The Mindful Homeschool

I have got it.  Don’t know what to do about it.  Stuck.

Here’s the thing.  I don’t know who my audience is.  I want to communicate with other parents and love to talk about yoga and homeschooling and books and poetry and motherhood but …  who is listening?  I have tons to say and I want to use this forum to say it but … is anyone there?

Sigh.  Please let me know if you are. 

Lucy 

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

-Robert Frost

This is the poem that my former college professor recited to his students on more than one occasion.  It was said that he made many of his students memorize this poem.  At his funeral mass at the Basilica of Saint Mary, three poems were read.  The last one was this poem by Robert Frost.  The whole congregation was invited to read it out loud together. 

I learned a lot from this gentle and humble writer, poet and teacher.  I am grateful that I was able to be a student and a writer in Jon Hassler’s classes.  I wish that he had more time to spend here on earth with all of us.  The literary world has lost a good writer, friend and teacher.  I plan to re-read some of his works this year.  And I plan to memorize this poem.  Jon Hassler died on March 20, on the cusp of springtime.  He left this world much too soon.  But his words, his books and the lessons he has taught all of us will go on forever.

Sometimes the days spent with the kids seem so long, but I realize more and more how quickly the years are going by and how quickly the kids are growing up.

That is why I want to be present for them in the moment.  This is my aim.  To be fully present for them as much as I can during this journey.  It is easy for me to fall into the mindlessness of it all.  There is so much to do.  But by practicing mindfulness and by chronicling our journeys here I hope to live more fully in the moment with my family. 

I am an AP mother.  I breastfed, wore my babies in a sling (when I wasn’t carrying them!), shared a family bed and practiced attachment parenting.  I don’t regret any of it.  I am still practicing attachment parenting.  But now that the kids are getting older (9, 7 and 3 yo)  I am realizing that I need additional tools.  That’s where the mindfulness comes into play.  I need to practice being aware, being in the moment and being present for my family. 

So this is where I plan to record all the things we do and all the things I want to do.  Moment by moment.