May Unschoolers Support - Page 7

[Mom4tot]

Originally Posted by KaraBoo

DD got the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl games yesterday...you can guess what we've been doing since then! LOL I'm playing Pearl and I named my trainer after my husband...and the friend is named Viggo hehehehe

This made me laugh.

[UUMom]

I read longer novels all the time to my children. We also really like to listen to books on tape while we knit, or ride in the car.

[KaraBoo]

Originally Posted by Mom4tot

This made me laugh.

I'm so naughty

As for longer novels, we read those. Even as a toddler, DD liked to lie down and listen to me read. In the past two years, it's been DH's habit to read a chapter or two to us all at night, while we snuggle in bed together. We've read all kinds of things but right now, we are on book 3 (Life 3) of the Romeo Crumb series. I tend to read shorter books during the day to her. We are working our way through a book of Greek myths right now. And she reads alone now as well (Garfield comics, Tintin, and picture books we've had for years, reaquainting herself with them).

Note: just a warning, the Romeo Crumb books are horribly edited! Misspells and grammars errors are rampant and unapologetic. LOL But dd likes the plots and characters.

[Ruthla]

I have DS home today, and I'm really enjoying him. He just didn't want to get up and rush out to the school bus today, so I didn't make him. We have a HS activity today- "wheels" at a county park, so instead of bringing one child and one bike, I'll bring two children and two bikes.

The more I think about it, the less I want him to go to school. I just get so heartbroken when he tells me about the social interactions at school, and I know I can't be there to guide him through the rough spots when "another child was mean to me." or "another child said I was bothering him." Um, I wanted to be there to ask him what he was doing that the other child found annoying- maybe DS' behavior needed some guidance there!

Ugh. He just dumped out a few hundred beads and splattered them all over the living room. I'd better go.

[LionTigerBear]

Hi everyone! The weather here has been so beautiful! I am kind of jealous with all of you with older kids and all that fun stuff y'all do. Okay, back to enjoying my sweet cuddly little tykes! Dh has the afternoon off today so I am looking forward to spending time together as a family. DS2 is finally crawling everywhere! He'd been figuring it out all week, and he is finally just cruising everywhere! Thisd is new as of, I think, yesterday. Last night he was so pleased with himself he was just laughing, crowing, giggling, bouncing on his bum, he was just ecstatic. He is 6 months old and he has been so frustrated for so long, wanting to keep up with big brother, and now he can! (Mostly.) He is also starting to pull himself up on things, and this is a little scary because he still falls down too often! DS1 hasn't been doing much, just toddler stuff I guess. He's working on learning to use the toilet. I don't like saying potty-training, because I'm not training him. :

I can hardly wait until we get that second car and then I can actually take them out to interesting places.

One question. I want to learn Spanish. What are some good programs for adults? I was using the free Coffee Break Spanish program (free podcasts, they are available through iTunes and other places) but I am getting a little fed up with it. I feel like I haven't learned much for my time. I like to scoot through these things! ( As a child I went through one years worth of Latin in like a week or two!) I feel the need for something a little bit more tactile and booky. I learn things well when I am writing and copying and I'd like to learn the spelling and grammar too. (Coffee Break Spanish has some printables online but I don't have a printer and I think you have to pay for them anyway.) A good textbook-type thing with CDs would be fine with me. I'll probably combine programs though, and I like supplementing with Spanish books and a Spanish dictionary to do some translating on my own. So I'd love to hear what works for you or for your older kids. I'd like to get to be fluent in Spanish.

[4evermom]

Originally Posted by Ruthla

Ugh. He just dumped out a few hundred beads and splattered them all over the living room. I'd better go.

I put pony beads in a pinata last summer and I am still finding them

I didn't want to deal with the grabbiness of a pinata in a mixed age group with the littles not understanding and the biggers getting everything so I put individual goody bags in so the kids had to find the one with their name but I put the beads in so more experienced pinata users would still have the fun of gathering stuff.

