Lost in Transition...

Week in review...

I consider unschooling to be a life journey for our whole family. It began the day our first daughter was born and has continued until now. When she wanted to try public school, we sent her with our blessing. Three days later she decided it wasn't for her. She attended a freeschool part time last year. It was our unschooling path that brought us there... and our path has once again veered in a new direction. This year we are, once again, spending most days at home, pursuing what interests us.

For our oldest daughter it is reading whatever she can get her hands on and her new found love of soccer. For our youngest, its art. For me, its the dream of a one to two year stay in NYC . For my husband, its his music. And we are all talking politics on a daily basis... even the children with their many questions about the presidential nominees they keep hearing us talk about.

After spending a wonderful Labor Day weekend with three of our favorite families we had a fairly quiet week at home.

• Spent a few hours working & playing at the farm.  
• Built an elaborate "modern" wooden block castle for Playmobile figures
• Later added a forest of Ostheimer animals
• Learned about Beringia and the people & animals who crossed it.
• Spent several days researching soccer and had first practice with local rec dept. First game today!
• Created a "concoction" in the kitchen
• Math workbooks
• Impromptu trip to our library
• E spent several hours reading to herself
• T spent several hours drawing/ painting 
• E is reading Ginger Pye with Papa (at bedtime)
• T is reading Stuart Little with Mama (at bedtime)
• Spent day with grandmother & great-grandmother, galavanting around town.
• T had her stitches removed at the local hospital!! YAY! 

  A new week starts tomorrow and, with it, new adventures!
  

Letter of Intent is in the mail!

Today marks the end of one educational adventure and the "beginning" of one that is not exactly new to us. My oldest daughter has been attending an alternative school part-time all year. Today is her last day. While there are some things we will certainly miss (the people) there are several reasons we are very excited to be unschooling again. The most important reason, in my eyes, is that we will, once again, have the freedom to do exactly as we wish on a daily basis. We can be more spontaneous with our days or hang out at home and hunker down on a cold winter morning instead of having to brave single-digit temps to make it across town to school.

So I'm spending my evenings reading lots of past issues of Life Learning and Growing Without Schooling and reading about other ways to live more simply and more mindfully (more about that later!). I'm learning to navigate my new community and have stayed in touch with my past community of homeschool families. I'm excited for what lies ahead and the girls (and Dave!) seem to be too! One thing is certain... we can only move forward.

Dreaming...

Thanks to Sarah, who recommended The River Cottage Family Cookbook. I haven't been able to stop dreaming about it and it will be joining our unschooling adventures very soon (as will some child sized cooking tools from Montessori Services.)

Lemonade!

Blue and I made lemonade this afternoon... Our first batch of the year was tried out yesterday and was so delicious we drank the entire pitcher. I'm making it my mission to spend a couple of days in the kitchen with her each week, cooking. She adores making "concoctions" but is starting to have an appreciation for the kind you can actually consume. This is, most likely, thanks to her Papa who cooks pancakes with her every weekend. Boil 1 C. of sugar & 1 C. of water for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Hand squeeze 1 C. of lemon juice. After sugar/water mixture cools down a bit add lemon juice and stir well. Transfer to pitcher and add water to taste. We love to add some ice cubes to cool it down quicker!rrently our favorite children's cookbooks are... •Fanny At Chez Panisse by Alice Waters •Kids Cook 1-2-3 by Rozanne Gold •Look And Cook by Tina Davis •Honest Pretzels by Molly Katzen

The Traveling Gnome!

I was contacted a year ago about being involved in the Travelling Gnome Project. I wholeheartedly agreed as I adore Rosa Pomar's work. Noah, is traveling the world and we were blessed to have him for a visit!

"Noah" spent quite awhile with us... hanging out with some new found friends, playing at the beach, etc.

Thank you *so much* to Saloia for getting this fun project started!!