Bedtime and Other Fun

I know this is supposed to be a blog about unschooling. But, since all my angst is gone I've hardly mentioned it at all in the past year. So, today I'm going to start with two unschooly (but, brief) items. First off, my blog was included in a list of the top 8 unschooling blogs! Can you believe it!? Wait a minute–don't answer that. Anyway, it was quite an honor to be included on that list, so I just wanted to share it with you. But, now I feel obliged to write something about unschooling. So here goes:
I had a realization about bedtimes the other day. Jerry has been staying awake most of the night and sleeping until 3 or 4 in the afternoon for the last month or two. I'm not happy about it, really. I miss seeing him during the day and it makes me wonder where I fit into his life if I'm asleep for much of the waking portion of it. Still, I let him make his own choices. If he's not feeling well or of he's very tired you can bet I ask him if he thinks he got enough sleep (not all the time and not in an accusing way, but sometimes I just can't stop myself because I want him to be aware of how and if his sleeping patterns are affecting him). Anyway, I was thinking about the whole bedtime thing and I realized that this is the time in Jerry's life when it's natural for him to seek out independence–to move away from his parents in some ways. And what better place to do that than in our own home? He gets the entire house to himself. He's free to make choices without taking anyone else into consideration. And yet, if something happens that he wants to talk to me about (and that's not uncommon) all he has to do is walk downstairs and wake me up. It's the perfect situation, really. He's safe, but solo. And he gets the added bonus of being able to talk to friends who live in different time zones and might not be available during the day. So, I'm not saying I'm entirely happy with the situation, but I understand it. And I understand that there are benefits. So, I let it be.

On to other topics now! We've had a really fun week. Yesterday Jerry got together with his friend Josh and we all ended up going to see some music together at the Hammer Museum.

I swiped the above photo, taken by Andrew Herrold, off the KCRW blog. The event took place in a really nice outdoor setting. Everything about it was great. The lead guitar player of Saint Motel, the headlining band, is a close family friend of Josh's so we met his family, which was really nice. The guitar player's dad had created this really cool set up that puts cameras on the microphones and some of the instruments. He also created a small hand held camera that his wife carries around through the crowd while the band plays. Then he has this thing that looks like a wooden piano keyboard that allows him to switch from one camera to another–the image is projected onto a screen behind the band. It's really cool. So we got to check out the camera system a bit. We were also able to watch the DJ do some of his stuff (which Jerry loved) because we arrived early enough to see him and the opening band, Kitten (fronted by an amazing 15-year-old singer). And, as an added bonus, Jerry scored an old Apple Airport that he can take apart in his attempt to create remote internet access for his computer while we're on long drives.

As if that wasn't enough excitement for one week, we went to Anime Expo at the Los Angeles convention Center today. We took Jerry's friend Shea and the boys had a great time marveling at all the costumes, watching anime, and shopping in the mega exhibit hall. I didn't bring my camera, but here are a few phone pics:
Jerry and Shea.

Here's a group of people dressed as characters from One Piece.

Lots of Bleach cosplayers viewed from up above.

We bought a few things for Jerry, but my favorite by far was this Pokemon t-shirt.

I just thought it was hilarious and so did Jerry. That's it for now.

Have a happy 4th!

Jane Austen Ball

The ball was so fun! I finally feel comfortable with most of the dances so I don't look like a deer caught in the headlights when my turn comes around--at least I hope I don't! The picture is me, Angela, and David. If Angela and I want to dance with David we have to snatch him up quickly before someone else does because men are such a hot commodity at the ball. Next year we might have two men. Angela's neighbor said he would go, so that will be nice. In the beginning it was a lot easier to dance with a man because sometimes keeping the parts straight is difficult. But on Saturday night I danced with lots of female partners as well an males and I think now that I'm more familiar with the dances I can switch between the two with ease. Anyway, it was loads of fun and I highly recommend going to any Jane Austen event you can find. I have some video which I'll put up as soon as Jerry shows me how to download it.

In other news, we've worked out another house swap! Yippee! We're going to swap with a family that has a house three hours North of San Francisco, in Point Arena. It's in the Redwoods and has a view of the ocean! And we get to bring our dog! Can you tell I'm excited? We're going the second week in February and will return just in time for me to start my classes the following week.

Also, I've started on a new healthier eating regime. And it's not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I'm eating almost no diary, no white flour, very little wheat and tons of fruits, vegetables, legumes and quinoa. That's about it. Plus, I've been scouring the NYTimes site for recipes from Mark Bittman (the Minimalist) because he makes everything sound so easy. And that's what I need--easy. I just finished his book, Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating and I loved it. I also got his How to Cook Everything Vegetarian from the library and it's fabulous as well. I think I'll have to buy that one (used, though because I'm not buying new this year!).

Jerry is staying up until 4am or later these days and I do wish he'd go to bed a little earlier. It's very annoying to be a radical unschooler because if you're not going to set arbitrary limits (like bedtimes, in many cases) you need a very good reason to request that your child change his or her habits. And then if he or she doesn't really want to follow your suggestion there isn't much you can do because you can't just suddenly start being all authoritarian. It doesn't sit right. But Jerry looked a little like a zombie yesterday (there were no zombies at the ball, by the way--I thought there might be.) and I'm thinking he really does need to be in bed by 2. That way he can sleep until 12 (with the dog walking job he needs to be up by 12:30 at the latest) and still get a solid ten hours (which is his usual amount).

Anyway, I'm thinking of setting an alarm for myself so I can remind him to come to bed around 2. He's more likely to stop what he's doing if he has a gentle reminder about the time and he likes to be tucked in, so that might work. The only drawback is that I'll be looking like a zombie!