What did your USer do today? (Volume 2) - Page 2

[Dana B]

Hi Y'all :)

I just joined this big ol' Mothering forum a few days ago--what a great place y'all have here!

My kiddos are 17 and 19--we've been living a life free of school for over 11 years or so, just to give you a bit of background.

Reading about all of your little ones is so bittersweet! I adore my teens but sure do miss those wee folk days. 

As for our day...yesterday (since tis early today n both are still soundly abed) the girlie (17) spent most of her time online after she woke up around 2pm. She joined a new role play a couple of days ago and has been quite absorbed. She's a night owl and often stays up til 3 or 4am. 

The boy(19) spent a lot of time writing--he's been a bona fide writer since, oh, about age 13 or so. Before that it was drawing comic panels until he discovered he liked telling longer stories lol. He did some yard tending--mowing and weedeating and decided to move part of the woodpile closer to the house in preparation for the cold season ahead.  ((shudder))

We made an early supper together--pan seared chicken, roasted taters n salad--the girlie is my chef and loves to cook. With the weather being so fantastic--about 72 and sunny--we all went to a trail in town for a walk (after that Husband o' Mine came home from work). The girlie opted to stay in the truck with her dawg and laptop whilst the rest of us walked.

Everybody scattered to various screens for awhile after our walk/outing n then that Husband o' Mine put on a movie that brought us all back to the living room.

Twas a nice, home n hearth day :)

~~

[SweetSilver]

Welcome, Dana B!

The last few days we have taken turns nursing a cold-- which means extra video days.  Yesterday was *my* turn.  I did some mild morning chores and pretty much collapsed for the rest of the day.  Luckily, the girls were cheerful and the day passed mostly without conflict.

We watched tons of Bill Nye and Popular Mechanics Kids.  (E.T., one of my favorite movies, got a thumbs down from dd1 who feels uncomfortable around anything emotional or suspenseful-- while the all-out frightening, like scenes with the Balrog in LOTR and others are positively exhilarating.)  They like sharing the couch with me, and I get a nice review of basic science concepts that were completely over my head in school.  (I was not a natural at sciences in school, though now I really love it and find it easier to wrap my head around.)   Then we watch Shaun the Sheep, so don't get the idea that we watch nature/science videos all the time!

DH came home from work and kindly took up the slack for me, playing some softball with the girls and making them something to eat while I took a break from the strain of taking a break.  I can't believe how tired I am!

Meanwhile, the girls enjoyed a gorgeous evening and created a terrarium for a yellow woolybear (Virginia tiger moth caterpillar.)  This was fun because all I did was assist in finding a suitable container (they ended up choosing one they found instead.)

Here is a photo they took, and one I took for a better view of the whole project:

His name is "Dandelion".

Gotta love paper and scotch tape!  The container they chose is a clear plastic beach bucket.  Because I was online waaaaaay too much yesterday, I hopped onto BugGuide.net to look up pictures and information about this moth.  

Ended the day with bedtime stories.  Dd1 has wanted books that aren't for little kids, so we started reading an abridged, illustrated version of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde.  I think she likes it!

Today is a continuation of yesterday.  The TV has been on nearly all morning, and I've stopped even trying to turn the computer off.

Now I need a break.  This typing is exhausting!

ETA: I'd like to start a blog, mainly for my family.  If anyone can recommend a blog site, I would appreciate it.  

Edited by SweetSilver - 9/20/12 at 12:16pm

[hhindley87]

Yesterday (20th), Sophia and I did a big foam floor puzzle. There are ten pieces and the numbers and shapes pop out, so I mixed them all up, and had her put them back where they go. After that we practiced some Spanish while doing another puzzle, this time they were four wood blocks with an animal parts on them, when put together, they make an animal (monkey, pig, dolphin, dog, duck). Then we made a plaster of París mask (she requested a bunny), nap time, dinner (pulled bbq chicken, steamed veggied), a movie and some grapes for dessert and then bedtime! Today is my work/her daycare day, but this weekend we are making strawberry marscarpone cupcakes, and then whatever else she wants to do

[Emaye]

Ds and DD continue to build spy forts, bring in various bugs from outside, watch beans they put in a box with cotton dipped water sprout and the mold growing on bread ds put in a zip log bag with a bit of water.  During their down time, ds is loving Bill Nye science shows and daughter is drawing ferociously.  I am enforcing the idea of cleaning after themselves and they are both getting the hang of it.  

