All We Need Is Love

"Children need love, especially when they do not deserve it." - Harold Hulbert


I found that quote on another blog today, and that person found it on a blog she had read, and so it goes on this wonderful engine of information. Maybe someone will read it here and post it again. I think it deserves to be shared around the world.

Anticipating Superman

David told me about this movie some months ago, and I've been eagerly waiting for "Waiting for Superman."You can see a trailer here: www.waitingforsuperman.com
It opened this week, and it will be playing in a city near me next weekend.
I think because I have lived through what I see as a messed up education system, I am passionate about this subject.
I attended public school. I know that each state, and each county, and even each school within each district, is different. I watched as my high school got all the cuts. No driver's education, no marching band, no, no, no was always the answer. While another high school in our same county and same district got all of those things. Why? Why did that high school get more money, everything shiny and new, and our school got nothing?
I can't wait to see this film. I've already been reading reviews and opinions on blogs and other Internet sites. I'm excited that we're at least talking about the problem with some intention. I'm also excited to see that some people are concerned enough to start doing something. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is putting a boat load of money into a study to find out what makes a teacher a good teacher.
I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say once I've seen the movie.

Great times

This week was a busy one for us. I had some interviews, meetings and a meet and greet. Thursday we had Sean's Open House and Book Fair at his new school, and before we went to that we stopped in at a gallery for an art show. That was for work, but it was a nice show.
Sean's favorite part of the evening was the book fair. This kid LOVES books. He could stay all day in a library and he was excited to get three new books. We also bought two for his classroom from the wish list :-)
Last night I attended a house concert. I thought maybe I had seen David Wilcox before, because he lives in Asheville. I used to hear a lot of live music. I didn't recognize his songs, but I certainly enjoyed them. He's a real poet and storyteller. Lots of fun.
I bought his newest CD and I was happy to see that my favorite song he played last night is on it, "Beyond Belief." It definitely speaks to me.
You can listen to it, and his explanation of what moves him to write his songs here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTmGZDLXqes

Becoming learned

My days are getting pretty busy again, so I thought I'd blog while I have a moment.
I'm excited to begin teaching Godly Play. This Sunday will be my first Sunday to teach. I chose to teach the younger ones, but I'm not really sure what the game plan is for this week. Last week it was mixed ages and only a couple of the kids were under 6. It's supposed to be a 3-6 class, but I guess if we don't have enough we'll make it 3-?

I've been reading the manual and hope to ready to roll on Sunday.
Sean seems to be liking his new school. I think it's going well. I talked with another mom in the parking lot this morning and we both shared some things we believe could be improved upon, but overall we think it's going well.

The school is located in an area that is different from what we're used to. For instance, a Med Flight helicopter landed in the field above the school last week to pick up a shooting victim. The shooting victim was not shot on school grounds, but only a few blocks away or so. (I thought it was some gang thing, or some type of domestic incident, but it turns out he was shot by police.) The field at the school was the closest one for the helicopter to make a landing. I was standing outside waiting for the bell to ring when the principal came out to inform the parents who were waiting what was about to happen.

The Medic One, a fire truck or two and some police vehicles were on the other side of the school. We watched the helicopter land. It took off without the victim, so I knew it was probably bad news.
I'm not saying that something like that can't happen where we live, because it certainly can. But the street that occurred on is known for some questionable activity. It's a city. Things happen.

And in contrast, crickets are chirping as I sit here writing. I enjoy listening. I love living where there is plenty of grass, quiet nights, and where we can see a billion stars when the skies are clear.  During the Perseid meteor shower I drove out in the darkest dark of our area to see if we could watch it. It's pretty dark here, but there is a small shopping center not far from our house. Where I drove there were no street lights, and it was late, so there was no traffic. That was a good thing, because I was sort of driving in circles trying to find a particular viewing spot that I knew would be great. I couldn't find it.

It was so dark out there I couldn't tell where I was, so I found a familiar road and we stopped in a gravel area and got out. We missed most of it, but Sean saw a few of them streak across the sky.

As we drove home today a black lab was riding in the back seat of the car in front of us. I watched as he sat looking out the window. He wasn't hanging his head out, but sat there like a person just looking out to the left once in a while, then straight ahead. I wondered what he was thinking.

Back to it

A lot has happened in the past few weeks.

Sean went to some summer camps at his old school, and as I talked with some people there I heard about a public Montessori school opening this fall. The school has been in existence for a long time, probably at least 50 years, but just transitioned to Montessori this year.

I was already planning for homeschool this year, but decided to look into the public school as a possibility for us. We visited, talked to some staff, I looked online, did some more research, and went back a couple more times and decided to go for it. It is out of our district, so I had to get a release form signed and there was a bit of paperwork to fill out, but it was really painless to enroll there. I made this decision for a couple of reasons. 1) I think he needs the opportunity to collaborate with other Montessori students on works, and 2) this school is free!

This all happened in the first couple of weeks in August.

August was a busy month for my work as we adjusted to some transitions. This month is proving to be pretty busy already.

About mid-August our beautiful brown Newfoundland dog was not feeling well. She was old, and I think she must have been between 10 and 11 years old. She was an older dog when we got her at 5 years old. I think we got her in 2005, but it could have been 2004. 

I was in the middle of deadlines the second and third week of August, and she was starting to have more troubles so I was up every couple of hours during the night with her. 

She passed away Aug. 27. 

Sadie Girl 2010

Sean turned 8 on Aug. 25th, and he started school Sept. 2, so he has had a busy few weeks. He's so funny. He doesn't really like a lot of fanfare for his birthday. (He HATES when people sing Happy Birthday.)

