0pimJ4p_qEtsrLyVzliAQw5lixzCzo4gi6lVCpbhN-sgogwKNeUmCSomA73gDQRGmp3wto1Fi6ISm2gbl9X7dW2Ehn6mejpWBbO3eDtWDScLDDLlV3k3lH500fsKgUKfjWoVkQ/s320/stones_1600x12001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"I speak cold silent words a stone might speak</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">If it had words or consciousness,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Watching December moonlight on the mountain peak,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Relieved of mortal hungers, the whole mess</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Of needs, desires, ambitions, wishes, hopes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This stillness in me knows the sky's abyss,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Reflected by blank snow along bare slopes,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">If it had words or consciousness,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Would echo what a thinking stone might say</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">To praise oblivion words can't possess</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">As inorganic muteness goes its way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">There's no serenity without the thought serene,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Owl-flight without spread wings, honed eyes, hooked beak,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Absence without the meaning absence means.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">To rescue bleakness from the bleak,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I speak cold silent words a stone might speak."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">- Robert Pack </span>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-91567287414958370022011-12-16T19:45:00.001-08:002011-12-17T12:14:54.283-08:00Oak and Moon<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiulMRNx8Q76a-AE-D2W405oNbp5aaENLLh8q09uFmdjTe4giMg-XioLuGMs2kZlEB3-3Uv66uR2fcUJJlejXcEcmh3xbM3PSBwhwez09Vrp134X5AI1UqgIkpTWNYIyg4NHn817jYnaE/s1600/11-17-11+006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiulMRNx8Q76a-AE-D2W405oNbp5aaENLLh8q09uFmdjTe4giMg-XioLuGMs2kZlEB3-3Uv66uR2fcUJJlejXcEcmh3xbM3PSBwhwez09Vrp134X5AI1UqgIkpTWNYIyg4NHn817jYnaE/s320/11-17-11+006.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">waning gibbous moon through autumn oak leaves</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The cool autumn days were a much needed relief and my compass is finally finding north again, I think. I must have been in the honeymoon phase of death during the first few months after Julien was born. When that wore off in late September, things got dark. Really dark. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">But autumn has a way of un-sticking our stuck places. Sitting under this big oak tree season after season, watching her leaves change colors and her form change shape has certainly taught me that nothing lasts forever.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I've been practicing letting go -- again and again and again -- and I'm back to working with the moon cycles. This is my second waning moon and, as I sit here right now, I cannot find the right words to describe the peace that has washed through me since giving my grief to autumn and to the waning moon. I've been working with a meditation I wrote for A. --- visualizing each emotion, each thought, blowing away with the falling leaves. My great oak tree is resting now, her leaves - whose birth we witnessed in spring - now cover the sweet, earthy ground below. Her barren branches reach into the pale sunlight like arms stretching during the deep yawn that comes before sleep. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I'm ready for the long rest of winter too. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I'm ready to nourish my body with roots and soups and home-baked bread and to welcome the stillness that only comes when we enter the dark half of the year. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">After breaking my cup in September, I've been filling it up again with some beautiful literature. I've been sitting outside under my old, oak tree re-reading </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Thoreau's </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a class="l" href="http://www.amazon.com/Walden-Woods-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486284956"><i>Walden</i></a><span style="font-size: small;">, enjoying Noam</span> Chomsky's </span><i><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62659.Profit_Over_People" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" title="Profit Over People: Neoliberalism & Global Order">Profit Over People: Neoliberalism & Global Order</a></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">, falling in love with Jack Petrash's </span><i><a class="l" href="http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Waldorf-Education-Teaching-Inside/dp/0876592469" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Understanding <i>Waldorf Education</i>: Teaching from the Inside Out</a></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">, and I'm just diving into </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a class="l" href="http://www.amazon.com/Rhythms-Learning-Education-Children-Teachers/dp/0880104511"><i>Rhythms of Learning : What Waldorf Education Offers Children, </i></a></span><i><a class="l" href="http://www.amazon.com/Rhythms-Learning-Education-Children-Teachers/dp/0880104511"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Parents, and Teachers</span></a></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i> </i> -- a wonderful collection of essays by Rudolf Steiner edited by Robert Trostli. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Through the turning of the seasons and the pages of these books, I seem to be remembering that what matters most about education - and life - is not the pedagogy to which we subscribe, but the reverence we are able to nurture in our children. I feel that this must be the thing most central to education. By </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">honoring one another, the earth, and the very sacredness of our own lives, we c</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">reate a soft place to fall when things fall apart</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">. I think that when we listen very closely, we can hear the moon and the old oak trees whispering this wisdom. </span>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-15775362730642316342011-09-28T13:20:00.000-07:002011-09-28T13:21:14.107-07:00A Broken Cup<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNeXv1ugAH3QO1JSuLNXL0C0XwiomqHe4EUDz3J8Ls9mD7notWSuTd9Zz0f8cC9MCK5UTlRVgwY7j0_iS3xh12_DTETYyhK5oIpUON392dl4tGNSNDDQTBAfbJh4xQyPbMUCHcsMENK2k/s1600/Broken+Cup+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNeXv1ugAH3QO1JSuLNXL0C0XwiomqHe4EUDz3J8Ls9mD7notWSuTd9Zz0f8cC9MCK5UTlRVgwY7j0_iS3xh12_DTETYyhK5oIpUON392dl4tGNSNDDQTBAfbJh4xQyPbMUCHcsMENK2k/s320/Broken+Cup+5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Recently, I've been taking the time to read the entire California Content Standards </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">for Kindergarten through Third Grade. My intention was to find creative ways to present this material to A. throughout the year. I thought that she needed to keep up with her peers and feared that I would somehow be putting her at a disadvantage if she wasn't learning what the </span><span class="st" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>Joneses</i></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> were learning. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">On </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">September 12th, w</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">e hit the books pretty hard and, unfortunately, I was hit with more resistance from A. than I ever imagined possible. She is a bright cookie and understands just about anything you put before her... but, quite suddenly it seemed, she wanted nothing to do with anything I gave her. Of course, this was a huge red flag that we were doing something wrong... so we just s-t-o-p-p-e-d doing everything. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We've taken a few days off for emptying our cup and I'm hoping that here, with a beginners mind, we'll discover something altogether new. In fact, if I had to take the cup analogy even further, I would say that we've thrown the damn cup on the floor, stomped on it and shouted, "to life!" Maybe here, amidst the broken [deconstructed] pieces, we can find a new perspective.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Meanwhile, I've been plodding along at John Holt's classic, How Children Learn, and having quite a few light-bulb moments about my approach to our studies. It seems that I've created a little version of public school at home again. I'm so conditioned by my own education that I unconsciously fall back to this paradigm again and again! Un-leanrning, it seems, is more difficult than learning!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Yesterday, I gathered all of the content standards together and set out to organize these several hundred pages into a three-hole binder. Today I've discovered a better use for them and a better use of our time. Instead of stressing about how to teach what the state of California has deemed necessary, I'm spending the next week paying attention to my girl and re-discovering what amuses her mind. It was after all, a great mind, one who did not attend a factory-model school, who said this:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> “Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.” - Plato</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-55722035720406016312011-09-20T11:42:00.000-07:002011-09-20T11:45:57.434-07:00Our Ever-Evolving Pedagogy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQDF3OQ5_WsB5xpRQXwj9QFMLrSSaB197469mqb7OCGu_Zb-biEkH3Pvf6jySEfMKWIN6CMKfdityzl7qY6kTIFgVqX0w32bGyC8VGvvTR07lXwewe-Fv8xALlsOTydzPmuMIGTMTxK78/s1600/HowLearnT%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQDF3OQ5_WsB5xpRQXwj9QFMLrSSaB197469mqb7OCGu_Zb-biEkH3Pvf6jySEfMKWIN6CMKfdityzl7qY6kTIFgVqX0w32bGyC8VGvvTR07lXwewe-Fv8xALlsOTydzPmuMIGTMTxK78/s320/HowLearnT%255B1%255D.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I finally got my hands on a copy of John Holt's classic, How Children Learn," and I am loving it. His observations take me right back to when A. was a toddler and my own fascination with her innate ability to learn. I'm about a quarter of the way through and will try to post some of my thoughts and favorite excerpts as I go. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">If you've followed our blog for very long, you might have noticed our ever-evolving methods. In preschool, I fell for the "more-faster-better" mindset of early education. I was so mesmerized by how fast A. learned that I thought the best thing to do was set up a little version of school at home, teach formal lessons, and keep spreadsheets of what was learned.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">By Kindergarten I'd seen the error of my ways, began slowing down, and became more conscious of the need to nurture A. as a complete human being and not just a mind to be filled with information. We began exploring Waldorf and Montessori methods and incorporated both into an eclectic style of home-education. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">For First Grade, we used the complete Oak Meadow curriculum and, while we both enjoyed it, I felt as though my own creativity was being squashed a bit by my conflicting desire to go by the book. I also noticed that A.'s natural pace is pretty fast and that she, like I imagine all children, becomes board when she's not challenged. I learned that I needed to balance nurturing with inspiring. The beauty of home-education, of course, is that we can curtail each day to keep interest high and encourage that innate passion for learning.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">For Second Grade, we're flying without a net for now -- although I am considering purchasing the Oak Meadow Second Grade Syllabus and using the lesson plans for inspiration. I'm also reading the California Content Standards through Third Grade and thinking up ways to reach those goals without worksheets or too much desk time. I'm not married to the standards, however, and do plan to take great liberties with them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I'm discovering that, if left to her own devices, A. will draw, paint, read, observe nature with her binoculars, write and illustrate little books, play piano, invent games (she's particularity fond of creating board games with intricate rules and pieces), and, of course, engage in imaginative play. I'm trying to cultivate a more relaxed attitude and trust that learning takes place naturally; however, I am also admittedly so conditioned by my own education that, for me, it's essential that we stick to a flexible schedule and work towards specific goals. I guess you could say that we're eclectic, partially child-led homeschoolers still slightly fearful of taking the leap into purely orthodox unschooling.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We're studying Homer's Odyssey right now. We found a great edition titled, </span><a class="l vst noline" href="http://store.barefootbooks.com/the-adventures-of-odysseus-2.html" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Adventures of <i>Odysseus</i></a> by Barefoot Books and we're using this myth to inspire inquiry into all of the other subjects -- including math. We're working with fractions right now and have had some great discussions about how fractions, like myths, are small parts of a greater whole. </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We made salt clay yesterday and worked with fractions -- slicing the "pie" into half, quarters, eighths, and sixteenths, looking at equivalent fractions (two eighths is the same as one quarter, etc.) and exploring the four functions with fractions. I gave A. some informal instruction in this last week and made a point to compare fractions to the musical notation with which she's already so familiar. A. is keeping a Main Lesson Book and has drawn circles and pies and toyed with some simple equations (If 1/4 plus 1/4 equals 1/2, then 1/2 divided by 2 equals 1/4). </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Later, we used our salt clay to make Greek-inspired "pottery" and spent the early evening painting our creations with geometric shapes and black silhouettes (we'd planed to paint scenes from the Odyssey but quickly discovered that painting on clay is much more difficult than we'd imagined).