Unschooling moment

Or maybe a deschooling moment. T got me an iPad for my birthday (woohoo!!), totally unexpected and I couldn't talk for about five minutes. My jaw just hit the floor. It was one of those wish list things but not really on my current wish list - more somewhere in the fuzzy future wish lists. I have been so excited at the possibilities and freedom it gives us for work. That's our main goal at the moment - to set ourselves up so we can travel anywhere, anytime while still being able to conduct business. I love this technology.

I have been downloading podcasts to listen to and am soooo excited about this. It has taken me into a whole new realm of learning possibilities. I have always had in the back of my mind that I would one day go to uni - in my mind the only thing stopping me was the fact that I can't pinpoint one subject passion. I love psychology, history, forensic science, biology, anthropology, travel, languages - French and Italian, literature and more I can't think of just at the moment. Very hard to do a uni degree encompassing that lot :)

As I move more and more into unschooling and fresh off getting home from the First Ever Australian Unschooling Conference and reading Dayna Martin's book Radical Unschooling - A Revolution has Begun, I was up until 2am listening to podcasts! I literally had to give myself permission to stay up this late. I was lying in bed at about 11pm (late for me, usually 10pm) thinking passionately about all of the fabulous free podcasts I have downloaded and getting excited about listening and suddenly gave myself permission to get up and do it NOW, not tomorrow or next week, but NOW. I know this probably sounds bizarre but I had a very strict bedtime all through childhood, even into my twenties and early thirties (self-imposed then but deeply ingrained) and spent those years with the belief that I would be tired, I would be tired if I didn't get enough sleep and guess what? My refrain was always, "I'm so tired". I am feeling excited and joyful this morning after about five hours sleep and that is so against my normal mindset. I feel like I have had a breakthrough in both understanding myself and where I've come from and with unschooling/deschooling myself.

Uni is getting pushed further and further into my future, not with regret or disappointment, but with excitement, passion and joy at how easy it is to gain knowledge when, where and whatever you want with the technology that we have available to us. I love unschooling myself probably more than watching the kids learn freely.

Love Karen

Fun!

Here is my new goal - more fun! I want to dance, skip, laugh, be myself without censorship. My daughter is playing T's guitar, singing songs - her words - "do you love me? I love you so much, we are friends, we will hopefully be friends forever." All to a beautiful tune. It is all so precious.

We had a lovely day today celebrating a little friend's birthday. The mums, dads and grandparents chatted and helped make the little girl's day so special. The 15 or so children changed dynamics on a constant basis - older boys being chased and playing with little girls, two girls playing together cracking macadamias, big groups of children playing on the trampoline, little groups playing dress up in the bedroom, snuggled up watchng a movie, joy at pass the parcel, enthusiasm, laughter, friendship, warmth, decorating cupcakes.

What more is there to life, seriously?

Tea Party

Having a girl is soooo different to the boys. They played a lot outside - jumping on the tramp, riding their bikes up and down the driveway, drawing with chalk on the concrete, making soup out of mud and all types of plants while stirring with a stick and playing imaginary shooting games. Maybe because K is on her own and the boys had each other to play with but she is definitely an indoor girl when at home, playing for hours with her teddies/puppies, colouring in, drawing and dressing up and dancing to music. A whole different kettle of fish to what I'm used to!

K made up a big list of things we had to include so we didn't forget anything and she marked them off as we went - she's her mother's daughter - I am the list queen! Cookies were on the menu, the more M & Ms, the better.
We set the table in the finest drapery with a single red rose from our garden.
The tea's poured, the delicacies are set out and it was time to wake D, the only other person at home, so he could join in. Mmmmm, cookies for breakfast, he said.
Then there was the fun of washing up. She did about half of them, I suppose I have to be happy with that. It was a lovely morning. I don't get much time with her one on one for a length of time so it was pretty special.








K watched a 3D movie the other day and I couldn't resist these photos. She looked so serious while watching the movie with these funny glasses on but, of course, ........


she had to play up to the camera as soon as she saw it.

Little Surprises

K loves familiarity and routine but gets a lot of joy out of surprises and spontaneity. I am always looking for ways to see her face light up and get a lot of inspiration from A Magical Childhood blog. Drawing funny pictures on her chalkboard at night time so she wakes up to it or faces on the bottom of her socks so she can walk around with secret smilies in her shoes all day are fun. Here are a couple of pictures of
things that have lit up her face:

Simply cutting out and blue-tacking some of her colouring-in just near her bed so she can enjoy them during quiet/sleep times. Her face lights up and she gets so excited saying "You are the best Mum in the world!" She has also been known to call me the worst Mum as well - oh, the drama of having an expressive princess!

We are still doing our chalkboard alphabet project - up to the letter I. Mostly she will draw the pictures but I surprised her one morning by helping out.
Saying yes more often led to this spontaneous autumn shower. We were watering N's new fruit tree seedlings and it very quickly changed into great water play. This was one of our first chilly days too. Kids just don't seem to care......
I just sat back in the nice warm sun with a hot cup of tea enjoying their high spirits.