Fizzle

The storm fizzled out. Just a few flakes. Nadda, I mean not even a blade of grass covered. I am sad. Was hoping for that one last blast of the year. Oh, well...a lot of people enjoyed their free day off of work and school. Too funny!

Storm

Woke up this morning to find all the schools in the State closed, government offices, colleges, ect...all closed. I was surprised, they had been predicting some snow today, but I hadn't taken it seriously. It was just lightly snowing as I made my first cup of coffee. My husband came up the drive a few minutes later as his office had closed.

Watching the news I soon discoved why everything was closed. We are expecting 9 inches by this afternoon, and they are predicting 'white-out' conditions later this morning.

I have been in two 'white-out' storms in my life and they are an experience. Both were in Montana. You literally cannot see your hand in front of your face. I am so glad I can be inside of my warm house looking out.

I will post pictures as the storm develops. For those of you who do not know...We live in Southern Maryland about an hour south of DC.

 

                                                                           

 

Surprise

We woke up this morning to a winter wonderland. It is so serene. This Earth we live on is so amazing. Always changing, always full of surprises. What a gift.

Last night before we went to bed we noticed the full moon hanging in the sky. We looked it up in the Farmers Almanac and they called it the Snow Moon. We had a good chuckle about it this morning. We did a little more research and plan to look further into the moon names today.

Of course, sick or not, the sleds await us.

Tree Spirit Doll

This is Musa's Tree Spirit Doll I made him for Christmas. The pictures do not really do it justice. It is sculpted out of clay, and is sitting in the crook of a branch. The clothes are handmade and embroidered and all the beadwork is done by hand. It was an honor to make this for Musa.  We titled it, "Keeper of the Trees."

Bits and Pieces

The kids are still recovering from their colds so we just spent the day catching up and doing whatever came to mind. I adore these kinds of days when I truly live in the moment and just watch the learning unfold. It is always fascinating.

We started the day snuggled on the sofa reading Musa's new library books about trees.  We especially loved Wacky Trees, by D.M. Souza.  Of special interest were the Strangler Trees and the Boabab Trees.

                                

The strangler trees are native to every tropical place except the Hawaiian Islands. These trees start as a epiphyte. The Curtain Fig in Australia is a famous strangler tree. Retta thought these trees were "mean."

We dreamed of the day we could sit under a Boabab tree in Africa.

According to African Legend, the gods planted a large tree in the rain forests of the Congo. One day, the tree complained that the moisture of the place was making its trunk swell, so the gods moved it to East Africa's Mountains of the Moon. When the tree continued to complain the gods tossed it into a dry area where it landed upside down. This is why, the African Baobab tree now appears to have roots growing in the air.

We then looked through a tree identification book and identified most of the trees in our yard, which is a little trickier when there are no leaves. We learned the different layers of the inside of the trunk. Musa thought it was really great that the very core of the trunk is called the heartwood. This seemed to be evidence that trees do have feelings, if they have hearts they must have feelings.

We decided to finish painting our homemade maracas. Musa started his, became bored and asked me to finish. He retrested to his PS2 to continue to conquer the world.  Retta and I painted and talked for the longest. She told me her maraca was the Earth and we lived in the Pink Zone.

She then got out her rocks and shells and I just sat and watched her. First she told me that Daddy and her had found these rocks on top of the rainforest tree that fell in our yard during the tomato. (tornado)  She then discovered that all the shells had spiral shapes to them. She would pour water into the shell and then quickly turn it around and around in an attempt to get the water to go inside...I watched her do this repeatedly, never saying a word, and after about 5-6 attempts and failures, as the water would just pour back out when she turned it over, she stopped and looked into the shell and asked me if we could smash one open to see what was inside. We did. When she saw the continuum of the spiral inside, she grabbed another shell and this time just slowly pored it in, but did not turn it.

Nothing had to be said, no textbooks used, by uninterrupted thinking, observation, cause and effect,experimenting, she had it down. What a fabuous classroom.

