The healing journey of a widowed, unschooling badass in Delaware.
My sons have completed another theatrical presentation of Shakespearean material. This was a mini Shakespeare Festival by Pages Alive Theater.
Isaac had a big moment as he recited Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be,” soliloquy.
Westen broadened his theatrical repertoire by choreographing and performing Mercutio’s fatal swordfight with Tybalt from Romeo and Juliet.
Olive volunteered to decorate the audience with face paint.
All the kids were wonderful and impressive in their many roles.
My son and I were promoted in our respective jiu-jitsu journeys.
It took me a long time to earn my first colored belt. My love of soccer is as strong as ever and I split my time to the best of my abilities.
Westen is a force. Nine years of training has turned him into a technical, creative, and determined competitor…okay, he might have been born determined.
I was nervous about this promotion. With my insane number of interests, I never know if I’m putting enough into jiu-jitsu. However, when I attended class the next day, I felt like I might actually be a wearing the proper belt.
The new rank is inspiring me to find more time to train. There are higher expectations for a blue belt and I want to step up to the challenge.
We also got to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Elevated Studios. Renee and Stephen have been supportive as martial artists, friends, homeschoolers, business owners, and many other ways. We are deeply grateful for the atmosphere of learning they have built at Elevated.
I may repeat myself frequently, but I don’t ever recall posting a “greatest hits” list of my own blog posts.
These came up today in response to the ubiquitous new homeschooler concern: Am I qualified to teach my child?
There’s a link in this one for enrolling in Delaware and some of my advice to new homeschoolers:
https://delawaredad.com/2021/09/10/to-the-new-home-educator/
A lot of bits about NOT teaching and NOT reading Shakespeare:
https://delawaredad.com/2018/10/23/dont-teach-your-child-to-read/
https://delawaredad.com/2022/06/07/schools-out-forever/
https://delawaredad.com/2022/05/26/i-dont-teach-anything/
https://delawaredad.com/2018/03/21/dont-read-shakespeare/
Some on Deschooling: https://delawaredad.com/2020/11/11/grateful-deschooler/
It was a long day, mostly on the road. I didn’t want to train. When I did get to the mat, I was tired and distracted.
I did it any way, drills and four messy matches.
Jiu-jitsu continues to be my hardest physical challenge.
I had a thrilling game in goal this week. The opponent’s team boasted a skilled former teammate that I share a friendly-enough rivalry with. I had to manage a flurry of shots and physical play on the ground (no kicks to my face, but very close). One of these shots was too quick for my hands and smashed off my chest. It felt strange.
Once the scramble to clear the ball was over, I put my hand to my jersey. I was wearing my grandmother’s rosary.
There was nothing to do at that point. There is little respite in indoor soccer and the goalie never gets a break. It was protected under two layers of clothing and it had existed for decades with a woman who worked hard most of her life, I couldn’t ruin it with a little soccer, could I?
The game only got more intense. We stayed ahead, but only by one or two. I stopped a penalty kick and had enough luck to hold them to three goals. We won with five.
I forgot about the rosary and crucifix. I was elated and drained by the conflict. I went home and undressed in the dark to shower. I placed the necklace on my dresser without a thought.
I forgot to put it on the next morning. I’m not accustomed to wearing jewelry and it hasn’t become a habit.
After coming home from the studio, I went to put it on for our evening outing. The crucifix was missing from the rosary.
I searched my home, laundry, and car, but it seems obvious where I lost it.
Now I’m sitting in the parking lot of the facility, hoping that there’s an early game and I get a chance to search the field.
Check back here for the update.
Our weekly park group was messy today. Only our core families showed up, but the kids were happy to have all of Iron Hill Park to themselves.
Sausages, hot dogs, and marshmallows on the fire were an added bonus.
Although they ran hard, my sons went on to attend trumpet and jiu-jitsu lessons later in the afternoon.
I have been running into more negative opinions on home education lately.
This lifestyle has been too good to us and I feel a responsibility to take apart uneducated attacks on homeschooling.
Following is a social media attack and my response (I get a little hot).
“Specialized instruction or accomodations”? This is the super power of home education. Schools are based on homogenized patterns. Parents in a home education environment spend all of their efforts on specializing the learning environment for their children.
Socialization:
I co-created an in-person homeschool group in 2020. We welcomed families of all educational stripes. Many of those were schooled and had been abandoned by not just school, but every institution. Their social lives were destroyed and no one cared. We created a social community that has grown to over 1,000 local families. We have met every week for four years and many other groups, clubs, field trips, and extracurricular activities have been born out of ours.
Our families create voluntary bonds, our children are not forced to “socialize” with each other nine months out of the year. School unnaturally silos children into narrow age groups. No where in life does this happen. Our children socialize across generations, including more time to spend with grandparents (my boys have learned about London during the Blitzkrieg from eyewitnesses).
Mental health? What’s the suicide rate doing in schools? My boys just had a government schooled friend, a fucking child, kill himself. That system needs to be dissected and examined for all the medications being pushed by mediocre teachers and nurses.
You are clearly uneducated on how children learn. I did not “teach” my first son how to read after first grade. I never taught my second son. The younger is now 13 years old and burns through books. Curricula are an invention of a system that ignores individuality. Children have curious minds. All one needs to do is pay close attention and feed that curiosity.
Your vitriol betrays an ignorance concerning home education. School has taught you to mock what you don’t understand: if it isn’t on the test, it isn’t important. Your teachers failed you.
I used to be an alcoholic. I could stay up all night drinking at a party, with a partner, or solo if I really didn’t want to deal with my own humanity.
Part of the problem was my natural energy. I was capable of holding together an apparently functional life because I could drink all night and still show up, at least physically.
Not drinking was the easy part. Finding homes for that seemingly useless drive wasn’t all that difficult either. My life is filled with people and activities and I’m passionate about being my best.
I still wrestle with compulsion. I can get obsessed, but I’m learning to direct it.
Yesterday was the last day for me to build our ship for Kalmar Nyckel’s Lego Shipbuilding Day. My sons had contributed their expertise in minifigures and One Piece lore, but I had a lot of boat to finish.
I stayed up until past 2am to get the Going Merry ready and it paid off. We won 1st place in the 16+ division against some impressively large ships.
That strange energy carried me through a busy day and I’m looking forward to a well-earned sleep.
Westen is almost 15 and tries to play it cool around Lego, but he is still creating some very cool builds.
My Going Merry is coming along and I want to give credit to another builder who created a main sail that I leaned on for inspiration.
Build_MOC has a very nice ebay store where you can find his Going Merry and much more.