Healthy Sleep Patterns

Today's children, as a whole, are not getting enough sleep. They are overworked and overpressured. Sleep is often the first thing to drop out of a busy kid's schedule. Our teenagers (and younger children) shouldn't need caffeine and other stimulants just to "get by" and make it through the day (neither should adults, but that's a separate issue).

Studies have been shown that when teenagers are allowed to follow their natural rhythms, they sleep in later than when school normally starts. It's been shown that these "late morning hours" are the most important hours for teens' health. The quality of sleep during these hours is significantly higher than the hours before. Some schools are using this research to start their schools later in the morning. I read about one high school last year that found their students were healthier and scoring higher on tests by just pushing the school start time back by an hour or so.

A few interesting articles:

• New York Magazine's October 7, 2007 "Snooze or Lose" article
• The Star.com's October 27, 2007 "Toronto schools will let students sleep in" article
• Science World's March 6, 1996 "Dozing at your desk?" article
• Stanford's "Adolescent Sleep" information
• Washington Post's January 6, 2006 "Schools Waking Up to Teens' Unique Sleep Needs" article
  

Drowsiness is also dangerous! 20+% of serious car accidents are caused from a driver being drowsy. This is serious. Tired driving can be even more dangerous than drunk driving, and we all know how dangerous that is!

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My family's two-fold solution to the learning and sleep dilemma involve Radical Unschooling.

1. We Radically Unschool our children's education.
2. We Radically Unschool our children's sleeping.

What this means on a day-to-day basis is that our children have very flexible schedules. We encourage them to sleep when they are tired, do fun things when they are awake, and rest quietly (with or without us) when they are drowsy. We've seen first hand how solid learning often happens during the wee hours of the morning (all four of us are at our "most productive" from ~8PM-2AM). We purposefully schedule as few activities as possible before 1PM. The kids often sleep until 11AM or 12PM, sometimes later (especially if we've had a busy day/night, the day before). We're noticing that our older daughter is needing even more sleep lately as she's been growing about an inch a month for the past few months. We allow her to listen to her body and, in turn, she's getting plenty of sleep.

We don't have a "bedtime" for our kids. It just isn't needed, nor is it conducive to learning. It is baffling to me when parents regularly stop their children from learning, just to go to sleep.

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To give a point of view on sleep and adults, Dr. McDougall (whom I adore) suggests that adults consider using well planned sleep deprivation as a tool to cure depression and insomnia. I understand his point of view, but as an active adult with two young children, I still need to average 8 hours a night. (I also need enough quality sleep in order to induce lucid dreaming). :) Maybe I'll need less when I'm older.

Here are a few of Dr. McDougall sleep articles:
"Sleep Like a Baby -- Lessons from my Grandson on How to Cure Insomnia"
"Pharmaceutical Companies Promote Sleeping Sickness"
"A Natural Cure for Depression"

Exactly Where I Need to Be

My older daughter and I had the good fortune to see Amy Steinberg in concert this week. How a woman with such a soulful and spirited voice isn't hugely popular is beyond me. After the show we stood in line to get Amy's autograph on our CDs. I also brought along my camera, hoping for a photo like the one above of Amy, me, my daughter. Amy knew without being told that we were friends with AnneO and part of the Shine with Unschooling list. I guess our sparkle was too shiny to not be noticed. :) Or, maybe it was my "Incredibly Loved" shirt?

I asked for the photo and Amy asked the closest stranger to take the photo for us. What a nice surprise it was for us to find that the stranger wasn't a stranger at all, but rather our amazing and wonderful hairstylist, Jennifer Andrews. Amy happened to be on the lookout for a someone that could give her a good haircut. The two made plans to get together the next day. I'm sure she now has the best hair cut that she's ever had.

Find music you like and support the artist! Big names aren't necessarily better than what you'll find locally (or at least on a smaller level). We've found another concert (KT Tunstall, the Indigo Girls, Brandi Carlile and Ingrid Michaelson at ONE event!) to go to in December and we can't wait.

