Sunday, October 11, 2015

Autumn

Still unschooling, still loving it.

Here's what unschooling has looked like over the past month:
  • Going to a Not-Back-to School teen homeschool picnic on the beach
  • Learning and trying to master the soprano ukulele
  • A new interest (and a whole lot of research) in digital animation
  • A day spent at the Museum of the City of New York and Times Square
  • Really enjoying the Life of Fred high school language arts series books and paragraph editing workbooks.  
  • A day spent playing dodge ball and laser tag ending with a sleepover
  • The almost daily routine of W thanking me for homeschooling him (lol)
  • A new tenor ukulele
  • Hanging out at Dave & Buster's with his friends
  • Researching nutrition and whole-food living
  • A new interest (and a whole lot of research) in music editing
Life is more fun than ever lately.  W is probably the most happy and content person I know.  He's been doing the dishes, keeping his room clean, reading a lot, doing his workbooks, and enjoying his life so much.  He usually gets this way, feeling all grateful and satisfied when he see other kids having to go off to school in September.

He's been doing a lot, including starting to take public transportation by himself.  His sisters were 14 when they were taking the trains and buses alone, so he's right in line with that.  We just got his student Metrocards last week, too.  He met a friend at the Rockefeller Plaza Nintendo store and they took a train and bus to Brooklyn.  He's my last baby and it's hard letting go.  Independence and maturity go hand-in-hand with homeschooling, so I'm not worried.

J has been assisting her choreographer all summer, teaching weekly classes at a dance studio, and performing.  A new up-and-coming artist saw her dance on her choreographer's Instagram and asked him if she could be his background dancer at a showcase in Manhattan.  What an amazing opportunity!  She performed with this artist a couple of weeks later at the Highline Ballroom down in Chelsea.  Move-in day at AMDA is this week and we're getting ready.  It's her second year and she's so excited.  This should be a very interesting year for her.