Freedom of Choice to live our lives, the way we deemed fit to.

We've stopped over for a few days at Nottingham at my girlfriend's house for a couple days before continuing forth towards Scotland.

This not only gave us a lovely opportunity to finally catch up with our friends, it also provided Jnr an opportunity to be up close with a dog - a dalmation as big as him, and interestingly, an unexpected insight to how well we've done, unschooling wise.

For a start, we were very pleased to see how comfortable and confident Jnr was with the dog. He was touching, teasing and playing with the dog. I am almost expecting him to roll over with the dog LOL!! 2 years ago, Jnr would have been climbing all over us, trying to get away from the dog. He would have been nervous to a point of panicking.


And then it was the affect Jnr had on my girlfriend. This girlfriend, is married but by choice do not have kids. She was clearly affected by Jnr's very opened directness, confidence of his own decisions and his own freedom in choices.


It was quite amusing to see how my girlfriend is trying very hard to comprehend the sheer "this feels so wrong and unbelievable" fact that my 8 yrs old does what he wants, sleep when he wants, eat when he wants and basically is in control of his life to a large extend.


This incident has basically got me thinking and realised that yes, the backbone of our unschooling philosophy has evolved.

We have started out homeschooling with the objective to learning without school. To learn naturally without boundaries, no schedule and no timetable.

And then we morphed into unschooling. By starting to encourage learning from just living our lives. No co-ercion. Academic learning just happens to be a "by-product" of our daily lives. Like learning to count, ad, subtract, multiply and divide is just another skill Jnr learned from his decisions on how best to spend his pocket money. And now, we even have a DS Brain Training competition going on between him, his dad and me. More maths and spelling trials LOL!!


We encourage any shape or form of self directed interest be it tv, books, video games, the internet or toy purchases and many more. My kid loves toys, every kid does, who doesn't? Even i love toys.

Everything is a Yes and a Possibility.

Every toy or new game, online subscription or trip is a possible Yes to Jnr. It's just a question of how and when. This allows Jnr to understand that every toy he wants is possible, and have the confidence that he will get it, and to use his own mind and skills to analyse and deduce the available resources to match that thought process from "thinking, to wanting to achieving that object of desire". This gives substance to that "waiting period", giving it more reasons and sense, making it less painful.

The saying "when there's a will, there's a way" applies here.


Learning with no boundaries. Because time is no longer a concept applicable to our lives, because we choose not to have it. Therefore Jnr is not bound by any time frame to finish or accomplish any activities or projects. This has allowed him to "buzz" like a busy bee between projects of his choice. Some big, some small, some is accomplishes within half an hour, and some is a constant headache and is constantly put on the back burner, brought out only when he's got a better theory.

But nevertheless, he knows time is plenty, and he has the joyful freedom to allow his mind flow and form, in any direction.


As such, what he is capable of thinking, he is capable of materialising. He knows he is capable of translating his thoughts into it's tangible form because, he knows he has the freedom to progress into any "doing" that he feels is right.


We have realised that because we have relinquish our parental "right to control his life" back to our son, we have allowed him endless opportunity to practice living life, making good decisions, making bad decision, repeating mistakes until he had enough and decide an alternative is required, exhausting his own theories before he's willing to be open to someone else's idea.


No mistake is a bad mistake. It is just sometimes painful, messy and frustrating. But always a lesson in disguise.

All decisions are decisions. It can be a good or as bad as he deem it to be.

But most of all, as we are all individuals and it's a free world, so mummy, daddy and Jnr is entitled to thier "very own" opinion, which is entirely acceptable and perfectly ok. He just have to learn to argue his case convincingly to mummy and daddy, and I have to say, he is beginning to show very good debating skills and is beginning to win us over, more and more now LOL!!!

Over the past 2 years, he has become a very well informed, focus, comfortable, confident boy, aware and wise about the world around him.

Which explains why he has no concern or apprehension stating to my girlfriend that he doesn't need to sleep yet because his mind is too busy completing his game on his DS LOL!!

Yes, I am convinced that Freedom of Choice is a good platform for my son to approach life.

Home Ed. Stories UK

I seems to be having a problem with my blog. Alot of it's facilities dissappeared hence i'm unable to link my blog to Clara's Home Ed stories uk. No wonder alot of my stuff is missing from the page LOL!! Ohh..speak kitchen gadgets to me anytime, but put me infront of a techie issue, i can fee....eeel my migraine coming on LOL!!


So for now, until i figured it out, here's the link
http://homeeducationstoriesuk.blogspot.com

What are we reading...

We always have a few books on-going.

We have finally finished that long story about the Trojan Wars and Helen of Troy.

We were reading George and the key to the Universe by Stephen Hawkings. But unfortunately it belongs to someone else, so we had to return it. I'll have to get a copy form the library soon, but then I'm thinking it might be worth buying a copy fr ourselves.

We've starting The DiVIDE by Elizabeth Kay. Jnr seems to enjoy this story and he has checked out the back cover and mentioned to me of her other 2 books. So I've took note of this and will remember to get it.

On the side, we have another story by Charlie James called FISH. Well, it is about a boy eating some fish crisps that his father (a fish food manufacturer) invented for aquariums usage. We never got further than 10 pages, so not too sure yet what this book is all about. The sypnosis mentioned something about an encouter with a killer whale. Which is why I picked this book, because Jnr loves Orcas.

Pyjama Jones by JA Jennings. We are still struggling thru this story. We just felt that the story doesn't match up to it's exciting title and book cover. Jnr picked this book up, following his fascination with Indiana Jones's adventures. But the it's details and long -winded description is becoming very draggy and...long winded, frankly speaking. We're thru to pg 34, out of a 180 pages book, and we have yet to feel any real exciting adventure other than non-stop description of a mummy tomb and an Egyptian burial. Really, a rehash of what we have already knew from numerous documentaries.

Everything's going swell.

It's coming to our 2nd anniversary of the day we took Jnr our of school.

We have been deschoooling-transitioning to homeschooling to dipping our toes in unschooling for the first 8 months. Followed by 9 months of rocky transition of letting go of expectations of results, of me learning to saying Yes more and less of No, me learning to not let any opinions or rules stop us from doing alot of things. And most of all, no co-ercion or structured lessons.

