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March 2015 Unschooling Thread

5K views 60 replies 17 participants last post by  transpecos 
#1 ·
What? It's already a new month? How did I not notice?

Unschooling or unschooling-inspired thoughts, ideas, ponderings, daily life, conundrums, brags, passages... post here!

Any new interests for your kids? Any new interests for you?

Miranda
 
#2 · (Edited)
...still chillin' inside this morning, up from 15F last night, ground covered with a new thin layer of snow, trees frosty. Youngest was messing around with the band room marimba; I didn't realize she had learned some basics from my sister, who studies sax, marimba, and classical guitar for the sheer made fun of it. Sweeney Todd rehearsal was cut slightly short because it was seriously snowing in town and some of us had long trips into unknown weather conditions. (It turned out that most of the road home was not snowy or slick, except for the last bit.) Did not accompany husband to work with dog. Instead spent some time hanging out with youngest. She was curious about a tambourine I brought back from my mom's recently; I explained that it was given to my dad, who liked listening to recordings by Melanie Safka, so we hunted up three on youtube, including two of his favorites.

I mentioned that youngest had brought home a puppy. That chapter is over, but not for her yet, emotionally. It turns out that the puppy was given to her prematurely; the person who had found the three puppies had given one to her horse mentor's daughter, reserved the red one (which had been given away beyond reclamation) and thus by default got the black, the one given to daughter, who had conveniently brought it to town! So, everyone got a puppy except for Youngest, and she is still bummed about it. (She has an amazing life, but it seems to often be the missing thing that sets the tone, not the present bounty!)

Middle was rehired for her RA job, a huge relief, because that's about 12K per year less that is owed for college. She picked her space for the Merit Show, in which she must enter five pieces. And her big midterm is over, so Spring Break will be devoted to a research paper and some other projects.

Son has our car apart in the garage, replacing the back brake pads & shocks and various associated parts (the shock boots had disintegrated). He thinks he has an apartment lined up in town, so I hope he'll still be able to help after he moves because my husband and I are car idiots. (Husband can completely break down and rebuild a bicycle or a big telescope, but he tell me they are not the same at all.)

Today husband and I are to meet with the person who is supposed to do the radon testing and remediation. They're several hours behind schedule because of icy roads, so our afternoon schedule is "wait and see".

We are supposed to have a touring bicycle guest tonight. Good luck getting here...brr.

Deborah
 
#3 · (Edited)
Choir finishes for Fiona next week. She'll be glad it's over I think. She doesn't find it particularly challenging, and being in the mid-to-upper age range of the group (9-13) she gets tired of the slow pace. The director is really good at handling the large-group kid energy, and the overall environment is pretty focused. But my kid was looking for something more similar to the older youth choir her siblings were in. She can't join that for another year and a half, and even then it will depend on how many soprano openings there are that year and the strength of her audition. She really wants to be a part of that ensemble, but I warned her that all the awesomeness that she sees in it right now (as a young 12-year-old craving more challenge amongst the older group her sister is part of) might not end up feeling as awesome as she hopes when she's another two years older. I reminded her that it's the 12-year-old kids in her current choir who will be entering the older group alongside her.

We laughed about her big sister, at age 5, saying "I don't want to go to school in Kindergarten, I want to start in Grade 3, because Grade 3 is awesome" and how I discovered that what she liked about Grade 3 was that it was populated with kids like Paul and Michelle, rather than with agemates like Sadie and Jason. Once she thought it through and realized that her Grade 3 class would have Sadie and Jason in it, that it would just be made up of a slightly older version of the kindergarten classroom she now abhorred, and that she too would be that much older, that was the end of that. Grade 3 seems cool when your 5 but not so much when you're 8.

Yeah, Fiona gets it. But still, she said (and I agree) the older choir is a completely different atmosphere and level of challenge. Last week, for instance, they held a successful rehearsal without their director. Sixty-four teenagers and young adults, together in a large room for almost two hours with a couple of informally anointed leaders from within the group ... and they rehearsed, sang together with great joy and a huge sound, worked on problems, fixed mistakes, tightened things up. Because they love what they can challenge themselves to do.

