Turtle Lessons About Living and Learning

I am a firm believer that if one takes a moment each day to observe nature, many lessons can be observed and answers given to live a natural lifestyle deeply connected with the earth in which we live. Everything from trees and plants, weather patterns and seasons, to the animals and their behavior all can act as teachers and guides.

What can a turtle teach us about living and learning?

To start :  If slow and steady wins the race.......why then does public schools take the position of the hare and not the tortoise? Why are they is such a hurry to cram more and more information into younger and younger minds and then scream how it is a flawed and broken system that needs to be reformed?  Perhaps they should reconsider the message of the Tortoise and Hare!

Some things we can learn from our Turtle friends:

1.) Keep it slow and steady and you will see progression of learning and not as likely to have periods of burnout or a frustrated child overwhelmed by too fast a pace. Kids learn, well people in general really all learn in their own time, at their own pace and that is perfectly okay. Not over scheduling activities gives us plenty of time to take a laid back approach which allows us to take in more and observe more. By observing more we can rise to the challenge of taking cues from the observations on bringing in and seeking opportunities of things that would light a fire of passion to learning.

2.) How to Shield yourself from negative energies- the outside world can be highly critical of homeschoolers, even more so to unschoolers. Their words can be hard, cold and given without thought based in information, only fear of the unknown. While the outside world can be hard, we can be soft and kind, safely tucked into an environment of love, connection and safe boundaries where natural learning can flourish. We do not need to let the thoughts of others harden us to the core, but we can keep a thick skin on the outside so we go about our lives unaffected by others opinions.

3.) Sometimes life gets in the way, stuff happens, health fails, our world gets turned upside down. Don't give up, while it is extremely difficult to right yourself, and may take great effort, it is NOT impossible!

4.) Home can literally be where ever we go, which works splendidly for gypsy souls, travelers and world schoolers. Home does not have to be bricks and sticks and permanency. Home is not a building, it is what lives inside the building that makes it a home. Where family goes, home goes. Taking our home with us does not mean keeping yourself chained within a small world, but by being able to take it with you, you can become part of a much bigger world.

5.) Develop ideas, and even though they may stay buried for awhile, allow them to hatch naturally. Fully explore your ideas, nurture them, grow them, give them light and let them expand and develop by going with the flow, naturally without rushing it.

6.) That it is okay to retreat  inside to the safety and coziness of your home, you do not always have to be out and about, visible and on the go.

7.) That some of us may seem a little cold and hard on the outside but is just our defense after dealing with too many who don't "get" it. Give it a little time to get to know us, many of us are really quite soft, loving and generous on the inside.

8.) Stay grounded and connected within our daily environment, take a moment to breath in all the goodness in the morning. Take a few minutes to meditate or yoga, breathing exercises and find your calm for the day trying to hold on to that for the duration of the day.

9.) That it is okay to be a teenage, a mutant or a ninja as one friend so humorously puts it! I will not expand on that, I will leave it to your vivid imagination for the deeper meaning!

10.)  As their are varieties of turtles, same is the number of homeschooling methods, find which one works for you. Each species of turtle has very different needs and habitats and you will find this goes for homeschool methods as well.

11.) Know it is okay to take a little longer to get somewhere but take time to always be in the present, taking in everything about your surrounds and what is going on within it. Plan accordingly so you can take your time without having to rush.

12.) Know your goals ( goes for life in general!) and do not let all the little distractions move you off course. Keep heading in the direction of your goals and you will get there!

As you can see, our friends the turtles have a lot to teach us, can you think of  lesson from turtle that is not mentioned here? Leave a comment and let us know!

Unschooling Through Terminal Illness

Well I was going to do an art spree post with tons of photos that my daughter has been so busy drawing!  She has been on a roll and drawing almost daily, BUT blogger is being stubborn and I am having some issues with it.


So, then I thought well you know, everyone that follows any of my blogs, knows that I was really sick for 2013. But I have never really talked about how we got through the year as unschoolers and little things we did, to ensure even if learning slowed down due to me disengaging it still would continue. I am not sure if I would even call it disengaging, after all I was knocked off my feet and incapacitated. I stayed connected and engaged when and where I could but it was vastly different than when an unschool family is in top health. I am sharing here in hopes that it may be helpful to others out there, not that they necessarily will be terminally ill but also for those that perhaps suffer chronic illnesses. So here are my thoughts and a few hurdles we needed to overcome.

