Our website (TOE Adventures dot com, we think) will be all-business, all the time, but this blog is meant to be a record of our family's adventures as we head towards owning our own business and moving to France. In keeping with that, a word about why we want to uproot our family and move to France. We've already covered the draw of actually earning our keep by doing something we love. There's something else, too. It's all about the (at least perceived) idea that Europe is a slower place to live. Closer to the land, at least in rural Aveyron. Further from the all-pervasive consumer culture here in the US. More about families eating together and taking real, long, relaxing vacations together without dragging their work along with them via Blackberry. More about living than making a living. And we've talked about food. Real food. Aaah, to live in a place where the regional specialties are carefully crafted cheeses and not 'all-you-can-eat'! Much more about food later, I suspect.
I've been reading a couple of other blogs lately. Three are by families who are living and homeschooling aboard sailboats. They are Zach Aboard and Cailydh Sets Sail and A Family Aboard. These families are largely stuff-free, they spend most of the day outdoors. They spend lots of time together. They value experience over running the rat race and loading on the possessions.
I want that, too. As a pack-rat, granddaughter of a pack-rat and before her a long line of pack-rats, this is a challenge for me. I see living clutter-free as something desirable but vaguely forbidden and certainly exotic. But we've been on a major purge lately and it feels so good. As we're heading out to France on our own, without the benefit of a corporate moving allowance, we're not taking much. We'll ship one load and pack it with special toys and our pictures and movies. Our special things. A few heirloom pieces of furniture and pictures. A very pared-down wardrobe for each of us. That's about it! It doesn't make sense to ship things like dishes that we can buy there (there's an IKEA in Toulouse...yay!) for cheaper than the shipping. Plus we'll be in a furnished gite for a year or two, so there's no point in moving stuff just to store it in Dad's barn.
I'm looking forward to finding things for our (eventual) new house that are really well thought-out. It's taken me a long time to come to a sense of personal style...I've always copied my Mum's very elegant and formal style, which I love, but which fights against our lifestyle instead of letting it flow. I want a house that has cubbies and shelves and a place for every thing to live. I want a homeschool space with storage and practical, cleanable, indestructible surfaces. I want simple lines and natural materials and colours. I want baskets of toys and games in the living room, because why the hell call it a living room if only 2/5ths of the family are welcome to live and play there? I want a dining space that's family-friendly and clutter-free, but also looks OK with the Special Occasion Stuff; silver and nice dishes and candlesticks. Mostly, though, I want a house filled with only the things that we choose to fill it with. I want our 'stuff' to be well-considered and purposeful.
The other blogs I follow are mostly ones of other Waldorf/Steiner homeschoolers. Three favourites are The Parenting Passageway, Soule Mama, and The Magic Onions.
I can't say enough how inspiring it is to read about other families who value the same things we do for our kids. It's Waldorf that inspired our first purge of the year. We got rid of 6 big black trash bags of toys and haven't missed a one. This community has inspired in me the most creative season of my life since college. I've made the kids a living playhouse in the garden, a Fairy Garden, a wooden swing, a legion of dolls from simple peg-people to J's beloved Jolly Molly, sewn curtains and pillows and clothes (even some for me!). I made Driftwood Cottage, a home for our fairy friends when we're at the shore. I've learned how to needle-felt and am learning to knit. I'm writing a curriculum for next year's learning. And I'm loving every second of it. Following a Waldorf-inspired rhythm to the day and focusing our creative energies on painting, story-telling and exploring the outdoors has also made me enjoy my kids a lot more. I've always loved motherhood, but living so purposefully has given me a real vocation.
Another thing I love about Waldorf (and which we already were practicing to some degree) is the reverence for living rhythms that it encourages. Singing grace at mealtimes, celebrating festivals sacred and secular all year round as part of the curriculum, structuring the week so that the house runs smoothly. Stopping to offer thanks and ask for grace. Stopping to celebrate moments both humble and momentous. These are things that are becoming an endangered species. What a pity! Running a weekly-based business will certainly help us to keep a rhythm; cleaning day, market day, baking day, sewing and mending day, gardening day. It all will need to be done and done with willing hands and happy hearts.
I really believe that moving to France will enhance our lifestyle. We'll be in the country, close to our food sources, with space to grow lots of our own food. We'll have a family focus on the business....no more watching Dada go bye-bye to work for someone else every day...work will be something we all pull for together.
We're not going to live on a boat, but we will be in a sea of cultural and linguistic newness and I suspect that we'll have an experience of drawing in together for support and familiarity. Home will truly be our little island. I'm really looking forward to homeschooling and being a Mamma in France.
Today, the boys and I went to a favourite coffee shop for breakfast and then, when the baby fell asleep in the car but we were an hour early for swimming lessons, we decided to drive around a bit and look at all the gardens and make a wish-list for our garden in France. We want a pool (and not just for the guests!). T, my giving little fellow, wants an herb garden with arches and a willow tree. This is because he saw how much I loved the knot garden at Elm Bank and knows that I have an enduring fondness for big, weepy willow trees. He also wants a tree to put our swing in and a veg garden just for himself. J wants a sand pit and a playground (climbing structure?). I want to try my hand at a big, lush, English perennial garden full of roses and hollyhocks and foxgloves and peonies. I also want to grow food and medicinal plants....a life-long study that I'll be coming to pretty darn late! We all thought it'd be cool to grow things that we could use to dye wool and fabrics. I love that we all got so excited about something so simple and far-off like gardening in France.
We're already enjoying the journey. How satisfying.
Bessings,
G
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