WalkerClan

2007-03-14T22:16:00.000-05:00

What an amazing couple of weeks we have had. They have been so great, that I have not even had time to write! This is going to be an educational update blog, this is going to be the Walkers in pictures becuase we just got a new cam and its great!
It was Olivers First Birthday too, horay Oliver!!

It is amazing to me how fast the time goes! HIs birthday was fab. Lots o kids.

Well I was going to actully post...but alas , I got pulled away from the computer and now my bed is calling me. I will post again tommorow. I have lots to share.

2007-02-04T10:46:00.000-06:00

We havent posted in awhile. Its been a crazy couple of weeks!
So busy and so many moments.
We went to the science center yesterday. We were hoping to see the comic exhibit but alas it was shut down for repairs. THe kids were pretty disappointed , but once we got into kids zone that all sort of went away *smiles*. A good time was had by all , and then dinner at Mcdonalds which is a VERY special treat. The kids went to the playground thing after we were done eating and we played for about an hour. It was amazing to me how mean some of the kids were. It was like they were all compeating for attention from each other. There were these two little boys who were actully fist fighting! like putting up their hands and punching each other in the face. They were knocking each other down and pushing on each other and just being horriable. Noboday was around to ask them why they were doing that. Then the father showed up and grabbed the kid and yelled at him , being pretty rude to him then I understood why this one child felt then need to yell. To be heard. Why he felt the need to punch. To be seen. It made my eyes water.
I think that parents often times dont understand or dont appreciate how their own actions reflect on their children and how those actions make their children feel. There was so much rage and aggresion built up in those chidren. *sigh* My children will never feel that way. They know that they can talk about anything, they know that I will never disrespect them or force them to be somthing they are not. I feel good about that. I like that my kids respect me. I like that my kids respect themselves and others. I also liike that when they are having a bad day, which happens to us all, that they know they have a parent that wont judge them . One that wont force them to go or be with people if they need not to be. And certainly one who wont grab them and disrespect then in a room full of people.
anyway , I just wanted to post something about it. It scares me to think what those boys may end up as without anyone to listen to them.
The Walkers

2007-01-16T06:35:00.000-06:00

What a great weekend we had! Most of it was pretty low key, lots of hanging out together. It was great. We went to a hockey game on Sunday night, Tyler and I did. We had a great time. The girls and Oliver stayed home with dad and watched a movie together and had some down time together. They loved it. We had a great time at the hockey game. Tyler spent most of it banging on these two blown up tubes of air. He was trying to figure out why it was making the sound it was. He also then was trying to figuring out the difference between the two teams shots on net (math) and estimating how many people were there (math). So for a hockey game, there was alot covered. He also made change and figured out the difference between something that was 5.25 and something that was 4.00. On friday we went to Airzone with some fellow homeschoolers. We had a great time. The kids loved it! There werent alot of people there, so it was nice and intimate. I got to talk to some other moms and discuss unschooling, which I ALWAYS love to do. Tyler figured out how much money Airzone had made at the time we were there. He estimated how many people were there and then multiplied it by the cost to get in. It was pretty cool to watch him figure it out. He wanted to figure it out to see if the price they were charging was a fair price. Pretty cool. Oliver went into the jumping castle for the first time! He had so much fun! I wish we had a digital camera so I could share that with you. It was great! I just love living this way, its so peaceful and pure. Its so real. I mean in a forced learning atmosphere a child would spend days and days on making change. My son did it in an afternoon with no forced feelings and becuase he wanted to..that to me is amazing. Saturday was a lounge day, we just sort of chilled around the house. We made a special meal togher though and ate it by candlelight. It was nice, we dont do that enoough. Sunday we went to church in the morning and then came home and some more of the chilling *smiles*. Yesterday was a busy day. Tyler spent most of it over at his friends house becuase all the school kids were home. The buses were cancelled. He also came down from his room in the am , and announced he had figured out why the tubes from the hockey game made that sound when you banged them together. It was because the sound waves were vibrating. Then we all discussed vibrations and how they worked and how the voice box worked on vibrations as well. It was awesome to see his face glow whne he came running down the stairs! He had figured it out!
Tyler also right now is reading James and the giant peach. He loves it and reccomends it highly.
*glee*
I LOVE MY LIFE.

The walkers.

