i am learning more and more about homeschool and meeting more and more homeschooling parents. it's inspiring and the resources are bountiful. that's good and bad -love that all the resources i need AND more are out there, the downside to that is how do i slow my mind down to grasp just enough of what i need and be satisfied to work with that. i am mama bear, remember? i want to hoard it all and save more than enough for the winter. i'm learning in all of this the meaning behind "keep it simple".
my children's education has been my thought and responsibility before i had them. i guess to stay head above water, i have to keep in constant mind that i can only tackle today and focus on each year -one year at a time. i tend to overwhelm myself with the full picture from start to finish.
i met another homeschooling mother turned preschool teacher just the other day and she gave me some sound advice that not only inspired me, but she gave me a sense of peace that i could do this if i really wanted to. she has homeschooled all 3 of her children, successfully. i guess more reading and research is going to gain me the confidence i need to push through and do this. so far the idea of homeschooling keeps resurfacing, just as i think i am putting it to rest -hmmm, i must continue to listen to my gut, it nudges me for good reason.
papa bear and i randomly talk about this subject in light doses because i tend to go overboard and indulge in a way that i do not know when to turn it down a notch or off. not that i want to turn it off and be done, that will never happen. i do know that i am learning more and more and surrounding myself with the right resources. if i sound like i am talking in circles, maybe i am, but how else can i wrap myself around this and get it out on paper, in a sense, to better understand it all.
i have this dream, as most of us do.... it consists of this:
one day i am going to hold in my hands an acoustic guitar -knowing how to play. i am going to be surrounded with little children in a studio that i will have papa bear construct for me somehow. this will be a place that children of all ages can come after school or during preschool age and just let their creative energy merge with freedom to just capture them and take them to a place of musical rhapsody. we'll make up silly songs, make our own instruments and dance and sing and be merry with music. why am i telling you all this? because if i don't write it down somewhere, then how will it come to life? this is my blog, my thoughts.
my 2 inspirations today were these 2 sites:
http://thatartistwoman.blogspot.com/http://teaching2and3yearolds.blogspot.com/in conjunction with meeting the homeschooling mother, kelly the other day.
it started off as an email in my account this morning from gail at "the artist woman". she has extraordinary art projects for any age, really. her art is just the kind of art projects i need in my life right now. so then i noticed a blog she follows, "teaching 2 and 3 year olds". that just said a big hello! to me.. and then the rest of the morning took it's course. -me going from one blog to the next, the inspiration racing through my veins. so somewhere along the way, i read to blog/write down a word, thought or something each day. now this was a teacher giving another teacher advice, or it was a blog entry of some sort -i don't remember exactly, i read so many things this morning, but it hit me like a ton of bricks. i needed to get some of my own creative, motivational thoughts out.
i've realized more than anything that i want to homeschool my children, or at least be very present in their education and in their everyday lives, no matter what their age. right now they are 6 1/2 months and just shy of 3 years. so what can i do with that? take more initiative and be inspired by my surroundings. here i am on vacation and in the midst of traveling around, for a big move in our lives, so i can't help but want to nurture them more and make sure i am not missing a beat of their lives. the thing i fell in love with when reading the blog:
http://teaching2and3yearolds.blogspot.com/was how simple this preschool teacher made it for her little students. these are things i can do. so why aren't i doing them? i am naturally drawn to the organic way of doing things, less is more, no commercialized "typical" toys for my kids, use what we have, imagination is your god given tool -so use it! all these things envelope the way i want to raise my babies into adulthood. so i guess today is my awakening.....
we're going to visit a pumpkin patch and apple orchard, where my precious daughter, sister bear has been waiting for since we arrived to NY. she loved her some apples since she was a seed of her own in my belly.
thanks for listening.
So this is the 3rd year in a row that we have come to visit my mom in the fall. This year seems to be the best time of all, only because there is a short window of when you can enjoy the beautiful, vibrantly colored leaves on all the gorgeous trees. I've decided that this is going to become a traditional visit each year for sister bear. Well, as long as Nonni lives here at least....
A fond lover of trees, I can photograph/hug them all day long.
Even little brother bear got in on the leaf collecting!
I am more the cabin/mountain/breathe fresh crisp air/hike a hill/nature walking/cold air loving kinda gal.... so the transition from Florida to Texas is going quite smoothly, since our next stop is..... Oklahoma to stay with Nana for a while. We'll enjoy some more fresh cool weather with pretty sites as well -including my favorite holiday, HALLOWEEN! I see more nature walks and more outdoor activities to be had! Come along, if you'd like.........
