{monday mission} read atypical books to your kids at bedtime

A great way to get more of your own books read is to incorporate them into your children's nighttime story time. Some of my favorite books over the last few years have been ones that were bedtime reading. 

We are now reading the above. It is an adult book about taking risks, getting uncomfortable, failing, and fully participating in life. My youngest is 9 and not only gets it, but gets really excited by the message and paraphrases it back to me. We call him mini Mama Scout. 

I think this concept can extend into other realms. What about a serious current science book or something by Malcolm Gladwell? Maybe a memoir or an old field guide (we like Jean-Henri Fabre). 

Scan your shelves or visit the library and see what sparks your interest. If you are moved by the text, your children will be too. 

to market, to market

This fall, my kids are participating in something new. Our midweek farmer's market has started a kids market. Kids are encourage to make and sell their creations. It is such a fabulous idea! 

Each week there are a handful of tables selling baked goods, artwork, duct tape creations, sculpty magnets and jewelry, sewn napkins, and more. My kids and their friends have fun thinking up projects to make, learning about marketing, pricing, customer service, and displays. They do all the work, from production to set up. I am there as back up and a resource but have fully handed the responsibility over to them. The motivation of making some cash has brought out their grit and entrepreneurship.

Honestly, it is a bit slow now because it is still so hot. But come cooler weather, I hope they are swimming in customers. 

Does your local farmer's market have something similar? If not, I have a feeling most would be receptive to the idea.

{writer's lab} zine making with kids

We have spent a lot of time the last few months making zines. Zines (short for magazine) are an inexpensive, alternative media that have been popular since the 1920's at least. Some might say that early pamphlet and booklet writers from the early days of the printing press were the first zinesters.

Typically, zines are hand written or typed, glued together, and photocopied. The accessible materials and publishing method have made it attractive to punks, skate culture and various fan fictions. The marginality lends zine writers a certain freedom in their creation. Since you are writing for a small audience and you can print issues as needed, the subject matter can be as arcane as you wish.

This highly specialized content makes zines perfect for kids to create. They can write about anything they want, include as many pages as they want, and distribute freely (or very cheaply) among their friends. 

I especially like that it is so much more physical than blogging or other online publishing methods (which I obviously love too). The actual writing, cutting, gluing, driving to the copy shop, copying, collating, folding, stapling or binding - all gift the zinester with the wonderful experience of actually participating in the entire process, in real time. I love that and think it is often missing in our lives. 

So are you ready to get started?

We started in our house with my zine making. I made a little zine for the Journal Jam lab I am running this summer. I made this because I wanted to send participants something real and tangible in the mail. I am smitten with real mail these days and this project was an extension of that passion. Making a zine was also on my TRY THIS list. 

So, the kids watched my process and then became interested in making zines themselves. They started making zine/workbooks for classes they were leading in our homeschool co op. My 8yo son, who is a big Keri Smith fan then branched out to making several zines of creativity prompts. 

We were also involved in a really cool, co op camp recently. One of my jobs was to create a zine of the experience. I had wanted to include the camp kids more but time was extremely limited. Instead, I listened for quotes, took notes and pictures, and included as much of the kids experience as possible.

The subject of your zine can be anything! It can be your poetry, recipes, journal entries, cartoons and art, fan based (My Little Pony, Lego, Harry Potter), open ended prompts, a story, tutorials and musings. Or all of it! 

You can write the whole thing yourself or ask your friends and family for submissions. 

 

Once you have a list of topics compiled and you have narrowed it down to one to start with, you....start!

Making a list of what you want to include in your zine is a good idea. 

I usually make a mock up first. That is just blank paper folded with page numbers and notes about what will go on each page. If you are doing front and back, folded 8.5x11 in paper, you might be surprised at how quickly it gets confusing. I constantly refer back to the master. 

Also, if you are going to do double sides pages, do them on individual pages and have the copy shop help you make a master from these. It is really impossible to draw, tape and write on both sides of paper and not have it bleed through to the other side. 

We like to use a wide variety of writing styles within the zine. I will print, write cursive, use fonts from the computer, utilize different markers, use a typewriter and find words from magazines. The variety can make the zine feel energized and alive or cluttered and hard to read, so work with finding the balance that you like.

