#20
Yesterday's Nice Thing: Well, there were so many... but I think hanging out with Ghin, getting him new shoes for his birthday
The week has metamorphosed into a really nice routine. I think I have it licked. The only thing I have to do now is add the Piano and Art and we are gonna be flying. It was very satisfying yesterday finally, after the fifth time restarting my knitting understanding what I was doing wrong. In fact, I am going to have to redo it again because I made the stitches too lose, but hey, that is what learning is about right?
So yesterday went like this:
Write
Music - I listened to the music I had collected, that is now a Saturday thing
Run
Send Ghin to circus
Met Lara at circus and gave her some old clothes of Ghin's
Had coffee at ESTD
Walked to TK Maxx and got some nice things
Collected Ghin
Burger King - Saturday is junk food day
Back home, chillax, watched Silent Witness
Had yesterday's stew
Got Oisin to circus
Exchanged shoes for Ghin, got bird see and cat toy
Back to ESTD
Collected Oisin
KFC!
Laundry
Cleaned house - hoovering only today now!
Now this bit...
I was supposed to go to the movies - this was my movies night and I was going to watch The Favourite - on my own - and then Oisin got an invite to a party - so I let him go instead and I hung out with Ghin where I figured out knitting in a round. This took about two hours.
Then we went to sleep
So, that was yesterday.
Today, after writing, running and hoovering I am going to do lesson prep, head for Slemis for a walk and then do the weekly shop before the markets close.
And I will be ready for school this week.
So many, many things to be getting on with.
But routines are so comforting, they give our lives structure and structure provides meaning. I think when the boys were younger routines were impossible because you know, children. Now we can do this - they are independent, we can give each other space.
Having a routine has also made me realise that I have all the time I need, of course I do, to do everything which I need to do. Bring on the simple things. The deceptively simple things.
So, yesterday I discovered that the Northern Ireland history curriculum is based on learning skills to understand history - which is good, but you sort of need to have the history to understand. If you don't do this, then you are going to end up learning the same history over and over again. In this case, it would appear to be anything to do with WWII and WWI, The Tudors and, apparently, Vikings. It is really odd.
Also there is an issue, which is children before a certain age do not have analytical skills. They just don't possess it. What they need are stories and lots of them, so that their imagination is enriched. The next stage of thought, in a Steiner school, is inspiration - when you receive insight, after working hard on things for a bit - and finally, you have intuition - which is how most great discoveries and inventions are made. Read an biography of any scientist, analysis is only the first step to discovery - discovery - and therefore self-actualisation - only happens when all these stages are reinforced.
But the first step is telling and being given lots and lots of stories.
If you don't have the stories, then you don't have the analysis - it becomes a cage, or as Steiner put it, it is like giving a five year old a pair of shoes at that age and expecting them to wear it for the rest of their lives.
And what we are looking for is a new way of thinking coming in, so constantly looking at the past is to paradoxically come into the future.
It turns out the weather was beautiful yesterday after all. As we headed to get Oisin, J to Z was on the radio and that city scape with sunset lent itself to the mood. What a day it was... just us hanging out and being us. Being present is the simplest thing. It must be.
The week has metamorphosed into a really nice routine. I think I have it licked. The only thing I have to do now is add the Piano and Art and we are gonna be flying. It was very satisfying yesterday finally, after the fifth time restarting my knitting understanding what I was doing wrong. In fact, I am going to have to redo it again because I made the stitches too lose, but hey, that is what learning is about right?
So yesterday went like this:
Write
Music - I listened to the music I had collected, that is now a Saturday thing
Run
Send Ghin to circus
Met Lara at circus and gave her some old clothes of Ghin's
Had coffee at ESTD
Walked to TK Maxx and got some nice things
Collected Ghin
Burger King - Saturday is junk food day
Back home, chillax, watched Silent Witness
Had yesterday's stew
Got Oisin to circus
Exchanged shoes for Ghin, got bird see and cat toy
Back to ESTD
Collected Oisin
KFC!
Laundry
Cleaned house - hoovering only today now!
Now this bit...
I was supposed to go to the movies - this was my movies night and I was going to watch The Favourite - on my own - and then Oisin got an invite to a party - so I let him go instead and I hung out with Ghin where I figured out knitting in a round. This took about two hours.
Then we went to sleep
So, that was yesterday.
Today, after writing, running and hoovering I am going to do lesson prep, head for Slemis for a walk and then do the weekly shop before the markets close.
And I will be ready for school this week.
So many, many things to be getting on with.
But routines are so comforting, they give our lives structure and structure provides meaning. I think when the boys were younger routines were impossible because you know, children. Now we can do this - they are independent, we can give each other space.
Having a routine has also made me realise that I have all the time I need, of course I do, to do everything which I need to do. Bring on the simple things. The deceptively simple things.
So, yesterday I discovered that the Northern Ireland history curriculum is based on learning skills to understand history - which is good, but you sort of need to have the history to understand. If you don't do this, then you are going to end up learning the same history over and over again. In this case, it would appear to be anything to do with WWII and WWI, The Tudors and, apparently, Vikings. It is really odd.
Also there is an issue, which is children before a certain age do not have analytical skills. They just don't possess it. What they need are stories and lots of them, so that their imagination is enriched. The next stage of thought, in a Steiner school, is inspiration - when you receive insight, after working hard on things for a bit - and finally, you have intuition - which is how most great discoveries and inventions are made. Read an biography of any scientist, analysis is only the first step to discovery - discovery - and therefore self-actualisation - only happens when all these stages are reinforced.
But the first step is telling and being given lots and lots of stories.
If you don't have the stories, then you don't have the analysis - it becomes a cage, or as Steiner put it, it is like giving a five year old a pair of shoes at that age and expecting them to wear it for the rest of their lives.
And what we are looking for is a new way of thinking coming in, so constantly looking at the past is to paradoxically come into the future.
It turns out the weather was beautiful yesterday after all. As we headed to get Oisin, J to Z was on the radio and that city scape with sunset lent itself to the mood. What a day it was... just us hanging out and being us. Being present is the simplest thing. It must be.
 |
| Today's running pic - my mum once said you always very sad in your photos ... well hopefully this will right the balance... that running fleece, to be honest all my running gear, is at least 15 years old, apart from the shoes, which change every two years Running is such a great sport - you go as fast as you want, you go for long as you need, and it is so so so cheap and you get great aerobic exercise from it. Marry it with stretching and sit ups, and it is the perfect exercise. I would never be without it, never. |
Comments