Unschooling Support March - Page 3

[4evermom]

We made some new friends this week which has made me feel more optimistic. We've had a real problem finding other relaxed homeschoolers, let alone unschoolers. Frustrating because I know they exist, lol! I think with the spring weather, we'll be able to find people to meet with us at parks and hopefully get some friendships established before next winter. Of course, this is what I hoped last spring, too. I'm also working on fixing up a room so we can host people here.

[nomadmom]

Dd and I were at the grocery store today, and she wanted to buy a dragon fruit. I'd never heard of them, but she said she'd read about them and they sounded good. They're certainly very eye-catching! We didn't know how to cut/eat it, so she googled it. They're the fruit of a type of cactus, and apparently are very easy to grow. So, we're going to try.

[UnschoolnMa]

I don't think I've ever had a dragon fruit. I'm totally going to Google it, and maybe we can find one next time we're picking up some food. I love fruit!

Our overnight friends left around 10 am after a breakfast of apple juice and cocoa cereal with almond milk. Seems like an odd combo to me, but what the heck do I know

Dd is tired. She got a letter in the mail today from a friend so she's writing her back and watching a movie upstairs.

I got the letter today from the ESD informing me that this is a testing year for Ds. We knew that already, but it did prompt us to talk about what he wants to do. He can either go get his GED or take the homeschool test. If he gets the GED he's all done as far as the state goes, but he'll need to get it wrapped up before July because that's the latest I should schedule him with the tester if he wants to go the other route. He said he'll let me know in June what he plans to do, and I said that was just fine.

Tonight we may make pizza or pasta... not sure. Must check if SNL is new tonight too.

[MarineWife]

Hey. I didn't know we were still doing the support threads. I'm glad I found this. My husband had to go to Las Vegas for two weeks so I decided at the spur of the moment to visit my mom in Virginia. It occurred to me that we don't have school or work or pets keeping us here so there's no reason for me to stay here by myself feeling lonely and sad. I can just go whenever I want. He has to leave again in about a month for 3 weeks. I'm thinking of heading to Florida to see my best friend from Hawaii who lives there now.

It was a really nice trip and visit. My mom lives in northern Virginia just outside Washington, D.C. so we went to the Smithsonian. I really enjoyed that because I've been missing having that sort of stuff available. There is nothing like that where I live now. Also, I finally got to go to the Museum of Natural History. Yay! When we lived there every time we'd take my older son we'd end up at the Air and Space Museum because that's what he wanted to do but I always hated that place. We saw the dinosaur bones. DS2's fave was the T. Rex. They have a new butterfly garden and insect zoo (which also has arthropods). We got to see a tarantula being fed. We missed the discovery room that has hands on activities. DS still had a blast. Oh, and I'm very proud of myself for actually driving into the city. We couldn't take the train because by the time we got to the station there weren't any parking spaces left.

Other than that, we just lounged around my mom's house visiting and keeping her from getting any work done. hehe I stopped to see my oldest son in Norfolk on the way home. I'm very concerned about his living situation but not sure if I can do anything about it. I'm planning to talk to some people about it next week.

For the next 2 weeks we're going to have visitors. My dad is coming Tuesday and staying until Friday. Then my FIL is coming the following week. We have 4 birthdays this month so we'll be busy eating lots of cake and putting on the pounds. Good thing I got a new double jogging stroller. I guess that's about it.

Now that I'm subbed here I can get back on track with what everyone else is doing.

[majikfaerie]

this is a dragon fruit that we had in Guatemala. There are different vatieties - some have the electric pink flesh, and some have white flesh, but the taste is about the same. yummy!

I have my internet problems temporarily solved, but the neighbour issue is getting ridiculous (she's actually putting the word around town that she's looking for a tenant to rent my cottage!!!! (remind you that she's just renting too, and has no rights over my place at all)

anyway, we have 5 people now living in my tiny, 60sq' one-room cottage LOL its a lot of fun
since DP went to israel for work, my girlfriend came to live with us, and we have some houseguests; an american woman I met in new zealand with her israeli boyfriend camped on the sofa-bed.
we even had 2 friends over for dinner last night, so it was a mad crowd in here. but lots of fun.
and DD is loving having all these people around; there's always someone around with time to play with her or take her to the pool.

alima, I've been taking echinacea tincture, and a mix of astragalus and 8 chinese herbs, called astra8, but i dont have it at hand atm, so i can't say what's in it. try googling fusion astra 8.

