Graduated With Honor

"I graduated 2nd grade! It was very fun. And, I got to be the first one to get an award!"

Selah received recognition for most improved student of of 2008/2009 as well as the award for most well-behaved.

Proud! We are very proud!!

the gnome hat

I love string tricks. They are just about my favorite thing that I learn at school, except for Japanese. I really like Japanese. I make string tricks up on my own. This one on the video here is called "The Gnome Hat." My dance movement teacher Tante Rosa taught it to me. I didn't do it perfectly, but I think you get the picture, right?

love, selah

Brave Girl

As mentioned in a previous post, Selah was the lead in her Solstice play at school. Her part was that of 'Brave Girl'. Aside from the fact that we were in tears watching her perform with such courage and sincerity, it was also quite humorous to us that she elected to wear the pictured bow tie. Earlier that week, we'd purchased that bow tie for our dog Mosu, who is quite the little English Gentlemen. When we saw her waltz onto stage donning the bow tie quite proudly, it was very difficult not to giggle - especially when she would adjust it gingerly and stretch her neck tall (just in case we couldn't see it).

Angels on Both Shoulders

Before Winter break, Selah's teacher Miss Megan was explaining concepts of desire in decision making to the children in Selah's class. One of the students piped in, "it's kind of like having a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other!"

Miss Megan said, "Yes, it is like that sometimes."

Miss Megan told me just after this comment, Selah hopped up out of her seat and stood tall, saying, "Well, I've got angels on both shoulders!" And with that, Miss Megan smiled, sighed, and said, "I believe you do, Selah." And that's when Miss Megan decided that Selah should have the part in the Winter play of the character named "Brave Girl," which is a story of Santa Lucia. We'll post more pictures of Selah in her play as soon as we can find the proper cord for the camera.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Have a Great Day Today!

"Here's what I want you to know today. My Papa is feeling a lot better. Look how handsome he is.

I finally learned how to ride my bike, and I can rock it on our dirt road. I rode two miles just last weekend with my mom and dad!

I can also blow bubbles now if I have a big enough piece of gum. I'm an expert knitter in knitting class, and my yoga poses are very strong. I'm the only one in my class who can do Full Lotus. If you're having any breathing trouble or a scratchy throat, just bend at the waste and go 'head-to-knee' -- it's great for coughs. Have a good day! Love, Selah Rain."

Obon Festival

On Saturday night, the local Japanese mission held it's annual Obon Festival. The "Bon Dance" is one performed with reverence to one's ancestors, and is a walking meditation performed round a large tower strung with lights.

Selah's Japanese instructor Sensei (pictured left, explaining the different regional dances to Selah) invited all the children to come down and join her at the festival. From young to old, the people moved rhythmically, synched together in their regional dances. Some wear their silk kimonos, some cirlce in their local flip-flops and surf shorts. My favorite part was watching the colorful kimono'd elders smiling and turning in unison. The colors were beautiful.

Selah brought along her friend Kayla :0) I think Selah's favorite part of any activity is its potential for being a party. Whether people are spinning fire balls, performing a cultural walking meditation, or just standing around talking, if it feels like it's got party-potential, Selah is ALL OVER IT.

...Wonder where she got that?!! (wink) :0)

Second Grader!

Hello, loved ones!

Second grade started this year with lots of pleasant surprises!

Selah's charter school made several improvements to their site, including a fifteen-passenger van instead of the gas-hogging giant yellow school bus. Last year, each time I would meet the school bus, I noticed that at least one out of three children deboarded in tears. Come to find out, the bus driver was passing out pounds - yes pounds - of candy to the first graders. I'd watch the bus drive in, and notice the children were literally bouncing off their seats. I asked the bus driver to please not give out the candy, as it was clearly not helping keep them calm and safe during their ride afters school. It continues to be a mystery to me that school buses do not have seatbelts! I can't imagine a more important place for a child to be buckled in! So, I'm very excited about the new passenger van, and the elimination of the yellow school bus. We have a different driver this year, Mr. Hawkley, and he is an Waldorf-trained teacher, who keeps things very safe and calm. Selah prefers Mr. Hawkley, she says, "he keeps it all in order.".

The charter school is located in Seaview, which is a small beach community, located literally across the street from a gorgeous natural bay lined with black / sparkling lava rock. When it's not school-time, the location where the charter school is also known as the Seaview Performing Arts Center for Education, or "S.P.A.C.E." The owners are an ex-circus troupe, who are now providing a 'space' for children and adults, and entire families, to come and learn circus tricks, gymnastics, Angola Capoeira, singing & voice instruction, among other amazing classes.

Yesterday after class, Selah had her first gymnastics lesson, and was pleased as punch to learn that there were lots of children from her second grade class that would join her in tumbling. This was the first class I've ever seen Selah participate in where she's deeply involved and interested -- riveted, even -- right until the last minute of the cool down exercises. She ran hard, she played hard, she took a few spills. She didn't want me taking any photos of her in gymnastics class because she wasn't wearing a leotard. So, next Wednesday, she said she'll suit up, and be ready for her close-up!

A La Francais

Here's Selah skipping at the zoo with her French teacher, Madame, and a classmate.

Recently, Selah's great and wonderful school, Waters of Life, was hit with a permit issue, and was consequently closed down. Thankfully, this occurred right as the children were about to have their spring hiatus, and gave the heads of the school some time to find an alternative space.

A new school site was secured, but won't be ready until next week. The new site is an arts performance center in a small beach community called Seaview. This performance center is run by a wonderful soul named Graham, who also coaches a team of acrobats and performers in a troupe called The Hiccup Circus. Now Selah will add stilt-walking, unicycle and gymnastics to her usual, amazing routine.

Until then, the students have been going on excursions like the zoo, the school's farm, and the beach. At each location, the specialty teachers join the students in between play activities. For instance, today, Selah had all of her classes at the zoo. She chased and marveled at the peacocks, wandering free on the pathways around the exhibits, and then she sat in the shade with her classmates and had French.

Madame is such a wonderful, expressive, passionate educator - she speaks to the children entirely in her native tongue. I cannot explain how amazing it is for me, as a mother, to watch my child understand and comprehend such a complex language. The only thing I understood was Bon Jour! But then, after that, it was a blur of Madame's wild hand movements, throated, whispery French words and giggling children, who all seemed to understand every word she said.

It warms us so deeply to experience a taste of this learning style. How lucky Selah and the other children are who have the opportunity to expand like the sponges they are in such a dynamic, exciting environment. What would our lives have been like if we were learning French in a zoo, on an island in the Pacific, with monkeys, parrots and cranes chirping in the background~!?

It's an amazing blessing and an honor to see Selah open and grow with such confident curiosity, to be exactly who she is, and celebrated for it.