Wahoo Winklers

Mutlu Yıllar!

2009-11-06T10:07:00.003-07:00

(That's Happy Anniversary in Turkish) mom and dad! They married in Ankara, Turkey (dad was Airforce, mom was Civil Service) 45 years ago today. They had to have 2 ceremonies (one with Turkish officials, one with US, if I remember correctly...) so they actually have 2 anniversaries -- today and tomorrow. Double the fun!

This photo is them standing in front of the apartment they lived in when they were first married. They took a trip to Turkey with my brother Steve and his wife Linda last fall...good times!

We love you!

I'm a winner!

2009-11-05T22:42:00.010-07:00

So you know those people who always win raffles? Yeah, not me. I never win drawings. I mean, really. NEVER. I buy the raffle ticket(s) write down my name and contact info, and just forget about it.

OK, now that I really think about it, maybe I won a thing or two at one of the Life is Good Conferences, but then again it might have been Bret or Sabine or Vivian's names on the ticket...usually I stick with things that I can semi-control like silent auctions (out of my way, I have a pen and will use it!!!).

But as of tonight, I'm a winner! First, I got out of the house with minimal mommy-clinginess from Vivian. (Granted she was upstairs in the bath when I left and Bret was talking to her, so maybe I just didn't hear the screaming.) Then, after a blissful 15 minute drive where I got to blast the radio and sing loudly to the station of my choice without another soul in the mini-van asking me to pick up the water bottle that fell under my seat, or what snacks we have in the car, or telling sisters to please stop antagonizing each other (so, not every car ride is like that, but you know what I mean), I arrived at Bolt Fabric Store for Amy Karol's book signing for her newest work:

I just bought the book tonight, so I can't comment on it, but I'm thinking it's going to make me more than a little distracted from packing! Must...concentrate...on...filling...boxes!

I have had her first book

for several years, and have found much inspiration from it. While the projects and patterns are great, I think the best thing about it is the attitude that ANYONE can sew, and that there's no need to be perfect...It feels like you're working alongside one of those nice friends that is supportive/funny/kind and wickedly creative.

Did I mention how deliciously wonderful Bolt is? I found it a few years back during a visit to Portland when I bought another sewing book (Sew What Skirts) at Powells, and the cashier asked me if I'd been to Bolt (nope). I wrote down the name, and lo and behold it was down the street from the Community Cycling Center which was on Bret's to-see list, so it was a win-win.

(Confession, I still have the fabric, washed and everything, that I bought that day to sew a skirt from the book...fortunately, I still love the fabric, and really will make that skirt someday...)

Anyhow, we were talking about me being a winner, right? So the time for the drawing arrives (this is after I've asked Amy to sign my newly purchased second book, and my first book, found in the house out of its Dewey decimal order on the bedside table and we've had a nice chat...she's just like she comes across in her book -- very warm and sweet -- wait, that sounds like I'm describing a Krispy Kream donut...never mind...), and my name is drawn. Mine! Me! Wahoo!

This is what I won:

It says on the outside: This bag contains very important craft supplies and possibly some chocolate. Yes it did! Two packages of iron on fabric transfer paper, a copy of Bend the Rules Fabric (which I had Amy sign for Kat -- she needs a nice surprise, right?) two bundles of sweet fat quarters, a box of Amy's new label s (they have just the amount of sarcasm that I love!), and indeed, some chocolate (shhh, I didn't tell the girls, though Sabine read it on the bag...I tried to gloss over it...). It was such a nice treat to win, and just what I needed at the end of this week.

I also got to talk with several interesting women -- many of whom are teachers of classes at Bolt (did I mention that Bolt is about a mile from our new house?) And that they have not only an amazing fabric selection, but also some amazing classes? And there's a solar waffle cart across the street? Oh yeah.

Oh, and when I got home, Sabine presented me with this creation (the photo does not do it justice):

Bret has made some lovely little sculptures with copper wire (dog, cat, flowers...must take some photos...) and Sabine got a hold of a little wire, a bead and a button. Sweet little flower. Creating things is so wonderful, as is receiving things that have been created by hand.

