Unschooling - Part Two...Monkey Platters!

My latest obsession has become unschooling.  Since my back went out on Monday I have had a ton of time to read to my heart's content about unschooling and I am having a blast.  Its funny because I am exhibiting the very process of unschooling as I READ about unschooling.  Meaning, I have found a topic that I am excited about and want to know more about and I can't stop reading and researching about.  :)  That's what happens to our kids.  They latch onto something they are interested in and do everything in their power to find out more about it, with me as their support.  That is when the learning happens!

People who are looking for information about Ecuador may be disappointed in my posts this week because there won't be much to tell.  We have reached our 11 month here.  One more month and it will be a year.  Incredible!  Time has flown, and now we are into the nitty gritty of just living and learning.  Or learning while living.  I'm sure we will have a lot more to say about our adventures, so keep tuning in, but you may want to tune out on this one.  Unless you are interested in unschooling in Ecuador, that is.  :)

This week as you know from my last post I have become interested in the food paradigm that goes along with unschooling.  Last week I took the kids shopping, gave them $15 each and waited to see what happened.  Finn bought bananas, strawberries, yogurt, hershey bars, a bottle of Fanta, a small bag of chocolates and slinkies.  Tali bought a cucumber, a loaf of bread, ham, hershey bars and a small bag of chocolate.  Pretty balanced I would say.  How proud they were going up to the counter and paying for their very own food!

Unschooling also explores refraining on putting limits on when and what children eat.  Unschooling parents believe that given the choice children are pretty smart and will choose what their bodies need.  I have read excerpt after excerpt of parents finding this to be true. They also believe that many of the eating disorders and obesity in our society today is because of the rules, regulations and guilt trips associated with food.  When children have access to as much candy (or any other food for that matter) as they want, whenever they want, it is found by unschooling parents that children balance themselves and eventually eat less candy than children who have limitations.  The children end up feeling that since it is always there, there is no need to gorge themselves.   I am interested in seeing where this takes us.

One idea that has taken off in the unschooling world is the idea of "monkey platters".  This is a plate or bowls containing "healthy" and "not-so-healthy" foods offered to children with love.  Whatever is in the house.  I decided to make my first monkey platter tonight.  It included a big bowl of popcorn, ham slices, banana chunks, strawberries, cucumber slices, pumpkin seeds and cheese cubes.  I called to the kids that I had made them a monkey platter.  They came running and were so excited to see it.  They asked me why I made it for them and I said because I love them.  They thanked me over and over.  It was pretty funny.  We don't have a lot of junk food in the house since I haven't gone shopping since I decided to do this.  Next time there will be more of that. 

Here is a link to Sandra Dodd's website about food:

http://sandradodd.com/food

Here is the page about Monkey Platters:

http://sandradodd.com/eating/monkeyplatter

Here are my kids rejoicing and snacking on my first platter:

 What I am most surprised about is how quickly my attitudes towards food for myself are changing.  It is like a fresh breath of air is blowing through our house and sweeping out all of the worries and anxieties.  That has got to be a good thing.  :)

Old post, but I thought I would put it out there anyway. It's Time to Party!

I haven't posted in awhile because we were just living the ordinary life.  Getting up to work out at The Zone Crossfit, going to Spanish class, teaching the kids, taking naps,cooking dinner and searching for the perfect farm.   Same old, same old.

But this past Saturday we were invited to a party at a Facebook friend's house.  Suzanne and her husband, Terry, live in Ricaurte, a little bit outside the city.  They have a beautiful home that was built for parties.  We met a lot of people that we have been conversing with on Facebook for the first time.  Everyone was in a festive mood and had a great time.  Lots of food, lots of drink, lots of music and lots of laughter.  We had a really nice time and hope to do it again soon.

Unschooling

I have been reading everything I can get my hands on about unschooling these past two weeks.  I started reading about it before we moved to Ecuador and I was intrigued, but once getting here I still felt like they needed to know the basics.  They were troopers and did what I asked, although for several weeks Finn gave me a horrible awful time.  We kept threatening school and he finally had an attitude adjustment, but as I look back over those weeks I wonder if we did more harm than good.

Last week I decided to ask them what they wanted to learn.  They made a list.  Some of the things included were swimming, cooking, sewing (for both of them) and learning a musical instrument.  They both said they wanted to continue Spanish lessons and that they enjoyed me teaching Math to them, so we decided to continue that. We dropped the Brain Pop, which they didn't like, but they continue to read books way above grade level on their own.   

There is a new school here starting in the fall that follows the unschooling principles.  Well, as much as a school can.  I have only emailed back and forth with the director a few times as he is in the states right now guiding a hundred or so kids in Yosemite.  I like what he says he is attempting to do, but it is expensive.  I want to meet with him when he gets back and see what his school is offering.  If it gives Finn and Tali a chance to be with other kids and to explore things that they love, then I'm in. 

