Chickafinty ~ A Life in the Laundry

Hitting DEL in the family room

Half the family room is clear of clutter.

It's not much, but it feels fantastic.

Purge!

Am getting rid of *stuff*.

Can't stand it anymore. 

Started small with the second drawer from the top in the kitchen.

I found:

• four defunct air fresheners for which the refills are no longer available
• a soup ladle that we used to have in the caravan.  We sold the caravan in 1983.
• a pair of chopsticks...no one in the family can use them
• a broken pasta server
• a potato peeler that I bought about three years ago...every time I used it it took the skin off my knuckles.  I never use it and will never use it, but I put it back in the drawer anyway.  It got chucked out.
• a cheese slicer thingy, and
• a grater that a) I hate and b) I've used once in about 10 years

It felt good to get rid of all this.

I purged the left half of the school cupboard, throwing left, right and centre.  OUT! went the Crafty Kids scrapbooking paper.  OUT! Went the cut up tumbling teddies borders from my room in 1995.  OUT! went about 6 empty tins and 7 egg cartons and a decorative jar.  OUT! went the faded numbers charts I made for Kinder in 1995.  OUT! went all but 10 of the posters I'd collected from the insides of the Teacher Editions of Lucky Book Club.  I have *never* used them, will never use them and so OUT! they went.  I salvaged the 10 that I will use.  OUT! went my classroom rules of 1999 on the Winnie the Pooh paper.  I loved them, but I have no use for them so OUT! they went.

The right hand side of the cupboard will be attacked today, while the kids work on their phonics and maths.  The pile of paperwork in the cane basket is going in the filing cabinet.  This, actually, is going to be the most difficult part of all.  You see, I have a vision.  In my vision, all the paperwork is neatly sorted into crisp, neatly labelled manila folders, in chronological order, with a new folder for each year.  Each folder wil be placed in a green hanging file with the label (made in my labeller) stuck on neatly.  The files (in chronological order) are then hung in alphabetical order over the three drawers of the filing cabinet.  It's a wonderful vision.  It has no foundation in reality.  The reality is that half the paperwork is stuffed into the manila folders, but it's not in chronological order.  The other half of the folders are on the floor!! becauseI was looking for a particular file the other day and just dumped the pile on the floor.  So far this week I've almost gone head over turkey three times treading on the pile, but they are still on the floor!!

I think I need help.

Dot Point

• school going well, especially in the reading department

• have too many books on my "must read aloud to the kids" list...at this rate I'll still be reading out loud when they're grown-ups.

• the laundry is (partly) under control

• the ironing is not

• neither is the folding

• I don't want to be 40 and fat.  I've got 13 months to do something about it.

• am supposed to be getting a new outfit for a wedding in 9 days time...am not feeling strong enough at the moment to cope with changeroom mirrors

• can't work out when I began the slide from slightly untidy to Stage One in three rooms and stage 2 in one room (yes, it's cryptic, no, I'm not going to explain)

• have come to a sudden realisation that this is NOT normal.  So how come it's acceptable.

• I need to stop whining and do something about it.

• The computer needs to go off for a season

Rediscovering childhood Part 1

About three months ago the kids and I visited with another homeschooling mum and her four boys.  R. and I sat inside with civilised cups of coffee, while our kids played outside in a most uncivilised fashion.  Judging from the squeals and shrieks emanating from the backyard they were all having the time of their lives, and only came inside for as long as it took to drink some water, grab a cupcake and then they were off.

When R and I came outside, there was our darling daughter scaling trees, jumping from the trees and sword-fighting with the other on the trampoline.  My first instinct was to call her down from the tree, but one look at the glee on her face stopped me in my tracks.  She was having the most marvellous time and it put me in mind of that scene from Sound of Music where they're climbing trees and falling out of rowboats and they've never been happier.

For about a month, every time they've been "released" from the classroom, both kids have headed outside, her to jump and climb and play with the balls and the hoop and the trampoline, and he to dig his "well".  He's digging in the defunct and soon to be dismantled veggie garden and he comes in every afternoon very damp and very muddy and very, very happy.

Her peers are at dancing classes in skimpy leotards, shimmying and smirking at a pretend audience.  They're going to dancing competitions and coming to school with their hair tortured into curlers, or coming to school after a weekend of dancing with smears of tell-tale make up around their eyes.  They're six years old for crying out loud.

His age mates are at footy training, baseball training, soccer training or sitting in front of computer games and game consoles. 

I know that these are sweeping generalisations, and that not all children experience this, but it seems to me that childhood has been, to a certain extent, lost.   Kids don't seem to get the time to be kids anymore.  At university I studied Early Childhood and one of the points that I remember them making was that "childhood" as a separate stage of life was a relatively new phenomenon.  Until part way through the 20th Century, children were perceived as being little adults.  They were expected to dress like adults, behave like adults and take on adult roles very early.  Only the petted, indulged and wealthy were allowed to having schooling beyond about 14.

I would contend that now, at the beginning of the 21st Century, we're seeing history repeat itself.  Childhood, in its purest sense, is being taken away  from our children and once again we're expecting kids to take on adult roles very early.  There has been much written and said about the s3ckualist10n of children (please excuse the awkward spelling...I'm trying to avoid bots) and a quick wander through the children's clothing section of any department store confirms what social commentators have been saying for a long time.  The ladybaby and I are looking for a suitable dress for her to wear to a wedding.  We want something pretty, feminine, age appropriate (affordable) and warm - the wedding is in a fortnight.  Such a garment is not available in any of the shops we've looked at.  Some of the clothing is downright tarty and I'm not putting my six year old in any such garment. (found the solution for this: ebay!!)

