Category: homeschooling

nature journal homeschool corona virus COVID

Our Impromptu Homeschool Routine and Resources

Leave a comment

homeschool corona virus COVID

With the sudden call to self-isolate due to the novel CoronaVirus (COVID-19), a virus sweeping around the globe, families across Canada with school aged children are in the unexpected position of homeschooling their children. I am by no means an expert (it’s day 8 for us!), but I thought I’d share what we are doing as a way to show what I was able to put together fairly easily as a parent who isn’t experienced in homeschooling. (Although, over the past few years, out of personal interest I have read about homeschooling and discussed different approaches to it with homeschooling families). Apologies in advance, this post is long, as I’ve kept adding to it as more questions have come my way from enquiring families. 

As a disclaimer I would like to say that parents shouldn’t feel pressure to homeschool their children, this is a stressful time and the most important thing is to maintain physical and emotional health. In our household, maintaining a solid routine helps with our overall mental health, and enables my husband and I to work from home while the children school.  

Establish a Schedule

The first thing I would recommend is establishing a schedule each day, for each child. The schedule will help children feel grounded and know what to expect as the day goes on. They will also get a sense of durations of time and time management (a useful life skill!). 

I establish a different schedule for each of my children, since they are 6 years apart and have different interests and school subjects. However, I assume that even if I had children very close in age that they would likely have their own schedules — in my view, schedules should suit a child’s interests and personality, because I think this will make it easier for them enjoy their schedule and stick to it. 

For example, my youngest child needs a lot of physical activity in a day, so his schedule usually alternates between seated learning and movement (for example, building with lego, karate, household chores). Whereas, my other child likes long blocks of time (even a whole day) on one subject so she can really get into her work — for her, weekly balanced schedules are more suited to her learning style. For her, movement is best reserved for the later part of the day, when she needs to take a break from book learning. As her English teacher said “the brain can only absorb what the buttocks can endure”!

Here’s a little tip: Something that I have found very useful for gaining buy-in from the children is asking them what they want to see in their schedule, this way they feel they have agency in their learning and also don’t feel surprised by their schedule each morning. 

Subjects and Work Blocks

For my younger child, who is in Grade 3, I am focusing on the core (essential) skills that are needed to progress through school. In general at this age, reading, writing and mathematics are essential to continued success through conventional schooling. We include these subjects in the schedule each day. I incorporate 2-3 other “work blocks” or other subjects that I think are important and that my son has identified as interesting, these include: science, illustration and art, art history, philosophy, geography, French and other languages. His movement activities include a rotation through: karate, yoga, free movement, outdoor walk, baking, kettlebells and meditation. I include household chores in the schedule every day, to ensure the children are learning “practical life” skills in the vein of Montessori teaching. Practical life is generally well-loved by children, they feel productive, get to do “adult” things, and get to move. Some example are: folding laundry, vacuuming, dishes, raking, hand sewing and so on.

My older child is in high school and was mid-semester through her geography, English, French and drama classes. As such, we ensure that she includes at least a day’s worth of work on each subject over the course of the week. The fifth day can be free learning based on her interests which so far have been: Korean and typing.

Here are a few examples of a Homeschool Schedules for my 9-year old who is in Grade 3:

Day 1

  • 9:00 Breakfast
  • 9:30 Math
  • 10:15 Chores – folding laundry
  • 10:45 Silent Reading
  • 11:30 Journaling
  • 12:00 Lunch + Free Movement
  • 12:30 Art and Illustration
  • 1:00 Science
  • 1:30 Creative Building
  • 2:00 Storytime
  • 2:30 Karate
  • 3:30 End of school day

Day 2

  • 9:00 Breakfast
  • 9:30 Math
  • 10:15 Spelling
  • 10:45 Chores – vacuum (handheld)
  • 11:15 Silent Reading
  • 12:00 Lunch + Movement (yoga)
  • 1:00 Science
  • 1:45 Typing
  • 2:00 Storytime
  • 2:30 Journaling
  • 3:00 Philosophy
  • 3:30 End of school day

Day 3

  • 9:30 Breakfast
  • 10:00 Creative Writing
  • 10:45 Spelling
  • 11:00 Baking + Clean Up (movement and chores)
  • 12:00 Lunch + outdoor walk
  • 1:00 Art + Illustration 
  • 1:45 Silent Reading
  • 2:00 Storytime
  • 2:30 Journaling
  • 3:00 Science + Journal
  • 3:45 End of school day

Here is an example of a Homeschool Schedule for my high schooler, although as mentioned above, we’ve adjusted it so that she mainly does one subject a day:

  • 9:00 Breakfast
  • 9:30 English – essay writing
  • 10:00 Yoga
  • 11:00 English – continued
  • 12:00 Lunch + Movement (stretching, walk outside)
  • 1:00 Languages: Korean or French
  • 2:00 Typing
  • 2:30 Silent Reading (novels, non-fiction)
  • 3:30 End of School Day

Another day, she would substitute English for Geography, or spend an entire day on second language acquisition (French and Korean). 

Our high schooler attends an arts high school and is studying theatre / drama, so to continue this learning her teacher suggested watching classic films, iconic television shows, an oeuvre of a particular director / actor / screenwriter / comedy writer, and then journaling about what she has watched. We created some prompts to guide and organize her journaling: 

  • Name of the show / movie
  • Director, actors
  • Genre
  • Plot summary
  • Which part would you want to play? Why?
  • Why is this show / movie a classic or iconic?
  • Other reflections

Learning Resources

A few friends and parents have asked me about what learning resources I am using for the different subjects and work blocks. I’ll probably do a separate post with more details on each subject, to keep this post a reasonable length, but here is a good start. 

Math and English (writing and grammar) 

In Canada there are really great work books based on the Canadian school curriculum by subjects. We are using the Math and English books for grade 3. You can search “MathSmart” or “EnglishSmart” by grade on Amazon and Indigo books and find the books you need which are usually $10-25.

Journaling

Each child spends a lot of time writing, either making notes on what they learned or writing creatively. For example, after silent reading my younger child has to one of the books read and write 3 things they liked about it. “For silent reading today, my favourite book was Here We Are by Oliver Jeffers. I liked this book because: ….” He is encouraged to write without worrying too much about grammar and spelling, but to use full sentences, and to date the page (which I always write out at the top of each day’s schedule). 

At the end of each week, I review the journal and make a list of misspelled words that form that week’s spelling list. I find this works well because the words are pulled from the child’s working vocabulary and feel most relevant to them, thereby engaging them in learning. 

For journaling, you could use random sheets of paper, or notebooks. For my son, we started a fresh blank (no lines) notebook, so that all his work was in one place and he could look over his weeks of work and feel accomplished. Which, so far, has worked quite well, as he loves to flip through his work and say things like: “I did all this in 4 days!” We chose blank notebooks to encourage drawing and to help hone his hand-eye skills by not having ruled lines.

Something we haven’t started, but my son wants to learn, is cursive handwriting, so we will start that soon.

nature journal homeschool corona virus COVID

Art + Illustration

For art, I am using a fantastic book published by Usborne called Art Treasury: Pictures, Paintings and Projects. The book explains various art movements and styles, famous works and artists, as well as the various materials (canvas, pastel, found objects, bark, etc), and provides mini art projects related to the lessons. It’s simple and accessible enough for young children, from Grades 1-6 I would say, and covers a wide variety of styles of art, and not just the European masters.

The other resource I’ve been using are the video classes (new ones uploaded each day) offered by best-selling author and illustrator, Mo Willems of penguin loving fame! He uploads a new video each day to the Kennedy Centre website. Each 25-35 minute video begins with Willems doodling and explaining how he illustrates, he offers drawing prompts and encourages children (and adults to doodle in their own notebooks). After this he usually teaches a step by step of how to draw one of his iconic characters, and encourages children to find their own creativity and expressive style. After this he will do a walk around his studio and show sketches and drafts of books, and how the drawings and story developed, how he chooses colours and so on. My children have been fascinated to see the behind the scenes of a professional artist, and have been in awe of how much revision goes into such seemingly simple drawings. 

