Aidan loves books; simply loves books. So we read all the time. While he does like doing his own reading he’s still learning so reading to himself goes slow, often slower
Aidan with mom outside the librarythan he wants. But fortunately he still enjoys me reading to him! This is a time that I really cherish each day–snuggling together, him with his blue blanket me with a cup of coffee, and we read sometimes for hours a day.
While we read a lot all throughout the entire year, Aidan likes reading in the summer. The reason is because this summer, like summers past, Aidan has participated in the summer reading program at our local library. This program is one in which you record the hours spent with books–reading to yourself, having someone read to you, or listening to audio books. There are sheets to record your hours, and after each sheet is turned in kids get small prizes (e.g. a plastic ring, a bendable rubber alien, bookmarks, etc.) throughout the summer. At the end of the program “grand” prizes are awarded to the readers with the highest hours. Aidan has won larger prizes in the years past, and today we found out that he won again for his age range. Eighty-four hours of reading for the past month and a half! He was thrilled to receive a huge Indiana Jones Lego set, a t-shirt, and a few coupons to local places, but even more then being excited about the prizes he was very proud of himself. And Mike and I were also proud of him and very happy for him!
Now off to do some reading! :)
Tags: books · family fun · learning · reading
I was just doing a bit of reading and came upon this inspiring description of what it means to unschool your whole life. Of course, many folks understand that we “homeschool,” but no one in our immediate circle seems to get the fuller sense of how we live–and strive to live–our lives. It seems to be such a foreign concept to so many people. (Part of the problem might be that a lot of folks just don’t seem very curious, so they don’t ask us about it. If they do ask us about such things, seldom to they want to hear an answer that takes more than 15 seconds.) Anyway, this comes from the blog of Tara Wagner (aka “the organic sister”). She lives full-time on the road with her family of three and blogs about many fascinating things including mindful parenting and living simply. Please visit her blog at
theorganicsister.com.
In the meantime, check out this excerpt from Tara’s post “Whole Life Unschooling: It’s for More Than Just Kids:”
To us unschooling is not only about our children, it’s about all of us. It’s about our life.
Unschooling your whole life means…
- Seeing no division between child and adult, regardless of ability or experience. All should be treated with the same equal respect and consideration.
- Trusting all people of all ages are natural learners, born with an innate curiosity and an earnest desire to learn, even if it requires a bit of excavating for some of us to rediscover.
- Knowing that all people are inherently good. A learning curve on societal rules or boundaries, or a personal struggle due to past history does not make them “bad”. We all do the best we can with the tools we have.
- Thinking all people, regardless of age, have a purpose and that that purpose may seldom, or often, or never, change. And the best determiner of that purpose is the person in question.
- Believing in the wildly passionate pursuit of interests, supporting those interests wholeheartedly, and trusting when an interest fades.
- Disbelieving that interests are only valid if they come with monetary or status gain. We do things for the love of what we do and trust how our needs are always met.
- Not condoning the subjugation, squashing or criticism of individuality or diversity. We allow for difference of opinion, we see the underlying needs of others and we validate their particular experience.
- Not creating division between various subjects or activities. All of life flows in and out of all of life. The subject of “math” doesn’t exist but we find numbers and patterns in everything.
- Adamantly disagreeing that life should consist of unenjoyable work, that we should always follow all the rules or do things the same way everyone else does them. Feverishly questioning anything that tells us otherwise.
- Trusting in ourselves first, each other next and all others last.
- Respecting the boundaries of others and ourselves.
- Taking responsibility for our choices and our life. It’s all about empowerment.
- Seeking our own life and not settling for someone else’s. Supporting others who do the same.
- Building off our individual interests, creating a rich, diverse and engaging environment in which we can all thrive equally.
- Respecting one another’s personal Truths or choices. But drawing definitive lines where the boundaries of another are being crossed.
- Standing up for the little guy, especially the one without their own voice.
- Knowing that life is good. Messy. Imperfect. Wonderful. Sometimes heart-wrenching. And loving it anyway.
How can you possibly explain all that in one short answer? It’s impossible to describe what this looks like when someone asks. Because unschooling is just life and although you can define life and you can explain it, it’s still something that must be seen and experienced to fully understand.
Again, if you are interested in learning more about this. Read, be open, ask questions (and listen to the answers), take your time, don’t judge, and live your life authentically. (Oh, and among other things, visit theorganicsister.com for one cool point of view. Thanks, Tara.)
Tags: living simply · parenting · reading · road-schooling · unschooling
Wow–I can’t believe we’ve been home for a week. Even though we’re already home I want to post about the last stop on our three-week adventure. We decided to check out Sleeping Bear Dunes and Traverse City on our way home so we booked the Courtyard Marriot for a few nights before heading home to the Windy City.
Heading south, below the bridge Unbeknownst to me Cherry Festival was going on in Traverse City during the time we were there. Had I known about the fest I may have selected a different area to stay even though I really wanted to spend time in Traverse City. It’s not that I don’t like fests it’s more about wanting to first experience a new city/area as it typically is (the other 51 weeks a year). But we didn’t know so we plunged in and embraced our time in the area (including spending one day enjoying the 84th
National Cherry Festival).
sleeping bear dunes
A quick trip to Target to get Aidan a swim vest for the beach started our first full day in Traverse City. It was here that we got an awesome tip from the cashier on a breakfast joint. I say “joint” because this is exactly what it was. When we pulled up to the place Mike and I were a little leery from the outside looks of the place, but then as we reminded ourselves some of the best places we’ve ever eaten at could be classified as holes-in-the-wall. The place was The Rounds. It had that small diner feel with local old-timers sitting at the counter, and boy was the food good! Their omelets were some of the best we’ve ever had. They actually put their very tasty potatoes inside the omelet–what a wonderful concept!! Our waitress was friendly and chatty and gave Aidan a big bag of extra cherries to take with us.