All right, this ended up being a much longer blog post than I intended...but it may be the last one for a bit. Tell me to go back to packing if you see me here again in the upcoming weeks.

Goodbye...

2009-11-04T09:18:00.004-07:00

...sweet friend Catalina.

We had our mobile vet euthanize Catalina yesterday at 1:30 at home. She had been having a tough time off and on for the past few weeks (vet suspected cancer of the spleen, but figured x-rays may or may not confirm it, and at her age (2 months shy of 16 years) and in her condition, the x-rays might have had a negative impact on her health). As some of you know, she also went through a rough bout of vestibular syndrome this summer, when we thought it was the end.

Apparently, having "Cat" in her name made her think she had 9 lives. :)

She ate a chicken dinner on her last night, and Bret had slept with her on the floor a few nights before (when she was having a tough time...but she "bounced" up in the morning to have another coulpe of good days). She got to take a some good trips to the coast this summer, and always had a wag in her tail and an excitable bark. Espeically when playing in the sand. She will be missed, and joins many of her dog (and cat) friends beyond.

Interestingly enough, our mobile vet was also the vet for Cynthia Rylant when she lived in Portland, and he euthanized one of her old dogs. She is the author of Dog Heaven and Cat Heaven -- beautiful books about losing a pet -- and numerous other books. Now I just need to find where I put my copy of Dog Heaven...

Boo!

2009-11-02T20:09:00.009-07:00

Had a great time trick-or-treating with the girls -- last year I stayed home to eat, I mean pass out candy, but we only had 3 people come by (2 of which were our neighbors) so this year we all went out.

Ronnie was down here to take her girls to the teen-unschooler-portland-party, and so joined us for the evening of fun.

Made yummy easy veggie chowder (with butter instead of margarine) with bread from Little T, then remembered at about 4pm that we still had a few pumpkins to carve, so whipped them out...

(Bret's alien pumpkin)

Then put the finishing touches on Sabine's costume:

from here. (Worth every penny...we use this daily...)

Then facepainted Sabine:

And then took some photos of both girls with Catalina -- Vivian was a PIXIE, by the way, NOT a fairy. :) She picked out the costume at Goodwill (thank goodness...as she said it was itchy and wanted to cut the sleeve off of it when we got home...go for it girl!)

Here are a few of my favorite photos from the night...some folks went ALL OUT on decorations/costumes...very fun.

Not sure if you can see them very well, but I made treat bags for both of the girls from fabric they picked out (when we went to the fabric store to buy elastic to fix Vivian's wings...). Sabine spotted the zebra fabric, and we knew we had to do something with it (besides sew a zebra costume...that's what masking tape is for!) and Vivian picked out a very cute blue owl print. Just right for a pixie.

Sabine and Vivian have been generously sharing their "loot" with the grownups...we're all almost candied out. Bring on Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Carving Fun

2009-10-30T08:32:00.004-07:00

Must have been a fun party, as we forgot to take very many photos! But here are some of the jack-o-lanterns that were created.

Blue-Collar Brilliance

2009-10-21T09:28:00.002-06:00

Just read this interesting article in Utne -- it originally appeared in The American Scholar.

Blue-Collar Brilliance

Posted using ShareThis

Made me think about what kinds of knowledge is valued in our society, and how that impacts our perceptions of people's worth.

Great post from a list I'm on

2009-10-19T10:02:00.005-06:00

Apparently I've become a once or twice a month blogger...really, I hope to start posting more frequently, but we've just been doing other stuff!

I did want to share this post from the Unschooling Basics Yahoo Group. A parent was asking about how unschooled kids learn anything...but especially subjects like math. The response is from from Joyce Fetteroll whose webpage has a wealth of information on unschooling. (If you're reading, thanks for giving me permission to post this, Joyce!)