Science

So far we have been relying on a Netflix show called “Brain Child,” which has a series of shows on fun and engaging real life science, such as hidden forces (gravity), dreams (what do our brains do when we sleep?), creativity, oceans, germs (timely!) and many others. I let my son choose which episode he wants to watch, then afterwards he is asked to journal about what he learned, to help him retain and reflect on what he learned (also encourage more “active” watching, since he knows he will have to journal). Like other journaling, he is asked to write full sentences and date the page. I usually give him a suggested opening sentence such as “For science class today I watched Brain Child and learned about ‘germs’. Six things that I learned were:…” I also ask him to draw something based on what he learned. After he finishes this series, we will probably start on the Planet Earth series, also found on Netflix.

For a screen-free science work block we are using the Natural & Earth Science flashcards, which are for ages 5+ according to the box, but I find they are good up to my age (I learned so much from them!) They have really beautiful illustrations and cover topics such as: birds and leaves, flowers and bugs, fossils and minerals, under the water, mammals and marsupials, weather and celestial. For the cards, I normally pick 3-5 for him to read and reflect on. He journals about what he found interesting or learned, and draws from the cards.

Creative Building

Building with lego, wooden blocks, cardboard boxes and household materials — the idea with this work block is to blend creativity and open-ended play with movement. I usually put this in the afternoon, when my son is getting restless and is less interested in book learning. I don’t give much guidance, except to say it is alone time and no screens are involved, but he can refer to books for inspiration or to tie his building back to something he learned.

Storytime

We use this block for reading aloud, so I will read something to my son that is maybe a bit challenging for him on his own, or he will practice reading a book aloud (to his imaginary and stuffed friends, or me if I’m not busy with work), or (and this is his favourite) we tune in to Oliver Jeffers live story time each day at 2pm EST. If you have access to Instagram, all you need to do is log in to @oliverjeffers and he will read one of his stories aloud. He also explains the moral of the story, the evolution of the book, and answers questions. My son absolutely LOVES this. If you aren’t available for the live reading you can access the videos archived on Oliver Jeffers website.

Another fantastic live storytelling account is by author, historian and literacy advocate Christine Platt, also known as ‘The Afrominimalist’. She reads from her book series Ana & Andrew. 

homeschool corona virus COVID

Spelling

As mentioned in the journalling section, for spelling words what I’ve been doing is making a list of misspelled words from journal entries and forming a spelling list from those. About 20-30 words a week, which so far has not been a big challenge for him to learn. He writes out the list of words in a column, once a day, each day of the week. (One page with four or five columns, to save paper, and visually see the repetition). 

French

We are working on vocabulary building, so I am putting together groups of 6-8 words that he then translates (using Google translate). Then he practices reading and saying the words in French. If you aren’t fluent in your child’s second language you can use the function on Google translate that will say words out loud (look for the icon below the translated word that looks like a megaphone, click it). My son is really enjoying using the laptop for this. 

Groups of words are usually based around verbs (run, eat, walk, sleep, think, play), nouns (fruit, bread, chair, table, shoes, car), and adjectives (yellow, red, small, big, happy, sad). This way he is also learning about different types of words by group.

We are also starting on a work book called French 1: K to 5, which is fun and has nice pictures and activities to make learning enjoyable — and less burden on parents to come up with exercises.

Korean

Both children have an interest in learning Korean (thank you, sincerely, K-Pop). They are using a free app called Duo Lingo (I believe there is also a laptop version available online). The app, through small steps and fun exercises, teaches anyone of any (reading) age how to read and speak in Korean (and many other languages). My children are really enjoying it and progressing well.

Typing

The ability to type quickly is a real time saver in high school and higher education, which in my experience alleviated a lot of unnecessary stress when I was writing exams and essays in university, as I could type almost as fast as I could think. This was not the case for my partner, who really struggled unnecessarily due to a lack of typing skills. Our high schooler has already started to find frustration in how slowly she types, so she identified typing as a skill she wanted to develop. She found a free (and fun) typing skills website called Keybr, that she’s been loving. Our younger child also enjoys it.

Silent Reading

For silent reading, our high schooler reads a novel from her English curriculum or our home library, or else some non-fiction book of her choice. We try to maintain silent reading for books or reading that is more effort than magazines.

For our younger child I usually lay out 3-5 story books each day, or about 8-10 over the week based around a theme, and he can choose which books he wants to read. Some of the themes have been: water, plants, and Oliver Jeffers. I will make a separate blog post about my book recommendations, but feel free to ask in the comments section at the end of the blog post.

The objective for silent reading is to have quiet time, and for both children to see what they can achieve in terms of reading when they really focus. After silent reading, they write or journal about a book or something they learned (as explained in the journalling section above).

Baking

An example of one practical life work block is baking. We usually bake or cook something twice a week as part of school. I take the opportunity to teach things like units of measurement (math fractions, like ½ cup), as well as learning the names and uses of different kitchen tools (teaspoon vs tablespoon, spatula vs. wooden spoon), temperatures (different units used for stove settings and oven settings). 

Sometimes we use the ingredients as a word list for translation in French class. There are all sorts of ways to bring conventional school subjects to life through baking (math, chemistry). 

To decide what to make I usually ask the children what they’d like, or we look at what fruits and veggies need to get used up and we research a recipe on the web (for example, “recipe carrots, beets, turnip” turned up a delicious balsamic-glazed roasted veggies recipe). Part of baking is also clean-up (household chore), so the kids have to wash up the dishes, wash the counter tops, etc.

Philosophy

We are using a fantastic book called Big Ideas for Curious Minds to work through key philosophers through the ages and continents. The book explains very well what philosophy is, key questions in philosophy and is illustrated in an engaging way for children. The book can be used on many levels and is probably appropriate for grade 2 and up, but is probably targeted to 10-12 year olds (even adults would likely learn a lot from it). I usually read a section (for example, Aristotle, Buddha, Seneca, Descartes), we pause and discuss points that he has questions about, and then he journals 3 things he learned. I also ask him to write the name of the philosopher studied and indicate their years of life (for example, Seneca 4 BC – AD 65).

Yoga + Karate

For yoga, our children have a few books (this one, this one and a few others I can list in another post) and card decks with yoga poses and sequences, that they have been using for years. As well, for videos we are using the instructional videos available from Douvris (our son’s karate dojo), the videos include karate, yoga, meditation and other exercise challenges. You need to be a member to view them. 

Cosmic Kids Yoga is a great YouTube channel with fun yoga videos for children. The videos are colourful and include stories, as well as mindfulness practice. The videos range from around 10 minutes up to around 40, so you can choose something that fits your schedule.

Meditation

We mainly use podcasts as well as the audio recordings (voice led meditations) included in the Global Guardian Project homeschool bundles. Full disclosure: My partner and I worked for Global Guardian Project and wrote and researched the majority of the educational content. The learning bundles are available for FREE (more about this below). The audio recordings included in the GGP bundles are amazing! My children love them! They feel like an adventure, have story or animal / nature elements are engaging.

The free podcasts that we use for children’s meditation are: Deepak Chopra’s Daily Breath (each Friday is a guided meditation episode, and while this is intended for adults, all the meditations have worked perfectly well for my kids). The other one is called Kids Meditation and Sleep Stories. These are great for calming a child. Both are available on Apple Podcasts, but probably on most podcast platforms.

If you want to try a screen-free meditation you can teach your children the Sa Ta Na Ma meditation, which I have a tutorial for on my blog here.