[Lillian J]

I saw that title "Unschooling Support March," and wondered where in the world you were going to conduct a march, and why! - Lillian

[4evermom]

Originally Posted by Lillian J

I saw that title "Unschooling Support March," and wondered where in the world you were going to conduct a march, and why! - Lillian

Yeah, we got a little hung up on finding someone to organize and agreeing on what we'd be marching about, let alone where....

[annakiss]

Originally Posted by nomadmom

Dd and I were at the grocery store today, and she wanted to buy a dragon fruit. I'd never heard of them, but she said she'd read about them and they sounded good. They're certainly very eye-catching! We didn't know how to cut/eat it, so she googled it. They're the fruit of a type of cactus, and apparently are very easy to grow. So, we're going to try.

I've had dried dragon fruit at my consciousness raising group. Someone got it at Trader Joe's. Pretty good stuff and the interiors are phenomenally gorgeous. What I'd like to try are miracle berries, though I have no idea where to find them. They make everything you eat afterwards taste sweet for about 20-30 minutes, even things like lemons. I wonder if I could get my kids to eat asparagus and raw kale that way.

There's this HUGE snowstorm here right now. We have about 2 feet and it's still snowing. We're running low on supplies, but I think we'll make it. It's been a bit of a rough day because DH was really expecting to go do work (though I have no idea why - I wasn't expecting to do anything at all) which made him grumpy which stressed me out which meant that the kids and their constant messes made me quite testy. Right now they're all watching DH play Donkey Kong on the laptop. Ever since we saw The King of Kong he's been playing.

Maybe I'll go see if the upstairs neighbor wants a beer......

[nomadmom]

Originally Posted by majikfaerie

this is a dragon fruit that we had in Guatemala.

Oooo, pretty! Ours was bright pink on the outside, but the flesh was white. It didn't have much of a taste -- kind of like a very bland melon. Not unpleasant, just neutral. Those miracle berries sound cool. Dd is into trying unusual fruits lately -- she'd love those if I could ever find some. They sound like something Willie Wonka would come up with!

[zeldamomma]

Add me to the list who thought there was going to be marching...

Though I have to admit my next thought was "will the unschoolers march in the same direction?" :

We're healthy (knock on wood), but I think my cabin fever may have us a little over-booked for the rest of the month. But there are worse things, I guess. We are SOOOO ready for some nice warm weather, but spring is probably a couple months away.

ZM

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by 4evermom

Yeah, we got a little hung up on finding someone to organize and agreeing on what we'd be marching about, let alone where....

So this brings back memories of a parade our local group was in years ago. Let's see...trying to recall it all... Okay, so, for one thing, we decided that we'd all wear tie-dye t-shirts - so we had a tie-dye party and died them together. That was fun. Then someone came up with some Groucho Marx eyeglass frames with attached mustaches, so gee, of course we had to wear those... Oh, yeah - then someone came up with some KAZOOS! We all got together to practice some sort of routine - we weren't thinking of anything fancy, of course, but we thought we might want to have some sort of coordination effort. We decided to all kazoo "Seventy-six Trombones," since we were going to be in a parade and all. And, of course, we just HAD to stride proudly and grandly the way Robert Preston did in The Music Man! Ohmygosh, what a scene! All these nuts striding around in very, very bright newly tie-dyed shirts, Groucho glasses and mustaches, kazooing, and falling over laughing...

I didn't get to go to the actual parade, but I heard that the teens refused to march with their nutty parents. The young fuddy duddies strolled quietly behind in a little bunch in their tie-dyes. Surprise, surprise... I guess some of them may have bit a wee embarrassed, but hey, I think getting to be embarrassed about your parents having so much crazy fun is a good thing.

Lillian

[MarineWife]

Originally Posted by Lillian J

I didn't get to go to the actual parade, but I heard that the teens refused to march with their nutty parents. The young fuddy duddies strolled quietly behind in a little bunch in their tie-dyes. Surprise, surprise... I guess some of them may have bit a wee embarrassed, but hey, I think getting to be embarrassed about your parents having so much crazy fun is a good thing.

I was just thinking about this the other day. I was driving down the street and a guy was standing on the side of the road in a liberty statue costume holding a sign that said, "Honk if you love liberty." It's an ad for Liberty tax services here. I wanted to honk my horn at the guy for fun and because I do love my liberty and because I thought he has some nerve to stand out there like that. I didn't honk, though. I thought to myself that I didn't want to embarass my husband who was in the car with me. Then I wondered why I would think that would embarass him and why that would be a reason to not do something so benign. That all made me realize that I've lost a lot of my silliness. I need to get it back. My dh has become an old fuddy duddy, too, as the years have passed. We need to work on that.

