June Carnival: Dads

Welcome!

Here's the June 2012

Unschooling Blog Carnival
about

DADS

Dads are often a little overlooked in our community. Moms seem to take center stage with seeking out information and resources and contacts. But this month, with Father's Day around the corner, we decided to share what our unschooling bloggers have to say about Dads and how they've influenced our lives.  We have some very touching & WONDERFUL posts from unschooling bloggers writing what was on the their heart. You'll find tributes to husbands and partners as well as tributes to our own dads below.

In looking for a theme this month, we had a few options. We could go with songs and lyrics about dads... but so many of these were sad songs.  When you look up the Top 10 Father's Day songs, it was kind of disappointing! Papa Was A Rolling Stone by The Temptations made the list? How could that be celebrating this day? If you're looking for music, here are the Top Tens for Father's Day:  Country Songs, HipHop Songs, Rock, and even a Bollywood collection!  Fun, but not what we were looking for.

Then we brainstormed about poetry or pictures but this is the

UNSCHOOLING Blog Carnival.! 

Visualizing gruff carny workers shouting, "Try Your Luck!" at their booths, we decided to take a different path this time. The unschooling dads we know are cool with irreverent fun dad stuff.  So we've interspersed some photos and comments from a couple of outside sources. Awkward Family Photos combined with Asylum.com to create a special collection for Father's Day. If you like this kind of humor, you might like the Awkward Family Photos book.  Our other contribution comes from Dads are the Original Hipsters with fantastic photos, primarily from the 70's. They also have a book called, of course, Dads Are the Original Hipsters.  Some of what cracks me up about these photos are that some of MY husband's pictures could probably be in this collection! But I'll save that for another day. ;)

Thanks so much to the Unschooling bloggers of our community who shared a little about their worlds.  And we hope you are entertained by the other dads out there who are influencing the world of tomorrow.  We hope it will make you laugh... think of it as the House of Mirrors or Bearded Lady or some other Human Sideshow. We are, after all, a CARNIVAL!

Enjoy! And please take a second to comment at the unschooling blogposts. It's always nice to know who's stopping by!

Love,

Cydney and  Sue

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You can always spot the dads who will have trouble letting go
(Awkward Family Photo)

Kelly Hogaboom So tell me, tell me did you really love me/ like a Friend in her blog: Kelly Hogaboom | Life in HQX

Frank Maier's blogpost is a Tribute to Dads - June Unschooling Blog Carnival from his blog Singularity.

Lisa Nalbone's gives us an Ode to An Unsung Hero from her blog: Fruitful Solutions for Parents and other Lifelong Learners

Gail Higgins blogpost shares about Two Dads at her Hummingbird Haven.

If he couldn't blow out the candles,
his father was always there to help him out
(Awkward Family Photo)

 Sue Patterson shares that For Some People, It's Just Natural in her blog Lifelong Learning


Shannon Burton blogs at The Unfettered Life and shares Jim Burton - So Much More than a Dad! 

Linni blogs at Radical Ramblings and this month is Celebrating Hedgehog.

It's amazing what Dad can get done when he puts his mind to it
(Awkward Family Photo)

Sylvia Toyama asks What Makes Him Dad? in her blog My Square One.

Jennifer Armstrong blogs that it's almost inexplicable, my love: a tribute from o frabjous day.

Katie Pybus writes from Outside the Box and shares Who's the Daddy?

Angela blogs about Taking a Break with Daddy at her blog EarthMamasWorld.