Anyway, the younger choir finishes up with a set of performances next week, and she'll be pleased to drop it from her roster.

This week she's starting coding club. Basically just a facilitated set of internet-guided lessons in HTML run by a homeschooling parent at a local tech clubhouse. My impression from the organizational emails is that the group is made up of about 50% 12-year-old autism-spectrum boys, and I think Fiona will be fine with that.

Dance is going well. She can only attend two pointe sessions a week rather than the recommended three, and because she's so flexible she needs more strength to counter-balance that, so she has a bunch of exercises she's supposed to be doing in lieu of the third class. Her form is great but her teacher thinks she's at risk for injury if her strength isn't considerably better-than-average. I appreciate the careful preventative approach that's being taken! Next year we'll hopefully be able to get our schedule arranged to support three pointe classes.

We attended a violin master class at the local (village) school earlier this week. The 1st violinist of a visiting string quartet that Fiona's teacher freelances with was giving the class. It was fine; Fiona played her Mozart G Major 1st movement (sans cadenza) and got some good input.

Anyway, because the class was hosted in a little conference room at the school, when we walked through the foyer we saw on the announcement board two events that we wished we had been informed about. I got a little ticked off. One of them was an amazing class on sexual health facilitated by a friend of mine from another community. It happens every year, and I had felt like this was a very opportune year to get Fiona to the class. My older kids had been part of it, and although I work in the field and obviously have the knowledge and understanding, I feel like when you're the child of two physicians and know almost all the other local health care workers on a social level, it's super important to have someone outside that circle to ask questions of, to have as a resource, to get information from. So we arrived at the school to see that we had just missed the session by half an hour.

Our DL program is hosted in this school, and part of the function of the DL teacher has always been to communicate with DL students about special events, field trips, workshops, activities and such that might be of interest to DL students. There has always been a policy that DL students are welcome at any of these things, and it makes sense because give the small number of DL students and their wide age- and ability-range, they can't possibly offer a meaningful range of opportunities specifically to those kids.

So I came home and wrote an email to the teacher and principal of the DL program. Again. Asking if DL students were still welcome at school things, and requesting that parents be notified. Because it wasn't just the sexual health class. There are at least two other things that would have been great for Fiona that we didn't hear about until afterwards, one of which was written right into her learning plan as a request to be involved if/when it happens. I haven't got a response. Whatever. I hope that's because they're both feeling awkward and guilty. I didn't even mention the meeting with parents that they promised to set up to address some of these issues and others. As Fiona said: "DL fail."

Sigh. The current teacher tells me she is retiring from teaching at the end of the year. Fingers crossed that our usual guy will be assigned the DL job again when he returns from sabbatical. If not, we'll definitely have to find something different.

Edited to add: My new interest.... for seem reason I want to start a hydroponic window garden. Either a vertical gravity-fed continuous drip system or deep water culture. So many possible DIY approaches!

Miranda
 
#4 ·
I'm still here, following along. Kiddo is handling early enrollment well. We are dealing with a bit of bullyinig in a class and honestly I thought at hte college level we would be past bullying - obviously not!. But kid is handling it well and we have a safety plan in place, plus the teaacher is wonderful and supportative.

Kiddo loves art club, wishes there was a continuation of chess club, is getting back to the library and is planning a short vacation for us between spring and summer semesters.

Miranda- I totally understand how your kiddo feels with the choir club. WE had a bit of the same issue with art last year, luckily there was a next level for this year and moving days/times waas not a problem.
 
