Farewell January....

Well, we've had a rather average start to the year.  What started in mid-December as us all having colds (including laryngitis for me) turned out to be Whooping Cough.  We're about 7 weeks into it now, so another 4-5 weeks of coughing to go.  Jasmine is still coughing to the point of vomiting a few times a day, especially after eating or exertion, so we've been taking things pretty slow.  We had chicken pox at the same time last year, so I'm not really keen on this pattern of sickness to start the year!  Still, no doubt our immune systems will be all the stronger for it.  Just wish there was an easier way!


Someone posted a link on Facebook earlier this evening that relates directly to my previous blog post.


http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201002/children-teach-themselves-read


It turns out I did actually have it bookmarked from a while ago, but it's not often I go back & re-read things.  Reading it tonight was like reading it for the first time.  I think the article really resonated with the head-space I'm in at the moment, so much so that I forward the link to some of my immediate family members.  Jasmine often talks to family via Skype and tends to mimic the speed at which I type.  This results in long strings of random letters, with family suggesting she types "real words" instead of gobbledegook.  There are a couple of words like 'poop' and 'hello' that she knows, and she will copy people's names from the screen, but she's still not at the point of writing cohesive sentences.  While that's fine with me, I think others still have the expectation that she should be reading & writing at a more advanced level.  By forwarding the link to them to read, I hope they gain a better understanding of our learning philosophy.  It's something we've never really discussed that much, but I think it's time to give them the info so that they don't have inappropriate expectations.  It's a bit scary because you never know how somebody's going to react to concepts that they may not be familiar with, but I can't control their thoughts any more than they can control mine ;)


Actually, I've found it really interesting observing Jasmine's developing literacy lately.  


I woke up one morning to find some phone numbers of the '1800' variety on a piece of paper on the lounge.  Jasmine asked later if I'd seen the piece of paper, to which I said I had & asked what the numbers were for.  Turns out that she'd been watching early morning infomercials (what happened to her normal ABC4kids???) and informed me that we HAD to have a pilates machine which would "really work" to increase our fitness and she thought I might like an AhhBra because it would be comfortable.  That lead on to a conversation about the power of advertising and how they make people want to buy things they don't always need.  Still, she was motivated enough to write the numbers down ;)


Next is a message she wrote to me on Skype the other night:


"esdered"


Can you work it out?


"Is dinner ready?"


She's starting to associate sounds with letters, but fills in the blanks in her own mind.  If she's writing a letter to someone, she may just write 'D' & say she's written 'Dear'.  If she wants to write a letter, she'll get me to spell out words for her, but always asks, "what does it look like"?  Even if she knows the letters well, she still needs a audiovisual clue.  V for valley, a for apple, e for egg, l for line, D for Door, M for mountains, w for wiggly worm, s for snake, etc - it's almost like the Doctrine of Signatures.  In herbalism, it's said that a plants physical characteristics are a clue to it's healing properties.  Likewise, Jasmine needs each description of the letter to match it's physical characteristics.  Of course, it's not always possible, but she always finds it much easier to write when being assisted in this way.  Sometimes, I don't want to sit there for half an hour sounding out every letter, so I write out what she wants to say so she can copy it.  Sadly, that usually results in a meltdown.  I suspect she's actually dyslexic (with a bit of a family history) and/or her sensory processing issues extend into the reading process, so she finds it hard to follow letters sequentially.  


The other thing that seems to be intensifying is her desire to write "perfectly".  If a letter is not perfectly formed to her standards, she'll screw up the piece of paper & start again.  Suffice to say, we've been going through a lot of paper recently!  I've tried explaining to her that writing is one of those things that takes practise & it's taken me over 30 years of practise to write the way I do now.  


When her last tooth fell out a few weeks ago, I came across http://www.therealtoothfairies.com/.  Oh, how I regret that!!!  :/  Still, she LOVES the site & the idea that she knows her "real tooth fairy".  She can send her RTF letters (fill in a few blanks on letter templates) & her RTF will send her letters in return.  Of course, everything on the site comes at a cost.  Rather than pay for her RTF to send her letters printed from the webpage, the REAL tooth fairy prints out notes in Word, complete with butterflies & lots of purple.  The RTF has said to Jasmine that she loves getting hand-written letters, and she has done a couple so far.


