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Like all of you, I'm a number of things to a number of people...Navy wife, homeschooling mama, educated woman and aspiring writer. Read my thoughts on all of it here. Please feel free to leave your thoughts on all of it too!
Showing posts with label Gracie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gracie. Show all posts

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Saved by Silence

I remember moaning when Mom wanted to turn the radio off in the car when she was taxiing me from one place to another.  Now, I'm the mom.  And sometimes I turn the radio off.  Sometimes I leave the television off.  Sometimes I go in my room, shut my door and pray that my kids will give me time to rest in silence, since I can't turn them off.  It's good for all of us.  I promise you that. 

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Cakes

So, I mentioned cakes in my last post and thought you might like to see some of the cakes I've made. 
(Or maybe I just want to show them off!)


Jace's 3rd birthday - trucks
(FYI - the oreo tires didn't actually touch the ground - Jace noticed!)


Wednesday, May 4, 2011

This and That

It's Wednesday.  I like Wednesday.  Just thought you should know that.  I hope your Wednesday has been a great one.  Ours has been pretty darn good, even though Jace will tell you it was a boring day.  After all, the highlight of his day was the pizza and Pepsi he got to have at Costco.  Everything else is unworthy of "good day" status in his eyes. 

Thursday, April 7, 2011

(not so) Small Style

This week I'm linking up with Mama Loves Papa and participating in her series on our children's style!  I've been meaning to do it for a while, along with a lot of other things, but I finally got pictures uploaded and today's the day! 

So, without further ado...

Friday, March 25, 2011

Mrs. Mama

I don't know if multitasking and combining roles or jobs is all that new, really.  Just think about parents - they've been around for a while and I don't know anyone who is "just a parent."  So I think we just keep changing the name for things and adjusting what we're multitasking as times and situations change around us.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

A Note From My Mom

Dear Annie's blog readers,
Please excuse Annie's long absence from posting silly, enlightening, thought provoking blog posts.  She has been very busy with life.  Things never got so bad that a doctor's visit was necessary, although, a visit with a friend was in order and Annie complied with her recommendations to drink wine and eat dessert.  (The friend technically is a doctor, so if you'd like the doctor's excuse too, I'm sure we can arrange that.)  Annie is really no less busy now, but feeling more organized.  She's hoping to get back to blogging more regularly now. 
Thank you,
Annie's mom

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Birthday Plans

What better way to come back to my blog than to fill you in on what my kids have been saying...right?  Tonight's story is all about Gracie.  The other two have certainly said crazy things too, but Gracie's had me rolling all day today!

Gracie: "Here are a few things I'd like for my birthday, since it's really close."
Me: "Really close?"
Gracie: "Yeah. June is only about three months away. You need to start planning. I don't want you to be still thinking about what to do two days before my birthday like you are with Dada's."

"I want a princess cake or a barbie cake or a barbie princess cake."

"JAA-AACE, why do you have to be so obnoxious?"

Mama:  "So, what do you guys think we should get for Dada's birthday?"
Tyler:  "Monster truck."
Gracie:  "Don't you want to survive?"
Tyler:  "Dada like monster truck!"
Gracie:  "But if we buy Dada a monster truck than we won't have money for food and that means we won't survive."
Tyler:  "Hmmm.  (pause)  Next year monster truck."

(Doing a mad lib with Dada, who's turning 33 in two days.)
Dada: "Next you need a large number."
Gracie: "Thirty-three."
Dada: "Hey!  That's not large!"

So, there you have it...life continues here as normal now that all of our guests have left.  We really enjoyed spending time with family and friends who might as well be family!  Thanks for coming...excited for our next guests, and happy to be posting on here again.  Talk to ya'll again soon.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Sassafrass

I'm sure our days have been filled with great soundbites, but these are the two I remember most from today:


Gracie:  "When I'm President I'm going to make a rule that everyone in the world has to be cute all the time."
Jace:  "The President only makes rules for the people in our country, not the whole world."
Gracie:  "That's OK.  Then we'll be cute and everyone else won't be."