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And here's a little more humor from Dads are the Original Hipsters:

"Your dad was the original risk-taker before you were born and hospitals knew him by name to prove it. He's surfed Harleys, dove from plans, and done just about everything else that could get a man killed. He was an addict who couldn't live unless his blood was intoxicated with adrenalin. Sure, he's snapped bones from top speed falls and had countless skin-suit alterations, but it was worth it to be the king of the streets. Fear was a foreign thing to him and his scars were a daily reminder of awesomeness past." (10/12/11)

                                                                                       "Your dad was a filmmaker before you were. He was the Kubrick of domestic cinematography who made monumental documentaries like Baby's First Steps, Christmas 1985, and the widely acclaimed Accidental Nut Shot, When Baseballs Strike Back. While never reaching the cocaine filled heights of Hollywood, his films can still be seen today on your beta max or VCR." (6/27/11) 

"Your dad was a wild man before you were and he's got the shirtless primal-screaming skills to prove it. Now docile inside the suited, shaved, and aged body of your dad is a chaos part wolf that yearns to howl freedom into the night. He lived his youth in a raging-haze of whisky hangovers, sun-weathered skin and adventure time. Each day doctors gave him a life expectancy of hours, but he middle finger saluted the reaper and kept ripping through life. His parents, your mom and the police all tried to tame him, but time was the only thing to slow him down. Your craziest nights out would have been the tame forgotten evenings of your dad's life!" (11/16/11)

"Your dad knew about irony before you did and had 'Le Car' to prove it. For $300 and half roll of mint Lifesavers, he purchased rolling satire. His "chariot" cemented his place as "The Most Ironic Man in the World" because he bought a car that wasn't a car, but called itself a car by writing car on the car. He was a visionary of irony that liked everything everyone else hated so once he made itpopular, he could hate on it and say he liked it before it was cool. He liked disco in the 60's, hair metal in the 70's, and wore Clarkston High School track shirts even though he never ran and didn't go to that school. Everything he has ever done has been ironic, including having you.

Your dad is so ironic that after spending his entire youth rebelling against his father, the most ironic thing he could was become him by having you and being a dad himself (which is also the same track you're currently on, and yet another example of something else he did before you.)" (12/19/11)

We still left you a lot of hilarious photos to look at and read about at Dads are the Original Hipsters  and Awesome Family Photos! 

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Next month, we'll be taking July off and coming back in August with the theme:

 Vacations

Remember when all school kids had to write a paper on "What I did for my summer vacation?" 

Gone are the days! 

Unschoolers have the freedom to have vacations all year long! 

Have you had a great vacation with your family? 

Or maybe you all had a Camp-in instead of a Campout? 

How about a fun homeschooling conference? 

Tell us all about it and send your blog URL to Sue and Cydney at 

UnschoolingBlogCarnival@gmail.com

May Carnival - Ode to Motherhood!

I've always thought that it takes a certain kind of mom to unschool. As I write that, an entire list of traits pops up in my mind. One of the interesting facts about that though, is that it's probably nothing like the list that pops up in your mind. And that's okay. There's room for all of us!


In this May's Unschooling Blog Carnival, some of the moms and dads in our unschooling blogging community share what the "mom" in their world is like.  This Carnival has a few less entries than usual, but I really want to thank everyone who continues to share their blog posts with the rest of us. Sorry, I haven't been pounding the cyberspace, reminding and nudging bloggers out there. I'll need you to help me do that. 


So step right up and let the Unschooling Blog Carnival begin! The theme, "I am THAT Mom" has surfaced on the internet before. We thought that since Mother's Day is just around the corner, we should celebrate the theme again! Here's a glimpse of some of the moms in our unschooling community. Hope you enjoy it! 

Keep on Blogging, 

~Sue

~*~* ~*~*~Celebrating Moms~*~*~*~*~

 I'm that Mom- NATURALLY, from Shan Jeniah Burton at her blog, The Unfettered Life.  Shan reflects on her journey from a mainstream role of "good mom", to a place of living peacefully with my family, today.....and looks forward to what's next!

Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.  ~Elizabeth Stone 

I Was That Mom, in Cathy Earle's blog: Homeschool Scrapbook . Cathy shares some stories of earthquakes, public bathrooms, um...angina, and the valuable discussions that can come from children's story books. This is her journal reflecting on years ago when they first started homeschooling.

