The Three Sisters strawberry farm is on Joshua Road in Suffolk. Here's why it's the best place to pick strawberries this week:
1. Organic strawberries. So when your children are rolling around in the plants, and emerging from the field with red juice dripping down their chins, you don't have to say, "NOT UNTIL I WASH THEM!" It's far back from any major road, so there's no exhaust residue, or dust, or anything on the berries. The rows are a little weedy, but that's organic farming. The weeds aren't hurting anything and the berries are BEAUTIFUL. So lovely. Kissed by the sun.
2. Animals.
The nicest, friendliest, child-proofed-est, sweetest farm animals you ever want to know. The first time we went to Three Sisters, we spent three hours there mooning over the animals. Delightful.
3. You'll meet other homeschoolers! This place is a homeschooler magnet. Veronica and I had our four kids, and we ran into two other homeschool families while we were there last time! Homeschoolers know: Three Sisters Strawberry Farm in Suffolk is the place to go!
Labels: field trips, friends, phi bensa zoe, strawberries
BEACH is a homeschool group that organizes sport for homeschoolers. They do soccer and basketball and cheerleading and right now they're doing T-ball. Our friends Zoe and Phillip are each on a BEACH team, and they had games today, so we went to watch. The games were held at Woodstock City Park, right by where Providence crosses 64. A very cute little park, if you can tolerate the electromagnetic radiation from the power plant right next door (just kidding -- that was for Veronica). Don't worry, your eye will stop twitching after a few hours. HEH.
There's a very junior league that practices while the older kids are having their games. Here's Phillip at the bat (and the power plant, or whatever that is!):
Here's Zoe's team going over to play their game:
And here are Zoe, Benny, and Phillip after the game at the little adjacent playground:
All the children were very loving to each other, very mannered, and the parents were enthusiastic but mellow. I forgot how much I like to scream and holler at sporting events when I know the people involved. Back in my horse show days, we used to raise the roof. I'm glad I can go cheer for Zoe and Phillip now, and look forward to Benny and Sadie being in a "team" situation so Mommy can go show spirit and noisiness. Maybe swim team. Maybe karate tournaments. Do ballet competitions allow screaming? Probably not... hmm....
There's a very junior league that practices while the older kids are having their games. Here's Phillip at the bat (and the power plant, or whatever that is!):
Here's Zoe's team going over to play their game:
And here are Zoe, Benny, and Phillip after the game at the little adjacent playground:
All the children were very loving to each other, very mannered, and the parents were enthusiastic but mellow. I forgot how much I like to scream and holler at sporting events when I know the people involved. Back in my horse show days, we used to raise the roof. I'm glad I can go cheer for Zoe and Phillip now, and look forward to Benny and Sadie being in a "team" situation so Mommy can go show spirit and noisiness. Maybe swim team. Maybe karate tournaments. Do ballet competitions allow screaming? Probably not... hmm....
We went to see our friends performing in the "Young Musicians of Virginia" choir concert on Tuesday night. So what can a child learn from watching other kids perform?
YMV is a homeschooling co-op that meets at the Kempsville Baptist Church. They meet two days a week for a full day of classes, and while they began as a way for homeschooled kids to participate in music ensembles like band and choir, they also have academic classes like algebra and Spanish and whatnot. You can visit their web site here.
Benny's friend Zoe sings in the K-2 choir, and her concert was on Tuesday night. We went to see her sing, to show our support, and to enjoy the music.
I think experiences like this are great practice for kids who are learning to sit still and pay attention to performances. It's long enough to challenge the wiggles, but short enough to avoid total wiggle outbreaks. It's also well populated with children, so if any wiggleage does erupt, there aren't horrific consequences, unlike the shouting of "I HAVE A BOOGER" during the adagio movement of some significant symphony at Chrysler Hall. We do take Benny to Chrysler Hall, but I also welcome the opportunity for him to sit still in less strenuous situations.