Then she aked me to listen to the sound of the ocean as I held the shell to my ear. I asked her why we could hear the ocean in a shell, and in her perfect simple accepted wisdom she said,"Because, Mama, the shell comes from the ocean, no matter how far the shell goes away from the ocean it is still from the ocean, so it will always remember, just like when you die I will always be able to hear you because I came from you and I will remember." This was not a striking revelation for her, just a simple sentence from a knowing soul.

After lunch we all curled up on my bed and read a bunch of books. Musa read, Lesters Dog, by Karen Hesse and I read Martha Calling, by Susan Meddaugh. Both the kids laughed themselves silly with this book. Retta read, Picture This, by Alison Jay and then Musa wanted to read Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes. We had fun trying to say Chrysanthemum fast.

It was a glorious day.

Recovering from the Cruddies

The kids have been recovering from the virus that seems to be floating around the area.  Musa's BD was on the 16th and for the 3rd year in a row he has been sick. He believes it is a curse at this time, so we might have to research some reverse spells to help him out.

                                                

 

 

Big sister Anna came to spend the weekend and we all just kicked back and got very lazy. She brought movies with her. We got to see Ray, and Terminal. Both excellent movies.

Musa opened his presents on Saturday, and Anna cooked his favorite dinner, spagetti. He got a Eye Toy for his PS2 and we had a good laugh watching him play the skateboarding game. Too funny.

The kids were so bored from being sick we made up a quick bowl of paper mache this morning and covered some ballons. Once dry we will pop the balloons and make some marcas. That pretty much expended their energy and they were back to lying around. Poor things.

Hopefully they will be back to normal soon

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Tea Party

       

        

       

 

 

 

 

Retta had her first Valentine tea party today. It was at her friend Lauryn's house. Many thanks to our wonderful hostesses, Miss Lisa, Miss Brianna and Miss Lauryn. The house was decorated so beautifully, it was very special.

Retta says she had the most fun playing with Jacob. This really comes as no surprise to me. She also LOVES Brianna and talked about her all the way home. She is excited to have Lauryn over our house soon.

Musa got some much needed time with his good friend Reid. They really are so good with each other. I need to foster this friendship between them. Musa was soo excited to hear Reid also likes to take things apart, I am sure the would enjoy a joint project.  

                             

This evening we took sweet Bella back to the Vet. She is running a high fever and getting lethargic again. Dr. Benedict is suspecting a tick borne illness ( such as Lyme's) along with her already bad hips. He gave her a shot of antibiotics and placed her on two other new meds. If she doesn't perk up by Saturday we will need to do more tests and try to figure out what is going on. Poor baby.                        

                         

The Quilt

The following poem was written by one of my adult daughters, Shirah. As all of my children, she is incredibly talented and is always bursting with creative energies. Today, I would like to share some of her work. I am so blessed that she choose me as her Mama, for that I am forever honored. Thank you for allowing me to share this:

 

The patchwork quilt that is my family-

Each square may not match, some may be old and worn, others new and bright,

Some may be plain and simple, others covered in patterns and designs,

Individually, each square is important; each square carries its own history,

Has its own characteristics, holds its own place.

Stitched together you see the beauty of a well mapped quilt,

That gains strength when supported by the shared thread that binds it.

 

The patchwork quilt that is my family-

Makes no apologies for tattered edges or warped shape,

For this is our quilt, our place of comfort and warmth,

You may dismiss this quilt as weird or bizarre,

You may never understand the pride in our hearts as we gaze upon our squares,

However you will never find a quilt that inspires such curiosity,

As it gains beauty, strength and worth with age.

 

The patchwork quilt that is my family-

Weaved with warmth and safety of the generations,

Completes me, as I tuck it tightly around my soul.

                                       -Shirah Rose Coleman 

 

                         

                                   

Happy Valentines Day

                           

I will not play at tug-o-war.

I'd rather play at hug-o-war, 

Where everyone hugs

Instead of tugs.