Adding decorative touches is fun too. Rubber stamps, stickers, photographs, little drawings and my favorite, washi tape, can all photocopy in black and white nicely - so experiment and have fun.

When you have everything written, decorated, and organized, it is time to head to the copy shop. As much as I would like to do all the photocopying myself, I rely on help from the copy master. After talking with him, it was revealed to me that the copiers behind the counter have much better image quality that the ones used in self serve. The public copiers are all preset and have fewer options (this is at my copy shop - yours might be different). So, I work with the experts; they have been exceptionally helpful to my kids and myself.  Our runs usually range from 10-20 copies at a time.

Time to distribute. How will you share your work? We have given ours out to friends, sold them to friends, posted them on Etsy, and given them to community members. You might leave a few at the local coffee shop or in the periodical section of the library. You can send them to friends or even famous people in your content area. Comic shops and record stores might sell them or give them out too. It is up to you to think about where your potential readers might be. If you are a serious zine producer, you can list them on distribution sites, but we are far from that now.

Please leave resources and any experience you have had with zines in the comment section. If you produce a zine, drop me a line and I will gladly promote your work in whatever way I can. I would love to organize a kid zine swap at some point, so log your interest here and start writing and making!

a free gift for you :: Heart -Centred ebook (+ a peak at my essay)

Guess what? I have contributed to a new ebook titled Heart Centred Living with Intention, Grace and Growth edited by Deb Dane from Home Life Simplified. 19 essays, nearly 100 pages of mama essays about living the creative, self care filled, heart centered family life. 

You can download the free book here! Pop it on your reader and enjoy the essays when you have little bits of down time this season. 

Here is a peak at my submission

On the Runway

We are sitting by our neighborhood urban lake. There are as many birds, ducks and water fowl as there are cars rushing past and buildings full of dutiful workers.

A feather captures my attention as it floats by on the surface of the water. The contrast of the natural unfolding beauty of this place with the hectic pace of human activity always makes my gut lurch. The distance is so wide.

Suddenly,  geese from just around the bend charge us! There are nearly twenty of them running like a derailed locomotive, honking, wings outstretched far. Eva grabs our tiny dog and dives to me for safety. We look at the onslaught with mouths agape as the geese go around us like a river around an ancient boulder. They head into the road squawking and sounding like a chaotic brass horn band playing a cabaret song that has been unwound and spills from the sheet music. The sound, the song is immense.

"I wonder what they are doing?" I wonder out loud to no one in particular.   

"Mom, they are taking off and we are in their runway" my son answers.

"We are in their runway."

The words wash over me as powerfully as the birds had passed. As we all look at each other with eyes still wide, I thought, this is what I want for my kids. To always be on the runway, the place of action where dreams and ideas are taking flight.

I want them to either bear witness to the luminous action and explosive ideas around them or better yet, to be in the thick, messy nidus of it.  Always near the pulse of human (and animal) creative longing and making.  

The exhilaration of sitting near the flow of creative energy offers unparallelled motivation to engage and change the world. We need to be like dowsing rods, highly sensitive to the flow just beneath the surface. We have to look past the noise of the informational glut. To see under the celebrity and  commercial crust that surrounds us and seems impenetrable. Listen closely! We can hear all that us underneath. And we connect with other diviners and become the creators, not the consumers of our lives.

The thing is, the action is not always as cacophonous as a gaggle of geese. In fact, most times it is subtle and tiny and discreet.  My job is to encourage them to stop, look and then find a way to make sense of the experience,  through talking, writing or art/sense making . That is our curriculum. We spend our days lost in thought. Laying under trees. Reading. Looking under rocks. Wondering. Seeing shows. Asking. Making food. Talking to strangers. Getting lost. And then plotting our way back.

After the geese, we spend time watching an ant who fell off a twig into the lake.

Elliot says, "Oh no! My ant is drowning!" He scans the ground nearby looking for the materials to initiate a rescue. But then he sees that the ant is swimming. It is hard, slow work, but he is doing it. We all cheer for him as he climbs up onto a piece of floating duck weed.

“I had no idea ants could swim.” he whispers to no one in particular.

