First Day of Freedom

Last week was Owen's first without preschool, and we celebrated our new all-homeschool, all-the-time status with a trip to a favorite old haunt of mine:

A reservoir - or, more specifically, a huge big rock that juts out over the reservoir, a place I used to bike to when I needed to sit and think starting from about age 12 or so.

Luke called it a 'rock playground.'

Could I imagine any possible world in which he would be biking here, in a short 4 years, when he's 12? No; sadly, it's a different world we live in now. (Although Lenore Skenazy's trying to change this!)

But the place is still here to explore, still in its' beautiful, pristine condition, just the way I remember it.

Thank goodness.

CSA Week, Part 4

Notes from the Third Year – Eggplant: The Final Frontier

Late October, 2006

We were finally able to get over the eggplant hump this year! It started when my mother-in-law helped me to make eggplant Parmesan, with my homemade sauce and some excellent Romano cheese. Once we’d crossed the barrier, and realized that eggplant is good, a whole new world opened up – now, I’ve got eggplant stored in the freezer in little breaded rounds, for eggplant parm, and baked and mashed, to add to pizza topping or turn into a wonderful, tangy dip called caponata. Oh, eggplant, eggplant, where have you been all my life?

This is the year that our family hit its’ stride where the farm is concerned. While we liked the farm from that first season, now it’s just plain fun!

To start with, the boys are at great ages this year. Owen, content to eat a snack while Luke and I pick a few pints of beans, or cherry tomatoes, or whatever, then happily plays alongside his brother, getting tremendously dirty and dusty in the good farm earth. At each pickup, we seek out the farmer because both Luke and Owen adore him – he’s gentle and kind, very nice to the kids – and, as Owen will tell any passerby, “Farmer John has big boots!”

Luke enjoys the weekly excursion, watching the animals and birds, and checking out interesting old tractors and stuff, but I think Owen’s got the farm in his blood. At barely two, he’s walking all the trails with us, he’s eating vegetables like they’re going out of style, he just loves the whole farm atmosphere. It’s neat to see, and makes our share worth every penny – as if it wasn’t already.

This year, the shares include sunflowers and zinnias for cutting in addition to the veggies. This has turned out to be one of the best ideas yet. About a year ago, we moved from a house with a lot of flowers, many grown especially for their cuttings, to a house with almost nothing but grass, and a few straggling daylilies planted, unfortunately, in the shade. Until I could bring home flowers that I had selected and cut, I hadn’t realized how much I missed this little bit of nature inside our home.

Also this year, for the first time we had to supplement our farm takings with veggies bought in bulk from local farmers. This was not because our share yielded less, but rather because we’re eating more – I had very few tomatoes to turn into sauce, no carrots after early October, no leeks, pumpkin, or squash to last into winter. I remember feeling swamped with vegetables back when we started in 2004. Now, I find I must supplement the farm share with more produce! I hardly recognize myself anymore – imagine me, an eater of peppers, and eggplant, and many other healthy foods.

And so, it seems, we’ve come full circle – instead of pushing to have us join the farm and not have a garden of our own, my job this year will be to convince Ben that, in fact, we need both.

February 20, 2007

“…And, if we put in a garden, we’ll get a head start on some of our favorite greens, like Mizuna lettuce, and we’ll have lots of our own tomatoes to turn into sauce,” I finished breathlessly.

“We’ll put in our own garden, for the low, low price of…?” queried Ben, that little smile on his lips once more.

“I don’t think it will cost much, just the wood for the raised bed really, and the seeds,” I replied.

“Okay, Karen, on one condition -” What would it be? Did he want to try our own garden for a single year only?

“…I want to build the frame.”

Gosh, I love this man.

CSA Week, Part 3

Notes from Year Two – Loving the Farm

March, 2005

Here’s a moment to be proud of: at dinner tonight, I ate three slices of onion-and-pepper pizza! I know, lots of people eat onion-and-pepper pizza every day, but for me, this was a first. It was really good! I’m going to keep trying peppers, I’ve made it my goal to like them by the end of this growing season. Fingers crossed!

