Planting Strawberries

After being gifted about a million strawberry plants by my neighbour - which is fine with me - I took the younger two out to the garden, and we began to plant them.

Although only 7 and 5, they were very careful with the plants. I showed them how to identify the strawberry's crown (the part of the plant that the leaves sprout from) and how to be sure they weren't burying it too deep. I asked them to bring me some straw, and when they arrived with it, Squirrelly Girlie said triumphantly, "I know what this is for! It's just like at Mary's!"

She remembered going raspberry picking at the neighbour's last year, and how all the rows were mulched with straw. We talked about that, and how the strawberries like their tops warm and their roots cool. This led to an epiphany about why strawberries are called strawberries. It was all very fascinating.

The Wee Man used his toy ride-on tractor to bring more straw, like his Granddad does for the sheep. He soon went to play on the swings, and that was fine too. He'd had his experience with the plants, and he'd learned a few things.

I'm sure by the time we're done planting everything, they'll be sick of strawberry plants. But for now, it's fun, and the fun will return when we get our first berries.

A Whole New Level of Home Making

There are a lot of resources out there for teaching kids cooking, cleaning and care of the home. Many of these are targeted to the Christian homeschool market, with mothers and daughters specifically in mind.

But how about this: Mommy drywalls the new bedroom, sands it and paints it.

That's a whole other way of looking at home "making"! But it's an important one. In our house, stuff like this happens because A) Daddy couldn't possibly do it all himself, plus work a full-time + overtime job, and B) Daddy likes building things, but not the finishing work.

So it fell to either me or the professionals to put the finishing touches on our basement reno (Part 1, Part 2). Since we don't have the money to hire professionals.... I got to role-model an important life skill to my kids, and in particular my girls.

I know there are also plenty of guys out there who are hopeless with construction and renovation, but as a woman, I want my girls to know they're capable of taking on things that some would consider "guy" tasks. In my experience, things like this come naturally when role modelled by the parents. For example, I never considered critical thinking unusual or arcane, because it was modelled in my childhood home through discussion and active social participation.

That's life-led learning. You tackle what life throws at you, and let your kids watch you at it.

Going Bananas In The Kitchen

Today, we took a bit of a day off. Nine-year-old Banana Brain took over the kitchen, which she enjoys doing from time to time. This child has gotten skilled enough that we basically let her do whatever she wants. She knows how to follow a recipe, and of course how to measure and mix.

Today, she made a large quantity of peanut butter cookies, with the idea of stashing them in the freezer for guests. We'll see how many of them make it past Daddy. :~)

I check in with her often in this process - "Do you need a hand with anything? Have you found everything you need?" But the answer is usually the same. She'll come ask if she has a question or a problem.

"I'm fine, Mom," she answers happily, and goes on creating her culinary masterpieces.

Holocaust Memorial Day

Since Sunday was Holocaust Memorial Day, I took out a book I got at the homeschool conference last year. It's called "Tell Them We Remember," and it's very sad, because it focuses on the children and teens who were affected by Hitler's regime.

We only read a small part of it. The kids are feeling a bit of emotional overload, after the discussion of the Virginia shootings yesterday. When I mentioned that conversation again, my five-year-old plugged his ears and looked very upset.

The world is a rotten place. Thankfully, our home is a happy one. Said five-year-old is now out soldiering around the (perfectly safe, murderer-free) yard with the water gun he got for his birthday, patrolling for cats in the flowerbeds. That's the only shooting spree we have to worry about around here. Thank God for our life.

The Family Tradition of Dialogue

Although no one wanted to do much formal bookwork today, what with the first warm days of spring upon us, we did have some very interesting spontaneous discussions.

For one, a minor rebellion from the peanut gallery involved the question, "Why do I have to learn anything?" So we talked about the fact that society does not owe us a living, and moreover, that in this culture, people are conditioned not to give a care for the most part. We talked about the long-term consequences of a lack of education - social marginalization, employment problems, basic life management problems. All in smaller words, of course.

Somehow, this transitioned into a discussion of sexuality. (Yes, although the kids are age 11 and under, this gets airtime in our home, but at an age-appropriate level.) The topic was feelings of attraction and the long-term effects of relationship breakdowns. Much as we are a Christian family, the kids know I didn't live a Christianized lifestyle as a teen and young adult. When we talk about the pitfalls of premarital sex, we talk about the real-time heartache, and possible physical side effects such as disease.

