Spinning and Homeschooling

By Cyndie

Last summer, I took a fiber arts workshop that had me once again sitting in front of my spinning wheel.  My wheel has been a lovely piece of furniture for about 6 years now so it would be nice if I ever learned to actually use it!  I did finally get the hang of using my wheel at that workshop but only after we discovered that the drive band was slipping and needed to be changed from a slippery cord to a cotton thread which prevented the slipping. Such a simple solution so I could at least begin the process of learning to spin.  While I still have a long way to go before I master the fiber art of spinning, I am making yarn. It is still pretty lumpy, bumpy, and twisty but it is yarn nevertheless!

I think that is a metaphor for our homeschooling journey.  Just as my wheel wouldn't work because of the slippery cord used as the drive band, so, too, our homeschooling journey was one of fits and starts.  Some parts were relaxed, some parts sheer frustration; some parts magical, some parts merely slipping.  It took time to come to konw what was slipping and how to "fix" it.  And, it took some nitty-gritty perseverance and sheer willpower as well.

I know that when I first sat down at the wheel after I changed the drive band to the cotton thread, that I still felt clumsy and perhaps even "sure" that I still wasn't going to be able to actually spin.  I can even remember the moment I decided to plunge back in and go for it - to foce myself to "win" over this wheel.  It took a lot of concentration for me to spin when I first started; it took a lot of energy to stay with it.  The thing that kept me going were those few seconds at first, then gradually moments of ease and relaxation as even with my halting attempts I was accomplishing something.  There are still times when I must recenter at the wheel and remember to relax so that my yarn stays even.  I do believe the same thing happens with homeschooling. When I am at my most relaxed and centered, our days go well.  When I am at my most doubtful or harried, our days are difficult.   Laughing everyday together has been an essential piece of our homeschooling journey together.

When you start learning to spin with a spinning wheel you usually start with wool.  Wool is forgiving and pliable; it grips so it is easier for a new spinner to work with.  But even among wools, there are differences in the feel, the type of yarn it works best to spin.  When you decide to start spinning with silk or cotton or alpaca, you must learn a new way of handling the fiber as they all have their properties, their strengths and weaknesses.  There are numerous types of spinning wheels as well and it is helpful to have the right one for the job you want to accomplish.  So, too, were my children each unique individuals with their own personalities, their own ways of learning, there own interests and their own strengths and weaknesses and my interaction with them also added to the situation.  All three of my children has a unique learning style.  My oldest is a very auditory learner, intrapersonal learner.  She had to hear and she had to be with others to let things sink in.  She woke up late to reading (10 yrs old) but is an incredible memorizer to this day.  She learns best by being read aloud to and discussing/conversing and being in the middle of noise and people.  My middle is a very visual learner.  Even when we would read aloud, she would go off later and reread by herself.  She is also a very "loner learner" needing to process and study alone and in quiet.  My youngest is a very kinesthetic learner but also with some auditory ways of approaching something new.  Whereas his sister needs to hear, he needs to talk it through with others.  Coming to know how they each learned was a great help and guide in how we approached their education.  I had to strive always to meet each of them where they were no matter what I might have wanted them to accomplish that year or what their siblings were doing.  It is helpful when spinning to come to know your fiber.  It has been helpful then in homeschooling for me to see each of my children as the unique person they are becoming.

Just as one gets proficient at spinning a smooth yarn the urge to want to learn how to make designer yarns hits.  Designer yarns are typically full of the lumps and bumps you initially didn't want to have in your yarn. You have to go back and relearn how to do the lumps and bumps but with intent.  The one thing I know for certain about our homeschooling path has been that each year has been different from the last.  Just as I would get the hang of a rhythm to our days, one of the children would go through a major developmental growth spurt or some major life event would unfold and force us to regroup and find our way again.  As our children grew, their needs changed so the way we were called to homeschool needed to change.  This past year we saw a significant change in the nature of our life as one daughter went away to school and another daughter started full-time at the state university in town.  Only our son is left within the homeschooling circle.  We are learning again how to spin with each other; the rhythm of homeschooling one child while being there for our daughters as they step out into the world. 

Cyndie Kimball lives and learns with her busy 3 (21 yrs, 19 yrs, 14 yrs) in the heartland of MO. She is a budding fiber artist with more ideas in her head than ever come to fruition.

Comments

[Tammy]

Beautiful comparison. Your three children sound very much like mine, in the same order.

Glad to have you here and look forward to reading more of your entries.

[Steph]

This is beautiful! :-)

[Sara]

I'm also learning to both spin and find our homeschooling path. What a PERFECT analogy! All those fits and starts... and relaxing is key. You really can't successfully spin OR homeschool with your shoulders up around your ears. When I forget to breathe and treadle slowly, well, you can imagine...

I look forward to reading more of your posts.