</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Every year I ponder the same questions, explore the same fears and worries --- mainly, can we do this without that formal institution called "school?" Every year I come back to the same answer. That answer is yes; however, it does require, as Holt explains, faith that children can and will learn on their own. I'm working to loosen my grip a little each day -- while still encouraging self-discipline. I think Holt said it best when he called it faith: </div><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Call it a faith. This faith is that man is by nature a learning animal. Birds fly, fish swim, man thinks and learns. Therefore, we do not need to "motivate" children into learning, by wheedling, bribing, or bullying. We do not need to keep picking away at their minds to make sure they are learning. What we need to do, and all we need to do is bring as much of the world as we can into the school and the classroom; give children as much help and guidance as they need and ask for; listen respectfully when they feel like talking; and then get out of the way. We can trust them to do the rest."</span></i>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-9862668536383378102011-09-08T14:07:00.000-07:002011-09-15T08:53:00.544-07:00Natural Learning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh82PIa2MeNbyrK3HwM6opmjZCZXkBGuHbctYQ9D00MWYclGQejC4pJ3dExlbW-GC48p_mvOaRftGYEObA4-YxYmC5Zn4H9svU06Q0f4lAZCTiCdHMgjn10bVBJCZ_dx3WtB0rANz2QhX8/s1600/yoga+pretzels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh82PIa2MeNbyrK3HwM6opmjZCZXkBGuHbctYQ9D00MWYclGQejC4pJ3dExlbW-GC48p_mvOaRftGYEObA4-YxYmC5Zn4H9svU06Q0f4lAZCTiCdHMgjn10bVBJCZ_dx3WtB0rANz2QhX8/s1600/yoga+pretzels.jpg" /></a>Thanks to grandma, we did a little school shopping at our local Montessori shop last week. Some of the fun things we found there include <i><a class="l noline" href="http://www.learningherbs.com/wildcraft.html"><i>Wildcraft</i>: An Herbal Adventure Game, </a> </i><a class="l noline" href="http://www.learningherbs.com/wildcraft.html"><span class="tl"></span></a><i><a class="l" href="http://www.montessoriservices.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=4423_112_220_1991">a Peg <i>Loom,</i></a></i><i><i> </i></i><a class="l vst" href="http://www.citiblocs.com/"><i><i>CitiBlocs</i></i></a>, and, a card game called <span class="tl"></span><a class="l noline" href="http://www.amazon.com/Yoga-Pretzels-Cards-Tara-Guber/dp/1905236042"><i><i>Yoga Pretzels</i></i></a>. On the back of each card are step-by-step instructions for getting into the pose and additional insights about the pose's health benefits. There are even breathing cards to help us, "slow down, increase awareness, and make non-reactive choices" and fun games like "Yogini Says!" A. is really enjoying yoga this week and I'm amazed by how many poses this kid knows.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXtihXo9fgDbgp5BKlbCJjoBVI6xnUh5QZ-4sts1jZlErql18xlyYMMokn5Zs9Tce5LraFgFiOsVGuaIlhtqi37CiI3SNPI_-jKXuo6djGz9XHuqFfB8ldb4_KCoqottF0wjZs_nYmhz8/s1600/calendula_flower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXtihXo9fgDbgp5BKlbCJjoBVI6xnUh5QZ-4sts1jZlErql18xlyYMMokn5Zs9Tce5LraFgFiOsVGuaIlhtqi37CiI3SNPI_-jKXuo6djGz9XHuqFfB8ldb4_KCoqottF0wjZs_nYmhz8/s1600/calendula_flower.jpg" /></a>We're also enjoying the new cooperative game, <a class="l vst" href="http://www.learningherbs.com/wildcraft.html"><i><i>Wildcraft</i></i></a>... and I'm realizing just how much A. learned this summer. After <a class="l noline" href="http://twosimplehappenings.blogspot.com/p/juliens-story_16.html"><i><i>tragedy struck</i></i></a> in early June, all my plans for doing a summer lesson block on healing herbs came to a crashing halt. What kept going though was our little healing garden and actual use of the herbs found there. Without any formal instruction, worksheets, or boxed-curriculum, A. has learned to identify herbs and edible flowers including elderberry, calendula, violas, sage, nettles, oatstraw, catnip, and peppermint and can explain a little about how each is used for healing. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;">I've also been reading the <span class="tl"></span><a class="l noline" href="http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/"><i> California Content Standards</i></a> for Kindergarten through Third Grade and dreaming up creative ways to cover this material this year. While I won't adhere to the standards completely (that would take all of the fun out of homeschooling!), I do want A. to keep up with her peers in the event that we transition to traditional school at some point. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;">I'm hoping that we can learn some of these standards the same way that A. learned about healing herbs this summer. By seeking out teaching-moments and cultivating an open and curious attitude, we can encourage natural learning and avoid some of the resistance and stress that squashes creativity and takes the fun out of education.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;"></div><span class="tl"></span>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-32504046422711694852011-09-05T21:49:00.000-07:002011-09-05T22:30:28.507-07:00Creating the World<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt968g1sEp5iUryeLAqtwMezUH5W4K2KjdWPRHnozifrS7c8rbTHnKVCq0UBGnouub5zGN9GxL2NSDII92U2CDqfP5KSWQ-NDa8orNBcOKZTGVGKY0XPIqWMt7mTq1Zbaf-ghGQi9NQ6k/s1600/oak-autumn-leaf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt968g1sEp5iUryeLAqtwMezUH5W4K2KjdWPRHnozifrS7c8rbTHnKVCq0UBGnouub5zGN9GxL2NSDII92U2CDqfP5KSWQ-NDa8orNBcOKZTGVGKY0XPIqWMt7mTq1Zbaf-ghGQi9NQ6k/s320/oak-autumn-leaf.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Autumn. It's almost here and I cannot wait. I'm always going on about how important it is to be present -- to enjoy the moment... but this summer cannot end fast enough for me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Some of my restlessness is the heat. We live in a pretty rural area and there is not much to do to escape the high temperatures. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Some of my restlessness is my grief, I'm sure. I want to get on with things and leave this summer behind. I'm </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">eager to shake off all of the funk and crust and emotions that are no longer serving me... and move forward into the cool, dark half of the year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It's interesting how autumn, which is really and ending, is also the beginning. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It feels like the right time for starting school, for getting back to the books. As the days grow shorter, our minds turn inward. As the nights grow longer, a deeper stillness settles within us. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It's the time of year of introspection and rich, warm soup.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><i>(Funny how this continuum of beginnings and endings seems to be a topic to which I keep returning. See: </i></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><i><a class="l" href="http://twosimplehappenings.blogspot.com/p/what-are-two-simple-happenings.html" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>What Are the "Two Simple Happenings?"</i></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">) </span></i></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We've been easing back into the school-year with half-days and will begin our full schedule September 12th with the full Harvest Moon. I like working with nature's rhythms like this. When we're tuned into our natural environment, we're more likely to also notice our changing inner-seasons. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We're trying on some unit studies this year and our first area of interest is mythology. I'm calling the lesson block, "Creating the World," and plan to look at cosmogonic myths from around the world and stories that illustrate our shared heritage as human beings. I have plenty of books on hand and we've checked out quite an assortment from the library --- as well as several audio books and DVDs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We'll also look at some historical figures who have overcome hardship and/or helped shape the world as we know it -- people like Marie Curie, John Muir, Rachel Carson, Hellen Keller and Thurgood Marshall -- and explore how real-life heroes resemble the heroes of mythology. And, of course, we'll explore how each and every one of us is the author of our own story, creating our world each day with the choices that we make. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">After everything my family has been through, I think looking at the hero's journey will help remind us that, while life is full of darkness, it is also full of finding the light. </span>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-1045197631934376172011-08-18T14:23:00.000-07:002011-08-18T14:23:16.139-07:00New Journeys<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I've decided to start a new blog where I can explore and process the birth and death of our boy, Julien. I'd like to invite you all to join me there. The blog is titled </span><a class="l noline" href="http://twosimplehappenings.blogspot.com/" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><em><em>Two Simple Happenings</em></em></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> and I hope that it will be a help to anyone who has experienced loss or suffering. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Om School isn't closing it's doors... in fact we've been hard at work all week preparing our classroom for the new year. Getting back into a rhythm feels great. We're practicing piano twice per day, reading two chapters per day, working with the calendar to track the moon, clouds, and temperature, and putting our heads together to choose this semester's subjects. We've decided to step completely outside the packaged-curriculum box this year and I'm excited about the journey ahead of us.</span>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-20559589606814465952011-07-28T15:31:00.000-07:002011-07-28T15:33:41.459-07:00Ocean Sunset<div style="text-align: center; width: 480px;"><embed height="360" src="http://w478.photobucket.com/pbwidget.swf?pbwurl=http%3A%2F%2Fw478.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Frr141%2Fmamawoolf%2Fd5bad44f.pbw" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" wmode="transparent"></embed><a href="http://photobucket.com/slideshows" target="_blank"><img src="http://pic.photobucket.com/slideshows/btn.gif" style="border-width: 0; float: left;" /></a><a href="http://s478.photobucket.com/albums/rr141/mamawoolf/?action=view&current=d5bad44f.pbw" target="_blank"><img src="http://pic.photobucket.com/slideshows/btn_viewallimages.gif" style="border-width: 0pt; float: left; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /></a></div><br />
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<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Creation is only the projection into form of that which already exists." - The Bhagavad Gita</div>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-11814891928245747682011-07-04T21:33:00.000-07:002011-07-05T10:54:08.700-07:00Honoring our Baby<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimFXm0fBWdDotMPpKIsMvJ3aLoFEFsiGnsLcHsp0yfVAtVbzNedhDNQYGuTUcB_nCNCz4VWcN6BRzz7dS3mxko-J0Jyvb14TEDXX_2cvMxnBx86WPRUplZf_HUn-nyBc5uVVS9P6spfeM/s1600/Ocean+Sky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimFXm0fBWdDotMPpKIsMvJ3aLoFEFsiGnsLcHsp0yfVAtVbzNedhDNQYGuTUcB_nCNCz4VWcN6BRzz7dS3mxko-J0Jyvb14TEDXX_2cvMxnBx86WPRUplZf_HUn-nyBc5uVVS9P6spfeM/s320/Ocean+Sky.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We lost our little boy. He never took his first breath. One minute I was having a beautiful delivery and the next minute our Julien was gone.</span> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">He would have been one month old this week. After loving him every day for nine months, my whole body aches for him. My belly is a hollow cave. Still, at the same time, I feel him... I feel him like he never left me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We had a private funeral service and buried our sweet boy next to my grandparents. An evergreen pear tree marks the space where his little body went back to Mother Earth. As they lowered his casket, our daughter and I sang: "We all come from the goddess... and to her we shall return -- like a drop of rain flowing to the ocean." I truly believe that -- that the earth is a living thing... a goddess... our mother... from whom we are born and to whom we return. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Our daughter is heartbroken, of course. She's asked a lot of questions and wants us to try to conceive again soon. It's hard to even think about that but at the same time there is some comfort in the idea. We still want another little soul to join our family.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">My mind is full of questions. I'm not sure what to do with the nursery or his clothes. Do I sell everything? Donate everything? Do I box it up and put it away in case we are blessed with another pregnancy? Will I want to see Julien's clothes on a different baby? Am I strong enough to make these choices?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Time is beginning to feel real again but the first few weeks were a blur. It felt like sitting in the eye of a hurricane -- the world rushing by while I sat still in the middle just holding on to the feeling of being close to him. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We've been to the ocean as much as possible -- I feel close to him there too... under the big spacious sky. Julien's name means, "sky," actually. His whole name, Julien Honor, was inspired by a quote from the Buddha... it means to remember the pure, open sky of our own true nature. We are not just these bodies having this experience. We are so much more than that. We are infinite and luminous -- vast like the sky. