Be Free To Learn

RSS Feed Homepage

I'm gonna check this out..
2007-12-29 04:23:00
We all learn something new every day here at the Griffin house! How to be a better blogger :)I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.It covers:The best blogging techniques.How to get traffic to your blog.How to turn your blog into money.I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.
More About: Check , Gonna

Addition and Multiplication
2007-12-21 15:27:00
From my 5 year old ~"Mommy, did you know 4 plus 4 plus 4 equals 12?"Mommy ~ "Yes, I did ~ how did you know?""Because you said that 4 times 3 equals 12, so 4 plus 4 plus 4 equals 12."Hmmm...the link between addition and multiplication has been made. I don't remember making that connection as a young child.Fascinating.

Bloggers Choice Awards
2007-04-14 23:20:00
Now this is really cool ~ It's called the Bloggers Choice Award s ~ You can nominate or vote for your opinion of who has the best blog . Voting is between now and 11:59 p.m., May 22 ~ and the winners will be officially announced at PostieCon on June 2nd! I hung out at the site for a bit and they have a good set up ~ with a brag badge that you can put on your nominated site and other fun stuff.Think you have the best blog in a particular category? Or overall? Then nominate yourself! Or if there is a blogger that you are constantly visiting, you can nominate them. Spread the word on your blog to vote or comment on others' blogs and have them vote. Imagine if you win, what it could do to your blog's popularity! It's also an incentive to pretty up your blog if it's not looking so hot ; )It also looks like it is a great place to network ~ increase your traffic ~ check out some other blogs..leave comments..compare layout and content. You could use ALL that to improve your own b...
More About: Ward

Mini-Universe
2007-04-13 16:16:00
From watching my kids interact, it occurred to me that the family unit is like a mini-universe, where the children practice how to deal with emotions and different situations in the privacy and safety of their own home. I, as a parent, need to be there to guide them through and help them find their way to work through these emotions and situations.When I was growing up, it was "be nice" ~ "say something nice or don't say it at all" ~ "don't be angry" ~ "don't be sad" ~ etc... Now as an adult, it's hard to know how to work through those emotions because they were stifled. Only the emotion of happiness or contentment was acceptable. If you or your children are never allowed to argue (disagree) or show anger or hurt or sadness ~ how are they or you ever going to learn how to deal with those emotions or situations in a productive way? I say, the arguments between siblings (and parents) are important in their personality growth and situation awareness ~ of course, they have a coa...
More About: Universe , Mini , Verse , Univ , Univers

Appreciation
2007-04-11 17:14:00
You may hear a lot of parents say that they don't feel appreciated or that their children are ungrateful for what they have or what they do for them. I say to them: 1. how grateful or appreciative were you toward your parents growing up? and 2. do things out of love ~ not for gratitude and 3. I don't think you're looking in the right places.When you get a hug out of the blue or an I love you just because or they bring you some water because you look hot or they smile at you in the morning upon waking, etc..... ~ what they're really saying is: I appreciate you and I'm grateful for all that you do for me.My daughter woke up this morning and said she wants to throw a party tonight for my husband ~ that's gratitude. It may not be obvious or it may be ~ it really doesn't matter which. Don't forget to appreciate all that they do and be grateful that you have this day with them ~ it goes both ways..go hug your kids.
More About: Appreciation , Reci

Gabby's Goodies Station Break
2007-04-11 16:51:00
Gabby Good ies - Gourmet Coffee at Wholesale Prices offers gourmet coffee, tea & treats at wholesale prices for those who want to either enjoy these yummies delivered to your door or those who would like to sell these products on their own to make money on the side OR both! They make great gifts too. If you join the Wholesale Coffee Club for $29.95 ~ you will receive samples of coffee, tea and great Goodies worth $30 at retail - PLUS you can reorder coffee for a full year at a 25% discount. Gotta love that discount and you can see from the pic that the packaging is professional & appealing and those brownies look de-lish! Give it a try!
More About: Break , Station , Stat , Abby

Break the Ice
2007-04-11 16:44:00
I've found that when I buy a toy or game for my kids that they find 10 other ways to play with it. It always amazes me as to what they come up with and I really enjoy watching and listening to how the game changes.Like the game "Don't Brea k the Ice"...first they played the game the way it was intended...then they built an igloo for their little animals..then they hid the bear under the ice and tried to find him cube by cube..then they set their animals on top and tried to save them before they fell in the ice. The list went on and on. It's great fun to see so much enjoyment out of one small toy ~ their imaginations are still going strong!

