What have your kids been into lately?
Joanne
We had a thread like this a few months ago and it was nice reading
about all the cool stuff our kids were interested in and what they
were doing because of those interests. Feel free to add on to this
and give us the latest on what your unschoolers have been up to. :-)
My youngest had a birthday last month and just turned 8. She
passionate about astronomy and all things space related. She enjoys
reading and watching videos about early astronomers and the solar
system. We bought a telescope for Christmas but ended up returning
it because it just wasn't as good as we thought. We're in the market
for another one. She's looking forward to that. :-) We took a two
day trip to the Kennedy Space Center and she had a blast!! (pun
intended. lol) She got to meet an astronaut (John Blaha) and talk to
him for a while.
I just posted about my middle daughter and how her love for horses
and led her in many directions and in the path of many people.
She's also involved with Storytelling and has joined (for the second
time) a storytelling workshop. It ends in January, with her telling
her story at the Storytelling Festival. :-) My son participated last
time also but opted out this time around.
He's heavily into Yu-Gi-Oh and attends a duel every Saturday. He's
met a lot of cool kids through it and has a pretty nice collection
of cards. He even showed his younger sister how to battle. :-)
He's also VERY into auto racing and my husband & he have been to
Daytona several times. We have a local short track nearby and he
enjoys going there to watch them practice.
Tell us about your kids..... :-)
~ Joanne ~
Mom to Jacqueline (8), Shawna (11) & Cimion (13)
Adopted into our hearts October 2003
************************************
Unschooling Voices ~ Add Your Voice
www.foreverparents.com/UnschoolingVoices.html
about all the cool stuff our kids were interested in and what they
were doing because of those interests. Feel free to add on to this
and give us the latest on what your unschoolers have been up to. :-)
My youngest had a birthday last month and just turned 8. She
passionate about astronomy and all things space related. She enjoys
reading and watching videos about early astronomers and the solar
system. We bought a telescope for Christmas but ended up returning
it because it just wasn't as good as we thought. We're in the market
for another one. She's looking forward to that. :-) We took a two
day trip to the Kennedy Space Center and she had a blast!! (pun
intended. lol) She got to meet an astronaut (John Blaha) and talk to
him for a while.
I just posted about my middle daughter and how her love for horses
and led her in many directions and in the path of many people.
She's also involved with Storytelling and has joined (for the second
time) a storytelling workshop. It ends in January, with her telling
her story at the Storytelling Festival. :-) My son participated last
time also but opted out this time around.
He's heavily into Yu-Gi-Oh and attends a duel every Saturday. He's
met a lot of cool kids through it and has a pretty nice collection
of cards. He even showed his younger sister how to battle. :-)
He's also VERY into auto racing and my husband & he have been to
Daytona several times. We have a local short track nearby and he
enjoys going there to watch them practice.
Tell us about your kids..... :-)
~ Joanne ~
Mom to Jacqueline (8), Shawna (11) & Cimion (13)
Adopted into our hearts October 2003
************************************
Unschooling Voices ~ Add Your Voice
www.foreverparents.com/UnschoolingVoices.html
Melissa
Good Idea Joanne! All the kids just spent the weekend camping with
their dad, I was at home with Avari. They love to camp at the
wildlife reserve, it's a totally different atmosphere than most other
campsites, very quiet and respectful. Josh is planning two more
campouts this month, the girls want one of their own. SO we're
working on.