Dd is asking for dance lessons, although I have not been able to find one that fits her age.  Son wants to make tools and weapons (bow and arrow, swords, etc.) 

[Pookietooth]

My nine year old has spent the entire day in his room on the computer, except for breaks for the bathroom. This is pretty much the way it goes unless his friend is having us over. My two year old spent some of the day helping me wash the dishes (and playing with the dish scrubbing brush), part of it watching Busytown Mysteries, and part of it playing with some toys with me. Pretty typical. I worry because my nine year old pretty much wants nothing to do with me and has no interests other than the computer.

[Emaye]

Originally Posted by SweetSilver 

ETA: I'd like to start a blog, mainly for my family.  If anyone can recommend a blog site, I would appreciate it.  

Wordpres seems to be the go to choice nowadays.  Blogger seems to be the easiest to set up.  I am also thinking about reviving an old blog of mine :) These are fun days to document.  

[featherstory]

Love these threads:

Yesterday the kids started the day with coloring. Then we did a lot of dancing, made smoothies, brushed our teeth and my dd5 helped me list stuff on ebay.  We went to the pool pretty early(or earlier than usual for us), we packed bananas, apples, water and all our swim stuff and stayed there almost 3 hours.  There was(as always) tons of learning about the flowers, bugs, birds, animals, and lots of questions about the kids in school and ideas about things we want to learn later.  I need to bring my laptop so we can make a video because the conversations we have at the pool are really priceless.

We checked the mail and my dd5 got a couple of birthday gifts that she opened, one from me, one from her grandma. 

When we got home I turned off the potatoes I put on before we left.  (Didn't expect to be gone so long)  We plugged up the laptop with our new mouse and put on El Perro y el Gato(the movie I got my daughter for her birthday)...I went to work on the computer and in the kitchen when we got a knock on the door.  It was my uncle and his other niece with her 4 year old and they wanted me to watch her while they went to the movies!  Okay........ I love kids and have no problem watching kids and having people for my kid to play with but I was exhausted after the pool and I need advance notice for these things.  They just left with no information on how long they'd be gone and brought nothing for her.

So the rest of the day was mostly spent with the girls playing... When her mom came back for her and they finally left, my girls were drinking their sleepy time tea, while my daughter did some painting on the computer and singing in Spanish and Sanskrit.  She had a massive breakdown and didn't want to go to sleep, so I ended up taking TV away from her for the week and toys by the end of the night.

This was a pretty uneventful day, except littered with a lot more Spanish speaking than usual, a very, very social day and a lot of physical activity.  dd2 made all but 2 potty visits and did a few impressive sentences(she's mostly a one-worder) and lots of melodies.  Both girls do a ton of singing and making games and story-telling, acting & blocks.

Edited by featherstory - 9/25/12 at 10:59am

[SweetSilver]

Went to the Woodland Park Zoo yesterday, compliments of SIL.  Saw a little orangutan nooky.  Pretty funny the casualness of it.  A soft bat on the head by the female, like her saying "pay attention, dear".  Nose-picking instead of post-coital cigarettes.  Great fun.  The girls had no idea, though I might have said something instructive had there not been another family there.  As it was, I just let it go.  Pointed out the beetles mating, though, sort of to make up for it.  The birds in the Australian bird-feeding station were alert, hungry, landing on our heads and fingers.  Now we know to get there early.

[mommariffic]

We had a nice day : ) 

Lazy morning watching a Halloween movie while I drank my tea and read my books - than we went to the bookstore and I got a pumpkin spice lattee and a new book, than to the food store for some basics and snacks for the week ( got things to make apple cinnamon muffins for a momma who had a baby. Came home and read books about pumpkins, and than did some science notebook; DD drew a pumpkin patch, than we labeled the life cycle of a pumpkin while DS drew and played with the spooky stickers he got. We went on an Autumn nature hunt after, and a friend came over for pizzas and pumpkin painting. Now kids are playing superheros before bed! 