**********
Mama:  (Driving Scott's truck, an F250) "I think I should have just run over that little car that pulled out in front of us.  Probably wouldn't have even felt it."
Jace:  "Well you'd feel the handcuffs and hear the sirens."


They're full of sass, aren't they?

Monday, February 21, 2011

Stories

Last week our homeschooling was very relaxed.  Jace has started learning cursive, which he's excited about until he actually has to practice, and I was just beat.  So, we talked about stories. 

We sent out questions to our families back when we did our family unit study.  We went over those, talked about the things Grandmas and Grandpas and Aunts and Uncles shared with us.  The kids enjoyed the connection to the family they don't see much.  Thankfully they're getting some visitors over the next few months and can't wait to see everyone who will be stopping by.

We also learned about the origins of Valentine's Day.  I don't remember ever hearing the story and I think it's quite appropriate that St. Valentine have a holiday all about love named after him.  Apparently, before he died and it was decided that he would be a saint, he was a priest.  He lived during a time of war and the ruler of his country declared that young men were not allowed to marry.  Young married men didn't make the best soldiers and he wanted them focused on fighting not on family left behind.  Valentine secretly kept performing marriages for those that wanted to unite with their loves.  When this was discovered, he was sent to prison.  The jailer's daughter visited him often and they fell in love.  He wrote her letters and, as the story goes, he signed them, "With love, from your Valentine."  Fast forward to today - smother your loves with cards, chocolate and flowers! 

We created several stories too, using Mad Libs and just on our own.  We spent time at the mall, drinking chai and people watching.  Then we told stories about the lives of the people we saw.  This was an interesting activity for me to watch the kids do.  Gracie was very excited and had lots of ideas about what people might be doing at the mall, what they might do when they're not at the mall, who they could be on the phone with.  Jace was not as excited and answered my prompts with very realistic sound bites.  "Shopping."  "Work."  "His wife."  Granted he was probably right, but Gracie's answers were much more dramatic!  "Maybe he's going shopping to find a present for his girl friend because it was just Valentine's Day and now everything is on sale and he's looking for a really cute dress to buy her and he's on the phone with her best friend to find out what style she wants.  Because, Mama, there are lots of dresses that are cute.  She could like sparkly or pink or ruffles or all three - like me!"  Such different children!

We played lots of new made-up games too.  Like the noun game that Jace made up, that turned into the adjective game.  He thought of coming up with as many nouns as we could related to a subject (like vehicles or horses) and we decided that it would be easier to come up with adjectives...so we did.  We also read and recited nursery rhymes and told about our favorite cartoons, books, or songs. 

Jace also suggested, at dinner one night, that we go around the table and say a reason why we liked each person.  When it was Jace's turn to say something he liked about me he stumbled a little.  "Hmmm.  Let me think about this one."  Then after he hemmed and hawed for a little he said, "Well, I can't come up with anything else so I guess I'll use this: I like you because I wouldn't be here without you."  He's such a pip squeak!  I'm glad he understands my role in his existence, but it would be nice if there were one or two other little things he liked about me! 

So, our week was pretty relaxed as far as school goes, but very busy otherwise!  All in all, it was a good week.  I hope you can all say the same.

Foods Around the World

A couple weeks ago we took part in a Foods Around the World lunch with some other homeschooling families.  Not only was it a lot of tasty fun to eat food from different places (at least for me - the kids weren't impressed) but we also made little poster displays to show off what we learned.  I know...fun, right?

But before you get to see those...let me tell you about the adventure of choosing our places and making our foods. 

Monday, February 7, 2011

Is There Anything Better?

Tyler sleeping in the back of the van while the movers loaded our home goods.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Homeschool Spirit Week

A few weeks ago we had spirit week!  It wasn't as big or crazy as the spirit weeks I remember from my youth, but we still had a good time!  Here's what we did:

Monday - Inside, Outside, Upside Down Day
     We wore our clothes inside out and/or upside down.  We went to Zero Gravity, where the kids take gymnastics, and played during their open gym time. 

