The School of Life

Welcome to our sweet little country cottage in the suburbs. Girl, do I have a story for you today!

 I had meant to start writing on September 9th but was rudely interrupted the evening before when a fire razed our town. Before I get into that story, let me tell you about our family; Have you ever been walking in the woods and seen two trees that have grown side by side and slightly into each other by chance? Two trees that could grow in the same forest but don’t necessarily belong together. Like maybe someone planted an acorn and a manzanita berry a little too close together and they grew up tall, strong, independent and tangled at the roots with little saplings popping up here and there. That is what our family looks like. If you are from our home town and have walked through Lithia Park and stopped by the climbing rock at the playground, you will know exactly what I’m talking about. We are a family of 15, now keep in mind I am counting our fur babies. My husband and I, his daughter from a previous marriage who is now an adult, her wife (who we consider a daughter as well), our 10 year old daughter together and my 8 year old son from another marriage, four horses, three dogs and two cats, is precisely what our family tree looks like, and yes we consider our fur babies family members because they make our lives feel all warm and fuzzy (literally!). – If you are confused about the order of the youngest children, hang in there. That is a story for another day.

Where was I? Oh yes, our family, just like so many others, has been impacted by the implications of COVID-19. In the beginning of March 2020 our young children were happily attending one of the sweetest little community schools out there called the Outdoor Discovery Program, we loved it endlessly for a lot of reasons. However, in Mid-March, in Oregon we were issued a state wide shut down and we got the opportunity to try something different. We enjoyed our spring break begrudgingly – because we had finally planned and booked that Hawaiian vacation that we had been dreaming of going on for years and the day we would have landed in Hawaii was the day that their mandatory quarantine was issued and it would have been the worst vacation ever holed up in a hotel room for 14 days looking down at the pristine beach and gorgeous, sparkling blue ocean just out of reach, so we stayed home. And when that disappointing spring break had come to an end, we began to homeschool our children. That was an adventure in and of itself.

Now originally, we believed we would just have to get by until September when school would resume and everything would return to normal, how wrong we were. While it wasn’t part of our original plan, we learned a lot about our children’s education over the spring and summer months. We got to know their strengths and see where there were some gaps that needed to be filled and we took the opportunity to support them very seriously. We fell into a lovely rhythm together.

Over the summer it became clear that school as we had known it would no longer exist, at least for the time being, at least in Oregon, so we were faced with a tough decision. We could keep our children enrolled in the Outdoor Discovery Program where they would wake up early and sit in front of the computer for hours trying to focus on their lovely teacher while being distracted by all of their friends in “google-classroom” every single day, or we could continue to homeschool them and have a little bit more freedom with their education.

Now I imagine that you can imagine, when we chose the Outdoor Discovery Program for our children it was based on a number of factors, but we especially loved that it was different than other schools because a large part of the curriculum focused on being connected to nature and the community in unique hands on ways. The children participated in a multi-age classroom where they had the same teacher and they went on field trips almost every week to learn about how the world around them functions. There was a very limited amount of technology-based education thrown into the curriculum, it was certainly not central to their education, they learned art and music and spent lots of time doing things “differently” so the fact that this was how they were going to approach the year was a big factor in our decision to do things, well, differently. That and the fact that in the spring, when our 8 year old son had tried joining in one of the google classroom sessions that his teacher had set up for the students it lasted all of about 5 minutes before he decided he had enough, and that was “show and tell” day. The idea of him participating in hours of online learning every single day didn’t have a good outlook.

There is a part of me that had always wanted to homeschool the children but was always way too terrified to actually attempt it. It is the part of me that is acutely aware of how little time we get to spend with them when they are little. They grow up so fast, and I want to cherish every moment with them. I want to play a part in shaping their world views and the world has given me the perfect opportunity to fulfill this desire. It was scary at first but we are all getting the hang of it. As a matter of fact, the kids told me just the other day that they love homeschool and that it is way more fun than “actual school”. They have even named it “The School of Life” which I find endlessly hilarious. I think I may have flippantly told them one day early on when they were complaining about missing traditional school “you’re in the school of life now kids” and they have lovingly adopted the philosophy and even made it endearing. I think that an old hippie would laugh if they heard the kids say that but some of my mom friends will probably try not to openly cringe in front of me the first time they hear those words come out of my children’s mouths.

So, there we were on September 8th 2020 getting ready for the “official” first day of The School of Life at our sweet little country cottage in the suburbs, which was scheduled for September 9th. The children were at my son’s Dad’s house soaking up the last days of summer vacation and I was tidying up our space here, organizing books, creating a daily rhythm and schedule for us to follow. There were strong winds that day and something in the air didn’t feel quite right. You can ask any mama in the valley, we could all feel it. It was too hot, the wind was too strong, something unsettling was about to happen.

There was no way that any of us could have been prepared for what came next.

We could see it when it started in the south valley, the smoke thick and black and travelling quickly. We could tell it wasn’t just grass burning, those were homes and cars, we could hear them exploding as the flames engulfed each one and the fire grew.
​
We watched and waited and it didn’t stop there but it looks like my time for storytelling is up for today. Check in next week to hear more about the fire.
​