the case for homeschooling

Last week when I was at the Anchorage Museum (read about our visit, here), I noticed a small group of kids with quite a bit of variety in ages. I noticed that there were nearly as many adults with, both men and women, and they didn't seem to be affiliated with any school. I was pretty curious, so I was happy when one of the moms commented on how cute Riggs was - it was the perfect chance to learn more about her little group.

Turns out they were a homeschool group, and long story short, they meet two or even three times a week to go swimming, go to the zoo, visit the Loussac Library, or in this case, visit the Museum. Chatting with her about their little group brought the whole school question back up for me in regards to Riggs. Public school? Charter school? Private School? Homeschool? How am I supposed to decide which option will be best for him and any other, future children?

A friend shared an article on Facebook the other day that listed 18 good reasons to homeschool your children. You can find the article here and read over it for yourself if you're interested. I found all eighteen reasons to be pretty substantial, but one stood out to me in particular.

"16)   Better socialization, less unhealthy peer pressure and bullying.  Our kids no longer beg for video games we don’t want them to have or clothes we don’t like, or junky snacks they saw at school.  One of our children struggled socially in school, and his schoolmates were ruthlessly mean.  Despite a school anti-bullying policy and our best efforts to work with the teacher, nothing changed.  Last year he played alone on the playground everyday.  Now he’s organizing playground games at our homeschool co-op, and he’s smiling again.  No one has ever said an unkind word to him at our co-op, because every child is there with his or her own parent.  Our kids have plenty of time with friends, but without  the unhealthy peer pressure and bullying." source

The introduction of unhealthy influences has always been one of my biggest concerns about public schools, and even charter and private schools. I want Riggs to like something because he really likes it, not because 'everyone' else likes it. I want to be able to control who he spends the majority of his day with and for him to spend time with other children whose parents are responsible, loving, and similarly-minded when it comes to the major issues. And when I say similarly-minded, I'm talking about what they expect of their children, not politics or religion. Some people disagree with this approach, with the idea of 'sheltering' their children too much. Personally, I think that it's my job to protect and shelter him, to let him be a child as long as possible. 

What are your thoughts on this issue? Were you home-schooled and if so, what was your experience? If you read the article, what did you think of it? I realize that it might seem somewhat premature to be thinking about school when my child is only 14 months old, but there's so much to think about and research and prepare for! I also want to prepare him a year or two ahead for which ever schooling option we decide on, especially if we decide to send him to school away from home.  

Happy Birthday Riggs!

We have had such a lovely day with our beautiful boy. This was all despite the weather, temperatures in the 40s and pouring rain, which I find especially funny since it snowed about 11.5 inches last year on this day. Riggs was adorable in his crown, and tried very hard to blow out his candle, but Mama had to help. He 'smashed' his cake somewhat gently and really didn't get very messy at all. The cake turned out so well (I got the recipe here) and we just frosted it with home-made whipped cream from full-fat coconut milk and make the letter 'R' with some blueberries...yum!

We ventured out in the terrible weather on very, very slick roads and headed to Eagle River to meet family at a new indoor play place.  My sister, Kelsey, I the idea to 'meet-in-the-middle' there and it worked out well since her boys got to play rather than having to sit somewhat quietly (and bored-ly) at our house.  It was great to see my parents and Kelsey and her family (my little sister Beka is back at college, hi Beka!) and Riggs loved opening his presents from them there.

It is amazing to me that he is already 12 months old, where does the time go?!  I was going to put his 12 months stats in this post like I do every month, but I think I'll do them separately so that this isn't the never-ending post :)  Happy Saturday to all, I hope you had a blessed day filled with light, love and warmth!

getting ready

This week I have spent most of my time getting ready for Riggs to turn one on Saturday.  Typing that is so strange, I can't even believe my little baby is going to be one!  It is almost magical to me how fast time has passed this last year, and while I am excited to watch him grow and learn, part of my heart is broken knowing that his first year of life is over.  I will never hold my baby Riggs again, mewling and warm against my breast like I did when he was new.  I will never get to see that first smile again, or hear that first giggle, or watch him crawl for the first time on his knees.  Of course I have the memories of those events, yet as dear as they are to me I know in my heart that they will fade over time.  I wonder, is a little piece of my heart going to break each year as he grows older?  And I know that it will.

