Naked Butts

After letting the naked kids run and jump rampant on my bed JUST before getting them ready for bed backfired and I had 3 wired kids to calm down.......I was getting August into his jammies and yelling at er I mean respectfully and calmly asking Sawyer to "get his butt over here and pee before bed" Yelled back at me was "You want my butt, ok, here comes my butt, I'm taking my butt off, it's coming at you now, my butt's on it's way" Of course all 3 kids were busting their sides at this one.....I expect idioms are going to go over well with this kid.......

Playing War

We went to a pumpkin carving party today. The kids, 8 boys from 3 to 7, had fun, except when all the kids began playing "war" and August came to me because 1. he didn't know how to play 2. he didn't have a toy gun and 3. I think he felt uncomfortable with it. These were 7 year olds. Hmmm, don't know what to think about this.....

Pink Socks and Knitting

My kids wear pink and flowery socks.....and that's ok. So far. They love the colors and fight over who gets to wear which ones....and that's ok. So Far. August expressed an interest in knitting (There must be some developmental stage where kids want to figure out how our every day things are made) this is after we "weaved" with grasses all week.....So I take him to the local Village Yarn Shoppe and the store owner recommends the best needles and shows us the sale yarn.....He chose a funky red-yellow-orange - yellow - green -yellow morphing yarn. He is thrilled. And knitting is hard for 7 year old fingers. And his concentration tongue is sooooooooooooooo cute.... I`m so glad my son thinks it`s ok to knit. If he went to school he may get it figured out for him that it`s a `girl` thing, like figuring out PINK clothes are for girls - I was really sad the day August pointed to the aisle of girl clothes and said ``**Those*** clothes are for girls....` Of course all the bright and colorful clothes are there. Boys clothes, for the most part are pretty dull and drab. Sawyer is stuck right now. His favourite shirt is a pink beaded flowery shirt an older female friend gave him. He wants to wear it. He loves it. Yet he feels somehow he`s not supposed to. Once he showed me he was wearing it under another shirt.....
The best thing about some of the blogs I follow is the pictures of other kids....SouleMama`s son has long hair and was wearing a funky hat.....my kids can see other kids are like them....

Photos of Tshirts and Pillowcases

Sawyer drawing his rainbow















Holdy choosing crayons for his hands....

ironing the "transfer"

Peeling the transfer and it worked!!

Look at my hands!

Poop Vac

Remote control poop vaccuum. Yup, someone's baby had an accident during swimming lessons today and we were all told to get out of the pool Let me tell you, watching the cleaner guy vacuum poop with a remote control vac was WAY more fun....

I read on a blog somewhere, wish I remember which one, about a cool activity - a blog linked from "unplugyourkids". So after swimming today I bought some sandpaper, 100 grit, and brought it home. The kids made pictures on them with crayons. Then we turned them over on t-shirts and pillowcases and ironed them. COOL!!! A transfer. They loved it! And if you color in the same place again it's reusable......August went outside and colored a maple tree that's beside our deck, Sawyer did a rainbow then balloons and Holdy wanted to do his hands so we traced them and I colored them in for him.....what an EASY awesome activity!

Sawyer, "Mummy we're doing lots of things, why?"

Overheard Sawyer on the phone to a 30 year old friend "so, what do you want to talk about?"
This was after he played 2 songs on the piano for her "old macdonald" and "twinkle, twinkle" (he's had like 5 lessons) and the three boys all sang "Moose Song" on three different phones with her....and he waited to call her back after she went to help a friend who ran out of gas......Can you say 5 year old ladykiller?

Tide is High....

So we head down to the beach again yesterday to cut grass to weave. We noticed the high water, but assumed that was it. You would never have known I grew up there......so we go down to the low water line. It's quite a hike thru a bunch of dried up river beds.......and then over some grass flats to the beach....We cut a bunch of grass, collect sticks to make a frame, goof around, see a seal swimming out the mouth of the river (there *must* be salmon going up the river) and make our way back across the grass flats and ..... the tide is up and I have to carry the boys across the first wet spot, laughing and giggling about what a geek mummy is. And "good thing mummy wore boots today!" and "when we can see the moon we should know the water is coming" and me "when I was little we would see our cat swimming across here when she got stuck..." Then we get to the completely flooded dried up riverbed that is over my boots!!!! I watch the water and figure it is slack tide so we sat down to weave as I did as a child. August picks the technique up right away and loves it. (He is now on his 3rd mat.) And the water keeps coming up. I decide that we better get across now before it gets any higher and we're stranded for hours......and this mummy, who hates being cold, takes off her boots and socks, hikes up her pants and wades across the river, carrying her boys and all our stuff. It is soooooooo cold it hurts......Like I said, you'd never know I grew up there. We LIVED for high tide. The tide coming up over the warmed by summer sun mudflats, up the river for a deep warm swim....I knew how to read tide tables young! On the drive home August told me that rule number one is to remember the mobile phone so we can phone daddy. Who had the piano in pieces when we got home......