Now that... my kids are grown, I understand how much work and love it takes to raise and to keep a family together.  The example of your strength, devotion, and patience is now rippling through the generations.  Thank you!  ~Forest Houtenschil

For Mother's Day 2012, Cap'n Franko has wonderful ways to describe his wife, Ronnie: kind, thoughtful, unselfish - to name a few. But his tribute to her here is a story of her bravery while they sailed through stormy seas in the Gulf of Mexico.  Frank's blog is Singularity.

A mom's hug lasts long after she lets go.  ~Author Unknown

Yeah, I'm that Mom, Jen Armstrong shares a short look at how she became "that" mom, and what it really means to her: relationship with her child. I love her Jabberwocky references in the title of her blog: o frabjous day (as well as her beamish boy in her URL. Clever!)

Mother - that was the bank where we deposited all our hurts and worries.  ~T. DeWitt Talmage

Post 170 , from The Honey House Kindgarden. The Honeys make waffles - A LOT of them! And they start to apply their Grandaddy's favorite phrase: "Everything in moderation, especially moderation!"

A mother understands what a child does not say.  ~Author Unknown

I'm THAT Mom is my entry from my blog, Lifelong Learning. Now that the kids are almost all out of the house, I can look back to see some of the times I walked to my own beat as a mother. Eyebrows were raised along the way, but we pressed on.  

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.  ~Washington Irving

Notes About Future Unschooling Blog Carnivals:

Sadly, the Unschooling Blog Carnival's numbers are shrinking instead of expanding. We figured that everyone is out Living Life!  We're pondering how we want to approach this, and so the Carnival is going to be a little Irregular. (surprise, surprise!)

For the June carnival, we want to do a Tribute to Dads, our unsung heroes. While some take very active roles in our unschooling worlds, others are happy on the sidelines. Many work all week, and come home to a loving, yet chaotic, family setting. Let's let them feel appreciated. Send your post about the Dad in your life for June's Unschooling Blog Carnival to:

UnschoolingBlogCarnival@gmail.com

We will take July off, and return in August with a Carnival full of encouragement for those choosing NOT to go back to school this month. So start writing this too.

Leaving you with a little musical collection of songs for Moms 
I found on YouTube...

.

I like these lyrics

Spring: April's Carnival

Springtime!



Ahhh...the winter is finally behind us. Plants are popping up, temperatures are mild, and everyone wants to be outside. Unschoolers are no exception! And, without the schoolish requirements to sit behind a desk or at a kitchen table, unschooled children are out and about in this gorgeous weather.  No daydreaming out the windows WISHING for a little freedom for these kids and their families!


April's Unschooling Blog Carnival will look a little different. We were sitting around thinking about how we'd thematically tie all the blog submissions together. We had spent a lovely afternoon lunching at an Ethiopian Vegetarian buffet, and then wandered to the local gardening store looking for inspiration for our gardens. Afterwards, we logged onto Pinterest to look at our latest pins - still searching for inspiration.  Suddenly we realized what we needed to do! We'd set up a Pinterest account for the Unschooling Blog Carnival.

We've taken each of the three carnivals we've done, and linked each blog from our new collective Pinterest account. For those of you familiar with pinning, each month will have its own "Board." And each blogpost with any picture (because this is a visual thang), will have its own "Pin." Hopefully, this will bring more traffic to our unschooling bloggers' blogs, and well, just add another level of fun!

If you haven't set up an unschooling board on YOUR Pinterest account, maybe it's time! Repin as many blogposts as you like. Feel free to repin them all!  That way others will see what's going on and want to read more too! Be sure to "Follow" the Unschooling Blog Carnival on Pinterest. Here's the easy link:

    

Bloggers, and anyone else who feels like supporting our little carnival, please put the Unschooling Blog Carnival logo on the sidebar of your blog. This will help us attract more bloggers and keep everyone checking back. The linkable "Badge" is on the Left Side Bar here. 

Lastly, a note to everyone, don't forget to comment at the blogposts too - bloggers really appreciate knowing that you've read their post. 

Now, let the show begin!

April 2012: SPRING

Unschooling Blog Carnival! 

When I'm 64 at Frank's blog: Singularity. (Happy Birthday, Frank!)

Spring, Sprang, Sprung at Gail Higgins' blog: Hummingbird Haven.

