Live Free

Backyard Sparkles

Last week, my little, humble school had the honor of hosting a pretty incredibly inspiring storyteller in our backyard. To say my family likes what David represents is putting it mildly. For nearly a year now, we've subscribed to Sparkle Stories and they've meant so much to our family. Story subscriptions like At Home with Martin and Sylvie put a voice into the type of life my family intends to lead.

Of course, Beatrix loves the gentle adventures of the sibling duo, I think in part, because they are a bit older than she and they partake in all sorts of homeschooly learning fun. I love the stories simply because their family is so dear and focused on leading a life of mindfulness. There's always a lesson or two to be learned from the story's children and their parents. In fact, many days when I teeter on the edge of speaking or reacting in a way that I shouldn't, I think about Martin and Sylvie's parents and try to channel their never-ending appropriateness as parents and adult role models. This channeling doesn't always come through, but when it does, I'm extra grateful. 

There's more photos of the evening here. 

the school room

Slowly, we are getting there. Everyday, another little piece of the environment gets tweaked and completed. Hooks are getting hung (you know me, I love hooks). The art wire thingys from Ikea are in place. The painting is nearly complete. Byron is completely responsible for painting all parts of the space that required a 18 foot ladder. Yes, he did that part, in the blazing hot Texas sun without complaining. "Thank you, dear" doesn't quite seem adequate. 

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I'll leave with a couple of quotes from Lori McWilliam Pickert's new book, Project Based Homeschooling: Mentoring Self-Directed Learners. 

"Doing things that matter. Working on something real. This isn't just a way to learn - it's a way of life."  

"The best way to increase the odds that your child will live a certain way is to live that way yourself."

 

Good stuff... 

whew!

Today I joked with Byron that one of these weekends we're going to draw the curtains, ignore the chores, lounge on the couch, and watch movies, in the middle of the day. He laughed and agreed that that sounds mighty nice right about now. 

We're so busy these days. Not running around. Just busy at home. Painting, clearing, building, repairing, not to mention the cooking, cleaning, washing. Blah, blah, blah. And it's hot. Red hot. My habit of late is to get going with work outside/inside as soon as we wake. By the end of the morning, Bea and I are so darn hot, sweaty, and sticky, that we jump in the shower before lunch, get cleaned up and hunker down (for the most part) indoors.  I think this routine has been helping Bea redisover napping a bit too. Several times last week, she took a nice long nap after lunch. It is easy to relax after a refreshing shower and a solid meal. 

The "school" is looking so sweet. I can't wait to complete the details, take pictures and share. I'm really pleased with the space. I love my job. I find so much inspiration thinking and reading and planning for it all. I feel really grateful that I can have a program that allows for such freedom and contentment for both the children I work with, and myself. I've ordered three books recently and I can't wait to receive them. I've heard great things about all. I think the content will inspire and affirm my thoughts on education nicely.

Lookie what I stumbled upon on Pinterest! My girl loves cars and bikes. When I showed her the picture she went straight to Byron and asked if they could build this kind of car soon. We even thought it would be fun to get a box car festival/race going in our town. It would be neat if one of the stipulations to enter the race would be that the boxcar would have to be made from reclaimed material.   

That's about all of the news from our homefront. 

Oh, did you see this? Sweet Kylie (co-author Kids in the Kitchen)at How We Montessori said the kindest words about me. I didn't know anything about it until I got a couple of comments on my school blog (which is even quieter than this one) within a short span of time. I thought that was unusual, so I checked my stats and I saw tons of linkbacks from her sight. Goodness. I love How We Montessori. Kylie's blog is fresh and clean. She's a wonderful resource for anyone looking for  information on how to make Montessori work for you and your little ones at home. I admire her work and was totally flattered. It felt good to get such feedback from someone so well respected in the Montessori blogging community. 

Speaking of blogging, I'm going back and forth on how I want to continue the two websites: Live Free and The Natural Child. I'm sort of thinking of consolidating. It seems like a silly act to keep two blogs going when everything - school, home, life is happening under one roof.  I use to feel shy about sharing Live Free with clients and what not, but I think I've become more comfortable with what I share on the internet. I'm mean, honestly, I keep this blog clean cut. There's nothing juicy or controversial here. Just the occassional boo hoos from being a sappy mama. Which I think most of us are anyway at least some of the time.  We'll see.  Regardless, I'd keep The Natural Child domain and website so that local folks could find details about the program, but the blogging aspect of it would link back to Live Free.

Any thoughts? Anyone? Bueller? 

I know. I'm rambling.

Oh wait, I think this post qualifies as a weekending one, so I'll link up with Amanda at The Habit of Being.  

Off I go. 

XO,

Nichole