***

To add to Meredith's great post, I think when nonunschoolers read
about what unschoolers do it sounds like we're trying to impose some
airy fairy theory on kids, denying them the hard but good-for-them
medicine of disciplined learning and replacing it with something
gentle and nice, but that, from the outside, looks totally
ineffective. Unschooling seems to be a way of avoiding being mean to
the kids but will ultimately leave them unlearned.

[emphasis mine] But the truth is that what kids learn in school is *made* hard to learn. Not because educators are mean ;-) but because they need to demonstrate that specific learning is taking place. In order to prove learning, they are limited in the methods that yield something testable. Unfortunately the natural way we -- and all animals -- learn is scatter shot. We pick up bits and pieces here and there as we need them. We naturally learn to grow our understanding. It's very very hard to test for understanding (especially since we don't approach understanding linearly). (And very very hard to grade!) That's why most tests test for what's been memorized.

Learning is sort of like assembling a jigsaw puzzle. We naturally
work on the areas that interest us that expand and grow to meet up
with other areas of interest. And we jump around. At first the puzzle
often just looks like bigger pieces of chaos. ;-)

In school, the kids are told what they're going to make and told to
find the corner piece and place it in the corner. Then the next piece
that attaches to it. Then the next piece that attaches to it.

If the two puzzles were tested against school standards: how many of
the upper left is done, the schooled puzzle worker might have a
several dozen pieces in the corner. The natural puzzle worker might
have two. But what would be missed by a standardized test is all the
*other* pieces the natural puzzle worker had assembled. And, while
the schooled puzzle assembler might test well, they aren't learning
ways to tackle a jigsaw puzzle. They *look* like they're
accomplishing something, but what they're learning is that doing
puzzles is hard and boring and pointless and left on their own it's
unlikely they'll finish it. The natural puzzle worker doesn't look
like they're accomplishing anything (judging by their progress in the
corner since that's *all* a standardized test can test) but they're
having fun and the real accomplishment is happening far from the
testing area. And if they enjoy it, they're likely to do many puzzles
in their life.

School is to natural learning as Spanish class is to picking up
language as a child. One is hard and pretty much ineffective after
class is done. The other is effortless and effective. The second is
so effortless that we don't even take it seriously. We just know it's
something mysterious that happens and has no relationship to anything
else.

But it does! That's how we are designed to learn! It's messy. Chaotic
natural learning is very frustrating for someone who wants feedback
that specific learning is taking place. If there had been a
standardized test of language acquisition in 18 month olds, a typical
question would be pronouncing their name. My daughter would have
failed. A standardized test would *not* have asked how many dinosaur
names she knew ;-) (She had a shirt with 9 dinosaurs on it which she
could rattle off. She could say pachycephalosaurus before she could
say Kathryn ;-)

I'm betting that unless you're a history buff, that you've forgotten
way more history than you remember! The political doings of dead
white guys is really dull for most people. What most people find
interesting is bits of history of whatever interests them, social
history, how people lived in the past (movies and books are good for
that). As the build up that jigsaw puzzle, it eventually connects to
bits and pieces of political history.

My daughter probably knows more about early 1900s America than I do
because she's been fascinated by early baseball and has read several
books about it. One of her favorite guitarists was dressed as a
gangster in a video and that sparked an interest in gangsters. We're
reading a book about gangsters in film and it's starting way back
with the beginning of real gangsters and prohibition and the politics
surrounding it.

Is that the same as slogging through a history course? Absolutely
not. In some ways it's inferior since it doesn't cover the
"important" stuff. But how much of the "important" stuff do most
people remember? In many ways it's superior. My daughter really knows
the information she's read about early baseball. She hasn't just
memorized it. She knows the whys and wherefores. She knows some of
the social and political history that influenced what happened.
That's a foundation she'll build on throughout life.

The thing is educators get to say "We did our job. We put the
information in there. Not our fault if they don't remember it 10
years later." But *shouldn't* part of their job to be to make those
12 years time well spent? The "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader"
is pretty telling. But it doesn't tell what it supposedly does: that
5th graders are smarter than adults. It says that great huge chunks
of that stuff you put up with learning for 12 years is going to be
gone by the time you're an adult.