6 months later, life settled into a comfortable "confident" routine which is leading us to our 2nd anniversary of "education without school" in December.


Jnr is happy and confident. He is very aware of what is happening and is constantly absorbing up everything around him. I have managed to bridge my existance equally to his. So most of the time now, I do look at him equally, as a human being and not so much of as an adult to a child.

This dynamics gives an automatic provision of me allowing him plenty of freedom and space allowing him plenty of life decisions practice, promoting maturity and confidence. Inturn, it allowed me plenty of opportunity to understand and know my son.

We have relinquished all workbooks and don't do any curriculum or syllabbus anymore.


Our learnings can be found via playing. From pc educational games, reading lots of stories, playing with ps2 games and setting up train sets and building Lego.

Recently, Jnr's into Nintendog. So he can always be found training, feeding and grooming his 3 Nintendogs called Cutie, Nacho and Waffles. He named them all, on his own. From a kid who doesn't like animals, I am so proud to see him blossoming into a pet owner wannabe. We're even talking about having a real pet.

We're also into video watching on bed now. So we're catching up on lots more stories via the video. Yesterday, we've finished watching The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.


I've realised I've have successfully merged into unschooling when I am able to approach everyday as a new, unexpected day. My days now is like a new present unveiling itself. Everything my son does, is an eye opener for me.

Like what I wrote in response to another unschooler's plea for help.

Your child is a Flower. It will unfurl and blossom in all pace and directions. You will not tell the Flower that it's unfurling the wrong petal, will you? Or tell it that it is blossoming only on one side first, and that it's wrong because it's supposed to blossom sysmetrically, will you? Will you tell that flower that it is blossoming wrong, and turn out ugly?

Of course not. You step back and wait patiently, having full confidence that the flower will bloom fully.

So think of your child like a Flower blooming his/ her petals in different direction and paces. Every day of tv watching, or ps2 playing is just petals unfurling.

Eventually, your beautiful Flower will unfurl each and every petal and become a balance Blossom, in perfect sysmetrics.


My advice to get to this stage of happy and confident unschooling life?

Patience. Lots of it. It will be very very testing, difficult and rocky in the beginning. When will it get easier, is entirely up to you.

Determination. This is what you want. Wanting the best for your kids is what you want. So, Never give up no matter how difficult and hard.

Confidence. That you will get there eventually.

Focus. When the going gets tough, regain your perspective by focusing why you're doing this in the first place. Look far and imagine what sort character you will wish for your kid. I always visualised a happy, confident and content man. That's my focus.

Be Free. Let go of all your dos and don'ts and start being carefree with your decisions. If it won't kill your kid, then why not try it out?

Be adventurous. Until you try something out, you won't know the result. How would you know eating cupcakes all the time will make your kid sick, unless you have tried it?

How would you know your kid will stop staring at the tv? You won't, until you've tried it and trust me, they will stop staring at the tv. It's only a matter of when. So how would you know how long will it take your kids to get fed-up and walk away from that tv screen? Well, you won't know until you've tried it.

Genghis Khan

Jnr's fascination with ancient history is still going strong. So I'm capitalising on this opportunity to introduce another famous ancient ruler - Genghis Khan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28OLBrW6PSM&feature=related

Interestingly the dvd that we rented came in only one language - Mongolian.
So we watched it in Mongolian language, with English subtitles.

On the Trail of Ancient China

Jnr has a strong fascination with the late Empress Dowager Tsu Hzi. After much rooting around on the internet, this is what we found.

We found a whole series of documentary on the Forbidden City and it's long line of Emperors and Empress.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCefoa3CFUQ&feature=related

We're museum-ed out!!

We went to Colchester for 2 days early this week.

First stop was the Natural History Museum, housed in an old church. It was small but interesting enough to keep Jnr occupied. There's alot of info on stag beetles and there's a huge electronic metal stag beetle that moves when you press it's switch.

We then moved onto the Colchester Castle. It's a castle, and naturally it is intersting to be walking the same passage ways, and touching those same stone walls that's been standing for over 2,000 years. Sadly to say, this is only my opinion, and not Jnr's LOL! He was only interested with the moat, of which he had a fabulous time playing in. We got in on home-ed rate of £2.90 for child/ FREE for adult. There's a Chinese artifacts exhibition going on but not very impressive and very basic.

We then visited the Holly Trees Museum, which is on the same ground. Unfortunately we never go the chance to stay long because Jnr spotted the playground at the back of this mansion!

We didn't make it to the Temperly Clock Museum, which was shut on Sunday and Monday.

The next day, we went to Ipswich Museum, about 20 minutes drive away. It was FANTASTIC. It's natural history section houses a life size woolly mammoth, tusk and all. Stuffed Giraffe, Rhino, Zebra, Lion and many, many more. A truly magnificent showcase of the old Victorian hunting passion and taxidermy. Lots of artifacts that links back to the old colonial world of Africa and Asia. We had a very informative afternoon and Jnr was hooked every step of the way. And it's Free.

The parking was expensive tho. But I supposed I can't complained considering the 2 day's visit is basically nominal cost.

Tracey's Poem

Here's a lovely poem, courtesy of a fellow unschooler.

> We want to autonomous
>
> We want to be anonymous
>
> We want to run and play and shout
>
> And not sit still filled with self doubt
>
> We want to learn in our own time
>
> Surely that can't be a crime
>
> Our lives are filled with praise and love
>
> Not censure coming from above
>
> And most of all we love to learn
>
> It doesn't stop at the end of term
>
> We carry on learning every day
>
> It's nothing new it's just the way
>
> That generations before us learned
>
> About the way respect was earned
>
> So here's our plea to the powers that be
>
> HOME ED WORKS SO LEAVE US BE!

Naomi Aldort "If children played all their childhood, they would be ready for life"

Another book to my collection.
Naomi Aldort, Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves.

I'm so pleased to have found Naomi Aldort. Even tho I'm reading what I already knew, her writings comforted me by re-affirming my unusual ways of parenting my child, and unschooling him. She help me word my thoughts in a more professional way, so that the next time I'm to share about our unschooling, I'll come out sounding more focus and polish LOL!

