Free Electricity Experiments

I was looking for some good electricity experiments for my daughter, and I came across some really great free videos from Supercharged Science. If you're doing electricity for science, this is worth checking out:

http://www.sciencelearningspace.com/members/go.php?r=11218&i=l14 

Drop me a line to let me know how you like them

Wordless Wednesday: Practicing Cursive

A Work In Progress

The Process Of Doubt

A year has come and gone since I'd begun this homeschooling/life learning journey, and at times it still feels as if I have not gained enough confidence in my ability to do this, in other words I still have doubt. Not long ago I read an article in Life Learning Magazine, and the writer, Marnie Black stated:

"Doubts are useful. They help us to consider, examine and re-examine our homeschooling and assess whether something needs to change." She also goes on to say, "I continue to climb my ladder of doubts. Old doubts are left behind, and new ones crop up all the time. I've come to accept that doubt is part of the journey, I just deal with it one rung at a time."

She refers to doubt as a ladder and that she deals with those doubtful feelings one rung at a time. Very good analogy, I thought, but not so easily done for me as I was wading through this powerful emotion accompanied by insecurity, fear, and anxiety. There was one consolation though, I wasn't alone in feeling doubt about this journey of life learning/homeschooling, that if I felt this way from time to time and Marnie Black has felt this way also, then there must be other life learning parents dealing with this issue of doubt too. There is a bit of comfort in that knowing that I am not alone, that I can relax.

Sometimes I feel that we haven't accomplished enough during the course of the day, or maybe I should have let her do a particular assignment for an hour instead of thirty minutes. Or, am I jumping in too much instead of allowing her go at her own pace, to learn what is interesting to her not what I think she should learn now. Isn't that why I took her out of the school system in the first place? Hadn't she suffered under that regime long enough?  Her mind was hardly ever in the classroom for more than a few minutes at a time, that always bothered the teachers. Each year I would hear from a teacher, "she's not focused, she daydreams all the time, or she just won't pay attention!" I wasn't defiance because she enjoyed going to school, I guess it was the technique, or just plain boredom. Whatever it was, I took her out of school so she would not have to be subjected to that kind of verbal torture, and here I find myself doing the same thing. Telling her to stay focused, have this done in thirty minutes, or you aren't paying attention. These are the terrifying voices from my childhood that tends to rear their ugly heads more often than I care to see them. That school-speak mentality. It's a struggle to keep them buried.

Once I get centered,  I realize that a power struggle is not necessary. With patience and guidance learning does happen. When I let go and allow her to learn, not force feed her lessons, she is full of surprises. Knowledge flows from her lips, research is done on a particular subject of interest, (she pays attention to details), and countless questions are being asked when we have our together time. Most of the time they are questions about my childhood and/or my life in general. She finds my life to be very interesting. I relax and flow knowing that I've made the best decision for us. I know that I made the decision from the space of love not desperation. I know that I'm not alone and that I never will be. Now, I don't stress the doubt, knowing that it's a check-in mechanism for me as I push steadfastly on this wonderful journey of life learning we have purposefully decided to embark. As I reflect i thanks for doubt for propelling me into my Goddess-Self of wisdom, security, patience and confidence. Yeah, I got this!



    

Wordless Wednesday: Happiness

A friend of hers gave her that stick about three years ago. Whenever she goes outside it goes with her.    

This is her favorite way to wear her hair. Crinkles!!  

Simple things like posing for the camera is a delight to her. Not to mention she's not camera shy either. LOL!  

What can I say? She a tween! 

In the words of Bobby McFarrin, "Don't Worry. Be Happy."

Fun Science Experiement

I'm always looking for decent hands-on science experiments to do with my daughter.  I came across this great project, and thought you'd appreciate it as much as I did. Your children build a miniature hovercraft out of an old CD and a water bottle - it's pretty cool.  Oh, it's totally free too.

Here's the link to it:

www.sciencelearningspace.com/members/go.php?r=11218&i=l16

 

Let me know what you think.

Supercharged Science

Get Your FREE Homeschool Science Guide With Over 30 Fun Experiments... And Your Kids Will Be So Jazzed They'll Be Begging You To Learn More! 


That headline is from the website of Supercharged Science and I found that statement to be true.  You see, I found this wonderful website and it has helped Nyasha (The Princess) and I with science. That's right , I said science, with some free, fun, science projects. You see, Nyasha loves science, (this is something that I discovered, only after her repeatedly telling me that she loves science), then I found this website where she can go to and do as many hands on science projects as she wants, and a lot of them are for free. Also. most of the supplies that you need for the projects are right in your home. That's a plus in itself.