[rumi]

So whenever I think about asking this question, I think, but this is not really a typical day.  But then, what is.  Anyway, here goes for yesterday - we went to the pumpkin patch with the local hs group.  mostly younger kids, but i kind of like that because dd is 9 and better younger than older, kwim?   but i wish i could find her more kids of her age to hang out with ... it seems like as dd gets older there are fewer hs'ers (even though we are not complete unschoolers, we are by far the most unschooly of anyone we know for miles and miles around).  I personally am starting to worry that we may find our opportunities for social activity and even group learning activity drying up.  Anyway, that is another topic.   Not really another topic because after the pumpkin patch we had drama practice - my attempt to arrange group activity for dd.  Again, most of the participants were younger, though there is one other girl her age and one younger boy who is mature for his age, so even though she is happy to play with the 5-6 year olds, she isn't constantly having to be the one to accommodate.  Anyway when we got home she pretty much read nonstop, ate dinner and read some more. I am preparing for the county review (tomorrow!) and I wanted her to do a worksheet or two so that I could put it in the file but she was getting ready to go to sleep so I did not ask her to do it. 

It is very rare for her to get ready to go to sleep without me begging her to do so ... well I should say it used to be unheard of.  She seems to be less of a night owl these days (as I have noted elsewhere ;-)  

[moominmamma]

We seem to not ever have typical days either. But really, isn't that the nature of unschooling? When your days are directed by circumstance and serendipity, passion and whim, it's hard to have some sort of typical average day. 

Dd9 is my sole homeschooler. She got up in time to get her bag organized with sketchbook, lunch and snacks, and grab some breakfast. We dropped her siblings off at school, then drove to the hospital. Her dad and I both work at the hospital, and our time overlaps one morning every two weeks. This was the morning. So she came into the Doctor Room, a little library/office space near the ER which doesn't get much use but has a computer and a nice easy chair. She played on the computer, and read her book, for an hour. Then a friend and her mom came to pick her up. Together they drove to the school, where the eight local homeschooling kids meet for 2.5 hours each Thursday for a wonderful series of art workshops. They attended art, and then at lunch went out on the schoolyard to eat lunch and play grounders with the schoolkids. I had told dd she could walk back to the hospital if she'd like, as I'd just be doing paperwork by then, but she enjoys playground time when the weather is nice, so she chose to stay.

By the end of school lunch period, I had arrived to pick her up. We drove home. She watched TV episode on her laptop. We walked the dog, then went out into the forest to work on building our bike-skills course. Dug, raked, built, smoothed. Rode our bikes a bit. Came inside. She painted a topographic model of our area that we'd started building from corrugated cardboard the day before, while I read to her from a cultural anthology of Canada, stories about pioneer times, and about the Northwest Rebellion. We photographed the completed model. 

Picked her siblings up from school and shuttled them to a neighbouring village where we traded our 8-passenger van for a friend's SUV and sent the friend off to the city with six teenagers, including my two, for a choir performance. Dd9 and I came home in the SUV, made supper, ate it with her dad. Then she practiced violin and viola, and we had some ice cream for dessert. Then she watched TV, had a bath, and read some more of her book. 

I read aloud to her before bed. Her siblings arrived home from their concert. We pretty much all hit the sack at the same time.

Miranda

[mommariffic]

I love reading these, more posts from everyone please : ) 

Today we woke up late *almost 9* so I felt like the morning flew by. We did our normal show + tea after breakfast and I read the rest of a book about local farmers that I've been enjoying. After I went upstairs to order my brother some books as a gift while the DD and DS played "vet" with the various wooden horses we have. After we went downstairs and the kids and I played with Wiki Stix on the floor while we waited for a friend to come over. Had a "fossil" playdate and the kids took apart homemade rocks that had dinos in them, and matched them up to fossils - lots of fun! Than we headed to the outlet mall so I could find DD some jeans, which I did. Told the kids they could get a toy from the Disney Store and they got a tea set and doll and we headed home..and it took TWO HOURS because of traffic + an accident + construction. Luckily they were in good spirits and we talked and sang most of the way. Let them stay up late to play with new things and ahh, bed! 

[SweetSilver]

Our days seem to be pretty uneventful until suddenly they are.  Today (we are in the middle of it) the girls played at gymnastics for a while until after lunch.  DD1 wanted me to write 2 "subtraction tests".  I wrote one page of 8 problems, not too hard but some tricky ones too.  Then I asked her to tell me which ones she thought were too easy and which were too hard.  With the results, I wrote up another 8 problems, and they were just about the perfect level of challenge for her without being too hard.  It was fun hearing how she came up with the answer.  For 14-4, I overheard her figuring from "14-1, 14-2, 14-3, 14-4").