Geography 

We haven’t begun any dedicated geography work blocks, so I’ll be figuring that out this week. Most likely, we will begin with the maps in the Global Guardian Project learning bundles, since they have a whole set of linked activities and exercise built around the maps.

I’ll update this section as I develop more resources.

Canadian and Indigenous History

Similarly, we haven’t done much in terms of focused history lessons, aside from cursory discussion of it in art and philosophy blocks. I’ll be developing some plans and share my resources here when I’ve figured things out better. For now, we are reading storybooks by and about Indigenous people, such as We Are Water Protectors, Ancient Thunder, and Birdsong.

We are also using educational colouring books, such as Explore the Animals: Northwest Coast First Nations and Native Art. I picked up our copy at the National Gallery, but I’ve seen it sold online. If you search on art gallery and museum gift shop websites there are usually a few colouring books available.

Global Guardian Project

My last recommendation is to access the free online learning bundles produced by the Global Guardian Project. Each learning bundle (capsule, packet, magazine, call it what you want) is organized around a country (Canada, Iceland, Colombia, etc) or a theme (Zero Waste, Endangered Animals, Leaders and Changemakers, etc). The bundle includes all sorts of educational content with activities, printable colouring sheets and art projects, recipes (related to the country), vocabulary, games, maps, yoga and meditation, personal challenges and content for adults too. The bundles are fantastic and can provide a week to a month work of learning, depending on the speed of your learner. The bundles are probably best for age 7 and up, but some activities suit younger ages, and some provide enough challenge for ages up to 13.

What’s different about the GGP content is that it has a sustainability focus, environmental stewardship and social justice are woven gently through the content. I have written a lot about (and for) the Global Guardian Project and I hope you will love it. If you search “global guardian project” on my blog, or click the ‘global guardian project’ tag at the end of this post you’ll find more information on it.

A note: The content is digital, but some families print out the content as it is formatted in a PDF like a magazine.

Please comment below if you have any questions, I’ll try to update this post often and make separate posts elaborating on the work blocks and best practices so far. 

Thank you for reading this far down the post. Good luck and enjoyment with your homeschooling adventures!

Happy Earth Day: Free Zero Waste Magazine for Children

Leave a comment
Family Travel Victoria BC Canada Petits Villains Red Wood

Sen in a giant redwood in Victoria BC { Organic clothing by Petits Vilains }

Happy Earth Day!

In our household, we try our best to make it Earth Day every day. We aren’t perfect. But we keep trying to do better!

This year to help celebrate Earth Day, I’ve partnered with the Global Guardian Project, a non-profit NGO, to give FREE access to their digital magazine all about Zero Waste Living. This is a super fun, educational, interactive magazine that children LOVE! There are colouring sheets to download, compost infographics, basics about recycling, and lots more. My children have used more than a few of the Global Guardian Project educational digital learning packets (see their library of resources here) to do school projects about endangered species, climate change, and lots more.

Global Guardian Project Litterless Zero Waste

To help promote lighter, more sustainable living on this planet that *literally* sustains us by giving us air, food and water, the Global Guardian Project developed an issue called “Litterless” and it’s all about things we can do as individuals and families to make less garbage and to live closer to a “zero waste lifestyle”. Normally the issue costs $9.99 USD but you can’t get it for free here.

Here are some of the articles and activities you’ll find inside:

-What does litterless mean?

-Why is recycling important?

-How to start going litterless

-Compost infographic activity (this has been super popular with homeschoolers and children!)

-How to make litterless lunches

-Recipe: Zero Waste Cookies

-Art projects with recycled materials

-Digital download art work / wall poster about

If you’d like to get your free digital copy of the magazine just click here. And please tell all your friends, family and educators in your life about this! The more people make sustainable changes and live closer to a litterless life the better it is for everyone and the greater an impact we can have.

By the way, this Litterless issue was developed by the fabulous zero waste blogger, Celia, who I interviewed here for my blog. Read all about her zero waste lifestyle and get inspired!

For more plastic free and zero waste resources read my blog post here. Or search “plastic free” and “zero waste” in my blog search bar, there are lots of articles for you there — more than I can list here.

You can read more about the Global Guardian Project on their website or in a few posts on my blog. Full disclosure: Global Guardian Project in a non-profit NGO in the sector of environmental education, I am a writer and researcher for the GGP.

You can read about the amazing founder of the Global Guardian Project, Rebecca Lane, here.

Raising Global Guardians: Ecologically Conscious, Positive and Kind Children

Leave a comment
Shaadee Mae Hippie in Disguise Plant dyed organic clothing

UPDATE: The Global Guardian Project in now a completely FREE online resource available to everyone.

***

I have avoided writing this post, because I had hoped the Global Guardian Project would get the funding it needed without having to ask my loyal blog readers for help. But I need it, I need your help. We are now in the last 16 hours of our crowdfunding campaign and are not at our fundraising goal. We need your help to get there. Every dollar donated is invested into the project to create global sustainable education capsules and curricula for families and educators.

You can donate as little as $1 dollar. Starting at $5 you get a reward gift sent to you. Gifts include things like beautiful original art prints, world maps and digital magazines (you pick what gift you want). Please help sustain the work of the Global Guardian Project so we can keep our research and outreach going, in our collective effort to raise a generation of children who will be ecologically conscious, sustainable minded, kind leaders and positive changemakers.

I have written a lot about the Global Guardian Project on this blog, in the interest of keeping this post short I won’t go into more detail. I recommend you visit the Indiegogo page for our crowdfunding and watch the video we put together.

If you want to know more about the Global Guardian Project, please read my posts here, or ask me a question in the comments:

You can also learn more at the Global Guardian Project website.

Please help fund this project. If you don’t have $1 to spare, please share the link to the Crowdfunding campaign with friends.

Thank you very much.

Giveaway: Global Guardian Project Subscription and Wall Art

9 Comments

Hippie in Disguise Global Guardian Project Wild and Free Children

One year ago, my friend Rebecca launched the Global Guardian Project, a not-for-profit organization committed to helping parents and educators raise ecologically conscious, environmentally educated children. GGP is involved in a number of education and outreach activities, but a main component of their work is producing a monthly interactive e-magazine (‘capsule’) for parents and children that teaches how to respect and protect the planet.  The e-magazine is interactive, because in addition to articles, lessons, interviews, recipes and other written content, there are also videos, podcasts, art project downloads and worksheets for homeschoolers; in total every capsule has over 50-pages of activities and educational content. Although the e-magazine is aimed at educating children, many adults have said they love to read the capsules and have learned way more than they expected from them. With each capsule focusing on a different country, worldschoolers have found the capsules really helpful for digging into local learning while travelling.

Here are a few sample pages from the Israel capsule (click to see an enlarged image):

In addition to the monthly capsules, GGP also publishes special topic capsules that can be bought individually, for example: global recipes, zero waste living, honey bees, American National Parks and more.

This week, to help Rebecca celebrate the Global Guardian Project’s first birthday, I’ve teamed up with her to *giveaway* a 6-month subscription to the Global Guardian Learning Capsules and your choice of a beautiful 24×18 world map wall art print from the Global Guardian shop. All Global Guardian maps are original art work by Rebecca and are amazing to use in combination with the learning capsules, as children learn about countries, plants and animals from all around the world, and see and learn how to locate them on the map.

global guardian project world map homeschool curriculum

You can read more about Global Guardian Project *learning capsules* in my post here. In a nutshell, the Global Guardian Project creates educational materials focused on global stewardship for families and children, home educators and anyone who loves to learn about the world and help make it a better place. Each month subscribers receive a learning capsule by email focused on a country and its wild life. To date, 12 capsules have been published covering: Brazil, Rwanda, India, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Colombia, Argentina, Israel, Sri Lanka, Sweden and Thailand. Future capsules will feature other countries including Egypt, Japan, Australia, England and many more. Each capsule includes beautiful photography, facts and information about the country, it’s wildlife, global change makers, young activists and inspiring people, recipes, vocabulary and much more. There are also art projects and free digital downloads, podcasts, videos and guided meditation recordings.

