No school, no books, no teacher's dirty looks - Jan 27, 2006

CNN.com - No school, no books, no teacher's dirty looks - Jan 27, 2006 -- a brief, fairly positive article about unschooling.

Exploring

After lunch today we went to a park. DH and DS1 "went exploring" along the bike path that parallels the river. DS2 and I played at the playground then, at the appointed time, we drove along the street near the path to meet the other two. As DS1 and DH were telling up about their adventure, I was reminded of the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling, the nature walks and field journals. I want to look into that a bit more.

KGTC

KGTC - Kansas Association for the Gifted, Talented & Creative. I'm at it again... surfing for gifted resources. DS1 is starting to read and is making logical connections that I doubt are typical of a 3 year old, so Mommy is getting obsessive again.

Why Homeschool: The Carnival of Homeschooling: week 3

Why Homeschool: The Carnival of Homeschooling: week 3 -- Wow! A huge list of links in an "A to Z" format. I've heard of carnivals before and I sure like seeing one.

Fiercely Independent Learners

Mislabeled Child Blog: Homeschooling Fiercely Independent Learners -- here's a blog entry about homeschooling and how you can customize it to your child's learning style

Music Activities and Arts Integration Lessons by Phil Tulga

Music Activities and Arts Integration Lessons by Phil Tulga

GT World

I'm not sure if I've blogged this site before, so here it is. I haven't had a chance to look it over much, but I don't want to lose it as a reference, either.

Vulnerabilities of highly gifted children

Vulnerabilities of highly gifted children is an article that really spoke to me. I can relate to many of the issues brought up, and now I know a little more about what to watch for with my boys.

Homeschooling

Homeschooling - another resource list to no lose, from Denver's Gifted Development Center.

Denver Mensa

This link, from the Denver Mensa chapter, has resources for gifted kids and their parents.

It Pays to Have a Smart Child, but It Can Cost, Too - New York Times

This is an article that talks about some costly things that parents of gifted kids may use to supplement their child's educational experiences. It references Hoagies Gifted Education Page and Mensa.

After poking around the American Mensa website, the local website (which have very little availabe to non-members) and the Boulder, CO and Denver, CO websites, I have discovered that in 2008 the Annual Gathering will be in Denver. Hmmm. I wonder if we'll be members by then.

On Unschooling and Life

HEM Online -- Someone on HEM-unschooling was searching for this article, and someone else found it for them in HEM's (Home Education Magazine) archives. Parents will always worry and wonder about their kids.

KS Homeschool Net

Here is a new Kansas group. I think it's great that more and more groups are popping up.

Joyful Living and Learning

This article, Mindful Parenting, by Ren Allen and Sandra Dodd, reminds me of some things I have been thinking about lately. I used to be a happy person practically all of the time. I used to be eager and excited about almost everything. Lately I've been trying to figure out when that changed. I think the change started in college. I was around people who weren't excited about learning, they were just there to get a degree and get out. Some of them didn't even like the area of their major very well. Then I found a job that was okay and enjoyed my life outside of the job. Then I found a job that I really liked, and I enjoyed all of the learning and discovering and problem solving of it.

As time passed, the job environment changed, primarily with different people (coworkers particularly) being in my life on a daily basis. The joy went away. Then I met my husband and fell in love, and my life was joyful again. I wasn't always happy, because I had to deal with the work people, family health problems (my mom's cancer), and adjusting to being married, but I was still primarily joyful. When my first son was born, life was good. Staying home with him was great; sometimes it was hard, but it was great!

Now I find myself not so joyful anymore. I think it's because I am doing things that I don't want to do. I am taking the boys to daycare instead of spending days with them during the week. I know that being with them all of the time would take more energy than I seem to have. (Lack of sleep is a problem for me.) However, I also know that our lives would adjust and be different if we lost the requirement to "get ready" by a certain time each morning. When I give them the freedom to be themselves, make their own choices, and do what they want, we are all happier (except when sleepy, grumpy toddlers don't want to nap).

Last night I let DS1 sleep on the floor and DS2 sleep in DS1's bed. At bedtime, that's how they wanted to lay down, after some rocking, so I let them. Then when they fell asleep, I thought, "why not?" and left them in their chosen spots. "Why not?"... I remember sleeping on the floor sometimes as a child. I think that conciously trying to put myself in their shoes, to see their perspective, will help me live more joyfully. It will be more difficult, but I want to do the same with DH. I want to see things from his perspective, especially when we seem to have different goals, or different perferred methods of reaching a shared goal.

Great Plains Nature Center

Great Plains Nature Center -- When we are available during the week, this could be a really fun place to go. The Kansas Wildlife Exhibit at Riverside Park ("our park") is one of the GPNC locations.