Let's see, Josh is still very much the gamer, nearly every spare
second is spent playing video games (Tony Hawk or Animal Crossing),
those that aren't are spent planning how to make more money to buy
the Wii. He has saved nearly $230, so he's $20 shy of the expected
cost at release, and he's figuring out more ways to do that. He's
also trying to sell scout popcorn so that he has enough to pay for
camp next summer as well as put a sizeable downpayment on the scout
exchange to Australia which should happen when he hits 14 (min age
for the exchange). He's finally gotten to the trumpet lessons that
are fun, which I'm thankful for because he was about to quit. He just
built a bridge in the backyard and is now designing his own catapults
so that the next time it rains they can have a mudball war over the
creek. He's also training for his first overnight hike, it's a 14
mile hike and he's the grubmaster as well, which is just insanity but
we're trying to figure it out. He's also lately been really into
launching his rockets, he's had them for years and just the past week
has spent every evening out blasting one after another (and has only
lost one!) Now he's figured out that he wants to put his name and
number on so maybe he can make some new friends when they get lost.
Breanna just shaved her head completely over to about an inch and
wants it dyed green. She spends most of her time drawing pictures of
Garfield characters and Scooby Doo, which she watches a lot. In her
spare time she scratches out designs in our copious dirtfarm. She
changes clothes alot and looks in the mirror, since she's nonverbal I
think that's her way of saying that she has a closet full of nothing
to wear. I think next week I'm going to take her out to dinner and
maybe to Hot Topic, her favorite store.
Emily just found a halfpipe for sale and she's trying to figure out
how she can get her paws on $350. We can afford maybe $100 to help
her right now. I told her if she wanted we could build one, and so
she spent most of the day she had at home, online looking for designs
that lend themselves to affordability and ease of build. She's riding
her bike a lot and trying to figure out how to do the tricks she saw
on espn xtreme sports. She's really into animal crossing as well,
her and Rachel spend a good deal of time hanging out and trying to
find fun 'stuff' to do.
Rachel is busy designing everyone's costumes for halloween, She wants
Dan to be a squirrel so she's spending hours every day out scouring
the neighborhood for acorns. Her and Emily have designated one house
"acorn city" because they have several oak trees and they have about
seven gallon size ziplock bags full of them. She's riding her bike a
lot, and has figured out how to do several tricks on her scooter. She
loves to draw, and has books full of pictures and stories that she's
illustrated. She's figured out how to read, and so she's reading all
of Emily's books that are laying around.
Sam is so amazing to me...he's a natural born story teller, and he's
got a million of them. They all follow a very mythological bent, "The
Golden _____" He lowers his voice dramatically and softens his "R's"
so that he sounds like the narrator on some of the movie's he loves.
He's watching Jason and the Argonauts, as well as Clash of the
Titans. He's trying to figure out what kind of training he needs to
be a true knight. He's really trying to cook, and often I'll walk
into the kitchen to find him mixing various ingredients together,
always consisting of at least ketchup, a raw egg, and some vinegar.
Sometimes rice flour, but mostly corn meal. There are some
variations. He's figured out that making up stuff isn't working for
him right now, so he's asking my help to follow recipe cards. I'm
hoping he'll keep his love of adventure around for cooking...his
dad's a good cook!
Dan's interests are pretty basic, he's very sporty, loves to throw
and kick balls. He mostly follows Sam around and tries to get him to
wrestle. Sam was really not into that until I mentioned that it might
be pretty good knight training. Now he's stopping Dan, telling him to
look at their positions and see if they're 'ausentic'. He's loving
helping me cook, and Sam is the head chef while Dan is his minion..I
mean, helper.
Avari is a rockin lil gal, she loves music and will toddle over to
the counter and bang until we turn the radio on. She has all kinds of
instruments, maraca's are her favorite, but pots and spoons do in a
pinch. She's figured out how to go down the stairs, so she now has
free reign of the house. IF she's not in the mood, she'll stand there
and scream til someone carries her up or down. Not bad for ten months
old. ;-)
Melissa
Mom to Josh (11), Breanna (9), Emily (7), Rachel (6), Sam (5), Dan
(3), and Avari Rose
share our lives at
http://360.yahoo.com/multimomma
their dad, I was at home with Avari. They love to camp at the
wildlife reserve, it's a totally different atmosphere than most other
campsites, very quiet and respectful. Josh is planning two more
campouts this month, the girls want one of their own. SO we're
working on.
