A Year In The Life 2012/ Part 3 (The Arts Of Language Or Just Plain Arts)

Alright let’s finally wrap up 2012 and be done with it.

I want to start out this post by saying I almost messed up reading in our household. I have written previously of my journey into reading and the letting go of my “book worship” by realizing how much “reading” both girls do on a daily basis. I found out along the way that the very books other homeschooling circles dismissed as “twaddle”  were what the girls actually enjoyed reading and why would I not want my daughters to enjoy reading? Once I got past this hurdle reading took off in our home *beyond* any of my expectations. I also realized the point of learning to read is to be able to gather information.

If my children were in school they would be taught all the fundamentals of reading and writing. They would need to know how to read and write to be able to read the textbooks (which many schools now use tablets) and answer questions or write reports so the teacher can make sure the child understands what they are reading. They need to be able to read and write to pass tests.

Since we unschool we do not use textbooks as our only resource to gather information. There are more ways to gather information than just books. Since we unschool I am with my children all day and since we do have conversations and they ask me questions when they have them I know what they are learning. There is no need for them to take tests.

Both girls are able to use the computer and research any questions they may have. Both girls are quite capable of finding video games, games, books, movies, YouTube videos, recipes, crafts or just about anything they might want to use to further their knowledge. As their facilitator I help fill in the cracks with anything they might have missed or didn’t even know they would like. I set up our “nest” with lots of interesting things that I might find that could spark curiosity. Maybe it’s a new puzzle.

Maybe it’s a new poem I might write on the chalkboard that is in our kitchen.

Another example is we have a table that I set different things on in our living room like maybe one week there might be new magazines or different pods or seeds we found while hiking. Right now there is a holder filled with pens and pencils and a Christmas word search and game tablet that my dad sent us. The girls are surrounded by information.

One more example I will use is Miss Sky found a book about the Titanic *she* loves. I noticed not very long ago on Netflix there was a BBC miniseries about the Titanic and asked if she wanted to watch it with me and she did. Papa and I love music, I mean all sorts of music from Jimmie Rogers to Foo Fighters. So I didn’t hesitate adding a CD filled with songs that was played during the Titanic’s voyage to our collection. Which led Papa down the rabbit trail of discovering Scott Joplin which led the girls to making their own black and white silent movies. This is what unschooling looks like in our home.

So now with all that being said what were the girls favorite resources we used in 2012 to help learn the art of language?

2012 was all about comic books, manga and anime so I think I will start with Disney create. This is one of the girls most favorite websites. The girls learned how to create all kinds of animation

, flip books and lots of comic books.

The more research the girls do on-line, especially Miss Sky reading video game and game console reviews (she researched both the Wii and 3 DS to make sure they were what she wanted) the better their spelling and typing get.

Little Sis realized she could read this year. I give her playing video games on the computer, like Animal Jam, most all the credit. Miss Sky’s spelling increased tremendously by her wanting to make sure her words were spelled correctly while talking to the other “jammers”.

Their vocabulary also increased tremendously thanks to their love of the television show Martha Speaks. This led the girls wanting  to read the original stories by Susan Meddaugh

and to creating all kinds of works of art.

The X-men cartoons on Netflix introduced the girls to the world of science fiction and comic books.

The video game Kingdom Hearts introduced the girls to the world of Manga where Little Sis pieced together she could read more than her favorite book series Elephant and Piggie.

Which led the girls to creating their own manga stories

and Miss Sky researching character and plot developments from her favorite video games for her own characters development.

Since sketch books can get a little pricey, for us anyhow, the girls learned how to create rough drafts by first using notebooks to sketch out their story.

(Little Sis)

Miss Sky has also been watching the behind the scenes of how animated movies are made and has been using her walls like a draft  story board. The girls like to mute movies and come up with their own story-lines too which can get rather silly at times.

Magazines? Miss Sky loved her subscriptions to Ranger Rick and Nintendo Power last year however Nintendo Power has stopped publishing and she has moved on from Ranger Rick with the magazine Otaku USA.

Little Sis loved her My Big Backyard (now Ranger Rick Jr.) and Hi Five magazines

but she too feels it is time to move on with Ranger Rick and Lego magazine. She also liked her subscription to the Highlights Puzzle Club.