Today we went to a different beach and watched how fast the tide comes in - the power!

Salmon, beaches and leaves....

Robin at OurBigEarth.com gave me the idea to check out the salmon starting to come up the rivers around the Comox Valley, the beautiful place we call home. Why not the river where I grew up? The river about oh 5 kms from where I live now. The home of my childhood. The home of all my memories and dreams. The smell of childhood. I got out of the car at the end of a cul de sac where I rode bikes FOR HOURS as a child. It did seem like a steep long hill. It's a street with about 5 houses along each side. We walked down the trail, which is totally different, someone bulldozed the embankment - we used to have to balance down a slippery log. The smell though, it was familiar, it made my heart and stomach ache for the innocence of childhood. The days when all you had to think about was what to do next? When such a huge pallette was open to the young mind full of nothing but curiousity and brilliance. I ached for the child I was and the person I became and the person I want to be for my kids. I watched them run ahead with eagerness to see what was next. I gazed around at the overgrown riverbeds that have changed so much in 30 years since I played there. I have tears in my eyes now. I had no idea then my mother was an alcoholic. A functioning medical doctor alcoholic. I had no idea my dad - gosh I have no label for him, he was a product of his misguided parents. I had no idea school and misquided parenting was going to ruin any innate intelligence I may have had, the search for praise, awards and 'A's would sap the curiousity and love of learning from me, that I would be able to memorize and regurgitate anything but not truly enjoy it, that I wouldn't realize I wasn't the brilliant daughter of doctors that everyone thought I was until Professors at university truly challenged me to think and learn and I couldn't....I didn't know who I was or what I wanted....all this from a walk where the innocent me used to roam....My beautiful eager children running ahead of me, my little guy holding my hand, how I hope I can provide more for them, but I fear I can't I'm too damaged. Now I'm openly sobbing alone here in my chair. I wish I had the neverending patience of the beautiful unschoolers I read about. I wish I could always be there for my kids. Why do I ruin a perfect day with impatience at bedtime??? Why do I finally get frustrated and shout the 5th time I ask them to do something??? Wow, I was just going to write about the great time we had and all this came pouring out. I'll let the pictures tell tale of the rest of my day.....ending with my 3 year old stripping naked at bedtime to dance in the leaves, because you can only jump in the leaves naked you know. And then the big brothers crash at bedtime. Aren't they the best?

Jenga fun

The many uses of Jenga blocks:

1. Play the game
2. build towers, see whose gets the highest
3. build castles
4. build domino type courses
5. build buildings to smash down with hotwheels
6. build buildings to smash down with remote control spider
7. build roads
8. build anything else you can imagine...
9. Make letter shapes...

My kids are all busy right now with jenga blocks, we have 2 sets....

Every motherès nightmare

i want to write something>>>i"m searching for the right word<>>>>> and now my keyboard"s wonky and i remember last time this happened don had to fix it>>>> I want to write something that is life changing for someone.....eyeopeningÉÉÉ cool different funky neato""" the word escapes me

today was homeschooling swimming lessons> my boys love going<> so we"re late<>

<'''''''''''now itès really wonky' at least maybe iève kinda figured it out' but hard to read noé

23 HAY Numbers are back, and commas, I have no idea how I changed it.

Ok back to my story....we get to the pool late, as usual, and since August is basically ready and his lessons start in like 30 seconds and he just has to get his shoes and tshirt off, I send him in while I pay for me, and then head in to the change room with the other two boys.