Vegan Advent Calendars

As a vegan family that celebrates Christmas, we've felt left out in the fun chocolate advent calendars that we see in all the stores this time of year. Those cute little windows with chocolates hiding behind them are SO fun. Unfortunately, we just haven't been able to find any that are vegan (and I've been seriously looking every year for five years). I've been given the advice by well meaning people that I should just purchase a non-vegan version, empty it, then refill it with vegan chocolate. I'm not willing to do this.

Last year, I made up a strand of mini construction paper cornucopias, and with a bunch of little candies from Vegan Essentials I was able to construct fun calendars for my daughters. Vegan Essentials carries fun little chocolates, toffees, and suckers that can be nicely tucked into handmade calendars. I've seen much fancier homemade versions, but I'd been holding out until the last minute on getting something that was premade. This past Halloween season, I was able to find little boxes of individually wrapped Endangered Species chocolates (our favorite vegan chocolate) at our local Target stores (in the candy section, not the seasonal section). I'm hoping that these are a permanently stocked item. They would be perfect for advent calendars. Maybe Endangered Species will even come out with a vegan advent calendar some year! That would be fantastic!

The year before last, we tried two different Lego Advent Calendars. I've wanted to try one of the Playmobil or Polly Pocket ones, but my daughters haven't been interested. Here is a list of a bunch of potentially fun toy advent calendars. We've done them once, and so my daughters aren't interested in getting them again.

Our homemade versions and toy versions have been fun, but I want my kids to have a *pop* of excitement with their calendars every year. I've tried to get their input several times, but they always want the final advent calendar decision to be a surprise... Oh, the dilemma.

Stop reading now if you are a daughter of mine. :)

This year, after another extensive search, I narrowed down our choices to:

• Another homemade version with candies
• A slightly better reusable sewn handmade version with candies and/or toys
• One of these from Chinaberry
• An empty fabric, wood, or sticker calendar from Strictly Christmas
• The "Christmas Countdown Chest of Drawers" from Signals Catalog (complete with mini decorations in each drawer and a mini tree to put them on)
  
• An empty fabric or wood one from Target.com (the wood ones are actually quite nice for the price)
• An empty fabric or wood one from The Company Store
  

I've made the decision to get little packets of candy (probably some Endangered Species chocolate for the regular days and a chocolate Santa or chocolate trees from Vegan Essentials or Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe for the last day) and put them into a drawer type calendar for my daughters to share. They've always had their own calendar in the past, but I think they'll like this for a change. If not, we'll try something new next year.

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If you happen to live in the UK, I've found several vegan advent calendars with the little windows with chocolate behind them. These are seasonal, so if they aren't in stock now, check back again soon. Check out these companies if you haven't already (I've never ordered from any):

• Montezuma's
• A lot of Chocolate
• Dietary Needs Direct
  

Whatever you decide to use for your advent adventure this year, be sure and have a fun holiday season. It's not too early to start figuring out your Holiday menu. Pretty much all recipes can be easily veganized, even ones with ham, fish and steak! Vegan Essentials sells fantastic vegan scallops.

"I'd Unschool my children if only..."

I receive this comment a lot:

"I'd Unschool my children if only [they were more motivated, weren't special needs, wouldn't sit in front of the television all day long]." The list of excuses goes on and on, with the most popular one lately being "ADD". The fact remains that if you have a child that is special in any way (and I believe that all people are if you look closely enough; have you checked yourself against these various "special" lists?), they are in even greater need of being an Unschooled child and living an Unschooling lifestyle. I've seen children's lives saved with Unschooling.

Do you really believe that your child wouldn't learn how to do anything unless you or someone else forced them to learn it? Evolution proves this to be incorrect. If we weren't born with an innate desire to learn, our species would have died out a long time ago. Children today do not necessarily need (or want) to learn the skills of our ancestors, but they do want to learn how to live in our present society. Why wouldn't they? If for some freak reason (e.g. a meteor wiped out 1/2 the world) computer skills weren't needed in the future, the survivors would learn how to survive in that world! Humans are built to learn.

