Adding Joy: Unschool Bits and Pieces
Adding Joy to an Unschooling Day
Not so long ago, a mother told me she only arranges special outings for ice cream or coffee or lunch with her kids as a reward. They can earn special time with her by working hard at their school work. I feel sad that the special moments of life seem to be rationed out. (And learning is done for rewards and not out of love.)
Maybe some people think that I’m spoiling my kids because I try and turn as many moments as possible into special ones. We’re always going places, drinking coffee, eating picnics, chatting… The best special moments are the ones that are inexpensive and easy to arrange.
I intend to extract as many drops of joy from these precious days of mothering as I can because they won’t last forever.
I recently took this photo of my daughter Gemma-Rose and our dog Quinn while we were enjoying a winter picnic at the botanic gardens. I think Quinn was enjoying herself. Those worried looking wrinkles make it hard to tell!
What’s your favourite way to add joy to a normal day?
Lots of Creative Arts!
“What are you going to do today?” I asked my daughter Gemma-Rose.
“I’m going to continue painting the family room.” She grinned. “You can write Creative Arts in the homeschool records book!”
Yes, Gemma-Rose knows how to translate her activities into the right educational language!
We’ve been doing a lot of creative arts together recently. We’re watching the BBC series The Great Interior Design Challenge. If you do some googling, you will find some of these episodes online. (There are 4 series.) If you watch, you may feel inspired and end up redecorating your home just like us.
Gemma-Rose chose a rather daring shade of blue to paint our walls. This photo doesn’t show the colour properly, but I’m posting it because it reflects the fun Gemma-Rose is having doing ‘creative arts’!
Alike Animated Short Film
I’m so glad we live outside the system. We can stand under a tree and make music (and film it as well!) while most other people are rushing by, trying to keep up with someone else’s schedule. I feel so fortunate. Do you feel this way too? Take the time to watch this animated short film. I think you’ll like it!
Shakespeare's Sonnets
Are you familiar with Shakespeare's sonnets? I'd like to find out more about them. I recently bought the Shakespeare's Sonnets app for my iPad which includes videos of all 154 sonnets performed by 'a star-studded cast'. There are also interviews and the text of the poems and other features. I wonder if Gemma-Rose would like to look at the sonnets with me. If not, I'm going to study them by myself!
If you haven't got an iPad, you can find some of the sonnet videos on YouTube.
Unexpected Unschooling Skills
I can remove engines from cars. Did you know that? Perhaps that surprises you?Why don't you read my post, How I Removed an Engine From a Car, and then tell me what unexpected skills you have?
I hope you find something interesting and unexpected in this week's bits and pieces post!