Unschooling is THE BOMB ...

Last night I had the pleasure of hearing beautiful words come out of both of my children's mouths ... both directed right at ME.  

If you read this post, you know about my tender moment with The Princess.  

Well, moments earlier, as I was tucking in The Hippie, I heard this statement (with the enthusiasm of a college cheerleader):

"See, I told you, Mom.  Unschooling is THE BOMB!"

Words to yank on Momma's unsure and worrying heart.  

Words to show me that it really is working.  We really are getting closer by the day.  They really are learning more these days than they ever did when I had it all "planned out just so".

Of course, this came after an hour long impromptu "science lesson". 

After dinner and teeth brushing, the girls were in our "learning room", doing their thing while Daddy and I were washing dishes (the girls washed breakfast and lunch dishes, so it seemed only fair).

The Princess was drawing.  The Hippie started playing with our wooden balance.  

She started trying to tell Daddy that it must be broken.  Even with nothing hanging on either end, it kept tilting to one direction.  

Daddy stopped doing the dishes and came into the room.  They started talking about weights and he showed her how if she put her arm out and placed a heavy bag in her hand, her hand would drop; it would be HEAVY.  Then, he placed the same exact heavy bag up around her bicep, and nothing happened.  Her arm didn't drop.  It wasn't nearly as heavy.

He discussed this concept with her for quite some time as she looked at him intently.  

Then, he made her figure out how to "fix" the balance.  After multiple tries (and quite a bit of "not getting it"), she eventually figured out where she had to place the metal things on each side to get it to even out.

Then, the fun really began.  

They (the Princess had joined in by now) started weighing various objects, moving things around to get them to balance out.  

Fun, fun and FUN!

The discussion moved to the kitchen.  We talked about weight, gravity, density, terminal velocity, hydrogen and helium, airplanes, forces, pendulums ... all things science!

The Hippie continued with "But, what I don't understand is ...".  

Question after question.

Answer after answer.

This whole "event" went on for an hour!  We finally had to just cut it off ... it was now an hour past bedtime! 

Anyway, as I was tucking the Hippie in, I mentioned how she had had a FULL SCHOOL day, complete with "all the subjects", even without planning any of it ... she had done art, cooking, math, reading, poetry, science and more.

To which she replied, "See, I told you, Mom.  Unschooling is THE BOMB!"

A beautiful thing, I tell ya!   

How did God make you?

Out of the mouths of babes.  

Things to simply melt your heart into a deep puddle.

As I was tucking the Princess in a few minutes ago, she gave me the hardest hug and said, "I love you soooo much!"  

Even in the darkest of darkness, a mother knows her child.  I could not see the tears.  I could not hear the tears.  I could not even smell the tears.  But, I knew that they were there.  

The Princess is our passionate one.  She "happy cries" a lot.  

After replying that I loved her just as much, I smiled in the dark and said, "Oh, don't cry sweetie."

She sighed and said, "How did God make you?  You are just the nicest and best person ever.  How did He even make you?" ...

With deep passion and emotion, I could tell that my six year old child was at a loss for words to express how much she loved me.  

Wow.  

If she only knew how much I loved her back.  Talk about a loss for words!  

"In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony."

          -- Eva Burrows

Making memories ...

The other night, our city's NFL team had a FREE scrimmage.  We LOVE NFL football in our home, so we decided that we'd better go ~ FREE was the only way any of us would ever get to enter the stadium, so why not make a night of it?

The girls were SOOOOOO excited!  They kept thanking me for taking them there.  They couldn't believe they were getting to go to the "real" stadium.  

All in all, the football part itself turned out to be pretty boring ~ they were just practicing.  Not much excitement there. 

But, the girls ... that's where the fun was at!

They got to go to the stadium.

They got to ride the escalator up.

They got to get a warm pretzel from the concession stand.

They got to see the cheerleaders perform (if you want to call them that ... cheerleaders ... really, what kind of cheerleader wears high heel boots?)

They got to see the mascot act silly.

They got to see the players run in from the locker room ... through the steam!  (anxiously wondering if it was smoke)

They got to hear the National Anthem sung and see the giant flag held out across the field.

They got to hope that one of the many t-shirts being tossed into the stands would come our way ... and heckle the people whenever it didn't.

They got to cheer, holler and scream.

They got to go to the TOP of the stadium, just to see what it looked like from up there. 

They made memories.  We made memories.  

