Simple Saturday: Our Morning Circle

A recent and successful addition to our simple family is our morning circle. With homeschooling, I notice it can be a real challenge to keep some form of structure in our day. In the short term it is easiest for me if I let Brother-Bug lounge and read the morning away in his pajamas. But ultimately that makes life more difficult, because he builds that as his habit and then getting him ready to go on days we do need to leave the house or accomplish something is really difficult.

About a year ago I instituted our "morning routine". These are the things we must do to get our day going. I try to start it immediately after breakfast every day, but often it kicks off a little later than that. Once it starts, we aren't supposed to divert into other actions, like reading or iPhoning, or dressing dollies. Theoretically, we go through the routine quickly and get it done. In our morning routine we;
Clear our dishes
Brush our teeth
Get dressed
Tidy the play room - we turn on a CD and pick up for the duration of two songs.
Feed the cat and dog

And then we are free to play, persue our own interests, take a walk, or whatever moves us.

The long term issue I had been having was getting Brother-Bug to transition smoothly into the routine. He would clear his dish and head to the couch and his pile of books. Based on the idea of adding rhythm points and candle glow to a child's day (from Kim John Payne), I decided to try a morning circle to see what would happen.

I thought about it - the structure of a pre-school or kindergarten circle, what I liked and disliked about circle structure, and how much time and attention I could expect from my little folk. The first day I started it, they were intrigued. The second day they were delighted. The third day it felt pretty normal. Sister-Bug is the biggest proponent of the circle. If she even hears the word "circle" at any point of the day she goes to sit on the living room floor, approximately where we sit each morning.

It grounds us and clears our heads before our day really begins. It's a good chance to try out ideas for the day. It gives us a natural space from which we can step into our morning routine.

The structure looks like this:

*Light a candle
*Stretch, wiggle, and come to the space. We finish our stretch by wrapping our arms around our chests to give ourselves a "big hug".
*Hold hands and sing a morning song. 
*Read a short picture book or poem or do a rhyming hand game - I do the same one for a whole week so that both kids can really absorb it. I try to choose books and poems that are relevant to the moment - this week I have a Halloween poem to read. Last week we read "Every Autumn Comes the Bear" by Jim Aronsky, to get into the idea of Autumn.
*Everyone draws an angel card and we talk about what each word means.
*Each person shares something they are looking forward to, and/or something they want to do, and/or something that they think will challenge them through the day. 
*Hold hands again and say a prayer by Tich Naht Hahn.
*Blow out the candle. 

It takes us less than 10 minutes. I keep a small tray with the candle, matches, and the angel cards on a shelf, ready to go, but out of the way.

Brother-Bug has a chance to talk through the day a little bit. This is especially useful on days when I know something is going to be hard for him - like his swim lesson. Sister-Bug is learning sitting and paying attention. I find that it really grounds ME as well, and the couple of mornings we have missed, I have really felt off kilter. Papa-Bug joins us on the weekends, and we draw his angel card for him on workday mornings.

I don't feel any pressure to make this happen at a certain time each day, but I do insist that we do it before we launch into any major efforts of the day. I think the next level for me is to make no phone calls (and receive no phone calls) before circle. That can really shatter my attention for the morning.

That's that. It's great. I'll close here with the prayer we close with each day.

Breathing in I calm my body.

     (take a deep breath in and release)

Breathing out I smile.

Dwelling in the present moment,

I know this is a wonderful moment.

Simple Saturday: Into The Woods We Go

I didn't have much time to write today. It's October here in the Pacific Northwest and the past couple of weeks have been the perfect recipe of mixed rain and sun. So today was the day for one of our family's favorite annual expeditions.

It is time to hunt the Wild Chantrelle.

If you know these lovely little mushrooms, I don't have to elaborate. If you don't, I suggest you find a way to cultivate an acquaintance. They are so deliciosu.

I remember hunting mushrooms with my parents - up early and in the car, bound for the deep woods. "But DAD! I don't WANT to go hunt mushrooms!!" But away we all went, usually with the response: "You have to go. You're short and closer to the ground so you can spot them easier."

We got whites (like these) and goldens today. What a treat!

Now I bring my close-to-the-ground children mushroom hunting with me. We love the mushrooms, but as much as we love the tasty-melt-in-your-mouth-goodness, it's the annual ritual and thythm that I love most of all.

In this small act - a day searching through the underbrush for these beauties - tells us that Autumn has truly come. The smells of damp forest, decaying duff, and fallen leaves assail us. The Oregon Grape gives us tart berries to taste. We can't hear any cars. We call to each other through the woods, for location and harvest updates.

If we are lucky, we go home with a couple of pounds of mushrooms for dinner. If we are really lucky, we have some to dry and can for the year ahead. If we aren't lucky... well, that doesn't happen. Because even at our most luckless, we spent the day with one another, out of cell-phone range, enjoying the woods and the brush, crawling through faery glades (respectfully, of course), picnicking in damp and dappled forest, and remembering our connection to this place we call home. That's pretty darn lucky, even if we don't find a single mushroom.

Brother-Bug in the woods - a super mushroom spotter... maybe because he's close to the ground?

It's a simple pleasure, this yearly ritual.

Thanks to my mom and my dad, for yanking us out of bed, forcing us into the car, and teaching us to identify wild mushrooms. I'm so very, very grateful. So is my stomach.

Simple Saturday: A New Piece of Rhythm

At Simplicity Parenting, Kim John Payne talks a lot about adding rhythm and "pressure valves" to the day. A pressure valve is a time and space that a child (or family member of any age) can rely on, a time and space in which they can let go if need be. Some examples are grace or a moment of silence at meal times, bedtime check-ins and prayers, of after school snacks... Of course, these options are limited only by what your family needs and can create in your home.

One place that always needs work in our house is the kitchen. Some people seem to be born with a knack for keeping a kitchen clean. Not me. Not Papa-Bug. Both of us enjoy a clean kitchen, and both of us love food and cooking. Neither of us has good follow through when we are cooking. One thing I really want to pass on to the kids is a sense of cleanliness and follow-through, and the joy found in keeping our space clean.

So, about 2 weeks ago we started a new after-dinner rhythm that has been working very well. Everyone helps clean up the kitchen while one grown-up reads aloud to the workers. Even Sister-Bug has a job - she takes the napkins to the laundry - before she does some water play in the sink next to the tidying parent. Brother-Bug clears the table and counters to the space for dirty dishes, scrapes the dishes into the compost, and sweeps up under the table. We frequently find ourselves pausing to listen to a particularly exciting part of our book, or pausing reading to help keep the kids on task. Brother-Bug's chores are still obviously done by five-year old hands (we need to re-sweep usually), but he gains competence with each evening we work together.

Sister-Bug loves doing dishes.

The most amazing thing to me is that there has been no resistance from Brother-Bug (or anyone else, but I didn't expect Sister-Bug to say she didn't want to play in water...). He calmly and even joyfully tackles each task, and is easily drawn back to our project when his attention strays.

I need to do a little preparation for it to work out easily for everyone - like making sure the dishwasher is empty and the knives aren't in Sister-Bug's sink, but that is easily accomplished in a day (most days, anyway). I am delighted at how this is working so far - a cleaner kitchen all around, helpers and learners with me, everyone going to bed earlier since no parent (usually Papa-Bug) is left up late with a filthy kitchen, and such a simple way to connect.

Our after-dinner clean up is rapidly becoming my favorite time of day.

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In related news, Papa-Bug has started a new Blog! When we started dating, almost ten years ago, we were both avid writers. Hopefully some of that passion is coming back and both of us can do more writing. I especially like the way he reviews beer - it always gives me a chuckle.