The Beauty of my Life

Snow

New clothes

My NEW E350 super duty econoline

LOVE

Now we can get preggs again eventually, with no worries....space to spare

Wii with our neighbors

Go Rod, Go baby

Bald eagle at our local lake

Lil eskino MaeMae throwing a tantrum(love her strong lil will)

Barbie laying out while we fish in 40 degrees

The joy barbies bring Kenna and Kayla making them clothing

Our snow filled street

Our street the other way

Kayla enjoying the pouring snow

My heart, my soulmate, my love forever.....in the snow, in the rain, in the happiness and in the pain....you walk with me everyday through everything.

Our Interest-based discovery plans

So this is a breakdown of all the types of things the kids want incorporated into school for right now. I only went 5 weeks in because we change interests constantly. So far though, our school year is looking like a very fun one! We start this week.Note:For Bible and read alouds and whatnot, those are weekly plans so they look like a lot, but they aren't at all. We have been reading Bible and started the Little House series this summer. Rays arithmetic is seriously short and fun and VERY real life, manipulative oriented that is why we picked it. Lessons will take 5-10 minutes a day!

Daily Homeschool Schedule



Play scripture and geography CD

Bible

All literature Read A-louds

Science Read A-loud

Writing

Lesson Languages

Copywork

Math

Quiet reading time or kids read to me

Read A-loud story book to little ones

Lesson Languages with Tanner

Nature Notebooks 1 day a week

Week 1

Scripture CD-Track 3

Geography CD-Track 25

Bible-1 Samuel 17 and Bible facts p.36-37, 1 Samuel 18:1-6; 20:27-42, Psalm 23 and Bible Facts 38-39, 1 Kings 3:5-15, 4:34; 5;3-5 and Bible Facts 40-41

Literature- Little House ch.6, 7, and 8. Aesop 4 stories

Science- Dinosaurs Unleashed, The True Story about Dinosaurs and Humans- foreword and p.1, p.2-3, p. 4-5, p. 6

Writing- Your choice, a letter to Daddy or Momma, the best thing that happened this week, prayers and goals for the future

Lesson Languages- 1 lesson

Copywork- Spelling or character copy work

Math-Oral textbook, Real objects, textbook lesson on own, enrichment with baking(everyone measure something for a baked good)

Kayla-Rays intellectual-p.45 XX and XXI…..2 lessons a week, orally and then written on day 2, orally then written on Day 4 (Key p.82 week 1)

Wyatt and Everett-Rays Primary p.41, 42 and 43 orally day 1 and 2 and written lessons on their own day 3. Key(p.47 week 4)

Reading-Kayla: Flicka. Wyatt and Everett: Beginners Bible.

Read A-Loud to little ones- Their choice

Lesson Languages with Tanner- 2-3 lessons a week.



Special Things:

Day 3-Corncob dolls from Craft book

Day 4-Little House Cookbook-Ch.1

-Bake for Math, each child measure something

-Nature Notebook….go to hang glider area, draw view

Week 2

Scripture CD-Track 3

Geography CD-Track 26

Bible-1 Kings 16: 29-30; 17: 1-7, 1 Kings 17;8-16, 1 Kings 18: 16-40, 2 Kings 2: 1-14

Literature- Little House ch.9, 10 and 11. Aesop 4 stories

Science- p.7, p. 8, p. 10-.5 of 11, p. rest of 11 and 12

Writing- Your choice, a letter to Daddy or Momma, the best thing that happened this week, prayers and goals for the future

Lesson Languages- 1 lesson

Copywork- Spelling or character copy work

Math-Oral textbook, Real objects, textbook lesson on own, enrichment with baking(everyone measure something for a baked good)

Kayla-Rays intellectual-p.48 XXII and XXIII…..2 lessons a week, orally and then written on day 2, orally then written on Day 4 (Guide p.82 week 1) Manipulatives if needed

Wyatt and Everett-Rays Primary p.44 Guide(p.48 week 5)

Reading-Kayla: Flicka. Wyatt and Everett: Beginners Bible.

Read A-Loud to little ones- Their choice

Lesson Languages with Tanner- 2-3 lessons a week.



