Where Have all the Kids Gone?

Almost every house on our street has kids. During the school year, we were the only house busting with delightfully loud sounds of kids playing in the leaves in the fall, sledding and building snowmen in the winter, planting gardens in the spring and screaming as they run through the sprinkler and jump on the trampoline in the summer.

When school ended this year, I was looking forward to our street coming alive with the sounds and sights of Joyful children riding bikes, having lemonade stands, playing ball and just enjoying their unstructured summer freedom.

It was a bit shocking to see a school bus drop off so many kids on our street at 4pm! I soon learned that these kids all go to a "summer program", which seems to be our cultures trend right now. The kids get on a bus at 7:30am and are gone 5-6 days a week all summer long, away from their homes in exchange for a very structured summer program, in which they are in the care of others.

I do understand that most people work full time, so they need a place to send their kids all day. I can respect that. I just had a moment of realization of how much times have changed since I was a kid. The days of living in the moment, barefoot all summer catching frogs, climbing trees, having impromptu picnics and games with my neighborhood friends seem to be over for most kids in our culture.

I am so grateful to be living the life that we are. It seems like unscheduled time is such a luxury for most families in this time in history.

Today as I sat with my children on a banket in the yard, our street was silent. As I gazed at my barefoot kids with jelly on their face, my son woke me from my trance and said, "What do you guys wanna do after lunch?" I smiled, knowing that they can do whatever they want to do.

For us, the summer has only begun.

~Dayna

A Worldwide Revolution!

I received the exciting news from my agent yesterday that my book, "Radical Unschooling" is now worldwide! For those from abroad who have been asking.... you've got It!

In the UK here

In Germany here

In France here

In Canada here

We have 18 reviews on Amazon already!
Check It out here!

~Dayna

Unerzogen

A few months ago I wrote an article for a German homeschooling magazine.

Today we got a copy of the magazine with my featured article, "Radical Unschooling". The kids thought is was SO cool! to see their picture in a magazine over the ocean!

Uncshooling is Illegal in Germany, which adds to the whole intrigue of writing for them.

I have accepted an invitation to have my book, "Radical Unschooling: A Revolution Has Begun", translated into German.

The excitement of living this life builds everyday, as does the voice that I speak in many different languages..

I have been contacted my publishers in Australia, France and Asia... and a few more countries.. The philosophy is growing and I am honored to be leading the movement...

Unschooling will change the World... How cool that our family can be such an example!!

Orion the Toy-Maker!

Orion is such an adorned part of all five of our lives.... When he looks at us and smiles, nothing else matters. He has a magic way about him. Such pure Joy in his little heart. Orion just adores his Daddy.

Joe works at home and most of the day he is next door creating awesome wooden toys... Orion loves to be with him watching what is going on in the shop. Devin was never really into this as a young boy... Orion is different. He loves playing with the tools and the wood, being part over every little thing that Daddy is doing all day.

His favorite place to be is on the bench where Joe sands and waxes the toys.. If you bought a toy from us in the last 3 months, you can be guaranteed that Orion had a hand in it's creation!

Orion is a big part of Willow Toys!

We love you Orion!! You rock our lives and we are so grateful for you little man!!

Mancala

Right now our favorite family game is called, "Mancala". It is an ancient Egyptian game that Devin fell in love with a few years ago when he was learning about Egypt.

Rules of the Game:

Each player "owns" the Mancala on his right and the six small bowls closest to him.

Player 1 starts by scooping up all the stones from one of his small bowls (players may never start from a Mancala or from the opponent's six bowls). Player 1 drops one stone into the next bowl on the right, one stone into the second bowl on the right, continuing around the board (counterclockwise) until he has no more stones in his hand. If Player 1 reaches his own Mancala, he drops a stone into it. Players do not drop stones into their opponents' Mancalas, they skip them and continue dropping stones, one at a time, from their hand until they run out of stones. Players take turns moving. At the end of the game, players count the stones in their Mancalas - the player with the most stones wins.