She's so spot-on with this line:-

-----------------------------------------------
"For me, child rearing has been a continual test to my ability to trust. Should I physically make sure that my child learns to crawl? Walk? Talk? How about "Talk and Walk Class for Toddlers 101"? Interestingly, language is the hardest thing to learn, and children do it all on their own. In fact, the speediest learning in humans occurs in the youngest years, when children generally play all day. Maybe nature didn't goof - maybe I can trust.

So I trusted in nature from day one and noticed an interesting thing: children play, and their best learning happens through play. Children are designed to be curious. From birth on, they want to know and figure out everything. Children are driven to succeed. They are constantly challenging themselves and can actually accomplish it all through a biologically implanted process that we call play.

If children played all their childhood (I mean it), they would be ready for life. They would be emotionally strong (providing no other damage has been done), and would have all the basic skills to handle life."

------------------------------------------------------

She has just helped me by pointing out why I'm so sure and steady about my child's continous playing and no worries about lessons or colleges and uni.

This is the very core of our unschooling, Play equals emotionally strong for life.

Searching for a sport activity.

I'm trying to get a sporting activity that we as a family can do together.

Today we've went kite-ing. Papa borrowed a kite off his office mate, off we went to the local kite-ing hill. Jnr's not very happy today, and was moaning all the way as we make our way to the top of the hill. But he was enthusiatic enough tho, to go running over towards the horizon to see what's over there.

Anyway, found a sppt we liked, and after much un-tangling and laying out of the kite, we're ready and Jnr's kinda gone bored with it already, even before we started. The wind was not blowing at all, but the occasional breeze was enough to get the kite up and swooping and crashing to the ground. We met 13 years old Khalid. He was also kite-ing, and he help us by showing us how to do it. He was a very helpful and informative young man.

After a few chase after his dad, Jnr gave up and slump to the lovely soft grass and just lay there, slumbering on the ground. He was complaining about a pain on his calf, so me and Papa ended up piggy backing him all the way back to the car, which was a rather long way, and Jnr's grown over the summer and is no longer tiny and light anymore.

Well at least we've accomplished something today. We've tried kite-ing and decided it's not it. Next time, we'll try golfing. Jnr has consistently stuck with golfing, so maybe it's time we take him seriously and buy him a proper golf set and take him onto the golf course.

On the way home, Jnr complained about feeling bored. I do agree, I am feeling bored too. Time for some new interest but what?

I'm losing grip on our unschooling ways...again.

We're going through an academic drought.

It's been roughly 5 weeks now (I think) that Jnr is resisting any form of pc curriculum. He still insist that he likes Time4Learning but has yet make any attempt to take me up on my offer to visit that site together. I admit I am beginning to feel shifty and unsure about this, but i supposed I can "wait and see" alittle bit longer.

I'm wondering why this is happening. Maybe perhaps we have learnt everything there is to learn, for now. Maybe he's taking a break before the next level of realisation kicks in? Well whatever it is, it is obvious his interest is focus on playing. I can't say we're not doing much, for we are doing lots. Like watching more tv, creating more Lego structures, talking more, surfing more internet, playing games (interesting enough video gaming is on the low side too) I am wondering if this laid back attitude coincides with this learning drought? Maybe I should try board or card games.

Anyway I can't see anything new academically for him to learn for now, so I'm thinking really, maybe in school they are doing more about mastering thru practises, rather than learning new stuff? Maybe this is why we seemed like we're not doing much.

I need to re-assess what's the defination of learning. I am sure he is still learning on a daily basis, but just not dipping his toes into any academic part of learning. Ohhh...I really need to start working on letting go some more!!!

The level we are on right now:-
Maths (addition, subtraction, division and multiplication). On-going money maths, calendar dates maths.
Reading and history goes together, for reading from books is an on-going process.
Science is an on-going lesson too- we're still experimenting with fire.

We are talking about different ways to make money for son is money obsessed for the moment. So we have been looking at different type of jobs Jnr can do when he grows up. Working for The Lego Company could be one option.

Is there such a thing as A Good Meltdown?

An unschooling mum wrote this in one of my unschooling list.

"As much as I hate to admit this, I do still find it difficult
sometimes to support him as wholeheartedly when surrounded by adults
who see his behaviour as wrong or anti-social or inappropriate, even
when I know it is perfectly appropriate for him and I see that he is
developing into a more capable, happier person"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To me, all kids go into meltdowns of tears and tantrums. But perhaps our aspie kids do it more frequently and intensely. Yes, sometimes, no matter how patient we are, other people's judgement can get to us.

Despite our best intention to avoiding such scene, it is still part of life, for we cannot isolate ourselves completely! It is still part of our child's learning mechanism, these meltdowns- it is merely an alarm of senses overload. What overloads them, we cannot be for sure everytime. But at least I know my son's mind is practising "coping" defenses.

I've learnt to do this. Immediately 100% attention on my son, and blank out everything around us.

I'll just stay focus on embracing him in my arms (sometimes arms flaying, wild eyed and shouting and all) lots of back strokes and gentle re-assuring murmurings of "it's ok, hush...sh". I have to allow the emotions to flush thru his system, for once opened, the emotional flood gates cannot be shut.

The tears is another stress releasing mechanism. Sometimes, it's big heart renching tears. Sometimes it's angry tears!!. And sometimes, it's all about frustrations. But he will calm down and have a chat about it. But it's when he says "it's ok mum, I'm fine now" and acknowledge that it was just him repeating the same old mistake again, I knew we're not far away from having 1 less meltdown.

It is all about providing him a safe environment to "meltdown", without any attacks from anyone or anything!!. And one day, he'll learn to control and not overshot that threshold again! Yes, it seems now that we're unschooling and perhaps he is growing up, the meltdowns are getting lesser.

You'll be surprise that when you exhibit such strong nurturing body language, the people around you will either ignore you because thier sense tells them that "the problem is being attented to and it's non of thier concern". You might get the occasional few gentle souls who wish to join in the fuss LOL! and contribute thier "love and empathy", especially old ladies.

But very rarely anyone would want to interupt such an intimate moment, if anything, they mostly walk past respectfully.