Tuesday - 100th day of school!
     We had friends over and had a create-your-own-craft party.  Some of the things were pretty creative, others were just plain crazy!  But we had fun.  We had lunch and ice cream sundaes too!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Trying New Things

It's been a while since I've updated you on our adventure in primal living, but it's always on my mind.  As part of my goal to be in 2011 I've been really paying attention to what I eat, drink, and do with my body.  I want to be intentional about what I feed myself and my family and not just mindlessly through food on a plate.  I want to be present with the kids when they're running and playing and laughing.  I'm a work in progress.

At least I'm that, right?  If I wasn't paying attention I probably wouldn't even be a work in progress, but whatever the opposite is. 

So, what have we been doing?  We've been getting out more.  We've gone for several walks or hikes.  I've found some local trails that are only a five or ten minute drive so that we can enjoy being outside, without having to worry about traffic or the tide coming in (or the kids running out into the tide!).  Tyler really enjoys the "real trails" so that he can run free!  We're up to about two and a half miles before Tyler asks to go home and Gracie complains that her feet hurt.  I'm pretty excited about that.  Jace, on the other hand, still wants to go further, and is going to have to wait for Dada on that.  I don't think Gracie and Tyler are going to be ready for seven miles up and down a mountain anytime soon!  But we're out and moving and that is a good thing.

We're also trying new things in the kitchen.  We have our old favorites, like banana bread (made with almond flour), eggs and bacon, bison dogs, and such.  But we also have a new favorite: meatza!  The kids really enjoy that!  Green smoothies are another item we've added to our repertoire.  Jace and I really like them.  Gracie says she does and then doesn't drink them and Tyler politely says, "Me get water?"  Just last night we tried another new thing. 

We were at a Super WalMart to pick up something for homeschooling and walked through the produce section to the register.  Jace asked what something was, a red pummelo, and then if we could get it.  I just wanted to get home and almost gave a quick "no" without even really considering his question.  But I didn't.  I stopped and and looked at it and said, "Sure, let's try it...maybe we'll find a new fruit we love!"  So we got it.  Jace did love it!  I kept eating little pieces because I wasn't sure if I liked it or not.  Gracie and Tyler decided quickly that they did not.  But we all tried something new.

So, primal living is going well.  And, one of my favorite benefits of primal living, I don't feel guilt about not always eating primally or staying in to relax and watch a movie when that's on the agenda.  On the flip side, I really do enjoy the kids curiosity more and want to get out and about with them and try things I otherwise probably wouldn't. 

Friday, January 28, 2011

Pet Names

Occasionally it occurs to me that I hardly ever call my husband by his name when talking to him.  When I'm talking about him I do, or I call him Dada and Daddy, depending on what I'm saying.  But when I'm talking to him I rarely call him Scott.  I call him Love, Sweets, Sweetie, Honey, Hun.  He rarely calls me Annie either, but uses mostly the same nicknames for me.  And when I write him it seems odd to sign my name.  I usually just sign "me."  After all, after the content of the message, it's not like there's a question who the letter or email is from!  Right? 

I like pet names.  Not only do I use them with Scott, but with a lot of others too.  Gracie has been Sweet Pea or Sweetie.  Jace often hears, "What, Bud?" when pestering me.  Tyler started the monkey moniker that now refers to all the kids.  I also call him Linus sometimes and Snuggle Bunny other times.  It's quite cute, though - he usually says, "No, me Lyler."  He's most definitely my little Lyler! 

It's not just my immediate family that gives and gets pet names.  One of my oldest friends often calls me Gorgeous!  I mean, really?  Can you beat the feeling of that little window opening on facebook with the words "Hello gorgeous?"  I don't think so.  And she's not just saying it.  She truly believes I'm beautiful.  And I feel it when she says it. 