Skyping the Seasons at Lauren Fisher's blog: Sparkling Adventures.

Sprummer No Longer at Linda Wyatt's blog: Unschooling Me.

Blossoming Gardens at Sue Patterson's blog: Lifelong Learning.

Springtime Surges On at Shan's blog: The Unfettered Life.

Spring Is Here!! at Radical Ramblings

The Vernal Equinox: Our Easter is at Amy Bradstreet's blog: On Bradstreet.

April 1st, 2012 - National Kite Month is at Cathy Earle's blog: Every Day is Special.

Ah, Springtime in Austin, Texas at Heather Booth's blog: Today Was Amazing!

158 in Teresa Honey's blog: The Honey House Kindergarden.

Explorer Sundays at Christina's blog: Gnomes at Home.

Next Month, for May's Unschooling Blog Carnival...

In honor of Mother's Day 

It's time for another round of "I'm THAT Mom!"  

We know that people sometimes question some of the decisions unschooling moms make. 

But now's your chance to celebrate it! 

Unschooling moms are not afraid to go outside box if it's right for their child. 

Tell us about it!

And, if you're an unschooling dad who'd like to celebrate the mom at your house - how you think she's fearless and strong and smart and loving and compassionate...well, you know what to say. ;) 

Share that with us too!

Enjoy Spring, and thanks for reading the Unschooling Blog Carnival!

Cydney and  Sue

Requesting Blogposts for April 2012!

The Unschooling Blog Carnival theme 

for 

APRIL is SPRING!

What does it mean in your unschooling world?  

• Are you planting a garden with your kids?
• Did you go on a cool adventure noticing all the new signs of Spring?
• Maybe you're thinking more philosophically about Spring...like ways to re-energize or renew some aspect of your lives?
• Maybe you're feeling a little retrospective about past Springs...yours or your children's?

So be sure to send us your blog posts as soon as you can to UnschoolingBlogCarnival@gmail.com

And if you're not writing a blog yet, what's stopping you? Join the unschooling blog community!

Austin Kite Festival!

The Monarchs are Back!

Discovering Robin eggs in the yard

Who can resist the babies?

March Carnival: All About Animals

Welcome back to the Unschooling Blog Carnival for March 2012!  All month, we've been collecting stories about unschoolers and the animals in their lives.  We think you'll enjoy them as much as we have.

But first, how about a little reminder of what we can ALL learn from animals? This little list has been circulating the internet with several variations. We thought we'd share what life might be like if a dog was  writing the rules:

• When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
• Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
• Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure Ecstasy.
• Take naps.
• Stretch before rising.
• Run, romp, and play daily.
• Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
• Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
• On warm days, stop to lie on your back in the grass.
• On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
• When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
• Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
• Be loyal.
• Never pretend to be someone you're not.
• If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
• When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.

Next month, our theme will be SPRING. For us, it means re-energizing and renewal. What does it mean in your unschooling world?  

So be sure to send us your blog posts. And if you're not writing a blog yet, what's stopping you? Join the unschooling blog community!

On to the Carnival!! Be sure to leave comments as you stop by the different blogs we're sharing today. Let the blogger know you found them through the Unschooling Blog Carnival. 

Love, 

Cydney & Sue

The Blog of the Zombie Princess shares how a new kitten in the home provides an unschooling refresher course for Ronnie and her family in Unschooling My Cat.

She has daily periods of astonishingly high energy. We call this Satan Cat Mode, and Honey Badger has nothing on Satan Cat. What Satan Cat Rigby needs is someone to romp with her. It doesn't matter that we'd rather sit on the couch or go to sleep.

Linda believes that the animals in her life deserve the same compassion and consideration given to everyone else in the household. This month, she shares stories of her four-legged family in her post  Members of the Family from her blog Unschooling Me.

This doesn't mean the animals "rule the house" any more than "doing what they want" means my kids run wild without considering anyone else.

It DOES mean that some things around here are a little different from other, more "mainstream" homes.

