Why Children Need More Freedom

"Keep in mind that it is only when you feel you have the legitimate right to say no that you can say yes with utmost certainty, sincerity, and enthusiasm." taken from Today's Daily Om, "Finding Freedom in NO" (read all of it here)

Learning All the Time

This was in my e-mail inbox this morning. It describes my view of life and learning pretty accurately. It's a wonderful thing to know that you can learn whenever, whatever, and however you want. The prospect fills me with a joy and excitement that I want to share with everyone. This life of learning is better than any single school could ever be, and the only enrollment requirement is to be alive!

A Life of Learning - Earth School

Life is the province of learning, and the wisdom we acquire throughout our lives is the reward of existence. As we traverse the winding roads that lead from birth to death, experience is our patient teacher. We exist, bound to human bodies as we are, to evolve, enrolled by the universe in earth school, an informal and individualized academy of living, being, and changing. Life’s lessons can take many forms and present us with many challenges. There are scores of mundane lessons that help us learn to navigate with grace, poise, and tolerance in this world. And there are those once-in-a-lifetime lessons that touch us so deeply that they change the course of our lives. The latter can be heartrending, and we may wander through life as unwilling students for a time. But the quality of our lives is based almost entirely on what we derive from our experiences.

Earth school provides us with an education of the heart and the soul, as well as the intellect. The scope of our instruction is dependent on our ability and readiness to accept the lesson laid out before us in the circumstances we face. When we find ourselves blindsided by life, we are free to choose to close our minds or to view the inbuilt lesson in a narrow-minded way. The notion that existence is a never-ending lesson can be dismaying at times. The courses we undertake in earth school can be painful as well as pleasurable, and as taxing as they are eventually rewarding. However, in every situation, relationship, or encounter, a range of lessons can be unearthed. When we choose to consciously take advantage of each of the lessons we are confronted with, we gradually discover that our previous ideas about love, compassion, resilience, grief, fear, trust, and generosity could have been half-formed.

Ultimately, when we acknowledge that growth is an integral part of life and that attending earth school is the responsibility of every individual, the concept of "life as lesson" no longer chafes. We can openly and joyfully look for the blessing buried in the difficulties we face without feeling that we are trapped in a roller-coaster ride of forced learning. Though we cannot always know when we are experiencing a life lesson, the wisdom we accrue will bless us with the keenest hindsight.

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The Wonders of the Internet and Critical Thinking

Our unschooling lifestyle is so intimately tied to use of the Internet, I can hardly imagine life without it. I initially learned about unschooling, and continue to learn about it from the rich resources found on-line. The potential for almost immediate feedback to questions is unparalleled. Numerous times every day, we "look it up" on-line. We seek answers to questions about such varied topics as the current weather forecast, if a certain game is in stock at GameStop, how to build a half-pipe ramp, and why our cat is behaving aggressively. There is rarely a topic for which we cannot find information on-line.

This ease of obtaining information always amazes and impresses me. I love knowing that I can find out what I want to know quickly and easily. However, it is just as easy to add to the enormous amount of information on-line too. That requires us to be critical in analyzing the source(s) from which we gather this information. We need the skills that a journalist typically uses in gathering information. We need to check our sources and utilize multiple sources for verification. I just read about the best real life example that clearly illustrates the need for this diligence. Apparently, a sociology student added a quote to Wikipedia entry which was then redistributed by newspapers as accurate, before it was found in error and removed by Wikipedia. The full story is here. This is just one more example of the wealth of opportunities to learn and develop critical thinking skills from our media rich world.

Live and Learn 2008

I don't have the time or energy to post about our trip yet, but here's a peek at some of the conference fun from this year and years past. Enjoy!

"It's Fun!"

That was what the cashier at Staples told us about high school, and why my unschooled daughter should go to high school when she's older. He then proceeded to tell us about the fun one can have in high school. For example, this young man was able to arrange to have fireworks explode on his school roof without getting caught! :O I informed him that my 17 year old son (who wasn't with us at the time) has fun with fireworks too, without attending school. Then he asked would I rather my son be using fireworks at home or school. Oh yeah, go do dangerous things without any guidance and supervision, in places where others could be seriously injured. I quickly answered, "At home."

I believe that the danger in most activities is often relative to one's knowledge of, and experience with that activity. Fireworks are a prime example. Driving a car is another. I see that my own children, having been provided with information and guidance about how to safely pursue the things they're interested in, are able to enjoy the activities they choose without needless risk-taking. Their thrills come from doing what they want, not getting away with things they "shouldn't" be doing. Now that's my idea of fun!

It's a Webkinz World!

We went to our local Hallmark store two days in a row this week for the special give-away of a free Webkinz for every purchase of ten dollars or more. For us, that meant buy one Webkinz, get one free! This was all part of Webkinz celebrating their two year anniversary. (If you haven't heard of them yet, or don't really know what they are, check them out here.)


My kids only started collecting Webkinz about seven months ago, but there were birthdays and quite a few holidays since then. That made gift giving pretty easy for some, and the collection of Webkinz grew by leaps and bounds. This is the most recent picture of the whole gang:


These little critters have lots of adventures, on-line and in real life. They've all enjoyed bouncing on the trampoline with my kids, and in the picture above they were getting ready for their guided tour of our house. The last two days have been all about Webkinz fashion. Two of my children and their friend created many new fashions for their animals, using scrap material, tape and safety pins. A runway was constructed from a game box lid elevated by potholders, and of course there was music to accompany the models. My husband and I got to be the judges. We had a slip of paper on which we had to write our score for each constestant and then hold it, as if on a TV show. Their creativity was inspiring! They crafted ties, hats, belts, sashes, "tail veils", vests, capes, and more! Here are two of the contestants:


At first I couldn't see the appeal of Webkinz, but thanks to my kids, I now see that Webkinz are much more than just another line of cute stuffed animals. To my kids, these toys are some of the many raw materials they use in their never-ending, often surprising, creative approach to enjoying life (and coincidentally learning too!)

