Does Unschooling really work? YES!

Last week Randy and I were talking in our bedroom when Colin burst in and announced, "Since you won't teach me PHP, I am going to teach myself. I put PHP for Dummies on hold at the library."

I love initiative!

Apparently Colin asked Randy to teach him PHP and Randy told him he would in a few years. Randy changed his mind after Colin was proactive and they started working on a menu planning webpage for me. It is looking pretty cool.

What has Colin been up too?? Oh, my!


He has been camera crazy lately. He loves to take pictures. He loves to upload pictures to the computer. He loves to burn the pictures to picture CDs. He loves to watch his pictures on the TV.

His latest is this adventure in Adobe Photoshop. He took this picture of himself.

Then used photoshop to change the picture on his shirt to be an image he found on the web.

Very impressive. I asked Randy when he taught Colin to use Photoshop and Randy said that he hasn't taught Colin Photoshop.

Colin said, as I was posting this, that Randy taught him to use the eraser in Photoshop when they were programming their game with Phrogram (Kids Programming Language V 2.2). They used a picture of one of our fish and used the eraser to erase the tank from around it. He said he just figured out how to use layers himself.

Here are the pictures of the Mei Tai. Grace likes this one better than the first one. She says this one doesn't hurt her legs and it's not hot.

One of the features of a Mei Tai is you can still use it while pregnant. I don't think I want to use it too often though - that's too many kids to carry for too long. :)
I am 29 weeks pregnant in this picture.

Notice the lovely patio my husband has created this past month. I love it! We still need to put the sand in the cracks, but it is a HUGE improvement over the dirt that the patio has been for the past two years.

Happiness is:

Watching Robyn push Gracie on the swings and teaching her to pump.

Life is Good!







Everyone has become a bit more self sufficient this week. I am very excited.

Colin learned to vacuum and use the can opener!! Wahoo!!

Robyn learned to ride her bike WITHOUT training wheels and go across the monkey bars at the park! Hooray!

Grace told me last Sunday that she doesn't like to play toys at nursery class - no wonder she always cries at the very end and gets brought to me during Relief Society. We talked about it and decided she could ask her teacher if she could read books instead. She tried it and after class she told me, "I didn't need you today." Her teacher read three books to her during toy time.

It is very, very nice to not be needed quite so much. I got a lot done this week! I was able to study for two or three hours each day and the house has stayed clean! That has never happened before. I even had time to sew a mei tai for the new baby. A Mei Tai is an Asian baby carrier. We went to The Baby Place for our monthly midwife visit and one of the girls there was wearing her 11 week old in one on her back while she checked me. Her Mei Tai is a Kozy Carrier (http://www.kozycarrier.homestead.com). I decided that for $85, I could build one myself. I made a mock up in Robyn's size first to practice - it's straps aren't quite in the right angle, but it works pretty good for her dollies. Then I made one out of a piece of fabric left over from when we recovered the couch. I put Grace in it and she said it was too hot! It was also too wide. So I found some lighter fabric and shrunk the body by three inches. I haven't actually tried it with any children yet, but it works great with Robyn's "sleeping baby" that is about the size of a real three month old. I was thinking I would have Randy try it with Grace tonight - he's not pregnant.


The final Mei Tai



Robyn modeling her Mei Tai.