The healing journey of a widowed, unschooling badass in Delaware.
We had an exciting night in Kennett Square seeing Cat Ridgeway at the Kennet Flash.
Ridgeway rocked the stage and was so sweet afterward. She remembered us from the Philly Folk Festival two years ago and chatted with us for a while.
She signed Isaac’s CD and just might be considering a tattoo.
We also got to see the promotional poster for Westen’s upcoming gig on the wall of the venue.
Wow. So so grateful to the talented and generous Rosie Boff for taking and sharing these pics of my son playing rock star.
My son’s new band World of Chaos will debut at Rainbow Records tonight!
Westen been a stage hound since David Stradley asked for volunteer readers at a Delaware Shakespeare event on Market Street in Wilmington. He couldn’t read yet and Stradley had to feed him his line.
Westen actually made it onto a DelShakes stage in their production of The Merry Wives of Windsor and has acted in too many plays to name here (most for Pages Alive Theater).
He’s been learning guitar for a little while now and has had a crash course in bass to prepare for his musical debut.
If you’re local to Newark, Delaware, and want to support some awesome kids, we’d love to see you tonight!
My Going Merry build is going slowly, unlike the rate at which the Kalmar Nyckel’s Lego Brick Shipbuilding Day is approaching.
They posted this pic of Isaac (in red) and I’m excited to see how all our builds do in competition.
I haven’t been taking time to play with Lego and it shows.
For the month of October, I’ll be working with my sons and other homeschoolers to build 31 distinct sculptures.
This will be our third time participating in Delaware Fun-A-Day and I’m excited to see what we come up with.
Enjoying music, yoga, and friends with these crazies at Ohmfest.
Live music. A friend lamented at music’s healing power of sound, connection, rhythm, and pure magic. I shared the lament. This is the longest I’ve gone without a proper concert (even counting the miracle yoga and music fest we attended in August).
Then I remembered I had tickets for a Lone Bellow concert at Union Transfer in Philly in March. My date for that show dumped me months ago and I was pessimistic that it was still happening at all. I looked up the venue and the show is still listed as on!
With good news trickling out and an event date right at the beginning of spring, I’m cautiously optimistic that my friend and I will be letting loose like the maniacs we are in a couple months.
Now, to find that magical, four-day, hippie fest my sons and I have been craving…
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Home educators are hyper diverse. Each family has its own reasons for choosing to take full ownership of their child(ren)’s education. Within multi-child homes, there are varieties of reasons for choosing the lifestyle, or not choosing it as some siblings attend brick-and-mortar schools. Temporally, the reasons may change as children and family dynamics grow.
My personal journey evolved from not knowing the words “unschooling” or “deschooling” to being a cheerleader of these approaches.
Illness can be one of the saddest reasons a family chooses to home educate. Not only do these families bear the burden of a child with compromised health, but they often take on the responsibility of educating that child. It was a world I hardly knew about before joining the home ed community.
Rare diseases are an extra burden as families have to navigate uncharted territories, at home and in health care.
Today will be a learning experience for us. We will learn humility. We will learn about pain. We will learn about how blessed we are for the health we have. We will learn hope. We will learn about the strength of children and families and the human soul.
The most important learning is uncomfortable. It must kill old beliefs and renew them like the Phoenix from the ashes.
God bless and thank you for reading,
Jason
I’ve been asked to facilitate the Peace Week Delaware & Fall Equinox Labyrinth Walk at Delaware Art Museum, 6:00-7:00pm tonight (https://www.delart.org/event/peace-week-delaware-fall-equinox-labyrinth-walk-2019/).
One year ago was the first time I had walked the Labyrinth on my own. More than discovered, I uncovered a personal peace in that place and in that day. I let living things inside me die and fall away. It became a conscious process of pruning that fall and winter, but on that day I let myself go and be guided by the Holy Spirit and a parade of wonderful souls.
(https://delawaredad.com/2018/09/23/seasonal-changes/)
I no longer long for those things that I have lost. They are harvested bounty, the fruits of a previous season. I don’t wish for peaches in the fall, but savor the sweet moments of summer.
I had a beautiful human holding a light for me through the darkness of fall and winter last year. I cherish the memories of that light and I have begun to hold it for myself.
So the Phoenix Cycle rolls on. The heat of late September burning away the last decorative plumes, turning me to ash to once again fertilize the ground and prepare for rebirth.
Please join me tonight for the chance to act out your own self-discovery journey.
God bless and thank you for reading,
Jason