Mid-August, 2005

Halfway through our second summer at the farm, and we are loving it, if possible, more than last year. The greens weren’t as terrifying this spring, because I know how to store extra for the off-season. The tomato haul hasn’t been as good this year, because of the relatively cool weather, but we’re getting enough to eat and enjoy, and keep some for tomato sauce – also, I got Aly’s awesome tomato sauce recipe, so now I have two fresh-tomatoes-into-sauce recipes which end up tasting fantastic, but very different.

And why, I wonder, have I had such a low opinion of sweet peppers? Especially the “ethnic” peppers, they are just bursting with yumminess. I’ve been tentatively using peppers to cook with – Al’s sauce recipe calls for a few peppers – but it’s really Owen who convinced me that peppers are the way to go. That kid, at age one, eats a grown-up serving of them, and begs for more. Even Luke will nibble at them, if they are served with ranch dressing for dip. Ben, a lifelong sweet pepper lover, thinks I’m silly, but this has really been a revelation for me. I’d never even thought to give stuff like chopped up peppers to Luke when he was small – I wish I had, he’d probably be less picky if he’d been exposed to stuff like that as a baby.

Now, if I could just get over our eggplant aversion; the farm is exploding with eggplant. I haven’t felt pressure to take any - whatever we leave on the table at the farm goes to local food pantries and homeless shelters – but so far, all I’ve managed is to bring home an eggplant, chop it in half, brush it with oil and balsamic vinegar, and roast it. This was suggested by a fellow shareholder at the farm, and sounded good - in theory. But when it came out of the oven, I couldn’t bring myself to taste it; maybe it’s a texture thing, I don’t know, I just don’t like the look of eggplant. Yet – if I can master peppers this year, who knows what will happen in future seasons!

Because, it looks like we’re committed to the farm for the forseeable future. Ben agrees with me that it’s worth the money, and we are all eating - and feeling - well. Luke and I are both approaching healthy weights, and are rarely sick, even with colds – I think it’s because we’re eating good stuff for our bodies. And it tastes great too!

I love coming to the farm now, although it can be tough going to the field with the two boys to pick, say, a pint of cherry tomatoes. Owen will squirm to get out of the sling, and Luke just wants to stay in the car, he’s so tired after a busy summer day he often falls asleep on the way to the farm, and can be extremely bearish. I get to come on my own sometimes, and then, the farm is so peaceful and relaxing! I’m looking forward to next year when my boys are a bit older, and hopefully a bit more independent, so that we can enjoy our farm visits to the fullest.

CSA Week, Part 2

Late September, 2004

There is a definite sense that the summer is winding down now. Although the tomatoes are still in profusion, we’re seeing more root vegetables, like onions, something called celeriac that kind of looks like a giant turnip but tastes exactly like celery. Weird but good! The greens have returned with a vengeance, too, but I’m armed now: I’m cooking them till they wilt, and then freezing them so that we can enjoy them in soups, stir-frys, and stuffed calzones during the lean winter months, when I’ll have to buy produce from the grocery store again – an idea that seems positively criminal!

Late October, 2004

The season is over, and I’m so bummed! We’ve collected our last pick-up, small compared to the 20-pound tomato takes of high summer, but still a nice farewell: 3 sugar pumpkins, 2 stalks of Brussels sprouts, some hardy greens like kale and mustard, and a big bunch of Swiss chard.

My mind is already turning to how I’ll convince Ben that we must do this again next year. My arguments are as follows:

1) This was such a learning year! Next year, we’ll already know the routine, and we’ll have some idea of how to process the veggies, so we’ll be quicker and more efficient at it.

2) We won’t have a new baby next summer – a huge advantage, as we can look forward to far more sleep than we’ve gotten since July. Also, we can expose Owen to the great farm veggies from his very first tastes of solid food, which has to be good, right?

3) We’ve been eating so well, trying new veggies and recipes. Overall, Ben and I have eaten probably five times the veggies we’d ordinarily eat, and Luke has gone from zero servings to… well, some servings a week, maybe 2-5.

4) Luke’s improved eating will be a cornerstone of my argument to sign up for the farm next year. In just this, his fourth, summer, his diet has dramatically improved, he’s spending time at the farm and learning where vegetables come from, how they’re grown; imagine the gains he could make if we do this again!

