2015 Bucket List

 

2015 Bucket List

I'm not one that makes New Years resolutions, but I do try to have a few things to focus on each year.
One year I decided I was going to focus on my patience, another year was to read more, and often I had a long list of things I wished to work on throughout the year. This year, I have decided I wanted a "Bucket List" of sorts for the upcoming year. Here it goes... (in no particular order)

1) More time outdoors
 Being in Colorado there are only handful of days throughout the year that are either too hot or too cold to go outside.

2) Truly embrace and live the Unschooling life
I feel that this is exactly what we all need at the moment. We all love the freedom to explore as the desire hits. I have very curious and creative children and I want for them to have this time to follow what they are interested in and to truly enjoy being a child and exploring the world around them.

3) More time with family and friends
I hope to have family and friends over for dinner each month and to connect with them for fun outings. We are a very social and busy family but we have not been able to spend as much time with everyone as we have hoped.

4) Get back to church weekly
With so much stuff going on the last few months, and after caring for and losing hubby's dad this fall, we have been unable to make it to church weekly.

5) Have fun
This one is pretty simple. I want us all to have fun each day.

6) Write letters to family, friends, and pen-pals.
Even though we are going to try this unschooling thing, I want to have a strong focus on writing. The kids each have pen-pals and plenty of family and friends to write to, as do I. Everyone loves getting mail and personal letters are something we all can treasure for many years to come.

7) Date night
Hubby and I have not been able to get out on a date night in a very long time. We do make sure to have some time together each night after the kids have gone to bed, but we need to get back to having some time away just the two of us. We also want to get back into having date nights with the kids. Nothing fancy, but we used to take turns having a date night with one child at a time. Daddy would take one of the kids out to get a hamburger and go do something fun, or I would do the same, and at times hubby and I would take one child and have some time with all three of us together. The kids really enjoy and look forward to these date nights, even if it was just a picnic and time at the park. It's special time just for them.

8) Make time for and enjoy my hobbies
Hobbies have taken a back seat for a long time and I miss them terribly. I enjoy sewing and have quite a few projects I need to finish and things I wish to make for my family and friends. I hope to make time, even if it's just one day a month, to sew.
Photography is one of my biggest loves. I have started to get my business going a few times and have to let it go each time as the priorities changed. Family and homeschooling comes first, but this year I plan to just enjoy my photography and not try to make it a "job" as I had in the past. The time for my business will come when it meant to, so for now I am just going to dust off the camera, and myself, and enjoy doing what I love and "gift" my love to friends, family, and anyone else willing to be on the other end of the camera.

9) Clean out!
This one will take a lot of time and work on my part to get the family on board. We have way too much stuff and I would love to simplify by clearing out what we don't need and won't use.
I'd love to sell everything, move into an RV and travel for a year or two, but convincing hubby is going to be incredibly difficult.

10) Go camping more often, and take a family vacation
We all, well at least the kids and I, really enjoy camping. We go at least twice a summer but I'd like to take more little camping trips this spring and summer. My kids are most at home in the mountains, around a camp fire, and outdoors with nature. I also hope we can finally take a family vacation this spring. Again, nothing fancy but we hope to take a drive and go visit the Sand Dunes and maybe Mesa Verde. We will camp the entire time, but to just get away and go see something other than our town, will be a great break and fun for us all.


I'm sure that this year goes on, things will change and our bucket list may as well. That's alright with me, as long as we are working to move forward and keeping God, family, and enjoying life as our top priorities, I'll be happy.

What's on your 2015 Bucket List?

Happy New Year to you all.
I wish you all a wonderful New Year with joy, peace and many blessings.

Our unschooling adventure begins...now!

  We have made quite a few changes in our homeschool journey over the years. This is our 9^th year homeschooling and like most we started with a set curriculum and did school-at-home. Each year I would change a few things to fit our needs better and over the years I became more comfortable making my own lesson plans and eventually planned most all the lessons, though I still used a math curriculum for the kids and a few workbooks here and there to fill in or to get ideas from. The last year or two we have moved into a very relaxed unit study style of homeschool and it has done very well for us. Though in the last few months we have felt burned out and in need of a change, and a break. It has been a long rough year and we are now feeling the full effects of this last year.