• GUILT and Depression-  This was my first and largest hurdle and something I did not come out and openly talk about. Ironically I never really got depressed at all over my Stage IV Breast Cancer diagnosis, I pretty much saw that one coming and even came to terms with my possible death before my children turned 18. But when it came to our homeschooling, our unschooling lifestyle, I withdrew, quit blogging about it, quit writing articles and screamed and cried inside over the guilt, feeling like I had failed my family. I lost all trust and faith and questioned if unschooling was right for us, if it had ever been right and if I was doing a great disservice to my babies. Their care and learning experiences after all have always primarily fell on my shoulders. At any rate being involved and actively engaged, coming up with ideas, projects, games, places to visit, where to go, has always been my department. After a couple months of being very withdrawn, I realized that even if I died in 2013, that I did not fail my kids, nor did I set them up for failure, that indeed their learning would continue, just as mine has, for life.  I started connecting with homeschool and unschool groups again, reading and commented and renewed my faith in the path, and put my trust in it again. It would not look the same as an unschooling family in perfect health and that was okay. It would be unique to the new needs of our household and yet remain beautiful and organic, the way learning should be. I embraced it again, as I embraced LIFE and decided to give both, my all. Talking with others who have major health issues or chronic illnesses, I have realized when one discovers this for themselves, the guilt and depression related to their family in an unschooling lifestyle is not only quite common but a natural step one must go through in order to move forward. While this may not make it easier, just know it is a natural process and perfectly okay to go through. Those that told me to just put the kids into public school were typically those who did not agree with homeschooling in the first place. From time to time, when the doubts were strong, I did actually consider it. In the end I decided to trust our journey and take it one day at a time to see where each moment brought us.

• Providing Enough Tools- We spent money to ensure the kids would have access to learning whether or not I could be involved. Now granted being 12 and 15 helped where they did not need me for every little thing! We already had a laptop computer and a regular computer, along with 1 television and Xbox gaming system. We purchased a Kindle Fire and was Gifted another Television with a DVD player.  We then bought a game-cube for that television set. This allowed for everyone having access to something when we were all home. The gifted TV with DVD and game cube went in me and hubby's bedroom. This way on bad days, ( which all in all were way to many days for the first half of the year!) that I could watch a movie in bed or play harvest moon. This also meant the kids would come in and cuddle with me while we watched something together and just be together. Those were some nice and tender moments that I have fond memories of. The kindle Fire provided a way for me to go to the hospital and communicate with the kids with. It also provided a way to download learning apps and books that I felt due to the audio features may help  our dyslexic daughter with reading. This also gave me something to do on days I was good enough to come out and curl up on the couch, which I spent many days on my  hubby's man chair with ottoman or couch too!  Besides electronics, we did make sure we had new books available to them as well as art and craft supplies for our daughter.   Board games and cards were increased as well.  While our budget may be small as a low income family, I found what I could used, on sale, or a small amount set aside from our tax refund for certain educational tools.

• I'm Bored! -  Even with all the tools we made sure they had, I was told almost daily from my daughter at some point how bored she was no matter how much she had done that day. It was a huge adjustment for her to being staying home far more than normal as I was spending much of our free time being taken by hubby to all my doctor appointments, emergency room visits, testing and scans, and dentists. Not only that but my daughter was use to a very high energy mother that had spent her days all day, every day doing projects , activities and fun things with them. Even though my energy had been depleted in 2012, I was still functioning and was not until my diagnosis in January of 2013 that I became bedridden almost over night. This was a huge change for my daughter and it was hard on her, really hard! At any rate I have never met a child who has NEVER complained about being bored from time to time! You know what though? by the end of the year, it seems like she has renewed her unschooling lifestyle too. She now actively seeks out doing things on her own without requiring someone to always be there doing it with her. She finds things to do on her own, by herself and that is a good thing to be able to figure out things to do when feeling bored, something her Dad in his adult years does not know how to do! In the end she learned and grew from the experience and no longer required me to be the idea man, she was able to think of ideas for herself and creativity blossomed.

