Who are we now? Who am I?

A strange thing has happened in our homeschool world of lovliness....My children have opted to try out school. Yes that is right! After years of joyfully playing the afternoons away, my eldest two who are 13 and 11 have asked to go off to the public school.

We have always said that we would homeschool until it didn't work for us anymore. My children have always chosen to stay home and educate...and play...and create...and invent. But something happened a few years back, I returned to work. I returned so that we had more financial security and so that we could continue to have grand adventures. But that meant that I wasn't there during the day. That meant the children did more self directed learning and that I taught in the evenings and for 3 hours on the weekends. And that was fine and it worked...until it didn't. My son spent most of last May sobbing nightly in my arms. "Mama I miss you too much" was his mantra. And so, without thinking, I said "well, we need to keep you busy during the day so you won't miss me so much. Let's come up with a project, and I can get some friends to commit to a play date once a week maybe, and I will see if Daddy can take you to more classes. Or you could go to school and you would be kept busy ALL DAY". And then he looked at me with eyes lit up and said "Can I, can I go to school?" Apparently this had been something he had been thinking about, but didn't want to upset the balance. After-all, we were a homeschool family, not a public school family, right?

And so began our new adventure. After visiting the school, which we both fell in love with, we registered him and waited through the summer for the school supply lists to come out. On the first day, he donned his backpack, kissed me goodbye, and climbed on the bus. And had a pretty good week. He didn't meet the instant best friend like he had hoped. And things were strange, and waking up at 6am was very tiring. But all in all he had a good time.

And then the other shoe dropped...his sister, who would be in 8th grade, asked to go too.

Now we have always said that if the children did not choose to start middle school in 6th grade, that they didn't get the choice again until high school. I felt that starting in 7th or 8th would surely be harder than 6th, where everyone was new to the school. But after thinking it though, we decided that rules were meant to be broken and off she went too. And to our delight, she was met with a gaggle of girls just wanting to be her friends. She was also met with a ton of work as she had to catch up on the weeks she had missed. But she met it with vigor and joy.

So now my kids were all in school and that left me...what? I was not a homeschool mom if we weren't homeschooling, right? And most of my friends are other homeschool moms, so now what? Did I tag along to homeschool events ALONE? Sigh...it was like rewriting a book, this not knowing where I fit into it all. But I could help with homework and even elaborate on what they were learning. I supplemented where I felt the teachers fell short. And even homeschool kids went to co op, right? and had other teachers but did work for those classes at home. So what was so different about what we were doing? It was like being in co op all week.

I started emailing teachers, making myself know (sometimes annoyingly so, I am sure. Like the time I emailed to ask why they weren't being taught one thing along with the other, etc), and proving that I was an involved mother educating her kids whether at home or away.

My kids also still feel homeschooled. We started referring to their time in public school as a "field trip" of sorts. And so for now, that is what it is, a prolonged field trip. Where the "docents" of the trip teach, and where Mom verifies and oversees the work done at home, the studying, the math, the everything. We are having fun with it. After all, homeschooling is not just how you learn your lessons, it is a STATE OF MIND!

By George....I think I've GOT IT!

Okay, I have been completely stressing over not knowing what I was teaching my children next year. My girl will be in 8th and my Son in 6th. We needed all new curriculum in every subject except Math. I am used to building our curriculum in the past, but now I am working and so I am not there everyday with them while they work. Their father is at home, but he is working so I need a more independent course of learning, and the children are at ages where they can handle more independent work.

But now I think I have it. after talking to a lot of folks and searching the internet, I am happy with the following curriculum.
History: History Oddysey, level 2 - Ancients  coupled with Learning Adventures - Ancients (an all inclusive curriculum that I will integrate, especially the LA pieces.
Science: For my 6th Grader: Bite Sized Physics
              For my 8th Grader: The Elements
Math: Saxon 7/6 and Saxon Algebra I
LA: 6th Grader: Still building this on, but based on our history and teaching the proper way to write paragraphs, etc.
      8th Grader: Still waiting to see if she will take a 9th grade class at co op or if I will be building hers similar to her brother's.
Music: Text on Music, broken into unit studies
Art: Well, this will come but I am thinking about doing nature journals that encompass drawing, sketching, painting.
Heath: We will continue on our household management course of action. This year the children will be doing their own laundry and each child will prepare dinner once a week. Can't wait to see what they come up with.


I am certainly happy to have this taken care of. Now I just need to break it all down into six 6 week units, and then those units broken down to what we will do each week, day by day. But....we have until September for that. Happy Summer Vacation Everyone!

Two pathes start to diverge in a woods... and I have no idea how to walk them both at once!

Right now homeschooling has become quite simple. I teach a 5th and 7th grader and for the most part, they are learning the same things. They did the same grammar, science, art, philosophy, and world history this year. They each have their own Math curriculum, but other than that, I really was teaching a class of two. When I needed to make it more challenging for the older one, I did. When I felt what we were doing was a bit over the younger's head, I worked it out. But I taught them both together and have for the past few years. Their strengths and weaknesses compliment each other. My older, a daughter, is a natural speller, and LA and grammar are fun and motivating for her. My younger, a son, struggles and finds writing almost painful. Math and Science are his thing. Numbers are his friends and just make sense to him. My daughter on the other hand thinks that numbers are out to get her and science makes sense...sort of. LOL Both find History a bit boring, but didn't always. I want to find a fun way to spark their interest in it again.

Now with the coming of another year, each of them are starting to emerge as individuals in their studies and I really want to foster that. BUT...that means separating their studies. Next year my daughter is going to take her LA class through our co op as well as her foreign language, ASL. She of course will have her own Math course too. That means I need to come up with LA for my son as well as his foreign language (he thinks he wants to study Spanish). I can still keep their history and science together, but my son is totally on the engineering tract and I want to encourage that love while not taxing my daughter with too much science.

In a typical school year, by now (end of April), I have already figured out what we are doing next year. I have the start of our school schedule going and have most of the books in our homeschool closet. But we finished our 4 year history cycle and we have finished our science set of books we were working through. That leaves me searching out new curriculum. I could go to a curriculum fair, but that makes me even more crazy. I get so overwhelmed in places like that, so I have been asking friends what they recommend. I have had great advice offered and now I need to just look at it all and decide. I am deciding between an all inclusive curriculum which will start with history and launch itself off that. I can adapt what writing is required for my daughter so she isn't overwhelmed with her other LA class. OR....I can simply find a history and then a science (or two sciences so my son has one he loves and my daughter has one that she doesn't hate), and then my son's LA, as well as an art. OR...I can just throw up my hands and unschool and just let the kids learn what they will (no, just kidding....about what unschooling is as well as my confidence in ME being able to be an unschooler)

But right now, it is after midnight and I am watching "My 5 wives" and I am just enjoying that we have wrapped up our school year with the exception of 4 more weeks of our Body Systems study. Not that the kids are done learning. It is amazing that they both have started looking into things on their own and when I come home from work, run to me to tell me or show me what they have learned. My daughter mostly studies art techniques and my son, engineering and building things. I am so proud of both of them. I know that no matter what curriculum I end up choosing, they will thrive and blossom as they always do!