How could Ben say no?

Interlude – December, 2004

“To get the early discount, we have to sign up by December 31st, and I know that you didn’t want to do this again this year, but…” I ended somewhat lamely.

I’d just presented my arguments to Ben, who’d kept his face impassive except for the little smile playing at the corners of his mouth. This smile, reserved for moments such as these, when I’m trying to convince him to change his mind in my plow-ahead, talk-really-fast-and-then-he-can’t-interrupt way, got bigger and bigger as I gained steam.

When I finally ran out of breath, Ben paused for dramatic effect and then said, “okay, we can do it again.”

“Really? No objections? Just… okay?”

“Sure, I think it was a really good thing for us to do. It wasn’t always easy, but it was really worth it. Didn’t you feel better because of our diet? I know I did…”

“Well, good! So, okay, I thought I was going to have to fight you on this, I’m so glad we’re agreeing on spending the big bucks again this year.”

“Well,” Ben replied, “you get what you pay for.”

Happy CSA Week

Community Supported Agriculture found us 5 summers ago; last weekend, Ben and I put in our volunteer hours at the farm in which we have a share. And, we got the good news that this week we start picking up veggies - the season is finally, finally beginning!

To celebrate, this week I'll be posting journal entries about our CSA experience; hope you enjoy them.

Community Supported Agriculture

February 20, 2004

“We both know that I won’t be able to do much in the garden this summer, there’s a good chance I’ll end up on bedrest with this pregnancy, too. Aly and Mike are signing up for a farm where they go pick up veggies from June through October. All organic, the farm’s first year, and they only ask for 6 hours of work over the whole season! I can get that out of the way while I’m still in my middle trimester, and then we’ll be eating well until late fall,” I said in a rush to my skeptical husband.

“For the low, low price of?…” Ben asked; as sole provider, it’s his prerogative –and burden - to worry about money. Not that I don’t worry about money, but I think it’s a daily, perhaps hourly concern for Ben. Whereas, if I’m worrying, my thoughts tend toward “what if something happens to Ben or Luke? What if we’re in a car accident?”, I think Ben’s what-ifs are more like “what if health insurance goes up more than my cost-of-living raise?” “What if I lose my job?” “What if we can’t afford to pay Luke’s college tuition in 15 years?” We’re a team, Ben and I – he worries about money, and I worry about nearly everything else.

Currently, I’m concerned about my family’s health. We’ve got a new baby on the way, our 3 year-old is too heavy – as is his mother, even when not pregnant – and we do not get enough fresh vegetables in our house. Five months into this pregnancy, I’m craving salads and fresh, crisp vegetables – never in my life have I wanted green food so badly. I’ve started dreaming about it, and the fare available at the grocery store looks so wilted and sad compared to the vibrantly colored, delectable cucumbers, arugula, and lettuces of my dreams.

Also, right now it is the dead of winter. The cold, frozen, snowy landscape, normally a favorite of mine, is this year causing me to feel trapped, as though I can’t breathe. Perhaps this is because my activities are limited by my pregnancy; another reason may be that my horizons this year are limited by the demands of a wonderful, but sometimes trying, 3 year-old.

In my mind, I see Ben, Luke and I taking almost inexpressible joy from fresh vegetables grown at a farm twenty minutes away from us. I see Luke helping Mommy and Daddy choose tomatoes, and then playing in the dirt with other kids, hot and sweaty in the summer sun. This Community Supported Agriculture farm that our friends are buying into represents more than just food to me. It symbolizes health, wellness, and life – qualities that I will not allow to be overcome by worries about money.

“Well, it is kind of a lot – four hundred seventy-five dollars – but it’ll be so worth it! We’ll try new vegetables, we’ll all eat better – maybe Luke will try some new ones, too…”

“Karen, if we do this, it’s only going to be for this one season, right? It’s not only about the money, you know, it’s about our garden too. I like growing tomatoes and green beans, I like having a garden, I don’t want to get out of that for long.”

“Okay, one season if you want – but give it some thought, all right? It’s expensive, but I really think it’s worthwhile. Imagine, picking up a bunch of veggies every week! Doesn’t that sound neat? I want to sign up soon, so…”

“Let me look at our money situation again, and think about it.” Ben, ever the triple-checker. Well, at least he didn’t say no outright, I though to myself. Now, hopefully, it’s all over but the screaming!

