It's Noon

So far this morning, I've read to the boys while they ate Cream of Wheat & toast and laughed uncontrollably (from this book which I got from the library a couple weeks ago in preparation for our current chapter of history), the boys have all played outside for about half an hour (it was too chilly from last night's storm to play longer, they said), we've played a rollicking game of Monopoly, Jr., Jonathan has made several inventions using a book called 101.3 Ways to Create Imaginative Solutions), the boys have taken turns making pizzas out of each other (inspired by this book, which they read at Goodneighbor Meg's last Saturday), Jonathan has created 10 more flashcards for his Matoran language collection, and they've watched a Backyardigans video while I whipped up some avocado/tomato/corn/black & garbonzo bean/cilantro/jalapeno/garlic dip.

Busy, busy.

Monday

We've spent the majority of the day outside playing. It's such nice weather, not too hot, yet, and it's just gorgeous outside with everything blooming and the leaves unfurling. The boys have been running all over the yard and up in the woods, swinging on our little playground and playing at the artesian well. They came in for lunch and hung out indoors for a few hours later in the afternoon, but otherwise have been outside all day.

When Jonathan was inside, he looked at a gardening book and started asking about whether we would garden this year. Our past efforts have been unsuccessful because of the deer and raccoons and other critters who like to eat the fruits of our labors, but I think we'll try again this year. He was getting pretty excited at the prospect, and it will be fun to try working together on a plan. He's making a list of veggies he wants to try growing. We've already begun a little herb garden in a container on the porch. I think we'll try doing an inverted tomato plant or two, as well.

Jenga & India

We've been playing lots of games this week and Friday I tapped my surprise closet for a new game I've had stashed since Christmas, Jenga! We had fun balancing and strategizing together, but after a few games, the boys found other uses for the Jenga blocks:


And then for dinner Friday evening, we wrapped up a week of studying the Mughal Empire by making some dal and chapati. Easy and delicious. It went over really well with all the boys, though Benjamen wasn't as enthusiastic as his brothers. He liked the chapati especially well, though, carbaholic that he is.

Day 3

Today was our third day of deschooling and the first day that Jonathan didn't ask to do any of the studies we had been pursuing previously.

We spent all day playing outside, doing some gardening, playing catch, hiking in the woods, visiting with Goodneighbor Meg, making pizza, playing cards, watching movies, and playing with Bionicles. Now he's in bed making his own optical illusion flag and re-reading his mushroom book for the party on Saturday (there's to be a mushroom hunt in the woods surrounding the farm).

It was a beautiful day.

Quote

Yesterday, Jonathan Peter was looking at his Way Things Work book, and came across a page about flying machines. Different airplanes were shown and, for comedic effect, there was a fellow with feathers glued to his arms falling out of the sky, trailing feathers beind him.

JP: "That must be Dedalus' son, Icarus!"

Me: ::heart explodes::

~~~~~

This morning Jonathan asked if we could do pre-algebra today instead of the Saxon math he'd been working through, so I sat down with him and told him that he didn't have to ask me what he could or couldn't do with regard to his studies. I told him that he doesn't even need to tell me what he wants to do, unless he wants help with something or wants me to sit down with him and help in some way.

"It's all up to you, now. All of it."

He decided he does want to finish the Saxon book (we have about 15 lessons left to complete the book), and that he'd like to alternate the Saxon lessons with the pre-algebra.

"OK, but if you change your mind, that's fine, too."

I feel so much better about everything, and I can see that he does, too. There'll be no more conflict over this stuff anymore. I'm heaving a huge sigh of relief.

Good Day

We had a great day. The boys played outside in the yard quite a bit while I did some raking (the boys helped, too). A woman from the next road over heard us carrying on outside and drove up with her little boy to say hi. We had an impromptu playdate and scheduled another for next week after the little boy gets out of school.

We had a picnic lunch outside and then Goodneighbor Meg came over with some bubble gifties for the boys. They played with those for a good while out on the deck. Afterward, we went for a walk around the mountain and trekked through a swamp to take a shortcut back home. When we finally made it back, we had snacks and then Jonathan asked to do our next grammar lesson (we only have 4 more lessons until we're done with the book, so that may have been the impetus behind the request). I made sure he understood we didn't have to and then we had a pretty fun lesson wherein I followed the instructions as he read them from a paper he wrote last week on how to make toast (he chose the topic).

Afterward we tidied up a bit and then started preparing for our stargazing session. I made some tea and we gathered together our supplies for our stargazing bag (adding trail mix, the tea, and some star charts to the book, binoculars, and flashlight that were already in there) and then Jonathan looked up some additional star charts and read a section on stargazing. We also got some new books in the mail today and he got lost first in a visual puzzle book and then in an intoductory algebra book in comic format.

When Papa got home, he set up the telescope and the boys have been out there with him for the last hour.

Fun, fun.

Unschooling

I think I've always been an unschooler at heart. I believe in the principles, and they resonate with me deeply. It's something I've always wished to do, and it's something that I've convinced myself I was doing, even though I really wasn't. I've moved farther and farther away from it in the last few years, and I want it back.

But I think I lack an unschooler's character or personality. There's something in me (fear, most likely) that makes me want to feel some control over what the boys are learning. I feel that it's wrong, but it's a powerful force that I haven't been able to master. I can see that it's at the root of many problems and has caused much conflict between the boys and I. But now I see Jonathan pulling back from things he once revelled in, and I see that he dislikes things solely because I've introduced them or had an agenda regarding them.

Obviously, that has to stop. He used to love learning for its own sake. He used to love to learn about anything. I want that back for him. I can't be the person who got in his way. I won't be the person who caused him to change from a child who loved nothing better than to talk about dinosaurs (until my ears bled), or fill out multiplication charts, or sit in a chair and read for hours on end, or study maps until his eyes crossed, into a child who groans when I pull out the math book, or, worse, stifles his groan only because he knows it makes me cross.

So today, we begin the process of deschooling.

It's never too late. That's my fervent hope...that I haven't done too much damage, yet.