Today I took the kids to a play day with the Carthage Homeschool group. I met up with a friend from church and her 12 year old daughter there . The kids all had a great time. The older ones hung out, talked and walked to the store. Donna (16) had a very good discussion with my mom who joined us for the play day about the merits of unschooling. I think mostly my mom tried to convince Donna that sticking to a schedule was important so you learn to be responsible and be on time for a job. Donna's main point seemed to be that school is oppressive and depressing. She's on the second chapter of The Teenage Liberation Handbook, hopefully she'll get the idea that learning is fun and exciting as long as it's done at the students pace and a subject that the learner is interested in. I helped Donna out by pointing out people we knew that went to (public) school who were still unable to keep a job because of tardiness. Oh and by the way my mom totally supports my homeschooling (even my unschooling) her and Donna just enjoy sparring back and forth!
After we got back from the play day I picked up my nephew Noah and he and Kyle rode their bikes together. I got bored so I went outside with Lacey and Lily and watched all the kids ride their bikes together. While they were riding I started looking in the trees and noticed a bird's nest. That led to us walking around the block trying to spot bird nests in the trees. We spotted so many! I never really noticed how many bird nests there were around here. Well, that led to a discussion on bird nests: Why are we seeing so many? Why are they so high up? Why are some so much bigger than others? I wonder if there are eggs in the nests. It was very cool. Like a totally unplanned nature/ science moment. Then they met up with the neighbor's grandsons and rode bikes together, played baseball and then spent the evening roasting marshmallows together. I think Kyle made some good friends today.
Donna and Ashley meanwhile decided to play 2000 ( a card game) together. This is a little surprising because they aren't much for hanging out together unless it's with other people also. I hope maybe this will become more of a habit.
All in all we had a great day! It was so nice out and so nice just being with the kids!
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