How we choose to spend our time is vital in Unschooling. Working out and watching for what really makes each of the children tick, what sparks their interest, what they enjoy doing, allows us to create more time and experiences that give them the opportunity to do more of that thing.
Today we chose to spend our day with our friends. Actually, they had stayed the night again after to coming to play yesterday afternoon. They got together the escapist game. The three boys were the guards and the girls were the prisoners. Bean, 9, made a list for each job the prisoners had to do and a behaviour chart with emojis on it. The second time they played they swapped roles. Bean, Pumpkin, 8, and S, 8, had the lego out. M, 10, joined them to watch Star Wars. Bean got out his stone collection and washed them with E, 5. They then played piano together. There was a lot of piano playing from all of them after this, taking in turns.
Pumpkin watched star wars and played roblox and did lego all with S. In the evening he played parkour with Plum in the living room and made an obstacle course all whilst watching Beethoven. He did skipping with Bean, they had to try and beat each others record. They both got to 100 before they stopped. They then did push ups together and we had a conversation about being strong and healthy. After this he played a pirate board game with Plum and then watched DanTDM before bed.
M played polly pocket and dolls house with Plum, 5. Mostly Plum spent the day playing with E on their tablets trying out the games from each others collection. I then downloaded a few onto Plum's tablet. We had lots of stories before bed and she slept on the floor in her bean bag in her bedroom.
Pippin, 2, watched Peppa Pig and played with the Peppa Pig toys, she cut cake and cooked breakfast and lunch with me, we drew pictures and she played with the others.
Most children spend there days with children in the same age bracket as them, their peers. This group of children doesn't include any who would be in the same school year group. Seven children ranging from 2-11 years all playing together or in pairs or groups, sharing interests and passions and friendship and getting along perfectly well, just the way life should be.
Our Tribe
Tuesday, 31 January 2017
Sunday, 29 January 2017
2016 in Numbers
88 Playdates with family and friends
62 Organised events
We had our first trip with just mummy to Paulton's Park, 3 visits to drussila's zoo and our first family trip to Marwell zoo, we joined Waterlea this year and loved it, Bean attended 3 rock climbing sessions, we joined the HE Youth Club and got involved with Japan Day.
63 outings just us
Fisher's Farm is almost a weekly visit (on average), swimming is becoming more manageable as a family, the library is a monthly outing, family bike rides were daily during the summer, the beach is a family favourite and we continue to be members of the National Trust.
4 holidays
Bean went on his first trip awayfor two nights, we enjoyed 4 days camping with friends at HE camp WOWO, and two extended trips to Grandmas's house.
The year will be remembered for PokemonGo, epic cake making, Bean learning to swim and Pumpkin riding his bike for the first time.
62 Organised events
We had our first trip with just mummy to Paulton's Park, 3 visits to drussila's zoo and our first family trip to Marwell zoo, we joined Waterlea this year and loved it, Bean attended 3 rock climbing sessions, we joined the HE Youth Club and got involved with Japan Day.
63 outings just us
Fisher's Farm is almost a weekly visit (on average), swimming is becoming more manageable as a family, the library is a monthly outing, family bike rides were daily during the summer, the beach is a family favourite and we continue to be members of the National Trust.
4 holidays
Bean went on his first trip awayfor two nights, we enjoyed 4 days camping with friends at HE camp WOWO, and two extended trips to Grandmas's house.
The year will be remembered for PokemonGo, epic cake making, Bean learning to swim and Pumpkin riding his bike for the first time.
Saturday, 28 January 2017
We're all friends
Thursday was a happy happy day for us. We had friends to play who we haven't seen for 18 months. The friend that Plum, 5, has skyped weekly since her birthday.
Bean, 9, Pumpkin, 8, and S, 8, have taken in turns on the gaming pc and been playing an epic war fighting territorial game all day. Plum and E, 5, played mummiea and babies and watched on their tablet and played minecraft together and played schools and birthday parties. Pippin, 2, and C, 2, watched peppa pig and played with the peppa pig toys. S and E slept the night and we watched Tangled together and ate popcorn and pretzels before stories and bed. S slept on the boys floor and E topped and tailed on the top bunk with Plum. Everyone slept soundly.
Friday continued the same games until lunch time when our friends left. Plum was especially upset and began a mixture of tears and anger and cuddling for the afternoon. Pippin fell asleep for a daytime nap and the boys both appeared downstairs to watch on the pc. There were a lot of toys out in the afternoon. Bean got out the shop and postoffice set, peppa pig toys were on the floor, the duplo was out, and that was the living room. Upstairs Plum and i did a few puzzles together, the lego was out and the farm set. And in mummy's bedroom there were soft toys everywhere.
