Earthwise Ways Homeschool

If anyone who knows us through this blog wishes to follow along in Pixie’s return to homeschooling please join us on our shared blog

Heart of Goddesses

I had posted four or five months ago that we were going to be going back to homeschooling, then deleted it. Within a month or so Pixie was diagnosed with High Risk pre-B cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Since that horrific day in late April, she and I have been struggling through each day together.  School is back in session in a month’s time, however her blood counts, general overall health and the school’s health will dictate whether or not she is able to attend school from day to day. While I am glad for the opportunity to homeschool her again I have been unable to work since her diagnosis.  I am a single mother and her sole caregiver, I hope to figure out a way to make it work.  This is her last year in the school she is in currently.  I absolutely REFUSE to put her into the horrific middle school here and our plans to move into our own place has been put on hold for now.  So I think I will take advantage of this blog again.  With her treatment, illness and it’s physical, emotional and psychological effects on her (and myself) I feel it may be a challenge. Still, this is time with her I was desperate for in the last three years, I only wish it wasn’t due to a life threatening illness.

Pixie had her assessment today and has surpassed the requirements for first grade, her evaluator was very impressed with what she has studied and learned over the last school year.  I am basking in the validation that I’ve done a good job my first official year homeschooling. Sadly due to our new circumstances I will have to enroll her in public school for a year or two, it breaks my heart but I suppose this will give her the chance to see how the other half live.

So for now entries here will be sporadic, I will continue homeschooling in addition to public schooling but not to the extent I’d like to be.

It seemed that not too long ago I was worried that Pixie was not reading at the level she should. Silly me. I look over the last year and fast-forward to today where, ten hours later after our first visit to the local library to get our library cards and a stack each of books, she has gone to bed having read four books cover to cover. Samantha and the Missing Pearls, Kirsten on the Trail, Meet Kirsten, and Good Night Fairies-this last of which is a sweet story with amazing artwork. To glance over and see my sweet girlie curled up in a chair, on the couch or standing under the crabapple tree in bloom, her nose in a book, is the happiest moments for me as a voracious reader myself. As usual I worried over nothing and had several of you telling me just that.

You may now commence with the ‘I told you so’s…lol

On this Mother’s Day..

It seems this site is having the same template issues as the WordPress site which is highly frustrating!  I have decided to move My Green Dream off of WordPress.com and instead morph my regular site over to my generously-hosted-by-my-friend-Eliz domain.  I’m thinking I’ll move Earthwise Ways Homeschool over to it’s own category.  I tried this before and had fits but I have something like 6 blogs so something’s got to give…lol

Today we celebrate Bealltainn with a faery tea party. Supposedly my sister, niece and nephew are coming but a time was never set so who knows. Either way we have some yummy stuff to eat, berry trifle, tea sandwiches and a gorgonzola and shallot quiche with chives. Not sure what my sister is bringing, she mentioned faery cakes…

Last night I attended a meeting for something I am doing for Pixie’s dance school. I spent an hour completely out of my element with a room full of women who are mothers to students there. I observed the interactions and between many of these women and I realised I could never do the PTA mom shuffle. What is this “shuffle”? Well, it’s my lame term for women with children who, besides talking ad nauseum about their children and husbands are all sweet and cutesy friendly with one another but give them five minutes with a smaller group and they rip the others to shreds. I don’t get that! I am an all or nothing kind of gal, there is no grey area for me where adult interactions are concerned. I either like a person or I don’t, I will not subject myself to bitchy women who seemingly delight in trashing their so called friends with mutual friends. It is in my opinion pointless to work on sustaining a relationship with someone you do not like or respect. Why waste precious time and energy. Ah..one more example of how I stand apart from the mainstream, low tolerance for BS. lol

Today was the last trip out to our former home, Pixie remain here with her grandmother and I went, armed with family, to retrieve the last of our belongings and my garden plants. It was terrible and I am so glad that it’s now over. How her father could have morphed into someone so hateful and nasty, who puts his married girlfriend over his own child is beyond me.

I say it frequently and I’ll say it again, we are so much better off without him, I hope for Pixie’s wellbeing, as so far he cannot be bothered to make any contact with her, that we never hear from him again, I want to spare her the pain of a selfish, inconsistent father. She is blossoming and thriving here, I have never seen her so happy and content. Tomorrow we shall enjoy the day by planting seeds, finding homes for the plants I brought home today and celebrating a birthday party with our family.

This is interesting, I’ve practised attachment parenting her entire life…lol

(From DailyOM)
Practicing Nonattachment

Parenting asks us to rise to some of the most difficult challenges this world has to offer, and one of its greatest paradoxes arises around the issue of attachment. On the one hand, successful parenting requires that we love our children, and most of us love in a very attached way. On the other hand, it also requires that we let go of our children at the appropriate times, which means we must practice some level of nonattachment. Many parents find this difficult because we love our children fiercely, more than we will ever love anyone, and this can cause us to overstep our bounds with them as their independence grows. Yet truly loving them requires that we set them free. Attachment to outcome is perhaps the greatest obstacle on the parenting path, and the one that teaches us the most about the importance of practicing nonattachment. We commonly perceive our children to be extensions of ourselves, imagining that we know what’s best for them, but our children are people in their own right with their own paths to follow in this world. They may be called to move in directions we fear, don’t respect, or don’t understand, yet we must let them go. This letting go happens gradually throughout our lives with our children until we finally honor them as fully grown adults who no longer require our guidance. At this point, it is important that we treat them as peers who may or may not seek our input into their lives. This allows them, and us, to fully realize the greatest gift parents can offer their offspring -independence.Letting go in any area of life requires a deep trust in the universe, in the overall meaning and purpose of existence. Remembering that there is more to us and our children than meets the eye can help us practice nonattachment, even when we feel overwhelmed by concern and the desire to interfere. We are all souls making our way in the world and making our way, ultimately, back to the same source. This can be our mantra as we let our children go in peace and confidence.