Pepper Paints

What We Have Been Up To

In case you have been wondering where we have been………………

sleeping in the back yard

Visiting the zoo

Gathering information and ideas for keeping chickens (the girls already have names picked out)

Attending fancy tea parties

And a trip to Chicago. I love this city…. I love a city where you can walk to most places or take public transportation!…. And there is so much to see and do in Chicago that is free or cheap…. And all the public art–huge bonus!

The Children’s Museum at Navy Pier is probably one of my most favorite places! It is different every time we go. The whole thing screams Please Touch!

We had a great Chinese dinner in China Town…complete with a lazy susan in the middle of the table!

We love you Chicago…can’t wait to visit again soon!

Cleveland Rocks!

My husband and I both grew up in Cleveland. I don’t think we thought we lived in such a rockin’ place when we were younger. Last weekend we went home for a visit. I love being a tourist in this city! So much to see and do!!

Friday we took the kids to our old favorite hang outs on Coventry (the Greenwich village of Cleveland). Most are gone now and the crowd isn’t quite so hippy but it was still fun. Playing at the playground and eating dinner at Tommy’s. We need a Tommy’s here in Clintonville. It would surely do a bang up business!!! Pretty Pleeeeeze???

Saturday we headed to the newly renovated and free Art Museum. It is awesome!!!

Then we headed to The Botanical Gardens. I can’t say enough good things about the Hershey Children’s Garden. We could play there all day.

Look –apparently Ginger has a twin in Cleveland

Saturday night we took my in laws to Sokolowski’s to eat.  On the recommendation of Anthony Bourdain of course– we got in touch with our Polish heritage!

Sunday morning we boarded The Rapid and headed to the Terminal Tower for a view from the observation deck. It has been closed since 9/11 and is only open for a few weekends.

Just about everyone in Cleveland had the same idea! We waited in kine for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Ginger was not happy

The ride up didn’t get much better

But the views were so cool! Cleveland really does rock! The ethnicity, the history and the big city feel.

Thanks Cleveland!  We will  be back soon!

Sharing Some Blog Love, Patriotic Cookies & 4th of July Jewelry…….

Here is what I am loving these days……….

Do you have Inspiration Overload?   Um–yeah, I totally do! So I thought like a song that is stuck in your head–I would unload some of what is in my head and in my Google Reader these days!!

Child’s Play has a whole new place!

I will be using some of my mint to make THIS

If ever you can’t find me–look Here

I am all about dirty, hippie children!!

More inspiration at this pretty blog

And if you are looking for the perfect little cookie to make over this 4th of July Here are my favorite patriotic cookies

Or some patriotic jewelry and accessories!!

Happy, Happy 4th of July!!

Unsupervised Kids With Kool Aid …. gasp!

If you ever pass me while running you may wonder why I am smiling or giggling-it’s probably because I am listening to a funny podcast. I love to listen to podcasts and while I run is a good time to try keeping up with them all. Lately I have been listening to  The Moth, RadioLab, This American Life, Fresh Air—Love NPR!

Recently I listened to House On Loon Lake on This American Life. The story takes place in the 1970′s –back when I was a kid. The main character, Adam,  and his friends are pretty  young-I think the story begins when he is about 10. (I listened to this several weeks ago so I forget the exact details but have been stirring up this post in my head ever since)  Adam  and his friends discover an abandon house during their summer vacation. To quote from the website:

Adam Beckman tells the first part of his story, about how, back in the 1970s, he and his friends broke into an abandoned house in the small town of Freedom, New Hampshire. The home turned out to be a perfect time capsule, containing the furniture, letters and personal effects of an entire family … abandoned for decades. It seemed like the family just vanished one day, leaving salt and pepper shakers on the table, notes on the bedroom mirror, and a wallet with money still inside. Adam and his friends read the letters, saving some as clues, and never forgot.

The thing that really struck me about this story is the fact that these young boys spent their summer vacation-unsupervised, sifting through this abandon house for an entire summer.They were having an adventure of a lifetime. But the fact that they were actually having this adventure is what is so cool to me. Their time was their own. It was their summer vacation. It wasn’t over scheduled with sports  practices and games and camps and mini-classes and summer gym to free up an hour during the regular school year to cram in more credits for real classes. Nope–no schedules. It was summer vacation.

I too grew up in the 7o’s with this same sort of “supervision”. “Where you going? Be home by dinner time ” mentality. My parents weren’t any more permissive than other parents. They weren’t driving us around and taking us to see every cool thing that came through our town. We occupied ourselves. We rode our bikes, played in the woods and in fields. We went to the pool and ate candy and ice cream and drank pop on a regular basis.  There were few parents at the pool and even fewer at the park. We weren’t obese, we weren’t hovered over, there weren’t too many expectations of us other than maybe 1 practice and 1 baseball game a week, don’t leave your bike behind the car or in the sun because your kick stand would melt into the hot asphalt( and my Dad didn’t like that.)

