It's been a while. I know. So, here I am – playing catch up once again. I have to warn you, there will be bragging involved. I'm feeling so proud of Jerry today. Not for anything in particular. I'm just proud because he is who he is. And because he knows himself so well. He has such maturity when it comes to understanding his feelings and expressing himself – it just blows me away.
See, Warren is officially unemployed now, which means he's home. Watching Jerry. And being a bit, uh, judgmental about how he spends his time. At least that's how it started out. A few nights ago there was yelling (by Jerry), arms were thrown up in annoyance and despair (by Warren) and the word "school" and the phrase "turn off the TV for good" were heard during a private conversation between Warren and I. Needless to say, I was a bit worried at how the rest of Warren's unemployment would effect our unschooling.
See, Warren totally gets the educational side of unschooling. It's the lifestyle part that throws him for a loop. Specifically, he doesn't want Jerry staying up until 3:30 a.m. and he doesn't want him spending all day on the couch in front of the television (computer on lap, DS in hand). And I totally get that. But, as we learned when I kept track of how we spend our days (Jerry and I) he doesn't sit on the couch all day. In fact, he takes part in a wide variety of activities. Sure, some weeks are less active than others, but, in general, the television watching happens late in the day and well into the night (and early hours of the morning) when there's not much else to do anyway. So yes, there's a lot of TV. And, no. It's not "educational." It's not even Mythbusters. He's watching the Disney Channel.
But he's watching with an eye toward figuring out relationships. I realized it last night during another one of our 1 a.m. discussions. He was asking me about boys I liked when I was his age and how old I was when I had my first boyfriend (Newsflash: Jerry's best friend, Jackson, has a girlfriend!!) and he started to mention all these things he'd learned on the cartoon Sixteen. They were all about relationships. And they were true. (Rule #1: Never break up by text message.) Anyway, it was pretty amazing to see that he really does get more than we guess out of the shows he watches.
One thing I love about our late night talks is that Jerry asks me all kinds of questions and he wonders aloud about things. "I wonder what it would feel like to have both arms and wings," he said late last night. He was trying to figure out the mechanics of it all. How would the wings extend? Where would they be when they rested? What would make them unfold?
The other day – a day or two after Warren and Jerry had their argument – Jerry called a family meeting. He wanted to talk about how he and Warren could get along better. He was amazing. So mature and well-spoken. They both said how they felt and talked about ways they could show respect and kindness to one another. Then they had a pillow fight.
I could go on, but it would probably get very boring. Lucky for you, Jerry's doing a Pokemon ROM hack and he needs my help. So I'm off.
P.S. Guess who's learning the binary and hexidecimal number systems? That's right! Me! More on the mind-blowing conversion from decimal to binary later....
Showing posts with label television. Show all posts
Showing posts with label television. Show all posts
December 1, 2009
November 13, 2009
No Mo' NaNoWriMo
Well, that didn't last long. Writing 2000 words a day just isn't my thing. It's no fun if you can't go back and make the writing good. Part of what I like about writing is going back over it and reading it--but if it's all hurried drivel and I can't go back and fix it, I don't really want to read it. So, I'm bailing on NaNoWriMo. The good thing about it, though, was that I realized I do have time to write. I can squeeze it in after Warren leaves for work and before Jerry wakes up. So, that's a big plus.
We've been so busy this last week. Lots of social things. I started a weekly teen knitting circle so Summer can meet some more homeschooled girls her age and that's been really great. Jerry now has a weekly D&D game with a couple friends (run by a fabulously patient mom). And we spent the night at Mandy's last Sunday and played Rock Band well into the night before heading off to homeschool day at Legoland the following day.
We've been devouring the Ranger's Apprentice Series on audiobook. We're starting Book 3 today. While we listen Jerry has been doing lots of perler beads projects and even a little knitting. I've been knitting a bit (I'm pretty pathetic) and trying to learn to crochet so I can make some cute little amigurumi creatures.