Words
2007-04-05 05:29:00
Today I was having a conversation with my daughter & she stopped me several times to ask me the meanings of the words that I was using. It's funny because you really don't think about the meaning of the words you're using until you're asked ~ point blank. Then you stumble for a minute and look up in the air (like it's written up there) and you either come up with a synonym or a definition or you go look it up ~ if the person still wants to know.It made me think 2 things ~ 1. that I should really be conscious of the words I'm using and 2. that my daughter was really participating in our conversation and wanted to know what I was saying ~ and that felt great.
More About: Words

Busy Days!
2007-04-02 20:03:00
Now that spring is here ~ we're getting busier! My daughter was having a grand time the other day making pottery on the pottery wheel for the first time. (She made me a vase: ) It was great. She wants to prepare for a week long pottery class coming up..so she was busy with that.My son got the new Teeanage Mutant Ninja Turtle PS2 game ~ so he's been busy conquering that. It's amazing how good he is at video games ~ he's 4!My dh built us another garden to fill up and I just planted all of my herbs this morning with the help of my daughters.The kids have been swinging on the swings each day & taking care of their Littlest Pet Shop Pets. Really been enjoying the weather ~ It's always spring that renews my appreciation for life..and I think that may be contagious : )
More About: Days , Busy

It's Spring!
2007-03-30 07:11:00
...and I am so excited about it! I've been really excited planning my gardens and now I actually get to make them. This year I'll have a strawberry patch & grape vines in one and all of my salad veggies in the other (except tomato ~ tried them last year..big flop.) My herbs (a new venture) will all be in pots inside & out and my children want to have their own garden next to mine this year. I'm not sure what they're planning to plant yet but I'm curious to find out! Just can't wait to get out there and start diggin' in the dirt!
More About: Spring , Ring

Clean Up Club
2007-03-21 04:26:00
Today, my 6 year old daughter created a camp (her and I are members so far)...she named it "Clean Up Club ". The purpose of The Clean Up Club is to clean up the earth and keep it clean..starting with your own yard.We live next to a pond and my daughter (M) just couldn't stand looking at the litter that washes up on the edges ~ so she grabbed her trigger powered zebra headed picker upper, handed me a plastic bag and proceeded to tell me of her club idea. We talked about the club and why it was important to her (all while she was cleaning up the litter around the pond) ~ she told me that it was important to her because trash lying around is gross and it hurts our planet..our animals..and ourselves.Simple concept, right? She has such big ideas..She asked me why people don't care abt the earth & animals ~ I told her that some do. She asked me why more people don't care ~ I said that I don't know...and I don't.

Farmers Market & Hiking
2007-03-20 21:25:00
Yesterday, I decided that I wanted to check out the local farmers market. I LOVE those ~ but hadn't gotten over there with the new baby & all. Well, it was great ~ the fresh produce, flowers, friendly people. We'll be going there a lot, I think. We picked out these 2 HUGE ferns to hang outside..give the patio a little life ~ they are absolutely beautiful..my daughter picked out a hanging geranium for the back and my son (as always) picked out yellow marigolds..his favorite. Then we got some fresh fruits and veggies for the next few days and headed over to the wildlife preserve.The hike with the kids was great ~ discover little fiddler crabs, new sea plants, mussels, swinging vines and a striped woodpecker...among other things : )What a fun day!
More About: Market , Hiking , King , Mark , Farm

