A Year in Posts

Tonight, we say goodbye to the old year, and welcome in a new one (that link will only make sense if you like Doctor Who)!  And because I like making lists, and all the cool kids are doing it anyway, I decided to do a year end roundup of posts from the past 12 months: one post from each month that I especially liked, or that was especially popular, or whatever other reason I come up with.  It's really interesting going through old posts on this blog, to me, as I'm reminded of good days and bad, and see how my writing has grown and improved.  I hope you enjoy this selection (which, let me tell you, was VERY hard for me to pick)! 

 January
The Worth of Mud
"The act of playing in mud is every bit as beautiful, in it's own way, as taking joy in a beautifully constructed story, or the flowing lines of a poem."

February
How I Learned to Read and Write (linked in Peter Gray's article Children Teach Themselves to Read)
"From the time I was tiny, the people around me, my parents, were regular readers.  And from the time I was tiny, they read aloud to me.  Poetry, the newspaper, picture books, you name it.  Words were something I appreciated from a young age."

March
My 19th Birthday...
"On my birthday, the 16th of March, I woke up to a truly glorious day!  Bright sunshine, and record breaking warm temperatures!  How could I not be cheerful?  I danced around the house with the sunlight streaming through the windows, and even when I woke my sister and we had a bit of a disagreement, it passed quickly and the day continued in it's joyous flow..."

April
Unschooling Gets Publicity...In a BIG way!
"Unschooling has been moving steadily into the mainstream awareness in the last few years.  I've seen a marked increase in people talking about unschooling since I started paying attention to that type of thing a few years ago.  But never have I seen this level of attention."

May
A Trip to Gaspe (One of my absolute favorite posts of the whole year, actually)

remembering a day
when the sky landed on the beach
to play in the waves
that stretched long fingers
over the sand

  
June
 Bare Feet and Learning Connections (published on Enjoy Life Unschooling, not this blog)
"Unschoolers are the barefooted folk of the educational world. We’re the ones removing the barriers between our minds and the incredible array of experiences around us, kicking off constraints so we can feel the world as it truly is, in all its varied glory!"

July
Rain: A Poem

August
Cheap, Non-Chemically, DIY Body Care (aka, Baking Soda is Magic)
"There are many reasons I don't like store-bought shampoos, deodorants, soaps, creams, and other bodycare products.  Even the "natural" ones, though mostly better than your average pharmacy brands, have chemicals I'd really rather not use, and also tend to be really pricey!  I decided a while ago that there must be better options, and I'm slowly but surely going DIY for all of the products I used to buy from the store."

September
Misconceptions About Unschooling
"There are so, so many misconceptions out there, and most of the time I just let it all slide, but today I felt inspired to address a few of them..."

October
The Need For Schooling
"There are so many children in our world that need love, and food and shelter, and acceptance, and support, and trust.  No one *needs* schooling!"

November
Storytelling: An Art With Many Forms, or Why TV Shows Are Cool
"There's a big difference between passive absorption and active engagement.  The first is what I think most people against television picture when they think of TV: blank faced zombies sitting in absolute stillness in front of a flickering screen, their brains passively absorbing whatever passes over said screen.  Yet in my house, that's not how watching TV works."

December
Unschooling is Not Relaxed Homeschooling (the only original post in December, actually, and also my most commented on post ever!)
"You cannot unschool part time: for two hours a day or every Friday or one week out of every month.  Unschooling is a whole lifestyle and radically different way of looking at learning and life.  It's not something you can just turn on and off!"

So there you have it!  A year in posts.  There is much more about the past year that could be said, but instead of continuing to sit in my room typing away on the computer, I'm going to go celebrate the beginning of a new year with my family.

So all that's really left for me to say is:

Happy New Year!!

A virtual toast to the health, happiness, and wellbeing of you and yours.

Christmas '09

Wow, it seems strange that Christmas is over already!  So much preparation and excitement and stress, then the whole damn thing is over in a flash.

Before going into anything else, I should mention that we had a very cute and fluffy guest staying with us over the holidays.  A friend of my moms was getting a puppy for Christmas (in case you were wondering, I'm not going to go into all the warning bells the whole *puppy for Christmas* thing rings in my head) , but needed someone to look after him on Christmas eve, and deliver him on Christmas day.  I was very happy to volunteer!!  He's a seven week old Labradoodle (Labrador Poodle cross), and let me tell you, this dog is sooooooo fricken' cute!  He's sweet, friendly, intelligent, cuddly, mischievous, and a whole butt-load of trouble.  No, I did not get attached to him AT ALL! *Shifty eyes* But seriously, having your head attacked and your ear chewed on first thing in the morning by an enthusiastic puppy, thrilled by the fact you've just woken up, is an experience that I think everyone should have! ;-) So, for your viewing pleasure, I give you a sampling of pictures (I took a bunch) of our adorable visitor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

See??  I said he's adorable!!  But moving on.

