This is the first post in a series, detailing our preparations for travelling to Europe with our three kids.

In just 3 months time we will be checking and double-checking our luggage and not sleeping with anticipation because on the 29th May we will be boarding a plane bound for Paris! We’ll be travelling through Europe with our 3 kids for 6 weeks and we couldn’t be more excited.

Maybe it’s because I was born in Croatia, but I have always felt a pull to see more of the world and we’ve been to Europe twice now – once as a couple, and another time when Hannah was a toddler. We were bitten by the travelling bug and this has always been something we planned to do more of as a family. Travel was a factor in our decision making process to unschool and something we spend a lot of time saving for and discussing together. And this time it’s been amazing to involve Hannah and Blake in the whole process.

We booked our tickets last year in October, so we’re excited that the trip finally feels like it’s getting closer and closer. My grandma, uncle and aunty and cousins still live in Croatia so the majority of our 6 week trip will be spent visiting them but we’re also planning to indulge in quite a bit of country-hopping around Europe. Part of the reason for flying into Paris, instead of Croatia itself, is because we can hire a car in Paris and drive to Croatia while seeing a few more countries along the way.

Currently our plan is to stay a few nights in Paris, head to Amsterdam, then the Rhine Valley in Germany, over to Austria and then my grandparents place in Croatia. We’ll be spending a couple of weeks with my grandma and about a week on the Croatian coast so there will be a lot to see and do, but a lot of down time too. On the way back to Paris we plan to see Verona (and hopefully squeeze in Venice though we’ve been there before) and then a few days in the Provence area of France.

We chose the kids Christmas presents with this overseas trip in mind and Hannah and Blake received a new backpack full of things they will need for the plane and travelling in general. This was a hit, as we’ve spent a lot of time talking about how much travelling we’ll be doing in the plane and car overseas. Both Hannah and Blake have been in planes before but Blake’s last trip was before he was 2 so we’re making sure to discuss the technicalities of it as much as possible to create familiarity. They are so thrilled about it, I think they’ll love the whole experience.

And we do so much car travel and regular road-trips here anyway so I think the journeying in the car will just be something they’re already used to for all 3 of them. We’re realistic about it, we know there will be tough, hard and downright shit moments but they’re only moments and the joy will outweigh it all I’m sure!

I plan to write 2 more posts about our trip in more detail at the end of March and April as we countdown to this big adventure! If you have any specific questions jot them down in the comments and I’ll try to answer them in upcoming posts!

The post Travelling To Europe With Kids // Preparing and Planning appeared first on HippyHappyMama.

Do you want to be a better mama? It all starts with really looking after yourself and making yourself your top priority. These 9 tips can help.

#1 – Nurture yourself
Make time for you. I learned almost too late just how important VITAL this is. I had this strange idea that the people around me needed to nurture me. That I needed to be nurtured by my husband, by my parents and by my friendships and of-course this was only causing resentment and dissatisfaction on my part when they weren’t meeting my expectations. The nurturing had to come from inside me. Start small. Take baby steps. Make little goals. Mine were really simple at first – take my vitamin every morning, drink more water, journal more.

#2 – Value yourself
As above, if you don’t value yourself then who will? Value your time, your effort, your energy. Value your body, your mind, your spirit. Value the beautiful talents and gifts you bring to the world. Value your originality and unique features – there are 7 billion people in the world and there is no one else quite like you! That is a pretty amazing thought and you’re obviously something special. Feel it. Know it. And let yourself shine!

#3 – Support yourself
Be that person for yourself. Start a project and encourage and motivate yourself. Bask in the joy of completion and internal satisfaction instead of external praise. Surrounding yourself with people who believe in you is so valuable, and I believe it’s been quoted that we are the sum of the five people we spend the most time with. That is a very powerful thought. But often we need to be our own cheerleader too and that is even more powerful.

#4 – Comfort yourself
Take time to rest and check in with yourself as often as possible. Look after yourself in the way that you would have wanted to be cared for when you were a child. Especially if you are battling illness – mental or physical – take lots of time to care for yourself, to feel that comfort that comes from meeting your needs. And if your stress is emotional then soothe yourself, hold yourself tight, be your own friend instead of criticising, judging or worrying. If there is no one who will listen, then turn to what makes you feel good – write in a journal, sketch or draw or paint, do some exercise, get plenty of sunshine, indulge in comforting drinks and maybe bake a treat, turn on some beautiful music and dance your worries away or let the music inspire a restful sleep. Simple Lavender essential oil is brilliant for times of stress and anxiety. I desperately sniffed a handkerchief soaked with lavender oil in the late stages of my third pregnancy to help me sleep peacefully at night.

#5 – Inspire yourself
Go to the art gallery. Take a walk in a forest. Sit at the beach and draw in the sand while the sound of the crashing waves hypnotizes your mind and lets your worries slip away. That’s when magic happens. Inspire yourself with everything that brings out your passions and reach deep down within yourself to recognise your true desires. From here, everything will flow.

#6 – Love yourself
Self-love. It’s something you know about and although I know there are mamas out there who are pretty good at continuing this throughout motherhood, it is something a lot of us leave by the wayside with our pre-pregnancy bodies, desires and interests. Becoming a mama changes you… there is no way around that. But under all those new layers are still parts of the ‘old’ you which is just another way of saying the ‘authentic’ you. The you who you truly are. Self-love is all about re-connecting with that part of yourself. If you take the time to re-discover your authentic self I promise you, amazing things will happen. You really will begin to love yourself in that pure, conscious way. The way we all deserve to be loved. And it all starts inside of you.

#7 – Be kind to yourself
Show yourself compassion. Listen to yourself. Listen to your needs and try to communicate them to those around you as easily as you can. Realise that high expectations can put a lot of unnecessary stress and pressure on our lives and you’re worth more than stress and pressure. Life is for living and yes, life does come with regrets and mistakes. That’s part of how we learn and as long as we keep living, we’ll keep learning and we need to be gentle with ourselves throughout that process. Use kind words when you see yourself in the mirror. Say, I love you. Say, I see you. Think kind thoughts about what is going on in your life – remember every day when you get up, you get the opportunity to start again. So do that. As often as you need to. Some parts of life are just plain hard. There’s no need to feel bad about that. It is what it is. Treating yourself with the empathy and compassion you show others, is what you really need from yourself during the intense phases of motherhood.

#8 – Enjoy yourself 
Be a friend to yourself. Remember how FUN you are! I can be quite a serious person so this is something I need to remind myself of  often. Life is so much more enjoyable when you can smile through it. Play your favourite music. Take yourself to the movies. Book that holiday. Buy yourself flowers. Dance in the rain. Bask in the sunshine. It’s all there for you.

#9 – Perfection doesn’t exist
I only wrote 9 tips because it’s not a perfect list, and being a mama is NOT about being perfect or having a perfect life. Perfection is impossible and unattainable. I encourage  you to take the word perfection completely out of your vocabulary. Stop apologising for your seeming ‘imperfections’ – actually stop saying “I’m so sorry the house isn’t perfectly clean!” or “I’m sorry I’m not the perfect mother.” – because you are not perfect. And neither am I. Or any other human on earth! We’re all just that… human. You are divinely human. And you are uniquely, womanly human, nurturing, valuing, supporting, comforting, inspiring, loving, kind and joyful. A mama – born from woman and as perfectly imperfect as every other mama on this planet.

Fall in love with yourself again. Try to see yourself as a child, the way that your mama looked at you when she was holding you as a newborn in her arms. Or the way that you stared at your new baby endlessly when you knew you should be sleeping instead. Find that love and peace inside yourself and feel that about yourself. I promise. You’re worth it.

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Dearest Home,

It’s a new moon today. Do you know what that means? New beginnings.

It’s time for us to part ways, to say our goodbyes and move on to new adventures.

It’s sad. And I’m trying not to cry writing this to you. At the same time though, I am, and forever will be, grateful to you and everything that living inside your walls has meant to our family. It’s completely bittersweet.

I remember when we first met, do you?

It was 1995 and my parents were looking for a new house – they were ready to buy their first home in Australia. You were just a shell of a home, your carpets weren’t laid and your potential was untapped. My parents chose the house across the road instead. I visited you a few times over the coming years, playing with the children who eventually moved in.

Then one day, the most amazing thing happened. I watched from my house as a new family arrived with their trailer full of boxes and carried them through your door and I knew intuitively something special was about to begin. We watched each other for weeks, and finally, Brian and I spoke to each other for the first time in the middle of this street that was at once not his, nor mine, but ours.

Our first trembling kiss occurred in your doorway, not knowing what the future and that doorway had in store. Time marched on and eventually Brian and I decided to marry at the same time as his parents decided to sell you and move closer to Brian’s aging grandparents.  We took the opportunity and grabbed you with both hands.

That was 2007. Since then we’ve stripped you bare, removed your carpet and painted your walls, we’ve reassembled your kitchen and bathroom and landscaped your gardens. It has been a labour of love. There is not one part of you – inside our outside – that we didn’t touch and re-invent. We’ve rented you out in order to move closer to work and the city and we’ve moved back in, over and again, many times. You were ours, and owning you gave us the freedom to enjoy you however we chose.

You’ve seen us at our happiest – enjoying endless birthday celebrations, days of laughter in the pool, and the smallest moments of simple household delight. You’ve reveled in the Friday night pizza and movie nights, and entertaining friends and family for dinner. You’ve delighted in the pitter-patter of little feet on your floors and photos of smiling faces have graced your walls.

But you’ve also seen us at our most raw, most vulnerable and most hurt. You’ve listened to our cries of despair as we lost our first pregnancy and later the months of difficulty as we adjusted to having two small children under one roof. You’ve witnessed our most passionate arguments and our most passionate love. Moments that became memories all because you were here to hold the space for us, and our evolution.

In the time that we lived away from you, we decided on new dreams for our family and you gave us your final gift… in letting you go, we are able to grab hold of our new journey of adventure. And that’s where we are today, dear home. Your new owners will move in, in a few days and you will be ours no longer. The physical presence that has held us on this street for over 20 years will officially be over, but the memories will always remain.

I couldn’t stop the tears dear home, you’ve been so good to us. We are so grateful for the opportunity to grow within your walls and you have embraced us with an acceptance I know will be hard to replace.

I hope your new beginning is wonderful. I hope you are looked after the way you deserve to be. I hope your new family enjoys long lunches on the patio watching the children splashing in the pool like we did on so many occasions. I hope your floors once again know the pitter-patter of little feet and that you witness great love and great moments. We wish you only the best.

Thank you.

Good bye.

Here’s to NEW adventures.

xx

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This is the second post in a series, detailing our preparations for travelling to Europe with our three kids.

As I mentioned in my last post, Hannah and Blake have been very interested in learning about the world they live in for over 18 months now. Having this trip to look forward to has served to increase their knowledge and fascination through real-life practical explorations. Today, I thought I would share some of the resources we use in our unschooling journey that have really helped extend this interest and generate lots of fun learning about all things geography related.

