and a quote ...
"The most important educational need of the child is to feel himself worthy of love and a worthy dispenser of love. If infants learn what love is, they can go through life with sanity and happiness."
Herbert Ratner, M.D.

I really should pay more attention on MAKING time to get on here to post. I am having one of THOSE schooly weeks...where I really need to take a step back and away from the kidlets. I worry so much about them. I believe so strongly in unschooling , but I must say that the schooly things are still in my head. Tyler yesterday was curled under the table petting the cat..I sanpped at him and told him to go do something. Why did I do that? He was just chilling looking and petting the cat. Today is going to be better. I am not going to ruin how far we came becuase I am having apprehensions. On other news...Ashleigh is doing so well at her reading. She just LOVES it! She has also taken a strong interest in Electricity. I prinited some stuff off of http://www.enchantedlearning.com and were going to go through it today...maybe look up some info in our books. We just got a year membershiop at enchanted learning. Were loving it! The amount of passions and crafts my kids want to do , its a great resource to have. Tyler is doing alot of watching TV , and playing video games. Perhaps thats why I am having my little freak out. He is doing so much with it though. He is looking up cheat sheets, reading them, figuring out puzzles. I need to spaz the heck down and relax...get my ouw interests. Heather is being little heather. She just loves so much to play...its amazing to watch. Oliver is crawling all over the place! He is already 7 months old! Can you believe it!! Its amazing to me how fast the time goes.
I need to remind myself daily to JUST RELAX. I have taken to looking on http://www.unschooling.com every morning just to get my dose of , YES I CAN DO THIS! We went yesterday and looked at the beaver dam we have been keeping track of. It looks like the beavers have been trapped and people have destroyed their dam. I understand why it had to be done, but it is still upsetting. We have followed this beaver family for over a year..
Anyway, the day is waiting..
The Walkers

Well we havent really posted in awhile so I thought we would do an update. Things have been moving fairly quickly around here. We havent been able to enjoy our days as much as once planned because of the fact that our house is up for sale. Goodness we had no idea that this journey was going to be so stressful. NOt fun. Ashleigh has taken to wanting a school day. Which has been pretty interesting to say the least. She enjoys being able to tell her friends that she is learning this this and this. Were doing it together, and spending lots of time reading together. Heather is gone to Papa and Grandmas this week. We miss her already. Thanksgiving went well. No real shots or communication against unschooling so thats a good thing. Its weird to think that you base a family get together on weither or not your parenting style was challaged..lol. Tyler has started making movies on youtube. He loves it. He really enjoys editing and making and exploring. He has also come across club peguin which he loves. We bought him a membership as well. Its neat becuase its like this chat room, but you walk around as a peguin. you play games to earn money so taht you can build your house and buy clothes. He is loving it. He has also spent alot more time writing and is learning about multiplication again. He says he loves math *grins* Anyway , its almost 7am here...time to go get dressed and get the day started ...
in peace
the walkers.

well , it has been an exciting couple of days. With school starting last week, it really has been a hustle and bustle of activity around here. We went to our first Durham Home Learners Association function on friday. A Not-back-to- school picninc. It was so much fun. The kids had a great time, and I look forward to doing more activites with them. We are signed up for every friday in the month of september to do a different workshop down at the museum , so that should be fun. I like the kids to have interaction with other homeschoolers. I had my semi annual breakdown last week. I hate when those happen..lol. the ones were I panic and then think I should send my kids to school and then it takes one person to snap me out of insanity. Although this time my snapping out happening over several days and from several people. I think I would feel better if I knew that I am not the only one that goes through this.

