Keeping Company ~ being companions. With each other and with friends in Wollongong.We shared a super lunch, home cooked, everything fresh and beyond delicious.
We visited the Kiama Blowhole; North Beach; the Minnamurra Rainforest.
We ate fish n chips at the beach. We walked a lot. We talked a lot. We laughed a lot. And I drank a lot - cocktails; too much wine at dinner.
The super thing about being away for a few days, away from the everydayness, from the myriad of things to do, is that we take ourselves along with us. Our jokes, our way of seeing connections, of learning, of seeing wit in both the new and in the ordinary.
The bad thing about being away for a few days is, no matter what, we still take ourselves with us - grumpiness, a need to fill a day with a million things, to plan a BBQ and a shopping list and a...
We also take with us our journals.
Our Once-In-A-Blue-Moon journals -the kids write in theirs only on holidays, or after special holiday events - perhaps Christmas with all the brothers? I write in mine sulum interdum - kinda, roughly, every now and then. (Nowadays I blog more than pencil and paper journal).
Taking our journals with us, on our occasional breaks from home, is a good thing. A very good thing.
We have a chance to reflect on our past entries. We joke. We guffaw. We smirk. We cringe. I surreptiously smudge away a tear , over some of the things we share from the past, from the years. The years of journaling.
We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand.- Cecil Day Lewis
We have an opportunity to work on writing style and on developing writing and drawing voices... Once-In-A-Blue-Moon journal writing goes past recording events. It it is a companion that supports but doesn't judge, a place of discovery and a creative playground. It can be a mundane list. It can be facts. Photos. Postcards. Sketches. And sometimes poetry.
She began back in the years of being a young wife and mother on a ranch. She kept them, not in a fancy little diary but in ledgers, little or even big spirals, anything that she could write in suited her just fine. ....She had glued, pasted, taped in newspaper and magazine articles and pictures that either pertained to her family or just interested her. She saved postage stamps, stickers, cards of every size, style and shape, letters, cartoons, poetry and her own personal entries. What a wonderful legacy for her family to have; when she is gone, to be able to go back and learn even more about her life from the time she was very young.
Barbara Gould; Journaling
Anthony shared a line or two from his last break in Wollongong. January 2009. How we visited Bluescope Steel and his earpiece was defective. He only heard half of the tour, yet told no one until the tour was over...We laughed!
These journals are A Good Thing because they count as schoolwork for we unschoolers. Yes, schoolwork on holiday!
The concept of a "communications triangle" of reading, writing, and discussing implies the need for a methodology whereby the teacher could stimulate the natural interaction of language uses in students to further linguistic development. Specifically, it implies the need for a method with which the teacher could connect reading and writing assignments to teach "the art of communicating" (Simpson, 1986).
As the cornerstone of such a communications method, student journals have proven simple, yet effective (see Bromley, 1993). ...As a result of this technique, the students practice listening and speaking--reciprocating in group discussion, and reading and writing critically--recognizing and evaluating their opinions and beliefs (Simpson, 1986). Effective use of Student Journal Writing
We write new facts. Like ~ The name Kiama is from the aboriginal word Kiaram-a, to which some sources give the meaning "Where the sea makes a noise"- a reference to the famous Kiama Blowhole.The first recorded reference to the district was by George Bass who anchored his 28ft whaleboat in the sheltered bay (now known as Kiama Harbour) in December 1797.
We write reflections - from my previous journal entry October 29, 2008.
Parenting.
Be what I wish my mother was.
Be as God is to me.
Positive.
Friendly.
Pray.
Not emotional.
And along the way
do what God wants me
to do ~ wife, mother, friend, helping others, using talents.
Do my job, be who I am and move on.
Keep in touch.
That's all.
And from my Once-In-A-Blue-Moon journal, Keeping Company in Wollongong, October 23 2009?
Food, family, friends, fun.
Prayer, pain, peace.
Silly, satisfying and sad.
These always go together, don't they?
Well, often.
We visited the Kiama Blowhole; North Beach; the Minnamurra Rainforest.
