Bubba Banksy - Spreading Her Wings

It's a merry thing watching your children develop their interests so passionately.

Seraphina is blossoming into quite the little artist which is no surprise to me as she is always singing and drawing something. Yesterday she ran to me and said "Mummy, come and see my street art!"

 

We have a very similar nature Seraphina and I. Both Librans, both lovers of all things beautiful and a past that runs oh so deep. If there is ever a child that triggers and stirs my very existence, it is Sera. x

Some of our similarities....

* Our emotional sensitivitity can be wild and foreboding, causing physical anxiety to varying degrees and at times, disconnection from our loved ones and each other.

* We both possess intense acuity to the ethers and the world around us, which has graciously inspired a longing to be of service and the desire to contribute much healing in the world.

* One of our most avid traits is a never ending quest to discover the truth and to actively participate in helping others to find their own truth. Even if it ruffles a few feathers ;)

So... Those who know and love us well, understand the challenges within our relationship that have presented themselves so meticulously since being reunited 8 years ago at her birth.

I am slowly piecing together our story and beginning to see and feel the blessings and lessons amidst the storms. It has taken me a while, but I finally feel like I am closer to connecting the dots on my parenting journey with Sera than I have ever been before.

 

There are many avenues for healing ourselves and this week I have remembered how powerful it can be to immerse yourself in art.

Not only is ART (which I like to imagine stands for Actively Remembering Truth) a gentle way to express and release painful experiences but it has the remarkable ability to instantly reconnect you to the infinite source of creativity that resides within each and every one of us, which is ultimately the universal love and creation of life itself!

Just like meditation, creative pursuits can lead you back to your core essence so that you may free yourself from limiting beliefs and self sabotaging behaviour. Art, in all it's forms, enables you the space to regroup and redefine the person you dream to be and to manifest the life you desire.

 

It is my endeavour to continue bringing more art and creativity into my life and here is how I hope to do this.

1. Create a sacred space within my home where I can retreat to daily to play with a creative project.

2. Spend time in quiet interlude, free from distractions, to develop my art.

3. Be more involved with my local art community and participate in classes and workshops.

4. Introduce more artistic and cultural experiences into our family life and play time together.

5. Switch off the TV and listen to music.

6. Spend more time in nature with pencils or camera.

7. Travel

8. Sleep, regenerate, dream......

9. Affirm "There IS enough time in the day!" and

10. Let go of the idea of perfection to allay procrastination. :)

 

So, to my dear Sweet Seraphina girl, thank you for once again opening my eyes to what is important in my life and for helping me to remember the things that bring me most joy. I Love You eternally xxx

 

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SPACE to SOW and GROW - Compassion

I read Seraphina the story of The Little Match Girl today, written by Hans Christian Anderson.   If you are familiar with his original stories you will know that they are deep and thought provoking and often sad and heartbreaking.

Something I used to do with the older kids was read them a passage or chapter of a story and then have them draw a picture afterwards. It might be of a favourite character or scene, whatever connected with them at the time. I loved seeing what they would come up with and how although they both heard the same story, they would each create a different picture and in their own unique way.

I could see that Seraphina was really feeling the tragedy of the story and kept asking a lot of questions.   Like, why was the little match girl so poor? and Why would her father beat her if she couldn't sell any matches? This was a great opportunity for us to discuss these issues and to feel gratitude for our fortunate lives. We talked about homeless people and how they would feel when the cold winter rolls in.

Seraphina chose to draw the Christmas tree that the little match girl saw in the story and then drew the girl smiling. Unfortunately, without thinking, I said, "She wasn't very happy in the story was she" and Sera said "No" and rubbed out her mouth and drew a sad face.

I regret to have interfered with her creative expression. It was more me thinking out loud but Sera quickly took that as me telling her that her picture was wrong.  Such a shame on my part but another lessoned learned. I will not say a word next time.

Seraphina explained to me that she drew the happy face because she hoped that the little girl would feel the happiness that SHE feels at Christmas time. What a sweet gesture xx

The story of The Little Match Girl inspired us to make some precious candle holders. This Autumn we have been having fun making beeswax candles to connect with the shorter days and longer nights of the season.

I found a sweet tutorial on felt tealight candle holders in Amber Schmida Green's new book "Parenting Fun Everyday". Amber's book is full of useful information on keeping a natural rhythm flowing in the home while parenting small children. I've only read a handful of chapters so far but can highly recommend her work.

Here are the candle holders we made..