Again, the website is called Supercharged Science. We've been using it for almost a year now, but just recently we've become e-Science members.The owners are Aurora & Jim Lipper, and they are committed to helping you help your child in the field of science, to make it less stressful for both you and your child(ren).

Go now and check out their website at:    http://www.superchargedscience.com/  you'll be glad you did.

Peace and Blessings,
Tangela

Doin' Laundry: The Incredible Clothesline

As a young girl  I have always enjoyed the wind and the sun on my face. It was always fun running up and down outside with my friends, playin' ball, tag, four square (remember that game?) or whatever we felt like doin' at the time. Wow, how time flies!

As a woman,  I find that I reverence the sun and the wind even more. There is something about your skin being kissed by the sun. It feels like Love. And the wind, the wind is like a full body hug, that at times feels like a massage or a sweet, sweet caress. Yeah I love myself some sun and wind. Now, that doesn't take anything away from the rain 'cuz the rain has it's place also. How else will the flowers grow and the fruit trees bare ripe plump fruit? Of course, I love the rain too, but just for now I'm gonna praises the wind and the sun 'cuz that's what I need to dry my clothes on the clothesline which is what I want to talk about.

I have had the honor of using both, a dryer and the clothesline and  I prefer the latter. Not only is it good for the environment but it is good for the clothes also. The clothes are fluffier. The color stays rich. The whites are whiter ( I sound like a commercial huh?) and the clothes, the clothes smell fresher. The clothes have been kissed by the sun and embraced by the wind. I know some of y'all are probably askin', who uses clotheslines these days? And my answer to that is people who care about and love nature. People who love the wind and the sun (like me). Probably, people who don't have a dryer. I am all of the above.

Once my clothes are finished in the washer, I head to the clothesline excitedly. Why? 'Cuz I'm outside in the sun and the wind. Oh, and I forgot to mention the grass. Ah grass. I miss all this grass. On the beach (Miami Beach, where I lived for 7 years), there was mostly concrete with splotches of grass and trees, but now that I'm back home with my Mom, grass, grass, grass! I love it! So I walk happily to the clothesline (sometimes barefoot), and begin hangin' up the clothes lovingly, happily, reverently, while the wind blows them wildly, which makes me even more happier. I know that my clothes are going to dry quickly, and most of  the wrinkles are going to come out of them which means I won't have too much ironing to do. Now, y'all gotta admit, that is a plus.

I watch my clothes flying in the wind from the window and I smile, I marvel at the site. I feel totally connect to Gaia and I salute her. Within an hour and a half or two my clothes are dry and ready to be folded and/or hung up. I smell the freshness of the clothes. I feel the warmth of them and I am completely satisfied.

 

Wordless Wednesday: We Fly Kites Year Round

Been Goin' Through Some Thangs Y'all

I've missed coming to the computer and gettin' it all out. I've missed talking to you, sharing with you, being with you. Ya see, I've been goin' through some thangs some good, some not so good,  but I have allowed all dem thangs (my problems, challenges, whatevea you wanna call 'em) to keep me away from y'all. I allowed it to stop me from communicating, from givin', from lovin', from bein'. I went into hidin'. What for? I don't know, shame I guess.Or was it pride. I don't know what it was, all I kno' is I really, really missed y'all. I really, really missed ME.

It seemed that I just could not keep my head above water, every time I came up for air I was back down again (stayin' down longer than I wanted to), tryin' to get another breath of air. I felt defeated emotionally, super stress out  mentally, and confused spiritually. I began to whine, "why does this have to be so hard?", "why me?", "what have I done to deserve this?" and on and on and on. I whined so much I got tired of hearing myself. Then those friends call that help fuel the fire 'cause they in the same boat they looking for somebody to join their pity party. I join right in tell I had to tell myself "wait a minute, you are where you are because it is where you need to be. There is a lesson to be learned here learn it and move on. The key is learning it. Sometimes we move on before learning the lesson because we don't want to, because the lesson is too hard, too unbearable, too messy. Well, as I learned a long time ago if you don't learn the lesson it will show up again until you have learned it. It shows up in many disguises but it is the same lesson if you look at it closely you will see.