Also he loves Zoe and so do I, and his friendship with her is very important and wonderful for him, and he genuinely loved seeing her perform and cheering for her. It was very sweet to see them together after the performance, walking around hand in hand, with Zoe introducing him to her friends, and Benny congratulating the performers on their good job.
YMV is an amazing organization. I thought for a while that Benny could maybe be in one of their orchestras, which would give him more opportunities to play the violin in a group setting, but they don't start strings until the kids are 9 years old, and Benny's already started... it just wouldn't be a good fit. I suspected that it would be not a good fit in other ways, and that suspicion was confirmed on Tuesday.
All of those children in the K-2 choir, that is, children between five and seven years old, were silent and still for the entire 60 minute performance, as they sat on the risers at the front of the stage. Not one talked. Not one poked another one. Not one fell off the back. During their songs, they stood and sang obediently, everyone singing together, and then sat back down. Nobody started humming a different song, or twirling, or glaring open-mouthed at the spotlight. They were *SCARILY* perfect. I know I will thoroughly drive home my point to the moms in the audience when I say there was *no nose-picking*. I was so completely impressed with the teachers of this group of children. I can't imagine what kind of work and wonder goes into creating that kind of uniformly excellent behavior. I do know that Benny, in that environment, would be the giant glaring red alarm light in the middle of a thousand perfectly twinkling white bulbs.
I respect and admire the people at YMV, but I think I made the right decision not to try and make it work for us. We loved the concert though! Benny especially got into the carol sing at the end. It was wonderful watching Zoe perform, too. I'm so thankful that he is able to have such a good, close friend and that they can share so much together as they grow up.
YMV is a homeschooling co-op that meets at the Kempsville Baptist Church. They meet two days a week for a full day of classes, and while they began as a way for homeschooled kids to participate in music ensembles like band and choir, they also have academic classes like algebra and Spanish and whatnot. You can visit their web site here.
Benny's friend Zoe sings in the K-2 choir, and her concert was on Tuesday night. We went to see her sing, to show our support, and to enjoy the music.
I think experiences like this are great practice for kids who are learning to sit still and pay attention to performances. It's long enough to challenge the wiggles, but short enough to avoid total wiggle outbreaks. It's also well populated with children, so if any wiggleage does erupt, there aren't horrific consequences, unlike the shouting of "I HAVE A BOOGER" during the adagio movement of some significant symphony at Chrysler Hall. We do take Benny to Chrysler Hall, but I also welcome the opportunity for him to sit still in less strenuous situations.
Also he loves Zoe and so do I, and his friendship with her is very important and wonderful for him, and he genuinely loved seeing her perform and cheering for her. It was very sweet to see them together after the performance, walking around hand in hand, with Zoe introducing him to her friends, and Benny congratulating the performers on their good job.
YMV is an amazing organization. I thought for a while that Benny could maybe be in one of their orchestras, which would give him more opportunities to play the violin in a group setting, but they don't start strings until the kids are 9 years old, and Benny's already started... it just wouldn't be a good fit. I suspected that it would be not a good fit in other ways, and that suspicion was confirmed on Tuesday.
All of those children in the K-2 choir, that is, children between five and seven years old, were silent and still for the entire 60 minute performance, as they sat on the risers at the front of the stage. Not one talked. Not one poked another one. Not one fell off the back. During their songs, they stood and sang obediently, everyone singing together, and then sat back down. Nobody started humming a different song, or twirling, or glaring open-mouthed at the spotlight. They were *SCARILY* perfect. I know I will thoroughly drive home my point to the moms in the audience when I say there was *no nose-picking*. I was so completely impressed with the teachers of this group of children. I can't imagine what kind of work and wonder goes into creating that kind of uniformly excellent behavior. I do know that Benny, in that environment, would be the giant glaring red alarm light in the middle of a thousand perfectly twinkling white bulbs.
I respect and admire the people at YMV, but I think I made the right decision not to try and make it work for us. We loved the concert though! Benny especially got into the carol sing at the end. It was wonderful watching Zoe perform, too. I'm so thankful that he is able to have such a good, close friend and that they can share so much together as they grow up.
