Living Life

Colwyn has been doing well with the Singapore book. He's got the shapes down pat, especially with the extra reinforcement that all the playdough-playing they've been doing recently has given them. We moved onto numeral recognition which is easy for him, too. Recently, we were doing some oral math, which is a pretty routine part of our day, and I decided to write down the numbers and signs, so he's gotten a little exposure to math sentences now.

We've gotten back into the habit of feeding the birds and squirrels. I'm thinking of seeing if the kids want to keep some sort of nature journal and record what they see out at the bird feeder. It might be fun to have them draw some of the birds they see.

Lachlann surprised me the other day by singing the ABCs. He did quite well. I need to remember that he's getting older now and might appreciate some more effort from me. Hmm.

Our homeschool group is still going well. We're having people at our house this week for a little Valentine's Day party. The kids will decorate 'mailboxes' and exchange cards, and then have some cupcakes or something. Two weeks ago everyone came over here for some Imbolc activities.. it was pretty much a bust, except for the ice cream I gave the kids as a special surprise. The activities I had planned really didn't hold a candle to the epic Star Wars battle they were involved in. Oh well.

Happy Beltaine!

Today is Beltaine for us pagans, so we decided to do some work in the garden. We went to the grocery store first thing this morning to get milk and sushi for lunch, and also picked up two potted plants for our altar, a hanging plant for the deck, a pack of marigolds, and some broccoli seeds.

When we got home, we turned the compost, then started gathering sticks for a fairy house. I figured we'd dedicate one square foot to the Fey, so we made a ring of sticks, with an opening for a doorway. I still don't know what we'll use for a roof (if we make one at all). Here are the boys helping:





And this is the fairy house after I planted the marigolds and Colwyn added some straw for a bed:



I'd like to try to find a way to rig up one of our wind chimes nearby. It would also be nice to add a dish for water or milk.. I'll have to see if I have one small enough. After we finished the fairy house, we planted broccoli seeds in two of the squares. In another two weeks, I'll plant another square or two with broccoli, and another one with carrots. One of the benefits of SFG is staggering your plantings so you have more of a continuous harvest, rather than everything maturing all at once.

The seeds that we started a week ago are doing pretty well. All of the spinach has sprouted, but still nothing on the peas. Here are the boys watering them:



Our big 4'x8' bed is only half full of soil.. I need to wait for Doug to help me mix up another batch of the special mix. When that's done, I can plant some more salad greens, and in another week or so I can plant the rest of the seeds.

The boys have been enjoying the warm weather and the opportunity to play with the sand table. Here's a quick picture of them getting all sandy:

Creating Rockets and Coloring Eggs

So we are pagan homeschoolers! ;) Here the kids are coloring eggs for Ostara.





Our mega project for the week was transforming a box into a space ship. We cut a door out of the back and a windshield out of the front. We left the windshield as more of a flap and attached a string to it so Colwyn can pull the string from inside and the windshield will open. We also made several dials and Colwyn taped them to the inside, just underneath the windshield.



I printed out a bunch of pictures of planets and nebulae and whatnot, and we taped those inside to serve as windows. We wrote the kids names on the ceiling, and punched holes to make constellations. Colwyn and Lachlann both colored on it quite a bit, too. For the first time, Colwyn spontaneously told me he was making certain letters (of course, they didn't look like letters, but it's the thought that counts).



We attached a metal measuring cup to the box with a string for Colwyn to use as a radio, and a spare paint roller became a telescope. Even Maddy got in on the fun.



This week we're probably going to go the zoo, either with our homeschooling playgroup or without. I'm not sure what we're doing for our other playgroup, so we'll see. We're leaving for a long weekend in DC very very early Thursday morning, and I'm so excited to take the boys to all the museums. Whee! I've got to remember to show him DC on the globe and on the states puzzle, and I think I'll also see if I can find a simple map of the city for him to look at.

Pagan Homeschooling

We're homeschoolers (obviously), and we're pagan. But do these two aspects of our lives have anything to do with each other? Should they?

A huge segment of the homeschooling population is Christian. For some of these people, being Christian doesn't affect their homeschooling. But there are many that use their religion as a reason to homeschool. They count their religious "lessons" as part of homeschooling. They surround themselves with fellow Christian homeschoolers.

So why aren't there any pagan homeschooling groups? Not that I'm complaining, it's more like I'm just wondering. What's so different about pagans that they don't feel the need to band together and use their religion to inform their homeschooling decisions?

In trying to decide whether we are "pagan homeschoolers" or not, I have a hard time deciding. On one hand, our spiritual beliefs have no impact on the academic subjects we (will) teach our children. Honestly, I don't really see how they would. I can see how Christians who believe in Creation wouldn't teach their children about evolution. It's against their spiritual beliefs. But none of our spiritual beliefs conflict with what our children would be learning in school, should they go.

On the other hand, if the boys are learning at home rather than at school, then isn't everything we teach our children part of homeschooling? So when I teach them to be respectful of nature and about the world we live in.. is that our version of a Bible class? I've been checking out several books from the library by Lynn Plourde (Wild Child, Spring's Sprung, Summer's Vacation) and also Child of Faerie by Jane Yolen. Is this our religious curriculum? I wonder.

Of course, in the end.. does it really matter? What use is a label, really? If I obsess over whether I'm a pagan homeschooler, am I any different than the people who say, "Can we be unschoolers even if we use workbooks? Please?"