Sitting on the front porch reading God's Word this morning as my daughter is sitting on the sidewalkk holding our letters and waiting for the mailman. After the mailman came, she decides on her own to become a mail-lady. lol She gets out her paper, pencils, markers, and many beautiful colors and begins writinf letters to all of our neighbors. She places them into envelopes and adds a sticker (stamp) to the corner. How is this a picture of unschooling?
1. She is mimicing real life.
2. She is choosing to write. No one is forcing her or telling her what to write or how long. She has the intrinsic motivation to write multiple letters by herself.
3. She is sounding out.
4. She is asking " how to spell this or that.."

6. She is learning what a stamp is for and where it is required to go.
7. She is learning about how society works and what a mailman (lady's) job is.
8. Asking questions that spur on more questions that spur on more questions, etc...
9. She is learning puncuation.
10. She is learning social ettiquite.
11. Becoming independent of me by walking to the neighbors and delivering her mail.
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Layla washing carrots after working in the the neighbor's garden to get them.. |
Gideon has been practicing his unicylce again and is getting better and better. I am always amazed at his extreme abdominal muscular control to stay vertical on this gadget. To see his continued determination and perserverence every time he falls down and then gets back up and tries again to go a little farther is inspiring. I believe this also shouts ~Unschooling~. Fallilng down and getting back up over and over again on this unicycle until he is happy and content with conquering it builds character in him for future trials.
He has memorized the names and locations of all of the states in the USA through collecting the US state quarters. This has become a fun time between his Daddy and him searching through every quarter that comes into this house.

He informed me today that He has decided to live in the African Savanna when he grows up because he wants to see cheetahs. All of this coin research on the internet and made him a better speller too. In order to research it, he must know how to spell it. His reading comprehension is through the roof due to reading and learning about things that interest him. His ability to retain what he reads and then explain it in his own words days or even weeks later shows that he has truly read and digested the material and facts and understands what he is reading.
He has a love for anything Indian, especially Cherokee Indians. He has recently been researching and studying about the Trail of Tears and President Jackson who made the decision to remove the Indians so that we could expand the railroad. Gideon is full of information from this period in History.
Gideon has learned to read piano notes and play piano in the past, but has now decided he wants to pursue guitar lessons.

Nolan loves audio books and has decided to start recording himself reading his favorite books aloud. He really wants Gideon to read one of his favorite books, The Red Pyramid, and decided to record himself reading it to him. Although Gideon is an avid reader and is capable of reading it solo, he has enjoyed listening to Nolan's audio of the book while he reads along. Through Nolan recording is audio books his inflection, tone, to differentiate between characters has improved greatly His fluency has increased and his nervousness about reading aloud to others has decreased. I believe he reads out loud better than I do. Listening to him read the story draws you into the story and gets you caught up in each character. He recently finished reading Great Expectations for the third time. He always asks me, "Where Pip and Stella 'together' (relationship) in the end when they said they'd always be friends and walked into the sunset?" After reading Frankenstein he admitted that it was the scariest book he's ever read and informed me that the author wrote it on a dare because the boys told her she couldn't write a scary story since she was a girl. Interesting....
Nolan has always been stout, but recently he has put on some weight. On his own, he has decided that he wants to become "more agile and quicker" so he can play airsoft better. To do this he inquired how can he loose weight and gain muscle. He created his own exercise routine of running around the block four times each day and cutting back on bread and his favorite sauces (ranch and ketchup). He's also put together his own calisthenics and invited his brother Gideon to join him.
I am very proud of him choosing to care for his body in a healthy way. When we reward our body with exercise, we feel better.
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Mr. Chuck and Nolan |
Harmonica is still his instrument of choice although he has relaxed on practicing or leaning anything new lately with it.
Over the last 3 weeks Rylan has been raising $5,000 to pay for a mission trip to China with Teen Mission International that he wants to go on this summer.

He has been required to raise the money himself and found a great way to do it. By playing piano at the local BBQ restaurant. The owner, Gary, has been very encouraging to Rylan and a real blessing in making raising the money for China possible.
Rylan is a self-taught piano player and plays by ear.
He is very talented and practices about 4 hours a day. He is always tinkering on the piano. Lately, he has really been into creating piece soft music. He enjoys using the synthesizer which is not my favorite (Hello 80's called..), but does continue to play me my favorites from time to time. I am so jealous of his gift to play piano. Perhaps one day I will learn to play?
He volunteers at the local daycare every Tuesday and through this has had many interesting observations that I believe will forever shape the way he parents in the future. He has developed relationships and a love for these kids and feels very torn with the fact that they are in daycare, separated from their parents, for a majority of the day. It has created an appreciation in him that he has a mom that is at home to care for him, teach him, and encourage him everyday.
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