I like my kids!

Sometimes when I'm chatting to complete strangers and the subject of schooling comes up, quite often their response to home learning is "oooh I couldn't COPE with that, I need a break!". I'm not some super mother, it's just that I like my kids and I don't desperately crave time away from them. In fact the reason I had children was to spend time with them - that's a radical notion in some circles!

Even when my daughter was in prison I was practically the only parent in the playground not bemoaning the upcoming holidays, and complaining about what we were going to do to keep them happy for that extensive period ... of two weeks!

I read an article in the news paper the other day about the cost of children on holidays and was quite honestly gob smacked! They were making out like the only way to keep kids happy was to take them to expensive places and buy them expensive food that is guaranteed to contain trans-fats and be completely devoid of any nutritional value. Then the did a list of a day at the movies, which was complete with popcorn, chocolate, ice creams, and soft drinks. And a list of a day at the cricket which was just as silly.

I'm not a big consumer, I couldn't afford to be one for the longest time, and now that we have a little bit more money about we're used to doing things on a shoe string budget so we still do. A day at the museum costs us practically nothing. We usually take our own healthy food, we are members at the museum thanks to my father who gives us membership for xmas, and we don't spend much at the gift shop. So all up that's about $30, including transport, not the $109 average the news paper claimed a day out cost. Even when we go to the movies we take our own drinks, and a snack, and we only buy a small popcorn - how much popcorn do you need?

But cost aside, the main issue people have with with homeschool is spending time with their children, and never having a break. I wonder if part of why they don't like their children is because of the influence school has on them. My own experience of a schooled vs unschooled child is that they are complete polar opposites. My schooled child was often bored, usually rude, resistant to expressing who she genuinely was and often got about in the persona of some crazed little brat who I was sure wasn't my child! The deschooling process was complicated -and I believe it's a long term endeavour when your child has spent so long being indoctrinated, and struggling to be an individual within an institution (and credit to her for maintaining so much self under all that pressure!).

But despite the fact that nearly six years of resisting pink, fashion, shopping (like it's some amazing and self improving activity), continuing to study frogs, stick insects, enjoy sport, and wear clothes she liked rather than what her peers wore, that stuff still rubbed off on her. And when she was being one of her peers instead of being herself she wasn't the greatest child to be around .... but I still looked forward to holidays!

I wondered what would happen to our relationship when peer pressure wasn't steering us off course. I wasn't sure that removing her from the system would actually bring her back into herself, sure I'd heard all about it, but from what I was living it didn't seem entirely possible. However I was keen to try, I wanted to be more involved in her life, I wanted to spend more quality time with her, and I wanted to see if we couldn't just peel back some of that unpleasant exterior and relocate Stylish under it all. Over the course of a bit over a year we have done just that!

I like my children, I like spending time with them, but I can't wait for the school holidays to end now, so we can go back to the museum when it's empty, and the pool when there's only one grandma in the slow lane and us with the whole leisure area to ourselves. So ... for me, it took homeschooling to make me dread the holidays, and wish for them to end. But for very different reasons than I hear from other parents. It's sad that people don't like their children, and I really wonder if it's their children or the institutionalised versions of them that they don't like.

more pics

holiday pics

Fishing at Questacon, REAL fishing, the spa with some boys in it, us playing which who in Goulburn!

about time I updated!

We're home from our holiday, and it's probably time I posted some pics and told you all a bit about our trip! We had a great time down south, the kids loved the camping and so did we, but we liked the 4.5 star hotel on the way home even more (don't tell the kids).

Our two nights in Shoal Haven were pleasant, we spent some time walking up and down the beach opposite the hotel, and swimming, and playing "which who" (otherwise knows as Guess Who) and just generally relaxing. I was suffering from pregnancy exhaust so I particularly enjoyed sleeping in and afternoon napping!

From Shoal Haven we drove straight on to the camping ground at Eden which is on the northern coast of NSW. Eden used to be the biggest whaling community in Australia, and the whole world for that matter. The camping ground was lovely, our only complaint would be that they had too many people there, but that's to be expected at that time of year I guess.. Stylish spent the entire time begging to go fishing so one of the first things we did was ask the locals where the best fishing spot was.

