Relaxed School's Cool

I lost my passion.

My zeal for unschooling.

It's hard.

Seriously.

You don't have anybody to tell you what to teach and how to teach it. You constantly deal with outside pressures. And you have to always be available and ready to have adventures or be a mentor at the drop of a hat. It's the ideal education, in my opinion, to follow your interests and spend time diving into them. That is what we do as adults. But it. is. hard.

So when Sara was born, I lost that drive. She kept me drained of every bit of energy I had before. Then the girls moved in right as Sara was becoming a little easier. And then I was focused on getting them to and from school and somehow getting Sara a nap in before we left to pick them up. This meant life as we knew it was on pause. Our little outings or 6 hour days spent reading seemed impossible. I was spent-from driving everywhere, from listening to crying all day from a tired baby, from trying to meet everyone's emotional needs-which were at an all time high in this house. And then all the other usual stuff. Double the laundry. Double the cooking. Don't get me wrong. I love them all. They are ALL worth every minute. I tried to stay positive a majority of the time. We did devotionals together, backyard camped on the weekends, played games, had movie nights. They helped me bake and cook. In the summer we took weekly trips somewhere fun.  And that's what took all my energy. The moment my head hit the pillow, I was done. (My poor Husband.) The plan was to get them to bed and spend time with him, but I was out by 9:30. Never failed.

This "Fall," after some changes and much prayer about anxieties, I am feeling renewed. Little S is almost 2 years old. She can handle a few hours out of the house without a complete meltdown, especially if she is in nature. That has been our main focus this year-getting connected with nature. Three days a week we go on a hike or nature walk and spend at least 6 hours outside. We dont do anything structured. We explore. Or the girls play. I watch. We breath in fresh air. We touch soil with our hands. We garden. We jump on the trampoline. Collect nature. We listen to sounds. And Big S now takes photographs. The other 4 days during the week, we sound 3 hours or so outside,  but don't usually go on a nature walk or anything particularly special. We are just being-outside. In the hammocks or riding bikes or drawing with chalk. Nature is an important aspect when connecting with God. And as a bonus, I'd love for my children to  know the life cycles of lots of things-not just butterflies. I'd love for my girls to show their kids how to rub plantain on a bug bite or show them the dry seasons vs. wet seasons when looking at the rings on a tree. Little S loves it so much, and Big S recently found a more grown up way to get into nature.  (More grown up way than picking up sticks and rocks and collecting them in a basket.) She loves nature's beauty. She loves the way that-when we sit in the driveway and play games on a blanket-the sun peaks around the house and shines brightly on the trees. She loves the butterflies when they land on flowers. She loves the way that the clouds always look different. She loves to draw,  but there is something about a photograph that really does it for her. She captures the perfection at its peak. And she can draw it later. It was so satisfying last weekend when we took an impromptu trip to the store to find a camera she liked. She found a used one-with a warranty. She went a little older (a 2009) but got a great deal for a beginner. There, in the store, I helped her research her camera choices-and she finally settled on a Canon PowerShot. They had just gotten it in and it hadn't even been put out on display yet. She was over the moon. She spent her hard earned money from her business on it, and she said it wwas worth every penny. She loves that little camera. She takes it with us on nature outings. She takes photos of her baked goods for her business-which is still going strong after a year. She makes anywhere from $30- $50 a month. Not bad considering we only order from her during the slow months-which are usually the months with no holidays or fresh fruits in season. Anyway, back to the camera, in the weeks coming, we are going to take outings to places where she can photograph Chattanooga from an overlook to model her train town after. Big S has a lot going on, and I'm so happy to be back in the game with her, looking up videos and taking both the girls fun places. I've missed this kind of education.

And while I'm thinking we arent exactly unschoolers, because we do math, we are definitely relaxed schoolers. If she doesn't like that math, we will look into a new one. If she doesn't want to do her Discover 4 Yourself  Bible, we will figure out another way to learn it. We are open to different possibilities and flexible in  schedule, and will always be that way to give both girls time for adventure and discovery. But I also realize, math is a must in this world, and the Bible is essential to knowing God.

Side Notes: We just finished an excellent read aloud-the 3rd book in the Narnia Series, "The Horse and His Boy." Next, Prince Caspian!
And lastly, serving is something I want to model to my girls and teach them to do as well. I try to show them how to serve even in the smallest situations, like cleaning up when a friend leaves or bringing a plate to someone else. But I also want them  know how to serve in larger capacities. Big S tried to advertise for free "Mothers Helper" services for foster Moms. She has developed a passion for children in general, but also children in foster care specifically. So far, lots have said they are interested, but nobody has nailed down dates with us. With everything going on, we are not ready to commit to volunteering at an entity weekly, so Big S is serving at the library when I take Little S to storytime-her idea. She cuts things out. She colors decorations. She cleans. She organizes books. Soon she will read aloud to the kids there. (In the past, she also taught a kitchen science class.) But the best part was hearing her say to me last week, "Mrs. Shannon already lets me volunteer, and I am so thankful for that, so I won't ask her for a different pair of scissors." The point was not that she would rather suffer than ask for scissors. In fact, I told her it would be fine to ask for bigger ones. The point is that she felt like it was a blessing to be serving, and that was enough to make my Mom heart sing with joy!

I love relaxed schooling. I love that I can tell her to forget her math that day if she wants to spend time looking up videos on photography. And if we don't read our read aloud for 3 days, no big deal. The only thing that matters in relaxed schooling-as with unschooling-is making sure we prioritize our time. We aren't always on the go. There is down time for play and discovery. We aren't going to every event available to homeschoolers just because it is free, but only if there is a genuine interest. As long as we are evaluating our actions, everything else will fall into place.