Unschooling and Life as Classroom, Mailbox Finds, Summer Smoothie Recipe, Traffic Tips

Hi Friends!  How's your day going so far?  Are you getting over the Hump?  I have a not-so-fun morning in store.  I have to go to the DMV and get a California driver's license and register two cars in the state of CA.

It seems that I just did this all in Phoenix.  And on October 19, I did.  8 short months ago.

What's not cool is that I have to deal with the California DMV.  Just a smidge of bureaucracy and moving in reverse.  I took my patience pills this morning, though, so I am ready and am armed with snacks for Skylar and every piece of ID for me from passport, social security card, old license, proof of car insurance, proof of passing smog tests, blood from my firstborn, you name it, I have it and am bringing it.   All this fun commences after I get my gym lifting session in.  Priorities!

On Tuesday Skylar and I went to Park Day! 
This is a weekly meet-up where I hang out with My Tribe.  Meaning, parents that share the same educational principles and many of the same parenting principles that I do.  It happens to be a group of Unschoolers.

For nine months in Phoenix, I longed to be at the Park with my friends 

And Skylar wanted to be with her friends, too.

And yesterday was great.  Skylar ran free and I cried happy tears.  We are home and back where we both belong.



I've mentioned in this post that I support homeschooling and also unschooling.  Before we left San Diego for our 9 month stint in Phoenix, I would get together with my unschooling friends and their kids at Park Days. 

What's a Park Day?
Think 25 kids of all ages running around, playing together, the parents watching on blankets or getting involved.  No one worries about the clock, the dirt on the clothes, the nursing 4 year old, the vaccine status or sunscreen status or exit test from grade school status.  There are no tests with this group.  We believe learning is organic and it will happen.  Let it. And we do. 

For the record, homeschooling in all it's forms from very traditional "classroom at home" to unscooling, is legal.  You don't have to have teaching credentials, and there are no mandatory state tests in the state of California.  You fill out minor paperwork, set up your "School" and your child becomes enrolled, and you start teaching.  Or living life as your classroom.

With unschooling and education in general, just as you can't "make" a child crawl or walk, use the potty or self-feed, you cannot "make" a child learn math.  Or English.  Or Empathy and Compassion.   You can only demonstrate these things and lead by example and trust that everyday life will provide plenty of real-world examples by which the child will be exposed to these concepts over and over; thereby learning them organically. 
As a vegans I am always asked about where we get our protein from.  Homeschoolers and unschoolers are asked about "socialization".  I think running around outdoors, with 25 other kids and a dozen parents at the ready, she is more well "socialized" with peer interaction than kids who are trapped at desks in classrooms with very little playtime and recess time.

But what people are really asking, is how will she learn to interact in society?  That's what they mean by "socialization".  Gosh, I don't feel like I am a tactless rogue nor are any of the parents who choose this path and we make sure our children can act appropriately within the cultural mores of society.  Anyone who meets Skylar always compliments me on her manners, vocabulary, and how well she gets along with other kids.  We're doing fine in this department.

If you would like to read more about unschooling, I encourage you to check out that website.  It may blow your mind once you realize that you can trust in the human mind to learn and in human nature to strive for more knowledge.  It doesn't have to be forced in the classroom.  Kind of like how milk makes your bones weak by leaching calcium from them.  Or how protein is in everything, even plants.   Once you wrap your mind around "this heresy" a different way of thinking, it's incredibly interesting!  Perhaps a bit radical for some but it's just another choice I have made that's not mainstream, and one which I refuse to defend.

Staying at home with your child and educating them is hard. freaking. work. and if she ever wants to go to school, she can.  That's her choice.  Whatever she would like to do is fine by Scott and I.  She can choose her own path; I am just here to help guide her until she's a bit older and can choose for herself.


From Yesterday...
Thanks to everyone who expressed their concern for us being in an earthquake on Monday!  We are safe and fine and all is well.  It was interesting to read who's been in what kinds of natural disasters.  In addition to the list of disasters and Mother Nature perils I have been in, many of you said you've been in tornadoes and hurricanes.  I have been in both of those, too!

And it was great to read that so many of you have a lifelong or a really close friend that no matter how much time passes in between seeing one another, you pick right back up where you left off.  That's how Jenny and I were at her pool on Monday!



