New Dreads

My family went to the Good Vibrations Unschooling Conference in San Diego, CA last weekend. That is an entire blog entry by itself, and I'll have to do that one later. An amazing, life altering few days...really.

While we were in San Diego, my new friend Tara  (@OrganicSister) gave me dreadlocks!

Tara sectioned off my hair.

(picture from here)

She back-combed and palm rolled each section.

(picture from here)

It *really*, *REALLY* hurt at times.

About two hours in...

(picture from here)

We had a regular audience that would stop by and see how far along we were.

Dreading and breastfeeding L(14m), with two of my other kids nearby.

We are near the hotel pool.

That night, we attempted to count how many dreads there are...and we *think* 57.

It took us 7-8 hours that first day to get all of the dreads in.

From what I hear, that's pretty fast...

Two days later, we began to tighten any dreads that had come a little loose.

This is me, keeping the tightened and the untightened separated overnight.

After tightening them all up, here's me (on the right), with @OrganicSister (left), and @aenclade (center--another unschooling mama twitter friend). 

(picture from here)

When I left the conference on Sunday, this is what the new dreads looked like!

Here are the new dreads at about 6 days old...

WHY? Why did I get dreads? For me, it's not religious or meaningful...I just wanted a low-maintenance hairstyle. I hate getting my hair cut, styling, any of that stuff. I am the queen of get out of the shower and throw my hair into a bun (no brushing or drying first). I've thought about getting dreads for a few months now, and then I read Tara's blog post on her dreads. When I expressed an interest in getting them, Tara offered to do them for me at the conference. Yes, they did take a total of about 10 hours to put in...and they will require some special care for the next few months (or whatever)...but in the end, I believe that they will be low-maintenance. And, I plan on keeping them forever...

Why "Autodidact Mama"?

au⋅to⋅di⋅dact [aw-toh-dahy-dakt]: a person who has learned a subject without the benefit of a teacher or formal education; a self-taught person. (found here)  (and, for the record...I don't like the word "benefit" in this definition...)


My ID, AutodidactMama, has two meanings to me:

*The way that I parent has almost nothing in common with how I was parented/raised. I have taught myself how to be the mother that my children need and deserve. I am an autodidactic mama.

*I live with four children, who are autodidacts. I am the mama of autodidacts.

See? Pretty simple. :0)

"Typical" Day

As any unschooler knows, there's no "typical" day.

Here's what went on in our house today:

We all woke up around 7am, when G announced that the sun was awake. C got ready for work, I made coffee, N & S ate crackers, G ate "nunny nut chee-woes", and L sat in her booster seat working on an apple. C left for work.

*L nursed while I checked my email and twitter on my iTouch.

*N & S played on the computer (Dino Squad, I think?).

*G set up train tracks that ran the length of the living room.

*L threw things in the trash.

*G watched something on PBS.

*I set up my Google reader!

*N, S, & G made another tent in the livingroom (we moved the couches just for this purpose).

*L filled a small bag with blocks, toy food, and spoons from the kitchen drawer.

*I attempted to clean the kitchen...and just ran the dishwasher instead.

*We all watched Pink Panther together.

*S made a paper pterodactyl.

*N & S argued about the difference between a pterodactyl and a pteranodon (??).

*G colored on the table, right next to where the piece of paper was.

*N played Wii (I have no clue what game), while S & G watched him. 

*G made ramps for his cars with items from our recycling bin.

*N, S & G made an obstacle course for L in the playroom.

*We went to make cookies, and realized that we didn't have enough ingredients.

*I attempted to read, but L didn't want me holding a book.

*L took apart the train track that G had set up.

*G threw a train at L.

*L laughed and ran away from G...squealing.

*N & I played "Go Fish" with "Uno" cards...and then played "Uno".

*L played with her own set of cards nearby.

*G watched Pink Panther (his obsession right now) and took a nap.

*N & S played in the playroom quietly.

*L napped.

*I tried to watch "Knowing" (I finally finished it tonight...it only took 3 days to watch).

*L & N played in the kitchen cupboards.

*Everyone took a bath (just to play in the water).

*G made us all goodies at the play kitchen.

*We all played "store", using money that they boys made.

*S told me, "I'm overbudget...that means I'm out of money."

*S & L both got fevers and weren't feeling well...we all talked about getting sick & being healthy.

*N, S & I started to write a book together.

*S played with a calculator.

*N randomly asked me how to spell words that he heard in his game or on TV.

Throw in lots of snacks, a few meals, many breastfeeding sessions, lots of hugs and kisses......

And that's some of our unschooling day...today. We didn't leave the house, it was well over 100*F out.

I'm not the type of "homeschooler" who looks at what we do and tries to break it down into "educational subjects". If you feel the need to see if we "covered" certain "subjects", go ahead. I'm certain that my kids learned more today than their peers did at school. But, more important than learning...they did their own thing, followed their own hearts/desires, and are happy.

