Let’s see….we’ve been to the Nauticus Museum twice in one week. They really like that there’s a museum so close to the water, and that they can go on a real ship.

Inside is a mini aquarium, a little shark pool, and a horseshoe crab hang out. You can step outside to look through the scolded and watch people working on cargo ships across the water. We also spied several smaller ships and sailboats passing by.

The Battleship is amazing! We got to check out the mess hall, the executive officers room, see the tiny shower stalls and bathrooms. Oh, and the cannons, those things are huge! I was Oohhing and ahhing right along with the kids.

Right next to the museum are apartment complexes with walking trails. The girls called it the Japanese trail, because of the restaurant and the Koi we spotted in the ponds.

There’s been lots of puzzle play, especially this alphabet puzzle. An almost 3hr trip to the library. We have three libraries near us. One is closed for renovations, we haven’t been to the other one yet, and the one in the picture has a fantastic children’s area. We like it a lot.

Kiah bridged from a Girl Scout Daisy to a Brownie on Tuesday. It was a really cute and sweet ceremony. She’s so happy and proud to be a Brownie now.

A couple weeks ago, my friend Erika gave me a big bag of all kinds of seeds, and plant food. She gave me the cinder blocks to finish my raised bed, and I’m getting some soil from her garden. I planted some collards and purple cabbage in containers from the seeds she gave me. My cabbage has sprouted already….it had been less than 5 days. The raised bed garden is taking longer than I expected to get going. I’m trying to be ok with that.

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I did Kiah’s hair Tuesday, mine last night, and Ava’s is getting done today. There are three baskets of laundry waiting to be folded and put away.

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Kiah has her very first sleep over Friday night. Soccer is out for the summer. She’s excited to hang out with her soccer sisters again. We were hesitant about her sleeping over….but we’re taking Ava to get her ears pierced, and possibly catch a movie. The plan is to hang out near the sleepover house long enough to see if Kiah will really stay the night. The house is about 45 mins from where we live…..no one wants to make that trek in the middle of the night.

I need to pick up almost all the decorations for Samuel and Ava’s Luau party Saturday. Ava turns five on Sunday! I can still get away with having their parties together. I’m sure Ava will want her own party as she gets older.

There are cupcakes to be made, shells and sand to gather, laundry to do, and a house to finish cleaning.

As you can see our done is pretty big. Our doing is small, and our to do is on the longer side…..it’s going to be a busy, and wild few days.

Doing some crochet this week. I picked up a big bag of yarn and crochet hooks from a garage sale a few weeks ago. Decided to crochet this girls lace pinafore for Nakiah ,but as usual, I’m having trouble understanding the pattern.

Dyslexia totally sucks sometimes. I’ll read the same line over and over for 15 minutes, and it still won’t click. Give me a regular book, and I’ll fly through it in no time.

Dee kept telling me to make a tube and put some straps on it, so that’s what I’m doing. Still undecided on if it will be a skirt, or a dress….I’m leaning towards a skirt – I can have it finished sooner. Loving the colors, and the way it’s coming along so far.

Reading: Raising Your Spirited Child -again. Some days I feel like I just don’t understand my kids at all. Lately it’s like they’re wind up toys, except they never wind down!

Each child has their own brand of spirit… the older they get, the more I see the different qualities coming out…..of course they change with time as well.

I don’t usually read the same book more than twice, but something new continues to jump out at me each time with this one.

Joining Ginny.

Samuel is two years old today. Can you believe it? I can’t!

The 2nd birthday is harder for me than the first….they’re still babies at one. I wish I could explain what it is about this 2nd year that’s so difficult for me. Maybe it’s the ever growing independence, or the dramatic change in facial features.

Today marks two years of mothering this sweet and rambuctious little boy. Two years of nursing, babywearing, watching him sleep, and smothering him with hugs and kisses. I love him so much!

He’s developed a serious love for trucks,(dump and fire trucks seem to be his favorite) trains, and most recently, dinosaurs. This is one of his favorite songs, and this is one of his favorite videos.