The speed at which this year has passed reminds me to savor every moment, every hour, every day, no matter how hard or uncomfortable it may seem at the moment.  There have been nights when I just did  not  want  to  get  out  of  bed as I heard those cries coming from his room, and yet once I was holding him close and listening to him nurse, I was so happy to be right where I was, just soaking it up, truly being present in and content with the season of my life.  

As I gathered things here and there this week to make his first birthday more special, like his birthday ring, beeswax candles, and wool felt for his birthday crown, that bittersweet feeling has been ever present at the back of my mind.  I'm very sure that Saturday will be quite a day for me to get through, filled with love, light, pride, joy, and also a feeling of loss.  Yet I am somewhat surprised and delighted to discover that in the place of that precious infant is a bright-eyed toddler with a truly happy spirit and such profound determination.  Over the years I'm sure I will catch glimpses, here and there, of that sweet baby that used to be, maybe in the fullness of his cheek, or the corner of his mouth, or in the way his face softens when he sleeps.  And I will be so thankful, once again, that God sent this little angel into our lives.  We are so blessed.

trying on his crown to measure how much elastic I would need

(I apologize for the poor color/lighting in these last few pictures,
despite the steady increase in daylight it is still pretty dark here in the afternoons!)

Surprise!

We put an offer in on a house last week and it was accepted!  We are so incredibly excited, but still know that everything is not 100% yet...as we are waiting on final loan approval from the bank and then closing, which will be in early May.  There shouldn't be any issues with those two things, and I knew it was going to be extremely hard to keep things under wraps much longer (especially here on my blog, where it is all I've wanted to write about for the last week) so I had to share!

To see more photos, visit my Facebook album, here.

The house is in the teeny community of Butte, off the Old Glenn Highway, about 7 miles from Palmer.  We love it out there.  I am so thankful to God that we found this place, as it is just so perfect for us.  About three years ago, we drove around in the Valley a lot during the summer, and realized how much we love the Butte area, especially the Bodenburg Loop - this property is right across the Old Glenn from the loop!  So close to Pyrah's U-Pick Farm, which will be amazing to visit often in the growing months.  Also the Butte is right there, just waiting for us to hike up it.  I just can't wait.

It is on an acre of land with a nice little fenced in dog run for Beau and Steve's future dog.  The house is 1240 square feet with two bedrooms and two baths and has a two car detached garage.  It is so bright and airy, so much light!

As you can imagine, we have lots to do in the next month.  Last week I went through nearly everything in the house to weed out anything I didn't want to have to pack up and drag out to Palmer.  Now I'm in the process of collecting boxes and starting to pack.  This is the first time we have moved in 5 years, so I'm sure there will be more to get rid of when I'm actually packing each box.  

Yesterday I stopped by Sweet Adelines to see if she had any snappis.  She didn't (although she is looking into getting them) but that's okay, because I love that store and it is so much fun to shop around in!  There are beautiful, sustainably and often locally made children's items in every nook and cranny.  I picked up a birthday ring for Riggs that was made locally.  I love it, but I hope time passes slowly before I have to use it for his first birthday!  I can't even imagine my little (big) baby as a one year old!  

Speaking of celebrations, I am so excited to have a real home to start making memories in, where Riggs will have all his birthdays.  Thanksgiving and Christmas will be so much more special this year too, as it will be our first year with Riggs (on the outside) and our first year in our own home.

A few snapshots from our week:

Swedish Pancakes for breakfast this morning...

Why do they grow so fast?
He's such a big boy now!

brotherly love

 And now I'm off to the store to get some things for Easter lunch tomorrow and for some coconut to make more energy balls (my favorite food ever at the moment).  Happy Easter weekend, hope you all enjoy some time spent with family and/or friends and eat some delicious, wholesome food.

