Makana's Restaurant - Pizza Cups are the main feature

Makana, Li and I made homemade pizza cups.  We even made the dough from scratch!  Makana kneeded it all by herself for ten minutes!  She also made a restaurant to serve them in and made up a menu.

Makana Gives Out Valentine Hearts

2/14/2011 - Makana wanted to make valentine hearts for everyone in our neighborhood.  She wanted to go door to door to give them out.  She cut out many sizes of valentines for a few nights to add to the collection that she had and put them all in a bag.  Li, Kanoa and I went with her to the houses she wanted to go to.  Sometimes she stuck a valentine in a mailbox.  She delighted many neighbors we knew and we even met new neighbors.  She said that it made her heart feel so good to make others smile and she loved all the thank you's.  Tom (one of our favorite neighbors) surprised her by giving her a bar of organic dark chocolate! 

Li often went with Makana to spread valentine cheer.

"I'm giving out my hearts today!  On Valentine's Day!  I'm five right now!"

One of the houses they dropped off a valentine to.

A Timely Thread on Ask Unschooling Offspring about Teen trying out school

A post I wrote on Ask_Unschooling_Offspring on Feb 9, 2011 -

Hi! My 13 yr old daughter Katie wants to try high school too! We've always unchooled, so this will be a big change. I have fears and worries too. Mostly because of how she sees herself as wanting to fit in with her schooled friends and be like them and they are not as honest, considerate, respectful or trustworthy as our homeschooled friends!

Her schooled friends sometimes joke with her and call her a "special friend" (like she is "slow" because she homeschools) which I don't think is nice. In the past, the kids have told her what they are learning and then said that she will have to know all of that and they can help her catch up. It sounds so demeaning to me and yet kind of them to offer too if they sincerely want to do something they see as helping. I am worried she feels like she is lacking because she doesn't know everything they know. I thought she realized she could
learn what she wants when she wants to and that we would gladly help her (which we've always done). Maybe she does realize that, but wants to be with those friends doing what they do. And she doesn't know what school is really like from her own experience and wants to find out.

Some days I can be in a place where I can think of school as any other thing she wants to try out and I can feel good that she has the courage to try it and do what she feels is right for her. But this is hard because it is supporting her in attending an institution that I don't believe in and that goes against *my* values in many ways.

Yet the idea of *supporting my daughter is even more important* than what I think of schools. So I need to try to separate supporing Katie from my own beliefs about schools. What a growing experience this will be for me!

Other times I get caught up in my own self and sort of take it personally like when I wonder if I failed somehow by not making being out of school as good as the idea of school.

In spite of knowing better, sometimes I feel resistance in supporting her.

I am fearful being around schooled kids so much will have a negative influence on her. ie. She will not be her true self because she will try to fit in.  I also worry that maybe she will believe it if the schools classify her into a category (honors, average, slower classes). Or maybe she will be embarassed about what her friends think about which classes she gets into or doesn't. She seems to worry about what they think alot.  Anyway, that's what I have been thinking about!

Christina, your post uplifted me too and will surely help me remember to dwell more on the positive and try to quell my negative thoughts as much as I can!

Laurie (Mom to Katie 13, Li 9, Makana 5 and Kanoa 2)
----------------


Below is the wonderful, uplifting and insightful (and oh so timely for me!) post Christina wrote to someone on the same thread on Jan 28, 2011...


Re: [Ask_Unschooling_Offspring] Re: My 13yo wants to try high school

Karen,

I am not an unschooling offspring, but an unschooling mom.  I do feel inspired to share my 2 cents though, so you can take what is helpful for you and leave the rest.

(snip - I cut out some of this post and left the parts that spoke most to me to keep things a little shorter....lw)
you said: I feel like he has never really embraced unschooling and all that this lifestyle offers, so I feel like he's not making an informed decision in wanting to go to school.

how can he make an informed decision unless he has experienced school???

maybe he hasn't embraced all of the freedom you see in this life because he has never been in the stifling situation that so many kids live through - to me school felt like prison - so by contrast I can fully appreciate the freedom this lifestyle offers - my kids might never fully appreciate it until they find themselves in a situation (like a job or something) where their freedom is taken away

maybe it will take him going to school where a different adult is telling him what to do every hour, and he has to comply with a set of arbitrary rules in order for him to appreciate the freedom he has - and take full advantage of it!

you said: And yet, I know that there's no point now trying to convince him to stay home, so I've decided that I simply must support & encourage him in this decision. Our new school year is about to start so I guess it's going to happen! :(     Still feeling sad and like I haven't done a good enough job :(


You can't change the past so all you can do is just start now - let him do EVERYTHING that he is interested in, including school. JOYFULLY support his decisions (even if you know they will backfire on him)

That is the ONLY way he will learn what he wants (and doesn't want) in life.

