what we are up to

last week we attended a felting workshop--thoroughly enjoyable. the atmosphere was great, i felt comfortable nursing G at the table while i worked, and M enjoyed creating several original pieces.

i was impressed with how confident and polite she was, how easily she asked other adults for help, and how protective and proud she was of her brother.

at one point she disappeared with some other girls into a painting workshop, and soon emerged with a painting of a whale that made everyone's jaws drop, including mine. someone even asked us whether she could show the painting to her friends. the whale looked a bit like a fish, but the colours--yellows, orange, and reds, with a black outline--and the expression were phenomenal. it was acrylic on plastic board.

now even more strongly than before i wish we were closer to a cultural center. observing M in such an environment was a joy, and i could see her confidence, creativity, and social skills blossoming amongst supportive and open-minded adults, in an environment where she and our entire family was welcomed.

she was very vocal about being homeschooled, and explained with a delightful smile that she learned whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, even when a well intended lady kept pestering her with questions about math.

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we planted some herbs and veggies in the greenhouse, and we are expecting something to sprout in 3-4 days. G watered too many plots that weren't ours, but i don't think he managed to do any real damage.


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on our to do list:

1. to look up reproduction process of the mosquitoes. M has been asking me for days, but every time we get home other activities become more urgent. she knows already knows that mosquitoes lay their eggs in still water, but i think she imagines miniature chicken eggs, as she asked me whether we could break them by tossing rocks into a puddle. mosquitoes are starting to emerge, so we are quite mosquito centered. yesterday she asked whether they pee, and whether they pee blood.

2. too find a good site / book about the human brain. M has started expressing herself in terms of her brain's wants and needs, and she normally relates how her body responds to her brain's directions. i explained to her about neural pathways, and how the brain interprets the signals that neurons send to it. we also talked about drugs impairing the brain-body connection, and other instance when the brain might not receive the signals. i need a refresher course myself.

projects:

1. sewing / finishing another "baby" out of felt and finishing her felt bag (from the felt that she felted herself).

2. deciding whether we want a corner of our living room to be filled with a plastic container garden--growing herbs. we have sprouts at home too, and we are not sure whether we want to transplant and devote more time and money to our indoors garden.

random thoughts

when i was M's age i wanted small things. things that i could put in my pocket. tiny baby dolls. a cherry pit to put in a matchbox. M wants big things. if it is a doll, it has to be her size, or at least not too small.

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on our way to the store to purchase seeds to plant M kept on crying. apparently i overexplained something that she already knew. i told her i was just talking, organising things in MY mind. i reminded her that she just needed to tell me to stop talking. she said she couldn't understand ANYTHING anymore. drama.

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some of the purple fireweed seeds that we planted in our yard last year are growing. no news on other flowers yet. i think it is still early to tell.

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we went OFF TV cold turkey, and everyone is happy. we will watch something once a week or so. M is sleeping much better, no nighttime tantrums. maybe it is just a fluke, just a good phase. she has phases. M is very health oriented, and i explained to her how TV, being flat and only pictures, was influencing her brain in a way that she couldn't sleep well. she was fine with that.

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our library is open only 6 hours a week now. three times a week, 2 hours in the evening. this is upsetting.

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we are going to sew a soft cradle of M's design. and doll clothes. i need to find patterns on line. we already got some fabric.

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i need to remember that M is not me, and in many ways is not even like me. i think she is only moody like me. heh heh.

good night.

playground and puddles

apparently i am the only one who was interested to check on the little purple flowers. the kids outvoted me, and we have been going to the playground for the last two days. though we did briefly stepped into our yard to look at the melting snow bank--the progress over the last two days seemed uniform, about 2 inches per day.

