Tag Archives: wildlife

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U is for Unschooling

 

500 Words on… Unschooling.

Yes, unschoolers have friends - of many ages!

You may or may not have heard of it. If you have, but only through mainstream news reporting, it is very likely you have a mistaken concept of this approach to learning, and, often, to life.

There seems to be a rampant distrust of children in modern American society. Children are being sent off to day care, often when they are only a few weeks old. I know more than one child who had been enrolled in a preschool program (referred to as “school” by their parents) before they reached their third birthdays.

Taking a seat - or not - on a Thursday afternoon.....

We seem to be a nation obsessed with milestones and measurements and readiness and bridge activities – many of the elementary schoolchildren I know bring home summer homework, these days, to “prevent” the “loss of learning” the summer break seems to riddle them with…

So maybe it’s understandable that I have been accused of abusing and neglecting my children, by depriving them of something vital to their existence, because neither of them have ever attended school, and because it haas been years since I sat anyone at the table to “teach” them.

Maybe it’s understandable that I have often been accused of laziness for not requiring Jeremiah and Annalise to do chores, to eat what I serve, or to go to bed at a prescribed time.

Meeting live wolves was a magical experience for Annalise and I.

Those accusations and misassumptions seem to be based on a view of children that is warped and skewed to see school as part of the natural evolution of children.

It isn’t. Human children, like all young mammals, are intended to learn through play. They are intended to grow in independence, and to emulate the behaviors of the adults around them.

Jeremiah, age 10, loves to cook.

They are intended to be passionately involved in the process of learning, and the learning they do is intended to be immediately relevant to the living of their lives – in other words, children are geared to learn what will help them RIGHT NOW.

No other species sends its young off to be “educated” behind walls, and by relative strangers assigned to the duty, and compensated with money. No other species thinks that what their young study needs to be decided by regulation or committtee.

Weighing in at the Children's Museum of Saratoga.

The schools that seem so intrinsic to life in America today did not exist here at the dawn of our nation. They are based on the Prussian factory schools, intended to create a standardized workforce that knows enough to work, but not enough to agitate any rebellion against the system.

Earlier generations of Americans fought strenuously against compulsory schooling laws, certain that it was a terrible idea to simply give their children over to the government to educate.

I think they were right.

Contemplating history - fire truck from the Twin Towers attacks, NYS Museum.

Here, Jeremiah and Annalise are involved in learning through all of their waking moments. Yes, that learning looks just like play. It looks almost effortless, when all is well – and yet, a great deal of energy and attention is needed to create the right sort of environment, one which can grow and change and accommodate evolving interests, abilities, and circumstances….it takes a good deal of my time and attention, and a willingness to set aside what I might rather be doing in favor of facilitating their learning.

Much in the same way that seeing her young safely to adulthood becomes the focus of any good wild mammal mother.

Just as nature intended.

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Kreativity, Rewarded!

Kreatively Lovely!

I received this award from the delightful and inspiring Shah Wharton several weeks ago, as  Jim’s recovery from his motorcycle accident  had moved home from the hospital, and while I was also in the final stages of achieving my ROW80 goals.
I wanted to acknowledge Shah, and to say a big  THANKS! for the award, and pass it along, and did not find the time, energy, and focus  all together to do so before now.

Now, Jim is more and more able to do things he could before his accident – driving, working out, some mellow work on his truck and around the house and yard, getiing up and down without a great deal of pain, and generally having the endurance to get through a fairly normal day.

The first round of ROW80 is over, and my goals are complete.  I’ve drafted my goals for the next round, and am now tending to things laid aside during that more intense time.

Including accepting this award.

Not the North Jetty in Florence, Oregon, but a random jetty.

Here are the rules that go with it, and notations on how I dealt with each….

1.) Link back to the person who gave it to you! (See Above)

2.) Share 10 random facts about yourself!
  • I once crossed North America by train, nearly coast to coast, with $50 to my name, to take a job in a state where I knew no one.
  • Once, while canoeing through mangrove swamp in the Everglades, Jim and I hit an alligator, thinking it was a submerged log, until I saw its eye.
  • Frightened and angry alligators who think you are too big too dine on have a fearsome hissing roar……
  • On a similar topic, I can tell you from experience that fighting with your spouse in a canoe is neither fun nor productive.