I get into the pool into the shallow end with the two little guys and I realize I forgot to put in contacts before leaving the house. This is bad. Out in the deep end I see a head bobbing up, take a breath and head back down....over and over .......It looks like August, I start screaming MY SON MY SON, and pointing, but I canèt do anything as Ièm with a 3 and 5 year old, who canèt swim and who would follow me out......the lifeguard is about to jump in when the mother of the bobber jumps up and yells IT IS MY SON AND HE IS FINE. ok, I am a loser. August was on his back swimming with his instructor. I still havenèt spotted him and keep asking Sawyer DO YOU SEE AUGUST DO YOU SEE AUGUST - he has distinctive goggles, but I can not see him. Sidenote: I have told August in the past that if he gets in over his head and starts to sink to go to the bottom and shoot up so he can get a breath. My heart and insides were in turmoil for the rest of the swim. the kid DID look like my kid, and same goggles, I think. His mother talked to me later, she felt bad that she was so blase at the time, but realized the panic I felt. I was just happy to see her get up, cuz then I knew it wasnèt August........Which takes me to the time Holdy almost drowned, in our backyard pool with Adults standing RIGHT THERE.

Scene, birthday party, blowup backyard pool, big mess, Holdy a baby at 10.5 mos and pulling up only....mommy cleaning up as party is essentially over. I head in and out of the house clearing up and the baby is furniture walking around the yard chairs. In the kitchen I have to pee, I have two choices, go thru the hall-laundry room to br or thru the dining room where I can look outside thru a glass door. This is the route I choose and as I look out the dining room sliding glass door I see two baby feet disappear over the edge of the pool ..... you now see one mama running and screaming at the top of her voice JESUS CHRIST JESUS CHRIST.....and finding her baby under the water drowning. I did not sleep for a week. What if I had gone to the bathroom via the other route. I probably wonèt sleep tonight. The two adults who were less than 3 feet from the edge of the pool where he went in had their backs to the pool and were talking and did not notice the baby head that way......

My sister had JUST told me 3 kids drowned that summer in Victoria in backyard pools.

Needless to say, I am not comfortable at swimming lessons with three energetic boys. And when they get the waves going (I hate those dang waves, they PULL you out to the deep water, and my 7 year old still sinks.....) I really panic.....

Holdy did not (canèt use apostrophes) like baths for QUITE a while after that.

Today he was dunking his whole head under the water for fun, he JUST turned 3.

Profound, that was the word I was looking for.

Busy Day .... and Thanks

Well we had a busy day here. The boys got up at 7 and immediately began playing with their cars. Right outside my bedroom door. And came in to tell or show me something every oh, 10 minutes or so, when i was just getting back to sleep. And got me out of bed, eventually, when they were hungry. I got them breaki, and August wanted to work on his lego ATV he got for his birthday (yesterday) with 200+ pieces. Interestingly, he's put it together mirror image from the directions, I'm waiting to see if this has an effect on the final product. And I got websites going from the book we read last night, and we read about Mammals, and we read a bunch of stories, and then we worked on the "F" page in their alphabet books......The boys, except Holdy, got right into it. Sawyer knows how to write an F, but is not solid on the sound it makes. Holdy played with Playdoh! And then we made FINGERPRINTS!!!! Now that was pretty cool, they loved that. And it seemed to all flow. Facilitated......Fun. Definately liked the way the morning went, interested involved boys .......
And I had them practice piano for their lesson tomorrow. Sawyer loves it so far (year 1). August is fighting it, and said he hated it, and wasn't going to practice. (We just changed programs and teacher and hopefully this improves his attitude) I said fine, if you don't want to play piano, I'll pull you out. I don't want to fight with you about this all the time. And went to do something else. And next thing I knew he was playing all his songs. The longest he'd practiced yet. And then he was upset because some keys don't work on our piano, so we had to take his piano books to grandpas to play on his piano. Wow, so maybe giving him the option to quit, and the choice, gave him what he needed. I hope so. I don't expect maestros, but I'd like them to have the option to be able to play what instrument they want later on.....
Wow, then we drove to our ski cabin with dry goods/freezer goods for the winter (it's walk in only in the winter), saw a squirrel, a river and picked some wild blueberries, drove down bout some toilet paper on sale at canadian tire, and then picked up my dad and then went to my cousin's for thanksgiving dinner, then home. Listening to screaming all the way home, Holdy LOST IT, sooooo tired, so frustrated, so ready for bed poor thing. August sang to the tune of "down by the bay" "all I ever want is eeearr ear plugs...." I'm like, yah, I can relate......

Facilitate More....

Happy Birthday August! My first is 7, I can't believe it! What a journey. What I didn't know. What I think I know now. parenting. parenting respectfully. trying. "discipline" frustration. respect. love, joy.

