{SQT} Summer Farm Tour

1. Father's Day

On Father's Day, I flubbed up on both Chris' gifts and he cooked all his own food, but we still had a great time and he felt loved.

No, but seriously . . . I tried to buy him new slippers to replace his torn ones and I ordered the wrong size and from the wrong company. Considering it takes me months to get to a post office to exchange things . . .

And then the other gift I got him didn't quite work out of the box, which was frustrating. At least his Mom got him a "Best Dad Ever" shirt, which is fitting because Chris is extremely devoted to his family and everything in his entire life really boils down to whether he thinks it will help his children get to heaven.

Chris cooks Sunday breakfast for us every week and I was perfectly prepared to take over this week, but he got the idea that he wanted to try making crepes for the first time and he wanted to do it himself, so I was his sous chef and herded children as per our usual routine.

Then he requested brisket for Sunday dinner, but there was no way he was going to let his vegetarian-from-birth wife ruin his favorite, expensive cut of meat (no, he didn't say that, it's just TRUTH), so he cooked that, too. I mean, he won't even let me shop for his cut of brisket or the aromatics: he always drives to the store to select them in person to make sure they're exactly right, down to the best carrots! So, I made the side dishes and all that while he made his glorious entree, and afterwards he drove us to Rita's because that's what he wanted for desert.

2. Farm Tour

On Tuesday, I took the children to Lineberger's Maple Springs Farm for a tour on one of its Homeschool Days. I recommend this to my local friends, noting that it was aimed at little kids, so we had a good time as a family, but the school program part of it is best suited probably for grades 5 and younger. That said, all ages enjoy picking blackberries and eating a picnic lunch together!

For only $5 per person, we listened to a sweet and engaging talk about pollination that used felt and puppets to explain everything. We will forever think of Bartholomew Blackberry when we eat the black fruit.

Then the children each got to plant a seed and take it home, about which mine were all highly enthusiastic.

Then we headed off on our own to pick one quart of blackberries each, feed the chickens, and we could have played on the extensive playground except that I could tell energy was fading fast, and not just mine, but they would never confess to being tired.

3. Baking

We came home, napped, and then baked a blackberry pie, which was dee-licious!

The next day we baked a blackberry upsidedown cake for a neighbor . . .

. . . and the day after that we baked two dozen blackberry muffins. And we still had three quarts of blackberries to freeze!

4. Hard Working Boy

Meanwhile, John (12) had made a growing-up young man decision to stay home because he landed himself a new, weekly lawn client in the neighborhood. We could have waited around for John to finish his 7:30 a.m. job, but it was a big one and he was going to be late enough returning to delay us considerably. I explained that the program was geared toward the younger ones anyway, so he decided to simply put his nose to the grindstone and then stay home while we left for the farm. It was poignant for this Mama seeing my very young man taking a step toward behaving like a Man, as Good Men often have to choose work to support their families over leisure and pleasure.

5. Learning

We are getting into the routine of summer school and I think it's going well. One of our best changess--an idea passed on to me several years ago that I should have tried then--is to buy the MP3 files for our Apologia science textbooks. The child reads the textbook while simultaneously listening to the author read it. This helps tremendously much with boredom, with any early or struggling readers, and with even typical readers to know how to pronounce scientific words. My kids are loving listening to the science (and there is no video component or exciting bumper music) and wish they could do it daily instead of twice weekly.

Listening to and reading science

Learning about fractions

Learning about the Donner Party

6. Folk Music

Repeatedly this week, the kids have spontaneously retrieved their instruments and sheet music to make music together. That makes all the lessons and practice doing classical music over the years and all the times I've managed to refuse to turn on the TV worth it. We desire them to be active participants in their own entertainment, not passive ones, and we want them to seek out each other, not their own solitude.

7. Breakfast Date

On Thursday, I had a breakfast date with a friend, causing my littler ones to grab my legs in protest and follow me out onto the porch. Then my 6-year-old ran after me and put a wine cork (a treasure!) into my hand to remember him by.

Later when I got home, immediately he asked me, "Mama, did you keep my wine cork?"

Of course, I did!


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