Picking Up the Pieces

It’s easy unschooling when everything’s going well, but what about when it’s not?

Last year my family went through a serious financial crisis, my husband lost his job and was out of work for 4 months.

We have never had a lot of money, always lived on one income, paycheck to paycheck but when there was no paycheck for months life was  completely different.

We have always unschooled and in my mind and life unschooling isn't about academics, it's about learning through living. Unschooling is a philosophy and it's a lifestyle, we live therefore we learn.

So I was very stressed out, high blood pressure, anxiety, hormones out of whack, just not well. I've been having health issues for awhile and the stress from that situation really made me much worse.

The kids really did well, I mean we all adjusted going without things we were used to having. Relying on help from friends and strangers. So many of my online friends helped us through, I will never forget the generosity, I hold it in my heart.

It was hard but we were honest with the kids about not having any money, we ran out of things and couldn't replace them. We did just eek by with the bare necessities. We only lost power once, briefly and lost internet for a week or two.

We stayed home mostly and just used the things we had in the house to play with. We met some wonderful *angels* who blessed us greatly at Christmas. Yes, we had Christmas with presents and food all given to us by kind, generous people.

We learned a lot about kindness and helping others. We also learned that some agencies that are supposed to help you in time of need was just a bunch of bureacratic bullshit.

I believe because we have always unschooled that the kids just kept doing what they do the best they could. We learned a lot of real life stuff in those months. We grew stronger and closer and had to work together even more than usual.

We had to move (foreclosure) so we just did what we had to do to pack and clean and move. We are in a much better place physically and mentally now. My husband got a job at the end of December and we are climbing our way out of the hole that unemployment caused.

We have also been able to help several people in the past few months and it feels so good to help someone who truly needs it.

So while things seemed to be going all wrong, we perservered and stuck together and got through it.

Unschooling for us truly is a way of life, we adjust and go with lifes turns and twists all the while learning so much each day.

Because I am that mom, I lost count on how many times Jared said *mom, look* so my train of thought is gone...

This post was inspired by the Enjoy Life Unschooling Carnival.