Apart from all that, she's still riding her new scooter every day, creating with playdough, role-playing with her gazillion Barbies & toys, making balloon snow people, solving jigsaw puzzles, WIIing, swimming at the local pool (especially in today's 40C heat) & testing the laws of gravity with our r/c car....and ripping off half my toenail with said car.  Hubby was away for the last few days (looks like the issues of the last 6 months since the family deaths have finally been sorted), so I took the opportunity to do some de-cluttering & sorting.  The old whoop de whoop means I didn't get as much accomplished as I would have liked, but I'm happy with what I got done considering.  Jasmine can once again access the cupboard where all her toys & puzzles are kept, so it's almost like having a whole new lot of things to play with ;)  I've also started a different system of storing Jasmine's work so that when it's time for THEAC to pay us a visit, it's all there, ready to show.  I've also got myself a diary this year to record more of the day-to-day activities which tend to slip my mind.  I'm feeling more settled & prepared and Jasmine is looking forward to a year of less disruption & more learning.  I can feel a change in the air and I'm looking forward to it :)


I'll sign off with a pictorial wrap-up of January, 2012 :)

An epiphany

I had an epiphany the other day.


It is coming up to a year now since we registered with THEAC as home educators.  In the next couple of months, I will need to collate & assess our first year, as well as make plans for the next couple of years.  Because Jasmine tends to resist written work, we don't have a lot of physical evidence of her learning.  That fuels my fear that maybe we'll be judged negatively at the next visit from THEAC; that people will think she hasn't been doing 'enough' to keep up with the State curriculum.  


But then it struck me.  If Jasmine's education is about meeting the expectations of other people, I might as well send her to school.  I realised at that moment that it really doesn't matter and I felt a deeper trust in the 'process' of unschooling.  It does rattle me a little when her friends are starting to read quite advanced books while she still freaks at the mere suggestion of learning to read.  However, I then think of all the stories I've read of children who don't learn to read &/or write until 7, 8, 10 or even older, but have then caught up within just a matter of weeks.  I think Jasmine's one of those kids who just needs to do things to her schedule - no one else's.  When she wants to do something, NOTHING can deter her.  Head-strong is an understatement & I know that drive will carry her through.  


I think I've been doing some deschooling in the past year.  Even though I understand the philosophy of unschooling, I'm still working through some of the ingrained expectations from my own school years - and it is still a work in progress.  Reflecting on my own experiences also helps me to understand how Jasmine feels when coerced  to do something she's not comfortable with.  I hope that other people (hello family) can give Jasmine the space and time she needs to learn when she's most ready rather than commenting on what she "should" be doing at a certain age.  We are not trying to speed up or slow down any areas of her learning based on a curriculum.  We are not doing "school at home" so there will never be a direct comparison between Jasmine and those who undertake institutionalised learning.  She has the freedom to learn what she wants, when she's ready and at the end of the day, she'll have all the skills & knowledge she needs to be a fully-functioning adult.  It's all good :)

To new beginnings!

Only 1.5 hours left of 2011 as of the time of writing this.  To be honest, I think I'll be glad to see the end of this year!


After a tough 2010, this year started with new beginnings.  It was our first year of 'officially' home educating, although as an unschooling family, it was more of a continuation of what we were already doing.  I started a hobby business and found my spark in the process.  Unfortunately, the second half of the year was not so good, as I have detailed in previous posts.


2012 is likely to bring more stressors that are out of our control, but I think the main thing is not engaging with energy drainers as much as possible.  I am really enjoying the work of Bruce Lipton, PhD at the moment and reading about quantum physics vs Newtonian physics.  I always knew that emotional health affected our physical health, but it's fascinating learning the mechanics of it on a sub-atomic level.  The 'stuff' of the last couple of years has not only had an effect on my physical health, it's also impeded on my availability to help Jasmine a lot of the time.   I just haven't had the reserves or energy.  I can't change every situation, but I can change the way I deal with things.


So that's the plan for next year.  No grand plans of losing 30kg or any such thing - although I wouldn't complain  if it happened.  But 2012 is all about focussing on the good & mediating the less desirable.  It's time to be more available to my child & less worried about people who only care about their own agenda.  It's about making sure Jasmine has the tools she needs to thrive as she moves another year closer to adulthood.


I wish you & your family peace, happiness & prosperity in the New Year.  I'll sign off with some pics from the last few weeks of 2011.  Thanks for sharing our journey so far xxx

Independence Day

I've been writing some notes to keep track of some of the things Jasmine's been up to.  There have been moments lately where we've noticed her maturing in certain ways, but when I looked at the half dozen or so things on my list, it was ALL about her growing independence.