While we were sewing we made up a little song to honour the Little Match Girl. We felt her sadness and her pain and it was our way of sending a prayer out to all of the less fortunate people in the world. 

Sera would like to do some knitting so perhaps we could work together on a project to donate to charity and homeless people. Do you know of any such charities?

Here's our song..

"Little Match Girl we light a candle for you, Little Match Girl we light a candle for you, To warm your fingers, your hands, your toes and feet, Little Match Girl we pray your life will be sweet."

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SPACE to SOW and GROW - Sera's Self-directed Learning

For the last couple of weeks, Seraphina has initiated a new learning venture.

She grabs an early reader book from the shelf and copies it word for word into her notebook. She seems to really enjoy forming the letters on the page, holding her pen and mouth just right. It is such a pleasure to watch her as she delves into reading and writing.


As she writes, we read the words together and she makes sense of the story. Afterwards she draws a beautiful picture to illustrate what she has just written.






She's also been practising math. Totally self-directed! I have never taught her how to form numbers or how to write sums. I think she saw an example of a written sum somewhere at sometime and then decided to experiment herself with it. Was such a surprise to find this in her book!

Love this Life!

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SPACE to SOW and GROW - Waldorf Alphabet (D)

Well, this week there was a great deal of fire breathing and unfortunately I don't mean literally.. That would have been super cool!

I told the girls the Grimms story of "The Dragon's Grandmother" and when it came to doing our drawing Seraphina chose not to draw... She was still anti-drawing since the week before :(

She kept saying "You just draw it for me!".

I didn't want Seraphina to think I agreed that she could no longer produce a lovely drawing for her book so we stalled for a couple of days while I put my thinking cap on...

At the end of the week I made a suggestion that surprisingly she liked. We decided to help each other draw each other's dragon! It was fun and a little silly and I have to say the result was most wonderful x

 

During the week we dressed up, danced and played our djiembe drums. We discovered new dips and desserts and loved up Dad for Father's Day xx

 

 

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SPACE to SOW and GROW - Waldorf Alphabet (C)

"C is for Cookie" yom yom yom yom yom...

Cookies and cake were on the agenda this week. We played around with different varieties until we were all cookied out! Smartie cookies were the most fun to make and eat.

Story time has always been a lovely experience in our home. Since travelling along our Alphabet Journey, Seraphina has been getting upset if her drawing isn't "perfect". She cries and wants to throw her drawing in the bin saying it's not as good as mine :(

Although I'm flattered that she thinks my drawings are so lovely, I am finding it challenging finding the right words to encourage her as she's not very receptive to anything I have to say in these moments.

I try and tell Seraphina that Art comes from the Heart. It is an expression of our own inner beauty and feelings and that even if it's not perfect, it's perfect!

This week we read "Alice in Wonderland" and the scene where Alice meets the Cheshire Cat was the inspiration for our "C" page.

Let's see what "D" will bring....

 

 

 

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SPACE to SOW and GROW - Waldorf Alphabet (B)

Our 'B' page was inspired by a classic Winnie The Pooh story. Here you can see the bear in the 'B' and if you look closely you will see the wings of the bees are 'B' shaped too.

Seraphina decided to draw a home for her bear too. So sweet x

Earlier in the week we did some traditional butterfly paintings where you fold a sheet of paper in half and put blobs of paint on one side only. Then you fold the paper closed and smooth over the top, spreading and mixing the paint underneath. The girls really enjoyed this activity and they couldn't stop at one or two. They made sooo many.. My logical brain kicked in and I started thinking, "time to wrap this up, they've experienced the concept.. Seriously, how many butterfly prints do you really need?" (I have a thing about "wasting" paper) but then I relaxed and went with the flow letting them get what ever they needed from the moment. The result was lots and lots and LOTS of gorgeous, colourful pieces of paper.

I knew that they would come in handy one day for decorating gifts or being a gift in itself or even perhaps morph into some other fabulous crafty creation... I was right :)

Going with our 'B' theme, I folded the prints in half again and cut an outline of half a butterfly. I let the girls open them and to their delight they saw beautiful colourful butterflies appearing before their eyes. They also commented on how each side was exactly the same. There's our lesson on symmetry!!

Lucy helped punch holes in the top of each butterfly and with the help of a dear friend, we made a garland of butterflies to decorate our living room.

We made Honey Bee muffins and played the Bongos and I finished our 'B' week with a tale from The Brother's Grimm - Snow White and Rose Red...