Notes from Year One – The Vegetables Require Maintenance

Early June, 2004

Well, if we joined thinking it was going to easy, we were mistaken! Our first few pickups have consisted of more greens than I’ve eaten in my life to date. Here’s a sampling of a typical early season week’s pickup:

1 large bunch each: Kale, Collard Greens, Mustard Greens

½ pound each: Arugula, Vitamin Greens, Mizuna Lettuce

1 pound Tak Choi

1 small bunch each: Radishes, Baby Turnips

I’m good with the radishes and arugula – and I think I can figure out how to use Mizuna lettuce – but what do I do with kale or collard greens? What the heck is tak choi? Everything needs to be washed, I never put the salad spinner away, I barely use up all these veggies before a week has gone by and it’s time for the next pickup! What have I gotten us into?

Early July, 2004

Two things have helped improve our vegetable share experience: one, I got a CSA cookbook – Asparagus to Zucchini – a kind of vegetable bible for those of us insane enough to join a CSA. Two, the warming weather has changed the make-up of our share. While we still get some arugula and choi (I tried that cooked in a beef stir-fry last week, and I have to write the recipe down, it was great), we’re also getting more familiar vegetables, like broccoli, summer squash and zucchini– not all favorites, but I’m working with them. Best of all are the spring peas, sugar snaps, and green beans! I’m all for stuff that can be eaten raw, with minimal preparation, after so much rinsing, washing, and spinning - not just for dirt but the occasional bug.

On the way home from picking up the share last week, Luke ate as many spring peas as I could open for him (not easy, I was driving). My son, who’s never eaten a green thing in his life, likes peas! Thank goodness.

Soon, Ben will have to stop and pick up the share on his way home from work; I’m barely able to get behind the wheel, I’ve got so much baby bulk in front now! Actually, I think it’ll be good for Ben to pick up the veggies at the farm; it’s like time slows down there, or something. With all that’s going on elsewhere in his life, he could use a little quiet time. Hopefully, between driving up that dirt road next to the hay fields and nibbling on some beans or cherry tomatoes on the way home, he’ll be able to forget about the pressures of home and work.

Just a few weeks until we’re the parents of two. How do I feel about this? I don’t know… I’m worried, of course, about Luke, and being a good mom to both, and how will this baby be, and why oh why did we decide that a second one would be a good idea? But I’m also kind of excited to meet the new little guy – who will he look like? What will his temperament be? I’m going to miss the baby aerobics going on inside; I’m very grateful that my uterus, while not perfect, could get us this far. Just a little longer…

Mid-August, 2004

We are snowed under with tomatoes! I’ve never seen so many tomatoes in all my life, more than one family could ever eat. Fortunately, I got a fantastic recipe for roasted tomato sauce from the radio, so I can make sauce and preserve some of this fantastic bounty. Too bad Luke and I hate sweet peppers, Ben’s been bringing home lots of them, too, and as he’s the only one who eats them, we’re giving away quite a few to friends and family. We’ve also gotten loads of basil, carrots, hot peppers, tomatillos, cukes, leeks…the list is endless.

I’ll say it again: these vegetables require maintenance. Thank goodness our pickup is Thursday night, it gives me the weekend to sort them all out, blanch beans (just before Owen was born, Ben picked seven quarts of green beans!), chop up and freeze basil, or turn it into pesto. I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into!

As a special treat, I got to do the share pickup all by myself this week – the first time I haven’t been connected to baby Owen since his birth one month ago. He’s a little cutie, looks just like Luke did except that his hair is strawberry blond instead of jet black. He’s a tougher baby than Luke, who slept through the night in the hospital, his pediatrician made me wake him up to nurse at night. But Owen can’t help it, hopefully as he gets older he’ll figure out when he should be awake and when he should be “sleeping like a baby” – a term that is really a cruel joke, as every parent of a newborn knows!