Maybe he will love school, maybe he won't, but it's not your journey. It's his and he must make it.

and when I say "joyfully support" that means no more frowny faces when you talk about his choices and decisions coming to be! ;-)

and no more frowny faces about your past decisions either - just be grateful he has the freedom he does to make his own choice now - he will be going into school WILLINGLY - not as a prisoner - and he can leave at any time if he decides to! :)

Find a new way to look at it that makes you feel joyful or excited for him or something positive. I see it as an amazing turn of events that so many more parents are trusting kids to make their own decisions and kids are being fully supported in pursuing their desires. What a wonderful world this can be if ALL kids are trusted and supported in that way!!!

Peace to you and your family - and good luck with this school experiment!

Christina

My Feelings On Katie Wanting To Try Out High School Next Year

Wed feb 2, 2011 – I posted on radicalunschooling yahoo gp the following:


(snip - took out part I was responding to and beg of post and left in more relevant part)
My 13 yr old will be trying out high school next year. Because I don't truly like the institution of schools for various reasons (and I love our unschooling life and philosophy and having her with me and the rest of the family so much), my wish was that my children would continue to unschool.

However, the thing I want most for my daughter is for her to do what she wants to do. Right now she wants to understand what school is all about - being graded and taking a full load of courses.

The thing I want most for me is to truly be happy and accepting and understanding and supporting of her just as I'd be for any other endeavor she wants to explore. Her going to school will help me to learn even more about how to keep loving and be grateful for her experiences she will be having even though she will be making choices very differently than I would.

Deep inside I have different fears (and I am still slowly thinking on each of them). Overall though, I trust her own decision about this and I know it will have lots of learning experiences for both of us (whether it is the best thing she has ever done or whether she decides it wasn't for her).

Laurie (mom to Katie 13, Li 9, Makana 5 and Kanoa 2)

Misc Family Time

(Note: Lost the actual date I wrote this....going back and publishing some of the many drafts I have started and never finished...taking a guess that this was mid January 2011??)

Katie and Li have been playing Yughio all day!  This is Katie's first time playing with Li and they both sound like they are really enjoying it.  Lots of loud talking, Li laughing, both of them involved doing something meaningful to each of them and connecting with one another.  So good to witness!  I love being able to see this happen!

Kana just counted out 20 valentine paper doilies and wanted me to count them aloud too(which I just did).  She wanted me to see that there were really twenty because at first many of them stuck together and she thought she only had four.  Kana loves to surprise people!  She is off to make valentines!  I'll join her shortly. 

It snowed all day today.  I was making soup (Kanoa just said "Pee" for the first time and pointed to his diaper area!!!  He has just finished his nap and a long nursing session.  His "pee" sounded like "eeee" but I realized what he meant after he repeated it and pointed at his diaper area.  He is a great communicator!  Took a break from writing this.....Kanoa did the same thing again tonight - he said Peeeeee and pointed to his diaper area!  Cool! It almost sounds like how he says "cheese" too.  Luckily I will be able to tell the difference I think!)

Da Da Football! Boom Booms and Kanoa turns two!

Wolfie and Kanoa have so much fun playing football!  Kanoa wants to keep playing and playing!  Gives them both a great workout too!   

Kanoa's latest new words he is saying: "Roll" (when he wanted to eat one..has added this to his reg vocabulary) and "No" (he said "No" one night in repetition after hearing it, but hasn't said it again yet).  I think he might be saying "fumble" too.  He gives a cough when he wants water (probably because once when he had a cough I offerred water to him almost every time he coughed!).  He has probably learned other words too, but I can't think of them now.

A couple days ago Makana was sitting on the couch watching tv.  Kanoa and I came downstairs and sat by her.  Kanoa climbed onto her lap facing her and gave her a huge hug.  He looked so big in her arms.  She loved it and embraced him.  That was so nice to see!  Kanoa truly loves playing with Makana especially - maybe because they are closer in size and enjoy many of the same things.

Kanoa also likes playing "Woooooo!" - This is when we go into Li's bedroom and turn off the lights and say OOOOoooooohhhhhh!  as we look at the glow-in-the-dark stars on his ceiling and somewhat run around with or without flashlights.  I turn back on the lights a little when I think someone might be close to a wall or person and then someone yells to turn the lights off again and we do it all over again.     

When Katie was a baby she used to love to turn on and off the light switches.  I would hold her for long periods of time and she'd flick the switches on and off smiling each time I shouted "It's off!" or "It's on!"  Kanoa also loves to do this.  I used to hold him most often, but now he usually climbs on a chair by the lightswitch and manipulates the switches on his own.  He does this for a while.  He used to love making the ceiling fan go too, but now seems more into the lights.  It must be so cool to realize you can control things like lights!

Favorite shows: Dora the Explorer, Jay-Jay the Jet Plane, Scooby Doo (who can resist that "Woo Woo!")

