2010 closure

This is a beautiful song that I have chosen to end the year with. It's called Honey and The Moon by Joseph Arthur and I love his vocals and his raw and throaty voice. The song is actually about love, and one person not being in the same place as the other.

I love the lyrics: "You're the honey and the moon that lights up my night". It touches my soul.

And to that end, I shall dedicate this to my amazing and wholly perfect man. Baby, you light up my life.

A blessed and healthy 2011 to all you lovelies out there. See you next year xxx

Winter Solstice

An amazing sunset on Solstice Eve. My gorgeous man drove me to the perfect spot where the sunset was breathtakingly amazing. The children were in awe. We had a sun pizza and a Yule fairy story by candlelight before bed. Simple but just lovely: no fancy-pants-light-of-a-million-glowing-fairies here. We're bullshit-free :)

Winter wonders

A picture from down the lane. Magical skyline and the crisp white snow gave an eerie silence to the afternoon. The best. See the moon? It was only 15.30hrs and the moon was already high and bright. Can't wait for the Solstice.

To school or not to school?

Well we're having huge wonderments here.

We have a small girl here who is needing the interaction and company of other small people that are on her level and above, and I don't feel as though we are meeting her needs.

We are quite far from decent meet ups and many of the home education friends I have made locally are amazing but their children are much older. The odd-few children that are local are not really like Pixie and I am noticing the differences. We have some lovely home education friends of similar ages, but not locally, which is sad.

Emotionally and intellectually, P is way beyond her years and you can have incredible and deep conversations with her. She is fun, animated, polite and hugely independent. She reads many books on her own, can bake independently, sort out her hens, is doing maths work a year or two above her age (her choice...the beautiful little weirdo) and can hold her own in a conversation with adults.

She is however fairly bossy, and after this was 'pointed' out recently, I have been looking at that side of her character a bit more. I think basically since she is very forward, she naturally wants to take leadership and plan games, especially when the other children are lacking in this direction. I will not interfere in this, as she is growing very nicely in her own way.

So we have come to look at schooling as an option for her. I know that if I sent her now (she's 5 in 2 weeks), she would slot right in and breeze it. But I still think she is far too young. And all the local schools are religion-focussed, even the private ones, and we  would not send her there as we are raising her without religious input until she is of an age where she can understand it.

The only school I would be happy with right now is the Steiner school, which is over 30 miles away and it's infeasible to send her somewhere of that distance.

So we have a dilemma. She so needs more interaction of a higher quality. On a daily basis. But how to get it without traipsing across the bloody countryside to groups that are not local? Every other development aspect she has exceeded in, way past her age range, but the need she has to have children who are on her level is great right now, and the activities she does do not fulfil this need.

When she plays with friends that are aged eight and nine, she blends in beautifully, and the age gap isn't noticed.

I feel like we're holding her back in massive proportions because she isn't getting what she needs and I don't want to damage her. But I don't want to send her somewhere that will damage her either, if that makes any sense at all. And I don't believe that sending her to an institution would solve any of her needs, and perhaps create other problems that we don't have right now.

Have any other home edders got extremely social little people too? How do you remedy the lack of daily company if you're not close to meet-ups? Has any one got any advice in our situation as right now, I feel like I am inadequate and on the road to affecting my little girl's future.

And the winner is...

The Yuletide pixie mysteriously forages into her magical hat for a name. Which is...

Emma!


Emma, whoever you are, hit the 'mail me' button on the side of my page and let me know your address so I can send you your shiny silver lady of the sea :)


Thanks everyone for commenting xxx

My Year in Status 2010

My year in status updates from a Facebook application - what a fabulous way to see how much whinging and whining one does. And how much one mentions cakey. I am not an addict. I am not an addict. I am not an addict...

Yule Giveaway!

A Cool Yule Giveaway!

With Yuletide nearly upon us, I thought it would be rather fabulous to have a little giveaway :)

Ocean Blue - a gorgeous hand-made, full-sized silver mermaid bookmark, measuring approximately 5 inches, ideal for a gift (or for yourself!).

Glass pearl and glass beads dangle from the end of this lovely's tail, complete with personalisation up to 6 characters, or a charm.

To be in with a chance of winning, leave me a comment and link my blog if you are able. One of the pretty pixies will draw the winner's name from a hat on Friday 10th December.

Have a great week folks :)

Claire 

xxxxx

Wool, wax and waning moon

Some gift crochet coasters - two bamboo and two 100% cotton. Silky and sheeny.

A personalised bookmark

Beeswax modelling clay: 

4 oz of beeswax

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 teaspoon of lanolin

Mix in an old tin can in some boiling water

 Turn out into a foil-lined shallow dish

 Wait until it dries (about 1 hour)

And cut into slices. You can add lavender or colour, although the smell of beeswax is just so heavenly, I couldn't ruin it by doing that!

And model and play. Saves spending all that money at Myriad ;)

And my charity shop bargain of £1 - a 47-year-old hand-painted plate with the Walter De La Mare poem Silver. It has a date of 1963 on the back and the name Alice Houseman. I thought it was quite appropriate due to the recent bright and huge moon we have seen. It was going to be a gift, but balls, I love it. Am keeping it. And you can't stop me.

Here is the beautiful poem in full:

Silver Slowly, silently, now the moon Walks the night in her silver shoon; This way, and that, she peers, and sees Silver fruit upon silver trees; One by one the casements catch Her beams beneath the silvery thatch; Couched in his kennel, like a log, With paws of silver sleeps the dog; From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep Of doves in silver feathered sleep A harvest mouse goes scampering by, With silver claws, and silver eye; And moveless fish in the water gleam, By silver reeds in a silver stream. Walter de la Mare

I have also added a daily moon phase chart if you don't have one already.