Playing | The Organic Sister

Unschooling and Young Eagles

October 3, 2009 By TheOrganicSister

I get doubtful sometimes. We fall into our routine (or out of it) and I wonder if we’re on the right track. I remind myself I’d have these same doubts if Zeb were in school, excelling or not. But still they creep in on occasion, usually during a lull.

I’ve come to see our lives and his learning coming in waves. Sometimes things are calm and steady and even a little boring. Still a little movement, but even and smooth. These are the times we start to get bored and I attempt to come up with a new something to try. But if I can stay patient, a new wave always surfaces on its own. Some new interest, opportunity or experiment.

Lately, he’d been asking a lot about planes. We’ve discussed the Wright Brothers and their trial and errors (which proved to be a great inspiration for him to draw on the next time he was faced with a difficult task and felt like quitting). We talked about the historical timeline of flight and how we’ve only really been airborne for just over a century. We’ve looked through books and photos and diagrams.

Then Lisa sent me a tweet about Young Eagles. It’s a nationwide program to introduce kids to aviation with FREE rides. It took some encouragement about embracing opportunities but Zeb signed on with enthusiasm. Early this morning we drove out to Pahrump, and Zeb took his very first flight!

Zeb’s reaction? “That was AWESOME! Let’s do it again next month!” He easily had the biggest smile there.

That’s not all we did today, either: we went for a picnic and a hike at Red Springs near Red Rock, watched giant dinosaursget auctioned at the Venetian and now Zeb and his friend are heading to the play, Witches, with his Gramma and Justin and I are going on a real life date.

I think by tomorrow we’ll all be wanting a bit of “boring”, don’t ya think?

Filed Under: Organic Learning Tagged With: examples of unschooling, learning without school, life learning, life without school, Playing, unschooling, Zeb

Escaping the Heat…?

June 24, 2009 By TheOrganicSister 14 Comments

Our local unschooling group meets weekly, rain or shine…which usually means shine. I think it’s been several months since it’s rained and the idea of escaping the heat for “park day” was too great a temptation. We decided to head up to the mountains for hiking and playing in the stream (or is it a creek?).

Of course, that’s the day it decides to rain. It was gorgeous and mild one minute and within moments rain clouds rolled in with the thunder and we sat shivering waiting for an acceptable time to break the news to our children that it was time to go. I won’t say the rain wasn’t appreciated. It was a welcome reprieve from months of dry heat and drought. I do hope when the real summer storms come they drop enough to actually moisten the ground in town.

Park days are an all day event. Preparing and packing – food, water, coolers, extra water, plarn project for me, toys, bikes, folding chairs and blankets. We call ourselves “marathoners” at the park. We pick the best spots because we’ll be there all day. By the time we get home, we’re tired but content, usually a little dehydrated and hungry. Maybe even with a tad bit too much sun or heat. Then there is unpacking and cleaning up and putting it all away for next week. Now we’re relaxing, watching movies on Netflix, eating the rest of our watermelon (too cold to eat in the chilly rain!) and recooperating. It’s a big day but it’s always a good one – running and playing and chatting and reaffirming and laughing and loving and sharing and eating. Good, good days.

***Helen at Homeschool Style Bytes just posted my recipe for unschooling. Her site is full of little “bytes” – snippets of inspiration for unschooling and homeschooling families. Be sure to check it out!

Filed Under: Organic Tribes Tagged With: community, examples of unschooling, hiking, links, Playing

Cake Experiments

May 31, 2009 By TheOrganicSister 10 Comments

Zeb called me on my cell while I was out: Hi, Mom.
Me, clearly not talking on my cell while driving: Hey babe. What’s up?
Zeb: I wanna make a cake. Is that okay?
Me: When is cake making not okay?
Zeb: I mean, we have all the ingredients and stuff?
M: Dude. Who’s mom am I? Of course.
Z: Okay, good. I’m not sure what kind of cake, though. I’m looking in the chocolate cookbook.
M: We have a chocolate cookbook? That sounds yummy.
Z: Uh. Yeah. The one on the counter? But I think I’m going to make my own. What’s in a cake?
M: [listed any cake ingredients I can think of]
Z: Okay, thanks Mom. Bye.