Unschooling at its Purest
2007-03-17 04:33:00
My baby girl, 3 months old, has decided that she wants to roll over ~Do I Make her? NoDo I Push her? NoDo I test her & grade her on her progress? Of course not!I give her the opportunity to practice ~ I roll over next to her so she can see ~ I encourage her ~ I show her how to move that rascally arm out of her way...and I let her do it at her own pace and her own time. Why does she keep on trying? Because she's ready, because she wants to roll over, because she wants to move with her brother & sister...and she will. Because humans learn ~ that's what we do. That's really the premise of unschooling ~ trusting that our children will learn what they need when they need it because they want or need it at the time and us providing them every opportunity to do and/or explore whatever that may be whenever that may be. It's a very active and engaged method of living (thereby learning) and I love to watch it unfold ~ even in the tiniest of the tiny : )
More About: Rest , Unschooling , Pure

The Apprentice
2007-03-15 16:33:00
Yesterday, my daughter decided that she wanted to earn some $$ to buy some Littlest Pet Shop pets for herself and her brother. (We were in between paydays and were out of toy money.)So, she came up with the idea..designed the stand..and how to market it. We decided that the best location would be the park and off we went. (Wish I had pictures!) Anyway, we arrived at the park, set up and off her and my son went..advertising the lemonade stand like crazy to everyone there. ..the other mothers were looking at us like we were nuts and basically ignoring the kids. My daughter did end up getting 1 repeat customer though and she was okay with that I guess ~ a little disappointed but not discouraged from doing it again.The whole process reminded me of the show, The A pprentice , because she went through all of the stages that they go through in their tasks each week. It was very impressive ~
More About: Rent , Apprentice

1 Potato 2 Potato
2007-02-17 05:57:00
So the kids and I went outside today to plant bulbs for the upcoming spring ~ We started off in a huge pot where we have my daughter's maple tree planted.. When we ran out of room there, we ventured over to the raised garden bed that we built last year.This past fall, all of the flowers and vegetables that we planted in the garden were past production and I levels all of the dead brown and barely green vines and stems. I thought there was nothing left in there but some leftover Chamomile, Catnip and Lemon balm ~ but boy was I wrong. My daughter was planting her remaining bulbs in the garden, when she saw something orange-ish sticking out of the dirt. She asked me what it was..and I told her that I thought it was a leftover root from a zucchini plant that had been there. No sooner did the words come out of my mouth that it dawned on me..that wasn't a zucchini root..it was a sweet potato!! I had completely forgotten that I had planted sweet potatoes in the spring because when I ...
More About: Potato

Getting Sick
2007-02-04 17:58:00
Boy o boy am I glad we went so many fun places last week (heavy sarcasm intended!) ~ now we're all sick! Evidently we picked it up somewhere and passed it from person to person ~ all sick at varying degrees and it's a whole lot of fun. Honestly, it makes me never want to leave the house again! It is so annoying to 'catch' something pretty much every time we go out ~ we're just trying to experience life, for goodness sake, then we get sick and it sits us on our butts for longer than I like. Then we go out again to do something new and we come back with something new. The cycle, the cycle ~ driving me bananas!!Anyway, so at least we're all hear to take care of each other ~ so that's a good thing and leading us all back on the road to recovery. Maybe I could manufacture individual bubbles that we could travel in ~ THAT might be fun! Everyone having a grand time ~ bubble bumping on the street would be the new favorite pastime : ) No congestion, no coughing, no headaches, ...
More About: Sick

Grilling Out
2007-01-31 22:15:00
Today was the 1st sunny & not-to-cold day out ~ so we spent a lot of time outside. My daughter was clearing out the leftovers from last year's garden to get ready for this year. I was talking with her about my plans for the garden & the back yard ~ and my son was swinging on the swings and chasing bubbles. Then we all gathered on the porch to play some board games together ~ Labyrinth, Clue, Candyland.. the baby was enjoying the fresh air...Everyone decided they were hungry and my d had the suggestion to grill hot dogs over the fire pit. Sure ~ why not! So, I got the coals ready while the kids gathered the chairs around to get things set up. I love it when we all work together..it's a nice feeling : ) It was nice to sit there with them, grill and chat. I'm so glad to have this time together ~
More About: Grilling , Grill

