A Fresh Start

Wow, this blog seems like old news. But it's nice to see where we were and how far we have come. Up until now, this blog was about our very first year unschooling. We were just dipping our toes in. We were fresh and innocent with the best intentions. But we struggled a lot. Thankfully, I have learned from many mistakes.

I would like to keep this blog current again, but I can only post on random occasions.

Yes, we have a new camera

These are pictures of us taken by the boys.

I never post to this blog anymore. For one, we are without a camera. (Our old camera took a swim in a stream on a hiking trip. And we haven't replaced it yet.) So there are no pictures of daily busy-ness to show. And I have been spending much more intensive time with the kids. I haven't had the time to write for this blog. Although I do continue to write, it is about other things right now. Also, the twins (now almost 2) are like chasing two tiny tornadoes through the house. We are busy. And we are doing better than ever. I'm thinking about changing this blog to a new address. More on that later.

Pictures from our Garden

We had one pumpkin, several cucumbers and no bell peppers (it was too hot). We also had several squash bugs and cucumber beetles. They feasted well. I loved having a garden. The children loved it too. Caleb helped me till the soil, add manure, water, weed and harvest. Even Zane enjoyed having it although he didn't want to do any of the actual gardening. He enjoyed watching it grow and looking for fruits and pollenators. This was my first experiment with a vegetable garden. I learned so much and I can't wait until next years garden.

Rethinking Education Conference

We went to the Rethinking Education Conference. For the most part, we had fun and learned a lot -- especially about ourselves and where we are going. In the beginning of our trip, Caleb and Zane were both doing things to annoy each other and not listening when the other asked them to stop. Zane kept pestering Caleb in the car (spitting, threatening to bite, etc.). Then Caleb turned out the light in the men's bathroom at Cracker Barrel while Zane was going to the bathroom. After he turned off the light, he returned to the table. I had no idea what was going on until Zane came back to the table fuming and ready to strangle his brother. He had to feel his way out of a strange bathroom in pitch dark. When we got to the conference the first day, the boys wanted to play in Kid Village. I came back an hour or 2 later and found out that Caleb had been knocking down the grocery store that someone had set up. And every time she set it up again, he would knock it down again. She said she asked him to help her put it back and he did help twice. But he kept knocking it down. There was a lot of running around and knocking down box buildings by the boys. But Caleb was really doing things that infringed on other kids play. He wasn't being mean. He was just running around like Godzilla and not listening to anyone. Sometimes when he gets into that zone (happens sometimes, not often) he won't hear what I am saying. So, I removed him from the room to talk to him. But he couldn't listen and started crying and yelling. After a little more time in Kid Village with no change, I decided we needed to leave. I took the boys to my mom's house. Caleb was very calm, played with playdough for hours and volunteered to help with dinner. I talked to him a few times that night and the next morning. I told him he needed to listen to other people that were playing in the room. I asked him not to smash the grocery store and to listen (not run away) when I was talking to him. He promised he would try to do better. So we went back the next day and things went very well. In fact, neither of them wanted to leave when it was time to go. Zane was having so much fun. This is the kid that is always ready to go home after about an hour of being anywhere. We had to leave that day because I promised my mom I would take the boys to my cousin's birthday swim party. We had a great time. And I talked to my aunts about unschooling. They both homeschooled their kids but used curriculum. They were interested and they had their own 2 cents to add. It was good. I had been concerned that they would be against unschooling. But they had each seen unschooling or interest-led learning work in their own kids lives.
