Cookies for Breakfast?

Yes, yes, that's right. I did. I gave my kids gigantic cookies for breakfast. Two of them each, in fact. Even saved two for dad. It seemed like a good idea at the time...still does, except when I hear them talking to someone about the cookies they had for breakfast. *Ahem*
But wait! They were good cookies! They had flour and oats and eggs and cinnamon and honey and homemade buttermilk! (And of course I didn't take ONE picture!- I thought about it...then wondered what people would think...) And the kids loved it so much. They sat there, eating those cookies that were bigger than their hands, with smiles that can only come with dessert. I'm mom of the year now and it was food that was actually GOOD for them. I love it!

Unschooling and gardening

Recently, I was finally released from working a part time job that was wearing me down. I had prayed about it and then just waited to see what was going to happen. Whew! One of the reasons I wanted to stop was because I want to move on to greener pastures. Literally. I want to start a community garden mostly for young children in my area. Since we live in So. Cal. we have a very long gardening season. Plus, the amazing amount of learning kids can achieve in a good garden motivates me to no end. I am not completely sure where to start but I can't seem to get it out of my head. This is usually an indication that I should pay attention and at least check to see if I can find some open doors.
One of my inspirations right now is a little urban homestead in Pasadena, CA called Path to Freedom. Check out their website and then tell me what you think!
Additionally, I am working on a name for my nonprofit corp. (This is what I need to be able to really do the garden right!) Any ideas are welcome. I wanted it to be something like Growing Green Kids, but that is already taken. Ideas? Ideas?
Somehow, I will include organic sustainable eating, composting, measuring, colors and sorting, weather, plant identification and sustainable water and solar practices. I am so excited about this!

What was I thinking?

You can't imagine my relief on the first day of school, when I got all the kids dressed and ready without any time pressure and loaded them up to go to the gym. I had a great workout and they all did some fun crafts. After avoiding a couple of school related questions from the childcare woman, we loaded back up and went home for a leisurely day of pool play, (they don't know that a 1.5 foot pool isn't as fun as an underground!). Since my hubby is a teacher, I had decided we needed a few extra days to recoup after a summer of having him home before diving into the next adventure, namely, homeschool.
My oldest just finished a year of private school where the tuition and the drama went up a few notches. With three others at home, it was a logistical nightmare getting them all ready everyday. I was tired. Plus, after going to school for years to get my teaching credentials I figured we shouldn't have to pay for our kids to be educated when I have all the tools, (and supplies), to do it myself. (This was not as easy a decision as I make it sound. I agonized and prayed and fretted for months! Once the decision was made peace came...)
So here we are.
Home. School. WHAT?! What was I thinking?! Today we sat down, the two girls, (age 6.8 and 4.8), to do a functional activity. We are making a book to appreciate all the wonderful things that Gramma and Papa do with and for us. Then we can sign it and send it to them so that we don't have the leftover clutter at home. It was great for about 10 minutes. Then one of the twins, (ages 2.8), dumped out the whole box of crayons and proceeded to spread them all over the floor, making cleanup SO much easier...okay. Great sigh. So we finish our book tomorrow. Today wasn't technically the start day anyway...

My philosophy of homeschooling: To educate my children using real life situations and moments, using advanced level books and art to stimulate self learning and to create an environment in our home where learning is encouraged and exciting. Organic learning to go along with our organic eating.

My practice is going to take a while to match my philosophy. Coming from an educator background it is HARD to shift things to make it less about structure and standards and more about each child and their strengths and interests...how did we go so wrong in our school system? More on this later.

So...we start on Monday. For real. Figuring out how to manage and occupy the twins will be the big task, I think. I have some ideas...we'll see how they work.