Farming

Today was the last day of school before the long summer holidays and as we have decided to follow the ways of the wise old salmon fish and swim against the current today was our Leaving The School day. Next year we will be home schooling the three oldest, Alanah will be in year 2, Elijah in year 1 and Lillian will be easing into Kindy with a gentle program as she isn’t 5 till March and I don’t want to push her and turn her off the excitement of learning. We aren’t going into this with wide eyed ignorance, believing that our days will be filled with sun soaked lessons in waving fields of grass dotted occasionally with iridescent butterflies or that the children will lovingly guide each other hand in hand through smiling maths lessons. I am fully aware that quite a lot of those bold little fish end up swimming their way through a bears digestive tract. In other words I know we are going to have our ups and downs but I’m hoping for more of the ups and less of the downs.

The school day ended with a teary farewell assembly and then a jaunty romp around the school in search of a lost ball and then when the ball was located in search of a lost boy who had been looking elsewhere and had some how misplaced himself. After we had pulled ourselves together we were the last to leave so by the time we finally waved the school gates goodbye we had gotten over being sad and were onto admiring Christmas cards and hunting for more candy canes to add to the seasonal sugar high.

Lani showed me the picture on her farewell card. It was a shot of her milking a cow at the schools farm excursion, she was smiling awkwardly and not really looking at the cow. 

"Hey" I say " It’s the cow photo, good on ya for giving it a go this time" (it’s only the fourth time she’s been to this very farm and tried to milk a cow, probably the same cow too)

Glowing smiles from back seat

"What’s your favourite farm animal" I ask knowing the answer

" A pig, because it’s PINK"

"What about you Eli, what’s your favourite"

"NOTHING" (Way too much sugar in this one)

Insert a serries of snarky comments along the lines of "What colour fur does a Nothing have and does it like to eat carrots"

" You can farm snakes’ I throw out there hoping a little controversy will get them off Eli’s back

"No you can’t" says Lani who knows everything

"Well you can milk them"

Insert chorus of disbelieving WHATS!!!  they never believe a word I say, this Home schooling thing is going to go great, I can just feel it.

I explain snake milking, and then, so they don’t think the human race has completely lost the plot, I explain the reasons why they do it.

"So when a person goes to the hospital because they have snake poison in them, the hospital  puts something that has snake poison in it in the person?" asks a totally flabbergasted Lani

"Pretty much" I answer dismissively but then when I look up and realize she’s not going to drop it I add " we could research snakes if you like"

" I think we should" she responds "because that’s just too weird"

And so the learning begins right when it stops and I can see they aren’t going to blindly believe my every statement next year, I’m going to have to do a lot of proving myself. Bring it on!