Back To School?

The day after Labour Day always evokes in me a real sense of gratitude that we have the freedom to make our own educational choices. Today is no different. It's been three years and as so many of our friends return to the confines of a brick & mortar school, we're still totally digging our unschooling lifestyle.

Today I'm spending my morning eating a BBQ chicken leg with salad and refried black beans, cursing Ontario's insurance laws for my lack of options in the refrigerator and relaxing with some Diana Krall. Shortly I'll get ready to go suffer through a visit to my physiotherapy clinic. The upside is the mountain of heating pads they surround me in to loosen things up. I've confessed to the girls over there that the heat and hot wax are the only reasons I show up to take the hour and a half of abuse from them.

Mister Twister is fast asleep still at 11 am, which is fine with me and Diana. A little morning peace never hurt anyone. He'll be stirring soon enough to drive me bonkers with a steady stream of crazy Russian Hacker videos or "did you know" facts before he drags me outside to watch him leap from our rooftop to the trampoline a few times... in the rain. And that's fine too since it's about all I get these days before he turns from David Banner into a raging green Hulk.

Miss Evan is finally coming to spend a few days with us here at our little country "hideout" where I've been convalescing. She's showing an interest in learning a bit more formally so I'm going to help her get set up with some online math and English courses. It's going to be a very long but ultimately very rewarding day, each of us doing exactly what we want (or need) to be doing without the stress of having to schedule our day around an obnoxious bell.

Tristan mentioned to me just the other day that "School takes up your whole day, leaving very little time for the important things." I had to chuckle at the truth in that statement. When I reflect on our days as bricks in the proverbial wall we never seemed to have time for anything. Every day was a rush, even the weekends were a race to get everything done so we could do it all over again the following week. I know some folks thrive on that sort of rigid structure in their lives or at least believe they do but we are definitely seekers of a more unique and individualistic lifestyle.

Although learning never begins or ends for us, I like to use this time of year to reassess our individual and family goals, research ways we can achieve those goals and implement new ideas that we've maybe been tossing around but haven't put into action. It's an awesome feeling to watch the kids take great pleasure in the whole process; it generates excitement for the coming year and gets everyone involved.

I hope that however you and yours are spending the first day back to school, it is an enjoyable, rewarding day that fills you with a sense of gratitude for the freedom to make your own educational choices.