Transitions... Back to Homeschool

It's been more than a week since the last major progress on the remodel.

Scott finished the floors, installed most of the quarter-round molding, and I repainted the baseboards. The electrician installed the new kitchen fixtures. Our friend Brad and his kiddos came over and helped Scott move the furniture back into the house. I still haven't unpacked all the boxes.

Last week I was busy with homeschool planning and prep -- rushing to get ready before spending a lovely, long weekend away at the coast with my mom and sisters for my mom's birthday.

(Bet you can't even tell who turned 60! More weekend pics to come...)

We had a gorgeous weekend at the beach, and I only broke out my planner once. *wink*

My goal before we left was to be able to eat breakfast at home again, so we could jump into our new books in the morning with no distractions.

We'd managed to avoid disposables and the microwave (mostly) this summer by eating at my parents' house, but I finally gave in for the sake of my sanity during this transition.

On Monday, our local public schools welcomed kids back to classrooms, while we spent the morning at a favorite park catching frogs in the man-made creek with some homeschooling friends to celebrate not going back to school. We saved that for Tuesday.

 

(Not my kiddo, but he sure was excited about the frogs!)

On Tuesday, we broke out the binders, the fingerpaint, and the new books...



Imagine my joy when I heard at the end of the day... "I can't wait to do homeschool again tomorrow, Mom!"

Phew.

Have you started your new schoolyear yet? How's it going?

Camping at San Simeon State Beach

A few of us took a break from the remodeling chaos to go play at the coast last weekend. Scott decided to stay home and get s'more work done instead.

Our campsite had a lovely view of the ocean through perfect pines for climbing.

 

The boys made friends with our neighbors, as they always do, and discovered that they were also homeschoolers, and from our same city!

Our new friends shared our excitement when several gopher snakes came out of the brush to sun themselves in the grass around our campsite...

Of course, we had to visit the beach, too. My dad took the boys down to chase the waves on Saturday. On Sunday, the boys and I explored the tidepools...

 

We spent lots of time just hanging around the campfire, reading, making s'mores, roasting hot dogs, and cuddling up together from the chilly breeze.

We were glad for an easy, yummy hot soup to eat when the wind picked up. Here's my recipe:

Easy Black Bean Soup

4 cans of black beans
1 can of corn
2 cups tomato salsa (I used one carton of spicy salsa, and one of pico de gallo)
2 boxes of organic chicken stock
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
Put your soup pot on your camp stove or grill. Drain and rinse the canned beans and corn. Dump everything into the pot, and stir. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. Serve with cornbread. (I made ours at home, and brought it with us, but you could try baking on the campfire!)

A Native plant walk

On Thursday we joined our homeschooling group for a walk along the Kern River to explore our local plant life.

Our guide was a longtime local resident who grew up learning how to live off this land, and who now knows the names and uses of more than 3,000 native plants. Lonewolf is a Native himself, and he is passionate about passing on everything he knows to Native Americans and non-Native alike.

(A bit of advice... If you ever get the opportunity to go on a two-hour nature hike with someone who knows the names and uses of 3,000 different species of plants, be sure to take a pencil and notepad!!)

He showed us plantago major, sometimes called White Man's Foot, because it was brought to this continent on the feet of Europeans. Both edible and medicinal, it was often used on battlefields as a wound healer.

We learned about the chemical properties and usefulness of stinging nettle. We discovered mallow, yarrow and milkweed.

We ate the flowers of a plant that tastes like fresh broccoli. We sniffed a plant that smells like body odor -- and then breathed in the honey-like scent of a locust tree.


We learned how people used to brush their teeth with the ends of horsetail, which grows in the moist soil along rivers.

(If you ever have trouble getting your kids to brush their teeth, take them to the park and let them pick horsetail. Suddenly brushing your teeth is the coolest thing ever!)

As we walked, I realized how often I take our local plants for granted. I'm so used to seeing some of these plants and thinking of them as weeds! Somehow knowing a plant's usefulness makes it that much more beautiful.

The one above is called bedstraw (galium aparine), because it was used to fill mattresses. Lonewolf said it also cushioned Baby Jesus in the manger!

After our walk, and a break for lunch, we sat down to admire Lonewolf's handmade tools, and learn some wilderness skills.

He showed us three different ways to start a fire -- and did it in less than 30 seconds!

He carved his many bows with only his Swiss army knife.

Many of his arrows were sharpened out of found metals.

He also demonstrated a spear-throwing tool that could put a hole in a car door!

On Friday we went to our natural foods store... and noticed a shelf full of the seeds of one of the plants Lonewolf talked about.

He said you could eat a handful of these seeds and it would be all the food you needed for a whole day. Maybe you've heard of chia?

This was definitely one of the best field trips we've ever been blessed to participate in. Thank you, Lonewolf! (And his assistants, Red Sky and Whitefeather!)