• Ways I Found and Embraced to Connect-  Our World was flipped upside down over night and I had to find new ways of being involved and trusting the process of an unschooled lifestyle. The kids certainly had to step up and help out some, by doing dishes, vacuuming and helping keep the yard mowed, usually this was done on a rotating schedule between the two. While we have never ever had required chores for them, it became an necessity for all to pull together as a team. When they would ask for me to do something that I could not do, I would let them know the things I could do, which granted was not much, but it let them know what was possible to do together. On days I could not get out of bed, we would either cuddle watching a movie or if that was too much, while drifting in and out of sleep I was available to my daughter who would be on the computer near me to ask how to spell things. Or she would spell something off to me for me to let her know what a difficult word was she was having a hard time reading was.  Some days I was so bad, my son would wake me up on a regular basis to have a cold bottle of water for me, knowing dehydration was a large concern. During these days, they made sure to be very quiet and do everything electronic or run off and play at the neighbors.  They were invited to go with us on a few occasions to chemo sessions or blood work days in order to ask questions they may have and to understand my treatments better along with meeting my wonderful team who was eager to meet our children. On a really good day we would go for a small walk or play a board or card game of some sort. Some days I laid in bed playing Harvest Moon while one of them would sit on the bed and read a book next to me or just talk.  Some days they would want to cook dinner since standing and cooking were difficult for me to do for a long time, I found if I sat in a chair in the kitchen I could guide and help them being present, but not physically involved and we found it to be highly enjoyable to do in that fashion.  I embraced these small to many but huge achievements to me and allowed myself to be amazed by the many small ways we still found to let life unfold in amazing ways and learning so organically. I would read books to my daughter while we sat together on the couch, at lunch time we almost always watched Documentaries together. On really good days we would take them to the movie theater or out for Ice Cream and later to the beach for swimming. I found that by embracing the small moments throughout each day of the things I could do, rather than worry about all what I could not do, allowed a beautiful flow and I did what I could to help them when they needed help, and connect. While we perhaps also may not have gone out all that much, we had far more company visiting than normal which helped too.

• Where we are at Now- With a terminal illness it can go either way, you can either get better, even if for awhile or you can take a turn for the worst. I am happy to say for us, they have certainly expanded my life and I am in a much better place than I was this time last year. I most likely will never be 100% of the woman I use to be, I have had to say good bye to that work a holic, always busy, physically strong woman.  But I am back to being able to function as a woman, wife and mother again and have shown my kids humor and grace through out this whole year. I am excited that while things crawled along for 2012 and 2013, that this year will bring back more activity, growth and learning with my renewed energy and healing.  Our motto has certainly become more of a Life is Amazing LIVE IN THE MOMENT type of living but I can tell you it feels great to be excited at what we may be able to achieve this year. After all my health could have certainly gone in a different direction and I would not even be here to type this post. When you have terminal illness though, you cant put the energies into what ifs, should haves, and can'ts.  Embrace each day for what it is, the one thing I do know is that if I had it to do all over again, I would not change a thing. We still would be unschoolers that allow the natural learning coupled with peaceful parenting. My kids had a lot to deal with for 2013 and they themselves had their own internal battles to fight knowing their mother could die. They certainly went through some depressions and emotional roller coasters themselves. In the end though we are stronger than ever as a team, as a family unit and they have both blossomed into amazing kids. This year will bring us to having 2 teens in the house, 13 years and 16 years and so far it has been a wonderful journey with them.

In closing, I just want to say, I am glad we did not give up, learning still continued and I would not have changed a thing.

Nobody Likes a Quitter

How many times can you recall saying old phrases to your children such as "Nobody Likes a Quitter?"
Probably many times, more than one can actually recall! Yet do we really mean it? How we mean it, may not be so to a young person who takes everything literally. I mean when we say to our children, "Nobody Likes a Quitter!" Why then, oh do tell me why we then spend our days telling the same child to....

Quit that, stop that, quit pestering, be quiet, quit,  quit, stop, stop, quit talking so loud, quit asking for things, quit asking me to buy you something, quit fidgeting, hold still, quit eating so much, quit eating without asking, quit, quit, quit!

My daughter at one point even told us after a long day of non stop pestering, when I asked her why she was so intent on the asking for things said..."Because you told me to NEVER quit or give up!"

Is the suggesting nobody likes a quitter or to never give up contradict what we really want to impose? By impose I mean, I am starting to see how we as parents can really give some really large contradictions. We say never to give up, but our idea of that fits a pre-existing image of the specific type of things we do not want to see our children give up on, to keep trudging along and working at it.

Yet when a child does not give up in areas we see as a direct assault on our peace of mind as it does NOT fit our box of ideas, we say instantly to STOP, QUIT!" This may be due to we are tired or do not have the money for an item or whatever but it crosses into our own ideal of image of those things we ourselves do not want to be bothered with.

Nobody Likes a Quitter, Never Give up are very powerful words, we can not direct the path of when it is okay to quit because it is bothering US or if the activity chosen is something we ourselves think are worthy enough to never give up!

Powerful words should be spoken with care, and we should really mean them when we say them. It is not the child's fault they will take those words in literal sense and push it to the limits as they test the theory out.

