Our super busy day was great and we spent some nice time with Margaret and Violet, who we won't see again till next year. The kids' play was cool. Eleanor kept turning to me in the dark saying "this is fun!" The art opening was weird and a lady pivoted in the other direction to avoid me which seemed petty, but I'm not running for office; I don't have to be friends with everybody. I'm learning how important it is to know how much you can handle, and I previously couldn't handle her. Our dinner was lovely except for a moment when I felt embarrassed that I had a mini tantrum about Sarah Palin while amongst Republican family members. Lastly, Chris and I had a sort of double date concert that was really great. We saw Local H, real close, and they played everything I wanted to hear. We don't usually stand that close, but the other couple likes to (and I do, too) and I was especially impressed with how the drum sticks flew so fast they looked like Japanese fans. I had just enough to drink, good company, a sexy husband, and relished my secret plan to punch in the face any frat boys who got too close. Sunday we watched School of Rock with the girls and I was delighted that they wanted to start a band.
The next morning Charlotte decorated her cake.
I have started a new bedtime book, A Short History of Nearly Everything, for the girls that I already need to supplement with some NOVA specials because it is so exciting. He asks and answers the really interesting science questions that seem too dumb to ask in school. It has already led to some intense curiosity about the cosmos by my bedtime listeners.
In other news, Eleanor and I had a tough day - she refused to put on shoes and socks and I lost my temper and we both cried when the other wasn't looking. The day blossomed into something great anyway because we spent the bulk of it with our new friends and had a great time at their house. I am excited about this new friendship.
When I got home I was excited by an email from Darcy in our group about organizing nature days. She included this amusing video:
An enormous reason for unschooling the girls was to allow them time to be outside and learn from actual nature. How silly to force them to sit still in desks to read dull textbooks about what's outside when they just want to run around outside and discover it and truly know it. I have also been thinking about the sense of entitlement that comes from putting up with this schooling. I myself thought that because I jumped through the hoops to get a diploma and two degrees, that I deserve a good job. Going through those motions means very little. I am learning that success has more to do with ambition, creativity, problem solving, and motivation, as well as state of mind. The system, our current culture, is only relatively recently constructed and only superimposed upon reality. It has us going to schools where we are sifted and categorized and made relatively similar so that we can fit into jobs in big companies, doing work we don't love for people we don't like because we need the benefits, and it all seems more and more false and polyester and I begin to wonder if I can sidestep it. There is not just outside of the box, there is above and below it. Drug culture and not bathing and orgies, for example, are below the box. I am noticing that the box exists, is not as well considered as it could be, and trying to evolve past it. So I took the kids out of school.
2 comments:
It sounds like you are enjoying homeschooling as much as the girls. I think that is one of the side effects of homeschooling - moms learn a lot about themselves too!
The video of Charlotte does work! How cute and wonderful that you let her do this on her own.
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