Our Month of April

April was pretty mellow in our house. 

We:

- read books

- played board games

- went to the beach with friends

- had frozen yogurt for lunch

- went for walks together

- had playdates

- climbed trees

- painted

Our Month of March

I became an unschooler a year ago this month, after reading Free to Learn by Peter Gray. I jumped right in, putting away the schoolbooks and focusing on my kids' interests. It was a wonderful time. I got to know my kids in a way that was impossbile when I was always barking at them to get their schoolwork done. We went on adventures together, did fun projects together, I asked them about their interests and we learned together. 

But somewhere between then and now my old way of doing things crept back in. I added a teeny bit of handwriting work, telling myself "Well, they need to learn to write, don't they?" And I added three days a week of math, thinking, "Well, they really need to keep up with their math work." 

Before I knew it, they were doing a load of schoolwork three days per week. It took away a big chunk of our day. It caused lots of tears (on their part) and then yelling (on my part). It hurt our relationship. So a few weeks ago I decided to have a spontaneous spring break. We would do no schoolwork at all. 

With no schoolwork to do, I saw what my boys chose to do with their time: They both read books like crazy: Tommy read about magnetism and light waves. Ben read a book about a dog that spent the day at the beach, then its sequel where the same dog spent a day at the circus. To see my crazy active 7 year old read a book without me telling him to just about bowled me over. Tommy built complex domino rallies. They rode their bikes in the street at 9 o'clock in the morning. We went to the Children's Discovery Museum twice in one week, just because we could. We went to the beach. They played with friends in their junk playground.

And so I've realized that I need to constantly remind myself: 

That even though my oldest son is 8 years old and technically in 3rd grade, he's still not ready to do schoolwork. And that's okay.

That my 8 yr old is dyslexic and dysgraphic, which makes schoolwork just about impossible, and that forcing him to do so only frustrates him and makes him feel dumb.

That my 7 year old 1st grader is just a little boy that wants to build Lego cities and show me his creations. 

That my 7 year old loves to read, but only when it's his idea.

That I am not a very nice mom when I try to make these boys stick to a school schedule. 

That we are much happier as a family when we learn together. That means reading books together, watching YouTube videos together, going on adventures together.

We've put the schoolbooks away and I don't plan to take them out anytime soon. The exception is (there's always an exception, right?) is math. Mark would like to work with them on math on the weekends. (They like doing it with him much better anyway!)

 We found this awesome tree at a park in San Jose, while waiting for Baby X during her visit.

 I had some one-on-one time with my girl and she wanted to paint the Very Hungry Caterpillar with me. :)

 Jumping off the chicken coop with friends. Because that's what boys do.

 Natural Bridges

 Exploratorium

 This is what breakfast usually looks like for us. 

 Our seedlings are growing!

 Tommy made a chocolate cake all by himself. 

 A domino rally by Ben.

 Nature Study. This week we studied poppies.

 Junk playground

 We watched ladybugs hatch in our front yard. Like, we literally saw them emerge from their pupa stage. It was so cool! 

Tommy's domino rally.

 Hike at Uvas Canyon. They look sweet but after I took this pic they said, "Mom, did you know that we are pinching each other and trying not to laugh?" Ha!

 Tommy made up a missionary game using Risk. The object was to send missionaries to different countries and build churches there. It was actually a pretty good game!

We went with friends to Natural Bridges State Beach. It is always more fun to go to the beach with friends!

Lucy's first time at the Children's Discovery Museum. She was obsessed with the fire truck. I actually "lost" her several times, and every time I found her here.

Our Month of February

I love my homeschool support group. We have a Mom's Night Out once a month that I've been attending since my kids were too young to homeschool. Every time I go I get at least one nugget of encouragement that helps me be a better mom or home(un)schooler. February's MNO was about field trip ideas. While there were many great field trips ideas exchanged, I expressed frustration because it's so hard to go to cool places on my own with toddlers. A veteran mom of 5 basically told me that I just have to suck it up and get these kids out of the house (her version was much nicer, but that was the basic message!) 

So I decided that right then and there I would go on fun adventures as much as I possibly could. I mean, isn't that one of the big reasons why I'm homeschooling to begin with? So we don't have to be tied to a desk and can get out and see the world? We live in such an amazingly beautiful area that it seems like a crime not to get out as much as possible and see everything it has to offer. 

This month we read a lot of good books. We made a lot of good food. And we had lots of fun adventures. (And we did a tiny bit of schoolwork.)

At Big Basin Redwoods State Park with friends. This was my first solo adventure with all four kids. Adventures are more fun with friends!

Quiet time with Geo-puzzles and tea. 

 My second solo adventure with all 4 kids, only this time it was really and truly solo, since I went alone. At a beach in Pacific Grove. The weather was so beautiful it's hard to believe that it was snowing in most of the rest of the country.

 One of my favorite library books for this month, Rosie Revere, Engineer. I love reading books with the kids about people trying hard and not giving up.