The stories Alice in Wonderland and Fruits Basket( with the girls getting me hooked on my first manga series) played a really big part in our year too.

Last but not least we love playing the games Disney Apples to Apples (with poison apples using opposites), Disney Pictionary, Charades,and hangman (which is a fun use of the chalkboard too).

Yes I think we had a very productive year and want to end these posts by saying all of it came by me following the girls interests. No curriculum, no forced worksheets, no forced anything. Every single thing I listed from this year’s review posts was what *they* wanted to do.

2013 here we come!

A Year In The Life/ Part 2 (Don’t Know Much About Social Studies)

Last year Disney played a *huge* part in the girls learning. I myself let go of my “commercialism” pride and know what the girls learned to be better consumers by me giving them the choice instead of being all-controlling about it.

Looking back over the year I definitely give the Disney video game Kingdom Hearts credit for the new-found love of all things Disney. In fact I give the video game Kingdom Hearts credit for most of the girls learning last year period.

Then again I think it was the original X-men cartoon that led Miss Sky on the learning journey of mythical creatures with her love of the phoenix then the discovery of Ology World then the book Mosterology then Egyptology, Dragonolgy, Wizardology, and finally Mythology.

http://www.ologyworld.com/

So this led to watching Disney’s Mulan and learning about Ancient China, honor, gender discrimination, the Great Wall of China, and the Huns.

Then there was Arthurian myths and legends and watchings of The Sword in the Stone, learning about King Arthur, the wizard Merlin, more mythical creatures, and the history of magic.

Which led to Robin Hood, and discussions of the crusades.

The Disney movie Hercules launched discussions about Greek Mythology, gods, goddess and its difference and similarities from Norse Mythology.

The movie Tarzan led us into the Victorian time period with discussions of Queen Victoria, fashions, houses (there are some beautiful Victorian houses in downtown Greenfield), which led us to watch the Titanic miniseries and talks of class division.

http://www.amazon.com/Titanic-Toby-Jones/dp/B0074JODXU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362503205&sr=8-1&keywords=titanic+miniseries

101 Dalmatians led us around London, Beauty and The Beast took us around France, and Aladdin into the Middle East.

Pocahontas brought us to the States with the founding of Jamestown, talks of King James, and the age of exploration.

We had a 2012 presidential election, debates, voting, and change.

The love of the video game Kingdom Hearts introduced us to the world of Anime, Manga and the discovery of the story Furuba or Fruits Basket(which we love!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruits_Basket

Which led us to Japan

and visits to Kids Commons in the city of Columbus and the Chinese Zodiac.

I think besides Disney, Pinterest was a great help in learning about Japan from every possible angle. We learned about food,

customs, religion, architecture, clothes, and vegetation.

We also learned about Madagascar Africa and Miss Sky was paid a visit from her twin Pen Pals who were doing a coast to coast road trip from California.

Miss Sky learned map skills by tracking her E-bay purchases, watching the weather channel and playing video games like 007 and Globe Trot from Wii Party.

Other favorite supplies were the Little Travelers DVDs.

http://thelittletravelers.com/

We also dined in the Historic Zaharakos Ice Cream Parlor and Museum

and The Kopper Kettle. Both are well worth the drive.

I thought I would explain a bit more how we use Pinterest for ”strewing” in our home not only because I love Pinterest but it really is a huge help.

At first I gave each of the girls their own boards on my account but these quickly spread out into more boards as their interests grew. Miss Sky, myself, and now Little Sis contribute to boards created to hold some of our favorite art work (Miss Sky has really taken interest in Asian artisans), vintage fashions, and  a board titled What About Earth where we pin pictures of food, clothes, or anything that interests us from different cultures around the globe.

Miss Sky really took interest in different cultures this year. She has also taken a big interest in historical fashions and set designs. While at Goodwill she has been collecting vintage objects like records or things that might be part of the 90s household to use as props while she films. She even wants to try sushi.

It really has been a fun year.

Well up next is Language Arts.

A Year In The Life 2012/ Part 1 (Math and Science)

What a year we had. So many, many positive changes. Not just learning wise but in ourselves too.