He’s grown and changed so much this past year. I’ve really enjoyed watching his personality develop over these two years. Shy, but also out-going. Sometimes demanding, and so so very happy. I love his laugh, his smile, and those big brown eyes. I love hearing mama come from that little voice and person….even when he calls me 20 times.

He doesn’t eat cake or ice cream, so we’ll probably do popsicles. He loves chicken…and I’m sure we can arrange a chicken dinner for him. Later today we’ll head to the library for him to pick out some books and videos on trucks and trains…later on, we have a Thomas the Train set waiting for him to open when Charles gets off tonight.

My baby boy is two years old today.

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I had been looking forward to a Spa Party all week. It was being hosted by one of my fellow birth junkie friends….and not too far from where we live.

Charles had to close the store, and with it being a Saturday evening, it took a little longer than usual. The party started at 7….the store didn’t close until 8….we didn’t get back to our place until 10. Charles was going to drop me off and pick me up, but it got to be too late….and the kids were asleep.

I decided not to go. I don’t have to tell you how upset I was….missing out on spa time, girl talk, and sangria! It took letting the kids play ball in the house so I  could get ready w/out them calling me every two seconds…..

I sat in the car stewing after he took the kids in the house. After a while I decided to do some very minor retail therapy and grab a bite to eat.

I did feel a little better after getting some new mascara and my delicious volcano nachos from Taco Bell.

Why does it almost always seem like such a fight every single week to get in a little time for myself? *sigh*
Even though it wasn’t exactly what I had planned, it was nice to be out alone for a little while….you know I didn’t walk in, grab mascara, then walk right back out.

Did you get some time alone this week? How was your weekend?

I’ve realized I’m having some growing pains right along with my kids.
Maybe we’re all still getting settled into our new place, maybe it’s all the driving I’ve been doing lately, or it could be that the two youngest have birthdays this month, and the oldest is feeling left out….she’s also approaching her half birthday.

I’m annoyed that we’re still unpacking, still no pictures on the walls(hard to hammer and nail with a toddler hanging on you)laundry literally piled up the walls, and I’m the only one doing the work of keeping house.

Kiah has been showing unusually aggressive behavior towards her younger siblings (kicking, biting, pushing, etc) and that makes me feel more aggressive towards her.
I’ve talked with her and asked her if she needs help finding out what to do when she feels angry, she said yes. This part is hard for me, because no one talked to me about my feelings or how to handle them as a child. It was get spanked and punished. Now I’m sitting here with my kids trying to navigate these intense emotions with them….learning right alongside them. It’s tiring, and some days I don’t feel cut out for the job.

Lately I’ve been feeling like I’m one moment away from losing it.
I’m feeling resentful, under appreciated, and overwhelmed. All the horn tooting in the world isn’t helping much these days.

A few weeks ago I set a daily alarm on my phone that says “did you pray today?” It goes off right before it’s time to get the day started.
One of the things I pray for every day is more patience…
I see I’m being tested on that one left and right.

After talking with friends and deep soul searching, I really think a huge part of the problem with the kids is that I’ve been running from them. I’m tired of the mommy I need and mommy I want…24/7.

How do those Super Moms do it? How do they find time to fill their cups, and still have the energy and patience to fill their kids up?
I feel like I’ve been running from my kids emotionally, and it’s really not fair to or good for us as a family.

I always thought that kids need you less as they get older, but that’s not always true. The girls have more what, when, where, why, and how questions. Samuel is becoming more independent, but still a baby. Some days I feel ready to wean him….lately it seems like all he wants to do is nurse.

So I’m still very much needed, but  left screaming what about me!?

I feel pulled in so many directions, and I think the kids are picking up, and feeding off that. I received some really good suggestions for how to help Kiah and her siblings with their disputes, but I also need help in finding my happy place. I don’t really like my first reaction being anger and frustration.
I think they key for me is learning how to feel those emotions, breathe, but not react with those emotions. Easier said than done!

Sitting here realizing I don’t really have a clear thought or close to this post….I’m at that mind all over the place stage again.

Hopefully by being home a couple days, I can clear my head a bit.

Right now I’m busy obsessed with growing my garden.
The Summer Carnival will run from today until September 1st.