Special Things:

Day 3- craft p. 12 straw hats

Day 4-Little House Cookbook-Ch.2

-Nature Notebook….Take notebooks to Lake Gregory and draw/write about a duck/bird/whatever







Week 3

Scripture CD-Track 4

Geography CD-Track 27

Bible- 2 Kings 4:1-7, 2 Kings 4:18-17 and Bible facts 44-45, 2 Kings 5: 1-14, 2 Kings 22 and Bible facts 42-43

Literature- Little House ch.12 and 13. Prairie Ch. 1 Aesop 4 stories

Science- p.13, p. 14, p. 15, p. 18

Writing- Your choice, a letter to Daddy or Momma, the best thing that happened this week, prayers and goals for the future

Lesson Languages- 1 lesson

Copywork- Spelling or character copy work

Math-Oral textbook, Real objects, textbook lesson on own, enrichment with baking(everyone measure something for a baked good)

Kayla-Rays intellectual-p.51 XXIV and XXV…..2 lessons a week, orally and then written on day 2, orally then written on Day 4 (Guide p.82 week 1) Manipulatives if needed

Wyatt and Everett-Rays Primary p.45 Guide(p.48 week 6)

Reading-Kayla: Flicka. Wyatt and Everett: Beginners Bible.

Read A-Loud to little ones- Their choice

Lesson Languages with Tanner- 2-3 lessons a week.



Special Things:

Day 3- Draw and write facts, (weight and size and compare to another object), about your favorite dinosaur studied thus far.

Day 4-Little House Cookbook-Ch.3,make a menu and grocery list for all recipes we want to try

-Nature Notebook….Take notebooks to Grass Valley Lake

Week 4

Scripture CD-Track 4

Geography CD-Track 28

Bible- Daniel 1 and Bible facts 48-49, Daniel 3 and Bible facts 46-47; 24, Daniel 6 and Bible facts 52-53, Jonah 1, 2: 10, 3 and Bible facts p. 54-55

Literature- Prairie Ch. 2, 3, and 4 Aesop 4 stories

Science- p.19, p.20-21, p. 22-23, p.24

Writing- Your choice, a letter to Daddy or Momma, the best thing that happened this week, prayers and goals for the future

Lesson Languages- 1 lesson

Copywork- Spelling or character copy work

Math-Oral textbook, Real objects, textbook lesson on own, enrichment with baking(everyone measure something for a baked good)

Kayla-Rays intellectual-p.54 XXVI and XXVII…..2 lessons a week, orally and then written on day 2, orally then written on Day 4 (Guide p.82 week 1) Manipulatives if needed

Wyatt and Everett-Rays Primary p.46 XLIII Guide(p.48 week 7)

Reading-Kayla: Flicka. Wyatt and Everett: Beginners Bible.

Read A-Loud to little ones- Their choice

Lesson Languages with Tanner- 2-3 lessons a week.



Special Things:

Day 2- Craft, Ma’s Willow broom

Day 3- Play telephone from Rays teacher Guide, p.178(call home and cell actually using numbers from memory)

Day 4-Little House Cookbook-Ch.4,make a menu and grocery list for all recipes we want to try. Kids cook during week.

-Nature Notebook….go to a local park



Week 5

Scripture CD-Track 5

Geography CD-Track 29

Bible- Luke 1:26-38 and Bible facts 56-57, Luke 2: 1-7, Luke 2: 8-20, Luke 2: 21-38

Literature- Prairie ch. 5, 6 and 7 and Aesop 4 stories

Science- p.25, p.26, p.27, p.28

Writing- Your choice, a letter to Daddy or Momma, the best thing that happened this week, prayers and goals for the future

Lesson Languages- 1 lesson

Copywork- Spelling or character copy work

Math-Oral textbook, Real objects, textbook lesson on own, enrichment with baking(everyone measure something for a baked good)

Kayla-Rays intellectual-p.56 XXVIII and XXIX…..2 lessons a week, orally and then written on day 2, orally then written on Day 4 (Guide p.82 week 1) Manipulatives if needed

Wyatt and Everett-Rays Primary p.56 LII Guide(p.48 week 8)

Reading-Kayla: Flicka. Wyatt and Everett: Beginners Bible.

Read A-Loud to little ones- Their choice

Lesson Languages with Tanner- 2-3 lessons a week.



Special Things:

Day 2- embroidery from craft book

Day 3- Draw our house with our address on it. Try to memorize address.