Where everyone gigles

And rolls on the rug,

Where everyone kisses,

And everyone grins,

And everyone cuddles,

And everyone wins.

-Shel Silverstein

Togetherness

"Mama, sand is so good, you can dig in it, hold it in your hand, feel it, and paint with it. I love sand Mama!"

"I know you do, baby....I know."

Optical Illusions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We started our day with a science kit Musa got for Christmas. It is called Brain Sprain, comes from Discovery Kids. We have had gobs of these types of kits through the years but I have to say this is one of the top 5. I highly recommend it for kids that are into optical illusions, or basic principles of physical science. We played with it for over two hours. So much fun. (Thanks Anna!)

                  

This lead to a discussion of aura's and Musa and I spent some time looking at aura pictures on the web. He is truly interested in anything paranormal (not that I think auras are paranormal) and I can see us reaching further into that area in the days to come. He is VERY interested in meditation and the powers of the brain.                                          

                                       

Retta spent the morning watching TV, as she woke up with a fever and tummy ache. It seemed to resolve by this evening but for the most part she was quiet. She built a tent and snuggled up with Bella reading stories. This afternoon she made Littlefoot and Cera dinosaurs (Land Before Time) out of toilet paper rolls, decided she needed a Saurus Rock like in the movie, so made one out of an egg carton. She played with the characters on the kitchen table for quite some time.

 

Retta and Musa both cuddled up with me in the recliner about 5pm and we did some bird watching. They have identified quite a few different birds. I keep a bird identification chart and books and several pairs of binoculars on the window silland I frequently see the kids watching the birds. We have a big Turkey Vulture that hangs around the yard and rides the air currents. Musa is really good and finding him in the trees.

                                             

This reminded us of the beautiful storyteller, Dovie Thomason Sickles  and her story of how vultures got their ugly heads. If you ever get a chance to hear this lady, do so. We had the pleasure of seeing her last fall at an outdoor fireside circle. Fabulous!            

                                  

 

Cowboys and Sacred Sites

Yesterday was like a warm spring day. Our thermometer on the barn said 73 degrees. We spent the entire day outside.

Retta wanted to work in her archaeology dig. She got all of her supplies and tools set up and went to work. She was busy cleaning rocks, sifting soil and taking soil samples when she came to me and said, "I need a red sack, so people won't step on my digging place." I wasn't sure what she was talking about and I told her I wasn't sure if I could find a red sack. I asked her how a red sack could help. She told me, "Thats what the grown up archaeologists use, it said that in my magazine."  She went running in to get the magazine and show me. She frantically looked through the magazine and could not find what she was looking for, and became frustrated for a moment,  then ran and got a pencil and paper. She busily wrote this down and handed it to me...S A C  R E D. "See mommy it says RED SAC. 

We looked together through the magazine and there was a picture of a roped off dig site, and in the description there was word SACRED. I was amazed, overjoyed, happy, humbled, but mostly just so grateful that I get to watch the kids learn this way.

We quickly went to work a built a roped off area and we are making a big sign out of a red painted grocery sack that says SACRED, and we will post it at her dig. She is very happy that she will have her RED SAC like the grown-ups.

Musa took the left over rope and walked around with it for awhile and asked me if I knew how to make a lasso. I really didn't but we messed around with it for a bit and came up with something that resembled a lasso. He then pounded a stake into the ground and went to work trying to lasso the stake. Shortly thereafter he asked me if he could use a couple trellises from the garden. He turned them on their side and hammered them into the ground. He called it his corral, and lo and behold it did seem to improve his lasso skills. He spent much of the afternoon competing against himself and trying to set records. He told me he is really impressed with cowboys that can hit a moving target.

Around 3pm he checked the mail and his new Spiderman PS2 game had arrived and he busily climbed buildings and fought the bad guys until late last night. I am so happy for him. He has always dreamed of being Spiderman and now he gets to live his dream.

