The Week with No Screens

We decided to take a break from certain screen options for the week. Our goal was to focus on improving our work ethic and improving our interactions with others. Screens are not in and of themselves a bad thing, but they do prove to be a distraction for us sometimes from what our ultimate priorities and goals are as a family and as individuals. When we start feeling a lot of extra stress and there are more and more instances of fighting or aggravation with each other, taking a step back from fluff screens has been helpful in giving us all a reset.

So, you might ask: what did we do this week? We all had to improve our activity selection. During the Fall, we are more unschooling and don't have any required book-work. Since we live in a place with gorgeous, full-bodied seasons, we attempt to spend more time outside and save book-work for the extended months of winter that keep us indoors anyway. We are currently working from a WILO (Week In the Life Of) system. Everyone gets a spreadsheet with each hour of the day and each day of the week. Many spots are not up for choice. For example, meal times, bed times, family activities/errands that must be run, etc. Everyone started out this week by making a list of activities or projects we wanted to do during the week. Next, we filled in our individual WILOs to give us an adaptable plan for the week. Without a plan, screens are easily the default.

On Sunday, Rod and Gideon gathered supplies for building beds. Zoe and Gideon designed beds for the rooms to be embellished as they go. Gideon spent time with Rod in the garage building the framing for the beds.

They planned out the support beams and how to attach it to the wall. Who knew finding studs in a basement could be so tricky? After assembling the base, they installed the slats to hold the mattress.

Gideon enjoyed practicing his harmonica on his new bed. He's excited to complete the space underneath and have his own personal man cave. Gideon chose to not install a ladder so that he can use his parkour skills to get in and out of bed.

 Zoe's bed is almost exactly like Gideon's. They both loved the idea of having their beds high enough to be able to utilize the space underneath.

Zoe has plans to sew curtains and install a hangout area underneath her bed. The nice thing about building the same bed twice is that the second one goes much faster. A productive and effective use of a Sunday.

It was a great way to set up the week. It set a great precedent of activity and working hard to achieve a desired goal. We continued through the week with the same togetherness in as many activities and daily processes as possible.

Everyone was included in all meal prep and clean up for the week. Our first dinner was a new recipe from the new vegetarian cookbook we got. Everyone had fun making it. Only the adults truly appreciated the diverse flavors of Moroccan Spiced Couscous.

The kids chose to play together more creatively without the distraction of screens. They spent hours playing with legos. They still had grinchy moments, but they were much less intense and passed by quickly.

While Zoe helped me with dinner one night, the rest of the kids enjoyed playing in the backyard. One of our biggest hopes for buying a house and moving out of an apartment was the opportunity for the kids to play in the backyard. The wide availability of screens really kept them from utilizing it. This week they played in the yard every evening and Tobyn and Rebel spent time during the day as well. Nothing like dirt, sun, and fresh air to add peace to the family.

 After dinner, most evenings were spent in playing board games, walking to the park, watching our favorite educational shows, or (most often) listening to the Harry Potter series. Everyone seemed less reluctant for bedtime by the end of our days with no fluff screens. The younger two were even happily telling us they wanted to go to bed.

 We are going to ease back in to fluff screens in the coming week. Our rule before had been two hours per day. This week we're going to try one hour per day. I would honestly be happy to have no fluff screens during the week and reserve a few hours on the weekend for their use instead. But, as a family we are experimenting with different options and the kids are much more in favor of the one hour per day idea. We'll see how much that affects us all as individuals and a family before making a new family policy, though.

Our Why

     The decision to home educate in the first place is different for each person. The reasons are many times very personal. They range from religious reasons, issues with the education system in general, a desire for more than what's available, or a need for more direct involvement due to learning or physical disabilities. Most often, the reasons are a mixture of those listed and others that are even more individualistic. I want to share a little about our own decision to home educate our children.

I was a child of the '80s. Born as the middle of three girls, my parents chose to begin my home education at the beginning of 3rd grade. It was a huge leap at the time. There was concern about leaving the house during school hours and unwarranted involvement from authorities. I remember the concern to have transcripts written out and proof accounted for even though we lived in a state with very little regulation for homeschooling. We followed the Bob Jones University curriculum all the way through my High School graduation. I loved the closeness it gave me with my immediate family. I loved the time it gave me to pursue volunteer opportunities with my church and other organizations. It wasn't perfect- nothing ever is, but it left me wanting a similar experience for my own children.

