the science of life

September is one of the most stressful months of the year for me. I am usually elbow deep in tomatoes, pickles, whatever fruit I can find and possibly even sauerkraut, all while dancing in time to the rumbles from the boiling water in the canner. In between batches of salsa and stewed tomatoes, I’m also trying desperately to mentally prepare for the start of another home-school year - this time with three boys.

Doesn’t that all sound fun?

A friend of mine convinced her husband to take the kids away so she could have a “teacher-prep” weekend. I figure I’ll be lucky to get prep in between meals, snacks and squeezing cucumbers into jars.

To date, I’ve processed 65 quarts of pickles. Yes, you read that right and yes that’s a lot of pickles. But, considering boys 1-4 can and will eat an entire quart in one lunch, that will probably only get us through the middle of February. After that, they’ll have to start munching on carrot sticks.

Today I’ll finish the last batch of salsa and then will have to switch gears into science. (Although canning is a bit of a science, isn’t it?)

Boys 1 and 2 will both be studying biology this year and I need to figure out one science experiment per week for them. My goal this year is to have school be fun - for them. During the annual homeschooling conference last spring, I felt very convicted that I was making school too much about workbooks and not enough hands-on things like science experiments or history projects, or even art for that matter.

So, this year, we’re going to have fun. Or rather they’re going to have fun. I’m going to fret about teaching children how to draw, how to raise fruit flies and how to build a Babylonian mountain garden. And I’m going to stress about the mess all those projects will create.

But, this isn’t about me. I’ll have to get over it and get on with the “fun” of homeschooling. Another homeschooling mom told me she would be calling me weekly to see if I was having fun - I told her that wasn’t the kind of help I needed.

Feel free to ask the kids if they’re having fun - I’ll need the accountability. (If they say “no,” they’re lying.) And, you’re more than welcome to come over and teach them why they need to wash their hands, chew their food 20 times before swallowing and go to bed at 8 p.m. (That can all fall under biology, can’t it? And if it doesn’t, we’ll just call it family life science and everyone wins.)

Practicality trumps fruit flies any day.