Day 3 of the conference, we were there from 10 in the morning to 10 at night and we had the best time. It was what the conference should be. The boys did so much that day -- I'm bummed that I didn't get any pictures. But we were so busy and I got tired of lugging my backpack around with me so I put the camera in the car. Anyway, I would recommend staying in the hotel at the conference. Driving back and forth to my mom's house was tedious and I feel like we missed out on a lot of the comeraderie. Everyone was basically living together for 4 days. I think we could have connected with other people more had we been there more. Plus I missed so many of the sessions that I wanted to see. I missed all of Naomi Aldort's sessions which I am still kicking myself over. But the 3rd day we did lots of kid stuff. Then we went to the talent show. It was the crown jewel of the conference in my opinion. There was a room full of people. There was a sign up sheet full of names of talented people. There was a very funny MC. There were my boys right up front. Caleb kept raising his hand and saying "pick me next." She finally asked him if he had an act. He didn't. So she let him say his name in the Mike. Then all the other kids up front got to say their names in the mike. Zane couldn't stand it anymore he just had to get up there and do something. He said he wanted to tell a story or do some acting. I gave him a pen and told him to write his name on the board. He did. Then he pestered the poor woman until she let him go on. You have to understand that we had not even thought about or discussed the talent show. They had nothing prepared. They have never participated in a talent show and have only been to one several months ago in which they were only remotely interested in watching. So she asked Zane what he was going to do. He said "magic." Then he asked for all the lights to be turned off and the doors shut. People chuckled and somebody lowered the lights. Then he asked everyone to close their eyes. And he ran around checking to see if people really had their eyes closed. But he didn't really have a plan. So then for his next act he said he needed a volunteer. Several people volunteered so he picked 2 girls. Then he told them to run there and back. They ran there and back a couple of times. Then the MC intervened and convinced Zane to bow. So he bowed and let the next person go. I had to take him out of the room because he wanted to get back on the stage and do another act. He cried and cried for 20 min. or so out in the atrium because he had a third act. He said he didn't get to finish his act. I asked him what he was going to do. He said he didn't know. He was very frustrated and angry and sad. He was frustrated because he didn't have any direction or content for his act but he so desparately wanted to. He was angry at everyone for cutting it short. He was sad because he felt helpless. I just held him. Then later he was able to go back in for the end of the show. Afterward, I was happy to see him running and playing with some other kids. He was having a great time.
I'm sad that I missed a lot of the sessions at the conference. But I learned a lot about my boys and myself. And I think they learned a lot about themselves too. I think Zane would like to practice and come up with an act. It is obvious he loves to be in front of a crowd. I'm going to rent some magic show videos. I would also like to take him to see some local plays. I think we'll set up a stage and have some talent shows at home with and without friends over. I think this is a breakthrough for Zane. I am exhilirated to see him so interested. It's not interested, it is like a deep need. It will be interesting to see where this leads.
And that was our experience at RE conference. Next year will be different.