I find that people are ready to join in a "I told you so" reprimanding session, whether by snide remarks or body language. But because the human senses is programmed to response to distress signs, like a child crying or getting out of control, their senses is telling them that something is wrong. Hence I believe, if people is sensing our escalating stress in trying to calm our child, they will feel the need to "help us get the situation under control". They will even feel the "need to take over" by telling us what to do, especially when they assume we are losing control over our child because our child is responding even more loudly to all these negative vibes.

The only way I can stop my body language vibrating such negative signals, "inviting all unwanted help" is to shut-down by huddling up to my child. I don't think of anything, but focus on that moment. For I understood that the meltdown is a result of my child's mind reaching a threshold- an achievement, a celebration, a positive thing to happen (of course i would have prefer it to happen in the comfort of our home LOL). I understood and accept that "For every meltdown, there is progress" Hence my body language is exhibiting positive signal "everything is ok and under control". Bearing in mind that my sensitive child is also picking up these signals up too.

My child do regress, either before a big leap forward, or after a good few months of progress- 2 steps back for every step forward. Then perhaps his meltdown is just another step backwards, before he makes that step forward. I see this as his mind practising to cope.

So, yes, I do think my son's meltdowns are good. Meltdowns are so good that I do occasionally treat myself to one, like yesterday night LOL!! I meltdowned by submitting to a black, self pitying, foul mood and started lecturing son about his self-centered, selfish and complaining attitude, that I'm so fed-up, I'm going to bed NOW and watch Mulan on the laptop. Needless to say, son soon joined me in bed, and cuddled up as we watched the behind the scenes of the making of Mulan. He apologised for making me feel so sad, and I apologised for being angry at him. We made up by promising each other that we'll try to be nicer to each other.

Let's Talk Money ...... calculator style!!!

Lately Jnr's into calculators. From counting how much money he'll make in a month to how long more does he has to wait for his birthday. He calculates how much he needs to buy another Lego set, and how much extra he needs for the 2nd set. He calculates how many hours till payday, and he also calculates how much pocket money he would have had when he reaches 18 yrs old. Which subsequently got him depressed because he's thinking How wonderful!! What a huge amount of pocket money! If only he didn't have to wait till he's 18!!LOL!!!!

First, Jnr decided that he were going to work in Tesco where he can make a fortune of GBP800 a month! Then he can buy any toy he wanted!

Then he's decided he will be a toy shop owner. This way he gets to play with all the toys in the shop. He is also gonna be a kind shopkeeper by all childrent to come and play with all the toys in his shop. So we've been discussing about how much it'll cost to set up such a toy shop.

And then, Jnr decided that he'll be a pilot so that he can travel everywhere by his very own small plane. So, lots of saving up to do in order to buy that plane too!!

So as you can see, Jnr's calculator has been very very busy lately.

He also worked out how old he was in terms of hours. Because he reckon if we were to pay him by the hour, he'll be RICH!!! LOL!!

Ah...No, I don't think so LOL!!!

Anyway, Jnr is 24 hrs x 365 days x 7 yrs = 61,320 hours old.

MamaGecko is 332,880 hours old, which really impressed Jnr LOL! And I think I really deserved to be paid by the hour, being a fulltime housekeeper, chef, mother, wife and educator and all! LOL!

Sharks, Mammals and All.

We have safely cruised thru Jnr's obsession and fascination with sharks and killer whales. So far, we've learnt that killer whales are known as Orca, and that sharks are afraid of dolphins because dolphins with it's bulbous nose will attack the shark on it's soft underbelly. And that sharks are fish, because they have gills which explains that they need to continuosly swim in order to flush oxygen laden water thru their gills; and that they drown if they stop swimming- like those that got caught in fishermen nets. Most sharks lay eggs that comes in very interesting shape and sizes, but some sharks do give birth to babies.

Whales and dolphins are mammals because they have lungs, which explains that they come to the surface of water all the time to breathe. Jnr reckon that is why dolphins keeps jumping out of water when they swim- to catch their breath! And all mammals give birth to babies including these magnificent creatures.

We watched the Free Willy movie, which had us discussing why if the whale is a mammal, why can't it survive out of water? It just so happened last month, there was another great big whale beached on the River Thames, which unfortunately died despite massive effort to relocate it back to sea. This lead to discussions of the evolution and size. Which was interesting enough backed up by the Walking With Beast documentary about whales being originally aggresive predotary, snappy crocodile-like land creature which eventually evolved into this gentle creatures like the big humpback whale with thier soft fringed-like teeth. As always, Jnr is very short on attention but nevertheless his obsession allows continuous little talks and snippets here and there about whales' size, fats and bouncy, gravity and evolution.

Intersting link about whales
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/gwhale/AdaptationsHead.html

Playing with FIRE!!!!

Current Obsession : Fire

Activities : How to light a match
How to hold a lite match without burning your finger
Looking at the dynamics of a match, what's that funny smell?
Glass over candle experiment

Observation :
That funny smell is called sulfur, same stuff fireworks made of. Jnr remembered that fireworks was first invented in Ancient China. When the bamboo chopstick got on fire, it demonstarted to him how the chinese invented candles, which is bamboo stick with moulded wax on it.

Melting wax and burning paper towel
That paper towel mixed together with melted wax together burns longer (oil lamp)
That paper towel wrap around wax coated satay sticks makes burning torch.
That wax is a reversable item. Melt into liquid, cools to solid form again.
Paper towel is a irreversible item. Burns into ashes. Cools into carbon form.

Wax is what was used in the special effects of the melting face scene in Indiana Jones. The melting head was just many layers of colour wax, moulded onto a skeleton frame.

This activity proved that Fire indeed is a very useful item, however it can also get out of hand very easily. Hence I'm pleased see that Jnr knew what was required to put out an out of control plate of burning wax. Put a wet towel over it.

We looked at the "glass over the candle on the plate" experiment, and observe how the lack of air will extinguish the flame. I then put some water on the plate, and repeat the process again. This time, when the candle goes out, water was being sucked into the glass. Which suggest a sucking motion was in process due to the flame going out.

MamaGecko made her own candle using a toilet roll with a birthday candle in the middle, and pouring all those melted wax into it.

I think we've learnt about the relationship between oxygen and fire. Science once again proved to Jnr that there's always a method or reason behind everything we see, and science certainly play a big part in all of his favourite movie special effects.