Day 4-Little House Cookbook-Ch.5, make a menu and grocery list for all recipes we want to try. Kids cook during week

-Nature Notebook….take a walk anywhere, even in yard

About That Consistency

We are maintaining a perfect balance with church. We go almost every Sunday and to occasional other activities and BBQ's they offer. Its going so well. The kids have lots of friends there from our home school group and we have settled nicely. I am still having my quiet time each morning with God, waking about 30-60 minutes before the kids and its really improved my life in unexpected ways. I never knew how important that exchange of burdens for strength and counting of blessings really could do for a person each day. I cannot imagine I will ever stop my quiet time. Having that personal relationship my father in heaven means so much to me and my sanity. It allows me time to think, reflect, appreciate, cry, and pray for my family and friends as well as myself and my needs and weaknesses. I am on day 30 of the 90 day devotional book, Becoming the Woman God Wants me to Be by Donna Partow. Chorepacks are WONDERFUL, Heaven sent......love them! Those will be going no where, I repeat, no where. Now for homeschool; we have completed week 6 of Sonlight, but-yes I know here comes the but..... Nate and I have been rereading the Moore's books together (School Can Wait, Better Late than Early and The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook). What does this mean? Well, we just aren't fully convinced our kids should be summonsed to 3-4 hours a day of "school." We have never believed that, but with the trouble with the school district, we became worried and purchased a complete curriculum. Of course we are enjoying the Cd's, Bible, and we have read way ahead on the literature books. The Child's History of the World wins the WORST history book award though. That book is horrific. You are much better off with story of the world or something else. We love doing cool science experiments and working together with different things or adding neat projects to some of the books. The problem is there are a lot of books going at once and some are plain boring. Trying to keep up with the busyness of Usborne History of the World also isn't my favorite and I loose the kids with it everyday. I feel I start reading in vain with certain books. We have decided to throw out the idea of the curriculum and go back to basically unschooling. We enjoy having a block of time each day to read til our hearts are content with no limitations knowing that we have to stop a book we love for several we dread. Its so fun to play/work informally together on projects we come up with and being creative together. The nice thing is that Sonlight has provided us soooo many great books to choose from, great science projects to play around with and Dinosaur books that captivate the boys. The CDs, the kids love so much, they are accidentally learning scripture and memorizing continents and countries that even I have no clue about with our geography song CD. There are so many great resources from Sonlight that while we will not stick with their schedule any longer, we will certainly enjoy the many great resources we have from them. Our family just cannot and will not be slaves to any curriculum. It doesn't work well and we all burn out. This is our fourth or fifth time now in 5 years of homeshooling that we panicked and tried a curriculum for a short stint only to realize that it 'just aint gonna work.' We are using Rays Arithmetic to casually do math. Its great, just a few word problems each day that are very real-life based and only takes a few minutes each day. Despite not using much math curriculum ever, my kids are VERY quick and accurate adders and subtracters. language arts and spelling have been very gentle, using queen homeschool's lesson languages which take 5 minutes a day tops. They have character building, beautiful copywork books with neat quotes and poems and beautiful pictures and they do these because they enjoy them, they are not forced. We also LOVE being outdoors and studying nature. I recently purchased Karen Andreolas book, Pocketful of Pinecones for enthusiasm and ideas for nature walks. The kids are still young and things should remain gentle and fun and allow for each of their God-given talents and abilities to be nurtured. I will certainly keep a log of our adventures, basically a diary I will write in each night for a keepsake/document for my kids in the future as well as authorities if our homeschooling were ever put in question again. Our local old schoolhouse is doing really neat nature activities each Wednesday night we will be attending for the summer along with the summer program at the library, free summer concerts at the park and free days at the local museum and lots of camping. Our first camping trip of the season last week was amazing! We had so much fun.

Homeschooling Not Legal in Ca, Say WHAT?