At first glance while looking back I thought our year might look a little thin but as I starting listing everything I myself was amazed how full our year was. This year we did not do as many external activities as I would have liked but Miss Sky really wanted to stay home more and Little Sis didn’t mind one bit.

It was much harder for me to categorize our year because everything connects to everything. For example art connects with history, math, science, social studies, language arts, and geography. When listening to The Beatles music for instance let’s take the album Sgt. Pepper I can connect all those categories. Music is filled with math, what was happening in history while the album was out? What was the UK like? Oh they have a Queen, how is their government different from ours? Songs are a form of poetry, and what is with all the colors and hair? Which brings me back to art.

Not to mention there is SO much more learning taking place on the inside that I can not even begin to capture. Like learning to read so many pieces need to be in place before one can actually begin to read. There might have been connections made that I will not know about until next year ,or the next year, or…

So instead I like to think of this more as a chapter from a novel. It is just one part of the whole story and though it could stand on its own it will make much more sense once completed.

*Mathematics (dum te dum, please tell me I am not the only one who hears musical notes when this word is said. ):

~Little Sis (what didn’t she learn?) addition, subtraction, place value, telling time, money, critical thinking, strategic thinking, spatial skills, probability, reading a grid, geometry, buying and comparing prices.

I mean this child at 7 can find the best priced computer game she wants on E-bay and pin it to Pinterest for me to order. These kids know more about games, books and the supplies they need at the best prices than I do.

*Her favorite supplies (the *her* is very important is these sections, this is not my list but theirs):

Putt-Putt Saves The Zoo

http://www.amazon.com/Putt-Putt-Saves-Zoo-Pc/dp/B00002S6GE/ref=sr_1_1?s=software&ie=UTF8&qid=1357248582&sr=1-1&keywords=putt+putt+saves+the+zoo

Putt-Putt Pep’s Birthday Surprise

http://www.amazon.com/Putt-Peps-Birthday-Surprise-Pc/dp/B00009EFZ5/ref=sr_1_1?s=software&ie=UTF8&qid=1357248669&sr=1-1&keywords=Putt+Putt+Peps+birthday+surprise

Minecraft and Animal Jam(which to me counts in every category)

The games Bingo, Toss Up, Frog Juice, Wizard Junior, Rummikub, and Checkers.

~Miss Sky

Critical thinking, problem solving, strategic thinking, estimation, rounding, savings, decimals, percentages(Goodwill 50% sales), probability, spatial skills, comparison shopping(E-bay), budgeting(allowance and saving to get a 3DS), geometry, running a business and household.

*Her supplies, She would rather play video games: The Sims 2,

http://www.amazon.com/Sims-2-Playstation/dp/B000AOEUPC/ref=sr_1_1_title_2?s=software&ie=UTF8&qid=1357249503&sr=1-1&keywords=Sims+2

Thrillville

http://www.amazon.com/Thrillville-Playstation-2/dp/B000GI7LOO/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1357249544&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=Thrillville

Minecraft, Family Game Night 3 Life, Begone(on the computer), Kingdom Hearts.Our favorite new games as a family Mario Party 8, 007, and Wii Party

*Science

At first I thought I wouldn’t have a whole lot to post here but then I came to technology and boom.

~Miss Sky

Lots of talks about evolution, animals, hurricanes, the Ice Age and learning the difference between mastodons and mammoths. She even came up with her own fiber experiment finding polyfill to be the least absorbent than cotton or wool.

She learned how to create her own video games at Sploder.com, make movies with cut scenes using the Webcam on the computer and with her Nintendo 3DS and used all kinds of sound and special effects.

*Her favorite supplies were the Walking series from BBC, Ranger Rick Magazine, The New How Things Work by David Macaulay, Nintendo 3DS, Webcam, and Sploder.com. http://www.sploder.com/

Little Sis learned how to make movies and use special effects with her 3DS too.

