Don’t shoot me, but I took a siesta in the white sand of Siesta Beach in Florida today. At 72 and sunny, I can’t say I’m missing the 27 and cloudy of home.
Why am I here? Because I read a book. Maybe this is the part where I tell you to be careful what you read. Reading has consequences. Reading could transform your entire world – or at least your classroom. Let me explain.
While reading a homeschool book earlier in January, I was struck by the author’s challenge to let your students learn through experience instead of just reading about it in a book.
Frustrated by the current cold conditions back in January, I Googled “what is the warmest place in the continental US in late February.” A few minutes later, I had found tickets that were cheaper than gas to get my family of six down to the gulf a few weeks later.
We could have stayed home. It would have been easier to stay home. Especially with all the work it took to get the farm ready for leaving. But what would be the cost of staying?
We would have missed out on the irreplaceable things that we’ve learned in the first week.
For example, reading a book just doesn’t give you the same terror of walking in a wetland waiting for gators to pop out of the marsh for your observation. “We saw alligators by the trail and we even kept all our fingers!” rejoiced my 3-year-old when we finished the walk.
You can’t get sprayed with muddy brackish waters reading a textbook, but an airboat tour through the Everglades will do the trick.
The confused eyes and compulsory nose plugging of my midwestern-blooded 7-year-old can’t be duplicated the same way as stepping into an ethnic grocery store that has piles of raw fish for sale. Minnestoa doesn’t have that. Imagine the shock and disgust when these farm kids found fresh cow stomach and goat feet in the same store. Never have they ever thought that would be food.
My Minnesota born and bred 3-year-old just learned that a “boogie board” isn’t a sled and now she can’t stop saying the words, over and over again. Maybe it’s because she calls buggers “boogies” and that’s fun to think about a board of boogies. Either way, she now knows exactly what it is and why you see them at beaches.
My elementary kids now know worlds more about Thomas Edison and Henry Ford from touring their neighboring summer estates. You could read about why Edison cared for rubber trees or you can stand beneath the massive one still growing right outside his laboratory where he tirelessly studied things with a team of researchers.
We could have studied shells in a book, or we could spend the day at the “Sea Shell Capital of the World” completely immersed in treasure hunting among the most devoted grandma and grandpa shell hunters that you ever did see.
We could have read that Mangrove trees are protected, giving you a whopping $100 fine per branch cut, or we could watch wide-eyed as dad teases us about taking a branch off just to bring one home to say we did.
We could read about how to find our way around an airport, or not get scammed by crooked car rental places, or we could actually get into the pickle and show our kids how to get out of it.
I could tell my kids what qualifies as a carry on bag, or they could wrestle out how to get the biggest bag that fits the airlines exact requirements and then have 100 questions for their dad (who was a former flight attendant) about WHY we have to be able to put our bags under the seats on take off and landing.
Living real life with your kids has a way of helping them prepare for real life. That was a major point of the homeschool book I read. How can we help our kids work through real-world learning in the context of family?
This is just a sprinkling of the things we’ve learned this week. We are full-time experiencing new things and we’re LOVING it, so be careful what you read – because it just might change your classroom, and you just might have a blast in the process.
Meet your farmer – Liz Gerdes. She & her husband run a farm-to-table Raw milk dairy and Airbnb in Caledonia, Minn. They empower moms (& dads) to confidently feed their families nutrient-dense food using farm fresh milk! Visit gerdesfreshfarm.com or follow her on Facebook @gerdesfreshfarm or Instagram @gerdesliz for more info.
On the Go (Oceanside) Chicken Sandwiches
We’ve had this a few times on the beach and my family LOVES it. (And I can make it in minutes!)
1 Rotisserie chicken
1 12 oz. jar avocado oil mayo (or regular mayo/Miracle Whip if
you prefer)
Bacon bits if you have them
Drizzle of honey
Lettuce pieces
Provolone cheese slices
Salt and pepper to taste
Pull meat off of chicken and chop finely. In a bowl, add Miracle Whip to the chicken, bacon, honey, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Assemble sandwiches on bread of choice with lettuce and provolone cheese.
Best enjoyed on the beach 😉
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