Join the Global Guardian movement and raise more ecologically conscious, compassionate children. If you don’t win the subscription, please consider buying a subscription and support global education and outreach related to sustainable, peaceful living.

UPDATE: The Global Guardian Project in now a completely FREE online resource available to everyone

To enter the giveaway:

  • Subscribe to the Global Guardian Project email list here, you’ll get no more than one email a week, often less
  • Leave me a comment on this blog post, on my Facebook post or my Instagram post about the giveaway, to let me know you added your name to the email list
  • For a bonus entry: “Like” and comment on the Instagram giveaway photo
  • For a bonus entry: Share this blog post
  • For a bonus entry: Share my Facebook post about this
  • For a bonus entry: Repost my Instagram post about this with hashtag #ggpXhippieindisguise

Contest closes Sunday August 13, 2017 at midnight (Pacific Standard Timezone) and is open worldwide. Good luck friends!

UPDATE: The winning name was drawn and the winner contacted for their prize. Congratulations Rhiannon!

***

Let’s be friends! Please come find me in other places:

Raising Compassionate, Globally Conscious Children

Leave a comment

Hippie in Disguise ro and sen Chassin Rideau Canal

Environmental Consciousness. Social Change. Mindfulness. Global Compassion. Minimalism. Holistic Living. Arts. Adventure. Education. Inspiration.

These are words that drive me, that I try to knit together in the way I live and in the way I raise my children. They are also words that perfectly describe the Global Guardian Project.

Last August I wrote about my friend Rebecca‘s new idea: The Global Guardian Project, a digital multimedia capsule for children and families that teaches about the world, global stewardship, sustainability, plants, animals, social and environmental activists, and lots more. The capsule is basically an interactive digital magazine for families to help learn more about the planet, country by country.

The intent of the Global Guardian Project is to expose ourselves and our children to the wide world of not just nature, but the intricate connections between human cultures and the ecosystems that support us, with the ultimate goal of helping us raise the next generation as global guardians, stewards of the planet.

Hippie in Disguise Rideau River Ottawa

With this in mind, the capsules are designed to educate, but also to inspire action. That is, to cultivate a greater caring for the earth and all its inhabitants and to inspire us to take small (and big) actions to improve the health of our planet for the collective good. The capsules were initially very popular with homeschooling and worldschooling families, as they cover a lot of science, geography, art and language curriculum, but they have also become popular with families seeking more enriching digital (“screen”) time and others just interested in learning more about the world. I should mention that while the capsules are digital, they can easily be printed, so if you are not keen on screen time then you can read the capsules the old fashioned way: on paper.

  • What is a learning capsule? Picture a digital magazine that is interactive, with videos to click and watch, art and activity downloads, links to TED talks and other resources, as well as beautiful photography, original art and lots of educational facts and information, interviews and more.

After receiving my first capsule I got even more excited about the project, there is really no resource like the Global Guardian Project out there. The multimedia format is unique and engaging. The content is interesting and inspiring. But most importantly, the core mission of the project: to raise a generation of global change makers by teaching children about how to care for the earth is so critical and close to my heart that I knew I wanted to be involved in helping the project grow. As the weeks and months passed I found myself suggesting ideas, writing content, working with contributors and generally being an all-around cheerleader for the project.

After noting my enthusiasm and my tendency to write a lot (sorry, for this long introduction, by the way..) Rebecca asked if I would like to be the Guest Editor for the upcoming capsule on Canada. To say I was excited would be an understatement. I said yes, though I invited my trusted writing (and life) partner, Matt, to plan and edit the issue with me. I invited some great thinkers, artists and friends to help out too: artist Erin Wetzel, nutritionist Kylah Dobson and permaculture farmer Zach Loeks. Together, with the team of Global Guardian Project regulars, we put together an amazing interactive digital magazine.

Global guardian Project Homeschool Curriculum Canada Animals Plants

And….the issue is now available for purchase from Global Guardian Project’s website either as a single issue (“a la carte”) or as part of their monthly subscription program. If you subscribe, you save considerably, and you get the advantage of building on learning each month, especially with the world map activities. As well, you can cancel at any time, even after one issue.

Here’s a little preview:

Each capsule is comprised of:

  • Over 60 pages of facts and information covering the country basics like size and geography, endangered animals and how we can help them, indigenous plants, related vocabulary and definitions for new words like (fossil, aerodynamic, habitat and so on), book reviews, and much more.
  • Videos showing children taking action in their local communities, for example by helping turtles.
  • Healthy, local recipes and demonstration videos
  • Profiles of activists, ecological leaders and inspiring people from the featured country to inspire action
  • A podcast guided meditation appropriate (and fun) for children and families
  • Art projects and downloads, such as colouring sheets
  • Map projects and other interactive activities
  • Lots more!

I hope you’ll consider buying one for yourself or someone in your life. While the capsules are geared to children (ages 3 and up), homeschoolers and teachers, lots of adults have been saying they enjoy them and have learned a lot from reading them. If you know Matt, then you know he has a knack for finding really cool facts and stories about natural phenomena. Keep in mind, the capsules make a great last minute gift for any occasion, since there is no delivery time.

  • You can buy the Canada edition ($16.99) or subscribe to the series for $13.49 per month, using my discount code HIPPIEINDISGUISE.
  • If you subscribe by January 14th, 2017 you will receive the Canada capsule, if you subscribe after you will get the Sri Lanka capsule, since a new capsule is released to subscribers on the 15th of each month.

You can read more about the Global Guardian Project here, you can visit their website here, find them on Instagram @globalguardianproject. If you sign up for their email list you’ll get a free mini capsule about Ocean Life. Why not try it out?!

Any questions, please leave a comment below.

UPDATE: The Global Guardian Project is currently crowdfunding to support the project. Please consider supporting the work, as little as $1 will help! Crowdfunding ends October 20th, 2017!

***

Let’s be friends! Please come find me in other places:

Global Guardian Project Hippie in Disguise Fouremki

The Global Guardian Project: Home Learning

1 Comment

Global Guardian Project Hippie in Disguise Fouremki

Raising kind, caring, responsible humans is really important to me. I know I’m not alone in this. My goal as a mother is to raise my children to not only care for other humans, but to care for plants, animals and the planet. It’s not just about human survival, it’s about doing the right thing, and to me that means caring for all life.

Since January I’ve been working with my friend Rebecca on an idea she called the Global Guardian Project. Rebecca’s dream was to launch a global stewardship learning capsule for children, families and educators. The capsule would contain facts and information, activities, art projects, challenges, and inspiration for children to learn about the planet and how to take better care of it. Each month a new capsule would focus on a different country, it’s flora and fauna, endangered species, local advocacy organizations and so on. The goal is to educate children and inspire them to become little change makers: Global Guardians.

I’m excited to tell you that this idea has come to life! The first learning capsule on Brazil will start going out to inboxes tomorrow!

Global Guardian Project Discount Code Hippie in disguise brazil learning capsule

Global Guardian Project Discount Code Hippie in disguise brazil learning capsule

While my children attend public school, there are always subjects they take a special interest in or that I want to expose them to, so I’m happy to have these monthly capsules to feed their inquiring minds about all the beautiful places around the world and how our actions can affect the whole planet in a positive way. I imagine that homeschooling families will also find these very useful in their home education. While the capsules are intended for children roughly aged 4-8, my children are 5 and 11 (and quite brilliant if you ask me!) and they’ve enjoyed the capsules start to finish.

