Sick & Twisted Unschoolers

It is almost midnight on a Saturday night.
I just went through the house where everyone has scattered into their own spaces, doing their own things.
Guess what I found my 16 year old doing?
She was studying Biology II: Human Anatomy.
The 14 year old is sprawled out on her bed with her sketchbook and pencils designing formal gowns - amazing formal gowns I might add.
Weirdos.
What's wrong with them?
When you don't force kids to learn through compulsory education, inside a teeny tiny little box, all kinds of weird like this happen.
Freaks.

Random Smatterings About My Day

I got my children who are less than "morning people" up and out the door this morning by 8:30 which was no small feat. I had a 9:00 appointment at GameStop in a neighboring town to pick up the only used PSP to be found in the state of Texas (well at least the eastern side!). When I got there, utter disappointment. The thing looked like it had been put face down on a dirt road and scraped back and forth. On the chance he might read what I say here, I'll not share the outcome of this particular story until later.
At the mall, we got to hear a local high school choir sing "Deck the Halls" to the Nutcracker tune - and it was SO beautiful. What a treat. I am trying to learn to stop and enjoy the "moments" that come in life, and not be in such a hurry all the time. Also, while we were out, we met my neighbor Debra at Rao's Bakery and had a Gelati. That was so awesome. I had Tiramisu flavor. And to think, I almost went to Starbucks! I loved the charming atmosphere. And you can't beat weather nice enough to sit outside on a patio in December eating a frozen dessert.
On the way home, I decided to take a back road and let Kendra drive for about 20 minutes. She enjoyed that, and did very well. Neither of us have been anxious for her to drive again since the Video Store incident. But it is time to get her on the road again. Back roads for now. But I think it was very successful. I felt very calm. In fact I even took out my camera and took a picture of her while she was driving!!!
This evening, Kaitlyn was having a breakdown about getting her assignments completed for Biology class. She signed up for this class on her own, but has been feeling burned out lately. I want to encourage her to persevere without forcing her. She asked me if I would work with her, and to my delight the module she is on is about genetics. It was a flashback to one of the only things from school that I remembered loving! We had a great time studying the possibilities that Queen Victoria's children would have hemophilia, with the heterozygous traits on the alleles. (does anybody know what I just said?)
Kullen just asked me to help give him a bath - a 10 year old boy! Write that down people! After that I am ready for bed. Hope your day was equally as nice!

You MADE the Party

Geesh - we have been so dang busy that my poor little blog has been so neglected. We have had co-ops and labs and helping kids who are studying the cellular kingdoms of bacteria and such in biology, and reading books about the Aztecs, reading and critiquing essays (on request), keeping neighbors blood-thirsty dogs away from my cats and doctor's appointments with my hubby who acts like a big two year old and likes to open drawers and get into things while we're confined in the itty-bitty exam room. To think that just a few short weeks ago - we had virtually nothing on our plates, and now we're spinning like a top.
Last night, the girls were invited to a surprise birthday party that took place at this really hip little eatery called Jason's Deli. I tried to talk them out of it, but there was no way. They had a great time, and I sat with my friend Melody and had adult conversation, and ate something called a Muffelatta which has ham, hard salami, provolone and some sort of an olive dressing, on grilled bread. Yummy. After the party the kids went bowling until late-thirty. When we were about to leave, the birthday girl's mom thanked us for coming and when we thanked her for inviting us, she said in the sweetest southern accent, "Well, you MADE the party." Imagine that! Somebody likes us. Wonders never cease. I am going to stop telling myself it's just because they don't know us yet. We are a bit of an acquired taste.

Real Learning

The co-op we joined this past week is such a delight. The people were so welcoming and friendly. Kendra blogged about it here. We were all so happy, deep inside like when you know something is right, something "clicked". The girls chose to nix Economics and high school Geography, but they both opted to take English, 20th Century Literature, Biology, Art and Drama. I was surpised that Kaitlyn was choosing to take Biology, having always liked science, but always shying away from a challenge, but choose she did. This week as she has worked on Module 1, she has had all sorts of questions, and been challenged in many new ways. Yesterday she was struggling with a question, and asked for my help. We stretched out across my bed and read the section together, and talked about it - and I couldn't give her the answer. Not I wouldn't - I couldn't. But here was the best part - in all our the ways our philosophy of education and how people learn has changed over the past couple of years, I had to tell her that it was okay to say "I don't know" for both of us. She has an opportunity if she chooses, to learn, really learn. We talked about how important it is to learn for the sake of learning - and not to let anyone else pressure her to feel compelled to focus on getting the "right answers" but to press on for the joy of studying something of interest. I told her that it might be helpful for the other kids in the class if she is willing to say she doesn't know or understand and to ask the question that everybody else wants to know but is too afraid to ask. Life just keeps presenting opportunities to learn. My job is to facilitate them with whatever they choose to learn. It is so awesome and liberating not to have to have all the answers, but to be a fellow student with them in the school of life.