“Maybe we all have secret, hidden abilities that become accessible in certain situations.” I answer.

Maybe. Maybe we do not know what we are capable of until we see others struggling against their own limits.

Maybe the answers are always all around us. Our creative impetus is fueled when we  stop and listen and look and record and play with the ideas.

That is it. That is all it has always been.

It is all quest. There is no destination when we are on the runway.

why i love to paint

it makes me look at objects and light so closely

it is slow

mixing colors is meditative

my kids come join me

it preserves a moment

the tactile, messiness of it

it reminds me that we all see things through a different lens

it is relaxing and productive

it allows me to set goals for more complicated pieces

being an amateur is such a sweet place to be

my expectations are so low it is easy to surpass them

there is no reason to do it other than choice


what is your guilty pleasure? what do you love to do for no other reason other than you love to do it? leave a message in the comments...

the biggest memories are of the smallest things

We are getting ready for a big trip, a monumental trip, a trip that can quickly get mangled up with all sorts of expectations. It will be wonderful and I am grateful.

Yet,

I am constantly reminded that most of our very biggest and most cherished memories are of the mundane. Everyday activities that are just a little bit more magic because of a turn in attitude and fun (and that turn is often elusive for my addled mind).

And they are nearly always free.

The other afternoon, we took our journals down to the local lake to draw and write and mediate. The weather was warm and windy, as balmy as Miami, a real feast for our senses.

A few drops began to fall, so we reluctantly gathered up our supplies and started walking the half mile home.

Then the heavens opened. As the sky was pouring rain and my kids' hearts were releasing joy. They love nothing more than to get caught in the rain. The brisk walk home was filled with constant chatter and stealing away into strangers' carports and eaves to catch our breath.

When we reached our home, they could not bear to stop, so they danced in the rain for the next 20 minutes, while my youngest sang at the top of his lungs. Whenever he is happy, he sings Star Wars and Christmas music mash ups.

I realized or remembered for the millionth time, to slow down, allow for the unexpected and embrace that which is, not lament that which is absent.

My mantra for the past year has been "all in." And I fall short from this tiny missive daily.

Yet,

everytime I fully experience the space we are in completely, with all my senses - reality is refocused into a surreal realm, where dreams and possibilities peak out with a shy little wave to let themselves be known.

All children need this more. A big part of this blog's mission is to capture and record and remind myself how it works for us.

And, I love to hear how it happens in your world too. Together, we can change the world - one tiny magical moment at a time.

{life lab} the stories we attach to our stuff

We all talk about de-cluttering all the time, don't we? We buy books, sign up for classes, do challenges, try for 15 minutes to clear out clutter, and wonder how we got so much stuff in the first place.

In our family, we have 5 people who are interested in so many things. We like to go to garage sales, we get loads of gifts on birthdays and holidays, and we have no problem buying the tools we need for our latest area of interest. And, I am not sure, but I am pretty sure that homeschooling might exacerbate the situation.

In the last few years I have gotten rid of nearly half my books. This was not easy, I love to read and browse through my shelves. It is also wonderful knowing I have a "just the book" on a variety of topics that might arise. But, there is still too much.

Cull after cull, there is still too much. I want to go deeper.

So, I have begun to think about the stories we attach to our stuff. And re-evaluating those stories to see if they still hold true.

One of my biggest stories is that I need to have a house full of resources for my ever curious children. But, after a little digging I can see that this is not really a valid argument. We live near a library that has thousands of books on its shelves. We also have internet access at home and a variety of people who we can call to ask for help or guidance on many topics. And, I have come to see that in many ways having all these "resources" actually limits my kid's thinking. They are rarely excited when I pull a book from the shelf and hand it to them, because I have in effect removed them from the process of seeking their own knowledge. So, although we still have tons of books, I have released many, many back to the world and have opened more space for exploration and investigation. I am trying to get rid of half. That is a big goal because I am now cutting deep into my collection and hitting a lot of nerves.

