the love we left behind

It’s good to be home.  But it’s bittersweet in so many ways. There are many things we miss about Miami but first and foremost is the amazing community of homeschoolers that we were so lucky to fall in with.  Not long after we got to Miami we discovered the Global Field Academy and the families there welcomed us in with open arms.  Not just open arms, open hearts, open minds and lots of love.

The girls made friends for a lifetime.  Field trips and adventures, play dates and incredible new experiences.  Every moment bolstered their confidence and made us fall in love with our fellow humans again and again.  

It was fun to watch our country girls fall in so easily with these city kids and see these city kids completely embrace our country girls.  It was like they couldn’t get enough of each other. They showed us how to dance, we showed them how to knit. And when we left there were many tears (mine too) and promises to make visits again both here and there.  We truly intend to keep these friendships alive.

Thank you GFA for being our light in the storm, you don’t know how much it meant to us.  We miss you all.

crazy critters of the sea

 Blue Button Jellyfish

 Nudibranch “Sea Slug”

Burr Pufferfish

 Kite Boarders

 Sea Sponge

 Sail By the Wind Jellyfish

 Portuguese Man O War

vernon county fair

  

Last weekend was the local county fair.  It’s a big deal around here.  Schools are closed on Friday so everyone can go to the fair.  And if you have livestock in one of the barns you are excused from school on Thursday too!  When I was a kid, I lived for the fair.  For probably 4 years running I somehow talked my parents into borrowing a trailer and carting my horse to the fair. Horses stay in the horse barn for 4 nights and days and during that time you are expected to be there to feed, water, exercise, muck stalls etc.  So now I got to live AT the fair.  Dakota and I were never very good in the show ring, but I didn’t care. The pay off of spending 12 hours daily at the fair was just too big.

This year Iris really wanted to show her pony, but we decided to start out a little smaller for our first year of showing.  The girls joined a local 4H chapter and Iris started 4H sponsored obedience classes with Phinn.  He was mostly a rascal, but they both learned a lot (and he pulled off a surprising 1st place merit in his (beginner) class.  Disclaimer: there were only 4 kids in that class and all the dogs were rascals!).  Iris was thrilled and I could see by the way she carried herself (with so much poise in the show ring) that this was clearly a confidence builder. 

Elsa really wanted to show her cat (and yes they do have cat showing), but she wasn’t quite old enough to show an animal (next year!).  So she settled for entering a poster about her cat, as well as a knife she carved out of birch wood.  This was also a great learning experience.  Elsa had to meet with a judge and answer questions about each of her projects.  She really didn’t want to do that part.  But as we walked out of the youth building with a couple first place ribbons she said “I’m really glad I came”. 

And then there were the rides, and the fried cheese curds, and the ice cream, and the lemonade and friends and the inspiration of barns full of other kids projects.  We didn’t spend 12 hours a day there (thankfully) but the kids sure would have loved that.   The ball is rolling, we’ll see what next year brings….

learning outside the box

When you school at home, learning can look like so many things.  Sometimes it looks like studying parts of speech at the kitchen table.  But sometimes it looks like decorating your parents bedroom.  Doing writing assignments while you walk and look at your shadows on the road.   It looks like taking a drawing class that your dad teaches for homeschoolers at the local library, or spending the day babysitting a little buddy. 

 

 

It also looks like every Tuesday afternoon (for 22 weeks!) volunteering at the Vernon County Humane Society (more shameless proud mama photos at that link).  Filling water, cleaning cages, doing laundry, walking dogs, making artistic decorations and loving, loving up all the cats.  Many thanks to their awesome Nonnie for this fabulous idea.  These girls count the days each week until “Nonnie Day” which they spend with her at the Humane Society.  They have really taken the responsibility seriously.  They get right to work when they get there, asking the staff questions and taking charge of what needs doing.  The director says that as soon as they can drive they’ve got a job.  We are just to happy to see them really owning and enjoying this opportunity.

And this is Otis.  He needs a home.  His tongue always sticks out.  He is sweet as pie. 
You should adopt him. 

the morning after

The morning after the election I took my camera outside to look for beauty.  It was everywhere.  It bolstered my spirits and helped me feel ready to answer the girl’s questions.

We scrapped spelling and math and for much of the morning I tried to answer their questions about “why?” and “how?”.  We watched a video about the electoral college and the popular vote.  For a long time we talked about why we still live in a world where a woman can work her whole life to become entirely qualified for a position and still lose out to a man who is not qualified at all.  (They can add “glass ceiling” to their vocabulary list now.)

We talked about how so many people; women, African Americans, Hispanics, Muslims, LGBT folk, to name a few, are feeling even more devalued then ever.  And I said, “it makes me want to work harder for equality” and Iris said, “it’s actually kind of exciting, it makes me want to work harder too.”  Thank goodness, because this is surely their work.

We talked about how we don’t always win and how we need to still walk out into the world with kindness and compassion.  We invoked Iris’ recent image of Dumbledore (Harry Potter reference) and how he “always tries to see the best in everyone”.

We watched Hillary’s concession speech and the girls were riveted feeling the power of her words aimed directly at them. “To all the little girls watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world.”

