Wordless Wednesday: Our New Flying Fox

 

 

Little Boxing Day on the Prairie

Boxing Day in our family is the day when we do something a bit different. Since the snowflakes, especially #2, have been very much into the Little House books, our project for this year was to approximate a day in the life of the Ingalls family in the 19th century American West.

We didn't plan our activities, but decided we would try to have a 'normal' day with as little as possible reliance on any technology that the prairie family wouldn't have had. So, late the night before, we turned off the light circuit and switched off all other electrical devices except for the fridge and freezer (we weren't going to use these, but they needed to stay on to prevent food spoilage) and Daddy Snow's essential work computer servers, which were shut in the Contraband Technology Room along with the snowflakes' torches and calculators and our mobiles. We disconnected the telephone and the water mains, leaving the tap way down in the front paddock to function as our 'well' for the day.

In the morning, the snowflakes were eager to get up and start the day. To get into character, we were temporarily renamed as Pa, Ma, Mary, Laura and Charles. As soon as everyone was dressed, we realised that the females were looking very unseemly in our trousers. We went and changed into long dresses, and I dressed the girls' hair with ribbons and put mine up into a respectable Ma Ingalls bun. We had a quick chat about the different roles and expectations for men, women, boys and girls, and then it was off to the well to fetch our first load of water, before making a start on breakfast.

We didn't attempt to replicate Little House style cuisine, but we did ban processed food and frozen or refrigerated items with the exception of milk (because the Ingalls had a house cow), and cooking could only be done over the fire. Pa and Charles got the fire going while I made up a mixture for oat and buckwheat cakes (no Google to find recipes!). Frying over the fire, we finally discovered why my great-grandfather's iron pan had such a long handle. The oat cakes were actually quite good, especially when drizzled with maple syrup and accompanied by a cuppa from the hot water in the billy. After breakfast we had to heat more water for washing up, while the girls grated the soap. In all, with the water carrying, fire building, cooking, eating and cleaning up, it took us two hours to do breakfast: about four times as long as usual.

After cleaning our teeth with 'tooth powder', it was time for the snowflakes' lessons. We aimed to give them just a quick taste of the difference between schoolwork in earlier times and the things they do nowadays, so we galloped through our few sample lessons very quickly. We did Bible reading, alphabet and word drills, writing on a slate (blackboard) and we also split the class up to practice Latin with Charles while his sisters worked on their sewing skills. We practiced immediate obedience with no arguing or negotiation; I suspect I could get to like my children saying "Yes Ma!" and racing to do whatever I say with nary a moment's hesitation!

With school lessons out of the way, we went outside again to do the chores. As we don't have any cows or horses to look after, we concentrated on our crops, doing some weeding and harvesting carrots and broad beans from the vegetable garden. Naturally, the girls had to be careful to keep their sunbonnets on lest their complexions be ruined by the sun. Next on the agenda was cheesemaking. We 'milked the cow' (this involved one person making the toy cow moo while another sneakily raided the fridge) and used the milk to make a cream ricotta for our lunch, which we ate with fresh fruit. The children went to get water for about the fourth time so that we could heat some for the washing up. After this, they were permitted to have some free play time. There was some consternation when they found that many of their favourite playthings were plastic or otherwise anachronistic and therefore not permissible, but they ended up having fun with the wooden railway set (a slight compromise, but they weren't going to be happy with nothing but a couple of dolls for an hour).

For afternoon tea, Daddy Snow helped them make some currant damper: more Australian then American, and made from white self-raising flour (a bit naughty) but very tasty nonetheless! Most of the rest of the afternoon was spent singing around the piano and reading aloud from By the Shores of Silver Lake. Then children found a secret nest where some of the hens have been laying, so we had eggs to cook for dinner along with the fresh carrots we'd picked earlier. By this time it was almost sunset, so we heated up the bath water and set up the tub next to the fire in the late sunlight. The children enjoyed their outside bath; once they had powder cleaned their teeth again and got ready for bed, there was just enough daylight left for a couple more chapters of our book before bed.