A map of the world is a necessity in any home and so is a globe. Seeing how far Australia is to Croatia on the world map really solidified for Hannah and Blake why we would need to use an airplane to get there. However, maps are one-dimensional and looking at a globe allowed the children to understand how the Earth is shaped. They were fascinated by the realisation that the masses of land on the top and bottom of the Earth had freezing temperatures while the middle, along the Equator, was incredibly hot. Antarctica for some reason also became the second continent – after Australia – that both of them committed to memory.

Flags have been captivating for over a year now and this flag activity has been played with many, many times. It doesn’t include all the flags for all the countries of the world but it is enough to satisfy a child’s interest (ours has about 30 flags). As Hannah is a visual learner, she very quickly remembered quite a few of the flags and was able to relate them to real life experiences such as noticing the Swedish flag while on a shopping trip in IKEA and that our maple syrup must have been bottled in Canada as the Canadian flag contains a maple leaf. These sorts of connections never fail to surprise me and it’s also been a great divergent lesson in marketing and advertising!

And although she isn’t a proficient reader yet, Hannah is able to use this activity on her own by matching all the letters on the flag with a country. As she gets older she will be able to read the short facts about the country on the back of the flag which will lead into other interests I’m sure, so I love that this activity will evolve with the children as they grow. This is definitely one of my favourite resources and one I am asked about each time I post a photo with it in it on Instagram, so I am excited to be able to offer a link to all those who have asked me for one!

As a lead on from flags, I found an activity pack like this at our local op-shop/thrift store and it includes stickers of flags, a mini passport, information about different countries and even postcards to ‘send’, so this created lots of space for imaginary play. It was especially fun once we received our real passports and they were able to use the play one to stamp and pretend to fly to far of places with.

We have all enjoyed putting together the world map puzzle that we own several times over the last six months. Although it has 500 pieces I really love how much time it takes and that it requires us all to interact to complete a goal. Because there are a lot of tricky blue pieces, we were able to spend quite a bit of time discussing the different oceans and the smaller islands and countries that are often unheard of. Lots of patience is required with this puzzle of-course, but it is easy to find puzzles with far fewer pieces which are especially great for smaller children.

Of course books have featured prominently in our discovery of the world and this book in particular we have spent many hours poring over. I wish they would make more books like this, it is so fantastic for children to easily see how other children in the world live. Hannah was shocked that the girl from Brazil often wears no shoes or a shirt and occasionally eats  Alligator meat. I then reminded her that in Australia you can purchase Crocodile to eat in some areas and Kangaroo is sold in shops too! A movie I would recommend for highlighting more cultural differences is the documentary Babies.

When I noticed the children drawing maps constantly – initially sparked by a pirate movie – I asked my parents to buy a special book for the children for Christmas which is incidentally named Maps! I explained to Hannah and Blake how the maps they are drawing to get from one place to another can also be interpreted a different way as a map of a country. I particularly loved that the book includes Croatia since it’s such a small country it doesn’t always get mentioned. There is so much detail in this book and it is again another resource that will grow and evolve with the children as they do.

And this book is one we borrowed from the library recently and we were able to use  with our Around the World models to match some of the famous sights Isabella sees on her adventures. The book also includes detail about each sight, for example the Eiffel Tower and The Statue of Liberty, at the end of the book which was a pleasant extension.

As you can tell, we don’t shy away from technology and an app we have used to extend our geographical knowledge is called Map the World which Hannah and Blake both enjoy playing. It’s a simple puzzle app where the user has to put the countries in the correct places on the continent and a voice calls out the names of the countries. This is a really great way to get to know all those smaller countries in different regions and Hannah can now easily find many countries on a map or atlas.

At the end of my last post I received a question about languages and whether or not we were teaching the children Croatian (I am bi-lingual as I grew up in Croatia). As with all new things, we are guided by the children’s interest and motivation because coming from that perspective means we know the learning will be meaningful to the children. Hannah and Blake are aware that I know Croatian and we speak to my grandmother in Croatia at least monthly via Skype. We also often say Good Night in Croatian to my parents when we leave their house so they’ve picked up on a few phrases here and there just from those sorts of interactions.

After learning that we were going to visit my grandma for a couple of weeks on our holiday, Hannah asked me how she would speak with her since she doesn’t know much English. I explained to Hannah that she could learn some Croatian if she wanted and she then spent several weeks asking me all sorts of Croatian phrases. She then realised that the chef on a cooking show we often watch is French, and decided that she would like to know the words he is using so that she can know some French. In the last month she hasn’t been interested in learning any more of any language but I am not concerned. She will be immersed in other languages on our trip and it is up to her, and each of my other children, to decide for themselves which languages they naturally gravitate too.

So although that wasn’t an exhaustive list, it is a good overview of how preparing for this trip has helped accentuate and bring together the passions Hannah and Blake have already shown us. It shows how quality resources support unschooling, but it also doesn’t need to be complicated either. There are more things we have done in regards to learning about the world we live in and even more that we will do in the future as travel becomes a major focus of our lives.

This post contains affiliate links that I recommend and have used myself in most cases.

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This post aims to answer the questions we get asked most, “Can I home school my child? Is it legal? Do I need a degree?” by briefly explaining the registration details by state, and the different home education options each Australian family has.

Home education is legal in every state in Australia, although each state has their own variation of registration and reporting requirements. The parents do not need to have attained a certain level of education in order to home educate. We often get asked if it is free to homeschool and technically it is as parents do not pay to home educate (unless they choose Distance Education, then they do pay the provider) but there is also no current monetary supplementation or bonuses from the government paid to Australian parents in order to help them purchase resources or supplies. Electing to home educate is a valid legal alternative for every family in Australia and there are several different ways that this can happen.

Overall, there are three options to choose from when deciding to home educate and I will provide a brief outline of the choices here. If any of these alternatives interest you, there is so much information available via blogs, Facebook groups and websites from real families who have walked this road before you, to help you make a more considered decision.

The Home Education options available in Australia include –

1. Distance Education through an accredited Distance Ed provider.
2. Traditional Homeschooling whereby the parent either creates their own eclectic curriculum or purchases a curriculum to follow.
3. Unschooling/Natural Learning whereby the family follows no set curriculum and chooses to learn from every day life.

Distance/Online Education
In Australia, there are a number of Distance Education providers and this has traditionally been the main method of education for Australian children who lived too far from school or had no local school in the area. Now, anyone can choose to use this option and many families who are taking children out of school prefer it as it allows them to have their child at home while keeping the child learning at a similar pace as school.

There is a fee that is paid to the provider and they send the family the relevant books and resources. The child has access to a teacher online and there are assignments and often requisite activities such as physical education that needs to be outsourced for the child. This link lists the available distance education providers by state, although many of them are higher education/university providers so you will need to look through to find the ones who offer primary or secondary distance education options.

Traditional Homeschooling with a bought or self-created Curriculum
This option involves the family choosing to homeschool either working within the boundaries of a select method of home education eg Montessori, Steiner/Waldorf, Reggio Emilia, Charlotte Mason (there are many more) or the parent may choose to create their own curriculum with set times for formal study of subjects such as English, Maths, Science, and possibly outsourcing classes for Arts and Physical Education and other areas of interest. Workbooks are often involved depending on the style chosen, as this gives a more concrete understanding for the parent of how much information the child has absorbed.

The main component all of these varying choices have in common, is that they have a pre-determined view of how to educate a child and there is a system in how that looks day to day, and the parent takes on the role of teacher and the child the student. For some families choosing this option, homeschooling looks very flexible and eclectic as they pick and choose from the variety of methods on offer in order to indvidualise it to their child and family. And for other families homeschooling looks very structured with specific books, guides and resources used to convey the information deemed necessary for that age group or grade according to their chosen home education method.

Unschooling/Natural Learning
Unschooling/Natural Learning/Life Learning all basically come down to one thing – a child learning through everyday life with the enthusiastic support of their parents. Unschooled families choose not to use or create their own curriculum, so there are no set times for different subjects or areas of learning. Unschoolers believe children innately understand how to learn from the opportunities life naturally offers, and the parents choosing this lifestyle trust that process to occur. Parents have often gone through a period of Deschooling in order to see how learning continually happens without the structure of school, and children grow feeling confident in their individuality and challenge themselves in their own ways to constantly evolve and learn.

The Legalities – Home Education Requirements by State
I have compiled a list of links to each states Home Education Unit or Registration Board. When you click on the state you will be taken to a new window listing the information that each state offers parents wanting to home educate. Every state has different requirements and some states have very in-depth protocols while others only require a form to be signed. If you’re having difficulty understanding the requirements or how they will fit into your chosen homeschooling method/style, I would strongly recommend joining a support group on Facebook or in real life for your area, and getting to know the parents who have successfully navigated that process.

Queensland Home Education Unit
New South Wales Board of Studies
Victoria Registrations and Qualifications Authority
Australian Capital Territory Education and Training Directorate
Northern Territory Department of Education
South Australia Education, Skills and Learning
Western Australia Department of Education
Tasmania Home Education Advisory Council

Many parents choosing to home educate are surprised to know that anyone can easily access the Australian Curriculum online and view the different subject areas and projects that are undertaken in each year of traditional schooling. If you scroll to the bottom of the link you can choose to look at the Curriculum by either age level or subject area depending on your needs, and each area should have some real life examples for you to peruse as well.

I hope this overview has been helpful. I thought I would leave you with a list of homeschooling and unschooling blogs that I personally know and that you may find inspirational. Taking that first step towards home education can be difficult, so if you are wanting support please take a look at my Mentoring Sessions page and discover if I can be of assistance.

Racheous – Lovable Learning
Memoirs of a Childhood
Happiness is Here
An Everyday Story
Suzie’s Home Education Ideas
Happy Whimsical Hearts
Forever Finding Out
The Path Less Taken
And of course here is a link to How We Decided To Unschool and ALL our Unschooling posts so far.

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Dearest, darling Daisy,

We reached another milestone together recently. After 20 months of breastfeeding, you have had your final breastfeed. This time, it’s incredibly bittersweet because you will probably be my last baby and the last little love that I ever have the pleasure of breastfeeding.

As soon as you were born, you easily latched on and breastfed within your first hour. Unlike your brother, after those first few early weeks, you rarely fell asleep breastfeeding. I was really surprised about that and felt that made things harder as I then had to walk/rock you to sleep after a feed!

You continued to breastfeed on demand until after your first birthday. I wondered whether you would breastfeed longer than Blake had (he weaned at 26 months), but I could see you were already beginning to slow down the feeds, and you were not demanding them as often as he did.

We only hit one hiccup in our journey; when you were about 8 months old you had your first cold. Your nose was so blocked you couldn’t breastfeed. I tried everything I could think of to help you, but you went on a breastfeeding strike for almost 48 hours!