Mummy and Plum also did a bit more rearranging in her bedroom ready for the bunk bed move.
Bean, 9, Pumpkin, 8, and S, 8, have taken in turns on the gaming pc and been playing an epic war fighting territorial game all day. Plum and E, 5, played mummiea and babies and watched on their tablet and played minecraft together and played schools and birthday parties. Pippin, 2, and C, 2, watched peppa pig and played with the peppa pig toys. S and E slept the night and we watched Tangled together and ate popcorn and pretzels before stories and bed. S slept on the boys floor and E topped and tailed on the top bunk with Plum. Everyone slept soundly.
Friday continued the same games until lunch time when our friends left. Plum was especially upset and began a mixture of tears and anger and cuddling for the afternoon. Pippin fell asleep for a daytime nap and the boys both appeared downstairs to watch on the pc. There were a lot of toys out in the afternoon. Bean got out the shop and postoffice set, peppa pig toys were on the floor, the duplo was out, and that was the living room. Upstairs Plum and i did a few puzzles together, the lego was out and the farm set. And in mummy's bedroom there were soft toys everywhere.
Mummy and Plum also did a bit more rearranging in her bedroom ready for the bunk bed move.
Thursday, 26 January 2017
All is not lost
A quiet morning, all the smalls were busy doing their own thing. Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 8, taking it in turns to play roblox. Plum, 5, lying under the duvet on my bed watching Youtube and asking if we can make giant gummy bears. Pippin, 2, playing Peppa Pig toys.
In the afternoon we went out to Explore and Play. There were four families there today. Bean made a coaster covered with twigs for grandma and pops. Pumpkin covered a coaster with a single measured sheet of tissue paper and then drew a emoji face on it. Plum made a coaster look like a rabbit using two lolly sticks for ears and a twig standing on end for it's nose. Bean and Pumpkin also played a game of monopoly together. Plum and Pippin painted pictures and make pizza and ice cream with the playdough. Plum's friend V arrived and they made a playdough village together and painted and did duplo.
Coming home was difficult. I upset Bean as i hadn't heard him ask if he could lock the door of the church venue. Plum was topless and it was freezing so i took her to the car and left Bean to do the door again but he was upset that he hadn't done it in the first place. Plum was then upset because Bean was supposed to be thinking about whether or not to play a game with her when they got home but now he was crying, and so was she. Pippin was crying because she was tired. Bean disappeared to his room when we got home, Plum sat on the stairs, i cuddled Pippin on the sofa. We found Peppa Pig on dvd and ahe calmed after a while. I went and saw Plum and tucked her back under the duvet on our bed with food and a drink. I took drinks to Bean and Pumpkin. Pumpkin came downstairs and played his minecraft card game with me. After the children had eaten dinner Bean and I had a cuddle.
In the evening Pumpkin made a slide upstairs by turning a chair side down and then they made a second one by placing pool noodles on top of a pile of bedding and bean bags on the double bed.
When it came to tidying up it appeared that Bean had lost both his bean bag and his watch. His bean bag was fairly easy to locate as it is big, it was in our wardrobe. We will have to look for his watch in the morning when we have light and there aren't others sleeping. He's a bit upset about his watch but the good news is that it is in the house somewhere.
In the afternoon we went out to Explore and Play. There were four families there today. Bean made a coaster covered with twigs for grandma and pops. Pumpkin covered a coaster with a single measured sheet of tissue paper and then drew a emoji face on it. Plum made a coaster look like a rabbit using two lolly sticks for ears and a twig standing on end for it's nose. Bean and Pumpkin also played a game of monopoly together. Plum and Pippin painted pictures and make pizza and ice cream with the playdough. Plum's friend V arrived and they made a playdough village together and painted and did duplo.
Coming home was difficult. I upset Bean as i hadn't heard him ask if he could lock the door of the church venue. Plum was topless and it was freezing so i took her to the car and left Bean to do the door again but he was upset that he hadn't done it in the first place. Plum was then upset because Bean was supposed to be thinking about whether or not to play a game with her when they got home but now he was crying, and so was she. Pippin was crying because she was tired. Bean disappeared to his room when we got home, Plum sat on the stairs, i cuddled Pippin on the sofa. We found Peppa Pig on dvd and ahe calmed after a while. I went and saw Plum and tucked her back under the duvet on our bed with food and a drink. I took drinks to Bean and Pumpkin. Pumpkin came downstairs and played his minecraft card game with me. After the children had eaten dinner Bean and I had a cuddle.