~This next list is for both girls that we (or they) did together

They learned the evolution of the dog and breeds by playing Nintendo Dogs on their DS,

http://www.amazon.com/Nintendogs-Dachshund-Friends-nintendo-ds/dp/B0009UBR3K/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1357252207&sr=1-1&keywords=Nintendo+dogs

reading the companion Nintendo Dogs guide, and with us watching our yearly Thanksgiving Day tradition of the Dog Show.

We watched the movies Tron 1 and 2 as well as the Transformers and Marvel movies Iron Man 1 and 2, The Hulk, Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers checking out the computer graphics and seeing how much they have changed.

We tried and failed to grow an indoor herb garden (this year I am trying outdoors)

We experimented with which substance makes the best fake blood and found food coloring to be our favorite.

We hiked at our favorite park during each season.We observed the life cycle of a robin by first seeing the proud parents build their nest, then lay their eggs, hatch,and finally fly the nest.

We paid a visit to the Indiana State Museumand the St. Louis Zoo.Both girls played with Instant Snow and Little Sis loved her My Big Backyard subscription but has asked to be upgraded to Ranger Rick this year.

Up next History, Geography, and Social Studies (Whew).

A Week In The Life Of Unschoolers/ Iceberg Straight Ahead!

Oh another busy, busy week. Not just busy as in no time, which seems to be any week these days, but SO much learning, learning this week. So grab a hold and hang on tight.

Those of you outside of the US (My blog is international, how about that. Hi from my small corner of the world! ) may not know we have our presidential elections next month, so that means October is debate time. *Updated to add* It has been brought to my attention that you indeed are aware of our presidential debates.

Don’t worry I try my best to bite my tongue when it comes to my opinion of politics on my blog(you can read about that plenty elsewhere) however in this case they played a really big part in our learning adventures this week. So I want to mention them for that reason.

Oh and I do not force my children to watch the debates, they have plenty of time before they need to be concerned with such matters but Miss Sky truly takes interest in them and pops her head in once in a while to share her opinions. It was not just the debates that got the political ship rowing though. (hehe)

Miss Sky has had a fascination with the Titanic for as long as I can remember, one I think she takes after her mama on. When I saw Netflix had a new BBC mini series available I asked if she would be interested in watching it with me, and she was.

Why make yet another movie, miniseries, documentary you ask when so many have successfully been done? I don’t know but I really, really liked this one for *many* reasons. Most importantly it finally gave a voice to the second and third class as well as the many first class servants and employees of White Star. Yes the first class had to bring their servants along don’t you know.

http://www.amazon.com/Titanic-Toby-Jones/dp/B0074JODXU/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1349469498&sr=1-1&keywords=titanic+bbc

Add this *with* the presidential debates and Miss Sky’s questions, opinions, comments were on a roll! Whew, watch out future generation. “Why does the world need to be divided by class? Who gave the rich the right to say ones life is better than another? So they needed men to row the lifeboats, oh come on. Why were women deemed useless? Why did women allow themselves to be useless?”

Oh my sweet child one question at a time. Learning, learning about her world she is. “Now I understand why they didn’t like Margaret Brown.”

Miss Sky’s been playing in the 3D world of Kaneva lately and really likes the different worlds they have, one which includes the Titanic and so she played a lot there this week as well as Minecraft creating her own civilization where a woman was elected president .

We played more 007 as well as Mario Party 8 as a family and this weeks family movie was none other than The Avengers(finally). We loved everything about this movie from the special effects to the acting to the script. It is obvious anyone who ever put comic books down never read one themselves because the vocabulary and storylines (at least in Marvel) are not dumbed down in any way. Remember Iron Man was created by Stan Lee in 1963.

After finishing reading all the Kingdom Hearts manga yet again, Miss Sky started reading the DC comic series Catwoman. “I like that she in on her own side.”

Speaking of Kingdom Hearts. Still more drawing, drawing, drawing by both girls

and Miss Sky has matched all the characters up with the Chinese zodiac.Little Sis? She played on Minecraft too and played Putt Putt, Peps Surprise Birthday Party again and more Animal Jam.