We ran the neighborhood and beyond. On Friday or Saturday nights my family would gather at my cousins where we would eat steak ,baked potatoes , baked beans and salad and then run their neighborhood, sneaking into the golf course and playing kick the can across all the neighbors yards until well after the 11 o’clock news when  Hoolihan and Big Chuck would start.

I would often spend the night at my cousins and in the morning we would get up and have our “cherry bread” for breakfast. (white bread dunked in cherry kool aid–it was awesome!) Then we would get on our bikes or skate boards and ride down the big hill and hang out on Euclid Ave and in Coulby Park for the day. When we got too hot we would head over to the library for some AC. If it rained we played in the garage. We didn’t have cell phones and we didn’t keep ID in our pockets “just in case.”  There was no talk of  “stranger danger”  or Mean World Syndrome. (it’s a real phenomenon- I didn’t make that up! But why would we be surprised by this–there is fear and distrust everywhere). And kids today are missing this  freedom.

They are missing spending their childhood in a child like way. Kids are tagged and numbered and scheduled and carted around. They are safely delivered to their destination that is well with in walking or biking distance. They are helmeted, sun-screened and not allowed to trust their instincts. Don’t walk in the woods, check for ticks,  watch out for poison ivy, stay out of the mud, call as soon as you get there and wash your hands. Don’t talk to strangers, don’t dill dally and who are you talking to on the Internets?  Parents are making sure to cover ALL the safety bases these days! Kids have so many rules and regulations that when they do get a little bit of free time they don’t even know how to handle it. Let alone how are they going to handle life with out Mom and Dad breathing down their necks and telling them what to do. Can you say–go crazy with all the new found freedom?!

I will not and do not live like this. I want my kids to do daring and dangerous stuff. I want them to know their world and have a handle on it. Go–be independent and figure stuff out with your friends. If you need me I am here. ( But funny thing is, they don’t need me too much for that kind of stuff. They are self reliant and self confident in their world. ) I am a hands on parent but only to a certain degree.  And I think living in the real world where they are making real decisions makes all the difference.  I am not scheduling their days or their play dates  or their bed times. I want them to go into the world, the park, the woods, the bus,  the mall, the library, to restaurants and stores by themselves without me there controlling what they buy and how they spend THEIR money.  They are perfectly capable to interact with kids and adults and make most of their own decisions.

At a conference I attended John Taylor Gatto talked about how when Richard Branson was young his Mom took him for a drive and then stopped the car and asked if he knew the way home. He said he did and she told him to walk. He did and said it was one of the greatest learning experiences of his life. Extreme-yes.  But following your kid around with an appointment book and a bottle of water and a protein bar is also ridiculous.  Let them go. They crime rate in this country is at a 30 year low!!! For goodness sake–turn off your 24 hr news updates and quit reading all the bad news in the newspaper.  Read this article about how CSI Changed Parenting.  Don’t be so afraid to let your kids play outside and maybe even unattended! Let them have adventures. Chances are more than good that they will be unharmed and fine!! And the chances are even grater that they will have fun and learn more real life stuff  than you could ever artificially  schedule for them.

So who is going to join me on  Saturday May 22 for TAKE YOUR CHILD TO THE PARK AND LEAVE THEM THERE day??? Maybe this could be a small step for those who fear the reaper…leave your kids for just a short amount of time until you can get used to the idea that they will be fine with out you. And they can realize just how powerful they are to be able to navigate the playground on their own. There is still time. Summer break is still about a month away. You have time to wean your self from each other just a little bit so that kids can have real, unsupervised adventures this summer!

And don’t send them with water–send kool-aid–they like it better and chances are–that’s not gonna kill them either

To Those Who Give Unschooling A Bad Name

Just when I started feeling comfortable referring to myself as an unschooler or even a radical unschooler, I have decided to pull back, retreat if you will. I love the authentic ideas and practice of unschooling / radical unschooling (RU). I love talking about it and reading about it. What I don’t love is someone, somewhere deciding if I am “doing it right.”  That is what held me back from outwardly identifying myself as an unschooler for so long–the judgment—John Holt wrote and spoke about unschooling then a few interpreted it and THEY decide if we are doing it right or wrong? I don’t like that.

