Guitar Lessons

Lyric and Story started guitar lessons today.  This will be Story's second year taking them.  She's in the advanced class.  

Lyric is in the beginner class.  She was not too thrilled about using Story's pink guitar, but wants to make sure she likes it before getting her own.

 

(Lyric made this cute collage with the PicCollage app)

They Can't Learn Anything From TV!

Today Lyric, Story, Coda and I went shopping.  Cadence wasn't feeling very well, so she stayed home with Devon.  She got some Dots candy when we went Trick or Treating.  They reminded her of one of her favorite Magic School Bus episodes.  Ms Frizzle and the kids made a bridge from Dots, toothpicks and popsicle sticks.

With a little help from Daddy she made her own :-)

I Love Unschooling!

I know I've said it before, but I love Unschooling! Almost every day my kids do or say something that shows me we've made the right decision for our family.
Story NEVER uses punctuation! I think it's kind of a defiance thing for her, "You're supposed to do this - well, I'm not going to!" It drives Lyric crazy! She tells her all the time that she needs to use punctuation, but I rarely bring it up unless I'm telling her I can't read something she has written.
I recently found a Facebook page set up for homeschoolers to find pen pals.  Lyric and Story both found their first pen pal.
Story wrote her letter today.  She sat down to write it and said, "Mama, will you help me with the punctuation?  I want her to know what I'm trying to say."
There was no arguing or fighting about how important punctuation is, but when it was important to her she decided to use it:-)

Leaning Differences

I love, love, love Unschooling!  It is so much fun watching the girls learn.  We are going camping this weekend and today Lyric and Story decided to make a list of things they wanted to take with them.  They started out with Lyric writing.  Lyric can read just about anything put in front of her, but she struggles with spelling.  So, she was just putting the first letter of the words on their list.  For example, they wanted to put stuffed animals-- she put SA.  Their list had about ten things on it, but when they looked back to read over what they had on the list... they discovered they didn't remember what the letters stood for:-(

Story decided to make her own list.  Here is what she wrote:

1. stofd anumol- stuffed animal
2. storys sleiping bagg- Story's sleeping bag
3. hot chocolit- hot chocolate
4. anomll blanckt- animal blanket
5. hat
6. frisbe and bol- frisbee and ball
7. bike and hellmit- bike and helmet
8. cheir-chair
9. spareckolrs-sparklers
10. care snaks- car snacks
11. gieinei pig- guinea pig
12. toothbrosh and icsesurs- toothbrush and accessories

Story has been reading for a very short time, but she's actually a pretty good speller.  She sounds everything out!  Phonics is a huge part of her reading.  But Lyric on the other hand doesn't use phonics at all.  She has never been one to sound out the words.  She has also never struggled with reading.  She just started reading on her own and has never looked back.  I often wonder if phonics had been pushed on her if she would have had trouble learning to read...  For us as Unschoolers, learning is much more about the process rather than the product.  I love watching the raw organic process!

How Does a Should Be Kindergardener Spend Her First Day Not in School...

The kiddos started back to school today. I thought it would be fun to document Lyrics "first" day as an official unschooler. It really was no different than any other day. Since we are unschoolers we see learning no different than living, but her school career would have officially started today had she chose to take that route.

