One of the aspects of simplifying your is life, is to only have clothes you wear and like. This is hard for me since I just love having a ton of clothes that don't fit and have stains on them. I love how I don't think to do the laundry because all those clothes I don't want to wear in public are still on the shelf so clearly I'm not out of clothes.
Tonight I was going to help someone interpret. I had only talked to the person on the phone so I figured I should look presentable since I had the opportunity to actually make a nice impression. She would not even know the difference and would therefore maybe not say "Wow, you look nice!" which I often take to mean, "wow, you look not so scrapy."
I do actually have nice clothes that fit me and that I never wear because they are nice. Why is that?
So I got rid of a lot of clothes that I never wear. Sure it's good to have a set of painting clothes. But I actually only have 2 pair of pants and 1 pair of shorts that I actually want to be seen in public wearing. And getting rid of all the embarrassing clothes, I can justify 1 or 2 items to bring me up to a functional number.
Also, I want to wear skirts more often instead of shorts.
The great thing about this simplifying of your wardrobe is that you can feel great about what you wear every day because you get rid of the things you don't want to wear. You get rid of clothes that don't fit. They no longer stare at you from the shelf with condemnation.
Getting rid of things that make you feel guilty is great.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
simple living
So now I have a name for it. My tendency to not bathe. My preference for buying all our clothes at thrift stores. My love of making things. My empty fridge. It's called living simply. OK the bathing is just me being gross. But really, I'm not into consuming. And there is a definitely consumer market for being clean. It involves keeping up with a look and having products. The shelf in my shower has a travel size bottle of shampoo and conditioner and half a bar of soap. I love how uncrowded it is.
Now that I know what it is, I have a sense of direction for getting rid of the things that own me.
I also have a new lease on life when it comes to the kids books. If it is garbage, I'm allowed to get rid of it. Last night I read a version of Peter and the Wolf where Peter catches the wolf and takes it to the zoo. Dumb. Of course I'll donate it so some other family can have this trash book.
Months ago I brought home a discarded beach chair with lovely rainbow material. Last night I finally made a backpack for M out of it. This simple living idea helped me to overcome a little of my fabric hoarding.
I need less than I have. I don't have to take in other people's junk because it might be valuable. I don't need to buy things that I won't use.
So when G comes home with a new pair of basketball shoes from the school... We sent in $25 to the fund for clothes and shoes for kids that need them. His old shoes were worn out. Then he lost one. So I sent him in a pair of new/used shoes that were a little big and had a hole on the side. The principal tried to give us the money back. I was able to explain that we can afford it, it's just that we had not chosen to buy him shoes. We prefer to live a simple life. Yeah, it was a little embarrassing, but it was actually a choice.
Now that I know what it is, I have a sense of direction for getting rid of the things that own me.
I also have a new lease on life when it comes to the kids books. If it is garbage, I'm allowed to get rid of it. Last night I read a version of Peter and the Wolf where Peter catches the wolf and takes it to the zoo. Dumb. Of course I'll donate it so some other family can have this trash book.
Months ago I brought home a discarded beach chair with lovely rainbow material. Last night I finally made a backpack for M out of it. This simple living idea helped me to overcome a little of my fabric hoarding.
I need less than I have. I don't have to take in other people's junk because it might be valuable. I don't need to buy things that I won't use.
So when G comes home with a new pair of basketball shoes from the school... We sent in $25 to the fund for clothes and shoes for kids that need them. His old shoes were worn out. Then he lost one. So I sent him in a pair of new/used shoes that were a little big and had a hole on the side. The principal tried to give us the money back. I was able to explain that we can afford it, it's just that we had not chosen to buy him shoes. We prefer to live a simple life. Yeah, it was a little embarrassing, but it was actually a choice.
better than summer camp
We've started to attend a homeschool group on Mondays. Many of these same families are in a group that meets on Friday where I teach music/recorder.
The first Monday and Friday were sort of terrible and lame as I tried to find my feet. Monday I lead games and there were some new kids in the group that demanded a lot of attention. They were not interested in the games but rather, in playing games. Like messing up the games.