Isn't that what pet names are about?  Bringing out feelings of joy, being special, feeling loved?  I gotta tell you...when Gracie calls me Princess (although I've never considered myself a princess) I feel special.  And when Scott calls me Ann Marie (which is technically my actual name) that feels incredible warm and loving.  Even when my sister calls me sister, it's a special thing for me. 

So, it's obvious that I'm loved.  It's obvious that I feel it.  I don't really think the power of all that joy and the depth of these relationships are really in the name calling...but the words we share certainly help give all those emotions life. 

Do you have any little names you share with a special someone?  I hope you feel just as happy, cared about, and comforted as can be when you hear your pet names.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Submarine Study

So, it's been a while since we've completed a study, right?  Well, there are all sorts of excuses...holidays, life, blah, blah.  Don't fret, though, I don't think kids know how to not learn, so even when we didn't officially have a unit focus we were still reading and experiencing...and climbing trees!  Very important skill.


That's Jace's head sticking out the top of the tree.
But, over the last few weeks we've been working on getting back into the swing of our routine.  The kids were very interested in learning more about submarines, with Dada being on one and all.  When we were in Georgia we visited the submarine museum there and the kids really enjoyed it.  They even remembered some of what we saw and learned.  Love when that happens!  We intended to go to the sub museum here in Washington as part of our study but never made it.  There are excuses for that too...blah, blah, blah!  We'll get there in the next few weeks...sometime.

So, what did we do?  As always we read a lot.  Our three favorite library books were:
Submarines: Underwater Stealth, by Michael Teitelbaum
Nuclear Submariners, by Antony Loveless
Submarines, by Kevin Doyle
They had great pictures and lots of information.  And the information was broken up into short segments not long, boring paragraphs.  We also spend possibly too much time at Barnes and Noble.  Tyler loves the train table and there are lots of books to read and look through!  They had a great one there, Submarines UP Close, by Andra Serlin Abramson, with even more pictures...some at actual size! 

We also made some drawings, went and looked at the submarine monument on base (again, we looked at it during our monument study too), and made a flip book.  Here are some pictures of the kids working of our submarine fact book...



After writing this is doesn't seem like our (what turned into a) three week unit was all that meaty.  But the kids really did get a lot out of it. The reasons it took more than the original one week planed were two fold...there was a snow day and I could see how much they really wanted to read more and more.  We read each of our library books more than once and they loved it.  Jace read them on his own too.  I'm sure it helped them feel closer to Dada.  But they also learned a lot about how submarines work, the different types of submarines, what the submariners do out to sea and during off crew.  It was a great study!

(If you'd like to read about our other units...check here for a list.)

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Things You Didn't Know You Wanted To Know

I might be something of an exhibitionist.  I don't run around exposing me body to others, but here I am on my blog...exposing the rest of me!  Or not.  I might be looking at this a little more deeply than I need to.  Such is life. 

Anyway...every so often I feel the need to share randomness about our lives.  Sometimes I let you know little things the kids have said. 

For example, as we were leaving Barnes and Noble the other day I asked Jace to get the door.  His response was, "I don't know how to undrill it."  Before I responded with, "What are you talking about?" I let it seep in for a minute.  I often have to do that with him.  His brain is much more complex than mine.  Did you get it?  I did, after he added, "Besides, it's too heavy to carry."  So smart.