In the evening Pumpkin made a slide upstairs by turning a chair side down and then they made a second one by placing pool noodles on top of a pile of bedding and bean bags on the double bed.
When it came to tidying up it appeared that Bean had lost both his bean bag and his watch. His bean bag was fairly easy to locate as it is big, it was in our wardrobe. We will have to look for his watch in the morning when we have light and there aren't others sleeping. He's a bit upset about his watch but the good news is that it is in the house somewhere.
Wednesday, 25 January 2017
Sleep tight
The morning was Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 8, playing in turns on Roblox interspersed with food and drink requests and "mummy come and look at this" and "mummy can you read yhis for me?" Plum, 5, and Pippin, 2, played mummies and babies. They use the wardrobe in our room as the school and the bus, the laundry basket is the bath, the bed is the bed. They use the toy laptops as their ipads and the dollies go too. We made chocolate chip muffins together and played with the peppa pig toys too.
Then FA#2 came to visit. She brought birthday presents for Plum and Pumpkin. Pumpkin got a superhero lego set and got to putting it together straight away. Plum played board games with her all afternoon: orthello, jumior cranium, snakes and ladders, princess games box, gobblt, monopoly. Bean played the minecraft card game with me and then we played monopoly together uninterrupted for a whole game. Pumpkin had an uninterupted game of Roblox on the pc.
With FA#2 here i managed to fit in hoovering and dinner prep and laundry (of sorts) too. Our new tumble dryer was delivered yesterday, a welcome delivery after over a week of no dryer, and just in time for the washing machine to break down.
Bed time was a bit epic even by our standards. I bathed with Pippin after we had finished Plum bathed followed by Pumpkin. Meanwhile i planned to read Pippin stories and breastfeed and sleep. Plum sat on her top bunk and watched youtube whilst i put Pippin to bed. Pippin finished breast feeding and then started crying for daddy, "daddy home" for over half an hour before we left the bedroom. Pumpkin had been waiting almost 45 minutes by now for me to help him out of the bath. I took Pippin and Plum downstairs, five minutes later Bean came to ask if he could go to bed now (cue stories for Bean) I asked if he could wait five more minutes as daddy would be home soon. Daddy came home and took Bean to read him stories and Pumpkin became upset because he wanted his last turn on Roblox. There were a lot of tears from Pumpkin. We offered him to play on the pc downstairs and tried to distract him with the offer of food but neither of these worked. We talked through him having the first go tomorrow and all his feelings of disappointed and frustration and anger. Finally daddy offered to do stories in another room so he could have a few minutes play. This resolved the issue. I made toast for Pumpkin, Plum and Pippin. Daddy took Pippin to bed who went peacefully to sleep. By now it was 2 hours after her normal bedtime circa 10pm now. Pumpkin took himself to bed a few moments later (about an hour earlier than normal) and Plum asked if we could go to bed too, we read a story first and changed our pyjamas. By 10.30pm everyone was sleeping including daddy.
Then FA#2 came to visit. She brought birthday presents for Plum and Pumpkin. Pumpkin got a superhero lego set and got to putting it together straight away. Plum played board games with her all afternoon: orthello, jumior cranium, snakes and ladders, princess games box, gobblt, monopoly. Bean played the minecraft card game with me and then we played monopoly together uninterrupted for a whole game. Pumpkin had an uninterupted game of Roblox on the pc.
With FA#2 here i managed to fit in hoovering and dinner prep and laundry (of sorts) too. Our new tumble dryer was delivered yesterday, a welcome delivery after over a week of no dryer, and just in time for the washing machine to break down.
Bed time was a bit epic even by our standards. I bathed with Pippin after we had finished Plum bathed followed by Pumpkin. Meanwhile i planned to read Pippin stories and breastfeed and sleep. Plum sat on her top bunk and watched youtube whilst i put Pippin to bed. Pippin finished breast feeding and then started crying for daddy, "daddy home" for over half an hour before we left the bedroom. Pumpkin had been waiting almost 45 minutes by now for me to help him out of the bath. I took Pippin and Plum downstairs, five minutes later Bean came to ask if he could go to bed now (cue stories for Bean) I asked if he could wait five more minutes as daddy would be home soon. Daddy came home and took Bean to read him stories and Pumpkin became upset because he wanted his last turn on Roblox. There were a lot of tears from Pumpkin. We offered him to play on the pc downstairs and tried to distract him with the offer of food but neither of these worked. We talked through him having the first go tomorrow and all his feelings of disappointed and frustration and anger. Finally daddy offered to do stories in another room so he could have a few minutes play. This resolved the issue. I made toast for Pumpkin, Plum and Pippin. Daddy took Pippin to bed who went peacefully to sleep. By now it was 2 hours after her normal bedtime circa 10pm now. Pumpkin took himself to bed a few moments later (about an hour earlier than normal) and Plum asked if we could go to bed too, we read a story first and changed our pyjamas. By 10.30pm everyone was sleeping including daddy.
