In memory of...

Giving thanks to all those who have fought and died for the freedom of others (regardless of their nationality) and devoting time and effort to try to learn from the past and honor their memory. Just finished reading “Anatomy of Peace” by Emery Reves – a very challenging, often uncomfortable read, yet quite thought provoking. May freedom overcome so that those we honor and remember today have not died in vain.

‎"What you won’t find in most greeting card stores is a Memorial Day Card, because those who would receive the card can’t open it, read it and feel good that someone cares. All they can hope for is that someone remember their sacrifice, perhaps a flower or a wreath on their graves (if they even have one) or a comrade who is now living with a zeal for life in their memory... Try to remember the cost of this day. Some say you can’t count the cost, sadly you can and the numbers are very large. If you want to put it in perspective, just view the US Military Casualties of War Page on Wikipedia."

Posted today by Jack Spirko of http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/please-remember-the-real-meaning-of-memorial-day

"Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Preparedness

pre·par·ed·ness/prəˈpe(ə)r(ə)dnis/

Noun:	A state of readiness.
Synonyms:	readiness - preparation - willingness

Today, I found this great site about preparedness (for natural disasters, economic turmoil, etc.):

http://readynutrition.com/resources/52-weeks-to-preparedness-an-introduction_19072011/

and an article about bartering ability (necessary during power outages due to dependence on electronic payments even when cash holds value but may not be available):

http://readynutrition.com/resources/cash-is-out-bartering-is-king_26042012/

Of course, I hope we are fortunate enough not to encounter hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, or economic turmoil (in form of job less or whatever) or major health issues, etc.  Yet, I know from experience that there is no way to control the weather and who knows what else may linger on the horizon.

I am thankful for everyday that we are blessed with fair weather, regular income, quality friends and family, a loving home, good health, etc!  My Dad frequently toasts, "Salud Dinero y Amor" which translates health, wealth and love.  However, he also lives by the boy scout motto: Be Prepared.

Learning versus testing

Yesterday, a fellow homeschooler and very close friend came over with her kids for a playdate.  She brought with her a test prep book as her 3rd grader is required by state law to take a standardized test this year (for the first time).  She was a little stressed thinking about whether they have covered everything that will be on the test.  This prompted a discussion about what we hope our children will learn and who decides when a child needs to learn a specific date in history, topic in science, etc.  My kids love learning about the universe and may know quite a bit more on the subject than most of their peers and many much older children (honestly, they know more details about this than I do!).  However, they likely do not know as much about some other particular subject that someone somewhere may have decided should go on a test for kids their age.  What a blessing for my children to be able to learn what they are interested in when they are interested in it!  I love homeschooling and learning right along with my children.  Their enthusiasm inspires me as we seek to learn about what interests them right now.  I don't challenge the importance of reading and arithmetic.  These are the basics that open all the other doors.  However, once they have discovered how much those basics enable them to learn, why should we limit their opportunities to specific topics chosen by someone else?  While having a snack yesterday, my child said, "it sure is nice to know how to read!" and then read everything on the box of crackers (Annie's cheddar bunnies, which has quite a bit of information on the box).

I recently had a long discourse with my cousin about many concerns (environmental, social, medical, all those big issues brought up in presidential debates) and various political approaches to address such concerns (most of which we disagree on regarding implementation in spite of agreement on hopes for the future).  Here are a few of my comments from the email discussion about education:

I value education and freedom above all.  I trust that most individuals want to learn and will take responsibility when expected to.  On the subject of education/upbringing, what do you think most public schools currently succeed in teaching?  What do you think most important for your children to learn?  What makes people smart, curious, alert, observant, competent, confident, resourceful, persistent, compassionate, skillful, self-reliant, adaptive, inventive, intelligent, independent, polite, kind, patient, generous, forgiving, tolerant (able and willing, not just to stand people different from themselves, but to see the world through their eyes)?  Can a standardized test assess any of these?  What makes a leader? 

“Leaders are not what many people think – people with huge crowds following them.  Leaders are people who go their own way without caring, or even looking to see whether anyone is following them.  Leadership qualities are not the qualities that enable people to attract followers, but those that enable them to do without them.  They include, at the very least, courage, endurance, patience, humor, flexibility, resourcefulness, determination, a keen sense of reality, and the ability to keep a cool and clear head even when things are going badly.  This is the opposite of the charisma that we hear so much about.  Charismatic leaders make us think, “Oh, if only I could do that, be like that.”  True leaders make us think, “If they can do that, then by golly I can too.”  They do not make people into followers, but into new leaders.” – John Holt

I hope to inspire the above qualities with our homeschooling efforts.

I recently read an article that addresses learning versus testing from a public school teacher's perspective: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/taking-emotions-out-of-our-schools.html?pagewanted=1&_r=4

As a result of our discussion and sharing the above thoughts with my friend, she no longer feels as much anxiety over the upcoming standardized test.  I hope that this may help others to reconsider the focus of education as well.  Life is about so much more than what a test with a scantron sheet for answers can capture!

