BOO

wE'Ve Had A FuN haLLoWEen tIme

HeeHEE Hee heeeeeE


We went to a Halloween party at our friend Patty's house. :)




we bobbed for apples :P




we had treats :-D




from a pinata!




and we made some mummies!




and a double mummy! :-D





its been a fun time!



Happy Halloween!

Make a Ripple

After I read that article on "spoiling" (my previous blog:) I found this on his site. Cool poem by Scott Noelle:



Make A Ripple
Make Waves
Create
Shift Happens
Embrace Life Fully
Embody Your Vision
Transcend smallness
To Realize Your
Soul Size

YOU
Are Way,
Way Bigger
Than All The
Reasons Why
You Can't Or
Shouldn't
BE
The Kind
Of Parent You
Truly Desire
To Be

A birthday wish

Yep, today is my birthday :) and I have a wish. I wish for all parents to say yes to their children as much as they can. Throw out those thoughts of "spoiling" their kids. Love in abundance and attention to your kids will only benefit your child and enrich all of your lives. Amazing things can happen if we allow it.


Here's a great article that a fellow Minnesota unschooler brought to an unschooling discussion list (thanks Amy!)
http://www.scottnoelle.com/parenting/spoiled.htm

and Sandra Dodd has some related thoughts on it too,

http://sandradodd.com/spoiled


have a great day and spend some time with your kids!

Why would they do that all on their own?

Suggesting to take the dog for a walk and learning to subtract are 2 things I saw happen today. Both are things that my kids are doing of their own free will. Choosing to do something is a lot more joyful and fulfilling than doing something out of guilt, pressure or coersion.

Alec suggested we take Saddi for a walk. Its a beautiful fall day and he felt like getting outside, "lets take her for a walk mom". Cool.

Kyra and I were playing Monopoly (Lord of the Rings Monopoly, of course *g*) and she passed go and landed on Bag End. "Yay!" exlaimed Kyra,, she had been wanting that property. The price of Bag End is 60 power (in this monopoly its power instead of dollars) I'm just about ready to say, "OK Kyra just give yourself 140 because you passed go and that's what 200 - 60 would be" but I paused a second and she says "hmm, lets see 200 - 60 is 140". She happily reaches over to the bank and gets her money. Wow. I don't think she's ever done a math worksheet, maybe 1 out of a workbook we have downstairs, but we've never "done math" and she's figuring it out.

Seeing the joy

I just love listening to people talk about what excites them, what brings them joy.

2 weeks ago we had an opportunity to go to a presentation at our local science center. We were told the presentation was on wildlife from the Sonoran Desert area. And we heard that the man doing the presentation had the cutest little owl with him. We had to go, we love owls (ever since Harry Potter) and since we had just been down in that area of the country for the Live and Learn, thought it would be cool.

Well, it was cool. It was so much fun to hear this man talk about these animals. They are such a passion of his. He has ended up with these animals from different situations that hadn't worked for the animals or the people that tried to keep them. He also had another owl, a falcon, a spider and snakes besides this adorable owl. Oh,, and had such interesting stories about each of them.

Above is a picture of Ben/Bubba with Tut (Tut is the owl, named that because he moves his head like an Egyptian *g*) And he was the cutest owl I've ever seen. That's his full grown size too.

Here's an article with more information about them both ;)

http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=oid%3A64175

One of my hopes is that in doing this unschooling life, my kids will find joy in their lives. As they find their joy each day, it will continue into their adult life.

Imagination and Creativity

I'm just blown away, daily, by the imagination and creativity that I see in my home. Kyra draws things pretty much continually. In various directions these drawings go, as far as one interest then on to another. A couple of days ago she was drawing various Halloween images and super heroes. Yesterday it was more super heroes and what her Halloween costume is going to look like. (Above is Kat Man and his arch enemy Mighty Mouse)

Another thing she did yesterday was create a haunted room and scared her older sister and brother. We all had fun with this extra room that she made scary with spider webs and candles lit. She also dressed me up in the Scream mask, as her dead person laying in a bed. *g*

Abbi's imagination really amazed me last week when I read through her book that she's writing. She's on chapter 5 now and to me it seems like a science fiction type thriller. I couldn't believe the action, descriptive passages and style that she's showing in her writing! Wow! I was like,,"where did this come from?" LOL Amazing. I'm going to help her today in finding out the process behind getting a book published and all those details. On the way to Duluth she was just full of questions and thoughts on the whole process.

Alec, at first glance from me, would seem to be the least creative of my kids. (mark the words at first glance) He has never enjoyed painting, drawing or wanted to make a whole lot as far as crafts. But one look into how he thinks and problem solves,,,, so creative, so imaginitive and original. He looks at things in such a unique way that I can only describe it as imaginative or creative. At first glance you wouldn't see the products, the crocheted items, the paintings, or the writings, BUT in looking further and deeper you see the results in solved problems, answers to questions and accomplishing results. His creativeness is much more internal, so much always going on in his head. I love his view on things and most likely he is correct and accurate in his observations. Again, amazing. :)

**WAIT** More obvious imagination goings on in him, that I totally had forgotten,,,*DOH* dueling make believe fights with sticks, light sabers, swords with his friends. Running around the yard as different villians and good guys. Imagination running amuck and I forgot.

Mansion, Murder and Tube riding?

Ok, so that doesn't quite go together, but it does describe our last week. We made yet another trip. This time a short one, up to Duluth, (ok, over to Duluth *g*). Tim had a conference there so we tagged along. We've been there lots of times but never have toured the Glensheen mansion. We thought it was time and thought the kids would get into it too.

Here's a picture of the mansion, this is the view from Lake Superior. That's Abbi sitting on the lawn. If you ever get a chance to check this place out, do it. It was so cool to see. It was built right at the turn of the century and we were all amazed at the innovativeness that was evident through the house. Yeah, they have a LOT of money but also had a LOT of thought and creativeness going on too. They have a central vac! In 1903??? wow.. oh and very cool recess lighting in one room that looked like stain glass covers over the lights. Wow!

OK, now to the murder. Before leaving for Duluth I decided I better look up what had happened. I had heard that a murder had taken place in the mansion, but didn't know the details. Pretty sad scenario. (Well,, what murder isn't sad, but this was especially,,)An elderly woman was murdered along with her nurse by her son-in-law and her daughter was probably part of the plot too. Some of the details are here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Congdon

I picked up a book on it to get more details. http://www.amazon.com/Glensheens-Daughter-Marjorie-Congdon-Story/dp/1893088340

Pretty interesting read. Very sad. The kids and I had a lot of talks about sociopaths, mental illness and greed.

Here's another picture out front at the fountain.
And tube riding. :) We stayed at a hotel that had a cool water park in it. Water slides with tubes and without; and also a lazy river tube ride. Kyra LOVED it. Alec and Abbi enjoyed it but Kyra really loves the swimming stuff right now.
Relaxin on the lazy river~
Abbi too~