To Sleepaway Camp or not to Sleepaway...that is the question!

So I was talking to a friend and he told me I was overprotective. When I asked how or why (because although I am protective, I also consider myself pretty laid back), he mentioned the fact that I wouldn't let my kids go to sleepaway camp. My kids are 10 and 12 and although he is right, in the past I wouldn't allow them to, the fact is my kids have never shown an interest in going to sleepaway camp...AT  ALL!

His claim is that sleepaway camp builds character and fosters independence as well as being fun. He feels that it is like pushing the nestlings out of the nest so to speak. And he may be right...for his kids.

Here is what I know...my kids have tons of character, think for themselves, and know what they want and don't want. They have friends of all ages, from all sorts of walks of life, both children and adult. They can cook meals, clean house, and  grocery shop...if needed.
Up to this year, my daughter has not wanted to go to camp at all, though we did encourage nature camp (day camp) and she attended a few years, but just didn't take to it. She used to go to girlscout camp (day camp) and didn't really like it much. So we didn't push her. And this year she has asked to go to Fashion Design Camp (day camp) and she is going.  She has a few friends who LOVE sleepaway camp. One friend even goes to camp for a MONTH. But she has zero interest and I really don't thing kids need to go away to camp for a week so that works out well.
My son has always been more social than his sister. He loves camp. He goes to camp every year, be it Cub Scouts, or nature camp. This year it is Design your first video game camp.  But all are day camps. When he was a scout, I talked to him about sleepaway camp, but he didn't want to go. And I think that is ok.

Do I think I am sheltering my children and thus stifling their independence? ABSOUTELY NOT. We go away as a family to a huge camp out every summer. Both children have progressed from sleeping in the cabin with my husband and I and our youngest to staying in their own tents or in tents with friends in another area of the campground. We are there for 8 days. My children get themselves to their activities, may sure they have everything they need, make it to meals, etc. But within the confines of a loving community of trusted adults. Not at a camp where they don't know the counselors until they show up at the camp.

 We also go to various festivals, one being a fairie festival, where my children have progressed from staying with me exclusively to running errands (getting drinks, etc) by themselves, to going around the festival by themselves and just checking in from time to time. They know a few vendors from having attended year after year and my daughter has a pseudo job running errands for the critter guy who has snakes and other fun friends. She also gets to stand around all day holding lizards and snakes, etc. I trust that they will not go out the front gate FOR ANY REASON, and because I now work the festival and because we have a few acquaintances there, I feel safe letting them have this independence.

So I don't think I am overprotective, but I do believe I am selectively protective while also allowing independence when my children are ready for it. My children know how to and enjoy interacting with both children and adults. We homeschool because we believe in real world experience and we believe that the public schools are failing out children as a whole. I feel that many (not all, I try so hard not to just generalize) sleepaway camps are just an extension to the pubic school model. A large amount kids sorted into same or close age groupings with a few adults to supervise and instruct.And although I know they are not the norm, there is always the fear that some counselor will get it in their head to touch one of my kids in a "bad touch" sort of way.  This is just not what I want for my children. And I don't think they suffer one bit from not having this experience.

Just a final note to say...I AM NOT ANTI-SLEEP AWAY CAMP. Not at all, but I am anti-sleepaway camp for my children. And that is okay.

Coming out of the bubble

Each winter, just after Winter Solstice, my family and I head into hibernation mode. We go places less, though we do go outside, it is limited for me as I don't like the extreme cold...at all! LOL We also tend to watch more TV as a family and spend many an evening eating dinner in front of the boob tube. But we also play a lot of games, and do A LOT of schoolwork.

You see I plan for this hibernation each winter by making our units of study intense and full of a lot of independent reading as well as read alouds by me and this is when each child does a research  paper. This years paper was on WWII as we spent months studying WHY it happened, all the main players, Hitler from birth to death, and how ordinary people were slowly and systematically turned into uncaring beings capable of atrocities (and yes, how some caved under the fear of "doing to others so it won't be done to you") We read about brave women and girls who hid, transported, and ultimately saved many who would have been put to death by the Nazis. We learned about those who stood up and refused to join Hitlers German pride train that ultimately was a train wreck for humanity. So with all this study under their belts, they embarked on the culmination of our second trimester. And both children did amazing jobs.

We also studied astonomy and an intense grammar  course. And we completely finished our Saxon Math text books by March 2nd. Not that that was the end of math for us. The children will now get weekly packets reviewing the concepts that gave them trouble. 

But now that winter is waning (I know, I know, there is 8 inches of snow on the ground, what am I talking about) and the light is returning, we are entering our spring units in school. These are the fun units full of art and planning and planting our garden. We are going to learn yoga and read fun books, not just informational books. We will study the Human Body and learn how to do laundry. As the days get warmer, we will spend more time outdoors, less inside. The TV will be replaced with family badmiton. So come on spring!

Finding ways to save a bit and still have fun...and yoga!

I have blogged about living on a budget before. I urge everyone to start a budget and see what you make, what you spend, and how you can realistically save and still have fun in life.

We have tightened our belts and saved over the past year so that we have been able to start a retirement fund. We have budgeted monthly monies for entertainment purposes and have stuck to it. When there is no fun money we stay home for fun. When the gas fund is low, there are no trips other than work, doctors, and therapists. And when the grocery fund is getting slim, no snacks get bought, just milk, meat, and the necessities. It has been a hard lesson, but I wish we had done this years ago.Imagine what we could have saved.

And we are not suffering. The children go on field trips, have new clothes, never lack for necessities. As for luxuries, we didn't go on vacation as a family so we could pay off our debts, but my daughter went to the beach with her cousin, my son went to camp and Hershey Park, and we all went to a family camping trip for 8 days. We also hosted an exchange student in August and were invited to tag along on day trips to Ocean City, Hershey Park, New York, DC, etc.for free.

