Happy First Day of Spring!!!

Hello all. Hope you had a wonderfully happy first day of Spring. The girls went to Aunt Susan's last night to spend the night since she is on Spring Break and I got the day to myself. I barely got anything done except: I mowed the front yard (couldn't get the mower to restart to do the side or back), and I went to the bank, and got groceries. Woo-hoo. Those are major accomplishments for my lazy azz lately.

I did some reading online today and found this really cool website and managed to request a lot of books from the library. Here it is, a website on my #1 interest, alternative education, with lots of book suggestions: The Education Revolution.

And speaking of a revolution, I was inspired by these words in an interview with Matt Hern, an alternative educator and a revolutionary guy in this interview on Rise Out!

Questioner: "What sort of suggestions do you have for families who want a quality education for their children, but neither have the time nor money? Perhaps the parent or parents are busy working job(s) to make ends meet."

Matt Hern: "Start talking. Read everything. Trust your heart. Don’t take shit. Stay with your kids. Don’t let em be fed Ritalin or any other grim bio-psychiatric crap. Trust your best instincts. Ask ‘what will it take for my kid to thrive’at every turn. Trust your kids. Listen to them carefully: you are capable of far more than you know, we all are. There is nothing more important than raising our kids: do what it takes to do it right. Listen to your kids’ friends. Think up crazy, ridiculous and foolish plans…things you have always dreamed of and do them. Consider how you want to live after the revolution and start living like that now. Quit whatever you’re doing this afternoon and go build a fort, run on the beach, go to the library, play hockey with your kid."

Cool, huh? Might have to change my quote at the top of this page.

I found out about Matt Hern through Jacki, homeschool coordinator for The Farm School, where I am, ahem, faculty (the at-home kind, anyway!). She recommended listening to this webcast from the radio show To the Best of Our Knowledge, entitled "Learning Outside the Box" <--linked here. If you only want to listen to Matt Hern, go to about minute 23:00 or so to hear his interview. Thanks Jacki, loved the interview. I love the idea of democratic schools and am now considering a move to Vancouver or Eugene (you'll understand if you listen!)