Here are some great resources for people that don't believe that their child can fit the mold of a typical Unschooler (and for those that don't believe they can Unschool due to special circumstances):

• Homeschooling the Child with ADD (or Other Special Needs): Your Complete Guide to Successfully Homeschooling the Child with Learning Differences by Lenore Colacion Hayes
• Shine with Unschooling Yahoo list
• Sandra Dodd's webpage on "Unschooling and Special Needs" -- this site has a LOT of useful Unschooling information
• Life Without School's "Special Needs Information"
  

Still have a babe in arms, or new to the concept of an alternative way of living? You may find The Highly Sensitive Person site to be a helpful start on your exciting journey. Here are some additional parenting resources. Don't think of your child as "special needs", think of them as a whole and complete person with unique needs. You need not look further than Unschooling to help dramatically with a wide variety of diagnoses that are not relevant in the real non-school world (such as ADD, ADHD, and Asperger's, just to name a few).

One of the absolutely fabulously great and wonderful things about Unschoolers is that there is NO "typical Unschooler". We are all unique individuals with unique goals and desires. The one thing we all do have in common is that we are all authentic. Celebrate your child for the unique individual she is! Celebrate yourself for the unique individual you are! There is only one YOU.

Don't Get Sick This Thanksgiving!

Did you know that many people with the "flu" actually have food poisoning? The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has tips on "How to Ensure a Safe Thanksgiving".

What are some alternatives to turkey as a main course for your Thanksgiving day meal? If you must have some sort of turkey, try one of these (or make your own!):
Tofurky
Un-Turkey
Celebration Field Roast
Garden Protein's Veggie Turkey

Don't have time to shop around for a faux turkey? Try making something a bit less traditional, but still with all the fall flavors you love. Try butternut squash lasagna or casserole, meatless loaf (mushroom, nut, grain, or TVP), more traditional casserole (Shepherd's pie, pot pie), stuffed veggies, soup, or even stuffed breads (like runzas). Any of these make nice main courses.

Do Life Right's Butternut Squash Lasagna Recipe:
1 package of whole wheat lasagna
1 large butternut squash
1-2 cups (or so) pecans
1-2 packages of your favorite vegan cheddar
(or your own homemade version)

Cook squash in oven for about an hour at 350F, allow to cool.
Peel (it practically falls off if the squash is cooked completely)
and get rid of the seeds.
Cook pasta according to package, allow to cool.
Layer pasta, squash, pecans, and vegan cheese.
Make sure there is a lot of the cheese on the top.
Cook for about 30 minutes or so at 350F+.
Once it is slightly browned, it is perfect.

Don't spend your holidays feeling ill; eat safe! Bonuses include: no gristle or bones to pick around, no unwanted extra fat, and no lethargic after meal feeling!

Honestly, there are so many (thousands) of vegan Thanksgiving recipes on the internet, I can't pick which ones to share. My suggestion is to decide what your favorite nonnegotiable meal items are, then adjust the ingredients accordingly.

Want a cute Thanksgiving book for a child in your life? Check out this sweet one:



Also see my blog on "Preparing for a Vegan Thanksgiving".

Homeschooling and Unschooling Myths

My favorite homeschooling myth is the one about socialization (although the math one is a close second). The fact of the matter is that the homeschooled and Unschooled children I know are the most socially capable children I've ever met (and, yes, I very distinctly remember being a child). These bright children know how to hold conversations with infants, agemates, other parents, and 85 year olds alike. They have no problem finding common interests (or at least sharing theirs to start conversations) in order to communicate effectively.

I will admit that there are introverted Unschoolers (probably even in the same percentages as society at large). They do, however, know how (within the realm of being a child) to handle social situations. OTOH, every schooled child over the age of 9 that I have met in the past few years has had huge difficulties holding even a trivial conversation with me on any topic -- the usual gut reaction of the child is to ignore that I exist since I'm an "adult" and adults seem to be off limits to all "cool kids". I've never had this happen in homeschooling circles, even with "shy" children. How better to learn how to live in society than to spend your time IN society? School is not real life, the world as a whole is. As my children's SDH t-shirts say, "The World is My Classroom."