Other times I present a list of little known facts, like this:
  1. Cleaning hair out of the drain is one of my least favorite tasks.  So, I wash my hair and catch as much hair as possible on my hands and stick it to the side of the shower wall.  When I'm done showering I throw it away.  I hope this doesn't gross you out, but I prefer it to long hairs clogging the drain. 
  2. I get overly excited when I finish a bottle of shampoo, lotion, soap...anything!  I love getting to try a new scent.
  3. Tyler has started sleeping in Jace's bed with him most nights.  They actually sleep and don't play and Jace doesn't mind, so I let them.  Mama's sweet boys. 
  4. Almost every day I have an egg over easy with bacon.  I eat it out of a bowl with a spoon.  I add leftover veggies, brussel spouts, avocado, mushrooms, onions, and/or salsa.  I could probably eat this twice a day...but that seems like a bit much.  So good.
Today I'm also going to update and/or remind you of a few things.
  •  I currently have 44 followers (yay!).  When I reach 50 there will be a giveaway.  So, tell your friends!
  •  I added music to my blog, pretty excited about that.  Enjoy.
  •  The kids started off great with our Help Wanted Poster.  The last few weeks, though, they've totally lost interest.  I've taken out all the recycling and they haven't wanted to do anything else on the list for money.  I'm a little bummed, because they were being so helpful.  Gracie still loves doing dishes with me, but that's not even on the list!  I reminded them today, though, so we'll see what happens.
 So, there ya have it!  A whole mess of this and that!  Hope it completes your lazy Saturday like nothing else could.  If not, how about this?


St. Augustine, FL
April 2010


Thursday, January 20, 2011

Mixing It Up!

So, I was perusing the new books section at the library last week and found a fascinating book called The Wisdom of Your Child's Face, by Jean Hanner.  What really caught my eye was the subtitle: "Discover Your Child's True Nature with Chinese Face Reading."  The Chinese face reading part wasn't anything I'd ever heard of, but discovering my children's true natures...that sounded great!  I mean, I spend all day, every day with them.  Knowing their personalities, tendencies, differences in what nature has provided them might come in handy. 

What have I discovered with this cool find?  That Chinese face reading probably takes years to master.  I've had the book for about a week.  I don't have it down yet.  Here are the basics, though...the Chinese believe that our faces give hints of our futures and tell the tales of our pasts.  In our faces can be seen our personalities, our hardships, our joys.  Some of it is a little hard to accept at face value, if you will.  But I love the idea of it. 

Chinese face reading uses the shapes of our eyes, brows, hairlines, ears, chins, noses, even the little spot between the upper lip and nose, which I learned is called the philtrum, to determine which of the Five Elements are expressed most strongly in us.  The book is broken into sections for each of the Elements.  Within each section, the writing begins with anecdotes of children whose personalities are of that Element then moves on to tell which traits can be seen in a child who matches up.  I found myself nodding as I read through a few of them...

"Yes, this is Gracie!"

"Oh my goodness...that's so me!"

"OK.  No question here...this is Jace."

Tyler was a little less clear, perhaps because he's so young yet.  But I still think I know which Element is his, at least for now.  Hanner states that one element may be stronger in a child's face and personality early on, but then may change as they grow.  Also, there may be more than one Element at the forefront of their personalities.  So, here's what I think we've got going on...

I believe I'm of the Earth.  That Element's temperament is mothering (duh!), stable, patient, and diplomatic.  I think that fits me. 

Scott is Wood, I think.  Wood personalities tend to be direct, focused, strong, hard-working, yet flexible. 

Metal fits Jace.  These people tend to be visionaries, determined, persistent, and organized.

Without a doubt, Gracie is Fire.  She's dynamic and bright free spirit and a lover. 

Tyler was a little tricky, as I said.  But I think he might be lean toward Water, except that he does not like to be in water, unless it's the tub.  In Georgia he'd stand out in that insane heat and walk around the pool while the rest of us cooled off in the water.  The traits associated with water, though, are flexibility and calmness.  I also see a lot of Fire in him too.  So, I don't really know.

Even though I don't have Tyler figured out for sure, I do know that we've got a lot of personality going on! 

And, what am I taking from this exercise?  Well, I heard one time that people who are great in their fields had parents who didn't hold them back.  What if Barbara Walter's parents had shut her up every time she talked?  Or Oprah's?  What if a famous dancer (I don't know any names off the top of my head) was told to sit down every time he or she jumped off the couch.  What is Bill Gates wasn't allowed to stick his head in a book or open his own lemonade stand?  (I don't know if he ever really had a stand as a child...just saying...)

