scary school nightmare

How did it come about that such a crazy process like schooling would become necessary? Then I realized that it was something like engineering people — that our society doesn’t only produce artifact things, but artifact people. And it doesn’t do that by the content of the curriculum, but by getting them through this ritual which makes them believe that learning happens as a result of being taught. — Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society

Day of Hell

After an excruciating day at home where Bastian played with batteries and spilled an entire ill-gotten bottle of massage oil on himself, I decide the kids need to get out of the house. We manage to do so, though getting into the library involves a lot of screaming on Bastian's part because we can't take cookies inside. He quiets down upon seeing the toys and we have a nice few minutes. First, he puts some puzzles together.This one is ironically called, "At School."
He's really pretty good at puzzles. He's been doing ours at home a lot too. They're the only thing he'll help pick up and he usually dumps them right back out again.
After a fish puzzle, we look at the real fish in the tank.
Aleks plays puppets with some other kids. He even avoids making the puppets fight, miraculously and they just talk to each other, saying silly things and play slightly rough.
I work my butt off to get this awesome floor puzzle of the United States put together. The kids help a bit, though it's a pretty advanced puzzle with so many oddly-shaped pieces. We talk about where we live (Ohio) and where we used to live (Montana), as well as who Lewis and Clark were and where exactly Alaska is.
The fun only lasts so long. Both boys run off from the children's section, don't help me pick out books, get really impatient in the adult audio visual section, run off some more, scream some more, then Aleks insists that he wants no videos and didn't get to pick out books, which is really hard to do as Bastian keeps trying to run off and I'm carrying a purse, coats, hats, scarves, mittens, and a really heavy load of picture books. Bastian runs all the way upstairs while we check out and I lose my temper. He screams on the way out too.

Once in the car, I apologize and take them to Tommy's for dinner to make up for it. They are both really well behaved the whole time. Bastian has a little trouble getting ice out of his glass with a fork, though is mostly successful. He makes me read the same story Whatever Happened to the Dinosaurs (interestingly, a question Aleks asked just the day before, which led us to this article and a settlement on climate change) three times before our food comes.

After Tommy's, there is more screaming at Mac's Backs, then screaming crossing the street to City Buddah for Papa's holiday gift, which is closed, so there is more screaming crossing the street back to Big Fun instead. Big Fun involves more mama torture with more running off, more screaming, and indecision galore about what to get for Papa for the winter holidays. I gently persuade the boys away from Star Wars action figures knowing that these will just end up in their collection rather than on Papa's desk at school. I won't let on as to what we got in the end because Papa will then find out. Bastian also insisted we get our picture taken in the photo booth, which went off for eight photos instead of just four and the pictures turned out really dark, unfortunately.

We finally made our way home (with more screaming on exiting Big Fun) and the boys watched the movie I picked out for them at the library, Ewoks. All was finally quiet and I made Papa put them to bed.

Caffeine Junkie

While I do the morning dishes, Bastian puts the coffee maker back together. If only he could make the coffee, I'd be all set.

Knights of the Coffee Table

The boys got hold of my size 13 vintage aluminum knitting needles to use as swords. Aleks got the brilliant idea to use pot lids for shields. Eventually the needles were deemed too dangerous for such use and hidden away, but they got a couple of days worth of pretending to be medieval soldiers out of it. Bastian stakes his claim on the coffee table. Both boys ferociously announce their courage and honor...or something.

Our camera is totally screwed up, so there's lots of fuzz on this video, but you can still hear ok. Just keep the volume low. I'm so sorry.



After much fighting, Aleks made drums out of the pot lids and drumsticks of the knitting needles.


Afterwards, Aleks constructs a Lego dragon, presumably to slay.

Into the Woods

We took another walk in the woods because the weather was nice (briefly). It was Papa's late night at school, so it was just me and the boys. First, they run off down the path and it's evening, so the images are all blurry...
Bastian then jumps from every single stair. Bends his knees:
Pushes off:
Flies through the air:
And lands:
Then he walks a balance beam, green ray gun from Big Fun on election day in hand, as is normal these days.
Aleks crosses the bridge, asks me about trolls. I remind him they're in stories.
Aleks tells me there are fish in the stream, which he would like to catch, but I don't see any and besides, he's vegetarian.
The boys leave the path, meaning that I have to leave the path to make sure they don't tumble down the steep terrain. I carry Bastian up from halfway, nearly sliding down myself.