I have gotten creative too about savings. It is sort of exciting too! It is like a game sometimes. I look online and figure my weekly menu based on what is on sale and what we have in the house. Plus I compare which of the two stores I love have the best prices on what we need and what extra coupons I can find for stuff.
I make my own laundry soap and home cleaners that work just as well as name brands and cost pennies!!!! And with that extra money saved,  I reward myself with a month trip to the Korean Spa and Bathhouse that is near us. A day of relaxing and self pampering that I dearly need for my soul. We invite friends in for game nights and dinner instead of going out to expensive restaurants. We even invite families over for family sleep overs. That is WAY FUN!
Another creative  way to save money is on movies. It is EXPENSIVE to take three kids to the movies, even when I hypothetically might possibly take my own candy and soda into the theatre LOL. So we order our movies from the library for FREE and maybe we might not see them as soon as they come out, but we can watch them in the comfort of our home and we can pause them when we need to pee. hehehehe
We also take advantage of the rec center in our county for inexpensive classes that allow the kids to try our things they have interest in.

It is all about balance...the balance of earnings, savings, and spending. It is always a challenge, but I am up to the challenge. And along the way, I try and turn it into a game so we all have fun!

Oh and by the way...my oldest and I are going to try some yoga classes...have always wanted to, was always chicken because I am not that slim silhouette that you see in yoga ads, but you know what, SO WHAT? I am a goddess and my body is my temple and dammit...lets go see what this yoga is all about. Plus I love yoga clothes hehehehehehe

Into the Garden We Go!

I am a woman with vision! I envision growning enough organic, healthy fruits and veggies to feed my family all year through. I envision working the soil, made black from my composted soil added in, full of nutrients and goodness that will work it's way into our food. I envision canning so as to enjoy our harvest when the snows set in. I envision color, smells, sights to tantalize the eye and enamour the soul. But right now, this is the sight that greets me:

 Snow, snow, and more snow. But that is ok, because as Mother Earth hibernates beneath her blanket of snow, so do I hibernate beneath my down comforter while writing this. And I plan! But I also am realistic. I am a chaos gardener. I will plan my plots with precision, gather my seeds and seedlings with care and knowledge. Plant and mulch the little darlings so they get their best start....and then go inside once it is too hot to stay out and hope for the best. I will return in August and see what there is to harvest and if it is enough, maybe do a bit of canning, but mostly we just eat it as it comes and then say "Ah well...NEXT YEAR!" LOL
So begins the planning of the 2014 Gregor Gardens!

Just this morning, over a breakfast of hot miso soup chock full of firm tofu, and apples with peanut butter(yes that is really what we had...I know, we are a weird bunch)...we started gazing dreamy eyed through the seed catalog. We looked at all the flowers and fruits and veggies and began debating what we wanted, what we could have in our zone, and what we realistically would be willing to do. These things don't EVER mesh when we start our yearly garden ventures. For example, my father in law wanted a pear tree that would produce 5 different pears all on the same tree but we don't have a spot and my husband is allergic to bees (I could just picture the ground littered with rotting pears and drones of bees). My son wanted pomegranates (not the right zone) and my daughter suggested doing a few items that needed careful attention (not our style LOL). But what we did agree on was strawberries, raspberries, and a potted blueberry bush as well as cucumbers, a ton of tomatoes, herbs galore, and maybe some peppers, zucchini, and yellow squash. Onions would be nice, as would edible flowers like geranium, nasturtium, and violets. I envision vegetables and flowers sewn together in a beautiful weed free garden of love.
But we will see.

Last year we put in bleeding hearts, more day lilies, moved a lilac tree and a bunch of lilies that I don't know the name of of, split the hostas and added more perennials in beds that previously had annuals so as to limit the amount of work I need to do so I can enjoy the yard more with the kids and yard work less.

And I have acquired a few baskets that I am going to put out on the steps with potted herbs in them. I got the baskets for free and am going to spray them with water repellent so they last a few seasons and not get too moldy in the rain. I also plan on finding some whimsical wind chimes to add to my collection and hang from the front porch roof. 

All in all the Gardens should be gorgeous and full of life. We are even going to order Mason Bees. These non-stinging bees are great pollinators and easy to house. They lay their eggs in small tubular "rooms" of the bee house. If you want information on them , this is a great website about Mason Bees. http://www.parentmap.com/article/keeping-mason-bees-10-expert-tips-for-families

But until the winds blow the warm spring air our way, I will snuggle under my blanket and  plot and plan and dream.

The Red Tent

There is a certain book, by author Anita Diamant, called The Red Tent. In it, she creates for us the image of a place where women gather during their monthly cycles. Women in a family, women of ancient times, all gathering to rest and tell stories and commune together as women. She weaves a dream place for us that we hunger for at our core...or at least the women I know who have read this book do and I share this hunger.

In an age where distance and busy schedules keep us apart from family and friends, this concept of a Red Tent, somewhere we can go, that we KNOW we will be going to reconnect with friends, seems vitally important to me and my well being.
This concept is so vital, it has given life to a spiritual movement called the Red Tent Temple movement. Red Tents are springing up all over the world. Women meeting at the New Moon to talk and rest and cry and love and share joys and sorrows, and ....just be women, connected.
Red tents can be elaborate and filled with many many women or quite simple...I have shared red tent space while pregnant with a equally pregnant friend, on the couch, under a red blanket. We got together every Monday evening while our husbands sang on a Native American Drum and we just complained about our aches and glowed about the babies inside us moving. It was our time, in our Red Tent Space.

The important part of Red Tent is just connecting with other women.

So why am I blogging about this today? Well, I have once again started feeling disconnected from women in my life. Sure I see friends at work and on Facebook, but that is not the same, not at all. So a month ago, the same friend that shared Red Blanket Space with me told me about a spa nearby and invited me to join her, her husband, and a few others to celebrate her birthday. At the spa, we sat in various poultice rooms (a salt room, a clay room, a jeweled room, an ice room, a charcoal room) together, we sat in hot bathes together, we sat in moist saunas together. We talked about our children and homeschooling and Waldorf school and public school. We talked about the winter and how more snow was coming. We RECONNECTED! We shared a meal together, we napped together.....it was a wonderful RED TENT type of day.

This month, my husband and I and a friend decided to spend a day together at the spa....and this time I treated myself to a full body scrub and massage while there....it was HEAVENLY! Then surprise, my friend who told me about the spa in the first place showed up with her husband and a mutual female friend. We talked and laughed and again...it was a RED TENT type of day, just being, without the hustle and bustle of daily life....no time tables to keep, no one to do for, just BEING.

