The last few days have been pretty busy with activities and work. I let the little kids play at the office all day long and they help out at night at home. Monday and Tuesday Colleen teaches class at the driving school, so I get the 3 school-age kids for the evening.

Part of what the kids are learning is when we prepare our evening meal. Eric asked me if there are any "shocking secrets" about eating eggs or cheese. They are concerned with what I am teaching them about factory farming methods. They are starting to understand that big companies that provide food products for supermarkets are not interested in feeding humans; they are interested in increasing profits. And they will do anything to increase profits. Including abusing animals and selling stuff that they would never dream of putting in their own mouths. I am not going to belabor it right now, but this investigation into our food supply and figuring out what we can do as a family to protect ourselves is something that is ongoing and involves all members of our family.

Here is our working assumption: Big companies will do anything to make money and more money. We cannot trust food suppliers to do "what is right". They do not care what is right and what is wrong. CEO's have the goal of increasing shareholder's profits and that is where their loyalties start and end. The government is a joke as far as protecting us from harm. The pertinent oversight organizations are infected with industry insiders. The laws that govern the treatment of animals and the quality of the food they can sell in stores are ridiculous. Here is one example: If a practice becomes "industry standard", then it is lawful and the actions are actually protected by law. So if they agreed to break the legs of all living chickens 24 hours before slaughter, and let the chickens lay there with broken legs, that practice is actually protected by the law! Just because the profit-mongers want to do it.

Believe me; we are responsible to ourselves to protect ourselves from these entities who are vastly powerful and completely amoral. They will poison us with food if we allow it.

So a major part of our collective family education is finding ways to protect ourselves. This includes our plan to raise chickens for eggs, growing a garden with local veggies and fruits, and shopping very carefully.

Yesterday morning, Eric opened up a 10th grade Abeka Biology textbook. He started asking questions and I am still trying to answer them.

How do they photograph a fetus? Fiber optics (that led to 45 minutes of discussion about fiber optics, light bending, reflection and also the use of light in photography.)
How big is human heart? It looks bigger in the picture because it is not necessarily to scale; it is not proportionate. So for 10 minutes we talked about proportions and scale, referring back to the maps in his Atlas for the basic concept.
How big is a fetus? and embryo? What is the difference? Well, as soon as a sperm joins with an egg, it is the beginning of life. The size depends on how long it has been growing, just like a baby.
I asked if they remember what is the biggest single cell in the human body. And they remembered. At least one kid got it right. Do you know? It is the egg. The egg is the only cell in the human body that is visible to the naked eye! Now you know.

Oh, I cannot remember all we talked about. That book is terribly boring to read, but it really gets Eric's brain going. We talked for hours and of course Cassie just eats it all up and remembers an alarming amount of the information I share. I placed that book on the couch 4 days ago and it finally got picked up. Colleen calls that the "strewing" method of education. She can straighten me out if I am wrong about that.

So later in the day we went for a hike and it was too hot. We went to Gun Beach and took some pictures, revitalizing our discussion about photography and light.
They also asked some questions about WWII, but mostly they know not to ask too many questions or I will hold forth for hours. Besides, they know quite a bit about Guam and WWII. We talked and learned and observed for hours and also greatly enjoyed each other's company. I thought of those poor parents who don't get to spend the day with their kids and gave up a quick prayer of thanks. (We do know a lady who says she would rather pull out her fingernails than spend a day with her kids, but that's what happens when something so unnatural becomes the norm.)

Stephanie declared that she sleeps until 2 pm because she writes better at night. I have to insist that she gets up without a fuss when we need her to. So she has been really good about that, so I allow her to keep her own hours. She has been writing and drawing and researching world history. She also asks random questions during the day, and also can be caught reading to her siblings and telling them stories. Again, I am reassured that while they are on a completely different schedule (scope & sequence) than their schooled counterparts, they are certainly getting an education. I am reminded of a Holt quote something to the effect of "Don't let schooling interfere with your education." You can educate without schooling, and unfortunately, it is also entirely possible to school without educating.