Unschooling and Crazy Weather

Unschooling is the same today for my kids as it is any other day.  But different for mom.  Maybe I'm finally deschooled enough to breathe?  Doubtful.  I can never get off the hook that easily. 

This week has been interesting, as most weeks usually are.  The beginning of the week featured a Tropical Storm, Beryl.  Lots of wind, rain, flooding, and some minor damage at our house.  Quite interesting, as one can imagine. We even lost power for a while, which frightened my younger daughter.  My kids learned about being prepared, and how even a Tropical Storm, though not a hurricane, can cause damage.

Yesterday we cleaned out the top of the coat closet.  This is where we store our games.  We successfully weeded out about 1/3 of the games... ones that were missing pieces, or games that we no longer wanted.  It was sort of fascinating going through each game, counting pieces... and my youngest inquiring how exactly each game is played.  And then, we ended up playing a few games.  There is a tin, and inside are several small wooden games with pegs and dice.  My daughter played independently for a while, and then we moved on to Connect Four.  Initially my eldest and I played.  Then she moved aside for my youngest.  Robyn asked me exactly how to play, and we did a 'trial' game so I could show her the different angles and ways to win or to block your opponent.  Then we played a game, but I "took it easy" on her.  After that, all bets were off.  I found that my daughter is quite a competitive player, and she easily beat me just as many times as I was able to beat her.  She's a great player!   

We had a "Scruples" game, that I'd had for many years... over 20 actually.  I was going to put it in the 'discard' stack, but my kids were curious... we ended up opening it up, and not necessarily 'playing' the game, but asking the questions and then discussing them.  It was really interesting, and we all decided we'd hang on to the game... discussion questions are fun!

Early this morning, my eldest daughter found a new advert on Craigslist.  Someone was offering a guinea pig, the cage, food, hay, treats, and toys... all free to a good home.  My youngest lost her pet guinea pig a few months back, and has been pleading for a new piggie to love.  This could not have worked out better!  We met the young lady at our parish, and she passed the piggie and her stuff to us, and she was obviously happy that her piggie had a new home where she will be loved.  My daughter was so happy she cried, and she thanked the nice lady for choosing our family.  The piggie is a female, and only about 6 months old.  My daughter has named her Phoebe.  

This afternoon, a severe storm came up suddenly.  The thunder and lightening were unusually bad sounding.  Storms are daily during the summer months here, so we are used to them... but this one just sounded "wrong".  It was fast moving, and started dropping large hail.  Thank God we only got a few pieces.  I'd stepped into a back room, and heard the front door slamming.  My eldest was chasing our flag... which had been ripped off the front of our house, down the street.  A huge limb came down, and the drainpipes on both sides of the house were ripped off.  Apparently, a small tornado touched down just a few streets away.  What we got was the outer winds of it.  It went all the way down the street between our neighborhood and the area where my sister lives.  (We live about a half mile apart)  My sister calls me a few minutes later, and tells me it ripped the screen out of her porch and had uprooted a large tree!  The street that connects us, is the one the tornado went down.  It knocked down trees and power lines all the way down that street.  Scary, and incredible!   Of course, all this led to a tornado discussion, as well as watching some informative videos on YouTube.  Scary stuff!  What are the odds we'd get a tropical storm and a tornado (both unrelated to each other) all in the same week?!  Crazy!!  I am just happy we're all okay and no one was hurt.  (you can see pictures and read the article here:  http://www.news4jax.com/news/Storms-rip-through-Westside-flood-Southside/-/475880/14416258/-/hm72u/-/index.html)

Now it's late afternoon.  My eldest is having a nap.  (lucky thing!)  And my youngest has put Phoebe back into her cage, and is now reading up on what to do in case of emergencies in a preparedness book. :)   

Tonight we'll be watching Sherlock Holmes.  My eldest is addicted, and has gotten me and her sister loving it too.  After finishing up all the Sherlock Holmes we can find, we'll move on to Doctor Who. And maybe play a game or two, or possibly make a craft. Sounds good to us!