Yet how many adults can still recite the theme song to Gilligan's
Island? ;-) Some think it means we're naturally drawn to trivial
entertainment and must be made to learn the hard stuff. No, what it
really means is that if it's fun and *personally meaningful* we'll
remember.

> I mean, how will the kids learn math? You know, adding,
> subtracting, multiplication?? What about language? How will they
> know what to capitalize or the correct punctuation?
>

I know, it's hard to imagine. But they do. We are natural puzzle
solvers. We want to understand how things work. We want to master
what we enjoy. We don't necessarily want to know how things work on
someone else's schedule, though!

Just because an unschooled kid might not be using standard
punctuation and capitalization when schooled kids are doesn't mean
they don't care. It means it's not important to them. Yet. Mostly
kids are writing for themselves. *At that age* they don't need to
communicate to someone else so all that's important to them is
getting the thoughts down onto paper or screen. (It might be a story.
It might be a label.) Translating thoughts to words is important part
of writing. (And the part that's hard to test! Testing grammar and
punctuation is easy and why its made more important in school than it
really is.) Later, when they're communicating with others (and trying
to read others' communications) on message boards and email and so
on, they'll feel the difference between standard grammar and
creative. Reading a novel in chat speak might be interesting once but
it would be pretty obvious how limiting it is for meatier
communication! ;-) (But writing out thoughts formally on a text
screen is equally limiting! Each has their uses.)

It's really really really hard to imagine how kids can learn math
merely by using it. As an engineer I was certain you couldn't learn
math without hours and hours of practice. I was wrong. I didn't learn
math so much as practice applying formulas. I didn't really
understand what lay beneath the formulas because it was obscured by
the tedium of getting the precise answer to the 3rd decimal point. My
daughter, though, understands *how* numbers work. She understands
their fluid nature and how they're manipulated. The notation just
formalizes what she intuitively understands.

I've written a fair amount about math and reading and grammar (and
lots on chores!) at:
http://joyfullyrejoycing.com/

Also two articles that might help you understand why school makes so
much sense and why it's so hard to grasp why unschooling is better are:

Products of Education
http://sandradodd.com/joyce/products

Why You Can't Let Go
http://sandradodd.com/joyce/talk

Joyce

Lego house...

2009-09-28T12:44:00.000-06:00

Sabine's is below. James May's is here.

Our new horsey

2009-09-28T12:40:00.004-06:00

So our first Portland Horse Project pony got stolen...we thought about putting up a sign that read "We're from Wyoming. We hang horse thieves" but then thought better of it...Instead, Bret went to the hardware store and bought steel cable. This one's stayed...so far.

What we've been doing...

2009-08-11T16:02:00.014-06:00

...instead of blogging...

Lots of pattern block designing...

Visiting with friends young (little Eileen Cunningham-Maloney, or is Maloney-Cunningham???)...

...and old (well, compared to Sabine and Vivian)...that's Chloe on the couch (younger daughter of Frank and Ronnie, they and their elder daughter MJ came down the following day), Seth (token boy...) and Qaci (daughter of Zenmomma and Jon) all came to town to see the CSI Exhibit at OMSI, and other Portland delights! Vivian and Sabine were delighted with having teens (and other grown ups) around, as were we!

Building with Kapla Blocks (marbles make a nice addition)...

Keeping cool during the heat wave (Bret's birthday canoe made a really nice (if expensive) wading pool, but at least we didn't need to run out and buy a wading pool!)...

Finding scores like this one at Goodwill ($8!, but we did have to spend $7 on mallots...but it's an amazing instrument -- has beautiful tone!)...

And finding/tying up just the right pony for the Portland Horse Project. (We have a ring in front of our house)...

I like this one because it shows not only Cicso (friendly neighborhood ambassador cat) but the chalk board where we were writing/reading words (and drawing pictures) with Sabine.