Another huge story for me (and I hope someone can relate) is that I am going to read novels. I collect them from the library sale table for pocket change. Best sellers, ones I have seen recommended on other blogs, pretty covered gems with the all the possibility of sweet escape. But, I rarely read them. I read nonfiction, memoir and essays with ease and hunger. Fiction, not so much. It seems like something that I should be reading, but I can rarely get past a chapter or two before falling asleep. So, out with most of the fiction that I know I will not read. I still have a handful or classics and specially chosen ones I do want to read, but I have at least 100 that I do not need.

I am so curious about the stories you hold regarding your stuff. Do you keep tons of fabric for the day you might sew all your own clothes? What about tools for projects that you think you might want to do, someday? School research papers that you will reread in your old age? Or boxes and boxes of recyclables for craft making?

The thing I am realizing, is that all this stuff, we think holds possibilities for better versions of ourselves.  It is like a drawer of clothes two sizes to small. We think if we hold on to these things, we can get back to something we once were or something we have always aspired to be. But, we are also letting the weeds grow over a million other possible paths, interests and experiences. It is like we have a huge field full of long soft grass and beautiful wildflowers - and we keep walking the same path, over and over, packing hard the dirt of comfortable possibilities and completely ignoring the vast field of all that might be.

So, with this post, I encourage you - and me, to get off the path, explore further, look in new places and a great way to start this process is clear out the crap (even the good stuff).

Now, if I could just release my vintage camera and clock collection...

Please share a comment about your journey with stuff...

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want to go deeper with more of your stories and do some deep personal excavation? 

check out my lab, A Book About Me - we start April 1st!

"This lab will help you find yourself. the self you lost or has become submerged in the constant din of quotidian noise and bustle. She might be awkward or sad after all these years, but she is still there, waiting for you to call her forth. "

10 rules of the happy people

I am a people watcher. Not just random people strolling around town, but people I am acquainted with too.  I feel like I can learn something from everyone I meet and have recently been interested in what makes happy, upbeat, positive people tick. Here is what I have come up with:


1. Happy people laugh a lot. At themselves, at their troubles, at daily situations. Approaching the day with humor is the way to go.

2. They always have something to look forward to. A trip, a class, a dinner, or a big project - anticipation of something interesting keeps life vital and fun.

3. Energetic people have a connection to nature. They like to hike, garden, look out of their windows, go to the beach and just walk around outside.

4. People are happier when they have pets or at least like and respect animals.

5. They like and eat good food. Healthy, decadent, special, weird food is all great for happy people.

6. Happy people are confident in their life choices. They take responsibility and are willing to make changes if something is not working. Victim mentality never equals happy camper.

7. They have strong relationships but are non-attached to particular roles for others to fulfill. Meaning, they love deeply, but a happy person's joy is not dependent on another person making it for them.

8. Happy people keep their minds active and agile by thinking new ideas. They are non-dogmatic in their thinking. New concepts are invigorating, not scary to them.

9. Some sort of physical activity keeps the happy juice flowing. A sedentary lifestyle usually is not going to get you there (literally or figuratively).

10. A happy person always has something interesting to share. They read cool books, listen to a variety of music and go to interesting plays and films.

I loved coming up with this list and thinking about the things I do (and can do) to keep myself happy.

So, what are some of the tenets from the happy people in your life? Please share in the comments!

how to find time & space to write

As a mom it is very hard to find time to write (or create). You have to become a master of finding the nuggets of time throughout the day and be ready to take full advantage of them. Here is a list of the ways I am able to get a little bit done here and there through out the day.

Please share your tips in the comments!

  1. The minute you wake up. Grab your journal and write for 5 minutes.

  2. Use the bathroom. Head in for a bath, turn on the fan to block out the noise and relax, write in your mind and then scribble down your idea fragments before you get out. 

 (alternatively, announce that you need to go to the bathroom because you are not feeling well. Voila! You have gained 29 minutes of writing time.)

 3. Write in the car line.

     

 4. Volunteer to go to the grocery store on your own. Write in the parking lot for 15 minutes, then do your shopping quickly.

  

 5. While waiting for kids in classes. Do not socialize - use the time to work.

     

 6. While waiting at the doctors, DMV, etc. Train kids that when you are waiting, you are reading, writing, doing hand work - not always being entertained by mom or the iPhone nanny.

 7. Institute a pre-bedtime writing period. My kids will be calm and write once they are in bed, if I offer an extra 15 minutes to journal. Then I write too.