We ate fish n chips at the beach. We walked a lot. We talked a lot. We laughed a lot. And I drank a lot - cocktails; too much wine at dinner.
The super thing about being away for a few days, away from the everydayness, from the myriad of things to do, is that we take ourselves along with us. Our jokes, our way of seeing connections, of learning, of seeing wit in both the new and in the ordinary.
The bad thing about being away for a few days is, no matter what, we still take ourselves with us - grumpiness, a need to fill a day with a million things, to plan a BBQ and a shopping list and a...
We also take with us our journals.
Our Once-In-A-Blue-Moon journals -the kids write in theirs only on holidays, or after special holiday events - perhaps Christmas with all the brothers? I write in mine sulum interdum - kinda, roughly, every now and then. (Nowadays I blog more than pencil and paper journal).
Taking our journals with us, on our occasional breaks from home, is a good thing. A very good thing.
We have a chance to reflect on our past entries. We joke. We guffaw. We smirk. We cringe. I surreptiously smudge away a tear , over some of the things we share from the past, from the years. The years of journaling.
We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand.- Cecil Day Lewis
We have an opportunity to work on writing style and on developing writing and drawing voices... Once-In-A-Blue-Moon journal writing goes past recording events. It it is a companion that supports but doesn't judge, a place of discovery and a creative playground. It can be a mundane list. It can be facts. Photos. Postcards. Sketches. And sometimes poetry.
She began back in the years of being a young wife and mother on a ranch. She kept them, not in a fancy little diary but in ledgers, little or even big spirals, anything that she could write in suited her just fine. ....She had glued, pasted, taped in newspaper and magazine articles and pictures that either pertained to her family or just interested her. She saved postage stamps, stickers, cards of every size, style and shape, letters, cartoons, poetry and her own personal entries. What a wonderful legacy for her family to have; when she is gone, to be able to go back and learn even more about her life from the time she was very young.
Barbara Gould; Journaling
Anthony shared a line or two from his last break in Wollongong. January 2009. How we visited Bluescope Steel and his earpiece was defective. He only heard half of the tour, yet told no one until the tour was over...We laughed!
These journals are A Good Thing because they count as schoolwork for we unschoolers. Yes, schoolwork on holiday!
The concept of a "communications triangle" of reading, writing, and discussing implies the need for a methodology whereby the teacher could stimulate the natural interaction of language uses in students to further linguistic development. Specifically, it implies the need for a method with which the teacher could connect reading and writing assignments to teach "the art of communicating" (Simpson, 1986).
As the cornerstone of such a communications method, student journals have proven simple, yet effective (see Bromley, 1993). ...As a result of this technique, the students practice listening and speaking--reciprocating in group discussion, and reading and writing critically--recognizing and evaluating their opinions and beliefs (Simpson, 1986). Effective use of Student Journal Writing
We write new facts. Like ~ The name Kiama is from the aboriginal word Kiaram-a, to which some sources give the meaning "Where the sea makes a noise"- a reference to the famous Kiama Blowhole.The first recorded reference to the district was by George Bass who anchored his 28ft whaleboat in the sheltered bay (now known as Kiama Harbour) in December 1797.
We write reflections - from my previous journal entry October 29, 2008.
Parenting.
Be what I wish my mother was.
Be as God is to me.
Positive.
Friendly.
Pray.
Not emotional.
And along the way
do what God wants me
to do ~ wife, mother, friend, helping others, using talents.
Do my job, be who I am and move on.
Keep in touch.
That's all.
And from my Once-In-A-Blue-Moon journal, Keeping Company in Wollongong, October 23 2009?
Food, family, friends, fun.
Prayer, pain, peace.
Silly, satisfying and sad.
These always go together, don't they?
Well, often.
4 comments:
Looks like you all had an awesome time! Lots of laughter-smiles :) The parks look neat too. I just finished "In a Sunburned Country" by Bill Bryson-what an education about your country, now I want to come visit!
Love your feelings on unschooling :) God Bless! Helen
Oh, come and visit! :-)
Oh, Leonie,
Looks like a super time!!!
Leonie
Mu mil lives in Kiama! We've been to the blow hole, the little one too.
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