What led me to this excited search into unschooling this time was a book recommended by the director of this new school called, The Teenage Liberation Handbook.  It is meant to be read by teenagers, but it really opened my eyes to a new way of looking at learning.  As I read I keep thinking about my niece who is miserable in high school right now.  I think that if she let herself become open to this idea of unschooling she would soar. 

Today I have been reading a blog of a radical unschooling mother.  She is one of the experts in radical unschooling and has been on many tv shows, including Oprah.  Nightly News calls her the UnNanny.  She has been to many family's homes helping them to transition into unschooling.  I have been afraid of even looking into radical unschooling. It just seemed too radical!  But, today I read a post about how she handles food in her home.  One of the things she does is give her children $15 and she allows them to pick out whatever food they want at the grocery store.  My immediate thought was, No Way! 

I started to think about how that would look and decided to experiment a little bit with Finn and Tali.  I told them that I would do the same...give them some money at the grocery store and they can pick out what they want.  They were so excited.  In my head I saw grocery carts with heaps of candy and chips. 

At lunch we started talking about what they were going to buy.  Tali said she would probably pick bread, meat and cucumbers.  Finn said he would love to get some peach yogurt.  He was so excited to get that yogurt because Mark always buys blackberry.  I didn't know he was really missing the peach.  He also said he would buy strawberries, bananas and milk to make more smoothies.  I was a bit surprised by their choices.  I wonder what will happen when we actually get to the store.  To be continued...

What's the difference?

Wow, its been over a month, almost two months since I posted last.  We went through the holidays and had a wonderful time.  It was a bit weird being just the four of us, but nice too.  Of course we missed family back home, but we did the best we could here and it worked out well.  I had planned on posting all of our Christmas and New Year's pictures, but then I read a bunch of other people's posts and realized that my pictures looked just like theirs and then I had a hard time wanting to do it.  I will say that we had a great spot to enjoy the Paseo del Ninos - in the balcony of the Mansion Alcazar.  We stayed for 6 hours, almost the entire parade and it was a sight to see and hear. 

On New Year's we spent the day relaxing while Finn and Tali played with the grandkids downstairs.  We had purchased our effigy who we labeled CMSD (Cleveland Metropolitan School District) and waited patiently until nightfall to burn him and say goodbye to last year.  I must admit it felt pretty cathartic. 

January has seen our family get into more of a routine.  I started taking Spanish classes at Nexxus language school three days a week for two hours starting at 8:15a.m.  When I get home I usually get two to three hours of teaching in with the kids.  I have started teaching them cursive, which they love.  They work really hard to form the letters correctly.  I was recently asked if I thought it was necessary to teach them cursive and I had to stop and give it some thought.  I think yes.  It is a dying art and I want my children to be able to read and write in cursive.  We are also completing a lapbook about Ancient Rome and they are really into it especially the stories like Romulus and Remus, etc...  On Monday afternoons they have art class from 3:00 - 5:00. 

I started watching the Biggest Loser again and this season they have included three children as ambassadors for the fight against childhood obesity.  That got me to thinking about my kids and their fitness.  Neither one of them is unhealthy or overweight and I make sure they eat healthy food, but they aren't that active.  They aren't very competitive and don't lean towards competitive sports.  In fact, one time when they were playing for the Firelands soccer team in Oberlin the two of them stood in the middle of the field singing the lyrics to John Denver's song..."Country roads, take me home!" at the top of their lungs while dancing.  They would rather play with legos and Littlest Pet Shop until the cows came home.  So, I made them a deal...they could continue with their art class (which they love), but they also had to commit to going to the children's CrossFit class at least three times a week for a month and then we would see if they liked it. 

The first day went great.  They looked like they were having a blast.  There are about 18 kids in the class, including all of their friends.  But when we got home they both complained about how tired they were, and Finn later told me he didn't want to go back.  I reminded him that he had to give it a month.  Day Two:  Loved it.  That night they were begging me to go back and kept talking about how much they liked it.  So, yeah.

Now to the title of my blog post and what it means.  On Friday in Spanish class one of the questions asked of each of us was to discuss one of the differences between Ecuador and our country of birth.  It so happens that right before class I had been commenting to Mark on a phenomenon that lightens my heart since moving to Ecuador.  I was telling him about my "Morning Men". 

I take Scout for a walk down by the Tomebamba River at least three times during the work week.  I have gotten used to seeing the same people every morning.  There are four separate men who always make it a point to say Buenos Dias to me with a big smile.  Every morning.  Even if they are jogging past me going the other way they will turn around and say Buenos Dias.  They are not hitting on me and they are not dirty old men.  They are just really nice men who make it a point of being courteous to me and I just eat it up. 

