My view

I will not apologize for being anti-school, which also means anti- teaching, as in the way schools teach.

So many people are engrained with school that they can't see past it. Some say they respect home schooling, private school, charter schools etc...while still advocating public school.

I do not want people to defend their choice of mainstream government schooling to me...I don't care...Nothing anyone could say would make me think that public school is a good idea.

I truly believe that schooling is unnecessary, it is a waste of time and resources...

It is a place to send your kids while you work, it is a place to be bullied and ridiculed and forced to do things you may or may not want to do.

It is government control...Tests and standards are not set with the child in mind but with results for bureaucrats.

I really feel bad for all of those people...

Many do not choose to go, many people don't even make the choice to send their kids, they just do it...How can compulsion be a choice?

Well you can opt out of the system completely, you do have a choice....

Honestly I wish there was no such thing as schools as we know them, I don't believe teaching should be a profession....There I said it, yes my family has several teachers in it and probably wouldn't understand why I would say such a thing.

Schools are not necessary for learning and usually inhibit the natural process.

You don't have to believe me or agree with me...just read the news, schools speak for themselves.

Indifferent

I'm just not  into Easter...

We don't make a big deal out of it.  Even when I was a christian, the Church of Christ didn't recognize Easter as a holy day. They practiced that every Sunday they celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

As a child I remember wearing a new dress, going to church  and getting a basket of candy.

When our kids were smaller we did do baskets. Honestly my kids have candy, ice cream, cookies, several times a week so I really don't see the point of getting them a bunch on Easter. I did get them all a chocolate bunny and they decorated eggs because they wanted to.

We had a nice steak dinner because we wanted to, not for any special reason.

I'm not all ecstatic saying *He is Risen* because it doesn't make sense to me.

Yes, I do believe that Jesus died on the cross and arose 3 days later....once....not every year.

You can't even commemorate it like a birthday since it's never on the same day, heck this time it's the end of April for crying out loud.

I'm not trying to step on any toes here, it's just how I feel. We are all free to celebrate and hold our own beliefs.

The day of Easter holds nothing special for me.

Well... except it's another day that I get to spend with my family, they mean EVERYTHING to me!

Unschooling...Learning through Living

I'm a strong advocate for Unschooling, I want all people of all ages to be free to learn in their way and in their time.

It's especially important for children to be able to learn without force, coercion, scopes, sequences, tests and grades...

I've always said we are unschoolers and we are as in we don't do school, nothing that resembles school. My kids are truly free from any kind of school ways.

In that respect and in my opinion Unschooling IS living and learning, it is natural, it is free.

School is completely Unnecessary and a complete waste of precious youth. We lock our children away for 12 years then expect them to be prepared for the real world all the while keeping them from it.

We live in the real world here and now and always have, no schooling to interfere with our real lives.

Real learning takes place every minute of everyday.

Natural learning doesn't look like school and shouldn't be quantified into subjects to appease some government entity that is completely clueless about real learning.

Getting back my groove

We went on a 10 day trip to visit family and I'm just starting to feel recovered from the traveling.

There was a lot of prep before going and now just unpacking, laundry and trying to catch up on sleep this week.

It was a great time, all went well, we had a few bumps but nothing major.

The kids got to see their grandparents and we celebrated my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary.

We stayed in a cozy cottage on Lake Ontario and Jason and the boys got to do some fishing,it was so cold but they went anyway.

We did a little sight seeing on the only warm day, 50 and sunny, we went to Fort Niagara and Niagara falls, the kids had never seen the falls.

Here we are.

Glad to be home :)

An Epiphany

I have suffered with digestive problems my whole life..

I was a colicky baby and diagnosed with irritable bowel at 19.

I have had doctors telling me to eat more fiber, fiber was wheat. Wheat bread, bagels, raisin bran etc..

I cut out dairy and coffee and took fiber  supplements...This was back when I was like 20.

I have had digestive trouble and severe bloating for  years. It is awful, my gut hurts.
They gave me drugs which helped the spasms  but I now know it contributed to the slow digestion.

I don't absorb  nutrients. I have several deficiencies and my whole system is underperforming according to blood tests I had last year.

Not to mention my severe vitamin D deficiency, that has contributed to lots of prolonged sickness.

I had saliva testing done last summer and I tested positive for gliadin, which is an inflammation response to gluten.

I have been *trying*  to be gluten free since then but my downfall is pizza. So I didn't realize  the impact and I was like oh a piece of pizza can't hurt...

So every few weeks I kept poisoning myself with wheat without knowing the impact until now...

Three weeks ago was the last time I had wheat, I suffered serious chest pain/indigestion for 2 days from one piece a pizza...