 

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SPACE to SOW and GROW - Waldorf Alphabet (A)

Seraphina has really been wanting me to spend more one on one time with her doing "school stuff". Not that she knows what goes on in a classroom at school, but never the less, I took her request as a sign to start some formal kind of academic work.

She is already familiar with most of the letters of the alphabet but I have been secretly waiting for the day I could introduce her formally in a Waldorfy kind of way.

For 'A' we read two picture story books written by Neale Donald Walsch (author of the famed "Conversations With God".

The first book was "the Little Soul and the Sun" and the second, "the Little Soul and the Earth - I'm Somebody!".

These books are beautifully written and illustrated. The first story gentle describes our connection to God, the light and explains that all we see as "good" or "bad" is ultimately LOVE. It provides an understanding and awareness that we are ALL eternally connected.

It touches on life purpose ideals and that we make an agreement with God to have an experience on Earth. Depending on that choice, or choices, other souls will incarnate and help us to experience the feeling or lessons that we have agreed upon.

The second story is when the soul is born to Earth and guided by her personal guardian angel. It shows how as we begin our journey on Earth we are still aware of where we came from and WHO we are. Then as we begin to feel and think in our human bodies we tend to lose sight of this and forget why we came. That is when the guardian angel comes in to support and remind us of our purpose and our universal connection to God.

So, for us, these books were a great inspiration for our 'A' page...

Other things we did to reinforce 'A' was to listen to an old record of Johnny Appleseed, produce some Apple Cider and Apple Peel Vinegar and bake an apple pie. Lots of apples that week!!

Now we wait three months for the vinegar. It smells fantastic already!

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SPACE to SOW and GROW - "Dragon Language"

My little man is not so little any more..  In fact, he turned 11 last month.  Today I want to share his handwriting journey as it was such a fascinating time in our unschooling life.

Wade was slow to speak by conventional standards.  At age 3 he used hardly any words at all to communicate to me.  People found it very hard to understand him when he did talk, which frustrated him to no end.  I always knew what he was saying however, but in all honesty we very rarely spoke with our voices.  Most of our communication was telepathic.  It came so natural to the both of us and at some point I wondered if perhaps that was why he wasn't choosing to verbalise his thoughts. It was working for us :)

As he grew and became more and more a part of society he realised that he needed to "speak" if others were to know what he was feeling, thinking, needing...  This was challenging for Wade for a couple of reasons.  

The main reason being that it annoyed him that other people couldn't just "hear with their minds" as he put it :)

He was never all that interested in books as a little fella.  Way more into pulling real life things apart to discover how they worked and what made them tick.  Old clocks, radios etc. were his preferred toys.  

Our eldest child was really into books and reading.  Around about age 3, she showed interest in learning how to read and by the time she was in preschool she was already reading.  Reading is still something she enjoys to do.  When Wade was a similar age, maybe 4/5, I thought it was only right to offer him the same opportunity to read.. and write.  He quickly showed me he was not interested and became frustrated when I encouraged him to do so.  This was my sign to back off and try again in a couple of years... Which I never did as he was too busy doing the things he loved most, like drawing diagrams, labeling inventions with x and y's and mc squares.. well that's what it looked like to me. :)

What we did notice with Wade was that he had a photographic memory with numbers at a very early age.  In his third year he would memorise really long numbers after reading them once.  For a kid who hardly spoke this was a complete spin out to us as he would look at a bank card number or a phone number on TV etc. then recite the numbers back to us!!  Where did that ability come from??  It's still a bit of a mystery :)

Before numbers, Wade would fill notebooks with symbols.  Think hieroglyphics but more like Rune style.  I would say "What you doing there Wade?", in which he would reply, "Oh, that's Dragon Language."  Okaaay... "Cool!".  I thought it was the most awesomest thing I had ever seen!! and I was intrigued to learn more.  Dragons have always fascinated me.  His "work" inspired many great conversations between the two of us and as he spoke I clearly envisioned him cloaked up all Hermit like, in his Dragon type lair, concocting spells and wizardry and mastering the arts of alchemy!  Fantastico!!

Had Wade seen Rune symbols before??  Not in this life time :)  His scripting was coming from a very intelligent and ancient source.. Well that's my take on it anyway.  Love a bit of Past Life Wisdom!!! and possibly Future Wisdom for that matter!

He's also been totally into making "potions" since as long as I can remember, and anything to do with chemistry, electricity and physics.  Is it any wonder he wasn't interested in bedtime stories :)  I remember his favourite book around the age of 5/6 was a thick Science encyclopaedia and the page he religiously wanted to look at over and over again was the pages showing the Periodic Table!!  