 8. Set up dates on the calendar and take them. Even and hour or two at the library can be refreshing. Make it a priority - no one else can do that for you.

 9. Write in bed instead of watching TV - knowing that by that time of day you will probably only be writing in fragments. But in a decade, you will cherish those scrambled bits as if they were the finest writing ever.

      

 10. Use your smart phone to email yourself ideas and jot notes if you do not carry a journal with you.

 11. Write as your kids fall asleep.

 12. Learn to write all day in little snatches. Record ideas, impressions, scents, scenes all day long.

choose your 2013 guiding word

The potential energy held in the time immediately after the holidays and before the new year is tremendous. You can hear it crackling under the surface, waiting to be harnessed and transformed into whatever you can dream up.

Each year, I eschew resolutions or life lists and instead gather my intentions around one word. I let this word being my guiding principle and use it to motivate and re-center myself through out the year.

I recently read an interview with Joy Harjo where she said, " ...writing tells the truth, but also constructs a truth upon which to build on." YES! Writing, even for the non-writer, can not only help figure out where you are at, but can construct the road map for where you want to go.

There are so many possible truths and one way to get to the one you want is to write it (or paint it, sing it, perform it...)

Grab your journal and use any of the following prompts  to uncover what your word for 2013 might be. And please, share with us!

What do I want to create in the new year?

What do I want to do and how do I want to spend my days?

What do I need to moving towards?

How do I want to feel each day?

What is the legacy I am creating right now?

What are the thoughts I am most afraid to think?

What idea makes my heart beat a little faster?

What can I give up?

How do I want to experience time?

What do I want to create in the new year? 


My word for the year is fly - which for me means to take leaps of faith and do all the madcap things I am thinking/writing/plotting about. I started last year with my labs and was rewarded in both huge and subtle ways. This year, the ideas might be even bigger and I am going to jump into to clear, blue air without a safety net. So, be prepared for some spectacular claims and perhaps some crushing failures. I expect both.

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Want to work with me and creative moms from around the world? Sign up for the Mama Scout Family e-Lab! 

It starts January 7th and offers you 30 packed days of ideas, prompts and creativity projects to help your family reconnect and think outside the box. Troop 4 needs you and your energy!

winter solstice

Hi there. I have slowed down in this space this month as I enjoy the season with my family. Also, I genuinely feel like I do not want to clutter my little digital world any more content than is necessary. You need to be with your family - not trying to keep up with blogs and Pinterest. I seem to be getting nonstop email blasts and links to last minute sales and huge craft round ups that only give me angst.

And in light of recent, horrible national events, I just don't feel like talking too much. 

But, I thought I would share something from the Holiday e-Lab about the winter solstice which happens this Friday. If you have never celebrated a solstice, this year might be a great time to start. It can be reverent, it fits easily into whatever spiritual practice you believe in, and it is full of light and beauty.  

Solstice is the shortest day of the year and although the days will start getting longer, for many, it marks the continutation of a season of early darkness and deep winter; a time for turning inward towards home and the family nest.
 
Although, I live in Florida, where the winters are mild, we do notice how early it gets dark. We like to celebrate with warm dinners and games, movie nights, extra long night-time reading and lots of blankets.
 
This season is also an ideal time to personally turn inward. By allocating a little extra time for journaling, art making or reading, the stillness of life becomes like a cocoon. You can plant ideas and dreams that are as wispy as a gossamer thread yet can manifest fully developed when the sun returns into creatures with wings.
 
Solstice is a time to celebrate and study light and the earth. We inevidably study the science of the earth and its rotation around the sun and make many kinds of lanterns and light sources to make our dinners awash with flickering color.

You might want to spend solstice night with out using any electrical lights. This is a perfect night for a bonfire, bathing and brushing your teeth by candle light.  

If you want to make some lanterns and lighted crafts, I have created a pinterest board with a handful of ideas.

Our traditional solstice dinner is fondue. When my husband and I were much younger we attended a magical wedding in Switzerland where we ate lots of traditional fondue dinners. It is like comfort food to us now as it brings back memories of an amazing adventure. 