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I had no idea how important his namesake would end up being. Now, whenever I sit in meditation, when I sit on the beach, when I let myself dissolve into the sky, I feel him. Even now, just thinking about it, I feel him... like a part of him never left me. Our separateness is just an illusion, I think. By remembering this, I feel like I'm honoring him. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I just finished reading a book exploring the Heart Sutra by Mu Soeng. In it he says, "In the great ocean the wave and the water can not be separated from each another; the wave is the water and the water is the wave." This resonates with me so deeply. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I'm writing here now hoping to process some of it -- hoping that writing about it will help me heal. It's still so raw and both real and unreal. I lost my dad last year and have spent a considerable amount of time thinking about death, reading about death, meditating on death, talking to our daughter about death, and considering our impermanence. Maybe some of that is helping now. It's really hard to know for sure -- but beneath my grief I do feel a sense of calm. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Maybe what gives life beauty is our very capacity for feeling -- for loving and knowing that all we have here on earth is temporary.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Anyways, thanks for listening. The support of family and friends has helped keep my heart warm through it all. Deep peace and many blessings to all.</span>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-39365555649077146802011-05-25T12:14:00.000-07:002011-05-27T10:14:03.118-07:00Intentions for a Homebirth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0TwOOakxIJ-lkZCKZy7yWQOgbfvTFKc8FoCy_hzo31XwRcgx7-ndZ4jvAluaSAQ_Hx981VsS4Wq4GaP6qmbUeKkpR8fB7FLHZh0aY91fS1_CLH8TYD5PMs5Lhf_5luqgxNr9Iyc-K9OU/s1600/belly13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0TwOOakxIJ-lkZCKZy7yWQOgbfvTFKc8FoCy_hzo31XwRcgx7-ndZ4jvAluaSAQ_Hx981VsS4Wq4GaP6qmbUeKkpR8fB7FLHZh0aY91fS1_CLH8TYD5PMs5Lhf_5luqgxNr9Iyc-K9OU/s320/belly13.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Pregnancy to-do lists can go on forever. I think of things to add faster than I can cross them off! I'm due May 27th... so, after going over all of the details one last time, I'm putting this list of intentions down and not looking at it again! Too much thinking makes me crazy. It's time to just settle into these last few days and be present with whatever energies arise.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I'm so grateful for all of the people and experiences that have brought me to this place in my journey -- for the beautiful shower and blessingway, for the hand-crafted birth-mala, for the heartfelt note-cards, the abundance tree, the gift of a beautiful nursery, for my awesome midwives, and for every supportive word and vibration! I am so blessed!! I'm also excited about delivering this baby at home. I didn't write a birth-plan because I know that plans change and I think it's better to have a "birth-general-idea" than something seen as set in stone. Still, there are quite a few things that I'd like to remind myself to do or try when labor begins. Here's what I'm visualizing:</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">light candles</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">turn on lavender diffuser</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">take a shower</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">call midwives & call or text friends and family</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">meditate</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">cut all blessing-way bracelets</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">fill the pool and bless with essential oils</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">make bed</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">put sheets on the co-sleeper</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">bake baby a birthday cake with big sister and daddy</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">listen to mantras</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">walk</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">use the birth ball</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">try Marjaryasana/Bitilasana - cat/cow pose</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">try Kaliasana - goddess/squat pose</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">talk to baby</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">breathe & connect with breath</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">meditate 20 minutes every hour</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">eat whole grains, almond butter, and drink water</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">stand on patio under oak trees</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">repeat mantra, "supported, present, and trusting."</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The mantra (above) is the short version of the birth intentions I set last month:</span></span><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">To know I am supported in every breath by my family and by an amazing network of beautiful and strong mamas.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">To be fully present, aware, and connected with the magic of each moment</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">To release, let go, and trust my body's ability to open and give safe passage to this baby.</span></span></li>
</ul><ul></ul><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">My midwives have the most beautiful quotes up on their websites<i>. </i></span></span><a class="l vst noline" href="http://www.colettemercier.net/" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Colette's</a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> say's, "We have a secret in our culture... it's not that birth is painful. It's that women are strong." Laura Stavoe Harm. </span></span><br />
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<i><a class="l vst" href="http://lakemidwife.org/" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><i>Laura's</i></i></a></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i> </i>says, "There is power that comes to women when they give birth. They don't ask for it, it simply invades them. Accumulates like clouds on the horizon and passes through, carrying the child with it." - Sheryl Feldman </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I'm ready to welcome that power. I've cleared my mind of <i>can't</i>, I'm releasing my fears with the waning moon, and I'm ready to welcome this new life into the world. I feel supported by friends, family, and the age-old lineage of strong, able women who safely delivered their babies naturally. </span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">What a gift it is to be at the center of the universe creating itself. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">What an honor it is to have so much support. </span></span>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-77409283942296696062011-05-19T13:33:00.000-07:002011-05-25T13:12:51.124-07:00Just Being Present<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIWx-v3k2kR-Fuga0f-Aj5akghjF6qZT7x-vGtzwyey69MRuC1z9e8dSr1syNyQ-rJIpcipoAJ1VjLcrnN_n3qFTCejcY69RxqfA0XQGLjoVmRToCDgiUYJM0I01eTgt5EYfqdAg_NV9A/s1600/belly9+-+heart+bw+close.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIWx-v3k2kR-Fuga0f-Aj5akghjF6qZT7x-vGtzwyey69MRuC1z9e8dSr1syNyQ-rJIpcipoAJ1VjLcrnN_n3qFTCejcY69RxqfA0XQGLjoVmRToCDgiUYJM0I01eTgt5EYfqdAg_NV9A/s320/belly9+-+heart+bw+close.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Me - 38 weeks</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I've been in prenatal la-la land and absent from the blogosphere for quite some time, haven't I? The months have flown by -- relatively discomfort free... and I'm feeling truly blessed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Growing a new life within me turned out to be personal business though... so my writings found their way to a good old fashioned paper journal -- one that I've dedicated to Baby Om. Big Sister has even taken to decorating the margins and adding her own loving notes for her baby brother. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but my reflections feel better suited for that journal than the blogging world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Maybe it's because this pregnancy feels so deeply spiritual. After all, I'm right at the center of the universe creating itself -- and that is both empowering and humbling. Throughout my pregnancy I've felt more inclined to simply be present for the experience than to publicly write about it. I also think it's because we're planning a natural home-birth. While I am confident in our decision, I haven't felt like debating with the naysayers. </span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuF3BqOZx_6kV_40ERAMaJwVoqgh9eWKOqtNVHiCkVnA3ReT3uzdRJ5yFHYHK0e0pfq1SEinY8wJwdyvGn3bc2inIVQCPptxQfrzG8VEJfSUL_XDHEO7wutSi75y_2wXfhR2L1Hve5FEM/s1600/belly10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuF3BqOZx_6kV_40ERAMaJwVoqgh9eWKOqtNVHiCkVnA3ReT3uzdRJ5yFHYHK0e0pfq1SEinY8wJwdyvGn3bc2inIVQCPptxQfrzG8VEJfSUL_XDHEO7wutSi75y_2wXfhR2L1Hve5FEM/s320/belly10.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Big Sister and Mama</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So what's been happening on the school front? For our April mindfulness until, we looked at ACCEPTANCE. We listened to the rain and learned how our resistance to our experiences often creates more discomfort than the experience itself. For May, the month or flowers and of mothers, we're revisiting LOVING-KINDNESS. You can read about last year's unit </span><a class="gs-title" href="http://om-school.blogspot.com/2010/05/may-flowers-of-lovingkindness.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">here.</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> Loving-kindness is the unconditional love that a mother feels for her child; a friendliness and warmth that reaches out and embraces others. It's the feeling we experience when we hold our new baby in our arms. Cultivating loving-kindness means holding ourselves and others this way too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We wrapped up our formal academic year the first of May and are </span><span class="tl" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><a class="l noline" href="http://www.unschooling.com/" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><i>unschooling</i></i></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> now. While we've loved incorporating Waldorf methods into our routine, we're both relieved to have finished the curriculum and feeling a new surge of expansion and creativity now that the weekly lessons are completed. I hope we'll be able to hone our unschooling skills this summer and continue with that approach in fall. Only time will tell.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Until then, I'm due May 27th. The baby is in a great position, fully engaged, and feels like he could come any minute. Pregnancy causes us to slow down and take inventory of our lives. Each breath, each drop of rain, each wildflower is an opportunity to connect more deeply. Just being present often reveals the everyday blessing that might otherwise go overlooked. This pregnancy has certainly unveiled the abundance in my life... and I am so very grateful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I'll try to post again soon. Many blessings to all.</span>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-34716816442647258382011-01-24T12:11:00.000-08:002011-01-24T16:57:19.823-08:00The Goddess Thing<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Recently, while discussing our spiritual paths, a friend of mine admitted that she just didn't get "the goddess thing." I understand that her path is not my path... and I love and honor our differences. Still, I'd like to shed a little more light on the subject by sharing a few questions here...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKn5T2MxMUzN_rjUhSQnpUVFuJj2QGoG39LI8tk2iFVcDMSPCZG7dMADZw9ko62Kup7Q0KTwrbDmIL7uwrkdD3ECyE0HUuT9ncEAB9bwUhgcqURtFJwAiCbd7kwFmj14V0zmGvS7qGsjU/s1600/god2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKn5T2MxMUzN_rjUhSQnpUVFuJj2QGoG39LI8tk2iFVcDMSPCZG7dMADZw9ko62Kup7Q0KTwrbDmIL7uwrkdD3ECyE0HUuT9ncEAB9bwUhgcqURtFJwAiCbd7kwFmj14V0zmGvS7qGsjU/s200/god2.jpg" width="142" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ZFNvZ_rhaa5t8b7SKba_3B-24lgn5nyCwXcrAswSxn4pbrHt9dsEvLiz-TD5bAz6l8oYzEaXACwI5CYVodvM3_bWBnpZv_SVYF66wmXmoONB_jL6Z6FYk3oYlLmVIFWd15f7w_S3y5A/s1600/jesus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ZFNvZ_rhaa5t8b7SKba_3B-24lgn5nyCwXcrAswSxn4pbrHt9dsEvLiz-TD5bAz6l8oYzEaXACwI5CYVodvM3_bWBnpZv_SVYF66wmXmoONB_jL6Z6FYk3oYlLmVIFWd15f7w_S3y5A/s200/jesus.jpg" width="141" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">What would happen if, instead of growing up with popular male images of divinity such as these dominating our mental landscape,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">we</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> were also given just as many images of divinity that looked like this...</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMr20pa55_tH1xIOLdvD8DF2YwpPWgOUcQ3PAI5i-PfmYTFuc-AkEfTviOv6q_So4sEey89_R2WZ8b7UdKIbdMJ9fqD-ZWeeJtzlWR2mS712om-zjrRCDcEAj3fBY_BoeFWRLVLGSyhK4/s1600/goddess.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMr20pa55_tH1xIOLdvD8DF2YwpPWgOUcQ3PAI5i-PfmYTFuc-AkEfTviOv6q_So4sEey89_R2WZ8b7UdKIbdMJ9fqD-ZWeeJtzlWR2mS712om-zjrRCDcEAj3fBY_BoeFWRLVLGSyhK4/s320/goddess.jpg" width="245" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> and this...</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPfaegrqpn13FXwFERbZ_juYmJOUDWoPzKCw2GNr9ESs8ZEmR7VYZflQK20-lnUdpiMjeTZNQBDZEMFnQDEOpwP1pV8QP0qG6WBJo2m5OO4CLVNQMbdaBu3aKfWvRi2cNMKTICP_HoYmo/s1600/Maya+Angelou.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPfaegrqpn13FXwFERbZ_juYmJOUDWoPzKCw2GNr9ESs8ZEmR7VYZflQK20-lnUdpiMjeTZNQBDZEMFnQDEOpwP1pV8QP0qG6WBJo2m5OO4CLVNQMbdaBu3aKfWvRi2cNMKTICP_HoYmo/s1600/Maya+Angelou.