Oh, and I almost forgot -- saw the Indigo Girls in concert at the Oregon Zoo...an amazing evening, made even nicer by Dave's offer to babysit so Bret and I could go sans-children...Zenmomma was in town the night before to hear a speaker, and we talked her into going with us. Very fun!

Photo credit here, since I didn't even bring our camera with us to the concert!

Now we're making plans for the fall (including DoJump Classes for Sabine and Vivian), playdate swaps with homeschooling friends, park days, OMSI visits, and more...stay tuned!

Visiting the Groves in Kentucky

2009-06-18T13:47:00.001-06:00

The girls and I had a great time in Kentucky with Granny Jean, Boopy and Uncle Turk (aka Austin).

Vivian presents (little) Clifford.

Granny Jean and Vivian.

Uncle Turk with Clifford, that's his dog The Dude's dark brown head at the bottom of the photo. Apparently I didn't take any photos of Boopy with my camera, except this one of his elbow. Sorry dad!

Grandpa Jack's visit

2009-06-18T13:34:00.001-06:00

Sabine with Anna and Grandpa Jack

Using Bret's new (birthday present from Jack and brother Kevin) fishing rod to...fly kites in the backyard. Love multi-use presents...

Vivian and Sabine enjoyed going through the box of hats and other treats brought by Grandpa Jack.

LIFE was Good!

2009-06-18T12:57:00.001-06:00

Somehow...we forgot to take our camera out until the last 24 hours of the conference...these are from the final picnic at Esther Short Park and the Barefoot Boogie the night before...good times were had by all!

Oh...and blocks

2009-06-18T12:37:00.002-06:00

The girls often are doing other things while watching TV...

A few favorite toys...

2009-06-18T12:33:00.003-06:00

This is what else we were doing in the busy month of May...

Connectagons from Magic Cabin

Kapla blocks...

and Wedgits...(found a full BIG set at Goodwill this winter...score!)

Music nights

2009-06-18T11:22:00.001-06:00

We spent many nights (and one brunch) in April and May with new-found musical friends...These photos were from a dinner party we had...

LOVE little Ben with his 1/2 size banjo (and tie dye shirt)

Not the best photo, but you can get an idea of the parties here...

And Sabine, helping Daddy on the bass...

We're Back!

2009-06-18T10:36:00.002-06:00

It's been a long time since posting...I know...it's been about equally long since I went to Jazzercize (stop laughing...it's a good work out! They've even sent me 2 postcards to entice me to come back...which I plan on doing once I get rid of this pesky, lingering cough).

So...what have we been doing?

May was a whirlwind of fun with visits from Kristin, Al and Acacia (from Jackson, WY), Margareta, Hamish and Fenna from BC, Canada, traveling across the river to Vancouver, WA for the wonderful Life is Good conference, then welcoming Bret's dad (Grandpa Jack) for a visit to Portland, and finally a trip to Murray, KY to visit Grannie Jean and Boopy (my parents)...the girls and I actually flew there on Sat, May 30...so that was only 2 days in May...but it still capped off a busy month! Bret joined us in St Louis to see 2 of my brothers/sister-in-laws for the second week of June, but more about that later.

This is the puzzle Kristin and I completed during their visit...Al was re-reading the Harry Potter series (in reverse -- which inspired us to start reading it (not in reverse) to Sabine, who's loving it).

And some random kid creations that I found on the camera.

We're here!

2009-05-21T09:35:00.004-06:00

At the Life is Good Conference!

Below is the raffle basket we brought of Anne and Pete Sibley's music (3 CDs and songbook -- thanks Anne and Pete for donating a copy of your new release and your songbook!). I found the very cool old-timey tin at Goodwill last week...perfect!

We're enjoying catching up with old friends...and looking forward to making new ones...

Pink snow

2009-05-16T19:08:00.002-06:00

(Not to be confused with that yellow snow in Wyoming!)

I'm glad I took some photos of the trees when in full bloom, because they didn't last long. This is actually from a few weeks ago -- they're now all full green.

We're saving the world!