Housecleaning

Today was marathon housecleaning day. We have really let things slide lately so we divided the house into quadrants and went to work. We got a lot done and were outside playing by 1pm.

It was a gorgeous day, didn't even need a sweater. We walked around the yard and noticed the bulb flowers are peeking out of the ground. Musa rode his bike and Retta dug in her on going archaeology dig while I played with the dogs.

Typical Monday at the Coleman's. Just a laid back day getting the necessary done and making plans for new projects.  

Holt in Action

                         

I have been reading a lot of Holt lately, I guess to reinforce my decision to unschool and have been quite surprised to see so many of the examples he gives in his books, unfold right under my nose.  He talks of children wanting to be a part of the adult world and how much learning takes place when we stop teaching and just let them observe our lives.

Quite unexpectantly, Retta received mail from Aunt Carla. Just getting unexpected mail is always a treat, but inside there was even an bigger treat...a grown up Archaeology magazine. She opened it to a page of a woman sitting outside with a tray of sand in her lap. Retta was almost hysterical she was so excited. She quickly moved her fingers over to the text and started reading.. moving her fingers under the text as she spoke.

"Listen Mama, it says here the this is a lady who is an archaeologist and this is where she digs. She digs and digs all day and she is very happy. She finds bones and cups and walls. She even found some ARTY SACS (artifacts)  She is happy and they all lived happily ever after."

She has scanned the entire magazine from front to back and shown me every picture. She told me she likes grown up magazines better than "baby" ones.  She fell asleep last night looking at it in bed.

So interesting that I just read the chapter from Holt's book, Learning All the Time, in which he outlines this exact event as he watched children learn to read.  

So....Aunt Carla....next I need you send me a copy of the NY Times, in large print. Really. Thanks for having the insight to know that Retta would LOVE this magazine.

 

 

String

 

                              

On Saturday we all drove into DC to pick up some books from a friend. He was meeting us in the Georgetown area. We made the mistake of following MapQuest directions instead of following our own instincts on how to get there. To make a very long story short I will say this.......MapQuest lead us astray. What should have been a 3 hour trip turned into a long day.

The kids and I had not originally planned on going, we decided to go at the last moment, so I was not as prepared as I usually am with books, writing materials, kids CD's, gameboys ect. To add to the dismay, I was having to spend all of my time helping Dad with these insane directions that got us hopelessly lost, so was really not able to interact with the kids much at all.

They did very well until we started home. I was looking around for something to occupy their time and noticed my straw-type shoulder bag. It has a sort of twisted twine for handles. I had a nail clipper so I untwisted the twine and cut several pieces, about 6 inches long and handed them to the kids. Neither one of them asked, "What is this for?"  They just took it and went to work.

Retta started first making shapes, "Look Mama, a circle, look a square, look a spiral"......then she started making letters. Then she made planets.

Musa sat very quietly and finally said, "Look, I made a noose..now I just need someone to hang.(he can be very dark sometimes) So they both made their string into people and a puppet show unfolded. These few small pieces of string entertained them for the last hour of the trip.

I want to believe this happened because they are unschooled.  Because they have the freedom to let their imaginations soar.

                                         

The Sound of Tickles

Frequently the kids will pile on my bed and say..."Will you tickle me?"

It always astonishes me. It is as though they have an awareness that they need to release some emotion. Perhaps we adults could learn from them. When was the last time you laughed so hard your stomach hurt?

The Extended Family

 

Since we are always talking about our pets we decided we should share pictures of them. So here they are...the rest of the family.

Bella is a total dear. She could care less about the cats and for the most part follows all the house rules. She likes food and is a little overweight which is a terrible thing for her hips. We really understand each other. We are dieting and excercising together.

Elwood is a trip. he is huge. He is afraid of EVERYTHING! He is a big baby. He cannot function if Bella is not by his side. He and Susie have an on-going war. Susie is supposed to stay upstairs where Elwood cannot terrorize her but she loves to come down and antagonize him and then it is on, barking and swating and hissing. It can get pretty annoying.

