and I guess you´re tired from all those snowy pics I´m showing you these days...
but I´m not sure if I can stop showing off the wintersport paradise we moved to, when we moved here last year. You know, this hill is less than a five minute walk from our house...
It´s the same hill we spent our late autumn days on, our former "green house" (that´s how my twins call it).
bringing cookies and laughter and hot spiced grape juice, 
and with my family around (except for Eva, who was inside, playing the violin all day long because she got her new sheet book and is a freak), well, however, under the right circumstances, I can endure even winter.
Until we drag our sleighs home at dusk...
and warm our feet at the fan heater, like sort of a modern fireplace. And then we drink hot chocolate, that´s flowing here like water these days, and before going to sleep, we really, acually gather under the christmas tree,
where we sing, cuddle, play with the navity set, eat cookies, and then I tell goodnight stories. Every night. First one for all four of them, and then I carry the boys upstairs and read to the girls, several chapters. And, you know, afterwards I sew, while my husband prepares riddles and games as the daily advent calender treat. Sometimes I feel like I fell into some fictional story I never believed could ever be my life. And now it is.
Music. Oh, so much music floating around here. I´ve been playing with Eva all week long, and our repertoire of christmas songs is huge, but I´ll spare you.
The song I´ve been listening to most of the week is this one, but I think it sounds too desperate to match this post. So, todays music is this little gem:
Due to german laws, we are, unfortunately, no homeschool family. And I have to admit that I do like my children´s teachers. And we are certainly no creationists. But apart from this, we resemble them a lot. Well... we´re not sponsoring a Haitian... we´re sponsoring two Ethiopians. And we don´t have that van. I couldn´t drive it. But apart from that... that´s us :)
7 comments:
Fantastic photos! That sounds like us lately as well, lots of playing out in the snow, then warming up with hot chocolates, hot baths, snuggles and stories. Now that my older daughter is in school, she's asking questions about my leaving Poland and how I got to the US, so I feel like I am passing along family history with these chilly long winter nights, and I think... I might actually like it! I always hated winter before kids...
That vid kind of freaked me out.. They actually provide all the reasons because of which I am glad that Home Schooling is not allowed in Germany. :-)
Other than that... Great pics! Nice to see how you are doing :-)
Well... I guess it´s supposed to freak you out. That´s why the artist chose the Adams Family theme song :)
But really - what´s wrong about a family dedicating their life to raising tons of educated children? Giving to charities and eating healthy food, even when their neighbours think they´re strange? As for the creationism, I think we´re on the same page. And I see the advantages for increasing a child´s social abilities by sending it to a public school - to an extend. Thinking about the school we went to - was it really a healthy environment to develop social skills? And was it so far from creationism? I think not. In a comedian way, I think homeschooling families - not only this one, but many I keep contact with via web - do rock. They care about their kids, and they do what their heart desires and what they believe in, even if it means encountering daily debates and judgement. Not so far from other topics we discussed, don´t you think? :)
Well i do believe that our school actually did a good job preparing us for a life in this society ;-)We sure can debate if this society is a great one or not....
And actually this school made me kind of a scientist. My biology background was good enough to skip the first year of university without missing out on to much :-)
Maybe i am to much a socialist to put education in privat hands :-)
I am probably among the first to tell you that those families are mostly very cool. They usually are smart and emphazise education as well as social skils with raising their kids. Which actually is another problem. Pull those families out of public school and you are left with those that are called "bildungsfern" in germany. Same problem as with the increasing amount of expensive private schools...
Well, of course our school did a great job epuiping us intellectually. They gave me the ability to play any given song on a recorder, and, to an extend, they gave us the ability to lead this weird discussion in a language that isn´t even our mothertongue. And why were they able to do so? Because we were on top of a still existing system that puts the sorting hat on ten year olds (or, in my recent case, 8 year olds). Did we, in this sheltered place, meet "society"? Were there any immigrants that were not christians? I remember I got sent to the headmaster for refusing to take my confirmation at the age of fourteen, where I had to promise him I´d do so before taking my A-levels at that school. That was one reason I took my A-levels elsewhere.
I´m totally with you as for the socialism part, but I believe it´s an illusion anyway in our current school system.
And, on another note, the whole socialism thing completely steps back when it´s my daughter I have to decide for. I know I could do my part to changing this system by sending her to a different school I intend to send her to. But I can´t deny her chances to express my political opinion.
And because this system is as it is, I believe that denying parents to take their kids out of this system is just another cut of my rights.
If you really wanted the state to give all children equal chances - wouldn´t it be best to take them out of their families at the day of their birth? For some this might actually be the better option. It´s another question if controlling society through politics is possible at all. The older I become, the less I believe this is possible anyway, because, wonderfully, the human race is an uncontrollable force of nature, in all it´s different facettes.
Oh, I feel this is becoming a great debate that could take a lot of time :)
Hey there! Thanks for stopping by my blog and for the comment. You probably weren't serious about finding a guest like me, but i feel like I need to tell you that, if you were, you shouldn't unless you already know and trust someone. (I'm a worry wart as you can tell, and worry about people even when I don't know them personally. lol)
Cute family!
GOSH the pictures are amazing!!! LMAO, I love the little boy XD
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