Hello, Everglades gator!

  • I have had a great horned owl swoop only feet above my head, on the way home from waiting tables at the Old Faithful Inn.  Her wings sounded like whispered drumbeats.
  • I have seen a bald eagle rise up from the Firehole River with a fish arched in its talons, the water pouring off in sparkling rainbows.  It met my eyes, piercingly and without fear, and I was foever changed.
  • I have pulled mussels live off a jetty on the Oregon coast, and eaten them.
  • I once stabbed myself under the kneecap with the spine of an agave (century plant), while on a Grand Canyon hike.  It bled fiercely, and soon soaked my sock, and it hurt intensely.

Nature's bounty.

  • On the same hike, Jim and I had a fight and got separated (fighting on a hike is maybe worse than in a canoe; you can walk away from each other in fury).
  • It took so long to find each other again and reunite, that we ran out of water.  A thunderstorm came, and we drank and licked water off rocks.

Agave, or century plant. Gnarly thorns, great beauty.

3.) Pass on the award onto 7 other people!
4.) Follow the person that gave you this award-CHECK!

I followed her quite a while ago, because she is inspiring, fun, and very, very creative!

Nature's Power and Loveliness

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ROW80 Goals Update- “ROWing with the Flow”

From Drop Box

I’ve done what feels like a tremendous amount of writing over the last several days. Words are flowing –  good words.  Imaginative words.

True words.

From Drop Box

I’ve also been cranky, and, with the full moon, not sleeping nights.  That’s great for long, uninterrupted stretches of writing time –  but it can tend to affect my moods in a less-than-lovely way….

I’m trying to live in the flow, too, but, sometimes, I’m finding that flow choked and hopelessly clogged……

From Drop Box

The writing though – That has been good, and abundant!

Round of Words 80 Goals – Round 1, 2012:

 I will submit at least one essay or photo essay apiece to Tiny Buddha and Sunday Surf.

  • This goal has been attained!  I emailed my Tiny Buddha submission at about 1am, March 10 – and then again about two hours later, because, a bit embarrassingly, I typed the address in incorrectly.  Oops, and hooray!
  • I had quite a bit of resistance and discomfort in doing these submissions.  I’m letting myself absorb that while gently probing the whys and wherefores.
  • I think I may have built them up as “big and scary” in my own mind.
  • I might try to experiment with more guest posts and similar submissions during Round 2.
From Drop Box

I will complete the rough draft of my unfinished NaNoWriMo novel, Chameleon’s Dish.

  • I have written 12,437 words  of Chapter Twenty – Two, “The Play’s the Thing“.
  • A few glimmers of hope are beginning to shine through the impossibility of the situation.
  • Of course, there are also new complications and the threat of more looming overhead…can’t just have them cruising into the resolution without breaking a sweat, now, can we?
  • I do feel, at once, a desire to delve deeper and a pressure to rush forward and tighten up……and get done.  I am balancing between the two, at the moment.
From Drop Box

I will submit at least four pieces, queries, or proposals to for-pay markets.

    • I submitted “Twice Coupled” a piece of flash erotica, to Clean Sheets.  
    • This time, it took me a few days to get a form rejection letter.
    • I’ve bumped into a treasure trove of other markets to try, and will be looking into those as time permits, this week.
    • I am also dipping my foot into the waters of Morgan Dragonwillow’s writing contest.  She is putting together an anthology, and I would like to submit something for consideration.
    • I couldn’t manage to get my first piece completed in the 24 hour timeframe (That seems short, for me), but I am liking the direction it is taking, so I am going to complete it and submit it elsewhere.
    • With all the contests and challenges I have done in the last two weeks, I feel a little braver about this idea of submitting…….
    • I hope to continue broadening my submission field throughout Round 2 and beyond!
    • I am also counting my Tiny Buddha essay as a submission,  since, if accepted, it will reach a wider audience than I have up to this point, and I think that’s valuable enough to count toward my goal.
    • So that is three out of four submissions made, thus far.
From Drop Box

I will update, keep current on a weekly basis, and add writing samples to my Facebook Writer Page, and I will  update, edit, and post to both of my regular blogs on at least a weekly basis.

I will write at least one book review,  and a rough draft of a letter to my father-in-law.

