Down to business

So we are about a month in to the new city/new house. There is still a lot to be unpacked and put away, but most importantly, there is a feeling of peace of mind. Our house...in the middle of our street...our house. Feels great to know that we can paint a wall, put a nail in the wall and that no one is going to say anything!!! As far as other homeschoolers/unschoolers, we have found that Victoria has hundreds (!) of families in the area who live outside the public school system. Amazing and they are very friendly. DH has been asked about possible music lessons for some of the kiddos and there are co-ops and classes available for the older guys. We are looking forward to getting to know more people and create some meaningful experiences for the boys. I think we are going to try something a bit different for W10 and D9, where they use the morning to work on a particular subject and then have time to field trip or socialize in the afternoon. We went to the library yesterday and signed up for cards, so I can only imagine that the librarians will get to know my family quickly! D9 has been less critical of his reading skills, so I am hoping he will take advantage of library resources. Croquet has been the sport of choice over the past couple of evenings and the boys have learned that it is a game of skill and chance. Too funny to watch them as they have donned British accents when they play! "Pip, Pip, old chap" and "Oy!" I have no idea where they got the impression that you must be British to play croquet!!! Our science experiment of growing crystals has been successful. I'll try and add photos this evening. Enjoy the week!!!

Summer Education

As a youth, summer was my favorite time of year when my days were my own. Being a parent now, summer is such a different animal especially as an unschooling homeschooler. We moved into a large apartment complex (new experience) in May before public school let out and were used to being the only family of school aged children roaming the neighborhood. Since the school year ended, it has been a non-stop onslaught of having every conversation I didn't think I was going to have to have with my boys until they were at least a few years older.

There is such a negative culture being instilled in our youth and it is a bit frightening to witness. I have heard some very uniformed conversations by teens and tweens and it is unfortunate that they do not have adults that they can talk with about serious issues. The younger children are enamoured by the teens and are taking what they say as gospel. So there have been lots of questions from my crew and I have had to tell the truth...a lot. And I have had conversations with neighboring youth about certain words they use and their origin. It hasn't stopped the words, but hopefully it will sink in. One day.

I do not look forward to sending bright eyed youth back to their public school fate, but I do look forward to the quiet the Fall brings.