Since we read the free sample capsule on Oceans (get it here), which talks about many things, including the dangers of plastic for sea animals, Sen has become positively obsessed with picking up stray garbage. And I say positively because he feels happy and empowered by his actions. He gets excited about making a difference. While it might feel a little inconvenient when we are biking around town and he calls out “Hit the brakes! I see a plastic cup!” it’s also pretty amazing and a little action I can’t deny him and should probably do more myself.

Aside from facts and other written information, like vocabulary lists, the capsules contain videos about children who are making a difference, for example, children working to protect turtle populations. My children know about Jane Goodall and other inspiring humans, but no one inspires them more than other children, so the videos have really touched their hearts and minds in a new way.

Each capsule also contains an audio recording (with a text version too) of a meditation for children. There are art projects and printable downloads to work with. There are plans to include more in the capsules each month, so stay tuned, there will be local recipes and historical figures and much more coming soon!

If you would like to sign up for the capsules I have a discount code: HIPPIEINDISGUISE that will give you 10% off. However for today only (August 11, 2016) my code will give you 20% off. Click here to sign up.

  • The monthly cost is $14.99 (minus my discount) and you can cancel at anytime and will only ever pay for the capsules you received.

Bonus: Subscribers will get a gorgeous world map digital download emailed to them to use with the monthly capsules. The map is also available printed on beautiful archival art paper for purchase in the GGP shop. Below you’ll see a copy of the map with the downloadable art for the month affixed to Brazil.

Global Guardian Project Discount Code Hippie in disguise global map project

Please leave a comment if you have any questions or know of other great resources like this.

If you want to see what other parents are saying about the Global Guardian Project visit here.

UPDATE: The Global Guardian Project is currently crowdfunding to support the project. Please consider supporting the work, as little as $1 will help! Crowdfunding ends October 20th, 2017!

Let’s be friends! Please come find me in other places:

Rebecca Lane Global Guardian Project

Interview with a Minimalist: Rebecca

3 Comments

Rebecca Lane Global Guardian Project Minimalist Homeschool

How we live minimalism is very personal. Sure, when you search Pinterest you might think minimalism is all about white walls and owning less than 100 things, but this is only one version of minimalism. When I say that minimalism gives a sense of freedom, it can be hard to reconcile the word ‘freedom’ with the version of minimalism that gets the most visibility on Pinterest and in the news (because it’s the most photogenic). Minimalism, having and doing less, releasing and unburdening ourselves from unnecessary habits, thought patterns and emotions, is freeing. And with this freedom we can choose how we use our time, our energy and our money. That is, we have the opportunity to craft a life more closely aligned with our dreams, our beliefs and our values. For me, this is the real appeal of minimalism – the freedom it affords me to live in a way that is more aligned with what is most important to me: family, community, adventure and sustainable living. So, what is important to you?

Think about what you can stop doing, stop spending money and time on, and what habits do not serve you, so that you can do more of what you love and do more good for yourself, others and the world.

Rebecca Lane is a friend of mine. We first met about a year and half ago on a project to raise funds for Free2Luv, an anti-bullying organization dedicated to empowering youth, celebrating individuality and spreading kindness. I feel so fortunate that we happened to connect through this project because Rebecca is a truly amazing human, mother, artist and activist. Over the past year I have witnessed Rebecca push herself to align her way of life with her values. This meant she had to make big, scary changes – but her commitment to live true to what was, at the root, most important to her: family and global stewardship, did not shake. What was important to her were her boys and giving back to the world by raising environmentally-aware change makers.

In what follows, Rebecca explains how re-embracing minimalism helped her find a path to aligning her life with what mattered most to her. Not only this, but she was finally able to bring to life a project she’d been dreaming of for years, the Global Guardian Project, by letting go of the parts of her life that were weighing on her focus and productivity.

  • By the way, for those who want to know more, I will be making a separate post about the Global Guardian Project later this week, so come back for more details about that! In short, GGP will develop learning capsules for families about different countries and ecosystems around the world with a mind to cultivating a sense of global environmental stewardship and cross-cultural appreciation. If you’ve already heard of it and want to sign up you can use my code: HIPPIEINDISGUISE for 10% off a single capsule or full subscription.

I hope that Rebecca’s story inspires you, as it did me, and that you are able to find your own path to a contented life aligned with what matters most to you.

Rebecca Lane Global Guardian Project Minimalist Homeschool

All photos in this post were taken by Coleen Hodges

Let’s start with a little bit about you. Who are you? What’s your background?

My name is Rebecca Lane.  I am a (very new) single mom of two lovely boys, Giovanni and Matteo. I’m an artist and the creator of a couple social businesses, including Children Inspire Design, Fresh Words Market and Kindred Sol Collective.  I’m most recently the founder of my most favorite creation (besides my children), the Global Guardian Project. I also consider myself a reborn minimalist.

What part of the world do you live in?

We currently live in Southern California, but we travel every chance we get. We split our time between the north woods of Wisconsin, where I grew up and Isla Mujeres, Mexico where I lived for 3 years during which time my first son was born.

Rebecca Lane Global Guardian Project Minimalist Homeschool

What are your children like?

I have two lovely, creative boys. Giovanni is 13 and Matteo is 9.  They are my inspiration for the Global Guardian Project.  I built my businesses around teaching them about the world and how they can be a positive force in global change. They are my muses.

Rebecca Lane Global Guardian Project Minimalist Homeschool

You have an unconventional approach to educating your children. Can you tell me more about this?

I’ve been fascinated with homeschooling and world schooling since my children were born.  I knew from my own past experiences, that traditional public schools weren’t going to be enough to help me cultivate a globally educated, well rounded child. And I knew travel restrictions would prevent us from extensive exploration.  After much thought and a few trials I realized that with my work demands straight homeschooling wouldn’t work for us.  So I found a lovely charter school in Southern California that supported and embraced education through travel and we moved from Arizona to California to enrol them in the program.  They’ve been there for four years and it’s been such a blessing.  I’m able to pull them from the on-campus program when we travel, homeschool them while abroad, then reintegrate them when we return.  It’s worked very well for us so far.

Rebecca Lane Global Guardian Project Minimalist Homeschool

The education my boys have received from travel has been incredible, and ended up being the seed from which the Global Guardian Project was born. Each time we travel, my boys research an environmental organization.  We tour the organization, learning as much as we can about the good work they do.  Then the boys create a video about their work and teach ways kids can help their cause in everyday life.  It’s a brilliant way for them to both learn and teach.

What is your story, how did you start on a path toward a minimalist lifestyle?

I kind of started as a minimalist, fell off track, and then recently re-centered myself. I’ve been a gypsy at heart all my life, so when I was younger minimalism was easy.  It’s not convenient to acquire a lot of things when you’re on the move.  But it became more of a challenge when we rooted ourselves back in the United States. We started to consume more, in part because we bought a home and thought we needed to fill it. We fell into the ease and convenience of US consumerism.  I have to admit, at first I didn’t see it for what it was. But there was always this ambiguous knot in my gut that reminded me that something wasn’t right.

Rebecca Lane Global Guardian Project Minimalist Homeschool

I believe there are many ways to be a minimalist and many forms of minimalism. What does minimalism mean to you? And, in what ways are you a minimalist?

I think my transition back to minimalism came by force when my life was flipped upside down. This past year I went through a divorce.  And, as painful and challenging as it’s been, it was also a gift.  It provided me with the opportunity to release: physical items, emotional baggage and my negative patterns. At the same time as my divorce, I also sold my business, Children Inspire Design — which was a huge part of my identity.  Within the period of a week, I filed for divorce and sold my business. I had, in a very big way, pulled the rug right out from me and stripped away my identity.  And when the dust settled, it ended up being a beautiful mess because I was able to look at everything in my life, the physical, emotional, spiritual parts of who I’d become, all the accumulation of the good and the bad, and I got to choose to pick up only the pieces that served me and my boys from that moment and into the future.  I was given the opportunity to create a new blueprint. It’s been the scariest time of my life, but also the most transformative and empowering.

