Unschooling Life

Storage Solutions

2005-06-10T17:15:00.000+10:00

In my efforts to keep decluttering and organising the house I went to Ikea yesterday and bought a heap of those cheap (but coloured so they look nice) cardboard storage boxes in different sizes. I'll use them downstairs to organise all our art and craft supplies and materials.

I also bought two shoe racks for DH's and my shoes and two shelves to go on our bedroom wall to hold knick knacks etc. We don't have much storage for our stuff because we moved out of the spacious main bedroom while I was pregnant so J & S could share a room. We are in Sparkle's old room with only enough room for the bed and there's a narrow built-in robe.

This afternoon I took advantage of DH being home for the day and I sorted out J-bird's toys, games, and other stuff currently stored downstairs. DH got to have quality time with Little Chicken. I filled two huge boxes with general rubbish and a large garbage bag full of broken, incomplete toys and other bits'n'pieces. I felt really good! I also have a bag of unwanted but good condition games, etc. for charity.

BTW, Sparkle got a 10/10 score for her Jazz Ballet exam yesterday! I did stop at the local discount store and they had heaps of ribbon but NO black! I bought navy...the next closet thing...and tied some around her bun. Check out our Learning Land blog tomorrow because I'll upload a couple of pics I took before we left home.

Let's Get Physical!

2005-06-09T07:13:00.000+10:00

We had our first Karate lesson as a family last night and it was quite enjoyable....even though I couldn't put three moves together and kept stuffing up....even though I worked muscles I never knew I had!...even though we stayed for 1 1/2 hours instead of the 1 hour we planned...it was fun! The Senseis are nice and encouraging. They made sure we stayed smiling even when we stuffed up...I smiled a LOT! :-) They also said we probably wouldn't remember much of our lesson the following morning and that is normal. I remember a fair bit but I doubt my body would let me practice any moves at this time - let's say I'm a little sore. I love that nearly all attendees are beginners. That way we don't feel so intimidated or frantic to try and catch up to others.

On another note, Sparkle has her first Jazz Ballet exam this morning and I am pretty sure that she isn't even nervous. To her, it is just another class and she will enjoy herself....the beauty of not having had negative experiences of exams she'd have if she attended school. However.....I am very nervous and even woke up with a headache!!! I did attend school and the word 'exam' has me jittering at the knees! I have put no pressure on Sparkle about it being an exam. She didn't even have to try for the exam to progress through the levels. She also could have gone for a 'participation' certificate which is a general 'pass' if you are competant. However, her teacher said she was very confident in Sparkle's ability and she does the curriculum very well so she saw no problem in her being able to pass the exam....so we went with it. I guess I am nervous because I think 'what if something happens that she doesn't pass?' - all my own insecurities that I am not in any way indicating to Sparkle.

I have to try and put her hair in a bun now - which I've never done before. More nerves! Oh, and 5 minutes ago I came across the info sheet for the exam and I need to tie a thin black ribbon around the bun net....I forgot about this and we've got no ribbon! Argh! I will have to pray that our local discount store has some in their craft section as we have to be at Jazz at 9:15am. Oh, the stress of it all!

BTW, Sparkle is quietly sitting on the lounge room floor munching on cornflakes and watching cartoons....oblivious of my frantic thoughts! Wish her luck!

Organisation

2005-06-07T10:16:00.000+10:00

Well I'm on my way to decluttering and organising the whole house. I've been in a slump as we have so much stuff I haven't known where to start and just put it off totally - it makes my brain hurt! LOL

Anyway, a few days ago I searched the net and found a fantastic site: http://organizedhome.com/index.html

I've been reading and reading some more....noting ideas and I've started printing and compiling pages for a Household Notebook as mentioned on the site. I haven't finished a detailed plan for decluttering the house but I'm getting there. I'm sort of getting inspired in bursts and will decide what I want to attack at that time.

So far we've:

1. Decluttered adult clothing: DH and I sorted through our clothes, threw out stained and damaged clothes, put other unwanted, unflattering, or ill-fitting clothes into a bag for charity, and put the remaining clothes into a new set of drawers for our closet.

2. Decluttered make-up: I decluttered my make-up bag and kept a select few bits and pieces that I've put in a plastic tray on top of the drawers in the closet. I threw out old make-up, practically empty lipsticks that I would use the brush to apply, nailpolish with stuck lids, horrible coloured make-up that I would never keep anyway, etc.

3. Decluttered & cleaned bathroom: I went through the vanity cupboard and only kept the essential, useful, practical items. I got rid of a curling wand (used it maybe once!), heaps of junky stuff, old shampoo bottles, etc - 2 bags worth. Now I know what I've got and where I'll find it! I used plastic trays for organising and it is working great. I got in with the Exit Mold and general cleaner....scrubbed the shower, bath, vanity, etc. Yesterday DH scraped all the old sealer off the shower and bath and replaced it...looks new and fresh looking! Yay!

4. Started decluttering downstairs storage: I've thrown all my paperwork from Uni (and the millions of papers I printed for teaching) into a box to be thrown out. I brought my textbooks and teaching resource books upstairs to sell online. Whatever doesn't sell will go in the charity bins - I'd rather just get it out of the house and not think about how much I paid for them all!

I am starting to get ideas about what can happily be stored downstairs (in the self-contained flat) - like all our art and craft supplies, including my scrapbooking stuff (only done one spread so far). I can put a table in there and use shelving to store the art and craft stuff in boxes. I might even go to IKEA today and buy the colourful cardboard archive boxes for that purpose.