2007-01-09T06:35:00.000-06:00

We had one of those, were suppose to take it easy weekends but ended up busy...lol...We all had a good time though, so thats really what matters. Heather is gone to Grandma and Grandpas till tomorrow, so hopefully she is having a good time as well. This weekend we had a family "special" dinner. Which means we all head to the grocery store, pick what we want to eat, purchase it together, cook it together and then eat by candlelight. I love it. We usually so it every other weekend, but lately its been every week. The girls went for a sleepover on Friday night, which they had a great time at. And people call homeschoolers anti-social..rofl..I think my children have more of a social life then I ever did growing up.lol.
We went for a nature hike as well down to the beach. We have this piece of shoreline by our house that is at the bottom of this HUGE cliff...huge drop down...we scaled down it and spent some time rock hunting and river glass hunting. We also found a stone with quartz in it! We took another rock and broke it out, it was so much fun.
We also saw this huge mass of birds, so we spent some time watching them and trying to figure out what they were. We still haven't figured out what type of bird they were. We had a great hike and are loving the fact that we haven't got a whole lot of bad winter weather yet. The weekend was full of amazing discussions about so many different things. I just loved it. Now we are starting another week and I am looking forward to it. We dont have any plans for this week really. Today I want to get some laundry done. I am tempted to send my youngest in to mountain climb it so I think today would be a good day to get some done, and the floors need washing. Tomorrow I am babysitting some of my neighbours children so we will be around home tomorrow as well. Thursday were going to go swimming I think. Other then that were free. Tyler has decided to give up on the whole cub thing. He says that he is not learning anything and he doesn't feel like its worth the rush around to go to stand in a circle. I agreed with him, but I am a bit worried about him just quitting something. I dont know. I would never force him to go, but I also dont want him to keep quitting things. We shall see , he has till tomorrow to figure out what he wants to do.
Anyway , I am off to start our day. I will write about our day this eve.
cheers
The Walkers.

2007-01-05T06:16:00.000-06:00

Wow
what a day yesterday. It was a pretty great day. The kids spent most of the day outside. Its incredible to me how amazing the weather is..its suppose to go up to plus 10 today!!! Its January y! In CANADA!! We are for sure going for a walk today. I think were going to walk down to the strip mall and get mama's hair trimmed. That sounds like a good plan to me. So yesterday. The children played outside with the neighbourhood kids, all sorts of games were on the go. I went out to check on them quite a few times and each time they were playing something different. Its wonderful to see so many different kids of different ages , playing together with no prejudices. My husband and I were having a discussion over the weekend about how because our kids are homeschooled they dont face the same judgements as other kids in school. Meaning that our daughter who is 6, plays with a 9 yo. That 9yp wont play with an other 6 yo because shes only in grade one, but because Ashleigh doesnt go to school she can play with her..lol..amazing dynamic really. The kids also spent some time watching TV. We watched a show together on the water cycle, so all day today ashleigh has been repeating it over and over..lol...making up new songs with new tunes about how the water cycle works..pretty cool. The girls helped me make dinner, while Ty offered to clean the front room for me, so that we could watch a show together. I thought was really darn nice of him...lol...Since we lifted mandatory chores, its been amazing. Now I just ask for help if I need it, or he offeres. No fighting and no bullies living here thank you very much! The kids went and spent some time playing in the neighbours house. Tyler also spent some time reading his gaming book trying to figure out some new spy moves for his game. He came down to the living room and was reading me some of the parts of this book. When he learnt these big words and what they mean I have no idea..lol...but he read through them no problem and by the time he was ready for bed he had perfected the moves. He us awesome. He also announced yesterday that he wants to design video games...sounds like an awesome thing to do to me. Heather spent alot of the day counting. She was counting everything. She even helped me count potatoes and plates fro dinner. She also helped make the eggs to go with our dinner tonight, she loves helping out in the kitchen. THe kids help me with dinner in some way almost everynight. It takes a little bit longer to finish , but its totally worth it. I would rather eat at midnight and have my kids beside me , then eat at 5 and people stressed out.
Anyway , I am gonna go get my day started, the kids havent risen from their nests yet.
oh, and oliver has completely rejected the breast. I am not happ about this at all. I guess though that it is him making that choice and its not up to me. I have self weaned with all of my children, but all of them have waited till at lest 14 months. Oliver is only 10 months old . I am not DONE nursing!! *stamps feet* He is so different then all my other children. He didnt like co-sleeping either, where as ym youngest daughter still sleeps with us..not every night mind you, but she still does wander into bed with us. Oliver would never sleep in our bed, but when we moved him to his own bed he started sleeping through the night! amazing really.
anyway, till later, or tomorrow.
The Walkers

