The kids and I stayed home today and just chilled out. We didn't get an entire home day all week, so it was nice to to hang out.

This morning while Nathan was building more train track, Danielle decided to do draw a picture and then glue on some of the autumn leaves that Nathan had collected during the week.

The rest of the day included watching a DVD, listening to music, Danielle dressing her doll, both of them playing outside in the sandpit and riding the trikes around the deck, us sharing a pot of herbal tea together while playing memory (which Danielle won!).

Danielle got out the shapes and for the first time started to place the pieces on the game boards.

The kids grandparents came over to visit for a while and played Blokus with them, then later on the kids and I prepared our homemade pizza for dinner, played some games (Danielle showed interest in the Harvest Time game, so we showed her how to play and she got the hang of it right away) while waiting for dad to get home.

This evening Nathan pulled out one of his workbooks with English type examples in it and wanted to work through some of the exercises with me. He was drawn to the matching and sounding out exercises, but not the writing or reading ones.

Yesterday was entirely spent out of the house. First up we headed off to visit a friend with a week old baby. The car drive there involved several themes - power lines and substations which we talk about a lot on this particular route; and a lot of talk about Mount Everest (or, The Mountain of Everest lol) and Nathan wondering if the surrounding hills were like The Mountain of Everest. We hadn't spoken of ME since we last googled climbing gear required a few weeks back. I find it really interesting how these things just pop back into his head and it's almost like he's carrying on from where he left off. He's certainly into building on his theories and ideas nice and slowly as they take his fancy.

Danielle was into watching the trains as they went by and was quite inquisitive on this trip. Often she's fallen asleep 5mins from getting in the car if she knows it's a long trip so misses out on the sights.

It also meant I was able to sit back and drive and listen to Nathan informing Danielle of all his favourite things he's often chatted to me about over the years - such as the tunnels through the hills, the forests, the waves, the houses in the hills etc.

After visiting our friend we then carried on and headed into the city to catch up with a friend who's recently moved (and got to see mummy using the map every 5mins since it was very foreign territory and a few missed turns!). So it was great for the kids to get together with her before heading back home for dinner.

Today was another beautiful cold sunny. It was grocery shopping day, so as I was about to write my list out Nathan wanted to start it off for me. I dictated and he wrote, he got through about 10 items before having enough of that.

The kids spent a lot of time today playing a game which worked around Danielle's current interest of being a "puppy dog". So Nathan built her a house, told her to go to sleep, to wake up, fed her and put a bowl of water down for her etc. That game went on for a good hour or so and then carried on again in the late afternoon.

I rearranged the kids sandpit and playhouse and moved their play kitchen out into it to free up space in the house. So that got them involved in a fresh environment for a while.

The kids were excited this afternoon to see a group of sparrows up on the fence jumping into the bird feeder to eat the seeds we'd put out for them.

Nathan wanted to get out on his bike, so we went for a walk/ride around the block, stopped off at the beach on the way past where the kids climbed on the rocks, drew pictures and their names in the sand before heading home as the sun was about to set. It got cold so suddenly and we could start to see our warm breath in the air.

The kids played on Starfall for a while as I got dinner ready and then dad was home.

Another lovely unschooling day.

Such a neat day

Days like today are what I love about the unschooling lifestyle.

We got up and the kids watched a bit of TV while I checked in on the net.

After getting dressed, I decided to bottle my ginger beer that I'd mixed up and had brewing from a few days back. The kids were keen to help - so with Danielle holding the bottle steady and Nathan holding the funnel in place we filled them all up.

The kids then wandered off and built more train tracks down in Nathan's bedroom while I pottered around tidying up the kitchen.

We then snuggled up on Nathan's bed in the sun for half an hour and read The Water Horse by Dick King-Smith. Nathan and I started it last night and we were both keen to get back into it.

We then went down to the garden, let the chickens out and the kids started digging holes while I cleaned out the chickens coop, restocked it with food and water and added more straw to their nest. The kids shoo'd the chickens out of our vege plants.



Nathan started playing with a couple of tree branches that Simon had chopped down over the weekend and made himself a seesaw.

It then became his pet dog (apparently looked like one lol)...

Danielle's become a good little chicken herder and was able to round up the two girls and put them back in the coop before we went out for the afternoon (they usually free range when we're at home, but we tend to occasionally get roaming dogs and large cats).

The kids playing with their maraca's that they finished painting last night (we decided not to attach the handles as they were likely to come off at some point).


After lunch we headed off to the playground to meet with our unschooling group - to feed the ducks, play on the equipment and then over the sand dune to the beach for a while.