There's heaps more clothes to be sorted through - the kids' stuff. Also, I've sat down with the kids to see what toys they like to play with and we'll donate the rest.

Yesterday, for the Household Notebook, I created an Emergency Help page with the 000 number for emergency services - this is particularly focused at the kids. I added a page with Medical Contacts - local hospital, usual medical centre we attend, plus 2 additional options for after hours. I included the dentist at the bottom. I simply went to the Yellow Pages online, copied and pasted the contact details, AND copied and pasted road maps that were linked through the Y/Pages. I got most maps so they showed the destination PLUS our street....so someone else (say if my mother was babysitting and one of the kids needed medical attention) could quickly look up the map and see how to get there. I also created a page with contacts and maps for a few of our local police stations. Oh, the police website had a form/checklist for describing suspicious persons and vehicles so I printed it to include in the Notebook. This will be a very handy resource too.

Well, I have to create my shopping list now as the cupboards are getting bare. BTW, yesterday I downloaded and modified a simple program that provides a master list and you choose what you need and print your list. The site is: http://www.acutesoftware.com.au/shopping.html

Silly Speak?

2005-06-06T21:35:00.000+10:00

Your Linguistic Profile:

40% General American English

35% Yankee

20% Dixie

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Pretty funny seeing as I'm an Aussie!!!

Just for fun...

2005-06-06T21:30:00.000+10:00

You Are 55% Normal

(Somewhat Normal)

While some of your behavior is quite normal...

Other things you do are downright strange

You've got a little of your freak going on

But you mostly keep your weirdness to yourself

How Normal Are You?

Parenting

2005-05-29T07:27:00.000+10:00

I was just pondering the difference in parenting style this time around as opposed to with my first two children (obviously I've been parenting the whole time, but I'm talking about the baby stage).

J-bird was born when I was 20 and I soooo wanted to be a mum. I remember being very frustrated at his crying though and just leaving him in the cot and walking off to compose myself. Sometimes I yelled in frustration and I'm not proud of it. :-( This was usually when I would put him down for a nap during the day and we wasn't willing. Hindsight tells me that I was so desperate to have him nap because I needed the rest. I would get so stressed until one day it clicked that it was doing me more harm than good to make it a stressful situation. So I followed his lead and became a more relaxed parent.

I just want to add that all my kids have been wonderful children...easy natured...etc. If there ever is a stressful situation it is usually more the result of the parent's actions than the child's.

Sparkle came along when J-bird was 2 1/2 years old. It was lovely watching these two little beings develop a relationship as they grew (and it gave mummy a break from being sole entertainer). However, I can't really compare parenting of my daughter as I started my 4-year education degree when she was about 14 months old (in 1999) and for those four years DH was the stay-at-home-parent. DH was not only a great SAHD who loved the opportunity to spend his days with the children, he actually got the housework done efficiently and still had time to play. I hate housework! :-)

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I'm about to fill in all the gaps along the way so if you just want the parenting bits, scroll down to the next section! :-)
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Anyway, a few years go by and in early 2000 we decide to adopt a child from China (long story so I won't share it now). We enter the process and are extremely involved with support groups, legislation forums, etc. We looked forward to the experience of having another child 10 years after our first. We expected to have a much more mature parenting perspective at 30 (China requires a minimum age of 30 to adopt - I just turned 30 on xmas eve 2004) than at 20.

However, our life took a few unexpected turns when I finished Uni and didn't get a placement, we discovered home education by accident on the net and decided to follow that path, and we were given the opportunity to buy our first home. All in mid 2003!

Changing our path meant that we had a mortgage, would remain on one income, and would be home educating our children. All of these not good for the prospect of adopting a child. I was not prepared to give up the idea of home educating my children as my whole perspective had changed with this notion and I was drawn to putting family over career and felt I had spent enough time withdrawn from my family while doing my degree. So, we sadly gave up our dream of adopting but were still drawn to have a child.

We fell pregnant straight away but it wasn't meant to be. We fell pregnant again a couple of months later and this is where Little Chicken comes in - born late Oct 2004. (Sorry, I know this has turned out to be a really long post - you've probably guessed that I can't keep messages short!)

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Ok, parenting topic continues....
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This time around we had watched Dr Phil and seen the wrapping, shhhing, etc. technique. I bought Dr Harvey's book and it was amazing to be able to settle our baby like flicking a switch! We wished we knew these techniques with our first two so they wouldn't have been put to bed crying so often. Little Chicken is 7 months old today and still sleeps with her 'noise' (the baby monitor ended up being used as a static noise machine instead of a monitor!) and needs to suck on her dummy. A few weeks ago I went back to wrapping her (had to use a cot sheet!) at bedtime when she was overstimulated and couldn't settle. I would wrap the first arm and she would get this serene smile on her face which wouldn't go away until I put her into her cot....amazing.

She has however turned into one of 'those babies' that wakes when she wants the dummy (pacifier for U.S. readers) back in during the night but I find that I would rather have to get up 3 or 4 times a night than to cry herself back to sleep. I couldn't stand doing that to her! How different that is from my first child. We have learned that she never cries for no reason. Occasionally it takes us a while to figure out why she is unsettled but it usually ends in a poop or we discover a nappy has leaked and her clothes are wet. What would have had our other two crying endlessly (with no apparent cause that we knew at the time) could have been fixed using the calming technique that we now swear by. I do feel very bad that we put our first two through so much crying when we didn't know what they needed. Knowing now about babies still needing an environment like in utero for the first three months has been eye-opening. Even our family sung the praises of our techniques when they saw how well it worked.

