And We're Off....

Today as each of my kids woke up, I asked them what they wanted to do (don't worry, I won't be asking them this forever, just wanted them to realize today was going to be something new and wonderful :)). They were all a little taken aback, and all pretty excited too.

Actually they were giddy. :)

MissesHerMama is always the first up and rolling. She did timed multiplication on the computer for "fun". She loves racing a timer in math and trying to beat her last score. :) As she's doing it, she says to me, "did you know that if you take an odd number times 5 it always ends with a 5?"

Uh...what?!? 0_o

So I did it in my head and sure enough! I asked her, "and what if its an even number?". Without missing a beat, she says, "it ends in a 0."

Wow.

Ok then!

I said to her, "gosh girl! You are pretty darn good at math!". She was just beaming. Then she asked if she could learn about Alaska. I had no idea she had any interest in Alaska. She rabbit-trailed on over to learning about Anchorage ("boring"), the Iditarod ("awesome mom!") And the Alaskan Aurora Borealis ("wow mom, look mom!!!"). She went on to google Guatemala and loved looking through all the pictures she found! She did some math in her math book and played some. She loves this unschooling. :)

Corazon and Beasty Boy woke while MissesHerMama was flipping through pictures of Guatemala. Beasty Boy taught MissesHerMama all about the volcanoes in Guatemala and they all 3 talked about the Quetzal, the national bird. They looked at pictures of Tikal and the ancient ruins.

Beasty Boy asked to do his Tornado unit study so I let him. He rabbit-trailed all over the internet watching tornado videos and waterspout videos and "snownado" videos. It was pretty cool to see. Beasty Boy was never told once to "get back to his work" or "focus on what you're doing." He looked up definitions in the dictionary and copied some Bible passages. He's getting pretty good at looking things up on the online dictionary! His reading is moving along very rapidly.

After going outside for awhile, he went in and worked on his drawing. The kid is incredibly talented! He was trying out color blending. Impressive stuff.

After all that he decided to watch an anime show he found. The voices are in Chinese. He said to me, "mom, this is a good way to learn Chinese."

Again...mind blown.

And Corazon...

She has the hardest time right now with unschooling, and yet...today she did some math in her workbook and worked on her lapbook. She looked up music online and helped me cook. Being in the kitchen with me is by far her favorite thing right now. She's picking up math, reading, and basic chemistry. :) She loves reading the recipe and she loves to be by me! She is watching the BBC series "Merlin" and is learning a whole heck of a lot about Medieval history and such.

Alll this makes me wonder, why did I ever question this? Why did I see school as the only thing of value? Why did I see my kids as "behind" when in reality they just needed someone to walk alongside as they became their own amazing people. I see their self-confidence just exploding. They are amazing.

The bonus for me as a mom who is always, always working on my kids' attachment is that their hearts are seeing that I see them and because I see them, they are feeling valuable and worthy. No small task for kiddos that deeply grieve the losses they have had.

For me, it's a win-win lifestyle. I hope and pray I can remember this all on the days when I feel discouraged.

 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 

1Cor. 15:58