Learning Life Through Unschooling

Oct. 5, 2006

Back to our regularly scheduled program...

Ahhh yes...unschooling. Learning what you want when you want. Yes, that was the point of this blog! teehee...sorry, I've been sidetracked lately because this little alien has taken over my body quite literally. But I'm feeling a little better each day and I can get back to 'normal' for a while.

So the really great thing about unschooling is that we've STILL been learning, even through all the mommy-is-very-sick-go-find-something-quiet-to-do-for-a-while.

Matthew figured out how to count to 100 all by himself, just because he wanted to. He's been working on math lately too. He's been adding numbers up to 12 + 12 from playing around with his "fun" Math Gear book, and has asked me to get him the others that show subtraction, multiplication and division too. I just asked him what else he's learned and he said, "I'm getting SICK of staying in this house! THAT's what I learned!" Touche and Ditto. Hubby brought home a box of books from a work friend a few weeks ago and one of them was called "Deadline at Spook Cabin". It looks like it's about 40 years old and I never imagined he'd pick it up at all but there he was, zipping through it in just a couple hours yesterday instead of playing xbox or legos or running around screaming with his sisters. (Ha. Copyright 1958...so I was right...40 years) We've gotten into some theological conversations lately too. Matthew had done something he KNEW he wasn't supposed to do...and he'd done it like 3 times in the span of about 2 hours. I reminded him of the rules, I'd talked to him about it, I'd given him time-out and on the last one I said, "Matthew, if you do that again, I am going to spank you." He props both of his hands on his waist and says, "Mommy, God doesn't want us to frighten people!" I sent him to his room while thinking, "There IS such a thing as holy fear and you're about to find out exactly what that is, boy!" :-D See, I get as frustrated as the next mommy...maybe MORE because there is never a real break for us from each other. After I gathered myself, I went upstairs and we discussed my role as a parent and what God wants me to do as a parent when my children don't behave. And we discussed the "Children, obey your parents" verse as well. That same wrong behavior hasn't come up since.

Rose has been very busy with arts and crafts and her stuffed cats. She LOVES to draw and color and she's getting quite good at drawing stick people and really uses her imagination when trying to draw something new. Whenever she draws me, she always puts a tiny dot in my belly for the baby. Awwww. She's also been playing quite a bit with a LeapPad keyboard thing. It has all the letters and there are multiple games to play on it like "what letter sounds like uh?" and "press the letter R" and "press a letter to play a song", etc. She's also been asking me to write words for her lately. "Mommy, write cat above my picture." She also loves to play with Matthew's Leap Pad (especially his SpiderMan book). She writes pages and pages of letters every few days. She painstakingly practices 'iiiiii jjjjjj iiiiii llllll mmmm jjjjjj iiiiiii ccccc' I need to scan in one of her pages so you can see them. She may have better handwriting than Matthew at this point.

Jade...well, what can I say an 18 month old has been learning? Everything. She understands everything I say to her and can follow two step directions. But she still mostly refuses to speak English. Go figure. Though she does try to buckle and unbuckle her carseat straps. ;) So maybe she's been focusing on her small motor skills instead of her verbal ones. Or maybe the other two talk PLENTY for 3 kids and Jade, out of the kindness of her heart, has decided to give Mommy a break for a bit longer. Either way, I've seen her putting forth a much more concerted effort lately to make sounds that really work. So I'm sure it won't be long before she has her first huge language explosion.

And me?? Well, I've picked up the art of crochet. I've made a few very simple repeat pattern blankets in the past...ok, well...I've STARTED a few of them anyway. ;) But last week was Hubby's bday and since we agreed our super duper top-of-the-line camera would be our gift for the year, I couldn't buy him anything. So with hunting season coming up, I decided to make him a hat and scarf. That way, if it turned out lopsided, the deer wouldn't tease him as much as say....coworkers. ;) The first hat was probably too small for him so I made another, using a different pattern and it turned out CUTE (well, in a manly cute way).

Fits well, isn't lopsided and I was amazed how quick and easy it was for someone who really hasn't done much crochet before. He was impressed and since I've been feeling so awful and not doing much but sitting and recovering and resting, I have now been keeping my hands busy. So I then made a bookmark for my secret sister in MOPS (shhh, don't tell her!)...

And, I'm now working on a poncho. I was making it for my niece Christine but it's turning out so cute, I may have to keep it for Rose. But then again, Christine is so much more a girly-girl than Rose is, Rose may very well refuse to wear it and Christine may win in the end. I'll post a pic when I'm done.

So there you have it. Learning going on all around us though I could easily answer "nothing" to the question, "What have you guys been doing this last month?"

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Comments

Oct. 5, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Mrs. S

Whenever us grandkids would be putting out too many simultaneous demands, my grandmother would stop everything that she was doing, throw her hands up, and say "I am NOT the bionic woman!!"

I think she'd like to meet you, 'cause it has occured to me more than once that perhaps YOU are!

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Oct. 5, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by amalapert

WOW - is the bionic woman considered a superhero??? WHAT a compliment!! Trust me, it does NOT feel that way from these house-shoes. ;) Many days I do good just to hang on...more like bat woman. ROFL But then I have a great day and I remember why I put up with the bad days. 'Course when Matthew was 4, I swore it was me or him but one of us was GOING to have to leave the house permanently. But we obviously survived. Beware year #4. And now Rose is coming up on that year...brace yourself Laurie. I like to take the Scarlett O'Hara approach - 'I"ll think about that tomorrow." ;)

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Oct. 10, 2006 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Anonymous

Wow, I'm impressed. The hat, scarf, and bookmark look GREAT! You've done good!

The kids are getting so big and smart!

Pam

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