So the question being asked and discussed is how was fire first started, and then discovered. How did humankind stumble across fire in 10,000BC? Was it by accident that the caveman realised that fire changes the condition of raw food?

Next lesson:- We've seen on discovery channel how to start fire by rubbing 2 pieces of dry wood together. But how do one start fire using a magnifying glass?

History lesson: The Mummy, Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Movie

To my opinion, the scenes were not as good as Indiana Jones. But nevertheless, it is still a great show to catch. This show basically showcased alot of the ancient chinese inventions - crossbows and many more. It covered alot of the Jnr's history understanding. The Terracotta warriors' formation got him excited enough to suggest that we should to see the real thing in China, someday.

A Homeschooling Song...

Here's a rib tickling and inspiring song, courtesy of one unschooling mum, posted on one of unschooling groups.

I Will Survive (the first year of homeschooling)
Originally written and produced by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris
Originally performed by Gloria Gaynor
Mercilessly altered with apologies by Natalie Criss
======================================

First I was afraid
I was petrified.
Kept thinking I could never teach
'Cause I'm not certified.
But we spent so many nights
Reteaching homework that was wrong.
I grew strong,
so now I teach my kids at home!
We study math
and outer space.
I just kept on despite the fear
with a big smile across my face.
I bought a set of Base Ten blocks.
I bought books with answer keys.
My parents think we're nuts,
but they don't even bother me

Come on, let's go walk out the door.
We're on the road now,
'cause we're not home much anymore
My friends would laugh and say we'd be unsocialized.
I heard one mumble
that I'd give up by July.
Oh no, not I!
I will survive!
As long as I know how to read
I know we'll be alright.
I've got all my life to learn.
I've got energy to burn.
and I'll survive.
I will survive.

It took all the strength I had
not to fall apart.
Decided to attend
a play date at the local park,
and I met oh so many moms
who offered eagerly to help.
They used to cry.
Now they hold their heads up high,
and so do we!
My kids are cool!
They're not those chained up little people
stuck inside at school.
So if you feel like dropping by
and just expect us to be free
you'd better call ahead first
'cause we're probably busy

Month 20 of unschooling....

We're still plodding along. Currently there's lots of Lego building, Bionicle building, movie fascination which suddenly saw me and Jnr going to the cinema 3 times already this month. Jnr is also keen to work with his pc syllabus without me having to negotiate with him to do so. He alternates between JumpStart Grade 3 which he really loves because of it's cute cartoon characters to DK's ClueFinders Grade 5 which we find alittle more challenging than the Grade 4 disc. We found this Grade 4 program more like a gap filler, with syllabus very similar to Grade 3, which was boring and slow.

We've bought the ADi's Complete Learning Pack for Year 4, but haven't got the chance to check it out yet but it does seems promising with it's cute-looking alien boy name Adi. My son has a thing for cute and funny characters.

Schedule - well, we're still working along a pattern of nonstop learning thru the pc for weeks, and then a sudden long stretch of not learning at all.

I am still constantly on the lookout for different ways to support Jnr's education. One of my HEing friend's 8 yrs old son started his own blog which I thought was a brilliant idea, so I've copied that. I suggested to son to start his own blog about his toys, predominantly Legos, and lucky me, he's sold on the idea. Hence AllAboutMyToys.blog begin.

Seeing him working on his blog made me realised that my son did learnt alot over these past 20 months. And that alot of his learning is all self- directed. Which got me thinking:-

What is he learning? I understand that he is learning, just by living life as he knows it, but will there be evidence that all these life skills can actually be translated into something academically tangible?

What I am trying to say is, school is trying to prepare it's children for life, by teaching them as much life skills as they can, their only evidence that a child has "absord a fairly reasonable level of " life skills that's been pitched at them, is exams results. But we're still not sure if the skills they've picked is more for passing exams or do they really understand what they've learnt can actually be applied to daily life?

I am now very interested to see evidence of my son applying his learnt skill to his living environment.

I supposed his blog about his toys is 1 evidence. The language skills that he's picked up has allowed him to be able to express his opinions, and write it down.

What other evidence of learning can I see?

Well, the freedom to buy whatever he wants has manifest into tremendous counting skills. Nowadays, he can very confidently calculate how many weeks of savings, or how much £ short he is, with regards to that slightly more expensive toy that he wants. He's beginning to start talking multiplications, and is able to multiply easily with 10s, 100s or 1000s. He's taken to calculating his pocket money in terms of annually- I think the idea of having a huge lump of money at one go really excites him, so much that he's suggested to me to give him the balance of his pocket money for the 2nd half of the year in one go LOL!!

Nowadays, my son is constantly looking for ways to make money- from laundry to selling me little Lego figures that he's made, and he has sold me many!! The deal was once sold, these figures were mine to keep. If he wants them back, he'll have to buy it back from me. Today, he didn't have the money to buy back a Lego Royal Mail plane from me but instead, he's offered to barter trade 2 newly bult Lego airplanes for it. A done deal!

We now have questions like how many days in such and such a month. Or how many hours in a month/ year? Questions about how long a journey will take which allowed the explanation of miles/ hour. And alot more questions, that has no link to the question or discussion before it. He is definetely learning in many parellel sequences, and all these parellel learning is moving asycrony. It seem like something in our discussion always trigger off an awareness of something totally different.

20 months on, we are now beginning to see the wonders of unschooling. We now see what every homeschooling experts is saying - "intrinsic learning". It will be really interesting to how all this little titbits fall in place, forming a bigger picture.

Understanding My Asperger Child

http://www.nellefrances.com.au/tips.html

Homeschooling - How, Which and What

Links to help you to explore and choose your first step into the wonderful world of homeschooling. Bear in mind most homeschoolers always end up on a different path, compare to when they first start. That's the beauty of homeschooling- the opportunity of choices and the freedom to change according to our ever changing needs. Because of this flexibility, whichever one you've decided on, can never be wrong.

Pick the curriculum or philosophy you feel most comfortable with. It may never exactly be the "best one", but nevertheless it will serve well as a comforting "stepping stone" into the new world of your homeschooling.