Words have meaning and can make direct impact upon an impressionable young child or adolescent, and it is not the childs wrong doing when taken so. They do not have to live up to our image of how WE take the words to mean, as individuals, they will grow into a meaning of their own and what the words mean to THEM.

So word of caution, Say what you mean, mean what you say and choose your words and phrases with careful consideration or be prepared for the actions that may or may not come about due to them!

What If

American Public Schools Taught about.............

1.) What Americans need to know about the European Debt Crisis?

2.) Money Management and Living within your means on a cash only commitment?

3.) Tolerance and understanding of religious differences, financial backgrounds, special needs children?

4.) How to have a successful and happy long lived marriage?

5.) Unit and Price comparison shopping and how to save money at the grocery store?

6.) Entrepreneurship and building your own businesses?

7.) How to become a Millionaire or how to retire early?

8.) How to think out of the box?

9.) Understanding the Society we live in?

10.) How to problem solve in real life situations?

11.) Obesity in America?

12.) basic wilderness survival skills?

13.) Consumerism and it's impact upon the environment?

14.) No lies but straight up American history?


Share with me your What If schools taught ideas in the comments below!

Homeschoolers Don't Learn Anything.............

I hear this comment quite a bit from Non-homeschoolers including my children's friends after only a week before they wished they were homeschooled.

Homeschoolers don't learn anything............WOW SERIOUSLY? That is quite a bold statement and I suppose may be the answer of the parents to the children who run home saying they wished they were homeschooled as a way to stop the argument right there and then. I suppose this statement also may come from those who met ONE homeschooler that really was not learning much and could not tell the difference between a puppy and kitten at age of 16! (UMMMMMM OH YEAH been there done that MET ONE with that exact example!) 

Perhaps that statement also sometimes comes from those who can only understand the type of education that is given through a public school system and if there is one or two things your homeschooled child has not learned yet or has found difficult to learn that their children are learning at this very moment in public school means that homeschooling does not work and a child can not learn. The adults mind is simply to closed minded to see it any other way.

Again, homeschooled children do not learn ANYTHING................ Momma Mia that's a rough statement and certainly leaves a bad taste in the mouth does it not?

How can you possibly learn NOTHING in today's world? How can you possibly not learn ANYTHING in today's world?

Ironically this statement usually comes from people who have NO knowledge of homeschooling whatsoever to base their decisions off of. Ironically this statement I have observed also usually comes from those who are some of the most inattentive parents I have seen. Parents who are quick to scream and yell, kick the family dog, not allow their kids to do anything but spoils them with any new store bought gadget. The kids themselves are spoiled brats, rarely home as they are bounced around from school, to after school programs, to grandmas and where ever else. When they are home the parent is never to be seen while the kid does not even have the know how to stay the blankity blankity blank out of the road and stands there on their bike in the road MAKING THE CARS GO AROUND THEM. The kids do NOT know how to knock on a door and just come over walking on in like they live there having to be told 10 times to KNOCK before entering your home! They do not know a thing about local wildlife or how to treat the family dog properly- cruelty and control are normal and acceptable qualities.

The comments also usually come from people that have never spent anytime at a homeschoolers house or if they have it was a once a year hour visit where all they witnessed was an hour of the kids playing happily and visiting!

I am sorry but can you hear just how stupid that statement that homeschooled children don't learn anything sounds? Do they actually ever THINK about these type of ridiculous statements? Or do they simply fear homeschoolers that heaven forbid their kids may actually want to spend some quality time with them?

My kids certainly will not be learning what their public school counter parts will be learning and all at the same times and grade levels. My kids are always learning though and that is a life long certainty that they will continue to learn as they experience and take part of the world. They learn because it matters to them to learn and is not a bunch of useless facts being drilled into them that will be forgotten the next year. While there certainly is a place for public school it just is not for us but learning is happening just the same, just not the same things! So impossible to go through this life and not learn ANYTHING! Learning is a constant and a natural human trait............

Simply Homeschooled

Simply Homeschooled- keep it simple-keep it real.

To be honest, here at Simply Homeschooled I have no clue what this year will bring even though we are all really excited about another year. While I do not like using labels we do tend to largely follow the philosophy of Unschooling. Unschooling is just one of many methods of homeschooling that is largely child focused and child-led learning that is not forced or coerced in anyway but is allowed to flow creatively and naturally.