2009-04-28T11:06:00.001-06:00

Love this article...it's from a Canadian, eh? Read the whole thing here.

Unschooling, by contrast, starts with the realization that you 'own' your time, and have the opportunity and responsibility to use it in ways that are meaningful and stimulating for you. When you have this opportunity, you just naturally learn a great deal, about things you care about, things that will inevitably be useful to you in making a life and a living. Your learning environment is the whole world, and you learn what and when you want, undirected by curricula, textbooks, alarm clocks and school bells. You develop deep peer relationships around areas of common interest, once you're allowed to explore and discover what those areas of interest are. And the Internet and online gaming allow you to make those relationships anywhere in the world, to draw on the brightest experts on the planet, and to communicate powerfully with like-minded, curious people of every age, culture and ideology.

Anti-anti coloring books

2009-04-28T10:10:00.002-06:00

Growing up, I remember my mom getting us the Anti Coloring Books -- they're still around -- and even have a web page. From said page, Anti Coloring Books:

Allow children to be creative, not just robots coloring inside the lines.
These books let children use their imaginations:

exciting motivation is provided
a scene is set
children get to put on their thinking caps
exercise their imaginations
and turn on their critical thinking

Most of all they have fun!

I haven't gotten any of them for Sabine or Vivian yet, but Bret often brings home (non-confidential) recycle paper from the office...which we sometimes use for printing, but occasionally Sabine turns them into coloring pages...

Have you ever seen a prettier MANHOLE COVER?

And I think the Portland lady looks just lovely...

What's not to love?

2009-04-28T10:07:00.001-06:00

Above is the view out our front living room window...

And this is out the dining room window (there are two other windows on either side...so it's actually a bigger view of the gorgeous trees...but I liked how this one was "framed")...

Another pink tree in our neighbor's yard just started blooming, and the apple tree in our back yard is now white-blossom-covered. Wow. Be-you-ti-ful.

The Madsen ad

2009-04-28T10:01:00.004-06:00

In case you're wondering...the Madsen banner that is at the top of my blog right now is for a contest to win a free Madsen bike on July 15...they're a new company based out of Salt Lake City. I actually took one for a test ride last week with Vivian and Sabine in tow -- I was amazed how well it handled. And it looked like you could haul some serious stuff with it (and it's pretty!!!). Maybe someday one will be in our world.

From Jeff Sabo...

2009-04-22T13:22:00.003-06:00

...unschooling dad extraordinaire...this is from the middle of his (long but well worth reading) post entitled: "Great" Expectations. The post is directed towards dads, but I think it applies to everyone...

But here's the creepy thing; I think we actually have more control when we unschool than if we don't. We like to think we can control things like what a child learns, what job they have, how happy they are, how healthy they are. We infuse our children constantly with what our expectations of them are. And then we send them to off to school, where we have no control over what they learn; we send them off to college, where we have no control over the direction their lives will take; we control what they eat in our house, where they only spend 20% of their waking hours; and we control what activities they participate in in pursuit of happiness. What we do not do is give them the trust and tools they need to make their own choices and set their own course, thereby putting them in the exact same position as we were once in - unsure, fearful, with the parent's definition of happiness and success. And then, when they become parents, they'll have to start at the top of this page and read the whole damned blog just to catch up. We create the illusion of control for ourselves and our children, and then we use it to build a house of cards that we pray won't fall down until the kids are too distracted to notice.

I love it...the whole control thing really hits home. And how we really can't MAKE our kids be/do/say anything. They are their own people, even if they aren't "allowed" to be them until they're "grown up" and making their own choices.

Thanks, Jeff, for the inspiration.

More canoe play...

2009-04-19T21:00:00.002-06:00

This is from Kat and Marley's visit for Handmade Nation...(I'm linking to Kat's post, as it's likely I'll never get my post on that done... :) )

The girls are playing on a slack line (don't worry, they don't walk on top of it...) Bret improvised with our hammock stand...we got rid of our (rotten) hammock when we moved, but kept the nifty metal stand...

And a few photos of the under-represented 2nd child.