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what did your USer do today?

8K views 129 replies 45 participants last post by  SweetSilver 
#1 ·
I sometimes think people think USers sit around and do nothing all day (of course, some days that is true, lol). There seem to be a lot of misconceptions about what USers actually do. In addition, I like seeing how other people live their lives and perhaps gleaning some ideas....

With that in mind.....

What did you do today?

All poster welcome - from "I am not sure if I am an USer" to "I am a Radical User!" Labels smables, if you hang out here and somewhat identify as an USer, go ahead and post!

It has been a fairly typical day here in muggleland....

Ds is sleeping. He is a teen. He likes his sleep. He will wake up and do an online French class. This is completely of his own choosing. He will probably accompany me to work as he has a French assignment due today at midnight - and he is a beginner at French and wants some help with the assignment (my French is good).

DD has been up since 8:30 or so. We have made a cake (she wanted to) and she has done some math. We did some adding of 2 digits, and telling time and played with cuisinaire rods. She invented a game with them and we played it. I did ask her if she wanted to do math - but she said yes, and we stopped when she wanted to stop.

I think she has telling time and adding 2 digits under her belt, so I asked her what she would like to do next and she said fractions - so that we will do!

She has spent a lot of time drawing today (she hauled in the chalk board) and found a book (from among old Guiding supplies) related to trail markings and she told me she would like to do that. I cannot wait for winter to end......

I have no doubt that before the end of the day we will do some reading. She is an emerging reading - which is a post on its own. I try to give her every opportunity to read, without making it into a chore. I think she has most of the skills down, just needs some time to develop fluency and speed. I would not be suprised if she writes a story - she does that a lot these day. She uses volumes of paper. She has numerous stories on the go.

She has just asked to use the glue gun (not sure what for) but I like to supervise that so I have to go. I think she is making a bird house......
 
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#102 ·
We had an unschooling get together up in the mountains at a friends house for a treasure hunt, a hike, and brownies. They have a zip line in their yard so the kids spent most of their time taking turns on that. On the way home we stopped at the REI in town so DS could play in the playground a little and I could check out the climbing guide for next week's trip. On home where DS has been painting and helping DH make noodles for lasagna.
 
#103 ·
We aren't (again) exactly unschoolers but right now it feels like it!

Our day today was pretty boring. In the morning I went to pick DD from her Grandmothers house and we got lunch and went to pick up a small stuffie for our friend who we were visiting -- she has a 5 month old. The ride there is a little on the long side and so we listened to our Little House book on tape, and talked a little. At her house we just hung out and DD played with her cats and her baby for a few hours...after that we went to the food store, came home cooked and read some new books we got.
 
#104 ·
Today was a low key day at home. We started our morning making a ballet shoe craft as DD is obsessed with ballet and dancing right now. The craft was super simple, basically gluing construction paper together and adding a string bow. One of these days DD1 is going to realize how lame Mom's crafts are but for a now she is satisfied with me.
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Then we baked bread while DD2 napped and took a nature walk after lunch. We live right near a river and the leaves are changing so we had fun collecting different colored leaves and seeing tadpoles in the river and throwing rocks. DD2 is so easy going for a one year old, she has no problem tagging along for all of our adventures.

DD1 is asking me how to spell a lot of words so she has been learning a lot of letter sounds. I love unschooling.
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#105 ·
It's a quiet day here - it's dark and rainy and we are tired and low energy so mostly we did a lot of reading. Yesterday we went to the library and picked out a bunch of books so today we read part of a really lovely book retelling the Illiad and the Odyssey. Dd also practiced drawing bugs out of her "Draw 100 Creepy Crawlies" book and then she wrote a list of adjectives that describe her. (I encourage her to practice writing every day.) I read to her from "Story of the World" (a section on gladiators) and we read part of a Math/Art themed book called "Mathterpieces". Now she's laying on the couch watching a dvd (not sure which one) and in an hour we have to leave for a doctor's appointment.
 
#106 ·
We started the day watching a History Channel DVD about the Eiffel Tower; DD (6) is intensely interested in the tower right now. We paused several times to discuss historical events that came up (WW II, for instance). Then DS (8) and DS (4) watched an hour of Pokemon while DD worked on various art projects and I showered/tidied up. After lunch, DS (8) and I played chess (I won for the first time--he's been my teacher and was quite proud of me) then Bakugan Brawl; DD interrupted several times asking how to spell various words for the list she was making of things she wants to do with the babysitter tomorrow evening. Next DS (4) and I messed around making simple equations with our new Numenko game. Right now the three kids are having a "building design contest" inspired by the Eiffel Tower program, and are sketching out their ideas on the easel and kitchen table. They've been going outside every afternoon around three or so, but I suggested they stay in today because the mosquitos are HORRIBLE and DD has at least twenty huge bites from yesterday that are making her miserable. I need to get motivated about moving some laundry.
 