#6 ·
Miranda- I totally understand how your kiddo feels with the choir club. WE had a bit of the same issue with art last year, luckily there was a next level for this year and moving days/times was not a problem.
Half a lifetime ago (for my daughter) she went to "Desert Rat Camp" at the nearby desert research institute...the age spread was way too wide; she was on the upper end of it. She was really looking forward to it, but the teaching was geared to the younger kids and the teachers themselves didn't know much about how to capture the interest of children...given geodes, the six year olds found it great fun to smash them on the concrete sidewalk, perilously near to the plate glass doors! A "The Earth Rocks" program at the same place (for kids in two grades.. 5 & 6 maybe) seemed just fine to me (I had to go too, because teachers had to attend and I was a homeschool teacher), but some of the kids seemed mostly interested in disrupting stuff, and the only activity my kid had not seen before was the simulated meteor impacts in box with layers of colored sand...she willingly did the digs for fake dinosaur bones and all the rest, but she already knew the things that were being taught, so the next year she chose to not attend...a "peril" of homeschooling is that subjects of interest are covered in greater depth and at earlier ages than is usual for schools, which might be more focused on filling perceived gaps in literacy and mathematics.

Deborah
 
#7 ·
So I conveniently forgot to include the point to my last post, which was that Fiona is already an accomplished musician, has already years of performance behind her, and is highly unlikely to have many at or near the same level. It reminds me a little of a friend from high school (3 years younger) who was an accomplished actor by 7th grade...he found his nice playing the juvenile roles in plays produced at the college.

Deborah
 
#9 ·
After 2 challenging weeks at my moms, we are home and things are amazing.
I didn't realize that Little doesn't like to be away from home, deprived of his usual comfort foods, and my angst about his food issues, ( not finishing what's on your plate) agitated both him and me. That coupled with my being very inconsistent left him grumpy and demanding. My mom is the least judgemental grandparent there is, and it was all me, trying to navigate between reality, and the terrible judging voice in my head.
The one super good thing we did implement was 2 hours a day outside, and free from our usual dog walking responsibility, and a lot of snow and cold weather, we mostly went toboganning. We have maintained that since we have been home and are embracing the outdoors, and the beauty of late winter.
The great thing that has happened or seems to be happening, is Little seems to be finished deschooling. We came home last Friday, left him to his own on the weekend, but started Monday with a 'course redirect' ie we're home now and this is how home works.. Not very RU but entirely necessary. By Wednesday he was back to happy co operative boy, and doing some structured learning, outside, free time. Life is good.
We tried to mix up structured learning time to the afternoon so I could get some work done in the morning, but he said he preferred to get it done in the morning, so we are back to that.
Which means I will end this post and go pay attention to my son :)
One last thing, Mckittre I will miss you, and can you send some pics of the Ididarod, one of ongoing PBHS projects is dogs, with a focus on huskies.
Cheers all
Anna
 
#10 ·
After 2 challenging weeks at my moms, we are home and things are amazing
Nothing like a dose of absence to make home feel lovelier. Sometimes we all need something that just helps press the "reset" button.

I too am looking forward to reports of the Alaskan expedition!

So coding club started yesterday. It was held at the local Tech Club's hacker space. Four kids, all about 12, two of them on the autism spectrum and with their workers along for support, all boys except for Fiona. They didn't do anything particularly unique: they just fired up laptops, registered at CodeAcademy.com and starting working, each at their own pace, through the course on HTML and CSS.

Fiona didn't need help from the facilitator, certainly nothing that I couldn't have helped her with. She could easily have sat at home and worked through exactly the same content in exactly the same course.

But there was a simple kind of magic which helped elucidate exactly what this kid of mine seems to be craving right now. Because did she sit at home and decide she wanted to learn to code, and register at Code Academy and sit down and spend two hours enthusiastically teaching herself? No, she didn't. It was not until I said "there's this class happening ..." and she said she'd try it out, and I took her at the appointed time, and left her in the company of others in this designated space. She emerged feeling happy and enthusiastic, having spent the full two hours glued to the course, making tons of progress.

And it was two hours she wasn't moping at the house complaining that there was nothing to do, or else watching Netflix. Will this experience transform into her working on Code Academy at the house rather than moping? I highly doubt it. There's something about the tidy compartmentalization of going to class at the Tech Club that makes it work for her.