Simply Homeschooled is kept in simple terms by not spending large amounts of time in planning. While in fact this year I have planned a little bit as far was what subjects we will be starting, those are the subjects of our interest at the moment. These are only abstractly planned as a way of knowing where to focus our financial learning funds at the moment yet is really nothing set in stone and can be adapted and changed as needed.

I do think for this year I may brainstorm some goals for the year and come up with activities based off those goals, not looking for teachable moments of course but just trying to creatively come up with activities my kids will find interesting as well as engaging and entertaining in order to reach our goals for this year. I will have to do another post after I have brainstormed this years goals.

As for keeping Simply Homeschooled real it means just that really - KEEP IT REAL! This means many of what we choose to do or learn this year will have meaningful connections that is applied to REAL life as learning should not be separated from living. Learning and Living Co-exist together in a continual cycle and not separate of each other. That is why for example we will be working on LIVING MATH this year where connections will be made from real life examples of the daily usages math has in our lives.

I think much of my excitement is coming from this antsy build up of energy and a need for action, to be shaken out of our mundane routine and propelled into a world of inspiration, action, new experiences, joyful living and the connectedness we always build as a family on this journey. Not that our life is mundane or anything but for the last year it has seemed to have gone at a slow pace due to circumstances. At times it can seem mundane and too much of a routine for my tastes, yet I have always thrived on change and shaking things up.

There seems to be an excitement for this year that is far more than any other year has brought, I am not sure why but it is there. Not just on my part either but on the whole family, perhaps there is an unforeseen reason for all the excitement that will be revealed in due time. Perhaps it is due to we have gotten through 3 years of being unschoolers and this 4rth year is bringing true unschooling into our lives where we are not worried about others opinions, we are not trying to grasp and understand the philosophy but we can LIVE the philosophy this year. Whatever the reason, this excitement larger than life is undeniably there this year for each member and I know this will be a remarkable year that I plan to enjoy the ride on!

Hope everyone has a fantastic year regardless of the method of homeschooling you do!

Looking Towards a New Year

While learning never stops through summer months, I always get excited when September gets close, marking another year for us. I love seeing how interests come and go and what the new year may bring our way, it is like always waiting to open a new present, you just never know what is inside!

While we tend to be pretty relaxed in our approach, I do look at what we are all interested in and start planning what material will be purchased to feed those interests and introduce new ones as well along the way.

This year our interest list looks pretty much  like this.

Green Living

Sewing

Nutrition/Health

Chemistry

Stocks/Investing

Household Budgeting

Nature

Zoology

Cooking/Baking

Japanese Language and Culture

African Culture

Spanish Language

Art and Crafts

Board Games

Sustainable Living

Consumerism/Conservatives

Technology

Video Gaming

Community

Museums

Reading

I think that is a pretty good basis to start with and am excited to explore a variety of materials for these interests!  It should prove to be a facinating year that I can not wait to start shopping for and gathering interesting items for further exploration of these subjects!

While I am not big into hard core planning , I do like to do outlines such as this one to give me a point of starting off at and knowing where to start at bringing items in that will enhace these interests.

Have a great new homeschool year everyone ! What are you planning for the new year? Share in the comments!

Labels

I really have never liked labels much as it seems my family never quite fit any one label entirely. If we do fit into a label, well it just never seems to fit for long. As we learn, research, grow and evolve, our minds expand into new views and paths change. Yet the labels seem to fix us to a spot in other peoples mind's as they do not grow with us, at the same time labels opens us up to more critique of others opinions, especially if they do not understand the label we use to describe ourselves. Preconceived images conjure up the opinions of how a label resonates with one and if they are not at the same vibrational level of expansion, labels seem to have a negative context for others.

Throughout the years I have blogged, have ran several sites but after a while I seem to take them down as we outgrow the label I used to base the context of the blog under. I get frustrated as labels seem to help others give definition to what it is we do, how we live, what our beliefs are, yet since we really do not fit any one label or it changes as we grow and change, it no longer seems to belong while others are basing opinions on the old labels we have given ourselves.

But then I thought, why really give it a label? Why give anything a label? Why can it not just be a free form life? Why can it not just BE? This is our life and how we roll, we change, we grow, we evolve, we adapt, we expand our minds, always changing, always progressing and just living life. It really does not make sense for me to give anything in our life a label as we lead a kind of abstract, free formed, modern life, it simply IS. It is our life and this is how we roll.

So this will be the context of this blog, our learning, our living, pure, simple with no labels to describe, just the simple honest truth of how we learn and live together side by side leading a life that reaches and stretches towards the dreams we each hold as individuals that makes up our wonderful family unit.

I hope you follow along and enjoy our life with us!