flip and flop, a gym poem by ebr

oh yes we did stuff today, lots of stuff!

Faithful old family Thanksgiving decorations and Blood Types! 

Physics ballooning

Red Blood Cell and Antigens Models out of clay 

Poetry and hot chocolate

Balloon Barometers

I wonder what we did today

 Poetry, silent reading, and word games for Word Wednesday.

Then she decided she wanted to read 100 days in a row and needed to create a spot to do it.  Which meant moving her big stick.

Cat Nap and Star Stable (on-line horse game with reading and typing)

Off to the library for books but please not all 100 today.

We had the children's section and the librarian all to ourselves.  

So mom asked a question so has wondered about for a few years, "Why doesn't this branch have a book return box outside for after hours?"

Answer from the little white haired lady behind the big desk who forced me to check out Ella Enchanted for Boo despite my serious doubts it would a book she would enjoy reading, "Because people kept putting dead animals in it.  Mostly cats." ~honestly I might have guessed that! 

Okay, then... off to gym! 

what matters most, lessons from a day off

I learned a few things yesterday on our vacation from gym.

1. We aren’t utilizing the afternoons before gym the way we could. 
I have always tried to shut down all activities to give Boo a rest time before gym. I have even preached the important of it to other gym parents. I am taking that idea back.  What I realized was the beauty of downtime prior to gym was she couldn’t wait to go (yes, she loves gym!) but mostly that 'let’s go attitude' was because she was bored silly waiting.  It maybe harder to leave the park or pool to go to gym, I still believe not rushing and being on time is super important, but I think we are missing out on some fun playing the 'waiting to go to gym game' so often.   

2. How important it is for us to have a sit down to a peaceful hot lunch.
Believe it or not lunch is one of the reasons Boo is homeschooled.  My feelings about the importance of it may qualify as a personal/religious belief.  The short version of why it matters so much to me is: my ingrained, positive experiences as a child going home for a homemade lunch & returning to school, Boo’s negative experience with school lunch (vomited on the table just from the smell of the room, can’t get much more negative than that), and the valuable lunch times Boo and I spent together when I was in college eating lunch and reading books huddle inside the tepee in the Hall of Early Man in the old Museum of Natural History.  Skipping this precious, restful time together always catches up to us later.     


3. Small things matter the most.
Mini pancakes, star shaped pizzas, deep questions asked and answered, free exploration, childhood pleasures, a dip in the pool, feeding the fish, one more chapter, crayons with big white paper,… all those little things are the backbone of us choosing to be here to learn. They are usually easy to do, an extra minute can make all the difference.  A honest truth is I am great at doing them early in the day but I tend to fall apart in the afternoon letting pressure of the next thing we have to get done before gym/work/school/social obligation over take me.  In reality it is important for me to remember doing the little things tends to take the pressure away, not add to it.  

Feel Free
by EBR 9/16/13

Feel free to adventure in life,
Let the wild fill up inside or you,
Let the lion roar,
Let the howling wind feel like a song ,
Let the icy water trickle down the path.

Number 4 would be that we don’t have to take a vacation from gym/work/school to have the type of day we had yesterday.  All we need is the right mind set to feel free in our hearts.    

over the hill

The ground is still

all is well

over the hill

The flowers are swaying over the hill

It is sunny over the hill

The birds are singing 

but where I stand is dark and there is no noise.

~by Boo 8/5/13