Homeschooling, Adventuring and Breathing Again

 

Shifting my mindset and embracing my new reality is turning a sour season into perhaps one of the sweetest seasons for us as a family. 

Teaching my kids  the other day, I was talking about the grit and the turbulence needed to turn a plain old seashore stone into a brillant gem-like treasure; I was reminded that God is doing just that within our family during this season of chaos and turmoil. 

We started school before every other school in Oregon because I am in charge now, and I've always thought the kids have too many wasted school-less days. 

So, we began September 2, in the basement of my house. 

School is in session. 

The first week   I like to call the "honeymoon period." As a former teacher, I know what to expect those first few days: unwavering enthusiasm and obedience. The kids were so ready for some sort of structure and learning, and I have always been a creative teacher. I mean, who doesn't want to read The Giving Tree in our new tree house in our backyard while eating freshly cut apples with Mom?! :) :) :) 

We even had school on Labor Day. 

Call me mean, but why not?! We had nothing better to do.

We always wondered what these poles in our living room were for?!

                                                  

Our classroom is perfect. We have a huge screen to connect my laptop to the front. 

I decorated it with official teacher decorations. 

I created a cozy reading nook. 

We have a STEM and science table. I even have my own desk, right across from our bar with John's whiskey collection (affectionally renamed, "the teacher's lounge.") 

The only obstacle to completing our classroom was finding desks. 

We looked everywhere. 

We even drove to IKEA. They could be found no where. 

So, my very talented father in law made them. Yep, you heard that right. Within one day, he bought wood and hammered them together and made four perfect little desks. 

                                                          

We've fallen into a nice routine. 

The second week of school we took a field trip to a cute little farm near us called Triskalee Farms.

 The family who owned it gave us all a fun tour of their goats, alpacas, chickens and ostriches. 

I had the kids make a scrapbook of the trip, something I'm going to require throughout this year whenever we travel. 

Speaking of traveling, we brought a sprinter van. 

Yes, we took the plunge and did it. And we have already used it. 

A few days after getting it, our entire state seemed to catch on fire.

 Our trip to the little farm was our last time outside in our area for over 10 days. The sun was blotted out. The air around us was hazy and grey. And we couldn't go outside because we apparently had the most toxic air in the world. 

At one point, the uncontained fires put our home in "zone 1," which means "get ready." This was the first stage out of three for evacuation. John and I located important papers and documents and made a plan in case the fire crept closer. We considered what we would take and where we would go. An experience like this really puts life into perspective. 

Looking around our home and all our material possessions, we realized there wasn't a lot we would actually take or fret over. The things that were important to us were photo books, our wedding pictures and a few sentimental objects. These items were all important because they were attached to memories in our lives, and that made us realize that what matters in life are experiences and memories with the ones we love. 

We knew that we made a good purchase in the sprinter van and it reaffirmed what we were doing as a family was the perfect plan for us. 

We were soon able to try out our new vehicle when a few days into our to toxic "quarantine" experience some dear friends of ours called to see if we wanted to split a beach house in Pacific City to get some fresh air. 

We thought, "why not?!" So we loaded up our van and headed out to the coast. 

Our friends have five kids, three boys and two girls. Our families mesh so well with our ages and stages. It was a really special weekend hiking up Cape Kiwanda and sharing meals and space. The boys were thrilled to have a room with six bunk beds all to themselves.

 Evelyn and her friend set up a full on dorm room in the queen sized bed they shared together. We didn't see them too much. :) 

The fresh air was wonderful, but spending this unexpected time with these friends was best part. I realized that if it weren't for such difficult circumstances, this probably would not have happened. Our weekend-with nine kids total-would most certainly be consumed with activity and sports instead of hanging out together. But instead, we escaped together and it turned into a special memory-one that I would certainly save from the flames! :) 

We came home on Sunday night because John had work to do on Monday but Evelyn stayed another night and day with her friend and her family. 

It is such a blessing to have people in life in which you don't even have to debate whether or not to leave your daughter alone with. I love that she was able to stay independently. It's good for everyone. 

