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The plan is to stop planning this year.  We are adopting a new go with the flow kind of lifestyle. We bought a Smithsonian Encyclopedia, Complete Curriculum for Kindergarten and 1st grade and if kids want to do some lessons we will. During rainy season in Cloud Forest there may be plenty of opportunity while sitting inside.

The new idea of UNSCHOOLING looks like a natural choice for the year in Costa Rica. Our children didn't particularly fall in love with school last year and honestly neither did I. After paying high school taxes we are leaving it for unschooling. And don't get me wrong Leo had a wonderful kindergarten teacher but the Common Core testing and few crazy peers took all the fun out of school.

WHAT IS UNSCHOOLING AND WHY IT MAY WORK FOR US.

Unschooling children are supported to pursue things that are of interest to them. They eat foods they enjoy and in quantities that are satisfying, sleep and rest according to their individual needs, choose friends of all ages or none at all. Leo is a picky eater in our family and we allow him to choose what he eats for dinner ( from what's on the table of course) or he can always choose raw fruit, vegetables and homemade yogurt at any time of day. I always had a problem seeing people forcing their children to eat food they do not want to eat or dislike. Personally I would not want to be forced to eat a steak or seafood. Treat others as you would like to be treated. That's the motto.
Us personally we are not committing ourselves to homeschooling or unschooling forever. We just promise ourselves to be flexible and watchful and make sure we strive to be respectful towards each other and honor each child's individuality. We will be using few workbooks to make sure we are staying on track if we decide to enter back into public school next year. Who knows maybe kids will actually miss school.

NEW MOTTO: HAVE LESS, DO MORE, BE MORE

At night when you sit by the late night fire what are the things you talk about? What are the dreams you think about? What are you longing for? For me lately its been all about searching for a way to feel free again and letting go of things that matter least. The goal to create an environment for our kids where the tension and stress can be limited to minimum. 

In the last few years we lost track of what it is that makes us happy. Having big house filled with material things begun to weight us down. We needed a change. For a while a thought of a small house in the woods or an organic sustainable farm made all sense to us. Later this dream was pushed out and a dream of travel appeared.

Every camping trip we took made us realize how little things we really needed to make us HAPPY. Watching kids run freely in the woods, play with sticks enjoying the temporary freedom from stuff made us realize we want to hold on to that moment forever. Being surrounded by nature without the constant ability to connect ourselves to the world and news would make us look at each other in a different kind of light. We hope we can find happiness in Costa Rica. 

"HE WHO BUYS WHAT HE DOES NOT NEED STEALS FROM HIMSELF" this Swedish proverb is simple but holds true to many of us.

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