An Unschooling Day in the January Spring

It's almost 11pm. My children are all asleep except for the older two. Jesse is waiting for me to finish my blogging and internet reading, and Travis is falling asleep. Jesse will be sleeping in my bed tonight (along with Nathan, who is still breastfeeding). My wonderful husband, who normally shares my bed, is in Chicago again - working hard for his family. Actually, at this moment, he's enjoying the Ohio Buccs football game. (Of course he'd be enjoying it more if they were winning :)...
My whole house smells WONDERFUL! We had a REALLY nice day for an Ohio winter today. 63 degrees and some sunshine!! What a rare treat!
Savannah, Jesse, Jaidyn, Nathan, and I went for a walk to visit Jaidyn's BEST, Markieloaf. Translated from 3 year old speak, it's her cousin... her best friend, whose name is Mark, but whom she has dubbed Markieloaf.... :)
He recently broke his elbow in a freak horseback riding accident at the ripe old age of 2 and a half. It occured in his living room, on the back of his loving, used to be overprotective, mother! What a thing. Poor kid had to have surgery to pin his elbow back together. But I heard from a close source that both he and Mom (his mom) took it wonderfully, with only a minimal amount of crying on both of their parts. :) If you are reading this Laura, I commend you. You are a wonderful mom.
ANYWAY... back to our wonderful rare spring day in the beginning of January in this temperate climate.... We walked to Markieloaf's house, only to find the he wasn't home. Pinned little arm, and all, he must have been out shopping. Maybe he got stir crazy! :) So, we decided that a little excercise in the fresh air would do us good, and we snuck inside their house to find some gardening tools. (thier front door is usually open). All I could find was a hammer, and a rubber glove, but these served well enough for us to help them pull the little pricker weeds out of their front landscaping. At least the obvious stuff as you are going up the front walk. Savannah, Jaidyn, and I had fun pulling them out, dumping them in their trash can, and then sweeping their walk for them with a broom that I found in their laundry room. I hope they don't mind the dirt we left on their broom, and in the claw of their hammer! We left as much dirt as we could in their landscaping. :)
While digging out the weeds, I found a SAM! This is Jaidyn speak for a WORM. She and Savannah transported it to our house in the stroller's cupholder, with enough wet dirt for it to enjoy on the way. They then stayed outside digging in the dirt for more sams for quite a while. The warm weather attracted all the kids outside eventually to lay on the deck in a pile of blankets and pillows. They took turns serving each other the cut up apples and peanut butter sandwiches I made for them (well, to give credit where credit is due, Travis actually finished making the sanwiches by putting on the jelly). They were each the servant or the royalty getting served at one time or another. What a beautiful thing to watch my children play together.
Well, I am getting tired now, and I want to reserve my energy for the week. I'll have to blog later. But quickly before I go... for recording purposes, I'd like to mention that we worked on geometry this week. Jesse, Travis, Savannah, and I sat around the kitchen table with Jesse's 6th grade textbook, playing with angles and 3D shapes, measuring, drawing, and discussing the angles of rollercoasters and rooflines, and how many faces an object had. Travis drew a triangle, and Jesse a cylinder. They needed no help, they drew them quite naturally. Drawing 3D has always been difficult for me... maybe I'll learn now! :)
Oh yes! Jaidyn is learning her numbers! She loves to call Markiloaf all the time, at least once a day, and she has his phone number partially memorized, and can pick out some of the numbers. She asked me to write down some phone numbers the other day so that she could see what they looked like. She wanted Markie's, Bella Roses', Grandpa and Grandma Schooling's, Aunt Nonan's, Grandma Frase's, and Grandpa Hach's.... What a thrill to see your child seeking an education from you! She's been able to count to 10 and higher for quite some time now, and she can sing her ABC's. I am looking forward to when she starts pointing out letters and naming them.
Maybe I'll get out the spell and say that Aaron learned his letters on at 4 years old. :) He is reading short phrases now.
Ok, bed time. Good night.