Let's see, Josh is still very much the gamer, nearly every spare
second is spent playing video games (Tony Hawk or Animal Crossing),
those that aren't are spent planning how to make more money to buy
the Wii. He has saved nearly $230, so he's $20 shy of the expected
cost at release, and he's figuring out more ways to do that. He's
also trying to sell scout popcorn so that he has enough to pay for
camp next summer as well as put a sizeable downpayment on the scout
exchange to Australia which should happen when he hits 14 (min age
for the exchange). He's finally gotten to the trumpet lessons that
are fun, which I'm thankful for because he was about to quit. He just
built a bridge in the backyard and is now designing his own catapults
so that the next time it rains they can have a mudball war over the
creek. He's also training for his first overnight hike, it's a 14
mile hike and he's the grubmaster as well, which is just insanity but
we're trying to figure it out. He's also lately been really into
launching his rockets, he's had them for years and just the past week
has spent every evening out blasting one after another (and has only
lost one!) Now he's figured out that he wants to put his name and
number on so maybe he can make some new friends when they get lost.
Breanna just shaved her head completely over to about an inch and
wants it dyed green. She spends most of her time drawing pictures of
Garfield characters and Scooby Doo, which she watches a lot. In her
spare time she scratches out designs in our copious dirtfarm. She
changes clothes alot and looks in the mirror, since she's nonverbal I
think that's her way of saying that she has a closet full of nothing
to wear. I think next week I'm going to take her out to dinner and
maybe to Hot Topic, her favorite store.
Emily just found a halfpipe for sale and she's trying to figure out
how she can get her paws on $350. We can afford maybe $100 to help
her right now. I told her if she wanted we could build one, and so
she spent most of the day she had at home, online looking for designs
that lend themselves to affordability and ease of build. She's riding
her bike a lot and trying to figure out how to do the tricks she saw
on espn xtreme sports. She's really into animal crossing as well,
her and Rachel spend a good deal of time hanging out and trying to
find fun 'stuff' to do.
Rachel is busy designing everyone's costumes for halloween, She wants
Dan to be a squirrel so she's spending hours every day out scouring
the neighborhood for acorns. Her and Emily have designated one house
"acorn city" because they have several oak trees and they have about
seven gallon size ziplock bags full of them. She's riding her bike a
lot, and has figured out how to do several tricks on her scooter. She
loves to draw, and has books full of pictures and stories that she's
illustrated. She's figured out how to read, and so she's reading all
of Emily's books that are laying around.
Sam is so amazing to me...he's a natural born story teller, and he's
got a million of them. They all follow a very mythological bent, "The
Golden _____" He lowers his voice dramatically and softens his "R's"
so that he sounds like the narrator on some of the movie's he loves.
He's watching Jason and the Argonauts, as well as Clash of the
Titans. He's trying to figure out what kind of training he needs to
be a true knight. He's really trying to cook, and often I'll walk
into the kitchen to find him mixing various ingredients together,
always consisting of at least ketchup, a raw egg, and some vinegar.
Sometimes rice flour, but mostly corn meal. There are some
variations. He's figured out that making up stuff isn't working for
him right now, so he's asking my help to follow recipe cards. I'm
hoping he'll keep his love of adventure around for cooking...his
dad's a good cook!
Dan's interests are pretty basic, he's very sporty, loves to throw
and kick balls. He mostly follows Sam around and tries to get him to
wrestle. Sam was really not into that until I mentioned that it might
be pretty good knight training. Now he's stopping Dan, telling him to
look at their positions and see if they're 'ausentic'. He's loving
helping me cook, and Sam is the head chef while Dan is his minion..I
mean, helper.
