September homeschooling mornings

The sun is creeping over the horizon earlier and earlier as we leave true winter behind us. The boys are obviously feeling the warmer, brighter mornings and are getting up, getting dressed and going outside to play long, elaborate games before breakfast. Last month, we couldn't drag them out of bed till the fire had warmed the house. 

This is one of the things I love about homeschooling - the mornings. They're so much more peaceful and free. Stay in your warm cozy bed and read half a novel in winter; head outside, feed the animals and use your imagination to create a game full of extraordinary characters and twisted, complex story lines in spring. I wonder what mornings will bring in summer and autumn?

Back when the boys were at school, mornings were regimented - get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, pack lunch, pack your backs. Then the boys would beg for a half hour of 'screen time' before the had to go to school. Don't get me wrong, I love a good routine and I think that in our society, sometimes they are the best things, but routines that feel unhappy aren't good.  

Mornings were one of the first things that made me think about homeschooling the kids. Mornings where they just didn't want to go to school.  I know we all have those mornings, but the boys weren't being lazy, or hating the schoolwork. They weren't being bullied or struggling to get through the day. They just wanted to stay at home in a place that felt warm and comfortable. They wanted to be with their animals and hang with me. And I wanted to continue the brilliant discussions we were having (those of you who have ever had a discussion with our kids will get that!), I wanted to teach them about our world and see what their clever little brains were capable of. 

Six months into our homeschooling journey, we've had plenty of all of that. Playing with, or just being with, each other and our animals. Detailed discussions about politics, religion, history and science. Days spent working in the garden and days spent learning maths concepts and getting super excited about solving crazy equations. 

We've made posters, read lots of books, done boring worksheets, walked/roller bladed/scooted for miles, dissected organs and built things. We've done so much in this six months and yet haven't even scraped the surface, and I'm starting to understand that those little brains, inside the gorgeous heads of my kids, really are quite brilliant and capable of amazing things. 

I don't know how long our homeschooling journey will be or what the outcomes will be. But for now, I'm looking forward to lots and lots more happy, relaxed mornings and plenty of awesome living, loving and learning in our home. 

Homeschool Dairy Farm Excursion

We've been homeschooling now for a few weeks, and the general consensus is that we're loving it!  Every day is something different and we're loving the freedom to learn what, when and where we want.  I'll fill you in on some of the things we've been doing soon, but today's post is all about this morning's excursion.  It was our first opportunity to meet up with our local homeschooling group, and we joined them on an excursion to a dairy farm.....

Lachie: We woke up early in the morning to get out of bed, get dressed and get in the car.  We were already running a bit late.  For breakfast, we had muesli bars that we had made yesterday - yum!

Tracey:  It was the coldest morning so far this year!  The car was frozen when we went to leave, but the views on the drive were spectacular of a terrific sunrise over misty country.

Jamie:  The drive was 45 minutes.  We eventually drove past where we were supposed to go, eventually we got there,  thanks to mum's terrible navigating! (T: AHEM!!!)  When we got out of the car, a couple of people were already there, so we walked up to the dairy for the first bit of the excursion.

Lachie:  We went and saw the calves, one was bigger than our goat and only two days old!  Then we went to the dairy, the cows got milked and then when they were done, they would kick the milking machine off because it was sucking too hard.  Me and Jamie had a go at washing the cow poo off the yard with a hose and then we went to see what the milk did next.

Tracey: Travis (the farmer) did a terrific job of showing us how he milks his cows.  It was great to visit a small (320 head) herringbone style dairy - they all seem to be huge rotary dairies around here these days!

Jamie: Washing the yards was my favourite part.  The hose was really strong, you felt like you were going to be pushed back.  The poo went down a drain and into a pond.  Then we went down to see how the milk was processed next and got to look inside the vat at all the fresh milk.

Lachie: Next, we went and fed the calves.  One had been taken off its mum a bit early and took a bit of time to get there and there was another one who thought it was a bit special and stole the bottle off it!

Tracey:  The kids helped feed hay to the calves too and spread out rice hulls for them to sleep on.  Then they loaded up for the highlight of the day......

Jamie: All of the kids got into the trailer and we went off on a trailer ride to see where the cows go.  We went under the road in a passage that they made a year ago.  The cows used to cross the road, but people got sick of waiting for the cows to cross and since it was a tourist road it was pretty busy.

Lachie:  The trailer ride was my favourite bit.  We followed the cows all the way down, went under the road, then turned around.  We saw the hay bales being turned onto the ground.  It was cool.  Then we went back to the house to turn some of the milk into butter to have with some date loaf that we had brought - yum!

Jamie:  Just before we left, we were playing on the trampoline with the kids that we had met that were closest to our age.  We had a good day.

I had a lovely time meeting other homeschooling families (and other thermomix owners! - LOL).  Thanks so much to April for organising the great excursion and to Crystal and Travis for being such great hosts.