A New Beginning

Yesterday and today have been really good days here. Sean listened to the “audio book” I made for him and we’re both totally in agreement that Radical Unschooling is they way we want to live and parent. We both also feel that it’s not going to be easy to release the years of training we received from our own parents but we’ve enlisted the boys’ help in keeping us on the right track. This morning I had a conversation with Iain and Ryan about our new way of life with special attention paid to Ryan. He’s the one who has felt the brunt of our anger and the one who feels he has to lie to keep from getting in trouble. It’s obvious that he feels unsafe with us and that has got to change. We want to have honest relationships with the boys and today we begin with a clean slate.

This morning the boys and I took a walk on the trail near our house. It’s really beautiful back there, lush trees, a creek, lots of interesting birds and bugs. We set out for an adventure me, Spider-Man and Mario. While we were walking we saw two cocoons, remnants of a robin’s egg, wild strawberries, and some really cool mushrooms. The hour and a half that we spent outside went by so quickly and the boys really enjoyed themselves. they were able to explore the creek and the rocks along the banks, too which they thought was pretty awesome.

Yesterday, we played games during the afternoon. First we played Mancala, then the boys got out Iain’s Leap Pad and read along with Stan Lee in a Spider-Man book we had just bought at Target earlier. They got up and listened to it again this morning so that really was money well-spent. After the book yesterday, Ryan got out some phonics tiles that we had purchased back when we were doing school at home. Ryan dumped all the tiles on the floor because he wanted to use the container to hold a lego stormtrooper and kick him all around the house. He was trying to see how long it took for the stormtrooper to fall apart. Iain on the other hand started messing around with the tiles and trying to spell words. Spelling is tricky for Iain. He gets most of the letters right but invariably leaves out one. I didn’t correct any of his spelling unless he asked me if it was right. All in all the past couple of days have felt good. We spent sometime together and it was stress-free for the most part. Once you start letting go of your restrictions it really liberates your relationship and you’re able to really appreciate your kids for the people they are.

Yesterday afternoon our big screen tv blew up and no one can get here to fix it until Monday. Arrghh! Sopranos! Entourage!! It’s going to be interesting to see what life is like without TV. Maybe we’ll see that we don’t really need it. I doubt it but you never know! I’m going to miss The People’s Court today :(. That’s my guilty pleasure and I love it. Sue me.