Cancel Plans Less, Experience Life More.
Parenting has consistently pushed me to be a better version of myself. I had one of the best homeschool days all year and I almost canceled it. Eli had been talking about this trip with his co-op group for two weeks non-stop. Yet, it had been raining all week, the trip was at a farm and all I knew was “we’re going to shear sheep”. I was not looking forward to it. Mud, smelly animals, an hour drive each way.
“Eli, are you sure you want to go? It’s going to be really muddy and it might rain. It’s so far.” I pleaded with him in hopes that he would have rathered to stay home and relax. Instead he said “mommy come on, when a goal is far away we don’t quit right?” So that was that, it was decided. That didn't mean actually getting out of the house would help me feel any more excited about this trip.
I did not make it to bed until past midnight, I set my alarm for 5:30am to get my peloton ride in before this trip. It. was. so. hard to get out of bed. I legit stayed in bed immediately after turning off my alarm. Then my baby girl let out a cry in her sleep at 5:53am. She continued to sleep, it was as if she was helping her momma out and telling her to get tf up. Children really are human alarm clocks, this time it was desired.
After my ride I started to make breakfast, only for it to dawn on me that I never added eggs to my grocery delivery the night before. It was as if turning on my gas stove turned the lightbulb off in my head and my jaw dropped. We legit eat 8-10 eggs per day in our family. We don’t even know what breakfast is without eggs. Plus I NEED the protein, this booty aint gonna grow on its own. Thankfully my mother in law lives close by, Travis drove over and grabbed a brand new 18 pack of eggs from her fridge. Yes, she lives closer than the nearest grocery store.
Of course we are running late. I am starting to panic, eating my breakfast in a hurry, working through my egg ick as best I could. We still left the house running 10 minutes late. Sike, once we arrived I realized the trip began at 10am, not 9:30am, so we were actually 20 minutes early. Although that meant I was panicking for no reason at all, I was so happy to be early. Eli and I both released the morning chaos and had the best time.
We visited the Howell Living History Farm in Mercer County, New Jersey. Staying true to the name, the workers were dressed in time period clothes from the early 1900’s. We visited for the Sheep Shearing hands-on learning experience. It was like being in a live action museum and being immersed in a wool making exhibit.
I honestly really liked this dress!
I was ready to ask them where they get their fits.
We started the tour rotating between three educational stations. The sheep barn where we learned about why occasionally a lamb is “disowned” by their mother forcing the farmers to bottle feed them. The wool washing station where we learned about lanolin and the children actually washed wool. Lastly, the card station where the children got to card (brush) wool to prepare it for spinning. That was not all.
NO MALES ALLOWED!
This farm rents out rams only when needed. Rams tend to be aggressive and do not live with the sheep and lambs.
We then went into a house that was exactly as you would expect in the early 1900’s. We experienced two additional learning stations. One where we learned all about the evolution of spinning wool by hand to a grand spinning wheel. The other where we learned about various different looms (a weaving tool). The children were even able to weave a small pattern and bring it home with them as a souvenir.
My favorite part of all was watching all the children enjoy the open doors. Howell Living Farm is on 130 acres of land and is truly beautiful. We saw horses, cows, and of course many many sheep. We even got to create a human fence and have the sheep run past us and into their pen. The rain all week filled a stream, a pond, and several muddy puddles that the children thoroughly enjoyed jumping into.
We had lunch on picnic tables and the children ran and played for over an hour before they kindly asked us to make our way out. Leave it to us to overstay our welcome. But our day did not end there. We ventured into the town of hopewell. We visited a local coffee shop, Boro Bean, an independent bookstore, The Bear and the Books, and ended our day at Hopewell Borough Park. We legit had the best day, none of us wanted it to end. It was one of those days that reinforced that homeschool is the best choice for us.
I hope this day pushes you to cancel plans less, and experience life more.
