Exploring the Unknown (a.k.a. LEARNING)

This is big. HUGE, actually. I get it. This is no small endeavor. I can see it on people's faces when they politely say how exciting it sounds. When you talk to mechanics, carpenters, clerks at the hardware store, etc. When we look into each other's eyes for some sign of "Let's give up!! This is too crazy!! We don't know what we are doing!!". It is not like we don't realize it. And, somehow, the comments you do get on how tough it is or how undoable it is only somehow makes one want to do it more. OR the people who say,"I WISH I had done that when I had the chance!". Mostly, for me, it is about learning. How do you know what you don't know until you step right in it? You don't. But should you stay stationary forever to avoid it? I firmly believe I was taught not to learn growing up. That learning is an awkward and painful process that should be avoided - that you should be embarrassed to show you don't know something. In school, if I couldn't master it quickly or fake my way through it, then I wasn't going to put forth the effort cause it would reveal what a failure I really was. Luckily multiple choice and other school exercises were easy enough to weave my way through. It wasn't until having to attend school in a country where I didn't speak the language woke me up to my complacency. After getting over my acquired laziness I realized...I actually LOVED to learn when given the opportunity. It took me some time, once out int the "real" world, to shake this trained rat way of thinking inside the box and come up with a new paradigm. God, how many useless years did I waste wondering what my life's career was going to be!?!? Does that still exist? Can't we just experience each moment as an embrace of the unknown - of learning - and not tie to it all kinds of stories about who we are, were, are going to be based upon this one experience?! And yet, this thought process dies hard. For example:

There was a metal plate over this and two heaters in the back of the bus that jutted into the middle. We were torn as to what to do since we couldn't see under the plate and were unfamiliar with the workings of the heaters. Should we keep them so we can use the heaters when other heat is not an option - thus also allowing us the ignorance of not tinkering with them? OR do we risk dealing with it? Well, we hemmed and hawed and decided to let an expert mess with it so we wouldn't screw it up. Then, JR was inspecting the radiator hoses to see how to build the flooring around them when a hole opened in one spraying anti-freeze all over the place!!! Hemming and hawing was no longer an option! With Uncle T's help, the system was blocked off and the troublesome piece removed. Repairs were made and now, with the metal plate removed, the inner workings of the system seem much less daunting. Lessons learned.

So after about 20 years of trying to get out of that damn box - learning to unlearn - it is still my thinking patterns/my fears of learning, the unknown, and feeling silly when I don't know something that puts me back inside it. Watching my kids learn and attack something new is the exact opposite. I remember watching W start to use the sewing machine. She would grab some cloth, cut and throw it into the machine. And out would come this amazing piece of learning and experience. And all I could say was,"Wait, you can't do it like that! You need a pattern, and to measure things out, and...and...and...". Which is probably why it has taken me 40 years to learn to sew. There always seemed to be one right way to learn and NEVER (GOD FORBID!) with reckless abandon. Well, here is to the BUS and to RECKLESS ABANDON!!! On behalf of and side by side with our kids in the name of learning to learn! And here is our shout out to more peeps who have come by to learn, help, or just plain snoop!!!

Ah, gotta love neighborhood boys! And BABY LOVERS (and watchers) ALWAYS WELCOME!!!!! :)

Feel free to join them/us! See you soon :)

WE GO SLOW

I have seen this phrase drawn in chalk on the rear of the Unschool Bus, and clearly it is true for us as well. Not only will we be driving slowly through life in our new abode, but progress is also slow. The weather is FINALLY bearable that we don't freeze our hands off working. However, while removing seats we realized it was a two-person job - one up top to use the ratchet on the bolt and one below to hold the nut. This, then, demands that the squirreliest of our brood not get into trouble during that time. Impossible! SO, we could only proceed when she was asleep. And let me tell you, that doesn't happen often enough when you are jonesing to toss seats out yer bus!!!

HOWEVER, it was really fun, believe it or not!!! Trying to figure out the torque and angle of the tools I was using (I know very little about tools), the best position to come at it from, how to communicate with your husband when there is a screaming whirrrrr in your ear and a floor between you, how to focus the light in the hands of an antsy 5 year old, how to involve the kids, how filthy bus-riding children are with their candy wrappers and filthy filth filth filth!!!! We have had a few visitors along the way, some help with kid-sitting, some cool ideas thrown at us, some donated goods, and some real good night sleep (R has slept soundly in his bed every nite for almost a week!). The kids are really getting into it and excited to make their space their own.

So the seats are OUT!!! Now what? We have worked out a floor plan based upon the size of this bus and how the space feels and are now prepping to insulate, frame and work out the issues with the heating units. Feel free to come visit and see our progress, play with a baby, hear our ideas, offer advice, etc.

As we go along we will announce what materials we are looking for in case anyone is looking to unload something. Hopefully we can build this bus with mostly recycled goods. JR got a GREAT deal on some bargain lumber today, but for now we are still looking for any left-over 2 x 4's or 2 x 2's, water tanks, 1/4 inch plywood or any old kitchen cabinets. That's it for now! Cheers!! The Rody-O