Spider monkeys and the question of homeschooling

"If we value independence, if we are disturbed by the growing conformity of knowledge, of values, of attitudes, which our present system induces, then we may wish to set up conditions of learning which make for uniqueness, for self-direction, and for self-initiated learning."

I know it's another Carl Rogers quote, but as a devotee of the brief and passionate obsession, Carl is my current love...at any rate, homeschooling is a topic of frequent conversations and this particular quote eloquently explains the "why" of it. Not that Carl was an advocate, I think he was more of system fixer, but self-initiated learning is the basis of our homeschool decision.

Essentially I herd cats, or perhaps, spider monkeys. They are bright if mildly under-motivated spider monkeys and we keep them well-supplied with bananas (or actually a species appropriate frugivorous diet). We have an interest-focused homeschool curriculum (curriculum in the very loosest sense of the word) and a general connection to traditional math. Mostly, we read. I'm not always sure how much they are learning, as I am hampered by a lack of comparison. I suppose it's like breastfeeding, it's much easier to gauge the amount your baby eats when formula fed from measured bottles but arguably breast milk is healthier. However, five minutes in the company of any one of them is reassuring. They are expressive. They are imaginative. They are normal kids that whine and fight and play. "Socialization" (a concern most raised by friends) occurs on the soccer pitch or basketball court, in the cul-de-sac, bowling alley, online...everywhere they are.

If anything could be considered abnormal, it is the amount of time we spend as a family. Grocery lists are formulated after everyone puts in their dinner choice for the week. We've had Thanksgiving in February (Phil), breakfast for dinner (Reine), and Chicken Casserole with leeks, fresh baby corn, and new potatoes (Emile). This week's selections include Indian, Mexican and Happy Hour (wings and potato skins)....

Sundays we role play. Old school Dungeons & Dragons with dice and pencil marked character sheets. We love Dorkness Rising because "he who stumbles around in darkness with a stick is blind. But he who...sticks out in darkness...is...fluorescent!" (the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvH4PskPZ4M )

The "grown-ups" in this household know that narwhals are "the Jedi of the sea, they stop Cthulu eating ye," and kids know that running for Congress involves a lot of fund-raising and the oncoming rainy season is not good news for Haitians in make-shift tent cities.

We're raising the fluorescent. While this means that we have a lot of bizarre conversations, and spend a fair amount of time answering nonsensical questions for an audience that has decided to pay attention to something else as we are clearly boring them with our inadequate and overly complicated answer...we highly recommend it.

Zaftig

I live on the scale. I shed a sweater and verify-or at least hope to verify-that it did in fact weigh two pounds (that’s 0.142857 stone for some of you) by immediately re-weighing. While this might seem excessive, in the context of my new cult, Weight Watchers, it is relatively normal.

I woke up a few months ago and realized that my clothes hadn’t really been shrinking for two years. That I had moved from the svelte end of the spectrum to the zaftig side. I kind of like zaftig, and I like to think of myself as succulent and juicy (see definition of zaftig)...pleasantly plump, even Reubenesque, rather than fat but the net result was more than a handful no matter where you grabbed it. I tend to over-think these things, actually, I tend to over-think all things…hence much soul-searching ensued.

The short version of where my soul-searching ended: a happy person eating good food is the size that they’re meant to be. And oddly enough for the first time in my whole life I can stake a claim to happiness, not contentment or satisfaction, but actual happiness. However, despite rationalizations and self-affirmations, after two years of slow but steady weight gain, I have started working my way back down to fightin’ weight.

Why? Because Carl Rogers made sense when he said, “The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.”

Since January, I have lost 15 pounds – in other words 10% of my body weight and 50% of my total weight loss goal – and figured out along the way that the caveat to my epiphany is that a happy person can still be happy eating half as much good food and the size you’re meant to be isn’t really that important in the whole grand scheme of things as long as you get cuddles.

Puppy Love

I love puppies. I love the way they smell. I love the way they seem to have too much skin for their little bodies. I love the way they fall asleep in the middle of a wrestle. In fact, there is absolutely nothing I don't love about puppies except cleaning up after them and punishing them. Once in a blue moon (technically true if this site http://www.idialstars.com/aug.htm is correct) I get access to a litter of puppies and I take the kids for a play-date. The process is simple...start with lectures on the tremendous responsibilities and exorbitant expense of puppy ownership, spend a few hours smothered in puppy joy, and then a firm stance on the starting lecture as you drive away puppy-less. It helps to be a hardhearted killjoy otherwise not a recommended field trip as we could have easily returned home with a puppy per kid, making us a 5 human/5 canine household.

Two puppy-paloozas, five years apart, and I get the same pictures.

Emile - 15 with a Beagle

and 11 with a Swissie

Reine- 11 she always watches her
surroundings while
puppies chew on her fingers


6.5 right before she grew 2 feet taller


Philip- 9 having finally
perfected a two-handed hold


5 with enthusiasm and little skill

Introverts should not blog...

Introverts should not blog because it takes too long to figure out what is blog-worthy. Cool but not pretentious. Intimate without being invasive. I can't shake off the feeling that anyone I want to "share" with is already in the know. However, I have these great things I do when I'm supposed to be slogging through my 'to do' list and I have pictures to post, so heaving aside self-consciousness, here is my blog...