I cannot even decide where to begin this story. Long story short.....the school district came after us and has been fighting us tooth and nail over homeschooling, telling us we are not legal to homeschool via a private school affidavit. They have been sending truancy notices and calling nonstop, all of which I was ignoring. Finally, I called in to tell them to stop it and the reply was terrifying. The woman said the district was taking us to court. My husband spoke with her, trying to give her the correct ed codes that stated we ARE legal to homeschool via an affidavit and its against policy for them to ask what curriculum we use. She ended up calling Nate's work and filing a FALSE report that stated that he threatened her. This whole thing has been so stressful. I am not faring well. The stress is magnifying my nausea and puking. I ended up talking to California Homeschool Network as well as Homeschool Legal Defense Association and California Homeschool Association. They ALL advised me that we WERE indeed legal and California Homeschool Network immediately went to work to fight the case with their lawyers on our behalf and we aren't even members there! How amazing is their network? I sent the district this letter: "I contacted the superintendant this morning regarding the truancy issues and she was very sweet. She had to run to several meetings and had her secretary call me to let me know someone would be in contact with me tomorrow. I have now contacted HSLDA(Homeschool Legal Defense Association) who we are members of and they should be in contact with your district within the week or so. I have also contacted California Homeschool Association as well as California Homeschool Network and everyone has stated we are legal to homeschool via our affidavit #86284. They are all ready to help in fighting this battle. We are going to take this to the newspapers by weeks end if it is not resolved. I have also spoken with George Olive as well as David Cauperude from CDE and both stated a private school affidavit can legally be filed anytime between Oct 1 and May 31, but filing after Oct 15th simply makes you a late filer, however, still a legal homeschooler. They confirmed this for me via the CDE Legal Dept. Many cases similar to this have been fought by HSLDA and no district in the history has ever won so if you want to continue to fight my legal parental rights to homeschool, it will be done so very publically. I am even going to contact local newstations to get VERY good media coverage on this because YCJUSD is in the wrong and overstepping our parental rights. Please let me know which further action your district plans to take. We plan to fight this all the way via HSLDA lawyers as well as our personal lawyer, Richard Goulding. We have been advised that we do not have to attend a SARB meeting as it is NOT a legal supeona, nor will we sign anything as our students are not truant. They are homeschooled by loving parents who have their best interests at heart. I have my teaching credentials as well so I know my children are receiving a well rounded education. I hope this matter can be resolved professionally and quickly so it does not need to become a legal/court/media battle. What has happened with Garnet was absolutely unprofessional and will reflect your district in the media as she made those calls to authorities of false accusations during her work hours on district phones. So please keep all issues in consideration as your district decides what steps to move forward with. Thus far, Patricia Garnet has portrayed your district in a very hillbilly like fashion. The CDE personel has even complained, stating that she is VERY unprofessional and unpleasant saying that they felt she has a personal agenda against our family as well. George Olive in particular said that she called him and didn't like hearing what he had to say(that our family IS legal to homeschool via an affidavit) so she twisted his words and tried to continue her agenda and he became tired of arguing with her. This is NOT reflecting well on your district at all. Again, I just would prefer a quick resolve to be left alone to do what I am legally allowed to, homeschool my children in peace. Thanks very much, Janis ______ " Well, good news.....as of yesterday morning the district backed down. They told me that they were in the wrong and were sorry for any trouble they caused. Apparently districts are getting very desperate for money so homeschoolers beware! Though I am happy we won, I am still very stressed about Nate being accused of threatening this woman and he most definately did not. We are taking her to court and sueing her for personal damages against a deputy. Most of these cases win around 5,000 because this false report, whether proven false or not, will be a permanent part of his police record now. Very upsetting. Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers. Its just been a hard week.

Unschool Pizazz

This is a sample of what I am about to talk about.