I'm at a stage where I'm not quite sure whether to help bub learn to self-settle in the night or to keep jumping up to pop the dummy back in. She spits it out when she falls asleep so it is when she half wakes that she wants it again to re-settle. FYI, I am not an attachment parent because I just can't sleep with a baby in the room and while I bought a carrier to 'wear' our bub, DH has worn it twice and I haven't at all. I am just a mum who is trying to be conscious of my child's needs and not cause any unnecessary stress due to my own actions. As I stated earlier, I now realise that most conflict or stress relating to children generally stems from the adult's actions and could be changed by the adult changing rather than trying to change the child. Does that make sense?

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Well, I've breastfed my baby, she's gone back down for a nap, and is now awake again...all while writing this. Time to go wake daddy up!

I'm a crap housewife!

2005-05-27T16:46:00.000+10:00

Yeah, I admit it....I hate housework and seldom do any!

This is probably my biggest guilt inducing area. DH does the washing most of the time because he is someone who sees a job to be done and gets in there and does it. He hangs out the washing and folds it into baskets when dry. What do I do? Leave the baskets full of clothes until they've all been taken out and worn again! Little Chicken's room has FOUR baskets full in her room at this very moment - two are our clothes that I put off our bed onto her floor last night as it was the only place where there was any room. I blame the fact that we don't have proper storage and too many clothes for the poor storage we do have. DH also does the dishes, vacuums, cleans the toilet and bathroom, and all the usual guy stuff like mow the lawn, trim the hedges, and wash the car.

The kids also help by taking turns to wash the dishes (not every day) and help hang out and bring in clothes when I actually do some washing. We will be building a new kitchen soon which will have a dishwasher so that might improve the kitchen situation.

I only ever iron if I want to wear the item/s out to dinner or something. I only tidy the house, clean the bathroom, make the beds, etc. if visitors are coming over. I haven't washed any windows since we bought the house 18 months ago. You get the picture!

How do you all keep tidy, clean houses? No, my real question is: Where do you get the motivation to do it? I know that I feel bad a lot for not doing what I should be doing while home...and I actually do feel a sense of pride and accomplishment when I do (rarely) clean and tidy areas.

As I stated earlier in this entry, we have poor storage, not only for clothes, but all the books, papers, and other crap that fills the house. In the last couple of months I rearranged some things in preparation for a crawling baby and in attempt to declutter the place, but I get it somewhat done and then piles of stuff that have no particular home remain on the floor and benches.

We actually have a one bedroom granny flat downstairs with virtually empty kitchen cupboards and a large robe in the bedroom (currently housing a lot of my teaching papers and books I collected when at Uni). We rarely go in there since the computer was rehoused upstairs a few months ago. A lot of stuff could be stored down there but it is the decision about WHAT to keep down there vs. upstairs. I don't want to separate all the kids' educational stuff, games, art stuff, etc. down if it won't get used or seem as important as it would upstairs. Does that make sense? Geez, I'm anal hey? :-) Any ideas for the granny glat would be welcome tho.

Quote

2005-05-27T11:27:00.000+10:00

(taken from an article by Brian Manasco titled 'Special Ed')

School days, I believe, are the unhappiest in the whole span of human existence. They are full of dull, unintelligible tasks, new and unpleasant ordinances, brutal violations of common sense and common decency. --H.L. Mencken

So why do people think we are wierd for not wanting this for our children? Dare to be different!

Stuff the Goals

2005-05-26T15:04:00.000+10:00

What is it about the beginning of a new year that makes us want to set all these plans and try and achieve them? I am so OVER my goals list mentioned earlier in this blog! I'm not even going to re-read them any more as they are really a list of 'should dos' and are certainly not essential for happy living. One day I might have a vegie garden but I'm not going to get stressed about having one...doesn't that defeat the purpose of relaxing gardening? To be truthful, most plants I've ever owned end up dead - I don't have a green thumb at all!

The Hidden Life

2005-05-25T10:36:00.000+10:00

I want to know how many people have shared their home education style/philosophy with their family. Have you you been up front with them? What was/is their reation? Or do they assume that home education means school-at-home?

I am in a predicament because I am one of the many underground natural learning families in Australia who haven't registered with the Department of Education. This was a hard decision when we started as I wanted it to be all above-board but I also didn't want to have to answer to the Ed Dept. I know a lot about the education system as I finished a 4-year Bachelor of Education degree in 2002. At first I thought the articles I read about unschooling were over-the-top and was satisfied with trying to plan integrated units of work using the philosophy and teaching practices I had learned about during my degree. However, whenever I tried to implement my structured plans there was something that didn't seem right about it. I spent my days planning and looking at the syllabus while my children got on with learning naturally.

It was when I started to witness all the learning that was taking place that my concept of learning started to change - seeing the children naturally having fun with maths concepts, investigating the natural world, sharing all sorts of information from the television shows they were watching, and so on. I read more about about learning naturally and realised that unschooling wasn't such a radical concept after all. In fact, it actually reflects most of the educational theories that are encouraged but just don't match up with the reality in the classroom. If only the theorists would stop trying to fit things into the existing mess and open their eyes to the bigger picture...if they want learning to be as student-led and real-life as possible it needs to happen in the REAL WORLD. You'll see what I mean when I tell you they are encouraging student-led learning, holistic education, experiential learning (learning by doing), integration rather than segmentation of subjects, opportunities for real-life experiences, and allowing students to progress at their own developmental rates. So why is home education frowned upon when it is the ideal way of implementing the top educational theories? Without all the crap that goes along with being in school!