Links that I feel helped me alot, and still do for I still dip in and out of them now and again for some new ideas.

http://www.vahomeschoolers.org/guide/styles.asp



http://www.eho.org/



http://www.smartkidathome.com/Story/Eclectic.html



http://members.aceweb.com/paden/links/styles_methods.htm

Aspergers Link

http://www.nellefrances.com.au/tips.html

Recognising Asperger

I could never work out how is it that I was sensitive enough to my son's needs. How natural it was for me to respond the exactly rtight way to his ASD needs, before we even know he was an Aspie. A right word to say or a soothing gesture, a hug, acknowledging and accepting his sadness or frustrations, cuddling him gently, stroking his sobbing, angry soul when things get too much and overloaded.

It surprises me to know, all the things that I've been doing was actually helping him with his ASD. All of these things that I naturally did, was the things that I would have to learn upon diagnosis of his ASD, according to the doctor. But somehow, I've already had a good headstart by already practicing half of it, many years earlier.

I always wondered why is it that my husband finds understanding and accomodating our child such a alien thing to practice. What was it that I could see, that he can't?
It was obvious that son is always prone to knee his dad, but yet hubby never quite learn to expect that or learn to avoid it.

Again and again, I asked, why is it so difficult for hubby to try to understand what was son saying? Is not like son was speaking a foreign language, but somehow, it does seems like hubby and son is on a totally different wavelenght.

Well, it turns out hubby is also an Aspie. But yet, it is possible for Aspie alike to be on a different wavelenght?

Well, it seems like it. I'm also beginning to recognised and now accept that I am partly responsible for son's ASD condition. All this while, I was reading on ASD's characteristics, all those hands flapping, sensitivities, social difficulties and all, little did I know that I was exhibit this characteristics more than my son!

I do flap my hands when I get excited. But I always thought I'm just a very animated talker!

I do pace the floor when talking in excitement. Well, I just didn't realised it.

This also explains why I don't have many friends, maybe one or two, if they are even classified as friends, for they always seems to fall out of touch sooner or later! And why I find making friends such a difficult thing to do. Plus also maybe this could explained why during my early days, all my friends were mostly guys. Maybe because it was easier to understand the more practical and direct mannerism of the male behaviour.

While researching for more clues on sensitivities for my son, I forgot I have issues with smells and bright light too.

And how I hate to be rushed. And how I hate changing my routine or having last minute changes to any schedule. It drives me up the wall because it totally throws me off my track, I become momentary lost, and will need time to re-gather my perspective before re-gaining my focus.

Perhaps this also explains my deep interest in science and history, like Pyramids and Maths. But the strange thing was, I was really, really bad in Maths during school. I flunked my Maths throughout my school days, but I never did hate Maths. I just knew, and accepted that I was very bad at it. But somehow, the idea of chemistry and physic intrigued me. I was fascinated by how it is to be possible to predict results, simply by manipulating numbers. I loved datas. It's amazing how a bunch of numbers can show you a pattern of consumerism and behaviours. I wanted to do chemistry and physics. But of course, according to the good old school system, I couldn't possibly handle physic lessons for my Maths' comprehension is so bad.

Well, I'm doing Maths now with my son, and I'm enjoying every lessons because I can see clearly now, where it all went wrong for me. I just didn't understand what the teacher was trying to teach. Bearing this in mind, remembering how confused I was, not understanding what the question was about, and how even more confused and lost I became, as I meandered into the maze of maths, I now understand how to help my son with his confusion of maths. I know understand how to re-word questions, or sometimes, it's better to just wait a little bit longer for the level of consciousness to click in, before comprehension can take place.

I also know understood why I was always alone during my childhood. I clearly remember walking round my old school which used to be an old convent building. In fact it was called The Holy Infant Jesus Convent School, used to be run by nuns during the 19th century. I could remember exploring every corner of this great old building. And I loved it. I have my favourite corners to hide in, one of it was at the old chapel on the first floor. I remember it to be this great big hall with polished dark mahogany timber floors, and great big white wooden french doors, with it's wooden slat shutters. Light filtering in thru the brushes of pines needles of the tall fir tress that lined the entire lenght of the chapel. I would stick my legs and my face thru the balustrades, a feeling of being high up and hidden, spying away at everyone on the playing field below. Sometimes it'll just be the students playing tag, sometimes it'll be teachers walking by, and a couple of time, Ms Muthu, the big and fearsome Indian headmistress, striding heavily along with her dreaded cane beside her. Oh yes, she'll not think twice about caning anyone caught misbehaving. I felt protected, hidden away in this cool and quiet sanctuary, away from the afternoon heat, and the hustle and bustle of everybody's expectations.

At the far end of the chapel will be the lonely body of Jesus on the crucifix, suspended high above the altar with it's embroided covering, candles flickering. I always thought what a contrast it is, him hiding here in the cool dark tranquility of the chapel, compare to his mom, The Holy Mother of Mary, standing high up in full glory, right at the front of the building, and the top most point too. Every day, the sun will shine bright and full on her, which she reflects back down to us common mortals, with her arms spread out in a welcoming manner, her smile serene and gentle.
I always thought how beautifully smooth and white her face was, and I especially liked that blue that she was wearing - it was powder blue, till this day, still one of my favourite colour.

Yes, those were the days I now recognised to be traits of Aspergers. The thing was, I wasn't feeling lonely. I didn't feel I was missing out on anything. I was just happy and contented to be wandering around this great old building, recognising each and every corner of it's structure. Every curve, every corner, every column, every archway, every room, every courtyard, and most of all, each any every one of those the old wooden french doors, with it's peeling paint and it' rakety shutters, like sleepy eyes, too heavy to be keep opened.

Yes, I'm convinced that my son is very similar to me; that he's happy with his own company too most of the time, keeping himself occupied with his own interest - his RPG games.

An Insight to how ASD works

I can across this article which I feel gave me a good insight of possibly how my child's ASD works. I hope this can help make sense for some of us and also to understand, and hopefully help plan our children's education better.


http://www.geocities.com/autistry/gould.html

Unschooling with computer games.

I've came to accept that Gecko Jnr with his ASD is just not capable to handle any sort of learning that's to do with writing and workbook. It's just too much stressful for him to concentrate on such boring and un-enticing 1D environment of a piece of flat paper with rigid printings all over it. He needs 3D images that can presents cause and effect results, and not forgetting all those lovely sound effects too!