To make matters worse, we had my uncle and cousin visiting from Croatia and we had already planned to take them to the Gold Coast for the day. I spent that day so sore, engorged and uncomfortable, desperately trying to get you to feed, and eventually having to express milk in a public bathroom just to relieve some pressure! Oh that was an experience!

After growing, birthing and feeding 3 little ones in less than 5 years, my body was getting tired. I could feel that I really needed to begin to sleep better at night in order to get more energy back. So when you were around 15 months, I moved into the spare room so that you wouldn’t have access to milk overnight, and we could have a smoother transition to night-weaning. At this point you were waking every 2/3 hours overnight for a feed which was similar to your brothers pattern as a toddler.

Night-weaning in this way worked pretty well, and daddy offered you water and cuddles when you woke up in the night. Because I wasn’t there, you settled more easily and I felt it was a more gentle transition for you.

After a few months I decided I was ready to completely wean you. I really thought about this long and hard, and I was scared that I was making the wrong decision. But when I observed that you easily moved into having less and less milk during the day, I felt like you were on board too.

These photos are actually of our very last feed. You hadn’t had milk for a few days at that point but it had happened sooner than I expected, and I was disappointed we hadn’t taken any photos. So we quickly took these few and although you happily latched on and had some milk, you took off to play with your siblings after just a couple of minutes.

So we now say goodbye to our breastfeeding journey. My darling, thank you for making our breastfeeding relationship so wonderful. I love you.

Love Always,

Mama

P.S. I wrote this little poem for you, in late April, a couple of weeks after our last breastfeed.

An Ode to Breastfeeding

You are born and I lift you to my chest
You snuggle in and suckle from my breast
Your little face breathes in all of me
And I can’t help but feel deliriously happy

The months go on and you grow tall
But still your warm milk calls
You feed here and you feed there
You feed at home and everywhere

You breastfeed at nap-time and at night
You have your milk and you’re alright
You eat other food and drink of-course
But still you prefer your milk from the source

Then one day the milk is no more
Mama said it’s hard and she’s sore
Although breastfeeding is over, the memory is sweet
Cuddles and kisses are now our treat

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You will have nightmares about the flight, bring too many activities, and definitely forget something. But the children – or at least one child – will prove you wrong and be complete flight angels. You will be family travel superstars!
Note: Said ‘one child’ is unlikely to be the toddler.

You will deal with jet-lag like a boss by finding the coolest playground in Paris….

…and of-course you won’t let your kids have all the fun, and you’ll go down the dragon slide too.

You’ll enjoy world famous Paris landmarks from the bench at the playground,

and you’ll take what you can get when it comes to family photos in front of the Eiffel Tower.

You’ll take your children to the Jardin de Luxembourg with a local Parisian family, to wear them out, but you’ll end up having one of the best afternoons of your life. It turns out that watching your kids race around a pond and hit boats with a stick is more fun than you could have imagined!

You will laugh with the strangers laughing at your toddler running around and dancing. Because there’s nothing cuter than a happy toddler.

You’ll arrive in Amsterdam and immediately notice how perfectly toddler-sized the gaps in the bridges are and you will remind yourself to ‘trust, trust, trust’ while resisting the urge to put her back in the baby carrier.

You’ll spend more time than necessary in the Clog Museum choosing souvenirs.

And more time than you imagined watching the children run wild on the streets of Bacharach.

You’ll spontaneously take a detour off the highway in Austria and discover a place so magical you will want to cancel all your already booked travel plans and stay.right.here.

In Croatia, your children will melt your mama-heart as they offer to help Baka set the table for dinner.

And you’ll notice the glint of pride in your Baka’s eye as she watches her great-grandchildren fall in love with her cooking.

Your children will spend hours picking raspberries and strawberries in Baka’s garden.

And they will learn exactly when the chickens lay their eggs so they can run off and collect them at the right time.

You will observe love in action, as bonds develop and memories are made. And you will be thankful you have the technology to document it.

Village neighbours will offer your children bikes to ride…

…chocolate, lollies, and ice-creams to eat…

…and puppies to pat.

You will have no fear about letting a local 11 year old take your whole family on a tractor ride down the main road. Your son will remember this moment for a lifetime.

You will be invited to watch a pig give birth, although you won’t know that’s what you’re being invited to see, until you and your children witness the very last piglet actually be born.

You will warn your children to wear shoes as there are bees in the clover, but they will not listen.

You will walk 2.5km to the Drava river which separates Croatia and Hungary and you will dance excitedly with your son at the rivers edge. Until he tells you he is not dancing at all, but just trying to swat away the millions of mosquitoes.

You will walk 2.5km back to the village and carry your sleeping toddler, while you proudly watch your older two children walk the whole way on their own. You will all fall into an exhausted heap when you arrive at Baka’s house and declare that you will never do that again.

You will take your children to lovely cities, only to watch them spend an hour chasing pigeons and watching the fountain display. But you will love it all the same.

On touristy boat rides you will cover your sleeping children from the biting wind, and wonder how your eldest never seems to feel the cold.

You will be giddy with excitement to finally make your little Daisy a real-life daisy-chain. You will then watch Daisy pull it off in less than 20 seconds, and smash it into pieces in her chubby, toddler hands.

You will take your children to places that were important parts of your childhood, and you will marvel at the speed of time and the way in which nothing stays the same.

As you leave the little village in which your own great-grandma once lived, you will see this Stork nest with three little babies – they normally only have two – and take it as a sign from her, a hello.

 Later, you will find it hard to leave the town you were born in, but you will also find it painful to stay. You will talk of war and peace with a lump in your throat, as your children ask you questions you wish you didn’t have to answer. Sometimes childhood memories aren’t pleasant.

As you prepare to leave your Baka once again, you will spend one last day out at the local lake. You will watch her take her time with Daisy, letting her collect as many rocks as she wants, and you will remind yourself that choosing joy in the present moment is all we ever really have.

You will continue your journey and pay far too much money at the Zagreb markets for raspberries you were picking for free only the previous day.

You will giggle at the fact that your children, and husband, are more amused at teenagers skateboarding in the square, rather than the centuries old cathedral behind them.

You will receive blurry family photos taken by strangers that you only notice are blurry once you get back to your car.

You will delight in showing your children the aquamarine beauty that is Plitvice Lakes National Park, and together, you will excitedly wonder what fairy-tale creatures might live inside the magic blue cave and in the moss of the waterfalls.

You will all eat far.too.much ice-cream. Some will eat their ice-cream in a messier manner than others, but you won’t judge.

You will change your Croatian coast accommodation to be walking distance to the beach, and it will be one of the best decisions you make on this trip.

You will swim in the chilly Adriatic sea with your children, even though you yearn to just lay on the beach in the sun with your husband. And you will find yourself enjoying it far too much to get out.

You will make the most of the looong summer days and while your husband puts the toddler to sleep, you will bring your older children to the beach for some sunset rock-hopping followed by a calming meditation session together. It will become one of your favourite memories.

A wander through the lovely city of Pula will include meandering down cobble-stoned paths….

…some orientation and map-skills practice…

…and a pat for every friendly dog you see on the streets.

You will choose your restaurant locations based on how toddler-friendly the surrounding area is for Daisy to run around safely so you can scoff your meal.

After a ridiculously difficult, rocky and long hike through a national park along the ‘children’s trail’ you will realise you DID actually do it again (re: the Drava river walk above). Even this stunning view almost doesn’t make up for how hot and bothered you all are. You resolve to always double check whether ‘children’s trails’ are in fact able to be easily completed by children, and their  parents.

You will say goodbye to Croatia with one final sunset jaunt to a playground with a view.

You will notice that the ferry ride into Venice – while not a directly planned tourist activity – delights your kids beyond comprehension. You decide to pray they like the gondola ride just as much because it costs a heck of a lot more than the ferry.

Thankfully, your children will love the gondola ride. And the gondalier will let your kids onto his pride and joy even with their slushie drinks, won’t mind when they switch seats every 5 minutes, will happily take photos for you, give you a complete guided tour of the town, plus drop you off in St Marks square even thought it’s technically out of his zone! Truly a generous soul.

You will walk around reminiscing about when you and hubby came to Venice 10 years ago and fell in love with this watery town and you’ll see that even after all that time it hasn’t lost its charm. However, at this point, you will in fact be lost on the streets of Venice.

You will find your way out of Venice and head to Verona to place a nice, neat tick next to a very special bucket list item – Juliet’s Balcony. You won’t stay very long as the courtyard is crawling with tourists and your drive to Provence is long.

Your drive to Provence will prove to be more anxiety-provoking than the flights, overblown budget or toddler tantrums combined. Driving through the interconnecting tunnels and bridges along the Italian Autostrade A10 will make you so scared you actually cry. Eventually you’ll make it into Nice alive, and order MacDonald’s for dinner without shame.

You will choose your Provence accommodation based not only on it’s beautiful appearance, but for it’s very practical washing machine which is a necessity when travelling with kids.

Oh and the pool isn’t a bad feature too.

You will most certainly  be in holiday mode now, and as you relax on the poolside hammocks, you allow your toddler to eat as much pain au chocolat as she desires.

Who wouldn’t find French pastries irresistible?!

When you visit the local trash and treasure market in a little provincial village, you will fall even more in love with your husband as he takes the children to the playground while you browse the stalls.

And also, when he suggests you quickly hop out of the car, while he stops at a road-works sign, to take a photo of the view from the winding village road.

You will take amazing photos of your children in the beautiful Lavender fields of Provence.

And you will take photos that far too accurately reflect the children’s mood of the day.

You will be led down the streets of the town of Roussillion by your toddler….

…toward a painting she has apparently fallen in love with and won’t walk away from. Ever.

And after distracting her from the painting by inducing a game of chase, your children will rest on the sidewalk sheltering from the heat while you ponder if it would be appropriate to join them.

Walking back to the car you will talk of Ochre and your children will talk of Mars.

You will think yourself a genius for creating a budget meal in one of the most expensive places in Europe – after your husband accidentally loses his wallet – by buying three french bread sticks and two punnets of raspberries for lunch. You will eat it on the pavement together, as the children are now getting quite used to sitting there to eat and rest and play…

And you will think nothing of using the water from one of the seemingly hundred fountains dotting the town of Aux-en-Provence to wash your childrens hands and faces.

You will spend an unplanned night in the city of Auxerre on your way back to Paris, and fall in love with it’s charm. You will also spot some mamas who seem to be the kind of people you would definitely get along with, as they watch their children play in the public fountain while they eat cake and sip wine.

Your toddler will continue using you as her personal sherpa and refuse to acknowledge how utterly adorable she looks in that red jacket.

She will then squeal with all her might at the sight on a cat on a windowsill. The cat won’t even stir.

