To Fall or Not to Fall in the Fall, Y’all

To fall or not to fall in the fall y'all. Family off-road unicycling adventures

Their First Real MUni Ride (Mountain Unicycling) She’s been on one of these trails before, but very briefly, noobily, and quite uninterested in finding another trail – her unicycle passion was the asphalt paths and empty strip mall parking lots, so that’s what we did instead, with me learning all sorts of new riding skills […]

First Slingshot Lesson – 10 and 12 year olds

young child with slingshot - a trusted Unschooler

We would come home hungry if we were hunters! Is 10 too young for a slingshot? I know as soon as I got mine as a 12yo, I wanted to break windows. Holy eff did I break a lot of windows – I could do it from far away! You can’t really blame me for […]

Sweetwater : Our Trip to the Sugarbush

kinsmen fanshawe sugarbush

What a great time we had here, sorry if it’s too Canadian, eh?

I first thought, ‘well this will be neat for the kids’. I didn’t realize how interesting and fun it would be for them! A short informative tour showcasing modern-day sap collection with hoses and taps compared to the old fashioned way you may be more familiar with…buckets on a tree (I know that’s what I was picturing!)

Mortal Kombat, Green Screen, Scootering, & Swimming : A Week of Unschool : Episode 4

How fun is unschooling? How beneficial is screen time? How comical is ‘video game violence = violent kids’?

Another great week of education and excitement!

The five year old beat Mortal Kombat Armageddon on the Wii. Leading up to this, and since this happened, there have been several dad-son ‘real life’ battles. They mostly end with me getting to his tickle spot (ribcage) but one, in particular, ended much differently. An accidental headbutt and a bloody lip on dad. He officially Finished me! His little sister is also getting on board. She threw a frisbee at me outside. She said it wasn’t a frisbee, but Kung Lao’s hat! (I haven’t caught on video the super cute way she mimics Scorpion’s ‘GET OVER HERE!’)

Meeting a Sloth & Mommy Touching a Snake

burmese python ray's retile

We had a great time at the Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo Meet a Sloth event! The biggest downside was it was on March break and there was an ocean of school kids there. Man, they make for a crowded event 🙂

It doesn’t take long after getting in to see how much the staff loves doing what they are doing and are so good with the kids; whether it’s answering their questions ‘at their level’ or artfully avoiding questions in order to maintain the flow of the presentations.

Our New Pigeon Family in the Making!

pigeons moved in and are nesting, what do you feed them

We’re so lucky a season of new unschooling classes just flew in! It’s quite interesting to watch what they are doing in their ‘unwatched and alone’ action…especially in watching how the nest gets built and pressed into shape while they go.

Dam Fun. Dad & Son.

big wheel scooter for kids

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 ways! When does THAT happen? Sure we have adventures that are enjoyable for both kids, […]

Community Firefighting for Homeschool

putting out fires for homeschool

Well, the 5yo says to his little sister, you’re officially a firefighter now.

Big day yesterday, we put out a fire! The 5yo smelled smoke first and we saw the ground burning. (when we got closer we could see it was all the wood chips at the base of the sign that were on fire)

Getting Around : We Now Convoy :D

unicycle stroller razor e90 electric scooter

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 of the kids pushes their own weight 🙂 walkie-talkie installed to handlebar so i can […]

Obstacles. Three Year Olds are Free. This One Should Be Paying!

ctc obstacles in london ontario

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.

Unicycling : Getting Closer and Closer!

unicycle stroller

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.

A Day of Pool Firsts

unschooling in the pool

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…

Better Than Travelling Around In A Rollercoaster? A Roof After Being On It.

unicycle stroller down a parking garage

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’.

Birthday Terrarium From Gramma

terrarium for homeschoolers

Here’s a fun little activity for the kids…let them grow their own life in a container…Well, actually, let them follow the instructions, give or take, to make their own life in a container…I guess we’ll see in a few days if it worked.

A Week of Unschool : Episode 3

unicycle lessons in london ontario

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. We had to find out if we could make some from our existing ingredients. You bet your baking powder we could!

A Week of Unschool : Episode 2

We had another fun week. It was winter jackets and snow at the beginning and no coat scootering at the end of it. We went to the library and were excited to see they added two ipads to the computer section. The three year old went with me to get the cars and trains for the car and train table and wanted to return them before setting them up after I said ‘huh, oh look, they have ipads like at gramma’s library!’

Introducing Children to the Dark Side

star wars lego

Back in my day it was star wars OR lego. or star wars WITH lego!

she hasn’t seen the movies. he’s seen the ‘making of’ 🙂

dad: make sure you put those pieces together very carefully. don’t use FORCE

5yo: good one, dad

It’s all about Roblox at the moment

gaming roblox for unschool

So what do you do if your kid discovers computer games and watches computer game videos on youtube?

You fit as much education into that as possible!