Here is another sample, this one is for math, 9's X tables

As unschoolerish/eclectic homeschoolers, I am always looking for new ways to engage the kids and to keep somewhat of a portfolio or record of my kids' learning accomplishments. I have done a lot of reading about Montessori and Waldorf lately. I have taken many ideas from both. The biggie is that I wanted to get my living room set up more condusive to learning. I will post pics after I finish rearranging it. I bought all those new things on Amazon(mentioned in my last blog post) as they were all different suggestions from Montessori and Waldorf websites. The neatest discovery I made though was on a Waldorf website. They have the kids do a main lesson block(read-very fun and short learning period that is still able to be interested led-at least the way I will do it) and what they do is read some on day 1, have the kids draw with beautiful beeswax crayons or paint or cook or build something from the reading. Then, the next day they write about it. You then repeat for day 3 and 4. In the end, they end up with a beautiful book (they are heavy duty white paper spiral bound and I bought them all from Paper Scissors Stone you can find them under main lesson books. You can use 1 per child per trimester or quarter. I bought quite a few to last me. Your kids can even do math concepts in these books and it becomes a REALLY beautiful keepsake. I currently use a huge 3 ring binger with dividers and I grab things up after they have made them or pictures they doodled, almost everything my kids make, I find so much beauty in and I keep it all. I have it all in my binder right now, but I feel this would be an even neater way to keep a portfolio of their work. I also purchased rubber cement glue for things they do outside of the book that I still want displayed in it. These are going to be really awesome. It really lends to our kind of homeschooling. You can even treat these like scrapbooks and add pictures of the kids doing Yoga to their new Yoga DVD or what have you. I will definately post some pics of our books as we get everything we ordered and get them up and filling in!  The toys Waldorf schools suggest are wooden and open ended things like the playsilks I bought. I have always taken bits and peices from Waldorf sites and tried to adhere to wooden toys, though we do have many plastic. I do keep away from *most battery toys though. There are some that are just too cute to pass up and still offer some kind of creative play like remote control cars or push toys for babies that have lights on them. I mostly dispise battery toys because of the constant cost and their often very breakable with no open ended play, basicaly doing one thing only. I bought quite a few new wooden toys yesterday too though to add to ours. I will display everything in the living room on a bookshelf. The top of this low bookshelf will be our seasonal nature table. I am just really excited to give our homeschool a new energy or face lift. Its not going to be much different from what we already do, just some added pizazz and I think we all have the winter hum drums and we need that. There will also be a plastic 3 drawer dresser thing that will have every craft supply imaginable in it for the kids. It will have Mexican Pottery clay, construction paper, scraps, foil, buttons, colored pencils, water colors, yarn, wool, crochet hooks, knitting looms, all sorts of things for handiwork. My kids are huge fans of any and all types of handiwork and I think this will better concentrate their efforts while SoCal continues to be soggy from rain so that they are not sitting around fighting. There are some basics about Waldorf I do not agree with so I will just skip those. These things are no plastic toys, no battery toys, no tv, no computers, the list goes on. This is extreme and I believe children learn so much from so many things that I would not limit my kids to such a narrow way of living. The world is theirs for the taking so I want them exposed to as much of it as possible. Its really fun to dabble from different homeschooling theories though and take the parts of it that you love. While I love child-led learning, I do not love radical unschooling. I saw my kids turn into parent controlling monsters who watched tv all day, ate candy til their teeth started rotting and had no respect for other adults beyond Nate and I. We live and learn and grow and thankfully with homeschooling, we can adjust and tweek our homeschools until they are a sanctuary for us to all live in harmony.

Church Talent Show

Our Church held their annual talent show Sunday evening. It was so much fun. There were 18 acts, 3 included my kids:) Kayla sang her favorite Hannah Montana song, "Every Part of Me" and Wyatt told jokes*(he was hilarious!) Towards the end, they took all the primary aged kids to sing a fun church song so all my kids participated in that. Grandparents came and it turned into a nice evening. Afterwards everyone commented on the guts of Kayla to just go up there and sing so beautifully acappella and Wyatt for being so confident as well. I thought about that a lot and by the time we got to Domino's for pizza, I looked at Nate and told him that I thought I knew why our children were confident. He looked dumbfounded as it wasn't something he gave much thought. I can tell you I would have NEVER stood alone in a church full and sang alone like Kayla. I wasn't shy either, I just wouldn't have done it. I think the reason why is because us institutionalized folks were embarrassed so many times by 2-4th grade from reading aloud and messing up or not knowing an answer when called on that none of us had much confidence left by that point. Our kids aren't institutionalized, therefore, their self esteem is still completely in tact and I am so proud of that and glad for them.

For Those Living in Fear of Unschooling

.....but who would like to try it out, Better Late than Early and School Can Wait are two books I highly recommend with studies that show all the negative impacts of early education. It really challenges you to think differently about "preschool" and other early learning programs which were originally only designed for poor children or parents who couldn't provide their child a good homelife. These books will help you relax long enough for your children to show you that they CAN and WILL acquire all the needed skills to succeed academically in their lives. The Moores suggest no formal schooling for boys until 10-12 and girls 8-10. I am of course an unschooler, however, these books are great starting points for someone interested in unschooling but too scared to jump right in. During my times of fear, I clung and still sometimes cling to the knowledge contained within these because I can reassure myself that my kids aren't even of age to be considered for learning academics according to the Moores. This site is also one of my favs, thought I would pass it along. http://www.christian-unschooling.com/

Winter Wonderland

Out my kitchen window. I feel so blessed!

