Motherhood Stages - Screen Fasts and A New Shop

Hi lovely friends. I hope all is well with you.

It’s been a while since I wrote here. A lot has been going on for us. Having older teenage children and a sweet grandchild means lots of driving around. We live in the countryside, which is lovely, but it’s a long way from town and as there is only one daily bus out to town, the girls rely on Tani and I for lifts to their various activities.

 I love having teenagers. There have certainly been moments of intensity and emotionally stressful moments to navigate but watching the girls grow into young women is an incredible journey I feel honoured to be on. 

I’m not going to lie. I often look back through the baby albums and even early blog posts through tears. Sometimes, the grief of knowing that for health reasons  I’m unlikely to have another baby of my own is overwhelming. The time seems to have literally flowed through my fingers. I can’t believe my children are almost grown. And all but two of them are now taller than me! Surely that shouldn’t be! 

I miss little ones snuggling and story times and even waking during the quiet of the night to gaze at the wonder of my own newborn baby. But there is a season for everything. And every season has its hardships and joys, it’s lessons and it’s dreams. 

I went on a screen fast during lent this past year. I just needed time alone to process, to pray and to heal.

This past year has been difficult. I’ve had health problems and my Daddy passed away in September after being ill for several months. My lovely Mama is very frail now and needs a lot of care. 

I thought I would struggle with my screen fast. I’ve done screen fasts before snd struggled but by God’s Grace, this time, I found it pretty easy.

I was able to rest and process, read and pray. I went to visit the blessed sacrament and let tears fall.

Then God put it in my heart to write a story. Every day pen in hand is sit and write and the words just flowed out. Those words became a book.

Then the inspiration for landscape shawls came to me inspired by paintings I’d been working on quietly in the summer house after my Father passed. I began to knit and paint and all this creativity that had been pent up inside came out of me. It was so healing. I could almost here my Daddy say ‘ go on you paint Suze.’ He bought me my first set of oil paints when I was 13. I remember that drizzly, cosy Autumn day looking through antique shops, the smell of incense from the little art gallery like it was yesterday.  I also remember when he took me to Monet’s water Lily garden in France because I lived Monet, like he did. Seeing those water lilies glimmer under the bridge I knew so well from my Father’s books was one of the most magical experiences.

I like to think of my paintings as impressionist watercolour landscapes.

So, I have opened a shop which you can find here:

https://www.etsy.com/plainpearlart

I am working on a website. 

I also have a shop Instagram which you can find here: 

http://Instagram.com/plainpearlart

I’ve started a shop YouTube channel:

https://youtube.com/user/sailingbystarlight

I know I haven’t been posting here much. I am planning on posting weekly again.

I do post regularly at my Faith blog here: 

http://onthewaytothegarden.blogspot.com

And I occasionally upload at This YouTube channel too:

https://youtube.com/channel/UC1AHlOUK3lHHHVB4DhV22DQ

Sending lots of love to all who read this blog.I pray you have a beautiful day.

Our Lockdown Homeschool Schedule ( or unschedule)

This year has seen us return somewhat to a looser, more unschooling approach to our days. At first, as usual, I found it hard to let the structures we had so carefully developed, honed and tweaked unravel! Unschooling does have a slightly unsettling chaos about it. It can also mean more mess and more parental facilitation ( at all hours of the day!) And yet there is also so much peace and joy in it too.  

When the children were younger we often enjoyed seasons of unschooling but as they reached highschool age we began to structure our days around a curriculum.

Curriculums definitely have their benefits and we still incorporate curriculum material into our days ( see end of post for details) to keep the basics ticking over, but our kids seem to really thrive when given the opportunity to really focus on  what they really live and have an interest in. Unschooling tends to lead to in-depth spurts of learning in specific areas of interest. This can leave ‘holes’ in some subjects which can be problematic but it’s amazing how many subjects one project will cover.Also, even in schools there are holes in the curriculum. Not all history can be covered and a lot of practical subjects aren’t covered. Taxation and mortgages aren’t covered in maths lessons and politics is often only briefly mentioned. 

Even something as simple as an art project can develop and involve many other skills. For example, Seraphina has been working on creating colouring pages, downloadable prints and cards to sell online. This project began with art and ended with her learning  IT skills, in order to enable pictures to print at different sizes without losing picture quality. It also involved her learning business skills and laws, accounting costs for time and materials and photography and social media skills so that she can present her artwork in the way she wants to. Here is a link to her shop. 

This year has had a lot of loss for our family. The loss of my Dad effected the girls very deeply. It didn’t seem right to simply get back into our normal routine straight away. We needed time to grieve. My dear Mum has also needed a lot of extra care too which the girls have wanted to be involved with. 