We talked about it last night. What works so well is:

A designated time
A designated place
Fellow-learners working in parallel on similar learning
A benevolent outside-the-family facilitator, willing to help if called upon, providing positive feedback for good work
Attendance and participation entirely voluntary

She would like four or five half-days a week exactly like this, covering a range of learning areas: math, science, writing, music theory, maybe a few things she hasn't yet imagined. Maybe some facilitated discussions based on readings about philosophy, world religions, political issues, psychology. All voluntary.

We can dream, I suppose.

Anyway, Coding Club was a success. :)

Miranda
 
#11 ·
I have been going to yoga for a few months on Saturday mornings. Except I was out of town at my mom's . Did I do Yoga at my mom's? No, I did not. Accountability is a bug*er.
This post is not long enough for the list of things I don't do without (fill in an accountability item here) class, friend, deposit, deadline etc.
That does sound perfect for Fiona though, now you just need 3 other 2 hour classes for her, or 3other moms with kids with the same problem.
Good luck
Anna
 
#13 ·
Miranda- coding class sounds wonderful and I sent kiddo the link. Maybe he will explore the webiste. Many years ago he took a computer type class from the city rec program. Same type thing, not overly challenging, but meeting at a certain time and place with someone other than mom giving ideas. Honestly, this is why CTY was so pleasing to him and why college works so well right now.
As for study hall- we don't have that per se but we do have set library days, times. We've gotten out of habit since kiddo has been ill but he has requested that we put library back in his schedule and will be doing it regulary after spring break again.

Ya- for computer class, I'm glad Fiona likes it.
 
#15 ·
Feel as if we must be in the "honeymoon" stage of relaxed unschooling. We dipped in last year, but I just couldn't let go..... things had to really get bad at home for me to get my wake up call that "school at home" was NOT working.

So we are a few weeks in and wow, I cannot believe the interests that my children are following and the amount of learning happening without me urging, chiding etc. It's just so natural. More about specifics in a later post, but a quick peek: my "non-reader" who is keen on fashion read an Usborne book on clothes, cover to cover without moving on tuesday, my littlest, 8yo who "hates reading" has carted all our Dr Seus books and all the others on the shelf that size all over the house and in the car and been reading all week and my son has showed me various things he is doing on the computer.

Still have two fears... how to tell others (critical relatives) and are they going to be okay in working with figures (math) ? Trying to not worry:smile:

Lindy
South Africa
 
#16 ·
The sunny days have kept the girls outside with their bikes and their chickens and the goldfish. Since dd10 doesn't like going outside unless the weather is fine, I'm loving this unseasonable warmth. Suddenly the nighttime air feels damp and warm like spring, smells like spring, and sounds like spring. I saw my first turkey vulture yesterday over a hay field. Wondering if the swallows will be early, too. Like any good northwesterner, I feel just a bit of guilt enjoying this sunny, dry slide into spring. Hoping the summer will not be too hot and bone dry, especially as we are on a well.

My knee has been killing me for the last 3 weeks, and then suddenly it's feeling better. Hm. I'm not complaining or anything.

DD10 got a little Android "smart phone" but without the phone feature. Very cool little device her uncle wasn't using. So far they use it to play Angry Birds and it is naturally causing soooo many fights. I'm making her share it to a fair extent because we don't have two and it's far too desirable to allow her to monopolize it. I can't find my network password, but when I do, I'll get it working with our wifi.

Yesterday the girls were in full DIY mode, making custom-sized harnesses for their chickens, plus a peg board to hang them on. Each harness has a felt name tag, and each nail also has a name. It's so nice after years of supplying the tools, encouraging them to use them and then nothing, that finally they have been getting into all these things. I have always cultivated the sense that they can just get into materials and tools, and it's paid off. Granted, its more than a little chaotic around here, but I am pleased.

The girls are still working on their presentations for 4-H. Both have very good presentations, though I know the judges will comment again on the visuals but the girls will have their display no other way. DD10 is doing chickens again, this time about the Sebright breed of bantams, and dd8 is doing hers on roly polies. It's pretty incredible and her depth of knowledge on this subject is vast, so I'm pleased she picked this one. She has a terrarium where she is raising pill bugs and sow bugs and she will demonstrate how to make one.