Where incentives can be great when it comes to puppy training, Pam asks us to question the benefits of rewards and punishments in raising kind and thoughtful kids in Training is Tricky at her blog, Learning Happens.

I mean, animals and unschooling seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly. Yes, of course, you can have one without the other - but boy, oh boy, are they good together!

The Honey House Kindergarden records "180 Moments in a 5 year old's unschooled life."  Teresa's son, Woody, went to his cousin's house to create a maze for their Hamster, Karen, in 132. She shares information about hamsters and how loving animals can come in the form of "calm energy and easy acceptance."

The kids were delighted, and mostly kept their movements slow and their voices soft so as not to give the tiny thing a heart attack. 

What happens when we guide our children into situations we think we have under control, but nature intervenes?  Cap'n Franko, of Singularity, shares a valuable lesson about absolutes and trust in The Flesh-Eating Blue Tang of Death.

Chloe’s “first-aid figures” were labelled with all the injuries she sustained during that trip! Prominent among them was the label “Blue Tang BITE” and an arrow pointing to her poor savaged pinky.

Shannon explores  Animal Passions with her daughter, Annalise, in this post from her blog An Unfettered Life.  She nurtures their shared love of horses, as well as Analise's varied interests; everything from dolphins to gorillas is explored by these animal enthusiasts!

Because her passion for animals is nourished and supported, Annalise has learned a tremendous amount about evolution, genetics, ecosystems, plant life, and the human animal.

This Sandra Dodd blog shares personal and family news as well as chit chat.  In Joy and Sorrow, Sandra shares how difficult it is to go through the death of a beloved family pet.


Marty is a wonderful son, and Gudrun was a great dog, and sometimes I get frustrated from having no magical powers to heal or preserve.  

Sue Patterson talks about how her daughter and husband went from looking at horses on the way home in Alaska, to learning to ride in California, and ultimately owning a ranch of their own in Texas. Following Their Passions comes from her blog, Lifelong Learning.

She'd climb up so she'd be tall enough to hop onto the bare back of her horse, Dolly. Then she'd ride laps around the house, down the driveway, and around the fence lines. It gave her a confidence that would see her through many of the obstacles she'd face later in life.

Cydney Romano, of Recording the Atoms,  tells us about her son, Aiden's love of dogs in A Boy & His Dogs.  At 15, Aiden was able to land a job at a doggy day care where he has learned so much more than pet care!

As unschoolers, our focus has always been, do what you love and the lessons will follow. Aiden’s love of dogs led him to a first job that he enjoys, where he continues to learn about a subject he's interested in, in an environment where he is valued and appreciated. 

Christine Yablonski chronicles her family's adventures in her Unschooling Life blog.   Day 47: The San Diego Wild Animal Park, from their "Cruising America" RV trip, was any baby animal lovers' dream. This part of the San Diego Zoo is the home for their breeding program.

As Kimi moved the toy, the baby lion tracked the toy's movements with his head. Kimi, not letting this opportunity slip away, moved the toy as if she were playing with a kitten, and this little cub took the bait.

 Tim in the Kitchen writes a blog called, Breakfast with Diamonds. He shares thoughts and reflections of life without school. Life Smells Good reminds us of how we can learn from our pets, some as simple as sitting still and breathing deeply.

None of the above is in any way specific to unschooling and yet for me it illustrates perfectly just how the world, and our lives in it, are simply bursting with opportunities to learn. This morning, a 12 week old labrador retriever taught me     how to use my nose.

Christine shares her daughter's fascination with the deadliest animals on earth in  Educating Astra.  Her post,  Live 'n Deadly,  describes an exciting day spent on a television show set not too far from their home.

He unrolled a giant snake and stretched it across the stage. He got a nip from a scorpion. He answered the most random questions, got genuinely excited by some of them. This is a guy who really knows about and loves animals. Truly inspiring.

MamaScout is "passing out tickets to the family circus!"  She and her son, Elliott, have focused their latest adventures on Entomology. Read about how they're Raising Some Snails over there! You could too!