You really can learn so much about a person, their past, present and future, by respectfully allowing them to pursue whatever sparks their interest at any given point in time and to notice what information naturally flows through them.

Wade played out all his past chemical and mathematical experiences as a little boy.  He's moved on to scripting online games now, which is totally over my head, but still interesting to me as I love to support my children with whatever it is they are in to.  They are after all, the Masters of their own Creation xx

SPACE to SOW and GROW - Learning to Write

I am inspired today to blog about "Learning to Write" as I am amazed at my 5 year old daughter and her progress in handwriting.  

My lovely Seraphina girl has been really enjoying grabbing a pencil and paper lately (or anything that could substitute) and is beginning to write letters.  She holds the pencil "correctly", holds her tongue just right and goes about crafting a story, a menu, a love note or whatever inspires her to write.  At the moment she is writing the letters "A B H i S o P e E T" - to make up words and sentences.

What I find so intriguing is that she has never once had a lesson on how to write a single letter of the alphabet and only 3 weeks ago her writing was of the zigzag variety.  Lines and lines of up down up down, repetitively down the page.  This appears, to the untrained eye, as scribbles.  However, being classically trained in 5 year old manuscript I knew precisely the message that was being delivered. ;)

We knew Seraphina was beginning to recognise letters as she would shout out if she saw an "S" and say "That's in my name!!".

She knows the alphabet song, we've read some alphabet books (not many) and apart from the letter "S" she hasn't really been into wanting to know what the names of the letters are.  Now when she writes a letter she asks, "What did I write Mum?".  I let her know what the letter is and she is over the moon to know she is writing REAL letters!!  Such a joy to watch her learn this way.

So from observing letters in their natural habitat.. in books, on signs, on tv/games.. everywhere!.. Seraphina is remembering the structure of the letter and copying it down.  Just as she did in the past with basic shapes like the circle, square and triangle.

People comment that unschooling is an organic way of learning and it truly is.  It's wonderful how different skills and experiences unfold by simply traveling through life. Each popping up at the precise moment it is needed.  

josephinewall.co.uk

The more I think about rote learning and other conventional early learning methods, the more I feel blessed to be able to allow my children the freedom to learn at their own pace, in their own way.  

Forcing a child to learn how to read and write, when they have no interest to do so, is like force feeding them to eat.  It might go in the right hole and down the right tube but will most likely never be absorbed optimally and quite possibly will be rejected altogether.

Trusting our children to intuitively know when they are ready (if at all) to grasp a new skill, is one of the best gifts a parent can give.  

Just as we sat back and waited for them to take their first step and speak their first word, it is equally important to wait for their own internal desire to read and write, ignite.  Reading and writing will then only ever come from a place of purpose and pleasure.  After all, that was it's intention in the beginning.

mesopotamia.co.uk

I'd like to share Wade's writing journey with you as it had a very interesting and somewhat bizarre beginning. At this minute I have a very sleepy, little one needing my attention, so this will have to wait until next time..

Thanks for reading friends.

Much Love

Angel x

SPACE to SOW and GROW - Low Limit Learning

Ok, so here's my first official post on our unschooling days and I am actually finding it a lot more challenging to write than I thought.

Partly because I imagined I would sit here, bursting with memories as I sat and reflected on our weekly activities, effortlessly articulating the wonderful things we got up to.. and the other part due to staying up to the wee hours of this morning, YouTubing with my big kids and crocheting a gift for a friend.

 One made, One to go :)

It was raining this morning, so with 4 1/2 hrs sleep under my belt, I drove Steve up the road to meet the bus and returned back home for a cuddle with the little one.  I'm a tad tired..  Can't blame the baby for this one!  It was all me and my desire to stay in the moment, enjoying my children and my handiwork <3  That's Unschooling right there!!

Children and adults alike are often shorthanded for time and space. With school, work or household commitments, it isn't always possible to sit uninterrupted for any extended period of time, completely engrossed in a subject or hobby to the absolute point of saturation.  I am grateful that this life of ours is supportive in that aspect.  There are no set curriculum and no time frames.  Sure, we still have "work" that we need to do to ensure a happy, relaxing atmosphere at home, but for the most part we are free to come and go as we please with our various pursuits and interests.

There aren't many, but two limitations for us at the moment are...  1.  Wade and I share a computer (which I am cool with, not so much Wade) and 2.  At times I need to drag the kids away from what they are doing to come and run errands with me.. Usually everybody is ok with this though sometimes, understandably, they are annoyed that they have to stop right in the middle of whatever it is they are doing.  I try not to interfere with their "business" to maintain the integrity of their creative flow, so mostly I time our outings when there is a natural break in the day.