I have been feeling pulled or maybe lead to make a drastic change in how we homeschool. So after a lot of research, talking with hubby and the kids, and some more research, we are making the move to an unschooling style of homeschool. Though, I haven't figured out all the details of how this will work just yet. I want to embrace the unschooling life as much as I can. I’m afraid it may somewhat limited because of my personality, but we're going to give it a go anyway.

I'm not the best one to explain what unschooling is just yet as I am still researching and trying to figure out exactly how we will do this. I have found a few posts that explains unschooling quite well and a blog that has many wonderful posts on their unschooling adventures. The first link, “Zen Habits Unschooling” will take you to a great post that describes much of what we are looking and hoping for.

Zen Habits Unschooling
The Natural Child Project
Stories of an Unschooling Family

 I realized after deciding to set the curriculum and school books aside for now, that letting go of the traditional way of thinking about learning opens up opportunities in ways I never imagined. The kids and I have talked about what we each would like to do, what projects we plan to work on, and things we'd like to work into our daily routine. I have to say that I was quite happy when the kids all said they wanted to keep our couch cuddles and reading time. We would read together before, but we often ended up putting it off until after our other work and workbook pages were done. Which of course was more often that I liked, and would mean we missed reading together that day. The kids still did their own reading, we just weren't always able to get our family reading done, which I feel should have been a priority. But I’m excited that it is a top priority now.

For a long time, I was too worried about having pages in a workbook filled out or having each and every single math or English lesson done. I was more concerned about making sure my school planner had enough “schoolish” assignments listed and checked off, and making sure we did enough to appease what others would expect a proper homeschool family to do. Even though, I knew it wasn’t what we needed to be doing.

Looking back, it was clear even then that the kids learned far more when we were out on one of our adventures, working on a hands-on activity, spending time with grandparents and great-grandparents, or reading about and exploring places the kids were interested in. Very few if any workbook assignments have been remembered, yet all three kiddos can tell you every detail of each of our adventures and stories we’ve read or activities and projects we’ve done. I’ve known this for a long time and have tried to adjust things as much as I thought was right.  I have come to a point when the tears over a math lesson, or frustration with diagraming a sentence (not necessary until late high school or college level) and stress over concepts one is clearly not ready for, is not acceptable to me anymore. Homeschooling is not something we do between the hours of 8am and 3pm, it truly is a life style and when that lifestyle or something within that lifestyle begins to affect the family harmony and relationships and ability to move forward, a change is needed.

For us, that change is not giving up on homeschooling, it’s taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture. The bigger picture I see, is not a race or competition to finish on top or first. It’s the journey of exploration and learning how to learn and to love learning. This is why we are making the change. I want for my children to have an absolute love of learning and exploring, not a long list of memorized facts or formulas. I want them to be inspired to investigate and dig deeper into what they find interesting. I don’t want them to trudge through what a school book says they are required to do. I want for them to have the freedom to pursue what they wish, and to have the freedom, support, guidance, and resources to do so.

I am making a leap of faith into what I truly feel is right for all of us. Don’t tell, but I’m also keeping my fingers crossed in hopes that this journey I see play out in my head, will be everything I think it will be.

You’re welcome to join us on our journey as we jump in with both feet and see what happens.

          

We're still here...

                  Once again, life has taken over and held my blog hostage. Life, and the need for sleep has kept my blog out of reach and gathering dust. My poor neglected blog.

Well as you can see we are still here. It has been a busy and long few months since I last posted, but we are well and moving forward.

The kiddos keep growing, in spite of my demands to quit growing. Our homeschool journey continues and it on most days is still enjoyed by all. Hubby and I are still loving this crazy thing we call life, and I am looing forward to a fun Christmas with my family and a New Year.

I know this is a very short post, but I will be back soon to update on life and our homeschool journey.

I hope you all are dong well.

Camping Photos Part 2



The kids have so much fun camping each year.

A good part of that reason, along with playing in the mountains and fishing, is riding the

zip line my grandpa sets up each year.

 

A good nap is always welcome after a long day of playing in the creek and running through

the mountains...barefoot.

 Shoes are so overrated. 