When we hike, no rock goes unturned. His ability to focus his attention on the tiniest creatures astounds me.

Sparkling Adventures of a Free Range Life describes their blog as "a nomadic family with five kids, currently living in Australia, rethinking everything and living free!" Against her initial instincts, Lauren allows her daughter Brioni to examine a bird that dies when it crashes into the kitchen window in  One Dead Bird .

For a brief moment it had been part of her world, and now it was gone. The fact that it was dead the whole time was almost irrelevant.




Sarah McGrath shares practical unschooling tips in her blog, Unschooling Lifestyle. Her 6.5 year old daughter is Having So Much Fun with Bugs, Insects, Spiders, & Entomology!

We've got a forest spider ("Wolfie") in a terrarium on the kitchen counter, some pill bugs in her forensic entomology kit, and two woolly bear caterpillars (one banded "Caramel", one yellow "Vanilla") in a terrarium on the picnic table out back.We're going to house them overwinter and watch them cocoon and transform into tiger moths.

Tamara blogs as The Rookie Housewife, sharing her life with her babies.  As she's just starting out on her parenting and unschooling journey, she makes a list of all things that animals might bring to their lives in the future in Oh the Possibilities!

Obviously we wouldn't jump on everything with every interest, but say they really only have the one? With all the options and branching points there would be no reason for concern. And this was just the tip of the iceberg!

Cathy Earle writes a blog post every day about either world holidays, historic anniversaries, or famous birthdays in her blog, Every Day is Special.
Today, March 1st, is A Great Day for Animals: The Anniversary of the Creation of the 1st National Park in the World. Cathy shares info, photos and links about Yellowstone National Park.

Also on this date:

National Pig Day 
National Horse Protection Day

March is Adopt a Rescued Guinea Pig Month

Lisa Nielsen, a long-time NY teacher, has recently been blogging about unschooling at The Innovative Educator. Lisa shares a fable written in the 1940's illustrating what's wrong with focusing on the weaknesses instead of the strengths of animals or children in Don't Judge a Fish by it's Ability to Climb a Tree - The Problem with Assessment.

They had adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, climbing, swimming and flying. To make it easier to administer the curriculum, all the animals took all the subjects.

Thanks for reading! Don't forget about next month's theme, SPRING.

And if all these animal posts inspire you to share one of your own, or even write another, feel free to include it in the comment section.

See ya next month!
C & S

LOVE!

We're so happy to bring back the Unschooling Blog Carnival. We hope you'll have as much fun reading it as we had putting it together.  Please link to it from your blogs, facebook, email lists. This way we can get the word out and find more wonderful blog posts to share!

Because it's February, we decided that the logical theme for

this month's Unschooling Blog Carnival would be  

L.O.V.E.

All you need is LOVE! The Beatles had it right and so do unschoolers! We've found the sweetest video of them singing in a room full of people. Not the typical black and white scratchy film reel. So be sure to look at it.

And now on to the Carnival!

Be sure to leave some LOVE in the comment section when you go to the blogs to read these posts. Bloggers need love too!

Love, love, love. Love, love, love. Love, love, love.

Sue Patterson's "kids" are in their teens and twenties now and she often blogs about them in Lifelong Learning. She shares a little about what they are doing and how unschooling led them on three very different paths. Her list of what to love about unschooling as well as simply living and learning with children is in If I Knew Then, What I Know Now!

Cydney Romano writes about shifting her perspective and coming to a greater understanding of unconditional love in her post, The Legacy of Love, on her blog, Recording the Atoms.

There's nothing you can do that can't be done. 

Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.

 Christina Pilkington writes a blog called Interest Led Learning. She shares a peek into what they were up to last year with her blog post: Top Ten List of Our Favorite Unschooling Fun in 2011.  We love how her lists give a clear picture of what they've accomplished without any references to school or subjects! This  list of exciting "Firsts" is a fabulous journaling/scrapbook-type idea of recording life unfolding. We wish we had thought of it when our kids were younger!!