Ah, the glories of homeschooling in the fall. It's like regular homeschooling, but with leaves! Fall leaves! Come in for movies, and watch the homeschoolers dance! Watch 'em dance!
What's so cool about homeschooling? I'll tell you. When you're a homeschooler you can slam through your math in your pajamas, and then yank on some sweatpants and bundle yourself outside to jump in the leaves like a maniac with your little sister. Did I mention that your little sister is still wearing her Halloween costume, days later?
I guess it also means you can wear "surprised troll doll" as a hairstyle without comment from anyone but your mother, whose comment is, "Awww, you're cute."
Here's another thing that's cool about homeschooling in the fall: You can go to Homeschool Park Day and play outside as hard as you can all afternoon and not get hot!
Look, Sadie can hang now. She also did her first ride on a "big girl" swing, and had her first trip down the too-high slide, which was followed by many more trips down the too-high slide. Yes, the kids are still fascinated with roller coasters:
Homeschool Park Day was *fantastic* on Thursday. All the moms, apparently, knit. So we all sat there yakking and knitting and occasionally peeling our toddlers off the too-high slide or pushing them on swings. The kids built fairy houses and bird houses out of sticks and pine needles and whatnot, and had a fantastic time. It sounds lame to sit on a park bench knitting, but we make it work. Really.
What's so cool about homeschooling? I'll tell you. When you're a homeschooler you can slam through your math in your pajamas, and then yank on some sweatpants and bundle yourself outside to jump in the leaves like a maniac with your little sister. Did I mention that your little sister is still wearing her Halloween costume, days later?
I guess it also means you can wear "surprised troll doll" as a hairstyle without comment from anyone but your mother, whose comment is, "Awww, you're cute."
Here's another thing that's cool about homeschooling in the fall: You can go to Homeschool Park Day and play outside as hard as you can all afternoon and not get hot!
Look, Sadie can hang now. She also did her first ride on a "big girl" swing, and had her first trip down the too-high slide, which was followed by many more trips down the too-high slide. Yes, the kids are still fascinated with roller coasters:
Homeschool Park Day was *fantastic* on Thursday. All the moms, apparently, knit. So we all sat there yakking and knitting and occasionally peeling our toddlers off the too-high slide or pushing them on swings. The kids built fairy houses and bird houses out of sticks and pine needles and whatnot, and had a fantastic time. It sounds lame to sit on a park bench knitting, but we make it work. Really.
Labels: family, friends, homeschooling
Maymont Park in Richmond is known for children's farm, but don't miss the Japanese Gardens because you think the kids won't enjoy them!
A friend and I recently travelled to Richmond to meet up with some friends at a quilting shop there. We had all four of our children with us -- two six-year-olds and two two-year-olds. If you've ever been in a quilt store with a two-year-old, you know that when the child sets foot in the store, a timer starts running, and when the timer runs down to zero, the child must be removed from the store, or else the fabric, the quilts, the buttons, the thread, the books... will all be in an inglorious heap on the floor, and the child will somehow have managed to smear chocolate on them too.
So we decided to leave for a little while and come back later, taking the children in the interim to a place where they could stretch their legs. I had only vague directions to Maymont, and I couldn't tell you how to get there, except that "The Boulevard" had something to do with it, and there were a lot of turns where the choices weren't perpendicular. We ended up at an entrance to the park that we hadn't meant to choose. We had been looking for the children's farm, but instead we had the Japanese gardens. Having considered the possibility of buckling everyone back into the car and making more random turns around Richmond, we thought the gardens seemed like a great idea.
And to our surprise, they WERE.
First there was the waterfall. Who knew that within 90 minutes of driving from Norfolk you could find an elevation of sufficient height to produce this charming sight?
Then there were the stepping stones. Our six-year-olds were delighted to be allowed to go across on their own. I figured, hey, it's only a foot of water, and if he falls in it doesn't matter because he's already wet from the sprinklers in the Italian garden at the top of the hill.
