Huhtala Homeschoolers

Grandma Debbie got a sweet deal on a really nice incubator at a yard sale. I swear one day the woman is going to find a solid gold nugget at a yard sale, say: "I'll give you a quarter!" and make us all rich!

She let us borrow the incubator and brought a few eggs from her chickens in the hopes that some of them might be fertilized. Jay did all the science with this incubator of getting it to the perfect humidity and we put our eggs in and waited about a week. We then did the candling.



The kids really enjoyed getting to turn out all the lights and watch the eggs glow. Unfortunately, after studying pictures online, it was very obvious that there was no signs of a little life in any of our eggs.

Deb's rooster is a tiny little guy so Jay told her that maybe he wasn't able to get his "business" done with all those big hens :)

Katrina asked me why none of the eggs had babies inside.

Katrina: Can't ALL chicken eggs turn into babies?

Mom: Not all eggs, there needs to be a rooster to fertilize....(sudden silence as she realizes where this may head)

Katrina: What does the rooster do?

Mom: Erm, Ummm, he mates with the hens.

Katrina: OHHHH! They get married!

Mom: EXACTLY!

*Whew* Not ready for that one yet....

Today, I knew it was going to be hot so we started out our day with an early nature walk. Right behind our street is a long country road that has quaint little houses, pastures with big oak trees, cows, horses, weeping willows and LOTS of quartz for Payton and Bella to collect. I brought one stroller so Tyson and Bella could take turns riding. I wanted them to run and play as much as they could. It's probably about a mile walk but it took us over an hour. We had to stop and examine every flower, watch as a huge flock of birds went right over our heads, hide amongst the weeping willows, collect anything that caught our eye as interesting and stick it in the bottom of the stroller, and try to get the horses to come over to the fence. It was a beautiful morning and I think we just enjoyed the leisure of it all.




After seeing the horses, I had to listen to Katrina talk for the next 20 minutes about how she wished they had come over to the fence to see her. Didn't they like her? Could we go back after Daddy got home and try again? Do horses like having flowers in their hair? Could she put one in the horses hair? Could she bring snacks for the horses? Not without permission? If the farmer says we can? I'll bring carrots, apples and sugar cubes. Why can't we just feed the horses a yummy snack without asking? Maybe the farmer will come over, put a halter on the horse and lead it over to us. Did you know that at night, I talk to my animals like they are real. It's hard sometimes to pick which ones get to sleep with me.....If I win a race and win lots of money, I would buy the house for sale next to Grandmas with the horse land and buy horses for everyone in the family. If I had lots of money, could I do that?

I think, just maybe, she's trying to tell me she really likes horses.

Here's a picture of the next day...she had brought a mysterious purse with her. Turns out, inside she had brought just a few baby carrots just in case she saw the "farmer" and ended up using them to lure the horses over. Then she "accidentally" dropped one into the pen. At one point, I looked over and she had materialized one of those plastic My Little Pony brushes from "the purse" and was trying to comb the horses hair with it! Obviously, she had thought long and hard about this.




Once home, my kids gladly got out their nature journals and began to write about their walk. Katrina has written a page already and says she wants to write LOTS. "Pages and pages!" Then, she mailed one to Grandma Debbie. Payton is trying to press some flowers and may get to writing a sentence or two. The amazing thing is, they have been quiet for over 20 minutes and I haven't been out there. Usually I have to be right there directing them and keeping them on task, but for now, life has made an impression on their imagination, and I choose to fade into the background.

One of the great things about homeschooling is that our schedule is never strict. I may write out that we are going to read so much in History, do a science project, and study geography, but if something that is equally educational and much more fun comes along....we choose fun!

Today for instance, after reading "The Princess and the Goblin" together, rather than have the kids do oral narrations I had them go to the table and draw a picture of a scene they remembered. As they drew they began to discuss how they could make a puppet show out of their drawings. Payton began to draw some furniture that was described in a room and Katrina began to make the characters. They are now cutting them out and taping toothpicks to the back of them for their puppet show. We are scheduled to do some grammar, and we'll get to it, but right now we're enjoying our freedom to break away from monotony and get creative. How awesome is that?

As I type this, my older kids have been playing Legos together for 2 hours. It's not even the building of Legos. It's some kind of "pretend" game where they are constantly talking back and forth. They did the same thing yesterday...immediately after homeschooling, they ran to the living room to play Legos together, and played quite well for some time until I had them clean up. Some of the things I wanted out of homeschooling was peace, harmony, and generally just concern for each others feelings. Already, I am noticing that my kids are getting along better. They are playing together without screaming and tattling, and for longer than 10 minutes :) They used to do that all the time but I was noticing that as they got older, they were starting to separate.

They also are going out of their way to make little ones feel better when they cry. Today, Payton offered to help Bella with her preschool book when she was crying while I made lunch, and later, when Tyson was throwing a fit about going to bed KT said, "Kiki read you a book?" In her best baby voice. I've missed this kind of compassion and empathy...it's just been lacking lately. Summer and the lazy days of not wanting to do anything had robbed us of some of it, and I think that now that we are in a routine, working together, there is definitely more stability which brings PEACE.

During school of course we have the typical sibling rival battles. Payton laughs at Katrina getting an answer wrong. She titters at a drawing of the "Mona Lisa" that he attempted. (It was pretty hilarious!) But through all their comments I am right there, able to say, "Hey, don't forget that we are a team! Instead of laughing, you should be encouraging your Brother/Sister to do their best."

"Now.....give me 5 extra math problems!" :)

I LOVE playing the teacher!