Carnival co-hosts:

Sunnydaytodaymama, Mama Smiles, Winding Circle*, The Mahogany Way, Smiling like Sunshine, Home Baked, famiglia&seoul, All Things Beautiful, Like Mama~Like Daughter, Plain Vanilla Mom, Little Homeschool Blessings, Simple Whimsy

You are invited to join us and link up your old
You can come back and link up more posts throughout the summer. Please be sure to link to the URL of your summer themed post. Each blog is hosting the same linky, so no matter what blog you link up with, your post will be shared across all of our blogs.

We hope you’ll enjoy visiting the host blogs and posts from the linky for lots of summer ideas and inspirations.

I almost forgot….you can follow all year round on Pinterest. And don’t forget to grab a button!

*If it’s nearly winter, rather than summer, where you live then come by at Winding Circle for a winter focus (including a winter Linky).

Don’t worry, once I get down to business on decorating the inside,  I’ll go on and on about that in every other post.

First up…my parents got me a Begonia plant for Mother’s Day. I chose the pink one, mainly because I love the bright green look of the leaves. The red ones leaves are too waxy and fake looking for me. There is another plant they got for me, but I can’t remember the name. I’ll check the name later and get back to you.

On Sunday I ran to the store to get Potting soil, another plant or two for myself, and the girls picked their own. Have to get back to you with photos and the names of theirs. We also need to transplant them.

I really love how everything we have so far is low maintenance…something has to be around here!

This is my Medium Celosia. As soon as I saw them, I knew I had to bring some home. I love the bright colors, and the bumpy like texture. They are the perfect addition to the front yard.

I’m in love with this little space outside my front door.

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Around 3pm Sunday afternoon, we were finally ready to head to downtown Norfolk.

I read about Theodore Tugboat in one of the local online activity magazines.
Theodore comes from Halifax, Nova Scotia. We learned this is one of Norfolks sister cities.

It was free to go on and check out the boat. I had no idea people actually lived on it…..I guess they would have to…touring the country to show off Theodore.

Samuel slept the entire time. The girls were quite fascinated with the boat. He’s much bigger on the inside than he looks.

I must admit that Charles and I were pretty impressed with Theodore as well.

We were able to check out every place on the boat, except the kitchen, and down below where they sleep. What’s that called?

You can see where Theodore has been so far. They hadn’t updated the blog with his visit here last I checked. You can probably also find out his next stop by doing a google search.

I didn’t realize how popular he was/is. There was a TV series, YouTube channel, Twitter, and Facebook!

If you get a chance to check him out in your neck of the woods, come back and let me know!

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How nice that my Mama Time fell in sync with Mother’s Day. I told you I would eventually start to explore this new area… It was so nice being out…late at night….with no kids. We were out until about midnight….couple of wild women we were….hehehe.

I know today is Mother’s Day, and we wouldn’t be moms without our kids. But this past week had been especially rough. Seems like all I do is drive all over town some days. I didn’t realize how exhausting driving around can be!

So, yes….mama time was definitely in order.

Dee met me at my place and drove us over to 619 Cantina. A cute little  bar/restaurant. We were expecting Jazz music, and I don’t remember hearing any. It was more like radio hip hop, oh well. The food was really good, and the prices super affordable. I’m eating my leftovers for breakfast this morning with the kids.

We talked about some serious things, joked, and there was lots of laughing. We had a really good time!

I have this photo of Dee eating her gigantic buritto, and even though it’s a good picture(for a photo of someone eating) I promised not to post it. Seriously though, it’s a great picture.

We’re supposed to go check out Theodore the Tugboat when Charles gets back in a few hours, but we’ll see. You know how plans change.

Happy Mother’s Day! I hope it’s an extra special day for all of you. I also hope you get to recharge in a way that works for you and your family.

It’s important to remember that Unschooling will look different in every family. With each child being unique, they will learn differently, in their own way, at their own pace.

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The ages of your children? How did you hear about Unschooling?