This Friday I had the children doing a hop scotch solfege game. We had learned a simple tune. We could clap the rhythm. We could do the solfege. Now we were really putting it into our bodies. The kids loved it and we got in crazy amounts of repetition by doing each song through these ways, and oh yeah, on recorder too. : )
Today for games we did Duck Duck Goose, then Charlie over the Ocean which is like Duck Duck Goose, but with counter motion circles and a call and response song. : ) We played Old Maid and the kids were really interested in that and it was so cool! Then we played another Duck Duck Goose game called Drip Drip Flood. You use a cup of water and go around getting everyone wet. It was really fun.
Next week we'll play one last variation where the kids have to list objects in a category ex; mammals... and when they say something out of the category that is the "Goose".
What was so magical about today was the children. I was just there to play with them. I introduced the practice of everyone sticking a fist in and doing a "Inka Binka Bottle of Ink" rhyme to choose who was first. I also told them that everyone could only be it 1 time. The kids really like that because they knew they would get a turn and it added a level of keeping track of that to the game.
It's such a pleasure to work with a group of kids having a kind time.
The first Monday and Friday were sort of terrible and lame as I tried to find my feet. Monday I lead games and there were some new kids in the group that demanded a lot of attention. They were not interested in the games but rather, in playing games. Like messing up the games.
This Friday I had the children doing a hop scotch solfege game. We had learned a simple tune. We could clap the rhythm. We could do the solfege. Now we were really putting it into our bodies. The kids loved it and we got in crazy amounts of repetition by doing each song through these ways, and oh yeah, on recorder too. : )
Today for games we did Duck Duck Goose, then Charlie over the Ocean which is like Duck Duck Goose, but with counter motion circles and a call and response song. : ) We played Old Maid and the kids were really interested in that and it was so cool! Then we played another Duck Duck Goose game called Drip Drip Flood. You use a cup of water and go around getting everyone wet. It was really fun.
Next week we'll play one last variation where the kids have to list objects in a category ex; mammals... and when they say something out of the category that is the "Goose".
What was so magical about today was the children. I was just there to play with them. I introduced the practice of everyone sticking a fist in and doing a "Inka Binka Bottle of Ink" rhyme to choose who was first. I also told them that everyone could only be it 1 time. The kids really like that because they knew they would get a turn and it added a level of keeping track of that to the game.
It's such a pleasure to work with a group of kids having a kind time.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
on math
Last year G was taking Science/Social Studies and Reading/Writing at school. We were supposed to cover math at home but found that by the time he had done 3-4 worksheets for school homework, he wasn't interested in more work. So we didn't make much progress on math last year. Over the summer he cruised through the whole years worth of worksheets in math.
This year he's at school for PE and Reading/Writing. We've decided to let him do the math homework, 1 page a day from the school. This works out nicely because he'll be able to take whatever tests they're working on. The kids at school do 5 pages a day plus the homework. I can't imagine why they need to have their brains numbed with so much repetition. As repetitive as his homework is times 5 pages a day? Insane.
Last night I was listening to some bloggers talk about homeschooling. One was an unschooler and the other seemed to enjoy the freedom for travel. So the traveling mom asked the unschooler what is done about subjects that just have to be taught, like math. The unschooler talked about how kids don't need math that is not useful in their lives. She sited a study where students were not taught math until 6th grade, and in one year had surpassed their peers who had been taught math since kindergarten.
What math is useful in your daily life? Do your children see you enjoying math? If math is such an important life skill that it must be taught; isn't it such an important life skill that you cannot afford to make your children hate?
Because of credit, people are free to ignore the basic addition and subtraction of a budget. And it's so "unpleasant" to do any math because kids are taught from a young age that they hate math. Even, and especially, kids who are good at math don't learn practical uses for it.
This year he's at school for PE and Reading/Writing. We've decided to let him do the math homework, 1 page a day from the school. This works out nicely because he'll be able to take whatever tests they're working on. The kids at school do 5 pages a day plus the homework. I can't imagine why they need to have their brains numbed with so much repetition. As repetitive as his homework is times 5 pages a day? Insane.
Last night I was listening to some bloggers talk about homeschooling. One was an unschooler and the other seemed to enjoy the freedom for travel. So the traveling mom asked the unschooler what is done about subjects that just have to be taught, like math. The unschooler talked about how kids don't need math that is not useful in their lives. She sited a study where students were not taught math until 6th grade, and in one year had surpassed their peers who had been taught math since kindergarten.