DD10 has been grumbling about her allergies and how limiting they are. She received 2 favorite cookbooks for her birthday, and I'm trying my best with our current manic schedule to encourage her to plan some recipes for us to try. Both have started frying their own eggs, so dh has had competition for our daily haul but so far then hens have been barely keeping up.

My girls are becoming little people, finally!
 
#18 · (Edited)
My girls are becoming little people, finally!
To modify a quote I applied to learning-to-read in another thread recently...

They've been becoming little people all along. It just wasn't visible until now.

Such a great update! Happy to hear about all the creative energy and impressive learning.

Miranda
 
#21 ·
Following up a couple of things from previously.

At the hackerspace where Coding Club is held there were a couple of 3D printers which fascinated Fiona. There was also a notice up about a weekend "3D Print Boot Camp" workshop open to tweens and teens. It's on the wrong weekend for us, but they may be offering another one if there's enough demand, and she's keen to do it.

I was looking around at hydroponic garden DIY approaches to feed my own recent obsession when I came upon a continuous vertical drip system that creates a vertical chain of inverted recycled water bottles holding plants. It's a popular approach, but the problem is always how to get the water flowing reliably from a reservoir to the top of the apparatus and then properly without leaks from one bottle to the next. Darned if I didn't stumble on an open-source system called 3DPonics that uses 3D printed water-bottle fittings to do exactly that.

Convergence of interests... very cool. Maybe later this spring.

Also, the DL teacher has been letting us know about what's going on at the school. Yesterday we went and watched a demonstration by the new parkour club that's been running for the past three months. Fiona wants to join. The leaders seem really awesome, very passionate about youth. (They welcome adults too!) There are just a few sessions left this year, but we're happy that we found out about it. So that's good.

Miranda
 
#22 ·
I was looking around at hydroponic garden DIY approaches to feed my own recent obsession when I came upon a continuous vertical drip system that creates a vertical chain of inverted recycled water bottles holding plants. It's a popular approach, but the problem is always how to get the water flowing reliably from a reservoir to the top of the apparatus and then properly without leaks from one bottle to the next. Darned if I didn't stumble on an open-source system called 3DPonics that uses 3D printed water-bottle fittings to do exactly that.

Convergence of interests... very cool. Maybe later this spring.
That's one of my (unexplored interests), along with LED grow lighting. I haven't seen the soda bottle approach...will have to check it out. I'm attaching a picture of a neighbor's system (150 gallons)...most people who live in my neighborhood are content with squash and tomatoes, due to the climate and the critters!

Deborah
 

Attachments

#23 ·
Little does parkour and it is great, from what you have said about Fiona's athleticism she will rock it.

An interesting thing happened thIs weekend that I have been wanting to share but needed to digest a bit first, but now I'm feeling ready.
For the last few years I have been heavily involved with issues in children's mental health. I have worked with different organizations and families in a variety of different roles. I have been on (self-imposed) leave since September while we adjust to homeschooling. Well, this weekend I went to an event hosted by one of the agencies I used to work for, it was author Ann Douglas talking about her new book, Parenting Through The Storm. She is certainly a woman who parented through a storm, with all 4 of her children having challenges. Her talk and advice were very good, compassionate, and positive. Most of the audience were parents and care providers for special needs families. But here is where I ran into a ~thing~ not ready to admit 'problem'.
One of her messages was about advocating for the community, and she asked one of the audience members to come up to discuss a court case she is involved in. The gist of the woman's story was her son had many mental health challenges, including, or resulting in, school refusal. Her solution was to send him to boarding school. Which I believe, but am not certain, was how she became Involved in a court case, which may or may not be about the government paying for private school when public school doesn't support their needs.
This was the point I reàlized, I had philosophized myself out of my community. So much of the focus of children's mental health is about problems at school. The answer to homeschool is so obvious to me now, and hearing the stories of mismanagement is so demoralizing, I feel I have to further distance myself from something I thought would be my mission for the rest of my life. And that has left me a bit at a loss.
I feel even uncomfortable admitting all this, because it feels judgy, and far be it from me to judge anyone's parenting ( glass houses, and all) , which is even harder, because I have few homeschooling friends to talk bout it with. But i am losing my compassion or maybe not my compassion but patience for kids being mistreated in school.
I'm going to stop now as it's getting rambly, I just want to say again how grateful I am to have found this safe place.
So thanks
Anna
 