Rebecca Lane Global Guardian Project Minimalist Homeschool

What has been the greatest benefit of minimalism?

For me, the sense of freedom is the biggest benefit.  With every thing I release, whether it physical or emotional, I feel less suffocated.  I can breathe. Pressure lifts from my chest.

Is your parenting influenced by minimalism?

Yes, in a very big way. My boys have had the experience of living on the road and in a physically rooted home. At this point, they’ve spent more time rooted than wandering, and I’ve started to see their attachment to things grow and become a problem.  This is part of the reason why I’ve decided to sell our home and homeschool for most of next year while on the road.  They are at such a critical time right now, being 13 and 9.  I have a window of opportunity to take them back to a truly minimalist lifestyle, so I’m going to take advantage of it.

I’ve received mixed responses when I tell those close to me about my plans. And every negative response boils down to this question: “aren’t you afraid of raising your kids without a home?”  The answer is no, not at all.  It’s so important for me that my children really understand that home is a feeling. A house is walls and a roof.  I need them to know that wherever they are in the world and in life, they are home.  I am their home. Our family is their home.

Rebecca Lane Global Guardian Project Minimalist Homeschool

In what ways do you struggle with keeping things minimal? What is your weakness?

I cry just about every time I have to let go of one of the boy’s art projects.  If it were up to me, I’d have a storage unit filled with finger paintings, noodle necklaces and monster doodles. { Me too, Rebecca, me too! }

Have there been any struggles with the other people you live with about living in a minimal way?

The minimalist philosophy was a challenge in our marriage.  We had very different views about acquiring physical things.  Which is, in part, why I feel now that I’m a minimalist reborn. It’s a new opportunity for me to become more true to myself.

What have been some unexpected experiences you’ve had with minimalism?

There have been moments where I’d get this overwhelming feeling of panic when I toss out an art project.  But, other than that, for me the less the better.  We recently went on a camping trip in Idyllwild, CA and I was so smitten with the very few things we had and needed to function.  I’d wake up extra early in the morning to make a pot of coffee on my tiny burner. One cup, one spoon, a thousand trees. That’s it. That’s all I needed. { Long-time readers of this blog will remember Tiffany shared a similar experience }

Rebecca Lane Global Guardian Project Minimalist Homeschool

What advice can you offer to people interested in living a minimalist lifestyle?

Baby steps are great.  There’s no need to change the world in a day. That’s actually a philosophy we’re teaching with Global Guardian Project. In each monthly learning capsule, we include a family challenge for the month. A simple, sustainable change that the entire family can get on board with. In this way, each month you can build on your efforts to live more sustainably. Small acts transform the world.

You recently launched the Global Guardian Project, can you tell me more about this? Why did you start it and what does it mean to you?

Global Guardian Project (GGP) is a subscription based learning platform designed for global families who understand the importance of teaching children how to care for the Earth and all who inhabit it.

Each month, we launch a digital Learning Capsule, filled with educational stories, videos, interviews, art projects, and challenges designed to teach families how to become global stewards and changemakers in their own home and in everyday life.

GGP content focuses on  three topics:  Explore, Inspire + Challenge.

  • Explore focuses on a specific country, it’s culture, natural environment and endangered species.  
  • Inspire focuses on introducing families to important causes and individuals who are already making positive changes both in that area and globally, specifically little changemakers.
  • Challenge offers activities, or challenges, to help become a more sustainable, environmentally aware family.

Global Guardian Project has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. From the very first business I launched, I knew that my role in this world was to empower individuals to make positive changes for the Earth and all who inhabit it.

I designed GGP so that I could allow my children to be a part of the solution. They watch me dream, design and launch something with promise for positive change. That experience alone is so valuable.  They are not learning in theory.  They are watching their mama in action.  They are learning that they can do something like this too.  I intentionally incorporated travel and interviews as a way for my boys to continually learn about our world.  They get to see new places, interview changemakers, come up with videos to teach other kids how to help in everyday life.  They are an integral part of the Global Guardian Project. I feel like these opportunities are rare and important and will help form their sense of global responsibility as adults.

Rebecca Lane Global Guardian Project Minimalist Homeschool

Do you have any goals for this year or the next few that you want to share?

This year is a huge transition for us.  We’ll be renting out our home and traveling for a year beginning in January (2017).  We’ll be researching, planning, digging deeper into creating more for Global Guardian Project’s offerings.  We have plans to launch our first volunteer family retreat by the end of 2017 and also have long term plans to create the Global Guardian Foundation, where we can offer resources and programs to global youth changemakers.  We see community programs, workshops, retreats and international challenges, all for Global Guardian kids and families.  There’s never a lack of ideas when it comes to educating on how to care for the Earth!

***

Thank you Rebecca for sharing your story and way of life. Readers you can follow Rebecca on Instagram @globalguardianproject on Facebook or on her site Global Guardian Project.

There is currently a free Oceans learning capsule available for download while we await the release of the first full-size capsule in mid-August. If you are interested in subscribing to the Global Guardian monthly capsules you can use my discount code: HIPPIEINDISGUISE for 10% off.

Let’s be friends! Please come find me in other places:

cricketlabelle

A House of Cards: Mythical Motherhood, Judgment and Identity

2 Comments

A guest post by: Cricket la belle

 I had lots of plans when I was 21.

I was going to travel the world, volunteer in the Global south, speak 5 UN languages fluently, and get a graduate degree in international human rights law.

I was going to have a Real Career and make Lots of Money. More importantly, I was going to make a Difference in the World while doing so.

The night before I found out I was pregnant, I was doing tequila shots with old friends in an Irish pub in Midtown Manhattan, sharing my plans to move to Shanghai for a university teaching stint.

I never made it to China.

Ava was born six months later—I hadn’t even graduated from college.

Physically bringing a child into the world was as close to a mystical experience as I have ever had. Love for my tiny muse replaced the youthful, destructive tendencies to party and forge serial relationships with the wrong men—which was how I got pregnant in the first place.

However, the joy of caring for an infant was punctuated with pangs of jealousy as I watched my friends travel, have careers, and live and play in NYC while I wallowed in domesticity in the outer boroughs (not the cool one).

If becoming a mother was an ecstatic experience, it was tempered by an equally powerful dislike of being a wife.

My partner was a good man, but I was too young to appreciate him and I had only begrudgingly accepted to play the role of wife, as a seemingly inescapable consequence of my biology. It didn’t feel like a real choice—it was a socioeconomic reality and I resented it tremendously.

When Ava was an infant I finished my masters in Education and I tried desperately to convince my partner to move abroad. Dubai, Costa Rica, China—there were so many opportunities for my skill set and experience—but he was simply not interested in leaving New York.

He maintained that if I wanted to travel, I was free to do so, but he wasn’t coming and neither was the baby. I was shattered by his provincial attitude. I felt like I was dying inside, stuck, not growing, not living, and I clung desperately to my one and only joy and passion, my child.

One summer I got a gig consulting in bilingual education in Santiago, Chile and I packed my bags for a one-month trip. I left Ava at home with her father and although I was excited to experience South America for the first time, I missed my baby intensely after only three days, and it became clear that I was not going anywhere until she was emancipated.

I never resented motherhood for my inability to find personal fulfillment, even though the tie that bound me to my ill-suited partner was the result of the child we shared together. For me the culprit was feeling suffocated in the marriage relationship and the control it exerted over me. I believed that with the right partner it could have been a totally different experience.

I felt dead, and although my baby was a source of great joy and I found passion projects closer to home, I was filled with a constant feeling of regret, like my youth was slipping away and leaving me nothing, save my baby, to show for it.

As my plans for living a Meaningful Life of Adventure were dashed, I poured myself into my child and our lifestyle, channeling my personal growth into her development.