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and this...</span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjjMLBgIakWnWZhwkb9e62SquoaJtklP6Cwg_yMJo3DrkFtQc4kcBXrCk2skyQLAjvzuxW9If-u2jHXdb2rq4eOPBm94p1Zl8MYZUUQufFd_Ps-aIIcyqpwkzGOajOS6ChhJmxd0eC6RQ/s1600/15231-4258047-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjjMLBgIakWnWZhwkb9e62SquoaJtklP6Cwg_yMJo3DrkFtQc4kcBXrCk2skyQLAjvzuxW9If-u2jHXdb2rq4eOPBm94p1Zl8MYZUUQufFd_Ps-aIIcyqpwkzGOajOS6ChhJmxd0eC6RQ/s320/15231-4258047-7.jpg" width="223" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> and this... </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDnNJAIg0y2Z_aWywdCFOXbTGWuGKe5zu0m9nmgLDDjYn4XsIGw7yJ_9nGiZdkUmi2ZQXMklSPEnpEWgNuQWQFeLIpxjiTwU0VicO7cBHD_IWaXNNqIG6LNfSvGpH3MlHv2BMjGrJOnh0/s1600/barefoot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDnNJAIg0y2Z_aWywdCFOXbTGWuGKe5zu0m9nmgLDDjYn4XsIGw7yJ_9nGiZdkUmi2ZQXMklSPEnpEWgNuQWQFeLIpxjiTwU0VicO7cBHD_IWaXNNqIG6LNfSvGpH3MlHv2BMjGrJOnh0/s320/barefoot.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and this... </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQDT4RjVzsMhSuxvC-k_lvMPnN_ICiqk-BMpeSKuOtNqEfBdxnyDocqbI-ZLYRuM7os5orRQqzKyWL6jiLKslnlO6F6XP3D41kDZorKKHsTP53enn6IDredo9hQY0GiS_noLDnXJNLc7c/s1600/redwoods.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQDT4RjVzsMhSuxvC-k_lvMPnN_ICiqk-BMpeSKuOtNqEfBdxnyDocqbI-ZLYRuM7os5orRQqzKyWL6jiLKslnlO6F6XP3D41kDZorKKHsTP53enn6IDredo9hQY0GiS_noLDnXJNLc7c/s320/redwoods.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Would we see ourselves in the same light? </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">What if creation didn't look like this...</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyslLFduWpvT14hWricW-7LztYWfnBJYzzps-6rf4ObNH_0TmI8QSEttGb79lvSRmb4Dc_FAzgM_txrhhlpQYegSETW5bKyGwGRAHjSZhUov0T3HlD_AVgYnq5WdhyZWTPRSD_9r-5K0I/s1600/god-creation-01-a_bigger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyslLFduWpvT14hWricW-7LztYWfnBJYzzps-6rf4ObNH_0TmI8QSEttGb79lvSRmb4Dc_FAzgM_txrhhlpQYegSETW5bKyGwGRAHjSZhUov0T3HlD_AVgYnq5WdhyZWTPRSD_9r-5K0I/s320/god-creation-01-a_bigger.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">but looked like this instead...</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBUXAIEGwRXktAHZiKrbTHkyqzBaOD82a-uCkNEu4r9Qv_7W8Kt758eenZ56RcicpZDtcsRXffLMjmnmv12bEYTXnmhdDArWOM-EDl8z8EUPQ1OCYVlFAxWDq5n_q_hUGmTYErQq7Qado/s1600/goddess_gaia-740820.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBUXAIEGwRXktAHZiKrbTHkyqzBaOD82a-uCkNEu4r9Qv_7W8Kt758eenZ56RcicpZDtcsRXffLMjmnmv12bEYTXnmhdDArWOM-EDl8z8EUPQ1OCYVlFAxWDq5n_q_hUGmTYErQq7Qado/s320/goddess_gaia-740820.jpg" width="216" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">How might our consciousness be transformed?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Those patriarchal images take root in our mind. They effect how we view ourselves, how we treat one another, and how we treat our planet. When we see that all things are sacred, when we honor both the feminine and the masculine and see that the life in us is the same life that causes trees to grow, the sun to shine, and the earth to spin on her axis, we liberate ourselves from dualistic thinking and become free.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Sue Monk Kidd writes in </span><a class="l" href="http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Dissident-Daughter-Christian-Tradition/dp/006064589X"> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Dance of the Dissident Daughter</i></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Walking into the sacredness of the female body will cause a woman to "enter into" her body in a new way, be at home in it, honor it, nurture it, listen to it, delight in its sensual music. She will experience her female flesh as beautiful and holy, as a vessel of the sacred. She will live from her gut and feet and hands and instincts and not entirely in her head. The bodies of such women, instead of being groomed to some external standard, are penetrated with soul, quickened from the inside."</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">When this new consciousness takes root within us, we also begin to experience every blade of grass, every drop or dew, as infused with divinity. Kidd writes:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Divine feminine imagery opens us up to the notion that the earth is the body of the Divine, and when that happens, the Divine cannot be contained solely in a book, church, dogma, liturgy, theological system, or transcendent spirituality. The earth is no longer a mere backdrop until we get into heaven, something secondary and expendable. Matter becomes inspirited; it breathes divinity. Earth becomes alive and sacred. And we find ourselves alive in the midst of her and forever altered."</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Would we treat Mama Earth differently if we felt that she was a living, sacred, thing? Would we still spray our </span><a class="l" href="http://yubanet.com/california/Coalition-sues-California-over-approval-of-cancer-causing-strawberry-pesticide.php"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">strawberries with poison?</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> Would we still fill our </span><a class="l" href="http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/translating-uncle-sam/stories/what-is-the-great-pacific-ocean-garbage-patch" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">oceans with plastic?</a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> Would we still </span><a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/023094_Monsanto_WHO_industry.html" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">genetically modify</a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> our crops so they were </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"</i><a class="l" href="http://www.holisticmed.com/ge/roundup.html" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><i>pestiside ready"</i></i></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> or support the corporations who did by buying their products? Would we still </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">value material wealth over spiritual abundance or</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><a class="l" href="http://www.unknownnews.net/casualties.html" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">wage war</a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> against one another? </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Would we treat ourselves differently if we honored the sacred in feminine form? </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Would we dance and play and honor our bodies regardless of their shape? </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> Would staying home with our kids be as valued as pursuing career goals? </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Would our little girls grow up believing they were just as strong as their brothers? Would we see ourselves in a different light? I certainly think so... and for reasons like these, this mama is loving every minute of her journey into the collective feminine soul.</span></div>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-34407465189374153402011-01-20T16:48:00.000-08:002011-05-25T13:13:39.095-07:00Cézanne's Apples<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLWIFQE1He1U3J0xh8a2Gvs2_rbJTo6-w2vsF0fD2_KjOzQJawLw-J0ryNHO2FHoO3HTkNz9fx2wf8O7KIbTv1v3LmR36JfQmNyatowyRWbkVoRhUOP5aWC13OPFHPmLBsF5iMmvO7su4/s1600/paul-c%25C3%25A9zanne-still-life-of-apples-and-biscuits-1880-82.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLWIFQE1He1U3J0xh8a2Gvs2_rbJTo6-w2vsF0fD2_KjOzQJawLw-J0ryNHO2FHoO3HTkNz9fx2wf8O7KIbTv1v3LmR36JfQmNyatowyRWbkVoRhUOP5aWC13OPFHPmLBsF5iMmvO7su4/s320/paul-c%25C3%25A9zanne-still-life-of-apples-and-biscuits-1880-82.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Still Life of Apples and Biscuits, Paul Cézanne, 1880-82</td></tr>
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</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Yesterday was Paul Cézanne's birthday. We've been celebrating since last week with </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">a lesson block on post-impressionism. We began our studies with, </span><span class="tl"></span><a class="l noline" href="http://www.amazon.com/Monet-Impressionists-Kids-Their-Activities/dp/1556523971" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>Monet and the Impressionists for Kids</i></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">by Carol Sabbeth. This is a clever book with 21 activities for kids.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">My goal was to expose A. to a form of art she hadn't seen before and inspire her with Cézanne's apples, Monet's lilies, and the dancers of Degas. What happened was so much more...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We typically make time for art a few days per week with special projects like watercolor painting or sculpting with homemade play dough. A. also enjoys drawing and coloring in her Main Lesson Books with beeswax crayons nearly every day to demonstrate her favorite part of a story, something we learned on a nature walk, or a new math concept (such as King Equal distributing jewels to the gnomes). Until now, however, we haven't formally studied art or given it a regular place in our schedule.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD7lT468TVNleMZxaaz_uan08d5V_0lmmnVVdX1821B1pEiGOsyPQCgco0F3Jk3IfVTvyZl1sVYFErs7F5CZmVqh78L2Cq2ICRSCPEZQGLcHHAE6ppuULlAF6upRkwnvt0L3SrhPYcFhE/s1600/georges-seurat-sunday-afternoon-on-the-island-of-la-grande-jatte.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD7lT468TVNleMZxaaz_uan08d5V_0lmmnVVdX1821B1pEiGOsyPQCgco0F3Jk3IfVTvyZl1sVYFErs7F5CZmVqh78L2Cq2ICRSCPEZQGLcHHAE6ppuULlAF6upRkwnvt0L3SrhPYcFhE/s320/georges-seurat-sunday-afternoon-on-the-island-of-la-grande-jatte.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Georges Seurat, </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1886</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Last week we gave art top billing and sat down every morning with a new project. We experimented with oil pastels and met five new artists. A. learned to identify Cézanne's apples (</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">he painted a lot of still-lifes on tipsy tabletops with fruit looking like it might roll right off the table), Monet's lilies (they look a lot like lotus flowers!), Degas' dancers (ballerinas stretching, yawing, twirling but never posing!), Gauguin's girls (Tahitian girls and tropical scenes often outlined in black), </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and Seurat's dots (he painted with small dots in a style called pointillism). Yes, I know the "t' is Seurat is silent... but it's so much easier to remember when it rhymes!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-LQ619JJG3-SOBRkD6bOujeohRqVKHv337sE6iJoRwP3Yull8-FI731GmnY3w_7tVIanWA3Ye4_0PI2bn1oB-NDdUjX33gzt9G8k6-fi2jAjmgxACejWDR03SJluCyXgIKO6FLSJeVnQ/s1600/01-14-11+034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-LQ619JJG3-SOBRkD6bOujeohRqVKHv337sE6iJoRwP3Yull8-FI731GmnY3w_7tVIanWA3Ye4_0PI2bn1oB-NDdUjX33gzt9G8k6-fi2jAjmgxACejWDR03SJluCyXgIKO6FLSJeVnQ/s320/01-14-11+034.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amelie's first still life (inspired by Cézanne)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We also moved piano to our morning session of school -- something else that I typically don't schedule but always encourage. In the past my thought was to let her come to art and music on her own - especially piano - and not to push it. She is only six after all. But this week's change in our schedule really worked wonders. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Moving the arts to our morning session breathed new life into our routine and fired up my girl's mind and heart so that the afternoon subjects were a breeze. Studying the arts is not just about learning to paint or play, after all. The arts, both visual and performing, actually enhance brain development in young children (read about it </span><a class="l noline" href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.triangletracks.com%2Fnotes%2FHow_Art_and_Music_Influence_Brain_Development&ei=-tI4TfvSG4nfgQfHtuWzCA&usg=AFQjCNFSkv_TfLNcnRXOsyrvflxrn44NRg&sig2=X31skPN01oPlGQDuDK58ZQ" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>here</i></a><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">). </span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It's such a shame that they're absent from so many schools today. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I suppose t</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">here's no time or money for the arts when we spend it all on test-taking though.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMn93CvPo6F20gIhriFHpkrze83qjDGJtzYBC5euVCZQ_nIZYxSscfhaRs0kgLGx9F7tvJhyphenhyphen24OU26ej0su-J6D36T8yEO5GRnK2oz5UX6zwh3NdwPMGCEPsBI1WAwLdyg1nNm_ig-g2Q/s1600/VanGogh_Bedroom_Arles1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMn93CvPo6F20gIhriFHpkrze83qjDGJtzYBC5euVCZQ_nIZYxSscfhaRs0kgLGx9F7tvJhyphenhyphen24OU26ej0su-J6D36T8yEO5GRnK2oz5UX6zwh3NdwPMGCEPsBI1WAwLdyg1nNm_ig-g2Q/s320/VanGogh_Bedroom_Arles1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Bedroom at Arles, Vincent </i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Van Gogh, 1888</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The highlight of our lesson-block came Tuesday with a trip to San Francisco to see the de Young exhibit</span>, <i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay. </i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Standing inches from the original works mesmerized us both... and it was here that A. met <i>my</i> favorite artist, Van Gogh. I thought the star of the exhibit was his </span><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Starry Night over the Rhone. </span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">A. preferred his </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Bedroom at Arles </i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and has since created a little masterpiece of her own bedroom using oil pastels. </span><br />