I had pulled out things from a forgotten cupboard, the one with the pattern blocks and puzzles and Spirograph and dd2 was playing sorting the math blocks.  I pulled out the pens I bought to use with them, and they worked nicely (finally! everyone at the store had given me a puzzled look, and one young cashier asked me what Spirograph was).  DD1 sat on her end of the couch making patterns with the Spirograph, then coloring in the spaces with the new pens.  At first I read to her from the sequel to The Familiars, a lame but engaging fantasy that I won't complain about further because she's letting me read a chapter book for the first time in months.  Then she became distracted by the Hound of the Baskerville book, and I read from that, thinking she was going to lose interest.  I flatter myself that my skill at reading books like this aloud and making them intelligible was one reason why she was so engaged by the story.  We have the graphic novel version on order, and I hope to finish the original before she gets thoroughly distracted by that.

While typing this, I had to take several breaks to sing "Happy Birthday" to our Woolly Bear caterpillars"

Most days before this have either been uneventful or completely intolerable (well, just one like that thankfully) so today is a refreshing change so far.

So far......

[SweetSilver]

My day, Part 2

DD1 became noticeably grumpier (and bossier!) this afternoon.  I kept having to referee.  Announced I was doing some baking, got some enthusiastic responses for help, but a few minutes later when I was ready, they were deep into their own games and they changed their minds.  Made dairy-free/wheat-free corn bread for dd1 and apple muffins for me and dh, who came home early.  Dh started cleaning up my kitchen  and I went for a 4-mile loop walk, down our hill, around the valley, onto a friend's farm on the opposite side, up (up up up up up) and over, back to my house.  The rain has finally returned and I am feeling normal again.  Dinner for all (jalapeno pizza for dh and I!)  The girls are doing gymnastics (round offs, spilt jumps, etcetera).  Now, after dinner emotions are running high and the fights are getting personal, the accusations flying.

Sigh.  Like I said, feeling normal again.

Stories.

[mommariffic]

Today I have a cold, bugger!

In the morning I managed to get something in my eye and because I'm a freak it completely swelled up and made me look like a demon and so our plans to go to the farm down the road to pick up more bunnies for OUR farm was a no-go. DD was bummed but she got over it (we are going tomorrow) and we played "doctor" (again) to her various animals. It basically involved a lot of outrageous injuries and an entire roll of tape. My FIL came to spend a few hours with the children and we played outside, did some barn work, had lunch (and ice cream) and hung out. Now DS is playing Legos with DH and DD is watching a horse movie. Pot roast + hanging the rest of the night. 

[incorrigible]

Hey...I haven't checked in for a while because I felt a little out of place. The kids have been wanting something more structured and have tried out a couple different systems over the past few months. They tried an online school, which they actually LOVED....but the administration allows sexual predators to groom and choose from their students (super creepy goings on!) and really, no one will do anything about it...so we had to cut and run. We just moved to a super rural area with tiny schools that I cannot say enough good things about (and if you've heard some of my rants about schools, you'll appreciate what that means. lol). DS wanted to try high school, and that lasted about a week. lol He finally had a total meltdown because "It's so frustrating and such a waste of time. The kids are all so immature. They just screw around and don't take anything seriously. We get like 15 minutes of work done in a 45 minute class! Then I have to do everything as homework and you are the one helping me with it. It's like I'm homeschooling at night and spending all day locked up in a monkey cage at the zoo." He really adored his teachers, and likes the kids well enough outside of class (though he talks about them like he talks about the little kids he plays with next door. I think he considers the teachers to be peers more than the other students). Anyway, the principal called to wish us well and let me know that if there was anything they could do to support us, to just let him know. He offered for Crash to still have access to clubs and activities, or take some classes part time if he wanted. 