I thought I was a great mother. I mostly was, I think.

I leaned toward, ok, stood firmly in, the camp of the super crunchy—breastfeeding beyond age two, baby wearing, and of course I had a midwife-attended, un-medicated birth in a non-hospital setting.

However, the truth is that I was having an epic identity crisis and was hitching my ego-driven wagon to a cult of my own creation—mythical motherhood, the fallacious notion that I could subvert my personal ambitions and channel them into motherhood to become self-actualized.

I admit I was a bit snobby and holier than thou. My family would say (and probably did) that I was an overzealous mothering nut.

Fueled by idealism and Internet research, I went to elaborate lengths to shield my precious baby from the evils of—you name it: mainstream media, Big Ag, patriarchy, plastic.

Our stuffed animals were referred to as ‘she’ to ward off the evil impressions of patriarchal language on her innocent subconscious mind.

We ate only raw food and juice.

There were toy sanctions: no plastic, no batteries, no Barbie, nothing from China, no characters. I wrote obnoxious and lengthy letters at holiday and birthday time to remind well-meaning relatives that non-approved gifts would be summarily tossed (and where to buy the pricier wooden toys and Waldorf dolls).

I yelled at my partner when I found his mother applying make-up to my two year old daughter’s face (she was graciously babysitting while I was taking women’s studies courses).

I was tyrannically enlightened.

Resisting the institutionalization of childcare, and determined to preserve my daughter’s creativity, I unschooled her until she was seven years old

Crippling my future self financially, I used higher education as a form of social welfare. To make my lifestyle economically viable, I lived off student loans so I could be a full time mother and pursue passion projects as my schedule and interests allowed.

But my youthful idealism and good intentions reeked of self-righteousness and also of privilege.

Holidays and summer barbeques with my partner’s family gave me anxiety, driving me into micro-depressions where I fantasized about being free—mostly of my partner.

The refuge I had sought worshipping at the alter of mythical motherhood was menacingly threatened by the contempt that welled up in me towards the plastic cutlery, fake whipped cream, and droning of television sets never turned off at my sister-in-law’s house.

Anyone who didn’t mother with the fierce ideology that I did was poking holes in the ill-conceived illusion that motherhood alone would save me from the deep unhappiness I had created all by myself through nothing more than my own choices.

Mythical motherhood was a house of cards.

I judged harshly any parent who used disposable diapers or sent their infant to day care and sought only the company of women whose lifestyles were a perfect mirror image of my own, or an aspirational version of it. I was hopelessly narrow-minded and caught up in the cult of my own superiority.

It’s easy to overlook the mental bondage of mothering dogma when you can justify your choices as environmentally superior, or as a pathway for optimal child development.

But my desire to create the perfect life for her had more to do with compensating for my own perceived failures in life—not having that career, getting knocked up out of wedlock, achieving far less financially than my parents had at my age, feeling dead creatively and professionally.

Out of desperate unhappiness for my lot in life I was driven maniacally to create for her a childhood utopia. Jackie Kennedy’s quote ‘If you bungle raising your children, I don’t think whatever else you do matters very much’ became my mantra and I poured all of my creative energies into my child.

We took French classes, ballet, visited farms, museums and libraries on a weekly basis, living life as if it were a never-ending field trip. It was fun, and I learned alongside my young child.

Our lifestyle freed us from negative outside influences, and by ‘outside’ I mean non-sanctioned influences that I feared would pollute the perfect bubble I moved in, a fantasy where my lifestyle choices alone would redeem the mess I had made of my life by becoming a mother at the wrong time, with the wrong man.

The truth is I felt simultaneously inspired and suffocated by motherhood and I sought redemption in orchestrating the most enlightened path I could because the cruelest hand my daughter could be dealt was to end up like me.

Ironically, while motherhood dealt the death blow to the fantasy future I thought I was entitled to, in fact it saved me—if not from partying too much, then from my own ego-driven career plans which in reality were nothing more than the shackles of my parents’ expectations of me, yet to be cast away.

When I could no longer tolerate the slow death of being married ‘unwillingly’, economic reality swiftly turned my commitment to mythical motherhood on it’s head and I crucified the pursuit of motherhood perfection on the cross of my own selfish desire to leave an unsatisfying marriage.

My partner had the house, the job, and the lawyer— and so he also got the child. She swiftly went to school and slowly began to do normal things like eat potato chips and watch bad tv. She was six and I went overnight from being a devoted unschooling mother to being a weekends-only mom.

It was a very dark time. She would never live with me again.

I coped the only way I knew how— by enrolling in another graduate program and making plans to go to Brazil and work with impoverished children in the favelas of Rio. The outcome of the decisions I made during this time resulted in a slightly different version of the story I am telling you now, proving that until you learn from your mistakes, you will be doomed to repeat them.

Fundamentally, I share most of the same mothering values with my younger self, albeit in a far more inclusive and tolerant way. I do not judge the parenting choices of others nor do I get any validation from what we eat, what we watch, or what we wear. My identity is not so single-mindedly bound up in the role of being a mother like it was the first time around.

I no longer cling to the notion that I must insulate my children from the world—I see now that just like us, our children have souls with unique journeys to make and that while as a mother I certainly influence their trajectory, my lifestyle choices are not going to make or break her destiny and future.

Rather, I am thankful for the ability to make choices at all knowing that for many women all over the world, basic human rights go unfulfilled on a daily basis. I have come to accept my life as the sum total of my own choices rather than a cruel drama inflicted upon me.

Most of all, I know the spiritual ecstasy of motherhood is a tonic to the death of the creative potential of the individual—not a death to be mourned, but accepted with grace and navigated with more soul and creativity than I ever have thought possible.

***
Readers you can find Cricket la belle on Instagram and Tumblr

You might also like:

My Motherhood Story: The Mathematics of Love

How to Make All Natural Temporary Tattoos from Real Flowers

Spring Cleaning: 13 Ways to Simplify Your Wardrobe

Minimalism and Sustainability: Talking with Instagrammer @twentyventi

Want to find me in other places?

Interview with a Minimalist: Anna

13 Comments

A few months ago I came across a lovely new Instagram account @our_simplestory sharing the life of a minimalist family (formerly @minimalist_mindset). I was especially excited because the word ‘minimalist’ was used. Most families and people I come across who take an approach of ‘less is more’ to their life resist using the word. I suppose it may be resistance to trendy words, feelings that one isn’t minimalist enough, or just a general malaise with labels. That’s all fine. But part of my goal with these interviews is to explore all the different ways one can live through a minimal lens, just like there’s more than one way to be a woman, a mother, a teacher, a writer, there are many ways to be minimalist. In so many ways less is more.

Anna is a minimalist, design enthusiast, and homeschooling mother of three, and the woman behind @our_simplestory. I’m excited to share her perspective on and story of finding her passion for minimalism. I hope you enjoy the read, let me know what inspired you.

Anna, let’s start with a little bit about you. Who are you? What’s your background?

I’m 32 and married to my college sweetheart. After finishing my degree in journalism and working in the field four years, our first daughter was born. That’s when my days at home raising our kids began. Today we have three young daughters. Our typical day consists of homeschooling, reading good books, going on nature walks, and creating. As a family we enjoy simple adventures. Camping at the lake and strolling the farmers market are among our favorites. 
img_3019What part of the world do you live in?

The Midwest [USA].

How many children do you have and what are they like?

I have three amazing little girls. I can’t even begin to explain how different they are from one another, which makes it all the more fun. My oldest is an affectionate extrovert, my middle is an artsy introvert, and my youngest has a bit of everything going on. Being with them every day has been a blessing, and one I take for granted far too often.

img_3024I believe there are many ways to be a minimalist and many forms of minimalism. What does minimalism mean to you?