The night before last, in one of our 2 a.m. talks (Jerry really opens up at that hour, for some reason), Jerry told me that he feels like he's been watching too much television. And then the heavens opened up and angels began to sing and a rainbow stretched across the sky and--oh, sorry. None of those things happened. But I was so happy the sheer force of my happiness could have made them happen. What actually happened was that we talked about other things he might do instead, thought of some new project possibilities, and then I went back to bed. But I was so excited I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking, "Oh my god. Maybe the deschooling is done! Maybe the cocoon phase is over!! Maybe he'll start to get excited about learning again!!!" I just couldn't turn my brain off. So, instead of sleeping, I got up and finished watching the first season of Weeds (the best show ever). I didn't go back to bed until 6:45 and by then Warren was getting up, so I gave up on sleep all together. I managed to muddle through the day pretty well, though, even on three hours of sleep. I think it's the happiness adrenaline. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will last!
In other news, I've started keeping track of how Jerry spends his time. I really didn't want to do this. But Warren was feeling like Jerry does nothing but watch television and it was the only way I could think of proving to him that that's just not true. I've been doing it for over a week now and it's not nearly as invasive or annoying as I thought it would be. It's actually given me a lot more confidence. Before, when I would argue that Jerry doesn't watch tv all the time, I didn't have anything to back me up. Now I do--of course, on the rare day that he does nothing but watch tv the plan can backfire, but if Warren can see it's a rare event, then I've made my point. What I really like about the record-keeping, though, is being able to look over our week and see that we really are doing a lot. So, I think I'll keep doing it for a while. Once I clean the scanner off (it's buried under the piles of office crap I've been "organizing") I'll scan some of them for you. I'm color coding them so it's easy to see at a glance what we've been up to (and it's pretty).
Let's see...what else is happening? One of that cats has worms--just thought you'd like to know. Also, I'm trying to wrap up my grandma's estate by the end of the year. So I have lots to do there. I'll get a small stipend for all the work I've done and I'm thinking of doing something completely selfish with the money. Something like leasing a horse for a while, or paying for riding lessons, or--actually those are the only selfish things I've come up with so far. The other things I've thought of are building a new closet in the guest bedroom or putting new cupboards in the kitchen. But it won't be enough money for either of those things so, they're probably out of the question anyway. That's all the news really. Oh, Warren and I are going to see Ray Davies on Saturday night. And we're even going out for drinks and dinner with some friends beforehand. So that's exciting. Though I think I might need to buy an new outfit first--my wardrobe is pretty sad these days. Oh, and there's an all ages Derby Dolls brawl on Sunday. So that's cool. Jerry will get to experience the roller derby at last!
That's about it.
We've been so busy this last week. Lots of social things. I started a weekly teen knitting circle so Summer can meet some more homeschooled girls her age and that's been really great. Jerry now has a weekly D&D game with a couple friends (run by a fabulously patient mom). And we spent the night at Mandy's last Sunday and played Rock Band well into the night before heading off to homeschool day at Legoland the following day.
We've been devouring the Ranger's Apprentice Series on audiobook. We're starting Book 3 today. While we listen Jerry has been doing lots of perler beads projects and even a little knitting. I've been knitting a bit (I'm pretty pathetic) and trying to learn to crochet so I can make some cute little amigurumi creatures.
The night before last, in one of our 2 a.m. talks (Jerry really opens up at that hour, for some reason), Jerry told me that he feels like he's been watching too much television. And then the heavens opened up and angels began to sing and a rainbow stretched across the sky and--oh, sorry. None of those things happened. But I was so happy the sheer force of my happiness could have made them happen. What actually happened was that we talked about other things he might do instead, thought of some new project possibilities, and then I went back to bed. But I was so excited I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking, "Oh my god. Maybe the deschooling is done! Maybe the cocoon phase is over!! Maybe he'll start to get excited about learning again!!!" I just couldn't turn my brain off. So, instead of sleeping, I got up and finished watching the first season of Weeds (the best show ever). I didn't go back to bed until 6:45 and by then Warren was getting up, so I gave up on sleep all together. I managed to muddle through the day pretty well, though, even on three hours of sleep. I think it's the happiness adrenaline. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will last!
