Delaware Department of Health and Social Services posted this blank vaccination card today.
Tomorrow I’ll find out what kinds of projects my sons will come up with.
Unschool Lesson of the Day: Non-Compliance
Having Fun, Being Free
Enjoying music, yoga, and friends with these crazies at Ohmfest.
Maryland Sights
Wonderfully distracted by beauty today.
The Wolves Have Many Flocks
Teens have commited suicide in this atmosphere of emotional and spiritual manipulation. Homeless families have been neglected because churches shut down. Widows and orphans have been forgotten because the TV told church leaders that a virus was more important than taking care of God’s children. Did Jesus teach us to stay away from the sick? Did he tell us to shame them? No. He would be tossing out the hand sanitizers that destroy our precious skin and flipping the tables of masks that allow the wolves into the flock.
New Neighbor
I had a lot fun capturing images of this shy spider.
Gratitude Central
There has been a permanent shift in home education.
Last year, schools did not know how to accommodate parents and many families were forced into “crisis,” “virtual,” or “pandemic” schooling. Some families chose to try homeschooling or found this moment to dive into a lifestyle they were already considering.
In raw numbers, it was the biggest boost in homeschooling in US history. We all knew that the numbers would not hold at the peak, but I took heart in knowing that the home education community would be larger and some families would discover that homeschooling was the right path for them going forward.
We have grown in permanent ways and the energy of these new families is exhilarating.
Now again, parents are faced with schools changing the rules just before students are to return. Moms and dads are understandably upset that our elected officials appear to be manipulating families by not giving them clear guidance in a timely manner.
Given the timeline, families are placed in a position of chaos as they expected one educational picture and are getting another.
When we founded Allschoolers Park Days, it was in that first wave of confusion and we wanted to welcome all types of families to come and play and get a break from the madness.
After one year of weekly meetups, and innumerable side adventures, I’m learning that we are much more than a weekly playdate.
This week we had many new families join and I had strangers thanking me. I didn’t really understand why. We post dates, places, and times for the meets and that’s about it. Many of us bring snacks to share, but no one notices if someone doesn’t. We don’t plan activities for the children or guide them much at all. Several of us wave our children away if they utter the dreaded, “I’m bored.” It rarely happens, but the responsibility for their entertainment falls squarely on them.
It’s all very hands off.
The parents sit around and share our frustrations, confusions, resources, quagmires, victories, funny stories, and encouragements. We listen to each other.
Sure, I may break off for a wrestling match with a half dozen kids, or a mom might turn a water gun fight into a woman-made monsoon, but generally we help each other go home with a greater peace than we arrived with.
The “thank you”s make more sense now. This group couldn’t be simpler, but the world craves complication. It demands rules, guidelines, orders, and a watchful eye on those who hand down dictates. We choose to exist with trust in ourselves and each other. No rules or judgment, just compassion and kindness.
To think of compassion as rare is heartbreaking. To hold one of these precious places for people to gather is healing.
“Public” Health isn’t Health
This post was quickly removed by Delaware Division of Public Health.
Living a healthier lifestyle will reduce your chances of infection and the worst outcomes to a greater percentage than any vaccine could. They hinted at that for a moment and had to disappear it.
Being a public health organization, they don’t even know how to lose weight. Nor do they know how you can make yourself healthier. They don’t know your body nor what it needs.
Take control of your own health through education, nutrition, exercise, and mindfulness. You have all the power you need. You do not need a public health official.
This Little Bully…
I asked for compassion for my motherless sons and our hope to go to a music festival without being forced to take a novel medical product into our bodies.
The response was an unhinged flood of comments on my feed and in my DMs.
This individual wishes to limit the joy that these boys are allowed to experience after losing their mother. He thinks that life is fully lived in an Instagram feed and that for me to ask for more for them is selfish.
He made no effort to understand what music meant to my wife. He made no effort to understand how much music festivals have helped to heal us in times of mourning.
This specific festival, Delfest, was the first I took my sons to after their mother suddenly died. I introduced them to some of her favorite artists, Rhiannon Giddens and The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, in the particular.
We hope to return to that festival, but their looming insistence on vaccinating all guests threatens this adventure. Tickets are purchased, plans are made, and excitement builds, yet this may be taken from us. The lack of clarity and narrow timeframe before the show make the disappointment deeper.
Do Not Comply
I think the question was facetious, but I had to explain this meme to someone and I like where it goes.
The Grasshoppers are perceived to be powerful, without that perception, they have nothing. It is about empowering the citizen against the government.
The terrorist is never the one with the power (the powerful are the ones who label their enemies “terrorist”) and the Grasshoppers don’t act like terrorists.
The Grasshoppers act like organized crime (aka, the government).
The vax analog is easy, “It’s not about public health, it’s about power.”
The Grasshoppers murder millions overseas and leave the rest to be raped and persecuted. Then they come home and you expect them to care about our lives?
More, Please
Rhythm. Balance. The tune is always changing and we must listen our bodies to stay in the dance.
This summer has been all soccer. I was playing 4-5 games a week. It didn’t leave me feeling able to train jiu-jitsu nor practice yoga as frequently as I wanted to.
None of these practices can be done at my whim, I need to work within other people’s schedules, although I am blessed with plentiful opportunities in all of them. In the last couple weeks I’ve gone down to one soccer match a week with increasing yoga and jiu-jitsu sessions.
My body was a little surprised. For soccer, the 6-day break shook it out of its rhythm. I certainly need more than that. Come fall, I’ll be playing at least twice a week.
For jiu-jitsu, I finally trained two days in a row and observed the benefits of close repetition. I felt the fatigue on the second day, but saw a potential in myself to roll more often.
More yoga is a no brainer. My mind, body, and spirit always feel recovered and more prepared after an hour of hot vinyasa.
I’m approaching a balance and rhythm that I hope is successful through fall and into the future.