Trying to Subdue our Consumptive Hunger

Sometimes it is so hard to remember the things that really matter in life, even when I strive to do so every single day.  God has blessed me with so much, yet so often I forget to be thankful and respectful of those blessings.

Steve and I have felt a little down lately, mainly because we are disappointed in ourselves for giving into our materialistic urges to consume, consume, consume.  We are both so sick of acquiring things, thinking we want them and assuming they will make us happy.  We both feel the need to simplify our lives, and it is even more important now that we have added another little person to our household (who has so many things of his own) and now that we are serious about buying a home.

Today we spent nearly all day going through our house and finding things we did/do not need in our lives anymore.  It was such a productive day, both emotionally and financially, and was such a blessing to us both.  I pray that we both keep this day in mind as we strive to live more simply.  One thing I do when trying to subdue that consumptive hunger is to look back on a peaceful, love filled moment and remember my goal to live a simpler and thereby much more fulfilling life.  Moments like these:

The only way to make a house a true home is to fill it only with things that the occupants really and truly love, and that is something to think of before making any purchase.  Do I really love the item I am thinking of purchasing?  Is it something that we need or want in our home and thoughts and heart?  The answer is almost always no.

Now that we are blessed with the amazing responsibility of raising a child, we find it even more important to model a lifestyle that we are proud of and would fully encourage Riggs to follow.  As parent, we teach mostly by example, and so it is so important to us that we get our lives in order so that we can feel great about Riggs imitating us, which he is sure to do.

One reason I believe our society feels such a strong consumptive hunger is because our attention spans are so underdeveloped.  Remember back before the iPhone, when you could actually read an entire book without stopping to check your Facebook?  That only happens every once in a while now for me, when I am reading an exceptionally riveting book.  Remember when you were a child and could spend all day playing outside with no toys to speak of and never get bored?  I do and I wish I could do the same today.  I want so desperately to stretch my attention span back out so that I can fully focus on each task I undertake.

Stillness is so important to my mental wellbeing and yet I have a hard time being along with just my thoughts for more than five minutes before I feel that horrible pull towards my phone or computer.  I am working on this, and have found that the more I simplify my home and life the better I become at disconnecting myself from the technology that steals so much of my time.

As I have been working on this in my own life, I have also been trying hard to keep Riggs' life as simple and natural as it can possibly be.  I try to shield him from overstimulation, as I can plainly see how adverse of an affect it has on him.  He is not comfortable being held all of the time, or with having toys in his face.  He is at his happiest when sitting or laying on the couch (with me close enough that he can feel my presence) and gazing out at the world around him, cooing and smiling and kicking his pudgy little legs.  Of course, he also loves to snuggle with his mamma while he nurses and when he's sleepy, but when he's alert he needs stillness and quiet just as much as he needs a healthy amount of stimulation.

I read something on another blog that I felt compelled to share, as it rang so true to me and I want to remember and think on it as I try to be a good mamma to my sweet little boy:

"This idea of boredom comes from the adult mind. If the child is allowed from a very young age to explore with depth, then they won't require change, change, change. It is the adult who says, here's this new toy, this new book, oh look at that and then that and then that, let's do this now that...rather then just allowing the child to be at his or her own pace with a few simple things. It is also suggested in Waldorf that children read the same few picture books for a whole season. If we guide our children towards depth, they will develop it and continually see new things and discover creative ways of playing and doing and being, not to mention the magic therein. If you keep introducing new, new, new then you create consumptive hunger and therefore a lack of satisfaction. It takes real mindfulness on the part of the adult to look at how we encourage boredom and the desire for new and more in the child."

my approach to meal planning

Since Riggs was born, planning has become much more important.  I'm a planner by nature, I love to make plans.  I tend to think most people probably love to make plans.  However, I think it's pretty widely known that it's actually following through with plans that is the hard part.  I'm excited to announce that I have been getting better and better at making plans I can actually follow through with...yay me!

