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Sep. 14, 2006
Skipping School
We skipped school yesterday to say our final goodbyes to Daughter's favorite uncle. He came over and played with her for hours. They played ponies, pretend, operation, and just hung out together. Nana took us all out to lunch, and Uncle and Daughter shared Olive Garden Mac and Cheese, noodles with white sauce, and laughter mixed with a bit of fun.
I handled it better than I thought I would, and Daughter was a true trooper. She's still worried that Uncle will forget about her and sent him off with at least 2 dozen artwork/coloring book pages. It was precious. I reminded her that Uncle could no more forget her than she could forget him, and that Uncle will send letters and treasures from FL in return for more of those little artworks.
In typical Buddhist fashion, I allowed myself to experience the whole of my emotion all at once. I didn't try to repress any sadness or anger or disappointment (once they left, lol). I had a full-on blubbering crying fit. Remarkably, it lasted only a few moments. I felt cleansed and at peace, and above all, relief. I got it all out and can move forward now from that moment into the next moments of my life. Fortunately, Daughter was there to witness the 'meltdown' and saw firsthand that people can melt down and it's okay. I showed her it was okay to cry, and that a good cry can make you feel better after it's over. I showed her it was okay to miss someone, and that people break down sometimes, but it's okay to do so. So many people forget about what they teach their children by repressing emotions themselves, instead of letting it out. Studies have been conducted that prove that 'sucking it up' and repressing emotions can lead to making you sick. (I didn't really believe it at first, either, but found that when I held in a good cry in the past I would get a really bad cold.) Even if the study is bunk, stress related illnesses are growing, and it's best to teach children more than the 3 Rs.
I've been doing a lot of thinking and meditating lately about naming our school. While I don't really think we ought to label ourselves, we feel it would be best to name our school so we can answer that question 'where do you go to school' - rather than deal with the looks of ignorance we tend to get when we mention we homeschool. I want to take our time on this one, in case the name sticks, so it's agreeable to everyone and (most of all) means something. We would like our name to reflect our attitude, goals, and religion, without being too long or too wordy. I've been throwing around religious titles to reflect our multicultural beliefs, but think that'd be labeling to the point of prejudice (i.e. - you're BOTH Buddhist AND Christian?!). I still want the name to be personal, and sound like a 'possible' school name.
Here were the words I was throwing around:
Dharma, Mahayana, Maitreya, Samsara, Bukkyo, St. Francis, Christian, Holy, Compassion, Eightfold Path, 10 Commandments, Academy, Elementary, Institute
A pretty decent collection, but there's no way to include all of them, and it's pretty hard to choose just ONE set for our school name. The Mahayana Christian Center for Compassion Elementary is nice, but way too long unless abbreviated to MCCCE, which sounds like some odd county community college somewhere. St. Francis Samsara School would be okay, but doesn't sound believable.
See the problem? LOL Not that it's that big of a deal, but I wish the answer would just materialize during a quiet meditation moment, or as an epiphany (sp?).
We're reading Charlotte's Web, and (surprisingly) trying to attempt the Chronicles of Narnia together. I've been abbreviating the stories in there to maintain interest (it IS rather thick for a five year old) and answer her questions. She's seen The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe so many times that she's asking things like 'Where did the witch come from? Did she ever come to OUR world? Do they really get to go back?" etc. SO I'm paraphrasing the 'boring parts' and reading the exciting sections word for word. That's been fun.
Both books cover other subjects as well - Charlotte's Web opens up the science window where animal/farm questions are answered, Chronicles have opened up vocabulary and theology. Since she's still sooo young, if we felt like it we could spend just this entire season reading and learning as we go along.
Not that we would - my ADHD never lets us do that, lol. We jump from subject to subject as the wind blows. She wants a math day, we do a whole math day. She becomes dissatisfied with her handwriting skills, so we'll do a whole day of writing, which leads to phonics, which just comes back into reading. The cycle repeats so often that if it weren't for our interest in learning everything we can for the sake of learning it, we'd actually attempt to schedule it. But I have a sinking feeling that if we schedule the learning, it won't be nearly as FUN! Continuity is fine, and most likely works for most people, but here - where ADHD is rampant in myself, my husband, (not to mention my sister and mother, possibly father and brothers) most likely in Daughter as well - continuity is "for suckers." (Note we don't really mean that in a mean way - it's said with the greatest affection)
Oh, dinos are still a big deal, and we're reading dino books every night before bed (which I would THINK would cause nightmares, but so far, so good...). I love being a family of bookworms! 
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Sep. 21, 2006 - P.S.