So, we've settled into a part time school schedule. Crash is taking P.E. and Algebra I at the high school (he is really buddies with both teachers and loves their classes). He still wants a formal program of some kind at home, so we are looking into American School. They basically send the books and tests out and it's totally self paced. Formal is fine, but I don't think having someone tell him what to learn and when to learn it is in anyway helpful to learning...but this way he has the teachers and grades and formal transcripts and diploma and what not that he wants. Part of the draw is making it easier to take college classes soon. It's really hard to get colleges around here to let underage students take classes without a GED or diploma or something. As homeschoolers, we'd have to get permission from our district, and jump through all manner of hoops. This way, he will be able to start taking college classes for high school and college credits without all the hoops. 

And Spritely is really into homemaking skills lately. She has a grocery list for me of ingredients so she can make homemade mayo and katsup and a bunch of other things next week. That and I think she's about to go into another super academic phase. She's started working on math all the time, and asked me if she gets her math up to high school level (last time we had to test, she was just about at high school level in everything but math) can she do the same program that Crash is. Since the high school is jr/sr combined, they will have no problem enrolling her once she's jr high age next school year. I don't figure she'll get there before summer, even really working her tail off, so if she does keep pushing the timing will work out great. 

I have to say, I miss the more relaxed pace we've usually lived at. They're so busy and focused lately. It's the genetic rebellious streak. I didn't push them to learn to read. I was totally prepared to defend their right to learn at their own pace well into the double digits...so they were reading at 3 and 2.5! Spritely wouldn't even let me get the classic messy eater birthday pic on her first birthday. She insisted on eating her cake with a fork! They've both always enjoyed academics, but I've never pushed it. I've always believed they would learn what they needed when they needed it, and it was somewhat paranoid to worry too much about them learning everything they MIGHT ever need. I'd rather they spend their days out hiking or playing when there isn't something that needs doing...so, of course they're going to spend them trying to become overachievers! lol

[Emaye]

Originally Posted by incorrigible 

Hey...I haven't checked in for a while because I felt a little out of place. The kids have been wanting something more structured and have tried out a couple different systems over the past few months. They tried an online school, which they actually LOVED....but the administration allows sexual predators to groom and choose from their students (super creepy goings on!) and really, no one will do anything about it...so we had to cut and run. We just moved to a super rural area with tiny schools that I cannot say enough good things about (and if you've heard some of my rants about schools, you'll appreciate what that means. lol). DS wanted to try high school, and that lasted about a week. lol He finally had a total meltdown because "It's so frustrating and such a waste of time. The kids are all so immature. They just screw around and don't take anything seriously. We get like 15 minutes of work done in a 45 minute class! Then I have to do everything as homework and you are the one helping me with it. It's like I'm homeschooling at night and spending all day locked up in a monkey cage at the zoo." He really adored his teachers, and likes the kids well enough outside of class (though he talks about them like he talks about the little kids he plays with next door. I think he considers the teachers to be peers more than the other students). Anyway, the principal called to wish us well and let me know that if there was anything they could do to support us, to just let him know. He offered for Crash to still have access to clubs and activities, or take some classes part time if he wanted. 

So, we've settled into a part time school schedule. Crash is taking P.E. and Algebra I at the high school (he is really buddies with both teachers and loves their classes). He still wants a formal program of some kind at home, so we are looking into American School. They basically send the books and tests out and it's totally self paced. Formal is fine, but I don't think having someone tell him what to learn and when to learn it is in anyway helpful to learning...but this way he has the teachers and grades and formal transcripts and diploma and what not that he wants. Part of the draw is making it easier to take college classes soon. It's really hard to get colleges around here to let underage students take classes without a GED or diploma or something. As homeschoolers, we'd have to get permission from our district, and jump through all manner of hoops. This way, he will be able to start taking college classes for high school and college credits without all the hoops. 

And Spritely is really into homemaking skills lately. She has a grocery list for me of ingredients so she can make homemade mayo and katsup and a bunch of other things next week. That and I think she's about to go into another super academic phase. She's started working on math all the time, and asked me if she gets her math up to high school level (last time we had to test, she was just about at high school level in everything but math) can she do the same program that Crash is. Since the high school is jr/sr combined, they will have no problem enrolling her once she's jr high age next school year. I don't figure she'll get there before summer, even really working her tail off, so if she does keep pushing the timing will work out great. 