Next time, we'll probably put a bit more planning into this activity. It would be nice to make some authentic food, and it would have been good to get some kind of a washing board so we could do the laundry. We could also think about finding / making proper costumes. But overall, the day was a success. We all had a good time, and ended up with a better understanding of what it might have been like to live in a more low-tech world. Probably the biggest hassle was the lack of running water; we lost count, but I'd guess that we did about ten trips to the 'well' to get water for drinking, cooking, washing up, hand and face washing, and bucket flushing the toilet a couple of times (we chose to allow the modern toilet as it wasn't practical to construct a safe non water toilet just for one day). Lack of internet would come a close second. Snowflake #1 said not being able to turn the lights on at bedtime was the worst thing, while #2 missed being able to jump on the trampoline the most. They all said they liked being able to eat lots of maple syrup, since that is normally a fairly rare treat for us, and they thought it was fun cooking and bathing by the fire.

The kids are very keen to repeat the experiment, so if anyone else has done something similar - or is planning to - and has any suggestions, please let me know.

Ps - I would have had some great photos if my phone hadn't been locked away. Blame Daddy Snow.

Weekly Report - 24 December

This week has seen lots of excitement for the snowflakes.They went to their cousin's birthday party. We visited the Botanical Gardens.  Snowflake #2 and I went carolling with her Girl Guides group at one of the local hospitals, after which Daddy Snow and the other snowflakes joined us for a play and swim at the Hobart Aquatic Centre. Tuesday was Litha, Summer Solstice. Although the weather didn't co-operate - it was the coldest midsummer in years, cloudy, drizzly and windy - we had a fun day, and enjoyed the evening with some friends.

For our craft activity, we made these simple solar wheels out of cinnamon sticks, yarn and (what else) pipe-cleaners: they were quick to do and smell nice on the Seasonal Table. We also made a Litha poster which the snowflakes decorated with glitter: another winner, as they pretty much enjoy anything that involves throwing glitter around. We planned to set up this easy sundial, but it was too cloudy so we didn't end up doing it until today. For their presents, the snowflakes got a set of vouchers for various fun family activities to be done over the next month or so, as well as the traditional gift of a book apiece.

No sooner had we celebrated Litha, then it was time to get into Christmas. We brought out the nativity set, adorned our little spruce tree with yards of rainbow coloured finger knitting, and told Christmas stories. Yesterday, our lovely piano teacher brought around a big batch of Christmas cookies, and the children had a delightful and messy time decorating them. Tonight Daddy Snow will take the snowflakes to see the lights in and around our neighbourhood, and tomorrow we'll have our Christmas walk and picnic with their grandparents.

 
A bit of formal schoolwork has been  slotted into various odd bits of time in between organised activities, seasonal cleaning (we have been a bit late with cleaning up the house and sorting through the children's clothes and toys), and just mucking about and relaxing. As year round home schoolers, we have the luxury of being able to take things at an easier pace, so we've been mainly concentrating on reading this week: me reading to the snowflakes, and the elder two reading to me. I'm very happy with the progress they've made, not to mention slightly surprised to notice that #1 is now reading books himself that I was reading to him at the beginning of the year.

Weekly Glimpse - 17 December

The weather might not be very summery yet, but we are seeing the turn of the season in the form of a huge amount of growth outside. We have got these beautiful peaches almost ripe, as well as apricots and nectarines coming. We're eating the strawberries and raspberries, and we can see a bumper crop of blackberries just beginning to form. The fruit has got to be my favourite thing about summer!

The snowflakes have been making their own fun rather a lot this week while I was sick. Here is #2 in her pipe-cleaner glasses that she made for pretending to be Jack from the Magic Treehouse books.

We borrowed this Mr Face game from our wonderful local toy library. It's designed to help children explore emotions and facial expressions. We spent some time playing with it together as per the instructions, and then he spent some time making a cyclops, and alien, and so on.

Also at the toy library we met this venerable oak tree which turned out to be perfect for climbing.

Weekly Report - 10 December

It's been another rather busy week here at the snowflake headquarters. After spending the better part of the last two weeks in bed, Daddy Snow has been extra busy catching up on work while I deal with the children, the house, and trying to ignore the cold I've developed. We ambled through some work on the 3Rs, mostly just continuing on from what we were doing last week, and the snowflakes pursued some of their own learning too.

We restarted  International Food Day, with yesterday's menu featuring cuisine from Syria. For the main course, we had kibbeh, a tasty traditional dish comprising mainly burghul, lamb and baharat (spice mix), and salad. Snowflake #1 had been feeling quite aggrieved about us not always having a dessert with our international food, so he helped me select this 'Syrian Walnut Semolina Cake With Figs And Chocolate'. It was easy to make and liked immensely by certain sweet toothed members of the family. The next country we have drawn is China, which should be interesting, as we have agreed to look for something that we have not tried before, rather than using the same Chinese style recipes that we would normally cook.

