I’m so very excited!

After a very busy term, mostly just keeping up with sports and scouts, progressing through projects, including movie making, digestion, health, America, primordial soup! and ensuring that M and D get to develop their literacy and numeracy skills progressively (mostly using the Montessori Method but also just ad hoc when the muse is present) we’ve made a giant leap into a new new NEW phase of being a family!

The three of us, as our little unit, absolutely love being part of many other groups – friend based and family based. As a family of four M, D, their father and I enjoy chatting about learning, projects and the world. We are all very much commited to life long learning and to authentic parenting, in our case that’s following the children. Although my two young children have two homes, two bedrooms they have one life… from their perspective it’s what they know – it’s their ‘normal’.
As a unit of 6, M and D also have a big sister and brother and I’ve a very loving partner… even though circumstances keep us as two single parent families most days of the week, we wouldn’t change a thing. It has been a fantastic journey going from a deep mutual respect for each other as home educating single parents, both following the Montessori style of education and honouring our respective children to realising that after years of dating other people, choosing to stay single and coming to a space of peace about that we’ve got exactly what we thought we’d never find! I’m a mum, he’s a dad and together we share the day to day emotional ‘hard work’ of putting ourselves to the side and being their for our children. Time apart gives us both space to focus on our children fully, time together reinforces the fact that ‘it works’. I can concentrate on my writing and he on his equally demanding interests. I’m incredibly grateful to feel the support I have from some pretty amazing people in my life. The total acceptace for who I am, as I am, warts and all with no conditions is what I feel for my children. It’s amazing to recieve love without judgement – without feeling as though I must change in order that another person ‘can’ love me. More than at any time in my life I’ve leant how to distinguish, nurture and celebrate love and it feels great!

It’s a very special time around here. We’ve had 5 birthdays, outings, nights in, changing rooms around and the first day of Spring brought a magical warm breeze to waft Jasmine through my home! I knew that it must be time to finally declutter, get back on the GTD wagon and most importantly to start pushing tutoryourownchild.com (TYOC). Without thinking much about it I joined Freecycle and answered someone’s need for outside play equipment… latter that day it was gone! Tomorrow 5 chairs are going and early next week some old beds will be gone! All are good things I no longer need, that ‘we’ no longer need. We’re all feeling it! The excitement of new adventures, of change, of new opportunities.

I’m smiling everyday lately… life is good, we are all grateful, volunteering a lot and wanting very much to lend a hand and help – it’s a joyful way to live! Moving out stuff will make space for more of this work and hopefully I won’t feel overwhelmed when it comes!

And today… it came! A piece to a puzzle, a wonderful lady asking for some advice for a child she is helping. After an hour we had gone from knowing I could help to seeing other ways to work together. I am so excited by the prospect of helping more children through what I do and seeing where this collaboration may go! Who knows, I’m not attached to the outcome… just mad keen on the learning, working and being of service!

Ultimate joy!

I’m even confident enough to show you a little ad I made! lol

It’s rough I know, M wanted me to make one when she was making a similar animation so we sat with our laptops side by side sharing our work, encouraging each other on. Then D made one too… now they are making movies using a video camera and iMovie! Sound effects and all… completely independent and absolutely hilarious! Original and funny! If I get their permission I’ll share them with you.