One of the things Jasmine usually like to do at my market stall is put items in bags for the customers.  She's also excellent at spruiking and sales ;)  Last weekend, she decided her job was not only to package the jewellery, but to take the cash & give the change.  She was very quick to assert herself if I tried to organise the change - LOL.  What a great way of learning about money & numeracy! :)


That being said, it is a long day & a MUCH earlier start than we normally have, so Jasmine did get bored hanging around the stall for too long.  She asked if she could have a look around the rest of the market & I said it was fine as long as she stayed within the confines of the market.   Off she went, followed a couple of minutes later by the more cautious parent ;)  She allowed him to accompany her around the market as she struck up conversations with numerous people, particularly anyone with a dog.  Later in the day, one of the stallholders she'd been speaking with visited our stall.  She commented that she could tell straight away that Jasmine was a DEFINITE Aries - head-strong, no nonsense and no qualms in taking charge and telling people how things were going to be.  She said most of her friends were Aries and Jasmine was very much like them.  She said that we had an amazing child & she was really happy to have met her :D


The next day, we had to return some books to the library & Jasmine was asking (again) to borrow books on fossils.  I showed her how to use their online catalogue & she insisted on typing in the search details, wanting to know how to spell the words.  Then a few days later, we were driving along & D said something about Jasmine being a monkey, which prompted her to give him a lecture on evolution - LOL.  I was quite impressed by her level of understanding!  I know it shouldn't surprise me, but it was one of those moments where a few minutes reading something in a book led to a complex understanding of a concept.


Jasmine's also been spending more time away from us & is quite happy to do so.  Last week, some local friends who go to the same dance class called through on their way up to see if Jasmine wanted to go with them.  She seemed slightly apprehensive at first, but decided she'd do it.  A couple of hours later, I got a phone call asking if I wanted her home at a particular time and that the kids were playing happily at their house.  I said whatever time suited them was fine & to let me know if I needed to pick her up at any stage.  For me, it was a unexpected but welcomed break.  D had travelled interstate that morning to deal with some ongoing family matters, so I found myself home alone!  Jasmine has also been spending more time with the girl across the road.  It really made my heart smile the other day when I saw the two of them walking up the road together, chatting away.  It was also a laugh when D came back from his walk & chased them up the road which resulted in much high pitched squealing - theirs, not his ;)  The neighbours have recently acquired 4 young goat kids, the excitement of which seems to over-ride Jasmine's fear of their dog.  She happily played there for a few hours on the afternoon of the market when they came & picked her up.


And last thing on my list for this week relates to our first visit to the local pool for the season.  Jasmine knew it was open & had been asking to go....and asking....and asking....so we did.  Turns out that swimming classes started that same afternoon, so there were quite a few kidlets there.  I asked Jasmine if she was interested in swimming lessons, but she gave me an outright 'no', stating she "wasn't ready for that".  We continued on, going back & forth between the shallow pool and the main pool.  She was happy to Doggy Paddle & swim like a frog (breaststroke) with the noodle under her armpits for buoyancy.  After a while, she started holding the noodle out in front of her and was surprised to find she didn't drown.  I said she'd be swimming without the noodle pretty soon at the rate she was going.  A few minutes later, she tried it - and swam for the first time without any floatation devices!  She was so excited & proud of herself!  Sure, it was no more than a couple of metres at a time, but she'd done it & the look on her face was priceless!  I'm sure that was a huge boost to her confidence and hopefully by the end of the swimming season, she'll be making her way around the pool totally unassisted :)

Why children protest going to school

A lovely unschooly friend of ours just posted a link on Facebook that I think is awesome & wanted to share with you.


It discusses resistance to institutionalised learning from an evolutionary perspective & it makes perfect sense to me.  It also makes me realise how much I protested school myself, without realising at the time that's what I was really doing.


Happy reading.....


http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201111/why-children-protest-going-school-more-evolutionary-mismatch

This post has been shared as part of owlet's 

The last 3 weeks in review

A couple of days after my last post, the three of us went to the see Circus Oz perform their 'Steampowered' show.  I'm happy to say without a shadow of a doubt that it was one of the BEST shows I've ever seen!!!  We all agreed that although Cirque du Soleil was technically excellent, Circus Oz was more engaging & entertaining.  A couple of the cast members talked to Jasmine before the show started, and another later mocked her when she laughed at a tense moment, so she really felt involved & loved every minute of it.  I'd recommend it to anyone & everyone and can't wait to see the next show they bring to Hobart :D


We also took Jasmine to play her first game of Minigolf.  It was bucketing down that day, so we chose the indoor course.  Suffice to say, it's something we will be doing more regularly.