  • I have now written two book reviews.
  • I’ve been considering the approach I’ll use for the letter, and have a rough sense of it.
  • I feel I will be ready to begin ordering my points and organizing thoughts around them, soon.
  • I expect to have a completed rough draft fairly soon after I begin –  this won’t be a censored or necessarily civil draft; but rather a chance to pour out what feels true and vital to communicate.
From Drop Box

I will input one of my writing notebooks into Penzu, and clip all materials I would like to pursue further.

  • I have input 92 of 141 pages from my December 1999 Writing Practice Notebook.
  • I will not drop the clipping goal, for now, because I seem to be moving fairly quickly through the pages.
  • I will, however, likely move the project to the back burner once all pages have been transcribed, so that I can focus on finishing the higher-intensity goals still remaining.
From Drop Box

********************************

Today, we all went out on our first family outing/adventure since Jim’s accident on February 19th.  We attended Raptor-Fest 2012, a live raptor show held at a horse farm, and stopped at my brother’s for a visit……I am sure we all needed that, since we were starting to get on each others’ nerves.

From Drop Box

I will wrap up by saying that I wrote, and lived, as much wit h the flow as I was able.

There were and are still some dammed up places where the flow is obstructed, but the fresh energy will help to clear those places.

From Drop Box

I am gearing up and settling in for the final ten-day push, knowing I have come a very long way, and that I still have a distance left to travel.

From Drop Box

I remind myself that it is as much about the journey as the destination, and so I pause now and then, to enjoy the view, to be awed by wild things, to  laugh and learn and play, and to live…….

From Drop Box

Are you aimed directly at the endpoint,  or are you still meandering the little cow trails and rabbit runs of the terrain….?

Set your sights on the adventures of other ROWers here….. 

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ROW80 Goals Update #13 – “Pondering Balance”

Carousel Peace....

It’s been an eventful few days, here.  On Friday, we again had the pleasure of Cameron’s company.  Cam is my 11 year old nephew, and brings a different energy to our lives whenever he’s here.

Cameron time is a busy time, for us.  There are places we go regularly, that he doesn’t usually go,  except with us.  And he is funny and physical, and just enough older than Miah to have that “big brother” feeling, and, since he has an almost-six-year-old sister at home, he is patient and gentle and fun with Annalise, too.

So, on Friday, before we came home, we stopped at a McDonald’s that had a PlayPlace, and the kids enjoyed some play while I used my laptop.  Eventually, though, another child started punching people, and they mutually decided that they no longer wanted to be there.  So, off we headed to the YMCA, for about two hours of swimming (OK, I only made it for about an hour and a quarter!) , and then a few laps on the track.

We were all up very late – actually, Jeremiah never slept, and then out early on Saturday, to give Jim a ride to work, since there was a chance of slushy snow that would make riding his motorcycle unsafe.  He works in a neighboring small town, and the New York State Museum, which we headed to afterwe dropped him off is another 40 minutes away, which made for quite a bit of driving for me.

From Drop Box

The museum, as always, delighted us all.  In a two hour whirlwind, we visited favorite spots and explored some new ones:

  • New York State logging exhibit
  • the antique, working carouse
  •  skulls and recreated faces found at a locally excavated historic  gravesite
  •  native rocks and minerals
  • animal bones, pelts, and specimens
  • mastodont exhibit
  • Adirondack wildlife exhibit
  •  NY Harbor and Metropolis exhibits;
  • the A train
  • the 9/11 Family Trailer (memorabilia of those lost in the attacks)
  •  the gift shop

    Bubbly travertine makes me Yellowstone homesick

On our way out, Cam and Annalise scaled a rock wall, and there was time to explore some shale that had broken off the wall.

By the time I reached home, all three kids had fallen asleep.

Lise and an old friend of mine I met at her age....

Their Saturday night was comprised of napping, eating, and Netflix.  Mine was tidying and writing, and going out to the store after Jim got home, to purchase a gift for my older nephew and his fiancee’s baby shower, today.Their Saturday night was comprised of napping, eating, and Netflix.  Mine was tidying and writing, and going out to the store after Jim got home, to purchase a gift for my older nephew and his fiancee’s baby shower, today.

Cam examines some minerals.....

Then some time with Jim, watching How It’s Made and Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Datalore” .

After he fell asleep, I wrote some more…..and now, it’s Sunday again, and I am getting these few paragraphs started before we leave to take Cam home and attend the baby  shower.

