Saturday, September 17, 2011

Sleep?

This is just a little follow up that just happened right after my article was released.

We have been renting this house for 1 1/2 years and the owner decided he didn't want to own it anymore. Today it was auctioned off.

All week we have been cleaning and decluttering to prepare for the sale. We had to get up about 7:30 am to get ready by 9:00 when people would be allowed to walk through our house.

You know that out of the 6 of us only 2 do mornings well. We tried to go to bed earlier but it didn't work. I only slept from 3-6am, I just can't sleep when I know I have to get up early.

The kids only got a couple hours of sleep also. Everyone got up and got ready and had fun, well I wasn't having fun, I was miserable.

When the auction was over 2 kids napped, I laid down and went semi unconscious for an hour and the other 2 kids are doing fine.

I guess I'm just saying we got up, did what we had to do and moved on with our day.

This is an example of an outside force imposing on our natural sleep rhythms. It is difficult to go to sleep just because someone else deems it necessary. We had no say in the time of this auction and had to do our best to handle it.

As of now all of us have had a nap and some of us are really out of sorts. It will be nice to go to bed and wake up naturally.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Why do some people have kids?

I really do believe that there are lots of people out there that should not have had kids. That is another story...

I do wonder why some people have kids and then bitch about them. Tonight at the store I witnessed a mom with 3 kids bitching about her kids with the cashier. I really couldn't hear everything, I was in another lane, it just bothers me. I see so much bad parenting out there but to just complain about it to strangers????

If you change your thinking and your attitude about your children I bet they would start acting differently. You get what you give. If you are always bitching you aren't going to get happy children.


Most small kids do not like going to the grocery store as it is, it's not fun, they have to sit in the cart and they can't have any treats in the check out aisle.... They keep asking and keep getting denied....

Well actually my kids can have a candy bar or pack of gum....they get one almost every time we go. Now that my kids are older I usually go shopping by myself or just one will tag along. Now they ask me for a Twix as I'm going out the door.

I guess my point really is that we need to be aware of how we are treating our children in public and at home.

Some parents are just so dramatic and rude.


We all get tired, we all have bad moments, the key is to recognize it and do something about it to make it better.

Bitching and moaning and woe is me I'm so tired can't these damn kids behave....That will get you exactly what you give!

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Just wondering

I have seen several times over the years unschoolers turning to school or some version of school at home.

I can't help but wonder why? What happened? I also wonder if they were really unschooling in the first place. Just because you don't use a curriculum it doesn't mean you are unschooling. For my purpose here I mean learning through living, learning naturally.

I'm thinking that unschooling from the start heeds different results then coming to it later. While I have seen people leave school, deschool and unschool, it seems that some just can't quite get there. They have that niggling feeling that they need to be taught. Maybe they lack confidence in themselves or lack trust in the learning process.

Schooling interferes with the learning process. Teaching conditions people to think they need to be taught.

I'm not talking about structure, some people have the need for their day to be structured, that's fine, I think they should structure it however they wish.

My kids all have different learning styles, abilities, personalities, interests etc...

Yet they all learn, they all thrive, they all don't have the need to be taught. They don't seek out school, they know it's there, their friends go to school.

I don't believe that some people are born with the need for school, I just don't believe that. School wasn't always around so people used to learn without it. I do believe that school has come and messed up the natural learning process and some people just can't escape it for whatever reason.

It does baffle me because I live in a house full of learners.

Thursday, September 01, 2011

Autodidact

Autodidact means self taught.

My children have always been unschooled, they learn naturally. They look things up, ask questions, think and figure things out.

There is a quote from Ivan Illich that says:

"School prepares for the alienating institutionalization of life by teaching the need to be taught"

My kids do not have that need, they have never had teaching, lessons, curriculum and tests.They are incredibly knowledgeable about various things. I could not have begun to teach them what they know. They have truly learned so much in their own way and time. It's their life and mind and nobody should control that but them.

They don't have fear of learning or trying something, they just dive in and figure it out. I'm here as their facilitator not their teacher.

My youngest son is 9, he has now created 3 websites, he did 99% of it himself, he asked a few questions along the way.

When one hasn't been hindered by schooling or teaching, learning is as natural as breathing.

My kids are amazing people!