So now I've moved us off the beach back to the mainland with my Mama in the house that I grew up in. I'm still trying' to get adjusted but I am so happy to be here. Though I do miss the water on Miami Beach, on the  mainland there are trees and grass, less concrete. Now I can walk barefoot all the time!! My Mom's yard is plush like a golf course only better. The down side is that she fertilizes the grass much too often (for my taste) so I can't roll around in it nor can I plant any food but otherwise I am sooooo lovin' this!! I'm around old friends and neighbors which has a sense of community, the village atmosphere which is great for Nyasha. She loves it here as well. She was excited to move with grandma 'cause she enjoys nature also. Grandma has a big backyard for her to play in and explore. Our next step is to find activities for Nyasha in this area to participate in and also so that she can make new friends before she starts feeling too lonely.

Yeah y'all, I've started all over again. The Universe has given me another chance to do it all over again until I get the lesson, until I don't feel pressure, uncomfortable or unlovable (yeah y'all I got issues) LOL!! I've gotta pass this class 'cause I have failed so many times LOL!! Not only that, well yeah it is that, but I'm also tired of skippin' this class y'all, I gotta face it, I gotta embrace it, so that I can move on with my life.

That's 'bout it for now. Will be chattin' wit y'all real soon.

Infinite Love and Gratitude,
Tangela  

 

Wordless Wednesday: Bracelets Made With Love

The Novice Unschooler

Greetings Family!!

I want to start out by saying I apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused you. You see, I changed the name of my blog You Me And The Goddess and did not inform you prior to the change. I changed the name because I wanted the title to be aligned with the subject matter which in unschooling. You Me And The Goddess did not do that, you wasn't sure what it was about 'til you got to the blog, (if you decided to go there in the first place), so I decided to change the name so that folks will know what to expect (kinda) when they get here. Also, for me, it helps me to stay focused on the subject matter as well ('cause I tend to veer off track from time to time).

Since I'm not internet savvy (I'm a novice at that too), I will have to go to my individual social networks and change it that way. That's the only way I know how to do it (I'm a newbie remember), so that might take some time. When looking at the blog I noticed that my followers seem to be in tact, but as far as my subscribers, looks like you  gon' have'ta re-subscribe. Please re-subscribe to this blog so that you can continue to recieve them in your email.

Please feel free to leave comments to this post as I know some of you can show me a better way to get the word out, or you can just tell me what a ____________(fill in the blank) I was to change my name in the first place without lettin' y'all know. LOL! I know y'all won't do that, but I'd like to know what y'all think okay? Show me some LOVE family!!

I humbly give thanks in advance and I'm looking forward to connecting with y'all via "The Novice Unschooler" www.noviceunschooler.blogspot.com  blog very soon.

Infinite Love and Gratitude!
Tangela

  

Health Issues

We were quiet this weekend 'cause Nyasha wasn't feeling well. She's still recovering today. You see, Nyasha has asthma, and as active as she is, sometimes it does get her down. It comes when we least expect it. We still don't know exactly what triggers it but it's a combination of things like dust, mold, dogs, cats, chemicals, cigarette smoke, weather, etc. We're working on it wholisticly as well as traditionally.  I think this attack was brought on by dust which left her feeling  "ill" (as she says) and lethargic with not much of an appetite, 'cause honey let me tell ya, that chile can eat .

This dust situation, I know I know, I'll dust more often especially places where she comes in constant contact. I don't store things under the bed anymore 'cause of the dust build up and I sweep and mop under there often. I'm gonna do better 'cause I hate to see her suffering. The dust that she came in contact with was on the shelf that held the videos that she was watching earlier that day, by the evening she was telling me that her chest was hurting. It brought her to tears. I felt her pain. I almost in tears myself but I had to keep my composure. She gave herself a treatment to relieve the pain. Eventually the pain subsided.

So we laid around most of Saturday. I had to finish washing clothes so I did that in between lying 'round with Nyasha. We watched videos most of the day. By the time Sunday rolled around she felt better and as the day went on she got even better. That in turn made me feel better.

This morning, she's playing quietly with her Littlest Pet Shop toys. She hasn't eaten breakfast yet but her Spirit is uplifted. She's much better than the other day, she even looks better! There will be no beach today and she's okay with that.

Wordless Wednesday: Kite Flyin'

Life Is A Beach! Part 2

Today it's scorchin' hot, it's a whoppin' 92 degrees. We woke up too late this morning to make our trip to the beach, but these are scenes from the other day. We may go to the beach later in the day, but for now it's too, too hot. With that heat comes humidity which makes it even hotter. Nyasha was outside earlier practicing catching a ball with a baseball mitt and she stayed outside for about 15 minutes or so, when she came back in she was drenched in sweat. That's what humidity will do. She did not stay out there long.