We marked St Nicholas's Day by telling some special stories, and the children found chocolates in their shoes. We learned about how these legends contributed to the idea of Santa Claus. The snowflakes decided to make some colourful summer decorations for the lounge room, to surprise Daddy Snow. They also did some colouring in in preparation for starting a Summer wall display. The elder two have been feeling a bit sad that extracurricular activities have been finishing up for the year, however we have a few different educational activities planned for the school holidays. They have also been creative with setting up their own 'classes' at home, for example teaching the stuffed toys gymnastics tricks.

Unschool Wednesday (because it doesn't matter what day it is when we don't go to school)

After reading some truly inspirational blog posts by Owlet Mama and her friends, of I've been thinking about how natural learning happens, and I have come to the conclusion that it's a bit like The Secret.

Now, that's a book I read - or rather, skimmed - once and wasn't into at all. Apart from the major philosophical and ethical problems (such as the corollary that if somebody is suffering due to poverty, abuse or a horrifying illness, it's probably because she brought it on herself!), I just don't believe that it's possible to "manifest" a parking space (unless, perhaps, you have a large bazooka fitted onto your car to assist with the displacement of annoying fellow drivers). If you visualise a parking space and suddenly see one in front of you, it's nothing more than normal laws of probability combined with greater attentiveness, a bit of confirmation bias and selective memory. (Did I mention I'm an inveterate skeptic?) But just because the magic doesn't work doesn't mean it's not a good idea to focus on the positive things that you'd like to see more of in your life.

It really works for me with the snowflakes' learning. Every day, things happen around here that could be seen as learning, or could be seen as, well, not learning. Today they were sitting at the table fiddling non stop with their serviettes*: folding, scrunching and generally faffing about. My initial response was the typical controlling parent's admonition to "stop playing and eat your food". This being rather less than effective, I would normally briefly consider escalating the issue, decide it wasn't worth it, and just resolve to put up with the annoying behaviour. But today I had a Good Mummy Moment (TM), and succeeded in re-framing annoying behaviour into learning behaviour.

We looked at a few websites on napkin folding until we found one with easy to follow instructions. We all sat down and tried making various rosebuds, bishops' hats, turkeys, diamonds and so on, as well as one or two of the children's own designs (oh, and a slight detour into nappy folding, because that comes to my hands more automatically than serviette folding!). When they'd had enough of looking at formal table settings and folding shapes with fabric, they segued into folding paper planes, and thence to paper cranes, which they remembered from a book we'd read a couple of weeks ago. Snowflake #1 is now interested in origami, while #2 decided to go off and start making some cards for her grandparents and teachers. Meanwhile, I'd forgotten to be irritated that their table manners aren't perfect, and remembered to love their creativity and the way they learn. (And made my first ever successful paper crane!@)

So there you go - I can manifest a bit of unschooling if I put my mind to it. Maybe the magic works after all?




*Note for American readers: serviette is Australian (well, OK, French, but let's not split hairs here) for napkin. Nappy is not to do with hair; it is short for napkin, and is Australian for diaper. 

@ If you would like to make one but, like me,  have the spatial ability of a flatworm, here are the easiest to follow directions.

Weekly Report - 3 December

This week was more light on with the academics than I would have liked, because Daddy Snow has been ill and the snowflakes have been taking it in turns to be sick and/or unsettled.

We had an excursion to attend a "Predators and Prey" group learning session. Snowflakes #1 and #2 took part in a range of activities including a food pyramid, an insect hunt, making a web of life, and modelling typical predator and prey behaviours such as freezing so that they would be more difficult to see, while #3 played and watched the ducks. The children also spent quite a lot of time watching the insects in the garden at home: bees, wasps, mosquitoes, butterflies and beetles.  We observed the caterpillars on one of the eucalypt trees, and how they congregate on this year's new leaves. We found a frog in the house, so the children had a good look at it and felt its cool skin before we released it by the water out back. We saw that the frog took us for predators and exhibited prey behaviour; we discussed how one creature can be both predator and prey within a food chain/web, and talked about what lifeforms the frog would eat and what would eat it. We revised the idea of metamorphosis, and started making a poster of complete versus partial metamorphosis.