I know I've gone off on a tangent, but it does relate to my original question because I know my family expect and assume that I am doing school at home with my kids...sitting down with the syllabus documents and planning lessons...having the kids sit at the table filling in workbooks...testing to see what they know, etc. Perhaps I dug myself a hole in the early stages trying to justify our decision to homeschool by reinforcing that you get an exemption to homeschool and that you plan as a teacher would. I never actually said that WE had an exemption though! Sneaky I know. :-)

Basically, the reason for writing about this is that I feel like we are living a hidden life. As long as we have to hide what we really do (or don't do), there will always be that void between us and the rest of the family. We can't truly be ourselves. I do try to be truthful in conversations about the children's learning without giving away the extent of our sepapration from the school way of doing things. In my mind the kids' achievements have come about naturally, whereas in the family's minds it is the result of teaching. I always try to promote what the kids are interested in, e.g. my son's recent bottle top collecting which led to counting, organising, analysing data, etc. (see our Learningland Blog) which shows that there is always learning happening.

I'm too tired to try to ramble on about this any more right now. I hope I have made sense! One of my biggest concerns to do with this "hidden life" is who to choose as guardians in case anything should happen to myself and my husband. I shudder when I think of our lack of suitable options but we don't have wills yet...need to make them...have bought will kits...but choosing guardians is nearly impossible in my eyes. UGH!

He's reading!!!

2005-04-29T16:10:00.000+10:00

Yes! My son (nearly10) has read three chapter books in 1 week - about half the book each night before bed! They are books from the 'Too Cool' series that he has had for a couple of years. It has probably been that long since he has actively read a story book (since leaving school). I knew he would come back to it in his own time. Of course, I have known that there has been other reading happening the whole time. He reads environmental print, instructions in computer games, kids' magazines like D-Mag and K-Zone, and short snippets of informational books when he is interested.

Even so, I have felt delighted seeing the books beside my bed where J-bird reads by the lamp. He also feels confident enough to come out and ask about any words he is unsure of and we just offer the word without turning it into a minilesson. Most of the time he has decoded the word but it is a vocabulary issue where he is unsure of the meaning.

Last night Sparkle and J-bird were playing a game where they would ask each other words to spell and they would see if they got it right. They do this every so often and it is heartwarming to see them WANT to play with language. :-)

I love my kids!

2005-04-13T17:53:00.000+10:00

I have a 5-month-old sitting on my lap, half-way through her feed, and she's blowing raspberries. So adorable! It's times like this where you can seriously picture having a fourth child. Then I find when I'm up in the middle of the night I wonder how I would mentally and physically cope with another! We'll just have to see what happens in the end. I'm still see-sawing on this thought.

Update on Goals for 2005

2005-03-13T15:36:00.000+10:00

I want to review my goals for this year and get my butt into gear on the goals I've been slack with so far....

learn about and create a vegie patch that won't die within a week

-> I haven't started on this yet though I think about it a lot. New idea: Write these goals and stick them on the door near the computer so I will be motivated to at least get to the planning stage. I will consult my mother on the best time of year to begin this project as we will soon be heading into cool weather and this might be best left until the second half of the year.

build a sandpit for the kids

-> Mum has offered some treated pine logs but I'm not sure they are suitable as they are round. I think rectangular planks would be better. I do have a large shade sail that can provide shade over the sandpit when it's built. But basically - it isn't done yet! ;-)

put up the 5m triangular shade sail so it makes the backyard look cool

-> see previous goal - got it - isn't put up yet (though we did buy the attachments a week ago).

get a new car so the kids and I can get out and about whenever the urge strikes - looks like we may have a Kia Carnival this week! It is a 2004 model with 18,000km on it, a tow-bar and tinted windows. Why pay for a brand-spanker when you can pay $2,500 less for a same-year model with about $1000 worth of extras!

-> GOT IT! Yes, the exact car we wanted with the extras...and paid $4000 less than new! Gotta be happy with that! We've had it for a bit over 2 weeks. Having our own car allows so much freedom for the kids and I during the week. However, the baby still dictates much of what we do and when.

go to the Animatronics exhibition and Science Centre at the QLD Museum

-> Haven't been yet but it is on until next month. DH has two four-day weekends coming up so we will probably go on one of those days.

go for a walk at least once a week

-> All I can say to this one is...HAH! What was I thinking? I do plenty of walking around shops though! :-) I also think I get more exercise during the night that during the day with getting up to put the baby's dummy back in. She is good in that she will go to early hours before demanding a feed, but I still have to get up several times a night. I can't wait for the day that Little Chicken sleeps right through without a peep....oh, I can dream....

build a new kitchen - if we get the full $$$ (see car) we are putting one in!

-> We've had one quote and have been looking around at appliances etc. There are so many options. We will get a few more quotes and figure out whether we want someone else to build it or buy the flat-packs and do it ourselves. Too many decisions!

take a family camping holiday

-> This looked like it was on the back-burner until the second half of the year but I have talked DH into taking 2 weeks holidays in May so we can head up to Hervey Bay where (hopefully) it won't be too cold for camping at that time of year. I can't wait! I think I need the time to detox from the computer and just be able to stroll up the beach each morning. Ahhhhh.....

join other homeschooling families on a camping holiday (happening in May!)

