We were thrilled to be featured in the New York Times. We had an interview on Skype, a professional photographer at our house for hours as we played with Aliceana, he probably shot a thousand photos, so many had to be adorable.

When I clicked over to the live link. You might as well have heard horror music, the dirty door, not the dirty door. You see, this is the back door, the door that Trio destroys with mud every single day, and it’s gracing the headlines of the New York Times. The rest of the house and backyard were tidy as Hell, the NY Times was going to be at our house, we were frantically cleaning everything, but that damn door. It’s not even close to the cutest shot of Aliceana either, most of the day she went sans mask which is how she likes the costume.

Why is our dirty door, adorable child, and playful dog gracing the business section of the Times?

We’ve always parented with a bit of a Montessori attitude. We let her choose everything within reason, we ask which color plate she wants with dinner (9 out of 10 times she picks blue.)

We ask her what she wants to be for Halloween and give her every single option.

We go to the zoo almost weekly and ask her which animals we should visit this week (getting a zoo pass was the best thing we did as parents, in and out of the zoo in about 45 minutes each time.)

We let her choose what she wants, and it’s worked wonderfully. It’s also the reason why we’re choosing to unschool her versus conventional schooling. It’s a wonderful way for us to live life and learn as parents too. Stopping off at museums and vacationing in major cities is now an educational experience for all of us.

We want her to learn at her own pace, and to be interested in whatever it is she’s interested in, without the peer pressure that school mates provide. If she wants to love science or math, good, she can, and without the stigma of, oh math is for geeks.

Being a geek is awesome by the way.

Speaking of being unconventional and geeky. You should read Felicia Day’s new book (affiliate link, go buy it)  You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost.) It’s all about being yourself always, which is a great mantra for kids and adults alike.   

Why do you want to be a super hero? To save the dogs, of course, but apparently her Dragon that she rides on is gone. #AvengersUnite #ad #superhero #halloweencostume

A video posted by Brittany B (@thedomesticgeek) on Sep 28, 2015 at 4:57am PDT

We’re in the New York times, dirty door and all. I promise I’m going to be using all of the Magic Erasers on the back door until it’s spotless. I pinky swear.

Here’s a fun image I put together that’s more-Pinterest worthy, we would love if you shared it!

You can read the NY Times article here. It’ll be available in print tomorrow!