2007-01-04T09:52:00.000-06:00

I was looking throung an unschool page that I wrote the prior post for and it got me thinking that I would really like to go through some of my major beleifs about unschooling as a lifestyle. For me and for other people to see how radical unschooling really works or what it might look like. Though every home is different and my beliefs will be different then another unschoolers but neither makes us not unschoolers. Just had to put the provision in...lol

BEDTIMES:
This one has been one of transition for us. When our oldest was wee, he is 10 now, we were all about bedtimes..in your room at 8pm, lights out, tired or not...BED. Our 6 yp came along and we tried the same thing..lol...ya didnt work very well, she was pretty sure she wasnt ready for bed at 8 , but we stuck with it...our 4 yo came along , same and well it all went uphill from there..lol..we gave up on the whole make someone go to sleep thing. As we became more comfortable with unschooling, and educating ourselves on other more holistic parenting options, I realized that what we were doing to our children was wrong. Forcing somone to sleep when their not tired isnt only wrong its stupid..lol. I thought about if someone was to say to me, ok phoenix at 8 pm, your going to bed. I mean some days I would be like...hell ya! , but more often then not, I am a night hawk. I lvoe staying up at night, and even when I was in school (and later when I was homeschooled for high school) I did my best work between 10 pm and 2 am. I am the same now. I love night time. But I am not such a great morning person. The reason that this is so stupid to me as well is that , ok you send your kids to bed at 8 , but then you argue with them till 1o of why they NEED to go to sleep..then they FINALLY fall asleep yelling, crying screaming or whatever. Your stressed out , their stressed out. Whereas you COULD of jsut let them stay up and more then likely by 10 they would have been passed out anyway, IF they werent busy doing something awesome. SO really why do it? I understand people who send their children to school having to have a bedtime. Those kids need to get up early and function in a high stress environment all day long so they need as much sleep as they can get. But I dont have to do that, becuase my kids wake when they want, they need a nap thay take it, they sleep when they want and they are certainly not in a high stress environment where they need to "cope" all day long. I want my children to be on their own clock. I want them to be able to recognize when they function the best. Not only that, when we lifted "bed-times" I relaxed . I think that happened for a few reasons. one becuase bedtime was really stressful for me because it was going against my inner judgement, and two becuase it meant that I had more time to do THINGS...lol...I was able to relax about getting housework done through the day, because the kids knew they ahd me for as long as they needed my at night, they werent demanding time all day . SO I got done what I needed to get done , and still my kids were happy! It works. Its amazing. ANyway those are my thoughts on bedtimes.
tommorow...TV

The Walkers

2007-01-04T09:25:00.000-06:00

Deschooling for Unschooling Voices.

I think that when it comes to deschooling , it is me that is really going through all the emotions and transitions associated with it. My children have never attended school so they don't have much to deschool from. We did try school at home for a bit , so they do have that. I find that I need to take all the schooly thoughts and feelings out of my head on a daily basis STILL, and my oldest is almost 10! I tend to have some panic attacks on a every 5 month or basis but my children are the ones that ground me back into the NOW. They wont let me stay in school mind set for long. It scares me to think that I am so brainwashed by my years in school that I even have to deschool. Is school that ingrained in all of our brains? It sure is. That , to me, is yet another reason to unschool. I think that schooly thought is what rules alot of the things going on in our society. There is a hierarchy in school that carries on into adulthood that creates alot of the bad things going on. The lack of respect for someone older/younger, the thought that you are owed something just because, the lack of work ethic and of course the loss of self confidence and respect (which leads to a whole heck of alot of other bad things ). Those are just a few things to glance at! That's really scary.
Deschooling hasn't been a easy road for me at all. It has been one of alot of bumps, humps and jitters. Alot of self exploration and patience. ALOT of biting my tongue and faking it. I sort of live by the adage fake it till you make it..lol...becuase my kids already knew what they needed to do. They already KNOW what they need to learn. They already see learning in everything. They are already their own little perfect human beans. I just need to get the heck outta their way..lol
cheers
sarah