Ever since hearing that insight I've hoped I'm not hampering Gracie's spirit when I ask her not to laugh so hard.  I hope I'm not holding Jace back by telling him that he's not going to have a slew of people join his adventure club.  Hanner's book gave me another lens to look at their personalities through, another way of understanding their true natures.  Hopefully with these new descriptions of my children I can support them even more...somehow.  I can allow Jace his dreams of inventing everything from jet packs to a make-my-parents-let-me-do-what-I-want-inators.  I can hopefully encourage Gracie's love of dance, gymnastics, singing, and, of course, dressing pretty.  Tyler just wants to "play all day."  Doable.

As always, I'm looking for little ways, new philosophies, ideas and suggestions...whatever can help me be the best mother I can be* right now for these incredible kids.  Knowing which of the Five Elements each of my children expresses is another entry in my bag of tricks.

*Um...yeah...I'm totally an Earth Element mama! 

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Quotes From Today

"But, Mama...we're always touching something."

***********

"We are not a family of petite feet.  Sorry."

***********

"Why is Tyler crying over getting a shot?  It's not like he's getting shot by a gun."

***********

(Recognizing the number 3)
"This is three like me."

***********

"I think I just saw our gymnastics teacher in the awesome store."
(This is how Jace refers to Victoria's Secret.)
"Very nice.  We're not going to say hello."
"Why not?  Is it because she's looking at underwear?"
"Yes, yes it is."

***********

"Don't tell Dada we're having ice cream for dinner.  He'll be mad."
"No he won't!  He'll be jealous.  We still shouldn't tell him."

***********

"You can't have alcohol for snack."


Sunday, January 9, 2011

How Do You Do It: Missing Dada

Yesterday I wrote a post about how much I love my husband, Scott, even though he many not be Prince Charming.  Today I thought I'd focus on his role as daddy, or in our house - Dada.  He's pretty special there too.  All three kids love their father.  Tyler even admits it sometimes, but not always.  He's probably more like Scott than either Jace or Gracie, and he gives him the hardest time.  It's quite humorous from the outside.  And I don't think Scott takes it too personally.  Thank goodness.  But, when a father is loved, picked on, and looked up too so much, how do you handle a patrol? 

For those who aren't submariners or family members, patrols are about a three month period where Scott is basically out of touch.  He isn't gone for a year or 15 months, like some deployments overseas.  He's not even gone for six to nine months, like surface ships and their fleets.  The biggest difference, in my opinion, is that we have no contact with him.  I can send emails.  They go out and might get to him, might not.  He may or may not have a chance to send a quick note back.  But, there are no phone calls, no regular contact via email or postal mail.  And we're in the midst of a patrol now.

So, how did Scott and I prepare the kids for missing Dada? 

Some families actually video tape bedtime stories or hello messages.  We didn't do that, but we did get a recordable book called All The Ways I Love You, that Scott recorded for them.  We read it twice the first night he left and several times since.  Gracie and Tyler have each pulled it down on their own and read it.  Jace hasn't, that I've seen, but he will go sit next to the other two when they're reading it. 

We got a selection of cards for the kids to open up every week or so.  They're in the "missing you" and "thinking of you" vein.  Today we opened out first and it talked about sending a hug for every day of the week.  The kids are saving up hugs now for Dada when he returns!  Hope he's ready!

I got the kids "daddy" shirts to wear when they miss him. 


"Navy Kid
Toughest job in the Navy"

"My daddy plays in the water"

"Sailor's little girl"
 They love their shirts.  Before the next patrol we night need to get another option because I'm doing a lot of laundry making sure their shirts are clean and ready to be worn!  

And, tonight, Jace and I made submarines for dinner.  They were messy, but totally fun!  Basically, I cooked up some link sausages and let them cool enough to touch.  Jace mixed up some pancake mix, but didn't add all the liquid.  We then smooshed the pancake mixture around the sausages and baked in the frying pan.