She spent many hours at the pier casting her line out, chopping up bait, and catching and releasing fish that were undersized. We did manage to bag one that was a good size though, and she killed it, gutted it, and filleted it all by herself (with adult direction). Spikee was also very keen on fishing but we tried to keep him away from the pier as much as we could because he is so active we were worried he'd go over the edge! But he did spend some time sitting in his cow chair holding a broken rod and enjoying the general experience. My favourite part of the fishing was seeing little fur seals diving about just off the pier. I got so excited when I saw them that I nearly cried (I'm such a sap)

On NYE the kids had a party next to the tent, they had junk food and then played with plastic dinosaurs til late. The camp ground had a pool and a mini golf course which we all spent lots of time enjoying. Spikee kept calling it cricket so for the first few days we had no idea what he was talking about.

We went to the whaling museum in Eden and spent a rather long time there! I expected we'd be done in half an hour like at most small town museums, but we spent a good two hours there learning all about whaling in Australia. It was both heart breaking and fascinating. Eden is now a thriving whale watching community but once upon a time it was the biggest whaling port in the world. There was an Orca called Old Tom who actually worked with the whaling ships and his pod to herd baleen whales into the port where they were slaughtered. This worked for the orca's well because they cooperated with the whalers and they got to eat their fill - mostly lips and tongues apparently - before leaving them to the whalers. The view from the museum was spectacular! Gorgeous blue ocean, red rocks, and luscious green grass on rolling hills.

We went to Merimbula twice and saw the aquarium there. The kids sat for ages infront of a large tank spotting all the different fish that we could eat if we could catch them. We saw Tasmanian Sea-Horses, huge lobsters, cuttle fish, an amazing octopus, and heaps more. We also went to the vinnies there and scored a few excellent things. Stylish got some great clothes, and I bought some Hairy Maclary books for Spikee that were in perfect condition, and a set of overalls for the baby.

From Eden we decided to drive inland all the way home because the coastal highway is dodgy at best, and also because we always go up the coast and we thought inland might be nice for a change! We drove from Eden to Canberra in about 4 hours, and decided to stop there for a break and visit Questacon (what used to be called the science museum I think). The kids had a blast pushing buttons, going in the earth quake machine, watching lightning being made, creating tsunami's, playing on the computers and so much more. The end of our visit to Questacon was slightly eventful though because when we got back to the car we discovered that A had left eh headlights on and flattened the car battery. Fortunately we always travel with jumper cables, and after pushing the car into a good position a women helped us.

So from Canberra it took us a bit over an hour to get to Goulburn where we found a nice hotel and went to ground for three nights. Ordering room service, swimming at the pool, soaking in the spa that was in our room, and just generally enjoying being back in semi civilisation!

So that's what we got up to on our holiday! We had a blast and hope to do it all over again some times soon! It might be a bit enthusiastic, but in the middle of the year when A has time off coz we have a baby we might nick off up the coast again. No camping though, cabins all the way!

Merry Giftmas!

I can't believe xmas came around so fast, I guess being pregnant, and raising two children makes the time fly by faster than is conceivable!

We had a wonderful family feast with turkey, ham, pork, and chicken that was all free range! And plenty of salads, a potato salad, a green salad, and a pasta pesto salad made from home grown rocket and basil.

To top it off we had chocolate chunk and berry ice-cream made by Stylish. We put the ice cream in mini cones, dipped them in melted white chocolate and turned them upside down (so they'd look like xmas trees) and the kids decorated their with m+m's. The ice cream tasted like very cold chocolate mousse, it was really yummy!

Stylish spent the day making videos of everything on her new ipod, and Spikee is in love with his new ambulance toy - complete with sirens. Tonight we downloaded Pink albums for her while Spikee and I played his new dice game. The game is with the characters from the movie Cars, and instead of having numbers on the dice it has colours so it's perfect for him.

Today he got a pencil on a mini etch a sketch and began doing some writing. He did a couple of tidy and organised little scribbles in the way you write letters! Then showed us all his writing, there was no doubting what it was! I was about to take a photo of it when he had to wipe it off - darn it! I'll see if I can get him to do it again.

Two days ago we got some pet fish for Spikee and Stylish, and they're going really well. The tank looks amazing! We have a crocodile that's mouth opens and shuts and bubbles come out to aerate the tank, colourful green rocks, glowing eggs, and a weird sort of decoration that looks like ancient pillars with coral growing off them (Spikee chose that ....). It was an early giftmas present. Spikee is really enjoying the job of feeding them each morning and night and he talks to them and gives them updates on everything from the impending arrival of Santa to the fact that I stored some clean rocks for their tank on top of the fridge.