2007-01-02T21:05:00.000-06:00

Well another day of awesome weather here. I need to keep reminding myself that I do indeed live in Ontario Canada! lol It was plus 10 here today! For January thats insane! Today went fairly well. We just finished watching a show on archery on the history channel. It was really cool. Tyler was sort of half watching, half now as he decorated his calender for the month of january. We picked up these really cool calenders that have a two page spread for each month but its blank other then the squares and some black and white drawings so that the kids can draw in their own picture for each month and colour in the pictures the way they want to. THey are very cool little calanders. The kids are having a hayday with them. I am gonna break it down to child today because I am having a wee problem organizing my thoughts...lol

TYLER
-played outside with his friends. They are all on winter break so he is really enjoying having everyone around.
- Went over to his friends house and played castles and video games thogether.
- Went shopping with us, compared the prices of two different mac and cheeses trying to figure out which one was the better price , and if quality is something you pay for.
- played video games on his game boy
- listened to music
- started colouring and drawing his january picture in his calender.
- made a building using magnatic lego.
- had a discussion with mom and dad about why some magnets go together and others dont.
- Talked about a book we had about magnets. Went on search for book.
- watched a show on the first archers.
- cleaned bedroom
- helped with chores around the house
- took his dog for a walk.
- He went to a friends house and put on a play of spider man and police men.
- played outside and palyed a game of boys against girls.

Ashleigh and Heather
- spent some time playing with heather on their new bunkbed.
- we made a craft. We made picture frames and gift boxes using markers and stickers.
- We worked on another craft we had started another day. A bookmark made of flexi plastic. Ash finished hers.
- Ash played with her leappad with mom. Worked on adding, subtracting, order and counting by 2's.
- Heather played with her leappad and worked on her numbers.
- We watched a show about good fats and bad fats in American diets.
- The girls spent some time colouring in their colouring books
- played barbies.
- Heather and mommy talked about the differences between letters and numbers. We went to the grocery store and pointed out letters and numbers. She was able to tell the difference , though she didnt know all the numbers or letters , she did know they were numbers or letters.
- Ashleigh used her leappad to read a book. She kept doign the same sentence over and over again, trying to memorize the word.
- The girls tided their room.

Oliver
- took two steps today towards another table.
- fourth tooth is almost through.
- has gone two days now without breast *sigh*

Today has gone fairly well. I am proud of myself on how I handled situations that came up and I am happy about how things worked out. I like that I am going to try and do this journal every night though, it reminds me of the things they are doing. Just be living they are exploring so many different thoughts and ideas, nevermind the fact that our house is peaceful. Its great!
cheers
The Walkers.

2007-01-02T06:07:00.000-06:00

Well its now 2007. What a year we have had, it has been full of ups and downs and side ways. I want so badly in 2007 that my "schooly" talk is down by half..lol..that means that I should only have one freak out this year..lol..here is to hoping. Unschooling is so amazing. It is so peaceful in my house when no one is being forced or talked into anything. Most of the issues that we have had is because I have a moment when I think their not learning anything. Why do I think that, when the proof is right there in front of me. Christmas and New Years have been so busy. Insanly so. I ma glad that we have this week to just chill...just take a ferw breaths and relax.
I think that oliver might be weaning, which makes me sad. He is only 10 months. He didnt nurse at all yesterday. *sigh*...I am going to at least offer it to him today, and see what happens. He just isnt interested in it anymore. That sucks.
Anyway, the plans for tday....realax..lol..I want to read though some more unschooling articles and the kids want to play board games , so that'll be good
heres to living in peace in 2007.

The Walkers.

2006-10-24T06:26:00.001-05:00

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.

2006-10-24T05:54:00.000-05:00

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

2006-10-10T05:49:00.000-05:00

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.

2006-09-12T04:56:00.000-05:00

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

2006-09-01T04:37:00.000-05:00

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!

2006-08-31T05:47:00.000-05:00

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

2006-05-02T22:10:00.000-05:00

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.

2006-04-28T09:20:00.000-05:00

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

2004-03-29T09:11:00.000-06:00

Greetings
Wow this is cool!
I came here through a friend from LJ, and I think I am already liking this a TON more....hmm..this should be interesting, to find my way around.

Phoenix