We've been unschooling since before they could talk! When education is this fun, why wait? Why even separate it?
Earlier in the day, some lady asked me about the kids not being in school. She said homeschooling sounded like a good idea because of bullying. I told her bullying was just another point on a long list of why schools aren’t an ideal place for kids to be.
What a great addition to all the fun of hill climbs (and descents)…add kettlebells!
When the 6yo told me the weights weren’t heavy enough to make him tired, I first thought of getting him more weights. I didn’t think about
What a great place for kids of all ages, even for the adults who bring them! Disclaimer: Most adults come prepared to sit and wait, and the cousins we brought came prepared to hate it, so did 🙂 )
The catchphrase I’ve been hearing lately is ‘soft play’. Let the kids go do whatever they want in the safety of their injury-free environment. I suggest hard play for every child.
We had a ‘big’ dose of unicycle lessons recently. By big dose, I mean about 20 minutes of practice over a few days. It was a push to see if he could get it before he turned six. He’s not there yet, but it will only be a few more tries…he’ll get it next month for sure…if he wants to…I don’t actually care if he does or not…as long as he keeps practicing whenever…there’s so many other ways they are both being active, it’s low on everyone’s list.
Razor E90 Electric Scooter : Unicycle Stroller Speed Getting Around : We Now Convoy 😀 i can put heavier stuff up on the roof rack and still push it with one hand while filming with the other now that one […]
Our second T-shirt day of the season – our first was a month or so ago. (Let’s get with Spring, ammiright?) The great part this time was the high winds. Strangely enough, he seemed to benefit from the wind BOTH […]
I came here to smash you with a bat and feed some geese and I’m all out of birdseed…Strange Math Was Afoot –
Usually when by the river in London, two geese plus birdseed…
Here in Ontario, parks (at least their bathrooms) are closed in the winter. And into the Spring. No matter if it’s hot for several weeks before the opening date, like it always is.
You can’t beat this time of year for the park-things to kids ratio, but having some bathrooms around, well, that’s just handy!
Swimming lessons?? Unschoolers call it ‘swimming’.
Before heading over to gramma’s for another swim (and snack from gramma’s snack drawer) I reminded the new goggler how little time he spent under the water on his trips under the surface. I figured it was because he was fighting buoyancy and had not learned how to keep himself down.
I then realized he probably had no idea how long he could hold his breath for…
When cardio is leaning on a wall for a few minutes
Another great week of learning! He learned how to more properly navigate a giant ice pile that used to be a snow pile. They even got to climb up and slide down it when it was a snow pile again.
We were on the DIY kick after our homemade playdoh, so we made up some homemade puffy paint. Just self-rising flour, salt, water, and food colour, but oh no, we didn’t have any self-rising flour.
Down to one kid in waterwings! Many hours have been spent in gramma’s pool between now and the time he was wearing swimming diapers. Swims with gramma, or grampa, or mom or dad, or his aunt, uncle, and cousins, or any combination thereof.
Just recently he mastered ‘goggles and nose holding’ for new underwater adventures and was excited to show me. (I got him to dip down sans-nose holding a few times, but it didn’t last long)
Sometimes the time it takes you to get the kids dressed up and undressed is longer than the time you were outside playing.
Here are some great ways to maximize their enjoyment while being exposed to some pretty harsh conditions.
So clearly I couldn’t leave one kid on the bench on the bike path and continue on another adventure trail into the woods with the other one. So what’s a dad to do?
There’s a whole bunch of sticks to slow him down…send him into the woods (which you know look a whole lot bigger to him)
This was an exciting opportunity for me to just send him off to be alone on his own. (I could always hear him and could see him from time to time)
But if you look in the video, you can see
When pushing your kid in a unicycle stroller is commonplace; even up & down 6 levels of a parking garage
This parking garage has a special place in our hearts. One of the landmarks we pass on our trips to grammas, it was one of the first examples I stumbled across of ‘introducing excitement’ to kids and how easy it is.
Wow! You know what that is??? A PARKING GARAGE!!
Week after week, looking for the parking garage, and staring at/studying it as we passed, it just became ‘our thing’.
We knew she was ‘officially pregnant’ when she cried her eyes out seeing little Anakin leaving his mom in the desert…again…seriously, we had seen this several times already…)
Star Wars has always been a big part of my life (well, only if you include making a Star Wars reference whenever possible and owning and wearing too often an adult sized Star Wars costume) but the kids hadn’t really shown too much interest…no more than any of the other things they are in to – from every comic book hero to anything that’s in a ‘Flying Bag’ (blind bag)…or anything that they have seen on youtube.
Our plan was to climb ‘Big Hilly Climby’ and go for a scooter ride through the forest – well, at least if I was making a lesson plan for the day, it would have only had those two bullet points.
Do you know if your city has an indoor obstacle course or climbing-type place? I just happened to see a post in a facebook group…I would never have known about this little gem!
CTC Obstacles is in London, Ontario. An old warehouse turned climbing/swinging/playing facility!
We’ve been to three different skate parks in our city so far. (London, Ontario) There looks to be siz or seven that we will be sure to check out. (they call Victoria Park one, but meh…it’s mostly just some concrete blocks and broken glass)
The kids just get there and play. Scooters, little bikes, and just running…we’ll be back often. Whatever risks the kids are comfortable with (or are almost comfortable with) are right there. Have you heard about Parkour? (Where people jump from building to building and do crazy flips and things off of structures). Skateparks offer a great introduction to
We didn’t even come here to run, we came to scooter. I had to ask them if they were ready to put their gear on and ride yet..before they tired themselves out!
During school hours, no one is there. Kids as young as brand new crawlers can have a blast here with so many slopes and angles and risk levels.