They are all special to us. Our home wouldn't be the same without them...it would be quieter and cleaner..but not as happy.

Let it Snow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had more snow last Sunday. It started as just a little flurry and ended up snowing much of the day.

Dad made some of his famous BarBQ ribs and we just hung out together with a roaring fire and lots of blankets. The kids didn't even ask to go outside. It was a slushy kind of snow so not real good for sledding. We read books, watched movies and snuggled with Bella and Ellwood a lot.

Days like this day I am slapped in the face with how blessed I am.

 

                               

Catching up

Lots of catching up to do....where do I start...

Bella appears to be doing much better. She got up easier today and has actualy been bouncing around playing with Elwood. (the Old English Sheepdog) I am a little worried because the Vet told me to let him know if she had a drastic recovery because it could mean something else was going on with her that the antibiotic was correcting. I'll let him know, but for now it is good to see her looking better.

Besides nursing Bella, we have stayed pretty close to home. I had to turn in the rental and my truck still isn't done so I have had no choice but to stay put. We have been catching up on movies and just hanging out.

Musa watched 20,000 Leauges Under the Sea...he LOVED it. Nothing like a good ole classic. We also saw White Fang 2, Disney's The Kid and A Kid in King Arthurs Court. Retta watched Land Before Time-Saurus Rock for the 132,456.00 time. She has also fallen in love with The Tom and Jerry Movie and watches it over and over.

We spent one day playing board games. Musa has a new game called SMATH. It is very similar to SCRABBLE but you make math equations. I didn't think Musa would like it but he really did. Retta and I played The Nursery Rhyme Game and the Wizard of Oz game.

Yesterday we mixed up a couple batches of salt dough and made various treasure boxes and heart ornaments and snakes. We are going to paint them later today.

So all in all we have just had a lot of togetherness, hanging out and cuddling and being creative when the mood struck us. In some ways I have felt a little isolated not having any transportation, but has given us a chance to stay in out jamies and relax. We have been able to give Bella a lot of TLC and had lots of great discussions about the universal connectivness of all things. Which reminds me....

...Musa and I were discussing different beliefs that people have regarding Heaven and Hell. We ended up on the subject of reincarnation to which Retta joined in and said..

"I know, it's like when I had different parents once but we all died and a spaceship took us up to another place and the the aliens had us and then I came back down to the Planet Earth and now you are my Mommy" ---(Deb, if your reading this does the term Walk-In come to mind. too funny)

So although we have all enjoyed the time at home I think we could all use an outing. Here's hoping me truck will be done soon.

Thanks for all of your kind comments and good thoughts for Bella.

Our Sweet Bella

I have not been making journal entries tha last few days because our dear sweet Golden Retreiver, Bella, is having serious problems. She is a year and three months old. We have noticed that she has been less active over the last several weeks, has been having trouble going up and down stairs, and can only walk very short distances before she almost collapses.

This weekend her symptoms really excacerbated and she was not able to get up at all. We had to carry her up and down the stairs and had to help her stand up. We nursed her along over the weekend. (she was eating and drinking well)

We saw our Vet yesterday and he confirmed our worse fears. Bella has an extreme case or hip dysplasia. She has already developed severe arthritis in her right hip. The Vet said he has never seen a case so bad in such a young dog. Because of this she is in extreme pain. He believes she is a very stoic dog that just doesn't show her pain. (this runs in the family)

We have put her on pain medicine and a special arthritis diet and if she doesn't respond we may have to look at getting her a cart. (wheelchair for dogs) Of course, when and if it appears to me that she is having more pain than quality of life I will choose to put her down.

Total hip surgeries are being done in dogs, but to the tune of 3,000 a hip. I do not believe that will be an option for us.

So, we are sort of consumed with Bella right now. We are helping her and keeping her near and dear to us. We are visualizing good health and pain free days for Bella.

I will be back to making entries soon.