They have also had to navigate their own emotions surrounding the circumstances of this year. The fear that stems from loss and the deepening of faith that grows from greater clinging to God.

These are life lessons, real education, learning about values, learning about what matters most, learning what to put down in order to hold onto the most important things of all; faith in God, relationships, giving of self, supporting one another, work/life balance and meaningful work.

In the Spring, Seraphina really wanted to plant a garden in honour of her Grandad as he was a horticulturalist. She asked him lots of questions about what to grow and how to grow it which he loved to answer.  She built a raised bed and put together a mini greenhouse. Some of her vegetables did very well while others succumbed to pests, blight, too much sun or not enough water. She learned how much physical effort goes into preparing and maintains potato beds. She also learned about how hard  it is to grow your own food yet how rewarding it is despite the effort. I think these lessons were equally as valuable as anything she could have learned from a book. 

This year, Boo has made the decision that music is going to be her main focus. She spends much of her day writing, recording and producing and has developed so much through that. Not just in terms of learning how to get a song out there, but also how the creative arts require as much discipline and effort as any other job if you want to create something of real and lasting value. She has also had to navigate the world of social media and has definitely become aware of its addictive effect. She has also experienced  the rush and disappointment of gaining and losing likes and follows. Yet this has helped her understand the careful balance between allowing other’s ideas and encouragement to inspire without letting them effect the integrity of what she creates. She has had think about  ‘relevance’ and ‘brand’ and how much she wants that to effect what she puts out there. Her song Good as Love was featured on BBC introducing last October. It was very emotional as she wrote that song for her Grandad who always supported and encouraged her in her music. 

Tilly has also been doing lots of creative bits and bobs. During lockdown she has  been learning guitar and piano, writing songs, crocheting clothes and making homemade balms and salves. She has also started writing a blog, got into calligraphy and has been designing journal pages.

Inspired by her big sisters Nola has written a song and with the help of her big sisters produced it and even made a little video for it. She has also discovered a keen interest in animals of all kinds and has made little projects and power-points on her favourite animal of the moment. This interest in animals was really inspired by a little wild  baby bunny that we rescued and cared for earlier in the year.  She has also been learning the recorder and realised that she actually enjoys writing stories contrary to previous experiences and is working on a children’s book.

Children will learn because it’s what they’re designed to do. They don’t have to be forced or coerced to learn. Unless, of course, it comes to subjects they really dislike. Everyone is made with unique gifts and individual quirks though. It’s unlikely someone will want a career in something they have never enjoyed doing and have no natural affinity for.

Still, we do keep up with maths, science, history and geography to ensure they know the basics in most subjects. But these lessons are done in a easy to digest way rather than through text books.

Below I’ve written down some of the more structured things we are still doing but bear in mind, although it looks like a fair bit on paper, we work through them at our own pace and only in the mornings so afternoons are completely freed up.

For Maths we use Life of Fred and Maths-watch. 

Science is mainly kitchen experiments. 

For geography we do map drawing, and learn about different countries and cultures through You Tube travel diaries. 

For History we use Story of the World, Horrible Histories and the ‘You wouldn’t want to be’ book series. We also watch a lot of the Ruth Goodman documentaries. But even reading and watching period dramas, books and movies  is a great way to learn history.

We also do a lot of Reading Aloud. 

Matilda and Seraphina are enrolled on Catherine Mooney’s English Course. Matilda is learning French with Dreaming Spires and has virtual Violin lessons. Seraphina is working through her Lamda grades. Boo is doing singing grades and Nola is taking Piano lessons with her big Sis. 

Nola also uses the free and excellent Good and Beautiful language Arts curriculum. 

For Catechism, we are working through Our Lady of the Rosary Family Catechism and do Bible study as part of our morning basket.

 (We don’t necessarily do a morning basket in the morning) ... ( in fact sometimes we do it in the afternoon or the evening or on weekends or not at all for a while) Sometimes, instead of Bible study we’ll learn about a Saint especially if it’s their feast day or perhaps play ( and try to sing along to) some lovely chants or hymns.

With things as they are in the world at the moment and with less ability to get out and about we’re putting our mental, emotional and spiritual needs first. We are being gentle on ourselves.

 I hope you are all well too and being gentle with yourselves as well.

Beach Pottery

 My hands are itchy, they have to make, craft, form and mold. Even if that means simply arranging flowers in a jar, quotes in a journal or feathers on a windowsill.

We found these beautiful chalk pebbles at the sea a couple of weeks ago.

In their perfectly formed clods I saw a bird, a pear, a whale, a bear.... The children were inspired.

I used to love to use charcoal as a medium. It is messy. Beware and prepared with old shirt's and warm soapy cloths on hand. 