Tuesday, 24 January 2017
All together now
Monday morning and Plum, 5, is off to Little Verse with SGG and SGS and had a lovely time, Bean, 9, and Pumpkin, 8, watched Pirates of the Carribean: Journey to World's End. I mostly sat and watched it with them in between replenishing drinks and snacks. Pippin, 2, was lethargic and cuddly and sat on my lap the entire morning until she finally fell asleep just as the film was ending.
By this time Plum was home. She put on turbo to watch and then sat in the dinning room playing with her ice cream and cake making playdough sets. Next she put on Nanny McPhee three times, she has begun reciting parts of it now, she continued playing playdough all afternoon too. At one point she was taking prints of dollies hands, feet and face and then covered his head in playdough.
Pippin woke with a temperature and we breastfed and cuddled a lot more whilst watching nanny mcphee. We then went and had a look at different programming websites for Bean. We booked marked all the ones that have been recommended to us and began playing on a few of them. We got a lot of suggestions from a fb group called My Unschooler is Interested In. We got plenty of suggestions for us to investigate and find what works for him. His current favourites are Scratch and Codecombat. We also found roblox and i left him and Pumpkin playing games on there.
Plum and I sat on the sofa and cuddled in the evening whilst Pippin had a bath and bed. Bean and Pumpkin had a bath and were watching Dude, That's My Ghost. Pumpkin came downstairs to play a minecraft card game with me that he got for his birthday but it was no where to be seen. We looked for it for about 30 minutes before we gave up. We will resume our search tomorrow.
By this time Plum was home. She put on turbo to watch and then sat in the dinning room playing with her ice cream and cake making playdough sets. Next she put on Nanny McPhee three times, she has begun reciting parts of it now, she continued playing playdough all afternoon too. At one point she was taking prints of dollies hands, feet and face and then covered his head in playdough.
Pippin woke with a temperature and we breastfed and cuddled a lot more whilst watching nanny mcphee. We then went and had a look at different programming websites for Bean. We booked marked all the ones that have been recommended to us and began playing on a few of them. We got a lot of suggestions from a fb group called My Unschooler is Interested In. We got plenty of suggestions for us to investigate and find what works for him. His current favourites are Scratch and Codecombat. We also found roblox and i left him and Pumpkin playing games on there.
Plum and I sat on the sofa and cuddled in the evening whilst Pippin had a bath and bed. Bean and Pumpkin had a bath and were watching Dude, That's My Ghost. Pumpkin came downstairs to play a minecraft card game with me that he got for his birthday but it was no where to be seen. We looked for it for about 30 minutes before we gave up. We will resume our search tomorrow.
Monday, 23 January 2017
Dragon Slaying
Most of our December and January days are for movie watching and snuggling, board games and computer games but not Saturday. On Saturday we went Dragon Slaying. Pumpkin had a knight's birthday party. There were 13 children altogether, mumy eas the jester, daddy was the king, Plum, 5, dressed as a queen, Bean, 9, was the Black Knight. The King received a scroll from the Fiery Green Dragon to say that it was him who had stolen the king's treasure and he would only fight the bravest and most fearless knight's. They also needed to solve the puzzle of the key to enter the dragon's lair. So we set about training to be knights. First we became agile, we ran an obstacle course jumping rushing waters, climbing mountains, crawling through caves and balancing across lava. Next we toned our fighting skills with sword fighting and jousting and then we got in some target practice with javalin throughing and knocking over toy animals with a ball. After all this we had collected lego parts of the key but we were still missing one large part. The King knighted all the squires and then we went to find the dragon. On the way we met the Black Knight, most renowned for his jousting skills. Our best jouster challenged him and one and we aquired the last part of the lego key. On to the dragon's lair where we unlocked the door and slay the dragon. We celebrated afterwards with a banquet of dragon scales, dragon toes, dragon's eyeballs amongst other things. There was also stilts and diablo toys to olay with. Everyone had a great time and it was a great success.
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