Going all out at Iron Hill Park in Newark.
Mud Puppies
Hangin’ With Thanos
These kids are wild. The jungle gym in the way of the zipline, the pool underneath, the slide on top…all madness cooked up by a team of madmen.
On Tuesdays I host an unschool club at our house. Kill Baby Thanos! was the first name for our comics-centric club, but the reference may be too obscure and dark for most homeschooling parents.
I love the graphic my girlfriend designed, and we embrace the chaos that Thanos was driven to thwart, so he gets to stay.
I’ll reveal the new name and graphic shortly as I broaden the scope of the club to make space for unstructured play in the spirit of unschooling.
Within Reach
I had to climb out the bathroom window, but the magnolia finally presented us with a bloom for our dining room table centerpiece.
Before Home Education
We were new (tired) parents in 2009 and didn’t have a grand educational philosophy or plan for future schooling.
I was excited to read to my baby son, but we had hardly any children’s books and I wasn’t terribly interested in that kind of material yet.
I picked up Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days and started reading aloud to my one-month-old.
He fell asleep on me most times and I kept on reading because it felt like a magic spell. Sometimes I fell asleep.
Mary laughed everytime I said, “Passepartout,” and it strikes me that Westen just this week discovered an interest in French that was unexpected. Although, he says, he may switch to Spanish.
I always try to remind parents interested in home education that they’ve been doing it for years. No child between the ages of 1 and 5 needs school to learn a vast amount of skills and knowledge. No one needs any school after that either. We’ve been conditioned to accept school as a universal, yet we are born to learn. The home education community is growing exponentially and the examples of children thriving without school are plentiful.
Magnolia Season
Our magnolia tree started to bloom this week, but I haven’t captured a good picture yet. This one is from 2020. The tree has gotten healthier every year we’ve been here and I’m excited to see what the next few weeks bring.
Flashback Friday
To a joyous day at Longwood Gardens with our boys in 2012.
I Don’t Teach Anything
My older son is getting a lot of attention in the adult jiu-jitsu class. People are learning what his coach and I have been seeing for years, that he’s focused on technique and won’t be intimidated by someone’s size or skill. He battles and learns like he was built for it.
A fellow practitioner asked me about his involvement with other sports and I said, “Actually, he’s really into theater. He’s been on stage many times and is the student director on a production of Much Ado About Nothing right now.”
Our conversation turned to Shakespeare and I was happy to find another lover of The Bard. I guess my passion got her to ask, “Do you teach Shakespeare?” “Well, I’m a homeschool dad, so I don’t teach anything.”
I’m a facilitator. Yes, I brought Shakespeare into my boys’ (and wife’s and lovers’ and anyone who will let me drag them to a show) lives, but after that, I don’t teach. I will spout off because I am truly curious and passionate about so many things, but I have modeled a spirit of challenge with my boys. It can be infuriating, but they know that speaking truth is their responsibility and repeating the words of an “authority” will never fly for truthful thought.
We found a lot of freedom when I gave up teaching. It created space for more passion and curiosity, it took the chains off our learning lifestyle.
Always Making Friends
I got to meet new people (and a couple spiders) today and share my story.
It’s been a remarkable journey from husband to dad to believer to widower to something greater than the sum of those parts.
I’m grateful to God for all my blessings, the bountiful ones as well as the difficult ones that have taught me much.
365 Devotionals: Humbly
The Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
-Micah 6:8 NLT
This is interesting. This devotional uses this Scripture three times in a row, each with a different translation. I’m not sure what to make of that after an intensely active few days of soccer, jiu-jitsu, theater planning, unschool club, non-stop action.
I’ll just walk humbly with Jesus for now. I doubt I’d lack mercy if I was walking by his side. I doubt I’d be lacking for anything.
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Bug Garden
We’ve been lucky enough to have mantises hatch on our property before, but this was the first time that I’ve only spotted one.
It’s exploring our latest foray into independent living from Garden Tower Project.