Hence we're going full scale multimedia learning by installing the ClueFinder Adventures Yr 3, 4 and 5. Gecko Jnr is quite happy switching between these 3 grades, searching for something interesting to do. Sometimes he'll get hooked for an hour or so for it can be quite brain-intensive work all these mental maths, but yet there are times after all those searching, he walks away from it, accomplishing nothing. Sometimes he picks something that's just too difficult for him, and get frustrated and angry, working thru it. The graphics is not funny and entertaining enough to sustain son, but the mental challenges seems to be enticing enough for him to continue. We'll just have to wait and see if Gecko Jnr will stick with this program.

This is something we've just discovered. Just because Gecko Jnr is very much a computer games person, this doesn't mean he is interested in just about any type of computer games. After much buying and installing of pc games over the years, we've realised that son's actually drawn to and stayed with pc programs that have cute and funny characters, like Jumpstart Program. We've used this program before during pre-school age which worked brilliantly for Gecko Jnr.

Hence we've also installed the Jumpstart Math Advance for Grade 3, which he stayed on for 1 1/2 hours yesterday.

We're also checking out the Dorling Kingsley's History explorer CD, with it's timeline from 5 locations and era from Eygpt, Inca Empire, Imperial China, Medieval Europe, right trhu to the 1920s Age of Industrial. With lots of colourful graphics and effects and enough funny "graphic reactions " to keep Gecko Jnr going.

Anyhow, it just seems inevitable our collection of workboks is destined for ebay.

As always, I still love reading, and son still love being read to, so we're still working thru many interesting books before bedtime.

Topic we're covering - The Illiad, God of War(History); Pollinators/ Seed Carriers/ Tree's re-production system/ Sharks (Natural Science); ClueFinders Addition, Subtration and Multiplications (Maths).

Unschooling with the PSP - God of War

Well, we've moved on to another game - the God of War. Got to meet lots of Minatours, a couple of Medusas, many Immortals, and that lady Aphrodite seem rather nice too.

In conjuction with PSP learning, we've been reading stories from The Illiad by Homer. Son thought it was rather funny that this great philosopher had the same name as the great Homer Simpson! LOL! And how Argos was actually not just the name of a catalouge shop but the name of the land where Diomedes of the Loud War Cry hailed from.

The God of War game might be bloody and gory, but nevertheles a very intersting way to be immersed into a Greek mythology environment. Lots of logical challeges like that gets the brain juice going too.

Unschooling History

Hi Julie,

How's the eyes getting on? So what have you guys been up to?

I've got an interesting article here for you about homeschooling and socialising http://www.drlaurablog.com/category/home-schooling/

Well, i did my arts and painting session, but unfortunately as always, Gecko Jnr graciously declined to join me . Well, it shouldn't come as a surprise considering my son do not like the sensation of glue or anything sticky (other than playdough) on his fingers. What have you guys been up to? This is what we did, and hope it might be of interest to you. Gecko Jnr's into his latest PSP obsession with a game called 300, March to Glory. It's a story about one particular battle (don't remember the name) during the ancient history of the Persian Empire/ Greece, between King Leonidas and King Xerxes. And we've managed to Wikipedia it, had a good read and a really interesting discussion. I was struggling with all these Latin names, and surprisingly Greg corrected me on all of them, for he's learnt it all from playing the game on his PSP, LOL! Well, another example of learning without realising it LOL! Anyhow, we've managed to track Persia (now Iran) on the map.

Yesterday, feeling all fired-up, I went to the library to get more books and got the dvd for the movie 300. We watched the movie, learnt (absord more like it) fantastically alot in just 1 hour, about how people dressed and talk in the olden days, we noticed the different apperance and dressing between the Greeks, Persian and all the diffrent nations that came forth to war, under the one king from Eygpt. Very intersting for I managed recognised a few, all with thier distinct and unique talents, the Mongolians, the Indians with thier elephants, and many more warriors from the vast Byzantine empire. Got to know about the different type of battle tactics and weapons utilised in the olden days and believed it or not, mode of communications (from the used of messengers on horses to the sound of the horn to trigger off the next round of assault (arrows, lots of them) before the invention of tele-communications LOL! If one can overlook the violence and gory of the movie (it is a battle movie afterall), I think this is a fantastic movie to showcase the magnificence and richness and brilliance-ness of our past ancient history. In those days, it truly is about how much have you got to show for. And it shows why all those kings and ruler send thier vast armies to conquer other countries, to capture and owned the most precious commodity of all. Other than land, human power(armies, slaves, philosophers and citizens) must be one of the most valuable recources, for with more soldiers and warriors, one must be truly stronger and capable of expanding one's empire. How intersting it is compare to today's method of battle and monopoly.

Today, when we're talking about some conquerer, we're talking about someone's genius-ness in opening new market and cornering market shares, like Bill Gates and Richard Branson (yes, all these tycoons is nevertheless Kings of thier own right, isn't it?). It's still all about power and money, isn't it? Last week, I was feeling defeated and low, about to start considering sending Gecko Jnr to part-time schooling. But I think this is one of those few moments that makes me feel we are on the right track to educating Gecko Jnr.

During my foray in the library, I've even manage to find 3 different books, all with different "fun-based" methods on learning Maths. Plus I've managed to get a huge and thick encyclopedia, which I believe will be residing with us for a long while. I just need to remember to keep re-newing.

Well, so far for now.

Hugs and Best Wishes,
Mama Gecko

Homeschooling ASD

This was posted on the ASD Homeschooling group that we're part of.

GOD CHOOSES A MOM FOR A DISABLED CHILD
By Erma Bombeck

Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures, and a couple by habit. This year, nearly 100,000 women will become mothers of handicapped children. Did you ever wonder how mothers of handicapped children are chosen? Somehow I visualize God hovering over Earth selecting his instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As he observes, he instructs his angels to make notes in a giant ledger.
"Armstrong, Beth; son; patron saint, Matthew.
"Forrest, Marjorie; daughter; patron saint, Cecelia.
"Rudledge, Carrie; twins; patron saint.... give her Gerard. He's used to profanity."

Finally, he passes a name to an angel and smiles, "Give her a handicapped child."
The angel is curious. "Why this one, God? She's so happy."