Avari is a rockin lil gal, she loves music and will toddle over to
the counter and bang until we turn the radio on. She has all kinds of
instruments, maraca's are her favorite, but pots and spoons do in a
pinch. She's figured out how to go down the stairs, so she now has
free reign of the house. IF she's not in the mood, she'll stand there
and scream til someone carries her up or down. Not bad for ten months
old. ;-)
Melissa
Mom to Josh (11), Breanna (9), Emily (7), Rachel (6), Sam (5), Dan
(3), and Avari Rose
share our lives at
http://360.yahoo.com/multimomma
On Oct 1, 2006, at 11:25 PM, Joanne wrote:
> We had a thread like this a few months ago and it was nice reading
> about all the cool stuff our kids were interested in and what they
> were doing because of those interests. Feel free to add on to this
> and give us the latest on what your unschoolers have been up to. :-)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Wildflower Car
My kids have been really into music lately.
We found a guy who just moved here and in getting his doctorate in music.
His wife is from India and is a chef, they have twin 2 year old boys. So
anyway, he agreed to give us unstructured lessons. We bring our guitars, one
electric and one acoustic, our violin, and a few small things like a finger
piano and a whistle harmonica thing.
He taught us some basics and lets us just do whatever while guiding us when
we ask. He also has a piano and a drum set that we have all played on.
His wife and children have started to know us better so we have just sat
around and talked and played. It has been great. I have learned so much
about her culture and even tasted some of her wonderful meals. He is from
Oklahoma and has never been exposed to homeschooling, unschooling or the
likes. But he has started asking myself and my girls all kinds of questions.
It has been a nice barter of information! He also is planning on becoming
self employed with his music and is very interested in how my husband became
self employed by following his passion, but that is just what he wants to
do. They have different passions, but the same big picture in mind.
Wildflower
Try the new Live Search today!
http://imagine-windowslive.com/minisites/searchlaunch/?locale=en-us&FORM=WLMTAG
We found a guy who just moved here and in getting his doctorate in music.
His wife is from India and is a chef, they have twin 2 year old boys. So
anyway, he agreed to give us unstructured lessons. We bring our guitars, one
electric and one acoustic, our violin, and a few small things like a finger
piano and a whistle harmonica thing.
He taught us some basics and lets us just do whatever while guiding us when
we ask. He also has a piano and a drum set that we have all played on.
His wife and children have started to know us better so we have just sat
around and talked and played. It has been great. I have learned so much
about her culture and even tasted some of her wonderful meals. He is from
Oklahoma and has never been exposed to homeschooling, unschooling or the
likes. But he has started asking myself and my girls all kinds of questions.
It has been a nice barter of information! He also is planning on becoming
self employed with his music and is very interested in how my husband became
self employed by following his passion, but that is just what he wants to
do. They have different passions, but the same big picture in mind.
Wildflower
>From: "Joanne" <billyandjoanne@...>_________________________________________________________________
>Reply-To: [email protected]
>To: [email protected]
>Subject: [unschoolingbasics] What have your kids been into lately?
>Date: Mon, 02 Oct 2006 04:25:19 -0000
>
>We had a thread like this a few months ago and it was nice reading
>about all the cool stuff our kids were interested in and what they
>were doing because of those interests. Feel free to add on to this
>and give us the latest on what your unschoolers have been up to. :-)
>
>My youngest had a birthday last month and just turned 8. She
>passionate about astronomy and all things space related. She enjoys
>reading and watching videos about early astronomers and the solar
>system. We bought a telescope for Christmas but ended up returning
>it because it just wasn't as good as we thought. We're in the market
>for another one. She's looking forward to that. :-) We took a two
>day trip to the Kennedy Space Center and she had a blast!! (pun
>intended. lol) She got to meet an astronaut (John Blaha) and talk to
>him for a while.
>
>I just posted about my middle daughter and how her love for horses
>and led her in many directions and in the path of many people.
>She's also involved with Storytelling and has joined (for the second
>time) a storytelling workshop. It ends in January, with her telling
>her story at the Storytelling Festival. :-) My son participated last
>time also but opted out this time around.