There are SO many games for our families to enjoy from all over the World! Why just settle for American games when there are thousands more to choose from?!

Look for us at the next Unschooling Conference near you! We may just challenge you to a game of Mancala!

Be a Good Consumer!

It was yearly evaluation/testing time in New Hampshire for homeschoolers. In the past we went the testing route for Devin. We worked through the test with him, but I knew this sent a subtle message that he wasn't capable, or that somehow we weren't being honest. It caused me a lot of stress to think about another year coming up with two kids now who are school age. I knew that I needed to do something different this year, that was more in alignment with who we are as a family.

We decided to hire an evaluator. I learned a lot during the process of finding one that was right for our family. Just like shopping for anything, it's important to be a good consumer. I called 2 evaluators and asked them each how they felt about Unschooling. Neither of them were very familiar with the philosophy and evaluated from a traditional homeschooling standpoint, meaning they wanted to see workbook pages, and completed "schoolwork" as part of their evaluation process.

I finally found one that was willing and excited to work with an Unschooling family. She seemed very open to learning about the concept. I could tell right away that I had found a match for us. I gave her my blog address for her to learn more and to see how we live our lives. This alone was our portfolio.

I was very upfront on the phone in how I believe children learn and that we do not keep traditional portfolios in the way that most homeschoolers do. I did however share that we would love to have her over to share how our kids do learn. I truly believed in my heart that if she came over and spent some time with us that she would "get it". She would see them reading, writing, communicating, using math, sharing about history, science geography. She would have no doubt that Unschooling is a valid and wonderful, way of life, without me having to translate things into "school-ese", or somehow have to twist what our kids learn into a box of "acceptable" catagories on a schools terms.

I believe in this life from the bottom of my heart. I believe in the way my kids learn as being the most natural, pure, loving and authentic path for them. I was sick of jumping through hoops on someone else's terms and definitions of "education".

In the same way I encourage couples to be good consumers in a hospital setting when striving for a natural birth, I now encourage others to be good consumers when shopping for an evaluator for their Unschooled kids. You do not have to ever lie, or be nervous about what you are doing and how your kids learn. As this way of life grows and spreads, which it is, like wildfire, the more options there will be for us when looking for evaluators. The market will get competitive and our options will open and we will be able to model honesty, clarity and the validity of this life to our children and others.

In the end, the evaluator was very impressed with how our kids learn. She became the student and my children were the teacher, as she spent time with us and walked around our home in awe of how hands-on and full of resources our home really way. She was a pioneer in her own right being willing to open her mind to see the learning in all that our kids do, in non-traditional ways.

I encourage others to shop around! Find the evaluator that is right for you and never settle for anything less than being strong, confident advocates for your children and rock on with the confidence and intensity of pioneers on the forefront of change.

Unschooling is valid. Unschooling is real learning, Unschooling is Freedom...

Unschooling is Here to Stay! Let's Pave the Way!

Swingin' In the Rain

It has been raining for weeks here in New Hampshire!

You reach a point when the weather is bad that playing outside is no longer conditional..

Devin and Tiff decided to make an swing from a tree right by our house despite the rain.

We had some friends over the other day and while they were here Devin said, "Isn't it amazing that the funnest things in life are so simple? We made that swing from some rope, and a piece of wood and it is just so fun!" Our friends looked at us and smiled and said, "Did you just hear what he said?" I smiled back and nodded.

The kids have spent hours using their new swing... I am so happy that Joe is always willing to assist the kids in their visions. He will stop whatever he is doing to help them at any time. Throwing the rope up over the tree and tying the knots, Joe was the man-power behind the kids idea. I love this about him so much!

It is so important to trust our kids when they have an idea, even if you can't tell how it's all going to play out. Just being there as their life-assistant is such a Joyful, important role.

Just one more thing I love about my role as a Mom to Unschooled kids!

Nature Rubbings

Today we explored a new outdoor project.

We created nature rubbings!

We used white paper and crayons to rub the texture of things like bark, leaves and rocks. The kids really enjoyed this activity and we used their finished rubbings to create unique works of art.