• Here is my favorite "What About Socialization?" conversation that succinctly sums up the difference in approach.
• Here is Secular Homeschooling Magazine's extremely funny take on the topic of homeschooling myths in a wry article titled, "The Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List" (although I respectfully disagree with #19 since I don't boss my kids around on any topic).
• Joyfully Rejoycing on Socialization (check out the WHOLE site)
  

Like the above comic? Visit Inflatable Studios to see more of Jason Holm's spot-on homeschooling comics.

Vegan Athletes -- No Meat Necessary

To be strong, as well as healthy, a proper diet is important. Today's athletes should know this more than anyone. They want their bodies to perform at their highest potential; they want to be their ultimate best. The best diet possible for a professional athlete in any sport, professional firefighter, amateur athlete, or even us regular every day dabbling athletes, is a conscious vegan diet.

Carl Lewis, world class Olympic athlete, became a vegan in 1990. My favorite quote from him is, "I ate no dairy products. And I had my best year as an athlete ever!" Of course, there is more to his success than merely cutting out dairy. He also cut out meats and eggs (and continued his training). Mr. Lewis had met Dr. McDougall and McDougall convinced him to change his diet to a lowfat vegan diet.

Check out these sites for more information on how you can become faster, leaner, stronger, more agile, and more fit just by changing your diet:

• Dr. McDougall's "Building Your Own High-Performance Athletic Body"
• PCRM's "How Will a Vegetarian Diet Affect My Athletic Performance?"
  
• Vegan Athlete
• Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness
  
• Brendan Brazier's (vegan triathlete), "Ask the Vegan Athlete"
  
• Toronto Vegetarian Association's articles on vegetarian athletes
• Team Vegan (vegan cycling team)
  

Madera Canyon

Here are a few images of Madera Canyon (near Green Valley, AZ) that I took this week.

Webkinz Trading Spaces

My daughters have asked me to tell more details about the following:

My children and I have taken two of our favorite activities and combined them into ONE super fun game that we enjoy so much that we now play it just about once a week. What are these two things? Webkinz and Trading Spaces.

We always start this homemade game when we have at least a couple hours available with no planned Webkinz maintenance downtime (so not close to the scheduled 2:00AM-4:30AM Webkinz time maintenance period). The rules are simple and similar to the television show Trading Spaces and we vary them depending on who we are playing with and how we all want to play.

Here are the basics:

• We trade for a certain length of time.
• Each person/team is given a certain number of rooms they are allowed to touch (usually 2-3). We agree to not touch any other rooms, but they can be looked at.
• Each person/team is allowed to spend a certain amount of money (and NO more unless they earn it).
  
• No one can sell any of the room owner's items, but they can reuse anything in any of the potential rooms.
  
• If there is extra time and/or money, the other rooms can be redecorated/reorganized also.
• The pets have to be kept healthy and happy, even if this means that extra food needs to be purchased during the game.
  

This game works best when we have at least two computers available in the same house, so that passwords aren't shared and everyone can see their houses quickly. I usually act as moderator, going back and forth between teams, seeing how everyone is doing and giving advice if asked.

This is SO much fun for all of us! Even if a person doesn't like their new room, the results and experience have always been good. We often take a "before" and an "after" screen shot, so rooms could potentially be recreated. What I enjoy the most is watching the process of the people involved. It is very interesting to see how the kids (and sometimes adults) work together to create rooms they truly believe the room owner will love. They often base the rooms on what they feel the personality of the pet is, unless the room is a garden, bathroom, family/living/playroom, or kitchen.

We love Webkinz so much we're considering hosting a Webkinz party. This activity would definitely be on our "must do" list.

Preparing for a Vegan Thanksgiving

With only two weeks until Thanksgiving, it isn't too early to start planning what you and your family are going to eat.

