Work and Play (not necessarily in that order)

I'm not a huge fan of Montessori philosophy of education, but I do like that they interchange the words "work" and "play", because really it's all the same thing. We've got to do things, things to keep us happy - and happy for us includes having income, having a clean house, being healthy and having exercise, exploring new places, running around in the woods, etc. So it kind of makes sense that work and play can be the same thing.

Our lovely little town just finished a huge park renovation in downtown that they've been working on for years! It includes all sorts of water features that we are so happy about, and will surely be enjoying a bunch as the Summer just gets hotter! This is how we celebrated Summer Solstice ~




Reed had a friend over and they decided they wanted to earn some money. Which of course is fine with me! I'm super tired at the end of the day, and the house is usually trashed after all the little ones go home, so I'm not opposed to some child labor around the house to get it clean :D

I know for alot of unschoolers, chores can be a sensitive subject. I simply made a chore chart with very low wages, so they can do chores if and when they feel like it. We keep track of what they do and they get paid on Fridays (no cash advances in this house!). It also solves most of the "I want's" in the toy department, since they've got to earn the money themselves! We've had this for a couple years now and it works great, they still enjoy doing the chores at least :)


Happy Summer Solstice everyone!!