I've decided I need to facilitate more. Sawyer obviously wants to learn, and I need to give him direction. August, loves birds and leaves, so I've got to facilitate more in that direction....So tomorrow, we're breaking out the "Alphabet books" that we started years ago and we'll cut out pictures to go in the F page, the letter Sawyer learned to write.....I found a page with some Stellars Jay information, maybe I can direct August to that page.....
Also, reading before bed tonight, they both wanted to go to websites in the back of the book, TICK, must do that tomorrow. I've been too lacidasical (sp?) got to plan my unschooling a bit more, right? ARGH!!?? Why do I doubt myself so much? I will make a loose plan, and see what happens......
We will go outside for a walk and collect leaves and......................lets just see what happens.....

happy Birthday August

Unschool Days: The Decision to Unschool

Unschool Days: The Decision to Unschool

Wow what a powerful letter!

My Sawyer

Heard at the playground today,
"Mummy! Look! The firemans' pole! It's scarey. But I'm very brave."
And then he did it!

Happy Birthday Holden!

My baby is 3!! I can't believe we've had him for 3 years!!! And he gave me a great gift....he slept with his brother's all night! (Usually he starts with them and ends up in our bed sometime in the middle of the night) We went down to Nanaimo and met the cousins for lunch. Holdy has been talking about decorating muffins for his birthday for 6 weeks. His idea. So we did it. he was thrilled. Next we went to an indoor playgym for a couple of hours.....Can you say run for a couple of hours and then drop from exhaustion? They loved it! I got Holdy a Dragon book and Dinosaur cards....and August found some Secret Code Cards that I bought for him for his birthday (in two days) so he's been working at the codes. And they are not easy. And he has to use letters, print and read. And he wants to do it. Can you say sneaky mommy?

August's Tractor Instructions

]

Today was painting day at our house. We started with a Pig activity from a new Usborne book....

While that was drying in front of the fire, we started a Tractor.

August began taking photos of his tractor as he made it. Here are his instructions:


1. You need to get a piece of blue paper.







2. Then you get scissors








3. Then you cut a square.













4. And then you cut a rectangle too.





5. Then you paint blue and green on a piece of paper.


6. Then you glue the rectangle on. Then you glue the square on.







7. Then you draw wheels.

MamaLou back: August also drew a farmer driving the tractor, probably Daddy, aka Tractor Don. The kids had fun, we haven't finished our pigs, they are drying in front of the fire. It al;ways seems like doing some art is going to take so long and I don't have time, but it doesn't really take that long, and the kids LOVE doing it. My new motto, art everyday, painting etc, I have some really great books with super easy ideas DO THEM!!!!

Our Teacher visit was today. Can you say DISASTER??!! We have a new teacher this year, and last years' teacher was with her. Of course the old remembers all we did last year and asked August to get out his lapbooks, which he hasn't seen in 6 months and asked him to play piano, which he doesn't like to do. And asked if he wanted to show them anything, he didn't, he just wanted to build our new bookshelf. The only one who really performed for them was HOLDY who is almost 3 and not really part of their job.....I felt like a complete failure, but I know I'm not. They wanted to know about Math and Writing, neither of which we do. I explained quietly in the kitchen...that I am waiting for August to decide what he wants to do and that he doesn't want to perform for adults. I was a bit out of it, a head cold, no sleep. So probably made a really horrible impression. And the house looked like a cyclone went thru it, especially with the new bookshelf and all the styrafoam (argh) packaging spread across the living room floor.

Tomorrow will be a better day. It is Holden's 3rd birthday. We're headed to Jumping Gymboree gettogether with the cousins. I made chocolate muffins and we're icing and decorating them at Holdy's request. Stay tuned......

Playdate fun and Rainbow Colors!

