My boy checked out "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" by Edgar Allan Poe.  This morning he bundled up, perched himself in the hammock, and swayed there reading out loud to himself, the cat, the chickens, and our old dog who was full of saucy chill-inspired wrangle and was running in playful circles in the yard.   What's remarkable about this, other than the fact that it was 38* outside, was that Poe is hard for him.  He's having to work hard to read Poe.  Poe is a challenge.  The first real language challenge this kid has encountered in a long time.  I admire him for meeting it and I like his style.  

Academics constantly fret over perception.  Worrying worse than any character ever imagined by Poe, that children won't comprehend what they read.  Which is obviously not an issue with unschoolers.  Children who are free don't read what they don't understand, any more than I would pour over text in Sanskrit.  Unless they are pushing themselves.  And if left to themselves, they will push out and up in their own time.  No need to test.  They teach themselves to mastery.  A phrase for which I am thankful.  

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.  ~e. e. cummings

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - Tolkien
The Boneshaker- Kate Milford
121 Hours Between a Rock and a Hard Place- Aaron Ralston
Streams of Silver- R.A. Salvatore
The Halfling's Gem-R.A. Salvatore
The Crystal Shard- R.A. Salvatore
Homelands- Salvatore
Exile- Salvatore
Sojourn- Salvatore
Virals- Kathy Reichs
Scorpia Rising- Anthony Horowitz
Snakehead- Horowitz
Crocodile Tears- Horowitz
Eagle Strike- Horowitz
Ark Angel- Horowitz
The Bromeliad Trilogy (Truckers, Drivers, Wings)- Terry Pratchet
The Brother's War- Jeff Grubb
The Thran- J. Robert King
The Knife of Never Letting Go- Patrick Ness
The Ask and the Answer- Ness
The Maze Runner- James Dashner
The Scorch Trials- Dashner
The Lab- Jack Heath
The Angel Experiment- James Patterson
School's Out-Forever- Patterson
Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports- Patterson
The Final Warning- Patterson
Max- Patterson
Angel- Patterson
Fang- Patterson
Beyond the Deepwoods- Paul Stewart and Chris Riddel
Freeglader- Stewart and Riddel
The Winter Knights- Stewart and Riddel
The Curse of the Gloamglozer
The Princess Bride- William Goldman
Heir Apparent- Vivian Vande Velde
The Ninja Handbook- "The International Order of Ninjas"
Dragons of Autumn Twilight- Margeret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Dragons of Winter Night- Weis and Hickman
Dragons of Spring Dawning- Weis and Hickman
The Magic of Krynn- Weis and Hickman
The Last Straw- Jeff Kinney
Dog Days- Kinney
The Last Straw- Kinney
Geektastic!- Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci
Unicorns vs Zombies- Black and Castellucci
A Crack in the Line- Michael Lawrence
The Underwood See- Lawrence
Small Eternities- Lawrence
The Moons of Mirrodin- Will McDermot
A Walk in the Woods- Bill Bryson
In a Sunburned Country- Bryson
Notes From a Small Island- Bryson
Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life- Bryan Lee O'Malley
Scot Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness- O'Malley
Scott Pilgrim vs the World- O'Malley
Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together- O'Malley
Scott Pilgrim vs the Universe- O'Malley
Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour- O'Malley
Things Not Seen- Andrew Clements
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy- Douglas Adams
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe- Adams
Life, the Universe, And Everything- Adams
Paranoid Park- Someone
Pathfinder- Orson Scott Card
Ender's Game- Card
I am Number Four- Pitticus Lore
The Lost Days- Rob Reger
Stranger and Stranger- Reger
Dark Times- Reger
The Eternity Code- Eoin Colfer
You Killed Wesley Payne - Sean Bedouin
Evil Genius - Cathering Jinks
Genius Squad - Jinks
Genius Wars - Jinks
Chesapeake- James A. Michener
They Shoot Canoes, Don't They?- Patrick McManus
The Good Samaritan Strikes Again- McManus
Night Watch- Terry Pratchett
Stuck on Earth- David Klass
You Killed Wesley Payne- Sean Bedouin
The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl - Barry Lyga
A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie- Matt Blackstone
Beat the Band- Don Calame
Black Hole Sun- David Macinnis