The culture of niceties in Ecuador is so different from living in Ohio.  In Ohio, I would walk down the bikepath near my house and say hello to every person I passed and I would be lucky to get one hello back.  It would make me so angry.  Is it so hard to say hi?  I just never understood it.  And the mothers who I would see at Finn and Tali's school could barely make the corners of their mouths turn up.  Frankly, I found it disgusting that it was so hard to smile and say hello.  It made me quite nuts sometimes. 

Here are some of the differences that I love about Ecuador:

When you enter a store you are expected to greet everyone in the store before you begin conducting your business.  It is considered very rude not to do so.  I'm talking the smaller stores and tiendas.  Of course, you would not be expected to do that at the larger Coral store, which is similar to a Walmart.  It has taken me awhile to get accustomed to doing this, but I like it and I am working on it.

If you walk into a restaurant and pass by people eating you are expected to greet them and also to say, Buen Provecho (bon appetit).  I love that!   Yesterday we were eating ice cream and a family passed by us, greeted us with a Buenos Noches and said Buen Provecho.  :)

When you enter a room full of people, say at a party, you are expected to greet every single person in the room.  Same with leaving.  You go around the room and say good bye to every single person.  This greeting is expected to be a grasp of the hands and a brushing or kiss of right cheek to right cheek.  On Friday nights at least once a month we go to a restaurant called San Sebas to watch our friend, Brian, play and sing.  We usually get there a bit early to grab a table and order.  As people come in that we know we always stand up even if we are eating, come around the table and greet them with a grasp of the hands and a right cheek to cheek kiss.  Same thing when we leave.  I love that!

Most Ecuadorians will not initiate a hello to me, but EVERY TIME I say Buenos Dias, Buenas Tardes or Buenas Noches to them I get a huge smile, direct eye contact and a repeated or similar greeting.  I love that!

The warmth of the people here astounds me and makes my heart sing.  There is a connection between people that I never felt in the states.  Eye contact is made.  Smiles are exchanged.  You don't feel so alone in this world, and I love that!

Three new posts from my daughter, Tali.

http://www.natali-in-ecuador.blogspot.com/

The Cajas - Finally!

Yesterday we went hiking in the Cajas for the first time.  We drove up there on Saturday, but there was snow on the ground, we weren't dressed properly, it was raining and I had forgotten my camera.  So, we gathered up Chelsea, Anaya and Gi and headed up bright and early this morning.  It was the perfect day for hiking.  Cloud cover so that we didn't get too hot and a nice breeze.  We were worried about being cold, so we were really prepared.  Luckily we didn't need the clothes we brought and were actually hot and a bit sweaty.  The Cajas have 176 water concentrations, one of the largest water concentrations in the world.  Enjoy the pictures.

Uh oh, llamas on the road.

Mama and one of her two babies.

The Crew

 

 

One of the tagged park llamas.

The girls led us the whole time.  They were talking
and walking and just moseying on.  The boys?  Now
they were another matter.  Can you say whiners?

 

Can you find everybody?  The girls are way ahead.

 

Paper Trees or Quinoa Trees.

A nice spot to rest after a long hike.

Paute - Part 2

This post covers our last two days visiting Paute - Saturday and Sunday.  On Saturday I got the brilliant idea to take Scout with us.  I knew we were going to be gone for awhile and since I had fed her at 6:30 and we didn't leave until 10:30 I thought she would be fine.  Nope.  She threw up three times in our brand-new-to-us car.  Mark was not a happy camper. 

Scout is 8 years old.  Just this past summer she finally learned how fun it can be to be a dog in a car and hang your head out the window.  For all of those long 8 years she would shiver and shake and puke in the car.  Well, she still pukes in the car, but at least she doesn't shake anymore and now she seems to be having a little bit of fun. 

Just outside of Paute they have a 167 meter swinging bridge. It is pretty rickety and gets a bit scary around the middle.  Tali and I almost turned back, but we talked ourselves into going on and made it to the other side. 

Random photo of the kids in Paute's cute and quiet square.

The bridge.





On Sunday there is a pretty big market in Paute.  It is also a day for families to get together and have a picnic, etc...  Just spend time together.  They had a bouncy house in the park and the kids spent quite a bit of time on it.  They also had these great, little 4-wheelers that you could rent.  $1 for 5 minutes.  Finn and Tali loved them.  Tali kept begging to go back later, but it started to rain. 

It took her awhile to figure out how to push in the starter
button with her little hand, but eventually she got the
hang of it and loved it.

After riding the 4-wheelers we headed to the market in search of sweat pants.  Here are a couple shots of the market before it started to rain.