What do you think?  We only made eight and they made the rest of the batter, with added water, into regular pancakes.  The submarines were messy to make! 


But they were totally fun to eat!  Jace thought it would be fun to get a black edible marker and paint them black like a real sub and then write "730" on them!  (The USS HENRY M. JACKSON is #730 and is Scott's boat.)  I think he's quite creative, but I'm glad they're nicely browned and not black!

So, that's what we do...not too much, not too little.  We talk about Dada all the time.  We look at pictures and share memories about him, much the same way we do with Grandmas and Grandpas, Aunts and Uncles, cousins, friends.  We have a lot of loved ones who don't live near us...we make them a part of our lives in little ways, even if they don't know it!  We do the same for Scott.  We joke about what he might be eating for lunch when we go to the mall and get Kataluma Chai shakes.  We wonder if he gets to watch Dukes of Hazzard at night.  And we make plans for when he gets back...hiking, playing choo choo, cuddling, reading books.  Sometimes we laugh.  Sometimes we cry.  All of it's perfectly acceptable here. 

We miss Dada.  Nothing wrong with that!  And there are lots of ways to miss him, but this is how we're doing it.  How do you you handle your kids missing their loved ones?

Saturday, January 8, 2011

To Teach or Not To Teach?

A few months ago I attended a conference about unschooling.  I thought I wrote about it on here, but I've poured over my posts and can't seem to find anything about it!  Hmm...wonder why that is.  It might be because I was a little scared by the concept after I heard from the radical unschoolers on the panel. 

I went to the conference because I was intrigued by the idea of letting learning take place when and where it takes place.  Come to find out, there's a spectrum of ideas under the umbrella of unschooling, and my thoughts about it barely dipped my toes in the water.  The men and women on the panel allow their kids to choose what they eat and when they eat it, when they go to bed, or not.  In radical unschooling, "no" isn't heard very often.  I knew that that sort of thing wasn't my style and wouldn't work in our homeschool.  But I still liked the idea of letting the children's interests lead us.

I've said from the beginning that our style was interest led unit studies, so I guess the conference didn't change me too much, but it did make me aware of different styles out there and possibly more aware of all the things my kids pick up even without my trying. 

This past week the kids have shown how well they learn when they're interested.  Jace loves all things military these days...and the last several months, possibly years.  Anyway, he gets at least one book from the library every time we go on tanks, submarines, special forces, etc.  At a pancake breakfast a week ago he got all the kids together to form the KF, Kid Forces.  That way they could take us adults down if we got out of hand.  He's totally into it! 

So, this past week we've been learning about submarines.  Dada is out to sea and Gracie wanted to know more about his boat and I didn't figure Jace would mind.  We read about many different kinds of subs, some that carry SEALs, who then get out and swim to their destinations.  There was a little blurb about the SEALs.  I started to read it and then I asked Jace before I read it when the SEALs were started.  "1962," he said, without having to think very hard.  Then he went on to tell me that SEALs stands for SEa, Air, and Land.  Did you know that? 

And Gracie, may not have known that yet, although she probably does now, but she is picking things up too.  Her reading is improving by leaps and bounds.  In fact that seems to be how she makes her progress.  She seems really interested in reading sometimes and then looses interest for a while.  I haven't pushed it when she's been less interested.  This morning, out of the blue, she asked if she could read me a book, instead of her normal request for me to read to her.  I said, "Sure." 

She grabbed a library book.  It was one that I'd seen her with, but I hadn't read to her yet.  She sat on my lap and read me the book!  I was so proud. 

I think it just goes to show...schooling, homeschooling, unschooling...following a curriculum, preparing unit studies, or setting them free...teaching or not teaching...they'll learn.  I love it!  They're learning!

I get so excited every time I realize it over again!  They're really learning.  Probably not everything their counterparts are in Kindergarten and second grade.  Maybe not more, maybe not less.  I don't really know.  But they're definitely learning.  I'm giving their teacher a gold star.