Another Day of the Learning Journey

Isn't everyday of life just another part of our learning journey?

I think there are times in our life when we forget that every day is a learning journey, or at least that it should be. How often do we go through the day doing the same thing without really thinking about what we are doing? How often do we think about what our kids are learning, and neglect to reflect on what we are learning?

For those of us who set learning goals for our children, how many of us set them for ourselves? Do you ever take on a learning project simply because you always wanted to learn about it, or because it looked like fun?

I have been thinking about all the things that I have been learning lately, and reflecting on how much I have learned and thus grown over the last several months. I am not sure what has made me take a step back to reflect, but I am glad that I did. It made me realize just how far I have come in a few short months.. and let me see more clearly the direction I am trying to head in.

A few months ago, I set a few somewhat nebulous goals for myself in terms of what I was wanting to learn. I am quite happy to see that I have not only accomplished them, but continued to learn more. As I am quite enjoying this area of study, I am setting new goals of both learning and practicing.

Wish me luck as I continue my learning journey through life! 

Homeschooling - A Growing Subject

I have recently run across information about how many people are searching for homeschooling, and unschooling terms in the Google search engine. Normally this is just not something I look forward to seeing. After all, I have been homeschooling my daughter for 14 years now. (Yup, you read that right.) Back when we started homeschooling, most people thought I was doing something illegal. Back when we started homeschooling, most people assumed you must be a hard core Christian led to do so by God. Back when we started homeschooling, most people considered it the option used for children who were.. well, to put it nicely "not so bright". None of these were true for us. It was perfectly legal.. I had researched the laws of the state. While we were Christian, I can not say that God ever spoke to me about homeschooling my children. And my daughter easily impressed people with her knowledge and social skills from a very young age. (And I proudly say that it really was mostly her doing.. I just tried to keep up with her!)

Perhaps I should just take full credit for her education for all 17.5 years of her life. I did teach her to tie her shoes, tell her left from right, and how to put away her toys.. before that her education had consisted of learning to walk, learning to hold objects, and the hardest lesson of all.. learning to speak a language foreign to her at the time.. a language known as English.

Yes, I am proclaiming to have handled her education through various methods of homeschooling for her entire life, from the day she was born. When she was a toddler, learning was easy and free. I would say that it was the true essence of life learning at that point. As she grew to school age, we switched to a school at home method of homeschooling. We went from homeschooling workbooks, to searching through homeschooling curriculum.

There was something about becoming pregnant with my second child that changed everything. I dove into studying natural pregnancy, as that is not what my first pregnancy had been. I studied natural child birth, determined to be ready for it before it happened this time. I studied methods of raising children, determined to raise the healthiest, happiest, most well balanced children I could. As I devoted almost all of my time to learning, I left my daughter's education to her. I was always there to answer questions, help her find materials, help her with whatever she was doing. I read to her all the time, though usually of natural pregnancy, healthy diets, and child psychology. We still colored, and made meals together.

It was somewhere over that not quite 9 months, that we adopted a new style of homeschooling. It had grown into unschooling. I found that unschooling worked quite well with her, and we continued to unschool after her brother was born. When my third child came along, we were still unschooling and it was still working out fantastically. And now as my daughter quickly approaches the age of adulthood, I am grateful for every minute that I have had with her. I am grateful that I never sent her away to school. I am grateful for being so involved in her education. The relationship that I have with her is absolutely priceless. And I know how quickly she learns, and how capable she is of finding out what she wants to know. She is well equipped to build a happy successful life.. homeschooling has served her well.

Every once in a while, facts about how many homeschoolers there are in the country, and even in the world, come across my desk. When we started homeschooling, I vowed to stop looking at those numbers because they made me question my decision. If so few families were choosing to home school, was I making the right choice to do so?! I strengthened my resolve each time by looking to my daughter, watching what she could do, and watching her interact with other people. That was always enough to set my mind at ease for a time.. until the next time doubt came creeping in.

This time when the statistics about homeschoolers came through, I was pleasantly shocked to see how much more interest there is in it now! I am absolutely thrilled that so many people are searching for information on home school, on homeschool curriculum, and on unschooling! Even more surprising was the number of people looking for information about homeschooling in high school, homechooling programs, and even homeschooling online. Just think.. several thousand people a month go to Google and type in homeschooling pros and cons.

I think it is safe to say that the movement is growing.. that parents are finally starting to take charge of their childrens' education.. that people are finally seeing that education simply is NOT a one size fits all proposition!

Go Homeschoolers!

Staying Cool in the Heat Of It

We are back to having weather alerts for the extreme heat. Last week and the beginning of this week were just beautiful with the highs only being in the 90Fs (33C). The kids and I were finally able to get outside and breathe! Evenings of watching the sunset from the porch were just getting popular, as we got the porch cleaned back up to enjoy them.

The last few days the temperatures have been sneakily creeping back up though, culminating in the Excessive Heat Warning from 1pm to 7pm today, and tomorrow. ICK. Back up by 110F/43C for today and tomorrow. Could I please order something different? Truly, I am DONE with the summer heat!

