One of this week’s highlights was a rainy trip to Matthews/Winters Park, where we found all kinds of moss and lichen to ID. There were also baby snails everywhere, and the discussion about where they came from included some fairy input from the younger group members. Follow-up research on snails proved that they hatch from eggs and wasn’t quite as magical, but very explanatory. We then searched unsuccessfully for snail eggs in the water. We also ID’d some bittercress, but based on the water’s dirtiness, decided not to eat that one.
Category Archives: Journal
September 18 – Weekly Photos + Tracking
We kicked off our Wildling groups this week. The Monday crew made slime + an insane obstacle course, plus the usual social play + mayhem of volume. Wilder’s gravel slime was the most popular, even if it was an accidental addition. On Wednesday, there was whittling, carving + fort-building outdoors with an entirely new group of enthusiastic kiddos. Looks like it’ll be two fun groups this semester!
September 10 – Weekly Photos + Tracking
It ended up being 103º while we were out picking veg in the fields on a hayride with no cover. But because we went so much earlier in the season than our usual jaunts, we got entirely different produce!
September 4 – Weekly Photos + Tracking
My favorite part was when Dave, our tour guide, asked the kids to stand in two lines. The kids all looked at each other, confusedly, and then needed more instruction while they shuffled around with eventual success. Homeschoolers don’t really line up for anything outside of shopping.
Journal, August 29: This Time of Year
while my heart sings at the idea of writing for a living. every job i get requires total dedication, a firm sense of direction toward the client’s unique audience + new deadlines. the pay for all of this is very, very low (-325% of what i currently make doing graphic design). alas, i cannot convince my practical side to leap at this risk.
August 27 – Weekly Photos + Tracking
Slow week at home due to illness. Apparently traveling helps you catch colds before you even realize that cold season has begun, and so it has for us. Booo. Somebody felt decent enough to fish by Wednesday, after spending his congested time crafting a tiny fishing pole from the full-scale one that broke in Kansas. Caught nothing, but felt good to get out. Then we tentatively hit a trail together, and that felt good too. Colds officially on the mend, and we had time at home to do some reading + projects.
Family Friends are Hard to Make: Blame the Math
Add to this that most of our homeschool crew is flung wide – the closest families are 7 minutes away by car, the furthest 30ish minutes – and the restrictions of Covid, and it’s easy to see why we haven’t expanded our family network for a while. It’s also painful to look at directly, that shiny hole where (I feel) people should be.
August 20- Weekly Photos + Tracking
Five different species of butterflies were spied (capture was attempted but unsuccessful) on our hikes, and two kinds of tadpoles were fished from Brush Creek there. Rosetta also caught a baby garter snake, which her cousins had never held before.
How We Ended Up Unschooling: A Long Story About What Works for Us
I had read about unschooling and had researched all the methods for schooling alongside my lengthy attachment-parenting reading list. Bridging the gap between public school and unschooling, which I had no real-life personal references to, proved a more difficult leap for my very traditional partner.
Unschool Stories 