Yesterday August went home with his friend Adicus for a playdate. Adi is an intense, interesting, curious, vibrant, energetic little girl who is also homeschooled. She is an only child who craves company of other children and she loves mine. My two older boys take turns going to her house to play. They ALWAYS get good and dirty, and usually have at least one bath before coming home in her clothes. Last time he came home and I got August ready for bed I took off little girly panties suppressing my giggle before putting on his jammies, and THANK HOMESCHOOLING that my little boy has no idea that he would be humiliated at school for this. This time when I arrived to pick August up Adi's mother said to me "I hope you don't mind but Adi has introduced August to the joys of oil massage" She said after their bath, she went into Adi's room and August had purple panties on and Adi was rubbing oil on his back. I THANK HOMESCHOOLING THAT THESE TWO INNOCENTS ARE INNOCENT STILL. And then he came out of the house in her clothes again with a bag of filthy clothes to go home. Did I mention that I have 3 boys? They LOVE colorful clothes. I hate boring dark dull drab clothes for boys, and have gone out of my way to buy the most colorful clothes for them that I can. Actually, I don't buy much, I choose from the sack of hand-me-downs that comes from my cousin via a tonne of other people. She picks the boring clothes, I pick the colorful clothes. As babies I dressed them in borderline androgenous/girl baby clothes, even flowers. As they've gotten older, I've gone to more traditional "boys" clothes but keeping up the theme of bright colors as opposed to Navy, burgundy and dark green. Even now I can get away with colorful socks in rainbow colors and even pink.....probably meant for girls only, but the boys pull it off. (They also have truck and plane socks) I better go to bed, Don has gone moose hunting with my mum and I'm on my own. Did I mention my teacher supervisor will be here tomorrow? Should be fun.

Red Jellyfish

We didn't bring them home, but we did see them. I've lived on this beach my whole life and never seen them....my boys found 3, and sand fleas, and crabs, and worms, and snails, and shells...It was a gorgeous sunny day, and piano lessons are 3 doors up from the beach, so we get a beach field trip every tuesday morning, and the weather gods thus far have agreed this is a good idea, we've never been rained on yet! Great grammar in that run on sentence eh?

I am so busy taking care of the house, kids, garden, yard, farm, I don't know when I can get time to follow my kids' interest.....but Tuesdays are always a good day. We go to piano, the beach and then head up to the library. I've always got books waiting for me, so it's fun to see what has come in. The boys go nuts at the library (you wouldn't know we had a house full of books by the way they act) and we come home with a good stack. August got a book on motorcycles this week and the CD Ralph and the Motorcycle came in. We've already listened to it twice and they love it! I love B. Cleary! They want more Ralph stories and so do I! Now we're listening to Ragweed by Avi, it's also about a mouse.

Red Heads of the World Unite!!

We had a homeschooling get together for all the kids and families enrolled in our district. I met a new family in town and their 3 kids, 4, 9 and 13.....and the mum has......RED HAIR!!!!!!!! I told her my theory and she said "We felt like outsiders as kids, so we might as well keep it up!" or something to that effect....neat lady. Hope she joins the Support Group Unschooling Lou aka SGUL! (When I was lying in bed after posting this it occured to me that it should be SLUG - Support Louisa Unschooling Group! So I had to come back and add t his afterthought to my post!) She said in Alberta they got the money for educationg their kids with no strings attached like here, and their request to use the money to buy a Kayak was turned down (drat!).......but the request for fly tying materials for her 13 year old as fine arts was approved......2 hours in the pool today wiped out the kids and they've had 2 dinners tonight, one at 430 and one at 630! They'll drop like rocks into bed tonight!

Red Heads

Just a random thought, but when I peruse unschooling websites there seems to be a huge percentage of redheads.......I'm not but my middle son is, but seriously, it's a trend, I wonder if there's something in it....

He described me, I'm sure he wasn't there!!

I am re-reading "teach your own" to calm myself before my "teacher supervisor" visits later this week. And I got to page 18. And John Holt described me. This is the new version with Pat Ferenga injecting updates. I'm sure there was no adult in the classroom with me in 1974 when that teacher threw the book at me. I wonder what my parents would have done if I'd gone home that day and told them what had happened? Homeschooling was not an option then. I think my mum may have gone to the school and raised a stink, but to what end?

Today Sawyer (5) was playing with this fake "laptop" computer game called 'compu kidz laptop' with 22 games to teach kids words and letters, it's like they have their own laptop, it's the same shape and everything, (that my SIL gave them for Xmas) - and it turns out they LOVE it, go figure. I swear it's teaching August to spell. And Sawyer in one game pushed a letter on the keyboard and it would say a word that started with that letter and spell it out loud. boring I say. He pushed "Y" over and over and spelled OYOY out on a piece of paper for me!!! Yep, my boy can spell YOYO!!! Then he did "FROG" At his request, I had to help him a bit with the G, (he did it upside down the first time). Go figure that this game would get him writing. And he said he wants to do a word a day. In "Sawyer's Notebook" that we started while watching August do gymnastics on Saturday.......Sawyer drew August upside down on the parallel bars. Pretty neat picture. He always has been my little storyteller, but that is a post for another day....