(A bunch of manga)
Hangman's Curse- Frank Peretti
Nightmare Academy- Peretti
Touching Spirit Bear-Ben Mikaelsen
Ghost of Spirit Bear- Mikaelsen
I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class
President- Joseph Lieb
Some of the short stories in "Firebirds Rising" --Edited by: Sharyn November.
Epic- Connor Kostick
Saga- Kostic
Edda- Kostick
Spud- John van de Ruit
Spud- the Madness Continues...- John van de Ruit
Tales of the Madman Underground- John Barnes
The Web of Fire- Steve Voake
The Dreamwalker's Child- Voake
Goth Girl Rising- Barry Lyga
Run With the Horsemen- Ferrol Sams
The Pit and the Pendulum- Edgar Allan Poe
Preludes and Nocturnes- Neil Gaiman
The Doll's House- Gaiman
Dream Country- Gaiman
Seizure- Kathy Reichs
Bonechiller- Graham Macnamee
Dark Angel- David Klass
A Spell for Chameleon- Piers Anthony
The Source of Magic- Piers Anthony
Did Somebody Step On A Duck ~Jim Dawson
This Is All- Aidan Chambers
Dark Eden- Patrick Carmam
1984 -George Orwell
Inheritance- Christopher Paolini

Paying attention without getting distracted by the beauty and math of the farm and cows may be my biggest challenge there, after training. Yesterday I peeked under the grain silo, to see the exact point where grain pours over the metal lip, into plastic buckets. That ten second pause nearly created a mess it might have taken an hour to clean up. I'll have to focus on the exact point of the present moment, instead. I'm going to take a camera over there one morning when I'm not on the clock.

Back home on our tiny farm, which only gains in charm and right-feeling the longer I work at a bigger place, the guys are building a new and proper goat barn. For now it sorta looks like wooden Goathenge. We are so excited to get the goats into a luxury crib and the hay off our front porch!

Dear girl has been reading her way through a series of books from Girl Town, what grown southern women traditionally call "beach books." At her age, delighted reading is the goal. I don't care what she reads. Educationally, neurologically, reading for fun is one of the best things kids can choose.

Yesterday she asked to go the library for more books. She's getting tired of beach books and wants to branch out. She picked up "Pride and Prejudice" and I tossed "The Bean Trees" by Barbara Kingsolver onto her pile. Either of these choices might resonate with her. But that doesn't matter. The point is, children will always challenge themselves when they are ready. This reminds me so much of the moment her brother spent some time with Edgar Allan Poe. Free children always reach for more at the point of need.

I've mentioned, many times over the years, how pleasantly startled I am when I get those moments of recognition that unschooling really works. I believe it works. I enjoy our unschooling life. I see my kids growing and changing and getting smarter. But still, its very difficult to buck the system. Humans are community dwelling apes. We aren't really hardwired to shun the will of the group easily. Especially when it comes to raising the baby apes.

So when one of my kids spends time voluntarily wrestling down Edgar Allen Poe or the other one cranks out a seven page short story that is pretty dog gone tight and well written by any standard, let alone judging the first attempt of a 12 year old, when one decides to study math in earnest, when I see them both slowly developing what looks like intellectual calm, I try to pause and remember unschooling works.  We aren't running on faith here. We are running on results. Sure, that pleases my ego as a mother.

But as a former school teacher and as a human being, what really pleases me most is the idea that we can  do this better. There are easier and more effective ways to educate the baby apes. Scholars are beginning to take note and I am filled with a warm happy glow at the thought of something better, less corporate and bureaucratic, more loving and intelligent, for society's children.

I'm sure we are all aware of the new common core standards of education for public school. The people who decide such things, the people who formally dictate how to educate the baby apes, the most penultimate scholars (one would hope) have decided to move children away from fiction. They will be forced, instead, to read non fiction. Perhaps that makes you swallow hard? Perhaps your mind quickly searches for something high-minded enough to replace fine literature. Ah, you think of essayists and rest a moment. E.B. White, Frederick Douglass, Ralph Waldo Emmerson, Craig Childs... You have to cast a broad net, but you can see possibilities. Force yourself to recall that St. John's College teaches from original documents only. Perhaps the common core standards will have children pouring over The Constitution and The Bill of Rights and, um... other really important non fiction documents. Right?

The most biggest smartest apes have decided what to teach the baby apes. We shall teach them how to read instruction manuals. And 70% of student reading shall come from non fiction sources. Seriously? It is becoming increasingly difficult for me to take institutional education seriously. Something is really wrong with those big fat-headed apes over there. They are bumbling simple and crude.

A poet is someone who can pour light into a cup 

then raise it to nourish 

your beautiful, parched, holy mouth. 

~Hafiz