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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.