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

Blue Mountains

T and I had to go to the Western NSW for a business trip so made our base in the Blue Mountains at Blackheath. We stayed in a house called Araluen - for all of you Ranger's Apprentice fans this was a nice touch of synchronicity. It had central heating, thank goodness as one night it got down to 2 degrees C overnight but it also had an open fire which we lighted each night. I don't know what it is about fires but they are fascinating to kids (and adults), especially when accompanied by the obligatory marshmallows to melt.


The weather had us tucked up early to play games with cards and do jigsaw puzzles. I don't know what it is about going away somewhere new, whether it's just the fact that you're out of routine, but we always spend great quality family time together, chatting, playing, having warm cups of tea, watching movies together and listening to music. I love staying in places that provide the homely touches. This house had a great library to trawl through, board games, old DVDs and videos, etc. We watched Little Women, Anne of Green Gables and National Geographic videos on Lions, Tigers and Volcanoes which were fascinating and probably not something we would particularly choose at home. Maybe it's the limited choice that makes it desirable, or maybe that you are having a sneak peek into someone else's tastes.

One of the days Mum and Dad popped in for a visit and we did a bushwalk from Pope's Glen near our house to Govett's Leap along a lovely river.
Lots of time to stop and enjoy the scenery and N took lots of photos of scenery and close ups of plants.
And there is always time to stop and play with a lady bird!
Another day N and I took a quick walk down Leura Cascades, absolutely magic spot and a great walk for kids.
N and I also took the Scenic Railway down into the valley, walked along for a couple of kilometres and then up the Giant Stairway (or we used to call it the 1000 Steps). I did it when I was 5 and a half with my dad and it has stuck in my memory all of these years. I have taken my two older boys a couple of times and wanted to share it with N. The views from the top of The Three Sisters is spectacular (see link for the legend behind The Three Sisters) - stretching on forever. It makes you feel so insignificant standing looking out at the vastness of our country's landscape, while at the same time feeling so powerful and energetic being part of it.
Back to the touristy spot, with busload after busload of people visiting for the day, with just enough time to snap a tourist shot like this one. Me, I prefer immersing myself in the bush, becoming a part of it for a couple of hours, breathing in all of that energy rather than standing separated from it and ticking off the view from my to-do list :)

Autumn Walking

Well, there goes my intense training for the marathon! I have hurt my ankle - a combination of too much enthusiasm over a short space of time, too little stretching and recovery time and recurring sports injuries from glorious sporting days gone past. But my spirits are not dampened. I am aiming to walk at least 35km around Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra at the end of August so still have a way to go to improve my walking/running. I have read that 1.5km of cycling to 1km of walking is great for cross training so I am going on a bike ride tomorrow morning as cycling doesn't hurt my ankle.

I have it all strapped up and have been feeling really antsy about not being able to move much so decided to go for a stroll today while M was training trampolining. There is a new walk in Lake Macquarie that goes out over the water which has only just opened so we packed up K's bike and headed over.

We are so lucky to live so close to such lovely walks, scenery, cafes, etc.
Miss K's obsession with all things puppy came out today with us stopping for EVERY dog to have a pat - about ten all up. So it was definitely a stroll! It was lovely to be out in the fresh air again.

Comments

I have had a few people emailing privately about wanting to leave a comment so have changed the settings. I am very new to blogging but loving it and learning about it as I go. Thanks for your patience.

Love Karen

Inspired by The Biggest Loser

I have to admit I LOVE The Biggest Loser. I don't watch much television but I love seeing those unhappy, overweight people go from life threatening obesity and depression to thinking more positively, changing physically and mentally completely, overcoming their biggest fears and achieving massive goals. It really inspires me. I was watching this year's competition and their goal was to run a 42km marathon after 12 or so weeks. Some of them couldn't even walk 4km at the start without throwing up so to see them achieve a marathon had me in tears over and over again as they crossed the finishing line. I was so excited for them.

Which gets me thinking. I know I don't have masses of weight to lose. I know I am quite fit and healthy compared to many women my age but I look at those people on the television, some who are still 20 or 30kg heavier than I am and they are finishing a marathon!! While that sounds like a doable task, while I was watching the marathon episode, I hopped on the walker for an hour and walked what I thought was quite a good pace and only walked 6km in an hour. That means it would take me at least 7 hours, that's if I could keep at the pace of 6km an hour the whole way, let along getting through the mental barriers. My admiration for these competitors increased immensely as some of them finished it in 5 hours. I was amazed.

So I have set myself another goal. I want to be physically and mentally strong enough to walk/run a marathon. First of all, I thought about doing it on my walker and just plod along. Then T suggested I do it around Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra which is 35km around and would be not only different scenery so I would get less bored but I would be out in the fresh air as well. I would just have to make up the other 7km by doing a bit further.

I have googled beginner marathon runner websites as I have never been a runner, the furthest I have ever run is about 500m (gulp!) but I don't mind walking as much as I can and then break into a run where possible. I am going to train for the next three to four months and see what happens. Anyway, it's good to have lofty goals - even if I make half a marathon, it's more than I have ever done. I'm really excited about this and have the support of the kids and T so we'll see!