So I think I have found my Red Tent. I think I will suggest that we women friends get together at the new moon at the spa, to just sit and talk, share a meal, and just BE. The walls may not be red, but for us, it will be a sacred gathering just the same. A gathering of women, a gathering of sisters. Welcome to the Red Tent.

The Balance of it All

Everything is about balance in life....to be healthy you should eat a balanced diet. To be a good member of society,  you must balance taking care of yourself first and not becoming self obsessed. To be a good parent you must balance taking care of the kids and taking care of yourself....even homeschooling is a fine balance, for me. It is the struggle between doing too much outside stuff and staying home and taking care of business, and of course, having down time.

Right now, all the spring Parks and Recs catalogs and library class catalogs and co op catalogs are coming out and I have to be careful not to over schedule my kids with all the "fun" stuff I find. And yet, I need to also make sure I don't let my introvert daughter hole up in her room just creating art and not taking part in the world.
So I gave them the catalogs and insist they choose one thing from one of the catalogs, and at least 3 classes for their co op.

When I wasn't working, we used to go a lot. We went on fieldtrips, we went to the museums, we went to the zoos, to playdates, etc. Now that I am working, and we cannot run all the time, my children are NOT deprived. In fact, they are happier than ever. They have more time to create, more time to just play. This lesson was an amazing one for me and one that I had been TRYING to do for a while, to stop all the running. But when you see all the really great things out there, you want to expose your kids to them.
On the other hand, if I am not careful, we could just hibernate our lives away and just stay home all the time, which is my nature really.
So I have started making sure we go on a fieldtrip a month and that the children have playdates every 2 or 3 weeks at the least and no more than 2 playdates a week so we make sure we get all our schoolwork in. Again, it is all in the balance of things. And when we go on fieldtrips, I make sure it is something special, not just running here or there. If the kids have no interest in something, they won't get much out of it. My oldest are 10 and 12 so they  know what they like and don't like. Giving them input, assures that they will co operate and enjoy themselves.

This month we are going to tour a nut and snack factory. The children will get to make their own cotton candy. And in two months from now we are going to go to a Glassblowers. And in between trips, we will laugh and play games, and snuggle and watch movies, and read great books, and do schoolwork, and more.
And the house will get cleaned eventually and we will eat healthy and in the summer grow our own veggies and get out and walk and hike and swim, and sleep out under the stars, and ....and try and stay balanced.

Which really is just a resting point while we are running from one extreme to the other LOL, but we can keep trying, right?

Living on a Budget

What an awful phrase..."Living on a Budget". It brings up images of scrounging, feelings of deprivation, going without, right?
WRONGO! For me, and for many I know, living on a budget, not just the vague idea of one, means freedom, security, and a future that is brighter than the past.
 

My best friend had come when I was at my most desperate and sat down with me and taught me how to draw up a budget.(she also brought Jane Austin Movies and alcohol LOL. She loves me!) We took our monthly income and subtracted our fixed expenses and then budgeted out for groceries, gas, entertainment, school, incidentals, and first and foremost, 10 % off the top for hard savings, our retirement. Being married to an artist and having been a stay at home mom for the last 5 years, we NEEDED a budget and NEEDED to learn how to save and spend responsibly. She suggested that I take this budgeted money out of the bank in cash and keep it in envelopes. Then I could SEE what we had to spend. And when the envelope was empty, then it was gone for the month. That might mean that we don't go anywhere non necessary due to the gas money being gone. Or that when the grocery money is gone, then we have to get creative with what we do have in the house. This worked...it really worked. It was hard at first. But you what? We didn't miss that 10 % and it has grown over the last year. I am amazed!

Another wise woman prayed with me in this time of high stress. It was when I was looking for a job and then she told me about a book called "The Richest Man in Babylon" She shared with me her own story of how she and her husband had fallen into a HUGE amount of debt and how someone told her about this book and how it helped her on a path to digging out of debt and never going back. So I read this book and what do you know...a lot of it made sense.

We prayed that something enjoyable would come along for me and low and behold, the next day, the principal of my daughters school told me about an opening in their Autistic Preschool that I could have if interested. I would be assisting the teacher. It was regular hours, I would be off in the summer, off for snow days, and home by the time my daughter got off her bus! It was perfect!

So here we are...one year after I was physically ill with stress and living on our budget. We are nearly out of debt, we live credit card free, and we live ON OUR BUDGET. I have gone back to work, my husband has taken on some new shows that allow him to demo and sell his artwork, and things are going well. We didn't go on vacation last summer, but we replaced our dying refrigerator, fixed some things that needed fixing, bought a new badminton set for the yard, and enjoyed our summer, even without any family trips.We also were able to pay off more debt. This year, we are heading to the beach. I budgeted for it and we will have the money this summer to enjoy ourselves.

I am about to reread The Richest Man in Babylon as we are ready to move on to the next steps and make our money work for us. We are sticking to our budget, the bills are being paid, we are still living credit card free, and we are NOT deprived, or lacking, or over stressed. I love what I now do for a living. I am still able to homeschool my children, and without all the super stress, my husband and I are able to laugh together and not just talk numbers and bills.

If anyone is having money issues, debt, or just need to budget, I strongly urge you to put it on paper, go get some envelopes, and first...read "The Richest Man in Babylon" by George S Clayson.

A Day in the Life (with a 6, 10, and 12 yr old and working part time)

So I have been reading alot of "A Day in the Life of...." blogs lately and have had a few people ask me personally, "How do you do it all?" So I thought I would post a typical day in our life, although, no day is typical...each day I try and add a zing, or rush, to it to keep things interesting!

But here goes....
6am the alarm goes off....and at 6 30 another goes off....and 10 minutes later I get out of bed.
Our youngest has a feeding tube and feeds through the night so I go and turn it off and unhook her and rub her back to try and wake her. Daddy will get her up and dressed and downstairs by 7 15.
Meanwhile I get myself ready for work and make my lunch.
7:25  it is time to brush the "baby's" hair and get her AFO's (leg braces) on and Daddy takes her out to wait for her bus to our local public school for children with severe special needs. Our youngest, who is 6, suffers from Mitochondrial disease of the brain cells, has seizures, is non verbal, non ambulatory, and is developmentally around 1 year of age. Here she gets her physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and a few others. I contemplated homeschooling her too, but we would have spent more time waiting to see therapists than being at home...and besides, she loves going to school and thrives there.
7:40 I get on the road so I am not late for work ...did I mention I work at my daughter's school? I do...as an instructional assistant in the autistic preschool program there. This means I get to peek in on her throughout the day and am on hand if she has any real issues like seizures, etc. I work Mon. thru Thurs.