Our children are expected to take on adult roles, dress like adults, take on an adult schedule but still be kids.  Our kids are exposed to adult themes, adult violence and adult relationships.  Even those charged with caring for our kids are prepared to treat children like adults.  This story alone should give every parent cause for thought.  A perfect example of a child being treated like an adult.  Kids are expected to 'specialise' in some sport or cultural activity before their twelfth birthday and your child is considered a bit of an oddity if they don't go to a scheduled activity every afternoon.  What do they do??  They play.  What do they play?  They just play...

Play *is* the child's work, and that's what they should be doing most.

(more coming in Part 2)

Unnaturally quiet

It's a long time between blog posts these days.

I think it is because I don't get time to "think" any more.  Every day is jammed with busy-ness and it's a good thing, but the business of busy-ness leaves little time for meaningful contemplation.  Well, meaningful contemplation that's not related to teaching/learning.

The April Rose scam was a wake up call speaking to the amount of time spent on the net and that has soured my experience a little.

I'm finding that whilst i *can* multitask, I can really only do one thing at a time, and do it well.  Right now, it's teaching, so the housework is a bit hit and miss, and as for cooking?  Thank goodness I got a slow cooker for mother's day.

This afternoon is quiet.  Ian's taken the kids on a bit of a bush walk, I'm battling a cold and opted to stay in bed quietly for the day.  Must high me back there...it's cold sitting here at the computer.

I am still here.  Waiting for some peace and quiet to think out thoughts.

New template = happy teacher

Went hunting last night for (free) homeschooling ideas, planners, templates, calendars, doodads etc and found this site just jam packed with all the templates and ideas a stationery mad homeschooler could desire.  Tucked away on the site was this template.  Perfect for my style of programming, all the work has already been done in setting it up and it looks lovely too.  What more could I ask for?

This week is already planned (in pencil) for both kids in maths, phonics, grammar, handwriting, reading and spelling.  I'm partly planned for history, science, biblical studies, sport, music, for the juniors and craft.

I'm returning to a more structured programme with the essentials in the morning and the  perhaps-not-quite-so-essential after midday.  That's my comfort zone and the kids seem to cope with it ok too.

They've got eight minutes left in their afternoon break.  When they come inside we'll read a chapter of Charlotte's Web, and then get stuck into history and science and finish the school day with some craft.

A happy heart

I've been waiting and waiting for this moment for three and a half years.  The first sign of *the moment* came on Chickabid's first day of school.  I wrote his first three sight words on a piece of paper and made them into a sentence.  I showed him the sentence and pointed to each word as I read:

I am in KB

The little neurons and synapses and what not gelled in his little head and WHAM!!  "I can read!" he shouted and went galumphing down the hallway bearing his first sentence to read to Daddy.  His little feet were pointed down the road of reading.  For most kids, Kindergarten or Year One sees the sudden explosion in reading ability and the transition from "readers" to "real" books.  Chickabid continued to read and his ability to decode and memorise grew and grew and grew, but the explosion didn't eventuate.

I'd begun to think that it was my fault...I didn't read to him enough, I was to blame for his failure to explode and then this week it happened.  I sent him to his room to do something, walked past the bedroom and found him kneeling up against his bed absorbed in The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me. 

He's reading.  He's reading for the joy of reading.  He's reading for information.  He's reading for pleasure.

My heart is happy.

 

Pardon my cynicism

Hmmm.

Three years ago the Federal Government ties education funding to the implementation of standardised reports across all states of Australian.  The State Government capitulates without a second thought as to what it will mean for the teachers concerned.  The teachers, me included, protest.  This move would result in the creation of "league tables" with schools being unfairly compared with one another and teachers having their efficiency called into question.

No, no, no we were assured.  League tables were out of the question.  The new reporting system was for the benefit of the students.  It would result in resources being channelled to needy schools, to *support* teachers, not question their efficiency.

Then this news today.  All the results from all the schools on one website.  Ergo, league tables.

Do they think we're stupid?  The writing was on the wall three years ago.  Of course they would result in league tables.  The next step will be questioning the efficiency of the teachers in "underperforming" schools.

I am glad to be out of it, but it makes me tremble for my former colleagues.

Thirteen Years

Mister Bear and I have been away for the 13th anniversary of our first "date".  The date part is in inverted commas as the evening didn't start off that way.  We were going to a Youth Group dinner and we just happened to be going together.  I had never met anyone with whom I felt as comfortable as with him.  The trip to the restaurant took nearly two hours and we talked the whole time.  No uncomfortable silences, no points of major disagreement.  Once dinner had ended and we were on our way back to the mountains, it became clear that our minds and hearts were headed in the same direction.  The rest, as they say, is history :)

Once upon a time we celebrated every year, usually by returning to the scene of our Clayton's date, but since the advent of the small people it hasn't been as easy.  This year we decided to go away together, just for a night, and visit a restaurant we saw on Sydney Weekender.  The restaurant lived up to expectations and we had a wonderful time.