Buba 2

When Caleb's grandma was alive, she asked Charis (her first great grand child) to call her Buba. Well, Charis liked that name, but wanted to know what to call Buba's husband. Before we could answer she said, "Buba two?" Well, we all laughed and the name stuck.



We got to visit Buba 2 at Sunrise Home last week. The kids had a great time. And I think Buba 2 did as well.

fall fun

All my fall decorations are in storage, so we made some new one's this year.



a ghost of course



this is a spider not a cat, caleb.



paper pumpkins for the wall. charis made hers a girl.



and this amazing scarecrow my dad bought us. yes, that's right, my dad picked this out and drove it up to us. awesome. paxton is scared of it.

How do you know they're learning?

A friend was asking me about unschooling yesterday. She wondered how I knew if my kids were learning enough and if they were "on track". I think this is a great question, and one that all us unschoolers get asked all the time. Basically, I know what they're learning because Im with them all the time, and I see and hear what they know. Amazingly they are learning a ton without any required workbooks or "learning time". I don't know if they are exactly on track with their school-going peers. And honestly, I don't care. I know they are ahead in some areas, and possibly "behind" in others. But it is obvious they are growing and learning. The really cool thing is they remember what they learn because they are discovering things they are interested in, on their timing. Isn't that how we all ultimately learn?



Last night we had a perfect example. Most of the day was spent playing with friends and watching a movie. Which could be seen as non-educational (although I believe they learn a lot from both of those activites). But that night we went on a family walk around downtown Encinitas. After a successful trip at a funky thrift shop, we went into a store with kid's toys. Outside they had a chalkboard and chalk. After playing inside for a long time the kids headed outside, and colored with the chalk for about 30 minutes. Charis started by writing 1-20 on the ground and hopping on the numbers. Which helped Paxton learn some of those higher numbers. Then she wrote out "10 plus 10 is 20". Why she wrote that I don't know. I didn't even realize she knew that. And since I haven't taught her formal math, she didn't know the short cuts. So I asked her if she wanted to see the shortcuts for "plus" and "is". So she learned how to write simple equations on the ground of downtown Encinitas at 6:00pm. Paxton kinda copied the equations and Jonas doodled. Caleb and I stood back and marveled.



Once home we ended up having a discussion about different country's governments. For some reason she wondered which countries have Kings and Queens. That lead to a talk about our government and the president and democracy. I explained how our country is run. So, now she knows about that. And that is how I know they are learning. And why I'm not concerned about them being on track.

this kid

i love him.

still raw

yes, I am still eating all raw. I have occasional "cheats" but they are rare. I have said to some of you my joints feel 90% better and the rest of my body feels 100% better. Recently we've had a few cold days (now it's hot again) and during the cold weather my joints we're bothering me more again. But much less than they used to in the cold. So I'd have to say my joints 75% better and the rest of me feels 95% better. Im hoping that more time on raw will continue to heal my body, and that even the cold will have little affect on my joints at some point.



i do like living this way. It's becoming normal, and I don't have to think about every meal before I eat anymore. There are times when the inconvenience of it bothers me, but the benefits completely outweigh the negatives. Due to digestive issues, I eat only fruit until lunchtime, and then no more the rest of the day. I thought this would be really hard, but it's been great. As long as I have a banana first thing, I have plenty of energy. (I always thought I needed some protein in the morning, but I have more energy with the fruit.)

I've become much more in-tune with my body, and am realizing I need less food than I used to consume. I never considered myself an emotional eater, but I was/am! It was masked by the fact that I would turn to food when I felt "off". So it seemed like a positive understanding of my food-body relationship. But I was just turning to food to make me feel better, instead of exploring other options. This is still my first response, but I'm learning to try other things first (exercise, water, sleep, talking to a friend,etc.). Im realizing that I usually don't need to eat more when I feel bad. My body is probably still digesting what I ate last, and adding to that process will just make me feel worse.



a typical day's "diet" for me consists of...
*banana, orange, apple, figs, avocado, other fruits until noon. warm tea.
*loaded salad with spinach, cucumber, broccoli, sunflower seeds, sprouts, peppers, other veggies for lunch.
*soaked almonds or raw crackers with green olive spread, or veg juice, or raw granola, or coconut smoothie for snack
*nori rolls (like eating sushi w/o the fish), or raw soup, or raw "spaghetti" for dinner
*carob coconut balls, raw ice cream for dessert (raw desserts are great, and guilt free)

this is just off the top of my head. There is more. I'm still learning, and there are some things I can't make until I have a dehydrator. If you're interested in some great and fairly simple recipes check out the book Rawvolution by Matt Amsden.