While dinner was cooking the kids were playing with the duplo and Nathan got out his dominoes and was lining them up to knock down.

Nathan and I finised The Water Horse at bedtime - what a cool story. We both really liked it.

An all round lovely day!

The Weekend Catch up

The kids helping Grampy shave off his whiskers.


The kids have been right into the lego and duplo for the past few days. Nathan brought out his dominoes this morning and lined them up to tumble them all down again.

Me and the kids made some ginger beer this morning (well, mixed up the ingredients and set them aside for a few days to brew).

After lunch Simon and the kids went out on the bikes to run an errand and get some exercise - they were bundled up warm in raincoats and warm clothes and away they went.

Later on in the day we all got into the garden and the kids helped weed, move branches (Nathan even told Danielle he couldn't play ball with her "I can't play right now, I'm working very hard" lol) and climbed trees.

Nathan asked to make custard this evening but it was getting late, so I suggested we make some tomorrow after dinner and could he write me a reminder note and put it on the fridge. So he asked for me to dictate it out and stuck it up for me. He's been very keen on writing lately and yesterday made two thank you cards for the granddads for his birthday presents (a bit late I know).

Yesterday when Nathan went down to the garden to shut the chickens in their house for the night he spotted a bunch of lovely coloured Autumn leaves and collected some up. This morning he made a drawing for Simon and decorated it with a few leaves and twigs.

In the past few days both kids have :-

Built another couple of train tracks
Done some lego/duplo building
Put together one of his new puzzles
Played board games - Carmen Sandiego, Let's Shop, Snakes and Ladders (the past few weeks I've noticed that Nathan recognises the dice number on sight and when counting out the spaces on the board does it in his head and then jumps immeditely to the spot)
Constructed things out of playdough
Watched various DVD's
Done chalk drawings out on the porch
Had friends to play
Playing on the tramp and swing
Playing the geography PC game

Last night we had friends over for dinner. Prior to them arriving we decided to tidy up the house. The kids started off having a scrap over who was going to tidy up the lego, and no, neither wanted the other to help lol - eventually they sorted it out and were busy little beavers returning things to their places. Danielle's recently discovered the vacuum cleaner and spent about 1/2 hr vacuuming the house.

This morning Nathan wanted to do some writing. So he found a little notebook and a couple of books with large writing and lay down on the floor and copied out a few pages. I've noticed that his writing style has changed suddenly. It used to be large and uneven, but he is now forming his letters all smaller and of similar size. The actual letters themselves are still far from being written "correctly", but I haven't corrected him on this and I notice a few things he's self corrected from even 6mths ago so have faith that the others will follow soon as well.

Both kids have been enjoying writing in the condensation on the windows in the mornings.

This afternoon we checked the progress of the papier mache maraca's. So we cut them open, added rice and glued more paper over the cut.


As I was reading Farmer Boy tonight to Nathan, he must have been watching the pages as I was reading. Someone in the story said something that was speech marked and after I'd read the words, Nathan pointed to them and asked me if I'd just read what it was he was pointing to. So it was interesting to note that he'd picked up something in the way I'd read the story and he noticed the difference in the typing on the page as most likely being compatible - well, I'm thinking that's what it was anyway.

It seems that Thursday is becoming our relaxed home day.

The kids migrated down to the bedrooms to play this morning (it's where the sun was). Nathan decided to get out his train track and design and build it completely raised off the ground. He's often built this sort of track, but today, he didn't want any track touching the ground. He's not so much about driving the trains on the tracks as actually constructing and getting it to work without it falling over.

The rest of the day went like this...



We got a papier mache book out of the library last week and Nathan's been eyeing up a few of the projects to make. So we decided to attempt the maraca's today since we had all the materials required. So phase one was making the rice paste and sticking the initial layers over an old orange.


Nathan then helped out making the entire dinner (I reckon he'll be ready to take over pretty soon lol). He peeled, chopped, measured out and mixed up the sauce and mashed the potatoes.

While dinner was cooking we settled down to read some more Farmer Boy. After the kids bath (which they had to have by candle light since the bulb had blown and not the easiest to change without unscrewing the whole light fitting and at that time was just not the time) I asked Nathan if he wanted to take one of the candles to his room as Almanzo did to go to bed. We then read some more by candle light.

Full on Family Day

Being another beautiful day we decided to go on a bush walk that Nathan's been asking to do for a few months (everytime we drive past the entrance he gets reminded), but the time has never been right, and it's something I'd rather do with Simon as well rather than on my own with the kids.

