The Power of Four

Quadropedia seems to be all the rage in some of the blogs I admire. I like to read the goings-on of the earthy, stay at home types, the type of mother who really sticks her neck out in the face of modern conformist society and says "That's nice, check this out," and I think it's uncanny, many of these mamas have FOUR kids.

Maybe back in the day it was more normal to have four kids, but in 2.2 Perfectoids + Dog + Picket Fence, USA a family of Mom/Dad/4 kids is not only a rarity, the reality is sort of extravagant. For someone like me, 4 is completely overwhelming, for my hubby 4 is an affront to the planet's natural resources, fawgettabowt our wallet. But for certain blogger moms, no math is adds up better than Mamabear ÷ Two Squared.

Such as, The Sparkling Martins, by Dayna Martin, mother of 4, excellent Facebook friend, and Unschooling Proponent Extraordinare. Unschooling, for those unfamiliar, is a lifestyle of raising children without school. It's not placing a miniclassroom inside your home, it's living as though school does not exist. Dayna and her family's lifestyle can be found on Dr. Phil, Nightline, various documentaries, and Youtube. Most people who are appalled by the Unschooling wave haven't listened to or read Dayna's consistent and winning pearls of wisdom on the matter, her inoffensive manner in exposing popular spoonfed bullshit comes directly from sincerity and a moral compass that points straight to your (inner) child's heart. I personally believe that children do learn what they need to on their own, or in an apprenticeship, not within the confines of a system designed to break people down into Following The Man. The fact that I am sending Jimmy to preschool (and potentially brick-and-mortar Workin' For The Man school) is partially due to the fact that he is an only child whose genetic makeup requires more frequent contact with peers and a specific skillset which I can't bring to the table, mainly social savvy. Learning about life at home in freedom and harmony and confidence with Mom, Dad, and 3 other siblings & co. is what Dayna is all about, and I buy it, she and her husband "do" the whole 4 kids thing well, do yourself a favor and Friend Dayna on Facebook, if just for her periodic mind-expanding "Dayna's Rockin' Thoughts," you'll think you know her for real!

Then there's Farmama, I check out this blog when I'm chained to a multi-line phone and staring at cloth covered demiwalls underneath my headset and reaching for the blood pressure pills, this site is full of eye candy like no other. Sara is another unschooling mama of 4, living on a farm and posts photos that look like this:



...as an example of the day's wind. Just a casual photo of the day, no more special than any of the other fabulous and frequent updates she posts. CAN YOU IMAGINE LIVING WITH THIS VIEW. Yeah, it's been the wallpaper on my laptop for a while now, but for this wonder farmwoman who knits sweaters from the wool she shears from her own sheep, nothing is too wholesome. Her family of 6 is the most wholesome thing this side of her heavenly fields, which makes some people puke with jealousy, but I thank Sara for sharing her life with all us consumer-driven jerks.

And then the Internet's own Soulemama, who could make a post consisting solely of the letter F and would have 75 frothing, adoring reader comments within 5 minutes. Amanda and her blog have a crochet hook firmly latched onto the modern crunchy mom's girlhood Betty Crocker dreams, looped through her anti-Martha Stewart rebel spirit, and slip stitched into her desire for a Eleanor Rooseveltian leader. Amanda knits 4 sweaters a week, she sews 7 dresses a day, she uses a Waldorf model to homeschool her 4 bright, precocious children, she birthed them at home, she writes sumptuous and inspirational books, she has extra talent for purchasing the right funky antiques and placing them perfectly together in the right corners of her home and then capturing the scene ever so dreamily on camera, she promotes worthy merchants, and she rewards her readers with popular vendor giveaways. She empowers her readers, she gives us goals and ideas and any reader could tell you, so much more. Amanda nods especially long in honor of the act of enjoying the moment, smelling the flowers, acknowledging our children's spiritual character. She often writes of swept-away moments of the fourth child, which embodies just one of the alluring traits she brings to the option of Homeschooling. One Soulemama aspect which particularly fascinates me is her ambassadorship for Maine, specifically Portland. The Soules are fellow Portlanders, I get a kick out of seeing her showcase my backyard in the Around Town portion of her blog, some of the things she loves, are things I can't stand, but then again, I don't have 4 homeschooled kids to nurture in a tv-free home.

Other fringe Moms of Four I've come across are Vicki Iovine, author of the Girlfriends Guide series of pregnancy/parenting books which aren't necessarily my style, but I still applaud the 4 pregnancies thing. My new Facebook friend Free-Range Momoffour, I'm pretty sure we were connected through Dayna Martin's Facebook profile, my brief google search didn't turn up a blog and I'm not entirely sure all she stands for, but I did see some co-sleeping/raw milk references in her updates, so yay, and of course there's the 4-kids thing. Also, Brooke Burke, sensational looking Mere d'4, is important at the ModernMom.com website, and let's not forget the originals, my Grandmother Jeannette and my Aunt Laura, both 4-time mothers and definitely add to my list of wondering HOW did they DO it???? Big props from a lowly, smothery, growing mother of 1.