So, in short, busyness has abounded, and with an extra person in the

house.  I am very attuned to the energyaround me; an extra person always shifts the dynamic, often in unexpected and unforeseeable ways.   Even though I do what I can to prepare myself for this, it can still be a chaotic and trying experience.

With that in mind, I address the matter of my progress toward my writing goals:

Round of Words 80 Goals Progress – Round 1, 2012:

 I will write at least 10 essays and/ or photo essays, and post them publicly. 

  • This goal has been attained, and then some, as I just seem to keep on writing essays.
  • I’m not sure I realized before just how much I adore personal essays, and how much I love adding photos to them.
  • Now that I do, I see no reason whatever to stop just because I’ve met the current goal!

Annalise loves exploring wildlife - and habitats and specimens, too.......

I will complete all necessary homeschool reporting (2010-2011 end-of-year assessments; fourth request for approval of 2011-2012 IHIPs, and Second Quarter Reports-  all items for both children).  These will be completed and submitted as follows:

  •  2010-2011 EOY Assessments  -  January 31, 2012
  •  This goal has also been attained!
  • 2011-2012 IHIP Approval Request – February 15, 2012
  • This goal has been attained.
  • 2011-2012 Second Quarter Reports – March 1, 2012
  • Jeremiah’s report is approximately two-thirds of the way through link adding and editing (complete through sciences).
  • I remain ahead of schedule for completing this goal, and will likely have it completed and sent before the winter break ends in just over a week.

Starfish, Lovely...

I will submit at least one essay or photo essay apiece to Tiny Buddha and Sunday Surf.

  • The Sunday Surf post has been completed and posted at my unschooling blog, The Unfettered Life.
  • The Tiny Buddha piece, “Your Way or Mine –  Or Another, Altogether?” has one remaining rough spot to be polished.
  • Next, I will be editing, formatting properly, adding photos, and submitting it (although I will perhaps need to wait until March, if February submissions have already closed when I finish it).

"Mommy! I lost a tooth! A MASTODON tooth!"

I will complete the rough draft of my unfinished NaNoWriMo novel, Chameleon’s Dish.

  • I have completed Chapter 18, “Never Doubt I Love” , with a double cliffhanger of an ending that totally surprised me –  never saw it coming!
  • I have 1035 words in Chapter 19, “To Be or Not To Be?”.  This will be a tense, life-or-death chapter, and we may not know how it turns out for another few, after this…..perhaps, nor until very near the climax….
  • I feel that, if I’m not at the beginning of the end, I will be by the end of this chapter…..it feels, right now, like there might be about 25 chapters, with a prologue and epilogue.

Deer skull girl.....

I will submit at least four pieces, queries, or proposals to for-pay markets.
  •  I have rewritten my flash fiction erotica piece, “The Coupling”.
  • I want to revise it again – the current vision is much more sensual, but I feel there is more to go.
  • I plan to submit this piece to Clean Sheets.
  • I have rechecked guidelines for Clean Sheets and For the Girls.
  • I am contemplating more stories in this vein.
  • I have an idea for a top-five list for Cracked.com., to be titled, “Top Five Ridiculous Things People Say to Unschoolers.”  I could easily come up with a dozen or two, just from our own personal experiences, and it may help to build a bit of mainstream tolerance so that strangers don’t feel so justified coming up to us in a store and accosting us for our life choices…and so that perhaps certain family-of-origin members would allow us to simply live our lives in learning and peace, without emotional attacks or unfounded calls to CPS.
  • I remain a little behind on this goal, but expect to remedy that in the next week or two.

  • Her favorite since age 2!

I will update, keep current on a weekly basis, and add writing samples to my Facebook Writer Page, and I will  update, edit, and post to both of my regular blogs on at least a weekly basis.
  • I’ve posted some links, samples, and updates to my Writer Page, and it has garnered several new followers over the last several days.  That is really exciting!
  • I am in the midst of an involved and personally important achievement-oriented post at The Unfettered Life.
  • This post is taking longer than anticipated, because there is a lot I want to include, and a lot I am absorbing while composing it.
  • I have at least one more post mind-scheduled there, for after I complete the current one.
  • I have several other less-than-ready to write ideas still simmering.
  • I have posted once on this blog, with this  Trifextra entry, Hamlet: Hawk From a Handsaw.  It is a re-visioning of Hamlet told in exactly 33 words.
  • I have bought the domain name www.shanjeniah.com.  Now begins the process of figuring out what I can do with it!
  • I have plans to add more pages to this blog in the coming weeks.