 

Daddy and Little Man enjoyed riding up the mountain trails on the ATV.

Little Man tells it as though he was the one driving and Daddy was just "enjoying" the ride.

 

Wild Thing lasted about ten minutes once we made it to camp before he took off fishing!

 He had talked of nothing else for weeks before this trip.

His weekend was quite successful when it came to fishing, he caught nearly 12 fish all on his own.

He was quite proud of himself.

 

Playing in the creek is a favorite past-time.

Though, this year the water was a tad bit cooler than previous years.

So the time spent in the creek was still often, but short and sweet.

 

Little Man decided to test the water before he jumped in again.

And yes, it was still cold, but still so much fun!

 

We were treated to a beautiful rainbow after a short round of rain.

 

The sunsets are such a treat each night.

 

I got up before the rest of the family on the last day at camp and enjoyed

the peaceful woods alone. It was nice to have some time alone to walk through the woods.

God's beautiful creation, is amazing.

 

It was nice to get back to the "natural" cycle of going to bed when the sun goes

down, and waking up with the sun. It just felt, right!

 

This is part of the road to camp. Specifically, the part of the road where the kids

remind me to put the John Denver cd in and start our almost-to-camp song.

Every year, we listen to John Denver's Take Me Home Country Roads, as we make the drive

up the dirt road to camp.

 

The meadow just as we're leaving.

It's the perfect place for my log cabin.

 



 

We would love to live near our camp someday.

The kids and I have already decided we would be quite happy in the little

town just down from camp. Hubby still needs a little a little more convincing.

Camping Photos -Part 1-

      We had a wonderful time camping over the 4th of July. We enjoyed being outdoors for four days, and I truly loved being tech-free for the weekend. I turned off my cell phone and didn't miss it the entire time. It was nice. Now to just work on starting another tech-free week for the family!

I promised I share some camping photos, so here we go...

 

We took a nice hike up the mountain trail and were pleased to enjoy such beautiful sites along the way.

 

I love taking shots from different angles.





 

Each year I take this a picture from this very spot.

And every year it's so different but, absolutely beautiful.

 

 

 



 

Though we didn't enjoy sitting around the campfire in the rain,

we all were treated with a beautiful rainbow afterwards.

If you look closely on the right, it was a double rainbow. 

I love this shot. It was just the perfect setting. 

 

 

The photos never quite do the beauty of this place justice, but I'm sure you can see why we enjoy this place year after year.

 

What did you do for the 4th of July? Do you have a favorite camping place?





Quick post...

This picture has absolutely no point in the post. I just happen to love frogs and think this frog looks like one awesome guy...or girl.   

  

One of these days, probably during the winter when we're not quite so busy, I'll manage to get back into the habit of blogging regularly. I miss blogging and I miss reading my blogger buddies' posts. Though a few times a week I try to take a quick peek a blog post or two. 

It has been an odd summer so far. Busy and yet, not. We did get up into the mountains over the 4th and had a great time. We spent nearly four days in the mountains and away from the city. It was so nice to be up in the woods again,walking through the trees and playing in the creek...the COLD creek! It was a much needed outdoor break us all. 

The kids were so happy to be back "home" in hills. They spent the entire four days outdoors playing, fishing, riding ATV's, having water fights, romping though the trees, sitting by the campfire, and turning from nice clean kiddos to dirt covered,and completely happy creatures. They enjoyed roasting marshmallows and hot dogs over the fire and hot chocolate around the campfire. And I couldn't forget the zip line! Every year my grandpa brings and sets up a cable zip line across the small creek we camp near. It is something the kids look forward to all year long! They spend a great deal of the weekend sending each other across the creek and spraying each other with squirt guns as they ride across. 

With us and the kids being so familiar with our campsite and knowing how safe it is up where we camp, I am able to actually sit down and enjoy a little quiet time while the kids play. As much as I miss my kiddos being little I enjoy camping more now that I am able to let the kids run and play, within their boundaries, and not have to chase them each and every step of the way. 

I will return soon and share some of our camping photos. Until then, I hope you all are having a wonderful summer. 

**Please ignore all the grammar and spelling mistakes, I'm posting on an ipad and can't figure out how to scroll back up to correct anything. Though, I'm sure if I woke my daughter, she'd know how to fix it all. 

