Namaste

In India, when we meet and greet and we say "Namaste", which means: I honor
the place in you where the entire universe resides, I honor the place in you
of love, of light, of truth, of peace. I honor the place within you where if
you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, there is only one
of us. ~Ram Dass

Who Has Time for School?

With a morning spent playing with friends.....American girls, pirate play, and muffin eating too....and an afternoon full of....

chemistry experimenting with red cabbage juice indicator,
(acid, base, neutral???)
making cool salt painted dragons,
experimenting with ink spots dabbed on coffee filters,
and of course lots of computer time for Amelia (blogging and Webkinz).

All in all, a day well spent! :)

Our Day in Pictures....

Pea Soup.  I love to make soup!  Simmering all day, smelling delicious, warming our insides......
Dollmaking by Maddie.  A  present for Leah....
Making Hamantaschen to celebrate PURIM!

Straws are always FUN!
The keyboard was in use ALL DAY!
Maddie started her day by making her favorite.....shakes!  Blueberry Banana today.
Delicious coffee in one of my favorite mugs, handmade by Amelia.
Playing "Three Billy Goats" around the breakfast table.  "Trit trot, trit trot, Who is crossing over my bridge?"

Learning In Our Own Way!

Tonight at dinner, Amelia was noticing what a good speller she is.  It's true!  She is a strong reader, though not as strong as Maddie, and yet, her spelling skills shine!  Why?  It is obvious to me that it comes from hours spent on the computer!  She loves to work on her blog, To Amelia,

Webkinz, Spanish sites, .......  Mostly, she just LOVES the computer.  And, she is quite skilled at using it (much more so than her mama).  Now, if she were in school and forced to learn spelling words each week, I can only imagine how that would go with her (grumble, grumble, do I have to???).  But, on her own, she has figured out so much, doing exactly what she loves and has chosen to do!  

TRUST!  I trust that, although I don't always like her on the computer for hours at a time, there is a reason for it.  And the reason is that she LOVES it, she is of course learning from it, and this is HER LIFE!  She need to choose her path.  

I seem to be focusing on Amelia a lot lately.  So, let me also mention a Maddie untraditional learning moment!  Maddie was making her Felicity American Girl doll (from Colonial times) bend backwards.  She said, "Felicity couldn't really do this."  I replied, "No, that would be hard for anyone to do."  "No, Mommy, it's because she wore stays and they wouldn't allow her to bend in that way."  Of course, Maddie, what was I thinking???  :)

Trust...

Trust is so much a part of this unschooling life that we live.  I trust that my children will learn what they need to learn, without imposing on them what I think they should learn.  This can be easier said than done for me.  I am "deschooling" myself!  

Leah, who is 4, would not go poopy on the potty.  She has been potty trained (pee pee) for quite some time....years.  But, when she has to make poopy, she asks for a diaper, does her business, and then asks to be immediately changed.  At first, Mike protested.  But, I convinced him to trust her, that she was doing what she needed to do.  So, much time has passed, and Leah has showed no signs of wanting to go poopy on the potty.  Then, the other day, she just did it!  She was ready.  There was no struggle, no anxiety, just peace on the potty.  Trust.

Amelia is another example.  Before I started on this unschooling journey, I tried to "teach" my 2 oldest daughters to read.  Well, it did NOT work for Amelia.  She wanted nothing to do with it (and rightfully so as she was clearly not ready).  So, I backed off.  Completely.  I continued to read to her, take her to the library, love books.....   Now, she reads like a pro.  It still is not her first choice of an activity to do (very different than her twin sister, Maddie, who would read 22 out of 24 hours of the day!).  But, she can do it and do it well!  Trust.

I can't say that TRUST always comes easy for me.  But, I'm learning.  Or unlearning all of those years that people told me what I should be learning and when.  

Trust.

Spring is in the air....

 Thinning my lettuce plants led to a yummy dinner salad.  Our first fresh greens of the new year!  

Here are the plants that did not make it into our salad....getting  SUN!

   A "before" picture of our raised beds, looking bleak and empty!  Soon to be full of LIFE!
Ben was full of JOY and mud as our beautiful day progressed!
Much of Saturday was spent in a tree!
Maddie is collecting onion grass to chew on.  Maddie and Amelia made a salad of it but then decided that they didn't like the taste that much!
I remember that feeling of leaning back on a swing!  Pure JOY!

Nothing better than muddy feet.
Spring is finally almost here!

Snow Day!

We began our "Snow Day" by playing outside!  Maddie ventured out first.
Leah is getting bundled up!
Hello, Ben!

Then, we collected snow and made "Snow Toffee!"  Yummy!
We played tons of Mancala!  Love this game of strategy and fun!
Ben found time to do his favorite...play dough!
Maddie created this very cool fairy home out of clay!  Very creative!
And, Mommy made homemade soup and banana bread!
What a beautiful day!!!!