#108 ·
Yesterday Ds spent the morning building things with his Papa and making crepes. Then he and I got dropped off at a nonprofit cafe for five hours of hanging out with friends, all the kids were either unschooling, or at Sudbury or Free Schools. There was some sort of game involving working the night shift at the hospital and a dog that needed medicine. Then DS and I walked the 5.5 miles home across the city on a Saturday evening.
 
#110 ·
Today is a planning day. With the 99% Occupations going global, we're all chipping in how we can. The closest occupation to us is in Las Vegas, so we're working with that group for now. Laughlin's really near by, though, and I'd love to see a group start up there....I think the smaller occupations will have to wait until the big ones get bigger though. Anyway, there's a march on the 6th, and we're helping prep. The kids are planning to do youtube news reports since the major media is still trying to ignore the movement. Honestly, I don't think it would have had nearly as much momentum as it does if the whole world wasn't so offended by the media blackout! lol

So, today we're contacting groups in our area about fundraising. Sole Project is paying the group $2 per pair of shoes donated, so we're trying to round up used shoes. And the kids need to work on their interview questions. I need to find the charger for the video camera batteries. It takes funky ones and both are totally dead. I need to get ahold of the tech guy for Occupy Las Vegas about the newsletter. Looks like I may be writing that, too.

Other than that, it's a pretty lazy day, though.
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#111 ·
More like "what did my USer do this week?"

DD1 remembered her guitar book and wanted a lesson from me. (I bought 3/4 size guitar last Christmas.) Months ago I showed her how to count the notes in a measure and I think that irritated her enough to quit. I saw this yesterday again but remembered in time to stop myself. I just said that she could just remember "short, longer, longest" when she sees those notes. She was on board with that, and by the end of our lesson (over an hour it lasted!) she was counting anyway. I'm glad she decided to pick the guitar back up. She is very fact-oriented and likes the format of learning written music, otherwise I would have been happy for her to just play around. She does that somewhat when I play the chords for her, and she finally discovered the melodious sound of careful finger play rather than rough, toddler-style "strumming".

We began 4-H, but things are a bit slow right now. We'll be meeting more of the local kids this weekend.

Getting ready for Halloween has been so much fun. The last two years have been the girls helping dh out with the costumes they requested. This year it is the other way around. We have been helping them this time. DD1, who has resisted writing and drawing, soon found herself sketching her ideas and making out lists for what she needed. She is making a light saber out of a dowel we have for locking a window. (Lucky for her I still had red glitter paint I bought last Valentine's Day and didn't use.) DD2 made a "shield" with the paint out of watercolor paper. Today we will fix on handles. (She's a witch apparently, with a sparkle gold cape and red glitter shield. I think she is going to look more like Medusa with a green Gorgon's face, but at least she is inventing this herself.) Next week we sew capes.

We attended a "Wolf Camp" class given by 2 local trackers. We met several homeschoolers and it was good enough to give it another try. I like that we can do one class at a time and that the class is only 2 hours. Another school offers a course once a month in our area (5 hours each class and the tuition was $350 each. Yikes!)

Every night at bedtime, they have been eager to run out for stargazing, usually a bit of a letdown as it is almost always cloudy here. We've been reading books about stars, planets, and constellations, especially liking the ones by Jacqueline Mitton with Christina Balit's illustrations. They make a lovely tie-in to our focus these past months on Greek myths. stardate.org provides our weekly sky calender, and KidsAstronomy.com lets you print out sky maps for free. After stargazing has been some quiet chat time in bed in the dark before bedtime songs and sleep. I've often been drifting off with them as we've been having a lot of viruses lately and I'm bushed.

All our difficulties have been plastered for all to read in "The balance between unschooling and chaos" thread, so I won't get into it here. Suffice it to say we've had to reinvent our routines recently. But all-in-all it's been a great week.
 
#112 ·
I written before about my younger 5yo daughter who can play with anything (just about anything, it seemed). Well, last night I was filling up a bowl of chicken skin and bones for our hens (I know, icky sounding, but I've gotten over it) and she pulled up a chair, asked for the tongs and started playing. I couldn't quite catch what the game was.

I didn't know where to put this post, and I wanted to share. Crazy!
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#113 ·
Things have picked up as we have six children in our unschool/freeschool group right now. They've been climbing boulder in the river and building lettuce-lined mazes for the school bunnies this week. Last week, we went to the ancient ruins of Yagul in honor of 11/11/11. We climbed pyramids, navigated labyrinths, and descended into a tomb that had stone heads affixed to the pillars of a doorway. The children filmed a monster movie there. Then we ate nieve de tuna, cactus fruit ice cream.
 