The girls also found and downloaded the game Paint Splash on the Wii which they both really like.

http://www.ign.com/games/paint-splash/wii-117441

Let’s see there was a visit to our chicken farmer putting our order in for the Thanksgiving day turkey(turkeys are such funny creatures to watch). Last but not least Miss Sky found herself with yet more new reading material this week.The Sorcerer’s Companion to Harry Potter.

http://www.amazon.com/Sorcerers-Companion-Guide-Magical-Potter/dp/0307885135/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349474520&sr=1-2&keywords=harry+potters+handbook+to+magic

The girls have not shown much interest in Harry Potter as of yet but much interest in magic and this book is *the* encyclopedia on magic. Miss Sky highly recommends it to anyone interested in the history of magic and you do not need to know anything about Harry Potter to read it.

Whew, all that is left to say is life sure is good!

A Week In The Life Of Unschoolers/ Wii Are Family

I said I was going to post very soon.

Oh where to even begin, I have a whole page of notes. I guess I will just dive right in.

I myself felt we may have hit a plateau in our learning always playing and doing the same ol same ol so I thought maybe it was time to shake things up a bit with some new reading, viewing, and playing tools.

I have previously mentioned how Miss Sky and Papa enjoy playing the game Begone(on the computer) well Miss Sky has pretty much been playing that and Minecraft these last two weeks. I also have been using Pinterest to my advantage by giving the girls each their own boards to pin things they see or find that interest them or that they would like. I noticed one of the games the girls added to the list was GoldenEye 007 for the Wii. I thought with Miss Sky’s renewed interested in fighting games that maybe this was just what the doctor ordered, so to a Gamestop we did go( and I was right, it was perfect).

http://www.amazon.com/James-Bond-007-GoldenEye-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B003O6H7X0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348723692&sr=8-2&keywords=Goldeneye+007

It is a four player game so we all can play together as a family and even have teams. Okay I want to mention that this game does need a nunchuk attached to the controller which also means you need to be able to use both hands to play, something I am going just come out and say that I suck at!

Not to mention if you want to do more than just turn in circles or shoot, like maybe change your weapon out(you can run out of ammo), or use any of your mines, or look at your map, or duck, or run away you need to be able to do it all by using both hands *at the same time*!  So it is pretty safe to say the girls kicked our butts.

I still am in disbelief of how fast the girls caught on to the game. If that was not enough Miss Sky added salt to injury by making comments like “You need to look at other players screens to see where everyone is to sneak up on them.” I barely was able to look at my own screen to see where *I *was let alone any one elses. She is so good she didn’t even have to shoot us she just came up behind us a hit us with her gun.

We also played Super Mario Brothers as a family making it all the way to level 8.

I mentioned Minecraft? Yes for both girls

as well as Play-Doh and painting for Little Sis.Movies? Yes lots of family movie time. For starters we watched some old favorites like The Nightmare Before Christmas and Beauty and the Beast. Then we watched Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland which we loved! I think Tim Burton did a wonderful job combining the 2 Alice books and as always the graphics were amazing (and the acting), but then again we are *huge* Burton fans and may be a bit biased.

Lets see there was more Fruits Basket, and Martha Speaks episodes, and Mulan. “I am watching it this time to pay closer attention to the scenery.” Just one of Miss Sky’s drawingsand Little Sis decided she would make some rice (which also makes great confetti ).

Kingdom Hearts? Like you needed to ask, I surprised the girls with the rest of the Kingdom Heart manga (that I found used at Better World Books)both girls have already finished the books.

There was another visit to the apple orchard and we paid a visit to Half Price Books to see if they had any more Fruits Basket manga, and they did. The girls found something that caught their attention as well and have been conducting many spell experiments of their own.Last but not least the girls still have been drawing, drawing away,and because no post would be complete without one of Little Sis’s drawings.

Such a good life!

A Week In The Life Of Unschoolers/ In Pictures With Miss Sky

Miss Sky is a bit harder to snap pictures of because she is here then there and back here again but I think this weeks pictures show this.

Mornings for her usually begin with YouTube searches on the telly or with her outdoors.  :)“Mom our spider got lucky this morning.” (with a grasshopper breakfast).

The only thing I didn’t take a picture of is her playing Kingdom Hearts and of us(Little Sis included) watching Avatar The Last Airbender.

Life is good!

