So, I’m trying to blog more and a few fun little unexpected things happened today when I least expected it that I thought would be fun to share.
Earlier in the day at co-op: Joseph’s and William’s friend Sam was given a choice by his mother halfway through co-op to either stop and go to another park day that he enjoys or stay and play with William and Joseph at co-op. He thought about it for a minute and said, “They’re rough (pointing at William and Joseph). The ones at park day are (and he extended his hand and gestured so-so to mean “a bit soft”).” Then he indicated with a “duh” face at his mother that it was a no-brainer decision; he’s staying to play with William and Joseph. I had to laugh out loud at this because how many of us would consider it a bad thing to have “rough boys?” First of all, they are, and when they are with other “rough boys,” they don’t seem all that rough because it works. If they are with the so-so soft boys, then they look more rough than one would be comfortable. It’s all about the fit!
Later in the evening, William and Joseph are playing their fishing video game. As has been the case more often these days, they were playing cooperatively and kindly. William came up to me as I was reading other blogs and showed me one of the new lures Joseph had recently bought and declared, “Look what Joe gave me!” I immediately asked Joe, “Why’d you give William one of your new lures?” Joe’s simple reply, “I just want to be a nice brother, mom. Isn’t it good when we’re nice to each other?” To defend myself, I have seen periodically these nice gestures one moment, in their heat of cooperation, just to be rescinded during a more common time of contention. But guess what? I have to keep allowing them the opportunity for their generosity to one another to stick 
Hi,
We just had you son, Elder G* and his conpanion, Elder C*, over for dinner. We were delighted to discover that he was homeschooled. Thought I would say “hi.”
He says, “This is interesting,” has I post this from my cell phone at the table.
Janine
I UNschool my oldest with spcaeil needs. Un schooling does not mean I am not teaching her in fact its quite the opposite. She is autistic and has ODD, ADD, ADHD, she is for sure no where near what a typical kid is. She was basically tortured while inutero as she is a twin and she was deprived of all prenatal care while also being exposed to drugs, alcohol and tobacco. My husband and I adopted her and her twin from birth, not knowing what God had in store for our futures..but we didnt care. We had two beautiful babies that we got to raise as our own children. A has had learning difficulties from the very beginning. She started school, just shy of 3 yrs old, in a spcaeil needs class she ended up attending this class for two full years. Then we moved out of state due to my husbands job and I had to take her out of that wonderful school. We had no choice but to place her in our districts public school what a mistake. She was placed in a class with 26 other spcaeil needs kids with one teacher and one helper. This was a disaster. A was lost on several occasions they found her in bathrooms, in other classrooms, wandering hallways, in a janitors closet its was insane! Then there were the notes home, how she would be hiding under desks, throwing fits, cutting her hair, cutting her clothing, hitting, and biting. She came home one day with a note saying she bit the teacher. When I sat down and talked to her about what was going on she explained to me (In her spcaeil way) that the teacher gave her a great big bear hug from behind and didnt let go. A got upset and started squriming and screaming and the teacher still didnt let go, so she turned her head around and bit her on the shoulder. I was IRATE. Never again did my child attend that school. I took her out and started working with her with a kindergarten curriculum and found out she knew nothing of what was in this curriculum. She was hardly even past the first few lessons. This class had taught her nothing. The more I attempted to teach her, the more frustrated the both of us became. She couldnt do it. Not at all. She cant focus on the lesson, she cant sit still, she cant even watch a 5 min video lesson. So, I started teaching her my own way. We took a bunch of one dollar bills, quarters, nickles, dimes and pennies, a note book and a calculator and we went to the market and we learned how to add. We learned how to read the price tags, write down the amounts and total it all up. Then she learned how to pay the cashier (thanks to some wonderful local farmers and their wives for putting up with our classes ) We went outside with a camera and a notebook, took pictures of plants, animals, bugs..etc and wrote down their names, sounding out the words as we went learning to write. We would then take those digital pictures in and load them onto the computer, and search online for other wildlife like them and learn all we could using every search engine available and lots of youtube. Another fun thing we do is collect prayer cards from missionaries around the world. Every week we take out another prayer card and learn about that family, the country they live in and how that country is different from out own. We sykpe with the families sometimes and talk to them about their needs and their challenges, and we pray for them and sometimes with them. My daughter is now 6yrs old and has graduated from kindergarten without tears. I also home school her twin now, we love exploring the world and letting the world teach us. I plan on UNschooling my next two kiddos too.I am not a lazy parent who lets their kids watch tv every day. I am a hands on parent who gets dirty with her kids, who goes out in the world and explores. We let the world teach us without text books and workbooks and score cards and tests. I know the ins and outs of each of my kids more than most other parents do. I spend every waking minute with them. I love them. I do have a conventional curriculum that I read through to know what they should be learning but to be honest my disabled kid is more advanced than most neurotypical kids thanks to UNschooling.
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