Day 49

10th December 2021

Farm School

When we collected the kids this afternoon, they were wet, and muddy, cold & happy.

I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t put the words wet, muddy & cold next to happy.

They are SO HAPPY when they come home from the farm.

I didn’t think to put them in gum boots today because it was sunny when they left.

I should have known La Niña would show her rainy face. 🙄

Mila’s feet were so cold, when I touched her, she felt dead.

She sat in the front seat of the car, legs splayed apart with one foot on each vent of the heater.

“Ahhhh!” She cooed.

She was wet & muddy from head to toe. Linc was no better.

Sorry, I’m going on and on about it.

Allow me to let her tights to tell you the full story.

Whittle

“Mum! I’ve got a surprise!” Linc began, about to burst.

He held up a wooden tool.

“I’ve been working on it all day!” He continued proudly.

“First it was just for stabbing.” He said thrusting it forward.

“Then Tom said it didn’t have an edge for cutting, so I sharpened this side.” He said.

“I love it!” I said. “It feels really good in my hand. Great shape.”

“I couldn’t whittle because I couldn’t find mine.” Mila said woefully.

“I worked so hard on it.” Her eyes were sad & droopy, like Eeyore’s.

“Oh no baby, I’m sorry to hear that. Don’t worry, it will probably turn up.” I said hopefully.

“So, what did you work on then?”

“My bomb!” She said suddenly cheery & full of energy again.

“Oh, great.” 😳

I was so proud of his knife. He whittled it out of a whole piece of wood, smoothed the edges & I meant what I said, it felt really good in my hand.

Ergonomic!

Candy Cane

When I was a kid, I don’t remember getting candy canes at every turn at Christmas time.

I swear, kids just coast through December on these things.

They LOVE it!

We did our bit to spread the candy cane love and took a packet to share with the kids at the farm.

One of the teenagers couldn’t eat them because they stick in his braces & so they decided to melt the candy cane on the fire so he could drink it. 😂😂😂

So thoughtful! 🙄

So hot! 🤣

Liquid hot sugar poured over metal inside your mouth. Mmmmm, yum!

They put the candy cane in a metal cup and put the cup on the fire.

“It turned into toffee!” Mila said.

“And it was all black and burnt.” She continued.

“Did he drink it?” I asked.

“No, he said it was disgusting and he wasn’t going to drink it.”

Baking & Bunnies

In the afternoon they baked a cake.

“From scratch!” Mila says. (We usually buy a packet mix with the weekly grocery shop, as we have to bake gluten free for Liam & I haven’t quite mastered the GF flour medley just yet).

“It was vanilla.” Linc said.

“Then we cooked match chips in the fire and Maddy held the black bunny all afternoon.”

“I whittled the whole day.” Lincoln reiterates.

“Maddy held the bunny all afternoon?” I asked.

“Yep, she cuddled him for hours.”

I thought about that. Usually, kids get to hold a bunny for a few minutes at the petting zoo or if they have a pet at home, maybe a bit longer, but a whole afternoon?

I imagined the pure joy and calmness she felt, as she sat quietly stroking that soft bunny by the fire on a wet day at the farm, for as long as wanted, which was hours.

What a gift. To not be interrupted, or scheduled or tasked or moved on. But, to just sit & enjoy an afternoon with a bunny.

Play

I was talking to a home school mum about how powerful the kids are when they come home from their farm day.

My friend said she recently attended a talk from Pasi Sahlberg a Finnish Professor, author, teacher, & a heap other accolades I can’t recall right now, and he is advocating for more play in our schools.

He says Australia has the longest school day, the longest school term and then home work on top of this.

He is fighting for the education system to revolutionise, and see the power of unstructured play.

I don’t know a lot about this topic.

But I can tell you, Lincoln & Mila learn more in their two days at the farm and at ocean school than any time they’ve ever spent at school.

School talks about fostering a love of learning.

But our kids hate learning the way school teaches.

The biggest predictor of happiness & success is mental toughness & resilience.

Both resilience and mental toughness are developed through experiential learning.

I know I’ve said it before but, there is a transformation happening in our house.

With our kids.

And it’s only been 12 weeks of home school!

They are calmer. They are happier. They are empowered. They are engaged. They are in control.

And they are delightful.

Growers

Ooh, and look what happened to our biology experiment?! Our seeds have well & truly sprouted!

Growing seeds this way allows us to see how the water and the soil work together. 😁