I currently have 3 girls ages 13, 8 and 4 and I’m looking to have more

I was one who lived this way long before I knew there was a name for it. I just did what felt right after giving birth to my first daughter. I used to dread the day when I’d have to put her in school- I didn’t know I had the option not to until I met another homeschooling mom.

My daughter, then about 2 years old, was playing with another little boy who was about 5-6 at an educational booth at some sort of expo. I stood there watching them play and the mother of the boy came over to me and declared, “You homeschool her.” I looked at her surprised (I was maybe 23 at the time) and asked her what she was talking about. She explained that she homeschooled her son and she could tell that I did a lot with my daughter. Astonished, I asked her if it was legal, we exchanged numbers and I left that woman and went straight to the library and got every book I could find on homeschooling and the decision was made. My daughter would never go to school. Reading those books, taught me that what we were doing had a name. 

 Can you tell us what Unschooling looks like in your family?

Wow, that’s tough since it changes each day. So, at the moment here’s what’s happening: We just got back from our weekly trip to the chiropractor and went food shopping. My youngest (4) is on the floor playing with a miniature bowling set and her wooden dollhouse. My two older girls ages 13 and 8 are currently looking at Korean pop videos online. My oldest has learned quite a bit of Korean and Japanese this way. The last few days has found them in our front and back yards harvesting what most consider weeds and making the tastiest things! My 8 year old got violets and made some really good violet candy and my oldest got us all to pick dandelion flowers and she made some cookies with them. We just bought a new herbal learning system called Herb Fairies so we’re all very into it. For Christmas this year, I started my oldest on the children’s Left Behind series and she zoomed through them and talked to me so much about them that I decided to read the adult series. Now she’s going through the adult series and we spend a lot of time comparing and going through the Bible to look at the verses that correlate to what’s happening in the books.

 Can you tell us the process of your children learning to read and do math? Those are always big questions from those who don’t understand, or want to know more about Unschooling.

I feel like I did more with my oldest than anyone else. We read together every single day and now with 3, we still read together and listen to books on tape but it’s not every single day that we do those things together because they are often doing their own things. The journey to reading and math has been different for each. My oldest showed signs of being “ready for reading” very early, at 2 she knew all the alphabet and the sounds each makes but it wasn’t until she was about 7 that I actually heard her read. I remember us visiting a (traditionally schooled) cousin who is her age (they were about 6 at the time) and the cousin was sitting on her bed reading a chapter book. Not too much later, my daughter was reading on her own as well. I can’t say that she’d just began reading at 7 though as she’s not one to read aloud much. She’s far more private than my other daughter but I can’t pay her to stop reading. She loves it. She doesn’t even remember when she began to read on her own. All we did was watch a lot of tv, videos and read a TON of books together and that was it.

My youngest (4) is just beginning to ask about how to spell things and she is recognizing various words so I know she’s on her way. She loves books too and is always “reading” something over in a corner somewhere.

My middle girl was interesting. At 3, she and I sat and watched tv together and a commercial for one of those learning programs that help kids grades go up by at least one letter came on. I had no idea she was paying attention to the commercial but afterwards, she said emphatically, “Mommy, we need to call them.” I asked why and she exclaimed, “I can’t read!!” LOL!!! I told her that was ok at 3 and she said it wasn’t ok so I asked her if she wanted to learn, she said yes. So I started with explaining how the alphabet make up words based on the sounds and words form sentences… I then asked her if she knew the sounds of the alphabet and she knew them all- we’d never done anything formal at all. Since she knew them, I asked her if she could figure out simple words, she read them all and has been reading ever since.

She was strange with math as well. Again at 3, she came to me around midnight asking me to read a book to her. I told her I wanted to go to sleep and would read it the next day. She begged after looking at the book I told her it was an old math workbook not a reading book. She then opened it and asked what this number plus this number meant. I didn’t know she knew of a plus symbol but she did so I explained addition to her quickly and asked her if she could figure out what 1+1 was, she immediately replied 2, I went on with 2+1, she said 3, I said 3+1 she said 4. My husband was brushing his teeth in the bathroom and overheard our conversation. Joking, he said, “What’s 3+4?” She replied shyly, “It seems like 7.”