Spit Bridge to Manly Walk

Well, I have rediscovered one of my blisses in life - bushwalking. I love, love, love it! When I haven't done it for a while and come back to it, I remember my passion for it but it often gets lost in the day to day family life. The energy of the trees, the tiny flannel flowers poking through the underbrush, the lizards, the birds' singing, the views, the sunlight dappling through the canopy onto water, the aching muscles after a long walk. I absolutely love it all, but I said that already :)

With the Easter long weekend we had a couple of days to work around the house (and squeeze a great bike ride in plus dinner with a couple of friends), a day to visit my parents and still a day spare. I couldn't resist and have been wanting to do the Spit Bridge to Manly walk for quite a while. T has been feeling a bit under the weather since our holiday (no more holidays for him!) so he decided to drop me off and then take K to Manly for a play while I walked the 10kms.

Of course, we had to stop for a delicious brekky and stumbled upon this great little cafe just under the Spit Bridge. K ran around on the beach while we soaked up the autumn sun, watching the kayakers pulling up on the beach and coming in for a morning coffee. Kayaking is on my to-do list as well.
I started the walk at about 10am and this was one of the first views from the bridge. While I love walking with T and K, I would be lying if I wasn't a bit excited about not having to worry about pushing K on the walk. She could have made it but I would have had to piggy back her a bit, fed her continuously and spent my time encouraging her rather than absorbing it all myself. It would have been great, just a different experience than I had.
It was a perfect day for walking, 23 degrees and overcast with a slight breeze blowing. The walk has a lot of natural features as steps and part of the track, all sandstone. I passed Aborignal carvings and plenty of caves which may have been used as shelters. There is a combination of seaside plants, rainforest and dry sandstone scrub.
There are a lot of boardwalks throughout the track. I love being on a boardwalk. I feel like I am in nature without intruding upon it. Yes, the boardwalk is intruding but the number of people who use the track would damage the landscape too much if they actually walked on it.
Beautiful views of the city.
My first sight of Manly ferry.
Time for a play in Manly mall after getting back. T and I will do the walk again soon, maybe with K, maybe not. The next walk will be continuing the Great North Walk from Sydney to Newcastle next Saturday. We are up to Galston Gorge area. T and I are going on our own as the section is 14kms so a bit far for K, although she has done two of the legs around 10 to 12kms. Can't wait to get back in the bush :)

Hamilton Island Holiday

We have just returned from two weeks on Hamilton Island up in the Whitsundays. We wanted to take one last family holiday with the six of us before the kids got work commitments, girlfriends and other interests to stop them coming (although trampolining and friends were missed terribly). To ease the friends issue with my eldest, we invited one of his friends for five nights and she fitted in so easily with our family, she was the perfect choice - easygoing, helpful, polite, funny, a joy to have with us.


We stayed in a fabulous house called Allamanda House. It was 3 large bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a large kitchen and living area, BBQ area, pool and very private. It really felt like home. Highly recommend it. The owners are just lovely, very accommodating, even providing us with a juicer and blender when we requested it.


The first week was really good weather, even though every day the weather bureau threatened rain. We had a day trip out to the Reef to go snorkelling among the coral and it was absolutely amazing. We had four hours out there, spotting Nemo and friends, with lunch included and T and I managed about an hour on our own as they had free babysitting on the pontoon as well. K did really well, took to snorkelling like a fish and really enjoyed herself. The three big kids - D, M and D's friend spent pretty much four hours snorkelling, absolutely loving it. N panicked about the stingers despite being fully kitted out in a stinger suit complete with a hood, all of us looking very much like brightly coloured aliens. He lasted about half an hour before it got too much and the rescue boat popped him back to the pontoon.


We also managed a day at Whitehaven Beach, one of the top ten beaches in the world (according to whom, I don't know but I'm happy to spout that statistic). It is absolutely sparkling white sand and pristine water with views underwater for a very long way. I mostly sat in the water chatting to other holiday goers including to 20 year old girls from America doing a year of uni over here and travelling up the east coast for a couple of weeks. They were so funny and so much fun, I spent the whole time in hysterics. At the end they took a photo of all of us with them and called us their second family - so cute :) The kids played volleyball and rubbed themselves with the sand which is so fine, it feels great on your skin.


For D's 17th birthday we gave him a quad bike ride up to the top of the island which he loved. We swam in our own playing Marco Polo and all of the resort pools, drinking cocktails and listening to live music, went out for dinner a couple of times with just the two of us and had amazing chats and buzzed around the island in the bright yellow (spotto) golf buggy. We had cocktails at sunset up on One Tree Hill which shows 360 degree views of the whole island and water and played racquet ball five or six days in a row - our new addiction!


The second week was a lot wetter and the two middle boys had ear infections so was much quieter. I completed a 2000 piece tiger jigsaw puzzle with help from the kids, we went out for coffee, out for pizza with the whole family and rode the glass elevators in the Reef View Hotel. We also played the iPhones a lot, read, watched DVDs and chillaxed. We had plans to go to bingo, trivia and a tennis lesson but didn't happen for various reasons. There is so much to do there, both active and relaxing.


We ended up coming home a day early as our flight for the Saturday was cancelled due to Tropical Cyclone Ului. We could have stayed until the Sunday but I'm glad we didn't now, apparently it was quite a bad night. Next time, T and I will go on the Sunset Kayak paddle, the Seafood Sunset dinner and do a bit more hiking and exploring around the island.

White Water Rafting

All kitted out!



I absolutely love providing different experiences for my kids. I firmly believe that the more life experience they have the better for helping them make decisions in the future. So I was absolutely thrilled when the three boys received gift vouchers for Christmas to Penrith White Water Rafting. They had a ball and loved being thrown out and under and were absolutely shattered by the time it finished. T & I wished we had had a go as well, we'll have to book in another time. It looked like so much fun.



Trying to get back to the raft across the very rapid rapids.





Dumped!!