I  have now realized that wheat is poison to me and that it is probably the root cause of all of my physical ailments....

Amazing and unbelievable.

I'm most likely celiac. I have not been tested, I don't need to spend any more money on tests. I have all the knowledge I need to know that I can never consume wheat again...

I've also heard from more than one source that one bite of gluten can cause up to 6 months of inflammation...

I'm only 3 weeks into it and I've had trouble for years...I'm so looking forward to actually eating, digesting and enjoying food...

I hate food,(well except pizza, chocolate and cheese) I eat out of necessity because my blood sugar makes me wonky.

Here is a site I found on celiac

I'm honored

Thank you Cindy at Guerrila Homeschooling for honoring my blog!

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Recommendation :: Giving a recommendation...not coming up with something for that one...
2. Toilet paper :: I am thankful for toilet paper!
3. Scissors :: sharp
4. Blaze :: fire
5. Frame :: Freeze frame (J.Geils band, I think), Who framed Roger Rabbit?
6. Process :: Everything is a process
7. Flight :: Fight or Flight? I live in that mode...
8. Irish :: I'm Irish but don't kiss me
9. Glasses :: cheers
10. Campaign ::  Campaign for Liberty

Luna Nina

This may come out jumbled, I would've blogged last night when it was fresh but I wasn't able to use my computer and the connection was lost on my laptop.

I got into something on another blog and I won't link it, it's not important.

What is important is that people are out there giving unschooling a bad rap. People claim to unschool and unparent.

Why would anyone freely admit to neglecting their child. Un parenting = Not parenting.

I realize parenting brings on many different styles and practices.

We practice partnership and respectful parenting. Many people practice parenting I completely disagree with.

Specifically though unschoolers that I know of practice respectful parenting or at least strive to be respectful and mindful and treat children well.

Many people I know do not like the word unschooling because of these negative connotations that people come up with.

I like the word in it's simplest form it means NOT schooling.

Of course it has many definitions.

I believe in life learning, learning through living, living without school.

I believe in parenting WITH my children not AT my children.

If I am so ignorant to believe that other unschoolers do this too then so be it.

If people are out there claiming to Un school and Un Parent I don't want to know about it.

Labels are labels they are useful to find others, they don't define me or you.

I dropped the christian label and I dropped the republican label, I don't relate to the majority of what those words mean.

I don't want to drop unschooling because people out there are tainting it.

We live and learn as if school didn't exist that won't change no matter what you call it.

Lights Out

We had strong storms blow through here last night and some tornadoes in the area. We lost our power but that is all and I'm so thankful for that.

The kids were like what are we supposed to do? I'm bored. I can't play nintendo, watch a movie or get on the computer...

We lit some candles and hung out in the living room. They were goofing off, joking, playing around, talking.

Then they started reading books, kind of hard by candle...Except Brennan, he was the most bored and didn't want to look at a book.

They said they are so glad we aren't Amish, they would hate to be without power all the time.

We had no music, then Brenny grabbed his MP3 player, it only has 5 songs on it. So everyone wanted a turn listening, he actually charged Cassie .75 and she paid him...Oh gosh it was just so funny, but I guess you had to be there...

Then I went and dug up a Mad Libs and we did a few of those.

Next thing we knew it was 2 am and we all headed to our rooms to try and sleep.

Grocery store parenting

I witnessed something today that made me feel bad for the kid and the parents. It wasn't the typical sit down or I'll spank you, of course I HATE that one.

It was a baby/toddler I'm thinking maybe 2 years old sitting in the cart saying loudly *batteries, batteries, I need batteries* Get batteries, where's the batteries*

We were at the spice section, I was looking for cinnamon and the dad was in front of it but he noticed me before I could say excuse me.

He said oh I'm sorry, I said no problem.

He told the mom to tell the kid to shut up. So she tells him to shut up he keeps talking about batteries....

Then the dad says *Will you shut the hell up* pretty loudly...

I understand the frustration that can happen having young kids in the store. I've been shopping with kids for over 15 years now.

I'm pretty positive that I've never said shut the hell up to my toddler.

Part of me wanted to say something in defense of the child but I just kept walking.

I saw them again in another aisle and the little boy wasn't yelling about batteries anymore.

It just made me stop and think to make sure I am aware of what I say to my kids.

I get frustrated, who doesn't?

It's important to be mindful of our words.

I encourage all of you to just stop and think about how you talk to your children.

Sometimes I say something and wish I hadn't and I apologize for sounding mean.

Being aware is the first step to changing.

Kids remember these things, I remember all sorts of crap that was said to me, it sticks with you.

Yes!

Ok!
Oil of Oregano Rocks!

My immune system is so much better! A couple years ago this virus would've kicked my ass for two weeks, instead two days!