One thing I've been trying to incorporate into our lives is rhythm.  I've been learning so much about how important it is to us all, and especially to children.  Following Riggs' lead, I've been trying to carve out a rhythm that works best for us, a structure for him to build his life around, a structure for me to use to make sure things get done around here in a timely manner and with little-to-no stress.

On her blog, Celebrate the Rhythm of Life, Lisa describes the concept very well:  "Focus on a simple, natural, slower paced, soulful life with children by implementing daily, weekly, and monthly rhythms through the year full of nurturing, artistic, domestic and social activities that deeply nourish family life for children and adults alike.  Protect the wonder of childhood and revisit your own sense of awe.  Bring gratitude and reverence into daily life in an authentic manner." A more in depth description is available here.

I've been working on planning the best ways to implement this in our lives, and one of these plans I've begun to implement is using Mondays to purge the house of unneeded things (carefully combing through each room for things we don't use or need, cleaning out the refrigerator, etc.), finalize a meal plan for the week, and go shopping for any extra ingredients we might need.

Monday's work best for this because it is trash day on Tuesdays.  So anythings that needs to go from the fridge and all the horrible packaging that you get when buying things in bulk at Costco can go out right away rather than piling up around the house.  Also, beginning the week so organized helps me keep a positive outlook each day.

We are really trying to save every penny possible right now to buy a house later this year, so my goal right now is to use up what I have in my pantry and only buy fresh things each week for about a month.  Ideally, I see myself doing one Costco trip a month to stock up on what we will need for that month, and then doing weekly trips to the local market in winter and farmers market in summer for fruits, veggies, milk and eggs.  That is what I'm working up to.

I've only recently started meal planning (it's been a life-saver since having Riggs as it takes the guess work out of what to make Steve for dinner day after day), and so we have a lot of random foods left over from before that need to be used up prior to buying any other ingredients (other than fresh items, as I mentioned before).  Monday and this morning I worked on coming up with a few weekly meal plans based on what we already have, and feel pretty good about what I've come up with.

My daily rhythm in regards to meals is working out pretty well.  I usually start getting in the dinner mindset around 1 or 2, as Steve is home and hungry by 5pm.  If I wake up feeling especially tired, or know I have a lot to do that day, I get together a crockpot meal in the morning when I have the most energy (afternoons can be a hard time, as it's when I begin to feel pretty tired and lazy).  Also, Riggs cluster feeds from about 4:30 or 5 until his bedtime around 8, so I need to work around that as well.  Sometimes he goes in the wrap and can eat "on-the-go" but sometimes that doesn't work out.

Have you been doing any meal planning lately and if so, how has it been going?  Any good recipes to share?  I will be sharing what I made for dinner tonight later today when I get some final pictures, so maybe check back in for that if Mex Mac & Cheese sounds good to you...

Waldorf Family

I found something wonderful that I wanted to share, from another blog, Celebrate the Rhythm of Life.  It clearly demonstrates what it is about the Waldorf model that I love and hope to incorporate into my home. The words in green especially spoke to me and nearly gave me goosebumps in some cases.  Our lives here on earth are so short, I feel so strongly about focusing on what really matters!  God gave me this beautiful family and I want to purpose to protect, inspire, and encourage them.  {Please remember that these are meant to be guidelines, not a strict regiment you must follow to the letter}   

How to Create a Waldorf Family Life: 

Get rid of the televisions, video games, and limit computer access until age twelve.

Go outside and play everyday, year round.

Eat your food whole.

Hug every day.

Be open to what the little ones will teach you.

Be the firm and loving authority.

Make it yourself, and if you don't know how, learn.

Tell stories and play games.  A lot.

Think about how your things speak to you.

Keep the voices calm, quiet, and as natural as possible.

"Do not worry that your children never listen to you, worry that they are always watching you." - Robert Fulgum

Meditate and do some form of inner work daily.

Rid yourself of anything that has not been touched in over a month.

Sing and share lovely verses for important days and every day.

