RE: New Years Resolutions
Danielle E. Conger
Well, some of my new year's resolutions are directly from this board.
Today, we switched the kids' beds today: gave the loft bed to Sam and put
the double bed back in the girls' room, since they were sleeping together
on the top anyway. The girls had wanted the loft bed, but it ended up not
really suiting their needs like we all thought it would. They like to sleep
together, so they might as well have more room in which to do it! The
co-sleeping thread gave me that idea.
The other day (dh drove up to NJ for a funeral while we stayed home sick),
I cleared out Sam's closet, yanked down the hanging rod and painted the
whole thing. I painted a rescue hero border around the bottom and moved one
of the HUGE Rescue Hero Command Centers that the kids got for xmas up
there, giving him a whole new play space in his 9x9 room. Dh raised the
hanging stuff so it's out of the way, and now there's no wasted space up at
the top of the closet. Sam has a whole new room!
I also officially moved all the art stuff (that had been trickling its way
up anyway) upstairs to a cleared-out kitchen cabinet. The kids were so
excited! We bought a really great kitchen table from IKEA about 18 mos.
ago, and that's where do most of our projects anyway. Now, we don't have to
drag stuff back and forth. I'd already moved all our board games up about a
month ago, and that's been super too. I think re-organizing works in much
the same way as rotating--makes everything new again.
This move cleared out a bunch of space to put up shelving and begin
shifting the kids' clothes storage to the laundry room. Thank you, Lyle!
The kids are excited about having drawer space for more important things
like barbies and doll stuff, and I'm excited about making laundry easier
and creating some more room in the family room! Right now, I'm trying to
decide what kind of shelving would work best. I'm thinking about that
typical white wire shelving, but I'm concerned that clothes will just spill
off the shelves as the kids dig for the pants that they want to wear, know
what I mean? Lyle--what do you use to contain your clothes? Drawers have
sides, so things can be all a jumble without spilling out, but shelves
don't have this.
Feeling very productive and ready to take on a whole new year! Thanks for
all the great ideas and for challenging me to think more critically! Happy
new year everyone!
--danielle
Today, we switched the kids' beds today: gave the loft bed to Sam and put
the double bed back in the girls' room, since they were sleeping together
on the top anyway. The girls had wanted the loft bed, but it ended up not
really suiting their needs like we all thought it would. They like to sleep
together, so they might as well have more room in which to do it! The
co-sleeping thread gave me that idea.
The other day (dh drove up to NJ for a funeral while we stayed home sick),
I cleared out Sam's closet, yanked down the hanging rod and painted the
whole thing. I painted a rescue hero border around the bottom and moved one
of the HUGE Rescue Hero Command Centers that the kids got for xmas up
there, giving him a whole new play space in his 9x9 room. Dh raised the
hanging stuff so it's out of the way, and now there's no wasted space up at
the top of the closet. Sam has a whole new room!
I also officially moved all the art stuff (that had been trickling its way
up anyway) upstairs to a cleared-out kitchen cabinet. The kids were so
excited! We bought a really great kitchen table from IKEA about 18 mos.
ago, and that's where do most of our projects anyway. Now, we don't have to
drag stuff back and forth. I'd already moved all our board games up about a
month ago, and that's been super too. I think re-organizing works in much
the same way as rotating--makes everything new again.
This move cleared out a bunch of space to put up shelving and begin
shifting the kids' clothes storage to the laundry room. Thank you, Lyle!
The kids are excited about having drawer space for more important things
like barbies and doll stuff, and I'm excited about making laundry easier
and creating some more room in the family room! Right now, I'm trying to
decide what kind of shelving would work best. I'm thinking about that
typical white wire shelving, but I'm concerned that clothes will just spill
off the shelves as the kids dig for the pants that they want to wear, know
what I mean? Lyle--what do you use to contain your clothes? Drawers have
sides, so things can be all a jumble without spilling out, but shelves
don't have this.
Feeling very productive and ready to take on a whole new year! Thanks for
all the great ideas and for challenging me to think more critically! Happy
new year everyone!
--danielle
[email protected]
I'm a long time homeschooler but a fairly recent unschooler partly due to a
spur-of-the-moment trip to the Live and Learn Conference this past year. I've
spent the past few months reading from this list and the Unschooling.com
message boards while I practiced letting go. Our lives, which include my
husband, 14 year old daughter and 10 year old son,
have become much more joyful and I truly could write all day about the
moments that have left me in awe. It has been both personal enriching as well as a
positive change in our family.