Maybe it’s not even really that. Because I do understand for clarity sake that you don’t call yourself an unschooler and then make your kid wear a coat because YOU think it’s cold or you coerce your kids into doing what you want etc…I have been judgmental in the past too. Deciding if Mrs A is really an unschooler when she is telling me about her kids having to do just a little bit of school work or Mrs. B’s kids only being “allowed” a certain amount of screen time, sleep time etc…Who cares ? Who am I to judge? And why spend my time or focus my energy doing that? Good way to turn people off to unschooling!

Yet really what is important here is me, my family and what I am doing. I don’t need to be concerned what my neighbors family is doing and what they are calling it. I think taking the judgement away  just allows us to be-and be authentic to what is important to our family-not the unschooling movement. Yeah-this is going to make me unpopular. Because believe it or not-even in  unschooling-even the virtual unschooling world-there is a hierarchy and it is very clickish. It’s  sort of like… hmmm… school! Or the lifestyle we are trying to separate ourselves from by making these radical choices.

I have a problem with the amount of respect that is supposed to be extended to children in this movement yet it is definitely not always extended in the same way to adults.  I can say, ” Oh who cares!”  to a lot and nothing directly happened to me to cause me to write this post. But I am seeing a holier than thou attitude on line and I don’t want any part of that. Sure I may sport a bumper sticker that claims, MY UNSHOOLED STUDENT WILL HIRE YOUR HONOR STUDENT and I have been taken to the mat for it by a fellow unschooler and good friend. My defense may be “Lighten up-it’s a joke.”  I haven’t even thought about that conversation again until I started writing this-but if that bumper sticker connects me to those that are making unschooling an exclusive dogmatic religion-than I don’t really want to call myself an unschooler.

Maybe it’s all in a name or the label. I want unschooling support and I want to be able to give unschooling support but don’t know if I want to call it unschooling if that label causes exclusion. So maybe just saying we are living an authentic life is a better fit for me. You can call yourself whatever you want-it shouldn’t concern me. Reformed unschoolers?  I know this ‘name calling” was hashed out earlier this year (and probably several other times). People want a sense of belonging, a village, to find their people. And a way to that sense of community is sometimes in a name because the name identifies the groups ideology as a whole. Maybe an off shoot would be a better place for me to lend and get support. I know in one breath I am saying I shouldn’t care what the neighbors think and in the next I am renaming and starting a different branch. I think it is  still my need for support with in my own comfort level-so I am also being exclusive too I guess. Although, I would rather see it as inclusive. Semantics? Maybe.

I used to read a few unschooling lists when we first started unschooling. I remember being sort of unnerved and scared off by some of what I read. It seemed that some of the “authorities” on unschooling were very judgmental and harsh in their response to on line questions and scenarios. So I turned away from those lists, found some local support and my own way to unschooling. I have since re joined some lists and now that the virtual world is almost more popular than the real world with lists, blogs, facebook and twitter all wanting to give you what you need, it is really easy to get pulled into this exclusive, negative dogma part of unschooling. The message hasn’t changed much. The same self appointed authorities are still rudely ruling the lists. I swear not all unschoolers are like this-if you have read these lists and blogs and are turned off -you are not alone!! It all seems so religious to me-the dogma, the preachers the exclusion. So separatist.

So-I’m out. Wanting to be part of the in-crowd and bring hits to my blog isn’t being very authentic. I am moving off line a bit and back to my in person, real life. Spending too much time reding what I am supposed to do in what “everyone else” is doing instead of just following my heart and spending time with family and friends. I got what I needed from those lists and unschoolers and now I am choosing to take what I like and leave the rest behind-not a popular idea in the radical unschoolers world! (The all or nothing, black and white world.)  I am choosing to be true to my family and not an idea. I know I am not the  only “unschooler” who feels this way and when others have tried to voice this opinion they have been flamed and kicked off lists. Whatever. I am very lucky to have in real life support. I just hope I can extend the authenticity and acceptance that I seek  to others as well.

I have been listening to Amy Childs Whatever, Whatever Amen podcasts. I love them-I can’t listen to them fast enough or find the time to listen to all of them. But they are powerful, uplifting and POSITIVE. They send a happy message. The podcasts speak more to living an authentic life and no so much to labeling your whole life unschooling (although she certainly talks about and uses the term unschooling ). If you are looking for a more positive spin on this lifestyle I encourage you to listen.

I much prefer Amy’s way of sharing the authentic life

My Quick But Long Response to Discovery Health Radical Parenting Show

I have so much running through my brain after reading many negative responses to last nights airing of Radical Parenting on Discovery Health. I am speaking particularly on the Radical Unschooling segment. 20 minutes on TVsure can whip up a lot of opinions!! There was obvious editing and “the experts” were obviously from the other much more traditional side of parenting (and didn’t back up there expert opinions with any facts).

