divers and mermaids

♥ just trying to find balance ♥ 4 kids, 1 dog, homeshooling & living on a sailboat

[kingkumaaa]

When the whole party is down but your bard is up

[tastefullyoffensive]

by Mr. Lovenstein

[gifsboom]

[diversandmermaids]

 be normal

[sixpenceee]

[diversandmermaids]

Just a pile of books my kids read last week. Before we decided to homeschool they all hated reading.  Logan was at grade level but Ariel & Ez were a bit behind. They now read every morning, enjoy reading and look forward to new books ♡

[pxlestine]

VIDEO: Living Under Israel’s Missiles

Four boys of the Bakr family were killed by a missile strike during last year’s incursion. Their surviving family members are still scarred from the attack.

More than anyone, children bear the brunt of regular Israeli military assaults on the Gaza Strip. During the 51-day war in the summer of 2014, 551 children were killed and 3,436 were injured. But these gruesome figures say little about the psychological state of the nearly 800,000 children who have survived the periodic bombing campaigns. After the final cease-fire that ended Israel’s Operation Protective Edge on August 26 of last year, UNICEF estimated that at least 425,000 Palestinian children in the besieged Gaza Strip require “immediate psychosocial and child protection support.”

[ The physical wounds of Gaza children might have healed, but they live with enduring psychological trauma ]

[natejordon]

From Outside Magazine: As a growing movement of unschoolers believe, a steady diet of standardized testing and indoor inactivity is choking the creativity right out of our kids. The alternative: set ‘em free.

[kurious-kid]

first day of school- NETFLIX docs and khan academy

[diversandmermaids]

Yesterday we went to the open house for Fairview Gardens.  It's a huge farm in Goleta, Ca offering a homeschool program with farm chores, "junk yard" play/building, animal care and other awesome opportunities.  We picked some pomegranates, made air pop popcorn (harvested there of course), climbed trees, fed chickens and built forts in the "junk yard".  It's open everyday and free to go to. Definitely recommend for anyone to stop by :)

[notational]

Finland has announced that in their new national curriculum, they will emphasize phenomena-based project studies instead of traditional subjects. The Ringstabekk school—with 425 students aged 13 to 16 years just outside Norway’s capital, Oslo—has been doing this for 40 years with great success. It all started in the 1970s when the teachers realized that their students were not truly engaged in what they learned at school. These educators were inspired by the Danish pedagogue Knud Illeris and his ideas of cross-curricular project work, and in the 1980s, the fundamental concept and organization of the school was revamped. Although the pedagogy of the school has been developing ever since, the basic idea of learning through multidisciplinary studies has endured.

This school in Norway abandoned teaching subjects 40 years ago - Quartz (via notational)

so inspiring

[tuckfheman]

Minimalist posters explain complex philosophical concepts with basic shapes

[diversandmermaids]

print and cursive belong in our children's developing and our adulthood

[diversandmermaids]

poses to ease into flying crow :)

[diversandmermaids]

[vegannomadchick-deactivated2019]

lunch round 2…first batch of nice cream wasn’t enough 😬 I used 5 more ripe spotty bananas (frozen overnight then thawed for 10 minutes) and topped it with a tangelo and fresh blueberries–all from Trader Joes 😍 #vegan #nicecream #nondairy #veganicecream #bananaicecream #rawtil4 #raw #rawvegan #hclf #highcarb #highcarblowfat #fruit #fruitarian #traderjoes

[embody-love-emanate-light]

[hippiepeacefreaks]

boo thang

[spread-meditation]

Distractions

Distractions are everywhere. Especially for one who begins meditation. Any little noise, movement, and bodily sensation seems magnified when one is meditating. Who should one deal with these happenings?  Common questions I often get are “When I meditate, I can never seem to focus because my mind is everywhere. How can I fix this?” Well, there isn’t anything to fix! Your mind is acting as it should. Your mind’s job is to think. Much like your heart’s job is to pump blood. One will never be able to stop the mind from thinking. So that should never be a goal when meditating. It is possible to focus your mind. To teach your mind to become less “wild” and more tempered.  When one sits down to meditate for the very first time, patience is your best tool. It will be very difficult at first. Your mind will wander. One may even hear yelling and screaming or other uncomfortable happenings. This is what’s in your mind all the time, you just never notice because you never took the time to sit down and actually observe your mind. Now having heard what is in your mind, it can become unsettling, if not scary to continue meditation. The best approach to dealing with any distractions, like yelling, constant thinking, is to ignore it.  Also understand that meditation is NOT “thinking happy thoughts” and “finding yourself.” Meditation is the practice of self-actualization and the practice of perceiving the Dhamma. Realizing your place in the universe and how kamma (or karma in Sanskrit) works.  "How does one ignore these uncomfortable things happening in the mind?" Your breath. When meditating, focus on your breath at all moments. If you feel yourself thinking about your homework, what you said to your now ex-girlfriend yesterday, that dinner date you regret taking, realize what you’re doing and return to the breath.  Your breath is your anchor. It will keep you in the present moment and keep you mindful. When you feel anger, focus on the breath. When you’re lonely, focus on your breath. When you want to cry, focus on your breath. Look at the breath objectively. Try to realize the existence of the breath, then compare it to everything else in the universe.  Indeed, the universe is like one giant breath. Things come and go. Never permanent. Emotions only exist as long as your focus on them. Your anger can be destroyed by focusing on the breath, but the anger will return once you focus on the anger.  This is how one should meditate and deal with distractions. Use your anchor to keep you in the present moment. You’re only in this body once. Take care of it.  Spread-Meditation