Plans and Deeds

We finally decided we will be going to the Rethinking Education Conference in Dallas on Labor Day weekend. I'm excited. I'm hoping I will get some inspiration and some great ideas. I'll be driving down with the boys. The girls will stay home with Ian. I'm sad to be leaving the girls. They are only 18 months old. But we will survive and next year I will make sure that we all get to go -- it's called something like advance planning.

Yesterday Zane wanted to go buy a new Bionicle with his own money that he has saved up from gifts and the tooth fairy (we haven't started allowances yet). He never thinks about spending his money or buying something he might really want. This is a stark contrast to Caleb who wants to buy everything in every store and on every commercial he sees. So we went to Target. I love to go places in the middle of the day now that school is back in session. We went to see the matinee showing of Ant Bully on the first day of school. We practically had the place to ourselves. Anyway, back to Target. Zane already knew what toy he wanted because he read product reviews on a bionicle website. He picked it out and Caleb got one too. Zane paid for his. Then we went home and he put it together by himself which is a first. He was very proud of himself for putting it together. They played with them for hours.

We need to make some changes around here. Nothing is safe in our house from grabbing baby hands. I realize I have put a lot of pressure on the boys to make concessions for their sisters. They are the ones that have to move their things and themselves up and out of the way. I'm working on coming up with some solutions that give them their own space away from the girls but where we can still talk and be together. I'm also making a better effort to distract the twins while the boys are watching a movie or something before the fighting starts. I can hardly blame my 5 year old for poking and hitting the babies when they won't stop climbing all over him. He plays sweetly with them most of the time -- usually several hours a day. The grabbing babies have made things stressful the last week or so because they have figured out how to move chairs and get up to counters and high places that were our last safe places. It has been stressful for me because they try to pull up to the stove or the counter while I'm making dinner. One got onto the dining room table which happens pretty often even with the chairs on their sides. While I got her down, the other pulled her chair up to the stove in the kitchen. The stove was off but it was still hot. She didn't get hurt. But I was a tab bit frazzled by it. I'm trying different things to keep them safe especially during dinner without locking them up. They are old enough to be distracted and entertained by something new or unusual. Sometimes I give them a little water and lots of containers to practice pouring. They also like to dump out buckets of crayons or dig through the movie cabinet. Sometimes it is the only way I can get dinner made. Then I'll clean up the mess when I get the chance.

Zane wants to build a catapult. So, I checked out The Art of the Catapult by William Gurstelle. I need to get the supplies. We'll probably start it after we get back from the conference. I'm also anxious to start my worm bin. I have deliberated for months about where to keep it once it is built. I have finally decided to make a wooden box on casters that fits into the pantry closet (there is one side that doesn't have shelves). I will actually keep the bin in the garage which is just off the kitchen but move it indoors when the temperature is above 90 degrees or below 20. It just gets too hot and occasionally too cold here to keep them outdoors. Now with that decided, I can get started making the thing. This is my project but I hope the kids will get involved and enjoy the process of a live compost in the house. I'm planning to make it tall enough so that the girls won't be able to reach into it until they are older.

An Occasion

The other day Caleb decided he wanted to have a tea party like we used to do. A tea party with real tea and cake and stuffed animal friends. I was busy in the garden. But I made tea and set out cake and told the boys to go ahead and have the tea party while I worked outside. Zane joined in and they both went upstairs to get dressed. The put on their "occasion" clothes, they called them -- a pair of shorts (with underwear, they both made a point of telling me) and a clean shirt. I love this term occasion clothes. It is just clean clothes (no swim trunks) and underwear. Zane said he would have put on a tuxedo if he had one because he is now the ruler of the upstairs. Then they played with Bionicles for a couple of hours while the tea got cold.

When I came in, I added some snacks to the tea party. They ate and slurped back some strong, cold tea and continued playing Bionicles. Later we washed the cars. The babies helped. We all got soaked but the girls didn't mind. Then Caleb played in the soapy water for a long time by himself.

Little Chefs, Big Chef

Yesterday the boys got to do some cooking at the restaurant. They were so thrilled. It was beautiful to see them excited and happy. We went to Chang's yesterday after the County Free Fair. Ian has been working open to close (that's 6 or 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.) for 5 days in a row (except Mon. when he worked a mere 11 hours). So he is exhausted and demoralized by it. And he misses the kids so much. They miss him too. So we went up there to have an early dinner. The restaurant was empty when we got there. Ian took the boys back to the kitchen. They go back there to look around whenever we stop in. This time he let Zane make crab wontons. He put the wontons in the fryer basket and lowered it into the fryer. Then he plated them and brought them to the table. Caleb made spring rolls in exactly the same way. They both came to the table shouting across the room about what they had made. Then we all sat down to dinner. All the boys could talk about was doing more cooking. So Ian took them back to the kitchen to make dessert -- more frying. They made a new dessert called Lucky 8 which is phyllo dough rolled into long, thin sticks. They have mocha cream in the middle. Then there is a caramel sauce to dip them in and crushed toffee on the plate to roll them in after the sauce. It was good. We all needed to spend time together. I desparately needed to get out of the house. I feel so bad for Ian when he works so much. It's like he sacrifices himself every day when he leaves the house. It wouldn't be so bad if he was happy with his job. I mean he loves food and people and he is very good at what he does. But the restaurant business -- especially someone else's restaurant -- sucks away little pieces of him every day.