An adventure closer to home, Anderson Lake County Park. We stayed until the babies couldn't keep their eyes open any more, and explored all we could.

We found a newt at Sanborn Park

Daddy pile-on!

Our go-to nature place is Coyote Creek Trail. There is always so much to explore no matter how many times we come here.

I will never ever grow tired of seeing my kids read together, and to each other.  

I started doing nature study again this month. I had tried it in the past, but he boys were completely uninterested. Now they are loving it.

Spontaneous kitchen costume dance party!

Field trip with our homeschool group to Natural Bridges tide pools. We saw so many interesting creatures, but the one that interested the kids most was this sea lion pup that had unfortunately washed up on the rocks. Later we found an article online that said that there is an influx of dying sea lion pups because of the rising temp of the ocean water driving their food away. 

Our Month of January

Sometimes I talk to people who have their kids in 'normal school', and I start to feel like I'm an imposter. Like I'm a homeschooler who says they are educating their children, but really I'm just letting them play all day long. I worry that I'm not doing enough 'real' work. 

But then I look back at the pictures of our home(un)schooling fun and I am greatly encouraged. What I see is my children living life together. I see my son reading books to his little sister just because he loves the way she giggles when he gets to the part about the big fat caterpillar!. I see my son making breakfast one morning because he's in the mood for some scrambled eggs. I see them sprawled on the couch,  lost in a book. I see them playing with their sisters. I see their sister look for her big brothers first thing in the morning to play tag with her. And then I think I'm crazy for ever doubting that I'm doing 'enough'.  Because if they were anywhere else but here, they all would be missing this richness of life. 

January was a really fun month, a great mix of laid-back at-home time and crazy adventures. We started the new year off with a food program called Whole30 which meant lots of time in the kitchen for me. Whole30 calls for tons of protein and veggies, no preservatives, no grain, no dairy (which means no convenience food or eating out!). This reawakened in me a love for cooking. I was forced to really think about what I was serving my family... the nutrition, taste, and presentation since little people will only eat healthy food if it looks and tastes really good! For the past half-year I'd been stuck in a rut with meals, and this program helped get me unstuck, and helped the kids expand their palates. 

Lucy demanded to have a math book too so she could work next to her Benny.

On this day the boys played Legos literally all day long. I love it when they get lost in an activity like this.

Ben was trying to read a heater vent, and everywhere he went his little sisters would follow him. It was a bit frustrating for him, but hilarious to me! 

A walk at Harvey Bear Ranch. 

We didn't do too many field trips since I knew we'd be going on a major field trip later in the month to Philadelphia to visit my sister. We did escape to the beach once when we were having a rather down weekend. We visited Natural Bridges and then strolled around downtown Santa Cruz afterwards. A highlight was listening to these musicians play and watching the little girls dance to the music. 

Ben learned about money this month from his Math-U-See book.

We took lots of walks at the Coyote Creek bike trail. There are so many side trails and stops next to the creek to explore that we always find something new no matter how many times we go.

It's  hard to make out, but we found the skeleton of some critter in the woods. The boys spent a few minutes debating whether it was a human skeleton or otherwise. Eventually we decided it was probably an animal, since it was about the size of a dog.

One day the boys spent a whole morning doing origami together. By lunchtime the entire kitchen table and floor underneath was littered with origami swans, bunnies, and other creations.

Our Philadelphia Adventure

Later in the month just the boys and I flew to Philadelphia to visit my sister. Mark usually takes the boys on a 2-day trip in January to Lake Tahoe to play in the snow, but this time it was my turn to have an adventure with them! Mark stayed home with the baby girls and his mom helped take care of them during the week while he had to work. It was so much fun to be able to spend time alone with the boys, without the distractions of home. I was able to give them my undivided attention for those five days. And we got to have some fun adventures together. 

On our way to adventure!

The Liberty Bell

Inside Independence Hall, where the Constitutional Convention met and where the Constitution was eventually signed. 

Outside Independence Hall. This was near the end of our morning of trekking around the city for miles and the boys were cold and pretty unhappy by this point!

The site of Ben Franklin's home, which was unfortunately demolished in 1812. It is the site of the current Ben Franklin Museum. This was the boys' favorite part of visiting historic Philadelphia, which was surprising to me! The museum had lots of interactive exhibits and they learned a lot about Benjamin Franklin and life in the 1700s.

The Franklin Institute, a science museum similar to The Exploratorium. We spent almost all day here!

The human heart exhibit, where kids could walk through all the arteries and chambers. Definitely their favorite part of the museum.

We spent two full days in Philadelphia and stayed at a hotel. During the day we explored the city and visited museums and the boys spent the afternoon in the hotel pool. It was a pretty great vacation for them!

Visiting with their Pennsylvania cousins.

Going go-karting with cousins

Back home, happy to be in the sunshine and in their sandbox.