I got home to this: My 9 year old liberally adding a litany of ingredients, taste-testing then adding more. No recipe. No real measurements. Pure experimentation.

He brought his creation to park day the next day to share with friends (after saving a piece for Dad and Gramma). His verdict: The icing was great but melted quickly out of the fridge. The cake was more like a bread or biscuit – sweet enough but more dense that he had hoped. It was all still very yummy and quickly gobbled up.

He plans to make another one for the next park day. He wants to add more baking powder to the mix to get it to rise more and he’ll experiment with the measurements to try and get a “less sticky batter”.

Yummy!

[P.S. Be on the look out for an awesome giveaway this week. ]

Filed Under: Organic Learning Tagged With: creativity, examples of unschooling, food, Playing

I Had To Smile

April 13, 2009 By TheOrganicSister

I’ve always allowed myself to feel disappointed when a holiday didn’t hold up to my expectations of traditions. I’d think about the past and feel as if I was losing something. I’ve spent many holidays feeling like things just weren’t “right” and letting that affect my mood.

This year, my family decided to cancel the annual Easter Egg Hunt for the kids, cancel dinner and instead eat at a restaurant. Of course my first inclination was disappointment, something Justin and Zeb shared with me this time. There were just too many reasons not to join them; finances, our wish to eat locally and healthy, an attempt to break our habit of eating out, as well as a sense of Easter tradition and a restaurant dinner not fitting our ideal.

So, we stayed home with our own traditions and created some new ones. And for once, I didn’t feel disappointed. I had to smile. All day long, as we played or baked, everytime I turned around I had the urge to smile. It was a beautiful day.

Each year we do a scavenger hunt: a clue inside one egg, leading to the next egg with the next clue and so on until Zeb finds the basket at the end. These days he’s less about a basket and more about getting one good gift, which of course meant LEGOs.

But this was he first year he did a hunt for me! His clues were really good and tough and clever. And at the end, I had an awesome LEGO creation to place on my dresser (with the assurance he wouldn’t take it apart for pieces).

While he spent his Easter diligently building 1,000+ piece Republic Shuttle and Justin was busy catching up on sleep, I spent my time in the kitchen, listening to Ray LaMontagne, dancing among the dirty dishes, baking this recipe of hot cross buns, and reading up on their history.

There was nothing extraordinary about the day. But I had to smile anyway, every time I turned around and remembered the special Wonder of the day, and the quiet enjoyment spent loving what we have.

We met the family for dessert at my grandmother’s house, played amongst her flower beds, indulged in a swing with my niece and enjoyed a game or twelve. And as much as I loved all that, it didn’t compare to the joy I felt just being at home, doing nothing extravagant, and being happy about it.

And just because here are a few more of my favorite photos from the day (with a couple more here):

Filed Under: Celebrations, Organic Wisdom, People I Love Tagged With: choosing happiness, easter, embracing, photography, Playing, traditions

Photographic Scavenger Hunt

March 30, 2009 By TheOrganicSister 7 Comments

I started a photographic scavenger hunt with my local photog meetup a few weeks ago and have been having fun picking weekly themes and finding photos. It’s been something I’ve only done with the local group until now. I’ve opened up a group on Flickr for anyone who wants to join. You can join at any time and participate as you wish. Here’s the description:

Since I’m all about stickin it to the man, I hesitate to list any rules.

Instead I’ll call them UnRules:

1. I’ll list one fairly ambiguous item and throughout the following week you find whatever the heck you want that you think fit its description.

2. I’ll post a new item each Monday. You post your photo anytime during the week. Or after the week is up for all I care. Cuz these aren’t rules after all.

3. There are no points or awards or penalties for missing a week, this is just for fun.

Happy hunting!

If you’d like to join or just know what “item” to search for this week, you can check it out here: Photographic Scavenger Hunt

Hope you’ll play along!