We spent the next four days back inside, choking on the thick toxic air. It was really really awful. 

On Thursday, we again loaded up the sprinter and headed back out to the coast. This was a trip we had planned anyways, but it just so happened to fall at a great time. 

We traveled to another area of the coast this time. We drove down highway 101 and stopped at Depoe Bay to see "Devil's Punchbowl."

I planned this trip around curriculum I taught earlier in the week; we learned about tide pools, and seashells and agates. James was totally enchanted about the prospect of maybe finding sharks' teeth on the beach or a prehistoric fossil. 

We stopped at a place called Beverly Beach. The minute we stepped foot on the sand with the waves rolling in, I took off my shoes and began to run at full speed. The fresh air, the waves, the ability to use my legs to run felt so free and good. My kids didn't know what I was doing, but they began to follow me and run as well. 

We traipsed the beach all morning, finding various little shells and rocks. But perhaps the biggest and grandest find was this one:

After observation and some research, we determined it to be the collar bone of a whale. 

Near by we saw huge ribs sticking out of the ground. We pulled on them but they were definitely attached to something bigger below the surface. 

There was also an awful smell of death, like I'd imagine rotting flesh to smell like. 

Forget textbooks, my kids were learning about whales by finding skeletons on the beach! :) 

We continued on our journey, exploring another beach called Agate beach in Newport. 

With the hopes of finding beautiful stones, we explored the area. 

We actually only found a few agates, but a hurt bird caught our attention and emotions the most. :( 

We finally made our way down to Florence, a beautiful coastal town known for the sealion caves. This is when the sun made its appearance, and John and I simply stood looking up at it, enjoying its warmth and serenity. 

We looked out over the rocks and observed many sea lions peeking their heads out of the mighty waves. Although the seals were gone from the official "sea lion rocks," we still loved walking through the cave and watching the waves crash into the rocks from the cliff. 

I told the kids that God reveals aspects of Himself in His nature to us. Today as we watched the ocean- it's vastness and its power- we discussed how we had a healthy fear of it. It's power and sheer magnitude and mystery left us feeling really small and vulnerable. We had a respect for it, knowing that we couldn't even begin to understand it or compete with it's might. 

I saw the lightbulb go on in my children's heads as they then considered God. 

It's little teachable moments like this that I love about homeschooling and traveling. During our car rides I had their undivided attention as I read from wonderful chapter books. We did family devotions together, had really meaningful discussions and watched several National Geographic documentaries on Sharks, Tropical Islands and the sunken Titanic. 

Now we certainly had our fair share of crabbiness and arguments, but overall, our travel time was not wasted time. 

We stopped for the night in the town of Florence.  A friend's recommendation took us to a little souvenir shop that sold shells and those coveted sharks teeth. 

The boys each bought some shark teeth, and I believe it became some of their most prized possessions (probably something they would save from the fire).

We had dinner at a pizza restaurant, and of course ice cream on the dock. 

We spend the night in a motel, awakening the next morning to a glorious downpour of rain!

I quickly texted my friend at home: "Is it raining in Tualatin?!" 

"YES!" was her response. I wanted to cry with joy. 

Our next stop was in Roseburg at the Safari Zoo and never have I been so happy walking around it in the pouring rain. The kids certainly didn't care either. 

This is a RED PANDA! I've never seen anything so cute in my entire life.

The birds always seem to fly to John 

...And Caleb...

Levi has been begging me relentlessly for a pet Cheetah for months. Now he wants a Red Panda too. I finally told him "Ok..." but first he needs to call the city of Tualatin to make sure it's ok. That seemed to satisfy him. 

We had the whole place to ourselves and spent the morning into late afternoon looking at all the animals and then driving our car slowly through the wildlife savannah on the hillsides. 

Our drive home from there was three hours. When we arrived back in Portland, the air seemed to be steaming from the beautiful release of all the built up toxicity over the past 10 days. The air was fresh and the sky was a bit blue. Never was I so happy to inhale a deeply. 

And I feel like I have inhaled-and exhaled-, in more ways than one. 

I am ready.