Nobody fell in. But they did see lots of huge koi, right up close. And a baby turtle. And the gardens are HUGE. When I saw the sign for Japanese gardens, I thought maybe a latticed hut, a fish pond, and a dramatically arched bridge. Those things were there, but they were on a much bigger scale than I imagined. The children were completely delighted. Here are the two-year-olds spotting fish in the pond:
Finally, they got to climb up on the rock and actually dunk their feet in the actual waterfall -- it was heaven.
If you're going to Richmond, this is worth the stop. And don't worry if they're old enough to appreciate it. No one is more barbaric than a two-year-old, and our two little unsophisticates give it four thumbs up.
A friend and I recently travelled to Richmond to meet up with some friends at a quilting shop there. We had all four of our children with us -- two six-year-olds and two two-year-olds. If you've ever been in a quilt store with a two-year-old, you know that when the child sets foot in the store, a timer starts running, and when the timer runs down to zero, the child must be removed from the store, or else the fabric, the quilts, the buttons, the thread, the books... will all be in an inglorious heap on the floor, and the child will somehow have managed to smear chocolate on them too.
So we decided to leave for a little while and come back later, taking the children in the interim to a place where they could stretch their legs. I had only vague directions to Maymont, and I couldn't tell you how to get there, except that "The Boulevard" had something to do with it, and there were a lot of turns where the choices weren't perpendicular. We ended up at an entrance to the park that we hadn't meant to choose. We had been looking for the children's farm, but instead we had the Japanese gardens. Having considered the possibility of buckling everyone back into the car and making more random turns around Richmond, we thought the gardens seemed like a great idea.
And to our surprise, they WERE.
First there was the waterfall. Who knew that within 90 minutes of driving from Norfolk you could find an elevation of sufficient height to produce this charming sight?
Then there were the stepping stones. Our six-year-olds were delighted to be allowed to go across on their own. I figured, hey, it's only a foot of water, and if he falls in it doesn't matter because he's already wet from the sprinklers in the Italian garden at the top of the hill.
Nobody fell in. But they did see lots of huge koi, right up close. And a baby turtle. And the gardens are HUGE. When I saw the sign for Japanese gardens, I thought maybe a latticed hut, a fish pond, and a dramatically arched bridge. Those things were there, but they were on a much bigger scale than I imagined. The children were completely delighted. Here are the two-year-olds spotting fish in the pond:
Finally, they got to climb up on the rock and actually dunk their feet in the actual waterfall -- it was heaven.
If you're going to Richmond, this is worth the stop. And don't worry if they're old enough to appreciate it. No one is more barbaric than a two-year-old, and our two little unsophisticates give it four thumbs up.
Labels: field trips, friends, maymont park
We were so tired of being cooped up that we went insane and tried to play outside this afternoon.
For those of you who aren't aware, it is hot out.
My friend Veronica and I were trying to figure out what to do with our children today. Even though we were both aware of thunderstorm warnings, neither of us could think of anything appealing that involved staying inside. Perhaps that's because we've been doing inside things for about five days now, and the children have boiled up to a level that is intolerable even to me. Benny has lost his ability to walk through the house -- he has to run, ride the scooter, roll, or just do something that seems like ricocheting from object to object, all while humming distractedly, and Sadie is plaintively asking to go to the "Claydrowned?" which means... of course... playground.
So since it's 90+ degrees outside and as humid as a camel's underpants, we decided naturally to go picnic, playground, and ride bikes at the lake by Mt. Trashmore. Here's a picture of the children on their bikes:
After the picnic, playing on the playground, and the 2.25 mile bike ride around the lake, which had us parents melting into a puddle on the side of the path, the kids were not discouraged. In fact, having come full circle back to the playground again Benny immediately leaped into action and when I called him to the van, he said, "BUT MOM I NEED TO HAVE LOTS OF FUN." Fun in the heat of the day, in the middle of the summer, in the South. That's what five days of rain will do to a person, if the person is six years old.