At our New Years celebration last night, which was a collection of
neighborhood children from ages 9-17, my daughter had everyone write their New Year's
resolutions and then she put them in a can and all the kids had a ceremonial
burning of the lists in the middle of our cul-de-sac. We always have had a
"burning of the Christmas lists" for Santa which helps to make the wishes or in
this case "resolutions" come true. One of my resolutions that I put in the can
was to "unschool passionately". Until now I have consciously worked on
stepping back and not being so controlling. It has been quite an adjustment for me.
One amusing moment of my "metamorphosis" was during the holidays when my
ex-husand was visiting. He and Logan (our son) were playing Legos in Logan's
bedroom. This is a bedroom that used to be immaculate on a daily basis because
of my "job list". That list and all my other "to do" lists are long gone and
the result is a boy's room filled with wonderful lego creations, partial
electronic creations, and no visible floor space. I peeked in to say hello and
said..."I am so happy with this room!"
I meant it and my ex-husband just looked at me like I had completely lost my
mind.
I would love some feedback of "Favorite Strewing" ideas.
I have many ideas for younger children but with a 10 and 14 year old this
doesn't seem as easy. The magnet bucket that Sandra talked about is a great one
and our magnet box has been a continuous popular item for many years as well
as rotating jigsaw puzzles. We often play board games but I would love more
ideas.
Thanks! And Happy New Year,
Gail
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
spur-of-the-moment trip to the Live and Learn Conference this past year. I've
spent the past few months reading from this list and the Unschooling.com
message boards while I practiced letting go. Our lives, which include my
husband, 14 year old daughter and 10 year old son,
have become much more joyful and I truly could write all day about the
moments that have left me in awe. It has been both personal enriching as well as a
positive change in our family.
At our New Years celebration last night, which was a collection of
neighborhood children from ages 9-17, my daughter had everyone write their New Year's
resolutions and then she put them in a can and all the kids had a ceremonial
burning of the lists in the middle of our cul-de-sac. We always have had a
"burning of the Christmas lists" for Santa which helps to make the wishes or in
this case "resolutions" come true. One of my resolutions that I put in the can
was to "unschool passionately". Until now I have consciously worked on
stepping back and not being so controlling. It has been quite an adjustment for me.
One amusing moment of my "metamorphosis" was during the holidays when my
ex-husand was visiting. He and Logan (our son) were playing Legos in Logan's
bedroom. This is a bedroom that used to be immaculate on a daily basis because
of my "job list". That list and all my other "to do" lists are long gone and
the result is a boy's room filled with wonderful lego creations, partial
electronic creations, and no visible floor space. I peeked in to say hello and
said..."I am so happy with this room!"
I meant it and my ex-husband just looked at me like I had completely lost my
mind.
I would love some feedback of "Favorite Strewing" ideas.
I have many ideas for younger children but with a 10 and 14 year old this
doesn't seem as easy. The magnet bucket that Sandra talked about is a great one
and our magnet box has been a continuous popular item for many years as well
as rotating jigsaw puzzles. We often play board games but I would love more
ideas.
Thanks! And Happy New Year,
Gail
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 1/1/04 12:55:10 PM, gailbrocop@... writes:
<< the result is a boy's room filled with wonderful lego creations. . .>>
Just before I read this post, I had gone in to sit in Marty's room a while
and watch him play a video game on the new TV he got for Christmas. I wish it
had been bigger. I guess it's 21" or 19" but the one he had before was
slightly bigger (and all messed up).
On top of the "entertainment center" is a Lego western town, quite dusty.
Some inside a fort, some outside, and a big box-looking thing. I said "Is this
where you keep your other lego?" He said "That's my bank."
I lifted the top off, because it's like a box with a lid. There was change
in there. He said "Take some out and put it in the front there."
Then I walked around it and saw it was a western-town bank. For that western
town, it's a sensible high brick building with a reinforced front, a door
with windows on either side, a facade front, and in the top of the facade, if you
put money anywhere along that top, it goes into a slot and into a chute into
the "vault."
