Our Little Athletes

Aubriel had her Winter Gymnastics Recital today...She did awesome of course!I loved seeing how much she has improved!Then I was able to watch some of the old boys play their first games of basketball for the year...I caught Gage's team warm up before their first game...They tied 39-39Then I caught the end of Kain's first game.He played against his friend, Janelle.They unfortunately lost but Kain had some great shots!And to finish it off a great action shot of Gage playing while Kain's game was ending. I love this picture!

"Play is the highest form of research." -Albert Einstein

Well, Gage has been "homeschooling" for a month now and I have been asked quite often what we do during the day and how it's going. What I didn't tell people when I took him out of school is that I planned to take more of an unschooling approach to his "schooling." So I have been getting many blank stares and puzzled looks when I tell them I am thrilled that Gage has learned to play again this month!

The first week he asked me what he should do and I came up with different things for him to do which he did without question.

The second week he would ask me again what he should do but when I gave suggestions he said he didn't feel like it.

The third week he stopped asking me and continued about his day as he saw fit.

But the fourth week, this last week, he started playing again. Actually playing, not video games or watching TV but showed an interest in using his mind again in a fun way. He built a fort with Brody and Ozzye and played with them. Now I don't want to make it sound like my children never play, of course they do. But Gage does not usually take the initiative to build things like this... that is almost always left up to Kain, or someone "older" to "show him how it's done." He is very artistic and yet feels aside from drawing on paper he can not do things without someone showing him what he is suppose to be doing. He is actually probably even more imaginative than Kain but since starting his second year of school we have noticed this has decreased dramatically and he certainly will never play with the younger ones much at all.It seems like we go through this every summer. Just about the time the kids figure out how to entertain themselves and have fun again it is time to go back to school!I think the best part that came after this day was that he asked me once again if he could do "something." Like what they do in school. He actually asked me to teach him something. He WANTED it! He wasn't going to do it because someone told him he should but because it was his choice to learn something that interested him. So we took a trip to School House and he picked out some books that looked interesting to him.Now Brody learned this week that if you wet tissue and throw it at the bathroom mirror it will stick 4 out of 5 times. Of course when I share Brody's experiment with people they find it not only amusing but a wonderful learning experience so it makes me wonder why Gage's experience is any less wonderful and amazing simply because of his age? So to answer the question homeschooling or unschooling is going well and Dave and I are thrilled to see Gage's smile and happy go lucky personality show through now and then again. Hopefully it will continue to show brighter as time goes on!

"Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children."

United Nations

Universal Declaration of Human Rights