>
>He's heavily into Yu-Gi-Oh and attends a duel every Saturday. He's
>met a lot of cool kids through it and has a pretty nice collection
>of cards. He even showed his younger sister how to battle. :-)
>He's also VERY into auto racing and my husband & he have been to
>Daytona several times. We have a local short track nearby and he
>enjoys going there to watch them practice.
>
>Tell us about your kids..... :-)
>
>~ Joanne ~
>Mom to Jacqueline (8), Shawna (11) & Cimion (13)
>Adopted into our hearts October 2003
>************************************
>Unschooling Voices ~ Add Your Voice
>www.foreverparents.com/UnschoolingVoices.html
>
>
>
>
Try the new Live Search today!
http://imagine-windowslive.com/minisites/searchlaunch/?locale=en-us&FORM=WLMTAG
Cory and Amy Nelson
I'm so far behind in emails that I don't even know if this is being
discussed anymore. ;-)
Accalia (7) has started a new session of dance at the studio where
she's been dancing since age 4. She's so excited about learning a new
routine for the recital next May. She is, however, a little
disappointed that they won't be using their tap shoes. Lately she's
also been fascinated by anything to do with Chinese culture - pandas,
the Great Wall and architecture right now. We didn't realize the
Harvest Moon Festival was coming up this past Thursday, otherwise we
would prepared for that, especially making or buying the Harvest Moon
cakes. We are planning to celebrate the Chinese New Year, though.
She's also been playing a lot of computer games lately (goes in waves
with that). One of her favorites is www.dressupgames.com
Cole (4) has recently become very interested in computer games as
well and has been playing a Putt Putt game much of the time ever
since we picked one up at a garage sale last Friday. His favorite
toys include his Spiderman action figures and Imaginext castle set.
If he can do something with his hands - playing in the dirt or sand,
playing with playdough, mixing concoctions with food and liquids,
etc. - then he's perfectly content.
Ella (11 months) is so close to walking and therefore spends as much
time as possible on her two feet walking around furniture or people.
She's also perfecting the skill of opening and closing anything -
doors, books, cabinets, etc. She's a big fan of dancing around in the
living room or kitchen, too, and loves to help me unload the dishwasher.
Amy
Mama to Accalia (6/14/99), Cole (9/03/02) and Ella (10/29/05)
http://thissideofsomewhere.com/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
discussed anymore. ;-)
Accalia (7) has started a new session of dance at the studio where
she's been dancing since age 4. She's so excited about learning a new
routine for the recital next May. She is, however, a little
disappointed that they won't be using their tap shoes. Lately she's
also been fascinated by anything to do with Chinese culture - pandas,
the Great Wall and architecture right now. We didn't realize the
Harvest Moon Festival was coming up this past Thursday, otherwise we
would prepared for that, especially making or buying the Harvest Moon
cakes. We are planning to celebrate the Chinese New Year, though.
She's also been playing a lot of computer games lately (goes in waves
with that). One of her favorites is www.dressupgames.com
Cole (4) has recently become very interested in computer games as
well and has been playing a Putt Putt game much of the time ever
since we picked one up at a garage sale last Friday. His favorite
toys include his Spiderman action figures and Imaginext castle set.
If he can do something with his hands - playing in the dirt or sand,
playing with playdough, mixing concoctions with food and liquids,
etc. - then he's perfectly content.
Ella (11 months) is so close to walking and therefore spends as much
time as possible on her two feet walking around furniture or people.
She's also perfecting the skill of opening and closing anything -
doors, books, cabinets, etc. She's a big fan of dancing around in the
living room or kitchen, too, and loves to help me unload the dishwasher.