I took advantage of my alone time at the farm; I snuck my Newsweek magazine with me. Once I’d loaded all the veggies into the car, I sat in the front seat, overlooking the fields with the sun getting lower behind the trees. And while I read my magazine, and breathed in the fresh air, I ate – fresh-picked cherry tomatoes.

I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a candy bar as much as I enjoyed those tomatoes.

Poke York

Down the street from us, neighbors have built a city for their Pokemon key chains, called Poke York.

It is really, really cool.

Poke York has taken over the whole garage; in this picture, you can see the Rock Shop (in case the Pokemon want to buy rocks - one has lined her swimming pool with them), the Library, and some of the roads and homes.

The rocks come from a quarry close by:

Here's a close-up of some homes:

Here's Luke's -

Poke York has grown from one shoebox in the house, to this huge city out in the garage - urban sprawl has become an issue. So, the resident Pokemon are moving to houses that are higher, with more stories, but a smaller footprint in the garage. The Pokemon have had to learn how to conserve their resources, manage their stores and businesses for sustainability, and control the sprawl.

The Pokemon owners are ages 7-9... if they can clean up Poke York, it will give me hope that we can clean up our corner of the world!

Note: The Stone Age Techie will be taking a long weekend -we've got company! Also, we're out growing things in the garden, which has put me in the mindset of sustainable agriculture; next week will be CSA week here at the Stone Age Techie.

More on the Front Garden

Remember when it looked like this?

Now, it looks like this:

People - more than one! - stop by to tell me how much they like it. There's one guy on our street who stops by to poke fun at the fence, but I let that slide off my back; so far, nothing has died, I've spent hardly anything, and dammit, I like my fence.

I get a little thrill each time I'm outside, or look out the window. I think to myself, 'I made this!'

It's a good feeling.

Father and Son(s)

There is a live version of Bruce Springsteen's song "The River" which includes a speech about Bruce's teenage head-butting with his Dad. If you've ever heard it, you are already tearing up just reading about it; if you haven't, here's a summary.

He says (not verbatim, my memory's not that good!): "I had really long hair, down past my shoulders, and my father always hated it. One time, I got into a motorcycle accident and I was in the hospital, and my father had someone come and cut it while I was in the hospital.

Man, I was so mad. I can remember telling him that I hated him... and that I would never forgive him."

"Anyway, when I was a teenager, a lot of my friends were going off to Viet Nam - and those that came back, they were never the same.

And me and my father, we'd fight so much, I can remember him saying 'I can't wait till the Army gets ahold of you - when the Army gets ahold a you, they're gonna make a man outta you.'"

"Well, one day, I got my draft notice. And a few days before I had my physical, I didn't come home - just stayed out with my friends, and never went home. And when I had my physical... I failed.

And I went home, hadn't been home in days, and my father was sitting at the kitchen table. And he said, 'where you been?'"

"I said, 'I had my physical,' and he said 'what happened?' And I said, 'I failed.'"

"And he said... 'well, that's good.'"

Leaps and Bounds

... And forward rolls!

Here's another one...

And we'll end today's online physical therapy session with Luke jumping off the trampoline:

We count ourselves as extremely lucky to have PT - really for Luke, but in actuality for both boys.

No one frowns when Owen pushes himself all around the room on a stool, or piles up wedges and cushions to jump, roll, or bounce the kickball on; he can even use the machines with my supervision. Sometimes, Owen is enlisted to help bring ice, heat, and towels to the other patients, which he loves. Everyone is kind, and friendly, and fun-loving.

There aren't that many places where 3 and 7 year-old children are accepted as wholeheartedly as at Active Physical Therapy, and we thank them for it.

What Counts?

Luke was poking around in a box yesterday and found a balloon-animal making kit, including directions, hand pump, and many, many balloons - and he hasn't stopped playing with them since!

When Ben got home, he asked Luke, "what did you do for homeschooling today?" Luke's answer: "Well, I made balloon animals."

Later, Ben asked me what Luke really learned just from playing with a bunch of balloons - but I think he was really asking, exactly what counts as schooling here?

Here's a list of as many things as I can think of that Luke learned, from playing with balloons:

1)For a kids with supposed fine-motor issues, I can't think of a better activity; twisting the balloons and keeping them that way takes lots of skill. So, he improved his fine-motor skills.