#24 ·
I had philosophized myself out of my community.
I had a similar experience 15 years ago in my Suzuki music teaching community. While I felt intuitively that there ought not to be a conflict between the Suzuki philosophy and the unschooling philosophy, there were some fairly stark conflicts between the practicalities: a lot of Suzuki teachers assumed there was a need for a high level of prescriptiveness and unyielding adult expectations.

With time I found it easier to get the two to meld, and to express to other Suzuki teachers my unschooling sensibilities in ways that intrigued them, and I found a few like-minded people. And I think I might have helped open a few people's eyes to a more child-led approach to teaching Suzuki music.

I expect you'll find the same with Child Mental Health ... with time you'll find more commonality of purpose, practice and people.

Miranda
 
#25 ·
It's hard to keep off my soapbox about school and the problems that arise from forced attendance. Recently it was a conversation about the narcissism/praise connection ("you're smart"=bad, "you worked hard"=good, basically) and one thing I realized was that school and its outcome-based focus (including project-based and process-based schooling) and the lack of opportunity for *failure* without penalties could very well be a driving force behind the continuation of a poor practice. Of *course* we are going to go to great lengths to boost our children in the face of a childhood that is now almost completely absorbed with our idea of education.

OK, I'm just saying that I get the dismay one feels when others are agonizing over something and the first solution is to discard the *bullsh1t* that is our paradigm of education.
 
#27 ·
Anna -- I get it that school can be even a worse place for kids outside the norms. But I feel for those parents too. I have a neighbor who has an autistic kid -- a teenager now. And he's difficult and exhausting to deal with. My MIL is his special ed aide at the school, has been for years, and, well, it wears on a person. She does it every school day, and then his parents do the rest of the time. Though his mom doesn't work, and could theoretically homeschool him, it would be really really hard on that family to lose the mental break that school gives. So, school itself isn't necessarily helping him or his family (I think he gets lots of worksheets and works many years "behind"), but the babysitting function really is. (he gets some respite care in the summers) How could one encourage homeschooling in those families capable of doing so, while still giving them breaks from those more "challenging" children -- for their own sanity? I realize it's not quite the same as the kind of mental health issues you're probably talking about, but it is a tough problem.

Miranda -- I have to thank you for recommending "the Mystery of the Periodic Table" We got through it, and now have moved on to "The Disappearing Spoon," and I've been reading these popular science chemistry books to my son in bed every night. It's the first thing in a long while that has gotten him interested in books of any sort. And while they have enough chemistry to draw him in, they have all sorts of other interesting and difficult topics too (wars, the holocaust, the treatment of women in science, etc...) that have prompted lots of good discussions. And the Disappearing Spoon is written for adults, so I'm learning plenty too. Who ever knew about the role of Portugal as a tungsten supplier in WWII?

Heading out of town tomorrow! (I should be cleaning -- packing is mostly done). Will be still in range of civilization for a bit, since it'll take a few days to bop up to Nome, then we'll be there for a week or so. Alaska has finally gotten cold for the first time this winter (-14F in Nome right now), and I'm a bit nervous. Hoping all those clothes overstuffing all our bags are going to be enough.

-Erin
 
#28 ·
Mckittre thank you. And I know all too well of situations like that, my best friend is the ASD itinerant for a local school board. And yes it is respit, and hugely essential. That is in fact why Little was the only one of my kids to go to JK, because I needed a break, more than I believed JK was too young for school.
And that is why I said it is a hard subject for me to talk about, because it does sound judgy. And the last thing anyone with a special needs child needs is to be judged! My Goodness!!
And possibly this is one of the few places I can talk like this and hopefully , not be misinterpreted as judging, but just say in my experience, school was, if not the cause, the exacerbator of my kids mental health issues.

