Unschooling: Our October 2014 adventures

October was awesome. Art. Traveling. Animals. Fun. Movies. Deep conversations. Forensics. Oh, and I got a promotion at work. Pretty good stuff; here’s a look at the highlights!

Ashar in the corn maze!

Ashar in the corn maze!

(If this is your first time catching our month-in-review posts, welcome! Check out our archive of previous wrapups here for some more info on why we take this approach to documenting some of our unschooling learning adventures.)

Books

Disclosure: This post has some affiliate links. I only link to things we legitimately use and recommend, so if you see such a link, it's because we really do believe in the book or item!
  • The Matrix and Philosophy. Ashar is on the next-to-last chapter of this super-dense book, and has really had some amazing conversations as a result. But she is so devoted to finishing it that she hasn’t wanted to read much else, which is totally fine by me!
  • National Geographic. The November issue has a feature on “real zombies,” animals that take over their hosts, and Ashar loved it.
A "garden-variety" selfie in the butterfly garden at Reptiland.

A “garden-variety” selfie in the butterfly garden at Reptiland.

Movies and TV

Ashar laughing as a dinosaur at Reptiland sprayed her with water.

Ashar laughing as a dinosaur at Reptiland sprayed her with water.

Video games

Ashar made these candy acorns for my mom's church's bake sale.

Ashar made these candy acorns for my mom’s church’s bake sale.

Videos

Places and projects

    Ashar with a pirate ship at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire

    Ashar with a pirate ship at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire

  • Our Words of the Day project – Ashar’s still creating a new word-of-the-day poster for our fridge on everything from the kingfisher to the ouroboros to the FBI
  • Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland, Ashar’s second trip but my first
  • Revisiting our timeline – We cleared it off and have started over with everything from the birth of Hitler to dates of various wars and more
  • Forensics class at York College – Ashar signed up for a community education class on forensics, met a police detective, staffers from the District Attorney’s office, the deputy coroner and more
  • Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire
  • Dover Band Show – This is the marching band show held for local non-competition bands at my alma mater, and it was amazing
  • DreamWrights production of The Hobbit musical – We had several friends in this show and super-much enjoyed seeing it and them
  • Corn maze at Flinchbaugh’s Orchards (Chris took Ashar to this, and they also bought some fall decorations for our yard)
  • A Haunted Bookshop Halloween at The York Emporium, our local favorite used-bookhouse and what I think might become a Halloween tradition for us
Ashar decided she wanted to dress up as a "gangster bandit," and so she did. And we hung out at our favorite bookstore with friends. Very cool.

Ashar decided she wanted to dress up as a “gangster bandit,” and so she did. And we hung out at our favorite bookstore with friends. Very cool.

Odds and ends of stuff we’ve talked about/read/geeked out over

    Unrelated to movies, Ashar and Chris being scared - uh, not really - by a Reptiland dino.

    Ashar and Chris being scared – uh, not really – by a Reptiland dino.

  • “I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts and Arthur is president” and more about the assassination of James Garfield by Charles Guiteau.
  • What the difference is between a personal reference and a professional one.
  • The Google Made With Code project, where Ashar made a Yeti dance, a layered eye and more.
  • How to (try to) salvage an iPod Touch that’s been through the wash, and how to deal with it when you can’t. (Ugh.)
  • Making candy “acorns” out of Hershey’s Kisses, mini Nilla Wafers and chocolate chips.
  • MAJOR ART COOLNESS: Ashar and I both had a piece accepted for a November show at The Parliament, a gallery in York, and we just dropped those off; later in November, we’ll both have a piece in a juried show at the York Art Association. Details on both of these to come!

So what’s new with your family this month? Drop me a comment! I love hearing from all my “blog friends!”

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2 thoughts on “Unschooling: Our October 2014 adventures

  1. You just totally made our coming Christmas season by posting the Morris The Moose song. I had that album as a kid and still sing all the songs. I lost it in a flooded roof mess years ago and now I have it back again, thanks to YOU! 🙂

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