Shortly after this, I lose Aleks in the woods for about 7-ish minutes, scarring the bejeebus out of me. A teenage girl hiking hadn't seen him and seemed uninterested in helping me. I turn around for one minute to help Bastian come back to the path and Aleks is just gone! Once I find him, we make our way back to the end of the trail where the lean-to was and find four lean-tos instead. We try to help build one of them up, but then it really starts to get dark and I decide better to leave than not be able to see our way back to the parking lot, even if this strip of woods is really small. After having already lost Aleks, I'm a bit snappish with them both, trying to hurry back to the car and get us out of the woods already. We make it back with enough light to still just barely see in front of us and head to the co-op for groceries for dinner. Whew!

Pew Pew

Bastian is now incessantly using his green ray gun that he got at Big Fun on election day to shoot anything and everything he can. He already had the sound effects down from watching Aleks play Star Wars Lego Video Game, and tended to make any two things he found battle it out, be they cars, action figures, pumpkins, or empty vitamin bottles. Now he participates with his whole self, battling Papa almost daily.

Super Secret Falls

Papa took us to Cataract Falls, which border Slavic Village as well as what seems to be the most post-industrial wasteland ghetto in Cleveland. He was introduced to the park on a recent field trip for his environmental history class.The falls are really quite lovely. When we first arrived, a train passed by on the tracks directly over the upper river.
The boys take a moment to observe.

I've never actually seen a real sign like this. The train tracks only go two ways, but this still seemed necessary. This is directly above the far side of the falls from the viewing bridge.
Aleks and Bastian had both fallen asleep in the car on the way there, and Aleks was insistent that he collect his Lego catalog he'd left in the car. He tried to sneak off to get it by himself, despite not having the keys and there being a parking lot to cross through. Papa had to chase him.
He came back with some acorns in his pocket.
Which he launched into the falls.
And watched sail away.
Mama and a perplexed Lambchops face.
Papa gazing into the watery depths.
On the way back up the stairs, Aleks wondered about eating these berries. I didn't think that was a good idea. Still can't seem to find out what kind of tree this is...




The falls were moved to make way for the railroad! How crazy it is to think how humans have shaped their world!

The site used to have a mill. Aleks sits brooding about his Lego catalog atop the millstones.

There's a nice wildflower garden down a walkway with some more history and a different view of the falls. There's some really nice art too, including this fence-like structure, clearly done by the same artist who created the garden borders in Coventry, Brinsley Tyrrell (on a side note, finding that name was quite an endeavor, but I found out that the Tree Cozy I always admire is actually called Tree Cozy!!!!!).

Jon, in his usual good humor, thought it great to throw burrs at me. Again.
Argh!!!
So of course, Bastian joins in.
Bastian takes care to actually place a burr on my wool coat.
He grasps a burr threateningly.
Papa throws them at all of us, though, landing a few on Bastian's wool sweater and corduroy-enclosed butt.
Then Aleks comes back from having run off and joins in too. le sigh.
Oh they all just think they're so funny!
The evening light is really nice though.
I'm the only one who will take a photo of me, apparently.
I point out to Aleks how the wildflower field spills its water across the pavement down towards the river.
He keeps throwing burrs and ignores me.
He pulls a burr off himself...
And throws it at me.
We discover a fat caterpillar on the way out. We talk about how it will change into a butterfly one day.
I attempt a family portrait and though the light is gorgeous, Aleks looks away, trying to get back to the caterpillar.

Glowing Green Orb

We discovered this alien orb in our living room.The light from the window was eerily illuminating our large green bouncy ball. The boys loved it.

Art Day

The kids had an explosive amount of creating today. First it was playdoh. They have only two colors now: brown/purple and yellow. It doesn't really matter though. The child-sized table is really being used constantly, by the way...so glad I got a decent, real wood one.

