Wordless Wednesday

What can I say It's been a Haiku kind of day......

Childhood

Playing in the rain
Chasing frogs and dewy dreams
Youth gallops away

Haiku

The sound of the rain
As my son sweetly suckles
Soothes my gypsy soul

Autumn Haiku

Scarlet trees ablaze
The wind calls away, away
The trepid leaf falls

Welcoming the fall

The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

To usher in the season the children and I took our weekly nature walk at Shad Landing State Park. Autumn is my favorite time the whole world seems ablaze. We did a nature scavenger hunt which was a big hit with my little treasure hunters. We collected:

• something a bird would use in a nest
• something a squirrel might like for lunch
• a rough rock
• a smooth pebble
• a leaf with pointy tips
• something yellow that grows in nature
• something smaller than your thumbnail
• a stick
• a leaf that has been chewed on
• something that would feel nice to walk on barefoot
• something that would be uncomfortable to walk on
• a seed
• a feather
• a flower
• an insect

O has no fear and loves to be outside...she found a daddy long legs for her insect. (it's actually an arachnid but who's arguing with a three year old?) She proceeded to let the spider crawl up her arm and shoulder and onto her face...giggling the whole time about how much it tickled! I tried to hide the look of horror and shock I was feeling...I'm not into spiders! T feels the same and he ran away from her in disgust. That's my boy!

The idea for this scavenger hunt came from a book I'm currently reading and highly recommend "Let's Go Outside!" by Jennifer Ward. This book is packed with outdoor activities and projects to get you and your kids closer to nature. In her intro she references a study by the Kaiser Foundation(Washington Post, June 2007) which found that the average child spends six hours a day watching television, playing video games, and/or using a computer....Um WHAT! So please do yourself and your child a favour and go outside and play:)

Handwriting absolution

Shhhh....I have a homeschooling secret. I will not be teaching cursive to my children. Really who writes in cursive these days???? Anyone.....anyone....I don't think so. Electronic communication is the future. In today's world cursive is quickly becoming archaic. When was the last time you were asked to fill out a form in cursive? Luckily I'm not the only one who feels this way and most of my handwriting guilt was absolved by this article:)

Op Art: The Write Stuff

Thanks NYT for helping this frazzled homeschooling mama take one thing off her plate! T hates his handwriting lesson. I was really sweating trying to teach and rationalize cursive to him...I'm sure it would have gone something like this:

Mom: Here let's learn a new way to write....

T: Um...why? Where is it used...... in books, the Internet, the mail???

Mom: Nope absolutely nowhere but you still have to learn it...The powers that be deem that all must carry on this unused written code. It's like sentence diagramming...you will never use it but you must know it OK? Got it any questions???

Numbers...

3,180 that is the number of injections give or take a few hundred my son has had in the 2 years, 2 months and 2 days he has had Type 1 Diabetes. I can't even begin to calculate how many finger pricks the little warrior has sustained in the last 795 days, at least 7,000. His bravery and stoicism is awe inspiring at times. He deftly hold his finger up in deep sleep to be tested, no longer even waking for this ritual. Our days are filled with number crunching...carb to insulin ratios, correction doses, minutes between meals, and behind all these figures a small boy thrives. His hope and determination never fades......"when they find a cure mama"....there is no if. Most days this disease no longer even causes me to bat an eye, and then there are mornings like today. Days where my heart breaks anew as my son looks at me and asks pleadingly "Why did I have to get diabetes Mom?" If only I had 1 answer.......

Homeschooling in a cup of coffee

My morning started like this...blurry eyed and a bit grumpy.

T- "Mom what is coffee"
Me -"A plant that grows in the tropics" we look it up on wiki
T -"Where..."
Me -"Nicaragua..it's a fair trade and organic product"
T -"That's in Central America right? What's fair trade?(we are well versed in organic farming by now!)
Me ..after another trip to wiki still grumpy and blurry eyed "Fair trade is an organized
social movement and market based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries and promote sustainability"
T-"oh OK...can I make it for you?"
Me-...thinking hmmm coffee made for me everyday by my young son, this sounds like an excellent learning activity:) " Sure you use 1tbsp. of ground coffee per 6 oz. of water"

So we covered botany, social responsibility, geography, and mathematics all before breakfast. Plus I now have a personal coffeemaker. Sounds like a great start today!

Soccer mom salute......

So I knew if would happen one day...(Shhh) I'm a minivan driving soccer mom. Gone are the days of raging against capitalism and working for global peace...now I'm wrangling shin guards and arranging playdates...Ahhhh run away in terror if you can:) So for now I'll change the world with my small actions, living green and raising socially responsible global citizens. Let my small ripples create waves elsewhere. I hear there is a great need for conflict resolution on the war fields of youth soccer:) Peace....

Ethan Haiku

Wonder and delight
Speaks to me through angel eyes
As the moment flees

haiku...

Fetid on the vine
succulent bounty bids adieu
autumn moon rises

Rain rain go away....

Gray day making me want to snooze away:) Feeling profoundly blessed today....Kids are crazy, house is a mess, I ain't got no money but boy am I so damn lucky! Living for the moment and loving it:) Summers bounty is coming to an end, I feel the chill in the air can't wait for the autumnal equinox. Pumpkins, stew, falling leaves, my little witch running wild......farewell sand and sun.