Our Rain-O-Meter sorry pic is sideways lol

Jersey, my horsey

Dandy getting ready to eat
Pixie(Nate's horse)

Going out to feed the horses

Sandy

Ringo playin in the snow(these pictures were all taken this morning and we have since had 4 or so more inches with it snowing very hard again right now)

Its so neat to be unschooling in such crazy weather this week. We have been able to have a blast with it. As most know, California has gotten a batch of the crazies for weather this week, tornado's, 2-4 inches of rain each day with 70mph wind speeds and tons of snow in low elevations. We are really enjoying it because its not something we get to see all the time. Snow is usually only a few times a year where we live. On Monday we made snowflakes and hung them all over our dining room window and put winter wishes on them. They have snow, hot chocolate, stay healthy, live in gratitude and J-O-Y(Jesus first, others second, yourself last), etc. Well, their wishes are being manifested right before our eyes. We have so much snow, its incredible. It is still pouring snow as I type. Anyhow, backing up to Monday, we ended up finishing out morning by making snowflake tortillas and frying them and putting powdered sugar on them for breakfast mmm. Then we got curious since we knew we had a whole 9 day forecast loaded with big rain, about how to measure it for ourselves. Well, we went online and made a rain-O-meter. We have been able to track our precipitation each day. Wyatt added it up for a total today (5 days into these storms) and we have gotten 5.35 inches thus far. Kayla averaged the temps for the week thus far, coming up with 40. The week started warmish(48) and its currently 38 today. Life is learning, learning is living and we choose to live our lives in a deep gratitude for each new thing. Seeing 6 beaming little faces from ear to ear this morning when they saw everything white outside, nearly melted my heart in joy for my life. I am one lucky mama.

Unschooling Religion

I think we are finally able to really call ourselves "whole life unschoolers" or "radical unschoolers" since we are no longer planning to force church(the last aspect we are finally letting go of). I have been reading a lot of books lately, I mean A LOT! They have been all unschooling or peaceful parenting related and the more I read, the more my thoughts have been swayed to believe that religion and radical unschooling really don't go together. This go round at the LDS church hasn't gone like I expected. My kids quickly embraced all their friends, but they have simply not embraced the church part of it. They hate sacrament and show disrespect during it no matter how many pleas I make and really I don't want kids who comply with something like this if they are truly not enjoying it. I am realizing that in order to really continue following unconditional/peaceful/authentic parenting, I cannot force my kids to go to church and if they do not want to go, I don't really have much desire either especially watching their distaste and Nate sleeping in the pew. The next order of business is Nate who has always jokingly called himself a "Natist" when it comes to religion. He is not into the lovey dovey parts of religion and it has always made him uncomfortable. I guess religion is something I have always searched for because its something I feel society expects of us and our homeschool group is uber religious as well, but I just don't know if its right for us at this time. I read my Bible and of course I believe in God, but for us, for our family, I think we need to give up organized religion. It feels wrong even though we are told it is right. Its inspirational and very moving many times, but something deep inside me feels it isn't right for us. Maybe this is why we searched out so many churchs, I was looking for somewhere that made us comfortable when in the end, none of them did because its not right for our family. My kids know who Jesus is and we talk lots and pray lots together, however, I just think our family has had a few interesting/annoying/hilarious/uncomfortable years in and our of different church's and many aspects of the Christian faith. I think my kids have had an amazing experience getting to pick out different church's to try, but ultimately, none of us can stand anywhere we go. The "teaching" for kids in church is so undermining of who my children are and they are smart little cookies because they complain incessantly about how the teachers talk to them like they are their pets or two year olds or something. They are quick to pick up on stuff like this because that isn't how we treat them. My kids are used to being respected as an equal, not some unknowing babies or dogs awaiting training so I believe this part of our lives makes church very hard on the kids. I think radical unschooling and institutional church settings just are not mixing well. Nate says we are naturists and we believe in nature and God and that's it. lol, who knows, but its funny to think about. I hate letting church friends down by not being able to commit to it all, but ultimately our family isn't going to work out in any church I don't think. That's alright though and I have really begun coming to terms with that being a high possibility over the past year. Some good books I have read lately that have helped me in my thinking about anything institutional including church are:

• Unconditional Parenting
• Learning All the Time
• Homeschooling our Children, Unschooling Ourselves
• The Happy Child: Changing the Heart of Education

A Day in Our Lives

This was from Friday last week. I just enjoy posting a day in our lives on ocassion for others intersting in unschooling to see what an unschooling day might look like. Each day is completely different, though the rise and falls or routines are generally similiar, activities change daily. Please trust me when I say this, NOT all days(probably most) will not have this much schooly stuff in them.

