A New Category, I AM.

Sometimes it is a bit hard for me to write about being a home  ed parent and just about my experiences overall.  Why?  Because I don’t think we are doing anything else besides simply living life.  How does one define that?  how does one categorize that?  I am far from a Homeschooler, but I am also not comfortable calling myself an unschooler.  There are many reasons for that.  One of them is that I feel that when we say, “we are unschoolers” there is an implication that we are still “doing something”.   We are still ‘checking a box’.    I am not doing anything, I am just simply living my life.   My kids are not doing anything, except being children and living their life having me as their mother.


We wake up, we brush our teeth and get ready for the day.  I sometimes ask them what they want for breakfast.  Sometimes I don’t.  I put on my favorite Talk Radio host and wash dishes while I listen to the kids play, eat and chat at the breakfast table.  They clean up and then we do whatever I feel we should do,  while also also going with the flow and trusting whatever happens.  If the day is nice, we go out and play with the dog, until my son decides he wants to play with his cars, my oldest daughter suddenly sits on a chair and begins to read her newest “Judy Moody” book, while my two year old climbs on me to nurse.   However, the day before that spent almost two hours doing what some would call, “doing math”.  My oldest daughter loves the program “Math U See” and she sat there with my laptop, her notebook, her cuisenaire rods and  learned a new way to understand addition.  My son meanwhile had a blast with his “Mazles” books ( that’s his word for his Mazes and Puzzles books ).  My two year old loves to mimic the older two so she grabs some paper and crayons and smiles after every doodle she draws as she looks for my cheers and applause.

I write when I am inspired, and I raise all kinds of hell when you mess with my freedom and my children’s freedom to BE.  I am too honest not to speak.  I also sew and design, I love pretty things.    I produce a radio show that is fun, important and unique.  I research, I read and I write.   I manage my husband’s business, a business consumed in cartoons, drawings, humor, stories and lots of hard work.   I am very impatient when cooking,  but I love to eat.  And I truly believe god is a painter, comedian, poet and musician.

Just what am I?  What are we?  I don’t know and I honestly don’t care.  We live life,  and we learn in the process.  We learn in the process of living.  That’s all. I don’t quite know if we can categorize that and I won’t dare try.    Seems a bit small to me.  We don’t do or NOT do anything.  We just live life, on our terms.  Free of any expert advice or artificial systems.  We live life and do so happily, with no one else to answer to but ourselves.

I simply AM.  And my kids just ARE.  That’s good enough for me, and should be good enough for anybody.

Post was originally posted in UnpluggedMom.com