Our Days in the UK

In January for our winter/snow theme for our learning, we looked at Monet's Magpie painting and studied impressionism. We read a few biographies and good books about impressionism (some of our favorite art books for kids are the Katie... series in which a little girl climbs into various paintings. Since nothing beats seeing actual real-live art in person, I also scheduled a trip to Oxford's stunning Ashmolean Museum to see their small but lovely room of impressionism. We've been to the Ashmolean several times before to wander its many rooms, but this was probably our favorite trip. This was the first time we went only to focus on a small part of the museum and to really look at just a few paintings in depth. Having read about the impressionists and their style, the kids could see in the paintings what we had learned about. I learned a lot, too! Did you know that Monet had a studio on a boat so he could paint the various water scenes he so l...

Poetry teatime is sort of a "thing" in home ed circles, originally inspired by the Brave Writer curriculum. Traditionally it happens on Tuesdays, and the idea is to introduce kids to poetry while savoring tea treats and making memories. I have always loved the idea, but a weekly tea hasn't worked in our schedule for a variety of reasons, and consequently we never did teatimes at all. Then, as I was planning our 2020 home education year, it occurred to me that we could do a poetry teatime monthly instead. This works perfectly for us for a number of reasons: one, I already try to have a theme for our learning each month, so I can just fit tea time in with that theme; two, I can handle prepping a fancy tea once a month even with a new baby; three, it fits better into our schedule by giving us space in the other weeks to explore other interests. This is especially important for Justin who, in his own words, likes poetry "okay" but doesn't ...

And just like that, another year, two years in the UK, and another breakfast in the pub we visited on our very first morning as immigrants. Hope you all have a blessed new year and decade!

As they say here in England, "Happy Christmas" to all. Actually, it's very interesting how frequently people here say Merry or Happy Christmas instead of using the more politically correct versions so prominent in America. Eric even received a Christmas email from a work organization, which would be totally unheard of in the American academy. But I digress. Mostly, I'm popping on here to say a quick merry Christmas. We had a nice holiday, despite having returned from our ski trip to France only three days ago, despite a messy house and Justin getting chilblains in his toes. Despite our tub clogging up and needing an emergency plumber. A home ed mom friend sent a message that said something like, "You have a to do list a mile long and only half is going to get done. But they won't remember the messy house or imperfect meal. They will remember if you go crazy. So ditch the list." Well, I definitely did that this year. For example, we had no de...

We took a last minute ski trip to the French Alps because the snow was really good. Never mind that we had been home less than two weeks from Amsterdam, that Christmas is looming and I have no presents for anyone, and that Katie is only four months old....No, when the snow is good, we go skiing. It is Katie's first time seeing the snow and she is entranced by it. Except the part where a cold wind blows on her face... We're staying in a beautiful resort nestled in the mountains at Tignes and Eric and the kids can ski right from our door. Katie and I are holding down the fort in our apartment while the big kids tackle red runs and moguls. They still adore skiing, especially Justin. We drove here, taking our car through the Chunnel. It is a looong drive, but I think worth driving because packing is so much easier that way. And we could bring all our food, which is especially important now that Eric is dairy and gluten free. But ask me again whether driving ...

If we dedicated our first full day in Amsterdam to World War II, we dedicated our second to man-made works of beauty--a visit to the Rijksmuseum to see art at its finest (Vermeer's Milkmaid took my breath away. He makes a mundane task so beautiful and, since my life is full of mundane tasks that are beautiful pretty much only to me, it resonated...) and a canal ride to marvel both at the beautiful architecture and the incredible engineering. Unfortunately, Katie was done sightseeing by this point, so I had to run through the museum while she took a catnap after I finally got her to sleep in the museum gardens after an hour of screaming. I guess the Dutch Masters aren't her thing... I couldn't help but reflect after our trip about the striking juxtaposition of our two days. Our first day to learn about and ponder man's frightening capacity for hatred and ugliness, and for following a crowd. Our second day to take in art of exquisite beauty and e...

From Groningen we took the train (three trains, actually) to Amsterdam. Justin, of course, adored the train. Katie did well on the trip down, but I was not impressed with the lack of baby facilities. When we got to Amsterdam we checked into our hotel--a neat old 17th century canal house in a prime location. The next day Eric took the girls on an early morning walk which Rebecca later said was a highlight of her trip. Then we all walked to the Dutch Resistance Museum. I had read good reviews of the children's section for Rebecca, and I knew Justin would like the whole thing due to his recent World War II kick. (He's read nearly the entire selection of adult non-fiction in out local library, totalling thousands of pages, over the past few months. Quite an impressive feat, and a testament to the truth of the claim that children will teach themselves when given the freedom to satiate their innate curiosity.) Anyway, I digress.  The museum ...

On our first day in the Netherlands the kids and I explored Groningen while Eric gave his talk. We first got some breakfast from a local organic grocery and then wandered along the streets and canals. It felt like a smaller version of Amsterdam in many ways, with fewer canals but the same general architecture. Justin loved it. On the whole the city felt clean, wealthy, and orderly, so I can see why he liked it. We especially enjoyed walking along the canals and seeing the boats. There seemed to be mostly sailing boats and tour boats compared to the houseboats and low canal boats of Amsterdam. Thinking about it now as I write this has me wondering actually about all those sailboats and how they navigate the canals... We also liked our hotel, which was very nice and the staff were very friendly to the kids. They even brought out games and puzzles for them to do while we waited for Eric to meet us after checking out. Rebecca liked the toiletries, as...

We just got back from a trip to the Netherlands--our first overnight travel with Katie. Her face above about sums up her opinion of the experience: somewhat annoyed, somewhat interested, and quite a bit shocked that the Netherlands is decidedly lacking in diaper changing facilities. Overall, it was a really great trip. I'm glad we went. Eric had a work presentation in Groningen and we were on the fence about whether all of us should join. I felt very ambivalent about the idea of travelling with a newborn, especially our kind of intense newborn. But I also felt like we can't pass up opportunities for the big kids or their childhoods will be over and we will have missed it. So we decided to go. Katie did a great job travelling. She was really a trooper. But I will say it was sort of intense for me because I was constantly worried she'd wake up and/or meltdown in a quiet museum or other enclosed space meant for adults. It didn't really help that we saw very few oth...

*Note to the discerning reader: Yes, we did catch Katie before she fell all the way over. The short version: I liked the UK experience waaay more overall. Read on if you're interested in the longer version... I had my first two babies in the States. Justin arrived by c-section after long hours of labor in what was a fairly standard American "cascade of interventions" that ended in an emergency that probably shouldn't have happened. Nonetheless, I am most of all grateful that my Justin arrived safely and is now a happy and healthy almost-11-year-old. Rebecca arrived via unmedicated VBAC and I went home about nine hours after her birth. I felt more in control of that birth experience, mostly because I was more mentally prepared and because I had the support of an amazing doula. I really had to fight for a natural birth, though, as Rebecca arrived two weeks late and my midwife (who I didn't prefer and who I didn't end up having for the actual birth, bu...