8am Daddy wakes our 10 and 12 year old and they get up and complete their morning chores, get breakfast, and then have a chance to read or play (non electronics) until 10am. Chores include feeding pets, cleaning rabbit cage and litter box, emptying dishwasher, making beds, tidying rooms(if it didn't get done the night before)

10am-12:30 The children get started on the schedule list of work that I have left for them. Daily they cover Math, Grammar, History, Science, and Language Arts.  This typically means: 1 Math lesson with 10-15 problems, 1-2 pages in Grammar workbook, Reading a book or part of one pertaining to whatever we are learning in history, reading part of a biography dealing with someone we are covering in History, Reading their science chapter or doing a worksheet pertaining to the chapter, and writing of some sort for LA. We have things that we do once a week and rotate such as Time For Kids (reading the magazine and doing related worksheets), Picture and Paragraph (where the children illustrate and write a paragraph on a book they are reading for pleasure or on a field trip they have taken recently, etc), and Lives of Extraordinary Women (this homemade book is where they write a paragraph and illustrate one woman a week. We are currently working on WW II so they are reading biographies of Anne Frank, Queen Elizabeth, Eleanor Roosevelt, and various other women who hid and smuggled war victims out of Germany)

11:30 On my lunch hour I text the children hello and they respond with any questions they have concerning their assignments. Sometimes they text earlier but I don't always have a moment until my lunch to respond.

12:30-1 the children take a break to play
1-2pm the children make, eat, and clean up from lunch. If they are done before 2pm, they can play some more before finishing school.

2pm-3:30pm The children finish any schoolwork they have and do their extra chores. These vary from day to day but one day a week they dust, vacuum and clean their rooms, vacuum the other upstairs rooms, and scrub down one bathroom each.  The rest of the week they do things like gather the upstairs trash (the day before it gets picked up), wipe kitchen counters, sweep kitchen and dining room floors, put away their laundry, and when it is warm, clean up the yard of toys or sticks (if I am cutting the grass when I come home from work)

3:30 My day of preschool is over and I head home to my lovelies. The baby takes the bus home (she loves riding on it and often giggles the whole trip--this also allows me to run to the store if needed after work without hauling her and her wheel chair with me)

4:00pm Daddy gets the baby off the bus, I have a hug and snack with my three kiddos and I check emails and snail mail, pay bills, etc Once a week my son has piano lessons and during Cheer season, my daughter has cheer twice a week. Also the baby rides horses in Fall and Spring for 8 week sessions.

4:30pm Up in our schoolroom, I check the kids work and we make any corrections needed.

5pm I prep and make dinner for 6:30. Some nights we have a family movie, some nights we eat at our dining room table and share our day, etc We ALWAYS eat together and pray together before eating. We also try and spend family time for a bit every evening, including the baby in everything we do. She loves to wrestle with her brother and play with the cat and generally terrorize her big sister by getting into whatever she is doing LOL

After dinner, the big kids and I head back up to the schoolroom and we have a lesson, or study for end of the week quizzes in history or science, or we do an experiment. I then go over the next days schedule with them so they know exactly what is expected in their lessons, answer any questions they have, etc.

8:30 Daddy and/or I get the baby's meds all ready and one of us puts her to bed.(quite honestly, it is usually Daddy as I am still in the schoolroom with the big kids)

9pm I have the big kids get ready for bed and read (lately I have been reading aloud to the 10 year old. We are all working our way through the Mysterious Benedict Society books. Currently we are on book 2. I don't read fast enough for my 12 year old who prefers to read on her own).

10pm: lights out for the big kids. I take a hot bath sometimes but mostly I come down and snuggle on the couch with my husband and we stare at the TV for a few hours. I order books from the library, answer emails I didn't get to, make grocery lists and look to see who has what on sale, play on facebook, etc. I often fall asleep here and then it is ...

1am: head up and hook the baby up for her overnight tube feeding and fall into bed, happy and exhausted.

On Fridays I have off and try and do things with the big kids that are more difficult to do with the baby along. In the spring and fall we hike. We go on field trips, and we belong to a co op that meets for a 10 week fall and 10 week spring semester. There I teach Music and Movement to preschool aged homeschoolers and my children take fun classes like engineering, stop motion movie making, Italian Cooking, knitting, drama, etc. During co op semesters, I try and make our homeschool only 4 days a week, although sometimes I do a lesson or test on the weekends then.
Fridays I also start the laundry ( I like it done and folded by Sunday so the kids can take it up and put it away Monday morning. Then no one can say "where is my....?"  throughout the week. It was clean when we started! hehehe) I also make appointments, and make phone calls that I couldn't throughout the work week (like businesses that close by 4pm)

Most Fridays we go to the library. This could mean a full trip in or just a quick trip through the drive through. We have around 120 books, tapes, and DVDs out at a time throughout the year. Each week we return or pick up a pile. We have a rule though. Each child has a book box by their bed. The current book they are reading (or books) live there and only there. The school books live on ONE table in the schoolroom, and DVDs stay on the shelf with the DVD player at all times, until I pop them into the library bag. It may seem strict or OCD, but I don't like fines.

It is a busy life, but a fun life, a fulfilling life. I don't work in the summer and I try and give my kids off from mid May to the end of August. We spend our days at the lake, or visiting friends and family, camping, traveling, etc. We may not not be rich in money, we may sometimes feel harried with time, but we are blessed, we truly are!

New Semester, new ideas, new goals....

Okay, I posted at the beginning of the year and the first semester flew by. The kids did wonderful. We were part of two co ops, where they met a bunch of new friends. They both wrote novels! Tristan built catapults and cup towers and even a robot in his engineering class. Hannah learned to knit and jump double dutch. She and I strengthened our Mother Daughter bond and both children learned more about cooking.

So here we are in Semester 2...co op is going to start up in a week or so and we will see how it all plays out. Hannah and I are in a Drama production. We are putting on Monsters in the Closet this spring. Tristan is getting involved with robotics and riflery and engineering and all sorts of stuff. Tristan and I have been learning games like Fluxx and Munchkin and Phase 10 and have been playing everyday. Hannah saved for the year and finally got her reborn doll. She loves it and it LOOKS SO REAL.

