Hello!  Happy Thursday, and welcome to Homeschooling Is Life!  It is my pleasure to contribute here on the Homeschool Blogger Front Porch.  Let’s see, what shall I share with you today?

Since my philosophy of Homeschooling revolves around natural learning or teachable moments, let’s talk about that!  How has your Summer been treating you?  Ours has been chock full of teachable moments and yesterday was no exception.  Many homeschool Mom’s are taking the Summer off, and I don’t blame you!  Take a break, for goodness sake!  But for those of us who are a little less regimented, Summer is just part of the un-routine.

My kids and I seem to be a little less flexible this season than we usually are.  We suddenly have become farmer-wannabe's!  We got involved in a CSA program and so once a week we do work on an organic farm in trade for a share of the crop.  I can’t tell you how much work it is, how much fun we are having and how many new varieties of vegetables we have already eaten.  It is all of that and more!  The blessings are abundant. 

 Here are a few glimpses of our day:

We have bagged, weighed and counted bags of green beens,

Cleaned, washed and bundled French carrots,

Bunched and tied garlic,

And dug and pulled and pulled and pulled bindweed from two loooooonnnnnnggggggggggggggg muddy rows of tomato plants.  It was SO muddy out there that it would have been brainless to take my camera out.  You will just have to take my word for it! 

Now, these are all life-learning kinds of things, but what about the teachable moments that might be mixed in?  When you have your kids on a farm, it’s not always peachy and keen---sometimes it gets a little sour and dirty.  For instance….what if someone is complaining because someone else isn’t doing their work right?  But the one that is complaining isn’t working……because they are complaining…..see?  How do you work that one into a lesson? 

Well, God has a good word for everything, it seems.  I encountered this situation today and instead of just hollering at the child and getting nowhere, I said something like this:

It may not have been that contrived, but that was the gist of it.  It is amazing what a little word picture will do, to turn things around in the mind of a child.  I think it worked!

As Mothers we have to deal with this sort of “gardening” day in and day out.  And I think it is exactly how the Lord planned it. 

Don’t pass up a chance to teach, using a teachable moment.  And if you don’t know what to say, just ask the Master Gardener.  He wrote the book!

Homeschooling Is Life!

Nancy

Nancy Baetz is out-standing in her field……well, she can be found standing (or leaning over) in a (sometimes muddy) field at least once a week this Summer with four muddy kids of various sizes.   She enjoys the challenge of teaching her kids most days but can occasionally be found hiding out by herself with chocolate in one form or another.  When you get your Summer 06 issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, be sure to read her article on Trains, then stop by her blog and let her know!  You can find her at: www.homeschoolblogger.com/byhisgraceincolorado

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