September

Today is housework and video day. So the kids worked at their weekly jobs this morning, and did their math, and are now playing Madden Football. I took Aidan outside when Paddy fell asleep early, and worked outside in the yard for a while. He moved between helping me push the wheelbarrow, dumping old ashes in the wheelbarrow, and playing by himself on the ash heap. Paddy woke up and wanted to nurse, but Aidan was opposed to going back in, so I sat on the porch with Paddy while Aidan played in the back under the deck. That worked well. Aidan still needs supervision but is quantam leaps beyond where he was last year in terms of judgement.

I spent quite a bit of time tidying and things look much less chaotic around here than they did. Except that Aidan is doing his "water-carrying" trick and so there are now 4 cups clustered around me!

Sean got a 90 yard interception return in the Firebaugh game last Saturday....

Yesterday I found the Veggietales site for Paddy and there were some small arcade games on there which Kieron was having fun playing. He is still doing them today. I'm trying to be interested but at the same time keep as much as possible from overhelping him.

Sean and Kieron continue to do excellently at math. It only takes them a few minutes a day. I am having periodic panic attacks with this unschooling venture. So much unschooling rhetoric is contrary to what I believe about human nature; yet so much of it coincides *exactly* with what I do believe. There needs to be more philosophical first principle type stuff than there is right now. Most of the unschoolers I know prefer not to philosphize. The ones that DO philosophize a bit are usually off base in my worldview.

Earlier today I was very tempted to buy Alison McKee's book which my Catholic unschooling friends are very enthuasiastic about. It is relatively expensive. And I do have a feeling that if I did buy it, it wouldn't do much good right now. I've been reading and absorbing and now what I really ought to be doing is thinking and doing.

For now I have to hold onto my plan which is:

1. Pay attention to what is happening all the time, not just in school hours.
2. Try to facilitate kids' interests and passions.
3. Keep up with the math and periodic language arts for my own comfort's sake!
4. Collect quotes and passages that seem to ring true to me -- so hopefully I can start figuring out how they all work together.

There may be more, but that's all I can think of right now. Oh, one more is to think in terms of what I want the kids to have and be when they are adults, and what are the least restrictive ways of helping them to that.

I want them to be devout Catholics "with the consent of all their faculties" and enjoy learning and feel competent about it. They should be able to do the right thing without inordinate fear of the consequences, which means judgement and prudence and fortitude. They should know how to be happy and how to motivate themselves.