Simplicity

Our kids are outside painting sticks. They use their finger to mix the paint and smear it all over the stick. They are humming and talking about how they will hang these from string and save them all for the upcoming "Mike and Nana" trip and make a gift of this wonder. This is after I had to take the vegetable peeler away from them as they were peeling sticks on the ground. Needless to say we have a lack of toys, and nobody cares.

When your mom owns a children's consignment store your kiddos end up with a lot of very cool "stuff." It is hard to say no when the toys entering the home are recycled, free, and gifts from grandparents. We used to have a toy room that was filled from floor to ceiling with every sort of toy you could want to play with. Then it was the basement, the living room, the bedroom...we had it all. As we paired our belongings down for this trip, the boys got two baskets for their inside toys. This is what we ended up with:

• 4 or 5 lego sets
• 4 1 inch long motorcycles
• 4 rescue bots
• 2 silk scarves
• 3 stuffed animals
• 1 set of wooden blocks

That's it. We have lots of art supplies and games such as chess and battle ship but I don't count these as "toys" as they are things I picked out and things we incorporate into our school days. We also have plenty to do outside with 2 dump trucks, bikes, skateboards and games.

It is hard to imagine if our life could ever look like this in our home. Would a couple of sticks be enough to entertain on a Saturday morning? Yesterday's afternoon was spent by them taking an IPad and listening to music under the trees. They sat out there for an hour talking about what Alvin the Chipmunks song they liked most and I called it Music Class. I don't think they ever searched out a place like that in our home.

When life turns into a series of exploration events, it's hard not to see everything as "school" and "educational." We feed ducks and see which birds stick together. We go out to eat and they help me figure out the tip. We read books about dragons and they draw pictures of made up habitats and food and water sources. 

One month into this traveling life and 7 weeks into homeschooling and I sometimes stop to wonder if they are getting "enough" school. If their writing could be improved, if I'm teaching to grade level. What happens when they go back into a school setting? And then I let those thoughts drift away. If they are, then great, and if they are not, we will deal with it when the problem presents itself. I don't see a point in stressing us out over school when we are so fully loving what we are doing. It's not that I don't care, I think it has more to do with I have trust in what we are doing and I don't feel an analysis is in order. 

This life on the road, of living life together almost 100% of the time is what we've been planning, and fortunately it feels as awesome as we wanted it to.