Fall semester ending / homeschooling

It has been a strange fall semester, but it is coming to a close and the Thanksgiving break is very welcome.  ASU has adapted to COVID-19 by offering in-person classes over Zoom as well as in the classroom.  Husband is taking all of his classes online already and I teach most of my classes online, though I do have one in-person class which is being "Zoomed" to students who don't want to attend in-person (most of them).  

Brother is in 6th grade and Sister is in 1st grade.  Our homeschooling curriculum is a hybrid of IXL, Moving Beyond the Page, Duolingo, literature, workbooks, real-world events, and homestead happenings.  Both kids are doing very well, but they would benefit from having some friends to play with.  Currently their social life consists of hanging with their cousins via phone or video game consoles.  They enjoy their virtual play time, but it would be better if they could run around outside with other kids their age.  Last week we stopped at an empty park to let the kids run around - it had been some time since they were able to play on a playground.  They really had fun, but I was again reminded how nice it would be if they could connect with others their ages.  

Even in the past when we homeschooled we still had play dates and met friends at parks - this year has been an exception.  I suppose many families are in this situation.  I am happy to hear about the vaccines that seem to have promise, because it would be great to see our friends again.  

Certainly we parents are not the best playmates for our kids - I am generally pretty serious when they are super silly.  I am task focused when they are aimless.  I have a to do list and they just wanna be free to be on screens when I want them to do chores.  Of course I love going to the National Parks where we can focus on learning something together or going for a hike together.  I love teaching them, reading with them, and talking about things.  They are bright and curious, they have great insights.  They are helpful and sweet.  For the past 3.5 years we have spent most of our time together since Husband and I have mostly worked from home and the kids have mostly been homeschooled.  We are close and I have valued every minute of our increased time together over these years.  With that said, I know it would especially benefit Brother to have a bit of an life away from our life - he will be 11 soon and he would benefit from having other kids to talk 11-year old things with.  

The kids are helpful around the house, Brother does dishes and Sister puts them away (we haven't had a dishwasher for 3.5 years).  They also fold and put away laundry.  I was just thinking that Brother could take on a couple new chores as he turns 11....  

Oh and speaking of laundry - I bought a portable RV washing machine!  It fills from the bathroom sink and empties into the shower - not manually - you have to turn on/off the water and the pump to fill/drain it.  When the wash and rinse are done you move the clothes in batches to the spinner and then I hang everything up on my drying rack or out on the line.  This week has been the first in 3.5 years I have not gone to the laundry mat!  The washer cost approx $140.  I figured I spend at least $10/week on laundry so if I avoid the laundry mat for 14 weeks this purchase will have been worth it.  I will spend more time on laundry using this machine - the main benefit of the laundry mat is being able to wash and dry everything at the same time instead of in batches.  Of course in the time of COVID-19 I value not going to the laundry mat and think this is a good choice.  Also, this can travel with us in the RV.  It is very low powered as well and works well on our solar system (260W wash/140W spin).  Here is it 'set up' in our bathroom with the hose coming from the sink at the top and the drain hose on the bottom left run into the shower.   Wow, modern conveniences on the homestead!

Sister has been reading Roald Dahl books this semester.  She read the BFG, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and is almost done with George's Marvelous Medicine.  She is really improving in her reading skills.  Husband is the lead on reading with Sister and I am the lead on language arts with Brother.  Brother and I just finished Tuck Everlasting - that was a great book.  Moving Beyond the Page is great for the older kids because the curriculum includes a lot of writing - which is something I feel should be a major focus leading up to college.  Sister has two first grade workbooks that supplement her IXL lessons.  Her handwriting is better than Brother's!  They are both great students and I am so proud of them.  We are a family focused on scholastic endeavors all around!  

Experiencing the winter season on the homestead

 

Winter came early (in October) and it was very exciting for our desert children.  The snow inspired a holiday feel and thankfully I was able to find some hats and gloves that fit so they could go out and enjoy it.  