#115 ·
We have stopped traveling and are in one place for a few more months. We're right on the edge of town, with the Colorado desert out the living room window. The kids have been having fun going hiking out in the desert during the day. They come home with tales of adventure and talking about all the wildlife they saw that day. Right now at this moment, Spritely is playing Toontown and Crash is in their room dismantling a television. Ours is having some kind of power issue and not worth the repair costs. So, he asked if he could have it. He just might fix the thing, but if not he'll still have fun figuring out how it works.
 
#116 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by incorrigible View Post

Crash is in their room dismantling a television. Ours is having some kind of power issue and not worth the repair costs. So, he asked if he could have it. He just might fix the thing, but if not he'll still have fun figuring out how it works.
TVs and monitors can carry a charge for a long time after they are unplugged, don't know the specifics, but just so you know!
 
#117 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by SweetSilver View Post

TVs and monitors can carry a charge for a long time after they are unplugged, don't know the specifics, but just so you know!
Yeah, watch out for capacitors! The big ones in TVs can carry a whopping charge. Check images so that you know how to recognize them, and read up on their safe discharge.

Miranda
 
#118 ·
Last night, dd2 ran around the house, throwing an old toothbrush up in the air to try and catch it. She was enjoying herself so thoroughly I checked my urge to suggest she do it with a ball. Finally, dd1 came into the room with a ball, tossing and catching it and dd2 said, "Oh yeah, I guess I can do it with a ball, too!"

Yesterday my girls came to the house I was cleaning and did some really awesome work for 1.5 hours. (I love being self-employed sometimes.) They get 6.00/hr for really good work, where I get to be their boss and correct and direct, or 1.00/hr for busy work. DD2 did an entire hour of vacuuming and dusting before she settled in to busy play bumping down the stairs. DD1 worked on. The girl is seriously motivated by money. She was very diligent-- earning 9.00!--I just wish she was like that when she wasn't getting paid. DD2 helped me make a big batch of granola for sale and it earned her a dollar of the profits. Both girls have been helping me bake more often.

The day before that, dd2 was grouping her many little animals by continent/country. I think every area of the globe-- including New Zealand and Antarctica--was represented. Later we went to visit the riding school where they will be sharing a lesson twice a month. We helped groom Snowflake and giggled when she rolled in the dirt straight away when she reentered her paddock. We are learning to keep 4-H records and added this day to our "Horseless Horse" record--well dd2 did. DD1 is still reluctant to write, but at least I see her write *regularly* though not in quantity.
 
#121 ·
Floated through the mist. That and reminisced about how it snowed on Winter Solstice this year. It is nearly Summer here but very rainy ATM and since we live in the mountains that meant today was shrouded in a glorious soggy mist. We stayed home (and dry) until 3pm when we walked the few blocks up to the community hall for DD's final rehearsal before her ballet concerts on Sat & Sun. DD did well, she only turned around once to make shadow puppets on the backdrop and the girl next to her only had to shake her arm to remind her to start skipping twice lol. 'Twill be fun to watch what happens at the first concert. In the last concert DD did 2 years ago the performance of this age group completely fell apart. It's a tough age I think, they are too old to get away with having older students dance on stage with them and some of them are too young to remember an entire routine by themselves. Whatever happens DD will have fun
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Then we donned our wet gear again and walked back through the mist to hot chocolates with marshmallows and cheese on toast. Did some drawing with wax crayons - very Steiner, both littles watched some online tv. They ate dinner in front of the computer while DD did some reading eggs (she is nearly finished and not that interested usually but I reminded her yesterday that her subscription will be over soon), then we cleaned up and headed to bed.
Tomorrow is a rest day before two days of concert mania.
 
#124 ·
We overslept and missed church. It's a lazy lounge around the house day. Today my kids are making a box and pillow fort for our very hyper kitten. I have a project for them later. We have a storage closet on our porch that we use for pet and plant supplies. They are going to build the organizational system for it, then organize it. DH is filling out job applications. I'm doing some laundry, picking up, etc. We're going to try to watch Puss in Boots later. We've tried like 3-4 times to watch it as a family, and somehow never finish it. None of us has seen it other than those attempts, either. lol
 
#125 ·
Kids read to themselves in the morning, asked to do math, went to the beach and read some history, then off to swim and gym. Came home drew with chalk on the deck, ate dinner, and I read aloud to the 2 little ones while they played with Kiva planks and dd#1 drew and drew and drew. That was about it. :)
 
#126 ·
We are starting to clear out the house for staging. Finally getting to the piles of coins on the bedroom dresser. Dreading counting them, I had the inspiration to have the girls count them. 100% of the value of the pennies, 50% of the value of the nickels, 20% of the value of the dimes. The quarters I save for their allowance. Worked well, but I'm surprised they are not wanting to earn more. They even stopped counting the nickels, which I thought would be easy earnings. I'll leave them out for when they are feeling greedier.......
 
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