It’s the last day of the official school term. Yes, Term 3 for 2018 is just about over. So what are we doing? Are we jumping up and down with excitement, glad the holidays are almost here? Perhaps we’ve already dived into holiday mode? I might have said, “Thank goodness this term is over. I’ve had enough. It’s time to take a break!”
No, we didn’t do any of that. We’re not even thinking about the holidays. We’re too busy. This morning, Gemma-Rose and I went for our usual run. Then we did our usual chores before sitting down to watch the second part of The Hollow Crown series: Henry IV Part 1. We didn’t watch it because we had to. We watched it because we wanted to. We enjoy Shakespeare, and we are currently enthralled by The Hollow Crown collection of some of Shakespeare’s history plays.
Gemma-Rose and I have had lots to discuss:
We giggled over portly Falstaff and the silly situations he gets himself into. How does he survive when he lies all the time? Why is Prince Harry his friend?
We wondered how two people (Lord and Lady Mortimer) can be happily married when neither speaks the other’s language. Yes, the Welsh wife’s father was happy to be their interpreter. But how could they trust he was translating their words correctly? If he didn’t like his English son-in-law he could say whatever he wanted and cause trouble between the couple.
We imagined how it would feel to be torn apart by your father with young onlookers witnessing every word. We wondered how Prince Harry felt when he heard his father, the king, say that he’d rather have the courageous but traitorous Hotspur as a son instead of him.
And was that a beanie we saw on Prince Harry’s head? (It looked rather cool. His leather jacket was also very up-to-date.) King Henry had a beanie too. Was his head bald underneath? Was the crown uncomfortable to wear? Did it dig into the king’s skin? And how can a man charge into battle with that great weight on his head?
Important questions that needed pondering.
So Gemma-Rose and I haven’t yet moved on to the next season of our unschooling year: the Australian spring school holidays. But we will. You see, my school teacher husband Andy finishes work this evening. Then he will on holiday for the next couple of weeks.
With Andy home, our routine will change. We’ll want to do a few different things like go on some outings and just relax and slow down. Do holiday stuff. Because even though learning happens every day of the year, unschoolers still need holidays. A slower pace. Different things to focus on. We all need a change every now and then.
I’m talking about school terms and holidays in this week’s podcast, episode 134: Do Unschoolers Need Holidays?
I’m sharing an end-of-the-school-term story which is also a typical day one, and I’m discussing the questions:
- How did our attitude towards holidays change when we became unschoolers?
- Do unschoolers need holidays?
- If we want our kids to respond to our strewing invitations, do we need to respond to theirs?
- Do we have to be prepared to give our time and full attention to our kids?
Also:
- I talk about homeschool record keeping
- I have some resources to share
- I reveal what happened to my Catholic Radical Unschool Cheese blog
- And I tell you about some changes to my unschooling blog
Show Notes
Blog post
Resources
Novels
To Love a Sunburnt Country by Jackie French
The Billabong Books by Mary Grant Bruce
The Far Side of the Loch by Melissa Wiley
Poem
Clancy of the Overflow by Banjo Paterson
Videos
Images: I took these photos of Gemma-Rose during last year’s spring holidays. We visited the tulip festival in our local town.
A Note: I left the DVD cover of The Hollow Crown series on our coffee table. Andy picked it up to look at it. “Do you realise this is MA rated?” he asked. No, I hadn’t realised. I began to wonder if the production was suitable for me to watch. (And what about Gemma-Rose?) I decided we’d watch regardless of the rating and just close our eyes if something inappropriate happened onscreen. So far, we’ve seen a few beheadings and a rather gruesome murder. And there have been a couple of amorous but not revealing scenes. Nothing we can’t handle.
Thank you for listening to this episode. If you enjoy my podcast, please consider sharing the link so we can spread the word about unschooling.
Please feel welcome to leave a comment about anything I talked about in this episode. Perhaps you’d like to tell me what you think of my new look blog. Or just stop by and say hello!