I think I've had a dragonfruit before. They had them all the time at the market in Hawaii. I didn't like it. It was pretty bland, white fruit. Maybe the pink has more flavor.

[4evermom]

My ds has recently started telling me not to do things he finds embarrassing .

Originally Posted by zeldamomma

Though I have to admit my next thought was "will the unschoolers march in the same direction?" :

A reasonable thing to wonder....



Ds woke up in the wee hours with a puking bug. We'd really made out well without getting sick thus far this year. I even managed to not have my traditional Christmas cold though we did have one at some point this winter. There are bright sides to not having friends, lol.

He's curled up watching Pokemon, right now. He wants me nearby so I'm stuck at the computer (honestly that is why I'm on the computer so much).

[Milakais]

Lillian, that story is awesome!

[UnschoolnMa]

Hope your Ds is feeling better 4evermom!

It was a nice day here today and I took the dog out. We had an unexpected overnight guest again, and it was fun but tiring. I popped a veggie lasagna in the oven and that was it for dinner.

Just hanging out with the kids tonight and tomorrow.

[nomadmom]

Originally Posted by Lillian J

I think getting to be embarrassed about your parents having so much crazy fun is a good thing.

Dh and I can be pretty wacky at home, and the kids love it. If we're out in public and they give me that "please, mom, don't" look, I'll restrain myself. Otherwise, they think it's great fun when adults get a little crazy. I even have asked them from time to time if they wish I weren't so weird. They always say, "No! Normal is boring!"

[UUMom]

We are getting ready to go visit relatives in FL. The kids are trying on last summer's clothing to see if they still fit.

We are also heading out today to buy a bunch of photo albums. We have too many loose pix around. Boxes and boxes of them. It's crazy. It's a mess , too. I went through about 10 years worth of photos today-- I can't believe how many there are.

[KaraBoo]

That sounds like fun, UUMom

Well, we have one more day here. Tonight, we're going out to DD's favorite Japanese restaurant to get sashimi Then tomorrow, someone comes to buy our bed and we head over to the hotel near the airport terminal. We're staying there the last night cuz (1) we won't have a bed! LOL and (2) we have to get up early for the flight and the taxi ride usually makes DD sick that early in the morning (me too!).

We'll be flying backwards in time, so says DD We arrive around midnight on Wed evening in Albuquerque!

[doulajewla]

Originally Posted by MarineWife

I was just thinking about this the other day. I was driving down the street and a guy was standing on the side of the road in a liberty statue costume holding a sign that said, "Honk if you love liberty." It's an ad for Liberty tax services here. I wanted to honk my horn at the guy for fun and because I do love my liberty and because I thought he has some nerve to stand out there like that. I didn't honk, though. I thought to myself that I didn't want to embarass my husband who was in the car with me. Then I wondered why I would think that would embarass him and why that would be a reason to not do something so benign. That all made me realize that I've lost a lot of my silliness. I need to get it back. My dh has become an old fuddy duddy, too, as the years have passed. We need to work on that.

I realize the same thing not long ago---so the other day to be silly we all waved and smiled at random people when we drove along lol...some people actually smiled like they knew us and waved back!

Today ds and I were watching how its made and i said to him, "How would you like to work there making crayons? cool huh?" and hes like hmmm well does it make alot of money? I said probablly not that much, but it doesnt matter as long as you are happy and doing what you love. So he asked to look up the highest paying job so he knew what he might want to do. It was mutual fund advisor,according to wikipedia. I told him he'd have to be really good with math and money and things like that. then he said he wanted to have enough money so that his wife could stay home if she wanted to with the kids and so that he could buy them games and they could be happy. I said well if he didnt want to work with math too much, he could do something else and make enough to be happy, but not have a mansion or anything lol. Then he asked how daddy and i started out and I told him--none of us went to college. Daddy wanted to, but i didnt. I wanted to rely on my nursing license until i found something better like midwifery. I told him daddy was self taught for years--teaching himself all about computers and programming and DNA--everything he could get his hands on he did. And thats how he can have a good job today that makes us live comfortable. We arent poor, and we arent rich, but we live a good simple life that makes us happy. He liked that idea very much, and does have an interest in computers, he said.

[pia]

It´s a really warm lovely day (maybe 20 degrees or more in the sun) here in Barcelona today, but for some reason we are still inside - albeit with the doors open!
So....ds just managed to make a flame a magnifying glass and a piece of paper! Yiiihaaa -- so cool!