I told y'all that we decided that we were going to be "beach bums" this summer, and so far I'd say we've done a pretty good job at it. Well, at least we are taking full advantage of the fact that we live four or five blocks away. When I worked outside the home, we (or should I say ), I did not have the time to enjoy this beauty-full wonder that the Mother has bestowed upon us, 'cause there were other things that needed to be done that were more important, (so I thought), and that lifestyle did not afford me to do so. In other words I just didn't make the time. Even though I knew how much Nyasha enjoyed the beach, I felt that the neighborhood pool would suffice. It did, only for a while.

This unschooling journey has taught me to "be in the moment", to trust Nyasha (getting better at it), trust myself (which I'm still workin' on, y'all I got issues),  and it's taught me to go wherever the learning takes us. Which, by the way, is anywhere our hearts desire. That's why we decided to make the beach a part of our daily living, to go there, and "be" like it's second nature. I'm becoming more in tuned to that. I'm learning to "just be".

Being, and not doing feels great! It's the remembering that's the hardest part. The knowing when and how, that makes it extremely challenging.  But,we humans make things so difficult don't we? I'ts really simple, all we have to do is just do it. When I follow Nyasha's lead it's easy.

I'm grateful to have Nyasha in my life, she brings so much insight, beauty, joy delight, pleasure, happiness, clarity, smiles, serendipity, wonder, spontaneity and lots and lots of unconditional love into my otherwise drab life. I find myself constantly learning about myself, about my life, about just about everything.

So, life is truly a beach, then you evolve.
Blessed Love!

The Mold Experiment

Nyasha did a mold experiment a few weeks ago to find out in what conditions do mold grow. We needed three slices of bread and three ziploc bags for the experiment. This experiment can be found on www.education.com. Each of the slices of bread were placed in the ziploc bags and placed in different areas of the house. In a sunny area. In the refrigerator. In a dark area with a little water on the slice of bread. Here are the results:

Placed in a sunny area

In the refrigerator

 Placed in a dark area with a little water inside

Within one weeks time,  the slice of bread that was placed in a dark area had begun to mold. In two week it looked like the photo above.  Nyasha's hypothesis stated that the slice of bread in the refrigerator would mold faster than the other slices. I know it's hard to believe, but sometimes she is wrong.  This was one of those times. She enjoyed doing the experiment and religiously checked her slices every morning to see if any mold had arrived. Surprisingly the other two slices of bread did not mold at all. 

Since we're vegan we don't eat white bread so we used wheat and spelt. I'm curious to find out if  white bread will mold faster than wheat or spelt. My hypothesis is that white bread molds faster than spelt or wheat. Nyasha and I are gonna do another mold experiment with white bread and wheat or spelt bread at a later date, just as soon as I  get up the nerve to borrow a slice of white bread from one of my neighbors.

Infinite Love and Gratitude to you all!

Pinwheels In Pajamas

It had been raining all day on sunny Miami Beach on this particular day, but that didn't stop Nyasha from keeping herself entertained while I worked on my new business venture (I don't know if I told y'all I found a direct sales business that I decided to try, more on that later). This day in particular, Nyasha stayed in her pajamas all day.  We both get like that sometimes where we lounge around all day in our pj's,  and read or watch movies all day. On these pajama days we also eat junk food, chips, veggie patties, popcorn, toast cheese sandwiches, anything that does not require me stand at the stove. This day, in her pj's, she decided, that she would make pinwheels. So she checked google for directions on "how to make pinwheels",  chose the one she wanted to make, checked to see if we had all the materials that she needed  (which wasn't much) and began to make her pinwheels.

I decided to join in the fun and made a pinwheel myself.  In an instant, that little activity took me back to my childhood,  in a time when I loved pinwheels (I had forgotten about how much I loved pinwheels). I always had  pinwheels especially in the summer. I remember making them, but I also remember my Mama buying them for me whenever I went to the store with her.  I'd ask her to buy me a pinwheel, she'd call me "a pain in the neck" and buy I for me anyway. Once I got home I'd take my myself and my pinwheel outside and blow and run until I tire myself out. That was fun!  Being transformed to my childhood helped me see Nyasha's delight in making the pinwheels and playing with them. I could overstand exactly how she was feeling at the time, which filled me with joy, fun, delight, and laughter. I also overstand the joy and simplicity in the life of Nyasha and all children and how they see beauty, fun and delight in everything. How the simplest of things make them happy. Yeah, I got all that from making one pinwheel. Amazing isn't it, how you can get so much out of so little.  

Wordless Wednesday: Friends & Family

Wordless Wednesday - Concentration