Chickens and Eggs

I worried that the baby might disrupt school this year, but other than a bit of fussiness and screeching when she is ready for her morning nap, she does quite well overall. She often plays happily in the pack-n-play or eats her breakfast in the high chair while I teach. Even better, once she goes to sleep in the morning, she sleeps through almost our entire school day before waking up for the afternoon and evening. I have even been able to run between 1.25 and 1.75 miles each day after lunch while the kids have their recess time, and it helps me feel refreshed and ready to finish out the school day.

No, the baby has been quite compliant this year so far. Instead, our biggest distraction has been our chickens! They like to come to our front door and peck at it to get our attention. If we are working in our school room in the basement, they actually peer in our basement window at us!

Poor Kitty

In addition, we began getting our first eggs this week. Elsa, the biggest barred rock, laid us a perfect little egg around lunch time on Monday.

Just a tiny egg - they will get bigger, though

Amazingly, Rosie, one of our black australorps, also laid her first egg on Monday afternoon. She came to the front door squawking anxiously at me, but then ran back to the woods. When I went for my run a little later, she was hanging out alone by the coop. I talked to her softly and showed her the fake eggs in the nest boxes, and she climbed in to inspect them. By the end of my run, she came running out of the coop, leaving a tiny egg in the nest box behind her.

On Tuesday, we only got one egg, but Wednesday through Friday, we got two eggs each day. Now, the kids are obsessed with checking for eggs, which would cause enough of a distraction by itself. However, the hens cause an even bigger distraction with the ruckus they make every time they lay. I had heard of the egg song, but I had no idea just how loudly those hens could sing. We can often hear them squawking in the coop, while we are working down in the basement.

Adding to the noise, Rosie and Elsa had quite the battle over the favored nest box. Elsa has staked her claim on the nest box in the darkest corner, and she will often lay in there for an hour before she gets around to depositing her egg. However, Rosie prefers this box too. On Tuesday, Rosie ended up not laying because Elsa refused to vacate the box. On Wednesday, we spent the day at Cedar Point and left the chickens in the coop all day. Both hens somehow managed to lay in the same box, so I assumed they had worked out their dispute. I was wrong.

On Thursday, we heard such a disturbance that we rushed out to make sure nothing was attacking the flock. We found Elsa in the nest box with Rosie yelling at her frantically at the top of her lungs. We came back inside, only to hear the egg song a moment later. Thinking Elsa had finally finished, the kids went out to check, but Elsa was still in the nest box, working on her egg. Rosie, on the other hand, had finally given up and laid her egg in a neighboring box. Silly hens! We have six nest boxes and six hens, and yet, they fight over the same box!

With all the noise and distractions, I have to fight with the chickens to keep my kids’ attention on their school work. On a positive note, though, they are learning quite a bit about chickens and where food comes from. As I was making dinner yesterday, Ben asked me if I was going to use chicken eggs or store-bought eggs in my recipe. He realized his mistake immediately, and we both laughed. Before this year, however, eggs only came from the store. Now, through the crazy distraction of our little flock of happy hens, our kids know the joy of getting their breakfast straight from its source. And, I suppose, that is part of a good education as well.

Back to Fun

I was going to title this post “Back to Work,” but that did not seem to fit the beginning of our school year so far. Sure, we have done quite a bit of work – math pages, grammar worksheets, history memory cards – and we have had to arrange teaching times around the baby’s naps. But, we have also had a lot of fun.

On Monday, Hannah and Ben learned about the center of gravity. They began by figuring out how to balance a potato on a ruler, using only a pair of forks. Then, they used what they learned to balance a broom on the palm of their hands by first identifying the broom’s center of gravity.

We also had our first Phys. Ed. Class on Monday. A few years ago, I got a free fitness and health package from Subway, including two pedometers, a stopwatch, and a year’s worth of lesson ideas and activities. The kids have gym once a week at co-op, but I want to add a bit to their learning at home as well. The kids loved experimenting with the pedometers, counting the steps needed to walk around the house or get the mail. Becca has even decided to eat a healthy breakfast every day, so she can feed her brain and maybe get better grades on her school work.

Today, Becca experimented with reading maps. I made a map of our property and marked several “treasures” on it. Then, she used the map to find the treasures – just a few nickles and gumballs. She needed a bit of help from Hannah to find the last few, but I may mark some more treasures next week and let her try again until she gets the hang of it.

I think everyone’s favorite lesson this week came from our new geography curriculum – Mapping the World with Art. We read a brief lesson on ancient maps and then followed several steps to draw maps of Mesopotamia. The kids’ maps are surprisingly good! The curriculum is supposed to be for ages 10 and older, but even Becca could follow the steps to draw a decent map. By the end of the year, the kids should be able to draw a map of the entire world!

After we drew the maps, we used edible chocolate clay to make Babylonian-type maps, using chopsticks and drawing cuneiform markings on them. I baked them, and everyone enjoyed delicious, warm chocolate map cookies with a glass of milk as an after school snack. I intended to take photos, but they did not last long enough. Geography should be a lot of fun this year!

I am so thankful that the kids have been working more willingly this school year. Perhaps they are just older and more mature. (They are in 2^nd, 4^th, and 5^th grade now!) Or, maybe they work better with checklists of work to accomplish instead of scheduling subjects at specific times. Regardless of the reason, they have been finishing their regular work more quickly, which leaves room for a lot more fun and experimentation. This should be a wonderful year!