-> This one is a 'no-go' because we discovered that it is 4WD access only to the camping ground and we don't want to risk anything happening to our beautiful new car trying to get there. I do think there may be an opportunity or two for an overnight camp-out with other home learners during the year through our weekly group.

create a budget and stick to it - especially with the extra loan coming

-> Haven't created the budget yet because we are still in the middle of sorting out some financial details...it is still on the list of things to do though and I'll probably get to it in the next couple of weeks.

read to the kids every day - especially some classic novels

-> I'm always hopeless at this and it is probably my MAIN goal. I did try to start reading Charlotte's Web with them but THEY weren't interested..."No thanks mum". We did recently get The Wind in The Willows book and DVD through the Scholastic Book Club and I think this may be a good starting point. We HAVE been reading, but I really want to share some great stories with them.

read more good fiction (for myself - I read mostly non-fiction)

-> Still reading a lot of non-fiction at the moment, especially some natural learning/unschooling books that I bought recently, and some 'how-to' books on sketching techniques, etc.

stay up late one night with the kids and look at the night sky
get up early one morning with the kids and watch the sun rise

-> Camping will be a great opportunity to do this! I can't wait!

start sketching regularly - heck, make it EVERY DAY!

-> I am happy how I started out with this (see the My Creative Side blog - link is in the side bar), though I have slacked right off for the last three weeks. I do feel I am being creative through the postcard hobby so I'm not too worried. The key is to keep my sketchbooks and pencils accessible so that when the urge strikes I can sketch away to my heart's delight.

blog what the children are doing everyday - perhaps make it a separate blog?

-> Learning Land (see link in side bar) was created for this purpose and I certainly don't update it daily (it would probably be too boring if I did), but I am continuing to blog here and there about what the kids have been doing. It doesn't cover everything because there is so much going on all the time, but it gives an idea of how much learning happens in our day-to-day living.

Well, I've managed to type this with a grumpy baby on my lap and now that I've put her down for a sleep she is still being grumpy so I had better go.

BTW, I find it amusing that the spell-checker doesn't register the word 'blog'!

Where have I been?

2005-03-13T14:58:00.000+10:00

It's been over a month since I've blogged anything here and I have had people wondering where I am. I didn't even think that people would seriously be wanting to read what I write! LOL! This blog has even been reviewed at http://aha.typepad.com/weblogs_blog/ - Kim, is this your subtle way of drawing me back out into bloggingdom? Well, it must have worked because here I am! :-)

My only excuse for the absence is that we have been TOO BUSY LEARNING! Yeah!

Our postcard project is huge and it is almost a full time job managing incoming and outgoing requests for exchanges of postcards from around the world. Actually it has turned into a full-scale hobby. We actively seek out postcards in our special interest areas -> Sparkle = horses; J-Bird = baseball; myself = people of the world, wild animals, and just about anything else interesting like landmarks, castles and other fascinating architecture, lovely views, famous places, and so on. I manage databases of the postcards we have to trade, plus the details of trades so that we know what is being sent where and when, and if we need to follow up any packages we are expecting from others. The children and I head out to find more postcards at least once a week. If we head to new areas we make sure to check for new and interesting postcards that overseas people would like. I also maintain a site where we've uploaded scanned images of all the postcards we have to trade.

We've extended our postcard hobby to include stamp collecting too. I got the kids a special kids stamp binder with a starter pack of stamps and other bits'n'pieces like tweezers, magnifier and a CD-ROM that we are yet to look at. On our regular visits to the post office we have started also buying little packs of stamps designed for child collectors....organised into special topics like birds, animals, dogs, cats, trains, etc. I'm trying to chase down the display sheets we need so we can start sorting and categorising them.

I won't say more about what we've been doing in this blog because I'll share that in our Learning Land blog.

Life-long Learning & The Information Age

2005-02-04T12:36:00.000+10:00

Here's a big rant....

I came across this recent article in The Age: Teach Your Children Well

It is great to see an article that speaks in such an encouraging way about natural learning and the fact that we are life-long learners.

I have always considered myself a life-long learner because for as long as I can remember I have sought out information and experiences relating to whatever has interested me. All of my learning I consider of value I attribute to self-directed learning, even from a very young age. I read for many hours outside of school....Enid Blyton books, the Nancy Drew series, a series of magazines called 'The Joy of Knowledge' that mum allowed me to collect each week until I had around 20 volumes (I particularly liked the forensic science, human body, and animal-related topics), and a whole assortment of other fiction and non-fiction, magazines, and so on. I taught myself to draw and do various crafts by reading instructional books and simply experimenting with lots of trial and error (as I am currently doing again). Over the years I have read widely and in depth about various 'new age' topics and spirituality (I suppose in response to the eternal questions: 'Who am I?', 'Why are we here?', and 'What is my life purpose?'), arts and crafts, photography, education, home education, natural learning, parenting, finance/money, small business, and much more. I have pursued short courses in photography, Australian Sign Language, oil painting, and study skills. I have earned an associate diploma in nannying but never been employed as a nanny. Despite this, I found the course valuable as it gave me confidence when I became a parent. I have earned a Bachelor's Degree in primary education but never been employed as a teacher (only a few hours of casual supply work). Despite this, I feel fortunate to have done the degree because it gave me the initial confidence to begin home educating the children (without this I doubt I would have trusted that I could do it - even though I didn't need a teaching qualification). It also allowed me to develop an in-depth understanding of how children learn (much of which was studied extensively in my own time over and above course requirements), which I have been able to compare and contrast with my exploration of the 'natural learning' philosophy (finding that the two are actually complementary - the learning that is desired in school can truly happen in the real life context of living and learning naturally).

