GORGEOUS

GORGEOUS!! If I had to pick one picture out of the millions that we have THIS ONE signifies EXACTLY why we unschool. Look at their faces! Let me tell you what they are doing.
Last year Ricky was getting frustrated with reading. We put her books away and I told her to let me know when she was ready again. The other day out of the blue she said, "I want to read my BOB books again!" So here she is reading to Dad. She just finished the book. Look again at that face! Priceless! Look at Ron's face. Priceless! I wouldn't miss these moments for the world.

Our Day

Our Day. Together. Love. Sharing. Happy. Content. Determination. Pride. Family. Interest. Smile.
Here are just a few words shown here. I love unschooling. I love my family.
This is Callum crawling for the first time. Ricky interested in a book. Amelie and Cohen reading together and Cohen enthralled in his train.

Speech Night

Last night was our local homeschooling groups 1st public speaking event. It was amazing to see all of them head up there and battle their nerves. I was very proud of them.
I also loved afterward. The parents all got to chat while the children played. It was nice to see them play together.
One of the pictures is of my friends son Dylan.
Ricky decided not to go up this time. She sat and intently listened to all speeches. Maybe next time. ;)
Oh ya, look at the 1st picture of Amelie. You can see Reagan in the background.

The Human Body

We were given this Human Body game by a friend. I am ecstatic! This game has trivia while putting together the body. Not only does this game have that, you can dress up the skeleton after. There is also a game where you have to keep the skeleton alive by giving him food, water and rest throughout the day. So basically you are learning healthy living. The girls absolutely love it! The best thing is that they can spend hours on this if they like.
THANK YOU Doris!!!

She had a craving! lol

I do believe we have a little Ricky on our hands!

I am busy setting up a game on the computer (see above) and Roo is quiet. Uh oh! Is it the sugar jar? Is it whatever it is that catches her fancy throughout the day? Nope. It is a whole bag of Halloween candy! I found her sitting on the couch like she was supposed to be there, opening chocolates. Instead of feeling frustrated, I laughed. Perfect camera moment!

Ramblings

Ricky is writing. Or should I say printing? Amelie and Ricky have been writing Ron and I letters. Amelie is learning a lot of spelling lately. I can't believe that the things I have been worried about fall into place. Writing and spelling. I do not sit them down and do lessons. I wondered if they would learn this. The answer is yes. They do learn this. Amelie is walking around spelling everything in sight. She is 70% right. I help her with the spelling. Ricky has been printing notes. 20 or maybe 10% are right. I try not to correct her too much or she will give up easily. I first asked her if she wanted the correct spelling. For the word "there" both girls spelled "ther". That was perfect because I could show Ricky that her big sister makes some mistakes too. This helped her feel better. Keep in mind she is 5 so I am very happy with 10-20%. I am very happy that they are taking an interest in printing. Amelie is very easy to correct. She is eager to learn. So is Ricky but she has a very strong sensitive side to her. You could crush her in a sentence so I tread lightly. Amelie has been playing this game on the computer where you flick up a ball and it hits squares that disappear. She plays way better than I do! She loves her computer games on Room 108. Ricky still likes to play with dolls or babies. She is very happy to play on her own. She has always been that way.
Cohen is a talking machine. I do not remember the day when I wanted him to talk more. If I could see my future self back then, I think I would tell myself to shut up and enjoy the SILENCE! My beautiful little man can talk! And guess what. He still has a soother to fall asleep and he is ALMOST 4. And guess what. I don't care! Sometimes I think...oh no! He is too old for that! That is society talking. He has it for about 15 min while he falls asleep and then spits it out. I don't have the heart to take away his mine suckie. He loves to play with his trains, cars, truck WELL anything transportation related. He is clever in his playing. Did I mention I could eat him. Right from his little ears that stick out a bit right down to his little toes. And oh boy, for a mom that has SPD, GOD sure is testing me! Cohen constantly loves to touch. He loves to touch lightly. All.the.time. It is very trying but I know he just needs it.
Reagan has a VOICE. She is LOUD and SCREACHY. She CRIES and WHINES. Are you irritated yet? Cause I am! I do love though how she is developing her own little personality. She is spunky and cuddly. I love her little smile and her crossed little arms and a pout.
Callum is a chunky little baby who is about to crawl. LOOK OUT! He will now be able to put every little thing in his mouth that he only sees from a distance. We are going to have to become best friends with the vacuum.
Oh I love my children!
I have two books to recommend. First is The Unschooling Handbook and the second is The Unschooling Unmanual. I am just starting to read the latter. Oh I love our life!

Let them learn MOM!

I don't believe in sitting my children down and making them write or spell. I don't feel it is the natural way to learn. From time to time I panic and think...OH NO they can't write yet! I concoct creative ways to get them "on track." Then I go back to normal. I sit back and let it happen the way I know it will.
I was at the computer the other day and Amelie brings me this letter. She said she wanted me to make her something to eat. I told her that dad was on the way home with groceries. She then wrote the next letter. She seems to be writing fine and spelling just fine. Back off mom and let them at it! I "catch" Amelie and Ricky writing throughout the day at their leisure. That is much more rewarding than making them do it. I know that they WANT to and that is important.