We’ve been lucky enough to have mantises hatch on our property before, but this was the first time that I’ve only spotted one.
It’s exploring our latest foray into independent living from Garden Tower Project.
Bird Garden
“Dad! They’re learning to fly!”
This was an unschool morning.
My older son was enjoying cereal on our deck when the Carolina wren hatchlings living in our defunct grill hopped out to try their wings.
This is one of the parents who kept a close eye as the littles found their wings.
Below are the babies who didn’t have long to become independent. After a few hours in our small yard, the whole family moved along.
While watching this miracle of maturation, many more birds visited.
And a surprise poppy.
Isaac Morehouse on the Ken Coleman Show
T.K. Coleman and Isaac Morehouse are the reason this blog is approaching one thousand posts. Although I have failed multiple times in the last few months at Coleman’s year-of-blogging challenge, the attempts have helped me find and grow internal and external connections.
In this conversation, Morehouse touches on all of the reasons I’ve been following him for years. He’s been a catalyzer for my learning lifestyle and an inspiration to start my own business. His aim to connect and help people aligns with my heart’s direction and I won’t wait to send him a Thank You as soon as I hit PUBLISH.
When to Start Home Schooling
You’ve been doing it since birth!
We didn’t start “formal” home education until K. I wish we hadn’t. Through a lot of fits, starts, and downright fights, I learned that children are the most natural learners. Schoolish assumptions tamp down our curiosity and mutate learning from playful discovery to grinding work and responsibility.
We slowly assessed and eliminated the internalized assumptions of our school training.
We went from schooling in our home, to an eclectic approach, and finally came home to radical unschooling. I don’t regret the length of our journey, but I hope to help others free themselves from the expectations of a system that cannot know how to serve the individual.
Be Dangerous, Then Good
This kid got a little more dangerous today.
After years of training in the youth program at Elevated Studios, he joined the adult class and reignited his passion for the sport and art of jiu-jitsu.
Jesus told his disciples to carry swords. He toppled the money changers’ tables and whipped them. His ideas continue to upend the structures of oppression. He remains dangerous to this day.
I’ve watched a lot of good men fall in line with the oppressors. Good isn’t enough. Good avoids conflict in spite of cost. Good lets evil run free.
Good fails when it is not dangerous.
Shakespeare’s Birthday with Pages Alive Theater
Westen has been performing Shakespeare since before he could read. We were celebrating the Bard’s birthday with Delaware Shakespeare when he volunteered to read some lines. Before I could protest, this little guy toddled up to the mic and I sat terrified for him.
Producing Artistic Director David Stradley fed him lines in his ear and he recited them darn near perfectly.
A small role in Macbeth came once Westen learned how to read and there have been many plays since.
Today was the culmination of two short weeks of preparation. Westen had to memorize two monologues (Hamlet’s To Be or Not To Be and Marc Antony’s Funeral Speech from Julius Caesar). Isaac’s lines were spread out and he had to navigate multiple cues.
After performing a cheat-sheet version of Julius Caesar in Barnes and Noble, the troupe headed to the Christiana Mall food court to surprise shoppers with quick hits from several plays and a remarkably bad rendition of “Happy Birthday” (in their defense, it’s not Shakespearean).
Homeschool friends came to support the boys and I was filled with gratitude for these opportunities and the community that creates them.
Unschool Friday
They studied Shakespeare lines for a flash mob performance, attended Pokémon club, played video games, pretended with friends, and walked with their old man for dinner and treats.
These are the busy/laid back Fridays that I love so much.
Feeling Their Freedom
This would be a picture of my sons playing in the creek with a friend, but they have disappeared around the bend.
Life is intensely close with a home-educating single dad and two boys. Having these moments of freedom for them is one of our greatest blessings.
A Good Day For Bad Jiu-Jitsu
When I first met my girlfriend in person, I doubted it would become romantic. She was seeing someone, lived an hour away, and had been clear about not wanting to be pursued.
It created a safe space, there weren’t games of seduction.
We talked about what we wanted in all our relationships, not just the romantic ones. I told her I wanted contenders, men and women who would push me as hard as they loved me.
Kristen has become one of the main contenders in my life. She loves me deeply and pushes me to be more than I am. She didn’t let me make excuses to skip jiu-jitsu training tonight. She called me out on my bullshit.
I got myself to Elevated Studios and got beat up.
I don’t think I could be more grateful for my lack of conditioning and flailing technique tonight. I pushed my self to dizziness and got off the mat before I got hurt.
We don’t voluntarily go to our uncomfortable limits often enough. Voluntary stress limits the power that involuntary stressors can have over us.
Tiger in a Cage
Widowhood has taught me about my body. I have learned how much emotion and energy I carry in all parts of my body. When I don’t work that energy in physical ways, my whole system feels backed up and tight to the world.
This week has had a lot of soccer with some yoga and jiu-jitsu and the usual rough housing with my sons. These usually come in the evening after various combinations of church, Lego club, home education meet up, and field trip.
There’s a limit, but I need this pace. I have energetic boys, but I need time for me to work on my body. This morning during yoga I laughed and cried. I love hot vinyasa because I sweat like I have a condition and the tears are hidden as I slowly move through the posses. Soccer and jiu-jitsu are escapes from my anxieties, yoga allows me to feel. I always open my practice with a thankful prayer to Jesus and a request to help me heal and learn all that I can stand. God is good and always delivers.