Unschooling – Page 2 – a hippie with a minivan

satisfying days…

There are some days that are just satisfying…

This morning we were up at 6 but not sleepy… The boys had breakfast and I surfed the net a bit while I drank my coffee… then I started on the kitchen and the boys cleaned up the floors to make sweeping easier… then headed in their rooms and did their beds… without me asking…

At about 8:30, Xavier decided that they should go play outside so they brought all of their stuff into the kitchen so that I could help Khéna and Colin get dressed… and they headed out into the back yard and played..

and of course that meant that I could finish the kitchen, make my own bed, start a load of laundry and sweep and wash the floors without being interrupted…

They came in at about 10:15 and we sat down and did the magic trick that Annie shared on her blog and they all took a few turns each doing it and figuring out why and how it works and then did a few dissolving experiments… finishing with a baking soda and vinegar “explosion”…

It is now just after 11am and the house is clean, Khéna is napping on me and the older boys are playing downstairs and laughing… Supper tonight was made yesterday so all I have to do is heat it up this evening and I might make a bread to eat with it this afternoon…The day is not near to being finished but I just know that this mood will continue.. it is just one of those days…

and days like this just make the rough days all worth it…

New blog…

We are trying this out and hopefully it will continue….

The boys wanted to write something recently and then we had the idea of starting a blog and sharing the things they write and do… So it is our homeschooling blog that will hopefully be a journal of what the boys are doing, thinking and what they are interested in…

So here it is…named after the translated name of the park nearest to our home..

On the sidelines…

Last night I went out for a supper with some of the ladies from the homeschooling group…

We were to go to a fine Italian restaurant (Restaurant Laöra in St-Hilaire to be exact) and have a supper and talk and share… it was awful…
not the company, not the food, though it wasn’t amazing… but the atmosphere…

The restaurant had booked another group that were having a x-mas party and were really partying… and it was so loud that we had to scream to be able to talk… it was just really unpleasant… I wish they would have at least told us that there was another group and that there would be live rock music we could have made the choice to go elsewhere…We asked them if they could put the volume down just a bit and they ignored us… awful… really awful…

but something else happened last night… and I really felt pushed to the sidelines because of our choices…

The local group have been getting together for the kids to do things and they assumed that I wasn’t interested… and maybe I would have been, maybe not, but I don’t think it was their decision to make… I have to admit that I am pretty hurt because one of them is a good friend.

They just really don’t get the way we do things… So I wrote an e-mail this morning saying that I was pretty hurt that they made the decision for me and my children and that unschooling isn’t about doing nothing, it is about having resources and activities available and letting children make their own choices about what they want to do with them. That even if we were invited, it wouldn’t guarantee our participation but at least the kids would have the option and they might very well be interested… and even if they didn’t do it they might like to hear the other kids do it and would love to get to play with them after… (they were doing oral presentations)

Though I truly believe in the way we are doing things I am getting tired of being in the sidelines all the time… having people misjudge what we are doing yet not wanting to learn more. Trying to explain and instead of being listened to having the person go into a defensive mode and see what I am saying as judgement instead of opinion…

The friend whom I am close to called me after she got the e-mail and said that she really felt bad about it and that I could of course come over… but I didn’t go… I would have felt too uncomfortable and I am feeling a bit too hurt by the whole situation…

quote…

Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.
Cicero

today…

I know… awful title eh?

We had a long day today… Got up this morning with Simon at 6am… he actually got up an hour late this morning… I was debating on whether to go to the Montreal Homelearners group meeting today and finally decided that I should… Last night I salted some cabbage to wilt it a bit and this morning I made rice paper wraps with that and crumbled Thai peanut burger and spicy peanut sauce that was last night’s supper… omg they turned out amazing!!

We finally got out at 9:15 and headed to get some breakfast and then headed toward Montreal…
The group was small and we had fun but I am not sure if I am going to be going back that often… the parking in that area is horrendous and is just going to get worse with snow on the way… and the group is looking to get more structured whereas I would rather be more about the kids just getting together with other kids and the parents talking… If I am willing to drive to Montreal I think that I would rather use that driving time to visit other friends that will fulfill my need of just getting together…

After that was done, we ran to the car in the rain and then I drove around a bit and then met Simon near his work and then headed for the mall to pick up a few things that we needed and get some supper…

I feel funny that each time I go get Sushi at the mall I am met by our old landlady (where my mom and I lived until I moved out) who works there… and she gives me 50% discount… Sushi is expensive… but I did save 15$…

Anyway that was our day… It feels so good to be sitting down finally..

eta… a great thing that came out of today was to get a mama to try my wrap instead of her snugli…. she loved it! I always love to share the comfortable babywearing love…