Bonthorn: Living My Version of Life: Adjustment

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Adjustment

Day 14. June 11, 2019.

Peace. Quiet. Tranquility. That was our morning.

Unbelievable right? Yea, I thought so too.

Remarkably, the kids have adjusted really well. They said it was a super cozy night in their bunks.

Part of that may be because they didn't go to bed until past midnight!

I was thrilled to see that they remembered how to move around on a boat, which places they could hold in to, how to unlatch the lockers and drawers, and just general awareness around them. All those boat charters we did over the years have paid off!

They knew that every rule we told them had to be followed, no questions asked. When it comes to safety, we are very strict, and we spent a lot of time today going over proper procedures like going up and down the ladder, hoisting and lowering the pulley, putting things away right after you use them, ensuring garbage and compost and recycling get appropriately disposed of, wearing lifejackets anytime they're on the docks (actually a marina rule too), etc.

Once the kids know the rules and boundaries, they feel secure knowing what they can and cannot do. And we feel better that we know they know.

We spent the day playing Lego, reading in our bunks, wandering around the marina, watching some boats launch, having a picnic lunch, having some Minecraft time, doing a bit of schoolwork, doing some boat jobs, and playing with the 2 dogs that are here on the weekdays (they belong to two employees here).

The diesel engine mechanic came in as well and installed the transmission and the good news: looks like our thru hulls are still in good condition and will not need replacing! The bronze still looks good so all we'll do is relube the rubber sealing around the sea cocks.

We had a local marine electrician come and do an initial assessment of our electric systems. He'll be back later to do some work but overall he is happy with what he sees.

Homeschooling: we started today. Not full on, I would say. But we started.

There was a moment of whining and complaining when the school work that was being prescribed wasn't the same as 'real school'.

We are not calling school work 'homework' because technically this is not homework.

Tai was upset because he wanted boat schooling to be "just like regular school where learning is fun".

Hmmm this will take some time to get used to.

We explained to him that school for the next little while won't be the same as school in a brick and mortar building. We can't replicate a classroom with 25 students, colourful posters and a rigid schedule of classes, library, gym and recess.

Tonight, after Tai had calmed down a bit, he told us how in class they were doing double graphs to chart the Raptors games and how their class had walked around the perimeter of their school to map it out, and other cool fun activities.

All these fun learning moments that were happening at school still today... and Tai thought he was missing out and not learning the same things as his friends back home.

We promised we would try to make learning as fun as possible, but that he will be learning when he least expects it.

I also told him that we will share with him the Ontario curriculum that we have to teach to, so that he can see what the learning goals are according to each grade level.

Hopefully once he sees the checklist, he will realize that as long as he understands those concepts, there are several ways to accomplish them.

Whether he knew it or not, there was some learning going on when he had to measure some rope and fix a few things.

One of the kids' biggest concerns was "how will we do gym?"

Our answer of "gym will be everyday by being active and on the water" was not the answer they were looking for!

Tonight Aila helped me cook dinner. Yes, an actual hot meal! Pasta, chicken and corn melange.

Pro: hot, filling meal.

Con: a lot more dishes to lug to the washroom to wash!