Unschooling

I homeschool my five children. And over recent weeks we have become unschoolers and I love it! Susannah (8) broke her arm a few weeks back and so any 'work' we were doing has stopped...I haven't given them any work to do since! Yet more learning and more interest and more creativeness has been done in the last few weeks than all year!

So for the next year we will unschool.....Chris (13) has a whole list of things he wants to study....and he also has his interest in film making...he wants to work in the movie industry.

Laurence has been doing a LOT of reading....has been obsessed with drawing cartoons and studying books on drawing...and has been reading up on history - Egypt and the Middle Ages amongst others...and he has been designing creatures on some animation website.

Susannah has been looking at all the links I have been sending to her...and has been watching a lot of science and 'how it works' shows on tv....as well as helping Lloyd on the coop and helping me with Sam a lot.....

Abigail is always wanting to learn...she loves to do 'schoolwork' and do writing and loves to be read to......and she has been learning about penguins and frogs too! How can she not learn naturally just by living here amongst chickens and frogs and birds and nature and her siblings and LIFE!!!!

So we are choosing to go with an unschooling friendly schoolboard this year and are totally relaxing.....Chris can focus on his portfolio instead of his diploma and can enjoy learning whatever interests him...as can the others!!!

We went to the splashpark on Thursday...and met up with a whole bunch of homeschoolers...it was such a great day. Very hot and the water was so lovely and cool. We were there for 5 hours and had lunch there. The schools aren't closed for summer yet so it was really nice and quiet and was great to see it filled with homeschooled kids - especially so many older ones...they ahd all taken their water guns for a big 'water battle' and swapped numbers at the end of the day.

The local homeschool group meets on Tuesdays....this week they are having a curriculum sale....I'm interested to see if anyone is selling books......not curriculum but anything the kids would enjoy reading......I love books...I must spend an absolute fortune on books...mainly at yard sales or www.bookcloseouts.com which I just LOVE!!!! I am constantly running out of shelf space for them but you just can't have too many books :)

I love homeschooling here in AB. I homeschooled in the UK for a while but the experience was dreadful really, compared to here. There are just so many choices, resources and such support here. I feel very lucky!

Evening

It's an unusual Saturday evening.....It's 9:30pm and I've been sat in my big chair reading stories to Abigail. The boys are watching Star Wars, Susie is playing upstairs and Lloyd is flitting from the movie to me on the chair.....making cups of tea, following Sam around and admiring my mowing :)

Abigail doesn't seem tired at all despite playing outside all day....she's been writing in her notebook ...getting me to spell names for her....her writing is great for 4 .....she can write small enough to fit on the lines in a little notebook. We read 'Chicken in the City' tonight and 'How I Feel' and some of a Tom and Kate book.

The dogs just went crazy chasing the fox through the front paddock....the poor fox legged it and ran out and across the lane into the field opposite. I think the Fox lives on our land somewhere because he's always around.

Most Saturday nights the boys are on sleepovers or we are out or we get take out and watch a movie........but tonight seems to have flown by.

Mowing therapy

I spent four hours mowing grass today.....the tractor broke two weeks ago and cutting 16 acres with a push mower is a joke....so we let the grass get out of control until the parts for the tractor arrived yesterday. I haven't finished but at least I got most cut. I managed to mow over a hose pipe which scared the #*$%^@ out of me when it exploded...but apart from that and when the tractor started to roll backwards towards the pond...all went well.

Rosie and Amber, our goldens, spent most of the time running backwards and forwards with me across the lawn. Abby joined me for a while wearing a swimsuit and (for some strange reason) workmens knee protectors....

Mr Robin would jump onto the freshly mown grass as soon as I had passed......obviously looking for treats for his four new babies.

Sitting on a tractor for four hours is wonderful mindless therapy.....nothing to think about or concentrate on...it's lovely. I never thought I'd ever enjoy cutting grass! But it was four hours of alone time!!! Precious alone time :)

Best of all Lloyd cooked dinner...so really it's been a lovely lazy day.......

We did go out for a while earlier....to the local garden centre and the tree farm.....Saturdays tend to be for DH and I.....we run errands and go out for brunch...normally have take out and do things around the house...then Sundays are to do things as a family......

Lloyd is watching a movie with the boys this evening.....Star Wars I think.....so I'm hiding in here for a while....

Chris (my oldest) has been working on his tree house plans today.....and on his Star Wars computer game he's designed....Laurence (10) has been reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.....and playing outside most of the day. Susannah (8) has been helping Lloyd on the chicken coop and Abigail (4) and Sam (17mths) have been pottering around doing what they do!

It's much cooler today thankfully...I think it was around 23c.....a lovely temp. I get irritable when it's too hot.

So yes, Lloyd has been building a chicken coop....a five star luxury chicken coop I think...it's taking ages!!!!! So for the last 3 months 31 (and now 30) chickens have been living in our garage. It's disgusting in there now as they escaped from their pen and took over the whole garage.

We have 30 Hy Line White chickens....all layers...or hopefully they will be layers in about three weeks.....we're having bets as to when the first egg will be layed!!!

I don't care when so long as it's in the coop!!!! I want the garage back...I am scared to go in there its so yucky now....they are pampered chickens...Lloyd thinks they are wonderful! Chris takes them for walks when the dogs are safely away. Chickens aren't very bright.......although I get the impression they are ganging up on us really...waiting for the right time to get us!!! lol! They always look as though they are plotting and are suspicious of us! :)

Froggy

Lloyd caught a frog this morning and put it in the paddling pool for the children to see....Abigail spent ages sat beside the pool watching..... we have a gorgeous pond down by our woods.....full of frogs. They get in the way of the mower. Some of them have obviously been born with just three legs......but they seem to be great swimmers despite that!

They are noisy little things in the Springtime, but now it's June they are quiet except at night when one or two still croak the night away.....

We get a lot of wildlife here at home. Coyotes, moose, skunks and porcupine....plenty of birds of prey, deer......woodpeckers and chickadees.....American Robins....we're so lucky to live where we live. I feel so grateful for living here.

Mama Robin

We have a pair of Robins who have nested in the woods down by the pond. The Mam bird laid 4 of the most amazingly blue eggs last week and a couple of days ago they hatched.....two hatched the day before yesterday and then yesterday the other two hatched.....Lloyd has been creeping down to take pictures (braving the amazingly huge mosquitoes that are swarming around down there.

The egg shells have sadly vanished...I was hoping to find one on the floor but am guessing Mama Robin ate them to restore her calcium levels.......

We're very protective of our baby birds ...as is Mama Robin...so the children and dogs aren't allowed in that woods right now...their rope swing is down there but they will have to wait until the babies leave the nest :)

Last October we finally made the move out of the city to the acreage of our dreams.....16 acres of rolling Alberta land with the prettiest Cape Cod home...complete with a beautiful porch that faces the sunsets. It finally feels like we are home! I want to die here.

Our life isn't exciting or particularly modern.....I'm sure many would think it dull...but we love our life here and wouldn't change a thing (except perhaps the speed at which the grass grows in the summer.....it seems it always needs cutting!)

I have kept a handwritten journal off and on since living here but I think I want to keep a more regulkar record....so have decided to write a daily blog here at blogger....