In other news, I've started keeping track of how Jerry spends his time. I really didn't want to do this. But Warren was feeling like Jerry does nothing but watch television and it was the only way I could think of proving to him that that's just not true. I've been doing it for over a week now and it's not nearly as invasive or annoying as I thought it would be. It's actually given me a lot more confidence. Before, when I would argue that Jerry doesn't watch tv all the time, I didn't have anything to back me up. Now I do--of course, on the rare day that he does nothing but watch tv the plan can backfire, but if Warren can see it's a rare event, then I've made my point. What I really like about the record-keeping, though, is being able to look over our week and see that we really are doing a lot. So, I think I'll keep doing it for a while. Once I clean the scanner off (it's buried under the piles of office crap I've been "organizing") I'll scan some of them for you. I'm color coding them so it's easy to see at a glance what we've been up to (and it's pretty).
Let's see...what else is happening? One of that cats has worms--just thought you'd like to know. Also, I'm trying to wrap up my grandma's estate by the end of the year. So I have lots to do there. I'll get a small stipend for all the work I've done and I'm thinking of doing something completely selfish with the money. Something like leasing a horse for a while, or paying for riding lessons, or--actually those are the only selfish things I've come up with so far. The other things I've thought of are building a new closet in the guest bedroom or putting new cupboards in the kitchen. But it won't be enough money for either of those things so, they're probably out of the question anyway. That's all the news really. Oh, Warren and I are going to see Ray Davies on Saturday night. And we're even going out for drinks and dinner with some friends beforehand. So that's exciting. Though I think I might need to buy an new outfit first--my wardrobe is pretty sad these days. Oh, and there's an all ages Derby Dolls brawl on Sunday. So that's cool. Jerry will get to experience the roller derby at last!
That's about it.
September 14, 2009
Warning: Whining Ahead
Sorry. It's just that I'm feeling all "bad mom" today. I think it's because of the conference. I enjoyed it. I really did. But now I feel like I haven't been doing enough for Jerry. It's soooo haaaaarrrrrd. He really is so difficult to motivate. I know we do stuff, but the things we do take up a very small portion of the week. He seriously spends most of his time on the couch with his laptop open and the television on. You always hear unschoolers say, "when I say my kid is watching television I don't mean he's watching cartoons all day." Well, Jerry is watching cartoons all day. He loves them. And I really do think he benefits from watching them. I mean, who knows? He may go into that field eventually. It's just that I wish he didn't watch quite so many of them all in a row, over and over again.
Okay, I feel better now that I got that off my chest. But I still feel like if I were doing more, or just doing the right things, he'd been more inclined to get off the couch. It's not that I'm not offering suggestions. I am. But he turns them down most of the time. And I have to be okay with that. So I have been. But it's getting old.
Today, in an effort to find some activities that are more appealing than cartoons, I've been thinking of all the things Jerry has expressed a real interest in, and trying to find ways to bring them into his life. I had already sent out some e-mails looking for a video game design/arduino/electronics/Maker-type/creative person to hang out with Jerry for a couple hours a week but I haven't found anyone yet. Today I sent an e-mail to a local silk screening shop (Jerry loves silk screening) about taking classes or maybe just visiting and also checked into going back to the clay studio Jerry used to go to for classes (he didn't sound super excited about it, but I'll ask again later). I also got him a pro membership on instructables.com so we can download instructions for cool projects. And we went to Radio Shack to buy the supplies for some LED pens he wants to make. I still feel kinda depressed about the whole thing, though.
It all started when we were at Radio Shack and I was about to pay and he said, "Oh, mom, I guess I should mention that I was really just showing you the LED pens. I wasn't saying I wanted to make them." Really? Why did he say he wanted to go buy the supplies if he didn't want to make the things!? It's not that he didn't want to make them. I know. He could just go either way, is what he was saying. But it still sent me into a bit of a funk.
Anyway, I'm complaining about TV but the truth is he hasn't been in front of the TV all day. And at the moment he and his friend Jackson are watching Castle in the Sky in Japanese (with English subtitles). And he does want to make the LED pens after all. So we'll do that later.