G checks all the puddles on the way to the playground, and tosses rocks into them. M runs ahead, and checks out the kids. there are usually children there, usually without parents. they always want something from me--to put them up on the swing, to push the swing, to help with one thing or the other. i'm still uneasy about it, but so far things have been well.

today M played with another 5 year old girl. it is evident that even though M is eager and enjoys the interaction, she is well, not very skilled, and her play hasn't been always taken well. with great cool and composure, the other girl firmly looked at M, and said, "please give this back to me," after M took something of hers in order to get the girl run after her. the girl walked us home, and i was worried she'd ask to come in, but she stood on our porch for a bit, and then we waved good bye to her, and she went home happily. i will try to go to the playground about the same time tomorrow, so that we meet her again.

we should also try to pick up our Stanleys, nice and laminated, from the store.

after a horrendous evening yesterday, when the kids went to bed at 1AM, we had an early bedtime--7:30PM. i already had to run to them once, as M was screaming "I don't want to" and G was looking for me to nurse. i hope for another hour or so of uninterrupted writing, and then i will join them in bed. i bet we wake up early tomorrow.

things to do outside

the day was rainy and gray. +4C; wind 20km/h, gusting to 35. after breakfast: the usual play in the mud in our back yard. we marked the last snow bank with a chain of rocks, to see how the melting progresses. we examined the ground where we planted wild-flowers last fall--nothing yet, but we are still hopeful. G tossed rocks into the big puddle by the porch. then he wanted to go to the pond, and proceeded marching down the road. i had to negotiate with M. eventually she joined us. we went down the hill to the pond. by the shore the ice was gone, but most of the pond was still covered. the kids waded in the water, tossed more rocks. so much litter. i have to remember to bring a garbage bag with us every time we go out. there also is a community initiative, and we will join them for their once a week pick ups too. M stood by the stream of rushing water, the stream littered by old shoes, plastic bottles, construction materials. "the water sounds lovely," she said. she makes me focus on the beautiful things.

just before we left M discovered a patch of first flowers--tiny purple buds, millimeters off the ground. we will check on them tomorrow, and if it isn't raining, will take a photo as well.

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after dinner we went to our playground. i was determined to tire them out before bed. the result--i'm exhausted, but they are not. "big" kids played soft ball, and the chains of the swings were all rolled up around the top bar. not fun. but M found a girl to run around with, and G happily went up the stairs and down the slide, many times. we got home at 9PM.

M worked a bit on the bear that she is sewing by hand out of felt, and we went to bed. it took them 1.5 hours to fall asleep. i'm up now only because of my super human will power.

rain

the excitement of a new blog--i'm eager to post every day. this shouldn't last long.

we (G and i) woke up to the drumming of the rain on our roof. it doesn't look like it is going to stop anytime soon. some say it won't stop until the ice breaks and the mosquitos come.

as i feel accountable (if i write this, someone must be reading?), and would like to be more organised this summer, we should go to the library. the wicked librarian is off on saturdays, and maybe the library will be emptier than usual because of the rain.

M is still sleeping...so ultimately the library trip will depend on her desire and motivation. maybe all that she'd want would be to play in the rain. which is also a possibility, of course.

yesterday she asked me about the origin of fish. i better look it up now. i have no idea.

so who am i? who are we?

unschooling mama of 2. my daughter M just turned 5, and my son G is 2.5. we live in a small northern community in canada--we are the only homeschoolers here. i've blogged on and off about our unschooling adventures, and now it is time to start again. summer is finally here and we have more energy, more sunlight, more inspiration.

we've been in the unschooling frame of mind for several years now. this is how we live and how we learn. i enjoy being home with my kids and learning with them.

M's current interests that we try to explore: whales and marine animals, geogprahy, japan, origami, evolution and origins of animals, drawing, putting letters together, writing gibberish, reading...

current project: flat stanleys, except we are doing it our own way. we haven't read any of the stanley books, and we just follow our own drummer with that one. we have left at our local office supply store to be laminated. we have willing hosts in ontario, the U.S. and israel. we have 5 total.

G's current interests: everything with wheels

my current interests / ambitions for the summer: to spend as much as possible time outside; have a more define / regular schedule of going to the library and community center;

today we met my husband for lunch in town, and had a small picnic in a rock garden by the grocery store. puddles and streams of water everywhere. our plan of staying downtown was interrupted by the fact that the kids got fairly wet. we took a cab home, and then wen to a playground, where we spent almost 2 hours digging in the sand and climbing.

when one of the other girls was leaving, M ran to her to say good bye. the other mother yanked her 2 year old by her hand twice and forcefully turned her around with "what do you say now?" until the girl whispered "bye". i just wanted to disappear. i decided against talking about this to M, as she was in her own world, oblivious to what was going on.

when G wakes up we are going to go to the playground again, or walk around our neighbourhood pond and toss rocks into it--G's favourite activity these days.