We are just living our lives...

Random Pics 2

S made a pterodactyl today out of paper.

C vacuuming with L on his back.

I'm pretty sure that's S running by.

And, that's me off to the left.

Bathtime!

All of the kids wanted to take baths tonight.

I got to "relax" in the tub first, listening to all 4 kids beg for their chance. I got maybe 5 minutes "alone". Big messes and fights occur when they are all in the tub together, so they each get to get in with me individually.

S(5) got to get in first, because he had asked first. He had been making a pirate ship all day, and was ready to test it out in the tub. It was made from an old lid from a take-out container that we've hung onto, with two straws sticking up as masts, and construction paper taped on as sails. He was quite pleased when the boat floated, and he put in a Lego pirate that he made. It still floated. He blew on the sails, and the ship sailed and turned. All was well. And then the "salami" (tsunami) hit. The ship filled with water and still floated! S screamed, "Lego Man overboard!!" as his little Lego pirate floated away. Lego pirate swam back to the ship, dumped out the water (must have been a very strong pirate?), and S noted that "maybe construction paper isn't the goodest sail, 'cuz it gets wet." 

N(7) got in next, and talked S into letting him play with the pirate ship and Lego pirate. No salamis hit the ship this time, but the pirate did lose his legs when he slammed into the rocks (aka: the side of the tub). No fear, N said that the pirate was also a doctor and he "could put his own legs back on."

G(3) fell into the tub (literally) for his turn, and S said that he couldn't play with the ship or pirate. G happily played with washcloths, and became "Super G!" using one as a cape. Super G had "scared off the pirate" and was in charge of pouring water from one cup to another. Apparently, this is an important job. Super G got to let the water drain out of the tub, and he saved every object that headed toward the "hole".

When all of the water was drained, it was L(13m)'s turn. She likes to sit in an empty tub, and have the water trickling down from the faucet. She filled up the cups, sucked on washcloths, and played with a comb for a bit, and then told me that she was done.

Eliminating Elimination

We have eliminated the Elimination Diet. The kids weren't on-board anymore--and honestly, neither am I. None of our food allergies are life-threatening (pork and nitrates might cause an asthma attack for S, but that's about it), and it's just too much to keep track of.

When doing the Elimination Diet, we hoped for a few results:

*We hoped that L's rash would go away (she has some funky rash spots on her legs).

*We hoped that N & S would be able to remain dry at night, and not wet the bed (for some people, eliminating dairy helps with this).

*We hoped that G would stop waking with night terrors, and just waking to scream--he does both (again, eliminating dairy helps some kids).

*We hoped that C (husband) and I would just feel better in general (the kids said they felt "fine" before).

*We hoped that the dark circles that all 4 kids have under their eyes would go away.

None of these things happened.

Here's what did happen:

*L's rash improved quite dramatically for the first two days. Then it started to look bad again. Yesterday, it looked worse than a week ago.

*There was no change in N & S staying dry.

*G woke up screaming still, but he was screaming, "Nunny Nut Che-woes!!" (his favorite cereal that he wasn't eating anymore).

*C and I were just stressed from the whole ordeal.

*There was no change in the dark circles under the kids' eyes.

*Everyone was grumpy and hungry.

Before we began the Elimination Diet last week, the older kids were on-board with the plan. As the week wore on, they became more off-board. This weekend, we all decided that it just wasn't worth it, and ordered pizza.

The Big List (so far)...

I've mentioned that we have lots of food allergies...

A year ago, I would have told you that none of us (my immediate family) had any food allergies. Shortly after L was born, her skin and abdomen were showing signs that she might be allergic to something that I was eating (she was an exclusively breastfeeding infant). L had her food allergies tested, and she was allergic to a whole list of foods.

Since then, my husband, S, and I have all been tested for our food allergies. So, four out of the six of us have had our food allergies tested...the other two (N & G) will be tested soon. Since it's nearly impossible for me to remember everyone's lists (most are quite long), I'm compiling it into one big list of foods that I'm not buying anymore (or bringing into the house).

I am literally learning how to cook and eat all over again.

Here's what we have on the food allergy list so far:

*Dairy (cow's milk, albumin, casein, lactose)

*Whey Protein

*Egg

*Soy (bean, milk, tofu)

*Peanut

*Pecan

*Pistachio

*Pine Nut

*Walnut

*Cashew

*Sunflower Seed

*Coconut

*Banana

*Crab Apple

*Raspberry (black & red)

*Tomato

*Potato

*Corn (yellow)

*Wheat

*Wild Rice

*Buffalo

*Pork

*Tuna Fish

*Trout

*Aspartame

*High Fructose Corn Syrup

*Honey

*Sugar (cane)

*Sunflower Oil

*Soy Sauce

*Sodium Fluoride

*Sodium Nitrate

*Sodium Nitrite

*Sodium Sulfite

*Food Dyes