Horses and life

The horses gotta eat. Homeschool thoughts.

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this moment multiplication

I have a friend who wants to homeschool, but is also scared of taking that step. I understand that. I have been there.

Atlas Educational writes about becoming the “guide” rather than the “teacher”. So many great ideas she has in that arena and her writing challenges us to start thinking about “schooling” differently in all facets. Every post she writes gets my wheels spinning and thinking. I love that blog.

When we first started to homeschool, I was nervous and insecure in some ways.

I clung to curriculum. Guides. Rythym. I read. I mean I READ devoured every homeschool, unschool, waldorf, everything-school book I could. I felt if I could gather as much knowledge as possible, we’d be ok.

Then, about a year in, I realized that we …were….ok. And I relaxed. I trusted. I started to break away from the curriculum, the PLAN.

We had fun.

horse multiplication 2

 

I saw my daughter learn. And I saw that she was self-driven.

I realized that I needed to be her GUIDE. Not necessarily her “teacher”. The role of teacher can be scary. The role of guide, not so much.

When I look back at our homeschooling, I see the times that I have LET GO and gone with where her passion, her interest, her drive takes her –those are the times.

The times, that she and I both feel inspired. And then the learning comes naturally. It can be scary. So in moments like that, I just breathe and then something happens… that reminds me that we’re okay and I’m guiding her in this beautiful life and she is excited to learn.

horse multiplication

Case in point, math scares me. But let’s be real, the horses gotta eat. We have to figure out how many bales of hay we need to order. And how much it will cost. My girl decided that she would pull out her toy horses. She woke up early one morning and took it upon herself to made little cut-out hay bales, put them all in a lovely pink feeding bucket…and we got to work. It ends up not being so scary afterall.

new homeschool

Writing Challenge: A moment that took my breath away

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wide open spacesTonya over at Fourth Generation Farmgirl hit me up with this writing challenge. Please check her blog out if you haven’t already. It is a fun and beautiful blog! This challenge spoke to me and looked fun, so here we go:

A moment that took my breath away. I just had one yesterday. As a matter of fact.

I volunteer at a facility for “riders with disabilities”. I help teach one day a week. I have a class of five children with varying disabilities (I like to call them alter-abilities). Anyways, my daughter and I do a lot of volunteer work at this riding center. We cross paths daily with all sorts of amazing people. Some may qualify for riding for physical disabilites, some for developmental, mental or otherwise disabilities. There is a large scope of people there. Well, anyways…my weekly class and the five kids in it had a party this week to celebrate the end of the riding session. Pizza and fun.

The moment that my breath was taken away was when my daughter, who is technically a “volunteer” (she goes and helps with cleaning stalls and little chores while I’m in the arena). Well, she sat down at the round table with my five students and she ate pizza, laughed, played, teased, helped and loved everyone of them. As if there was NOTHING DIFFERENT AT ALL ABOUT THEM. I realized in that moment, that there really was NOTHING DIFFERENT ABOUT THEM. And her little soul simply knew that. They were simply kids, she was simply with friends, and she was simply having fun at a party.

I saw, in that moment, all that was right in the world. That my daughter didn’t see the “differences”. That I had raised her in a world that didn’t see the “differences”. And that all of these beautiful six children blended into a group of fun and happy kids. Period. It was beautiful. It gave me hope for the world. It reminded me of what’s important. It reminded me that we are all one. We are all in this together.

It took my breath away.

final post

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Deep well 5

Final post of 3 in the saga:  History made. The end of May will be the one year anniversary of “Romance” joining our family. My daughter’s “dream horse”. Who gave her a run for her money. My little girl so desperately wanted one thing. To go out on the trail with her. Out of the arena, off the property. Out into the endless miles of open ranch land and mountains. Needless to say, it was slow in coming. Both girl and horse are timid, yet stubborn personalities. I admit, there were times that I thought this was just the wrong horse for her. We had those hard conversations about maybe finding something else for her. Well…

Deep well 4

I underestimated both…girl and horse. And I am reminded of what a horse can do for our soul, our character, our inner strength.

Deep well

Every therapeutic riding session I have ever instructed pales in comparison to what this baby girl has accomplished of her own free-will, desire, drive and commitment.

My friends, …”well-behaved women seldom make history”…and these two commited souls have gone down in my history book as heroes. It may be small in the scheme of the horrors, challenges  and hardships of the world, but it is huge in the heart of a small girl who now, I believe, can do and will do amazing things in this world. More importantly, she believes.

Thank you for reading through this little series of posts. I felt like both, she and I, needed it. And it offers a little celebration of sorts into the BIGGER WORLD out there.

part 2 of that history making

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Sahe join up 2I have chronicled a little bit here about my little girl’s struggles and fears with her horse, Romance.

She loves this horse with ALL of her heart and soul.

And she is timid and harbors some fear from a scary experience from a horse she rode prior to getting her own baby, Romance.

Romance is stubborn, challenging, diva-ish ….and yet still-I have reluctantly discovered- the perfect horse for my timid and sweet little girl.

We all have fears to work through. If we want it bad enough, we do it.

If we don’t want it, that’s okay. No one is forcing us to do things we don’t want to do.

I will never push her. But I will support her. I have always told her that she never has to do anything she truly doesn’t want to. BUT if she wants something, then she can’t let fear stop her. There’s a fine line there, isn’t there? Even for us adults. I know.

Sahe join up 4

I’ll tell ya. This little cowgirl wanted it. She has worked her cute little heart out. For horsey readers–she has round-penned, joined up, spent hours in her stall, trained, rode, loved, cried… For mommy, daddy, and otherwise readers–she has persevered in ways that many much older than her could never. It wasn’t always pretty, but it was always beautiful. As mom, I tried to guide, make sure she was safe and then –step back. Again, balancing the fine line. My little, timid, sweet girl was not always well-behaved in those moments with her horse. In the sense, that this cowgirl knew what she wanted and was going for it even with trepidation, nerves, fear, tears and telling mom to back off (in much sweeter words, I assure you, but same meaning). I discovered that she is strong in who she is. Big difference between being timid and soft-spoken and being strong and confident. What’s that saying…”never mistake kindness for weakness”…

Sahe join up 3

 

*final post on this back story to come 🙂

making history

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“Well behaved women seldom make history”

We did it

“Some history-making is intentional; much of it is accidental. People make history when they scale a mountain, ignite a bomb, or refuse to move to the back of the bus. But they also make history by keeping diaries, writing letters, or embroidering initials on linen sheets. History is a conversation and sometimes a shouting match between present and past, though often the voices we most want to hear are barely audible. People make history by passing on gossip, saving old records, and by naming rivers, mountains, and children. Some people leave only their bones, though bones too make a history when someone notices.”
― Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History

*more to come on the back story of this post 🙂