Unschooling Diary

Hina has been easy-going in a different environment. Sometimes the hotel room doesn’t function as it should do, but Hina thinks it’s not a big deal as long as we have a good place to sleep. Sleeping is important especially while traveling.

What is interesting is that she is aware of value of money. She compares things with others and finds a better one for that value.

It doesn’t mean that she is cheap but that she would like to spend wisely.

Here is another experience regarding value of money. Once she visited a gem mining place in a mountain. There were people selling gems found in the place. Hina thought that it must be too expensive but I suggested that she should ask the price if she really wants it.

Of course the fair and reasonable price is important. But what matters more is whether we really want it or not. If we buy just because it’s cheap or cheaper than other places, we just care about money not the true value of the things we are going to buy.

Hina fell in love with one crystal. She really loved the shape although the stone is a small piece. She became happy and excited about how she would decorate it.

In a modern society, we might be in a trap of “not having enough money” although our economy is usually better than the past.

Hina knows what she loves and what her soul tells her to do. With that sense, she has started to build a happy life.

Hina and I have traveled in Cambodia for more than 50 days so far. When we travel, we can’t bring everything we want because we move one place to another place. This teaches us a simple life.

Hina can sleep anywhere as long as it’s not too hot. We stayed in villages, where they have no air-conditioning or water supply. Sometimes, it was so hot that we woke up in the middle of the night. But we had some sleep. We can say it was enough.

However, during the day, she was dehydrated because she was so excited to play with her friends and she forgot to drink water. My friend carried her to the car.

Water is really important for our life. But we have seen that in Cambodia, tub water system is provided only to the cities or a center of a province. Some people drink rain water, some drink water from the river. We now really appreciate drinking water, and river or pond water for a shower.

While traveling, we have only 4 kinds of clothes, one pair of shoes, and same bags. It’s very simple.

We are happy when we have friends and meet new people.

No school, no grades, no so-called achievement

We Just live a simple life, which tells us what we really need.

Hina is a happy girl who always enjoy talking and playing. However, she can also be cranky for some reasons. When she is cranky, I try to calm myself down first before I say anything. Then I talk to her to find out the reason.

Hina becomes cranky when she is not satisfied with basic needs of human beings such as getting enough sleep, eating good food, and having entertainment.

When it comes to food, children are picky because they are sensitive to taste. When we travel, it’s hard to find the food we want. So we started to cook by ourselves.

Food is a part of culture and it’s interesting to learn about food in a different area. But I think she can learn it when she needs to, and it’s not so effective if she is forced to taste something.

When she becomes cranky, we try to find a way to avoid it next time. She cries and complains for not being able to have what she wants. I think it’s important for her to share such emotion to understand what she really wants.

It’s also important for me to understand what makes her cranky. We can discuss ways to avoid it , too, that would let her manage the situation.

Math is often the least popular subject for children and also adults. Hina is not an exception. But she created a way to play math, called Math blockies.

Math blockies are unique characters with numbers, +-x=.

We answer math questions with the cute blockies.

As the number gets bigger, she creates a new character.

I am a big fan of Math blockies.

I also answer math questions. Hina and I take turns when we answer. It’s interesting to know which number my daughter loves to answer.

Hina and I watched a video about people saving a life of a squirrel by giving a heart massage. The squirrel fainted after touching an electric wire.

Hina found a moth in a pool and it was still alive. She started to save lives of insects which happened to fall in a pool.

Hina carried a moth to the poolside.

Hina was happy to see the moth being able to fulfill its life.

We visited APOPO demining center in Siem Reap, Cambodia. They train rats to demine.

The rat called Pideth showed us how he demines. He is also a lifesaver!

She has learned about the importance of lives from experiences.

Once she was curious about vegan since I sometimes go to a vegan restaurant. She found out plants also have lives and she says plants should not be treated badly either.

Every life counts. We appreciate that we are here with the support from other lives.

Hina turned 7 years old the other day.

We bought a big birthday cake.

It’s been 7 years since we became a family. It’s quite long if we consider that we have been always together with someone for that long.

We celebrated familyship.

Hina understands me well and we respect each other. I was able to understand more about Hina after I stayed with her more.

We are happier than ever day by day.

She draws me like this.

I love how she expresses my curly hair.

She got her favorite color rubber bands and candies for her birthday.

It’s a gift for us that we we have been together happily.

Hina is an artist and she loves to recycle things for her artwork. When we travel, we can’t carry everything but we can find new values of things around us.

Hina enjoyed using toothbrushes to add texture to her artwork.

We also made puzzles with food boxes and our drawings.

Hina created a new art toy named POP. She recycles pieces of papers for it.

She tries to find a way to recycle things before she dispose of it.

Hina was watching a YouTube video about where the name “Cambodia” came from. She became curious about Cambodia since she has met many people who speak Khmer only these days.

Cambodian people are very friendly to children and they talk to Hina like their child. She wonders what they are talking about and at the same time she became interested in the country, Cambodia.

Her first language is currently English because many people around her including the Japanese speak English. But after she joined the event for the Japanese community in Cambodia, she started to learn Japanese with an app by herself.

When Hina saw me going to a vegan restaurant quite often, she learned about what vegan is.

After Hina met LGBTQ people, she started to watch videos which talk about the topic from a variety of aspects.

When she searches things on YouTube, she watches several videos about the topic, which helps her to know more with different aspects.

When Hina and I were reading a book together, she raised another case on YouTube which also satisfies the conditions. I was amazed that she could add more to the book.

She is always curious and she often asks questions. I try to listen to her questions and either I answer it or I bring it to a discussion.

We were lucky to visit a mining site in Ratanakiri. Hina loves minerals such as crystal. She was able to see how people find minerals under the ground.

This is not a tourist destination but luckily a local driver who takes us around knows where we should visit.

We learned that the workers are from different provinces, and the site belongs to a company. So if the workers find precious minerals such as diamonds, they must inform the company.

But only a few percent of workers can find minerals that would worth their hard-work. Therefore, they also work for the rubber plantation.

Sellers showed ores to Hina.

One lady showed her a big crystal.

It was very fascinating to know how minerals are found and how people work there.

We also visited a yeak loam lake, which was made due to a volcano.

Hina thought that she would be able to see a volcano from the lake. And she was disappointed that she couldn’t. I would like to watch a video with her how a volcano can make a lake.

Hina loves to play Dragon City. She raises dragons from the egg and trains them to let the dragons do some challenges.

Through this game, she learns timing and taking care of others, and moreover, taking notes. She takes notes about the eggs she is taking care of.

The way she takes notes is drawing and writing. She loves to draw to explain things.

This drawing is about how immune system works. She explains it to me in a creative way. She says she gets inspiration from watching science videos on YouTube.