We are currently in "hibernation" mode, where we stay put and buckle down and engross ourselves in school. Come spring time, when the south wind blows, we leave the schoolroom and hike and bike and...live outdoors. So since we are still in here soaking up all the knowledge we can find, I am going to introduce The Great Brain Project. Several friends have mentioned this to me and one friend says it works fairly well for her kids.So I reread all I could find on the subject tonight and now I am making notes and am going to introduce the idea to the kids tomorrow. They will have 1 week to come up with their project ideas, and then the learning begins. The kids will be required to read three books on their chosen subject, present their information in whatever medium they choose...art, photography, written report, maps, diorama, etc, whatever! If they choose something sciencey, we will use it in the science fair. If not, then so be it.
The kids will have until the end of March to present their projects

This is my salute to unschooling. Last year I tried to go all the way unschooling and it made me crazy, so instead of unschooling, I am just going to independent learning projects and The Great Brain Projects allow the child to become an "expert" in whatever subject they choose. So here we go!

A new school year

So we started school last week. Hannah is starting middle school and Tristan is starting 4th grade. But lets back up...

At the end of the school year last year, Hannah decided to go to public school. She wanted more friends and she wanted a different teacher than me. So we went to the orientation for our disticts middle school and she seemed to like it. But then...she didn't want to take PE and she didn't want to go to school in portables (our local school is building but it isn't ready), and she thinks it might be too loud, and she doesn't want to be gone all day. So...she is home still (though she really wants to try it but she is scared and doesn't want to be stuck there if she doesn't like it---we told her she had to stay one full marking period)

Ok...fast forward to now.
We have begun schooling at home. But to meet Hannah's want of more friends and to give her other teachers, we have joined two co ops (actually three, but two of the three meet on the same day so for now we will do one and in the spring the other to decide which we like more). One has very academic classes where the children will get things like History, Language Arts, Mythology, and Public Speaking. The other has fun classes like martial arts, scrapbooking, PE, and Drama. This should expose her, and my son, to different friends and teachers.

And to give Hannah a feeling of control, I have begun to give her a schedule with her weekly work written on it and let her decide what to do each day, with the idea that she must start to manage her time. Hopefully this will help her feel more in control of her education.

Other things that are changing are the eliminating of Scouts for the children. Hannah stopped just because it wasn't fun anymore. Tristan stopped in protest to the BSA's stand on homosexuals in their organization. He found out recently that they don't allow openly gay boys and men to participate and to him, this is ridiculous. He doesn't want to be a part of a group that discriminates against anyone. I am proud of him for taking a stand for what he believes. We are currently looking for Lego robotics for him. Hannah is happy not to have any other groups to join.

And piano...we are maybe allowing the children to stop piano. They have been asking for a while and it is harder and harder to get them to practice. My last effort is to take them to the music store and let them pick out music they WANT to learn and ask the teacher to teach it to them as opposed the the pieces she wants for them. If that doesn't spark them, then I think we are done.

So we begin a new year...with hope and promise, and joy

Just when I thought it was safe to relax...

...I change my mind, my plans, my life!

First of all, for those of you wondering about the who No Poo thing. I tried it, my hair did fine. I had a few pony tail days, but "washing" it every 3 days with baking soda and water and conditioning with apple cider vinegar and water really did the trick. My hair was healthy, smelled fine (once the vinegar dried I would give it a spritz of Tea Rose perfume and felt wonderful), and really was healthy looking. The problem was that the second day, the tangles in my curly hair were horrible and when brushed out, it well, wasn't curly. With my shampoo (infusium) and conditioner, I could finger comb the second day and wet it and brush the 3rd day and still have my curls. So...I gave up that crunchy aspect and went back to Shampoo. But...if money is ever tight and I needed to do it, I now know what to use and that it would be fine!


Now, for my new change of plans....We are back in the schoolroom after our unschooling month. I am finding that the children and I are much more focused and even enjoying our free time more than when we just had weeks and weeks of it (no more choruses of "I'm bored..." ever day. Though my 10 yr old will beg to differ with me and tell you she was content just spending her days up in her room playing. And I do think that since we really forge ahead in the winter months when I don't want to go anywhere anyhow, that we ALL needed a long break. With that in mind, I am going to try the following schedule for next year: Mid August thru the first week of Dec (18 wks), take off 3-4 weeks for winter break, January thru March really buckle down (12 wks), take April off, and finish our year with the month of May (4 wks), finishing the last friday of May. Then we take June, July, and half of August for summer break. That should give us about 34-36 weeks of school with two major breaks. We used to do 6 wks of work, take a week off, but as they have gotten older, I think this will work better. The children seem to get extremely creative after a week of being sloths and I think it is good for them.

My other changes include our curriculum. My daughter has been using Life Of Fred math for the last year and a half. I chose it because of her love of reading. There is an underlying story that is told along with the math teachings and I thought she would respond well. WRONG! She has complained and fought with me over this math style the whole time and I couldn't figure out why. Well last week, the light bulb FINALLY lit up and I realized that DUH!, she isn't very good at word problems,and this whole underlying story is making the math lesson like one giant word problem! What I thought was pre teen moodiness and rebelliousness was just my darling daughter trying to unravel the math from the words. Whew! Glad I finally caught a clue there! So...we have started looking at other forms of teaching math and I think we have found a good match in Saxon Math. The way it builds upon itself, one lesson to the next, seems to work better for her. There are more problems for each lesson, which she complained about at first, but when she saw that as she mastered the concepts, I cut down how many she need to complete, she found it tolerable LOL

Also, we have been in the market for a new Language Art/Grammar/Writing, spelling curriculum for both children. We had been using Learning Language Arts Through Literature and although both seemed agreeable to their lessons, it wasn't quite what any of us were happy with. So when I stumbled on the Barron, Painless...series and found a Painless Junior series also (good for 3-4 grade), we tried a few lessons and found them a good match for my children's learning styles. My son, who is 8 is working through the Painless Junior Grammar now and will use the writing book next year. My daughter is finishing her vocabulary curriculum and will do the Painless Grammar book at the beginning of 6th grade, working through it at her pace (so we should be done by our winter break). Both children are going to do copy work and cursive work next year and both will take a writing course in the fall as well as studying poetry in depth and revisiting Myths of all time periods and cultural settings.

I also found the coolest book called Artist to Artist, which covers 23 illustrators. Usually we study the old world masters or famous artists corresponding with the time periods we are studying in history. But I have decided that we will use this for our art curriculum and culminate with the children writing their own story and illustrating it and having it printed and bound. (and yes, of course we will learn about the history of printing and book binding and make some of our own at home. After all, we are homeschoolers and everything relates to everything, now doesn't it?)