The snowflakes listened our Robin Hood CD several times, resulting in a flurry of questions about everything from the church and politics in the middle ages through to food, clothes and naming conventions, as well as a renewed interested in swords and other  weapons. They are keen to find out about archery, so that's another thing for the bucket list.

The elder two worked on and off on their word and number skills. As we have been practicing with all the snowflakes reciting their full names, address, phone number and date of birth, I got #1 to practice writing these things down. He is also learning to write his signature. #2 finished her writing workbook and has been doing colouring in while she waits for me to find her more writing activities. They both did some revision on addition and skip counting to one hundred in twos, fives and tens. #2 looked at hundreds, tens and units using Daddy Snow's high tech rolling pin counting machine.

Snowflake #1 has been reading The Magic Treehouse and revising M100W and MMW, but he will soon be wanting something a bit more challenging, so we'll be looking out for more reading for him. #2 finished section 5 of OPGTR and will be going over boxes 2 and three of Fitzroy Readers over the next few weeks, which she is looking forward to. She also had a look at abbreviations, and asked for spelling help with various things that she wanted to write.

Naturally, the highlight of the week was the beginning of summer. The snowflakes enjoyed cleaning off the Seasonal Table and resetting it for summer, complete with gorgeous new beexwax candle shapes that will be lit at Solstice. We often look at some stories, poems or music for the season, and one of the selections this time was Summer is Icumin In. As well as introducing the children to Middle English and the whole idea that languages evolve over time, they were fascinated to see what the old musical score looked like compared to modern notation. With summer came Advent Calendars and the annual talk about why we begin summer by putting up pictures of the snow. We set up the Advent Table: currently it just has a candle wreath and some nativity stories; we'll set up the nativity scene just for the days between Solstice and Christmas.

Secular Thursday: December for Non Christian Kids

It's that time of the year again, when Daddy Snow and I try once more to find the right way to do December and Christmas.

Like many parents, home educating or school educating, secular or not, we look at the dominant messages of the Christmas season - presents, Santa, busy-ness, spending, rushing around, excessive consumption, panic - and want to give our children something better, more meaningful. For Christian families, that meaning-gap is filled with the Christian message of divine love and light. Pagan or pagan-inspired folks in the northern hemisphere can easily shift the emphasis onto Yule with its midwinter merriment, since much of this is already incorporated into mainstream Christmas. One friend refers to this season as Familymas, a nice alternative focus that would resonate with many.

I know that there are also a few people who eschew the Christmas hype by trying to avoiding it altogether, but there's no way that would work for us. Firstly, because said hype is so ubiquitous that we'd have to keep the snowflakes locked up for November and December to prevent them from developing Expectations: run into an acquaintance at this time of year, and instead of saying "how are you?" they will use the seasonal greeting "so have you done your Christmas shopping yet?". This means that if we choose not to celebrate Christmas, most of what the children will glean will be the commercialised aspect of it. Secondly, the snowflakes enjoy Christmas in moderate doses. We give them Advent calendars, put up a a few decorations, do some special cooking, tell the story of baby Jesus, and allow them some money to donate to a (prescreened) charitable cause of their choice. We don't give them Christmas presents, although one or two relatives kindly give them things. Thirdly, I can't live without Christmas, because I adore the carols. (For one month in the year, I live Christmas carols, and metamorphose from a comparatively mild mannered alto into a rabid soprano so I can belt out the descant lines, to the terror of anyone nearby!)

At the same time, we celebrate the Wheel turning towards midsummer, and Summer Solstice (Litha) is our most important day in December.

Litha is a time of brightness, purification and healing. It is a time to meditate on the aspects of light and dark both within us and in the world around us. Litha is also a time of celebrating outdoors and enjoying the warmth of the sun and the beauty of nature. Rituals and celebrations that involve bonfires, music and handfasting are common during this time.

This year it will be very propitious because there is going to be a total lunar eclipse that night. So we'll be happily celebrating then, and still celebrating a few days later when it's time for the Kings College carols. We'll dress our Summer Seasonal Table up for Solstice, and then place baby Jesus in the nativity set on our Advent Table nearby.  It might look like a strange juxtaposition to some people, but we like to have our cake and eat it. And, as far as the snowflakes are concerned, you can't have too many special days.