Rod was also a child of the '80s. He was the second of nine children. His parents both had degrees in education and chose to home educate all of their children from the start (except for a year or two in school for their firstborn). Their method of schooling was very much an unschooling approach. Rod spent a lot of time building forts outside, helping with gardens and animals, working on their house, and utilizing technology that was available in ways that wasn't yet mainstream. His ability to adapt and learn any skill has served him well into adulthood.








We met at church when I was in 2nd grade and he was in 5th grade. We spent a significant amount of time in the same church and homeschool community. It was a rare opportunity to really know each other having not just been in the same communities, but also having worked together on multiple volunteer projects through our growing up years. I knew he was the kind of person I wanted to marry, especially after seeing how he treated children in all of those volunteer opportunities. We've both been passionate about the care of children ever since. That passion has only grown as we became parents. It has increased our desire to protect and advance the rights of children in our society.

During my Senior year of school, Rod gained permission to "court" me (yes, we did that) in the Fall semester of that year. By late Spring, he had flown to Germany to propose to me in a castle while I was on my Senior trip. We were married in the Fall of 2002 and have been building a life together ever since. Part of that life building has entailed the birth and raising of four children.

Our ideology on parenting has changed dramatically over the last fourteen years, but there was never a question in our minds that we would home educate our children. Our reasons for choosing home education are partly from having seen the benefits for ourselves growing up, but also due to a dissatisfaction with the current state of the education system. The bare fact that it is a system. We want our children to have a love of learning. We don't want them spending years of their lives learning facts that they either find uninteresting or there's no way to know if they will actually use those facts in their adult life. Our goal is to use this time of childhood to give them a chance to cultivate a love of learning, grow in their independence, pursue their interests and passions, give them a stable and secure family base, and hopefully set them up to enter adulthood with confidence. 

     We have been educating ourselves on education and learning styles for the last 17 years. All of that research cemented even more our desire to set up education for our children that meets their specific and individual learning needs and styles. This TED Talk from Sir Ken Robinson especially convinced me- who as a school-style homeschooler was wary of the unschooling idea- that educating our children creatively would be worth it. 

     This is our why for home educating our children. We want them to have say in their educational choices. We want them to be in the habit of thinking and deciding for themselves even now. So many parents see their children as a "mini me" or somehow a reflection or legacy of themselves. What a heavy burden for a child. Our children's education reflects their passions, interests, and personalities. There's not a one-size-fits-all education- homeschool or otherwise. We are confident that learning happens all the time whether it's planned or not. We are all learning every moment of every day. Our decision to home educate with a strong bend toward unschooling supports and enhances that fact.

Pumpkin Art

Every year we love painting/carving pumpkins.
We love participating in the hubbub of the season. 

 Pumpkin painting takes serious concentration.

This was Rebel's first year to really be able to participate on her own. 

She loved having free range of paint and water. 

Who wouldn't?

Gideon didn't waste any time getting down to business on his design. 

Tobyn decided to carve a little bit of his pumpkin and paint it as well. 

Each kid with their finished product. 

Happy Fall, ya'll!

Pumpkin Farm Field Trip

We had such a great time at Anderson Farms. We were so impressed with the friendly and helpful employees. They had a special homeschool day for a great price. We enjoyed various rides, petting and feeding animals, and finding our own pumpkins in their pumpkin fields.

Tobyn had so much fun riding his very own sized monster trike.

Rebel even got her own special monster trike ride. 

Everyone had so much fun riding the crazy fast barrel train.

We all boarded the mine cart ride for a fast and bumpy experience.

It really was like a roller coaster. 

The view of the mountains in the distance from our ride was a special delight. 

We enjoyed our tractor pulled wagon ride out to the massive pumpkin patch. It was only our second time ever to pick pumpkins straight from the vine. It was even more special having the Rocky Mountains in the background while we searched the field for our pumpkins. There were so many different varieties and colors of pumpkins.

 

After purchasing our pumpkins, the big kids decided to go home with their friend. The rest of us braved the corn maze.

We had such a fun day! We will definitely make it a yearly tradition.