Then, at supper, Dave brought up the Virginia shootings. I took out a magazine from Focus on the Family which featured an article called "Killology." I read most of it, and we learned some new vocabulary words: Desensitization. Operative conditioning. Psychology. Frontal lobes. First-person shooter.

The discussion featured several side trails, including the random attack on a school attended by relatives. We talked about conscience, about why kids would "act out" violent games - "Anytime you guys watch a movie, you go get your toys and play the movie, don't you? You play Cars with your Hot Wheels, and the Barbie movies with your Barbies."

Banana Brain, who is a very intuitive 9-year-old, asked, "If they turn their conscience off, then can they ever get it back?" The article answered this question as well. Since the article also mentioned the link between understanding consequences, completing schoolwork, and taking on adult responsibilities, we ended up revisiting our earlier discussion on the importance of a good education.

Discussion has been the primary source of embedded family learning for three generations in my family. I can recall being in the tent out at my grandparents' cottage, lying awake and listening to them discussing and preparing my older cousins for life away from home. The family shares its wisdom, experience and skills this way.

Also in the family tradition, I try to ask non-leading questions that provoke critical thinking by challenging their assumptions. They're now starting to get ahead of the game, spontaneously bringing concepts together to form networked ideas. We're slowly beginning to move into a stage where we can generate ideas and use each other as sounding boards to test those ideas.

It's a very natural, connected way of learning, and is a core facet of life-led learning. Learning by doing and by discussing go hand-in-hand as we mentor our children by daily experience. The main thing is that it's dialogue, not monologue. As the kids participate, they process and take ownership of ideas. In spite of the issue of audial learning retention being "least efficient" on average, this kind of discussion actually roots more deeply than many other, more formal types of learning, because of the way it actively engages the kids' minds.

Dance Exams

The three older kids completed their tap dance exams this afternoon. There was a lot of nervous energy in the house all morning, but surprisingly few fights.

They came back with wonderful scores - there was a 96, a 97, and even a 100%. I'm not assigning names to any of these, because the 96 was disappointed, and the 97 burst into tears about not also getting 100, like Other Child did.

We were very impressed with them. We were told that this examiner was a fairly tough one, and, reassured the teacher, "Getting a 95 is like getting 100 with this examiner."

It seems we have a perfectionist in our midst. However, the important part from my perspective was that their practicing was almost completely self-motivated, that they helped each other practice, even across grade levels, and that they obviously gave it their best in the exam room.

As we told them, this is practice for getting a driver's license, passing job evaluations, and completing the myriad of skills testing that happens in the work world today.

Ready for EasterCast

We have a total of nine tunes lined up for our EasterCast, which will be taking place tomorrow at Faith Roots. The kids are very excited. As soon as we got done recording the last track, Spazzerific asked, "When can we do our next podcast?" He is generally very reserved in his enthusiasm, so I was pleased to have that question from him.

In preparation for tomorrow, here are our "program notes," explaining who is doing what parts, and what styles of music we're learning/demonstrating with the kids:

1. Hiding From the Storm Outside - a capella bluegrass (recast)
Spazzerific (junior bass) Banana Brain (lead), Squirrelly Girlie (high alto)

2. Jesus, Lover of my Soul - classical
instrumental arrangement by Cat

3. I've Got Peace Like a River - bluegrass
Dave (banjo), Spazzerific (string bass, harmony vocals), Squirrelly Girlie (harmony vocals), Banana Brain (lead vocals)

4. Piano Meditation - classical
instrumental improv by Cat

5. What a Friend We Have in Jesus - jazz
arrangement by Cat

6. In The Shadow of Your Wings - gospel
Cat (keyboard), Squirrelly Girlie (harmony vocals - own arrangement), Banana Brain (lead vocals)

7. Schroeder's Amazing Grace - jazz
instrumental arrangement by Cat

8. Rock of Ages - bluegrass
instrumental arrangement by Dave

9. Jesus Loves Me - gospel
Cat (keyboard), Banana Brain (lead vocals), Squirrelly Girlie (harmony vocals)

Planting Season Begins

Our home business is a Community-Supported Agriculture project. People buy memberships at the start of the year, and we deliver vegetables to their doorstep for 10 weeks through the growing season.

Today, we started green pepper and tomato seedlings, or so we hope. The kids helped out, putting soil into the potting trays and doing some cleanup. We log what we've planted, how many, and on what day. We also log the time spent, so that we can track the value of our work input.

Through our CSA, the kids are learning plant science, business skills and the life skills involved in growing your own food - something sorely lacking in the developed world.