Homeschooling. Is that a word that scares you? It sure did scare me when I thought of it – I was pregnant with #4 and my eldest daughter was just about to start Grade 1 when she turned to me one morning and said, “Well, can you homeschool me?”
And off we started on our ‘home education’ adventure …. and now we are now officially done our second week of our second year of homeschooling as a family. Still newbies, but it’s pretty cool to feel a bit more at ease with the schedule that we’ve laid out … and the curriculum and the whole lifestyle of a homeschooler.
No, we’re not crazy (and by we, I mean, me since I’m kinda the one running the ship here) … and yes, my kids are socialized … my children are learning … and we are having a blast doing it …
This week, Abby set up the fish and ant Mega-Pavilion ….
where ants and fish live together … somehow …
… connected with tunnels and tubes and well, okay, honestly, I don’t know how it works, but Abby does. He set up it and explained it to the girls. He’s our Science Guy.
Now because the Mega Island could only have one fish, we thought it would be interesting and fun for the girls to have a fish in their two rooms …
.. they were excited, they named their fish, they wrote a journal entry about their fish and they loved the whole idea.
Little did I know that Lyla’s poor fish would be … well … mauled.
I think … actually … that, sadly, she pet him to death… I went in later that night to check on her and make sure she was asleep and I saw the worried look on her face … and I saw the fish … not swimming … just sinking to the bottom of his home … the top of her dresser was wet and the little gravel was spread about …
“Lyla, what’s wrong with your fish?” I asked.
“Mommy, I don’t even want to talk about it …” Lacey was saying, as she covered her eyes, ready to cry, looking at her little sister’s fish … such a tender heart!
But Lyla, well, she just sat there, a strange expression over her face of guilt and horror. I explained that fish CANNOT come out of water (but I really thought she knew that already? I think she was just being curious) and that she had probably hurt her fish and that he most likely wouldn’t live the night.
Sadly, the next morning, we did indeed have a toilet burial.
While Abby held the vase containing the deceased over the toilet, this, too, Lyla found incredibly fascinating. Lacey, however, nearly cried tears when daddy pulled the toilet handle …
Will there be more fish in our future? Only time will tell.
by Gigi
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