Perfect Would Be Weird

Today was great.  Yesterday was great.  Hmmm, I think I'm seeing a trend here.

The morning after I wrote my last post, I decided to use December as a sort of  "deschooling month."  A friend reminded me that most public school kids have two and a half weeks off for Winter break anyway.  And if I recall correctly, at least a portion of the December school time is spent doing things like Holiday Shop and watching "The Grinch."

I remember my daughter's kindergarten class even having a "Santa's Workshop" in their classroom.  That one I actually spoke to the staff about... what ever happened to "separation of church and state?"  I felt horribly sorry for any Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Pagan or other-faithed child that had to spend their time cutting pictures out of toy magazines to make their wish list and coloring pictures of elves and reindeer.  Never mind that even some Christians don't emphasize Santa, or that some people want to de-emphasize the gift extravaganza!  Ouch, so much wrong with this scenario that it really needs its own post.

Anyway, I digress.  I decided to take this month "off."  With a cupboard full of learning games, a well-organized and labeled book shelf (aren't you proud of me?), a slew of kid's cookbooks, various museum passes, and a well-stocked arts-n-crafts corner, I was ready to let the children do what they most desired.  EXCEPT watch anything on tv, or play ANY kind of digitized game (including learning games and documentaries), until after dinner at which time they had a maximum of one hour.

See my September 23rd post "Drastic Measures" to understand more about the screen restrictions.  I was ambitious then.  I slipped.  I'm now back on the bobsled.

My children readily agreed to this bargain:  "For the month of December, I will not tell you what to learn.  In exchange, you agree to [the aforementioned] screen time rule."  They heartily agreed.  Here's what happened.

Yesterday, my daughter decided to make brownies.  The double batch required her to double fractions, measure ingredients, adjust cook time, etc.  Awesome lesson in math, and even cooking science!  Not to mention that the brownies were delicious!  My son asked us to play "The Scrambled States" game!  Super fun, and geographically challenging.  While I did a few chores around the house, I heard my kids playing a new story-inspiring dice game, "Rory's Story Cubes."  Cady drew pictures to go with their funny tales of iPhone carrying turtles and robot spies.  Then the pair donned arctic gear and played in our thinly-snow-covered back yard for a couple of hours!  I almost forgot, we also played the "money game," which I will explain in my next post.  It's amazing, simple to throw together, and my kids love it.   Later, we met friends for a night of roller-skating!  Even Dad tried to "shoot-the-duck!" (Actually, he skates rings around us all.)  In the evening, Asher independently logged on to NaNoWriMo and worked on his novel, even though we already missed the deadline.  He also signed himself up for Script Writing Frenzy, which doesn't actually begin until March... but he wants to get a jump start!

Children are like snowflakes...
no two are the same.

Today, Cady ran out in the yard in her pajamas to examine snowflakes with a giant magnifying glass.  Tomorrow we'll be checking out snowflake and weather books from the library.  She also got out the hot glue gun and fixed our stocking-labels, which are actually frame ornaments.  Two of them had lost their "loop" so they couldn't hang.  She found matching ribbon and repaired them all by herself (absolutely refusing any kind of help from me).  When Asher woke up, he played "Crazy Bones" with his sister... then we had a field trip to the mall, where the children used their own money to make purchases and buy gifts.  Asher bought himself a journal and spent part of the afternoon writing in it.  Oh, and he's asking for a microscope set for Christmas INSTEAD of a Nintendo DSi.  My baby makes me proud. Sniffle.  :)  Then Cady was off to Brownies, and Asher to break-dancing rehearsal.  Busy, busy day at the Muse house.

While it's true that my kids may not be learning all the things their peers in school are learning, it certainly is more peaceful around here. And they ARE learning. Tomorrow, a trip to the library is in order.  Perhaps an informal lesson on snow for Cady and a script-writing book for Asher.  Of course, I'll throw in the occasional historical fiction easy-reader and perhaps an "Atom Man" scientific graphic novel.  They will learn without even realizing it!  We also plan on making home made dog biscuits, writing our annual Christmas letters to Grammie, and making "Puppy Chow."

This feels good.  It feels like what we need to do for now.  While everything is not perfect (an earlier bed time would be nice), it's peaceful.  Perfect would be weird, anyway.