Monday, February 29, 2016

Enjoy a collection of secular homeschooling posts for #SHSAwareness Month!

This month has been a celebration of Secular Homeschool Awareness.

SecularHomeschool.com has a link-up of excellent homeschooling blog posts, and now that it's the end of the linky, you can read all the entries!

I'll be sharing all the posts today on Twitter at @Hobo_Mama & @PirateFamilyFun if you want to follow along. To find the posts yourself, search out the hashtag #shsawareness.

If you're a secular homeschooler or interested in learning more, connect with the community:
SecularHomeschool.com
Articles | Forums
Facebook | Twitter
Curriculum Reviews

Friday, February 19, 2016

Exercise doesn't exist: An argument for natural movement



Hobo Mama wants you to know she's a professional blogger! Look at how professional she's being!

I've been thinking about this for a while and have come to the inescapable conclusion that there is no such thing as exercise. The very concept is a modern invention, born of people gradually and very recently, anthropologically speaking, becoming richer and more stable and therefore more sedentary for most of their waking moments.

As humans, as living creatures, we've always moved our bodies, but not until relatively recently have we moved them in prescribed repetitive motions for a short period of time per day and decreed that as "healthy."

Imagine our ancient ancestress, hanging out with her tribemates. She covers miles a day searching out roots, then bending to pull them. She walks slowly, not setting any landspeed records here, because she's got the pace of kids and older folks to match and, anyhow, where's the hurry? She carries the food she gathers as well as her nursing toddler, and when they settle in to camp for the night, she walks to a nearby stream to carry back heavy water skins. She squats and then stands throughout the day: to gather, to rest, while preparing food, while braiding a daughter's hair, while peeing. All day long, she's working her muscles but doesn't call it weight training. She's working her heart and lungs but doesn't call it cardio.

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Child-led homeschooling adventures



Hobo Mama wants you to know she's a professional blogger! Look at how professional she's being!

Want to see unschooling in the everyday?
Here are some of our pics from Instagram!
(We'd love to have you follow us: @HoboMamacom & @PirateFamilyFun.)

#library day!

A photo posted by Lauren Wayne (@hobomamacom) on





You can read here how our gecko adventures
were child-led lessons in themselves.

Checking out lizards at the pet store. #petco #chameleon

A photo posted by Lauren Wayne (@hobomamacom) on



#books 📚 + #trains 🚆 = perfection. #barnesandnoble @barnesandnoble #bookstore #homeschooling #unschooling #trainset #toytrain

A photo posted by Pirate Family Fun & Learning (@piratefamilyfun) on



I love how excited they get about books!
And trains. And books and trains.

Friday, February 12, 2016

DIY "Stained Glass" Valentine's cards — craft with your kids!


Hobo Mama wants you to know she's a professional blogger! Look at how professional she's being!


Craft with your kids and make these DIY "stained glass" tissue paper & parchment paper Valentine's Day cards! These sweet Valentines are easy and fun to make, and so pretty when they're done.

I was able to wing this with supplies we had around the house, so I hope you've got these or similar materials at hand as well:

Supplies:
  • Parchment paper
  • Construction/colored paper
  • Scotch tape
  • School glue
  • Scissors
  • Markers, stickers, paints, stamps — whatever you want to use to decorate!

They've got a pleasing 3-D textural effect to them that suits the season.


I've included some ways to pop in some easy practice with writing, even for pre- or early readers.


Get your artsy side in gear, and make some cute and friendly Valentines for all your loved ones!

Here's the full tutorial and our fabulous creations:


Wednesday, February 10, 2016

A peek at the everyday


Hobo Mama wants you to know she's a professional blogger! Look at how professional she's being!

I don't have a very good overarching theme for these images.
I just thought I'd celebrate Wordless Wednesday
(in my usual non-wordless fashion)
by sharing some fun pics from Instagram
(@HoboMamacom & @PirateFamilyFun).

On a trip to Barnes & Noble, I was pleased to see this sweet little sticker in the window:





People have been asking me where we sourced this Rainbow Dash hoodie,
so I will let you in on the secret: Amazon. Bam.

Boy + cat. #mainecoonstagram #cosleeping

A photo posted by Lauren Wayne (@hobomamacom) on



Chubby chubs! #15months

A photo posted by Lauren Wayne (@hobomamacom) on



Shopping with a #powerranger. #powerrangers #redpowerranger

A photo posted by Pirate Family Fun & Learning (@piratefamilyfun) on



We caught a baby! 💘

A photo posted by Lauren Wayne (@hobomamacom) on



Enjoying a view of the beautiful beach day at #alkispuds.

A photo posted by Lauren Wayne (@hobomamacom) on




And it's #pony day! We spotted this sweet fellow chewing on grass in our neighborhood. 😊 🐎 #mylittlebrony was very happy!

A photo posted by Pirate Family Fun & Learning (@piratefamilyfun) on



Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Assorted hilarious Tweets + a #TwitterBirth

Hobo Mama wants you to know she's a professional blogger! Look at how professional she's being!

Ever wonder what goes on on Twitter when you're not looking? So. Much. Fun.

I'm over there all the time as @Hobo_Mama (parenting & other nonsense) and @PirateFamilyFun (for our YouTube adventures) and (new) @LaurenWaynecom (for writing shtuff). I might need to join a support group….

A few years ago, I found out you can download your Twitter archive, and I discovered these gems of parenting reality, including Alrik's live-Tweeted birth:



Still true.



We did it.




I remember this! Bizarre.