My kids are pretty lucky, like most, their week days are filled with formal learning. While we do school via distance and are fortunate to work from our verandah, it is still just a form of English, Maths, Science, History and the like. Sometimes, we even find time in our day to explore our creative talents.
There are triumphs and challenges, good days and the not so good. Sometimes we love it and sometimes we drag our heels. All in all though, everyone is happy and learning in leaps and bounds.
While the school day is full of new and challenging concepts, the kids relish escaping to the great outdoors and the opportunities to work alongside Dad, with their horses, the cattle, the garden and the land. Real life opportunities to develop their thinking minds ….
They get to see the fruits of their labour. Buckets of compost cow manure and attentive watering in the dry mean the mulberry tree provides abundant fruit in the wet.
And even though the mulberries are delicious straight from the tree, with a little more work they can provide a feast for smoko.
Our Berkshire pigs have also been a great provider of life lessons. I smile to myself as Adelaide in Year 2 studies the life cycle of an animal for Science. Meanwhile, after school she witnesses the farrowing of sows, a piglet stillborn, clucky chooks sitting on eggs, the hatching of chickens, a predator taking a chicken, roosters ‘bucking on’ (her terms!) hens, bulls serving cows and piglets ‘being made’. Her morning chores encompass what an animal needs to survive (food, water, shelter …..) It’s real life learning at its best!
Most agree that healthy bodies and healthy minds go hand in hand. With cross country events coming up on our school calendar. the kids have taken training cross country quite literally.
The finish line being the creek! Triathlon perhaps?
Week-ends provide larger chunks of time to be horseback, helping out with our core business of growing grass to produce beef.
It has been ideal weather for grass growing … the days are hot, steamy and humid. The velocity of the grass growth means our fastest pasture rotations are occurring. The entire ecosystem is in high gear, dung beetles are prolific and extremely active.
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