So now that I have changed my mind on several curriculum and things, I have ordered all the books and supplies needed for next year so I can't change my mind anymore. It is done...

....I think!

Unschooling Makes Me Crunchy!

So all this free time I have when we are not schooling has led me to reading up on being more green in lots of areas of our life. In the garden, we are using more compost (which I found needs more "brown" (leaves mainly) than I was giving it. That remedied I really hope for more black gold later in the season. We are also using cardboard in the bottoms of our raised beds as weed deterents. And of course, I have found several sprays and solutions to use on plants to keep the pests at bay.

For in the home, I have found fabulous recipes for homemade laundry soap and dishwasher detergent. Mostly they are made from Borax and Washing Soda. I recently made these and they work beautifully. The laundry soap costs approximately 70-95 CENTS for a batch that will wash 64 loads of laundry! Hows that for economic!?! It calls for you to grate a bar of soap of your choosing into the batch and I used the soaps we brought home from Disney World this past fall. This way my laundry smell will bring back great memories for me. I used 2 1 gallon milk jugs, well washed, to hold the laundry soap.

 http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2011/08/homemade-laundry-soap-revisited.html

The dishwasher detergent was about $1.00 per batch and it makes about 16 loads. The added bonus to this recipe is that there is lemon juice and white vinegar in it and in using it, I have eliminated the film my hard water leaves on the dishes. Also, I had found in the past that I really needed to rinse ALL the food stuffs off the plates and dishes before loading the dishwasher. I did a trial run and didn't rinse all the dishes before adding this homemade detergent. The results were amazing! All dishes were squeaky clean, even the unrinsed ones! I am sold on this recipe too.

http://bonzaiaphrodite.com/2010/02/natural-homemade-liquid-dishwasher-detergent/

I decided that I wanted to find a recipe for shampoo and conditioner. So in searching I stumbled on www.crunchybetty.com  . This blog gave tons of great advice and recipes for going more natural and green. I found a great hair care recipe using just castile soap and coconut milk. Sounded simple enough. And conditioners with just apple cider vinegar and water (which I knew already made a great conditioner from when we had the lice issue in our house...but that is a WHOLE other blog story LOL)

 http://www.crunchybetty.com/not-ready-for-no-poo-try-sorta-poo-with-coconut-milk-and-castille

Then as I continued to read Crunchy Betty, I found a whole blog on using NO POO. Seems if you use a 1 to 3 part ratio of baking soda to water and massage it in your scalp every 3-4 days and rinse it well and then use a 1 to 3 part ratio of apple cider vinegar and water to condition and then rinse out (or not) you can get away with no commericial shampoo and conditioner at all.

http://www.crunchybetty.com/no-poo-to-you-too
 
Well, now I am intrigued and of course have to try this. If it works for me, I will start doing this with my kids and hopefully my honey as well. The results are supposed to be healthier, thicker, sometimes even darker hair. All that I have read says you have to get past the 9th -12th day before your hair and head stops panicking and overproducing oils, but you can take care of that also by brushing in a little cornstarch to absorb the oils. They recommend wearing ponytails and/or hats to avoid the whole greasy hair look. I think I will just stay home LOL.

Anyway, I am going NO POO as of April 1st. I should have lovely, healthy hair by the end of the month! We shall see!Oh and by the way, all of these links can be found on my pinterest boards as well!

Unschooling week three

As I suspected, we have fallen into a fun, ambling along routine in our unschooling venture. We awaken and do chores and get breakfast. Then we play and read, or hit the road to a class, or a visit with Grandma. When we return home, there is piano practice and journaling of what we did that day. The children are happy and unstressed....but the Mama is not! This is becoming just an early summer vacation, which is exactly what I was afraid of. I did insist on a math day on Tuesday this week, and the children took to it fine, doing their problems, struggling but in the end learning a concept, etc. But it is so relaxed that my brain is starting to slip. LOL

I need the structure of our school days. It keeps me focused on what day it is, what I have to accomplish, etc. Lately, I struggle with that. On Wednesday evening for example, my husband came to me and said "so, does anybody have to be anywhere?" and I leaped up in a panic and scrambled to get the baby out the door to riding. I doubled back to get her helmet and was about 10 minutes up the road when I realized that today was Wednesday and she rides on Thursday! Sigh...but this is what I do in the summer months too. I just slip into this time warp.

And....I don't see the kids finding interests and wanting to learn more. They play legos and dolls and occasionally race through the house playing chase. We all play board games, they play on the computer and watch family movies. We garden and play catch and family baseball. But I don't see the learning happening...though it probably is and I am just not catching the nuances of it.

So I can say with confidence that unschooling is not for ME! Whether or not it is for my kids....I am still not sure. But since I am the Mama and teacher, I think we will be returning to the workbooks and mornings of learning that we had set in motion from the beginning of the year. This has been fun...I can even say that this is what we NEEDED right now...a break to get outdoors and get the winter cobwebs blown away. A time to plan and begin the garden and a time for me to just relax a bit. With Spring break being next week, I think we will wrap up this experiment early. I tried, I really did, but my anxiety levels are up and I don't think I can do the last two weeks of this. Summer will be here soon enough and they can laze about and spend much time doing what they wish...but the school year belongs to me and my schedule.

To my unschooling friends out there! Wow! I give you credit. To trust the process and truly embrace it, that is momentous to me. I couldn't even last 3 weeks before feeling the panic of "what if..?." "how will they...?", "what about their future?". I wish I could, I really do...but it takes all kinds to make the world go round, and apparently I am not the unschooling kind. I come close...I give my kids the lead in a lot of how they learn and give them guided choices in what they learn. And I try to make it fun! But in the end, I need the structure to make it all click for me.

I do not consider this experiment a failure, even though we are ending early. I think I learned a lot about myself and our family and my kids. I think it was a joyous adventure, however short it was. And now I am ready to move onward.

Week two of unschooling

So we are finishing our second week of unschooling. This week we planned and completed the laying out of our garden. The children really worked hard hauling the bricks to create their raised beds and lay out walkways to walk upon. Then I helped them haul loads of straw, leaves, and composted earth and they created layers of organic matter and planted their early spring crops. Next week we will fill the remaining beds with layers and get them ready for their other seeds that need to wait  a bit to make sure the ground doesn't get too cold again. They planted onions, chives, parsley, marigolds, and cilantro.