Although it doesn't work to take the entire summer off from getting things done, I think we will do exactly that for the next two days. Perhaps it is time to catch up on some tv shows, reading, and Wii playing! I think there are a few favorite Wii games that have been sitting in the cabinet just wanting to come out! This might be the perfect time to bring back out Jump Start Pet Rescue for Wii and JumpStart Escape From Adventure Island for Wii! Who said learning had to stop because it was hot out?!

I thought I might share some of our strategies for staying cool when it is SO hot.

1) Close and cover windows.

Teach everyone in the house the routine of closing windows and shades as the sunlight reaches them! The sun can quickly warm things up and it is harder to cool them off again once that happens. In our case this also involves the ridiculous activities of pinning blankets over the windows, or flattening out corrugated cardboard to cover the windows. The sun in the southern states is MUCH more intense than up north. I really think it is even more intense here in the desert, but I will leave that for another time.

2) Stay still and calm.

When you are more active you produce more body heat. When the temperatures are this high, becoming a couch potato is a recommended activity! Staying calm will help you stay cool too. Have you ever noticed that when emotions run high, so do the body temperatures?

3) Drink cold drinks.

This may seem like a no brainer, but most people are constantly slightly dehydrated. Keeping enough fluids in your body will help your internal cooling structures to work properly, leaving you feeling much more comfortable. While hot drinks can be part of your fluids intake, do you really want to drink something hot when it is that HOT out?! One more thing to remember, sugary drinks are not going to cool you off. Sugar, and corn syrup in all of its forms, has this nasty habit of getting in your body's way. It shuts down your immune system for a few hours, it clogs up the internal cooling systems. And just my theory, but I am pretty sure it mucks up the brain and makes it stop working too! ;-)
Please note that dehydration is more common during hot weather and can lead to heat stroke, which can be quite serious. Find put more about the symptoms of dehydration and heat stroke.

4) Eat raw food.

Have some fruit, make a salad, make a smoothie. By eating food that has not been cooked, you will be getting the full juiciness of the produce, helping your internal cooling systems. This is also a great tip so that the kitchen doesn't heat up. Turning on that stove or oven can raise the temperature in the house a few degrees.. something to avoid on days like these! Make some juice or smoothies for yourself and the kids. It is a wonderful treat, and smiles are sure to follow. Try hiding some added nutrition by making a green smoothie! This mango parsley green smoothie is one of our favorites.. using frozen mango makes this quick and COLD during the summer heat!



5) Cut up the cucumbers!

Cucumbers have this marvelous magical ability of remaining cool, and when you eat them, it passes that ability on to your body for a short time. On really hot days, we slice up a cucumber on the slicer and put it into a bowl on the table or desk. They get eaten up as if they were potato chips, or the like. As you munch on them mindlessly while doing something else, take time to notice how much cooler you feel.
Check out this really COOL page I found about cucumbers..


While there are a multitude of other tips and tricks for staying cool in hot weather, these will give you a great start to being comfortable enough to enjoy your days.. even when there are Extreme Heat Warnings in place!

Jumpstart - Starting a New Adventure

We have dug out the Jump Start media we have access to in the last week. Somewhere in the massive project of decluttering we found a calm spot. Or maybe we just hit a tipping point. The point at which you realize that there is clear space, and you can move through the house without being reminded of an obstacle course. The chi is flowing easily through the majority of the house. I know this is so because the boys have donned their turbo charged engines to run the length of the house at break neck speeds, and are accomplishing the designated course without any broken necks!

As we have found this new level of existence for our household, I have noticed some other welcome changes occurring. The most noticeable of these is the resurgence of the boys' desire to learn. They want to watch the educational shows, instead of the violent destructive ones on tv. They are suddenly excited about the idea of workbooks, and educational computer games. And to this end I started digging up all the JumpStart games that we have that still work.

A couple years back we had to give away all of our original JumpStart computer games. We had the old software that ran on Windows 95/98 and when Windows XP put out service pack 2, well.. lets just say that was an expensive update for our house. My oldest child had grown up playing jump start computer games. She loved going through Jumpstart preschool, Jumpstart kindergarten, Jump Start first grade, Jump Start second grade, and last Jump Start third grade. We were just reminiscing a few days ago about the robot from the third grade game. Can't seem to remember his name though. She confided in me how her favorite part of the game had always been the artwork area, but she went through the school work because it made me happy. WOW.. did not know that! Have you seen her artwork now? She is absolutely fantastic! I am so glad that we have been following this life learning journey for so long. I can't imagine what her artwork would be like now if she had been stifled and forced to do things on someone else's timeline... You can check out some of her artwork at www.PenDragonsArt.com for yourself!

Now that all the computer systems in our house are running Windows 7, it has been another purge of beloved software. I am happy to say that our latest JumpStart titles do appear to be working so far. I just installed Jump Start Kindergarten on the computer two days ago. It may be below their level, but there is nothing wrong with going over basics. And going through material that they already know has been boosting their self worth, which has resulted in them trying out new things, and exploring more. I am thrilled to say that after all the difficulties J-man has had with learning to read, he is sounding out words, and wanting to open books again.

For the last two days, the boys have been clamoring to get another turn on the computer and go work on earning their badges and belts, and of course, trying out the different characters and pets! The house has reached a new level of calm.. and I am breathing a sigh of relief as I get some much needed peace and quiet!