Until very recently, when I prepared or cooked or cleaned up in the kitchen I made sure Kanoa was within my eyesight, watched by an older sibling or was napping because he needed supervision.  If I couldn't cook because he was very active, then I would try to bring toys into the kitchen that he hadn't played with in a while.  That would work for a short period, longer if Makana and/or Li played too.  Play Doh was another fav thing to do while I chopped veggies or prepared meals.  Feeding him O's or snacks also kept him busy in the kitchen.  Bringing out a big soup pot and some big wooden spoons also made being in the kitchen more fun.  There were times when I just couldn't cook...thank goodness for cereal and fruit or toast and carrot sticks!  But usually we could scramble something together and I tried to cook so we'd have leftovers in order to minimize preparing food every night.  As Kanoa got to be about a year and a half or more, he began to like to watch the dvd player in the dining room while snacking.  He would watch for a longer period of time and that helped me to get the food going more quickly and I could easily check on him since he was just around the wall.  When Jim isn't home, I still do cooking and cleaning when the time feels "right" to me and luckily one of his older siblings is usually willing to entertain him or hang out with him for a while.  I am sure I'll feel even more at ease as time goes by and he gets older.   



Kanoa playing the drums in a new spot ..the kitchen!



A couple of weeks ago (12/20/2010) in the morning Kanoa wanted to play the "boom booms" (drums) which are upstairs in the guest room.  The guest room's temperature is held at 50 F degrees for the winter unless we're having a sleepover.  I really wanted to make breakfast and to stay warm.  To create a win/win solution, I asked Kanoa if he would like me to bring the drums down to the kitchen and he liked that idea (he doesn't say "yes," but has this intonation that he does that we all know means "yes").  I at first only brought down two drum pieces.  He let me know he wanted more.  So I brought down the rest.  Kanoa now plays the drums very often in the kitchen and has the biggest smile on his face.  I am so glad to have them available to him as I know he gets such enjoyment out of them.  Maybe I can find a picture of him or a little video.  This has worked out well for me too as it is yet another thing to keep his interest while he is near me as I do things in the kitchen.  Sometimes if it feels loud I take one look at Kanoa's face and see how he loves playing and I am happy inside.  It is pleasurable to me too because I notice Jim enjoying watching Kanoa play and be so into it.  Kanoa uses so much energy to play the drums and has a huge smile on his face.  Nice all around! 

Here is a video from the morning we first brought down the drumset. 

Christmas: Kanoa called decorated Christmas trees "Ho Ho's."  He didn't think anything of a "Santa" before this year that I know of.  However, I think after this season he now understands Santa is related to the decorated tree as we've read about Santa in Clifford books, saw Santas frequently and talked about "Santa" over the past month.  But Kanoa calls Santa a "Ho Ho" just like the tree.

On Dec 28th, Kanoa turned two.  The night before his birthday I lamented about not having a little one year old anymore.  However, I know it was just a moment I was having and I do look so forward to all the fun times ahead!  Makana and I made a chocolate vinegar cake for Kanoa's birthday.  It would not come out of the pan in one piece...so I molded it together with my hands and put on the buttercream frosting...hey, it will still taste good, right!  

When Jim came home from work, he brought a package that had come in the mail.  Kanoa (with help from Li and Makana and I) opened it and we all played a bit with the new toy.  Then we brought the cake to the table and lit the candles.  Kanoa enjoyed the blowing of the candles alot..so we lit and blew them out a few times.  Then we had cake.  And now...a new year...I wonder what adventures lie ahead?!

Random cleaning and organizing

My kids have been helping out so much lately.... 

A few days ago Katie spontaneously reorganized the pantry in the kitchen!  She even alphabetized the spices! (Katie was chatting with Jim as she was doing the organizing and he mentioned that it might be easier to find the spices if they were alphabetized rather than in order according to size.  She liked that idea and tried it out.) 

Earlier the same day Makana organized the play kitchen.  We took a picture of it to remember it before Kanoa played with it as he would move things around. 

A day or so later we went grocery shopping. When we returned home, Katie helped put the groceries away taking care to keep the kitchen cabinet organized.


Yesterday Makana made her bed taking care to make it look smooth and decorate with her pillows and stuffed special bears.  She made sure it still looked just as good when Daddy came home so she could show him.  She was so proud of herself!

Today Makana had a rip in her black stretchy pants.  I was busy with Kanoa and Makana wanted to mend the pants right away.  Katie offerred to help, got out a needle and thread and sewed them!  Voila!  Wow!!

Makana has recently been combing her hair, using cream rinse to keep it tangle free, taking extra notice as to how she looks with regard to her hair. 

She also wanted to clean the bathtub/shower and did so drying every last drop of water and admiring how nice it looked to her. 

She and Kanoa have been enjoying using wipes (Kanoa's bottom wipes) to clean the windows or the glass sliding doors.