So, today we did it. It was a long walk and mostly uphill climbing (we went from low down by the highway and had this view at the end) - both kids handled it well without a mention of being tired.



Later on after lunch and watching a DVD, Simon and Nathan gathered together the materials they required for the kids to build the bird feeder. Between the two library books we had out, they planned one that was a combination of two different designs.





Danielle got in on the act too and made up own games with the materials that were lying around. She told me she was making a fire.

Simon then took the kids down the road for a ride on the bike and scooter while I prepared dinner.

After reading heaps of books after dinner, the kids were knackered and Nathan actually asked to go to bed and was out like a light.

Every time I doubt the process...

...of this unschooling thing (as in, kids will continually and naturally learn through living their life, through enjoying and expanding on their interests and through their play - providing that the environment for that learning to happen is present) I find my self surprised and affirmed all over again that it will work out OK. So even though I know the three R's aren't the be all and end all at this age, it's still nice to see him keen to absorb and figure out the ways this knowledge fits in and assists in living life. Just as I start to feel some anxiety in needing to purposely "expose" him to examples, the opportunities just present themselves.

We had a pretty relaxing morning, then after lunch we went to the library and then off to hunt for more storage solutions for our ever expanding games/puzzles/resources before returning home to hang out (but returned home empty handed).

After watching some DVD's, Nathan got out his lego and decided he wanted to build the Eiffel tower again. We first read of the Eiffel tower in one of the Magic Tree House books and we just seem to stumble across a picture or a mention of it quite regularly (latest has been in the PC geography game) where it keeps his interest going. He was trying to recall how to build it, so I suggested he draw a plan of how he might like it to look and we'll figure out how to build it. This was the original design plan.

He was quite keen on having it look symmetrical (not his words lol, but wanted it the same on both sides) rather than the supporting uprights just put anywhere. So we chatted how to make that happen - estimating as well as measuring/counting/comparing the upright supports. When initially setting up the two sets of steps coming up each side I showed him how to "eyeball" the structure down low to see if things were in line and he was really taken with doing that and was fascinated to realise that what he originally estimated as being correct could be different when getting a different perspective on it.

So, as per last time, I was required as an assistant builder and he directed how he wanted it to look.

Later on we sat down to read some of our new library books - it's been neat to see his confidence when he recognises the odd word in new-to-us books as he gets the grasp of reading.

This evening he asked to play the PC game again, this time we stumbled across a quiz. We chose the Easy level (well beyond him, and also me!) and it was just as well for the multiple choice I tell you! It was lovely to see his joy in recognising a couple of things (we were quizzed on our Capital city, which because of the multiple choice, he recognised one city name so was super pleased to know the answer, one question was also where was the Eiffel tower found and between the three choices he quickly rattled off Paris).

An Ordinary but Lovely Home Day

These seem to be few and far between at the moment, but suspect in a few months time as winter arrives they will become more of the norm.

This morning we spent a bit of time reading stories after a bit of morning TV - Nathan was inspired by one of the shows making a bird feeder. Although we didn't like the method they chose (pine cone rolled in peanut butter), we'll hunt out a plan (or get out the library book I saw on some a while back) to make one up.

I started writing up the grocery list for tomorrow's shopping and Nathan came and asked to carry on writing my list for me. So I'd give him the container that was needing replacing and he'd copy the item down and write how many of each we'd need. He stuck at doing that for about 5mins.

Nathan wanted to make "hamburger buns", so we made some gluten free buns for lunch. They weren't very big like hamburger buns and ended up being the entire meal on their own - hot out of the oven and loaded with butter. Yum!

The kids watched a DVD after lunch and Nathan was interested to note that one of the stories mentioned Mt Everest which we had discussed just last night while playing his PC geography game. He then wanted to know what gear they would need for climbing up Everest, so we googled a few sites with extensive lists of necessary gear.

Once the day had warmed up we headed out to hang out with the chickens for a while who had been out roaming around for a while - the kids dug and planted out a little garden (transplanting weeds lol) and Nathan mentioned wanting to have his own vege garden going this year, so we talked about making up a plan for doing that in Spring.

We came in and prepared the veges for dinner. Both kids got right into chopping and peeling. Danielle experienced her first set of stingy onion eyes just from standing nearby as I was chopping it up.

They then headed off to do baking at the play table with playdough along with tearing around the house and building things out of the couch cushions.

Nathan had his wooden sword out and asked that we make a holder for it (which I have just found out is called a Scabbard), so we'll look at collecting materials to do that over the next wee while.