A Week In The Life Of Unschoolers/ Spring Forward, Falling Behind

Now that “school” for us doesn’t have a beginning or end (always learning we are) I have noticed our own natural rhythm beginning to take shape around these parts.

I thought that this summer would find us busier then what we were and that it would be the best time for us to take a break from keeping attendance records. However I have found it harder for me to keep track of everything the girls have been up to now at the start of fall. So I am thinking that instead of fall being our “official” start of the new “school” year that this year I will continue keeping attendance through summer and let fall be the season when I slack off. Then I can start keeping attendance records again at the start of the new year in January. Of course I am learning this may all change from year to year but now I understand how to make it work best for us. (I want to add that this does not change anything for the girls, they will continue living and learning as they know it. I am finding myself busier during this season and having a much harder time trying to keep track of this or that.)

None of this probably makes any sense to anyone but me but I thought I would share. Here in Indiana the homeschooling law requires us to have 180 days of school recorded. It doesn’t “have to” be the same schedule as public school. This is our second year unschooling and now I can see how ridiculous it is for us to follow the same schedule as public school. Part of the wonderful joys of homeschooling is having the freedom to make a schedule that works best for your family.

Now then what have the girls been up to? Well I did my best to write down a few things and know I have forgotten tons more. So here it all is in a nutshell.

Kingdom Hearts? Yes, not only the video game but the girls also created Kingdom Hearts characters to play the video game Sims2. They also found a Kingdom Hearts Wiki page that has been keeping them busy.

We have already made our first visit to the apple orchard for apples and slushies and need to make another one as our apple supply is gone (this family loves apples).

Movies? (Besides finishing up the series Lord of the Rings, which inspires lots of play around here.)

Yes, the anime movie Whisper Of The Heart, which went over very well with both girls, and the Disney movie Mulan, a Disney family favorite. These movies have fit right in with us rewatching the anime series Fruits Basket and even stirred more creativity

with the girls creating their own Japanese menus.

We played Super Mario Brothers on the Wii as a family and the girls have been getting in with the games at Girls Go Games.com with Little Sis’s favorite being Pony Adventure.

http://www.girlsgogames.com/

The girls also have been playing around with the WebCam with Miss Sky especially discovering how to use the special effects.

Life is good!

A Week In The Life Of Unschoolers/ The Ladies Of The Rings

Well this week flew by in a flash I tell you. Busy, busy we were. The weather has been wonderful and even with our family now unschooling with all kinds of “screen” technology we fully are aware fall is just around the corner.

Fall is *the* season in our household. There are apples that need picking and walks that need taking and wood that needs stacking and freezers that need filling oh and birthdays too. Yes my production senses have stirred.

So this week was all about walks to the park (we even managed to do a little rain dancing), fires in the backyard, trips out to see farmer friends, to start working on filling those freezers I mentioned(beef, pork, chicken, chicken broth, corn and pizza sauce check), and a visit to the Optometrist.

If you couldn’t tell Miss Sky has grown right out of her glasses so an appointment was way overdue. Papa and Miss Sky were up first and I can’t help but laugh at this family of mine. From the moment we walked in it was question after question. While we waited Miss Sky got caught up in the video they had playing about all the different procedures you can have done now to your eyes( because they are way more interesting than their DS games). ” Wow mom look at how they can fix your eyes with lasers”, honestly I don’t know what was more exciting learning about how your eyes work or the fact that you can use lasers on them, I just hoped our doctor was in an answering kind of mood (and thank goodness she was).

Did I mention apples? Ah yes the girls seem to have an extraordinary keen sense to apple season. This past year we didn’t follow any type of “seasonal rhythm” (except that of our own) and yet somehow they still knew the time was near. While searching through our bookshelves Little Sis pulled the story The Apple Cake for a reading, which I very much obliged. ” Is it time to make our apple cake yet?” After a quick internet search I found that indeed it is time for a visit to the apple orchard. Little Sis also thought playing a few rounds of Disney Apples to Apples might be a good idea too, so we did. As well as more Wii Party Globe Trot and Friend Connection.

Kingdom Hearts? Yes, yes and yes. Miss Sky and Little Sis have been playing the video games and decided to reread the manga series. They each have been busy on Disney Create making even more characters in which Little Sis invented Sad Girl. They even made Kingdom Hearts Mii characters.

