Learning from the elders

In a society where the main focus is on the benefits of age segregation, we focus mainly on the benefits of age integration in our home school. Learning to mix with all age groups gives you a greater tolerance and understanding of the different periods of human life. You will learn not to fear death, but accept it as a part of life, just as giving birth to little helpless babies. To see and feel that humans have different needs and abilities during a life span is a great part of learning to be a complete person. To show compassion with elders, who do not react as fast as young people, may have age handicaps, and to see them as wise experienced people that you can learn from.

Last year my mother died and left my dad on his own after more than 50 years of marriage. This has given us an opportunity to take care of him and learn all those exiting skills from him, that he knows.

Luckily, he enjoys telling about his life and about his experiences.

He has taught the children how to draw perspective:

Taught us how to use a scythe:

Let us experiment with a planer in his workshop:

Our friend Bob

2 months ago we found some moldy bread in the kitchen. Great opportunity to make it grow. Immediately we found a name for it – Bob. So Bob was put into a plastic bag and given a place to live in our kitchen, where he could develop in peace and in a non stressful environment. So we have been looking at him once in a while the past 2 months. This is what he looks like now.

Acid and base test with red cabbage 2019-04-07

Doing simple experiments with things you can find in your kitchen is cool. We like doing acid base tests with red cabbage. It is a simple harmless thing you can do with all age groups. And they can easily see that something happens. They can all take part. In this experiment, we mix red cabbage, boiling water and Sodium hydroxide. That strong base will change the colour to first green, then blue then end at yellow. Then the other glass is red cabbage, boiling water and lemon. That acid mixture will turn red.