We eat cheese fondue with crusty sourdough bread and apples. And we drink wine and hot tea, which we were told would aid in digestion. 

I was going to type up my recipe, but found this sweet story with the recipe, so I will share it instead. 

What is your warmest, most comforting food? That is what you want to serve on Solstice night.

I would love to hear how your family celebrates solstice.

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Be sure to check out the 2 e-Labs I am very excited to be offering this January. 

You can read more about them in the upper right hand side of this page. 

Email me with any questions! 

mail and children :: ideas and resources

Do your children love getting and sending mail? Mine have had a deep love of the postal system since they were old enough to understand what the mailman was bringing everyday. 

In fact, my daughter even went as a ballerina-mail lady one Halloween, because ballerinas and postal workers were the two coolest jobs she could think of. 

We have been having some mail time fun around here recently, so I thought I would share some of the different ways we have had played with the mail over the years. 

Reading and writing letters is particularly useful for reluctant writers, but more importantly, the open ended and imaginative qualities are spectacular. You can create any world or character with letters and maps. The possibilities are endless. 

Here are 7 ways to have fun with the mail.

{add your own suggestions in the comments!}


1. Participate in a nature exchange
Nature exchanges can be amazingly fun. Basically, you pair with someone from a different geographical region and swap a box full of nature items from your area. Leaves, shells, seed pods, rocks and pressed flowers are among the most popular bits. You can also send a little note, a regional folk tale, photo of your family, and handmade treats. 

I have done several of these and love them. You can sign up different places on line, but I have had the best luck organizing them one-on-one. You might send out a request to some of the Facebook groups you belong to or just email someone you "know" online to ask if they would be interested. 

I am considering running one through Mama Scout this spring, so make sure you are signed up for my newsletter and Facebook page to get the information. 

2. Put a mailbox in the house (and the yard)
One of the best things we ever did was install a real mailbox in our house (the photograph at the top of the page). It is positioned upstairs in the landing between all the bedrooms and receives mail year round. We have also had an outdoor one for  children to leave messages to each other and the bigger outside world. 

These are magic making. And so easy you can do it NOW. 

And of course, be sure to use those mailboxes. I have had long conversations with my children through the mail. Something about writing the letters makes the communication different, more thoughtful and deeper. 

3. Make your own address labels, stamps, supplies and more.
This is so easy and obvious, but you would be surprised at how custom stickers and stamps add to the excitement. I just buy Avery labels in different sizes and make each kid their own return labels with fun fonts and pictures. You can also make stickers that have warnings or funny sayings on them. And of course, just coloring and drawing on the labels and turning them into stickers and stamps is fun too. 

We love making our envelopes from magazine pages. I use this template because it is little and cute. 

4. See what you can mail 
Can you mail a soda bottle? A hula hoop? A ball? A Flip Flop? Try and see! While you are at the post office asking and finagling, set up a tour for you and your friends. This classic field trip is always educational and interesting. 


5. Start a stamp collection 
Maybe it is only natural that our love of mail turned one kid into a budding philatelist. My daughter has a super cool collection handed down from her Great Grandfather. She is interested in the images and where the stamps are from instead of building a complete collection. She recently received this book and loves the creative ways it suggests collecting. 

6. Sign up for Mariposa Forest letter service
There are all sorts of subscription services for kids (magazines, craft kits...) but this is by far my very favorite. 

When you join,  your child receives biweekly letters from the forest creatures of Mariposa Forest. The letters include a gorgeous photograph and maybe a even a map. My kids were instantly smitten when we first tried a few dispatches from the forest and begged to get it year round (which they will for Christmas). 

This is one of the best gifts I can think of this year. It is imaginative, lasts all year and supports creative women (which is huge in my book!)


7. Get a copy of JRR Tolkien's book Letters From Father Christmas (immediately!).
I saw this recommended by Lori at Project-Based Homeschooling and fell in love as soon as it arrived. 

For over 20 years, Tolkien wrote his children a yearly letter Father Christmas. They included delicate drawings, hand-painted stamps, and hilarious tales of all the mischief happening at the North Pole. There are characters and languages you might now have know were up there. I promise, you will love this book. It is pure magic and a testament of the power of letters between parents and children. It might even spark your own creative project with your children.