Your last bucket list item – to go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower – will remain unticked even though your eldest is desperate to do it. It was her idea to put it on the list. However, the lost wallet is still creating problems and that combined with the line-up for tickets, means this is one thing you’ll need to try and do again one day in the future. Instead, the children will go for a ride on the carousel in front of the tower, for the third time on this trip. You’re almost becoming regulars.

You will do it. You will survive 6 weeks in Europe with three little kids. You will survive and you will thrive. You will have adventures galore, meet amazing people and have experiences you will remember for the rest of your life. And even though it will be challenging, and there will be trying times, it will all very much be worth it.

So, what is my #1, top tip for travelling with kids? Just do it! Book that flight! You won’t be wasting money or time or missing out on anything back home. You will be making memories as a family that will bring you even more joy in the years to come.

This post was entered into a travel competition run by ProBlogger & Virgin Australia.

The post What Really Happens When You Travel Europe With Kids? + My #1 Top Family Travel Tip appeared first on HippyHappyMama.

When Brian was offered the opportunity to work in Mount Isa, neither of us were sure whether that was a town we wanted to spend even a short time living in. However, we had been asking the universe for a means to allow us the financial freedom to travel around Australia and this seemed like a possibility.

Plus, after coming back from overseas with a new zest for adventure and Brian losing his job almost immediately, we tried to see the positives. We had also often talked about working and travelling around Australia – the idea being that Brian would work in a place for a month or two and then we would keep travelling until we needed more money – instead of trying to fund it all beforehand. Mount Isa felt like a test of that lifestyle option.

But it also felt like something else – an opportunity to expand. An opportunity to face my fears and anxiety. An opportunity to jump and allow the proverbial net to appear. I had to trust that taking this big step was the gateway to something more, something that met our needs of adventure and quality family time.

The road-trip towards Mount Isa included a stop over at the Gemfields to enjoy some fossicking and there was lots of animal spotting along the way. We seemed to be one of hundreds of caravans making their way north towards the warmer weather and our stops were really fun and full of adventure. We were glad to be on the road again together.

As soon as we moved to Mount Isa, Brian began receiving more and more job offers – new ones almost every day. We started to see that going to Mount Isa was just part of our journey and not a destination. A stepping stone if you will. We’re not even really sure we’re ready for a destination right now – our travelling journey feels like it’s only in it’s formative stages.

Going overseas lit that spark inside of us as a family. Our amazing camping trips did too, but this was on such a bigger scale. We were really on our own out there in the big, wide world and we had only each other to rely on. That trip was something we had talked about for so long, and making it into our reality was so fulfilling. And our instincts about travelling as a family were right, we enJOYed it so much! We were better for it. And the fact that our children asked to come back and spend time in Joy, our camper, reassured us that travel in all its forms, was right for us right now.

We’ve always been about making choices that feel good for us – that bring us JOY as a family – every single choice is made in that way. So even though the move to Mount Isa initially seemed to be an answer to our desires, before we left Brian and I resolved to reassess constantly whether this was a good choice for our whole family and to stay open to new situations or offers. We decided to live in Joy to begin with to allow us the freedom to move on if needed. And as it turns out, this was a good decision because once we arrived in town, we realised the job had not been what it seemed.

For a time we felt upset and frustrated, wondering if we’d made a mistake coming to this isolated outback city. We started losing sight of what really mattered. Eventually, we stopped ourselves, and found time to sit down and re-evaluate our priorities. What did we REALLY want? What felt like JOY right now? What were we willing to do and not do, to achieve our JOY-filled lifestyle?

With these questions answered and our focus solidified, we began actively calling in an opportunity for our travel to be easily financed, and where we could also have money to access our other goal which has recently been starting to surface in our hearts (more on that another time). The location wasn’t too much of an issue, but I did want to be closer to Brisbane if possible (though I doubted that could be a possibility) and in a town that was bigger with more services and more learning opportunities and connections for our children.

I was also aching for a home base. We hadn’t lived in our own home since we sold our house back in March. And 6 months of basically living out of suitcases was beginning to take its toll. We had downsized many of our possessions when we sold – we now literally only have enough ‘things’ to fill a regular trailer! But I wasn’t aching for more stuff. I was seeking a place where I could put the things that were important to me and to see them on display every day and not in a box. I wanted to put the kids art on the walls and for them to have an art and craft space readily accessible again. I wanted shelves for them to put their books and projects and store their collections of crystals and nature finds and photos and vases of flowers.

The universe listened and worked faster than we could have imagined. We received a job offer last Wednesday (13/08) and moved out of Mount Isa that afternoon. We drove back for two days to our initial starting point – Rockhampton. The drive once again proved both exciting as we spotted wild camels and saw hundreds of kangaroos; and exhausting. We were just glad to arrive safely.

Although, as is always the case, there are some lessons in store for us even here. And here is a new town, a city in fact, where we have Brian’s family to call on, where the children can make stronger connections with them and spend time with Brian’s [almost] 95 year old Nanna which always makes my heart swell.

Brian now has a roster that gives us flexibility with him working 7 days on and having 7 days off. We’ve found a lovely little Queenslander house to rent, and have started making it home. We’ll base ourselves here for the months to come, while taking time during Brian’s off week to see more of our big, beautiful and always interesting home state. There may even be another trip overseas in the works before the year is out!

 
Of-course it will be difficult having Brian away for a week at a time. Being apart is never easy. The benefits though, outweigh that sacrifice and sometimes, you have to do that thing that feels scary in order to grow. I had always been adamant I wouldn’t agree to a roster like that. I had always said No to Brian when he suggested moving to Rocky. But somehow, when the opportunity actually appears in front of you, sometimes the things you didn’t think you wanted to do because fear clouded your vision, don’t seem so scary anymore. Sometimes, you can see the bigger picture, and that makes all the difference.

P.S. We didn’t leave Mount Isa empty-handed. I’d like to introduce you to our new family member – Echo. He is a 3 month old Border Collie cross Ridgeback puppy that we adopted from a rescue organisation. I know… as if our lives aren’t busy enough! But he is definitely adding JOY to our family and that’s all that matters.

The post Life Lately… appeared first on HippyHappyMama.

 Other families always want to know – what does unschooling look like? What is our every day?

 Let me show you!

Unschooling looks like hanging out at the beach on Tuesdays and having it all to ourselves.

Unschooling looks like our children being able to learn skills at their own pace in the way that makes the most sense for them as individuals.

Unschooling looks like us parents gaining knowledge alongside our children, wondering and questioning together.

Unschooling looks like spending as much time as we like being with our friends, without time limits or other constraints.

Unschooling looks like our family exploring the natural world together, and taking time to marvel at nature’s miracles.

Unschooling focuses on connection and relationship and knowing this is an integral part of life and therefore learning.

Unschooling looks like respectful conversations, compromises and solutions.

Unschooling looks like travelling and truly experiencing the beauty we read about in books.

Unschooling looks like knowing that everyday life is full of interest and possibility and that nothing escapes our children’s curious minds.

Unschooling looks like making time for conversations no matter what time of day it is.

Unschooling looks like knowing that being an active and appreciated part of a household is ensuring life skills for adulthood.

 Unschooling looks like learning from others in our circle of family, friends and community.

Unschooling looks like sharing our passions with our children and acknowledging the importance of self-care.

Unschooling means trusting that our children will learn from their natural environment instead of classes or lessons.

Unschooling looks like respecting our childrens freedom to engage in social situations however they prefer as individuals, sometimes being more involved and sometimes taking a break.

Unschoolng looks like valuing our childrens interests no matter what they are.

Unschooling looks like spontaneous discoveries where their importance is known only to the individual.

 Our unschooling days look like this and this is our life.

Unschooling is one of the major supports for us to live a life of freedom and satisfying family experiences. We’re proud unschoolers. We love unschooling. This lifestyle has given us so much more than we could have imagined when we made that decision to walk into a world of unknown years ago.

The post What does Unschooling look like? appeared first on HippyHappyMama.

I  recently asked my Facebook and Instagram community what burning questions they had about our experiences travelling around Europe with our three kids,  and what follows are the answers to those questions!

How did the kids do with traveling?

Overall, they were fabulous. We were really proud of them. We didn’t have a relaxed resort-style 5 star holiday. This was a trip – an undertaking and an adventure – so we each definitely pushed ourselves out of our comfort zones sometimes. We know our children pretty well, however they even surprised us with how adaptable and excited they were. They took it all in their stride and found the whole experience a wonderful adventure. There were some really challenging moments of-course, but that is to be expected.

How did you prepare for travel days?

I’m assuming this means the driving/flying days? Lots of discussion beforehand helps but honestly, sitting down in transportation for long periods of time isn’t ever going to be easy or stress-free, especially with a toddler in tow. It’s just a necessity to us. The other parts – the sight-seeing, the exploring, the memories made – they make the long hours of travelling worth it and that’s what we focus on. We did watch quite a few YouTube videos to prepare for the flights and role-played what would be expected of them in airports to make the experience easier to manage.

What did you take on the plane and on long car journeys for your littlies?

I have a post about what we took on the plane here. That’s all the toys and activities we had so that’s what came in the car as well. We do lots of driving in our everyday life, and personally we don’t use any technological devices in the car such as Ipad or DVD players. We just never have, and didn’t want to start something new for this trip, when the kids are quite capable of entertaining themselves. Hannah and Blake coloured-in, read books, used their activity books, made up imaginary games, played with their plastic animal toys, slept, listened to music and just watched the moving images right outside our window.

Daisy was a little bit trickier, as she isn’t really able to play the way Hannah and Blake are, so she was more restless. We normally try to drive at night when we do big road trips here at home, but that wasn’t really possible overseas as we had booked accommodation for the nights so we just had to roll with it. She had all the same toys and games and her doll to play with but it mostly ended up on the floor! She really just snacked or slept or whinged so we tried to make sure we found great rest stops with a playground so the kids could get some energy out every few hours. We ended up driving over 17 thousand kilometers over 6 weeks so there was definitely a lot of driving to deal with.

Actually I would love to know how you survived jetlag?

I know all the tips say to book flights in accordance to what time you’ll arrive at your destination but for us, we booked 1st based on price and 2nd based on total flight hours. Flying from Brisbane to Europe means you could easily travel for 40-50 hours in transit if you’re not careful about which flights you book. So arrival time at our destination was really pot-luck and I wasn’t sure how we would go with jetlag.

Once we booked our flights and I knew we would land in Paris at 9:30am local time, I realised that the best plan would be to keep all of us awake until at least early evening to give ourselves the best shot of beating jet-lag. And luckily for us it worked! Our longest – 12 hour – flight happened to be at the time we would normally be asleep so I think we all got at least 6 hours of sleep on that flight, and the excitement of arriving at our destination – plus a great playground to keep the kids amused – kept us awake until about 6pm Paris time when we crashed for the night. That jogged our bodies into the new timezone pretty easily.