What math is useful in your daily life? Do your children see you enjoying math? If math is such an important life skill that it must be taught; isn't it such an important life skill that you cannot afford to make your children hate?
Because of credit, people are free to ignore the basic addition and subtraction of a budget. And it's so "unpleasant" to do any math because kids are taught from a young age that they hate math. Even, and especially, kids who are good at math don't learn practical uses for it.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
a cruise... someday
A friend of mine went on a cruise last week and I was just curious to see how expensive they are. They are down right cheap! Once you've invested in getting a passport ($150, so not cheap) going on a cruise, departing out of the city down the road, is $35 a night! That's room, board, entertainment, child fun, cool! So it's not something we'll do for a while. But it's something I never imagined doing and suddenly it is quite high on the list of things I might do.
Monday, September 3, 2012
$0.25
It's amazing what a good time you can have in this town for $0.25. Today we went over to the Lightner museum and fed the fish. P dispensed the pellets 4 at a time and the kids happily fed the fish little by little.
We had a good time in the museum. Also at Fort Matanzas, and at the beach. But since that was all free, I can't count them in on the value of the quarter.
At the end P gave G and M 6 pellets. They squealed in delight. Oh the bounty.
We had a good time in the museum. Also at Fort Matanzas, and at the beach. But since that was all free, I can't count them in on the value of the quarter.
At the end P gave G and M 6 pellets. They squealed in delight. Oh the bounty.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Stay Strong
The children are not enrolled in any activities right now. A few years ago they did soccer. Last summer they took gymnastics. They've always had a pool until recently and we go to the beach a lot. Everywhere we go people are suggesting that I put M in dance or gymnastics or .....
One, we can't afford it. Two, we already have G in school 5 hours a day, M in homeschool group, that's 2 five hour days a week. And getting G to speech 2 times a week, that's a lot of stuff. Three I'm the primary president and cannot get overbooked. Four, we're having a lot of fun together.
I would like the kids to do martial arts when they are older, like 8 and 10. P is generally against this violence, but I've convinced him that it's like dance, but without the sexy. We would like M the strong to someday play volleyball. For better or worse she says cute things like "If I grow a foot taller than daddy, I'll get a scholarship." There is an organization north of town that starts girls in volleyball at age 12.
So in general we've decided to let the kids enjoy their childhood and do a bunch of different activities for 1 year each. I don't see how we'll keep them from having the attitude I hated to see in students "Oh, I know how to do that..." Maybe I'll teach them to say "My parents let me do that for 1 year, it was fun."
When they're 14 I think they get to decide what they want to seriously play/do. There is so much they can do, especially with the beach.
Soccer
Gymnastics
Basketball
Volleyball
Sailing
Surfing
Tennis
Swimming
Martial Arts
4H
x-ne on the dancing, cheerleading, shake your money maker-ing.
And I want them to be musical. We got a piano book and the kids have been enjoying that this summer.
One, we can't afford it. Two, we already have G in school 5 hours a day, M in homeschool group, that's 2 five hour days a week. And getting G to speech 2 times a week, that's a lot of stuff. Three I'm the primary president and cannot get overbooked. Four, we're having a lot of fun together.
I would like the kids to do martial arts when they are older, like 8 and 10. P is generally against this violence, but I've convinced him that it's like dance, but without the sexy. We would like M the strong to someday play volleyball. For better or worse she says cute things like "If I grow a foot taller than daddy, I'll get a scholarship." There is an organization north of town that starts girls in volleyball at age 12.
So in general we've decided to let the kids enjoy their childhood and do a bunch of different activities for 1 year each. I don't see how we'll keep them from having the attitude I hated to see in students "Oh, I know how to do that..." Maybe I'll teach them to say "My parents let me do that for 1 year, it was fun."
When they're 14 I think they get to decide what they want to seriously play/do. There is so much they can do, especially with the beach.
Soccer
Gymnastics
Basketball
Volleyball
Sailing
Surfing
Tennis
Swimming
Martial Arts
4H
x-ne on the dancing, cheerleading, shake your money maker-ing.
Also, we're busy building racetracks on the moon.
And lP is busy perfecting her funny faces,
and falling asleep on books.
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