The only valuable learning I can recall happening at school happened because it was something I found personally interesting and relevant. These were not 'academic' things either. I remember enjoying solving picture puzzles, doing word searches, sewing, and learning songs. Some of the least valuable learning that happened in school was figuring out that if we kept making disruptions in our highschool History class we wouldn't have to read the textbook, as the teacher would spent the whole lesson waiting for us to be quiet. I also learned to fear oral speaking, that I was slow to complete things, that I wasn't exciting enough to part of the 'cool' crowd, and so on.

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Here are some relevant quotes:

Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.
- Isaac Asimoc

And so we discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being.
- Maria Montessori

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
- Mark Twain

What children need is not new and better curricula but access to more and more of the real world; plenty of time and space to think over their experiences, and to use fantasy and play to make meaning out of them; and advice, road maps, guidebooks, to make it easier for them to get where they want to go (not where we think they ought to go), and to find out what they want to find out.
- John Holt, in "Teach Your Own"

People would be busy doing interesting things that mattered. Doing them, they would grow more informed, competent, and wise. They would learn about the world from living in it, working in it, and changing it, and from knowing a wide variety of people who were doing the same.
- John Holt

Every child is born with this generic language predisposition. Just what they do with it depends on the culture into which they are born. Research four years ago carried out by the Kellogg Foundation in Michigan into what are the best predictors of success after the age of 18 showed that it was the quality and quantity of dialogue in a child's home before the age of 5 that was four times more significant than any other factor, far more significant than either the primary or secondary school. In reality our ancestors knew this long ago. St. Augustine was said to have remarked "I learnt most, not from those who taught me, but from those who talked with me." That monk understood the proper balance between formal teaching and spontaneous learning. This is the balance we have to regain.
- 21st Century Learning Initiative

It is not what is poured into a student but what is planted that counts.
- Hildebrand

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Learning is a natural process but because of the focus on school as the place to 'receive an education, it is often seen as something separate to real life (an not very enjoyable at that!). I think the term 'education' is also deceiving - it comes across as something to 'get'. The word 'educate' originates from the Latin 'edu cere', meaning 'to bring out'. I believe that this means bringing out the curious nature of the human in their endeavour to seek answers. Education is about fostering the desire to find out about ourselves and our world. I feel sorry for those who think that their 'education' stops when they leave school. Learning is a life-long process and, I believe, our ultimate purpose in life.

If learning is a life-long process, then there is no need to learn particular things by certain ages. The reason this is done in school is purely for managing the masses. If a person can interact in the world by talking, reading, inquiring, discovering, calculating, and being able to access information if and when needed, then they are 'educated' with life-long learning skills. You know the saying:

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; Teach a man to fish and you feed him for life.

We are no longer in the Industrial Age, but in the Information Age, where there is easy access to information on any topic and from anywhere in the world. Where 20 years ago someone would learn about another country from a book and being told an assortment of facts, today anyone with an internet connection or phone can converse directly with people all over the world....look at what I am doing here...I have a world-wide audience. There is so much information in existence, and the rate of multiplication is growing all the time, that it is no longer plausible to have a set curriculum and to base learning on facts or set bodies of knowledge. What IS important is knowing how to seek out answers to questions...where to find information and HOW to learn, being flexible, thinking critically (not all information out there is valuable), and being able to solve problems and think creatively.

One of the most valuable aspects of home-based learning is having the time and freedom to discover your individual learning style, to daydream, to get to know yourself. Just look at the outcome of sending children to school for 13+ years where they learn not to trust their own instincts and have no encouragement to develop their individual strengths....they end up being 40 year olds who realise they don't know who they are, what their dreams are, and they certainly don't believe they could make a living doing something they love. The school system raises children to get a job...that is it's purpose no more and no less.

I want more for my kids. They deserve to know who they are, to be able to play with the world and all it offers, to take risks and believe they can do and achieve whatever their hearts desire, and to be free to live life authentically rather than learn about it while it happens outside the school fence.

Maths in the real world

2005-01-31T13:00:00.000+10:00

cooking - quantity, grams, kilograms, millilitres, litres, temperature, volume, capacity, scales, geometry (e.g. round or square cake pan...star shape cookies), time, doubling or halving the recipe (fractions), fractions in ingredients (e.g. 3/4 cup milk)
art & design - symmetry, 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shape, measurement
crafts - measurement, quantity, shape, number of pieces required
card games - Snap, Skip Bo, Uno, War (adding, subtracting or multiplying two cards), Cribbage, Gin Rummy, etc.
board/dice games - Monopoly (junior and standard editions), snakes and ladders, home-made games, Yahtzee!, bingo
computer games - games specifically for learning different maths skills (in game contexts); problem-solving and logical thinking skills
counting - anything and everything; skip counting (2s, 5s, 10s)
shopping - measurement, comparisons, money, budgeting, value, percentages
playing with numbers - skip counting (twos, fives, tens); adding, subtracting, multiplying - all for fun because numbers are fascinating to explore.
seeking answers, comparing, analysing - How tall am I compared to you? Whose bocce ball closest to the jack? How many legs does this creature have? How many steps are there? How many words are there on this page?
calculators - exploring number, skip counting (function of calculators - e.g. 0+2= and each time = is pressed it skips 2 more forward)
time - digital and analogue, counting in fives, fractions (quarter past etc.)
dice - for all sorts of games
nature study - pattern, distance, shape

Adding and adjusting

2005-01-27T06:57:00.000+10:00

Once again I've changed the name of this page to try and reflect the more general nature of this blog. I do post my thoughts on unschooling but I also blab on about other stuff when it crops up. I figured the previous title ('Adventures in Learning') sounded too much like the intention of our other blog ('Learning Land') where I record interesting things the kids are doing.