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<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span class="sqq">Cézanne is quoted as saying, “The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution.”</span> With the arts no longer present in school, who will start the revolution? Will be become a world devoid of beauty and meaning? I refuse to imagine that world.... so we're keeping the arts right where they belong -- as the first subject of the day.</div>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-44673952718476155322011-01-14T14:04:00.000-08:002011-01-14T14:04:43.883-08:00This Moment<div class="post-header"> </div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">{this moment} – A weekly ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week, inspired by Amanda Soule. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, join in over at </span><a href="http://www.soulemama.com/" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" target="_blank" title="SouleMama">SouleMama</a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6a6IxeeULhEfKX53tqS7DIAsTvZ0fn_Pq0QTyRM_Eo2a33hjrRlDVCUt3T7yyJTYTvJVKItNN3mF6GL1UfNhJb60zWB6UWf2XA3UO5fsP2b_SRtsvGSJnuVBQW-w_WlhVUZiVXO9Ym5c/s1600/01-14-11+017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6a6IxeeULhEfKX53tqS7DIAsTvZ0fn_Pq0QTyRM_Eo2a33hjrRlDVCUt3T7yyJTYTvJVKItNN3mF6GL1UfNhJb60zWB6UWf2XA3UO5fsP2b_SRtsvGSJnuVBQW-w_WlhVUZiVXO9Ym5c/s400/01-14-11+017.JPG" width="346" /></a></div>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-47851878008019616122011-01-06T16:50:00.000-08:002011-01-07T09:05:07.919-08:00Music, Math, Mapping, and More<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">With the holidays behind us, we're getting back into a steady rhythm at home. We started the morning with a little music. Like her dad, A. loves composing her own... </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Figuring out the notes</span>...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJqNTQMnOLp2YTxbBOdWcu2bHqoYu9ahyphenhyphen7TBcpCjcOqmBuqq6lVsDDxOpj8UejZjqr-5nYbRIVbEtksOyzOPzxBiaPNmoY2HftXB4ehNjG-OGJV7o_eBdMPmK43BC-6X7Lp7-nL2y7WQ/s1600/1-06-11+015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJqNTQMnOLp2YTxbBOdWcu2bHqoYu9ahyphenhyphen7TBcpCjcOqmBuqq6lVsDDxOpj8UejZjqr-5nYbRIVbEtksOyzOPzxBiaPNmoY2HftXB4ehNjG-OGJV7o_eBdMPmK43BC-6X7Lp7-nL2y7WQ/s400/1-06-11+015.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">writing them down...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIP8nhCo4hdIt5pQ_m3utvO3RMYjVwJ9MOoxGqwcxHpmzpHxTuvq486l4ZjU7pgH_utG092AG_7SvZ-RhqKjVB-HIK-YbhxHcrHwouDkeR1fO7lGkyj9SNjOWV9Dpi2GcRAjP2GY-g2c/s1600/1-06-11+020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIP8nhCo4hdIt5pQ_m3utvO3RMYjVwJ9MOoxGqwcxHpmzpHxTuvq486l4ZjU7pgH_utG092AG_7SvZ-RhqKjVB-HIK-YbhxHcrHwouDkeR1fO7lGkyj9SNjOWV9Dpi2GcRAjP2GY-g2c/s400/1-06-11+020.JPG" width="400" /></a></td><td style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">& putting it all together.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Then, instead of hitting the books right away this morning, we went for a little adventure...</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4d8ZS0WP7KyddyAUDmRMv3Jjmqjk_LJ_pxGeOSaW675um3oVy9fxlcZorfLipH5l5BbPc6f-lijjR0i64WHwIZJZp1abLJUtzsM-0Qju9-K_G7DVJTkpGBU1Rs7b7u3ykwn9WFBBOa7o/s200/1-06-11+037.JPG" width="150" /> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We found a heart shaped hollow in a tree... </span><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiibv9YTNg6L3Pgy6zVc46I3oxCTQBokYxE5QBtzQklnlAstuXSxfi5a5RzNInnDZmPkPfCLjTC59xhKt4Q9q1kYfv4JVu9QCLzM9AqcLghTN3uOUlWAceP6i4vggcdzhOvN5ANT15tpU/s200/1-06-11+039.JPG" width="150" /></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCpKi8P3Ammro3c-MI_L1UYBwknxE-A9iusqhdLt2qFrHraEC5MeMu0wqtw3oA55DXYzLgl89yMzscNDyGLnGmIgh_O9hSEMPtzQeBI4n1H2brT4k83zFqOLREWABlVIJ7QNT-jgtjeY8/s1600/1-06-11+035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCpKi8P3Ammro3c-MI_L1UYBwknxE-A9iusqhdLt2qFrHraEC5MeMu0wqtw3oA55DXYzLgl89yMzscNDyGLnGmIgh_O9hSEMPtzQeBI4n1H2brT4k83zFqOLREWABlVIJ7QNT-jgtjeY8/s200/1-06-11+035.JPG" width="150" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">... and a heart shaped rock. <span id="goog_2032763845"></span><span id="goog_2032763846"></span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNXdDCFTqvGHuHZUgvs6g14s0qzL7NZ9hHDaIbdrcxuJwd-aD0NUDR_13M-eBGKegJ5pntDe5WTBzXsGcXJM9dZNJvlj4IODbnsw2bXdx5cModvMnK9oewKFrshL3unMoXr9Ekq8OJpKU/s1600/1-06-11+031.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNXdDCFTqvGHuHZUgvs6g14s0qzL7NZ9hHDaIbdrcxuJwd-aD0NUDR_13M-eBGKegJ5pntDe5WTBzXsGcXJM9dZNJvlj4IODbnsw2bXdx5cModvMnK9oewKFrshL3unMoXr9Ekq8OJpKU/s320/1-06-11+031.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We walked by a little stream, smelled pine needles, listened to the sound of the water...</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxXzICLECA1C1AqnWFOi9cFkwrM57dLXjeZmOJ-dlmqu9XBBPfK4wj0VQ-X8Q-q5O-f3lPtxp8yuiDGMuLoctFD9_CBeJczDaSZvv2EC4YFllggcYC6wzzuDJZAYtUKHRtMZV_iRxCIv4/s1600/1-06-11+030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxXzICLECA1C1AqnWFOi9cFkwrM57dLXjeZmOJ-dlmqu9XBBPfK4wj0VQ-X8Q-q5O-f3lPtxp8yuiDGMuLoctFD9_CBeJczDaSZvv2EC4YFllggcYC6wzzuDJZAYtUKHRtMZV_iRxCIv4/s320/1-06-11+030.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">... and built a fairy house. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">When we got home, it was time for some math. We've been working on what we're calling "doubles." (2+2, 3+3, 4+4, etc.) A. has them committed to memory through eleven now -- so I thought I'd try something new. I gave her some division and multiplication problems based in the knowledge she's already acquired. I thought maybe since she knows four plus four, she can figure out eight divided by two and four times two. It worked like a charm all the way through twenty. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We've also been working on word families and spelling. Instead of just writing her words again and again (that would be boring!), we have make-believe spelling bees. I gave her thirty-two words today (some from the Second Grade No Excuse List, others from the </span><a class="l noline" href="http://www.usu.edu/teachall/text/reading/Frylist.pdf" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>Fry's 300 Instant Sight Words</i></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">, others just easy word family words like rain, train, and plain.) She only missed two. I think that really says something about the importance of keeping it fun. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAK4F_uXsjrKRQzECWxBUS1D-j1Bvp3G_ImZmlxwEwxwvKHT9__jR5YysJJgOR6EOvG1k8bF7oUXflxMxeHAazDHn-KTTW8_UJeHx8VvdcI25K8yQobCXisvvnteUAMfE6Nh4QW1N6Nqc/s1600/12-31-10+027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAK4F_uXsjrKRQzECWxBUS1D-j1Bvp3G_ImZmlxwEwxwvKHT9__jR5YysJJgOR6EOvG1k8bF7oUXflxMxeHAazDHn-KTTW8_UJeHx8VvdcI25K8yQobCXisvvnteUAMfE6Nh4QW1N6Nqc/s320/12-31-10+027.JPG" width="235" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Where's Mama Wind?</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSjlkjlE1EmUPwRqqfOa6fG9PEUKn_tCbj7QrPGY-RtYRxQKD01MF0HQ798hc7CV4xiFIHjtON-Yx0L9bbPWv3vMYjnKKCJcaXhKTT73qMsklrVPhFuCMKrQ3HXi5xJ0g_hxL8e7KE_2A/s1600/12-31-10+022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSjlkjlE1EmUPwRqqfOa6fG9PEUKn_tCbj7QrPGY-RtYRxQKD01MF0HQ798hc7CV4xiFIHjtON-Yx0L9bbPWv3vMYjnKKCJcaXhKTT73qMsklrVPhFuCMKrQ3HXi5xJ0g_hxL8e7KE_2A/s320/12-31-10+022.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There She is!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Then it was time for some Social Studies. Last session we learned the four directions using the wind and a naturally dyed silk ribbon streamer that we found on Esty at the Tan Family's amazing shop, </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a class="l noline" href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/24927579/naturally-dyed-silk-ribbons-streamer">Syrendell. </a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">With that knowledge intact, we started a cartography project today inspired by our </span><a class="l vst noline" href="http://www.oakmeadow.com/" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><i>Oak Meadow</i></i></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> first grade curriculum. A. created a map of her bedroom using the four directions to accurately depict the placement of her furniture and other big objects in her room. Next week we'll expand her map to include the whole house. Once she's successfully mapped our home, we'll expand to include the neighborhood, the whole town, the state, the country, and then the world! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I think this geography lesson also has a deeper meaning. Home is where all adventures, great and small, begin. And when our foundation there is solid, there's no limit to where we might go.</span>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-9639612585260655582010-12-07T10:12:00.000-08:002011-05-25T13:12:11.241-07:00Living with Intent<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihJT9SUyHM7wNBOs0Q_DdIGlZeLQHjkuIIx6ARtAanBzlfyc0dqAI5ZHvX3pVULfw-V4A3rDPIAw6zBYuA-e9ASvUh99JJl7W6xvy7gOxxMNBSU_MLw-DjI3KBB8ED-2zofb7gxJcOkSg/s1600/buddha-autumn-rain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihJT9SUyHM7wNBOs0Q_DdIGlZeLQHjkuIIx6ARtAanBzlfyc0dqAI5ZHvX3pVULfw-V4A3rDPIAw6zBYuA-e9ASvUh99JJl7W6xvy7gOxxMNBSU_MLw-DjI3KBB8ED-2zofb7gxJcOkSg/s320/buddha-autumn-rain.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I like having a purpose. I encourage my little one to declare an intent each morning and enjoy sharing my intents on </span><a class="l noline" href="http://www.intent.com/user/16949/following/who-follow" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i></i> <i>Intent</i>.com</a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">. Making public declarations helps us live more consciously and bring our aspirations out of our dreams and into reality. With the year winding down, I've discovered a new intent bubbling up within me. I thought I'd share it here today. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">My intent is to rise each morning and smile... to be rooted and fluid, steady and secure, transparent, passionate, and balanced... to be accepting of my faults, </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">prepared to get back up again when I fall, and </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">to see everything as my teacher... to have a soft and grateful heart, open and ready to receive the blessings and abundance in my life, to be grounded in my family -- loving them and being loved in return... to know that divinity lives in me <i>as me</i>, and to rest in the awareness that I am enough.</span><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">If you have an intent you'd like support achieving, please feel free to share it here -- or join me at </span><a class="l noline" href="http://www.intent.com/user/16949/following/who-follow" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i></i> <i>Intent</i>.com</a>.</i>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-86973613641423809582010-12-07T09:34:00.000-08:002011-05-25T13:14:46.659-07:00An Affirmation for Forty<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlBcCZS2pZDHYYdxi3lCSvwq-dyg4MQ2FryMeIZAgZIfZAptFT0ZKq127c-bHq7hdwErrFoUHO2CkJoHzJcV9r6wOyzCgf9cie4kxgTlxHJRZXM4bYpqGcwScmzvVXuehqPmesRJrCt90/s1600/PregnancyBirth_Luxuriate_Pregnantbelly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlBcCZS2pZDHYYdxi3lCSvwq-dyg4MQ2FryMeIZAgZIfZAptFT0ZKq127c-bHq7hdwErrFoUHO2CkJoHzJcV9r6wOyzCgf9cie4kxgTlxHJRZXM4bYpqGcwScmzvVXuehqPmesRJrCt90/s320/PregnancyBirth_Luxuriate_Pregnantbelly.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span id="goog_1380383363"></span><span id="goog_1380383364"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I turned forty this week. The day sort of crept up on me. We spent it at home cuddling under warm blankets, noshing on yummy food, playing games, and watching movies. Hubby even made me cupcakes.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> Forty feels good. It feels solid and steady, grounded, inward, and whole. Twenty </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and thirty </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">were outward times -- always trying to get somewhere, ambitious, sometimes blue, often grasping. The last ten years have been filled with letting go, falling apart, and coming back together again. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Being pregnant at forty is a curious and beautiful thing. I'm bringing a new life into this world while giving birth to myself and the next phase of my life. During the last few weeks I</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">'ve been releasing fear and instability and, as </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Thich Nahat Hanh writes </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">in </span><a class="l" href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Touching-the-Earth/Thich-Nhat-Hanh/e/9781935209195?sourceid=Q000000630&cm_mmc=Google%20Product%20Search-_-Q000000630-_-Touching%20the%20Earth-_-9781935209195" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Touching the Earth</a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">, </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">bowing down to receive the earth's energy of stability and fearlessness.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I'm </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">turning my focus to images of the sacred feminine, earth goddesses round and full, and practicing seeing myself in Mama Earth herself. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">T</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">he preface of the </span><a class="l" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutra_of_The_Great_Vows_of_Ksitigarbha_Bodhisattva" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>Ksitigarbha </i></a><a class="l" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutra_of_The_Great_Vows_of_Ksitigarbha_Bodhisattva"><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Sutra</i></a><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">says, "Earth means that which is stable, thick, and has a great capacity for embracing." This has become an affirmation for me. It's helping me find my roots -- to open, and soften and feel the stable earth within. We're planning a natural birth at home and I imagine that these are qualities that will help during labor and delivery. It seems that once again, life is giving me just what I need to learn. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a class="l" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutra_of_The_Great_Vows_of_Ksitigarbha_Bodhisattva"> </a></div>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-91747978688336074052010-11-15T08:15:00.000-08:002011-05-25T13:15:15.806-07:00Trusting Our Inner-Wisdom<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifkgEBws8VeySksY0_5u8avobIfRGqFe1sjVy-t2IdLknv6ol8aGaOXVv-4euOlEoiF54T1PmOTblhFKMsnwR_10atnYbvp05l27tRmdP9re1Vx_0DBL8aESrhhwDtDSwG7K_StqjzDKQ/s1600/11-14-01+002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifkgEBws8VeySksY0_5u8avobIfRGqFe1sjVy-t2IdLknv6ol8aGaOXVv-4euOlEoiF54T1PmOTblhFKMsnwR_10atnYbvp05l27tRmdP9re1Vx_0DBL8aESrhhwDtDSwG7K_StqjzDKQ/s400/11-14-01+002.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amelie's Sunset Heart</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Stepping outside of the mainstream takes courage. Once you're there, staying there takes both a commitment to your own ideals and trust. But how do we learn to trust our inner-wisdom? The first step is by paying attention with moment-to moment awareness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Our decision to homeschool didn't come easy. We had all of the same questions and doubts that everyone else has. Can we really do this on our own? Will she really get the best education we can provide? How will we create positive socialization? What about college?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Now that we're doing it, I find that those same questions still arise... but so do their answers. We began our homeschooling journey in preschool. A combination of disappointment with </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">the available choices and love for learning together with our little one brought us here. Now it's four years later and we're two and half months into first grade. What's keeping us here? <i><b>A commitment to paying attention and trusting in the process.</b></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I recently attended a debate fo<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">r County Superintendent of Schools. While neither candidate seemed to have the same vision for our schools that I would like to see, one of them possessed a perspective that stood in stark contrast to my own. In support of standardized testing and basing teacher's wages on their student's performance, she said in a slick voice, "<i>Data makes the invisible visible." </i>I wholeheartedly disagree. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">What makes the invisible visible is not data but relationships. No multiple choice examinations or collection of processed figures can replace what the human heart is capable of perceiving. We don't need more "measurable" results. We just need to listen more closely to our children.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">If you think back to when your kids were very small, you'll probably remember all of those early milestones --<i> stacking blocks, sorting objects, gripping crayons, drawing circles, naming shapes and colors... first steps, first words, hopping, skipping, and jumping.</i> As parents, we're naturally tuned into our children and we see each of these little miracles as they unfold. Then something happens. They turn five and we stop trusting ourselves. We send them off to school and forget that we - more than anyone else - are equipped to understand them.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Our cat has a</span><i> </i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">debaucherous habit of waking us up in the middle of the night by knocking over anything and everything in his reach. Last week, he jumped up on Am's dresser and startled her awake. I actually didn't hear a thing until she came in to tell me about it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"I was scared and my heart was beating really fast, mama," she said. "So I sat up and listened to my breath... and my heart slowed down again!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">If you've been following our blog, you know that mindfulness and breath awareness are essential elements in our core curriculum. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Hearing her say those words was the sweetest little gift -- more measurable than any test result or report card.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Whether you're educating at home or just committed to engaging in your child's education, paying attention moment to moment </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">can help you stay connected to their inner-world</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">. When we when bring this level of awareness to our parenting, we see the little miracles as they unfold. Often, the little things we notice are the greatest gifts of all. They enrich our lives with joy and help us build a strong foundation for trusting our inner-wisdom, trusting the process of parenting, and trusting that life is the best teacher.</span>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-88589300943124596802010-11-12T09:37:00.000-08:002010-11-12T09:37:49.433-08:00This Moment<em>{this moment} - A Friday ritual. Inspired by Amanda Soule at </em><a class="l noline" href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.soulemama.com%2Fsoulemama%2F2010%2F04%2Fthis-moment-3.html&ei=zSvUTKyBAY6inQfKiYyMBg&usg=AFQjCNFuu8TelTfJ6T5G3sG6V5dspYbq7Q&sig2=cIngTGvSbX__fnEkGj8G0Q"><em><em>SouleMama</em></em></a><em>. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. </em><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU0vvvwYGpEPUUooWWG9OPs7mMoHXzqNGqhWmTAZ6hzT3rS852fNL2UU0DTGI2bBDRlbdlViE51iJ48pL7p6M7RDQcl6di59MnV3URISp3sHbWXJJ2GnMciJxt-KFu80eHRpk3oyBWugQ/s1600/11-12-10+030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU0vvvwYGpEPUUooWWG9OPs7mMoHXzqNGqhWmTAZ6hzT3rS852fNL2UU0DTGI2bBDRlbdlViE51iJ48pL7p6M7RDQcl6di59MnV3URISp3sHbWXJJ2GnMciJxt-KFu80eHRpk3oyBWugQ/s640/11-12-10+030.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><em><br />
</em>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-48798195077090609382010-11-05T09:19:00.000-07:002010-11-05T09:19:55.530-07:00This Moment<em>{this moment} - A Friday ritual. Inspired by Amanda Soule at </em><a class="l noline" href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.soulemama.com%2Fsoulemama%2F2010%2F04%2Fthis-moment-3.html&ei=zSvUTKyBAY6inQfKiYyMBg&usg=AFQjCNFuu8TelTfJ6T5G3sG6V5dspYbq7Q&sig2=cIngTGvSbX__fnEkGj8G0Q"><em><em>SouleMama</em></em></a><em>. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. </em><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCwnpfn2qLddw_Pgdx7LnLWMzFgDHGQGDC5jTttIPG8YqdF7RRIoymfkcJHiuUWF2jiKCgxrpmuqKgHEPyh6K9NaYBjVEMsoxwyrxD3agbcbU6uVwSH5KUeZGIlOlNH9eD8aFLPKzzTgM/s1600/11-05-10+014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCwnpfn2qLddw_Pgdx7LnLWMzFgDHGQGDC5jTttIPG8YqdF7RRIoymfkcJHiuUWF2jiKCgxrpmuqKgHEPyh6K9NaYBjVEMsoxwyrxD3agbcbU6uVwSH5KUeZGIlOlNH9eD8aFLPKzzTgM/s400/11-05-10+014.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><em><br />
</em>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-5923902142342624802010-10-27T09:52:00.000-07:002010-10-27T11:17:40.841-07:00A New Beginning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaEBMllql0AJho1Mr8BuSYwkRGXbIetvh4wAKw-Cg6-iGUs8UZIpcEB4Fqj-vCsamjskkJSjoveL1KBMwgp8LuUQ5r0VuXd6JLalTL5Lgc7CCDURr4us4wHhS5CoRlGXmIHjjfo7IECwU/s1600/pregnancy-yoga.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaEBMllql0AJho1Mr8BuSYwkRGXbIetvh4wAKw-Cg6-iGUs8UZIpcEB4Fqj-vCsamjskkJSjoveL1KBMwgp8LuUQ5r0VuXd6JLalTL5Lgc7CCDURr4us4wHhS5CoRlGXmIHjjfo7IECwU/s320/pregnancy-yoga.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We've been on a pretty long hiatus, haven't we? But Om School is not closing its doors. We're making room for a new student, actually. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I've been absent from the blogosphere because we've been sitting on some exciting news for about a month now. I wasn't ready to share with the entire universe until after that first sonogram... and having a little life growing inside me has been just about the only thing I can think of -- so the blogging had to take a back seat. Until now.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We're due in late May and happy to report that Baby Om is growing strong and healthy right on schedule. I'm focusing more on the magical, natural, and spiritual aspects of childbearing this time around. I put down "What to Expect" after the first few pages and instead read Deepak's</span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">,</span><a class="l noline" href="http://www.amazon.com/Magical-Beginnings-Enchanted-Deepak-Chopra/dp/0517702207" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> <i>Magical Beginnings</i>, <i>Enchanted Lives</i></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> from cover to cover in just a few days. Instead of buying into the medicalization of childbearing, I'm emptying my mind and embracing my inner-wisdom. Our bodies know how to do this. Like with so many other things in life, often all we really need is to get out of our own way.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Our schooling has already taken on a new shape... with first trimester challenges like morning sickness and pregnancy fatigue cutting into our usual program, we're learning to be more flexible with our schedule -- a skill we'll certainly need to have mastered by the baby's arrival. We've been embracing our creative energies and looking at </span></span><a class="l" href="http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/books-articles/articles/impermanence/" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><i>impermanence</i></i></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> for our October mindfulness unit. Am's added the soprano recorder to her musical repertoire, continues to enjoy piano, and has advanced a belt in karate. We've been painting, counting by 2s, 3s, 5s, and 10s, and invented a new character, </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">the Can Can Fairy,</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> to help us with the four functions (of math). We've read some amazing books lately -- our favorite being, </span></span><i><a class="l" href="http://www.amazon.com/Turtle-Broken-Truth-Douglas-Wood/dp/0439321093" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Old Turtle and the Broken Truth</a></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i> </i>which I hope to give a full review to here soon.</span></span> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I had all but forgotten what a magical time pregnancy is -- it's a time when our connection to Mama Universe is even more evident... a wondrous time when we're smack dab in the middle of the universe creating itself. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In Magical Beginnings, Chopra writes, "With the birth of every child, the universe chooses to look at itself with fresh eyes." I hope you'll enjoy sharing this new beginning with us. Many blessings to all. </span></span>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-86219558139573612332010-09-21T16:41:00.000-07:002011-09-05T22:10:09.057-07:00Making the Darkness Conscious<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEDLD0mJZYm-U_76Gss2omVNeEsox-pCaU7s1SU-_RcHf8WHbFteC6ZfSU6usSCqKgEUkBgUozJXj4xXPO30thH3pUWneyKFW2HmA9yg86doJWBJzQYp4EUBrmlZG6J4GhJ1sGJpOTXEA/s1600/09-21-10+022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEDLD0mJZYm-U_76Gss2omVNeEsox-pCaU7s1SU-_RcHf8WHbFteC6ZfSU6usSCqKgEUkBgUozJXj4xXPO30thH3pUWneyKFW2HmA9yg86doJWBJzQYp4EUBrmlZG6J4GhJ1sGJpOTXEA/s400/09-21-10+022.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">On our Nature Table: balancing stones, Wild Child by Lynn Plourde, felted acorns, red manzanita bark, and seeds of awareness</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">When we see inner and outer realities as a single continuum, the universe becomes a mirror. This makes life the best teacher. As such, our eyes have been turned towards nature all month. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Autumn is the season of restoring balance. It is a time for letting go and emptying our minds so that we can see with clear eyes. It's the bittersweet end of the abundance season and the beginning of earth’s decline into the resting season.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Autumnal Equinox takes place each year about September twenty-third. The name "equinox" is derived from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night), because around the equinox, the night and day are approximately equally long.<span style="font-size: xx-small;">[i] </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This week, as we enter the time of introspection, we can also begin </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">cultivating equanimity. As Swiss psychologist Carl Jung explained, “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” To honor the Autumnal Equinox, we'll have a candlelight letting-go ritual this week. Here's how: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">When unpleasant events arise, write them down. Become aware of the sensations in your body and the feelings that accompany these situations. Do you raise your shoulders when you feel stress? Does your stomach tighten when you are angry? What happens to your breath when you are anxious? Include these bodily sensations and feelings in your notes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Consider drawing pictures of the things in your life you would like to transform. Examples might be impatience, judgment, negative thinking, or self-doubt. Encourage younger children to remember a time when they felt upset, frustrated, or saddened. Then help them identify the cause of their being upset and express it through artwork. Very young children might express their feelings by experimenting with a variety of colored crayons or by drawing different shapes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">On the evening before the Autumnal Equinox, gather your family together around a candle that you have placed on a large plate. Ask everyone to bring his or her drawings and words. Explain the Equinox to your children: </span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Twice per year, around March 20 or 21 and September 22 or 23, the sun shines directly on the equator and the length of day and night are nearly equal in all parts of the world. We call these two days the March Equinox and the September Equinox. They are the two days of the year when the light is equal to the dark. We have light and dark within us too. The light in us is the part that brings joy to the whole world. The dark is the part of us that experiences sorrow. Equinox is a perfect time for balancing the light and dark within us." </span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Take turns sharing what you wrote or drew. Next, consider turning off the lights and saying a verse like, “Tonight we create a balance of darkness and light. Tonight we make the darkness conscious.” Then light your candle. Take turns placing your drawings and words on the plate by the candle, symbolically bringing light to them and releasing them into the fire. When we use rituals such as this one at home, I say something like, “let us enjoy breathing together.” Then we sit together and cherish the moment. Before blowing out the candle, consider saying, “Now we go forward with balance.