Tonight is my first Durham homelearners Association meeting...I am looking forward to it. We were suppose to go to bowling on wednesday with them as well , but I cancelled us from that. I think its going tobe to mch for my fam to be running all over the palce this week, I mean we will see on wednesday how everyone is doing. Nevermind that fact that they have their stuff at the Y that night, so it would amek for a busy day. Things with the children are going well. We are loving and living life. Tyler is writing again, which I am so happy for. He stopped for awhile, but I love his stories. so I am looking forward to reading some of those. Ashleigh is well on her way to reading. THe hooked on phonics program is working for her, and heather has decided that that would be a good thing for her to do as well, so she is using the program to learn her letters and sounds. I find it amazing to watch my children change and grow...to see ashleigh reading is such an amazing thing to me. How did we get here? is something I ask myself ALOT. I have started a new "thing" which is working really weel for our family. I was finding myself getting really overwhelmed by everything and not spending the time that I proably should have been with each child. So now everyday I make a conscious effort to spend one hour with ecah child on their own...just me and them. It is going really well, because not only do we get to spend time alone together and that one on one time is important, but the children are choosing some amazing things for us to do together. Now this hour is above and beyond the normal time we spend together. Some other things that have gone on is that we captured an ontario rat snake

We kept it for about two weeks and watched it shed twice and eat. It was very cool to see how he did things and we learnt alot about snakes and the slugs it eats while having it as our guest. We also saw that when we got it , it was solid in colour, but by the time we let it go back in nature, its belly was red! It was amazing. We also caught a praying mantis and kept it in the same tank for observation. It was very cool. It amazes me how unafraid my children are of all these things. I remeber when I was child, bugs were nto my thing. Actully outside was not my thing. I guess that comes from being locked indoors all day long and not having the time to explore my envrionment. Things to ponder I suppose. The kids signed up for soccer, lasted one time and dont want to go back. They said it was to rough. I actully rally was and I was thinking the same thing, but didnt have to say it. Anyway, I need to get my day started before the kids get up. I wish you all well, and a joyful day.
The Walkers

The kids had such a great time yesterday. THe played outside with their friends for most of the day. It was great to see. I think that Tyler is a little sad about the kids going back to school in a week. We had a conversation about it the other night, and I asked him point blank if that makes him want to go school. He said no way. I think its important for them to know that if they wanted to go to school it was something that I would be open to talking about with them. Though it would be a far fetched idea that they would ACTULLY go....sort of a well I wouldnt let you put a gun to your head mentality.
I dont wnat them to injure themselves. I really like who my kids are and what their about and I really dont want to be changing that. Alot of people are asking me though, when are you starting "school" . Its hard to explain what we do. You say well we are always learning, we learn from life, and we feel good about that. They sort of look at you like your made of glue. My parents, though supportive and positive about homeschooling , are the worse for this. Its like they can't possiable understand that were not learning from textbooks. We are going to have a family meeting today and talk about what they want to see happen in the coming year. Just sort of documentation of our "goals" and a place for me to get idea about outings and stuff that they might enjoy. Books to watch out for to "Strew" in their way.
Tyler has become obsessed with Sudoko puzzles....I must say so have I. They are so much fun!
Whats sudoko? http://www.sudoko.ws/ We love them here and Tyler is so good at them. He has taught us all to really enjoy them. I am hoping to update this journal every morning with the going ons of the previous day, expecially once school starts. I like having documentation of what we have done. So some things we did yesterday :
1) Read outloud
2)Ashleigh worked on phonics program.
3)The children played outside with the neighbourhood kids.
4)We went to the park.
5)Heather spent some time with her stickers.
6)Tyler worked on sudoko puzzles.
7)Tyler read his chapter book
8)Ashleigh went to a sleep over
9)Ashleigh played computer, Reader Rabbit
10)Tyler played game cube, Harvest Moon
11)The children watched a movie.
12)Ashleigh spent some time copying words from books.
13)The children spent some time drawing.
14)We looked up the snake we found on the internet and found out it was a Rat snake http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/eco_info/topics/field_guide/reptiles/rat_snake.cfm
http://www.reptileallsorts.com/blkratcareguide.htm
http://www.grandriver.ca/GrandStrategy/pdf/ga_apr01.pdf#search='ontario%20rat%20snake'

Yesterday was a really great day! Everyone had loads of fun!