There has been more reading ,

Little Sis could not wait for me to start the Jenny and the Cat Club series, this girl loves cats(again found used on E-bay), and Miss Sky has been rereading all her Ology series (I think triggered from watching one of her most favorite movie series).

http://www.amazon.com/Jenny-Cat-Club-Collection-Childrens/dp/1590170474/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345817639&sr=1-3&keywords=Jenny

Movies? Well after all the busyness earlier in the week we decided to kick back and relax for the rest with a little telly. We watched The Little Travelers in Bali and Miss Sky suggested a viewing of one of her favorite series was in order, because you know there is a new release coming out this year. Yes we are a family of fantasy nerds. I was raised with the wonderful storytelling of Tolkien and Lewis(Thanks dad ) but it was Big Sis who got Miss Sky hooked on The Lord of the Rings movies.

We go back and forth between Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Narnia, with Miss Sky adding the Marvel movies to the list( I wonder what Little Sis will add?) but Lord of the Rings is by far Miss Sky’s favorite. We have watched these movies so much we are able to spot the goofs but we still always manage to find something new, especially with Miss Sky interested in special effects.

What else is left to say but life is good, wishing everyone a great weekend!

A Week In The Life Of Unschoolers/ We’re Moving On Out, Outdoors That Is

Yes the heat wave has broken, for how long I really don’t care because right now is wonderful! The windows are open and we even could hear and smell the pitter patter of rain. *Not to self, do not ever, ever complain about the rain and cold again. *

I can’t help but feel a bit sorry for all the school kids who are stuck indoors all day now that the temps have finally dropped. I know how antsy I felt being stuck indoors this summer, I can only imagine being a kid. Well there is nothing I can really do about that but I can do something with my family, and we have too.

Like walks and the park have been added back into our days along with playing freeze tag and red light green light in the backyard but hikes, yes that’s what we really like, are back.Of course there are premade paths already laid out for you but what fun is it to travel were everyone else has. Besides that’s how you miss all the good stuff. If your clothes are not dirty by the time we leave then something is very wrong.

Once home from our day of exploration homemade pizza and a movie seemed to fit so I went through my “secret Disney movie stash”(that I have been collecting from Goodwill) to see which movies the girls haven’t seen yet and Fox and the Hound seemed just right. However the girls did not agree. “Wow this movie is filled with too many stereotype messages for me to enjoy”. Just a warning, once you begin your journey into radical unschooling your movie watching days will never be the same again.

I guess after watching the movie now that I am an adult I can see why it never made it onto the Disney “greatest hits” list but seriously I don’t ever remember thinking about stereotypes at their age. What I will say is this movie caused a very long discussion(like still going over breakfast the next day) about hunting for sport and food. Let’s not forget that one of Miss Sky’s most favorite animals are foxes.

Speaking of movies the girls and I started watching the series Fruits Basket again. Now that I am reading the manga, which they did leave out a lot in the series, I am able to pick up on more of the clues. Well I thought watching The Little Travelers Japan might be fun and the girls agreed(*they* really like The Little Travelers DVDs). How great it was to watch this after Fruits Basket. It opened the door a little bit more into japanese culture. Add this with having a WWII paratrooper veteran right next door who still has his photos of Japan and we struck gold(but more on that next post).

The girls recognized right away how the school uniforms in the anime series where exactly the same as in the documentary. We also learned why it is proper to exit a room backwards (which you see a lot of in the anime series too).

We did play the game Life on the Wii and the board game Sorry this week but Kingdom Hearts is still the big news around these parts. Little Sis bought the DS game Kingdom Hearts 358/2. It takes place in between Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2.She is so excited because this really is her first game she has been able to read and play along with all on her own. She has carried her DS around the house with her wherever she goes. Oh am I worried about her being “addicted” to a “screen”? NO WAY, she is reading on her own! Can’t you see her happiness? Why would I not *want* my child to be happy? I don’t know many *happy* addicts.

Besides I have seen first hand everything the girls have not only learned because of the Kingdom Hearts video game but are doing. Miss Sky has been busy inventing her own charactersand that red notebook is filled with her story ideas.