He never made it and got excited and showed it off to us. He just made it
for himself, dusty months ago, and I discovered it by poking around.
So I called Keith to come and see it and gave him a handful of change from my
own "change cup" to try it out as Holly and I looked on admiringly. <g>
It was fun.
-=-I would love some feedback of "Favorite Strewing" ideas.
I have many ideas for younger children but with a 10 and 14 year old this
doesn't seem as easy. -=-
In our main bathroom I have a book-end (I taped it to the counter) and I
switch things through. Right now there's an Eddie Izzard book (sent from England
because we couldn't get it here), Scholastic's Voyages of Discovery book about
Architecture (I LOVE that series), a timeline on the history of New Mexico (I
found it online looking for a detail, and hit "print," stapled the pages and
put it in the bathroom), a book on Egyptian artifacts Marty and I picked up at
the state museum in South Carolina in August, and a few other things. The
Green Mile was in there, but a friend borrowed it. Things get switched out not
all as a batch, but I'll put a thing elsewhere or a kid will take it to his
room (the illustrated "Hobbit" isn't there anymore, I think I saw it in the
library--the REAL library, upstairs) or someone borrows it or I just put it away
and something else gets in there.
I put the new Smithsonian on the kitchen table. I've put away a pile of
National Geographics that had started to be just pushed aside. A photo album of
pictures of the house I grew up in, and me in that house or outside in the yard
has been Holly's favorite lately. She has asked me about every photo, and
she got me to put my elementary class photos in there yesterday, each in a sheet
protector, and she went through all the people she knows who went to school
with me (four people, some in different years, some in more than one), and she
has talked about my hairdos in my own photos and how much my 6th year photo
looks like her.
I might put that out upstairs on a table because the boys might be interested
in it too. And then it will end up with other photo albums.
Marty is clearing his throat meaningfully behind me. He wants a turn online.
Holly just said "Dad and I are going to watch Logan's Run, you want to watch
it with us, Marty?"
"What's it about?"
"The future, from the 80's"
"How far in the future?"
"I don't know. Dad said we have to watch it and find out. You don't have to
watch it all, you could just watch part of it."
I'm listening in hopes he'll bite, and I can keep the computer, but no, he
has declined and is milling about the door there, discussing DVD settings with
Holly, and how to get it to "widescreen."
And so I am bounced. Maybe this will inspire me to go and switch out some
"stuff" upstairs. Good idea.
Sandra
<< the result is a boy's room filled with wonderful lego creations. . .>>
Just before I read this post, I had gone in to sit in Marty's room a while
and watch him play a video game on the new TV he got for Christmas. I wish it
had been bigger. I guess it's 21" or 19" but the one he had before was
slightly bigger (and all messed up).
On top of the "entertainment center" is a Lego western town, quite dusty.
Some inside a fort, some outside, and a big box-looking thing. I said "Is this
where you keep your other lego?" He said "That's my bank."
I lifted the top off, because it's like a box with a lid. There was change
in there. He said "Take some out and put it in the front there."
Then I walked around it and saw it was a western-town bank. For that western
town, it's a sensible high brick building with a reinforced front, a door
with windows on either side, a facade front, and in the top of the facade, if you
put money anywhere along that top, it goes into a slot and into a chute into
the "vault."
He never made it and got excited and showed it off to us. He just made it
for himself, dusty months ago, and I discovered it by poking around.
So I called Keith to come and see it and gave him a handful of change from my
own "change cup" to try it out as Holly and I looked on admiringly. <g>
It was fun.
-=-I would love some feedback of "Favorite Strewing" ideas.
I have many ideas for younger children but with a 10 and 14 year old this
doesn't seem as easy. -=-
In our main bathroom I have a book-end (I taped it to the counter) and I
switch things through. Right now there's an Eddie Izzard book (sent from England
because we couldn't get it here), Scholastic's Voyages of Discovery book about
Architecture (I LOVE that series), a timeline on the history of New Mexico (I
found it online looking for a detail, and hit "print," stapled the pages and
put it in the bathroom), a book on Egyptian artifacts Marty and I picked up at
the state museum in South Carolina in August, and a few other things. The
Green Mile was in there, but a friend borrowed it. Things get switched out not
all as a batch, but I'll put a thing elsewhere or a kid will take it to his
room (the illustrated "Hobbit" isn't there anymore, I think I saw it in the
library--the REAL library, upstairs) or someone borrows it or I just put it away
and something else gets in there.