This is my favorite quote: 

Homeschool Project Fair Photos...Finally.

Once again, life has been busy and I have not had the time to update my poor neglected blog.
I am glad life is busy as it keeps me from adding too much more to my plate, but I sure look forward to a few lazy days up in the mountains and far away from the city!

As I promised, here are some of the photos from our Homeschool Project Fair back in May.
I was very pleased with how well it turned out. We had 20 projects entered, which consisted of simple projects from kids as young as five to quite involved projects done by a whole family.

We had art work, photographs, Lego creations, models, yummy projects that were shared with all, sweet scented candles, and more. Here are a few samples:

 

We had a young lady enter a history of Lego's project. It was a fantastic project. She had a great deal of information as well as a few samples of Lego creations and a video she made on an iPad.

Another young lady entered a project showing the geography of South America. She included a game in which visitors were asked to locate the different locations within South America. Sadly, I tried the game and was only able to locate three of her twenty-five listed places to find. Guess what I'm working on this summer? Yep, some geography!

We had a wonderful young lady enter homemade candles, which she made herself. They were very pretty to look at, and they smelled wonderful.



Lady Bug entered a drawing of a mermaid she had done earlier in the year. She loves to drawing.
The history of Popcorn was a hit! Everyone was happy to have a tasty treat while visiting the fair.
Our youngest fair participant was only five years old. She made a lovely painting of flowers in spring.
One of the Lego creations entered, was a Dog Park. He put a great deal of thought and work into his project.
Another little boy entered his project of the human body. He was shy, yet he did a great job telling everyone about what he learned while doing this project.

After spending a few months working on some Colorado history and then focusing our attention to the history of mining, we (the kids, myself, and my mom) worked to create this mining town model and display board with detailed information about mining back in the 1800's and pit mining now days. Having family involved in these projects has been a wonderful experience for us all.

The clock was made by the kids' grandpa for his dad many years ago. We were excited to use it in with our model for the fair.
The kids did most of the work on our model. They, with some help from grandma or myself, built cardboard buildings, a water tower, farm fencing, trees, and even a boardwalk along the old town stores.

We had a great time working on this project and learning a great deal about mining history. With the success of this project fair, we have decided to make this an annual event for our homeschool group and other interested local homeschool families.

Little Man had fun creating a Lego jail/castle, a car, and a motorcycle to go along with the dragon. Wild Thing  found a model of the Spirit of St. Louis, and after reading a little about it, he painted the model then went on to make a Lego model of it as well. He also entered a drawing he had done earlier in the year,  which he won a ribbon for at the homeschool art show this winter.
And last, our post card collection. A few months ago, we decided to start collecting post cards. We hope to have all fifty states by Christmas this year. We have already been sent cards from twenty states and nine or ten different countries. We were sent some post cards that belonged to my grandma who passed just a few months ago. One of the post cards we were sent is over a hundred years old! We are having a lot of fun collecting these cards.

The word of our project fair reached so much more than I imagined. Though we did not have a huge turn out of those visiting the fair, I found quite a few groups and organizations had heard about the fair we were putting on. In fact, we even met a local council woman that stopped by to support fellow homeschool families. She had heard about our fair in the local paper and as a previous homeschooler came by show her support and say, "hi." She was happy to see these children have an outlet to show their creativity and be recognized for their hard work.

A week after the fair, we held a reception of sorts for the fair participants. We enjoyed some snacks and handed out awards, ribbons, and a copy of all the comments left by our visitors. Before the fair I worked up a comment form for everyone who visited to write encouraging words to those who entered projects. Each project had nearly 20 comments from visitors, all of which were very kind and supportive. There we very simple comments such as, "Great Job", to more detailed comments telling the kids how creative and informative their projects were. The comments may have been my favorite part of the fair. Every kid/teen that entered a project was given a great deal of positive feedback on their project and hard work. I believe this will have a hand in encouraging these kiddos to join in our fair again next year.

There is so much more that went into this fair and even just in our own projects though I don't have the time to write another book to tell you everything. Overall the fair was a great success and wonderful experience for us all. I look forward to our Homeschool Project Fair again next year!