• Woke up
• fed horses and chickens
• Wyatt(all on his own free will) decided to scroll through his math book and find multiplication(he is "2nd grade") and he did 2 pages unassisted and has never been formally introduced to it ever.
• Wyatt, Everett and Tanner played with our +/- flash cards, quizzing each other for 30 minutes +(I actually stopped them because we had things to do)
• Kayla sat down and wrote a story about a beautiful picture and what she thought was going on in it(she is "4th grade) she loves reading and writing
• We then went out and washed the horses
• Tanner and Wyatt then made me quiz them on those same+/- flash cards(these are new from the $store so thats why all the begging for them this particular day lol....they arent nOrmally this schoolish)
• Kayla read her story to everyone that she wrote earlier that day
• I read Mirette on a High Wire and lightly touched on boasting, France and Hollywood(just normal book discussion)
• Kayla made Kenna a card for her bday
• Wyatt and Everett read a few words here and there from this book they enjoy together
• Tanner and I made lemon brownies
• Tanner helped me make Mac and Cheese(this 4 yr can cook haha)
• Kayla sewed Kenna a beautiful baby doll(filled it with stuffing and everything all on her own) for Kenna's bday present
• Kayla helped Tanner sew a pillow
• The other boys hung out outside and played basketball during the afternoon and they periodically watched TV(we have no limits on TV or bed)
• Everyone had dinner, prayers, showers and some tv until they passed out on the couch and the others slowly straggled off to bed.

Thats an averege day here I suppose, though no day is really average haha.Somedays, anything "schoolish" is so transparent that I have found peace of mind by keeping a daily notebook of what happens all day and I love being a good observer because I have learned so much about my kids and taking notes has helped me to help introduce them to ever more new things that might interest them because I know their individual interests better. When we did that Abeka curriculum(bought at the kids request, but pushed a few extra weeks on them because of the $ I spent), I really thought I was doing the "right" thing because they wanted it and it costed a lot and I felt I should push them to follow through, but I now know this is truly the most peaceful and wonderful way for our family to homeschool. Learning is living and living is learning. Have you read any unschooling books? I think I have close to all them ever written hehe! I am addicted to buying unschooling books because I have learned that they really inspire me everytime I get into a rut or start feeling down or worried that my kids arent doing what so and so's kids are doing. Those worries die out most of the time, but ocassionally they do come back.

AWESOME website for Christian mamas Looking for Peaceful Parenting Options

http://www.aolff.org/ There are a few things on the site that I dont fully agree with, but in general, this is an amazing intro to peaceful parenting with step by step how to instructions. I really love this site. Radical Unschooling is truly a peaceful way to live. I love peaceful parenting and yes, I am human, I DO resort to punitive parenting on occassion when I am exhausted, hungry, sick, etc. Usually it is at my weakest moments, but a wise woman(Dayna Martin) once told me, "If you are the parent you want to be 51% of the time, you are winning!" I love that and its so true and helps me to be gently on myself when I do make mistakes. I always apologize and I find these mistakes get less and less, the longer you peaceful parent. I have never been a spanker, but I did use punitive parenting the first 5 years of being a mother as I knew no other way. I am so grateful to have found a better way.

Building Family

We are a family that loves to make and create and build things. Playing legos isnt too childish for Nate and I. Just check out the lego/block world Nate and the kids created together!

Learning Through Play

Kenna was so proud of herself that she stacked 3 cans together(she later added her Ba-ba to the very top)

Seeing things like this is pretty normal when it comes to small children, so why do we believe at a certain age that uneeded material should be crammed into kids' brains for their own good? Learning doesnt stop because a child has been deemed "of age" for the "institution" by some politicians. When you learn something you dont need, how long do you retain it? Food for thought!

A Day in the Life of a Radical Unschooling Family

As we are getting much more serious about being complete unschoolers and continuing with peaceful parenting, I felt like documenting an entire day would help Nate and I see exactly how much our kids are learning through the day. Yesterday was a pretty typical day off with Nate, minus the birthday stuff of course. We had so much fun. Our family gets along so well and its just a blast to live a relaxed and happy life. Each day is different and new things come along. Today, Tanner and Kayla went grocery shopping with me. They each got a list and were responsible for getting the items on it including price checking, weighing and measuring fruits and veggies and checking ounces and pounds for the best bargains. They have been begging to "help" me shop like this and I was excited to actually put it into action. It took a tad longer than normal, but so what, it turned a CHORE(I am not a grocery shopping fan haha) into a ton of fun and learning. What math curriculum teaches comparison shopping?