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Remember that this exercise is also about cultivating wisdom. Developing awareness of when equanimity is absent helps us learn how to reclaim our balance. We cannot expect to eliminate the darkness; however, we can bring light to it with our awareness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This (2010) equinox is also a full moon, so we've been planting intentions all week. Try sprinkling bird seed in your garden or even on a candle plate like the one shown above. As you release the seeds, state your intentions with a strong, clear voice. "My intention is to listen deeply and use loving speech," or "My intention is to bring balance into my home." As the moon becomes full, her energy helps bring our intentions forth from the depths of our consciousness into the tangible world of our everyday lives.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">[i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equinox</span></span>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-34455720835778151872010-09-19T17:22:00.000-07:002010-09-20T10:33:25.768-07:00Equanimity for Equinox<div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis04AWxQADJgDYqzUOt0GVVM4qfbanjZ0ZBo7Hn94OTox8DheeyCYYdIwaLj_jwT_h874qVzc1hNX1JgEDzm66QhCrwqRj31QKKymYxOUWDXQFdydh918UGk3fovY_O5ER-K-DMGiO1p0/s1600/09-19-10+116.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis04AWxQADJgDYqzUOt0GVVM4qfbanjZ0ZBo7Hn94OTox8DheeyCYYdIwaLj_jwT_h874qVzc1hNX1JgEDzm66QhCrwqRj31QKKymYxOUWDXQFdydh918UGk3fovY_O5ER-K-DMGiO1p0/s320/09-19-10+116.JPG" /></a></div><div style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We've been counting down the days until autumn, enjoying some cool weather, and watching the moon as she grows more and more full each night. This morning we had some fun with a leaf printing project and now we're making a double batch of <a href="http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/roasted_red_pepper_potato_soup/" id="" onmousedown="UntrustedLink.bootstrap($(this), "5f3cf", event);" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Roasted Red Pepper Potato Soup</a> with goodies from our CSA and potatoes from a friend's garden. The windows are open, the breeze is cool, and the the smell of onions, garlic, and peppers roasting in the oven has filled every corner of the house.<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">With equinox approaching, </span>we've been discussing how, like us, the earth must rest -- and that autumn is the beginning of her resting time. We made a big, red, autumn tree and hung it in the classroom with the title, "Equanimity Equinox." On one side of the tree we've written, "give, rest, dark, serious, sad, night, quiet." On the other we've written, "receive, play, light, silly, happy, day, loud." <span style="font-size: small;">We can't have one without the other.</span></div><div style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsEvVG9an_PGDm_-k0-ngUR0yJmzytKTGVhinaZh8jgTuo_8ZljlKKGSNoVEU-GC9ybdT8SDw0rRzjVAhyphenhyphenlIjyfz0KhwtA9tQdcbmJ8VKmTIZoQ42AXxCdt4Dxn0ijy0BYpr1F4U7Kcco/s1600/09-19-10+105.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsEvVG9an_PGDm_-k0-ngUR0yJmzytKTGVhinaZh8jgTuo_8ZljlKKGSNoVEU-GC9ybdT8SDw0rRzjVAhyphenhyphenlIjyfz0KhwtA9tQdcbmJ8VKmTIZoQ42AXxCdt4Dxn0ijy0BYpr1F4U7Kcco/s320/09-19-10+105.JPG" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;">I've also been reading up on </span><a class="l vst" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michaelmas" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','1','AFQjCNFU4i7gHWO4mKWiIsaGoftE_SALYA','A7axxW-dbNwi8zdt6YuFRA','0CB0QFjAA')"><i><i>Michaelmas</i></i></a><span style="font-size: small;"> lately. </span>Michael is the "greatest of all the archangels and is honored for his defeat of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer" title="Lucifer">Lucifer</a> in the battle for the heavens in the Bible.<span style="font-size: small;">" (from Wiki). Waldorf schools also use Michaelmas to teach students the importance of using courage to prepare for the colder, darker, winter months. I'd like to give this a sacred feminine twist. Maybe we'll tweak it into a goddess subduing a dragon. Maybe we'll just forgo this festival altogether and have our own celebration to honor Persephone's return to the underworld.</span></div><div style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"Greek mythology tells us that, each year as <a class="l" href="http://www.crystal-cure.com/persephone.html" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','4','AFQjCNFPxcPknaa4kVDd6h9Mfi5veS3KJw','0q_sLIiF9_bNvR7dVeFtCA','0CCMQFjAD')"><i>Persephone</i></a> left to join her husband in the underworld, the goddess Demeter would begin to grieve, bringing on the cold, barren winters. But a few months later Persephone, the goddess associated with awakening, would return to bring spring and its verdant growth in her wake . . . thus were the seasons established."<span style="font-size: small;"> (read more</span><a class="l" href="http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/greek_goddess_persephone.htm" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','1','AFQjCNHdrbb9MXqSMxaKx2tTkP7qXIHeXA','G2HSp96v4V-K6KLfAewNVg','0CBYQFjAA')"><i><i> here</i></i></a><span style="font-size: small;">.)</span></div><div style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is the beauty of archetypal stories. The names and places change, but the message is the same. Each of us must, for a time, plummet into darkness and face our demons. In the darkness, we find the light. No life can be without a measure of darkness and without it, the light would lose meaning. In autumn we begin our descent into the dark half of the year. We can't stop it. All we can do is make it conscious and trust that spring will come again. This is the how balance is created.</span></div><br />
<div style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyLFzSLjI5Xfgu3YW5NZQu2G2p68RRole4LJnMCqLYlFfFv92keofY7BR1AjewwDq1mslgIIKprsbm3JOKD-JnQEdP8u1Cykf1rUP2ObBD5fb7sKXOEn6qir77ftp3pDhy3ZQXA_ceQng/s1600/09-19-10+126.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyLFzSLjI5Xfgu3YW5NZQu2G2p68RRole4LJnMCqLYlFfFv92keofY7BR1AjewwDq1mslgIIKprsbm3JOKD-JnQEdP8u1Cykf1rUP2ObBD5fb7sKXOEn6qir77ftp3pDhy3ZQXA_ceQng/s320/09-19-10+126.JPG" /></a></div>Still, I think it's important for our daughters to hear stories that speak directly to their experiences.<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> Hero stories greet us at every turn... but what of the heroine? Persephone's story seems more fitting for us, I think. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I guess I'm still undecided about Michaelmas. For now we're just experiencing the change of seasons, watching the moon grow, and seeing ourselves reflected in each autumn leaf.</span></div>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-2829486204182946152010-09-14T09:35:00.000-07:002010-09-14T09:35:39.079-07:00Finding Center<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTaSeKwBPWkFxCNVhv-mi6T9ccLT6nGwPBUO9KsTs6D9nlnRjEHZemPG0GD1ydT-IBX-67MLubdfLA_vpcnTCFFQbKSSpYl8vUcox-300FS8D4K1U6JnGBb_z4cfr6ns54YXif6NaOVLE/s1600/100_2157.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTaSeKwBPWkFxCNVhv-mi6T9ccLT6nGwPBUO9KsTs6D9nlnRjEHZemPG0GD1ydT-IBX-67MLubdfLA_vpcnTCFFQbKSSpYl8vUcox-300FS8D4K1U6JnGBb_z4cfr6ns54YXif6NaOVLE/s320/100_2157.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">When my little one started talking at eight months, I was mesmerized and quickly got on the "more-better-faster" cultural bandwagon of early childhood education. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">By the time she was one, I'd filled the bath tub with foam letters and began forming three letter words during bath-time. At bed-time I'd read slowly while pointing to the words on the chunky cardboard pages -- emphasizing the sounds of the letters and their place on the page. I made everything I could into a learning game, "one ladybug plus two ladybugs equals three ladybugs!"<br />
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Before she was two, I'd bought mountains of books and and turned "playing school" into a game. I prefaced everything with it's color, "hand mommy the green ball," "I like Daddy's red shirt," "that's such a pretty brown dog." I mentioned numbers everywhere I saw them, "look at the five-petaled flower," "see the four birds on the fence." I counted the beans on her high chair tray as she ate them, "seven beans minus one bean is six beans!"<br />
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When she learned her shapes and colors before her second birthday, I was thrilled by her capacity for learning. By the time she was three, she was reading and our homeschool was taking form as more than a game we played. Learning together had become our way of life. Each new day was an adventure in learning. </span><br />
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We went on like this for some time. The more she learned, the more work I gave her. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(In hindsight, I think this is where we went wrong.) </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I bought all of the workbooks I could find and sat her down at her desk each morning with phonics and math worksheets while I made breakfast or did dishes. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Before she was five, she'd completed all the workbooks for Kindergarten <i>and</i> First Grade phonics and math. Before Kindergarten was through, she'd mastered the entire </span><a class="l" href="http://www.uiowa.edu/%7Eamreads/teaching_resources/word_ID/fry.html" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','2','AFQjCNHpG4ackVvXQVeLv4n8h75Wp8nb_w','Pm3NwM2miqPhRCqHBi4R5A','0CBkQFjAB')" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><i>Fry's 300</i></i></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> sight word list and was, according to an assesment tool at </span><span id="search" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; visibility: visible;"></span><a class="l vst" href="http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/reading_levels.htm" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','1','AFQjCNE8SHBjucaXx7ir4pqhZyaxqnX5mA','ngFqrHcTQOHeP6RpKDAgxw','0CBIQFjAA')" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><i>Hoagies</i></i></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">, reading at a fourth grade level.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy5ub_qxnVfZAYikjFf5Fb3QUVFfN4AI0g4IAbCbtr1x7gU-nA3AoQvqpGz9YrW64M5mCvqSKcFVm6aWFD-yj0Dvuxo4ES1zaf_lOp-9TtaN36JP_7ra_4FgpG5EDf4EsnMoVJ5LN7rS0/s1600/100_2199.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy5ub_qxnVfZAYikjFf5Fb3QUVFfN4AI0g4IAbCbtr1x7gU-nA3AoQvqpGz9YrW64M5mCvqSKcFVm6aWFD-yj0Dvuxo4ES1zaf_lOp-9TtaN36JP_7ra_4FgpG5EDf4EsnMoVJ5LN7rS0/s320/100_2199.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">But at the same time, I couldn't help but think that this wasn't the the best path. As Kindergarten pressed on, I began to slow down... I began to ask myself, "where does this path lead?" What was I really trying to accomplish here? Isn't there more to nurture in a child than their intellect? How much stress is this causing her? And do I really want my girl sitting at a desk filling out worksheets all of the time? I thought back to the fun we had when she was a toddler -- learning as we went about our day... rather than sitting at a desk with her tiny fingers cramped around a pencil. It was about this time that I really got down to reading about different methods of education and discovered the wonderful world of Waldorf.<br />
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Waldorf's hands on learning approach seemed similar to what we'd been doing in the early years. I liked the "how" -- the method of learning -- but I wasn't sold on the "when." (Waldorf asks us to hold off on the academics until the child is six or seven years old.) I was certainly ready to give up the worksheets -- but I wasn't completely ready to give up on the standards. Waldorf asks us to do just that -- to let go of our pre-formed ideas of<i> how, what, </i>and<i> when</i> our children should be learning and, at least in the early years, embrace a softer, slower pace. In this fast paced world, how does one let their child "fall behind" their peers in school? To answer that question, I had to take a long, hard look at the system and the standards. I had to question <i>why</i> traditional schools were teaching <i>what</i> they were teaching and <i>how</i> they were teaching it. What I found was a strange history and a barrage of voices crying out for an education revolution... <br />
