Ian and Sharon are music enthusiasts who also happen to be my parents:). I have a sense of music being part of my life from as far back as I can remember. It was part of our life in various ways, from records in the living room and 8- tracks (anybody remember those?) in my dad’s old van, to piano, guitar, accordion, and, for a while, a small organ, in the dining room to Christmas carols and concerts.

Clare and Caileigh are two sisters I met a few years ago when I was volunteering in the church nursery. They were just two. They recently had their birthdays and are seven! Like many children all over the world, their lives had an abrupt change the second week of March and everything from school and church to lessons and most outings came to a halt.

This week, Eileen has taken some time to answer my questions in written interview form.

Linda is someone I have had the pleasure of knowing in one way or another for almost two decades. I had the opportunity to get to know Linda through her daughter, Tiffany, who is my age, so I always enjoy talking to her in historical context because I can kind of relate to timelines from the perspective of how old Tiffany and I would have been, and also to Linda being part of my parents’ generation.

Sometimes it seems as if stories just need to be told. For me, I often notice a tidbit here and a snippet there about somebody and it piques my interest. At some point I become fascinated enough that I’d like to understand more. Specifically, there have been many glimpses of self-directed learning that seem to have crossed my path and I have become curious about the stories behind them.

One of the pieces that comes to mind when I think of home education is the benefit to communities. I’m not referring to homeschool communities themselves, either in-person or online (those are of  great value too, but intentional community happens within any number of places like schools, churches and more), but to the natural, physical communities people live in.

The interesting thing I’ve found about being Canadian is that there is an inherent sense of multi-culturalism, regardless of where you live or the make-up of your family. Never mind that Toronto, our largest city, is apparently the most multi-cultural city in the world (I’m always a bit skeptical of how things are measured but, for the moment, Wikipedia tells me it’s still so), with a varied history, we have a range of linguistic and cultural perspectives right across the country.

Is learning that is expressed through play still relevant as kids become older? Do we see differences in the way that “older kid” play is expressed depending on personality?

As I was writing about the personality of play, I started to have memories of the many a-ha moments over the years. These were times that the ideas, knowledge and skills that a child had, literally came bursting into their play.

Play is so important. It expands the horizons of a child’s world, builds competencies as they are ready, and allows them to try on new ways of being.

We noticed moments when there were beams of light and we could see the colour spectrum, sometimes distinctly, other times less so.

More than two decades ago, in the middle of a sunny morning, I sat in a bright, spacious room with fellow counselling students. We were about to begin an important therapy activity.

There are so many, so I’m thinking of ones that aren’t really obvious and/or so recent that they don’t need a mention (eg. Frozen or Harry Potter, for instance, although a couple of those types snuck in), but not so obscure that they’d be hard to find.

When my kids were younger, I delved into what was, for me, unknown territory – the world of mythology. My husband has a clear memory and understanding of a good bit of mythology from specific grades in school. I don’t. Not at all. I truly don’t believe I was ever introduced to mythology at school or perhaps it was a quick one week overview and I was home with strep throat or something. Maybe they popped up somewhere else in life, but short of recognizing a few names, I knew little.

Does it seem disrespectful to talk about the brighter moments of life during this pandemic? Part of me feels strange about it. Strange that while many are sick, dying, in financial distress and people in my own family and workplace are continuing to work in essential services, I’m even daring to look for those pockets. But I do. I kind of think we have to.

People the world over are finding themselves either together a whole lot more right now OR apart and not able to see each other in person. We, like most people, are in a combination of those situations. A few of us in our family are very much together right now, and there are others we’d been looking forward to seeing this week that we can’t get together with.

One week ago today, I was sitting in the study room of a library, with two text messages coming in simultaneously. One was from my oldest son letting me know about orientation for his new job starting Monday and his plans for balancing that with his final college classes/assignments this week.

There was a spot on the highway where, if we were heading east at just the right time, we might be able to see three trains on the three tracks running through the countryside at the same time.

Mmm … maple syrup. It’s a wonderful topping or ingredient and can make its way into almost any meal or snack. Pancakes, sausage, ham, ice cream sundaes – maple syrup can compliment many things. The list of things it can be an ingredient in is even larger. From baked beans and glazes to popcorn, butter tarts, muffins and cookies, maple syrup is versatile and delicious. The favourite foods to partner with maple syrup in our family are French toast or cornmeal muffins.

Imagine my surprise as I was wheeling my cart along in the grocery store one evening and ran into Ernie hanging out near the chicken broth.  I don’t think I’ve seen toys in this particular grocery store, let alone a lone Ernie amidst a container of Marvel superheroes.