For me, minimalism is about having less. As a family of five in a small home with a tight budget, we have to be mindful with all of our purchases and what we bring into our home. We have discovered how much happier we are with less things. So, what is your story, how did you start on a path toward a minimalist lifestyle?

I have a very strong interest in design, particularly interior design and architecture. Clean lines and clutter free spaces have always drawn me in. We bought our first home five years ago, and have been designing and renovating since the day we moved in. Because our home is small, we chose to keep it open, airy, minimal, and bright. We have a lot of negative space to keep it from looking overly crowded. For example, our tiny eat-in kitchen (which also serves as our classroom) doesn’t have any upper cabinets or storage. We only have a small pantry, six drawers and a couple of base cabinets. People are surprised when they see our lack of storage, but it suits our needs so well. Living in a small space doesn’t mean you have to create more storage. It really forces you to think about what you bring in and what you hold on to.

img_3021 So, after integrating minimalist design into our home, I began to analyze each and every little thing we had, and if it was necessary or not. That is the when I realized my passion for a minimalist lifestyle.

Are there any books, websites or other resources that have inspired your minimalism?

On the design side of things, Remodelista, Kinfolk, and Dwell are my go to sources. When it comes to minimizing possessions and wardrobe, The Minimalists and Un-Fancy have great ideas. 
img_3027In what ways/areas do you struggle with keeping things minimal? What is your weakness?

Clothing and shoes have always been my weakness. However, I’ve recently downsized by creating a capsule wardrobe for each season. I currently have less than 40 items in my closet. I highly recommend this to everyone. You are faced with fewer decisions every time you get dressed, you only wear pieces that you love, and you put your money into high quality clothing that will last. Have there been any struggles with the other people you live with about living in a minimal way?

Not really. My husband is a furniture and fixtures designer, so he’s all about minimalist design. I think that helps him understand the value of minimalist living. My kids have been great with it too. We are constantly purging their things. I try to keep their selection simple and thoughtful, keeping only what draws out their imaginations, talents, and interests. For the most part, they are involved in decisions on what stays and what goes. They understand that they don’t need a lot to be happy or to keep busy. img_3023What have been some unexpected experiences (positive or negative) you’ve had with minimalism?

When you’re a minimalist, you don’t leisure shop as much. Instead of spending time and money shopping for new things, you have more time to spend with your family, and of course it’s easier on the budget. I’d say that’s a definite positive!

What advice can you offer to people interested in living a minimalist lifestyle?

You have to start small. Don’t feel pressured to give away everything you have. Just keep what you absolutely need. Start in one area of your home. The kitchen is always a good place to begin. Stuff can accumulate like crazy in all those drawers and cabinets!

Do you have any goals for this year or the next few that you want to share?

My husband and I have been dreaming about buying land somewhere in the country and building our forever, small space home. Lord willing, that day will come. In the meantime, we’ll keep looking for inspiration.

Thank you Anna! Readers you can find Anna on Instagram @our_simplestory

If you liked this post please consider sharing it or subscribing to my blog or both (!), your support helps me continue to write and share.

You might also like:

Confessions of a Minimalist

The Mathematics of Love

Interview with a Minimalist: Katrien

Top post: Any Occasion, Sustainable Gift Guide for Children 

Want to find me in other places?

kristen mittler oldjoy instagram mother

Inspiring Mother Kristen: @oldjoy

5 Comments

kristen mittler oldjoy instagram mother

Contentment.

This is what comes to mind, again and again, when I think about Kristen, this week’s inspiring mother. I first started following Kristen, known as @oldjoy on Instagram, because her photos capture beauty and simplicity in perfect harmony. Yes, her photos are undeniably beautiful. But, as some of you know about me, aesthetic beauty isn’t enough to keep me interested for long. No, I need layers and depth behind the surface.

What you will find in Kristen’s gallery are mostly photos of her days at home, with her two sweet children. Things are uncomplicated. The days are routine. You will see that they spend a lot of time in bed, equal only to time spent eating cake. Their life is simple and routine. And as you will come to know, their life is full, full to the brim. Kristen, through the reverence she shows for daily routine, for the simplest of things, like folding laundry while watching her baby nap, shows us how these moments are what make life, these moments are what bring happiness, through contentment with the present. There is no striving. There is no lack.

And so, there is depth in simplicity. There is depth in contentment. Living these everyday moments as  the  moments in life, reflects a profound understanding of the gifts of life.

Please read on to hear from Kristen, herself.

What part of the world do you live in?

i live in dayton, ohio, usa. i have lived here for nearly ten years now. this small city is where i met my husband and began my family.

kristen mittler oldjoy instagram mother

How many children do you have and how would you describe them?

i have two children and another on the way early august. my oldest child, eleanor, just recently turned seven. my sweet girl is just that … very sweet. as soon as her feet hit the floor in the morning, she is ready to chat, play and create. her energy keeps her learning constantly, but sometimes can bring her a bit of frustration. she is homeschooled and when she accomplishes something, she is ever so proud and ready to tell the world … but when she struggles, she feels it so strongly. this girl could move mountains with her emotions alone. she is brave and forgiving and can give a hug better than anyone else i have ever met.

my second child, wolfgang, is fifteen months old. he is what they would call a handful. the boy is as curious as they come. if you find yourself babysitting him and you wonder, “could he get into that?” the answer is, yes and he most definitely will. he makes us laugh continuously. he loves to dance and blab and discover new things. he will do big things when he grows up. hopefully good things.

kristen mittler oldjoy instagram motherkristen mittler oldjoy instagram mother

What are your core family values?

our values are simple. speak clearly and honestly. never make the other person wonder what it is you exactly just said. express your needs. express your struggles. ask for help. you can cry alone if you want to, but never feel like you have to. wake up every single day with the goal of being the light in your family’s life. “be loving.” is what my husband always says to us when things get tense.

kristen mittler oldjoy instagram mother

How do you spend most of your days?

i spend most of my days at home, with my children. as a homeschooling, stay at home mom … our day to day life is extremely routine. wake up at 7:30am, breakfast, begin school, quiet/nap time, lunch, finish school, another quiet/nap time, play time, dinner, baths, books, bed at 8:00pm. i love our structured life and am very excited to add another babe into the mix.

kristen mittler oldjoy instagram mother

What is your favourite thing to do as a family?

my favorite thing to do as a family is spending the day in the woods. if my husband has a day off throughout the week, we will explore a new woods around our area. it feels so good to escape the city for a bit and get some good ole fresh air. the kids are able to explore and run free and my husband and i can walk side by side, hold hands and unwind. it’s so nice. usually we bring our field journals and take breaks to sketch what we find along the paths.

kristen mittler oldjoy instagram mother

What are you passionate about? 

i am passionate about being a mother. you probably knew i’d say that 🙂 i have reached the point in motherhood that i just cannot imagine life without my children. they are my sole purpose for living. they are the reason for my happiness. they are the reason i get out of bed everyday with a smile on my face. they are my soul mates.

kristen mittler oldjoy instagram mother

What inspires you?

i am inspired by other mothers, absolutely. i am inspired by the women i meet on social media and seeing glimpses of their lives. finding ways i can improve myself, not only as a mother, but as a woman, too. i am inspired by strangers. the people who are completely comfortable in their own skin and it is obvious to everyone around them. i love that. i am inspired by a sunny day. by a really good hamburger. and by a long walk alone in the rain.

kristen mittler oldjoy instagram mother

Thank you Kristen for sharing your words of wisdom. Readers, please visit Kristen on Instagram or visit her website, Moonschooling Eleanor.

***

Let’s be friends! Please come find me in other places:

Have you subscribed to the Global Guardian Project yet? These are monthly learning capsules for children and their families to learn about global stewardship. Each month features a different country’s wild life, landscape and challenges, and includes art projects, activities, meditation, recipes and more! Use my discount code:  HIPPIEINDISGUISE for 10% off and read more about it here.