Best moments

Sometimes the best moments of our time together are those moments when you're not trying. The weather was gorgeous yesterday and we were in the yard having a hula hoop competition. I heard an unfamiliar bird song so we looked to the nearby trees to discover it was a baby red-headed woodpecker. Amazing creature! He captured our attention until he disappeared.

Then more laughter continued as the hula hoop festivities continued.

Treasure your moments.

9 weeks in and we are still unpacking and finding our rhythm.  It's the perfect time to try different approaches to suit the needs of each of the boys.  I have been working on some Charlotte Mason techniques with D9 and E7 while suggesting different websites for W10. J6 has been busy with his own DS3, so when he pokes his head up, I'll see what he wants to pursue.

One of D9's goals has been to learn Spanish and I found out there is a great free resource through our local library. Can't wait to check out that information!

Enjoy the day wherever you are!

Peace.

Catching up...

2011 has been an incredible year. Our family was homeless for the first couple of months and stayed with relatives, then found a great old house with a huge backyard and nice landlords! We had a new baby (boy 5) in June who is doing well and growing like a sunflower! My father had a medical issue that had him in the hospital for nearly 2 months and it strenghtened my parents love and marriage going into year 45 together!!! And as we enter the month of September, I am reminded of how much the Fall does me good. Those first northern breezes that cool your skin and promise that summer is almost over. The boys have continued their life-schooling path and are pretty darn amazing! W9 is a wonderful self taught reader who loves math, the science of cooking and design. D8 is into math, science, current events and a bit of psychology. E6 has fallen in love with the 3 Stooges and Pink Panther cartoons and is the comedian of the family. J5 is the philosopher and never ceases to catch me off guard with the deepest of thoughts..."if God made the Earth with people on it, wouldn't he have made other planets with people on them, too?" Then there is A, 3 month old amazing baby, who has captured all of our hearts and smiles with his smile and charm. DH is still the main caretaker during the day while I work outside the home, but we plan and dream of the day when we can combine our talents to work together for ourselves. The chance make come sooner than we think as the university I work for is going through layoffs and we will find out next week who will still have a job. I am looking for the open window as I have made peace with the fact that there is a good chance that my job will be gone. But if that happens, I will spread my wings and jump out of the safety of the nest for the next adventure. The possibilities of life are limitless and the road leads in many directions. I trust in the Tao to allow me to choose the right path for this leg of the journey. We continue to teach and learn everyday from each other and our friends/family. My beatiful friend Kiawitl always inspires me with her life's journey - "so, as you may drudge through earth dramatics today -take the time to look at BEAUTY and then, reassess the situation- is it REALLY worth wasting energy on??? livelovelaughcry- LIFE is Going by us as we breathe....." thanks for the beautiful intentional inspiration, sistar! I intend on keeping up with this blog as a log of life and hopefully all of you will find something useful in these words! Peace & Blessings.

The cost of unschooling

Those of us that unschool our children do so because we love them. It is not to cloister them or keep them from the real world, but to have them LIVE in the world. We for the most part, do not have a lot of money and seek out those opportunities for our children that are free or at a low cost. Some folks are lucky enough to have a support system where you can barter and trade for services with other like-minded folk.

My husband and I live in an urban apartment setting with our sons (even though we dream of a house w/yard) contrary to the idea most people have of homeschooling families. As if only rural settings are conducive to allowing one the freedom to school your children yourself. I work during the day while my husband and the boys seek adventure and then in the evening, my husband ventures out to play his music. It is difficult for him sometimes as the artist in him wants to roam about freely and our sons are still at ages that require attention.

We have suffered some personal setbacks this year, but as a family we try to be honest about each situation and work together without pointing fingers at one another. Our boys are amazing people and have adjusted through all these situations. They have learned a great deal about money during these financially difficult times and have come up with hilarious and surprisingly well thought out ways to make money themselves.

One thing that we have all learned from these experiences is that it is not the amount of money that you have or that you spend, but the amount of love and effort that you put forth that shapes our children into the people they need to become. They are each unique and intelligent. It is our responsibility to give them the keys to the world, teach them respect for themselves and for their fellow beings, and let them know they are loved!

They will find their path...

Hard Lessons to Learn

Recently, I introduced my sons to Houstonopoly, the Houston version of the classic board game. My children are 4, 6, 7 and 8 which has them at different stages of viewing world situations. They are great at asking questions and think very sincerely as they consider life around them. BUT it has been amazing to watch the different characteristics of each child as they learned and played the game.

I did modify the rules a bit to simplify things by taking out the house/hotel factor, but I left everything else in order to give them a realistic experience. W8 was very precise with how he put his money and properties out in front of him and D7 sorted his money, but stacked his properties. E6 decided he wanted to watch and J4 stacked his money, sorted his properties and enjoyed holding the stack of money in his hand when it was his turn. W8 and D7 quickly picked up the idea of buying properties to receive rent payments when people land on them. J4 was not interested in giving his money away and was very unhappy to find out that he was expected to pay his brothers anything when landing on their properties. He was very intent on buying a property called “The Strawberry Patch” which was a Houston landmark restaurant for many years and I thought it was cute because he wanted it because it had a strawberry on the picture. J4 is a highly determined boy and he did end up with that property. In the end D7 became frustrated with “landing in jail” and left the game and his opportunistic brother E6 jumped into his place.

D7 insisted that if E6 won that it was a shared victory since “he played for most of the game”. There was a time limit placed on this first game, because as the banker, I had no intention of an 8 hour game the first time round. So at the end of our time limit, we added up all their properties and money and the winners turned out to be D7/E6, J4 and W8. W8 was perplexed as to how after spending a great deal of his money on properties, how he could possibly have lost. We talked about how you never know where the dice may have you land and that buying a lot of properties doesn’t necessarily mean that people will land on them.

They came up with a collective idea of creating a board game that was more peaceful. We’ll see what that looks like and I look forward to watching them work together to create it!

Peace & Blessings!