Thanks again
Anna
 
#29 ·
Just jumping in to say that I agree that school can be toxic for some kids, and that not thriving at school is not necessarily an indication that something is awry with the child; in fact, it could be the reverse! My eldest went to traditional public high school as a 9th grader, and I think it was the worst parenting decision we made. And we did it for the usual reason: so that he would jump through the usual hoops so that he could go to college (or whatever) and be "prepared" for "real life". We thought that he would find the academic challenges greater than those in our homeschool, and find an appropriate peer group. And all that stuff.

His unschooled-until-college sister has shown just how wrong we were on every count, those I listed, and a bunch more.

Deborah
 
#30 ·
We've just moved into a new house within the last few weeks. Before that, we stayed at my mom's for a month- the longest month ever. It just wasn't a good situation. Granted, my mom did have 13 extra people at her house- my oldest son broke up with his girlfriend and moved in with my mom the same day the other 12 of us arrived- but it was just very hard for the kids to find anything to do there. My mother just turned 80, and as she gets older she really does get more paranoid. Every time my kids would find something to do, she would find a reason that they couldn't do it. "No, you can't make a tent behind my chair. You could make a mess. No, don't read under my end table, it could fall on you, and you could die. Stay off the stairs. You could lean on the railing, and it could fall off, and you'd be really hurt." Suffice it to say, we were so happy when our house was ready.
Now that we're home, things are looking up. DD10 and DS7 have really been into upcycling. They've been making all kinds of cool stuff like play furniture for my smaller kids. Not dollhouse furniture, but toddler-sized. They made a complete kitchen- stove with an oven door that opens, sink with a cabinet that opens with a shelf inside...DD10 even rolled out a piece of blue clay to look like a stream of water coming out of the faucet, microwave with rotating plate. It's so neat. They've also been watching youtube videos on building robots, so my husband just ordered supplies for them to make one. DD15 has been into anime for the longest time and is learning Japanese. She's going to a cosplay (sp?) convention this month and spent 5 hours the other night sewing fur trim onto her jacket. DS14 just got a new gaming laptop yesterday, so I have a feeling it'll be WOW for a while. DD5 taught herself how to tell time on an analog clock (only o'clock so far) by using a book we have here. DD9 has also been upcycling, but she's not as into it as the others. I got some books at the library yesterday on upcycle crafts and engineering because I can definitely see DD10 headed in that direction. A few weeks ago she learned how an electrical circuit works by taking apart a light up toy. She was also fascinated watching my husband rewire an outlet for our dryer. She came up and told me exactly what he did. The other kids have really just been puttering around doing odds and end things while waiting for the warm weather to come. (Soon, I hope!)
:laugh:
 
#31 ·
Earlier this week the local homeschooling community was invited to a non-profit arts school. They are planning to put together a program with our input during "school hours" that will probably start in the fall, maybe summer.

My girls and I went and explored the place. There was a music room, a sewing room, a computer/game room, dance room, visual arts room, probably another room (theater room). The girls made art, played with the percussion instruments with some of the other kids, they each played exactly one note on the piano and we danced a little and watched others dance, play piano, etc.

Dd7 was really into the sewing room. Both girls were really into the art room. I'm excited to learn what's going to happen with this space.

Other than that dd7 has been wildly testing every boundaries each day and dd4 has been following her! The girls and I put all their toys away at one point this week, in hopes that we can spend more time outside and doing things together than cleaning up the gigantic messes they make with their toys.

We also spent time with my grandma, and she told us some information about her grandparents, which is great because dd7 is really interested in family tree we're working on.

We watched The Neverending Story and haven't really had a chance to do any reading this week, but they've been drawing and being creative and playing outside a lot.
 
#32 ·
Wow, everyone is so busy. This is my busy season and I had a bunch of work drop in my lap (money is good, insanely busy is bad.... But I got it done, and now things are even again)... So, the lazy days of February extended into mid March for homeschooling... But I am looking at picking up some new activities this year.... My oldest got loot crates for his birthday, and it got me thinking how fun it is to receive packages in the mail... So I got the kiwi crates to try... We will see whether that is a hit or not...

