I know that 'unschooling' or 'life learning' can seem obscure to the uninitiated. That it can be disconcerting to look at an unschooling family when you still think in terms of 'subjects' that life is broken up into. So I've tried to break the beginning of our week up into subjects for you.
It started out with Art.
And Writing.
Then came Gardening mixed in with English (limericks to be precise).
"Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers."
The teacher was told to knock it off by her unimpressed students.
Then Economics. (The girls were selling the peppers and sunflower leaves to each other.)
Fast on the heels of Economics came Healthy Communication and Safe Interpersonal Relationships.
Then Logic, Math, English, Reading, and Art delivered in Computer class. During Lunchtime.
Then Architecture.
Then naptime for the youngest student who thought he was attending Demolition.
Physical Education (in the form of bike riding) to expend energy.
Animal Husbandry.
Theatre. In the bathtub with mermaid dolls.
Organization. (For some reason it became Very Important that all shoes were lined up in pairs on the table by the little one.)
Shop Class.
Mathematics.
Alchemy.
(Water and cement dust and rocks turning into a hard rock is magical. You can put this in 'Science' if you'd rather.)
Foreign Language. (via Rosetta Stone, Diego, and Kai-Lan)
More Botany. (Looking for more of
this.)
Science. Entomology, if you must know.
Animal Reproduction.
Again.
No Octomom jokes, please. My cat deserves better than that. (And this eight kitten litter has finally convinced my husband that it's worth it to spay a barn cat! I'm over the moon!)
Geography. And Prejudice and Tolerance. ("Mother, what's a Mexican?" "Someone who's from Mexico. We're American because we're from the United States of America. It's just the label for the country you're from." "Oh, I thought it was an insult." *sigh* For some it is, unfortunately. So we talked about that.)
More art.
And Grandparent's Day, of course.
After reviewing their day, I came to the conclusion that the only thing that they missed was recess.
This is NOT cool, crisp fall days that ease you into winter.
This is NOT driving along lanes of trees with leaves changing colors.
This is NOT wearing sweaters in preparation for a winter of heavy coats.
This is NOT the heady smell of the earth changing seasons.
What this is is me wishing for an Oklahoma summer. That's what this is.
It's a four and a half hour trip, so we've got to stay busy.
We'll see if we make it there in one piece. Psychologically speaking.
I'd been working on a doll with red hair, but she was adamant about the pink, so I gave it pink hair instead. She wuvs her. Her name is Katrina Daisy Petal.
I'm not totally happy with it, but she is and it's the first hat I've made, so I'm cutting myself some slack (even if I did cut the brim too short. Grrrr....)
Katrina Daisy Petal got a matching skirt.
Luckily, the book ends with Stella becoming a big girl ("Like me?!?!?" says she), so we're good.
She stayed up late with me the night before Ains' birthday sewing the buttons on the blanket. She was falling asleep while she was stitching when she cuddled up to me and said "It's fun loving someone so much that you'll make stuff for them, isn't it?" Yes it is.
Everything on it but the pirates, chopsticks and sails, and licorice is edible. Who eats licorice? (Besides my husband and mother.)
The sailboat carries the captain of the pirate ship - a Pirate Girl. The only pirate Ains won't let Gray play with.
Here are some other snapshots of our day.
(See the pirate walking the plank? You can't see the pirate standing behind him with a sword. Ains put him there "or the otha pie-ut not go on pank." My girl's a bit bloodthirsty methinks.)
Thank you for all of the lovely birthday wishes!
It's one of my favorites, and it has three meanings.
Yesterday was Farmer's Market day. Today I heard Ainsley pretending that her Littlest Pet Shop animals were going to the Farmer's Market with her. They wanted too many vegetables and her basket was overflowing. The bunnies and the pony got into a fight over the carrots. The dog ate her fudge. She was a very frustrated mommy.
Truth in labeling laws at work.
One week I go over to her house and we do a project.
The next week, she comes over to my house and we do a project.
Sometimes we deep clean a room,
sometimes we work on a craft that needs to be finished,
sometimes it's just housework that one of us is drowning in.
This week it was canning pears at her house.
But it's while the two of us are working
(and taking tiny breaks every now and then to care for children),
it's then that the best stuff happens.
Our kids are becoming the best of friends.
(Hannah was doing a show titled "Fairies. Do they have presidents or queens?")
It rhymed so well with our morning that it made a beautiful stanza of our day.
Now.