I asked if they wanted a how to draw anime book and both answered in unison, “No, we like drawing *our way*”. You know what, they always have too.

Life is good!

 

A Week In The Life Of Unschoolers/ Not Back To School Week(Thank Goodness!)

This week the kids in our area went back to school and like every year when I see the kids walking down the street with their new clothes and backpacks on to catch the bus I like to take a moment to look back over past posts to see how we are doing.

Around this time last year our family made the decision to toss Waldorf education out the window and started unschooling. This time last year our family pledged to put our families relationship first. This time last year our family began our “deschooling” journey. Do I regret our decision? NO WAY! As cheesy, or corny, or crazy this may sound, radical unschooling has changed our life! We finally have found *our* way.

I love reading back over past posts and seeing what was going on in my mind at the time. I love the fact that I am able to go back and *see* when ”deschooling”  for us had ended and unschooling began. I always tell people who find out about my blog that *I* am my biggest reader .

While taking a stroll down memory lane, I began to notice a pattern in *our* learning. I say our because Papa and I have learned SO much about ourselves as well as how we learn best. So many people question whether unschooling can truly work and I can not write enough about how important “deschooling” is for *you*, the parents because once you understand how *you*, yourself learn all the unschooling pieces come falling into place. What I noticed most about our journey into unschooling is all the different topics *I*, myself have taken interest in learning.

One topic was the Tudors and King Henry the eighth. It all started by me picking up a copy of The Other Boleyn Girl, then by watching the Showtime series, The Tudors on Netflix. While watching the series I had to stop many times to look up on the computer who all the characters were and how much truth was behind the series. I found other movies, books,  and documentaries on the topic and learned all that I wanted before moving on to the next topic. I can see this same pattern happening with the girls. Miss Sky will find a video game, like Ice Age, and before you know it she is doing internet searches on the topic and we are watching the movies, documentaries, visiting museums and then she will ask lots and lots of questions. You can literally see the light bulb go off in her brain when she has made a connection and then she is ready to move on.

I noticed from my notes this week that our game playing has died down a bit. I believe the reason for this is because Little Sis has found herself able to read. It’s pretty much what she could be found doing all week. In fact it’s pretty much what you could find both girls doing all week.

Our season of game playing is over, at this point in time anyway, while Little Sis begins to connect new pieces of her puzzle. Well it’s not completely over, I mean there will always be a game played here and there before dinner or in between readings. For instance we did play a few games of Wii Party together this week.

*On a side note I highly recommend this game. There are SO many great games and each one has become a favorite. This week it was Globe Trot, which is great for learning geography and more Friend Connection.*

And I believe Minecraft and Animal Jam will continue to play their part in our weeks as well.

Movies have also played a big part in our week as we watched the anime movie The Cat Returns, as a family, in which Little Sis has declared it her favorite anime movie thus far (she LOVES cats). Then the girls thought it a good idea to watch the Disney movies portrayed in the game Kingdom Hearts. They still enjoy watching them in spanish and love to figure out what the spanish translation of words are, and they could be heard around the house repeating Winnie Poo in their best spanish accents (Have I mentioned how much I love these girls of mine?).

Miss Sky and I watched The Stan Lee story on Netflix and what can I say but my respect for his creative spirit had grown SO much more. I found it very interesting that when comic books first came out they were blamed for juvenile delinquents and asthma because children would be found indoors *reading* instead of playing outside. Kind of sounds like the cynical claims some have of television and video games today (hmm)

Last but not least last night Miss Sky called me outdoors, “Mom have you seen this sky?” So outside I flew with camera in hand to enjoy the sunset with my little girl.“Isn’t it beautiful mom?” As I stared up at the sky a proud mama tear began to form in the corner of my eye, that what some would call my “spoiled” daughter (who we choose not to shame, or punish, or spank just because they were not born with the same knowledge as what we have as adults or because they may act differently then what we did as a child, or that is allowed to watch all the television and play video games for however long she would like) could take a moment of her time and pause long enough to admire true beauty when she sees it.

Folks indeed I truly do love this life of mine!