We did a lot in 2017, though there’s no way to capture it all in only a single image each day. Yet that’s what I set out to do, and it turned out much better than I had dreamed. Hopefully my pictures over the past year have provided a glimpse into our Unschooling life and the many ways in which we learn and explore the world around us. Though the kids have changed and grown enormously throughout the year, they’ve retained their same enthusiasm and love of learning new things. They always seem to be embarking on some new adventure.

To finish up the first year of The Unschooled Lens I chose one picture from each week of the year and put them together into a single gallery. Perhaps together these pictures will give a more varied and interesting look at what 2017 was like for us. Enjoy, and stay tuned for another year of The Unschooled Lens!

Snow is always fun, especially when there are big frozen chunks to carry around.

She’s been an artist for a long time, but her brother is starting to follow in her footsteps. He produced a good polar bear sketch for a four year old.

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Big sisters make great bedtime story readers.

Sometimes the best art projects are the really big ones.

N celebrated by helping to make Cherry Berry Wonderland pies! He was very proud of his handiwork, and of course they tasted great!

Our Spheros are still pretty novel, and they had a great time trying them out in a new place.

The Viking exhibit at DMNS is pretty cool. H particularly liked learning about Viking fashions – dyed clothing, jewelry and the like. The boys were more important interested in boats, armor and weaponry.

Branching out from her usual artistic expression – posters cover huge expanses of her wall – she decided to start a paper garden. This is just the initial morning’s planting – it’s become more elaborate since.

They’ve been begging for two way radios for a long time, and have a blast now that they finally have a pair.

N wanted to help refinish an old school desk, and had a blast trying out the orbital sander.

The kids went to an open barn this afternoon to meet some friendly Alpacas and learn about their wool.

They had a blast at their first book signing, and really enjoyed meeting a real life author!

Mrs. Hatter is currently doing the bedtime readings with one of her favorite books, A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park.

She recently learned to cook one of her favorite foods, and decided to make dinner for the whole family. It was delicious!

M has an infectious personality when he’s happy. And as you can see, he was very happy walking around with Mrs. Hatter, who took this picture.

It was hot, crowded, and wonderful. The kids absolutely loved it, and are already planning to return next year, as well as to practice their own chalk art this summer.

Our hike was best summer up in the words of M, age 3, “Dis is such a wonderful day! My first time hiking in da mountains! Dis is such a wonderful day!” Now, it wasn’t actually his first hike in the mountains, or even close to is, but he doesn’t seem to remember all the way back to last summer. Regardless, he was right that it was a wonderful day.

It’s the kids version and they love it. It probablt won’t be long before they move up to the full version.

These two spent the better part of an hour plaing with old micro machines. They really love trains right now.

We spent some time this afternoon learning a new board game, Kiwetin. Despite a few problems with the rules, we managed to have quite a lot of fun.

This morning we headed up to NCAR to study weather. The Cloud and Tornado exhibits are always a big hit.

He’s geared up and ready to go!

After a drive in the mountains we went for a short hike at Settler’s Park in Boulder.

He loves his setup, and his gradually discovering how to use it.

Bridges have been a topic since of serious interest in our home lately. Luckily they have the materials to build their own!

M loves puzzles. He built his most recent one very quickly, without any reference to the picture on the box.

They found sizeable Mantis after chirch this morning and had a great time watching it and coaxing it onto their hands.

Chess club starts soon, so he’s working to prepare for it, and doing very well!

New paper, pencils, and drawing books can make for a great afternoon.

They just keep finding more and more of these little guys.

She loves writing, and spends quite a bit of time every day working on her story. I’m not sure what it’ll be like when she’s finished, but I’m excited to read it!

We really enjoy the Ninjago tv show as a family, so today I took five of the kids to the new movie. It was quite a disappointing movie, but we still had fun together!

They’ve been working on ambitious chalk art. A jungle scene, complete with monkeys, a sloth, a moose, a beaver, and a cherry tree. Maybe they don’t quite understand jungles yet, but that’s okay.

Today he spent a couple of hours constructing spaceships and “weird mini-figs” to pilot them.

The entire morning has been consumed by the construction and operation of a DUPLO railroad. H has been a great big sister, helping M to design amd build it all.

They had a blast today, all costumed up along with some assorted cousins.

They enjoy building tents so they can read together in peace and quiet

He may enjoy quietly building by himself, but he’s also a very active guy. He tends to make the most of a trip to a playground.

He loves sketching animals at the zoo. He also loves wearing his Pterodactyl cape.

She loves playing dress-up, and she’s got great style.

Today he made Play-Doh snakes. Lots of them, including babies, mommies and daddies. Then they joined together to make a Snake Monster. The kid has a fun imagination.

They were having a great time with a chess tactics book this morning.

N loves teaching his little siblings new things. Today it was time for M to learn to build his LEGO sets, so naturally N volunteered.

We spent the whole morning at the coffee shop, reading and listening to music.

He loved his peacock cake more than he had words to express!

It’s New Years Eve, which this year means candy, popcorn, and a movie! Our Potterheads are having a great time, and it’s a fine way to end the year.