We Will Survive...and Flourish!

House Projects

Rob has worked hard the past few days on his "honey-do-list" and it's coming along.  He loves to paint and has put oil on our teak furniture that came with the house.  The porch will be b.e.a.utiful after they dry, he also power washed the porch yesterday; there is a lot of mildew because of the constant humidity.  It's so nice and clean that I wondered why we didn't do this the first week.  

I'm not sure if it is true of all men, but mine feels that a trip to the hardware store is necessary before any task.  This is not the most productive idea seeing that the nearest one is a 20 minute drive and Home Depot is nearly 45 minutes! I talked him out of it...and that is how the porch got finished.  He has however made 2 trips in the painting of oil on the outdoor furniture.  Hey, I can't control everything! 

Survivalist Training

Rob took the boys to Mount Victory Camp and participated in their Wilderness Skills Workshop.  They had a great time!  Of course, Nathaniel fell in love with their dog, who was adopted by the instructors of the camp, Tom and Carmen.  Overall, they learned plant identification, what is edible or not, what is useful like Snake Grass which they used to make rope that they in turn used to make bracelets.  Rob made fire from two sticks and was so excited he talked about it for days! They made a shelter, using machetes to chop down materials.  We are all feeling more confident about 'rouging it' if we ever have too!

Run Forrest Run

While at Mount Victory the boys played a game called Screaming Cheetah.  Basically, they went to the top of a hill and ran down screaming at the top of their lungs. They would scream until they couldn't scream anymore and at that point they would stop running.  The object of the game is to run farther than everyone else.  The purpose of the game is to increase stamina and lung capacity, this is an important skill if you were really in a survival situation.  Christian won out of the three of them.  They had a lot of laughs and I think we'll try it again, I should have this one in the bag with my yogic breathing and all.  

Homeschool

The boys are more confident than they've ever been about being homeschooled.  I brought up a conversation about school and asked if they wanted to go back in the future.  I received an emphatic NO WAY!  This was a little bit of a surprise coming from Christian, he was so unsure in the beginning.  It's been a little over a year now, a year that mostly consisted of de-schooling.  

The boys were so used to being "forced learned" it has taken this long for them to find joy in learning.  The idea that learning didn't need to be boring and painful was idea that was new to all of us, even I, in the beginning felt so much pressure to "keep them on track" and "not fall behind".   I've learned is that those ideas are antiquated and fear based.  

It's still a process to believe in myself enough and accept that I am perfectly capable of teaching my children at times.  In the recent weeks,  I've trusted a higher source to lay out the education for each day, to teach from the heart; when I trust myself to have those days, our lessons are filled with joy and I know they are absorbing everything.