Day 34

19 November 2021

Mad Mornings

We only have two days a week where we need to be out the door by 9am & those days are hard! πŸ˜‚

I hear myself falling into old patterns, like before we started home schooling.

“Have you brushed your teeth?!” I call out while packing lunches in bags & looking for last minute things.

“Mila get dressed, we have to go!”

“I’m tired mama.”

Argh!

It was a bit like that this morning. It hasn’t been long since we started home-schooling, but we sure do love our lazy mornings.

But today was farm school, and we had to hussle!

A Call From The Farmer

I hadn’t long started my day working from home when I got a call from the Farmer.

“Listen, we lost one of our calves this morning. The group discussed cutting it open to have a look inside & I just wanted to check you would be ok with that?”

“Ah, yes that sounds like a wonderful learning experience.” I uttered awkwardly feeling like Bridget Jones.

Bridget Jones

I remember growing up on our farm & watching a cow struggling in labour. Her calf had 2 legs out and had become stuck.

The vet arrived and pulled it out with a rope and a winch of some sort. The calf was dead.

I’ll never forget standing there watching the mama cow licking her baby over and over and trying to moo it into life.

But it never moved. 😞

So I knew, whatever happened today they were going to remember it for life.

Advanced Biology

I was dying to talk to them & hear all about their day.

The dead cow day.

I didn’t realise it would get so, hands on!

“First they showed us how to take its skin off.” Lincoln begins. 😬

“I didn’t watch, I went to eat lunch on the trampoline with some of my friends.” Says Mila.

“He just ripped it off like a carpet.” Linc continues.

“I was on the trampoline.” Mila keeps telling me.

“Then we cut its vein. Oh Mum, you should have seen how much blood came out! It was black. It was really dark blood.”

“I ate my strawberries and my kiwi fruit. I saved my pizza for after.” Mila continues.

“Then we cut the oesophagus and looked at the lungs. They were so squishy and red!” Linc is telling me EVERYTHING!

Then I breathed into its oesophagus & blew up its lungs.

GREAT BIG GASP!! 😲😲😲😲😲

“You what?”

“Yeh, we took turns. We covered our hands around the top and blew into our hands like this, and then the lungs blew up!”

“I didn’t do that mama.” πŸ˜‡

“Then I held its heart in my hands. It wasn’t beating. Then I felt my heart go bang, bang bang! And I had to sit down and eat some pizza.” πŸ• πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

“Its heart was so squishy and it is NOT shaped like a heart.”

So yeh, that happened.

Waterfall (Take 3)

I said, “So what happened next?”

“We went to a waterfall!” They said excitedly.

Honestly, these poor kids. πŸ˜‚

“Oh no!! Did you find one this time?” (My fingers and toes were crossed).

“Yes, we did and we went swimming!”

“In our clothes” say’s Mila.

“I got cold, but I got cuddles from Jade the helper.”

“I went behind the world!” Says Linc, meaning behind the waterfall. 😍😍

I said to Liam, “Looks like another man’s cut your grass darling.” (Yes, I did feel straight out of The Castle when I said that. Sorry Millennials, look it up).

The Waterfall

A special kinda childhood. They finally saw a waterfall & this time, it didn’t disappoint. 3 times a charm as they say.

Goat Hot Chocolate

After the waterfall adventure.

They were cold & in desperate need of hot chocolate.

Luckily, a mama goat had very full udders and they all had turns milking the goat.

“First, you lock it off. Then you squeeze one finger at a time and pull down & then the milk squirts out.” Mila tells me.

“The teat felt fat & warm & squishy” She continued.

“Wow, what does goats’ milk hot chocolate taste like?”

“Like cow’s milk” Linc says.

“It was yummy” Mila adds.

Mila milking a goat
Mila milking the goat. She was so proud of this. 🐐 πŸ˜‚

Meanwhile

While all of this was taking place, Liam went for a surf and met some friends for lunch.

I love where we live. 😍😍😍

His shots are breath-taking. (Go Liam!!)

The beach
White sand one day, golden the next. We really do have the prettiest LGA.
Love this man!

Liam had a peaceful ride home.

They were utterly exhausted from a big day of learning & doing & feeling & being.

Linc sleeping
Mila sleeping.
He hadn’t even started the engine. πŸ˜‚

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

Can we be friends?!

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