My vitamin D levels must be improving! They were dangerously low 2 years ago and still low last July. That explains my long illnesses.

I was feeling like serious shit yesterday. I took 3 doses of Oil of Oregano 3 times for two days.
I'm feeling so much better!

I'm just tired and stuffed up, everything else is gone.
yeah we'll see what I  feel like in the morning!

Just had a long talk with Cassie, all sorts of questions...

Spanning from, Easter, God, dinosaurs, Jesus, big bang, monkeys, Mary, immaculate conception, Joseph, the cross,Adam and Eve, what do you believe, how do we know what is real,  faith...holy shit we covered a lot of ground!

I answered my best and talked about how glad I am that she has these questions and how I want her to form her own opinion and beliefs.

Cassie and I had an awesome conversation!

Life Rocks!
Keep it Real...
Jared is working on his gear for  his BMX outfit...

I tried...

I did good!

I can't remember the last time I was sick so it's been awhile.

I woke up today with my throat sore and it just morphed into tired, headache, body aches, swollen gland, earache, tight chest, not happy Bob, not happy!

One good thing it was 66 degrees and sunny, I went for  a walk and sat out in the yard for quite  awhile trying to get natural vitamin D.

I take a supplement everyday  but it's not the same as the real deal.

I also had a weird freak out/anxiety moment.

Jason went to look at a tub, he said, *I may be back with a tub*

He had just went a delivered a finished  tub and was going to look at another to buy.

I said those will be your famous last words, joking, he said * I don't want it to be my last words*

A few minutes later I heard sirens and got a sick feeling in my stomach...
I tried to shake it off  but I couldn't.
I called both his phones twice, no answer...

I told myself he was fine, probably no reception...

I asked God for him to call me...

More time went by, I texted him...

I washed the dishes...

He finally called me, he didn't have reception in the boonies...

UGH! I hate  feeling like that!

Not feeling well didn't help.

I watched Into The Wild tonight, true story, great movie line, sad ending....

I took a bath and had some wine and I'm heading to bed.

Hope to kick this virus in the ass!

Excellent quote!

When you are truly genuine, there will invariably be people who do not accept you. And in that case you must be your own bad ass self without apology..." -Katie Goodman

Do you ever...

Think that you are the only one who thinks what you think, believes what you believe, feels what you feel about any given thing?

Ok, obviously I am the only one that thinks what I think in my own head but I mean a sort of hey yeah, I've thought that before...

I know I am unique, trust me, I believe we are all unique.

I believe we do have similarities with others, we as humans seek out those that are like us...

When I answer any question, respond to anything happening in the world or in my house, I know that my take on it is rare, it's not the norm, it's different.

My dear husband  loves me so but even he will tell you my views are out there on some things, hell everything, it seems.

Sometimes I really feel alone in my thoughts and opinions and most of the time that is fine, I guess once in awhile it would be nice if someone said, yeah I get  that.

But you have no idea what I'm referring to?

Nothing real specific, ask me something? I just know that my answer is different, especially in regards to parenting, school, government...

Maybe I'm having a government induced post?

In my world, it would be anarchism so well....yeah.... responsibility and respect, never gonna happen....

The state we are in now just saddens me, and really pisses me off if I let it.
The school system is knee deep in government.

Our lives, what we eat, what lightbulbs we use, what we drive,how fast we drive, when we can vote, when we can buy alcohol,  how we educate our kids, who we marry etc...

Big brother thinks they can dictate because we are too stupid, thanks to the wonderful public school system, I agree on the stupid part, BUT I  escaped, I can think for myself and I know many of my friends can too...I'm sick of it. Oh and taxation is theft.... That's a whole nother topic....

Who knows, maybe you don't care what my opinion is, I'm pretty sure the government doesn't either. But they can leave me alone to live in peace or they can bite me.

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Trash :: garbage
2. Abs :: muscles
3. Dating :: fun
4. Hooked :: on phonics...oy
5. Face :: not just another pretty face
6. Algebra :: sucks
7. Reading :: railroad
8. Horrendous :: awful
9. Looks :: if looks could kill
10. Python :: snake

How exciting :)
Haven't done these in awhile
Wanna play?

Luna Nina

Cooking

Kieran has been cooking and baking quite often lately.

He has a real knack for it.

He enjoys it and he is very good at it.

It's great to have someone in the house that can cook and wants to cook :)

Life without school

Our kids have never been to school and I'm pretty sure they won't ever. I know I can't predict the future but we live as if school didn't exist because in our lives it doesn't.

We want freedom from the standards, grades, tests, subjects, schedule etc...

We live and learn each day without school.

Learning is as natural as breathing when one has never been stifled by schooling.