So what have the big kids been up to this week?  Here's a snippet...

Lani's scarf she's working on

 

Wade's amazing Smurf Movies

Ipods, Hair and "the host".. What else is there :D

MATHOMAT Artwork

A Common View

Wade's Lego Spacecraft

 













It has never been my intention to record every little thing my children "learn" or do.  That would be way too exhausting and quite frankly, would take the fun out of actually LIVING.

Some words to ponder on...

Do I assess my children to see if they are up to speed with every other child their age?
Absolutely not.  Why would I encourage them to be like every other child their age?  We are all different and that's what makes the World so interesting. 

Why do I let my kids choose how they spend their time?

Because it is THEIR time :) 

 

How do I know my children are learning? 

Because they are ALIVE!!

Thankyou for your lovely comments people.  I appreciate them all so much.

Love and Sprinkles

Angel xx

SPACE to SOW and GROW - In The Beginning...

One of the main reasons I created this blog was to record my family's unschooling adventures in a meaningful and joyful way.  I am naming these posts "Space to Sow and Grow" because I understand that true learning comes from having the freedom to follow your own passions in life.  The space to sow the seeds of that which is important to you and your future and the space to grow unhindered so that you may fully reach your own personal potential. 

I attended school for 12 years and  have both positive and negative memories from the experience.  None, I must add, that have swayed my decision to unschool our family.  It was only having the children themselves, watching them grow, naturally learning every single day without coercion, bribing, or manipulation on my part, that convinced me that it was the right decision for us.

My husband and I had always considered home educating our children and at the time our eldest was due to start school I had just completed a year long course in Massage Therapy.  I was keen to venture out in the big wide world as a self employed mum and the decision to put Lani in school was where we were at at this point in our journeys.  Lani was one of those kids who did well at school.  She had already learned to read before her first day and enjoyed the social interaction with her teachers and friends.  She was especially interested in music, reading, writing and art.  Nothing has changed there :)

Now Wade was a whole different ball game...  The year Lani started year 3, Wade started Preschool.  (Back then Prep was just being introduced to the school system.)  I knew immediately that this was not where he wanted to be and so I toyed with the idea again of homeschooling.  Lani was enjoying school and with my idea of homeschooling being "school at home", albeit with a funky, relevant curriculum, I began to doubt that I would be able to pull off such a huge time consuming feat.  At this point I was in two minds about the whole thing and so began to look for alternative schools.

This year I was pregnant with Seraphina, our third child, and with each pregnancy I grow and evolve a little more.  Seraphina lead me to homebirthing and I also believe it was her pregnancy that started leading me away from conventional schooling and into Steiner education.  Lani and Wade finished their state primary school year in 2005 and the following year spent a beautiful 6 months at the nearest Steiner school.

We loved the music, the art and the community of this school but there was still something luring me back to the idea of having the kids at home with me every day so that we could live and learn together.  (I was always one of those school mums that had to be kicked out of the classroom - especially at Steiner because it was such a healing space to be in.) 

I believed that all of the aspects of Steiner and Waldorf that I so admired, I could provide for the children in our own home.  And so there began our official "homeschooling" journey.  I often questioned why I didn't just homeschool the kids without going to Steiner, but understand now that our experience at Steiner set a precedence for the nurturing and loving learning environment I was yet to establish at home.  I still love Steiner's reverence to nature and all the crafty stuff!

So now we have been out of school for almost 5 years and it didn't take long at all to recognise that an unschooling life was the way to go. Even though at different times and for different reasons I would enter a place of fear and judge myself and my kids that we weren't doing "enough".  Family and strangers all had their negativity to add.  And yet I knew in my heart that we were living an authentic life, learning all the things that were important to us at any given moment and loving and nurturing each other along the way.

Life is too short to be learning a broad range of things that are of no interest to you, when you could be learning every little detail about that which makes your heart sing!! We are all individuals with something of great beauty and importance to share with the world.

We need a loving, rich space to remember the seed we planted well before our birth.  For it holds the blueprint of the way we need to grow.  We need to take time to tune in and connect to our own source of Light, so that our paths remain illuminated in all their glory and the pureness of our authenticity may shine out and be an inspiration to others.

We need to show Love and Acceptance always. We need to Trust.
 
Nothing can grow in the shadow of someone else's fear.

<3 <3 <3