Friday Fill-in #53

1. This year, I'd like to attend more unschooling get-togethers and conferences.

2. Spending time with other unschoolers is what I daydream about most.

3. My husband is an award-winning pastry chef.

4. I would like to have more travel and museum visits.

5. I love to have lots of kids around the house.

6. My life makes me smile.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to starting a new felted bag, tomorrow my plans include grocery shopping (yipee! ;P), and Sunday I want to make a big pot of tomato sauce (mmmmm)!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with unschooling, and a little curious, these two sites can give you an idea of what it's all about.

An Early Christmas Present to Myself

On Saturday December 22nd, in the middle of the all the holiday hooplah, I escaped to Exodus Coffee & Culture to see the wonderful, amazing, talented Amy Steinberg. If you haven't heard Amy sing, you are really missing out! Seeing Amy perform live is even more of a gift. Amy is as real as they come. She knows how to connect with her audience and gives all of herself to her performance, not to mention her beautiful, bold, and stellar singing voice. Amy sings about life, and asks and answers her own questions about life. Her song "Exactly", as well as many others have been embraced by the unschooling community for the straight to the heart honesty she shares. My personal favorite, although it's so hard to choose, is "Simplistic Logistics of Existence."

This was my third time seeing Amy live, and I am never disappointed. I attended with another unschooling friend of mine, and I was pleasantly surprised to meet two other unschoolers also in attendance. One woman had driven over two hours to get herself, her hubby, and her daughter to this show! Amy inspires this kind of devotion. Do yourself a favor and make the effort to go see Amy when she comes to your area. She will be doing another cross-country tour this coming year, so there's a good chance you'll be able to enjoy the gift of Amy and her music soon!

Why I Love Mondays, and My Dear Husband

So many people dread Mondays, that I may seem a little odd for loving them so much. But when Monday is one of your spouse's only days off each week, it becomes something to really look forward to, for many reasons. Since we unschool, my children and I are able to enjoy the whole day on Monday with my husband. Our Mondays tend to be wonderful family days.

A few weeks ago we went to play laser tag together. It is so much fun, and I deplore shooting type games. There is so much laughter and squeals of excitement that I don't think I stop smiling the whole time we play. Plus, it can be a pretty good workout! Because we are able to go on Monday, during the time when most children are at school, we usually get the benefit of having the whole place to ourselves, wherever we go. An added benefit that we found out about last time we played is that Monday is $1.oo day where we went to play, that includes games of laser tag, miniature golf, and bowling - all only $1.oo per game!!! That makes it much easier on our wallets. ;)

Last week, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went out on my parents' boat to "the sandbar". There are so many boats around here, that they really could use traffic control on the water during sunny weekends. However, when we went out, the seagulls were our only lunch companions. My husband had saved a bag of bread crusts from the last time he made bread pudding (which is sooooooo good!), and it didn't take long for the seagulls to flock around the boat! Here's a few pictures of our day.

(A view looking down the length of the sandbar, a view of how far you can walk out in the shallow water - See my brave 8 year old waaaaay out there, past my daughter? )

So far today, my youngest two went with my husband to help plate meals for a fundraiser and now my husband is helping my oldest son refinish his skateboard ramp. Tonight he will be making us a special dinner of crabmeat and pasta.

My husband may not get much time off from work, but he sure knows how to make the most of it, and any time we have together! That's why I love Mondays, and one of the many reasons I love my dear husband.

Manchester Community College

I almost forgot to post today, thanks to a day of travelling and sheer exhaustion.

So this will be short and sweet.

I am recommending Manchester Community College to all, because I happen to know two of their professors personally. They are my sister and brother-in-law, and they are the two people in our family who seem to have the best understanding of what unschooling is about. In fact, they are very supportive and are able to have great conversations with us about learning, which are beneficial for all involved. So I figure that if Manchester Community College employs open-minded individuals like my in-laws, that says something about the college itself, something that unschoolers might find appealing.

If anyone you know is looking to take any college courses in Connecticut, check out Manchester Community College. I definitely think it's worth a look.

White Squirrels

As we were driving through North Carolina recently, we happened to see a white squirrel by the side of the road. It was so cool looking! We had never seen one before, so we made a mental note to "look up white squirrels" when we get home. Well, we got back home, unpacked, and got back into the daily flow of life, almost forgetting all about the white squirrel.

Then my daughter approached me and asked me to give her "a project". She said she didn't mean a craft project, or a sewing project, or anything like that. She wanted a subject that she could look up, find information on, and write a report about. The white squirrel was just the idea we needed! So my daughter proceeded to research on the internet and compile a written report, which she presented to my husband and myself orally. It turns out that white squirrels are extremely rare, but have several colonies throughout North America.

How lucky are we?! We've see things like the white squirrel, that we wouldn't have seen if we weren't in NC for the Live & Learn Conference. And we see children who love to research, write reports, and make oral presentations. I guess it's really not luck at all. It's due to the conscious choices we make in our unschooling lifestyle. We do not spend our days caught in a blinding routine. We work to keep our eyes open to the wonders all around us, the most wonderful sight being our own children, and we are amazed and awed by what we see again and again.