Guess what? I've created ANOTHER blog called 'My Creative Side' which is specifically for sharing my sketches and other artwork. If you recall, I set a goal of regular sketching and bought a stetchbook and pencils. Well, I also joined a site called 'Illustration Friday' where you get a topic suggestion at the start of the week and submit a drawing on Friday...not experience necessary. This will keep me motivated and encourage me to expand my ideas.

Australian Home Education Statistics

2005-01-26T13:46:00.000+10:00

Home Education Association Australia

Visit this link and tell me you aren't impressed by the number of families learning outside of school!

Estimates are 85,500 home educated children Australia-wide....awesome!

I did it..

2005-01-25T08:18:00.000+10:00

I bought a sketchbook for myself yesterday and one each for the kids. I also got some good quality 2B pencils. Now to just get in the habit of drawing again. I have a few instructional books so I hope to gradually improve but mostly I just like being creative. If I get brave enough I'll post some sketches on here!

Learning Land

2005-01-23T15:42:00.000+10:00

I've created another blog specifically to journal what the kids do each day. I'll be adding lots of photos too. Here 'tis: http://learningland.blogspot.com/

Goals for 2005

2005-01-23T14:14:00.000+10:00

So what do I want from this year? I want to:

learn about and create a vegie patch that won't die within a week
build a sandpit for the kids
put up the 5m triangular shade sail so it makes the backyard look cool
get a new car so the kids and I can get out and about whenever the urge strikes - looks like we may have a Kia Carnival this week! It is a 2004 model with 18,000km on it, a tow-bar and tinted windows. Why pay for a brand-spanker when you can pay $2,500 less for a same-year model with about $1000 worth of extras!
go to the Animatronics exhibition and Science Centre at the QLD Museum
go for a walk at least once a week
build a new kitchen - if we get the full $$$ (see car) we are putting one in!
take a family camping holiday
join other homeschooling families on a camping holiday (happening in May!)
create a budget and stick to it - especially with the extra loan coming
read to the kids every day - especially some classic novels
read more good fiction (for myself - I read mostly non-fiction)
stay up late one night with the kids and look at the night sky
get up early one morning with the kids and watch the sun rise
start sketching regularly - heck, make it EVERY DAY!
blog what the children are doing everyday - perhaps make it a separate blog?

Check This Out!

2005-01-22T09:46:00.000+10:00

You scored as alternative. You're partially respected for being an individual in a conformist world yet others take you as a radical. You have no place in society because you choose not to belong there - you're the luckiest of them all, even if your parents are completely ashamed of you. Just don't take drugs ok?

What Social Status are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

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Well there you have it! I can't deny it any more..I am an 'alternative'!

Perhaps it's because I left high school half-way through Year 11?
Perhaps it's because I had a child before I got married?
Perhaps it's because I had that child at age 20?
Perhaps it's because I now have three children even though we already had 'a pidgeon pair'?
Perhaps it's because I spent three years in the process of adopting a baby from China even though we could have more biological children? (couldn't afford to continue that path)
Perhaps it's because I read 'New Age' stuff?
Perhaps it's because I am a qualified teacher but I now unschool my kids?
Perhaps it's because as well as a dog, I have 6 pet rats?

When you put it all together like that, I guess it must be so. :-)

Sketches

2005-01-22T09:03:00.000+10:00

The Amazing Adventures of Us

Okay, I am adding links to my blog sidebar but I just had to make a comment on Kate's blog. Seeing all these illustrations has inspired me to pick up the pencil again and get sketching a LOT this year. Sketching is something I do in little bursts with WAY TOO LONG in between....can be a year or two. I love how Kate is sketching anything and everything. Very inspiring. I hope that this will carry over to the kids so they feel they can explore the world of pencil and paper.

Organisation

2005-01-21T16:30:00.000+10:00

Inspiration: Homeschool Australia Newsletter - I read an article on organising your home for learning.

Result: About a week ago I moved the computer upstairs where the dining room used to be (the dining table is now outside on the deck) and I set the kids' computer up right beside it...it's working for us! It is much handier being in the centre of the house. I can help the kids if I'm online and they are on the other pc, or I can simply peek at the enormous amount of learning that happens when they play their CD-ROMs and other programs. Another bonus is that all the CD-ROMs can be kept in the one place rather than some upstairs and some downstairs.

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Inspiration: FlyLady.net - mega organisational help

Result: While I'm not following FlyLady to the letter (it's pushing it for me to get THAT organised!), I am taking lots of little helpful ideas and slowly forming new habits.

I've started a morning routine where:

I go to the bathroom, cleanse my face (never used to 'officially' cleanse my face but using a proper cleanser now), put on deodorant (used to be next to my bed), and then I wipe down the vanity (the sponge is always there so it's quick and easy).
I put the jug on to boil and tidy the kitchen...put away dry dishes and wipe over benches and sink.
I have my cuppa and read emails...this part isn't 'new' but at least I'm doing the other stuff first!

It's funny 'cause now I'm forever polishing the kitchen and bathroom sinks...I don't want to see one drip on my shiny surfaces! LOL!

This is what I also want to do:

Wash breakfast and lunch dishes after lunch and put away as soon as dry.
Fill the sink with hot soapy water while cooking dinner so dishes can be washed as I go...then everyone can wash their own dishes after they've eaten (did this last night successfully!)

