"Children do not need to be made to learn about the world, or shown how. They want to, and they know how." -John Holt

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Newfound & Webster Lake (70's style!)

On Memorial day we got nostalgic for our old stomping grounds and headed north to Newfound Lake.The weather looked great only thing is we forgot to check the wind gusts. Go figure. We had to stake the children down lest they blow away. Newman O's did the trick. They're very heavy cookies...

Rich tried to pretend we weren't sitting in the vortex of a cyclone but only Gabe believed him. We lasted an hour or so before packing it all up and saying farewell to the giant Smokey.Gabe's hair cracks me up. I was not kidding about the wind...

So back south we headed to Wester Lake, our backyard body of water when we lived in Franklin. Thankfully, the breeze was not nearly as brutal and we managed to salvage our day. Gabe and Simone occupied themselves playing with Pokemons and Bakugans in the grass after a quick dip.And Rich tortured Caden with the water sprayer.(Don't ask about that poor child's swim suit. His usual attire was no where to be found that morning.)

Posted by Jessica at 9:41 PM

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I appologize--i was looking for a friends blog and that I had the right one--her last name is niles also--and came across your blog. I have to tell you I think you are amazing. my kids are pretty young and I want to homeschool. I scrolled through your pics and stole some of your unschooling quotes. I think your life is incredible and what you are doing with your family is wonderful! This might sound cheesy, but I would love to be pen pals! Your lifestyle is very intriguing, and there might be something we can learn from each other! hardypartee.blogspot aandemhardy@hotmail.com

2:12 PM

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"By nature people are learning animals. Birds fly; fish swim; humans think and learn. Therefore, we do not need to motivate children into learning by wheedling, bribing, or bullying. We do not need to keep picking away at their minds to make sure they are learning. What we need to do - and all we need to do - is to give children as much help and guidance as they need and ask for, listen respectfully when they feel like talking, and then get out of the way. We can trust them to do the rest."
John Holt
"In the end, the secret to learning is so simple: Think only about whatever you love. Follow it, do it, dream about it...and it will hit you: learning was there all the time, happening by itself." -Grace Llewellyn
"What we want to see is the child in pursuit of knowledge, not knowledge in pursuit of the child."
George Bernard Shaw
Real, natural learning is in the living. It's in the observing, the questioning, the examining, the pondering, the analyzing, the watching, the reading, the DO-ing, the living, the breathing, the loving, the JOY. It's in the joy. ~Anne Ohman
"How could youth better learn to live than by at once trying the experiment of living?" -Henry D. Thoreau