Do you want to know my secret?

I love to research. Ok not hot off the press news but all the same...I love to research.

Here is where the problem comes in. It ends there. I love to read up on subjects wholeheartedly with the plan to implement them into our lives. Nope. I am more excited about researching different unit studies to purchase than I am to actually purchase them. Don't get me wrong! I am like a kid in a candy store when Box Day arrives! I find the researching to be the climax though.

I do have some new books coming in the mail. Becoming Vegetarian and Becoming Vegan by Brenda Davis. Will I research the healthiest way to be a vegetarian and then move on? Or will I convert my family to vegetarianism. I have to learn to accept that about myself and just be happy that I have a tonne of useless knowledge stored up for future reference.

Why do you unschool?

Now that is a loaded question!
I would love to hear YOUR answers to this as well!

Here is our journey to unschooling.

My 3.5 yo daughter (who is now 7) was being signed into school. What a day! Most parents would feel excited, a bit sad and relieved that this day has finally come. What was wrong with me? I didn't feel excited. I felt a lot sad and had a knot the size of Mount Everest in my stomach. I watched my little (tiny) girl play with the crafts and "socialize" with the other children. I was watching to see who would one day possibly be her close friends, if she seemed happy and how the teacher interacted with them. Everything seemed fine yet I was not. It all seemed so unnatural to me. I was sending the most important thing to me ever off to a building with a bunch of other most important little things for their parents. Would I see her eyes light up? Would she turn to her teacher instead of me? This other adult who I had no idea what her morals and values were? Would I miss the most precious moments of MY life? Of hers?
I trudged on and pushed my feelings aside. All of the other parents seemed fine!
So this is what got us into homeschooling. This one pivotal conversation.
Me: If my (tiny) 3yo was crying for me would you call me? Would you comfort her?
Teacher: Well I will be busy with all of the children, I can't call you every.single.time.
Principal: The first day you arrive with her she may cling to your leg and cry. You just have to
shake her off and walk away.
Me: I believe this is the one moment I seriously considered not sending her.
Over the summer I felt sick every time I thought about school. Halfway through I hear from one of the other parents that the teachers were switched. THEY DIDN'T EVEN NOTIFY THE PARENTS! How could that be ok? Here is this adult that is going to be spending 7+ hrs with my child and I haven't even met them! Did I already say this all seemed so unnatural?
SO I delved into the overwhelming world of homeschooling. Sonlight, Waldorf, Enki, Right Start, Letter of the Week, Charlotte Mason all jumped out at me and screamed...Read me. Read me. Read me. and my head was screaming STOP! OVERLOAD! It was so completely overwhelming for me at the beginning! Not only was I struggling with Is this the right decision? but I was also struggling with HOW to teach my children.
We chose Sonlight. This is a wonderful curriculum and GORGEOUS books! I would proceed to take out the schedule daily (lets face it...a few times a wk :b ) and go through what my children should be learning and at what time. No honey, put that creative art down! We need to read about how a bee pollinates a flower! See where I am going here? I could see their eyes glaze over. I could see their shoulders slump. I could see the exact opposite of what I wanted homeschooling to be. Don't get me wrong. A lot of curriculum is wonderful and entertaining! It is just when that is the problem. Bees pollinating flowers can be very interesting. In fact, my children loved this. When it got to the technical side of a watch for ex. they lost complete interest.
This is when I started researching unschooling. It rang true It was us! Unschooling is not for everyone. It is for us though.
Soon I will get into A Day in the Life of us Unschoolers but we'll save that for then.
Why do you unschool? How did you get here?

They just are

Why the language in children shows? What is the point? Check out Annie the Movie. Really! Miss Hannigan says G.. D... a couple of times pretty clearly. Our children are only innocent for so long. In our house Amelie can be seen checking out Sesame Street (Shhh..I didn't tell you.), creating art, playing with children younger than her (gasp!), dancing, running, watching TV, dressing up. Oh and guess what!?! Who is Hannah Montana? She isn't even sure. Does this make my children sheltered? Do I keep them in a bubble? Heck ya! What is wrong with a great upbringing on morals? What is wrong with no cable or satellite? I would love for my children to miss out on music videos and whatever else they have. They love Veggie Tales. They love KIDS movies. Why rush them into the world full of sex, negativity and language? I like my naive children just the way they are! Don't you?

Unit Studies

So we are jumping into UNIT STUDIES!! Now I am on the search for anything creative and fun with Solar Systems. I did find some fun pages to color with crosswords and word finds. I would like to find something more exciting and interesting. Like making my family become planets. Some fun ways to learn facts about our planets. If you happen to have info. for me I would very much appreciate it! Oooooo this is going to get FUN. :)

Homeschool Fair

This past wk the girls were in a project fair. That morning I explained to Ricky that she would be talking about her Art on display. She cried.
So we got there and set up their projects. From the time her project was up to the time we took it down she proudly displayed her art. She talked about it with a huge smile on her face. It was beautiful to see her step out of her shell and shine.
Amelie had no problem sharing her project on horses. Are you surprised? On the way we stopped at a farm and the farmer cut of some of a horses tail. This left Amelie chasing boys around the room with the smelly tail hair. :) Only Amelie!
I am very proud of my daughters!

I can't wait to share pictures with you of the Homeschooling Fair that the girls were in but...
it will have to wait.

Do you remember that sick teacher I had back in elementary school? Well he was finally sent to jail. He got 6 months today.

I am happy it is over.