Nathan brought his soccer ball out to the lounge after dinner and wanted to throw it back and fowards for a bit, so we added a bit of counting in 2's, 10's and 100's while we were at it and Danielle then wanted to join in the game too.

Back to normal

It was a playcentre morning where the kids enjoyed painting, playing in the sandpit and each of them tie-dyed a piece of fabric.

This afternoon we just hung out at home.

Danielle decided to get the cuisenaire rods out and make "doors" which she then proceeded to build and count them out up to 10 as she added another (there weren't actually ten, she counted and pointed out 4 of them and then just kept counting up to 10 which I hadn't heard her do before).

Later on, Nathan asked to put on his CD-Rom which he got for his birthday which was on world exploring and has clues and games to play while learning facts about the world, so we sat down and played that for a while. One of the places he was to visit talked of Asian people using chopsticks to eat their food which he showed an interest in. So we got some chopsticks out, I separated out a mandarin on the table and they had a go at eating them. Nathan held the chopsticks correctly for about 2secs before announcing the "best" way to eat them - by stabbing the mandarin with his stick LOL! That's my boy, and I guess it was the most logical way for him to eat his food immediately. He did carry on and eat using a slightly better technique. Danielle persevered with two chopsticks - one in each hand and also got to eat her food.

Day 4 - and it's over!

Nathan's actual birthday was the day that he got his presents from us and we just had a relaxing day hanging out. We spent the morning at home and the kids were busy playing with the magnet sets, games, lego and puzzles that Nathan had received. In the afternoon Simon took the kids out so Nathan could try out his new bigger-sized bike that we'd bought him.

We were pleased to receive Farmer Boy (of the little house series) which we'd been looking for at the library every time we go and is never there. So already that book has raised many questions.

Day 3 of the 4 day birthday celebration

It was a pretty low key day, but a fun one. It was really about me today though lol - Mothers Day. I had breakfast in bed and Nathan made me a card. We had friends over for lunch and then went over to the kids nannie's for dinner (Nathan drew nannie a picture as well). Late home for bed and fast asleep.

Nathan's looking forward to receiving his presents tomorrow although he hasn't really mentioned not receiving many so far. He's all about getting together with people we like to spend time with.

Day 2 of the 4 day birthday celebration

Today we had Nathan's official birthday celebration (even though his birthday isn't till Monday). We went ten pin bowling with his best friend E, her parents, my mum and her friend.


We then came home for fish and chips gluten free style.

Followed by ice cream cake which Nathan decorated. He wanted to light his own candles. The kids had gotten dressed up for the cake.



Knot tying from during the week.

Day 1 of the 4 day birthday celebration

LOL, it's going to be a drawn out one this year!

Nathan will be 5 on Monday. Wow! Seems kind of weird to finally have hit the moment of "actually homeschooling". Even though legally he's not required to start school till age 6 (and no exemption required till then), almost all kids I know start on the day of their 5th birthday. It's been a two year build up for me since I first started researching unschooling. Back then I was about 80% certain I'd do it. Then about a year ago I got serious on working on the remaining 20%. That then became certain pretty quickly once I'd busted through the few remaining uneasy issues and it's just been a time of count down. I still feel a little odd going off down a different path to the rest and wonder about what things we will be missing out on if we had chosen to do school - but I know in my heart that this is where we really want to be and Nathan is quite fine with knowing other kids are heading off to school and he's not. I feel comfort in having my various online support groups as well as my Face-to-Face Unschool friends (*waves* to you guys).

So here we are!

Today we had a couple of wee friends over. I made muffins which they then decorated with whipped cream and lollies.

The two bigger kids then spent ages on the front lawn digging up my grass, adding compost from the nearby pile and planting weeds - thanks guys! (There will be a bit of reconstructive work done to the lawn tomorrow lol). They then headed off the side of the house to collect feijoas. The two littlies stayed inside and dressed the dolls.

Some catch up pics

Danielle persevered and got herself entirely dressed a few days back. There was a lot of screaming with frustration, but she didn't want my help - so I sat quietly nearby offering my assistance occasionally and she was so proud of herself once she'd done it.
The kids sitting all wrapped up warm in our freezing house (but no sense lighting the fire since we were on our way out for the afternoon) playing Playstation - Danielle thought she was playing...

This afternoon we met up with our unschooling group. As we were leaving, Danielle didn't want to give up the Thomas train she'd been playing with, so one of the boys raced off and made her her own paper train (what a sweetie!). Nathan thought it was cool so wanted to make his own too once we'd got home. He had me do the folding and assisting with taping it together. He then made some carriages, added a smoke stack and drew on wheels and windows.