On Christmas Eve, we spent time with my father's side of the family.  I didn't take many pictures, I'm afraid...  My dad did take this one, however: a mostly complete, if rather blurry, group picture. ;-)

I love how virtually no one is actually looking at the camera!  The evening passed very fast, and I was quite happy to get a couple of lovely photography books, a huge vegan cookbook called the Veganomicon, and the Chumbawamba CD I've been wanting (I'm also quite happy to say that after hearing a few songs, Emi gave it her seal of approval, which means I can play it without having to get into an argument abut playing it first!  Yay!! ;-P).

Christmas day, we woke up quite late, and procceeded, after many delays and much stumbling slowly around, to open our stockings and the rest of our gifts.

 

 

 

Then it was time to deliver the puppy (we called him Little Guy since he didn't have a name yet), and head to my grandmother's (on my moms side of the family) for Christmas dinner.  In some ways, I was very sad to see Little Guy go.  We bonded the most out of my family, he slept on my bed, slept in my lap, played with me, and chewed on my ear.  But in other ways, I wasn't so sad.  No more constantly following him around and prying inedible things out of his mouth; no more keeping him away from Winston, who did NOT like him; no more remembering to bring him outside every hour so he wouldn't pee on the floor; no more struggling to get his needle-sharp teeth out of my favourite knit sweater...  You get the idea. ;-)

At my grandma's house, we had a lovely meal, then I took a few pictures.

 

 

I especially enjoyed taking pictures of the blooming tea we made:

...And now here I am today: tired, draggy, and with a small heap of presents.

In case you were wondering what happened to the zine, well, days ago an intelligent person on Twitter suggested I just wait until after Christmas.  No, I protested, it's nearly done, I can do it!  However, I discovered that that close to Christmas, I had to choose between working on the zine and spending time with friends and family, and, well, the latter won.  So I'm left instead with a new self-imposed deadline: to get the zine out before the new year.  I'm kind of upset I didn't get it out when I'd originally planned to, but, well, life happens!

I hope that everyone had a simply fantastic holiday!!

Peace,
Idzie

Christmas, Solstice, celebrations...

Wow, long time no post (compared to what I usually do, anyway)!  And I don't even have a good excuse! ;-) But anyway, I did not decide to write a post about the fact I haven't been writing posts, so I will move on...

My family is not Christian.  Not even close, really!  I'm animistic and generally spiritual without being *religious* at all, my dad comes from a Catholic background but isn't exactly a believer, my mom is spiritual and doesn't really like to label herself, and Emi refers to herself as a "superstitious agnostic".  Quite a bunch, aren't we?  However, like many North Americans, we celebrate Christmas each year.  Both sides of the family are Christian to a greater or lesser extant, so I suppose it's logical that we do.  And I love Christmas, I really do.  The glorious music (even the religious music.  I just love Christmas music!), the Christmas tree glowing softly in a darkened room, great feasts, glittering decorations, and yes, Christmas presents.  I can't imagine, and wouldn't want to, stop celebrating Christmas!  However, I don't feel a special significance in WHAT Christmas is celebrating.  I could honestly care less about the birth of the baby Jesus.  So for the past couple of years, I've wanted to celebrate the Solstice.  Marking and taking joy in the natural cycles of the Earth.  Now that makes more sense to me. So, although I know few people who live nearby who would appreciate such a celebration (and when I say "few" I mean one, other than my immediate family, unless someone else I've overlooked pops into my head), and actually take it seriously, I'm still going to have a small celebration myself.  I will drag my family along for the ride, make some lovely decorations out of natural materials dragged out of our local woods, cook some tasty food, light some beeswax candles (I've been moving away from petroleum based ones), and just have a good time.  So that is my plan for the Holidays! :-)


In zine news, I now have all the stuff I need!  Woo hoo!  I want to send out a big thanks to everyone who sent stuff in. :-) I now have the slightly intimidating task of putting it all together in an actual *zine*, instead of just a pile of papers.  I say slightly intimidating because there has been A LOT of interest.  I find it slightly unnerving that there are many people enthusiastically waiting to read it... :-S Also, I've been putting thought into what style I want it to be.  It could be more *magazine-y*, with columns and a more professional look, or more traditional *zine-y*, with scissors and glue and different fonts and handwritten bits, and I've decided after very little thought to go with the latter.  The unique, artistic, free-form style of zines is what drew me to them in the first place, so I don't think going for an overly *shiny* look is the best idea! :-P

Oh, and I just have to mention that I can't believe it's December already!  Time passes too fast!  I need to be thinking about buying gifts, and helping to clean the house, and all those other holiday preparatory things...