Yes, it is possible to have a filling, delicious, and fabulous Thanksgiving dinner that is vegan. My friends and family have been having one for years. We eat many traditional Thanksgiving foods, we just veganize the recipes. To me, Thanksgiving wouldn't be Thanksgiving without green bean casserole, stuffing, and a pecan pie. My husband and oldest daughter expect a pumpkin pie. We've learned (quite easily) how to make these foods healthier, tastier, and vegan.

veganize (Do Life Right's definition): To change a nonvegan recipe into a vegan recipe by substituting and/or replacing animal products with vegan items. Examples include using soy or rice milks instead of cow milks, using tofu instead of eggs, and using tempeh bacon instead of pig bacon.

Out of curiosity, I plugged "vegan Thanksgiving" into google.com and found hundred of recipes and how-tos on how to hold a vegan Thanksgiving meal. It isn't hard and it is humane. Consider checking your local vegetarian restaurants to see if any are serving a special meal. Lovin' Spoonfuls, in Tucson, is having their yearly "by reservation only" Thanksgiving dinner. Friendly Feast is also offering a class on how to cook a vegan Thanksgiving that satisfies everyone, including the meat eaters in your family. If you really want to have an easy meal, try buying a Tofurky kit.

Why do we not eat turkey? The better question is: Why would we?

For more information check out these great sites:

• GentleThanksgiving.org (they have their own top 10 list)
• GoVeg.com's Top 10 Reasons Not to Eat Turkeys
  

Webkinz "Helpfulness" and Censorship

My daughters and I are HUGE Webkinz fans. We play on the Webkinz site every single day and we have quite a few pets. These little stuffed animals, and their virtual counterparts, are the best stuffed animals we've ever seen.

All that said, as a person with programming experience, I've been very disappointed with the Webkinz lack of testing. They keep putting out new and potentially exciting virtual products and games that don't work (for example, they just came out with "The Wheel of the Month" -- it never worked for anyone, from all reports). They've also become overly helpful to parents, to the point of being UNhelpful to all involved.

My older daughter had one of the cute Bullfrogs that she wanted to adopt. We were feeling a bit of time pressure to adopt this pet, since the Curio Shop was selling an extremely rare Egyptian item (and we needed the cash from an adoption in order to have enough money to buy it). [We've been building an Egyptian room for our black cat for quite a while now.] My daughter felt (and still feels) that the most perfect name in the world for this sweet little frog was Buttercup (named after "Princess Buttercup" from the awesome Princess Bride movie).

Webkinz, in their quest to save us from ourselves, wouldn't allow the beautiful name Buttercup to be used. It won't allow Butterscotch either (our dream dog name). See the theme? It actually took us a bit. Furthermore, this censorship has caused us to talk about "bad words" a lot more than we normally would. We especially couldn't figure out why our new gorgeous Library room wasn't allowed to be named "Library". Where's the naughty word in that name? We've figured it out, but it took a while... The room is now called the "Book Room" and here is a snapshot of it (my daughter and her friend made it earlier today). Of course, these are only guesses since Webkinz customer support never answers our questions...


Their customer support also leaves most users questioning whether or not it even exists. Their online FAQ and Customer Support within the Webkinz world only have trite answers that have never once been correct for the situations that we have e-mailed them about. I haven't found anyone IRL that has had one of their problems (NOTE: these are customers that are reporting actual bugs, not customers randomly complaining) answered or even acknowledged. It is offensive that they insist that we, the users, are doing something to cause problems when the problems are clearly that the test engineers haven't been given enough time to properly do their jobs. This makes me wonder just how many programmers and computer engineers Ganz has employed for the Webkinz project. Definitely not enough. We customers would much rather have a more stable and reliable game than all the new features and products that keep showing up. Isn't this always the case in software?

Why Vegan Body Products?

I've had people say to me, "I get why you eat a vegan diet and I am against animal testing. However, I don't understand why you won't buy shampoos and lip balms, etc. that contain animal ingredients."

Simple answer: Do you know exactly what those animal ingredients are? If you did, you just might not want to put them on your body, either (especially lipsticks and lip balms since so much of them can be swallowed!). Here is a more simple list of common animal ingredients in cosmetics.