However, when we returned home, jet-lag kicked our butts! It was awful! We landed early in the morning around 8am and we should have just done the same as we did in Paris – stayed awake until early evening at least – but we all had a late nap instead and this stuffed us up for days. We were still pretty much on Europe time, feeling very tired and distracted, for almost a week!! Hannah and Blake seemed to move into our normal time zone the fastest, but Daisy, Brian and I really stuggled. So based on our experience I would really try to just suck it up and stick with the time zone you’re in as much as possible.

Your reflections on what luggage you took and how much you packed – too much/not enough/just right?

Hmmm, you know, Europe is tricky. Paris, Amsterdam and parts of Germany are cooler, even in Summer, so we needed jackets and warmer clothes and then for a large portion of the trip we lived in summer clothes. If we had only been going to Croatia I would have packed slightly differently as I know what to expect there, but because of the variety of climates I really had to pack for almost all weather situations.

In the end, I feel we got it right with the packing for the temperatures of our cities and for the fact that Daisy needs a change of clothes at least once a day. Plus we could only do washing at certain points of the trip so I had to account for that. The only thing I would change is bring a smaller carry-on bag for myself with slightly less stuff for the kids. The toys and activities we packed in their backpacks ended up being just right, and the stuff I had in my bag was excess.

In total our check-in luggage consisted of 3 regular suitcases and 2 smaller rolling carry/on type suitcases. On board we brought on 2 kids backpacks, Brian’s backpack with all the laptop/camera gear, and I had a carry on bag with extra clothes, nappies and activities. So for 6 weeks it wasn’t a huge amount and it all easily fit on two luggage trolleys at the airport.

What kind of lodging did you stay in?

We had a an eclectic mix of accommodation. We’re not a huge fan of hotels so that was minimal with only 3 nights in hotels over our entire 6 week trip. The longest accommodation was with my grandma and then my Uncle in Croatia for just under 3 weeks altogether. We organised 2 nights in Paris and 1 night in Rotterdam with other unschooling families who we connected with through Facebook. The rest of our accommodation on the Croatian coast, in Venice, and Provence I booked through airbnb.

I’d also like to know more about where you stayed and how you arranged it all?

Brian and I booked and arranged the entire trip ourselves. Our main aim was to spend time with my family in Croatia and then seeing the other cities was secondary as part of our personal holiday. Brian and I spent weeks every night for months researching the best flights which we booked 9 months in advance. Brian looked for the best deal and booked our car through a Leasing company in Paris which meant we received a brand new car to drive for the duration of our trip. I then booked and arranged all of our accommodation (see question above) and then I planned our itinerary.

I googled to find family friendly and popular things to do in all the cities we were going to, then chose what suited us and added details to a word document which we printed out and took with us. We used google maps and the ViaMichelin websites to work out the best/fastest ways to drive and our car had an up-to-date GPS which I recommend. It took months and months of me staying up late at night to plan it all, but it was worth it. In the planning stages, we all sat down – Brian, Hannah, Blake and I –  and wrote down a little bucket-list of things we wanted to see and experience in each area/city so I added those to the itinerary too with prices and locations. We also checked out the airports we were going to be in transit in, to see what was available there to do so we were prepared.

Are you working as you travel and how does that fit in?

This Europe trip was purely just a holiday. Brian took leave from work. When we do our trip around Australia that will be a different scenario.

How does a day with kids play out eg do you only have a set window of when you know the kids will be ok being out and about?

 We knew Daisy would need a sleep and we have the Ergo for that, so we tried to leave after breakfast which ended up being around 9/9:30am usually (we’re not early risers!) and then we’d explore into the early afternoon. In Europe the sun wasn’t setting until 9pm so the kids had plenty of daylight hours in the afternoon to chill out and play.

Sometimes we would go out in the morning, come back to our accommodation for Daisy to have her nap and head out again around 4pm. This worked really well in Provence which sort of shuts down in the middle of the day. In terms of the kids being ok… we try to have 2 water bottles full of water all the time and a snack or two. We did spend a fair bit of money on fruit and snacks, to keep them going, and we usually ate lunch out at a cafe or restaurant and then dinner at our accommodation.

We eat out regularly at home and often go on long day trips so this isn’t an unusual event for our family. Doing it so many days in a row is probably the only slightly different part, but we were all excited about it and going out sightseeing never felt like a bore. There were a few things we had on our list that didn’t get done because we knew we all needed more rest, but for the most part the kids were really great about getting out and doing new things.

We had 9 months to prepare for this trip, so we spent many, many days discussing what it would be like and where we would go, what we would see etc, so this was always something Hannah and Blake in particular felt very much a part of and had ownership of. For the couple of weeks we stayed with my Baka, we only went out sightseeing about 2 or 3 times a week, so we had a lot of downtime there in the middle of our trip.

Also, have you encountered language barriers?

Not really. Apart from Croatia, we spent most of our time in quite touristy areas so we found that most people know at least a little bit of English. Pointing and smiling and trying our best to communicate works just fine. Especially if you want to buy something – at a cafe or shop – people are more than happy to help you part with your money! We learned at least a few words – hello, goodbye and thank you –  in the local language and if we were staying for more than a few days we would definitely try to learn more. I think that is only respectful.

I was born in Croatia but left when I was 8 so I have an average grasp of the language and was able to communicate with the people in the smaller villages we visited without too much trouble. Actually, I did a lot better than I thought I would and it came back quite easily the more I engaged in conversation. The children really picked up a lot of Croatian in just a couple of weeks too and were not fussed at all that most of the people we met – especially the children – couldn’t speak English, they played just fine.

I would LOVE to know how Daisy is doing with daytime sleeps?

We’re not particularly routine type people although Daisy usually has a nap at around 1pm at home. When travelling, she generally let us know she was tired during our day, and we would put her in our Ergo baby carrier to have a sleep, or we tried to head to another destination at that time so she would sleep in the car. While we stayed at my Grandma’s house in Croatia it was obviously easier for her to have naps in the bed like usual.

How child friendly were the cities?

I guess that can be a subjective question because it all really depends on how and what your family is used to doing. We do a lot of bush-walking (hiking), exploring natural parks, eating out and road trips to new places, so our days on this trip were not too far from the norm. We found playgrounds in almost every town we went to – and that’s without looking very hard – or at least some sort of green space or area where children could play.

Most of the cities that are incredibly old and full of interesting places to see are cobble-stoned or without footpaths, so I would definitely recommend a carrier for toddlers and babies instead of a stroller. In Europe we found there are very rarely adequate railings on bridges – unless they’re quite large bridges over large rivers – and near rivers so that’s one thing to keep in mind. The other is the traffic. Cars often don’t stop at pedestrian crossings so just watch what other people are doing first to get your bearings, or try to find crossings with pedestrian lights.

Venice is one we get asked about the most, but the bridges there are often well constructed and although you do have to keep your kids supervised we personally didn’t find it stressful. There are also big squares all over the internal part of the city which are very child safe. So if you’re good with just a playground to amuse your kids, plus the natural wonders of the history of the city you’re in, then you’ll be fine. The least child/family-friendly place we personally encountered was St Remy De Provence in the south of France. We couldn’t seem to see any signs for parks and there were limited eating opportunities in the main area that weren’t ridiculously expensive – we actually had a cheaper dinner in Venice! But that was just our experience.

How do you juggle travel with three kids? (We have two kids, one per adult, one carrier each)?

We did bring along our Ergo baby carrier. We don’t use a pram or stroller at home, and although we did consider bringing a cheap one with us, I just knew it would be a pain to take on public transport and in cities where they are more impractical. So if Daisy was tired or we felt it was more safe for her to be contained she went in the carrier, but often we just all walked, especially towards the end of the trip when she began refusing the carrier more.

Hannah is 6.5 and Blake is nearly 4.5 and they were fine with walking so no need to juggle. We don’t have many rules but Safety is probably our biggest. We’ve always been pretty stringent with the kids understanding that it’s important to be listening to our instructions in busy places, holding hands across the road and being close to us in public, so that wasn’t a problem. We also had a big chat with Hannah and Blake before the trip  and during, about what to do if they accidentally got lost and we pointed out a safe place and meeting area ( the nearest information booth) when we were in transit at the airports.

How you develop routine, but a go with the flow travelling kind of routine to keep children feeling secure and happy?

The answer to this question probably lies more in our lifestyle rather than in our preparation for this 6 week trip. When Hannah was a baby, Brian and I had a big discussion about what we wanted to do with our family, and what our priorities were. His family lives 8 hours drive away and road trips are something Brian and I personally really like, so we knew lots of time in the car was going to be a big part of our future.

Also, having family in Europe means that we knew we wanted the children to travel, not just overseas but in Australia as well. And we love eating out. So the kids have been going to meals in restaurants and cafes since they were all babies. This – plus some other factors of-course – influenced the way we raised our children. We also unschool so there was no school aspect to effect us for this trip.

Essentially, the only thing that was really different about this trip compared to our daily lives, was that we were in Europe, and Brian was with us every day and didn’t have to go to work. We explored, we drove a lot, we ate out, we slept in unfamiliar beds, we spent a heap of time together, we talked a lot – all stuff we normally do with the kids, regularly. So we don’t really have a routine. We don’t have set bedtimes. We co-sleep. We love adventures and exploring new places.

We’re very aware of each of our children’s personal limits and challenges – for example Blake really dislikes being in small public places full of lots of people so we made sure to manage that – and our children are very aware of being respectful in others homes and in public. Our childrens security and comfort is in us. As long as we’re there, they know they have everything they need. We felt very comfortable doing this trip – and although there were some difficult times – we truly found it to be a pretty wonderful experience.

Sleeping Arrangements for/with the kids. What is best? Also thoughts and choices on prices of accommodation?

What is best is really what suits each family  best! We personally choose to co-sleep with our children and have a family bed arrangement at home. This was a choice we made when our eldest was a baby based on two reasons. Firstly we felt it was the safest and most natural way for us all to get quality sleep together, and secondly we knew we would be sleeping in a lot of beds that weren’t our own as the kids grew, so we didn’t want them to get used to just one bed or cot.

So, this makes travelling so much easier for us, as we don’t need to have 4 individual beds eg, one for Hannah, one for Blake, one for Daisy, and one for Brian and I. For example, for our hotel in Paris we booked a quadruple room and this included 2 double beds in one room which suited us fine, and it was also cheaper than booking several rooms. Also when staying with other’s we only need one room. The other unschooling families we stayed with both provided us with 2 double mattresses on the floor and this was perfect and much easier for them to organise  too. We were really grateful to be invited into their homes and I feel that being able to minimise how much space we took up made that easier for them also.

In terms of cost, it’s different in every city and region. France is generally expensive, even for basic 2 or 3 star accommodation. Croatia on the other hand has not converted over to the Euro yet so our beach accommodation through airbnb was quite cheap for the location and service comparatively. Our accommodation on the Croatian coast cost less than half of what we paid in Provence for the same amount of time.