Learning is not a chore, it is not a lesson given by a teacher, it is not something only done Monday through Friday from 8-2.

Learning is a personal thing between the learner and the world. We can't make someone learn, sure we can try but it's artificial.

Learning through Living is the best and most easy way to learn anything.

When we want information, we seek it out, we research on the web, go to the library, ask someone who we believe may know, watch tv/movies, experiment, try something new, be creative.

School is not essential to life and it really is a hazard to an individual's learning style.

When one is not schooled, they know how they learn best and they just do it.

Think outside of the box, leap outside of the box, it's worth it!

I am amazed everyday by my children, they truly Learn through Living!

Adolescence

Noun:
the period in human development that occurs between the beginning of puberty and adulthood

I believe that our society has made adolescence into  a stuck period of time. High school is basically age 14 - 18. At a time when young people are growing and maturing we lock them up with others the same age.

It's a hormone fest for one thing. It's full of Cliques, peer pressure, bullying, grades, tests, stress, trying to be yourself or someone you're not, following the rules, breaking the rules, following the crowd, not thinking for yourself...

High School is a collossal waste of time and of youth.

I believe that teens can and should be following their interests and learning what they need when they need it. I believe that for every child.

Teens can be doing meaningful work, real work, getting paid.

I just don't see the point of high school. It is not to prepare you for the real world. What in the real world resembles school?

Nothing! Nothing at all!

School is an artificial environment set up to control the masses. It is very simple.

It is an escape for teens to get away from their controlling parents. While the school officials attempt to control, it's really the home environment that controls.

Instead of being controlled they need to be thinking and doing.

People need to be free to learn and grow and think for themselves.

They do not need to be stuck in a classroom all day being fed bullshit and regurgitating it on command.

“Your teacher cannot bridge the gap between what you know and what you want to know. For his words to ‘educate’ you, you must welcome them, think about them, find somewhere for your mind to organize them, and remember them.Your learning is your job, not your teacher’s job. And all you need to start with is desire. You don’t need a schoolteacher to get knowledge – you can get it from looking at the world, from watching films, from conversations, from reading, from asking questions, from experience.”


“Real learning requires meaning. Meaningless information can be memorized and repeated, but it’s not learning.


Grace Llewellyn

Sweet

Big brother playing with little brother :)

Importance of bonding

noun:

Bonding: A relationship that usually begins at the time of birth between a parent and offspring and that establishes the basis for an ongoing mutual attachment.

I believe that it is imperative to bond with our babies right from the womb and time of birth. I wonder if many people actually realize that it has a lasting impact on that persons life. Some may even think that babies don't remember, oh I believe they do. I am going to be the example here, I didn't realize the impact until a few years ago. 

I would say I was detachment parented. I was not breastfed or held all the time, I was left to cry, I never bonded with my parents. I did have a bond with my grandfather that I have held dear to me but he is gone and he didn't raise me. He did hold me on his chest, I was a colicky baby and he soothed me and loved me.

The bond with my grandfather lasted into childhood and adulthood even though we lived 3000 miles apart most of the time, it was there, it was special, it's still there and he died years ago.

My parents were teenagers and really not ready to be parents, I'm thankful that I'm here, that my mom had me. I had a rough childhood and a worse teenagehood. 

I didn't realize until a couple years ago what was happening, lots of memories coming back of things I wanted to forget. I had a few therapy sessions with a doctor and he said I need to parent myself. I need to be the mother to the little girl inside me that is screaming to be loved.

I need to take a break...tears...

My parents loved me in their own way, I suppose. Even now it comes with conditions at least from my father. My mom and I have come a long way but we are still very far. I know where she came from, I know my grandmother, so my mom was ridiculed and belittled her whole life, my grandmother just stopped bringing up every mistake my mom has made a few years ago. In that respect my mom did better than what she had...

Babies need to bond with their caretaker, they need to feel loved and secure. They need to know when they cry someone will pick them up and hold them and talk to them  and find out what they need. It is vital to healthy attachments later in life.

I have kept people at arms length my whole life. It is very hard for me to love and trust completely because I've been hurt so much for so long. I need to find a way to nurture my inner child, she is in there somewhere and once in awhile I do feel like that scared little girl hiding in the closet. She didn't last long though, she turned into a cold hearted bitch and that worked for her for several years.

Now she is vulnerable, feeling things she doesn't want to feel, real emotions that make her sad, hurt, alone, misguided, pissed off, damaged...



I am damaged goods and it sucks to say  that but I think it's true...



I just had a breakthrough in the tub that I will leave for a part 2...



One thing about having had therapy, I can also do it myself, it's not quite as effective but I learn new things and it's much cheaper.