We got a new battery charger, so I am back in the photo business! For awhile I couldn't take any new pic's or download the ones I had. So I will be playing catch up for a bit on the pictures.

News...hmmmm...had a great visit with mom. We had one really beautiful day and then it got cool again. But it was still a nice time having grandma around. The kids are definitely missing her now.

I just joined a local Christian homeschool group - HUGS - Homeschooling Under God's Supervision. I am excited about all the opportunities this is going to open up for the kids. We are going to go on their end of year field trip to Westfield Farm next week. It should be a wonderful trip for the girls. Apparently they have chicks and kittens and baby bunnies and goats, etc...all that the kids can hold and play with. I am sure the girls will be beside themselves with delight! Hopefully I will be able to capture some of it in photos. :)

I have been lazy on the garden since so much of it is already started in peat pots. I need to get out there and get them in the ground! We already have peas growing in the garden though. I had a big beautiful zucchini start and went to plant it on a windy day. I learned my lesson the hard way on that one - the wind snapped the little plant before I even got it to the garden. Today is another very windy day, so yet another reason to procrastinate on planting. :p
(although, I do have some seeds that need to go in as well...will probably do that after I get this post done)


After doing much more reading I have decided that I am going to "unschool" the kids. What is unschooling you ask? Not so easy to answer. Here is a collection of definitions that I pulled from the web:

The term "unschooling" refers to a range of educational philosophies and practices that differ markedly from conventional schooling.


Unschooling has many, many definitions - probably a different one for each family that calls themselves unschoolers.


...may refer to a either a curriculum-free approach to home education or a specific type of student-led education developed by John Holt.


Ask 30 unschoolers to define the word and you'll get thirty shades of red. They'll all be red, but they'll all be different. Generally, unschoolers are concerned with learning or becoming educated, not with 'doing school.'


Unschooling has nothing to do with tools that one may use to learn something, it is pure technique. Assuming the person wants to learn this way, it allows for structure or no structure, textbooks or no textbooks, workbooks or no workbooks. It includes the taking of classes. It allows for correspondence courses and private lessons. It allows for field trips, mentorships, jobs and volunteerism. It also allows for months of just playing with LEGOS or street hockey or endless computer games or taking apart the old car, if that is what the child needs then. It allows the person, no matter what age, to pursue their own goals and their own interests without guilt. It allows for educational freedom.


Unschooling is active, not passive. It's only passive in that you don't *do school.*


Unschooling is dropping the conventions of schooling, eliminating such things as required subjects, reading and writing assignments, and tests, and entirely replacing those with the creation of a stimulating, enriched environment and lots and lots of parental support for kids in pursuing their interests and passions. This is also known as interest driven, child-led, natural, organic, eclectic, or self-directed learning.


Lately, the term "unschooling" has come to be associated with the type of homeschooling that doesn't use a fixed curriculum. When pressed, I define unschooling as allowing children as much freedom to learn in the world, as their parents can comfortably bear.


Clear as mud isn't it?! Lol! Basically, I am approaching it with the idea that I won't be buying a set curriculum for the girls. They will learn as their curiosity drives them to pursue interests - sort of like a very relaxed unit study method. :) Currently both girls love doing workbooks and Angelina has her own preschool book and Trinity uses a kindergarten book. Also Trinity loves a phonics/learn to read program that is free on the internet. At whatever age they are, I will be there to guide and help them direct their natural curiosity into learning opportunities.


ON TO PICTURES!
I was trying to get a picture of the girls in their matching dresses, but I had a hard time getting Trinity to stop hugging on her little sister!


Trinity, when she was sick, being comforted by Max's companionship.

The many moods of Angelina...

More pictures later. Right now blogger seems to have overloaded on pics!

Posted in: Homeschool Lane on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 at at 1:40 PM