Schoolhouse, Treehouse, Apothecary

I don't think my grandchildren realize what a wonderland they live in. This is their schoolroom--the wall not showing is completely full of books and educational games. The deck is for wildlife watching, and their classroom boasts a microscope with slides. The drawers hold at least twice the curriculum they need. They love it--school at home that is. Carina teaches most of their subjects and Art fills in with engineering and math, science experiments and some of their P.E. They are rather advanced in all their classes, but don't realize that, since they've not had a lot of opportunity to compare.

Since their main coursework is over by noon they are allowed to play "games" if they finish their chores. The games are all educational games like Khan Academy, SAT vocabulary, and Dragon Box-(a fantastic little app for the i-pad that teaches algebraic equations and the balancing thereof without ever saying that's what it's doing.)
Real video games--like Lego Mario and Pokemon are restricted to week-ends, and they don't watch regular television--just pre-approved netflicks.

So they play a lot, imaginative play like building with legos and circuitry boards. They practice piano, and guitar, read lots of books, jump on the trampoline, and catch tadpoles in the creek. Sometimes they see a deer in their backyard, and every morning, a groundhog waddles up from the creek to nose around the flower bed.

They have a rope swing that sails to the top of the world, and a hammock for naps at the edge of the horizon.

Their papa is in the process of building them a treehouse. It spans two trees and uses a third for a natural ladder. It's easy to climb. I was able to scale right up. The roof is half shingled, and the outside just lacks siding. They will probably paint the inside themselves. Mim calls it her castle.

If you look through this hole in the floor, you can see how the spokes of the tree serve as handgrasps and footrests.

This is Mim's apothecary/rockshop where she grinds grasses, flowers, and herbs and where she cracks rocks open to examine their anatomy. She's proud of the counter and all the little spaces where she stores smashing, grinding and cleaning tools.

The trampoline is Zaya's favorite place to be outside. He spends hours jumping and playing imaginary games, saving the world from villains and dreaming up new inventions.


The neighbors' dog  has adopted all the kids in the neighborhood and wandered over to inspect this grandmother and make sure she was not a rabid groundhog. Either I passed the test, or the dog was morbidly afraid of rabid groundhogs but clever enough to appear nonchalant.

Phone Conversation with a Seven-year-old.

My daughter doesn't have internet yet, so she hasn't been posting. Fearing that a vital part of her children's adventures would go unrecorded, I made the sacrifice and decided to write about my grandkids whenever I got the chance.
So, I visited with my grandson on the phone this morning. Here's an excerpt from our conversation:

Zaya: "Grandma, we just watched episode four and five of the Star Wars Series."
Me: "Is that the one where the Empire Strikes Back?"
Zaya: "Yes. It's the older ones."
Me: "Well, if you're going to watch the next one, remember that the first part, where Jabba the Hutt has all those monsters, is gross, but it gets better after that. I'm sure glad I'm not living like that, roaming around the sky exploding planets.
Zaya: Why not? That would be cool?
Me: That depends on whether you are the exploder or the explodee.
Zaya: (laughing) Oh, right. I really just meant the traveling part.
Me: Yeah that's a lot better than all the fighting part. It's not as gross as some parts of Lord of the Rings though."
Zaya: "Well, you know why that is, Grandma. Star Wars is set in the future and they use lasers; there isn't blood, but Lord of the Rings is set in the past and they use swords."
Me: "You're right, still, it's pretty violent, so it will probably be a while before you watch that one. So, how are you liking home-schooling?
Zaya: "Just fine."
Me: "Just what are you studying this year?"
Zaya: "Oh you know, math, spelling, history, science, English, Greek--just the normal second grade stuff."
Me: "Um-huh."

(I didn't want to spoil it by telling him.)