Silly face time

I'd been umming & ahhing about heading to Deloraine in Northern Tassie for the annual Tasmanian Craft Fair.  When Jasmine saw the ad on TV for it, she got very excited & wanted to check it out.  A few days before hand, we received our new tent in the mail.  A few families we know had suggested camping as a group, so we thought we'd better get some gear together.  Jasmine & I set up the tent, slept in it for a night, then I took it down a couple of days later.  I had been thinking of maybe going up the night before & camping at the caravan park so we didn't have to drive so much (3 hours each way) on the same day.  When I worked out how long it would take to set up the tent, especially taking into account the fact that it would be near dark when we got there, and then packing everything up in the morning, I figured we'd be better off sleeping in our own beds & getting up early.  We left about an hour later than planned, but still got there at a time we'd usually still be asleep.  We paid the exorbitant entry fee & started looking around.  Tired family, hot weather & big crowds weren't a good mix, but we still had the chance to admire some amazing artists & craftspeople, many of whom reminded me just how far I have to go to produce the type of jewellery I'd really like to be doing.  Jasmine got her face painted & we ended up spending FARRRRR more money than we had planned, meaning we've had to be rather frugal since.  We finished the day with dinner at the Empire Hotel (really impressive food) & a roll down the banks of the Meander River before making the trek back home.


The day before we went up there, I had the realisation that our sick, elderly cat Bonni had not been seen since the previous afternoon.  It was totally out of character for her not to come inside for the night.  When she didn't show up that night either, I came to the conclusion she wasn't coming back.  Neither D nor myself sensed her around the place & I really believed she had passed.  The horrible part was not knowing where she was for closure.  I shed a few tears on the drive North.  To our absolute amazement, when we came home after dance class the next day, there she was stumbling around the front yard.  The poor thing was so skinny - I don't think she'd eaten in those 3 days - but she's made up for it now.  Apart from the carcinoma on her head, she's now deaf & blind, but hanging in there.  She's eating well (still has her sense of smell) & can manoeuvre her way around the house & through the cat door to the outside enclosure, but she's definitely not allowed out the front door again - far too risky.  She probably hasn't got all that long to go, but I know she'll let us know when it's time to make "that" call.  

Waiting for Gymfest
to begin

Last weekend, Jasmine performed in the annual Gymfest.  It was the first term of rhythmic gymnastics after swapping from trampolining and I think she did really well.  She was a bit tired & hungry after her performance, but on the way back to the car, she excitedly said she wanted to do it all again & had totally made up her mind to continue with rhythmic next year.  I just love watching her do things that she really loves :)

Proud of her soap

Our 'Hobart Natural Learners Co-op' is coming along nicely, with everyone getting along very well & having fun each week.  This week's activity was felted soaps, with fleece, froth & bubble wrap a-plenty.  There was also bubble blowing & a water play table for the younger ones.  It was lovely to see the girls playing together more & developing story lines to guide their games.  We also celebrated the 1st birthday of one of our youngest members :)





While we were setting up our tent a couple of weeks back, Jasmine asked me what school was like.  She said, "Do the teachers boss you around all the time?" to which I replied, "Well, you are expected to do what the teacher asks of you, when they ask you to do it.  There are about 30 other children in the class and you usually all do the same thing at the same time."


She pondered for a moment before saying, "But they teach you to write there, don't they?"  I smiled, somewhat amused, and said, "Yes, just as I have been trying to help you for a long time, but you have not wanted to do it."  She gave a knowing smile back and said, "I think I'm ready now."  She's still not overly keen on workbooks, but has had a bit of a play with Spellodrome.  So far, I'd been focussing on phonics, but I think throwing some more sight words in there might better suit her learning style.  I've been trying some of the techniques recommended here and it seems to be helping.  The other thing she's doing more of is copying things others have written, particularly during her early morning Skype sessions with her Aunt who's in London.  Some may call it collusion, others might say it's the motivation she needs to write ;)

Nice try kiddo ;)

I'll leave you with this photo.  Bucket of chicken, anyone???

Poor Emily   o_O

Show Day

For the last few weeks, every time an ad for the Royal Hobart Show appeared on TV, a certain young child would call me into the room with some urgency, only to ask, "Can we go there???"


Alright, so off to the Show.  We decided to go on the Friday as that was fireworks night.  We got there about 1.45pm & started with the animals.  We worked our way around the various displays & rides.  The favourite activity was trampolining with a harness & bungee cords - something she was more than happy to pay with out of her own pocket money.  We still ended up spending more than planned, but it was worth it to see Jasmine enjoying herself so much.  Here's some happy snaps.....