After leaving with full tummies we decided to head out to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. A quick stop at the visitor’s center to pay our $10 entrance fee and we headed out to drive on the recommended 7-mile Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive. Here we stopped at some of the observation areas to take in some views and learn a little about the geology and history of the dunes. Aidan was extremely eager to get to the actual dunes so we headed on over to test our endurance at the Dune Climb. I’ve read that there are areas of these dunes that rise 460 feet above the lake! While we did all climb the main dune and explored the sandy hilltops for several hours, we didn’t venture on to hike the 3.5 mile round trip to the lake. It was peaceful up on the dunes sitting, breathing, looking out at the beauty of nature, watching Aidan run free. And once we were done exploring the top of the dune it was a pure rush going down–doing “moon jumps” faster and faster as gravity pulls you to the bottom of the dune! Sandy, tired, and hungry we made our way into the town of Glen Arbor in search of food. We found Boondocks where we sat outside and enjoyed grilled veggie sandwiches and listened to some live music. It was a good way to end the day.
chillin’ by pool and cherry fest
We took advantage of being at a hotel and having an indoor pool and hot tub all to ourselves on our second day in Traverse City. Even though I typically like to keep moving and seeing things while on vacation, I have to admit it was so relaxing to swim and read and just hang out by the pool for a good portion of the day. Aidan is getting the hang of swimming and is loving it! I was so proud of him to see him swimming from one end of the pool to the other (with his noodle). It’s just a matter of time and he’ll be noodle-free and swimming like a dolphin!
After hours at the pool we decided to get cleaned up, eat at a local Mexican restaurant, and go check out the Cherry Festival. We found some free parking down by one of the beaches and walked along the bay to the happening spot of the fest. Walking in the heat through the crowds and noise and smells (some good and some not so good) it felt like a smaller version of Taste of Chicago. Aidan’s main interest was the large carnival and he was thrilled to see that they had bumper cars! All three of us stood in line and selected our cars (Aidan and Mike sharing a car and me on my own) and then we were off–spinning, turning, trying to drive, and all the while smashing and crashing into each other! Oh, what fun we had. Aidan was laughing hysterical at times trying to control his car to ram into me. We had so much fun that Aidan just had to go on the ride again! It was a fun night of bumper cars, ferris wheels, and spinning dragons. On our walk back to the car we enjoyed the evening sunset over the bay.
old mission peninsula
We were scheduled to leave on Friday but, with none of us really wanting to leave, we checked on Friday morning and the hotel had an opening so we decided to stay one more night! YAY! So, we decided to take advantage of this extra day and drive up to the tip of one of the peninsulas in the area, out to the Old Mission State Park. Here lies the Old Mission Lighthouse that was built in 1870, along with a restored turn of the century log cabin. We decided to skip seeing the inside of the lighthouse, but instead went exploring on the beach. This beach was an unusual one with mucky sand, shallow water, and stacked rock formations that made you wonder about crop circles and Stonehenge. ;) We decided to walk out to the very tip of the peninsula–and what a hike it was! Aidan abandoned his shoes early on, leaving them in the middle of the beach, and hiked the peninsula barefoot! He says that he likes feeling more connected to the earth that way. He is such my nature boy!! Our adventure to the tip was through brush, bugs, and shallow water and over sand, broken shells, and slippery rocks. Even though some areas didn’t seem to be well traversed at all, and we often seemed to be making our own path, we were all determined to get to the tip. And after some time we finally made it–it was way cool to hike to the very tip!
Early evening was upon us as we hiked back to our car. Driving back to Traverse City we all decided we needed some nourishment so we found a cute little restuarant and brewery on the peninsula called Jolly Pumpkin. While we didn’t try any of their hand-crafted brews this time, we did dine on yummy artisan pizzas, homemade humus, and some great curried sweet potato fries.
We spent the rest of our last evening in Traverse City swimming at the pool and enjoying one last dip in the hot tub. It was a great time!
Saturday we left to drive home at noon (Mike and Aidan never seem to want to leave a hotel one minute before checkout time)! :) It was a long drive home, but Aidan still had one audio book to keep us all entertained. This one was actually a pretty good one–A View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg. We took turns listening to the book and then jammin’ to some music, and the ride seemed to go pretty smoothly. We did end up stopping in St. Joseph to buy some Mackinac fudge. Yes, I know, we should have gotten it while we were in Mackinac–we actually did (and we got it free) but it got a little wet (and gross) in our cooler so we picked up some more. St. Joe’s was in midst of an art fest, and while I was up for hanging out a bit and checking out some of the local artwork, both my boys were ready to get home–so homeward we went.
It was a good three weeks!
Tags: family fun · nature · photos · road-schooling · travel · vacation
Aidan with mom outside the librarythan he wants. But fortunately he still enjoys me reading to him! This is a time that I really cherish each day–snuggling together, him with his blue blanket me with a cup of coffee, and we read sometimes for hours a day.
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