So many new things have happened, and I really havent kept up with this journal...AGAIN...Things have been going amazingly well. I am going to seperate this entry in kids so that I make sure to post what their up to..lol

Tyler:

Is loving reading comics...he is so into them right now. Which has also turned into him drawing this really cool characters. He has also started his own online blog AND talking on msn with friends. Its neat to see him turning into his own little guy. He always has been his own little guy but now other people get to see it to.

Ashleigh:

Is learning to read. She has decided to get really serious about this, and has taken to learning a little each day about the sounds of letters. She is copying books, and taken alot more interest in not only what their about but how and why the letters got there.

Heather:

Her birthday was yesterday, she is now 4....ACK...we got her a bike, a two wheeler, so she has been spending ALL of er time learning how to do that...still with training wheels, but I am guessing she will even want those off soon.

Oliver:

almost 6 months old! Can I believe that? NO...he is rolling, gabbing, playing, eating and just being Ollie...he is a really amazing guy..

We have come a long way on our journey of unschooling. When we first started this path...we knew we didnt agree with "school at home" but we also were not relaxed enough to just have faith in our kids. Our big hurdle, that I am proud to say were over, was trusting them to know. Not jsut about education , but also when they were tried, hungry, sad, mad....whatever. I can really say that I trust my kids now, and thats a good feeling.

So many people said it was a matter of time...they were right.

We have been watching this cool thing on www.youtube.com checkit out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ6B2qOFp7Y

very cool.

anyway We are trying to sell our house, so off I go to tidy in case people want to come today.

Till next time..

The Walkers

What a great couple of days it has been! It was an incrediable weekend and though the week has only started an amazing one at that. So many cool things are going on!

Saturday
We ended up at the zoo with some friends , it was the best time. The kids had a hoot and becuase our friends do not have a membership we saw more of the zoo at one time then we have in awhile. Usually we go to watch one thing becuase we can always come back the next day if we realyl wanted to. The kids had a great time. We spent more time at the Mandrills and the naked mole rats. That is the childrens favorite place.

Sunday
The children went with their Grandmother to Suessical the Musical. The kids loved it. Heather, Oliver and I went to a Beltaine celebration that was SO incrediably amazing. Tyler, Ashleigh and Graham met up with us after the musical. We did a maypole dance, made head wreaths, drummed, made fire, danced, sang, skinny dipped in a stream, rolled in mud, watched fish, had ritual, met new friends, soaked in the rays of the sun and just had an awesome amazing time (pictures to follow at a later post I hope).

This week has been filled with music, reading, gardening , baking, making , and just hanging out in the sun. Ashleigh has been working hard on her Grade one math book she got, she loves working through it and Tyler spent alot of time today reading. We have been having discussions about seasons, moon phases, gardening and TONS of other neat things. Tyler and his friend have done the lemon-aid stand for two days and made 13 dollars! Tyler turned his 5 bucks into that!
Amazing really.
Graham and I have been doing alot of reading about unschooling and everytime I start to feel like I want to urge something onto one of my children, I go back and read an article or essay on unschooling or read through the unschooling threads on google. I just really want my kids to live. I want them not to worry about anything right now. I want them to soak in the joy that is life.
We are so excited about about the Toronto Unschooling conference that is happening this weekend. Heather is going to papa's and grandma's so that Graham and I can totally listen to the presenters. It will be good for everyone, becuase I really dont think that heather would want to sit and listen.
alas its late , I shall sign off.
What an amazing journey this is...
in peace.
The Walkers.