It's a start. As you may have figured...dishes are a problem at our house. Once a day washing is just not enough as it becomes a huge task once it has built up. Plus, the dishrack is always on the bench full of dried dishes that haven't been put away. We end up using them straight from the drainer.

"No more!" I say....cleared benches and sparkling sinks are the way of the future!

Meet the children

2005-01-19T18:23:00.000+10:00

My three munchkins - Little Chicken (almost 3 months), Sparkle (just turned 7 yrs) and J-bird (9.5 yrs).

Gizmos & Gadgets

2005-01-17T15:14:00.000+10:00

I was so happy with this blog entry and then I stuffed up and lost it! ARGH! It won't be the same now but I'll try...

We recently won Super Solvers: Gizmos and Gadgets from eBay and since I installed it about four days ago the kids have been playing for HOURS every day. J-bird has already been through every level and has started another game from the beginning. Sparkle also started a game even though it is pretty complex, but J-bird has willingly spent many hours helping her through it. The game teaches heaps about the physical sciences....see my description on our website's What We've Been Up To page for January.

Just from the main activity in the game where you have to build racers or airships from a blueprint, J-bird has learned about features of different mechanical parts such as differentials. He's discovered through trial and error that larger wheel diameters cover more ground quicker in a race (they get to race their project), that rectangular body shapes are more wind resistant than sloping bodies, that the best type of instrument panel for an aircraft should have a GPS (Global Positioning System), the benefits of different engine shapes and horse-power, and HEAPS more.

Never mind the puzzle solving where you have to rewire all sorts of complex electrical circuits or place cogs to make gears so that a number of rods will press buttons simultaneously.

Sparkle surprised me when she asked me if she was correct as she proceeded to read the words "mechanical energy", "light energy", and "electrical energy" and match them up with the appropriate pictures for the different energy sources. A couple days of observing J-bird play and she had enough understanding to decode those big words and know what they meant!

Oh, and as far as the kids are concerned, they are just playing on the computer and enjoying themselves. Gee, wouldn't you know it... such 'difficult' learning can be fun when it isn't forced on someone! Come to think of it, many high school kids probably wouldn't know the details about engines and aerodynamics that J-bird has learned in the last few days.

One thing I've delighted in while observing this adventure is that J-bird has been sitting with Sparkle to help her whenever she plays. As I'd helped J-bird with different things as he worked his way through the game the first time, I didn't feel like going through it all with Sparkle too. I suggested J-bird help her but I didn't actually think he'd want to. Well, he's not only been helping, but they've been engaging in heaps of discussion. I mentioned to DH the other morning, as we listened to them chatter away while playing the game, that if they were attending school they would certainly not be interacting like that. It's true, because when J-bird was in school he'd want time away from his sister when at home and they fought a lot more.

Happy mum of 3!

Snippets of Learning

2005-01-11T11:49:00.000+10:00

So much learning and so much time.

That is one of the biggest benefits of living a naturally learning lifestyle. Apparently we aren't supposed to be learning at the moment because it is 'school holidays'. ;-p

I am continually rewarded by witnessing snippets of learning happening all the time...

Today Little Chicken (10 1/2 weeks old) 'talked' more than she has so far. She already knows that conversation means turn-taking.

J-bird (and Daddy and Sparkle) continued the quest to collect all the orbs and complete various tasks required of Spiro 2 (a PS1 game). There are lots of 'talking' points throughout the game which give instructions and present challenges for the player in both verbal and written format. Sometimes the character doesn't speak clearly so you have to read the text and other times the audio is off while we listen to music on the stereo. There's also spatial skills, maths, logic and problem-solving. Some new computer games we have bought have been full of similar literacy and numeracy skills, especially 'The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis' - what a great game!!!

Sparkle has had me read all the library books she borrowed the other day. One book she wanted to echo read each page after I read it (as she often does). This morning Sparkle was excited as she shared a 'trick' she had just watched on 'Backyard Science' - she got me to watch as she shut her eyes for a little bit and then opened them. She wanted me to see the pupils get bigger. I had a turn so she could see my eyes change. A quick and fun experience of how our eyes filter the light - and I bet she remembers it for a long time to come!

New Years Eve

2004-12-31T11:46:00.000+10:00

Being the eve of the new year I have been doing my usual reflecting on our home learning...looking at how we have been doing things and how I want things to go next year. I recently started our Home Learning Adventures website as part of trying to get my thoughts and intentions together (I always seem to be creating or working on a website at this time of year).

I have come up with several goals which mostly revolve around what I can do to enhance our learning environment and relationships. I will list these goals on our website. As we don't have breaks in learning (no need to) we will start the new year by collaborating to get the house organised so it is more uncluttered and useful and we'll start planning what we want to do throughout the year.

Post-entry (21st Jan):
1. I'm not posting goals on the website but they'll come up here and there in this blog.

Early Christmas

2004-12-23T11:44:00.000+10:00

Here's my first blog entry...it's nothing much but it's a start!

Last weekend we had an early celebration for Christmas and my 30th birthday up the coast at Caloundra. J-bird received his own set of boules, a Hot Wheels car and some boardies. Sparkle received the Jungle Ello set that she wanted, a cool Bratz hat, and a Clikits set. Little Chicken received a Link-a-Doo to hang off her pram, a little pink pig that oinks, and a little pair of soft cloth shoes that say "I love mummy". :-)

My birthday lunch was lovely with a table decorated with confetti, balloons and nice tablecloths. I got a set of black picture frames that I can use to hand family pics in the hallway. It's not my actual birthday yet so I won't get my other pressies until Christmas Eve (yep, a Christmas baby!).