The homeschooling board we are with came through with an OT for Erik, I am a bit ambivalent about that, I wish we would have been more involved in the process of figuring out actions for him.... Instead I just got a schedule of appointment in my inbox with no prior discussion... But I will reserve judgement. Worst case scenario it isn't helpful. Right?

We are also looking at getting the kids in swimming again... But we are still waiting on warts. This year has been the attack of the killer warts... Seriously. And after going the freezing route for months (and duct tape and acv), we finally have improvement with oregano oil. So swimming is back on the plan.

Anyway... I am so excited about spring... It's like an energy switch just hit. Next weekend is the big seed exchange, and this year we are doing a plants vs. zombies theme to our garden...
 
#33 ·
Almost done with cookie sales-- last booth today. The girls' goal was waaaaay too high and we are wiped out. Last night the girls broke down over a f***ing toothbrush, screamed and very nearly got into a physical fight before we intervened-- physically intervened, with dd10 kicking and biting at me as I moved her bodily away from her sister. JFHC. Then for the next hour, dd8 was adamant about "making her understand", that tiring argument we get into every other frickin' day.

:bang Let's spend some contemplative time with this little dude-icon while I settle myself :bang

So, yeah, glad sales are almost over. Glad my crazy work schedule is almost over. Glad the extra gymnastics classes are almost over. Glad my moodiness has passed (just in time for this round of shit-- let me just wander back up to my little dude busy whacking his head for all eternity..... ahh.....)

The weather has been beautiful, thankfully, and we only just got some rain today. Good rain, just perfect for planting up the garden.

The girls have been working in earnest on their 4-H presentations. The visuals are fun but chaotic and if this was school they would be downgraded badly. Even for these presentations, at this level they might not get a blue ribbon or at least I wouldn't be surprised. But their delivery is *amazing*. Maybe a little less organized that a well-taught school kid, but these girls are working on what is going to draw the judges in, and I am only adding a suggestion here and there, leaving their own ideas on how it should be intact. It isn't all neat and tidy, but they have the personal experience, the motivation, energy and interest and they can draw others in like moths to a flame-- that is the strength of these two girls and is jaw-dropping to watch them put this into action. A little encouragement to try to look the judges and the audience in the eye instead of flitting about so much, and they could be talking about nearly anything and still have them mesmerized.

I might complain about my girls, because they are a handful-- and constantly opposed handfuls, like magnets of the same polarity that I have to somehow hold together in one unit-- but watching them grow and unfold brings me great joy. I just need some spaciousuness in my own head to fully appreciate it.
 
#34 ·
Hello! I've been away from Mothering for a long long time but I've moved to a new town and not found any like minded families which is bugging me a bit now as I can't work out how to get in touch with everyone else who doesn't want to engage with the controlling local Home Education group that smothers everything else!

My dd12 had a freak out about needing to go to school last week which started with "I don't know xyz and I can't do xyz" I don't know who messed with her head but she spent a morning ranting about how didn't know anything about science. We looked up what school children her age are learning about science and then at some revision activities online and she couldn't believe how ridiculous the topics and questions were. Of course there is energy in a packet of pitta bread, of course you can use that energy by exercising and of course toasters use electricity and on and on. She concluded that she knows more science than she thought but she just doesn't call it that! My (schooled) older son who is 18 and preparing to go to uni to study physics with photonics told her that there is no such thing as science in the real world as that would mean everything anywhere in the world and space. That kind of did and didn't help!

Anyway the panic has passed and she is once again content with the freedom and autonomy she has. She has been reading online about the lead in lipsticks and how much lipstick women consume in one day if they wear it. She is mad about make up and watches a lot of youtube on this as I'm clueless about it! She has made some lipstick from a recipe she found online that has no toxins as it's made with crayons and oils which are a lot. Ironically this research, analysis and then measuring, heating and cooling the concoction is not what she calls science but just 'being busy'.

We rub up against quite a lot of schooled children at the Woodcraft Folk groups and drama things. How do your and your children deal with insecurities about what they know or might need to know?
 
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