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| Lucky lil' guy hardly wore a nap' all weekend!* |
A few weeks back, the lil' darling and I had the wonderful opportunity to attend an Unschooling Retreat (the first of its kind in Aotearoa, I believe), being held in our other home, the beautiful Pohangina Valley. I had started (erm....) a massive, longwinded intro, but have decided instead, at least at this stage, to just hurry my ass up and put up some photo's. So here we go! Enjoy :-).*
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| Klimt and wriggle toes* |
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| My beautiful boy and I* |
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| Has somebody been walking on a rainbows?* |
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| Drum love!* |
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| One of the laid back discussions* |
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| Kiddlies nearby, as the big folks yarned* |
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| Sisters!* |
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| Adventures of one Frodo ('F' theme fancy dress)* |
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| Ferocious and the faery* |
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| More drum love!* |
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| Boogey time! (Action shot)* |
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| Hey! (Hehehe! This was the view from my bunk- made me laugh often!)* |
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| Bunting with wonderful quotes on it was hung throughout the camp. I took photo's of most, and shall scatter them through upcoming posts :-).* |
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| Possibley the children's/young peoples discussion...?* |
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| We made flags* |
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| We take food pretty seriously! (Seriously- the food was AMAZING!)* |
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| ROOOAAAR!* |
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| One of my favorite singing groups from the saturday night concert* |
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| Keep up!* |
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| Sunday's timetable* |
(And two of the thought provoking, and inspiring quotes).
The feeling of community was undeniable- and it was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life! I've never been surrounded by so many families with whom I have felt such a connection, it truly was blissful! And the joy I felt, being in the midst of so many families searching, and practicing conscious connected parenting, was most inspirational and heartwarming to say the least! It is so reassuring to be reminded that there are MANY other parents out there who are giving their children the respect they deserve (this comment I must elaborate on and say I felt this in relation to all the beautiful attachment parenting I witnessed, and was a part of, through out the whole weekend, from everyone who attended!).
My dreams of a world where this kind of love and mutual respect for each other is the norm, has blossomed into ... well, something far more solid than just a dream! :-).
Arohanui, Tink Xx*
BEAUTIFUL post!
ReplyDeleteThank you Rachel! :-).
DeleteXx*
Awesome Tink, I LOVE that quote, you often inspire me...in many ways! But lately the beautiful Toad and yourself have left an impression that is making me question the way we learn in 'school'. I shall do a lot more brain picking on the two of I think! Don't know if you've been on this blog before but I read an interesting unschooling post here a few days ago....
ReplyDeletehttp://watchingkereru.blogspot.co.nz/
Think I mitre tottle over there for a wee look again myself ;)
Blessed be xxx
YES! I have just found Watching Kereru, courtesy of your blog roll! Have had a wee peek, but it is one of the many blogs on my 'to read much of' list, tucked away for a quiet day ;-).
DeleteI am so glad to hear I inspire you, as it most definately a mutual feeling- you inspire me daily, you amazing Mama you!
Looking forward to much brain picking -I'm very much in that phase of the discovery myself, on unschooling, but I do know with most certainty that it FEELS VERY RIGHT to me, and that, right now, is enough for me :-).
Arohatinonui sexy Mama! Xx*
I always gain so much inspiration from other like-minded families. Thanks so much for this post. It's beautiful and your captions are especially lovely.
ReplyDeleteWe're visiting NZ next week for a couple months. It would be lovely to meet you.
Kia ora Lauren, I would love that! I saw your post on the facebook page, and thought 'oh, I would love to meet your whanau!', but felt uncertain I would have much to bring to the table, in terms of unschooling, as we are very much at the beginning of our journey. But I am, as always, determined not to let my 'uncertainties' get in the way of wonderful experiences ;-). So yes- when you are in the Manawatu there are lots of fabulous families, many of which are friends of ours, to hang out with, and I would love to be one of them :-D. Perhaps we could organise a picnic, or a pot luck dinner or something? Hmmm.... (cogs turning in brain)*
ReplyDelete