She was particularly interested in the whale's baleen (food strainers in the mouth), on this trip.

I will write at least one book review,  and a rough draft of a letter to my father-in-law.

  • The book review for A Quiet Place is written and waiting in my word-processing program.
  • I will move it here, format, perhaps add pictures, and post within the next day or three.
  • I have given more thought to the bulleted list for my father-in-law, but am not quite ready to write anything out as yet.    Soon, though.

Tradition! Cam always demands a refund from the wax oystereman; the way oysterman always ignores Cam.....a four year trend continues! =)

I will input one of my writing notebooks into Penzu, and clip all materials I would like to pursue further.

  • I am on page 32 of 141 for this goal.
  • I have found more useful nuggets to delve more deeply, later.

A pretty just for me.

Well, since I did get in some larger chunks of time here or there (and more tonight, as I was writing this goals post), some things did get accomplished

Jeremiah, after being up all night, and busy all day, chillaxes on the A train..

I’ve also, as I mentioned,  been branching out into projects I haven’t “officially” set goals for.  At this point in the process, I plan to save new goals for the next round.  I also don’t plan to put off what I am inspired to write, so some of my work is a bit invisible here.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
As the non-winter fades away, though, and the air here is softening for an early spring, I can see that balance is going to be integral to the next phase in our very seasonally-oriented lives.   We’re already planning some activities and trips, and there will be more walks, more outdoor play, more swimming, gardening, and just being out-of-doors after the dormant season.
 
 
Balance will apparently be out the window over the next days….
 

The cathredral next door to the museum....

Jim had a motorcycle accident as I was typing the above paragraphs a couple of hours ago.   He was medflighted here to the large medical center almost an hour from our house.
 He is hurt – broken hand and ribs, collapsed lung, and lacerated spleen that is bleeding and may need cauterization….

Unsettled skies; unsettled life......

 

A goofy moment after working through her wall-climbing fears....

 

The next 48 hours of bedrest will be critical.  The trauma surgeon said, “Minimal risk of mortality” and “not out of the woods yet.”

 

Three friends, from behind.

 

We’re waiting anxiously to see him…..everything else has pretty much become inconsequential.

…….for now, here’s the update……..


I love the architecture of this cathedral.

 Please think good thoughts for us, and go do something sweet for someone you love. 
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Yellowstone Lunch

English: Morning Glory Pool, Upper Geyser Basi...

Image via Wikipedia - Morning Glory Pool

I wrote this essay during the summer season (my last, as it would turn out, because Jeremiah was born the following one), for the Employees’s Rec Co-op Writing Contest.  I believe the theme was something along the lines of Everyday Yellowstone;

This piece won my $25!

**************************************************************

I smile as I approach the table. “Hello. My name is Shannon, and I’ll be your server. How are you today?” The spiel is mostly automatic, but through long practice I manage to make my voice livelier than I feel.

They chuckle, and I start to enjoy myself, forgetting for a moment how sore my feet are.I tell them today’s special, then finish by asking, “ Where are you from?”

“Texas,” the man answers. We chat for a few moments more before I take their order and move to the computer to ring it in. Too often, this is the only Yellowstone I can find the time to experience.

The chirping of the computer replaces birdsong in my ears, and the hypnotic rhythms of the guests’ conversations fills in for the rushing of waterfalls. The grazing elk framed in the large windows remind me that I’m stuck in this dining room, earning my right to be here.

I go to the kitchen to fix their drinks.  Fill the glasses with clinking ice, add the freshly-brewed tea, slice two lemons along the peel to prop on the lips of the glasses, grab two long-handled iced tea spoons. I’ve done it thousands of times before. There’s no thought involved.

I place the glasses on my tray. Balancing the tray on my fingertips, I carry it back to my table. “Here we go. Now, let’s see if I can get this straight,” I joke.   ”Uh – an iced tea for the lady. . . and one for the gentleman. Your lunch should be ready in a few minutes.”

“Let me ask you something,” says the woman. “How did you come to be working here?”