I put the new Smithsonian on the kitchen table. I've put away a pile of
National Geographics that had started to be just pushed aside. A photo album of
pictures of the house I grew up in, and me in that house or outside in the yard
has been Holly's favorite lately. She has asked me about every photo, and
she got me to put my elementary class photos in there yesterday, each in a sheet
protector, and she went through all the people she knows who went to school
with me (four people, some in different years, some in more than one), and she
has talked about my hairdos in my own photos and how much my 6th year photo
looks like her.
I might put that out upstairs on a table because the boys might be interested
in it too. And then it will end up with other photo albums.
Marty is clearing his throat meaningfully behind me. He wants a turn online.
Holly just said "Dad and I are going to watch Logan's Run, you want to watch
it with us, Marty?"
"What's it about?"
"The future, from the 80's"
"How far in the future?"
"I don't know. Dad said we have to watch it and find out. You don't have to
watch it all, you could just watch part of it."
I'm listening in hopes he'll bite, and I can keep the computer, but no, he
has declined and is milling about the door there, discussing DVD settings with
Holly, and how to get it to "widescreen."
And so I am bounced. Maybe this will inspire me to go and switch out some
"stuff" upstairs. Good idea.
Sandra
J. Stauffer
Probably our favorite strewing is more of ideas than physical things, at
least with my older kids (13 and 10). I have gazillions of interests, many
short-lived but always intense. I send off for lots of catalogs, brochures,
etc. and they tend to be left out on the bar for several days. The kids
look through them at will and we talk about them.
We are also in several homeschool groups, 4-H, gymnastics, get the
newspaper, etc.. I read all the newsletters from the groups and toss out
what is going on in various groups and see if the kids are interested. I
try not to pre-sift the ideas too much because you just never know who might
like to go.
Julie S.
least with my older kids (13 and 10). I have gazillions of interests, many
short-lived but always intense. I send off for lots of catalogs, brochures,
etc. and they tend to be left out on the bar for several days. The kids
look through them at will and we talk about them.
We are also in several homeschool groups, 4-H, gymnastics, get the
newspaper, etc.. I read all the newsletters from the groups and toss out
what is going on in various groups and see if the kids are interested. I
try not to pre-sift the ideas too much because you just never know who might
like to go.
Julie S.
----- Original Message -----
From: <gailbrocop@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, January 01, 2004 1:37 PM
Subject: [UnschoolingDiscussion] New Years Resolutions and Strewing
>
> I'm a long time homeschooler but a fairly recent unschooler partly due to
a
> spur-of-the-moment trip to the Live and Learn Conference this past year.
I've
> spent the past few months reading from this list and the Unschooling.com
> message boards while I practiced letting go. Our lives, which include my
> husband, 14 year old daughter and 10 year old son,
> have become much more joyful and I truly could write all day about the
> moments that have left me in awe. It has been both personal enriching as
well as a
> positive change in our family.
>
> At our New Years celebration last night, which was a collection of
> neighborhood children from ages 9-17, my daughter had everyone write their
New Year's
> resolutions and then she put them in a can and all the kids had a
ceremonial
> burning of the lists in the middle of our cul-de-sac. We always have had a
> "burning of the Christmas lists" for Santa which helps to make the wishes
or in
> this case "resolutions" come true. One of my resolutions that I put in
the can
> was to "unschool passionately". Until now I have consciously worked on
> stepping back and not being so controlling. It has been quite an
adjustment for me.
> One amusing moment of my "metamorphosis" was during the holidays when my
> ex-husand was visiting. He and Logan (our son) were playing Legos in
Logan's
> bedroom. This is a bedroom that used to be immaculate on a daily basis
because
> of my "job list". That list and all my other "to do" lists are long gone
and
> the result is a boy's room filled with wonderful lego creations, partial
> electronic creations, and no visible floor space. I peeked in to say
hello and
> said..."I am so happy with this room!"
> I meant it and my ex-husband just looked at me like I had completely lost
my
> mind.
>
> I would love some feedback of "Favorite Strewing" ideas.
