Block Party !!!

A big part of my paid employment is about community development - helping people to meet, connect with, and come to care for one another.  It is something that I am passionate about, and that (I think) we do a generally lousy job of these days.  So, in an effort to practice what I preach, the boys and I decided it was time to have a neighborhood party.  Our goal was fairly simple - pick a day, and get everyone in our neighborhood outside so that they could met, play, eat, have fun, and connect with each other. 

The boys helped me to make signs to post around the block, we recruited some of our closest friends on the street to help, made some snacks to share, put up a few balloons, and that was about it!  The results were fabulous.   Lots of visiting and getting to know each other, an impromptu pool part, water fights, great snacks, hola hooping, a bar-b que thanks to Pop, and fire works to end things off.  For the fairly small investment of time and energy that it took, we had a wonderful afternoon with old friends and new ones.  This will definitely need to become a yearly tradition...

It is easy to believe that we are each waves and forget we are also the ocean.

~Jon J. Muth

More books for Kenya

A few months ago, we got an e-mail from a friend, Natalie, who was helping to build a small community library in Kenya.  We dug through our shelves and sent over some boxes of books, and then waited to hear any news. 

When we heard that the library was built and still in need of more books, we called in the troops - no one has an excess of books if not homeschooling families.  So Natalie graciously offered to come out and talk to our kids about the library.  She brought photos of the library being built, the community who is making it happen, and of life in Kenya in general.

The kids really enjoyed talking with Natalie about the people that she had met in Kenya, and wrote letters or drew pictures to send along with the books.

But by far, the best part was this - seeing a picture of some of the kids at the new library, reading one of the books that Charlie and William sent over with the first round.

To see more pictures of the library being built, and to get in touch with Natalie if you happen to live close by and have books (or cash) to donate, here is the link to the Tei wa Syana Community Library site.

World Wide Drumming Circle

Charlie especially has been going through a `drumming phase`lately, drumming on furniture, trees, people, or anything else that he finds that seems appropriate.  When i heard about the world wide drumming circle, I knew we had to go.  It was hosted at Mountsberg,  one of our favorite conservation areas, which was an added bonus.  The purpose of the day was to come together with others and celebrate peace.  There were drumming circles throughout the day, and a workshop for the kids to make their own drums or rattles. 

Bracelets for Russia

We have taken part in a few craft-for-hope projects in the last while - making dolls, knitting squares, and now making bracelets to send off to people in other parts of the world who might enjoy them. Today we got together with some other homeschooling families to make bracelets to send to orphans in Russia. This is certainly not something that will have a drastic impact on these kids who are living such difficult lives, but it is a nice way to perhaps put a little smile on their faces, and to help our kids learn that there are lots of little ways that they can make a difference.
Here is the link.

Green Legacy

One of the things that I enjoy most about homeschooling is being able to volunteer with the boys. It is something that has always felt important to me, but the ways I have been involved in the past took a bit of a nose dive as I had kids and found myself with so little free time. Now William and Charlie are old enough to enjoy working with me, and to be able to make a real contribution.

Today we joined a great group of friends at Green Legacy, a local greenhouse who has taken on the important job of reforesting our county. They plant many different kinds of native trees from seed, and rely extensively on volunteers to get all of the work done.


The kids (and parents) all enjoyed seeing this little vacuum machine that drops tiny white spruce seeds into the flats.

They learned all about different types of tree seeds..

Pushed seedlings out of their small cells...

And transplanted them into bigger cells.

Most of all, they got dirty. That's the best part, right?

The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The next best time is now.
~proverb

Up Close

The boys and I were having an interesting conversation on perspective the other day while we wandered through the wood. We chatted about how we can all be looking at the same thing and 'see' it differently, both physical things and issues or ideas. (as an aside, I love these middle childhood ages, if no other reason than that the boys will engage in this type of discussion with their Mama for hours on end!). Anyway, the physical side of this talk was thinking about how different things look from a distance than they do up close. Here are a few photos...

