unschool monday :: papa owlet style

This unschool monday, I'm welcoming Huz along to guest post. He spends lots of time with the owlets on our unschooling journey, so it seems only fair that you hear from him too. xx

Hi folks! It's me, Papa Owlet. This is my first post on here, and it's kind of nerve-wracking being on this side of the blog machine! I hope you go easy on me...

So as you all would guess, the owlets spend most of the weekdays time with Mama Owlet. I'm there with them waking, and for the breaky bonanza, but then I head off to the office, leaving the girls at home to explore the great (un)school of life. Despite all the years of doing this, it still feels very unnatural, and it's a drag that I can't be home to learn with them while the sun shines brightest (literally and metaphorically).

The best chance I have of securing quality time with the owlets is during the evenings, and on weekends. I take Big Owlet to cub scouts one night a week and this has been great for the more 'grown-up' conversations that come with one-on-one time. It's great to be able to be her support in the more intense social situations that can occur at cubs. She knows I'm there and feels re-assured. She doesn't cling to me but is comforted by my presence. Without doing much at all I can help her ease into the world. Idle parenting rocks like that.

A new regular outing with the kids has involved going on Insta-meets. These are gatherings of local photography enthusiasts that use the iPhone and Android app Instagram. Now I'm not normally one to attend these sorts of events, but I've had an increasing love of photography over the last year or so and this kind of felt natural. Plus the outings were on the weekend and provided a chance for me to take the girls out for a few hours and let Mama Owlet have some much-deserved space and time alone.

The outings have been great for many reasons, not least of which are the new learning experiences for the owlets. Little Owlet has discovered her own passion for photography:

Today, for example we went fossil fossicking at a secluded spot at the end of a forest trail...

Followed by a climb up the tallest Shot Tower in the southern hemisphere, where Big Owlet overcame her fear of heights (and of stairs with 'spaces in them') and Little Owlet pressed on despite the talk of ghosts in the tower...

And Tiny is always in on the action, exploring her world with beautiful gusto...

But more often than not they are happy to enjoy life wherever we go...

I feel lucky to learn with them, even if it's not every day! (pic by Matt Glastonbury)

And to prove that I, Papa Owlet wrote this blog post, here is a picture Big Owlet drew of me whilst I wrote!:

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Thanks for reading along with Unschool Monday. If you have a question for me, or one of the other participants on the linkup, ask away! I'm happy to try and answer here next time. If you feel like linking up, it'd be lovely to have you on board and see how unschooling happens at your nest. xx