Lisa Nielsen, a public school administrator and teacher, writes a blog called The Innovative Educator.  We love the list she came up with in 10 Reasons the Innovative Educator Is In Love with Unschooling.

Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game.
It's easy!

Lindsey Wilson shares An Unschooling Adventure with her little Poppy Christine. We're so impressed with how much these newer moms are grasping about Unschooling concepts and principles. Learning so much about unschooling while Poppy is so little, gives them so much more to explore and get to know about their child throughout life. Read about it in, What I Love About Being an Unschooling Family.

Michele Holt writes a beautiful blog called Wabi-Sabi Home and Garden. But she went back into the archive to share a painful story about how her expectations and her sons didn't match up. In a day filled with frustration, Michele and her son discover that Love Always Wins.

Katie Pybus writes a blog called Outside the Box from West Sussex, England. Katie shares some of the struggles she has with one of her children in Only Love Can Break Your Heart.

There's nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.

Pam Sorooshian blogs at Learning Happens ~ Unschooling Observations & Opinions.  Her post Love, Love, Love reminds us to look closer at what we parents do "out of love."   


Dayna Martin overcomes her own judgements about another mom in Love It Forward. She shares a story of how she was able to expand the unschooling philosophy from parenting to life, simply focusing on others' needs instead of their behavior.

Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you.It's easy!

Sylvia Toyama blogs about her life in My Square One.  In her post for the carnival, On Love, Sylvia explains how she sees unschooling as an expression of love. And because she chose unschooling, she has been able to have a deeper and even more honest love with her children; respecting, not reshaping, who they were meant to be.

Christine Yablonski shares For the Love of Friendship at her blog, Living the Unschooling Life. It's great to see a mom enjoying her hobbies, making friends, and just having a great time! When our children can see us as well-rounded human beings with interests of our own, it makes it that much easier for them to translate that into their own lives.

All you need is love, all you need is love.  All you need is love, love, love is all you need. There's nothing you can know that isn't known.  Nothing you can see that isn't shown.

Our one male contributor to the Carnival opens in a typically male fashion. Frank (Cap'n Franko to his fans) blogs at Singularity.  He shares his musings in his Love Post.  The R & B stylings of Ernie-K-Doe and a knowledge of scientific concepts (that sometimes hurts my brain), help Frank as he meanders along, exploring how love surfaces for him and for others.

Nowhere that you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.
It's Easy!

Alina Coryell, of Alina's Adventure in Home Making, celebrates many of the wonderful things About Love in this lovely pictorial post.

Katie shares a year's worth of highs and lows and reminds us that Love makes the pain of loss easier to bear in her post, 2011: A Year to Remember, from her blog, Creating Our Family.

All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love (all together now!)

 Linda Wyatt has shared her insights into unschooling for years. When you read, "Dirty Gum Wrapper: A Post About Love that Changed Everything," you learn how her own education in the early days of the Sudbury movement seeded these unschooling thoughts in Linda.  Take a look at her new blog, Unschooling Me, for some great thoughts and ideas about unschooling.


Kate Fridkis writes about sibling love in Siblings at her Skipping School blog. Her writing style and introspection is really remarkable. AND, if you have time, you simply have to look at the gallery of Women Eating Cake. For love of cake! The pictures are FABULOUS!

Shan Jeniah Burton writes about Sibling Rivalry, Sibling Love at her blog: Unfettered Life  Read her reflections of how her own children relate to each other in comparison to the relationships she shared with her siblings growing up.

All you need is Love (Everybody!)  

All you need is love, love. Love is all you need.

                                        Love is all you need...
                                                                        Love is all you need...
                                                                                                 Love is all you need... 

Thanks for coming to the Unschooling Blog Carnival! Hope you had fun reading!
You know what they say about March coming in "like a lion and going out like a lamb?"  Well that sparked our March theme: ANIMALS. Find out more, send in your blog post by the 25th!

                                         Love, 

                      Cydney & Sue

P.S. Be sure to look in the comments section for any late entries for the February Love Carnival! And if you're an unschooling blogger writing about love, you can add yours in the comments too! The more the merrier!