Our 'Favourite thing of the day'

Nature art, guinea pigs, handmade clothes and the golden words...

With Ian away these past two days (running an off-road 42km in Melbourne - he came 4th) I've worked hard to plan some activities away and at home. Between watching a mountain bike race in Bright, a lovely nature walk to collect items for painting with, painting some familiar words and playing with our guinea pigs, I also managed to sew two pairs of pyjama pants (matching of course!) and finish Bethany's Plum Pie vest (another Milo, this time in Sublime baby cashmere merino silk dk).

After these two wonderful days Rosie tells me, during our nightly "What's the best thing that happened today?" (known to us as just 'favourite thing of the day') at dinnertime, that creating artwork from natural materials was her favourite. And it was a real joy for me to see her happiness and engagement as we chose leaves and discussed native and introduced species. My 'favourite thing of the day' was seeing little Bethany in her new vest playing happily alongside her big sister.

It was a special time for all of us.

Homeschooling trial #1

You know, I've read so much about homeschooling - from how-to books to personal accounts to blogs of families living it. And so much of what I've read resonates with me. The philosophies of independent learning, of teaching to the individual child, of holistic learning, of project-based child-led learning...the list could go on...are ones that I feel very deeply about. As a teacher these were what drove me to succeed with my students. I didn't care about the money, although it was good, and yes, the holidays were nice, but these were side-benefits. What really motivated me day-to-day in the classroom, and what still motivates me now with my own children, is providing the optimal learning environment. I don't know how much time I've spent in my life preparing myself to be the best teacher possible, but it seems that almost everything I've done has geared me towards the schooling of my own children.
Having said all this, I know that traditional schooling has a lot to offer and that teachers are doing their best to teach each individual child. So I've been in a bit of a quandary these past few months - do I homeschool at all? Do I leave it to the teachers? What is the role of traditional schooling? What is my role as parent in my child's learning? How do I find a balance that works for us? And tied messily around all of this are a whole lot of ideas from my past about school being everything, or at least the most important thing.
And so, with some trepidation, I gave Rosie the option last night of having a day of homeschooling today. I like to say she jumped at the chance, but the reality was a more cautious 'Yes' - she wasn't really sure what was going to happen either. And so I prepared some materials last night, made an open plan to guide us, factored in some housework and some errands down the street (and the needs of toddler Bethany of course) and was prepared for our first day learning formally together.
How did it go? Check out these pictures, and believe me when I say we had one very motivated girl :-)

The garden Marches on

The veggie patch is showing its last hurrah of growth and productivity in this month of March. The snake beans started producing their long tendrils about 3 weeks ago and continue to do so. The heirloom tomatoes I grew from seeds back in November are finally beginning to ripen, although I suspect we are almost too late for anymore to change colour. The zucchinis at still growing, growing and I noticed today another few ready to be picked, dried and put away for Winter.
Also, in anticipation of the coming colder months, my order of seeds from Southern Harvest in Tasmania arrived today - very excited!

Recycled flags

Okay, I mentioned these a couple of days ago and here they are - homemade, handmade flags recycled (up cycled?) from retro pillowcases I found at the op shop last week.
I imagined, as I sewed, that an old lady had gone through her linen cupboard and decided that these pillowcases had seen better days and needed to be passed on (who knows - maybe someone more needy than herself could use them?).
Little does she know what they have become! (And what joy and celebration they bring to our house...).

Slow writing, slow living

The act of handwriting seems to be becoming old-fashioned, at least for me. Yes, it's alive and well in Rosie's classroom and everyone I know can write, but often I choose to type instead. Especially my ideas. It's as if they are more professional, more meaningful and more modern if I type them.
And yet something is lost in the act of typing. Oftentimes I type, I WANT to type because it saves me time. But what am I really 'saving' time for? Yes, I could be virtuously saving that time to spend with my girls. But the reality most of the time is that I'm rushing through my writing so I can then rush through another task. You see. I'm not fully present in any of this. I'm rushing as if everything else is more important than whatever I'm currently doing....hmmmm.
So today I'm handwriting my post first. I'm focussing on the slowness with which I write, on the stiffness in my hand because I hardly handwrite anymore and on the way that I have time to think a little more deeply when I write more slowly.
Here's to a slower, more meaningful life :-)

The stitches that weave us together

Tis a curious thing, feeling overwhelmed. It happens a lot to me, in a variety of situations, and is worse since I had my baby girls. I suppose to myself, sometimes daily, that I have given part of my heart to them - and that leaves me so emotionally raw that sometimes I can't leave the house. I just want to hide from the world in my garden or my sewing. It is not, my friends, that I don't love you. But some days, like today, I feel over stretched, overwhelmed, over stitched.
It's a bit like the knitting I've been working on lately - a lovely little vest for Bethany in a colour called Plum Pie - wool and cashmere.... it really is soft and beautiful. But as I've knitted away I've been thinking about knitting as a metaphor for our friends and family - the way we really are all linked together, like part of some great tapestry that has been stitched together - the colours change, the threads might vary in thickness, but overall we're part of the same big picture. The way we are twisted and woven, intertwined with others in so many different ways. I love this, that there isn't really any separation between us all - in fact most of the time I feel this, intuitively, emotionally, and it helps me to empathise and see the detail and the big picture.
But since I've become a Mummy of two, sometimes I feel over stitched, too tightly woven, and choked by my own very sensitive emotions about the special people in my life.
Today is one of those overwhelming days - oh I might look fine on the outside...but I'm very good at hiding my feeling you see (unless they get very out of control)...
So...I take deep breaths, I look around me and try really, really hard to appreciate all the awesome things that I'm doing, I slow myself down to stop the panic and I appreciate the little things.
Happy days to you all, I wish you calm and delight in your life.

A year's supply from a long day's work

For the first time I made tomato sauce. I'd been gathering bottles for a while, keeping an eye out for 'sauce tomatoes' at our wonderful fruit and vegetable shop and hoping for a spare day when it would all 'click' and I'd get down to it.
So today was the day...armed with 10kg of tomatoes, 2 kg of onions, lots of salt, sugar, garlic and a jar of Ezy Sauce, I set to work at 9 this morning....and have just finished at 10pm.
In between chasing would-be toddlers up and down stairs, sewing some flags for our house (more on that to come) and taking part in the various activities invented by five year old Rosie (visiting her 'animal research zoo' in the backyard, writing letters on her behalf to friends, helping her make gingerbread biscuits...) as well as the usual housework, washing etc... it took thirteen hours to make 7 bottles of sauce and 4 jars of chutney (a handy by-product). Needless to say I AM EXHAUSTED!
A productive and fun, but tiring day had by Mum :-). Good night everyone.

Baby Griff's vest

Baby Griff, a new addition to Mount Beauty, was born at the beginning of February. He was the perfect reason to try a new vest pattern I found on Ravelry (it's called Milo) that knits up quickly on circular needles. I used some special hand-spun wool from North-eastern Victoria in a shade called 'Autumn Haze' - it must have been lovely coloured sheep :-). Topped off with a handmade, ceramic button in the shape of a wombat, it's super-cute - and I'm proud of my efforts!