Next time you are in your shower, read the ingredients in your shampoo. It's a lot like reading the nutritional information on food. If you don't know what something is, it's probably not good for you. Look up the mysterious ingredients on labels before you buy the product. [I've found that an easily portable digital camera can help with documenting what ingredients are in a product.]

Makeup, lotions, and body cleansing products often have a variety of animal derived products in them. Why should this concern you? Did you know that, similar to food, what you put ON your body is absorbed INTO your body? (That is sort of the point regarding lotions.) Do you want strange chemicals and animal parts to become part of who you are? Want to know if your products are deemed safe (even if they aren't vegan)? Look them up on Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database.

I like a good bath. I'm just careful to note what the ingredients are first! As I've mentioned before, Lush vegan bathbombs are my favorite. Vegan Freak has a nice list of companies listed here; check out their whole site, too!

And, of course, there is the issue of testing products ON animals as well. All vegan products do not use animals in any way, not for the product itself nor the testing. Here is an interesting list of Cruelty Free Companies, and here is a great new way to be certified as a vegan product.

When it comes to buying products that go in or on my body, my basic motto is "When in doubt, throw it out."

Solar Houses

As many of you know, my family and I have been planning on building a house for about four years now. We started seriously planning the house (and where to put it) in early 2004. We purchased our land in August 2004. Our biggest holdup is that our county has very tough requirements on building a nontraditional "green" house. This is changing, but it has been an excruciatingly slow process.

We are building a Natural Spaces dome that we've named Desierto Cúpula. My update on the house has not changed in nearly a year, since there is very little more to report even though we (and our local architect) have been working diligently on the project. Our plan is to get permits before the end of this year so that the house can be completed in early 2008.

In an ideal world, using solar power, wind power, or any alternative (yet better for the environment) energy source would be easy to do. In Southern Arizona, where we live, it is not. This is very unfortunate since we have over 300 sunny days every year. The costs are significantly more and the incentives just aren't here yet. Government officials, such as U. S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, are working on this, but they have a long way to go to get to the standard that we need to be at as a country. Please support your local politicians that are supporting alternative energy!

Contests such as the "Solar Decathlon" will help, too. But, note that the houses built for this competition are in the $500,000-$1million range (which is an unrealistic housing amount for the vast majority of home owners in the United States of America).

There are also many great programs, such as the Citizenrē REnU program. Unfortunately, my family and our project do not qualify for this program, but please check it out to see if you and your house do!

Be Joe

There are certain days in my life that stand out strong in my memory. One of these days is the first time I saw Joe Versus the Volcano. This Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan classic is one of my family's all time favorites. It is inspirational in ways that few other movies or books are. It's not sad, sappy, or cruel. It has so many quotable lines that we often find ourselves saying lines from this movie and randomly singing lines from some of the songs. Joe's circumstances show us how any ordinary person can pick up their life and become the best that they can be (much like Do Life Right's mission statement). All anyone has to do is decide to have the life they want. Everything we ever need and want is available to us, we just have to believe it and grab it.

If you want to be reminded to WAKE UP and LIVE NOW, Joe Versus the Volcano is the movie for you. Whenever we're feeling like life is rough, or otherwise needing inspiration, we pull out this movie and become Joe for a while.

Pleasure Writing -- The World of Fiction

Today is day 3 in the somewhat famous NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) experience. The goal of each participant is to write a minimum of 50,000 words (a novella) in the 30 days of November. This is my fifth year of participating and the second year that I've gotten a very late start (I haven't written a single word of fiction yet this month...). I do, however, intend to finish a rough manuscript before the end of the month.

Concerned how this can work? Check out Chris Baty's (the founder of NaNoWriMo) book: No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days.