My mom's always told me that it's when you break the rules, when you do something different that memories are made.  She tells the story of the night when she was little and she and her brothers were already in their pjs, ready for bed and their dad decided to take them to the drive-in movies.  She is in her 50s now, and will never forget that night.  Rules were broken ... something different was done.

Well, in our frugal, single-income family, going to a "real" NFL stadium and seeing the "real" NFL players and mascot and cheerleaders in person, in real life  is something different.  

Memories were made ...

 

Life Learning ... Organically

Well, we are all moved in.  We moved our stuff in this past weekend.  

Momma has spent the week unpacking and getting settled.  We're getting there.

Daddy has been working hard at work.  We are so thankful for the hard work he does to afford us the opportunity to be home together, learning all the time.  

The girls have been busy learning all week.  

We've been to our new library ... and cleaned them out, as usual.  We got books on the World Trade Center, Blimps, Horses (of course ... the Princess always empties the horse section), true animal stories, paper airplanes, baking, recipes, popcorn, Bach, Mary Cassatt, Shakespeare and so much more.  


We've been to our new Post Office.  More than once.


We've been to our new grocery store.  The girls learned the important lesson to always pay attention to the prices as they ring up.  If you got something that had a sale tag in front of it and it doesn't ring up with the sale price, always be brave (overcome your shyness) and say something to the clerk.  You will throw away a TON of money if you don't pay attention.  


We've been to the cable place. We've had the cable guy come here.  


We've unpacked, organized, rearranged, measured to be sure things would fit and had fun with things we'd forgotten we had. 


As far as learning at home, let's see ...  


While reading about the World Trade Center, the Hippie got out our Presidents place mat to see what George W. Bush looked like (because her book was talking about how President Bush invaded Iraq after the 9/11 attacks on the WTC).  

This led us all into a discussion about presidents and the White House.  They wanted to see who was president when they were born, when I was born, when Nanu was born, when Nana & Grandpa were born.  We talked about George W. being the son of George H.W. Bush.  We talked about Jimmy Carter and Eisenhower. We talked about Obama. 

We talked about the two-term limit and discovered that FDR served over three terms (he died just after starting his fourth term).  Momma was sure the two-term limit had been around longer than that, so we looked it up and discovered that George Washington had "set the two-term example", but the amendment was not actually made to the Constitution until 1947, two years after FDR.  Prior to that, the two-term limit was merely an "unspoken rule".

The Princess wanted to see the White House.  The Hippie informed us that the White House had not always been the same, that it had had a fire at some point and been rebuilt (Momma's learning on this journey we call homeschooling, too).  So, we looked it up.  Apparently, during the War of 1812 (in 1814, actually), the British set fire to many of our public buildings in D.C., including the White House.  I had the Hippie look at the place mat to figure out who was president when this happened ... James Madison.  Reconstruction was finished in time for James Monroe's inauguration in 1817. 

The Princess wanted to know how long there had been presidents.  Once again, the Hippie "schooled me".  I started to say, "Well, we've been America since 1776, so that is 235 years".  The Hippie corrected me and said that George Washington didn't become president until later than 1776.  She was right ~ his presidency began in 1789.  The student schools the teacher again.  

We've also learned about Blimps, creating science and history lessons all wrapped up in one.  We learned that they used to use hydrogen in blimps (hydrogen, like helium is lighter than air, so it rises), but hydrogen, unlike helium, is flammable.  We learned about the Hindenburg and how it crashed in flames because it was filled with hydrogen, not helium.  We learned that before this accident, blimps were used for passenger travel, but not after that.  We learned that there are air valves that the pilot uses to release or add helium ~ they add helium if they want to go higher and they release helium if they want to go lower.  Of course, we already knew from our family's love of NFL football that blimps are used to film events!  

The Hippie read some Shakespeare and talked about how she and her friend wanted to act out a Shakespeare play, so she'd have to check this book out from the library again whenever we went to their house again. 

I overheard an elaborate make-believe race car event held in our "learning room" ... with rolls of tape, not toy cars.  Funny thing, I heard the Hippie announcing, and one of the racers were named John Adams ... hmmm, wonder if that came from all of the Presidential talk the day before?

The Princess created an elaborate zip-line in her room for her horses to ride down.  Unfortunately, it cuts the room in half and cuts off the access to the bathroom, so it has to come down and go back up, but it sure is fun.  The horses told me themselves.  

