Day 24

5th November 2021

Farm School

Country side — On our way to the farm.

When we first decided to home school, we watched Logan LaPlante’s Ted Talk (http://thehomeschoolyear.com/TedTalk) and fell in love with his family’s style of learning which they called ‘Hack School’.

The principles of Hack School are:

Having a creative ‘hacker mindset’.
Participating in experimental classes & camps.
Utilising technology & online resources.
Happy & healthy 8 TLC’s.

Hack Schooling – ‘hacking life’.

During Logan’s research for his talk, he discovered 8 keys to happiness – 8 therapeutic lifestyle changes, or TLC’s for short.

8 happy, healthy TLC’s.

Listening to Logan talk is hypnotising.

How can this kid know so much?

Each week, he spends one whole day outside in nature.

When we discovered farm school, we signed up right away.

It was everything we wanted for their nature day.

Milking goats, harvesting fruit, making jam, chats around the fire, running wild through fields, adventures at the creek, shearing Llamas, playing with the farmyard dog, riding the tractor, planting seeds, tying ropes, working with tools, and on and on and on.

So. Much. Fun.

We’ve been on a waitlist, and we were beside ourselves when we got the call!

Trees in fielid — We’re here!

Note Pepe eyeballing the farm animals. He was ready to go! (We had to bring him because we couldn’t leave him too long by himself on a wet day)

Meeting the cows — Lincoln meeting the cows. (Pepe was very interested in the cows. I’m pretty sure this was his first introduction, ever).

Lincoln & the cows — Being licked by any animal rates highly with kids. They LOVE it!!

In-ground Trampoline — If this tramp could talk.

Llama — If you think this Llama looks a little like a Rockstar after a bender, that may be because it was sheared by the kids. 😂

Goat — Hi gorgeous!

Goat — Pepe was freaked out by the goats. The cows were fine, but the goats, the horns & those eyes, no thanks!

Goat being milked — Although, he did enjoy this fresh squirt of goat’s milk!! 😂

Mila with a bow & arrow — Hunger Games at the farm.

Linc with a bow & arrow

Stories From The Farm

When they walked in the door, I couldn’t understand a thing they said.

They were talking over the top of each other and jumping up and down!

“Mumma, we got to do archery!”

“We can use real axes!”

“I held a bunny!”

“We ran through the forest and played a frisbee game!”

“There was lots of bread from a café and we made toasties on the fire.”

“I had cheese.”

“I ate 5 loaves of bread!” 🤣

“We held baby chicks, and one ran into the forest and we had to catch him, his name’s Dottie.”

“We can do anything we want!”

“We can start a fire on our own!”

“They have a real mine and we can dig with axes!”

THEY ARE SO HAPPY!!

And dirty!!

We can feel something special is starting to happen.

Something really special.

And it feels right.

Muddy Tights — These tights had a great day!! 😂😂😂

The Challenge: Home school for 1 year while not losing sanity or love for children and/or husband.
Contenders: Mila 8yrs, Lincoln 10 yrs, Me (Mum), Liam (Dad), Pepe (dog)
Home School Days: 200

This blog was inspired by the film Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep & Amy Adams.

Julie decides she will take her love of cooking to the next level by cooking every recipe in Julia Childs French cookbook, in one year! 500 & something fancy, technical recipes!! While working full time!

Julie writes a daily blog about her time in the kitchen for herself & other amateur cooks who may, or may not be, reading along. You gotta watch it (http://thehomeschoolyear.com/about/). Or read it here. (http://thehomeschoolyear.com/book)

I loved that she wrote every day. I loved hearing about her small everyday frustrations, with the recipes & with life. It really inspired me to throw myself into something.

The timing was perfect as we have just decided to homeschool our children as a lifestyle choice and I thought…Cool! A daily blog will be perfect!

There must be other families out there wondering if there’s another way to live? Another way to do ‘family life’?

If you’re here, then hello & welcome aboard! Please feel free to sit back & watch it all unfold. Put the kettle on & check in with us each night to see what went down and how we all got over the line. I’m sure we’ll find our rhythm, right?

Are you a homeschool family? If you’re watching the wheels fall off this thing, I’m open to your emails or comments any time. I would love them! I am very friendly, & I could use the help.

Ok, come hell or high water….I’m in. A daily blog, for 12 months. I’ll be right, here.

Kindly, Lisa x