[Ruthla]

Liontigerbear- I'd suggest making a new post asking about Spanish curriculums, I think you'd get a better response in the general HSing forum.

DS did really well at the bike riding in the park HS activity. Overall I don't think it was much more work than being there with one child- I would have gotten just as sunburned! About the only part of my body exposed was my ears and part of the side of my neck- I'm wearing a long sleeved blouse and a long skirt and a scarf with a visor!

Anyway, let's see how DS behaves the rest of the evening. I'm wondering if he'll be less demanding tonight than he is after school, and if the overall "day in the life with 3 kids" is the same whether they're in school all day or not. The main reason I'm even considering school for him next year is fear that I won't be able to keep up with him physically due to my chronic health issue.

[UUMom]

It's so exciting here! Our Silkies are laying. : How fun!

[mama in the forest]

I want to learn Spanish. What are some good programs for adults?

I think you could purchase a set of level 1 college spanish books & tapes & just teach yourself. I also think to make a friend who is fluent in spanish to converse with would be invaluable. You're making me want to haul out my old spanish textbooks from college!

[2 in August]

Today it was beautiful outside. Dd was out playing before 10am. She found a robin's egg in the middle of our yard. Not broke, just laying there, cold. She was very sad that she couldn't hatch it and have a baby robin for a pet. When I explained that it was most likely just a yolk and egg white like the eggs we cook with, she was crushed. I don't think she ever thought about cooking eggs being related to eggs that hatch until today. I feel like she lost some innocence (sp?) today.

Dh got her mind off it by taking her out shopping for Mother's Day. They seemed like they had lots of fun. She enjoys special time with daddy.

Ds is army crawling all over the place. I got a quick video of him chasing a ball. Too cute.

We went for a walk this afternoon and worked on our flower beds for awhile.

Overall we had a great day!

[LionTigerBear]

Originally Posted by mama in the forest

I think you could purchase a set of level 1 college spanish books & tapes & just teach yourself. I also think to make a friend who is fluent in spanish to converse with would be invaluable. You're making me want to haul out my old spanish textbooks from college!

There are some really lovely Hispanic members at my church but I am kind of shy-- okay, make that WAY shy-- to talk to them in Spanish. I am really not good yet!

Getting a college text is a good idea. Thanks. I bet I could find something used that is inexspensive.

[nomadmom]

I've been following along since the April thread, and have finally made time to join in the discussion.

I have 2 kids. Ds, 15 and dd, 10. Ds has been back and forth between school and home ed in both the U.S. and England. He came out of school for good going on 6 years ago. Dd has never been to any kind of school.

I'm in the "don't like labels" camp, but, when pressed, have previously identified myself as an ecclectic homeschooler even though that title never felt quite right. I was reluctant to call myself an unschooler because I know that some people are fiercely protective of that label (as a vegetarian, I can understand -- it's like when someone says, "I'm vegetarian except for..."). I didn't want to be accused of not being "unschooly enough". Then, I realized that while our days aren't always a vision of autonomous perfection (often they are, but it's hard work keeping my inner control freak under... uh... control ), in my head and in my heart I believe that unschooling is the best way to learn.

So, here I am.

[Tigeresse]

Hi! I've been trying to follow along the thread for awhile now and am finally getting around to posting. I have 4 kids, ds 15, ds 11, ds almost 8 and dd almost 4, all unschooled. We have just come off a 2 week study of "living with influenza" and "just how many shows can we possibly watch in 1 day on History Channel". Lots of fun. We learned so much. Well, the fevers have finally broken, the coughs are dying down, the couch is put back together, but we all still a bit weak and are taking things a bit easy.

DS1 has finally left the house today to go to the Shakespeare theatre to see a play, I don't remember which. DS2 is still asleep right now, DS3 is playing video games and dd is creating a drawing for me. We will probably lay low and enjoy the spring weather as we recover, but we will attempt to make it to ds2's gymnastics class and ds1's D&D group tonight.