2)He followed directions for a variety of animals, including making sure that the twists were in the right place and the right size relative to the other twists.

3)He learned from his mistakes: guess what happens when you don't leave a little uninflated balloon at the end, as a place for the air to go while you're twisting, and twisting? Yep - KABOOM.

4)He gave good directions, and worked extrmely well as the senior part of a team - "Mom, you hold this one so that I can twist these two - thanks! That's perfect..."

5)He used his imagination to make up new (to him) animals.

6)He made a balloon mouse for a specific purpose - scaring Dad - and acted "being Dad" getting home from work, heading to his room to change, and being surprised by the mouse.

7)He experimented with air pressure, using his fingers to stop the air in the pump, push in the balloons, and pump them up to let them fly.

So, that's 7 things that Luke learned about, while playing. I think it all counts as schooling, with the added bonus of motivation - I could not have stopped him learning about all this, once he caught sight of those balloons!

T-Shirts

I saw a t-shirt on a little kid today, with the following phrase:

"All my best ideas get me into trouble!"

My first inclination was to laugh, but then I started thinking; is it really so funny? It bothered me; it left that kid looking somehow evil, because of the phrase on his shirt.

Friends of ours, who have a daughter with a very lovable but also, shall we say, whirlwind-like countenance, had a great t-shirt for her, when she was a toddler. It had a picture of the Double Black Diamond symbol - used in skiing to mean "You may as well throw yourself down here head first, there's no way to get to the bottom without breaking your neck anyway" - and the simple phrase, "Most Difficult".

I always liked this shirt, because while it is funny, it also somehow embraces the challenge of raising a high-spirited child - lots of skiiers, myself included, love the Double Black Diamonds.

The Front Yard

We here at The Stone Age Techie have been outside, working in the garden, for many days now. And, it seems, we're finally making some progress!

In addition to the woven fence, we now have transplanted dayliies, phlox, foxgloves, groundcover with cute little pink flowers, forsythia, euonymous... should I go on?

But before all (or most, anyway) of that could happen, we had to get the hard elements in. So, the kids and I spent the week doing the path:

And, here is a picture of a very proud Luke:

He and his brother were instumental in the making of this path - although, perhaps less for their strong backs than for their high enthusiasm for the project!

It does my heart good to see and hear them, zipping around on the paths that we worked so hard on.

More photos as they become available...

Belonging

Here's a question that I get a lot as a homeschooling parent: "What about socialization?" As in, 'how could your child possibly be learning about social skills without being in a room with many other children 5 days a week?'

And I understand completely where these concerned people are coming from - I worried about socialization lots back when Luke was still in school.

I don't worry about it anymore. In fact, I think the socialization my guys get as homeschoolers beats hands-down what goes on in school.

After much thought, and in as few words as possible, here's why: homeschooled kids spend their time experiencing the world - out in it, talking to people, doing - rather than "learning."

That, and they have more freedom and choice.

They are free to do what they love in more of their waking hours, and to choose what they want to learn about - and this applies even to kids who aren't 'unschooled' because formalized lessons for a few kids take far, far less time than formalized lessons for a classroom-full.

And believe me, a kid who has more freedom and choice in his (or her!) daily life is a happier kid. Much happier.

Well, how did you feel about being stuck in school, doing work that somebody had deemed important when the wide world beckoned to you, just out of reach? Did you, just sometimes, feel resentful? Or even outright angry at the tremendous drain on your time? Think about how much friendlier you might have been, how much more positive your 'socialization,' if you'd had more freedom.

Here's an example of the socialization that goes on in the lives of our homeschoolers:

Friends up the street have gone Pokemon crazy, building an awesome city out of boxes, dollhouse furniture, markers, rocks - you name it, Poke York has it. They use Monopoly money so the Pokemon who live there can furnish their homes, they've built roads so they can get from place to place. Poke York is so big, it's taken over the family garage!

My favorite thing about it is that the Pokemon - keychains with a little Pokemon figure attached - have become these kids' families. Luke thinks of himself as the parent of the keychains he's got, and loves to take them to their home in Poke York.