I remember buying some shards of charcoal years ago ( the brittle stick type they used to sell ) with my school trip pocket money. Scarcely holding the feathery sticks between my fingers lest they disintegrate I made endless spidery lines that would eventually be smudged to incoherence.

 The beauty of charcoal is it washes off the stone quite easily if you make a mistake. I will seal these pebbles with clear nail polish to preserve their designs.

A photographic Journal ...

 Chicken of the Woods?

Boo says I should explain that Chicken of the Woods is a mushroom :)

As soon as we arrived at the lake Nola was wanting to throw all caution (and her clothes) to the wind and paddle. Yes we've got to the fearless stage already.

After some breathless moments and zealous squealing, which caused the neighbouring ducks to chatter, quack, ruffle their feathers and hastily gather their ducklings to the far bank, she found a nice sitting stump where she could gleefully throw twigs and leaves into the water without hindrance.

Nola, thankfully, loves to find little tree stumps or cosy spots to sit upon. She'll say "Nola size, Nola size", when she finds one that takes her fancy.

Although there were still a couple of close calls as the moss near the sloping edge was especially slippery and she enjoyed the sensation of sliding on it a little more than was ideal for a Mama who had forgotten to pack a change of clothes.

Boo found a place to begin her nature art project.

She became instantly industrious, gathering and composing, and arranging and re-arranging without interruption.

I love watching her focus on something deeply.

She is a thoughtful child and needs time to be alone and unhurried.

There was hardly a soul in sight.

There is a magic that happens when you just sit still in the middle of nature.

You notice all the intricate worlds of insects, silently growing plants, underwater life and the profound simplicity of the animal kingdom.

These ducks played with both girls.

Mama duck watched contentedly from some distance as they bobbed and dipped for twigs and leaves.
They came so close and even let Boo touch them!

I can't adequately describe how thrilled Boo my little bird lover was by this interaction. It was beautiful. I was so grateful.

Mama duck seemed to trust us with her babies.

I said a quiet thank you from one Mother to another.

Of course, it wasn't long before the shoes were discarded in favour of bare feet on damp,cool moss and, squidgy, dark earth.

 I love these toes.

The nails are a bit wonky, she has a thing for nibbling on her toenails.

Not a habit that will wear well with age perhaps but somehow irresistible cuteness for a squishy two year old.

Fresh water clams are prevalent here and the water's so clear they're easy to find.

 Boo's flora and fauna waterfall from two angles.

I love her bark and wood chip "fungi" emerging from the tree stump from it's circle of green fern leaves!

 Boo says it looks like a giant  buried pine cone :) I think this is true. And all the better for it!

Woodland delicacy.

The hues of wild and woodland flowers are so incredibly nuanced and hardly ever replicated by their cultivated cousins.

Streams just make me want to take off my shoes and paddle.

This squirrel spent the whole time nibbling away while watching us intently and quite calmly from the corner of his beady, shining eye.

Boo has a way with animals.

She got close enough to touch him but didn't.

He quite slowly and nonchalantly, for a squirrel, ambled up the pine next to her looking down from every branch on the way up as if to say, are you going to come and play then?

.

Five minutes after this picture was taken, a full blown thunderstorm descended upon us.

We took shelter beneath a graciously large Beech.

It was well past lunch and we were all starting to notice it after about 10 minutes of thunder, lightning and pelting rain and the sense of adventure had worn somewhat thin for certain small members of the expedition.

Boo, resourceful as usual, went into scavenger mode and plucked a handful of young, tender beech leaves  and insisted we should keep our strength up. We gladly obliged and wiled away the next 5 minutes chewing.

(They are quite fibrous)

"How do they taste to you?" asked she (with certain trepidation).

"Mmmm, Very healthy." I replied.

Luckily she seemed adequately satisfied with this answer.

Sunlight after rain in the garden.

Bejewelled sunlit rain drops.

 I love to focus in on one close detail and let the background fall into bokeh. A word I've only just learnt the name of.

Now all my blurry photos have their own technical terminology!

I always thought there was something romantic about blurry pictures anyway.

 Nola never tires of the outdoors.

She is also very diligent with her watering of the flowers, which is an admirable thing, although they didn't really need it after today's downpour.

Still, I didn't have the heart to tell her.

She has her very own pink watering can after all.

Nola adores Fina and idolizes her every move. Fina loves to "learn" her everything she knows.

Lord help me :)

 

And then they found  mud.

Yes, I am now the proud owner of my very own backyard swamp!

Children and mud are, for better or worse, the very best of play fellows. 

I now have a very interesting looking porch and bathroom.  

Matilda did however declare it "the best day forever!"

 .

Our nature art inspiration...