 

We also dissected cows eyes this week. It was a great review of the parts of the human eye as well. At first we were all squeamish but once the cutting began, it was fascinating for all three of us. We used the lens as magnifying glasses and read words on some mail. We also thought that the tapetum was beautiful with its bluish silver iridescence. This is the part that reflects light back through the retina and allows cows, like cats and other creatures to see well at night.

Other than these two projects, we continued to learn about kites, hiked and collected water from a local lake (which we will examine under a microscope next week). The kids finished reading Alice in Wonderland, and Half Magic, as well as starting new independent reading books. My oldest is creating space in her room for a new baby doll she has saved and bought. It does my heart good to see her playing at dolls and not spending so much time with her Ipod touch and other electronics.

The children started baseball this week and though they both say they are not having much fun, I hope after a few practices they find their joy in the sport again.

So that is our second week. We have abandoned the whole "learning hour" model of unschooling and we are just embracing the day, each and every morning. I have no delusions of continuing unschooling once this 6 week period is over, but while we are in it, I am embracing the joy and ease of how our days are going along. I have had time to finish projects that had gotten away from me while in our winter term. And we have been able to visit the children's grandmother with more regularity, which in itself is a plus of this experiment, as we were so busy before that we just didn't go.

Next week the children begin at a Farm School which will run all through the spring. There they will learn about green building and sustainable living as well as learn more tips on gardening that they can then use here at home with their own gardens. It should be a very fun set of classes.

Until next week then...

Hiking and goofing about

Ok, week 2 and what do the kids think. Well, my oldest loves that she sleeps in and that she gets to play American Girl most of the day, indoors and out. My boy likes that he gets to have computer time throughout the day and not just late afternoon (though we still have a 2 hour screen time limit), but I just don't see the learning...at least not the on paper type learning (which is probably just me having to change the way I see learning) But I am willing to keep going...you can't give up after only a week.

Today we spent a good portion of the day hiking. We covered about 3 miles of woods and trails, stopping along the way to eat lunch and making homemade "fishing rods" which we used to try and lure the minnows. They definitely do NOT like beef jerky as bait. That is what we learned there HaHa! Along the trails we played the game where you go through the alphabet one at a time, saying for example "A, my name is Alex, I like to eat Apples, and my favorite animal is an Aardvark". Then the next person is B, then the next C, etc. The kids really got in the spirit and tried to come up with obscure food and animals and only used the obvious ones when they got stumped. It was fun, just the three of us. We talked, and laughed and sang and held hands. It was a beautiful spring hike.

 

The highlight for the kids I think was the two snakes we saw. One was a blacksnake and one was a garter snake. Both let the kids get quite close before slowly slithering on their way. We also collected water for our Sacred Well. This is something we do every February on St. Brigid's Day, or Candlemas. We spend the year collecting water from every place we go and then putting it all together in a communal bowl, creating a Sacred Well surrounded by candles that represent Brigid's Sacred Flame.
"Holy Water,
Sacred Flame.
Brigid we invoke your name
Bless my hands, my head, my heart,
Source of healing, song, and art"

 




 When we returned home the children practiced piano, half an hour each, and then we continued with our Kite learning. Today was Kite Geography. We got out the globe and some blank political maps of the world and found out what kites are called in other countries. It is interesting what they are called. In English speaking countries, they are Kites, which is also the name of a graceful bird. In Japan, where they use long bridles and tails on their kites, they are called Tako, which means Octopus. In Korea, they are called Wau, which comes from the sound the kite makes in a strong wind. After telling the children several, they then had to choose 3 from a list and look up what that word meant in that language and where in the world the country was. This mapping page they added to their kite folders. Then they had free time where my son played with a friend on the internet and my daughter went out in full costume, in the rain, and threw the baseball up in the air and caught it, over and over and over, till she wasn't scared of the descending ball any longer. When she came in, chilly but flushed with pride, I hugged her wet self and then sent her up for a hot bath to warm up. Only later did I find out that her game didn't end there. She changed costumes into a sort of shift dress and pretended to be a child in a 1940's orphanage in France and bathed IN THE DRESS. "After all, Ma-Ma, we are not animals that go about naked and vulgar" Oh the imagination there. I LOVE IT!

Week 1...Welll....

okay so we have finished up our first week of unschooling. The kids loved it and it was nice not having to worry about getting all the workbooks finished. We had a few great outings including the Kennedy Center, The Zoo, Rollerskating, and a morning out with Grandmommie. Tristan stumbled across a science experiment he wants to do in a magazine he was reading...disecting an eyeball. So I will call around to the butchershops and see if I can find one. If not, I will see if I can order one from somewhere. Hannah spent a good portion of the week rearranging her room to fit her american girl dolls. She created a school area and a home area for them, sewed them school uniforms for three of them that didn't have them and created some fashions out of dinner napkins for several as well. We visited the library and took out several fun looking books, even one for me, The Bronze Horseman.

I am trying hard not to worry about the schoolwork that was on my schedule that we are not doing, but to embrace all we are doing. We planned and bought seeds for the gardens and are going to start our seeding indoors this week. We also did a little math on Brain Pop and watched some personal accounts from WWII on video.

So all in all, it was a productive week I think. It doesn't feel like we did much but when I see it on "paper" here, it certainly sounds like a lot.

Can't wait to see what next week brings! Stay tuned!

My Perspective On Our Unschooling Experiment

Hi, I am Bella. I am giving my opinion on the unschooling experiment we are doing. I will give it an 8 out of 10. I think it is fun, but it's definitely not what I expected. My mom said that we could just learn at our own pace and decide what we wanted to learn. But then, she decided that we were not going to do that. I was a bit upset. At first when we started I thought that we would get a "break", but no. I thought that we would not have to get up as early as we did and maybe we would be able to go on "fun" field trips. But I was wrong. It's still up at 6:45am. We have been able to go to more fun places though! So it is mostly really fun. I am glad we don't have to do any more work books. We do watch history movies about the different world wars and stuff, but that's not so bad. I use a website called "BrainPop". It's kinda cool,I guess. We (my younger brother and I) keep school journals. We write a small passage about what we learned that day. I do my journal in a notebook and I write my passages. My younger brother has an online journal. He types his. Sometimes all I do for my learning time is lay in my bed and curl up with a good book (and my cat, youyou). I love reading my books and writing in my journal the most. The best part about unschooling is that I feel relieved of the pressure of having to get school done so I can call my friends on the phone or playing on my iPod. This way, I can do those things and still do school without having any pressure! And that....is my perspective on the "Homeschool Mama plus 3 unschooling experiment".