Unschooling is as easy as ABC! A bold statement for some, but for those in the know, it's just a fact of life. Truly, unschooling is as easy (or easier) as learning the alphabet is for school children and in this blog, I'm going to share why. The Power of Motivation Ever wonder why there are things you are immediately drawn to discover and learn more about and then there are things you'd like to just ignore all together and they seem difficult to get through? Sometimes the things we're obsessed with discovering are more complicated that some of the things we would rather avoid. So it can't be ..read more

Hello there friends! I've taken a long break from writing as I needed, but I'm drawn to share what has been going on as I'm able. The last year has been a whirlwind of challenges, victories, failures, joys and grief. We are all doing well and excited about the year to come. Hope is 12 now and taller than I. Still drawing nearly everyday. Still roleplaying many times a day. Loves animals, character creation and is reading fluently now. I have plans to share videos to catch up everything and blogs to share some specific things that are happening currently so stay tuned for all of this to come ..read more

Our life as we know it is over. We discovered that our Landlord of more than 10 years is selling the house. Our apartment has been neglected severely, despite our repair requests over the years. While we paid rent, he did not maintain our home. Our family is on a VERY low, fixed income and we've survived all this time by growing our own food and being frugal in a tiny space. It's been a simple, but rewarding life. Now, rent prices are double what we can afford. Traditional work is not available to us due to health reasons. Food prices are becoming alarming. We are being backed into a corner a ..read more

How We Find Peace Through The Panic If you've been following our family this summer, you'll know that we are living through the biggest uncertain time of our family's lives. , (Read More...) Our car has been vandalized twice, and so we've been in close contact with our mechanic. We don't know who is doing it as we live on a dead end, rural road with 10 other families. One family DID just move in and we did ask them not to shoot off fireworks in the forested cul de sac (dead end) next to our farm where we have sensitive animals. They were not rude but there were some disappointed teens present ..read more

Hope Is Becoming A Woman! Before I share, I want to make it clear that Hope not only gave permission for me to share, she asked I tell the world about her first moon. We've talked about it over the last year as I suspected it would be soon. 2 nights prior, we were talking about something that doesn't usually invoke a great deal of emotion from Hope, and she burst into uncontrollable tears. She was conscious of it and asked why this was happening to her. I attributed it to her Empath sensitivities, but looking back, it was clearly the first hormone wave of her life. The next day she declared it ..read more

Life Has No Shortage Of Challenges. But there's no reason we have to make it more so by forcing adherence to schedules that don't work with our family's natural rhythm. Illness, financial and emotional needs are just a few factors that could make trying to access a good education through a well established, often rigid system, very difficult and sometimes impossible. This is why it's so important not to adopt a once size fits all approach to learning. It happens for everyone differently and education facilitation should reflect that. Not attending a brick and mortar school allows us to live wi ..read more

I haven't written in a month and now I'm sharing why. Hope's Birthday was awesome. So much joy and fun and celebration. And then we were thrust into planting season, a wonderful time of year. Our goal is 500 lbs of organic potatoes, grown with seeds from last year and double our regular garden full of zucchini, squash, pumpkin, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, greens and spices which help us afford the diet that supports our health properly. So it was a day of planting, watering and covering when we first heard the news that rocked our world. Our landlord of 12 years pulled Jaze aside as he filled ..read more

Our little girl is growing up! Hope turned 11 on Sunday, May 23rd! This was the first birthday that didn't focus on toys because she's been asking for something that isn't one. So if we were going to have a play filled birthday like she loves, we had to get creative. HERE'S WHAT WE DID... Decorations We are a frugal, eco-minded family AND we're on lockdown (party supplies are not essential), so there was no buying decorations. Fortunately I reuse my decorations so there was plenty available to spruce up the place especially for Hope. We opt out of balloons as they are extremely toxic for the ..read more

There was no gift for me to unwrap. There never is. It's not because Hope is ungrateful or that we haven't told her about Mother's Day. Our aim is to have a genuine life, without guilty obligations and arbitrary expectations. This extends to holidays so our celebrations look a lot different than other families. Being Hope's Mother, everyday feels like Mother's Day. She is constantly sharing her best things with me. Her 2nd last blueberry. One of her favorite cookies. The last drink of water from our stash when we're out. She says the most beautiful, heartfelt things very frequently. Like that ..read more

We ❤️ Cosleeping/Bedsharing! Since Hope was 3, when we first discovered the practice of bedsharing, she has slept next to me or Jaze most every night. She slumbers soundly, without nightmares or tossing and turning. She never fears bedtime. (Like I did.) Had we known about cosleeping at her birth, Hope would never have spent anytime in a crib or bassinet. She taught us her place is safely by our sides as long as she needs. Now with less than a month before Hope turns 11, she is still happiest snuggled up with me or her Daddy when she goes to bed and we embrace her happily. How It Started As ..read more