The Celosia Manifesto

Learn joyfully through play, imagination, and experience.

If it's not working, stop. Failure may be necessary.

Be in love. Teach from love. Love what we do.

Sometimes... don't stop. Create. Flow.

Everyone matters. Connect. Belong.

Jesus loves me. He also likes me. 

There is enough time. Let go.

Live today. Seize eternity.

Pray without ceasing.

Carpe Aeternitatum.

(I was inspired to write my own by the Holstee Manifesto.)

First Day of Preschool

This may seem like an odd post now that I am more convinced than ever that we will homeschool Raccoon for kindergarten. But my husband and I have officially decided to return to the country from whence we came, so we have a year to live it up in the U.S., Lord willing.

I've mentioned before that my mom teaches preschool and she's awesome. I saw the curriculum she has planned for this year, and folks, it's amazing. I want the best learning experiences possible for Raccoon, and I believe that this one is it for now. And as the Celosia Manifesto says (coming soon!!), "If it's not working, stop." Which is exactly what we'll do if it doesn't turn out to be a good thing after all.

But I'm pretty sure that he'll love it. And it's in the afternoon. As anyone who reads here knows, that is one of my selfish reasons to homeschool, no early mornings for this family. Sorry dear hubby (our one morning person).

Anyway, the point of this post is to share that today Raccoon, Robin, and I will be spending the afternoon at his school. With his high anxiety, the more we can talk about things ahead of time and prepare, the better off we are (most of the time). Having a visual for the both of us is best, so off we go today into the world of preschool. Stay tuned.

We're Back

Hello! Life has been chaotic in Celosia, so we haven't been doing much school. We have successfully moved countries and are settling into our new house. Thanks to my parents and their church, our home has a fully equipped playroom. There are shelves and workspaces enough to satisfy any Tot School mom, I dare say!

These are the things that I want to focus on for May and June:

Raccoon
1) Books
2) Imaginary Play
3) Outside Time

Robin
1) Belly Time
2) Sitting Time (currently propped up by pillows)
3) Bits (idea from How Smart Is Your Baby)
4) Books (simple pictures with high contrast, like Eric Carle's Brown Bear, Brown Bear...)
5) Outside Time

 

I opened up the cupboard today and found play-doh supplies galore!

 

 

"Batman" is putting stickers on paper attached to an easel in our new kitchen.

(I now own a child-size easel! I am so excited!!)

 

Raccoon has never liked trains or cars much, but he enjoyed this wooden set.

(This is in our new playroom, there is a whole wall of shelves!)

 

Here's Robin working on some sitting time and playing with her slippers.

 

 

Raccoon is 3.5 years old and Robin is 3 months old.

 

 

 

 

 

The Object of Education

...is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.

- Robert M. Hutchins

Raccoon will be attending preschool twice a week in the fall. I am wondering if I should continue doing Tot School on the other days, although technically he's not a tot anymore. I do plan on as many field trips as we can afford, to the aquarium, the zoo, the children's museums, etc. The quote above really is my goal for this next school year. I want to feed his love of learning so that he seeks out knowledge and wisdom his whole life long, while living a happy life.

"There will never be enough hours in a life to learn all that is available to modern man, nor is it worth the life that would be given in exchange. I need to put the knowledge beast on a diet. Knowledge may be power, but its price is a life well lived." Jen from Laughing at Chaos.


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.