And here I am again..lol
I was reading some unschooling lists and saw that a few people had blogs on here and then I remebered that I thought I had a blog on here as well....lol...too funny.
I am using this as a way to share our going ons with our family and friends and a place to have all of our "stuff" documented in some way.
This week has been amazing...we have done so many cool things. We went on a 6 hr hike on the bike trails of oshawa where we saw so many cool things. Lots of different kinds of birds including the pileated woodpecker. Which is what the pic on the right is... it was so awesome to see! amazing...it took my breath away, I have never ever saw anything like it. We also saw some other kinds of hawks but we have to go back another day and watch them to figure out what it was. We also went snake hunting to no avail..THIS TIME...lol..last week we caught two garter snakes on our adventures. We also spent some time looking under logs to see what we could see. It found lots of cool creepy crawlies. We have spent the week also playing music together. The kids have gotten to singing along while I play guitar. Its nice to be good enough now that they can do that...Heather plays the harmonica right along ..its great! The kids have been playing outside alot with the neighbourhood kids and Tyler has met a few new friends that he has been playing basketball with in the back park. He really enjoys it. We bought a volleyball net as well this week, and putting it up today becuase Ashleigh said she wanted to learn to play and I have been wanting to play as well. It should be fun, were hoping to get it up today if something else doesnt come up.
Yesterday Tyler did some baking and made the most amazing Rasin bran muffins. He is reayll great at measurments and is able to now bake things completely on his own. He even washes his dishes! lol He also started yet another business yesterday. Another Lemon juice stand. He used his allowance money from last week and bought juice, cups and a juice jug and spent a n hour making a sign and organzing when he was going to do it all. He also added up how much it cost him and how much he would have to charge for each juice so that he could make a profit. He decided .50 cents a cup would give him a profit if he sold 10 cups per container. It was really cool listening to him come up with a business plan. He has also got the neighbourhood kids involved though I am not sure how is planning on paying them *smiles*
We watched and incrediable show yesterday on Canadian sharks. I didnt even know we have sharks in our waters...but we do. It was amazing to watch...Tyler really enjoyed it. Ashleigh is working hard on finishing a grade one math book she got or her birthday from her grandmother...she likes working with numbers. Its amazing to me that when she picked it up on her own she will spend hours doing it, but when we "did" school and I would sit her down to do math she would do 5 questions and have a melt down. Its GREAT to unschooling working for us. It took awhile to deschool, but I really think were coming through the other end. We have spent alot of time this week in the garden. Pulling weeds from the flower beds and planting our vegetable seeds for this season. The girls and I had a lengthy discussion yesterday while pulling weeds about the friends and the foes of the garden. We dug up a grub which started our conversation. We also talked about the parts of the plant and why plants need roots...which lead to a discussion on how plants get their food. It was a great discussion.
Tyler has been reading stuart little on his own this week and enjoying it. He is comparing it to the movies and finding that it is very different. We talked about that for a bit and how LOTR is alot different from the book and movies. Tyler has also been writing in his own journal which has been going really well....every night he writes out in point form what he did that day. Its great for him to be able to look back and see what he has done. He seems to enjoy it. Heather and Ashleigh have been playing alot together as well . Last night we watched the American Inventor, it was a great show and Tyler really enjoyed it.
Ashleigh has turned 6! which was a great adventure! we made a worm cake and had a family birthday party with her.
Here is Ash and Heather and THE cake!

It was a fun day and Ashleigh loved her cake. We also went to the zoo in the last two weeks, and are actully going again tommorow. We went while Ash was away at Grandma's and Grandpas. Tyler and Heather had a great time at the Mandrills.

We also went on a hike to the river where the kids built a boat first out of wood and string they found and then half a water barrel they found up river. It was very cool watching them try and get it to float and then with the rain barrel, getting in and trying to balance it. LOL..it was a great time that ended in soaked clothes and giggles. Heather mostly looked for worms.

All and all it has been a pretty great couple of weeks. we even went to dinner at grandma and papas walkers. Here we all are and cousin grayson.

Oliver is doing amazing. He is 11 pounds already and almost 7 weeks old. I cannot beleive how fast time goes. He is smiling and laughing and just being amazing. Were already getting almost a full nights sleep and were just so happy he is here in our family. Well I will sign off, and go get some housework done while Oliver sleeps. Be well all and I will update in a few days.

The Walkers