We have always had a party, usually at the park, with a few friends from his old school. This year he only wanted a party here at our house and only one guest, his friend who lives across the street.

I decorated with streamers the night before so he could wake up to a celebration day. I was hoping to have the day off, but I was working all day off and on and just tried to keep it low key. I would clean in the kitchen and answer a few emails, and was on the phone as little as possible. 

It wasn't much of a party. It was impromptu, and I hadn't even baked the cake when his friend came over. He came back the next day and had cake.

He doesn't like having his picture taken, but I did get one of the table and decorations. I forgot to take a picture of the gifts before he opened them. He got art supplies (two packs of paint brushes and a small easel) a book, a Star Wars pack with an attachment for his Republic Gunship, and three locks. He had been wanting some combination locks for a long time and I kept saying no. He always found them at the most expensive places, like a convenience store or something. I stumbled on them as I was browsing at Big Lots and remembered. They were his favorite thing, I think. He slept with one of them that night.

He helped decorate the cake, so it's pretty creative.Those are peanut m&m's on top. 

Here's the first picture of him as an 8 year old. We were at a festival in our community and I bought him an all-day pass for the inflatables. He loved it. You can tell from the socks that he had been playing for a while :-)

Exploring a new beach

When Dave and Jewel were small we would spend sometimes six weeks visiting here. We used to picnic at a beach near where my mom was living at the time. We would drive her to work, come back and spend the day at the beach, then go back to pick her up from work.

Sean and I have been going to the one closest to our house, but yesterday we ventured out to the beach I used to take his brother and sister to, on the other end of the peninsula. We started out at the one closest to us, and it was our first beach visit this summer. Our weather has been anything but summer weather, so yesterday was perfect for it. Sunny and 70s. The tide was out pretty far.

He found crabs, and though he's been digging in sand and picking up crabs since he was a baby, for some reason it took on a new meaning for him yesterday. He wanted to bring some crabs home as pets.
I decided it could be a great way to learn more about them, and we scooped some sand, rocks and seaweed, etc. into a container. When we got it all home and set up, we knew we didn't have enough water. Instead of fighting traffic to get back to that same beach, we went to the other one for more water.
We put all of it in an old fish tank that we've had sitting empty for a few years.

I'm not sure how long this pet crab thing will last. It made sense to me that the tide changes are important to the sea life, and they probably need fresh water at least once a day. So today we went back to the same beach and collected some fresh salt water for them.
Of course while we were there, we had to enjoy the 80-degree weather and do a little exploring.
Sean took his Spider Man board and tried to do what he could in the shallow water. The tide was way out while we were there.

We had to walk quite a ways to get to the water, and it was rough terrain. Luckily I remembered to bring our water shoes. There's no barefootin' it on these beaches. Barnacles are like razor blades.

Speaking of, some of the rocks we have in the crab tank have barnacles on them and it is fascinating to watch them. 

I thought this tree was really cool. Sean climbed on the roots a bit and explored the shoreline.
This beach is a lot easier to access than the one we usually visit.  I think we'll try a third one next time, if the weather holds for us.
We love living here. I think he would hate living in the city. He was born to climb trees and dig in the dirt. Today he was turning over rocks on the beach and reaching his hand in murky waters to catch crabs.

A step back to go forward

Though he certainly hasn't changed his mind about getting his picture taken, Sean has changed so much recently.
For a few weeks he has been doing some of the things he did as a 5 or 6 yo. He has always loved to cuddle and have "us time." We sit on the couch and watch a favorite movie or read a book and snuggle. He also started playing with some of his old toys, and wanted to read some of the old books. And right now he is sitting in the living room wearing his old Spider Man suit. It is really tight on him now, and the legs look like the Incredible Hulk's pants. I had to mend it because it had rips in the seams from so much wear. At one point it was difficult to get him to change into regular clothes. He actually wore it to the grocery store and some other places when he first got it. (He got some great comments from other kids and dads.)
It is always interesting to me to see the different stages that kids go through. I think this behavior is probably a sign that he's going to leap forward, and his little mind and body are visiting the past.
Of course he will always have the opportunity to read those books, play with those old toys and especially snuggle with mom. (I think we'll have to buy a bigger Spider Man suit if he still wants one.)
Suddenly, out of nowhere, he has been getting up in the morning, coming out of his room with clothes on, and bed made, and doesn't even come out to the living room until he has brushed his teeth. It's something new. I used to have to remind him to do those things.
He's better about picking up his toys and I've made him the recycle and trash guy. He has to take the cans out to the street, and he empties the inside recycle container into the outside can. He likes the responsibility-- but not all the time, of course.
I bought him a cheap pay-as-you-go cell phone before he went to Calif. and I put a bunch of mins. on it so he could call me. He didn't use it much while he was there, so there are still a lot of mins. left. A few days ago he got into trouble because he went to a friend's house without telling me, and when I called out for him he didn't answer or arrive. So I went looking, my mind filled with awful thoughts of what "could" happen. I'm following the Kyron Horman case closely, and it gives me chills. (Looks like it could be a close family member, but still.)
I finally found him and told him he was grounded for a couple of days. Yesterday he asked to go to that friend's house again, and suggested he could take his cell phone. I told him he had to call me at 7:50 p.m. In the summer, his bath time is usually 7:30 or 8, so I wanted him home by 8 p.m.
He called at 7:45 and asked if he needed to come home yet. I told him he had 5 mins. and he called again at 7:50 to say he was on his way home.
He's growing up so fast. I can't believe he's going to be 8 years  old soon.