Moving…

To our new journal site.  Please change your bookmarks.

Storm

It has been frightening here this evening.  A tornado tore through Fenton and Holly.  Some friends have had damage to their homes and their town, so I ask that you please keep them in your thoughts.  The clean-up is underway but for several this evening a local elementary school is home. 

The worst that happened to us was a small power outage and some plant damage from the strong winds.  The storm came up so rapidly.  One minute we’re chatting about our Day out with Thomas (I’ll post about that tomorrow) and the next second we’re headed to the basement because of the sirens – chilling.  In fact I didn’t realize that the tornado hit down two towns over from our home.  Before the storm was overhead I had run a shopping errand at the local Target and came to find out the TSC next to it had been destroyed.  I flipped. 

I’m absolutely overwhelmed by it all.  But I can’t even fathom how my friends are feeling right now.

Hanging Out

Our property is blessed with Gray Treefrogs (Hyla versicolor) as seen above.  They love to hang out on our siding to eat what the Orb Weavers leave behind.  The one above was taking a peek into the downstairs bathroom… cheeky.  We also have Northern Leopard Frogs (Lithobates pipiens, previously Rana pipiens).  In fact a rather large Northern Leopard Frog has taken up residence under my Greek Oregano.  I have a little cup that I inserted in the dirt flush to the ground and I periodically fill it up with our well water to help him out since he’s a bit far from the river across the street.  It is my understanding that they stray from the water areas after mating season so he’s been there for the whole summer.  I noticed my herbs faired rather well too – lucky me. 🙂

Unschooling

I’m active on a few unschooling/homeschooling forums now and wanted to jot down my thoughts/comments here for my reference.

In regards to “Time Away”: 

This is perhaps my one concern about unschooling. I do need time away and at this point in time it isn’t possible. I live a state away from my husband during the week and only see him on the weekends. When this changes I’m sure I will be afforded more personal time. At the moment I take advantage of naps and late evenings… not ideal but better than nothing.Personally I believe that it’s important to nurture our own interests. I want my son to see my interests, how I pursue them and the joy they afford me. I believe it’s important to my physical and mental being – not to mention I’m continually learning too. If I deny me – what do you think my child will learn from it?

In regards to “Why should you unschool?”:

Since this is all so new to me I feel like I’m having a hard time articulating my thoughts about why we are unschooling. I do agree with many of your own thoughts. Right now I think it boils down to I don’t wish to snuff out my child’s innate sense of wonder in the world around him. I think I will be able to develop these thoughts as time moves on.

In regards to “The new bad word.”:

I find it fascinating when some one questions you about your choice without accepting they are making a choice as well. My response has been and will be, “I don’t question you about why you chose X, Y, or Z.” X, Y, or Z being public school, private school, homeschooling, etc. If they are generally interested I will certainly take the time to explain to them what it is, but you can usually tell the difference between some one that is ridiculing your choice and some one that is genuinely fascinated by it.

Personally I believe that unschooling, as a word, is what scares people. They really have a hard time getting past that word. What they aren’t realizing is they do this every time they’re with their children playing, exploring, reading, answering their questions, procuring materials for them, etc. They’re essentially unschooling. I don’t believe these people set-up a curriculum to do those things with their children and I certainly don’t believe they test their children afterward. As unschoolers we see the advantage of doing this at all times… not just during down time or spare time.

Since George is three there isn’t a huge burden on my shoulders to make sure he is pursuing learning.  He is learning on a daily basis through play, reading, shadowing me or my folks and playgroup trips as well as homeschooling meet-ups.  The more I read the more I know that we will be unschoolers through and through.  We do it now… why not continue to do it in lue of a public education?

I mean can you resist the cake-face?  Yeah, neither can I.  So we’re going to do our best to provide little Mr. Cake-Face with the type of life learning experience he deserves.

Taking a Break

To spend more time on personal pursuits and focus on family.

Fishing Companion

During our fishing adventure this weekend we were lucky enough to see another great fisherman in action.  The Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon).

 

The pictures are blurry because in my excitement I forgot I had it on soft focus.  The camera assumes that the nearest thing to the camera is what you’re focusing on, which was the grass.  But you can see the lovely Nerodia sipedon in the back there striking (and catching) the Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) I was reeling in to shore. 

The snake did not let go.  I pulled it ashore with the fish.  Gently laid the base of my fishing rod on the base of the snakes head and it let go.  The snake slithered back into the water, I released the Bluegill and it promptly snatched it up for dinner.  I don’t know who was more excited, Georgie or his daddy and me.  lol 🙂

Gone Fishing