With all of them, learning reading and math has been out of desire and/or necessity. There are certain things they seem to just know, like my 4 year old doesn’t have to count say 4 pens that are grouped together, she just looks at them and declares there’s 4 there. About a year or 2 ago, I overheard my middle girl while cooking declare, “Oh, ok! Two halves equal one whole!” I don’t know how to explain it, it just works.

Also, early in your journey, or now did you ever have freak out moments…wondering if your kids were learning, or when they would learn, how they were learning, or the speed at which they were learning?

I used to have those freak out moments from time to time and I noticed they happened when we were in homeschool groups where a lot of people did the school at home approach. I’d suddenly wonder if I was doing enough, buy some curriculum of some sort and we’d all sit down to do it only to find they already knew the material, perhaps they didn’t know that this type of math is called “division” or things like that. Then I’d talk to them about my freak out moment and we’d go back to life as normal. They were always very patient with me during those times. They didn’t occur often and haven’t in many years now. Also, I realize that, (at the moment anyway) they are on various “levels” with various subject areas and that’s totally fine. No one is “below” in whatever grade they’d be in if they attended school but really, even in school I myself was always in the higher reading and in the middle with math so I don’t trip about that kind of thing. They’re all far better at everything than I was in school.

Do you get flack from family/friends about not using a curriculum?

Oddly enough, although I have several teachers in my family, I don’t get any flack at all from any family or friends about not using curriculum. Everyone is very supportive and I often give my family members who teach resources to incorporate in their classrooms. The only places I’ve gotten flack was within Christian homeschooling groups as most of them use curriculum and it’s considered anathema if one doesn’t, lol.

Do you feel there are challenges with being a Black Unschooling family? Do you ever feel there is something they must know, because of the stigma some of society has about the Black Community? 

We’ve not experienced any challenges at all. It would be nice to be in touch with more Blacks who unschooled (and are Christians) but we get on just fine either way.

I often feel we are a rarity within the homeschooling community because we are so few at conferences and outings that we’ve attended but it doesn’t bother me at all. I feel we represent ourselves very well and I’m quite proud to stand out.

I do make sure to share and explore Black history with them. We have both American and West Indian family so there’s a lot of culture there to explore. I don’t try to push Black this and Black that down there throats, we *are* Black but we have made a point to visit the Black Wax museum in Baltimore and we visited the Smithsonian in DC when they did an exhibit on Black Granny midwives. We look out for things like that and make sure we’re a part of it. We also watch a lot of movies and documentaries and all. My oldest is just getting to a point where I can share deeper aspects of the slave history with her without frightening her. It’s all incorporated into our lives.

For the working parents who want to unschool. How do you juggle working and Unschooling?

I’m a bootleg working parent, lol! When I was doula-ing, I’d schedule my prenatals with women around when my husband could be at home with the girls or they’d be at a friends house or dance class or something. I’ve been really fortunate in that out of almost 50 births, I’ve only had childcare maybe twice.

Otherwise, making our herbal products and even encapsulating placentas is a family affair. They often go with me to hospitals or homes after births to pick up placentas (or they stay home) and I encapsulate out of our home, often with their help. So I’m kind of a work from home type.

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Patrice London is a Unschooling, work from home mom of three girls. You can check out her website - Made by Love With Love. Her focus is on herbal products such as soaps, shower gel, and healing salves to name a few. Patrice also does Placenta Encapsulation in the New Jersey area. Be sure to like her Facebook page for updates.

I started this summer top I found on Ravelry for Ava. Asked Dee what she thought about it….I’m stuck at starting the sleeves. She said the pattern reads more like a recipe. I’m glad to know it’s not just me.

If anyone can offer tips or suggestions, please share them with me. Remember, I’m new at this knitting.

We took our first library trip in our new city. The girls were excited to get their own cards so they could check out their chosen books and dvds.

I came home with Say You’re One of Them. By Uwem Akpan. It was in Oprah’s book club back in 2009.
The author didn’t waste any time getting to the point.
In the first few pages you learn about this street family in Africa, where the 12yr old daughter is a prostitute. Wow.

Joining Ginny.