The other day, he came to me asking for a carrying case for his little buddies; when I found him this -

an old purse of mine - he told me how excited he was because "now all 4 of us have carrying cases!" He carries his Pokemon proudly in his 'sash,' and the joy he feels at being part of this little band - of belonging - is palpable.

We've spent about $12 on the Pokemon keychains, and other than that everything springs from the kids' imaginations, with objects found around the house.

In other words, this club that is Poke York contains all the benefits of positive socialization - friendship, inclusiveness (even to the point of accepting 3 year-old Owen into the group), fairly high-level thinking and problem-solving, and imagination - with no negatives as far as I can see.

People worry that if a kid doesn't get used to the negative socialization ('baby talk! baby talk! it's a wonder you can walk!') that is so prevalent in schools, they'll never develop a tough enough skin to be able to weather it later.

I used to think that, too, but I've changed my mind.

I think now that, if a kid has the confidence in his (or her!) own ideas, and is secure in the knowledge that he (or she!) belongs in some way, to some group, then the thick skin will develop, not as a scarred, tattered skin but as one that is whole and well-insulated.

This is what homeschooling has taught me.

Corn is King

I watched a fascinating documentary the other night, about corn grown in Iowa, and where it goes once it's grown, and how it's grown, and stuff.

One of the first things the two documentarists did was to see how much corn is in their bodies; apparently how you do this is, you have your hair tested. And sure enough, according to their hair, both these guys were pretty much made up of corn. Because it's the main ingredient in everything from cattle feed to soda; the western diet is full of corn.

We are what we eat.

I think my family would not be made up entirely of corn. Since I read Omnivore's Dilemma, we have made every effort to ensure this, starting with membership in a meat CSA in addition to our veggie one.

And, I bake my own bread - in fact, all our baked goods (just about).

And, the kids and I spend much time in summer picking berries so that I can freeze them, turn them into jam, pies, etc. for the off-season.

There are other things, too - but I don't want to sound like too much of a survivalist wacko.

However, I will say this: watching a documentary about all the horrible things people have done with corn - using it to mistreat domesticated animals, creating high-fructose corn syrup and putting it in everything - and all the horrible things that happen to people as a result (type 2 diabetes in children comes to mind) justifies everything we do here.

The Life Cycle of a Comet

Here's something I didn't know until Luke asked to learn about meteorites: they are by-products of comets!

Actually, they're by-products of meteors, which are by-products of meteoroids, which are by-products of comets. Isn't that interesting?

We're also learning about how meteorites shape earth and other planets, moons, etc; yesterday, we did a fun, cool experiment to simulate crater-making. Here are some pictures:

Here, we are layering flour and different colored sand/smashed-up chalk/food-coloring-laced sugar, to create different layers of rock in the earth.

Then, bombs away! Luke wanted dinosaurs and a flashlight to simulate the sun, so he could see how the dust from the impact could block out sunlight rays.

Now, the box is sitting outside in very windy conditions, to simulate erosion - also, so that kids can play in the flour without getting our kitchen all dirty!

One More Reason to Homeschool

I am so sad about this.

And, this isn't the only one; evidently Chinese schools weren't built to withstand earthquakes.

I'm not a praying person, but I will say I'm keeping these poor people in my thoughts. Sigh.

Happy Mother's Day

Two things my boys couldn't do last Mother's Day that they can do now:

1)Luke couldn't get himself soup-to-nuts ready for bed last year, but now he's doing it all himself. Including deciding when the lights go out, sometimes as late as when Ben and I go to bed. I'm glad Luke is finding his own way, as long as he gets up when he's needed in the morning; one of our favorite spectator sports is to watch the kids walking to the school bus in the morning, from Luke's bedroom, with him still in bed!

2)Owen routinely, voluntarily (!) gets himself dressed, by which I mean, he chooses his own clothes and puts them on!

It's really a double-edged sword, though, because while I'm glad I don't have to nag about these things anymore, I also have two boys who are growing up before my eyes.

Sometimes, that feels waaay too fast.

Learning How to Be a Good Dad

I know, it doesn't look like much: just a bear lying on a pillow.

But if you had seen how lovingly placed this bear was, heard how Owen crooned, "That's Mama's pillow, and this is my pillow, and this is yours, White Bear," you might feel that it was much, much more.