And I think we left the morning feeling ready to walk out there.  Knowing that this life is a learning experience every step of the way.  And we felt the comfort of each other and of course the old dog snoozing in the sun.

spoon carving

Andy continues his love of spoon carving and last weekend at the Driftless Folk School spoon gathering, the girls got into it too.  It was sweet to watch.  Two days of carving, listening in as the adults talked (and talked) about carving, taking a break to play with friends and carving some more.  On the last afternoon the carvers gathered in a big circle, each with a spoon blank.  Everyone began carving a spoon and then every ten minutes they would pass it to the person to their left.  That went on for over an hour and then when they called “time” you passed once more and that was the spoon you got to keep.  Iris really enjoyed her part in that carving circle and ended up with the sweet heart spoon.  You can see it in the photo of the circle of spoons.

It felt like a great kick-off to the school year.  A weekend of eagerly leaning into learning something new. And now we are also playing math games, making fall art, reading, reading, reading and much more.  It’s so fun to school with these girls! 

The week ahead brings a birthday celebration (10!) and visits with family and friends.  We’ll soak up each moment just like we do these days of late summer sunshine.   Andy is feeling well and our hearts are positive.  His next scan comes soon too.  Amid the worry there is still so much love and joy that carry us along.

road trip

We’ve hatched some plans, we’re hitting the road. This one is all Andy (o.k, I added a few essentials to the list, like hand-sanitizer and lawnchairs) but he’s the dreamer and planner on this one.

After more than a year of sitting tight, focusing inward and devoting our time to healing, this feels good.  Healing is still forefront of course, but this is healing too.  Forward momentum, a bit of outward focus, nature exploration, and watching the world bloom in our girls eyes. I think it’s what we all need right now.

Not a day passes when we don’t realize how fortunate we are to be in this space now, beyond treatment and looking forward. To have all the love and support holding us tight.

Not one of us knows what the future holds.  The time is now.

So off we go….stay tuned we’ll try to send some love from the road.

Blessings.

winter retreat

Last weekend found us all in Madison for the Wisconsin Suzuki Association Winter Retreat.  We had a wonderful time.The girls played and listened to amazing music all weekend with about 200 other young Suzuki musicians, they made new friends, ran around like crazy with old ones, swam, rode the elevators up and down (and up and down), ate at a yummy Moroccan restaurant, and learned new skills along the way.  It was so awesome to have Andy there with us, feeling well.

Today we are back in the hospital for day two of this three day treatment.  It’s hard to see him feeling so yucky again after the strength of the past several weeks, but still we embrace this step with endurance and resilient hope.

The days are growing slowly longer, and as we await the rejuvenating power of spring, we settle into the quiet healing of winter.  Keeping ourselves right here, right now, with just the right amount of energy moving us forward toward that light.

homeschooling now

School is still a combination of things around here.  There is some of what you remember school to look like:  workbooks at the table.  There are also reading groups (comprised of Iris, Elsa, Andy and me).  This season there is a day spent with another homeschooling family- a day of group learning, and science experiments.  There is still Monday group just like the past 4 years.  There is Nonnie day for baking bread, learning about darkest Peru (after reading Paddington), art class on Wednesdays, and music lessons once a week.

There is still staying up late to watch the harvest moon eclipse (with self directed journaling!), and archaeology digs under the side porch, and monarch life cycle observation, and housekeeping outdoors, and calculating how many felted cookie cutter shapes you need to make and sell to grandparents to earn enough money to buy a horse.

I’m sure some people wonder how we pull it off these days.  And the truth is, of course, that some days we don’t. Still Iris’ reading has exploded, she loves math  (I’ll take that any day, no matter how slow her memorization of facts), she is eager to learn about ancient history, and world religion.  They both love story so much.  They re-enact what they see and hear in books and bring that learning alive in a way I never had a chance to do while I sat at my desk at school.  Their British accents are impeccable, their Balinese dancing and costume exquisite, their knowledge of horse care and horsemanship growing by the day.   Are they “behind” in some things?  I’m sure.  Will they fill in the gaps when they need to?  Absolutely.

Despite the hardships, or maybe because of them, homeschooling is still so right for us right now.  When your dad is on the couch and can’t get up because he is bone tired from chemo treatments and it hurts just to look at him, it’s good to go to a friend’s and let out your worry and fear by playing wounded soldier or orphan slaves all day.  When you dad is finally up and at em again, it’s good to settle in on the couch and read about magical worlds, and draw pictures from ancient times together, and contemplate in small ways why life works like this. Hard things happening to good people.

These girls are so tuned in to their world, so observant.  Sometimes that translates into noticing the first ripe tomatoes in the garden or finding the eggs where the wily hen has hidden them.  And sometimes that translates into holding the grief and worry you feel in your house.  It means now more than ever, they need the comfort that has always been home, they need us, their grandparents, their good friends.  We are all holding them, and teaching them, and learning with them.  Homeschooling for love and comfort.  What a blessing.

right now

We are still hearing the sweet music of two girls who are so excited they can now play tunes together.  And remembering a lovely weekend with good friends.

We are recovering from the news that Andy’s round of treatment, scheduled for this week, is delayed until next week due to a small infection around his port (this is the device that was installed under his skin through which he can receive chemo.  I always think it sounds like where the spaceship should land.  Maybe it does.)  The infection is being watched closely and he is on antibiotics, of course.

We are making loads of kimchi and packing it away for winter.

We are watching as Iris embraces mornings of more formal learning, and enjoying her thirst for information now that reading has become easy.  

We are coaxing Mae into homeschool Kindergarten even though she is still so distracted by the cat.

We are occasionally staying up late to watch really stupid movies that make us laugh.

We are usually going to bed really early because we are exhausted by everything and want to get up before daylight to meditate, read, write and focus for the day.

We are enjoying Andy’s health, energy and well being this week.  We are allowing it to lift our hearts and spirits and pull us forward.