Life is Homeschooling

Visiting my friend on her farm is always the best reminder of what homeschooling is all about. Because they run a little homestead, their entire life is "homeschooling". A lot of the things us "city folk" think of as part of our program is just part of their life because they don't have a choice. They need to live off the land they have, they can't go into town every other day and shop for prepared foods, and electricity is too steep out in the country for them to be running a dryer. However, although many of us DO have a choice, we can choose to make some of the same decisions her family has made, and get the children and family much more involved in the running of the house as part of the homeschooling day.

One of my friends once said, "I don't have a nature table. I LIVE in nature" - H's family is like that - they naturally do a lot of things that we need to make a conscious choice about.

When it came time to start the fire to roast hot dogs, the eldest daughter and Mosi collected the wood and started the fire. The younger boy gathered the roasting sticks and the middle girl gathered all of the food items from the house and brought them out to the picnic bench. H sat by (taking care of one of the foster babies) directing her little group like the skilled manager of some major company. When late afternoon came, she asked the girls to make bread. Without hestation, they went into the kitchen, mixed the ingredients, let them rise for the proper time, and then called everyone to come shape some of their own dough. As we chatted H and I took down the wash that had been hung on lines the night before. The highlight of the day for my children was of course "chore time" - the children looked for eggs, checked to see if any of the hens that were sitting had hatched any eggs, cleaned the duck "pond", chased the ducks into their pen for the evening so they would be safe, watered & fed the sheep and mowed the lawn. Weeding had obviously been done on a daily basis because the garden looked gorgeous!

I enjoyed a spelt sandwich with fresh tomatoes and fresh basil. My favorite thing to eat is basil and tomato sandwiches...my friend was so sweet to remember!!! I ate two of them...I usually don't eat so much! LOL!'

My friends on FACEBOOK can see some more photos of our visit at:

A Day at the Farm

Blessings & Health,

Kristie