What I will miss most

 That perhaps seems like an odd title since I have not been on here for awhile. Am I doing Celosia School? What has been happening? Why will I miss it? Let me fill you in.

When the first COVID lockdown hit Washington State in March, my kids, my husband, and I suddenly found ourselves at home. The kids' school was scrambling to find a way to do school online, and I had my own troubles with converting to online college. On top of all this, a week in, I found out that my father was dying from cancer that had spread to his brain. He had been declining for the last year or so, but he went to the hospital on March 26 for stroke-like symptoms, and then he was dead on April 6, 2020.

My whole life fell apart. 

By the end of April, my crisis peaked and I knew something had to give. I withdrew from Chemistry, keeping just Precalculus I. I asked my mom to help me school the kids and we added in two little girls, who I will call Bunny and Ducky. Racoon, now 10, and Kitty, now 7, completed my first set of 4 students. Although just for a month or so, we had a lot of fun and managed to get through a bit of learning. The highlight was visiting Bunny and Ducky's baby bunnies.

Over the summer, I saw the writing on the wall and realized that public school would not be back in session in the fall. Raccoon has been at the same school since kindergarten. Although his school did the best they could, moving to online learning for fourth grade was very stressful for him, so after much angst, I decided to pull him to homeschool for the beginning of fifth grade. Kitty has been in and out of the same public school, sometimes there and sometimes homeschooling.

My mother is the hero of this version of Celosia School, coming along side me despite her grief and newfound widowhood and the mountain of paperwork and tasks that accompany the death of a spouse. She is a teacher extraordinaire, and with her at my side, I finally had the courage to take the leap into full-time schooling again. I call it Mini-School. We added in two more students for our second group of four. Bunny came but Ducky stayed home, so we added in another boy. After Christmas, we had a third cohort, with two boys joining us instead. 

It has been beautiful and hard and good.

And now it is evolving again into the next version of Celosia school. We have been doing 5th and 2nd, but our 5th is pausing while Raccoon tries public school again, which is opening up next week. We're doing a two week trial period and then we will decide where he stays for the rest of the year. 

I will miss seeing the boys reading their books, something we were just getting into. I will miss morning Table Time, which became Couch Time, and I will miss lighting each of their candles and watching them play. I won't miss the occasional disagreements and the pressure of being on all the time.

Dear Self,

Who would have guessed we'd be here now. Again. I am curious about what the future holds. Everything you wrote about Celosia School years ago is still true, and still sparked a fire in me when I read it again. Turns out most school names are already taken, but Celosia is unique, so we remain with that name. We are about to launch into a unit on Superstar/Superhero Academy. I'm excited. Now I'd better go because reading time is over.

Love,

Yourself

Brainstorming for Fall 2013

Tonight I am attending my first parent orientation night for Raccoon. He will be going to preschool twice a week for three hours a day. But after this year, my husband and I feel like homeschooling is still the best choice for him. With this in mind, I want to begin figuring out what works for him and what helps him learn.

I LOVE this post about following the lead of the child. One of Celosia's rules is: If it's not working, stop. I haven't even started school with Raccoon and I already feel like my natural teaching inclinations are not going to work. I need a better plan. When Raccoon's hunger to learn is not satisfied, we are all miserable.

So, first, a list of what he likes with ideas of how I could make it school-y:

* taking pictures (he evaluates and chooses what he likes and wants to display, vocabulary, composition, lighting)
* physical activity (following directions through an obstacle course, a walk in the woods, scavenger hunt with labels)
* videos (educational clips, Netflix profile)
* being read to (books, magazines)
* likes freestyle crafts (cutting, gluing, glitter, tape, materials)
* imaginary play (write and perform skits, mini-movies)
* writing in the sand
* sensory play
* social / emotional role play
* field trips with learning pages

I also need to come up with new ways to use what we have. And keeping Robin involved but safe is going to be challenging as well.

Welcome!



photo by J.M. Garg (Wikipedia)

Celosia School

Say what?! I picked the first letters from the 9 words that most describe my son (curious, energetic, likable/loving, observant, strong-willed/spirited, intense, active, bright) and using my handy anagram solver, came up with "sociable" or "celosia." Turns out that a celosia is a pretty amazing plant.

This fits us in so many ways:

* The name is derived from the Greek word κηλος (kelos), meaning "burned." As a follower of Jesus, I am being "refined by fire."

* It is versatile (medicine, nutrition, beauty), well-travelled, very productive, resistant to disease, thrives wherever it's planted, and it has the potential to change the world.

I also like that "celosia" looks a bit like "celestial." I'll probably say it see-LOW-sha to avoid sounding like "celoso" (jealous) in Spanish.

My son turned two years old today, but I have some questions about whether traditional school will ever be a good fit for him. So I added "For the Spirited" to our school's name, since any learning we do is going to be done on the go!


The picture behind the blog banner is by Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams (Wikipedia).

ETA: The title originally said Celosia School for the Spirited, then today, ten-ish years later (3/4/2021), I tried Celosia School for the Sociable since that describes Raccoon to a T. Neither one was as good as just Celosia School, so that is how I would like it to stand for posterity. I have changed anything else that I wrote that day... yet.  :)

ETA: popping back by first day of his sophomore year (8/27/2025) to tell my past self, guess what? He's in a traditional (prep!) school and doing well. Some bumps adjusting his freshman year, but he decided that this is definitely what he wants (for now.) He has a businessman mentor and that's helped a lot. Breathe, love. We are still here. Also, last year was the first time we saw a celosia plant for reals. Stunning. This year they were everywhere. A sign.