We're home now. The baby is asleep in her bed and the boy is actually being still, playing his Gameboy under a ceiling fan. It's so quiet in my house. You, too, can achieve this quiet today only by skipping out to a local playground in between these rain storms. Just don't forget the water bottles. We went through plenty of liquid -- and not the kind that falls from the sky!
For those of you who aren't aware, it is hot out.
My friend Veronica and I were trying to figure out what to do with our children today. Even though we were both aware of thunderstorm warnings, neither of us could think of anything appealing that involved staying inside. Perhaps that's because we've been doing inside things for about five days now, and the children have boiled up to a level that is intolerable even to me. Benny has lost his ability to walk through the house -- he has to run, ride the scooter, roll, or just do something that seems like ricocheting from object to object, all while humming distractedly, and Sadie is plaintively asking to go to the "Claydrowned?" which means... of course... playground.
So since it's 90+ degrees outside and as humid as a camel's underpants, we decided naturally to go picnic, playground, and ride bikes at the lake by Mt. Trashmore. Here's a picture of the children on their bikes:
After the picnic, playing on the playground, and the 2.25 mile bike ride around the lake, which had us parents melting into a puddle on the side of the path, the kids were not discouraged. In fact, having come full circle back to the playground again Benny immediately leaped into action and when I called him to the van, he said, "BUT MOM I NEED TO HAVE LOTS OF FUN." Fun in the heat of the day, in the middle of the summer, in the South. That's what five days of rain will do to a person, if the person is six years old.
We're home now. The baby is asleep in her bed and the boy is actually being still, playing his Gameboy under a ceiling fan. It's so quiet in my house. You, too, can achieve this quiet today only by skipping out to a local playground in between these rain storms. Just don't forget the water bottles. We went through plenty of liquid -- and not the kind that falls from the sky!
Labels: field trips, friends
Today's experiment didn't go so well, due to small brother's refusal to be lumped in with the stinky baby. So we improvised.
We had it all figured out, all nice and tidy, swapping the brothers to make one group of six-year-olds and one group of two-or-three-year-olds, so everyone could enjoy tidy age-appropriate activities, and have such a tidy wonderful time. Except! Brother #2, of the three-year-old variety, rebelled. He is not charmed with being categorized in the younger group, and wants to be with the older kids. Not even the promise of a trip to the donut store, where any donut could be chosen, purchased, and consumed, would dissuade him. He is not a baby. Remember it. Write it down if necessary. Not a baby.
So, instead of swapping brothers, we did a realignment based on gender. I took the girls and went to the fabulous pet store. If you haven't been to Animal Jungle before, you should go. It's such a good pet store that schools take field trips there. There's a massive indoor koi pond, there are sharks, there are monkeys, there are three-foot-long iguanas, and kittens and rats and a giant blue macaw that hangs upside down, and just all kinds of crazy stuff. Here are the girls looking at chinchillas.
We were lucky (?) enough to see the Asian Water Monitor Lizard Creepy Giant Dragon of Scarification being transferred to one habitat to another. This iinvolved it skittering wildly across the floor, lashing its scaly tail and roaring through its cavernous toothy maw. Okay it just walked mildly across the floor with its mouth shut, and the rest was part of the sudden vision I had at that moment. You try taking a toddler through the reptile room, and see if nothing strange occurs to you! We also got to see the bird show. Apparently, the giant bird with the razor-sharp beak does not like children, and the demonstrated felt like that needed to be said repeatedly. More visions.
Eventually we rejoined the boys at Veronica's house for trampoline jumping, backyard playing, dog wrangling, and eating feta cheese that comes from a sheep. Here are the boys:
A good day. A fine social experiment. And a little improvisation. Next time we're going back to aligning based on age, so the mommies can go for a walk and have an uninterrupted conversation, and the kids take themselves to the aquarium to see an IMAX movie. Now that would be an interesting experiment.
