Author: Dana

Reading and Kids: I Don’t Forbid, We Discuss

We are a household of readers. I have been a book junkie for as long as I can remember, that Husband o’ mine is a huge newspaper addict and the resident teenagers read just about anything and everything that crosses their paths.

Speaking of teenagers, when it comes to my teens and their choices of reading material, my philosophy is don’t forbid, discuss. I do believe children need guidance amongst the book shelves, but I do not believe in “this book is for ages 5 and up” labels. Granted, some subject matter obviously bears consideration of the child reader’s psychological makeup, maturity and temperament.

Continue Reading

Unschooling Hopes

What I hoped to see happen in unschooling my children was simple. I wanted a life where school simply wasn’t. I wanted my kids to fully experience life–not a different kind of schooling, not school at home, not superior curriculum. I wanted to continue raising kids that love life and love learning about all kinds of things this spectacular world has to offer.

One of the first ‘a-ha’ moments, if you will, happened one warm September afternoon when we were all just hanging about outside. The kids, around six and eight years old (if I’m remembering correctly) were looking at various things under the microscope my husband had set up on the picnic table. They were bringing us all kinds of things to look at–water from a puddle, grass, toenails, bugs both dead and alive, hairs both human and dog/cat/critter…you name it, they wanted to put it under the microscope. We’d been at this for awhile on that evening, the four of us enjoying our time together outside and exploring the microscopic world. Continue Reading