Sunday, January 23, 2011

life.lately






my energies lately have revolved around studio work, nesting and eli and this new homeschool venture.   i feel in a real good place with enhabiten (although i am very low on materials and need to spend time searching the antique shops and auctions this week).  i did some furniture rearranging and bought some new curtains which i am relatively happy with.  and eli is feeling good and doing the homeschool thing.

we have a history with homeschooling...ethan, my oldest, didn't go to school until 2nd grade and liv started in 1st grade.  also, eli did spend 1/2 a year recently at home...he has not been happy in school for some time.  he's never had a problem socially but has always been bored and uninspired academically. 

over the years i developed a pretty strong opinion about learning and education and i read everything i could get my hands on on the topic.  i think the seeds of it came from having little babies and reading mothering magazine and realizing my views on most everything were "alternative".  then i read every john holt book, the old "growing without schooling" magazines, etc. etc. 

but i found that sometimes ideals do not fit well into real life and circumstances.  this was a hard lesson to learn.  i tend to form opinions and then they take on a life of their own.  when i believe in something i really believe in it.  if i feel that something is right, at least for me and my family, i have a hard time not living in the way that i imagine.

i don't know if i am explaining this properly...

anyway, as i realized that what was in my head was not necessarily going to play out in my real life i adapted and moved on.  my kids have all gone to public school.  they've done ok.  but with eli being unhappy for so long it wasn't going to be an option to make him continue.  i am working from home and he is a real bright and capable kid...so i think we will be able to be able to blend the two...him learning and me working.

he is taking some online courses the next few months and then over the summer we will consider how to approach it.  he's also getting back into playing music.  he wants to take some art classes with a friend of mine.  we plan to do some volunteer work.  he's currently fascinated with snakes and luckily a friend of his dad's is involved in a project of radio tracking some black racer snakes when they come out of hibernation.  eli is pumped to take part in this.  so that is where we are at with this.

also over the past week i've worked on knitting rag balls...i've collected a good stash of them.  i love the material but there are challenges.  for one, they are musty and require some good cleaning.  two, antique fabric is often brittle.  i'm not certain yet if what i'm making is sturdy enough to be a rug.  as an alternative i'm making some chair pads.  i love the way they look.  they should be in the shop sometime soonish.

and this is getting long but have you already figured out that i'm a big documentary film fan?  last night we watched solitary confinement.   heavy stuff.  i guess i like heavy stuff.  i would recommend this one.  if you have any doc. films you think i should watch let me know.
xx
L

12 comments:

lillyella said...

wow your hair is really growing! I love it. Good luck with all your adventures. My husband and I have debated about homeschooling, though we have no kids yet, we will certainly visit the possibility if/when the time comes. I cant say Ive ever seen many documentaries, but I think I'd enjoy them. Maybe Ill check out the one you recommended. Happy new year!
xo nicole

Maria Casteel said...

i was homeschooled and loved the freedom it gave me to explore my own interests. i appreciate your decision :)

amy merrick said...

Looks like life is looking good.

Cindy said...

I can relate to what you've said about ideas taking on a life of their own. I've homeschooled my two boys since I first came across an ad for Oak Meadow in Mothering magazine (@ 20 years ago), and read everything I could get my hands on, including John Holt, GWS mags, and Waldorf philosophy. Life turned out to be quite different from what I got into my head about it, but it's worked out quite well, even though it never looked like anything that I thought it 'should' look like :-).

I like your description of the rug turning into chair pads...this is pretty much how homeschooling has gone for me...if that makes sense ;-).

I watched The Stoning of Soraya M. the other night...oh so heavy of a subject, hard to watch some of it, but so meaningful and important to see. I'll keep the one you mentioned in mind when I've digested Soraya's story.

Good luck with home-learning...it sounds like you're going to have fun!

nicole said...

I love documentaries too! I would highly recommend "Deep Water", about the first solo sailing race around the world. It's astounding:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePAfjxI4rws

I haven't seen "Solitary Confinement" yet. I'll have to check it out.

Michelle @ Give a Girl a Fig said...

Rivers and Tides about artist Andy Goldsworthy...I thought it was amazing.

And I think your hair looks really cute! I also agree with you about our kids and school...I was considering home schooling my 13 year old...but it just isn't falling into place as of yet. He is like your son...fine socially, and very smart...and BORED out of his mind...which then leads to not paying attention, tuning it out, etc. We'll see how this next semester goes... Sounds like you are off to a great start with your son...I wish you both the best in your home school endeavor.

jodi said...

I won't get started about education (I'm an unemployed K-8 teacher who is smack in the middle of deciding whether the ailing public school system is where I want to be anyway) but will wish you the best of luck with homeschooling. I've seen incredible things happen when there is space & freedom.

As to documentaries - have you seen Devil's Playground? It's about the Amish teens going through their exploratory period called "rumspringa" before deciding if they want to be baptised and commit to the Amish lifestyle. I love any chance to peek into their world & this is super interesting. I also recently watched Exit Through The Giftshop which is about Banksy & other street artists. It wasn't the best movie ever, but some of those artists blow me away!

steph said...

Cute hair, sort of Ally McBealish...Documentaries, oh yes: Collapse,Tapped,The Parking Lot Movie, They Came to Play, Tides and Rivers, Art & Copy, South of the Border.
Enjoy!

Rikkianne said...

You are beautiful.

I want to recommend the doc. Man On Wire (Philippe Petit)

Kim said...

I have a collection of mirrors just like this one. Love them. I started with my grandmas and now have 5.
All the children I know who are homeschooled are really smart and they love learning so much..they beg for more..don't hear that very often from public school kids

Chloe said...

As usual, I'm living in a parallel universe to yours. We just decided to homeschool our daughters. I'm always so glad to hear your thoughts on, well any subject it seems. Love the pic of you, Pretty.

rebecca said...

hi
movies i have watched and loved lately
--the diving bell and the butterfly
--departures
--30 days (morgan sperlock)
i watched the ones on
guns /and coal miners/ and indian reservation they are streaming on netfix