Wood Sprite went on a hike last week in one of her co-op classes and somewhere between then and now she came down with her first case of poison ivy. She also went on a hike with her grandfather Saturday, so it could have been then. Either way, I was freaking out about it, thinking it was chicken pox or something. In my defense, there are a bunch of spots!
Any parent will tell you that parenting is messy. After your baby arrives, your life is filled with poop, vomit, spit-up, spat-out solid foods and plenty of other fun things. Long after the babies become children, however, that mess continues—and it’s even bigger when you homeschool.
My yard is a muddy wasteland from Wood Sprite’s experiments. Today she’s been bringing her “samples” inside while I work. She’s analyzing types of soil and mud as part of her new passion, which is being a detective. She’s also been using tweezers and my phone’s camera to collect her data, drawn and written her hypotheses in her journal, and adding things to water to test their buoyancy, reactions, and other traits.
Yesterday, she spent part of the day perched on the kitchen counter, studying the large spider on the window as it wrapped and consumed its prey. Then she tracked in slime and who knows what from the backyard. This is homeschooling at its messy best.
Sometimes I look around and just inwardly moan at all of the messes that surround me—especially when we have company coming over, which is at least once or twice a week. I know that not only is she learning and keeping busy, but she’s also allowing me to work—but sometimes you just wish for a time turner so you can stop and clean up. And although she helps clean up, her way usually means small piles around the house.
How is your house looking this week? Share your messiest stories and photos with us!
Photo courtesy of Wood Sprite. This is one of her pieces of documentation of the spider in our window. I wish we could get a closer picture, but it's two stories up off the ground.
0 comments