I'm freaking out over nothing. I know. But I feel it's only fair to let people know that even after two years you might still freak out over things. Thankfully, I've learned to do it quietly and to myself (well, and to you), rather than at Jerry.
In fact, last week I was very proud of myself. I had been reading Raising Freethinkers by Dale McGowan and decided that Jerry absolutely had to know the differences between the seven largest world religions. Immediately. So I got some books at the library and started reading up on them. I didn't say anything to Jerry, though. And then at the conference I asked Sandra Dodd what a parent should do when they get a sudden urge to "teach" something (like world religions, for example) and she said rent a couple good movies and maybe he'll want to watch them. Or learn about them myself and just drop some information in conversation and see if he's interested in hearing more. And that was good advice. But then Pam Sorooshian, who was sitting in front of me, turned around and said, "I have another idea. How old are you?" "Forty," I said. "How about if you decide you want him to know everything about world religions by the time he turns forty. You're learning about it at forty." And that, my friends, is the beauty of Pam Sorooshian. Needless to say the urge has past.
I feel much better now. I guess I just needed to vent.
I'm off to the grocery store now, to buy dinner for an 18th wedding anniversary picnic, which Warren and I will enjoy on our deck when he gets home from work. Wow. 18 years. How did we ever get so old?
Okay, I feel better now that I got that off my chest. But I still feel like if I were doing more, or just doing the right things, he'd been more inclined to get off the couch. It's not that I'm not offering suggestions. I am. But he turns them down most of the time. And I have to be okay with that. So I have been. But it's getting old.
Today, in an effort to find some activities that are more appealing than cartoons, I've been thinking of all the things Jerry has expressed a real interest in, and trying to find ways to bring them into his life. I had already sent out some e-mails looking for a video game design/arduino/electronics/Maker-type/creative person to hang out with Jerry for a couple hours a week but I haven't found anyone yet. Today I sent an e-mail to a local silk screening shop (Jerry loves silk screening) about taking classes or maybe just visiting and also checked into going back to the clay studio Jerry used to go to for classes (he didn't sound super excited about it, but I'll ask again later). I also got him a pro membership on instructables.com so we can download instructions for cool projects. And we went to Radio Shack to buy the supplies for some LED pens he wants to make. I still feel kinda depressed about the whole thing, though.
It all started when we were at Radio Shack and I was about to pay and he said, "Oh, mom, I guess I should mention that I was really just showing you the LED pens. I wasn't saying I wanted to make them." Really? Why did he say he wanted to go buy the supplies if he didn't want to make the things!? It's not that he didn't want to make them. I know. He could just go either way, is what he was saying. But it still sent me into a bit of a funk.
Anyway, I'm complaining about TV but the truth is he hasn't been in front of the TV all day. And at the moment he and his friend Jackson are watching Castle in the Sky in Japanese (with English subtitles). And he does want to make the LED pens after all. So we'll do that later.
I'm freaking out over nothing. I know. But I feel it's only fair to let people know that even after two years you might still freak out over things. Thankfully, I've learned to do it quietly and to myself (well, and to you), rather than at Jerry.
In fact, last week I was very proud of myself. I had been reading Raising Freethinkers by Dale McGowan and decided that Jerry absolutely had to know the differences between the seven largest world religions. Immediately. So I got some books at the library and started reading up on them. I didn't say anything to Jerry, though. And then at the conference I asked Sandra Dodd what a parent should do when they get a sudden urge to "teach" something (like world religions, for example) and she said rent a couple good movies and maybe he'll want to watch them. Or learn about them myself and just drop some information in conversation and see if he's interested in hearing more. And that was good advice. But then Pam Sorooshian, who was sitting in front of me, turned around and said, "I have another idea. How old are you?" "Forty," I said. "How about if you decide you want him to know everything about world religions by the time he turns forty. You're learning about it at forty." And that, my friends, is the beauty of Pam Sorooshian. Needless to say the urge has past.
I feel much better now. I guess I just needed to vent.
I'm off to the grocery store now, to buy dinner for an 18th wedding anniversary picnic, which Warren and I will enjoy on our deck when he gets home from work. Wow. 18 years. How did we ever get so old?
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