For those who watched and are now leaving negative  comments on Radical Unschooling all over the place here is some basic information (which many of you seem to be lacking) Radical Unschooling is a way of life, not just an educational choice. Just like someone who is catholic isn’t just catholic on Sundays at mass or a vegetarian only at dinner.  And just like those families that aren’t unschooling, learning is happening all the time. ALL THE TIME. You can’t not learn. Your brain never shuts off. So even those that choose another type of education or lifestyle-you’re still learning all the time too. So don’t give those teachers all the credit!

Radical Unschooling has little to do with school-we don’t “do” school. We (along w/ our kids because we too are learning all the time) learn by living. We read, play games, visit museums, libraries, cook, garden, investigate.  These are the  things more traditional families consider learning opportunities too- you plan trips around this stuff, you do it on the weekends you look back on these experiences with fond memories. We do it everyday.  All those things that are just part of everyday life are learning opportunities  too (grocery shopping -the list making, price comparison, budget making, reading labels…). When we need to know something we find the answers-ask someone, look it up, take a class. We are in charge of our learning. Anything you want to know the answer is out there for you to find. You don’t have to sit in a class room for 12 yrs! Go find the answer yourself.

As a parent it is my job to expose my kids to as much stuff as I can. You never know what will spark an interest. And that interest will lead to more in depth learning-be it dinosaurs, robots, computers or biology. Who are we to say what is important enough to learning and what isn’t. And for those that need it clarified-our learning is well rounded. example….Susie loves rocks. Everywhere she goes she picks them up. So as a parent I plan trips to find good rocks. We look up some places on the internet, we get books out from the library-(reading, english) We pick a place to go (geography, math, science) We go there and dig (earth science) We identify our rocks and figure out why these types of rocks are different than the ones we picked up on our trip out west.(more science, english, math, geography)  And it goes on and on. All the time.  Not just on Saturdays or in the evenings.  Not only in the 4th grade because that’s when you study rocks. And not only for a week because now you have to learn about something your not interested in because your course of study has been pre determined by people who know what and when and how in depth you will be learning certain things.  That is the “school” part of Radical Unschooling.

I say it is a lifestyle because we are not telling our kids what to learn or how to learn it. They are deciding and as a parent I am helping when they need it, yet putting “stuff” out there all the time (with no expectations ). We are respecting there choices. We are trusting them to listen to themselves. I am not telling my kids to put a coat on because it is cold or go to bed because I say it’s time for you to be tired. That’s not to say we don’t have a bed time routine-teeth brushing, jammies, reading books, lights down low. But as an example my 11 yr old, after all of that last night, stayed up watching an animation tutorial on the computer after I fell asleep.

Yes, Sarah Parent read something on the show for one of her kids-If your husband said to you”What does that say” would you stand there and quiz him or just read it for him. There will be loads of opportunities for kids to read-it is an unavoidable part of life. More than 90 % of the population learns to read on their own. Exposure is key!

I think the main difference is an unschoolers definition of success. Success to us would be our children growing up to be happy. Happiness trumps all-sorry! If you are happy working at McDonalds-excellent! Working there fills a need-people like burgers and fries and somebody needs to make em and serve em! If you are happy being a plumber-great! I bet you learned that on the job didn’t you? If you are happy going to college-great. Glad your choice of higher education is working out for you.

One comment I read said it is our job to make sure our kids don’t think they are the center of the universe! What??-why not???  My kids, my family are the center of my universe! They are special and perfect to me. They should be honored and valued as such so that they have the confidence and love for themselves to be the best possible human being they can be. The world will teach them disappointment- it is part of life. I don’t feel the need to knock them down (figuratively) so they get used to it and know what it’s like.

Ok-I have to go-this was typed out super quickly-so don’t judge unschooling by my typos or anything grammatically incorrect. I don’t even have time to read through it a second time!

Because She’s Worth It! (and more unschooling excitement)

It ended up being dinner for 2 tonight, so I made it extra special….because she ‘s worth it!

Wednesday night on Discovery Health at 8:00PM there is going to be a Radical Unschooling piece as part of a Radical Parenting episode. Sarah Parent of Clan of Parents and her family were filmed to be part of the show. Her blog has more details on the filming process.

I am still floating around on my post conference high! I am re-reading Deschooling Our Lives and I just picked up Nurture Shock and Raising Our Children Raising Ourselves from the library tonight. I am also LOVING these podcasts called Whatever, Whatever Amen!!! Our local unschooling group is getting together so we can  watch this Astra Taylor lecture together and discuss it. I have already watched it once-it is long but well worth it. Very inspiring!!

Any body have any other recommendations for unschooling books, blogs, podcasts or websites I should be checking out?