Pottery

Invited by a Friend to try our hands at the wheel, we take our turns. Hard clay centred, secured. The first shaping progresses slowly while the wheel spins.

My Girl at the wheel with our Friend

Instructions pass from mouth to hands, hands which resist remembering. Cool clay wet with drops released from above begins to yield to the pressure of hands and the unrelenting spinning force.

My Girl shaping the clay

My Girl's friend forming the candle holder while our Friend drips water from above.

"You have only one hand in pottery", she tells us. "One hand guides, the other does the work." That is foreign to these hands. They are unaccustomed to such an arrangement. While they are familiar with cooperation, coordination, this unity is something new.

Pressing in my thumbs to form the bowl.
We hope to receive the kiln-fired creations when we see our Friend again in September. It's a time for waiting with anticipation!

Thank you, dear Friend, for this experience in creation.

New Glasses for Little Man

Feasting on Ideas: Reflections on the 2008 ChildLight USA Conference - by Sandy Moore

Have you ever gone to some fantastic buffet restaurant and stood perplexed in front of all the amazing and diverse dishes, feeling somewhat intimidated with all the choices? I must admit that at first glance of the ChildLight USA conference schedule I felt somewhat overwhelmed at the depth and richness of the topics and workshops available to partake in. Truly this was a feast spread before us, but the food all looked so good and so tempting how was one ever to choose between the various forms of nourishment available? I felt a little like a kid in a candy shop! Here I was in a CM educators' paradise and I was paralyzed to know where to begin!

My first choice of breakout session, “Education is a Discipline” (all about habit formation) launched me into a fantastic few days of inspiration, learning, fellowship and reflection. It was not long before I realized that no choice was a bad one...each discussion, each plenary session, and even the informal meal time chats were opportunities to be inspired and make connections, to be affirmed in my vocation as a home educator and my calling as a mom. Of course I did not understand every definition, idea, or concept presented and at times I had to laugh at myself wishing I had my dictionary in tow to look up some heady term like epistemology or pedagogy. But for the most part I was in my element, a land of plenty, flowing with milk and honey.

One particular session I have been reflecting upon since returning home was the session entitled “On Parallel Tracks: Mason and Vygotsky” by Tammy Glaser. I almost skipped this session as it fell on the last morning and I was feeling rather sleepy (having indulged in more than one late night chat session). I was also feeling rather cranky about having to wrap my brain around the many unfamiliar terms I had glanced at in the session summary of our handbook. Words like "scaffolding”, “parallel tracks”, “zones of proximal development”, and “Vygotsky" (who the heck was he anyway?) seemed to dampen my enthusiasm for attending this lecture, but at the last moment I sauntered into the hall figuring I had come this far and even if I picked up a couple of good points it would be better than having to pack my suitcase (which is what I would have done otherwise).

It turned out to be the pivotal lecture of the whole conference for me and I almost missed it! You know it reminds me of the times when I ask my dear husband to get some condiment or other from the fridge and he stands there with the door open looking puzzled: “I just can’t find it,” or, “It’s not here,” the familiar refrain followed by my typical, “What then is this?” as I lift the desired item from right in front of his nose.

For some reason I hadn’t seen it before but this lecture, and the points outlined within it, had the effect of turning on the lights for me. From Behaviourism to Relationships… that’s it! That is what all of my efforts at creating an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life are all about. And now Tammy Glaser was able to show me real, practical ways to actually put this into action. Scaffolded learning went from being a vague undefined mysterious concept to a solid framework of real-time tools that I can use "today" to help my young learners engage in the educational process in an emotionally healthy way. Terms like Dialog, Shared Understanding, Joint Problem solving, the Zone, and Self Regulation suddenly took on new meaning for me. These are not just abstract ideas but the keys to unlocking a healthy educational life that does not depend on the behaviouristic techniques of drill, reward, and punishment. Now this was something I really needed to hear and really needed to absorb. Oh, yes, these ideas are not new to my thinking but the implementation strategy has always been rather vague for me: How do we actually move from Behaviourism to Relationships? How do we know we are really doing this? Which techniques are best? I needed someone to lay them out side by side like Tammy did and point the way. This is the essence of our efforts as CM educators: building an educational process that is vibrant and living without external pressures and artificial expectations.

I feel equipped now and much more confident...sort of like my kitchen cabinets have all been cleaned and organized and I am ready to try out some new recipes. Indeed the educational life is like a feast and these ideas have been nourishment to my soul. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to taste and I will continue to digest this food for many weeks to come. As always a good meal is better shared and I can't wait to hear how others have been nourished as well.

( Editorial note: We look forward to a series of reflections on the ChildLight USA CM Conference in Boiling Springs, NC. Thank you, Sandy Moore, for pulling together the first post. We invite all you you to come back again later to see the other posts as they are added.)

Watercolours - Don't be Daunted by White

After that lovely experience with dry brush, I took my paints and brush to a friend whose lodging for the conference was across the hall, and showed her what I'd learned. Together we looked for a flower on the GWU campus that we could try painting and found that there weren't a lot of colourful flowers there. Beautiful magnolias, unassuming clover, and that was about it. And both those blossoms were tones of white! We were not to give up, though, and carefully removed two magnolias from a low hanging limb, returned to the apartment, and set to work. One and a half hours later, we decided that it was time to sleep.


The leaves surrounding my magnolia have been left unfinished (above) and I over-yellowed the cream I was trying to make for the petals, but overall I was pleased with the result. My friend's was lovely - shadows, tones of whites, ivories, creams, and greens. I plan to ask if she'll allow me to post her painting here, too, as I'd love to show what can be done by a new watercolourer who won't be daunted by white on white!

