corner view: my room 1, before

I began blogging over 10 years ago. (I closed my original blog, Which Name?, to the public and stopping adding to it about 3 years ago.) Somewhere in the 11+ years I have been blogging, perhaps starting 8 or 9 years ago already, I was enmeshed in a lovely blogging community, one that was big and overlapping, like a beautiful online Venn diagram. One circle of that Venn was a group of bloggers from around the world that participated in Corner View. Each week, there was a theme, and we were to take a photograph of our corner of the world, to fit that theme, and share it on our blog. We linked up to each other's blogs. The themes were things like coffee, home, community, etc.

Now, on this blog, I am going to use a modified version of 'corner view' to share some photos of home. This summer, we plan to do some minor renovations and major rearranging in our home, so it occurred to me what feels like 'home' right now, might feel very different by the end of the year.

 This corner view is in my room, now. My dresser, pulled from my in-laws storage shed, each drawer lined with old maps. On the wall above, my growing curiosity cabinet, given to me by my brother. On the dresser, a driftwood beach candle holder (also from my brother), a mosaic mirror made by my girl, M's childhood piggy bank, my name scrolled by my grandpa when I was a child, an antique jewelry box given to me as a young teen by my parents, a plant from my best friend, and rocks. Always rocks with words on them. The ones in the shell have some of my word-of-the-year rocks and the ones in the jar were written on and given to me on my birthday from my family.

As I write all that, it amazes me that this one tiny corner view holds so many memories and shares so much about me.

home and homeschool - a May update

I haven't intended to become such an irregular blogger. I deeply miss the writing and sharing here in this space, but a few things have happened that have slowed down (paused!) my blogging here.

Journey North Mystery Class and also math-in-the-garden nature journaling.

My joy in blogging has always been two-fold. One is my love of photography. I love capturing what I see and sharing it here. My desire to share hasn't mixed well with my time to upload, look over, delete, and url stamp my photos lately. In addition, I have had to take and choose photos with a different 'lens.' I have been very careful when choosing photos that include my kids or their work because they are becoming more private, probably in part because of age, but also, following my lead and conversations we have had, they are more cautious. And, of course, I admit to having finally joined the world of Instagram last autumn. It is so easy just to share a photo there, without url stamping and with easy editing. It has made me lazy with photo blogging. (You can request to follow me there @nicolacreativelightless )

The second has been the writing piece. As for the writing component of sharing here...well...my thoughts and feelings have run so deep and so muddled, that I have struggled to make sense of them. Writing has always helped, but for me to be comfortable sharing here, the re-writing and editing would take too long. I have struggled with some health challenges which have left me drained at the end of the day. The time after the kids go to bed has always been my quiet writing time, but lately, I have lacked all desire to be on the computer before bed. In fact, right now, it is mid-afternoon, we are all out on the deck and the photo below is my view of the kids as I write. We just visited the library and need nothing more than a good book, a snack, and sunshine to undo some of the tension built from testing the last couple of weeks.

Lala Bug made a thunder cake on her own after reading Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco

So much has happened the past couple of months, since I last truly blogged about homeschooling. Nothing hugely significant, but just many little, ordinary, extraordinary, beautiful (and stressful...let's be honest) moments, cobbled together to make a meaningful family life and education. One of our strongest anchors has been nature study this year. It hasn't been what I imagined it would be, but it has been healing and soul-filling. Read-aloud time and hands-on explorations connected with those readings have also been strong roots, along with our charter community and activities.

We have had crazy spring weather. Dime-sized hail!

Family nature journaling

Since my post about worrying about the path ahead, I have attended some homeschool high school discussions, had lots of conversations with other parents, I have listened to a number of homeschool podcasts, 'attended' a couple of online summits (including one for twice exceptional (2e) children...children who are both gifted and have special needs/challenges), visited a couple of alternative middle and high schools, journaled, discussed with M, and thought a lot.  We still don't know what we will be doing when the time for 'high school' comes, but my exploration has opened conversations with Lala Bug, has begun warming all of us to the idea that transitions are coming, and I feel significantly less anxious. (For now.)

   Knitting pattern writing and drawing

 

 Fibonacci explorations

So, today, I am enjoying the sunshine of spring, sitting here with my computer and my notebook, and dumping ideas down for what is worrying me and what I want most to tackle in our home and homeschool in the coming months. It gives me a place to begin a conversation with the kids and M about what they most want to guide and learn and do. What does your home look like this spring?