This was a real test of our systems and a reminder that it was time to finish insulating pipes and ensure the cabin can support us during the cold months.  I spent a few hours wrapping the pipes with insulation and duct tape to prevent freezing.

In anticipation of colder weather coming, a week before the snow, we added the rest of the tubes to the Sunbank.  On the advice of James at Sunbank I spray painted half of the tubes so that when warm weather returns I can turn some of the tubes and moderate the heat (because we get LOTS of sun in the summer).  This completely passive system is absolutely amazing.  Despite the cold we have had enough hot water each day to take showers and wash dishes.  I cannot sing the praises of the Sunbank enough.  There is something special about taking solar hot water showers.  Yes, the amount of hot water fluctuates and one has to consider how much sun we get each day - but using this device and not having infinite hot water on demand is another way we are living in harmony with nature and with daily consideration of the natural world.  

Speaking of low-tech ways of dealing with the cold we have learned how to be a functioning part of our wood burning stove system - I say it this way because, when you look in the manual to figure out why your house is filling with smoke, it says, "Your stove is only one part of a system that includes the chimney, the operator, the fuel and the home."  Conclusion: the operator must not be doing something right!

If you haven't operated a wood-burning stove it is all about getting the draft to flow correctly (up and out the chimney).  When lighting the fire the chimney is cold and that hinders the draft...anyhow the way to fix it is to really get the kindling fire hot - like 700 degrees F hot - keeping the door shut while the chimney warms up.  Once there is a hot bed of coals you can add wood and avoid smoking up your house.  Yea!!

So since we have snow and a fire in the stove it really seemed like we ought to set up a Christmas tree.  We've never set up a tree with our kids.  For the past three years we were in the RV and we had a tiny ceramic tree and before that we just didn't have one...so this is the first year we have one.  

Another plus of the stove being lit is that I can cook on the surface.  I have made all kinds of things, tacos, pasta, hashbrowns, beans, fried rice - it is way better than trying to cook on my outdoor stove which looked like this when it snowed.  Of course cooking on a wood-burning stove is also much warmer (especially on one's legs)!

     

With burning wood comes the need to chop wood.  Thankfully we have a lot of dead wood on our property and we are now able to clean it up and put it to use.  

Also, we finally got the backhoe on the tractor and it has come in handy for digging up stumps after we cut down dead trees...

...and haul cut wood back to the pile.

Husband has been cutting and chopping wood...I drive the tractor and help stack :)  Life on the land is peaceful, safe from COVID-19, and full of beautiful scenes. 

Of course our time at the homestead is limited by time in the valley.  Halloween was spent in the city and we enjoyed a local art scavenger hunt in Mesa in lieu of trick-or-treating.

The cycle of life has also been on the forefront of our minds this winter as my grandma passed away two weeks ago.  She was 92 years old, living independently in the house she had lived in for the past 35 years, and relatively healthy until the last months.   She died in her home, under the care of hospice and my parents for her last weeks.  She was dear to me and I value the many times we had together including the year I spent living with her in my freshman year of high school so that I could attend a better school.  Her house is the most consistent one in my life; one that I have visited, slept over at, and lived in (for a school year) since I was 9 years old.  I last saw her in December of 2019.  The kids and I visited and celebrated Brother's 10th birthday. I am sorry it had been almost a whole year since I last saw her.  Here is the last picture I took of her.  Due to COVID-19 the family had a graveside service and will hold a memorial in the spring (hopefully a vaccine will be available then).  I hope we can attend the memorial.  Her life ends as this eventful year, which isolated her from the family, comes to a close.  Her sensibilities and understandings were of times past.  She was not progressive in her thinking and we disagreed on some major issues.  She was overly sensitive, she would cry easily over happiness or sadness.  We also had many very funny times and fun travels.  She embodied hardships that she could not, or would not, speak of.  She did not understand many of my motivations or choices, but she loved me.  She last visited AZ in 2017.  She flew, although she hated to fly, to attend my doctoral graduation ceremony.  It meant so much to me.  She will be missed, but we were blessed to have been touched by a life such as hers.  Goodbye grandma.  I love you.