We started the day with Tanner waking up to his birthday gifts from Nate and I. He got a big boy booster seat now that he has reached 4 and 40 pounds as well as some lincoln logs because Tanner loves building toys.
Kayla, Tanner and Everett building the log house
And WALA they did it. How brilliant
They followed the plans exactly and it turned out just right.

Everett helping me cook Tanner's birthday breakfast(sausages in biscuits) to dip in apple butter. This is an old family favorite.

After breakfast, Wyatt asked me to help read a bunch of his Spongebob books to him.

Next Wyatt and I measured out the 2 teaspoons of Motrin he needed for pain relief from his ear ache. Poor boy hasnt been feeling so hot.

They all decided to watch some PBS kids(free tv lol) while I worked out. Note the closed captioning we have on. They actually love it and I swear the boys are picking up reading in just the week we have had it on. They are suddenly accidently spelling and reading signs and other strange things that I never expected. Its funny and they are really excited and asked me to always leave CC on.

Me getting in my morning work out. (no, my Pj's arent modest, just ignore them)

Wyatt decided to go shoot some hoops since the motrin kicked in and he was feeling a little better.

I peaceful parent yes, but we do this weekly and the kids love it and do it joyfully because they know mommy needs some help and can't clean everything alone. I dont specifically make them do it at any certain time. They just seem to do it when it works for them which usually falls in late afternoon when I am cleaning. They are such sweet kids though, they will always lend me a hand when I need other things during the day as well.

Kayla is my animal lover, she enjoys checking the chickens each morning to collect the eggs and her and Everett help each other feed and water them. This is something I have never ever asked them to do. Those two just adopted this as something they love and they do it. I beleive they do it joyfully because they were never forced.

Everett decided to grab his books we got from the library the other day and read and check out the cool pictures of dinosaurs, his latest love.

Everett found the rock making kit in the fun closet and told me he wanted to do them so he grabbed the picnic table and he worked smarter, not harder lol. He put it on the trike and drug it to the perfect spot.

The kids doing their rock art. Wyatt went inside to watch TV and rest because of his ear.

Everett's

Tanner's

Kayla's(she found a heart shaped rock, very cool)

Everett then ran off to go on webkinz. They all love Webkinz and we own too many to count. I actually really love Webkinz too. They learn so much about consumer math, taking care of a pet, reading, typing, etc.

Here is Wyatt resting, watching TV

It was a cute show about recycling. The CC says, "they picked up your trash and dropped it off." This show actually tied in so well with them just having gone to the dump a few days ago, it was kinda funny that it ended up what he watched.

On our way to go hiking and fishing. We stopped at the grocery store and while Nate ran in to buy Cheese puffs and waters to go with our picnic lunch, we read from Farmer Boy.

The view in the car, driving the long dirt road to the new spot Nate found to fish, hike and shoot.

Having our dirt picnic before our hiking/biking. We sat and just listened to all the birds and enjoyed the quiet and desolation.

The kids riding their bikes to the big damn to go fish.

We made it to the dam. It was such a sight. It struck up lots of conversation about dams and how they are built from different materials. I think the kids will probably even want to try making their own.

Nate Shooting the BB gun

Checking out the river that flows into the damn

Nate trying to catch a fishy, but the kids kept wading in the water(yes, it was that warm! I LOVE CA in the winter)

Kayla is getting a really good aim, she shot the water bottle that Nate hung from a tree branch almost every time.

Even Tanner hit the target a few times.

Everett begs to shoot constantly, its definately a passion of his.

Nate helping Wyatt

The entire way along this dirt road, we saw random balloons and we were all laughing about it being a balloon graveyard. The mountains is where all those balloons go that get let go of ya know so hang on to your balloons so you dont pollute! This one was a "Happy New Years" one. We collected the trash and took it home to the garbage.

We got home and ate some pizza and then family came to celebrate Tanner's 4th birthday!

My mother in law made this tasty cake.

I guess Kayla snuck off later in a spare moment during the day and made this rock pal for Tanner's birthday. I thought that was so thoughtful and sweet of her.

Grandpa and Nana got him a really cool truck

and movie

Tanner making his wishIt was his idea to shove his face in the cake haha.

He also got this really awesome Matchbox car pop up station. It folds into a book size case.

Then everyone took baths

After baths, everyone layed down on the couches to veg and watch a little TV before drowsily heading off to bed. I dont impose a bedtime, they just sorta go around 7:30-8:30ish.

I hope you enjoyed living a day in our lives. I know we sure did!