Petitone School For Boys

It seems that in our family, if any planned activity is successful and fun, it is immediately dubbed a family tradition.  I imagine that our homeschool month here with Laura and the boys will become exactly that.  She started planning almost a year ago with the idea that the curriculum she had selected for this time period, called Living Off the Land, would be better if they went through it here where there are more opportunities for doing just that.  Of course, we in no way really live off the land here.  In fact, I am trying to figure out how to cut out a few grocery runs each week.  But we do have the ability to produce many things here and it has been a joy to be able to share some of that knowledge with our grandchildren.

They arrived on September 23rd with a lot of school materials and the least amount of personal items as possible.  We have a fairly large RV down the hill from our house and it served beautifully as their home away from home providing comfort but also the opportunity to learn about living with less.  Among the lessons included in this curriculum was information about American westward expansion.  What we were able to fit into the RV for four and sometimes five people was extravagant compared to early western settlers but it was enough of a comparison to make the point with the boys.

There were many activities tied to each lesson and Laura had done a perfect job of planning out the days ahead of time.  Some adjustments had to be made and we were completely exhausted by the end of the month but everything was done except for just one or two items.  One surprise about this time is the fact that our friends so enthusiastically embraced this project and offered to add their own expertise and time to enrich our experience.  We visited a chestnut farm nearby which belongs to a friend from church, John McKenna.  He spent his time showing us around, explaining the process and history of the chestnut.  It was just as interesting to the adults as to the children.  Cindy Marshall, a friend from church, allowed us to come to her vineyard and pick grapes since ours were already picked.  We then juiced them to prepare them for making jelly.  Again, another friend from church, Cindy Strickland, planned a whole treasure hunt in her gardens to teach about ground cover, flowering plants, shrubs and trees.  We also talked about bugs, foraging and gardening.  The big boys and the youngest all enjoyed it completely. There was something for everyone.  Another long time family friend, Robbie Dannacher, came and explained and demonstrated how a black powder gun works.  Friends from Dahlonega, Al Adams and Brenda Hicks, came to visit and brought everything we needed to actually pan for gold in our back yard.  Dahlonega gold is Al’s special area of expertise and he was able to put some real life experience to the stories in the lessons about the gold rush era.  We are so thankful for these friends who have invested in our family in such a meaningful way.

There is no way to list all of the things we did during that time.  The boys fished for our dinner one night and saw how Grumpy cleans a fish.  They helped move and shovel dirt while Grumpy used the tractor to work on a couple of roads around the farm.  Lucas and Liam learned some cooking skills as well as fire building skills.  Although Lincoln is still young for doing a lot of these things, he did get to help make cookies and roast marshmallows for S’mores on our outdoor fire.  They also helped me clear out the summer garden in the raised beds, picked out new fall plants and assisted in the planting.  Mike and the big boys designed, planned and made two bird houses, one for here and one for their dad’s birthday.  We even had one lesson in knitting!  There were no clothing or fabric stores on the Oregon Trail.  During the final week of their stay they were able to take advantage of the short youth hunting season for deer.  No one got their first deer but there were a lot of great stories about what they missed!  And, as always, we enjoyed golf cart rides, go cart rides and croquet.  These don’t exactly represent life skills but having fun together as a family is no small thing.

This really was a very big project but Laura had it planned down almost to the hour and with everyone’s help, it seemed to be a huge success.  I believe it will hold some great memories as well as learning experiences for a lifetime.  By the way, not one devotional, language arts or math lesson was skipped or cancelled.  Lucas and Liam were great to get to their work as early in the morning as possible so they could be free for all the other activities in the afternoon.

Again, we are so thankful to friends who contributed and to God for blessing all this.  There’s already talk about next year!  It’s a tradition!