We had it all figured out, all nice and tidy, swapping the brothers to make one group of six-year-olds and one group of two-or-three-year-olds, so everyone could enjoy tidy age-appropriate activities, and have such a tidy wonderful time. Except! Brother #2, of the three-year-old variety, rebelled. He is not charmed with being categorized in the younger group, and wants to be with the older kids. Not even the promise of a trip to the donut store, where any donut could be chosen, purchased, and consumed, would dissuade him. He is not a baby. Remember it. Write it down if necessary. Not a baby.
So, instead of swapping brothers, we did a realignment based on gender. I took the girls and went to the fabulous pet store. If you haven't been to Animal Jungle before, you should go. It's such a good pet store that schools take field trips there. There's a massive indoor koi pond, there are sharks, there are monkeys, there are three-foot-long iguanas, and kittens and rats and a giant blue macaw that hangs upside down, and just all kinds of crazy stuff. Here are the girls looking at chinchillas.
We were lucky (?) enough to see the Asian Water Monitor Lizard Creepy Giant Dragon of Scarification being transferred to one habitat to another. This iinvolved it skittering wildly across the floor, lashing its scaly tail and roaring through its cavernous toothy maw. Okay it just walked mildly across the floor with its mouth shut, and the rest was part of the sudden vision I had at that moment. You try taking a toddler through the reptile room, and see if nothing strange occurs to you! We also got to see the bird show. Apparently, the giant bird with the razor-sharp beak does not like children, and the demonstrated felt like that needed to be said repeatedly. More visions.
Eventually we rejoined the boys at Veronica's house for trampoline jumping, backyard playing, dog wrangling, and eating feta cheese that comes from a sheep. Here are the boys:
A good day. A fine social experiment. And a little improvisation. Next time we're going back to aligning based on age, so the mommies can go for a walk and have an uninterrupted conversation, and the kids take themselves to the aquarium to see an IMAX movie. Now that would be an interesting experiment.
Labels: friends
I guess, if you've reached the astonishing age of six years old, you sometimes just want to kick back with other six-year-olds and reap the fruit of all your maturity. You want to take a day, here and there, when you don't have to give little siblings a turn, or modify games so toddlers can play, or wait for babies to catch up.
That's understandable.
We have very good friends with a little girl Benny's age and a little boy Sadie's age. We have been tossing around the idea of brother-swapping, so the big kids can have some play time together that doesn't involve the afore-mentioned atrocities. Today we gave it a shot. It was great!
We met up for swimming at the YMCA. The big kids went to swim with Veronica, and the little ones came with me to the grocery store. The six-year-olds got to go in the hot tub for the first time, since there were no underage siblings to accommodate, got to play Marco Polo with a parent unhindered by a toddler on the hip, and in general were free to play big kid games at their leisure. Spectacular.
The little ones sat charmingly next to each other in my grocery store cart, and got to pick out all their favorite foods to come home and make lunch for everyone when we all met up later.
Tomorrow we're going to try a further experiment, leaving the big kids to jump on Veronica's trampoline without having to be careful of little people for a while, and me taking the little kids on an outing. Stay tuned.
That's understandable.
We have very good friends with a little girl Benny's age and a little boy Sadie's age. We have been tossing around the idea of brother-swapping, so the big kids can have some play time together that doesn't involve the afore-mentioned atrocities. Today we gave it a shot. It was great!
We met up for swimming at the YMCA. The big kids went to swim with Veronica, and the little ones came with me to the grocery store. The six-year-olds got to go in the hot tub for the first time, since there were no underage siblings to accommodate, got to play Marco Polo with a parent unhindered by a toddler on the hip, and in general were free to play big kid games at their leisure. Spectacular.
The little ones sat charmingly next to each other in my grocery store cart, and got to pick out all their favorite foods to come home and make lunch for everyone when we all met up later.
Tomorrow we're going to try a further experiment, leaving the big kids to jump on Veronica's trampoline without having to be careful of little people for a while, and me taking the little kids on an outing. Stay tuned.
Labels: friends