“It was my husband’s childhood dream. We came for ten weeks three years ago, and we just keep coming back. This place has a very strong pull.”

They look out the window, where the elk graze placidly, ignoring the hundreds of amateur photographers all seeking the perfect shot, and the magpies zipping about in their striking black-and-white plumage. “We’ve only been here a day, and we’re already planning to come back next year. It’s magical here.”

Old Faithful Inn

Old Faithful Inn (Photo credit: Mike Miley)

 

I nod, understanding exactly what they are feeling.   “To the Indians, Yellowstone is sacred ground. The first pioneers called it, ‘the place where hell bubbled up’, and no one would believe their stories. But I worked my first two seasons at Old Faithful, and, if you’re walking alone through the steam, you can almost imagine how they must’ve felt. The world vanishes, and all that’s left is the sound of the geysers and the smell of sulfur. “

“We’re going to Old Faithful tomorrow,” the man tells me, and I can read the excitement in his eyes. It makes me feel again as I did the first time I witnessed a geyser’s eruption, with the deep, belching roar vibrating in my soul as the boiling water escaped from the earth that had imprisoned it.

Then I think of Old Faithful – the overcrowded boardwalks, the hype over a geyser that is neither the biggest nor the most beautiful the park has to offer. They probably won’t listen, but I feel I must try to make them aware of their options.

 

Firehole River on the trail to Lone Star Geyser

Firehole River on the trail to Lone Star Geyser (Photo credit: Steve Selwood)

 

“Old Faithful is nice, but very crowded. If you don’t mind hiking a few miles, you can go to Lone Star Geyser instead. It’s off the main road, and very quiet.”

As I suspected, they groan at the mention of a hike. “What else is there to do down there?” I can tell that they mean ‘what else is there to do that won’t take us too far from our car or our hotel?’.

Though disappointed for all they’ll miss, I give them the best information I can. “The bison are usually close by, this time of year. You’re very likely to see a few if you tour the boardwalk. Morning Glory Pool is just a short walk, and well worth it. My favorite geyser is in Black Sand Basin. It’s called Cliff. It’s little, but it goes off every ten or fifteen minutes, it’s right next to the parking lot, and, when the sun hits it right, it looks like falling diamonds.”

English: Cliff geyser and Firehole river at Bl...

“That sounds wonderful.”

“It is. Well, I need to go check on your lunch.”

Soon they’re eating quietly. I leave them alone, since it is hard to eat and talk at the same time. Instead, I head back into the kitchen, musing about my own Yellowstone experiences as I half-listen to the chattering of my coworkers.

I’ve seen a herd of perhaps a hundred bison, snow blanketing their humped shoulders as they breathed the icy air which frosted their beards; their horns glittered silver in the moonlight. I’ve seen a green blanket of baby lodgepole pines, lovingly guarded by the charred remains of their perished parents.

I’ve heard the pure lust in a bull elk’s September bugle, and felt the nearly soundless whoosh of a great horned owl’s wings as she soared two feet over my head.

Those same elk calves that graze calmly beside their mothers today were newborns only a month ago.   They looked like they were being controlled by a mad puppeteer who didn’t care where their spindly legs landed.

I have met the fearless yellow gaze of a bald eagle as he emerged from the center of the Firehole River. Droplets of water sprayed rainbows as he flew off with a fish in his talons, crying out his victory to his waiting mate.

These are the chance moments I long for and live for, the reason for the routine drudgery that must be a part of every life, even this one.

I go back to check on my table. They’re ready to talk some more. Like many tourists, they seem fascinated with the life I lead here.

“What’s your favorite thing about working here?” asks the man.

“Besides days off?” I’m rewarded by more laughter. “I love times like this, when I can talk to people. I love being a part of your vacation, maybe even being someone you’ll remember when you get home. I love how some people come back to work here year after year. It’s almost like having a second family.

“We’ve all left the ordinary world to live in this extraordinary one. I love getting away from everyone – in a place where, if I sit still, I can’t see or hear any sign of man, just nature everywhere. I love the way the wind blows here, and how fast the weather can change.

“But most of all, I love having Yellowstone National Park as my backyard.”

And, as they leave, I realize that I also love the way a simple interaction can spring me from the routine and make me once again fully aware of the amazing aspects of my own life.

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