Amy
Mama to Accalia (6/14/99), Cole (9/03/02) and Ella (10/29/05)
http://thissideofsomewhere.com/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Michelle Leifur Reid
I finally have a few minutes that I can think about what the kids are
doing (rather than going and doing with them :) )
Emily is "all things Japanese" right now. Language, culture,
literature, movies, books, art, origami, dress, tea, etc etc etc.
There is a row of origami cranes hanging from the kitchen threshold
and the phone is currently answered with "moshi moshi" (sp?) I love
to see her strewing her own interests around in front of me! :-D
Mary Elayne is doing great in gymnastics. Really loving it. Trying
to perfect her handstand and headstand so she can go for the next
level. She is also taking ballroom dance classes, although she is
having problems with actually dancing *with* someone. The teachers
are great though and have let her come to the studio anytime they
dont' have a class going on (individual lessons are fine) so that she
can get used to being there and perhaps she may actually dance with
the female instructor some day soon.
Keon is mastering the new Star Wars Lego game. It's his main focus
right now. Although yesterday he happily spent a few hours at the
bookstore with his father (not the one I work at) which was odd as
usually he is very much the "hunt it, shoot it, drag it home) kind of
shopper.
We've had a delightful visit from one of our annual unschooling
families who rents a beach house for the month of September and had
many pleasant visits with them. I sometimes wish they lived here.
We've been to the beach and to the Naval Aviation Museum. Lots of fun
at both. We *finally* had an opporunity to walk through the hands on
display "for educational purposes" and while the kids couldn't do as
much as they would have liked and were bored silly by the power point
display we have great hopes that we can now have longer access to the
hands on area since we proved that our kids are not a bunch of
ruffians. Oh, that's something else they got to do. The kids were
able to fly in the flight simulators that the pilot students use in
flight school. Very fun and Mary Elayne did the best landing ever!
The boys thought it was great fun to "crash" a mulit-million dollar
airplane, but Mary Elayne's goal was perfection. She had to do
everything just right. She was very serious the whole time and really
enjoyed it.
OK, would love to chat some more about my wonderful kids and their
ever expanding worlds, but work calls.
Michelle
doing (rather than going and doing with them :) )
Emily is "all things Japanese" right now. Language, culture,
literature, movies, books, art, origami, dress, tea, etc etc etc.
There is a row of origami cranes hanging from the kitchen threshold
and the phone is currently answered with "moshi moshi" (sp?) I love
to see her strewing her own interests around in front of me! :-D
Mary Elayne is doing great in gymnastics. Really loving it. Trying
to perfect her handstand and headstand so she can go for the next
level. She is also taking ballroom dance classes, although she is
having problems with actually dancing *with* someone. The teachers
are great though and have let her come to the studio anytime they
dont' have a class going on (individual lessons are fine) so that she
can get used to being there and perhaps she may actually dance with
the female instructor some day soon.
Keon is mastering the new Star Wars Lego game. It's his main focus
right now. Although yesterday he happily spent a few hours at the
bookstore with his father (not the one I work at) which was odd as
usually he is very much the "hunt it, shoot it, drag it home) kind of
shopper.
We've had a delightful visit from one of our annual unschooling
families who rents a beach house for the month of September and had
many pleasant visits with them. I sometimes wish they lived here.
We've been to the beach and to the Naval Aviation Museum. Lots of fun
at both. We *finally* had an opporunity to walk through the hands on
display "for educational purposes" and while the kids couldn't do as
much as they would have liked and were bored silly by the power point
display we have great hopes that we can now have longer access to the
hands on area since we proved that our kids are not a bunch of
ruffians. Oh, that's something else they got to do. The kids were
able to fly in the flight simulators that the pilot students use in
flight school. Very fun and Mary Elayne did the best landing ever!
The boys thought it was great fun to "crash" a mulit-million dollar
airplane, but Mary Elayne's goal was perfection. She had to do
everything just right. She was very serious the whole time and really
enjoyed it.
OK, would love to chat some more about my wonderful kids and their
ever expanding worlds, but work calls.
Michelle