Learning Happens

Sometimes the 'lessons' in our days come about so naturally you can't help but smile. Just after lunch today I decided to check my e-mail before setting our plans for the rest of the day. Lo and behold, an e-mail from a friend - who is going to Kenya in 54 days!! This is her second trip to Africa (lucky girl). She is planning to help arrange micro-loans for families in a small village in Kenya, and will also be working to build and stock a small community library. Voila - afternoon set.

The kids had a blast going through their bookshelves and picking out books to send to the new library. We checked out Kenya on the map, and marvelled at what a trip it would be to get there. The boys wrote letters and drew pictures for their new 'friends' across the sea, sharing in the excitement that the new library must be bringing. We also re-read One Hen - How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference by: Katie Smith Milway (a great way to help kids learn about micro loans, and how small ideas can have a big impact). We even shared ideas of what we would do with a small amount of money to start a business - Charlie would become a lumberjack, and buy the saws that he needs to cut wood to build houses and cook food. William thinks that livestock would be a good idea - pigs, chickens, goats..."And we really could have chickens here, couldn't we Mama?"

Feed The Children

One of our favorite places to go with our home school friends is to Feed The Children, a local warehouse that pulls together food and hygiene boxed for people in need. The kids are always thrilled to go and help out - we all set up along an assembly line, filling up the boxes and visiting at the same time. Today we had enough helpers for 2 lines moving at the same time, and by the end of the day we had 4 skids full. The staff here are so appreciative adn suypportive of the kids,and we all take pride in knowing that most of the time we can pull a work team together with only a few days notice when they need a hand. And if the kids needed any more encouragement (which they never do) there are always the popcycles at the end...

Recycling - The Next Generation

I think that by now we all have a good handle on basic recycling. Bottles and cans, newspapers and plastic bag. We try to cut down on the 'stuff' that we buy, and reuse what we can. I am infinitely hopeful for our world when I see how naturally it comes to the kids. It is a small thing, but a small thing moving us in the right direction.

Lately we have been ramping up our recycling efforts, and I am amazed at how many opportunities there are to put our 'garbage' to good use. Here are some of the things we have begun re-purposing:

*Newspapers (that they won't stop sending us!!)to the local Humane Society
*Toilet paper rolls to the Early Years Centre to be used for crafts
*Milk bags to be woven into sleeping mats for people in need
*Grocery bags (from when I forget my reusable ones!!) to the local thrift store
*Small plastic bags that newspapers come in to the Humane Society to pick up doggy droppings
*Pop can tabs to a friend (not really sure what he is collecting them for, to be honest!

What are your favorite environmental tips to share?



You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of your grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves. ~Native American Wisdom

Pie Wonderful Pie

Thanksgiving Dinner really wouldn't be the same without pie. Apple pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, I am really not that picky. Any pie will do. This year I thought I would try a new recipe for pecan pie, and found the one below on Allrecipe.com. It does not call for any corn syrup, the turned out lovely because of it - just the right amount of sweetness without making your teeth hurt. I did use far more nuts than the recipe called for, and it was a hit.

On a related but totally different note, the boys and I have become part of a local social justice and volunteering co-op within our home school group. Basically, it is a group of families who are all interested in helping our kids to become more active in our communities (locally and globally) and taking on projects that can help to make our world a better place. We are called The Change-Makers - can I tell you how much I love the name?!?! Anyway, here is the connection: another mom who is part of the Change Makers posted about a community Thanksgiving Dinner for people in need where she and her kids were volunteering as servers. They asked if any of us were interested in helping with the cooking.......gee, a community dinner, a new pecan pie recipe, kids who love to get their hands on the rolling pin......

The end result was an evening spent in a house full of kids (mine the the neighbours), lots of fun, a delicious smelling home, and six proudly made pecan pies ready to go to others who will enjoy them. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!




Pecan Pie

1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 cups pecans

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl beat the eggs until foamy. Beat in melted butter, sugars, and flour. Lastly, add milk, vanilla, and chopped pecans (saving some pecans to garnish the top).

Pour into an unbaked 9-inch pie shell and top with remaining pecans.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then turn oven down to 350 degrees and continue baking for 30 - 40 minutes until centre of the pie is set.

Serve warm or cool, with fresh whipped cream, ice cream, or just a big glass of milk.