Here is Aleks' monster. It looks a little bit like his drawings, but his skills with writing utensils seem to outpace his sculptural skills by far.
Bastian made a witch. Here he is showing it off.
Aleks helped secure the hat. It was mostly a lump of yellow clay with a lump of brown clay on top. Great textural play, however.
Then, as the witch and monster sat on display on the window sill, we got out glue and paints and all kinds of fun crafty stuff, including a bunch of cotton balls made no longer sterile by Bastian's having raided the bathroom cupboard the night before. Incidentally, later in the day the playdoh ended up torn apart on the floor as well, part of the infinitely destructive powers of the two-year-old.

Bastian paints on paper.And likes the color orange!
Aleks works intently as I insist he fill in all the cardboard exposed areas to give his second piece a more cohesive look than the first (a random assortment of string, plastic stars, and cotton balls glued on chopped-up pizza box).



Bastian moves on to purple. He was very insistent about claiming the colors and denying Aleks' use.
Almost done, getting all the nooks and crannies.
When dry, this piece was sent to Aunt Natty for her 21st birthday, along with a copy of my book and a Ramones t-shirt.
Bastian finishes his blocks of color off with all the remaining plastic stars.

I had to take stock of how things have changed around the house tonight. Three years no TV, one year plus vegan diet, home production on the upswing as I am bottling 18 gallons of brew every 14-20 days. I noticed even the recycling has gone down as every spare glass and plastic container seems to have an immediate or eventual purpose. An old can of dried parsley now holds a cup of groundt chipotle/ancho powder. Old hot sauce bottles now hold two batches of homebrewt hot sauce from the garden. My basement storage area, once a dumping ground for old clothes has been emptied after trips to goodwill and converted into a brewery/seed cellar. The first of 6 avocado stones has sprouted and an old tomato sauce jar now holds ...you get the picture.
What is most amazing about this, albeit modest, home production is the amount of time it takes up. Just as we all have our internet routine (ap top news->case.webmail->hotmail->loserboard->fantasy sports/nationstates) it fills the dull minutes of the day I used to spend watching some miserable Alton Brown cooking show or sinking several hours in a video game. When I'm bored at home, its reharvest basil for the third time-> check tomatoes-> check chilis-> compost. And now that winter decided to show up and my harvesting is done these activities have been replaced with new ones when Im bored: save seeds-> check drying seeds-> drop finished seeds in basement-> check beer fermentation-> release pressure from bottled brew-> kick buckets not bubbling fast enough.

The entire lifestyle has melded perfectly with me and Anna's unschooling philosophy as well. The kids quietly observe at first, then want to participate once they have become more familiar with the processes. Aleks and Bastian think it fun to find ripe tomatoes or peppers hidden in foliage. They know the names of recipes by the smells from the kitchen and help out mixing batter etc. Aleks, who has only seen me brew a few times, followed me into the basement with a fresh bucket and told me I needed a "cup with water for the tube to go in." Im sure he has no idea about the chemistry behind the process, but he knows you need to do these things--the why and how will come later.

For now, Im happy simply witnessing the progress Anna and I have made so far in our 9 years together. Growing from a couple who ate pizza and ramen and slowly taught themselves to cook to where we are today makes me look forward to where we are going. To chicken coops and rabbit dens.

Election Day

Every time we have voted since we've lived here, it has rained. Despite a very warm autumn, the weather chose to change on election day this year. There was rain, snow, sleet, and hail, plus some pretty strong winds. We took the boys to vote with us, as we always do. Jon let Aleks press the Diebold touch screen for him and Bastian tried to knock my machine off the table it was perched on. Afterwards, as we have every election day these last three years, we visited Big Fun (though the photobooth was broken, so for the first time we couldn't get our picture taken), then ate at Tommy's. We also stopped at Mac's Backs to talk to Suzanne about The Best American Non-required Reading 2007 which I was just published in (page 13, Best American Six-Word Memoirs) and at Vidstar for Tuesday free kid videos. Then we went home and hunkered down against the cold. Brrrr!

Salad People

Some time ago, we checked Mollie Katzen's cookbook for children, Salad People out of the library. Aleks loved to read it at bedtime. Eventually, we got around to trying out some of the recipes. We especially love Tiny Tacos and the headlining recipe, Salad People. On Thursday, Aleks wanted Salad People for lunch, so we made some.I thought Aleks' looked scary or angry, but he insists it was just silly.

Mama put Bastian's together for him.

The best part of each recipe in the book is the last step of every recipe is, "EAT!"
So they ate!