So we just tried to find the most cost effective accommodation for us, while also making sure it had things we needed like parking on site, washing machines, good location etc.  We knew Provence would be expensive so we were happy to splurge a little and that accommodation became our favourite. The thing with booking accommodation online means you don’t know how it really is until you get there, and apart from one choice, we had really good experiences and our booked accommodation met our needs.

How did you find bathrooms in a hurry?

In large cities like Paris and Amsterdam this was tricky! We are so used to public toilets being easy to find in Brisbane, and last time we went to Europe Hannah was a toddler in nappies so finding public bathrooms wasn’t as big a deal. We usually just made sure to use the toilet when we at out at a cafe. This time had a really hard time finding toilets in suburban Paris on our way to the unschooling family we were staying with. We tried to find a playground and were surprised to see that there weren’t toilets nearby (in Brisbane there are almost always toilets near a children’s playground for convenience). Hannah and I were busting and I was imagining the worst and hoping desperately that I wouldn’t need to sneeze, when we finally saw a carpark with a toilet.

However no matter what we tried we couldn’t go in. There was a bakery and a few other small shops across the street and we flagged down a man with his two sons asking him if he spoke English. Thankfully he said he did, a little bit, but even he couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the toilet. In the end he mentioned that we could go to the little florist down the road and that they had a little toilet we could use. I felt awful at the thought of asking some lovely shopkeepers to use their personal toilet but we were absolutely busting at this point and now even Blake had expressed his need to pee.

As we walked towards the florist, we noticed the mans son scootering towards us and in perfect English he let us know his dad had sent him to help us as the florist didn’t speak any English at all. We were so grateful that he came over because I am not sure how we would have communicated otherwise, it was already hilarious enough as it was. The florist was really kind and unlocked their personal toilet for us to use and we bought a bouquet for the family we were going to stay with to say thanks! We had some other close calls, but that one was the worst!

Did you wash clothes along the way?

Yes. We arrived at Baka’s house about a week into our trip, and we had access to a washing machine there. Also I chose our airbnb accommodation based on them having a washing machine as well. So we arrived home with just a small canvas bag of washing which was great!

Is Daisy out of diapers?

No, she is still in nappies/diapers full time. We normally buy our nappies from Aldi (a supermarket here in Australia) and we brought a packet of nappies along with us. Once that was due to run out we bought a packet of Pampers nappies in Croatia in a local grocery store, and they were really low quality. We remembered that Lidl was very similar to Aldi and tried their nappies, and they were the same quality that we use at home so we bought a few packs to last out the trip.

I would love to know how you made this trip work financially? What was your daily budget?

Ok, I know everyone would love to know a big, secret answer to this, but there really isn’t one. We’re just an average, one-income family. When we decided to make this trip happen, things started to fall into place. We gratefully secured accommodation with families in overseas countries. We discovered airbnb and knew we could find comfortable places to stay that suited our needs. We booked our flights at the time we did as Daisy would be under 2 years old and therefore cost 30% less.

We are not flashy spenders… BUT we did want to have a good time, and not be counting dollars on our trip. Our main reason for going was to see my grandma and for our kids to spend some quality time with her as she doesn’t plan on travelling to Australia again. We knew we had plans of more travel and we decided to spend the money on this overseas trip first, just in case our financial situation changed and we couldn’t afford it in the future. I didn’t want to regret not going.

The post Travelling to Europe With Kids // Q & A appeared first on HippyHappyMama.

As a parent, choosing to Unschool means choosing to be responsible for your child’s entire education right?

I don’t believe so. A child is an individual and therefore their education will be unique to them. Children are not a vessel to be filled with information and facts, rather they have their own ideas and thoughts that ideally need to be respected, trusted and encouraged and essentially this is the parents role in facilitating unschooling.

So what does that look like? Within an unschooling paradigm a parents role looks like :-

Observation
A lot can be learned simply by observing a child. Watching the way they interact with their environment and the people in it. Do they like to touch? Do they like to stand back and take their time? Do they love to speak, and act and voice their thoughts? Take notes (mental or physical) and put together a picture of your child. You’re learning about them, just the way you would a friend. You’re learning what they like, and what really brings out their inner light.

Support
With your deeper understanding of your child, you can now really have some meaningful conversations about the things they’re learning. Be the voice that says, “I can see you’ve really been practicing this.” or even, “Some things take a lot of practice to learn how to do.” It’s not about praising them, but acknowledging their successes, their challenges and their efforts and making them feel that they are genuinely seen by the people who they love most. A child who feels they have the true support and encouragement of their parents feels secure enough to try new things and extend their comfort zones.

Connection
Within an unschooling family, connection is built upon principles of care and respect. Parents understand that a strong connection ensures that their children feel comfortable asking questions, being honest about their thoughts and ideas, and comfortable with making mistakes; seeing them not as failures but opportunities to grow. A secure connection between the parents and the child also means that an open dialogue can exist  where both parties can express their needs to each other and therefore there is little need for power struggles. If the connection begins to flounder it is often easily obvious to both parent and child. Making an effort to connect physically, emotionally and make time for each other, is vital to reinforce the strong connection.

Expansion
This is where you as a parent can positively add to your child’s interests or current project. A child only has access to the resources, people and experiences that they are offered, so as parents we can be the ones to provide those to our children when needed. However, this can often be overdone; we don’t need to give everything, all the time, eg, if your child is interested in China there is no need to go into debt to take a trip to China! Think outside the box and work with your child to make sure that although you can offer extension, that you are not completely taking over their personal learning journey. It’s a delicate balance but it’s worth taking the time to remember that when you are considering extending the child’s understanding or knowledge with extra resources or experiences, come from the child’s point of view and choose those things that will suit your child the best.

Trust
Trust is perhaps the most important – and for some, the most difficult – element of unschooling for parents. There has to be trust for unschooling children to thrive. As parents we need to see the value in everything our children do. We need to see value in play, daydreaming, resting, or incessant desire to do the thing that currently interests them the most. Essentially, what and how you learn and live as an adult is very similar to how your children will be living and learning in an unschooling environment. A child who has the freedom to control what and how he/she learns, is motivated intrinsically to achieve their goals which sets up a great foundation for adult life. A parents role here is to trust that given support and a variety or materials and experiences, a child will learn what they need to know to grow into the adult they want to be. That might not be the same type of adult as the neighbours child, so it’s important not to compare and to truly trust that if learning and growing is always seen in a positive light, it will always be an overall positive experience for a child.

I’d love to know, how do you support your child in an unschooling environment?

The post Facilitating Unschooling // The Parents Role appeared first on HippyHappyMama.

The Birth Story of
Blake Matthew
Born Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Into water at 04:16am
Weighing 3.76kg and 50cm long
After a 5 hour labour
At the Birth Centre, RWBH

Dearest Baby,

Before you were conceived I knew I would have an October baby. It was such a strong feeling of intuition and my intuition continued to serve me well during my pregnancy, labour and birth. I dreamed about those two pink lines appearing on the test and I was ecstatic to show the positive pregnancy test to your daddy later that week. Your dad, big sister Hannah and I, were more than ready to welcome you into our family.

My pregnancy was perfect and you were growing beautifully inside my womb. You were an active baby in utero – almost as active as your sister – which was both comforting and annoying at times! Because I already had a toddler to look after, I often felt that I didn’t have enough time during your pregnancy to just reflect and appreciate your time inside me and how special it was. The constant Braxton Hicks (BH) contractions didn’t help me enjoy the experience either.

The BH started when I was only 14 weeks pregnant and then at 30 weeks I was diagnosed with an Irritable Uterus because they had become painful and like pre-labour. Unfortunately there was nothing my midwives could do for me except encourage me to rest as much as possible. Having semi-painful contractions all day long was tiring (I had at least 1 BH an hour). I was worried that I may go into early labour and risk my place in the Birth Centre. When 37 weeks of pregnancy finally rolled around I was thrilled because that meant that you wouldn’t be premature and I would be able to give birth to you at the Birth Centre as planned.

I began my natural induction assault at 38 weeks. Normally I am very against induction or intervention that is not necessary and looking back now, it was only a few weeks… but baby, a few weeks at the end of pregnancy seems like a lifetime. There is a sense of such anxiety and anticipation. Plus the BH were exhausting me to the point where I was worried I wouldn’t have enough energy to labour efficiently when the time came.

So the natural induction methods I tried during the next few weeks included; sex, walking, Evening Primrose Oil capsules inserted internally to aid effacement, magnesium supplements that would assist the efficiency of the contractions and using the electric breast pump for nipple stimulation which is said to increase the strength of contractions. I don’t eat spicy food and castor oil is a no-no in my books, so I did what felt comfortable for me.

The week leading up to your birth day, I had several bouts of proper pre-labour. Contractions would get into a regular pattern of 10 minutes apart but then fizzle out. This was incredibly frustrating. I was disappointed that I couldn’t enjoy the last weeks of pregnancy and that I just wanted you out, but all I could think about was meeting you baby, I just wanted to finally hold you in my arms. Throughout my pregnancy I had always thought that you would be born either on a Sunday like your sister or on a Tuesday. When the Sunday before your birth day came and went without your appearance, I lost it! I sobbed to your daddy that I couldn’t do it anymore, he held me and comforted me and told me the truth, which was that you would be here soon. And you were.

I could feel that labour was getting closer and I was so ready to meet you baby. The waiting was so hard for me. We had found out at the ultrasound that we were expecting another baby girl. In anticipation, I had splurged on some new pink outfits and had given away anything remotely gender neutral in my attempt at accepting this little girl who was coming into our lives. I was not disappointed that I was having a girl, but I was surprised, as both your daddy and I had had a strong initial feeling that you were a boy. I had always imagined having a son. Something inside me told me to pack one white wondersuit in amongst all the pink clothes in my birthing bag and I did – even though your daddy laughed at me when he saw it! I couldn’t imagine my labour beginning in earnest during the day, so every night when I went to bed I would wonder if that was the night that labour would start, but I was always disappointed in the morning.

Monday October 11th, was one of the wettest in recent Brisbane history. I noticed that as I pottered around the house with Hannah, the tightenings were obvious even when walking around. I did not have to sit to feel the full effect of them anymore and this made me feel hopeful, but I knew contractions needed to be closer than 10 minutes apart for you to be born! That night, while Brian put Hannah to bed, I timed the contractions on the computer. I was surprised to see they were coming closer together now, between 6-9min apart. Brian came out to tell me that he was going to let Hannah stay up for a while as she wasn’t falling asleep. This made me unexpectedly frustrated, and I actually became angry, telling him I needed to get these contractions closer together and that I couldn’t do it while H was awake. Brian just looked at me funny (as we had had a few false starts in the last week so he obviously thought it was going to happen again) but he did put her back and ended up falling asleep himself. I felt a bit foolish after he left, thinking that it was probably all going to fade again, but I was determined to at least try.