And if there was any doubt I get enough plant-based nutrition in my life from yesterday's Summer Fruit Jackpot....


...Or caffeine via the coffee I am prone to savoring in my new go-cup...

I came home from Park Day and found this Amazing Grass Green SuperFood Energy waiting for me


 Probiotics, Digestive Enzymes, 70% organic ingredients, Plant-Based Caffeine, sign me up!

I also found all this bread waiting for me!


I could make my Vegan 4-Ingredient Homemade Hummus to dip the bread in.


Dessert is a reminder to check out all the Vegan Softserve Recipes I posted yesterday!



Gym & Weights Workout Today From This Tab:  Chest/Shoulders



Summer Mango-Pineapple Green Smoothie Recipe  
Ingredients: 
* 1 bag (3-4 cups) spinach
* 1 cup water or nut milk
* 1 ripe mango
* 1/4 ripe pineapple (1 cup diced)
* 3 Medjool dates
* 3/4" piece vanilla pod or 1 Tsp Vanilla extract
* Optional: Protein Powder or Amazing Grass Powder  

Questions
1. What's your fave thing to put in your smoothies?
Me = Vanilla extract is a must have!


2. As I was leaving the Park at 4pm yesterday, I knew it would take me awhile to go the 14 miles I needed to drive in order to return home.
I didn't plan on it taking 90 minutes to go 14 miles.  Omg.  Hair.Pull.  Evan, Danielle, Katie, and Madeline and most anyone, could have easily run home faster.  There wasn't even an accident.  And the weather as you can see was 71F and not a cloud in the sky.  Welcome to Southern California traffic at pre-rush hour.

Normally I am fairly mellow when it comes to traffic after living in Chicago for many years (which I believe has a far worse traffic problem than SoCal despite SoCal having a bad reputation for being awful) but I was pretty antsy after about 45 minutes and by the time I got home 90 minutes later, I was cranky and just wanted out of the car!  Thank god Skylar fell asleep!  Part of my issue was that I had no idea I was in for that long of a ride.

Does sitting in traffic stress you out?  Is it more stressful if it's unexpected?  Thankfully I had no where I needed to be; I was just going home, but I was definitely ready to get there!

What do you do if you find yourself in traffic to not climb the walls? 

3. DMV.  Everyone's fave place, right?  Any DMV stories?  What's the longest you've had to wait there?  
Unlike the traffic situation, I am fully prepared to spend 3 hours there.  Ugh.  I have this un-founded fear, however, that I will get to the front of the line and for whatever reason, they will tell me I don't have the "right" paperwork with me.  Which is why I am pretty much bringing every piece of ID and paperwork and proof of this or that that I have!

4. Unschooling.  Have you heard of it?  What are your thoughts?  Would you have liked the choice to stay home and learn in the world at large without the pressure of formal schooling?

I did "love school".  But I wonder, as I think back, if I loved that I excelled at it, thereby was praised for it, and that was one huge way and venue in which I was accepted by my parents and others?

I accept Skylar unconditionally, and she doesn't have to have a 4.0 and be on the A Honor Roll every quarter and so she doesn't need to feel the need to "love school" in order to have our unconditional love.  I would rather teach her about ladybugs on Monday and Monet on Tuesday and on Wednesday we laugh and have fun and she learns what it means to have fun with loved ones and experience that side of learning.  Emotional growth, not just "book learning". 

It's all interesting and I don't purport that my path or choices are right for others; but for us, for now, until something comes along and changes the course, this is our path.

Do you know anyone who was homeschooled?  Would you have liked to have been?  Do you believe humans are hard-wired to learn and strive for knowledge?  Do you believe that real life has opportunities for learning, everywhere?  Is Real Life a great classroom?


P.S. Between my Gay Pride Post, The Follow-Up Posts with Comments Here and Here, and My Tattoo Post, and now this Unschooling Post, just call me Miss Hot Topics this week!  Thank you to everyone who has respectfully commented on all these topics!  I open up my life, my views, and share what I do with others.  I don't expect everything I do to work for you and vice versa but it's been wonderful knowing that the overwhelming majority of you are tolerant of a variety of lifestyles and diverse choices!