I spent the day at a writer's workshop, sponsored by RWA-Tucson, called "Discovering Story Magic". While the group was large (and the dynamic of the group discussion period would have been a lot more fun with less people), there was a lot of fantastic information passed along. If you have the opportunity to attend this workshop, I do recommend it. Our wonderfully special RWA chapter apparently came to a unique conclusion that none of the other "Discovering Story Magic" workshops have ever come to before. No spoilers from me. :)

If you have any desire to become a fiction writer, events such as NaNoWriMo are a fantastic way to get the momentum started. You might not come away with a best-seller at the end of the month, but you'll certainly be one step closer. Try participating in NaNoEdMo in March to edit your November masterpiece in a one month time period. A mere 50 hours counts as completion in this event, although most writers need significantly more to completely edit a novel.

Prefer writing a screenplay in a month? Check out Script Frenzy next June. This event has participants writing a 20,000 word screenplay in the one month time period. I've yet to participate in this, but I plan to at some point.

Think these are doable events? Feeling inspired? If you think you have it in you, you do. Have fun writing.

Day-to-Day Unschooling

I'm often asked what my family does day in and day out as Unschoolers. I always pause before answering this question in order to determine what the questioner is actually asking. The thing is, there is no "typical day" in the life of this Unschooling family (or any that we've met). We don't wake up or go to sleep at a regular time, we don't sit at the kitchen table and "do school work" -- ever. We have weekly activities that we are involved in, but we don't require our children to go to those if they choose not to, either (they always do attend though, unless we are going out of town). Our children have very flexible lives and we all highly enjoy the freedom of unscheduled learning.

When a friend or family member asks me this question, I know that what they really want to know is what we've been up to lately, what we do for fun, what interests us, etc. So, I share all the fun things we've been doing. I tell them about the activities we've done, the science experiments, the art projects, the hiking, the outings, the important aspects of our lives. I share the fun of what it is like to be us. I enjoy telling people about this!

When a potential future Unschooling family asks me the "typical day" question, I like to refer them to Sandra Dodd's website, my own Do Life Right site, or a place like Unschooling Voices. As every child learns differently, every family has a different dynamic. When I was new to Unschooling, I highly enjoyed reading about the day-to-day living of other families. It helped me realize that we needed to follow our own rhythm. Thus, I encourage others to do the same.

Enjoy finding your own beat!

Our Vegan Halloween 2007

I first wrote about "Vegan and Ethical Trick-or-Treating" in September. Here is an update.

We had an absolutely excellent Halloween! My oldest daughter dressed as a Borg (from Star Trek) and my youngest was an astronaut. Note the space theme. :)

We went to two parties: A Vegan one (a potluck), and a Homeschooler's one (with a mini-carnival atmosphere -- we had a "Candy Toss"). Both were very fun, in drastically different ways.

We went out Trick-or-Treating with a friend of my oldest daughter's (and her mom) for two hours last night. We hit 82 houses and filled two huge bags (and later a gigantic bowl) with candy. After sorting the candy out, we estimated that a good 50% of the loot we brought home was vegan (we're counting the non-food items in this figure). Of the non-vegan foods we received, at least 40% were vegetarian! For non-food items, we received: pencils, yo-yos, and a toy watch. We were quite impressed. The biggest disappointment was finding that Nerds now have crushed beetles in them.

What are our plans for the non-vegan candy? First we'll give some to non-vegetarian friends (which is just about everyone we know), then we'll either use the rest for Gingerbread house decorating or take to my husband's office. We don't encourage food waste and never throw away foods that are still edible (we take non-vegan food presents to food banks and other food donation sites, or give to friends). While we, personally, won't eat the non-vegan foods, we feel that the animals the foods are made out of are best served by not getting thrown away. Our Halloween candy is much better off in the hands of people that were going to eat those foods anyway, rather than in a dumpster.

On a different fun note, today is the first day of November, so adopt your Webkinz black bear this month (the black bear is November's "Webkinz Pet of the Month"). We adopted two today (a girl named "Juniper" and a girl named "Ursa"). Our special gifts were the coveted Flying Saucer and the really exciting donut seed. We can't wait to harvest our very own farm fresh donuts. Of course, ours are vegan. :) Prepackaged vegan donuts can be purchased here.