Peace,
Idzie

Thanksgiving and Columbus Day

This past weekend was the Canadian Thanksgiving (celebrated on the second Monday of October), so I wanted to write some type of what I'm especially thankful for post, even though I don't really consider the holiday all that important, myself, but honestly I wasn't feeling all that thankful. It's been a rough few days, with lots of family drama, so the only thing I ended up really feeling thankful for is the fact that I have my family, whom I love dearly, despite it all (all up to and including the fact that my father said yesterday that he thinks homeschooling at all was a mistake... Thanks papa, thanks a lot.).

However, I don't want to dwell on that, and I do still want to recognize both of the holidays that passed this weekend (Thanksgiving and Columbus Day), so I'll share something for both.

I wrote this post on a bunch of things I'm grateful for close to this time last year. It's overly soppy, but made me happy to write, and makes me happy re-reading it, as well! :-)

And as for Columbus Day, well, I have a feeling that many of you already know the dark side of Columbus, and perhaps are also rather disgusted that there's a holiday celebrating a genocidal slave trader. Firstly, this article is simply a long excerpt from Howard Zinn's A Peoples History of the United States, which starts with stuff specifically about Columbus. Also, this post gives ten reasons to NOT celebrate Columbus Day.

I'm thinking lots, trying to figure things out in a slightly different way from the way I have been trying to figure certain things out, and just generally have a lot going on in my head. As I start to get those things a bit more straightened out, they'll probably make it onto this blog! :-)

Peace,
Idzie

My 18th Birthday, and St. Pat's day!

Yesterday was my 18th Birthday. In some ways, it seems rather surreal that I've been around this earth for 18 years. In other ways, it seems like no big deal. Nothing much has changed. I'm the same person I was two days ago, despite the change in age! Yet since my 17th Birthday, so so much has changed.

It's been years since I was actually happy on my Birthday... Throughout most of my teen years, my Birthday stood as a reminder of all the things I hadn't done. One more year where my life wasn't where I wanted it to be. But as I'm sure I mentioned before, this past year, especially the past 8 months, has held so much change, and lead to such a different perspective on life, on who I am, and on what I want. I'm no longer pining over what has yet to happen. Sure, there are still plenty of things I want to do, but I will do them. And for now, I'm happy at where I am in life, and content that I'll figure out where I'm going. So this Birthday, I went outside, breathed in the beautiful Spring air, played music, and laughed. Life is good.

I've never been much of a St. Patrick's Day celebrator, although I certainly have Irish ancestry, and love Celtic culture and music. So although I'm not doing much to actually celebrate today, I wish you a Happy, joy filled St Patrick's Day, and leave you with this song, 'The Night That Patty Murphy Died' by Great Big Sea.



Peace, love, and happiness,
Idzie

I HATE COLDS

So, I'm sick. And miserable. And I had my last cold only 3 months ago, which makes me think my immune system is not as strong as it should be. I was thinking about that yesterday, and realized that I only started showing symptoms a few days after I stopped being vegan, which makes me strongly suspect that dairy has something to do with it. I was lactose intolerant when I was young, and for a while now I've been wondering if I am again (I've been feeling sick from drinking milk). If I'm right and I am, I figure that could certainly weaken my ability to fight off colds. So, it looks like I'm going back to being vegan, at least for a little while, and seeing if that makes a difference! *Sighs*

I just put a new poll up, about New Years resolutions. I always make them, but, like many people it seems, I rarely manage to keep them. I guess I'll be trying again this year though! Speaking of New Years resolutions, I want to tell you about a ritual with that, that my family started a few years ago. We take a blank sheet of paper, and write all of our resolutions, hopes, and plans for the coming year, then, after we watch the ball drop on TV, we burn the papers in the wood stove. It feels good to do, and somehow makes it more real, more important and binding, then just thinking of what we want and hope for in the New Year.

I also added a new post to my Trash Hunting blog full of lovely cuddly second hand finds.

Wishing everyone lots of good health (and warmth *watches the snow falling outside and shivers*),

Peace,
Idzie