The Hippie randomly requested to hear the song I walked down the aisle to ... which happens to be Pachelbel's Canon in D.  I found it on youtube and we listened.  Then, we put it into Pandora and listened to all kinds of great classical music the other evening while coloring clothes pins (another thing altogether ... we like to decorate our clothes pins with Sharpies ... they are so fun and colorful).  We heard "Spring" by Antonio Vivaldi and both girls knew the song from the time when the Princess was obsessed with Little Eintseins. 

The girls have helped me in the kitchen.  The Princess has always loved to take the leaves off of the kale stems and wash them.  This week she learned how to pop the ends off of fresh green beans and wash them.  So rhythmical and meditative!

The Princess made a dress for her wooden horse, complete with sewing on a button.

We've been traveling the world through dress up.  They've dressed up as Flamenco Dancers from Spain (thanks to Nanu), an African playing our African guitar, an Asian, Native American princess, a Muslim (with the pretty dress and head covering) ... they even dressed up as a bride and a groom (the Hippie put on Daddy's clothes to be the groom). 

They've been observing what happens when you put frozen blueberries into water.  It's really cool to watch as the color streams out and eventually the blueberry sinks.  They added ice and lemon juice and a couple of drops of stevia and made all-natural "pink lemonade" ... their new favorite drink!  We talked about reasons why the ice pops and cracks when you put it into the water.  They have gotten to "make ice" for the first time in their memory ~ this is the first place we've had that has a refrigerator that doesn't have an ice-maker.  So, the science lesson for "First Grade" this week was also about how you can put filtered water into the tray and put it into the freezer and the temperature will cause the liquid to turn into a solid.  

They've learned about fish, sea bass in particular via Wild Kratts.

They've continued to watch their favorite cooking show, Giada at Home.  The Hippie put on a complete cooking show for the Princess and I to watch yesterday.  She even "froze" when we had to "pause" it to go to the restroom or something.  So much fun!

The girls have also learned the importance of washing your dish immediately after using it so that the sink doesn't fill up.  This is the first house we've had since before children that does not have a dishwasher!

The Hippie has fallen in love with a new book that she can't get enough of.  If you have a girl about her age (8 1/2), check it out.  It's called The Magic Half.  She LOVES it and tells me all about it all the time!   


The Hippie has also read:

• Bach's Big Adventure by Sallie Ketcham
• The First Moon Landing by Tomas Adamson
• Hachiko: The True Story of a Loyal Dog by Pamela Turner
• The True Story of Stellina by Matteo Pericoli
•  The Popcorn Book by Tomie de Paola
• A Home for Dixie: The True Story of a Rescued Puppy by Emma Jackson

We spent some time looking through the paper airplanes in our book.  Some look very complicated, but very cool.  Daddy and the girls are looking forward to trying some out when he is off work tomorrow!


The Princess has continued to draw pictures (daily) and play with her horses and with the kittens and in the "kitchen" and in the dress up and with the toy stroller and more.  Both girls have climbed their new tree and created imaginary lands in their new yard.

All in all, I think it's been a very educational week!  And, tonight we're off to a FREE scrimmage game at our favorite NFL team's stadium ... getting us pumped for football season, which is right around the corner!  

How has your week been?  What has your family learned naturally? 

The Hippie ... born Activitst

I know I am supposed to be on hiatus.  I am, really.  I have no time for this computer thing.  But, hey, I'm sitting here, drinking my tea anyway.  No reason I can't write and drink simultaneously, right?  

After my tea I can take care of the post office and picking up the key and cleaning the new place and dropping off the donations (for the umpteenth time) at the Humane Society Thrift Store (we like that the money goes to the animals) and take the Princess to her annual well check (Hippie had hers yesterday ~ perfect health, as always) and get more boxes and keep packing and ...

But, for now.  I wanted to tell you the latest venture my little activist has started.  

I told you about our adventure with a Momma Cat and six kittens here.  Well, ten weeks later, we still have Momma Cat and four kittens (not to mention the dog and cat we already own/claim).  

I have been driving the kittens to our local Petco each Saturday and Sunday to be shown for adoption.  Two were adopted on the very first Saturday ~ woo hoo. 

I must say the whole experience is bitter-sweet.  Difficult, to say the least.  No matter how old and responsible you try to be, it's only human to get a little bit attached to animals you care for for ten weeks!  Babies that could barely walk ... you watch them grow and develop little personalities all their own.  Especially if you are an animal lover, as we all are in this house.  