Nite,

gotta figure out how to put some pictures of my most precious treasures in here....make it look more stunning! Ok Here goes, some oldies from the summer.....

Garlic and Earwigs

Ok, add to the menagerie a pickle bottle of earwigs....yep, about 8 of them. Did you know earwigs care for their eggs and young? cool. August helped me peel about 100 freshly pulled from the muddy wet garden garlic bulbs. They are all hanging in the greenhouse to dry.

When is he going to school? he can't read!

this is the message I hear from my mother. she is so against the kids being home. She can't imagine that this is better for the kids. Ironically my parents were unhappy with ps for my sister and I too, and tried to make changes for us. Homeschooling wasn't an option for them. August who can't read (ha!) wants me to put my finger under the words when I'm reading to him. He listens to books on tape and turns the pages at the right time (without the jingle). I know he can read Dr. Suess, and he reads environmental stuff all around him. All this with NO READING LESSONS. NO BORING DICK AND JANE BOOKS. Ok I lie. He went to kindergarten and brought home "readers" he was supposed to read with me. One word per page type books, horrifically boring. he did not want to read them, and I agreed, I would rather spend time reading, reading books we both enjoyed. So we didn't read them, I didn't sign on the line that they'd been read, and his teacher, who was super duper, didn't care (I doubt she liked the books). She was a fantastic lady, and if he'd had her for grade 1 which was rumoured, I may have sent August. However, there were social problems in his grade. I digress. Shall I elaborate......11 girls 5 boys. One of the boys had cp so very disabled. With the upcoming devil of a grade one teacher one mother skipped her son to grade 2, one lady let her husband move them to another district and boom August and 1 boy were left. And that boy had home troubles, although he was a sweetheart. If I needed any other justification for taking him out of school it happened during the grade one year when one of the needy girls' stepfather shot himself as he was being investigated for sexually abusing her, and she came to school on Monday and told all the kids "My daddy killed himself" Like I want to talk to August about things like that when he's SIX. I better stop ranting and back to the point of my blog which is reading........I talk about letters and sounds with the kids in everyday life, but that's it. We do "play" with letters and HWOT, but never if the kids are not into it. Environmental words, reading to him, reading a lot, and he reads. My unschooling friend echoed what I had just said to my husband One day he'll pick up a huge novel and read read read. Her son, energetic like mine, is not into picking up a pencil, but he loves literature like crazy.......when he does read he'll want to and he'll do it because he wants to.....Should I tell you my crazy grade 1 reading story???? OMG
So there we sit in a circle, each taking a turn at reading, sounding out the words (this is after phonics drill after phonics drill) and I find this EXCRUTIATING listening to my classmates struggle through each word, I can remember feeling their humiliation, and on top of that I can read. So I read ahead, finish the story and move on to my favourite mermaid and prince story (I can still picture the illustrations in my mind, I'd love to get a copy of that reader) and then my name is being called to read....and of course I have NO IDEA where we are in the story that I am supposed to be reading. So get this, the teacher takes my book, sends me to my desk and THROWS the book at me. YUP. And yelled at me. I was in deep shit. CANUBELIEVEIT? I didn't tell my parents for YEARS as I thought I'd done something horribly wrong. After that I got better at keeping the place in the first story while reading ahead. Of course this is what my mum can't get, that I was reading pretty fluently in grade one and August is in grade two.......
argh.

unschooling support group for me

Well after looking at the provincial learning outcomes for grade 2 and seeing that August must be/should be writing full sentences/paragraphs I started to mildly panic as there really is not a chance in H3ll that that is going to happen. And then Math, argh, I can look at the Miquon book (don't get me wrong, I think Miquon is a great system) and I know he knows it....why make him fill out the pages if he can do it? As for printing, it appears when we "play" with letters he knows his letters just fine. As for reading, he reads along and WANTS me to put my finger on the words when I'm reading.....So I am rereading John Holt's "Teach Your Own" reading lots of unschooling blogs and trying to reinspire myself. The first chapter of JH got me feeling better, Rue's pictures of her mushroom adventures made me laugh out loud (see her blog here) and I feel better. I just gotta focus on bugs. Bugs! August's passion right now and all will be ok, I have to trust.
At homeschooling swim lessons today I spoke with another unschooling mother, who really said the right things....and she even called me tonight to see if I felt better. I said to her "We need an unschooling support group" and what I really meant was "I need an unschooling support group" If only I had the time I would make time.....a playgroup for mum's right?