Sounds like our puppy is waking up so looks like I will be taking her out soon! It's kind of cool how our puppy has adapted to our lifestyle of sleeping in....I don't know how I would have handled a dog that wanted to go out every morning at 5 am!

[WuWei]

I wanted to invite you all to check out the new LoA inspired forum "Wise Ways of Women" http://www.wisewaysofwomen.com/forums/index.php It is very progressive and embraces unschooling as "infinite learning", definitely in line with LoA.

Pat

[Dar]

Originally Posted by LionTigerBear

There are some really lovely Hispanic members at my church but I am kind of shy-- okay, make that WAY shy-- to talk to them in Spanish. I am really not good yet!

Just wanted to point out that not all Hispanic people speak Spanish...

Our public library carries a lot of foreign language instruction software and books, and a library near us (where we can get a card) has full-access to Rosetta Stone online.

Dar

[papayapetunia]

Originally Posted by WuWei

I wanted to invite you all to check out the new LoA inspired forum "Wise Ways of Women" http://www.wisewaysofwomen.com/forums/index.php It is very progressive and embraces unschooling as "infinite learning", definitely in line with LoA.

Pat

Oh no, now I have another place to spend time online!

[LionTigerBear]

Originally Posted by Dar

Just wanted to point out that not all Hispanic people speak Spanish...

oops . . . Then I mean, we have some wondeful Spanish-speaking members at my church. Thanks for the tip.

[Ruthla]

Originally Posted by Dar

Just wanted to point out that not all Hispanic people speak Spanish...

And not all fluent speakers of Spanish are Hispanic.

I am thoroughly exhausted today. I let DD1 have one friend sleep over last night. Then 2 more girls came over at DS' bedtime. Then one got picked up and the other didn't, so she ended up spending the night as well. This wouldn't have been too big a deal except that she lives in another school district and can't go on the bus, so I had to drive the 4 of them to school today, and of course DS woke up late and cranky because he got to bed too late.

He was also complaining that he wanted to be HSed and didn't want to go to school ever again. I'd like to have him finish up kindergarten- or at least stay in til the end of the week so I can fully think this through before pulling him out! I was talking to his teachers today about some problems he's having with the other kids, which they're trying to address but basically the problem is that when you get 15 5yos in a classroom all day they get overstimulated and not enough "down time" and not enough personal space. I definitely want to keep him home next year, but I'm just not sure that right now is a good time to pull him out of school, with only a month and a half to go.

I took DD to a "microscope study" class with the HS group. I lost all my "extra driving time" driving the other kids to school. Then I got stuck in traffic AND got lost on the way there! But she only missed the first 10 minutes or so- naming all the microscope parts, and was there for all the cool "looking at stuff in the microscope" part. Then we spent about two hours with me chatting by the picnic tables outside the science museum and the kids running around playing. Most of the group left after an hour, but she insisted on being the last one to leave, so there were 3 mothers and 4 kids who stayed the extra hour.

Then I got lost again coming home! Then I helped my Mom figure out how to place crocheted squares for a baby blanket before sewing them together, tried to get her computer working (unsucessfully) and came upstairs to put dinner in the oven. So much for taking a nap today.

[SagMom]

Originally Posted by Ruthla

I'm just not sure that right now is a good time to pull him out of school, with only a month and a half to go.

What would be the pros of keeping him in school?

[Ruthla]

Originally Posted by Joan

What would be the pros of keeping him in school?

I wouldn't have to deal with the paperwork with the school district.

My Mom's still unsure that I'm teaching DD2 anything, is she going to go through the roof if I take DS out of school as well?

I'm nervous about the open CPS case and adding another HSed child to the mix when I'm being investigated for HSing in the first place. This is really my primary concern.

Oh, yeah, one more concern. I'm worried about my energy levels, and being able to keep up with an active 5.5yo. Will I get any "me time" with 2 kids home all day? I can leave my 11yo home alone for an hour to go grocery shopping, I can't do that with a 5yo.