Puddles

I was going to write about our trip to the dairy farm. I am going to save that for another post. What I am going to post about is something that happened at the dairy farm.
First, lets get a description of the pictures.
The first picture is Ricky letting Reagan pet a worm.
The second picture is of Callum playing in an ant hill (black btw)
The third is what happened when the outing was finished.

WHAT HAPPENED IN OUR CHILDHOODS THAT STOPS US FROM ALLOWING OUR CHILDREN TO GET DIRTY?

On occasion my children get dirty. Ok, filthy. We bring a garbage bag in our van for this very reason. (This is where we place their wet clothes)
Do you realize how many dirty looks we get as parents for allowing our children to play in puddles? You can see the other parents minds reeling... Disgusting! How fast do you think I can dial my phone to get the bad parenting police here? Ahhh I can see the disease spreading now! A smiling face suddenly contorts to a look of disgust when seeing a blissfully happy yet dirty child. What is it that holds a parent back? Well yesterday was the first time I heard another parent say...oh fun and allow their children to join mine. She even grabbed her camera. I was in shock! And you know what? THAT IS SAD! If parents could see their children's faces while running through a puddle maybe they would allow it. If parents could stop worrying about what society thinks and allow their children the freedom just maybe those parents will join in the fun?

Last year we went to a park. This park is something of a high-end park as far as parks go. A neighbourhood where everyone lives in a nice house and has two nice cars kind of neighbourhood. It had rained the night before so there was a huge puddle under the swings. It started out by one of my children walking through the puddle. Maybe a few gasps from other children buy you should have seen the look in the other childrens eyes! It was wonder. It was longing. It was incredulous that a parent would sit back and watch her children literally swim like fish through this puddle. I heard a few comments like...I wish my parents would let me do that! That looks like fun! These other children wanted in that puddle so badly.
While we were walking back to our car to strip them down the parents were looking at us with daggers. WHY? I DON'T GET IT!! At these times I turn back to my children to see their happy faces instead of those other parents.

I wish people could let go of their adult smugness/uncomfortableness and let their kids be kids.
It really is rewarding! And all you have to do is throw a load of wet clothes into the wash. Seems like such a small thing to allow them that freedom, doesn't it?

Changing the oil in our van

It isn't changing your oil if you don't have 10 little hands in there too! Everyday tasks are so exciting to children. We definitely need to remember to include them in our day to day lives! There isn't any better way!

Cinema Outing

Do you want to know what was so special about this outing?
Ok, first a recap. Every month I plan an outing for the local homeschoolers. April's outing was going to the cinema to learn behind the scenes and then watch a movie. (How to train a dragon)
Guess how many people attended! 150 homeschoolers in one cinema. It truly was amazing to see! It was also affirming.
The first picture is of some of the children touching the screen (because you know we have all wanted to at one point in our lives!)
The second picture is me standing upstairs where the projection room is and looking down at the older kids group. Yes you heard it right! That group is not all of us! They got a more in depth discussion about how the cinema is run.
The third and fourth pictures are in the projection room. I am surprised they allowed all of us in there considering how expensive the equipment is but they did.
I would have to say that this was one of my favorite outings to date.
My children loved the movie and loved spending time with friends.

Time to update.
It is actually a good thing that I have not updated! We have been so busy with life.
There is a new homeschool park day that has started up. Every Thursday we will be headed out to play. The kids are really enjoying this!
We have been building bird feeders, changing the oil on the van, playing, learning and field tripping. The last field trip I organized had over 150 people attend. It was a tad daunting but a lot of fun!
Where are the pictures you ask? They will come. We have pictures from the cinema outing, changing the oil on the van... I will try and get them up today.
I have been enjoying them so much. I can't wait to see what the summer will bring!

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?