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Voices like </span><a class="l vst" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Holt_%28educator%29" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','4','AFQjCNFIT3_qL-Tkt-sbEA-34d6d-djW4A','gMB4DfnuGhAwZHz4zostIg','0CEEQFjAD')" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><i>John Holt</i></i></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">, an early proponent of homeschool who argued that children do not learn in school because they are afraid of failing... voices like </span><a class="l" href="http://google.ad.sgdoubleclick.net/pagead/nclk?sa=L&ai=1&fadurl=googleads.g.doubleclick.net&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D1%26ved%3D0CBkQFjAA%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.yesmagazine.org%252Fissues%252Flearn-as-you-go%252Ftake-back-your-education%26ei%3DWy2PTNW0L4qmnQek8aWODQ%26usg%3DAFQjCNErydgEtwisr03O5i-xBEpm7kY1Bw%26sig2%3DdyrQ9trinc_H8nNseffCqw&aclck=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.onlinebardirectory.net%2Fsearch.php%3Fkeyword%3DJohn%2BTaylor%2BGatto%2Byes%2Bmagazing" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','1','AFQjCNErydgEtwisr03O5i-xBEpm7kY1Bw','dyrQ9trinc_H8nNseffCqw','0CBkQFjAA')" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><i>John Taylor Gatto</i></i></a> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">who writes, "school often acts as an obstacle to success. To go from the confinement of early childhood to the confinement of the classroom to the confinement of homework, working to amass a record entitling you to a “good” college, where the radical reduction of your spirit will continue, isn’t likely to build character or prepare you for a good life..." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
... voices like </span><a class="l" href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CEAQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ted.com%2Fspeakers%2Fsir_ken_robinson.html&rct=j&q=Sir%20Ken%20Robinson&ei=zS2PTKbkKYyLnAeqttyLDg&usg=AFQjCNFrm1gTjBTwn-M23qy_nDZYKHskUw&sig2=977boWqzi74sQvFzzGN-qw" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','6','AFQjCNFrm1gTjBTwn-M23qy_nDZYKHskUw','977boWqzi74sQvFzzGN-qw','0CEAQFjAF')" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>Sir Ken Robinson</i></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> who argues that the absence of music, art, and dance in our institutionalized schools is educating the creativity right out of our kids... and voices like </span><a class="l vst" href="http://www.oakmeadow.com/" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','1','AFQjCNFjgbDaLxTUWyABQVJLE6N51FFPMg','HJWKAhuKVN3fz-_Pm-XY4A','0CBkQFjAA')" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><i>Lawrence Williams</i></i></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> who writes, "We continue this sad charade generation after generation, crushing the boundless potential of billions of children, yet we never consider trying another approach, an approach which would permit those infinite resources to flow abundantly into the world for the healing of us all."</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">When I look back at these six years, I regret pushing the worksheets and putting so much emphasis on keeping ahead of the standards (without first questioning the origin of those </span><i><a class="l vst" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/13/AR2006111301007.html" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','3','AFQjCNGLH52pREZIy-Ml_zafhUbqXfMDIA','9hybAkc8yeKbalC4GUupoA','0CB8QFjAC')" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">standards</span></a></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>).</i> Those were the things that caused tears, worries, and took the fun out of learning. Those were the things that I think disrupt a child's balanced growth by forcing the intellect too soon -- and this quickly became apparent to me. But the other things we've done (looking for organic learning opportunities in everything we do together, immersion in archetypes, mindfulness, yoga, etc.) worked. I think it's time for all of us to re-evaluate the </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"more-better-faster" model of </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">education. We should </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">take care not to push too hard or neglect the arts in favor of strict academic achievements. Our pendulum needs to swing back to the middle</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnKtgWFd22cpiLmGgRl1KTiKhQWIG-Vs7OChMMY8bwa7kOAlQ-0Pf83Wz9lMoNwFIByyGyfBK8eA38ntUSpP_T-nMq78BNo44cW_9hLHfOxowrKF5ZMCQTCBHj9ppxlyhHWe8Gn_HLJ0/s1600/100_2207.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnKtgWFd22cpiLmGgRl1KTiKhQWIG-Vs7OChMMY8bwa7kOAlQ-0Pf83Wz9lMoNwFIByyGyfBK8eA38ntUSpP_T-nMq78BNo44cW_9hLHfOxowrKF5ZMCQTCBHj9ppxlyhHWe8Gn_HLJ0/s320/100_2207.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">For First Grade we've gone beyond the standards, beyond the books, slowed down, and embraced childhood more fully. We're using the </span><a class="l vst" href="http://www.oakmeadow.com/" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','1','AFQjCNFjgbDaLxTUWyABQVJLE6N51FFPMg','SpNRIk3RHern4lp5FAxE4A','0CBsQFjAA')" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><em>Oak Meadow</em></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> curriculum, </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">keeping it fun, looking at the big picture, and giving A. every chance to express herself artistically in an environment that nurtures more than her mind. Our first nine days have included finger-knitting a dress-up scarf and headband, wet-on-wet watercolor painting, learning Mary Had a Little Lamb on the soprano recorder, beeswax crayon drawing, an array of archetypal stories, a review of the four processes of math with a story about The Four Gnomes (named Plus, Minus, Times, and Divide), nature walks and setting up a nature table, pressing flowers, watching the moon and learning about its phases, making a September calendar for our classroom, playing memory games with the contents of our </span><a class="l vst" href="http://www.riverdogfarm.com/" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','1','AFQjCNFqyIpaDdv6PBALzP1v4lDzBG3O3Q','dLjYWslARLDpt0tyAWp04g','0CBIQFjAA')" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><i>CSA Veggie Box</i></i></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> (while learning about eating locally, organically, & seasonally), and making time for plenty of imaginative play with natural toys and playsilks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">With the Autumn Equinox taking place this year on September 23rd, our mindfulness unit this month is Equanimity (</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">or</span><a class="l" href="http://www.buddhanet.net/ss06.htm" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','5','AFQjCNEDltOFHC5hQFfoz9GrRqYAjrYg0A','w0jOAMi1Ce0f51pCqu_mcQ','0CDAQFjAE')" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> <i>upekkha</i></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> in the Indic language of Pali). Equanimity is the capacity for experiencing whatever is happening with composure of mind and heart. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It is the ability to resist extremes and balance gracefully in the middle-ness. As the days become equal to the night, we are practicing becoming aware of our own dark and light moments and learning how we can experience both with equanimity. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I hope to make time for writing more about our Equanimity Unit soon. In the meantime, I'm continuing to find my own center and come back to it again and again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span> </span>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284669638253928509.post-37077841942899030542010-09-02T19:07:00.000-07:002010-10-01T21:32:15.734-07:00Day Fourteen {Meditation Challenge}: Lovingkindness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlXPhBgMUjdaHTIybTcWIW_8JNAVTGMhI8tefZUgmEjv16DnTFbbVXZ5d7i09tjj041LO9twzKSJOp_p8VdhLcTnULFnS6ehQbY8rHD6A4lvex-6DzPONYTAfyHCMjk-1OFIT10oURli0/s1600/Mom+and+Am+Goat+Rock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlXPhBgMUjdaHTIybTcWIW_8JNAVTGMhI8tefZUgmEjv16DnTFbbVXZ5d7i09tjj041LO9twzKSJOp_p8VdhLcTnULFnS6ehQbY8rHD6A4lvex-6DzPONYTAfyHCMjk-1OFIT10oURli0/s320/Mom+and+Am+Goat+Rock.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Becoming a parent has the power to transform us completely. Our heart opens to a real unconditional love. We gain strength from caring for our children and from loving them so completely -- so freely, without judgment, and with a boundless heart. Before becoming a mama, I didn't know that my heart was capable of loving like this... of supporting so much and wanting so little in return. This human heart is an amazing thing. </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">If the breeze just brought you by, today is the last day of our <a class="l" href="http://om-school.blogspot.com/2010/08/retreat-within-14-day-meditation.html" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','2','AFQjCNHbe7pNj8ef5IPJJIUsIgI1o2lEhg','xjhEb6bORXNNS6teQwjQcw','0CBgQFjAB')"><i>14 Day Meditation Challenge</i></a>. I hope you'll enjoy the posts now archived here. If you've been with us all along, thank you! Sharing thoughts and reflections here has been a real joy. </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Today's practice is my absolute favorite. I hope you'll try this one and consider sharing it with your kids. It asks us to visit that place that being a parent sparks... that place where we love with our whole heart. </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">To begin, sit comfortably with your eyes closed. Breathe gently and imagine yourself sitting between two people who love you. Visualize yourself receiving this love and recite a few phrases such as these:</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="mainText"><i> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">May I be filled with lovingkindness.</span></i></div><div class="mainText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i> May I be safe from inner and outer dangers.</i></div><div class="mainText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i> May I be well in body and mind.</i></div><div class="mainText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i> May I be at ease and happy.</i></div><div class="mainText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="mainText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">As you repeat these phrases, picture yourself as you are now and hold that image in lovingkindness. </div><div class="mainText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="mainText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Next, imagine someone you love -- your children, your spouse, or a dear friend -- and radiate this lovingkindness to them. Repeat the same phrases, </div><div class="mainText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></div><div class="mainText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></div><div class="mainText"><i> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">May you be filled with lovingkindness.</span></i></div><div class="mainText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i> May you be safe from inner and outer dangers.</i></div><div class="mainText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i> May you be well in body and mind.</i></div><div class="mainText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i> May you be at ease and happy.</i></div><div class="mainText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="mainText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Then picture a neutral person<i> - </i>someone with whom you have few associations - and repeat your phrases for them. Next, bring to mind someone with whom you've had difficulties. Picture this person in your mind and hold that image in lovingkindness while repeating your phrases. Jack Kornfield writes, "as your heart opens, first to loved ones and friends, you will find that in the end you won't want to close it anymore."</div><div class="mainText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="mainText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The next step is imagining all four -- yourself, a loved one, a neutral one, and a difficult one -- and radiating lovingkindness to all four. Finally, allow your heart to open completely and radiate this love to the whole earth. Something that I've really enjoyed is holding a picture in my mind of the Earth as our mother and giving her and all of the children who have grown from her -- all plants, animals, & people -- my lovingkindness.</div><div class="mainText" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In the three-minute video below, Sylvia Boorstein, a co-founding teacher at <a class="l vst" href="http://www.spiritrock.org/" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','1','AFQjCNF0c9SHfxcPFaLBA3R_nQ_LxaMTag','qb-4x-q19ySbjBGyf-cWLA','0CBIQFjAA')"><i>Spirit Rock Meditation Center</i></a>,<i></i> gives a beautiful demonstration of lovingkindness mediation. <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></div><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">For a seven minute long mediation with Sylvia, click </i></span><i><a class="l" href="http://www.beliefnet.com/Health/2000/07/Opening-The-Heart.aspx" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','1','AFQjCNGnB2zxpX0OLbVxmt2fxuajTWpTWQ','kWOUwcMkb80xzAWzokJ1dg','0CBIQFjAA')"><i><i><i>here.</i></i></i></a></i><span style="font-size: small;"><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> For more information, also see <a class="l" href="http://www.sharonsalzberg.com/" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','1','AFQjCNFpMuTkBZ5hEaYvrKZK2Yshhkn9UA','PvGARn0ByqM2AfriIcNkHQ','0CCYQFjAA')"><i><i>Sharon Salzberg's</i></i></a> <i><i></i></i>website and pick up her book, <a class="l" href="http://www.amazon.com/Lovingkindness-Revolutionary-Happiness-Sharon-Salzberg/dp/1570621764" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','1','AFQjCNE-VnScZq8iNV3J4ndyKmY09NmMkQ','snkjS2raiTUkcbhUPh_dOw','0CBIQFjAA')"><i>Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness.</i></a> For</i><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i></i><i> more on </i><a class="l vst" href="http://www.buddhanet.net/metta_k.htm" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','1','AFQjCNGM1kxxBuLX6DNkZmL1qEPYf82Pwg','93rftnmAs74In5FIBYQTZA','0CBIQFjAA')"><i></i>Loving-kindness Meditation for <i>Children,</i></a><i> visit </i>Gregory Kramer's site at http://www.buddhanet.net/metta_k.htm</i></span><i> </i><br />
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</i></div>OmMommyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130837507200112009noreply@blogger.com