• Around 8:30 woke up.
• She wore her jammies the entire day. I heard jammies called "life clothes" on a blog recently. I think we will start using that term around here too.
• She played outside with her sisters.
• 9:00 she decided she was ready for some breakfast.
• We all played with one of their puzzle games. It has shapes and you make different objects (house, train, butterfly...) using the shapes.
• She then decided to draw the shapes and I spelled the words so she could label them.
• 10:00 For a few days now she has been wanting to make a game. After playing the shape game she decided she wanted to make a shape game. I helped her cut some card stock and make a memory game. I drew the shapes on one card and she colored them and on a matching card I wrote the name of the shape (in all capital letters- her instructions).
• After making the shape game we played it.
• She then decided to make another game. We brainstormed ideas, we thought about making a game to go with a book, but decided that wasn't what she wanted to do. I really wanted to make a spinner (we have never made one together and I thought she would like it:) We finally came up with an idea of a silly face game with a spinner. So, we made faces and then all of the pieces to go with a face (eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and hair). To play the game you spin the spinner and get the different pieces of your face. The first person to complete their face wins. We made the faces and all of the pieces to go with them, but still had to make the spinner.
• After making the funny face game, Lyric, Cadence and I ended up all on the bed. She jumped on the bed for a while. Then she decided to be a hawk and try to get Cadence and I while we were hiding under the covers.
• 11:45 Decided she wanted lunch or maybe it should be called a snack. She had apples and pretzels with peanut better. She watched Dora while she ate.
• Story and I started to play goldfish, so Lyric left Dora to come join us. After we played goldfish then she went back to Dora.
• 12:20 Left Dora to play with Cadence. After being in the bedroom for a little while, Lyric walked out wearing one of my bras and Cadence was wearing Daddy's pool flip flops. They paraded around and then went back into the bedroom.
• A few minutes later they came out wearing toboggans.
• Story started acting like a lion, so Lyric and Cadence ran away screaming.
• 12:30 All three girls decided to have cookies and watch Barney.
• 1:00 Daddy came home for lunch. She showed him her games and we finished the spinner.
• After Daddy went back to work we decided to play the funny face game. It was a little slow moving ( I don't know if it was the game or playing with the little sisters), but she got mad in the middle and said it was the most boring game ever!
• She took a stack of books into the bedroom to read alone.
• After finishing her books she played Starfall on the computer for a little while.
• She then decided to do some Yoga with their kids Yoga video. That lasted about 10 minutes:-)
• She and Cadence decided to listen to some music and dance. She put on Alan Jackson. They sang, dance, and laughed.
• After their dance session, she moved back to the computer. This time she read a story on Storyline Online.
• 2:30 We all watched Martha Speaks together
• 3:00 We watched Arthur.
• 3:45 She played in her room. She came out wearing her backpack saying, "I'm a study girl and I study dinosaurs. Do you have any questions about dinosaurs?"

I stopped keeping track after that because technically her school day would be over. I completely trust unschooling and I know she is going to learn, but it is kind interesting to see it all written out and see how one interest flows into another. I think that is one of the biggest things about school that I think is so sad. Kiddos don't get to decide what activity is next. If they are doing something in school and it sparks an interest into doing something else they can't because they have to go with the flow of the teacher and the classroom. So, I guess Miss Lyric will continue to wear her life clothes while having a good time living and learning!

Minimally Invasive Education

I ran across this fascinating article tonight.

Good stuff!

Unparenting

I first heard of Unschooling almost exactly one year ago. I thought it was an interesting concept and was intrigued by it. We have always known we were going to homeschool, but thinking about "school at home" did not appeal to me. So, Unschooling as a way of "teaching", or shall I say, a way for my children to learn, made sense to me. But then when I read about Radical Unchooling I was really intrigued. No time out, no food restrictions, no bedtime...What?

I remember my mom was in town for the big Lake Buchanan fishing trip we take every year and I told her and Devon about the things I had been reading. About these people who parent their kids with no punishments and no bedtimes. They both kind of laughed at me. My mom even said, "Do you go out looking for these weirdos or do they find you?" (Yes, you did mother.)

But the more I read the more it all made since to me and when I shared what I had learned with Devon it made sense to him to. For basically the last year we have been lifting limits for our children. They don't have a bedtime, they can eat what they want, there are no punishments...I will say we have our good days and we have our not so good days, but when I look at other peoples' kids who use time out, spank or other methods of punishment I have to say their kids really are no different than mine. Children are children or maybe I should say children are human and WE all have our good moments and our bad moments. I love what Dayna Martin said on one of her YouTube videos. She gets cranky and in a bad mood sometimes, but she has thirty more years of experience dealing with those feelings than her children do, so yeah kids have their moments.

I recently listened to an awesome podcast by Sarah Parent at Humans Being. It was all about Unparenting. She did a great job explaining Unparenting. If you want to know more about it or have never heard of it or if you are one of my children's grandparents check out her podcast. The first thirty minutes are basically her giving an update on what has been going on with her, so you can skip ahead to about minute number thirty one or so if you want to get to the meat of it.

Let me know what you think.