It reminded me of a day years ago, when we went to the store to find a doll that would wet in order to help Luke potty train. Dolls - especially dolls purporting to be 'for boys,' without the pink and frills - are stupidly expensive; in fact the only one I found that wet for less than $85 was the pinkest, frilliest one on the shelf.

I carried it towards 3 year-old Luke and his Daddy in the store, and the reaction on their faces as they saw it was comically different: Luke, holding out his arms, joyfully shouting "oh! It's my baby! My baby!" and Ben, shaking his head frantically and mouthing, "No frigging way!"

Well, we bought that doll, and in the 4 years since both Luke and Owen have cared for her with a tenderness that continues to surprise me. Sometimes this gentleness is short-lived, the baby discarded for me to find later, all her pink accessories scattered on the floor among the dinosaurs and Star Wars stuff.

And then other times I'll come upon her lovingly placed into her pink sleeping bag, pink toy bear beside her, pink pacifier in her mouth. And just like when I saw Owen's bear this morning, I'll think to myself what great dads our boys will be someday.

Warren Jeffs

I read until 3 this morning, riveted to Carolyn Jessop's book "Escape," the story of how she got herself and her 8 children away from the FLDS cult they'd been born into - the one that's currently in the news because of the feds' recent raid on their compound.

I was reminded of a college professor I had once, whose favorite saying was, "one in six people in this world is a Chinese peasant." His point? All of us privileged folk here in his history class came closer than we ever knew to being Chinese peasants.

Often, I'll think about the luck - sheer, dumb luck - that I ended up a woman in one of the most forward-thinking nations in the world (for all its' faults) rather than in one that treats a woman as a possession. The sort of place where, even if I possessed the know-how to navigate the internet, I could be jailed or killed just for writing this post.

I'll think about how the things that I take for granted every day - driving, drinking clean water, having the respect of most people (excepting the occasional car salesman), literacy, the ability to have sex for the pure enjoyment - all these are banned from women in many, many places on Earth.

Today, I am bowled over by the sheer, dumb luck that kept me from being one of the women in this horrible FLDS cult, made harder and more horrible by their sick, Hitler-loving head, Warren Jeffs.

Does it seem a longshot that I might have been one of these women? Well, remember, one in six people in this world is a Chinese peasant.

A Fun Parlor Game

I've been reading "Wishcraft," by Barbara Sher, a book which I find myself unable to put down, far into the night. It consists largely of mental exercises, with the goal of figuring out exactly what you want out of life and how to get it once you know what it is. To be honest, I thought I already knew what I wanted out of life, but I've discovered a few new, indispensable goals.

Anyway, it's a pretty neat book, and one of my favorite exercises in it so far has to do with role models.

What you do is, you choose 3-5 people, "from all of history and literature" as the author says, figure out what it is you admire about them, and write it down. Basically, these people become your personal cheering section, almost an alternate family. And as great a family I have, I figured it'd be interesting to choose some new members - and see if anyone else out there wanted to, too.

So I thought that in this post, I'd write about who I chose, and ask you, dear reader, to post yours in the commment section. Want to play?

Okay, here we go:

Barbara Kingsolver, because she shares my opinions on food and the simple life. Also, she's funny, a great writer, and unafraid to speak her mind about what's important to her.

Jimmy Carter - bear with me! I know he's got kind of a bad rap right now - because he's a kind, giving man who has found a way to make a positive impact in many, many poor peoples' lives with Habitat for Humanity. Also, he played cowboys and indians as a child!

Grace Llewellyn, an unschooling advocate who has transformed my view of what constitutes good schooling and why.

Marie Curie, who made inroads into the old boys' network that is science. She was strong, and believed in herself and her work.

Amy Dacysyn, better known as Frugal Zealot, who published her Tightwad Gazette newsletter for several years and helped me to realize that living cheap doesn't mean living bad. In fact, spending less money means using our inborn ingenuity, because we have to figure out how to do stuff rather than buy something to do it for us.

Well, I sure hope that the 3 people who regularly read this blog will chime in! And anyone who happens to wander in as well - the role models we choose can say a lot about who we are. Thanks for playing!