In two days we head off on our camping trip! We're spending two nights in a hotel on the way to Eden, and we'll stay in Eden for a week of fishing, swimming, and fun family times!!! We're so organised it's ridiculous. We've bought roof racks off eBay, and a camp kitchen and chairs and tables this year to add to our already impressive collection of "make camping luxurious" accessories.

Tomorrow I'm taking the kids to see Where The Wild Things Are while A packs the camping stuff and watches cricket whilst consuming beer. I can't wait! I can only imagine how excited the kids would be ...

I'm mad! 36 hours on a train with two kids ....

Our trip home from Cairns was remarkable! We had a 36hr train ride from Cairns to Brisbane, and another 15hrs from Brisbane to Sydney. I particularly enjoyed - and so did the kids - the stint to Brisbane. 

The journey must be at least 1000k. We were lucky enough to have a sleeping carriage to spread out in, with our own beds and a bathroom complete with a shower. On the train there was a dining carriage, and a carriage for entertainment and snack food as well. The kids thought that eating dinner at a table on a train was an extremely special event - they weren't wrong, but their excitement was very cute.

When it came time for bed Spikee was unable to sleep because he was so excited about having his own bed and a ladder up to it. He climbed up and down the ladder, insisted on having his photograph taken repeatedly, requested to brush his teeth a few times (you don't' often do that on a train), squealed about having hot chocolate from the cafe carriage, and then repeated the process. he eventually fell asleep beside me on my bed, at the bottom of the ladder. 

Stylish found the lights on the beds, the movies (in the cafe carriage) and the CONSTANT MOVEMENT to be the best thing. I enjoyed it all! Especially watching the kids lapping it up, and watching the landscape change from incredibly dense rainforest to yellow, dry bush land and paddocks.

It was an amazing trip. The trains made it even more so. Lots of people laughed at me for embarking on a 36hr train ride with two kids but I knew it would be great! Those who prefer plains are missing a hell of a lot!

not neglecting our blog - no really!

We're currently in far North Queensland!

We decided we had to escape winters clutches and as such, have headed pretty much all the way up Australia! We have succeeded, it's Summer here, although the locals say it's cold. 

We're spending our days doing touristy stuff, like going to Cairns Tropical Zoo, Hartley's crocodile farm, and Dream World as we went through Brisbane. Spikee has been loving all the crocodiles, and so have I! I think Stylish is impressed too but she maintains her uber cool heading for teenage disinterest level in public. Although she did accidentally crack a smile when they had their photo taken with a baby crocodile, and Spikee was mesmerised, and positively BEAMING in the photo!

At night the kids run rampage in the garden finding frogs, geckos and *shudder* cane toads. I always knew there were lots of cane toads but seeing them is really something else. They are as revolting as their pictures suggest, ugly, warty, and unfortunate looking creatures. Stylish is hell bent on seeing a green tree frog in the wild and the womyn we're staying with says that when it rains they climb on her windows, so we live in hope. I'd like to see one too, apparently they're huge!

A few more quiet days are coming up, we're going to go to the local beach tomorrow, but I hear you can't swim at this time of year coz there are sting rays in the water. And fresh water swimming is out of the question when you've seen some of the gigantic crocodiles we've seen the last few days. The purpose of our visit to the beach is to find fire wood so we can have a BBQ, but I' m not sure how Stylish will take the non swimming news.

an update - lest May slip away without one

May has come and nearly gone and little has happened. Well lots has happened but most people think nothing has happened because we're not in a school! Stylish has been playing her internet game,Spikee has been doing puzzles, and I have been longing to sew MORE than I do.

I sewed a quilt cover from $5 second hand material bought from vinnies, and Spikee loves it. And Stylish is really starting to understand the whole sweat shop thing, and when we're opping - or Op Shopping - she is always reading labels and telling me that the people who made this item are exploited because they were in a factory in China! That's sucha  huge step for her, I'm so proud.

She is also starting to understand my refusal to purchase slave chocolate. AT this point she is moaning about it lots, and trying to cajole me into forgetting about it. For example, a muffin she wanted had a sliver of mars bar on top of it, and I said she had to get another one, so she did - but she protested.

We've had a couple of trips to the museum - on week ends! And it reminded me of one of the best reasons to homeschool ... venues like the museum are EMPTY on week ends! We're also heading for Queensland in July, and I'm going to book my trip some time next week! YAY!!!! Stylish is very keen on seeing green tree frogs while we're there.