I have to say, I miss the more relaxed pace we've usually lived at. They're so busy and focused lately. It's the genetic rebellious streak. I didn't push them to learn to read. I was totally prepared to defend their right to learn at their own pace well into the double digits...so they were reading at 3 and 2.5! Spritely wouldn't even let me get the classic messy eater birthday pic on her first birthday. She insisted on eating her cake with a fork! They've both always enjoyed academics, but I've never pushed it. I've always believed they would learn what they needed when they needed it, and it was somewhat paranoid to worry too much about them learning everything they MIGHT ever need. I'd rather they spend their days out hiking or playing when there isn't something that needs doing...so, of course they're going to spend them trying to become overachievers! lol

What a wonderful and inspiring update.  Thank you for sharing!  How scary about the online school you tried out.  I thought online schools basically have a closed system where outsiders don't get access?  Anyway, it sounds like your kids are doing really well!

[incorrigible]

Thanks. I wasn't sure if I still counted as an unschooler with the kids being all schooly...I guess *I* still am, even if they're not. lol

"Outsiders" don't have access to the online school. Anyone any parent or staff member chooses to add to their account stops being an outsiders, though, and the school doesn't seem to do any kind of background check on anyone. The teachers have to pass them to get certified, but they don't actually check to see if anyone else is even a registered offender (we found a few that had been added as learning coaches for neighbors or nephews or things like that). The issue was mainly with teen predators, though. A LOT of the kids in the online public schools have been expelled or are on house arrest...like alot a lot! It hadn't even occurred to me. When they are on house arrest they are only allowed out for certain things, like school activities (where the school doesn't limit or really monitor them in any way because they don't know or want to know their background)...and every learning coach, teacher, and student has access to every student in that school and in every other public program in every state, via the internal webmail system. Webmail is, of course, either on or off...so if strangers can't contact your kid, neither can their teachers...and the teachers use the webmail for vital communications daily. It's a hot mess, really...

So, Crash went into school this afternoon for some kind of assembly for Homecoming. It turned out there was a rally, then a Parade all through downtown. Then, the cops blocked a couple blocks, and they had another rally in the middle of the street, right in front of the County Courthouse. He texted us when they started the parade, so Spritely and I were able to attend the rally at the courthouse. It was planned out, and the judge (I think there's only one on duty per day!), lawyers, about every cop (police station is next door), and fireman (1 block away, but the chief patched dispatch to his radio) came out, as well as a good chunk of the town. It was like straight out of a movie about small town America in the 60s. It was awesome. He has the Homecoming Dance tomorrow night, too. That's been a fiasco, as he's not really interested in dating yet....so he finally decided to ask someone out platonically, yesterday...but she has a date so he's going alone. He's super popular though (with 70 kids per grade level I think everyone is super popular and well known), so I don't think he'll have any problem finding boys to socialize with or girls to dance with. ;) 

[Emaye]

Originally Posted by incorrigible 

I wasn't sure if I still counted as an unschooler with the kids being all schooly...I guess *I* still am, even if they're not. lol

Sure you do.  You followed through all the way and your kids chose to go to school when they were ready.  I mean, from what you wrote, it sounds like your kids did fantastically!  It is great to hear  the ending of these stories, ya know? The reflections of those who have been through it or have kids that have grown that way and are now off doing their thing is very important to the parents that are just starting out.  I wish more parents would chime in and reflect on what they think they did right and where they thing they might have changed things.  That body of evidence is really important IMHO.

[mommariffic]

Today was rough - I was in super extreme pain and running on about 3 hours sleep thanks to a gallstone so this morning I pretty much vegged with the children. DD went to her homeschool coop and my husband dropped her off, and I called in for outside help so I could go to the doctor for some relief. Came home feeling MUCH better with some chocolate for kids, and we unwrapped our spooky "surprise" balls, which only had ONE little toy (it was supposed to have 5-7) grumble. So the kids instead played with the tons of paper it was wrapped in pretending to be dragons and the like. DD put on a little play for us + her dolls (actually, a comedy show..) and kids ran outside while I sat on my bum. 

Dinner + bed now! 

Tomorrow I'm going to catch up on some freelance work, than we are going to use the Toys R Us gift card we got for Christmas LAST YEAR. DD wants a doctor set and some horse playmobils and DS will want something with pirates I'm sure. Going to try not to get too much plastic crap. Our plan is to light a fire and do some baking in the evening.