Postcrossing

Last year the boys and I began a postcard collection as a way of connecting with other people, and learning a little bit about the world around us. We have enjoyed getting postcards from friends and family as well as strangers, and the kids look forward to checking the mail box each afternoon. At the start, we connected with a few yahoo groups and a home school group in the USA that offered a postcard exchange. We enjoyed it, but soon discovered that most of the other families involved were from the USA, and were mostly interested in collecting state postcards instead of international ones. Things kind of fizzled, until a few months ago when I discovered Postcrossing. To say that things took off then would be a vast understatement. Here is how it works: to get started, you register (free) and request an address to send a postcard to. On the postcard, as well as your note, you write a tracking number. As soon as your card is received, the person who got it logs on to postcrossing, enters the tracking number, and you go to the top of the list to get the next card sent out. At the beginning you can have up to 5 cards travelling at a time, and you are allowed more as you develop a positive track record. Here is the best part - it is international. The most recent cards that we have received are from Russia, Malaysia, Great Britain, Germany, China, Japan, Thailand, and Poland. The cards that we have received have all included lovely notes from the sender telling us about the card, themselves, or the country where they live. When you register the card as received you can also see their personal profile, the distance in km that the card travelled to reach you, and have a chance to e-mail them a thank you note. The only problem that I can figure is that this could become very, very addictive...

The Grand River Powwow

The boys and I have really enjoyed the amount of time we get to spend while homeschooling learning about other cultures - not only from a text book or a museum, but from speaking to others, listening to them, and opening ourselves up to how we are the same and different. Appreciating our common humanity and celebrating how we see things differently is one of the most beautiful things about meeting new people. We went to the Grand River Pow Wow this morning and were awed by the beautiful costumes, drumming, dances, and singing. The kids explored the vendor booths, asking lots of questions about the crafts they found. They were intrigued by the idea of a medicine bag (something I hope to make with them soon) and each bought a braid of sweet grass to take home, sniffing it all the way. It was wonderful to have the values of respect, honour, integrity, wisdom, and spirituality that we have been learning about echoed in the dances that we saw - honoring the veterans, the elders, the visitors to the Powwow, and the children who are being raised to carry on the values and traditions of the culture.












What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and pecularities, by eliminating different civilizations and cultures, progress weakens life and favors death. The ideal of a single civilization for everyone, implicit in the cult of progress and technique, impoverishes and mutilates us. Every view of the world that becomes extinct, every culture that disappears, diminishes a possibility of life.
~Octavio Paz

Sainte-Marie among the Huron

The boys and I are going to spend some time this summer exploring Aboriginal culture, and visiting Sainte-Marie Among The Huron, a Jesuit mission from the 1600s located in Wendat territory, has been on our list of places to visit. Granted, it is a fair bit backwards to visit this site at the beginning of our exploration instead of the end, but the weather was fine, and Jim was sleeping so the kids and I had to be quiet or gone for the day. Off we went.

The mission was built in the early 1600s, by Jesuit Priests whose goal was to convert the Wendat(Huron) people to Christianity. They were active for only 10 years, when a combination of disease, warfare with the Iroquois, and division within the Wendat community led the Jesuits to set fire to the village and move on. They established another mission in the same region and continued their work for one more winter, before returning to Quebec with about 600 Christian Wendat people.

The village has been reconstructed on the site of the original village, with the buildings placed over top of the ruins. We spent time exploring the sleeping and eating quarters, the canals, chapel, long houses, and tee pees. We tried our hands at making clay amulets, dipping candles, grinding corn, and writing with quills. We listened to aboriginal stories by the fire, and hymns sung by a choir.

This trip was a real eye-opener for me. The village itself was incredible to see, but I was really taken aback by the conversations that William and I had on the drive to and from. I don't know how it happened, but somehow my little baby has grown into a boy capable of carrying on an intelligent conversation about colonialism, racial supremacy, diversity and tolerance. Not his words, of course, but the point was there. We spent a great deal of time talking about how important history is not only so that we can know where we come from, but more importantly so that we can avoid making again the mistakes of the past.

I know that kids go on this type of field trip with their school classes, but somehow I doubt that the conversations on the school bus were anything like this...