I read some more natural induction info online, and decided to try my electric pump and the acupressure points again. I was very ready for labour to begin, so around 8:30pm I sat down using the pump, massaging the acupressure points in my hand and I decided to try some visualisation as the website had suggested. I told myself that I would wake up to a painful contraction at 1am and that our baby would be born by 4:30am. I kept thinking about that while using the pump and then I went to bed. I could feel little butterflies dancing in my belly but I wanted to stay calm as I knew adrenalin would counteract all my good efforts.

I had a strong contraction whilst brushing my teeth and went to bed hopeful that something was starting, even though I didn’t really believe I would be holding you in my arms in just a few hours. I fell asleep at about 10pm, almost as soon as my head hit the pillow, which is unusual for me. At 11:30pm I woke with a contraction and I remember thinking “that hurt” but then I fell asleep again. Contractions at night were certainly nothing new! But I woke again at 11:40pm to another decent contraction, and after this one ended I lay there wondering what to do. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but I thought I would try kneeling into a beanbag in the hopes of moving you down a bit and to get the contractions closer together. This position had been very comfortable during my labour with Hannah and I was hoping it would have a good effect now.

The contractions certainly continued whilst I was on the beanbag, and I was surprised to find them to be quite intense in this position. I was watching the clock and they were coming closer together – 8min then 6min – and I started to get uncomfortable. Just after midnight I was walking around our bedroom and squatting during contractions when your Daddy came in. He had fallen asleep with Hannah so had missed to entire lead up and was shocked to see me really labouring. He began timing the contractions and they were now about 4 minutes apart.

I had told Brian early in my pregnancy that I wanted to aim for a 5-7 hour labour this time, start to finish. It had taken 16 hours to get into established labour with Hannah even though contractions had been 5 minutes apart that entire time, so I was hoping that early dilation would be quicker the second time around. I think that when your daddy came in, he could see I was in labour, but he was very much in the headspace that you were still hours away based on our first experience.

I, however, knew that things were moving along quickly. I had grabbed my fruit ice-block out of the freezer that I had saved for the labour, but I couldn’t finish it as the contractions became 3 min apart and more painful. I was coping by leaning over the bed and then squatting low during contractions to bring you down, deeper in my pelvis. After waiting and contracting and waiting and contracting for what felt like months, I was so excited to be in ‘real’ labour that I was actually smiling during contractions baby. I was so ready to do this, to give birth to you, to finally meet you.

The pain was becoming acute and I knew that soon I would need to go to the Birth Centre. At 1:30am I asked Brian to ring the Midwife (MW). He had the gall to tell me that the contractions “didn’t look painful enough’” (!) but after a few words from me, he called her. At this point, I started to feel clammy and shivery and slightly out of focus. The MW asked me a few questions and I had a couple of contractions while on the phone and she said the shivering was because I was probably in very active labour. We arranged to meet at the BC at 3am. Brian called my parents and told them we were coming to drop Hannah off with them. I was really worried during the pregnancy that Hannah would cry at being woken at 2am and that watching me make weird (quiet) noises into my pillow in the car would scare her, but amazingly she was totally fine! She didn’t even cry when we dropped her off which was such a relief to me.

The drive to the BC was horrendous with contractions really starting to intensify. During the drive I asked Brian to tell me to relax at the end of contractions when things really started to heat up, and also to tell me ‘the baby is coming’ or words to that effect, to remind me that it was all as it should be when I started losing focus during transition. I also messaged my birth photographer Lana then, to meet us at the BC.

We arrived at the BC at 3am and after watching me through a couple of contractions and feeling my belly, the MW said that I was having very strong and close contractions and was definitely in established labour. I was happy to hear her say that, but was still unsure what stage I was at, because waters were still intact and I hadn’t even had a show! As she was trying to do my blood pressure and check the baby’s heartbeat, the surges started coming every 2 minutes. I had such a strong desire to just close my eyes and go inward, but I needed to be fully present until she was finished. We discussed having an internal and although I had considered not having any during this labour, I decided I wanted one now so I could be sure of my progress.

My midwife tried to dissuade me from the internal as she said she knew I was in very active labour so she said she’d go get some paperwork and then come back and do it if I still wanted one. In the meantime my photographer arrived, and I went to the toilet to find I had finally had my show which was so exciting! I continued to deal with contractions by leaning over the bed and swinging my hips and squatting. I knew the movement of my hips would help you move down. The surges were becoming very strong and I know I started getting slightly panicky during some of them now. I tried to get my focus back by whispering “down, down” (to visualise you moving down my pelvis) as the pain increased, and breathing as if I was blowing a candle on the out breath to centre myself as the contraction tapered off.

When the MW checked me at around 3:40am, she found that I was 7-8cm dilated and extremely stretchy. Your daddy said ‘She’ll be happy to hear that!’ and I certainly was! Brian started to massage my back during contractions now and encourage me with the words I had told him earlier. During one particularly intense contraction I remember wanting my mum to walk through the door and comfort me! The end was getting closer, although no one knew just how close it was.

I started to feel more pressure during the surges after the internal, and at around 4am I felt a need to change what I was doing. The MW commented that the bath was waiting for me if I wanted it, but Brian suggested the shower, as I had found that great during Hannah’s labour. I could feel your daddy almost physically turning me towards the shower and he told me later that he really thought we still had hours to go at this stage. I had another contraction and decided that I needed to get into the bath NOW!

I sank into the big tub at 4:08am. It was so warm and comfortable and I kneeled into the side with my head on some towels. Straight away the water relaxed me and it took a couple of minutes for the next surge to hit. But when it did, the pressure was incredible and I could feel you moving down the birth canal. The realisation that my body was pushing you down with no effort from me was a shock! With the next surge I could feel my body pushing so hard and then I felt a huge POP and my waters broke. My mind was buzzing, I was stunned as to how fast everything was happening.

Another surge hit almost immediately, and what felt like a huge ball slid down the birth canal. That was obviously your head baby, but I was still in shock at the speed in which things were happening. I was trying to keep calm and was blowing out as much as I could to try to control the speed, but your head crowned completely in just one contraction! At that point, I was still so confused as it was only minutes since I had entered the tub, I wasn’t even sure that it was your head or the waters that was out, which sounds crazy in hindsight. Looking back, I wish I had put my hand down there to check, but that thought didn’t even enter my mind!

Everything had happened so quickly up to that point that my MW – who had been sitting at her desk in the corner doing paperwork letting me get on with the job of labour – rushed up just in time to get Brian to push the red button that is a signal for a second MW to enter the room. It took a minute or two for another contraction to come and the second MW came in just as another surge hit. With barely any pushing from me, you were born into water at 4:16am – only 8 minutes after I entered the birth tub. I immediately turned around and the MW handed you to me.  It was such a beautiful moment, I was ecstatic! I was overwhelmed with happiness at the realisation that I had truly achieved the birth of my dreams.

It took a few moments for you to take your first breath and the MW encouraged me to talk to you and to blow on your face so that you would take in your first gulp of air. I wasn’t worried at all though, I knew you were still recieving oxygen from your placenta and that you were going to be just fine. You soon began screaming and I was helped out of the tub to birth the placenta on the birth stool. There was a slight trickling and the MW decided I needed the syntocinon injection to avoid any further bleeding. I was disappointed, as I had really hoped for a physiological third stage this time, but I had prepared myself for this possibility and I was happy to have it if the cord had stopped pulsating, which it had. Meanwhile, I was holding you and staring at your precious face which was already searching for my nipple. I was on such an incredible high at that moment, on the video I am even saying, “That was so good!” in regards to the birth.

After I had had the injection, and as your daddy went to cut the cord, the MW exclaimed ‘This isn’t a girl!” and Brian and I just stared at her! I was in such a different state of mind at that point, that her words had little meaning and all I could hear was the shock and concern in her voice. To me, her words were registering as something was wrong with my baby which frightened me. The MW opened your legs properly then and said “You thought you were having a girl right? Well this is a boy!!!” and she was right, we had a SON!!! I was in absolute disbelief – for a moment! And then I realised that my intuition had been correct all along, and the next thing I said to Brian after exclaiming 20 times incredulously, “It’s a BOY!” was, “I told you so!” I accepted the news straight away. For me, it felt perfect that you were here, like it was always meant to be this way. Your daddy was thrilled to meet you and he too, was happy that our intial instincts about your gender were correct. We fell in love with you immediately.

You continued to suprise me by attaching to the breast with minimal help from the MW which was such a fantastic feeling after I had such a hard time with Hannah. The after birth time was blissful. I looked at the clock as we all hopped into bed just after 4:30am, and realised that my visualisation had come true! Everything felt absolutely perfect. The MW checked you over and even though you screamed the entire time, you were given a big tick of approval! I had a small graze but no tears, which I was thrilled about, as I was sure you had done some damage during crowning! You had a feed and then fell asleep with us in the bed and later that morning your grandparents brought Hannah over to meet you for the first time. She initally ignored you, but after about half-an-hour she gave you a big cuddle and she hasn’t stopped cuddling you since. We rested at the BC for a little while longer and then went home that same day at 1pm.

I still feel so absolutely blessed to have had such a blissful birth. It was hard work – as all labours are, –  but it came very, very close to my ideal, and to have had the unique aspect of your gender surprise included is so special to us. Hannah’s birth paved the way for a new path for me and I learned many lessons from it. Your birth Blake, was a realisation of all my learning since my journey into ‘Labour and Birth’ began, and I will always cherish the memories, emotions and of-course, the photographs! Thank you for the experience we had together, I will treasure it forever.

Love, Mama xx

Click on this link to see Blake’s Birth Photography Slideshow
All photography in the slideshow by Lana from Lana Bell Photography

The post Blake’s Birth Story – 12 October 2010 appeared first on HippyHappyMama.

 We’ve always used the label Unschooling for our choice of lifestyle and I wanted to clear some of the misconceptions surrounding the term. I’ve recently noticed many families shy away from using the term Unschooling to describe their home education choices because of the seemingly negative connotations attributed to it.

Firstly, what does Unschooling actually mean? The most commonly used understanding of where the term originated is by author John Holt who apparently saw a television add for a brand of soda which was pitching itself against Coca Cola (of course the market giant) and claiming to be ‘Un-Cola’. So this drink was Not Cola in the least and therefore different and original. I assume Holt really liked the simplicity of using just a prefix – the prefix ‘un’ means ‘not’ –  to differentiate its brand, and the point of the commercial as the obvious disparity between the two, one was Coca Cola and the other was most definitely NOT Cola. In any case, soon after, the label Unschooling was born and when broken down the term Unschool essentially means ‘NOT School’.

