One of the best parts of home schooling is the luxury of time. Right now, in America, in my life, in my little neck of the woods, time has revealed itself to be the ultimate luxury. Time to draw in notebooks, type story after story into the computer. (Aley has one called The Ware Scream about a werewolf who, well, you know, has a spooky scream), take the canoe onto the pond, read books (In the last month Ivy has read the entire Hunger Games Trilogy, Scumble, and The Neverending Story), ride bikes to the cemetery down the road, do way too early polar bear jumps into the pond, ask lots of questions, including the BIG ones, and have lots of time to discuss parental responses (note I didn't say answers. I don't think I can claim a lot of certainty. Only faith, hope, and love). There is so much time for hanging out, watching movies (Sol loved Harvey with Jimmy Stewart, which is tied with Harold and Maude at my favorite movie spot!), making cookies and brownies, reading out loud (right now it is Peter Pan), and hanging out in Cheyne's shop listening to reggae and Big Star and learning how he makes toys and beds and cabinets.
One of our favorite things is long afternoon playdays. We share snacks and get to have more and more friends on the trampoline and tire swing. Cheyne might be working at home, in the shop, or clearing trees or double digging beds in the garden. I get a table full of mamas to open my heart to, to share hospitality with, and to help me remember the kind of parent I really want to be.
Playdays are so rad.The kids get four to five hours of play in the big wide Houstonia woods. The olders, all in early teen years, spend hours in the woods playing The Hunger Games. For my children this is blessed socialization, much better than any sort of fabricated class. Us mamas plan to set up volcano making stuff next week, just putting the materials out and being willing helpers. This time feels personal, and I can see this in my children as we continue on this journey. The idea that, for the most part, their time is their own. There is something so empowering about this, it is humbling to watch, and I am experiencing this in my own life as well, although on a smaller scale. I DO feel that my time is spent with way more discernment than in the past.
We are all learning and growing free together, and playday is bringing us likeminded friends to be with on this road. I am blessed.