> I have many ideas for younger children but with a 10 and 14 year old this
> doesn't seem as easy. The magnet bucket that Sandra talked about is a
great one
> and our magnet box has been a continuous popular item for many years as
well
> as rotating jigsaw puzzles. We often play board games but I would love
more
> ideas.
>
> Thanks! And Happy New Year,
>
> Gail
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
> "List Posting Policies" are provided in the files area of this group.
>
> To unsubscribe from this send an email to:
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>
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http://www.unschooling.com
>
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>
> To visit your group on the web, go to:
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>
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>
>
>
>
Wife2Vegman
> ----- Original Message -----I like that! It sort of sums up all of mine in one
> >
> One of my
> resolutions that I put in
> the can
> > was to "unschool passionately". Until now I have
> consciously worked on
> > stepping back and not being so controlling.
sentence.
My New Years Resolutions include:
Thinking Outside the Box more
Refusing to be Intimidated or Constrained by
Legalistic Boundaries
Spending More Time just ENJOYING being with my
Children and Husband
Not worrying about deadlines and time schedules as
much
Refusing to think badly of myself, or allowing others
to project their judgemental attitudes onto me, for
enjoying the things I enjoy.
> >Our best strewing method is to rearrange the furniture
> > I would love some feedback of "Favorite Strewing"
> ideas.
every few months. Somehow just changing the big
pieces around makes the whole room more interesting
and fun to be in. Suddenly the books are in a new
place, the games are in another part of the house, and
there are new views from favorite cozy chairs.
We have subscriptions to many magazines, some of which
I will let lapse, others renew, as I have seen
interests in some and not others. Sports Illustrated
Kids will not be renewed. I don't think any of us has
read even one issue. We keep them on the table in the
living room, and I change out the last issue for the
current ones.
Some are magazines that I like, like Smithsonian and
National Geographic and NG Traveler and Home Education
and Mothering. Some are for Sarah, the artist like
American Artist, and National Geographic Kids is for
Aaron (but Andrew looks at them too), and PC Week for
dh Theo.
We have a telescope pointed out the front window at
the stars.
We have a fully stocked "art center" in the basement
where the built-in wet bar is. Makes cleaning up
brushes and paints easier.
Three computers and tons of games. An electric guitar
with instructional dvds. A set of electric drums with
instructional dvds. A piano (did the lessons for a
while, now they just tinker on it). Many rhythm
instruments. Mom's flute and an extra student flute.
A bird feeder. There is an identification chart on
the wall by the window of all the birds that make
their homes in Virginia.
There are tools and scrap wood in the garage, and a
tool bench/work table.
And then there are books, and games, and microscopes
and kits and cookbooks and kitchen utensils and cable
tv and internet access.
=====
--Susan in VA
WifetoVegman
What is most important and valuable about the home as a base for children's growth into the world is not that it is a better school than the schools, but that it isn't a school at all. John Holt
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In a message dated 1/1/04 4:14:45 PM, danielle.conger@... writes:
<< I'm thinking about that
typical white wire shelving, but I'm concerned that clothes will just spill
off the shelves as the kids dig for the pants that they want to wear, know
what I mean? Lyle--what do you use to contain your clothes? Drawers have
sides, so things can be all a jumble without spilling out, but shelves
don't have this. >>
If you get shelves deep enough for laundry baskets (small ones?) you can just
sort back into laundry baskets and use them as "drawers."
Or xerox boxes.
My closet is all shelves. I put my few hanging things in with Keith's, and
my stuff is folded on the shelves, or in baskets on the shelves. I LOVE that,
much better than my past hanging closet-plus-drawers.
Lyle might have a better idea, but that's what I have these days.
Sandra
<< I'm thinking about that
typical white wire shelving, but I'm concerned that clothes will just spill
off the shelves as the kids dig for the pants that they want to wear, know
what I mean? Lyle--what do you use to contain your clothes? Drawers have
sides, so things can be all a jumble without spilling out, but shelves
don't have this. >>
If you get shelves deep enough for laundry baskets (small ones?) you can just
sort back into laundry baskets and use them as "drawers."
Or xerox boxes.
My closet is all shelves. I put my few hanging things in with Keith's, and
my stuff is folded on the shelves, or in baskets on the shelves. I LOVE that,
much better than my past hanging closet-plus-drawers.
Lyle might have a better idea, but that's what I have these days.
Sandra