"Exactly," smiles God.
"Could I give a handicapped child a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel."

"But has she patience?" asks the angel.

"I don't want her to have too much patience or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wears off, she'll handle it. I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and independence. She'll have to teach the child to live in her world and that's not going to be easy."

"But, Lord, I don't think she even believes in you."
God smiles. "No matter. I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness."

The angel gasps, "Selfishness? Is that a virtue?"

God nods. "If she can't separate herself from the child occasionally, she'll never survive. Yes, there is a woman I will bless with a child less then perfect. She doesn't realize it yet, but she is to be envied. She will never take for granted a 'spoken word.' She will never consider a 'step' ordinary. When her child says 'Momma' for the first time, she will be present at a miracle and know it! When she describes a tree or a sunset to her blind child, she will see it as few people ever see my creations.

"I will permit her to see clearly the things I see --- ignorance, cruelty, prejudice --- and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side."

"And what about her patron saint?" asks the angel, his pen poised in midair.

God smiles. "A mirror will suffice."

What do we teach in unschooling?

Well, to me, unschooling is all about learning and being together with my son. To unschool him would means to allow him to be himself. To allow him to be the master of his life. Many a times I wished and itched to step in and rein in his obsession; but I've learnt that to impose any restrictions on my son would mean him rebelling against it. So my philosophy is why create a battle when we can resolve this amiacably? Not that I am being a bad parent by allowing him to do whatever he wants, but instead I am being a good parent by allowing him to learn how to make good decisions, by making bad decisions. DS know should he need an opinion, he can seek counsel with me. By allowing him all the space he wants, he will soon get to the bottom of whatever he is obsess with, and will move onto newer pastures. By not focusing on controlling DS, I am free to concentrate on what I want to do, and get on with it. And DS will learn to moderate himself if he wants to aligned himself to my routine.

All of the above have made my child believe nothing is too small, too big, too silly, too serious, too difficult, too impossible to explore and everything can be discussed.

Now that all mental barrier to learning is remove, it is my job then to bridge any handicap that my child presents, mentally or physically. If he cannot spell, I will spell for him. If he cannot draw, I will draw for him. If he doesn't want to write, I will scribe for him. If he cannot stop for food, I will feed him.

The objective is to help him reach his goal, and accomplish that, he will, despite numerous handicap, place there by himself or society.

Example:-
My son will read any book from a very early age, despite the fact some of the books he picked is too mature and deep for him. But nevertheless, it never stopped him from picking up a very thick and heavy book to take home. Because he knows I will help him carry this book home, and I will read this book to him. Hence, he knows, no book is too difficult and too heavy to access into.

By unschooling means to dis-regard all the conventional thinking and follow our own instinct. Only by unschooling can we feel free enough to break away from all those chains imposed onto us, and finally see sense in learning about living and life, in it's natural order.

Homeschooling and Socialising

My child is happy being on his own. He plays on his own, he doensn't really do crowds, and at times should he fancy company, he'll then ask to visit a friend or 2. Really, it is about socislising at his terms. Which explains forcing him to socialise in the school grounds, whether he likes it or not is more detrimental to him than beneficial.

And I have great confidence that he'll grow up to be a happy, confident and friendly soul, perhaps not the loud and animated type, but the quiet confident type, for he do respond and chat with anyone who approaches him.

Great article about homeschooling and socialising

http://www.drlaurablog.com/category/home-schooling/

Unschooling at work via the PSP

We have be unschooling for 1 /12 years now, and it's amazing how time flies. We started out by de-schooling with the PS2, as evident with my first few blogs. And between that time till now, we have few but significant examples of how unschooling is working at it's best, via the computer and handheld games. My child is a computer junkie and his day to day is occupied by this ratio - 50% computer/internet: 30% tv: 20% toys (lego/transformer).

DS has been on his late-night pc games routine again. Been on the "I hate Maths" and "Star Wars Droid factory". He's also playing alot of his "Spelling Challenge" on his PSP, and is doing very well on spelling for a kid fo 7 yrs old. His Transformer game also instigated the discussion of the Hoover Dam.

The past 4 months he's been playing the 300 game on his PSP, on and off. Because of this fascination with all the blood and killing, he's took to YouTubing for some home-made movies. Instead of blood and gore, he found music videos with the Spartan character- hence learned about music video and rapping. Along the way, he's also found Jaws LOL!

Anyway, based on DS's fascination, we wikipedia the 300 spartans, and out came the true history behind this show. I was struggling with all these Latin names, and surprisingly DS corrected me on all of them, for he's learnt it all from playing the game on his PSP, LOL! Well, another example of learning without realising it LOL!

300, March to Glory is a story about one particular battle (don't remember the name) during the ancient history of the Persian Empire/ Greece, between King Leonidas and King Xerxes. We've managed to track Persia (now Iran) on the map.

Feeling all fired-up, I went to the library the next day to get more books and got the dvd for the movie 300. We watched the movie, learnt (absord more like it) fantastically alot in just 1 hour, about how people dressed and talk in the olden days, we noticed the different apperance and dressing between the Greeks, Persian and all the diffrent nations that came forth to war, under the one Eygyptian looking king.

Very intersting for I managed recognised a few of the clans, all with thier distinct and unique talents, the Mongolians, the Indians with thier elephants, and many more warriors from the vast Byzantine empire.

Got to know about the different type of battle tactics and weapons utilised in the olden days and believed it or not, mode of communications (from the used of messengers on horses to the sound of the horn to trigger off the next round of assault (arrows, lots of them) before the invention of tele-communications LOL! If one can overlook the violence and gory of the movie (it is a battle movie afterall), I think this is a fantastic movie to showcase the magnificence and richness and brilliance-ness of our past ancient civilization.

In those days, it truly is about how much have you got to show for. And it shows why all those kings and ruler send thier vast armies to conquer other countries, to capture and owned the most precious commodity of all. Other than land, human power(armies, slaves, philosophers and citizens) must be one of the most valuable recources, for with more soldiers and warriors, one must be truly stronger and capable of expanding one's empire.

Today DS created his own comic with the Spartan/ Persian storyline, (with a Jaws-twist at the end) for his dad. He dictate and drew all the pictures. Not bad for a kid who doesn't like writing.