Saturday, May 14, 2016

Kali update, featuring life's many lessons!

At one time I had a lot of uncertainties, or at least insecurities, about whether we were doing the "right" thing having Kali schooling at home.  I no longer think there is the same "right" schooling choice for every child (not sure I ever did really), but I feel confident that unschooling is right for Kali. She's thriving and I am encouraged watching her on a daily basis. I'm thrilled that our almost teenager daughter is so full of life, so focused on the present moment, so in tune with herself, so content in her body, so eager to be part of our family and farm, so tender and loving and helpful with her younger siblings, so healthy and vibrant and creative and fun.

I've completely stopped playing the mental games that were common as Kali got to school age: "What are other kids her age doing?" "What things are they testing for at her age?" "Will she ever be a good speller?" "Should we be doing more structured things?"

No doubt there are areas in which Kali is lagging behind her peers. I don't know for sure what those areas are and I'm not concerned about it. She can catch up on spelling (if she ever really needs to be a good speller) or any other academic subject area she finds herself in need of improving upon.  That will take a fraction of the time to learn as it does to learn the things I feel are being instilled and nurtured in her on a daily basis here: responsibility, empathy, mediation skills with her younger sister, time management, growing her own food and learning to understand what plants and animals need to thrive, observation skills, dealing with loss, etc...

Her maturity amazes me sometimes.  Recently we had a big scare - Kali's pet Ducky survived a predator attack (we presume a young fox).  He was injured but with some tender loving care and lots of checking up on him, he's back to his feisty self (I was so happy to see him chasing Kali to dabble her the other day).  However, three of her other ducks were not so lucky in recent days.  Kali noted two flocks with missing ducks one day and went out to investigate. To this day we have no information on what happened - no feathers anywhere and no signs of an attack. But it is quite clear that they probably went to feed a den of fox kits in our neighbor's brush pile.  Just yesterday Jason went to investigate some chicken ruckus and followed a trail of feathers to a dead hen (maybe he scared the fox off by going to check on the noise), still warm and now in our fridge to eat.  So the fox didn't get that one, but after the three ducks went missing Kali hasn't been free ranging.  It's a hard balance - giving the animals in our care the freedom to roam and enjoy not being in a cage and figuring out what level of risk we are willing to take given predator pressure at various times of year.  I know Kali was sad and she has been extra cautious about letting ducks out to play.  But she also seemed to take it in stride - knowing it was something that might happen.

I will say we all have high hopes for the duck eggs in the incubator. She did the second candling last evening and there are 14 eggs that are developing nicely.  She should have a good hatch if regular monitoring and tending of the incubator has anything to do with it. She is monitoring temperature and humidity and faithfully spraying the eggs nightly. She references her duck raising book as needed.  It's so fun seeing her get into it, and she is also starting to pay more attention to making the whole enterprise sustainable - keeping track of feed and other expenses and in how many eggs we are getting and she will often tell me how close the ducks are to "paying for themselves" if we value their eggs at $5/dozen.

As I type this she is back out (the afternoon rain has finally let up) chopping and mulching the peas with comfrey. She continues to want to be part of every farm venture (she even turned down a weekend trip so as to not miss gardening - I know, what a kid!). I had to convince Kali and Alida to let Jason and I plant four pepper plants last evening at nightfall without their help. I love that they both like to be involved and in Kali's case she is quite helpful (not as much when she and Alida argue about who is going to pull out a particular weed - of all the things to fight over, let's not fight over weeds - there's enough for everyone!).

She is getting so competent at caring for Terah.  The other day she even managed to take care of Terah AND fold laundry - the baby is in that stack (see Terah's post for the picture of her with laundry surrounding her - she was having a grand time in there).  Kali puts up her yanking her hair or stealing her hat and doesn't seem too bothered by her squawks. She seems to take her various moods in stride - once again she's the example for me, not the other way around. Right now I'd say if anyone is the "teacher" around here, it's Kali!

She continues to cook for us weekly - one week alone and one week with Alida (on the off weeks Alida gets to help me with a meal). We haven't had to grocery shop for anything, as Kali is an expert at finding things we have in abundance and using them up. She has come up with some winners because she is willing to experiment and has an open mind about various combinations. This past week the girls made tomato soup with all dried tomatoes. They sauteed garlic and onion and then put dried tomatoes and fresh oregano in chicken broth and simmered until soft.  They pureed and added milk and salt. We had it alongside cornpones and soybeans.  Her meals are usually simple but delicious. Normally about this time in the week she starts thinking about what she might like to make, exploring cookbooks or the pantry to see what we have a lot of.  Yes, I look forward to Monday evenings!

It's about time to segway to a post with some non-kiddo updates, if the little one in my arms allows it. We'll see...

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