raising kids and raising hell

i’ve been thinking for a while of trying to get down on paper a family almanac of sorts.  a way to guide us through our year, a place to keep record of the days, the moons, the rain, the garden, the church year.  and this record would lend form to our homeschooling year, tying us to our history and our bioregion.  the list is in no wise complete.  but it will be soon, and if you’d like to see it, i’d be happy to share.  in the mean time here are a few quotes  and links that provided the inspiration for my almanac school idea.

on our kitchen table lies a large notebook with a hard cover, a spiral binding, and white pages.  it is always open.  anyone may write in it anytime, but we usually begin dinner, just before we join hands to give thanks for our meal, with a nod in its direction.  does anyone have any phenological observations to record?  Phenology, the study of the cyclical phenomena in the natural world, has become a family practice.  we are attempting to pay careful attention to the migrations of birds, the unfolding of leaves, the blooming of flowers, the arrivals of butterflies, the outbreaks of tent caterpillars, the singing of warblers, the nesting of crows (!), the cycles of weather, the night sky, the interplay of all these things about our household…

: Lyanda Lynn Haupt in Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent.  there is also an amazing chapter in her most recent book, Crow Planet, about becoming a naturalist.

…a lovely post about just such a notebook that Kimberlee and her children are keeping.

living through this cycle of festive events every year, one cannot help but learn that one should not just live one’s life or spend one’s life, but celebrate one’s life.

: Maria von Trapp (yes! that Maria!)

and a final link to Emmylou and Buddy Miller singing “Blackhawk,” the song that i stole this post’s title from.  of course, when i checked the lyric, i had remembered it not quite right.  it’s “raisin’ kids from raisin’ hell.”  just goes to show…

oh and go visit others at the Not Back to School Blog Hop!