Stuck… but Hopefully Not for Long.

My thoughts are quite disorganized today. I’ve been going back and forth between different thoughts all day.

I definitely need to concentrate! (which, wouldn’t you know, is the topic of one of the suggested readings from the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival)

It is Saturday but it doesn’t really feel like it. (Not that Saturdays usually feel so different than other days) This morning was wonderful. The air was nice and cold. Yes, cold. I couldn’t see my breath but there was a moisture in the air that prevented it from being crisp which to me made it feel cold.

Autumn is coming….and thank goodness!

I talked to my hubby (who is in Ohio) and he said it is still hot and muggy there. Well, it will cool off soon enough. I hope I will be content with the cold this year It seemed last winter was so wet and bone chilling that I could barely stand it.

After hopping around the world wide web and seeing this blog post on lily pad with pastels, I’ve wanted to do some art. But not just any art- pastels. Which I’ve never used in my life (well, that I can recall- I’m guessing in elementary school they probably had us use it…maybe?). Tonight the sky and the lighting was beautiful at dusk. The grass on the lawns were a shade of green that you only see at dawn or dusk. The sky was orange, pink and blue- perfectly blended- with a sliver of moon, stark white, against the blue.

Of course that post above and the urge to be artistic makes me think of this post about ‘degrees of separation’ (or I think, ‘scent of life’). Being outdoors is important. The beauty of nature leads to so much more in ones life! (from linked site: “research in Australia has linked a spike in nearsightedness to young people spending less time outdoors, where their eyes must focus at longer distances.” Interesting.) But honestly, it is something mostly I’ve read about. Being outdoors so much and enjoying it so much. I love to be outside but we hardly do it. I could use the excuse that I live in the “city” and there are limited opportunities to enjoy nature. But that is just an excuse.

We can see from other CMers experiences of life in the city. Take a look at one of the last photos on that post…beautiful. Of course, that post makes me think that I am not including another important aspect in our homeschool- art. We do draw and we do enjoy looking at others artwork but we treat is as an expendable.

Sigh, our family is technology driven, nature ignorant. We can download, upload, html, bbcode, etc. But we cannot identify birds that frequent our backyard or what thrives in the river that is about a mile from our house. We are rarely in our backyard which has a plum tree and an apple tree. We used to have a small garden but the grasshoppers (which we avoid) ate pretty much everything last year and we didn’t try again (we also knew that we were going to move).

The kids do play outside. I don’t want to give the impression that we sit (rather that they) inside on a couch or chair in front of a computer, tv or some other electronic device and do no physical activities outside. They do. But generally it is play that revolves around what they see on tv or their games. Sometimes it is in reference to the books they read.

I have a long way to go until I can say that we really implement CM methods in our home. But it is what I want to be able to say. We have gotten other parts of it into our days…but I think we are missing a huge important part by not making opportunities to enjoy nature and art.

I know that when we move we will be outdoors much more than we have been previously and I am looking forward to it. I am also impatient.

Not long ago I discovered that we have a pack of pastels. That is what started me thinking about all of this in the first place. All of the blog posts in the blogosphere that aligned with my thoughts were simply coincidental. Or were they …?