Inspiration
2007-01-30 05:09:00
My dd stayed up a bit later then she normally does and she was walking around with a sticky pad of paper and a pen...said she was on a secret mission and she couldn't tell me what she was doing. So, I let her be on her way..watching her glide happily from room to room ~ so excited on her journey. When she was done ~ she ran to bed and hopped in and told me that she couldn't wait until we all discovered what she had done : )After she went to sleep ~ I went from room to room and looked around ~ she had left sweet notes for everyone in the house everyWHERE in the house..just to bring surprise smiles to our faces. So sweet!..We don't have bed times here and this is an example of why. If I had imposed a bed time on her and forced her to go to bed, I would have squashed her inspiration to write and to bring joy to others. As it were, she was able to express herself and practice her writing and when her body said that it was done for the day ~ she was able to listen to it and went to sl...
More About: Inspiration

Snow Day!
2007-01-28 05:01:00
Well today was a lot of fun ~ we went to a carnival today with big bumpy jumpy & sliding rides AND a snow field! Yay!It's funny because where we live, it doesn't snow ~ too hot~ and my children have been talking about snow and how they wish it would snow..what they would do in the snow..how much fun they'd have, etc.. So, I look in the paper and there it is..Snow Day! The carnival people hired a snow making company to make a snow field ~ letting about 100 or so kids & their parents on the field for a set amount of time to play in the snow. It was 65 degrees and my family was playing in the snow ..great fun!So, what did we learn today? We learned how snow can be man-made, we learned that family time is precious, we learned that when my ds doesn't win the prize he wants..that his sister will win it and give it to him just to make him feel better, we learned how to take our shoes off and put them on at LEAST 50 times and, most importantly, we learned how to make a snowball : )
More About: Snow Day

Barcelona Spain
2007-01-26 06:09:00
The only thing I really knew before today about Barcelona Spain http://www.easytobook.com/en/barcelona-ho tels ~ was that the Olympics were held there one year...can't really remember when ~ I think my memory is going. Anyway, when I was led to this link, http://www.easytobook.com/en/barcelona-ho tels , I learned about how to easily book a trip there (or to Amsterdam ~ isn't Arnold from there? umm..anyway..) and I also browsed through the many tourist attractions that Barcelona has to offer. I've never been to Europe myself, but I would like to visit Spain one day (http://www.easytobook.com/en/barcelona-h otels), France, England, Ireland, Scotland ~ really just all over!Before I go though, I'd like to learn at least some of the language of wherever I'm going. I think it's really rude to go to a country and expect them to cater to your language. True, I may not be able to be fluent in their language or have the correct enunciation ~ but the effort will be made on my part to le...

Fractions ~ of a cookie?
2007-01-25 22:48:00
So, my husband is having a discussion with my daughter about a cookie and I walk in in the middle of the conversation. ~What happened was~ While I'd been out of the room, my dh had given half of his half of a cookie ~ my dd was asking if she could have more and he was telling her that really it was too late for any more chocolate and he thought she'd had enough for now. Then I walked in to hear from dd to dh, "Well you know daddy, if you just gave me another half of a half ~ then I'll really only have had 1/2 of 1 cookie ~ because you gave me a quarter and 2 quarters equals a half."I was like Whoa! that was so cool ~ adding fractions..of a cookie ~ Sweet! Then I gave her half of my quarter ~ an eighth ; )Those things we use in every day life will be needed and learned when needed ~ the proof is in the cookie : )
More About: Cook , Fraction , Cookie

Do I Ever Sound Like That?
2007-01-25 05:03:00
Today we made a trip out to the local children's museum ~ completely interactive ~ lots of things to discover and do..lots of fun. Anyway, I'm standing there watching the kids play and my attention is drawn toward the door. A mother was leaving with her son ~ she was holding a huge drawing of his that they were obviously taking home and one that he'd spent a great deal of time & effort on. Well, on the way out there is a gift shop, of sorts, and he (about 3 or so) was wanting to look at something or buy something or whatever and was getting cranky about it. The mother holds her little boy's drawing up in the air a says "Do you want me to rip this up?" ~ he said no ~ she said "well, come on then ~ we're leaving." (Would an adult do that to another adult? I think NOT!)What do I think about this? Well, I was saddened and pissed at the same time. Saddened because the mom had no other tools in her parenting belt than intimidation ~ and pissed because he spent his time and effort o...
More About: Sound , Ever , That , Like