Create rituals around bedtime, light a candle, sing lullabies and pray.

Hold back intellectual concepts from under 7 as they are in the motor centre still.*

Try and keep a dreamlike quality in everything you do.

Slow down and take time.

Establish rhythm, use repetition, foster reverence, awe and wonder.

Create a beautiful and harmonious environment.

Honor the need for time and space.

Sing throughout the day.

Have conversations with the spirit world {pray}

Remember the elemental beings.

Be authentic in what you do and say.

Involve the children in household tasks in all areas of domestic work from a very young age.

Active learning - learning by doing, by observing, by making, by experiencing.

Make things from scratch, let the kids be involved and observe the TIME and love necessary to create something beautiful and lasting: gardens, meals, tree forts, gifts, art...

Work on ones self

*I surprised myself by agreeing with this quite a bit.  If you do more reading on Waldorf, you'd know that this doesn't mean don't do any intellectual learning. It means don't push that learning, especially at the cost of imaginative play.    

gnome baby and household blues

This is the hat Kelsey made him.  Still a little big but so beautiful and cozy.

the little happy gnome, before he woke up sad and stuffy

I love this pattern and cannot wait to make more.

This week Riggs received a beautiful hat knit by my sister, Kelsey.  I love the shape of the hat, it covers more of his head and has a tie under the chin, so it stays on very well.  We are very thankful!

I also made him a hat, the Little Gnome Hat, and I love how it turned out.  Such a simple, quick pattern - I will definitely be making more of these hats!  It snowed nearly every day this past week, which has made me feel so overwhelmed.  I usually love it when it snows, but this year it has been different.  I haven't been able to get out and enjoy the snow in the ways I'm used to (skiing), and living in this basement I feel so closed in with snow berms covering every single window.

Not only does it block the view, but it is a big concern come spring because of the threat of flooding.  Steve is going to have to shovel us out and move the snow away from the house to try and lower the threat of flooding.  That will be a lot of work and I know he is not looking forward to it.

We are feeling more and more unsatisfied with living in the city and are slowly saving up to be able to (finally) move and buy some land and a house.  It has been so hard having our beautiful Homer property but not being able to live on it full time due to Steve's apprenticeship and the lack of jobs for his trade in Homer.  We have been looking around at many different types of property in an attempt to narrow down what we are really looking for.

What we know we need are a bathroom and a half (two full bathrooms would be nice but not necessity), a gas kitchen stove or the ability to easily install one, two bedrooms (three would be ideal), at least an acre (if we decide to buy in Anchorage we need a yard that is large, somewhat private, and can be driven into), and finally but most importantly, a large shop or garage for Steve.  These are the things we will not compromise on.  We are willing to purchase a fixer-upper, as we both enjoy customizing things to our own taste and don't mind putting in a little sweat equity.  But at the same time, we don't want something that is too much work.

That is what has been on my mind lately, and I have been a little down feeling like there's nothing at there that speaks to me, that I can see myself living in.  On the bright side, I have been going through all of our things and slowly weeding things out that I don't want filing our home.  We have acquired so many things living in our little basement apartment and it is driving me a little crazy.  I love to get rid of stuff but sometimes Steve has a hard time parting with things he thinks he will be able to use in the future, so that can be sort of a struggle.  In this world it is so easy to get focused on material things and wanting to acquire more, more, more, but Steve and I have a strong desire to live more simply and have been striving to make that a reality in our lives.

I have also been thinking a lot about how we want to parent Riggs, especially thinking a lot about his education, and have found some great related reading.  I have been reading about the Waldorf/Steiner theory/method of education and have been very drawn to it.  As a final note, I wanted to share this thought that really stood out to me:

“Our highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings who are able of themselves to impart purpose and direction to their lives. The need for imagination, a sense of truth and a feeling of responsibility-these three forces are the very nerve of education." 
– Rudolf Steiner 


I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend and also that you like my new blog layout.  I have been itching for a change and finally took the time to come up with something new.