If we define school by what we experience in the western world it is easy to see why Holt liked this explanation of the learning lifestyle that he was championing – very little of the institution of school ever makes  it into the lives of Unschoolers. Holt obviously hoped that by clearly defining Unschooling as NOT School people would easily understand the meaning of this choice. However, the perplexity seems to reign in the definition of School. I’ve discovered that most people seem to believe that the term school is equal to the term Education and when you look up the meanings for each word, it’s easy to understand the confusion. However, if we look at the broader meaning of Education we find that in essence, the process of inquiry and gaining knowledge can be applied to many facets of every day life, so therefore Holt choosing Unschooling to mean NOT School makes absolute sense.

Some families – and even some of the bigger names in the alternative home education movement – dislike the term Unschooling because it seems to focus on the negative; on what it is NOT rather than what it IS. However, I disagree about it being negative. If school is such an integral part of our western society then it is easy to assume that most children would attend school at the appropriate age. When we say we are Unschooling, we are basically saying that we are Not inviting school into our lives and choosing to continue living our lives Without School. Our life looks nothing like school – we live and learn from daily life – so the term feels very fitting for our family.

I’ve observed that there seems to be a hesitation with using a specific term for the choice of home education a family has chosen, and that people are shying away from using labels altogether. While on one hand I understand the desire to rebel against societys need to categorise everything, on the other hand if we do not label what we do, then how do we find our tribe? How do we find the community of people who truly understand our ways of thinking and can best support us in this evolving journey? Especially when you are making decisions that are on the outer of mainstream understanding, it is wonderful to have people in your corner who really get you and where you feel you belong.

In this case, I feel labels are important and I honestly believe that once we get really comfortable with the choice we’ve made, we usually have no problems sharing it with the world. So is the term Unschooling the problem, or the making of the decision which is causing angst?  For us, we’re happy to stick with the term Unschooling because we see learning as a natural and every day process, not something that is manufactured and systematised.

Using the Unschooling label helps us identify with other families who are choosing a similar route, to gather support when we need it, and even to inspire others who feel this is a path they want to take. Labels don’t have to be about comparison or negativity, not if we choose not to engage in that way of thinking. It feels very positive to us to use the term Unschooling, and I encourage you to own the various decisions and ways of living you’re making with your family and use those labels far and wide. Build your village and community and revel in the fact that you’ve made choices that feel good for you!

The post Unschooling & Labels appeared first on HippyHappyMama.

1. I don’t have a middle name.
2. I believe in past lives.
3. I love to sleep. But I hate going to sleep.
4. My current favourite colour is yellow.
5. I never knew that I wanted to be a mother.
6. Until one day I looked at Brian while we washed the dishes in our little cottage and then I knew.
7. I dreamt about Hannah loooong before she was conceived. She looks exactly like she did in my dream. Exactly.
8. I knew Blake was a boy and I was buying clothes for him at 8 weeks pregnant because I was that convinced. When we were told at our ultrasound that he was a girl I was surprised. I wasn’t surprised however, when I gave birth to him and found out that he is in fact a boy.
9. Daisy called to me before we conceived her. Her name followed me around. When we saw that pregnancy test Brian said immediately, “Our little Daisy is on her way.”
10. I loved giving birth. Every time. *
11. I believe in numbers. 11 is a portal number. Google it.
12. I’ve been the same size since I was 15. Even after 3 pregnancies. It actually gets a bit depressing, I would love to have curves.
13. This is my favourite number.
14. I lived through a war. I am still processing how that has effected the rest of my life. Actually, that’s not entirely true. I know it has contributed to my Anxiety. Anxiety sucks.
15. I love black and white photographs. So much. Those family photographs are what made me want to learn photography  in the first place.
16. I love eating out. I hate cooking. I’m starting to think these two facts correlate in some way.
17. I didn’t get my licence until I was 20. I wanted to feel like I could safely drive on the road with thousands of other crazy people. On the day of my driving test, we’d been driving for 10 minutes, I had done one manoeuvre, and we were stopped at a light. As my light turned green a pedestrian 100m in front of us was hit by a car. My driving instructor and I just stayed at the light open-mouthed and missed the green (people went to the pedestrians aid, they were okay). He told me to drive back to the testing centre, and passed me straight away and told me to go home. Lucky for him I am actually a good driver!
18. I have a really good memory.
19. I’ve now known Brian for half my life. He’s my best friend, my teacher and the only person who truly knows me the way every person wants to be known. I’m infinitely grateful that my wish came true and that nice boy moved in across the road.
20. I love music. I love anything with a guy and an acoustic guitar. I’m listening to James Bay as I write this. If I could bring Jeff Buckley back to Earth to play Hallelujah I would.
21. I have a degree in Human Service majoring in Youth Work. I’ve never actually done any paid work in this field but I’ve done a ton of volunteering through my uni years. Most people in high school thought I would become a counsellor.
22. I’m a creative person. I had no idea that I was until recently. School sucked the creative right out of me. I had to find that spark again.
23. I have ALWAYS been different. I have ALWAYS made choices that seem to go against the tide. I haven’t done this to rebel – quite the opposite – they’re just choices that feel good to me.
24. I can read tarot cards and interpret dreams for people. I have predicted future events accurately. I can channel spiritual guidance.  I actually have a lot of skills in this realm that I am still a bit scared to explore.
25. I love reading. My dad influenced a lot of what I read, so I began reading autobiographies, self-help and inspirational books as a teenager. They’re still my favourite books to read and buy.
26. My birthday gift to myself is a tattoo that I had done just a couple of weeks ago. I’m totally and completely in love with it, and can now understand why people cover their entire body with art.
27. I’ve always felt an affinity to France and one day I would love to live there, learn French and soak up the sublime provincial lifestyle with weekend trips to Paris. Every time we’ve gone overseas I’ve made sure we’ve somehow managed to fit in a weekend in Paris.
28. I don’t run. Not ever.
29. I plan to live to 111.
30. I believe in the power of choice. And of JOY.

The post On My Birthday // 30 Things About Me appeared first on HippyHappyMama.

2015 is coming to an end so this post is a review of what our unschooling journey looked like in the past 12 months.

Overall, it’s been a challenging year for our family. Unschooling has literally helped hold us together. I cannot imagine how much more difficult doing some of the things we’ve had to do this year would have been if school was an added factor in our lives. Instead, we had the freedom to make choices where the JOY of our family was our only consideration. We grew, we learned and we certainly journeyed. Here is a snapshot of the year that was –

We started the year off in our own home, playing, connecting and enjoying our space.

Hannah and Blake became proficient at swimming through simply having access to the pool (they’ve never had swimming lessons).
We re-commenced our weekly meet-ups at Brisbane’s inner-city community farm space after a break over the Christmas period.

And our fortnightly meet-ups with another group of friends at the creek.



In February we sold our home. This process held many lessons for us all. Letting go, and realising that memories are in our hearts and not in a place, was a big one.

We road-tripped to Goondawindi to visit friends, and then to a little town near Bundaberg in Queensland to see baby turtles hatch and make their journey to the sea. This trip was full of happy memories and connection for our family. Seeing the turtles make their way out of the nest and into the ocean was truly awe-inspiring and something we plan to do again in the near future. Being there and buying tickets actually helps pay for the conservation project and the amount of information that is given by the guides and in the museum was excellent. Travelling really does bond us and experiencing new places together makes for moments we won’t forget.

Daisy weaned which was bittersweet and full of emotion. But overall it was the right choice to make at the right time for our family as a whole.

Planning for our trip overseas went into full swing and all sorts of geographical learning became a consistent feature in our life. Every few days we would discuss another region we planned to visit, or one of the children had a question that led to further information seeking. Often with unschooling the interest comes from the child. But sometimes it is a whole family interest, and they are the ones which really shine a light on the knowledge we’ve all acquired during the process which is a beautiful part of this journey.

Hannah began to seriously focus on her desire to read and it slowly began to come together. I do have a post coming up about how this all occurred but suffice to say, it has been an amazing journey to watch unfold. I never doubted that my children would learn to read without direct instruction, I just wondered how it would happen and to be a tiny part of that experience for her, has been very special indeed.
Easter came and we celebrated by going camping with Brian’s side of the family to a little island that his family visits every easter. Again, just being able to be together without the pressures of work was blissful.

Nature as always featured very heavily in our adventures and explorations all year long.

And this was balanced with lots of unstructured time at home.

In May it was finally time to begin packing for our trip to Europe.

We finally left on our holiday and had amazing experiences every single day. Truly the best 6 weeks of our lives!

When we came back to Brisbane our world was turned upside down as Brian lost his job and we decided to re-locate to Mount Isa as a new opportunity came up. We lived in our caravan while we got to know the isolated outback town but in the end the job wasn’t suitable, and we moved on.
We didn’t leave Mount Isa without a very special souvenir though – our new puppy Echo who we adopted through a rescue agency.

And by August we were settling into our new home in Rockhampton. This was such a big adjustment for us, especially as Brian began working away. To be honest we’re still adjusting to it, so I’ll probably do a post with more reflection about what moving here has really meant to us in a couple of months.

One of the best parts of moving to a new place is making new friends and discovering new places with them and we’ve certainly done that.
There’s one friend though, that kids have always known, and she’s extra special. Brian’s 95 year old Nana (the children’s great-grandmother) has lived here all her life and we really love the fact that the kids are getting to spend so much time with her and make lasting memories together. It’s been a really nice twist to this year that they’ve been able to spend more time than usual with both their great-grandmothers this year – mine in Croatia and Brian’s here in Rockhampton.

And finally, this is the place we spent an extremely large chunk of our year driving all around our state and (in a different car) in Europe. I asked Brian to roughly calculate how many kilometres we’d spent in the car this year with all our trips combined and we’ve driven over 15000kms together this year. Brian estimed that that is equal to about 30 DAYS of driving (not including the normal everyday driving around)! So when I jokingly say we ‘carschool’ I’m actually not joking…! We are often asked what entertainment we provide the kids with in the car and honestly, we don’t! We don’t have in-car tv screens and we don’t give them the iPad in the car because there’s only one. Hannah and Blake are expected to remember to bring their own backpack filled with whatever it is they think they need for the trip and we bring a few dolls and toys for Daisy but of-course she gets bored with them quickly. I provide snacks and great tunes to listen to, and nature provides imagery out of their window. They get bored but I don’t think that’s such a bad thing. We talk a lot about all sorts of stuff and they often ask some of their biggest questions in the car. They rest and sleep and use their imaginations and yes, cry. But it’s totally worth it and something that is part of the very fabric of us as a family.

Of-course I cannot possibly photograph all of the learning that occurred this year. That would be like photographing every moment of every day. Suffice to say, we’ve done a lot and we’ve done a whole lot of not much too. Lots of movies and reading books and pottering around outside, trips to the park and pool and to visit family and friends, that’s how we spent the majority of our days. It’s a journey we’re constantly grateful to be living and choosing and unschooling really is the right lifestyle for our family.

We’re very much looking forward to what 2016 holds!

The post 2015 In Review // Our Unschooling Journey appeared first on HippyHappyMama.