A Free Child
2007-01-24 14:33:00
I've read (and own) a wonderfully helpful and insightful book written by Rue Kream entitled Parenting a Free Child ~ An Unschooling Life. It's available at http://www.freechild.info/ and I highly recommend it for any parent ~ whether you are unschooling or not.*Unschooling ~ for those who don't know ~ is living life and learning from that life ~ functioning as you would if school did not exist. Also known as life learning ~ which is how we're "allowed" to learn as adults ~ and just extending that to our children.The book gives you an entirely different view on parenting (it always helps to know all of your options : )) and, if you're already following that path, will help you realize that you're not alone and crazy for parenting the way that you do! Ok, maybe you are STILL crazy, but at least you're not alone.~peace~

TV's Affect on Personality
2007-01-22 16:52:00
Before moving here, we subscribed to the very basic cable (the kind that most cable companies don't tell you abt for only $8!). We got the basic local stations, pbs & a few other channels ~like Oxygen~ and the kids & I were happy with that. Well, since we moved ~ we still have the limited basic (now $10) but we have a whole slew of new channels..including Nickelodeon..Although some of the shows have given them great inspiration to explore new things, it's also exposed them to behaviors that I'm not too happy about. Behaviors that they would've already been bombarded with at school and permanently adopted into their own personality. The difference is that now they may try that personality "hat" on, if you will ~ but I'm here to guide them as to what is acceptable in this house (& society as a whole) and what is not. It opens up great discussions and strengthens our family bond. Instead of competing with a strong influence (school) which they would be exposed the majorit...
More About: Person , Persona , Personality , Sona , Ality

Many Paths
2007-01-17 19:01:00
One of the many advantages of unschooling is not only that the children get to follow their own learning path, but so does the entire family. If you want your child to be interested in different things, then YOU need to be interested in different things. Explore what YOU are interested in as well. Those interests may very well lead you to college and college is expensive..but you always have the option of taking student loans ~ you can research this option through http://www.nextstudent.com/ . Once your child reaches a certain age, he/she may consider taking college classes to hone in on a particular subject ~ http://www.nextstudent.com/ could be used to figure out how to finance that.I actually went to a 4 year college and wound up with a ton of debt right out of school ~ a smart thing to do would have been Student Debt Consolidation..if I had known about http://www.nextstudent.com/ ~ I'm sure I would've gone that route. When my children get a little older, I'll probably tak...
More About: Path

Semi-Annual Progress
2007-01-16 04:55:00
Each semi-annual period, my state requires that I record a progress report on those I am homeschooling ~ which would only my dd at this time. Here is the report:Math: She has gone from counting in the hundreds to the thousands and is doing well in addition and subtraction. She also has a good grasp on percentages and odd/even numbers and has touched on multiplication.Science: Has increased her knowledge of plant & animal structure and behavior. Also started experimenting with chemical compounds.Social Studies: Has increased her knowledge of different and ancient cultures (Native American, Chinese, Japanese & Egyptian ~ to name a few.) Has also increased her knowledge of geography and map reading.Reading: She can read all of the books on her shelf and has a strong grasp on multi-syllable words.Writing: She has abt 10 journals going right now ~ has shown to be able to spell simple words on her own without asking and has a good knowledge base of spacing and punctuation.This is ...
More About: Prog , Semi , Progress , Annual

E-Magazine
2007-01-16 04:38:00
My 6 yo has been talking for a while about publishing her own magazine. She's very interested in wildlife and conservation of the planet..saving the animals, etc.. Instead of a hard copy magazine, I'm thinking an e-zine would be better to start off. Then maybe add a hard copy to sell after it gains a bit of circulation on-line.Right now it's in the discussion and research phase and deciding on the exact focus of the magazine..or if there will even be only one focus. She has so many interests and they change so rapidly that I wouldn't want to corner the magazine to one particular topic or genre..but to tailor it to her ever-changing interests so that each issue is different ~ almost completely.This is a big idea and is only one of her many many big ideas. When I was young, I may have had big ideas such as this; however, these big ideas never came into reality. That's sad, I think. I certainly don't expect that ALL of her big ideas will be followed through to reality ~ bu...
More About: Magazine , Magazin