Sing

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song." - Maya Angelou

The reason I created this blog!  I hope our right to free speech prevails, and we keep on singing...

Freedom Gardens

With Earth Day approaching and all the work I've been doing on a charity project for Earth Day (link will be posted tomorrow), it seems appropriate to share these thoughts.

 

We can help reduce our dependence on imported food, big corporations, and the supply chain by ensuring a bountiful and diverse harvest from sustainable personal and community gardens (link tomorrow to the site I've been working on to help foster this).

 

From an article By Paul Gardener in Grit magazine:

 

Gardens ARE good for our souls. Not merely because they’re therapeutic or because they provide healthy foods or even because they give us a hedge against lean times but rather because, if you look at the big picture, they offer us that thing that we all crave so dearly. They offer that thing that drove our founding fathers to strike out on their own. They offer Freedom.

 

As we faced issues of increasing costs of oil (which by the way is the basis of all of our commercial “inputs” like fertilizers, pesticides, etc.), regular warnings about tainted foods in our stores, and economic pressures that were starting to limit our food buying power, the Dervaes family launched a site called “Freedom Gardens” and with it put a name to a movement that was already beginning to form not only here at home, but world wide.

From the Dervaes family “Freedom Gardens” site:

 

… “freedom” is earned and cannot be taken for granted. In fact, there are forces (lets call them market forces) trying to gain control of the food market for their profit. If they can control the supply of food through hoarding seeds, and the other means of production, we will pay them for their effort with whatever price they wish to charge. On a gut level we know this is wrong… we have the “freedom” to make our own food production choices.”

Join together in a homegrown revolution™ to liberate our lawns and break our dependence on the corporate powers and dwindling fossil fuel supplies, corporate controls, contamination and food miles while creating a sustainable future.

While I give thanks for this amazing planet we live on every day, I like the idea of "Earth Day" to take an extra moment or encourage going above and beyond daily rituals to focus on what more we can do to nurture and protect our home, Mother Earth.

"People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle.  But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth.  Everyday we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, curious eyes of a child--our own eyes. All is a miracle."
-Thich Nhat Hanh

A friend blessed me these words that she shared on facebook today.  I plan to frame them for my wall of inspiration!  They speak right to my heart and soul. 

My father shared this description of his solitary day yesterday (Easter Sunday), which illustrates the point in the above quote beautifully:

Spring is a bit later here in the mountains than the rest of this latitude and much more so than further south.  The leaves are not on most of the trees but some are blooming and some have small leaves.  The redbuds are going strong and some dogwoods are out too.  The crocus, daffodils, and tulips are blooming or finishing up doing so and both the purple and white lilacs are now in full bloom.
All the fields look like well manicured very lush grass lands as the weeds are all still quite small.  However, there are broad expanses of wild flowers, sometimes a sea of yellow, the wild asparagus is just beginning to sprout (had some raw stalks today, yum, an Easter treat).
A few bugs were out at the pond and only a few fish were cruising and feeding.  It is in a deep hollow that is shaded for much of the winter.  The little pond is higher than usual and all the streams are running briskly.  It seems there was a real gully washer recently, so the little creek behind the old house was washed clean to the rock bottom by the previously high rushing water.  There was no damage and only a few trees and limbs on the many roads and trails that traverse the place.
Lovely little flowering plants dot the woodlands everywhere.  There seemed to be little wildlife moving, only the prints of deer everywhere but they were lying low this afternoon.  Did not see any there or en route where twenty or more is typical.  Same for the squirrels.  It seems they all took the day off too.
The wind was constantly singing as wave after wave rolled through the trees.  I saw a few plants and flowers that I had never before seen.  There is water seeping out everywhere.
SPRING is SPRINGING!
Yesterday on Saturday, while in the nearby mountains picking up a new portable saw mill, I had the distinct pleasure of spending the afternoon learning to use it while stationed in the middle of a small Amish community in a rather isolated mountain valley.  What a wonderful experience it was to be among gentle but industrious folks.
At every break while looking about, there were teamsters hooking farm equipment to their horses in the paddock nearby or working them in the fields.  An open buggy rushed by with a gentlemen and two children in it.  A young lady in the distance appeared to be tending to rabbits in a line of hutches and crews of women and children were planting gardens or hoeing fields.
When I washed up before towing the saw mill away late in the day, I saw the inside of a building next to where I had been working.  It was a school house built of hand peeled and shaped logs with exposed beams and rafters.  There were benches and desks in the very large room and obvious lesson materials on the walls and such.
All in all, it was a busy well tended industrious and peaceful place of smiling and apparently happy people.  I did so enjoy it there.  I asked about visiting again some time and was told I would be welcome. 

Happy Easter again to all and good night.

It lifts my heart and spirit to learn of more and more families choosing to take the path less traveled these days.  This intimate sharing of the thoughts and feelings one parent experienced while making the decision to homeschool her child reminds me that others have the courage to blaze their own paths.  Thankfully, we are not alone on this journey to raise our children in a natural, loving environment.