The girls were told (and me) from day one, "We are NOT keeping any of these kittens" ... "We are NOT keeping them" ... "We are NOT keeping them" ...

Why?  You may be asking. 

Well, we've always had and done well with two cats and two dogs and two kids and two parents.  It works for us.

Yes, our other cat had just died.  But, we are in very tight financial times.  

We are recovering from my husband being laid off and unemployed for four months.  Things are tough. 

Caring for an animals should require more than just food, water and love.  It should at least require flea and heartworm prevention and annual shots/check-ups, too. 

It should also require that you can afford to take them to the vet when something is wrong.

That is where we struggle.  I'm working on that.  Hubs has a good job, a career and we are working to understand the amount he will make (it changes by the week, based on work, not hours).  I'm learning to budget and have been doing a lot of educating myself.  We will be setting up a new budget once we get settled in our new place.  I will make room for savings and for animal care.  

But ...

At the time we found these kittens, things were not looking especially promising.  It would be unfair to the animal and irresponsible to take responsibility for any of their care (permanently) and not be able to afford more than the minimum.

That doesn't even prevent a 34 year old woman from getting attached.  How do you think a 6 year old handles that?  

Needless to say, we all love the kittens (and the Momma).  But, we are smart.  We are working hard to find them homes.  But, we are invested ~ we've spent so much time with them, so much money on food and litter, so much care and love and stress and cleaning out litter boxes and ...

We want them to find homes, but we want them to find good homes because we care about them.  

*****

Wow, I went way off topic from my original post idea.  Let me get back to that.  

So, I started taking the kittens to Petco three weeks ago.  This wonderful organization is helping me by showing the kittens at their weekly adoption events.  

It was difficult to find help.  Most places I'd call would not accept any animals.  But, Jennifer (at TARAA) agreed to help immediately.  She does not euthanize ~ she rescues animals from being euthanized at the local shelters.  We love her!

Well, the first Saturday that I took the kittens with me, the Hippie fell in love with one of the dogs available for adoption.  Her name is Stella, and she had been saved from being euthanized.

The Hippie cried and begged and pleaded for us to adopt her.  


Obviously that is not an option at this moment (coming soon ... we do want another dog, a playmate for Sweet Pea, but not until we are moved and we want a boy because Sweet Pea is a girl and same sex dogs don't get along as well).


She begged and cried and begged and cried.  She understood the reasons and eventually accepted them, but could not wait to go back to Petco with me to see Stella. 

They noticed a limp on Stella that day.

The next time we went to Petco to take the kittens, the Hippie ran right up to Jennifer, asking where Stella was.  

They'd left her at home.  They'd x-rayed her and discovered that she needs a new hip.  It looked like someone had kicked her and shattered her hip (precious baby).  

It is going to be a $1,000 surgery. 


They are trying to raise the money.


The Hippie came home and made a poster and took our family's "piggy bank" (a giant plastic jar that we cut a slit in the lid) to begin raising money for Stella.  


The next time we went to Petco, she took the stuff in and said they should set it up for people to make donations.  




Anyway, the Hippie decided to leave the piggy bank, money and poster with them for the week in hopes that they could raise some more.


Of course, that hasn't stopped her from raising money here at home!  She's got a TON of change to add to the jar tomorrow when we take the kittens again!  


She makes me so proud.  I just know she is going to change the world one day!

Stella on the right, that's Tessa on the left

Short Hiatus

I wanted to apologize to my faithful readers.  There has been (and most likely will be) a short hiatus on blogging.  We are in the process of moving, so I really just don't have the time at the moment.  I hope you are all enjoying your summer.  We'll be sure to catch back up with you soon.

A look ahead ... some of the things we are looking forward to this fall ...

Football season resumes  

Spanish Club for the girls

Zoo School

Spending time with a new Homeschool Group ... not a co-op, just good old fashioned FUN (field trips, park days, activities, etc.) with a group of Attachment Parents

Handwork Wednesdays resumes

A new house with a big front and back yard for the girls to play in (as opposed to the townhouse we are in now)

Settling in, organizing, making it home

Bike rides, walks to our new nearby playground, the beach 

Daddy being a bit closer to work so home a few minutes earlier

And all other wonderful things that come with fall ~ better weather, holidays, hoodies, baking, pumpkins, windows open, aaahhh

Have a beautiful summer.  I'll try to check in as often as I can and will get back to regular blogging as soon as possible.  I have all kinds of school-related things swimming in my head that I'd like to get "on paper"

Love and LIGHT