The sun is now creeping down the side of the valley by 7.30 a.m. and by then I was scrambling up the mountain this morning in my vibrams. Such a joy to scramble up and cross the moss-covered stones, overhanging branches and little waterfalls and see the deep forest waking up. My feet are longer … Continue reading »
Filed under unschooling …
baking
Squeak often hovers around the kitchen whilst I am baking and needs to mix and play with whatever appears on the table after watching me for five minutes or so. It would be so easy to get ruffled by this, especially when a cake or pie needs to be made for the family, but I … Continue reading »
telling the story of your life to your children before bed
Following the thoughts which have arisen in my mind over the past few days I have been thinking intensely about the role of spoken stories and fables, which act as a glue to bind the family together and have been wondering how much they are needed at that very special slow time of day, just … Continue reading »
reunited family
I have realised something – and this is after three months of letting my children do what the hell they want – when one tries to implement an ‘unschooling’ environment in the home, one needs to make sure that certain other elements of family life are secure and even enforced on a daily basis. One … Continue reading »
Spirituality
Spirituality, now that is a word that made me prick up my ears when I started to read about Rudolph Steiner’s philosophies. I feel that spirituality is the one thing lacking in today’s world (school and elsewhere) and the one thing that will succeed in pulling us all back together again. So, perhaps I could … Continue reading »
Strewing
Following a comment left by Michele from Natural Attachment, I have been thinking about the idea of strewing. This word, first used by Sandra Dodd, is an idea one can employ in the unschooling home. Strewing is the act of placing objects in a seemingly random way around the house so that children may ‘come … Continue reading »
John Holt ‘v’ Maria Montessori
*warning: controversial issue being discussed* I was up last night late, following a thread from one blog to the next and ending up on a host of Montessori sites. The material seems endless and the teaching methods an enigma, but I got fired up about it. I have been looking for a while for ideas … Continue reading »
good ‘v’ fantastic
A GOOD DAY: We get up early before the children. We watch a little french t.v. and drink coffee. The girls get up and I sit at the computer whilst they watch french cartoons. DOH goes off to do some errands. Me and the girls eat breakfast and plan the day. Grocery shopping, walk by … Continue reading »
paint
Bubble’s painting activities are very interesting from an ‘education’ point of view. She has been very into it recently. She proclaimed the other day that she wanted to be an artist and sell her paintings. Fine by me. No, what is really interesting is her technique and how it has changed over the last few … Continue reading »
all ok with ‘school’
I am actually amazed how much we have been able to ‘do’ in the past week. I was able to buy loads and loads of materials in the UK, like paints and brushes, paper, modeling clay, science experiment books and I also borrowed a large encyclopedia for children and art reference books from my mother. … Continue reading »
socks
Bubble did a naughty thing today; well I thought it was naughty until I had second thoughts about it. I found her cutting out a hole in the bottom of her brand new H+M socks. Now these socks were actually over-the-knee, fairIsle patterned, light grey, 50% wool socks. I liked them a lot. I went … Continue reading »
hospitality
It is very hard when you are visiting relatives and generally relying on other people for hospitality. We have to do this for the next three weeks here in England. We have had meltdowns already over bedtime and feelings of ‘inconveniencing’ our host. We are staying with dOH’s mother so I am pretty chilled about … Continue reading »
children’s artwork
In the process of packing everything up I have been sorting out all the reams of paper we seem to have been hoarding. Most of it is Bubble and Squeak’s drawings and paintings. I have sheets and sheets of stuff; from Bubble’s first faint scribblings to their most recent self portraits, with everything in between. … Continue reading »
separation
Something really struck me today about the relationship I have with my children. I am into ‘day three’ of the big clear up, spending from nine in the morning ’til eleven at night packing, only popping into the temporary abode for meals. And when I do pop back to see the children, I am amazed … Continue reading »
the unplugged challenge
So we have moved into temporary accommodation for two weeks, whilst I clear up our chalet. The new house is a large property three doors away from ours, owned by some absent friends. I have been busy packing for two days solidly now whilst dOH has been looking after the girls during the day. They … Continue reading »
its all in their schemata
A schema (pl. schemata), in psychology and cognitive science, is a mental structure that represents some aspect of the world. This learning theory views organized knowledge as an elaborate network of abstract mental structures which represent one’s understanding of the world. I got to talking about how children learn to my psychotherapist friend the other … Continue reading »
how children learn
I am totally absorbed in John Holt at the moment. I have nearly finished reading “How Children Learn”. Holt writes that children need to be able to play with things in order for them to learn about the world. Although he uses specific examples such as math materials and building blocks, he also applies this … Continue reading »
crazy
How crazy can I get? I was up at 2.30 a.m. this morning reading “How Children Learn” by John Holt. It sparked off so many ideas, page after page and even when I tried to go to sleep, my thoughts were still tumbling all over the place. I had to get up again and write … Continue reading »
stepping aside
I have noticed something very interesting recently, since the end of school in July, things have really slowed down. Yes, it is obvious, but it is not just that we now don’t have to rush for school twice a day or get homework done every night or struggle to keep up with friends at the … Continue reading »
slow down time
Part of living a slow life is about having a very different attitude towards time. I have found that the best way to re-connect with the small moments is to not wear a wristwatch. Of course, this is not wholly possible when you have a job to get to, school to catch, appointments to fulfill. … Continue reading »
the end of deschooling
I really want to get through this period of ‘not knowing’. Others call it de-schooling. Why? because I hate being unsure of myself in new situations and when I am confronted with a new paradigm or way of being, especially one which seemingly has minimal ‘rules’, I tend to get anxious. I guess it is … Continue reading »
still down
I have had a crap morning. Really crap. I took the girls along with me to have breakfast at the local patisserie (because dOH was looking at an apartment for us to perhaps move into) and I was not met with a warm reception from the other mothers who had come for their weekly social … Continue reading »
down
I am down in the dumps today. The worst since the children finished school. DOH and I have been having discussions about the future of living in France and unschooling and the fact that the law here means we may have to compromise on the autonomous learning I was so excited about. I can’t sleep. … Continue reading »
money
I took the girls to the shops yesterday. Bubble wanted to buy some false nails. She was very upset when she couldn’t find what she was looking for. She found something else instead at three times the price, which she wanted to buy. Although I wanted her to have it, I actually said, “NO”. DOH … Continue reading »
How do I explain?
Spending six days with another family on a campsite is not easy when you are in the very early stages of giving your children autonomy in their lives. Especially if up until that time you have been pretty strict with your little ones. I had a great time last week. Our friends and their two … Continue reading »