And here is my pansy from our front garden the same day as the children did theirs. I love this process!

ChildLightUSA CM Conference Notes - Part One

The ChildLight USA CM Conference was wonderful. We are so thankful to have been able to share it with more members of the WHHE. Seven of us were able to take part and came away full and inspired in our home education efforts.

We hope to have several posts about the conference, and my sincere desire is that each woman who attended would be able to share some of what she experienced and learned while there. The formal posts for this blog will begin soon, but in the meantime, you can hop over to PeaceLedge where I have posted about my experience with Nature Study and dry-brush watercolour. Here's a teaser, though, so you can see what this 'non-artist' learned:

More to come,

Jennifer

Nature Study at ChildLight USA

This is the first in a series of planned posts about the ChildLight USA Charlotte Mason Conference. I was away from home for six days last week attending the 4th Annual conference in Boiling Springs, NC, and it was a fantastic time. It could take months, maybe even years, to be able to process all that I heard and was encouraged with, the conference was so full! The Lord certainly used it as a time to bless me in my home education as well as in my friendships and vision for a greater movement in home education.

Although there was so much to experience, it is obvious to me that my first post on the conference should be about Nature Study. That is what my thoughts have turned to over and over the past months, and it seems that God filled a need for me in this regard at ChildLight USA.

Two lovely women from Georgia, Deborah and HollyAnne Dobbins, teach the grade one and two Nature Study classes at a Perimeter School, a Charlotte Mason school in Duluth, and they shared their practices and techniques for NS with home and school educators. Following are some of the things that resonated in my heart as they spoke and demonstrated:

• Nature Study is a way to honour and glorify God - observing the details, patterns, colours, and beauty that He has put into creation, sometimes in a very hidden way, honours Him.
• Nature Study is not about doing a perfect watercolour reproduction.
• Observation takes practice, and is more easily learned in a quiet environment.
• Careful work in labelling a Nature Journal is not only a way to reinforce language skills such as penmanship, it is also a way to reflect the beauty and order of creation.
• Watercolour entries in Nature Journals don't involve a lot of mess or effort on the part of the teacher, but they yield a beautiful result, even with inexperienced watercolourers whose work is beautiful in its combination of simplicity in execution and insight.

This breakout session was a highlight for me. I have, for a long time, wanted to be able to use watercolours effectively in my own nature journal and to be able to give instruction to my children as well. The Dobbinses gave me what I longed for: clear, concise instruction and an opportunity to actually DO IT in a setting where there was support. Here is my first ever watercolour entry in my nature journal. It is a Pansy Viola Wittrockiana, and I loved every minute of observation and execution of this work!



I was so excited about the watercolour technique and the success that I'd had, that on my first day back home after the conference, I took the children for a little nature walk to our front garden and asked them each to choose a pansy to study. Once back inside, we used the Dobbinses' procedure of silent observation of the specimen for one minutes followed by a time of sharing about the specimens by each child. Then we got out the paints. I gave some basic instructions for technique and then we began. It was a tremendous experience, and here are their results:

My Girl's pansy done in watercolour. She is quite insecure about her abilities in art, and this was a huge success for her. We were both impressed with her results and she's eager to try again!

Little Man's pansy done in watercolour. This fellow actually did two paintings. The first time he thought that the illustration wasn't colourful enough, so he began adding extra colours. I admired his painting and then explained that when we do a Nature Study picture, we want to show what God has put there for us to see. The colours he added to his first painting were beautiful, but it didn't show the pansy as God had made it. His first reaction was "my pansy is bad." But after a moment of talking together, he realized that he'd done a lovely painting, and now he could try and make one that looked like what he saw. He eagerly picked up his brush and returned to work, completing the second painting above. I think it is lovely!

Brown-Eyed Boy's watercolour pansy. This fellow loved loading his brush and blending colours. I'm glad he enjoyed the experience even with the rest of us continually asking him to stop mixing the colours on the paint tablets themselves!

I'm looking forward to sharing more about the conference: Shakespeare, plenary sessions on "Moving from Reward to Relationship", Charlotte Mason in Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, and just some reflections from the week.

12 Years

My Girl turned 12 on Thursday. I had planned to write a post reflecting on the years we've had with her, but it looks like that isn't going to happen. I'll have to return to that topic in the near future. Until then, however, you will have to make do with this: two days before her birthday, My Girl donated almost 10 inches of her hair to an organization that makes wigs for youth and children who can't afford to purchase them. This is her second time donating and she plans to do it again.

Before

After

Happy Birthday!

Making Space

Our attempts to make our little home last us as long as possible have driven us to jack up the garage 8" (done), raise the floor 6" (yet to happen), and add a small addition on the back so we can get our bikes, lawn mower, stroller and wagon in at the same time as the van. This handy little addition will also have a man door so we can have access to those items without having to move the van out of the garage.

The addition's foundation was dug by my dad while our dear ones visited from the west, and concrete poured the next week.

Then my Dear Man's dad helped with framing on the May long weekend.

Since then we've also done most of the siding on the addition, put on the roof, and made some amendments to the play spaces in the yard. Progress is steady.

A Place Called Peace

Peace is a precarious place. Standing on the edge of contentment and complacency, reaching deeper than either. A sense of well-being, of abiding, of walking with the One Who leads by still waters.

It doesn't take much to shatter the peace. One wrong step and the ledge that has held such beauty becomes the platform from which I tumble into the rocks waiting below.

What is it that catapults me from the place of security, of serenity? An answer so obvious it seems simplistic: I've wandered from the place of abiding into the one of trying to control my world alone.

Let me walk back into Your arms, for there is peace.