The little "read" schoolhouse

Ok, so this isn't the little red schoolhouse that many remember. This is the Little Read Schoolhouse. This, is homeschooling. My wife, Teresa, and I homeschool our kids. Our kids love to read and do it all the time. This, to us, is an important part of being sustainable. There are a million reasons why we homeschool, but one, as it pertains to homesteading, is that when school is done (and it doesn't take eight hours like it does at the public and private schools) the kids can help out around the homestead. Our kids know how to plant, harvest, chop, mash, cook, can, freeze, and eat what we harvest. There isn't a food they refuse (although there are some they don't care much for) and feel pride that they are an integral part of the growing process. They can help us research growing seasons and figure out why things aren't growing as well as they should. They can help water the plants (and sometimes each other) when the rain isn't plentiful, and there is hardly a day that goes by that at least one tomato doesn't need to be picked. So, as you can see, they are not only learning and pretending to help, they really are a big help and it would be exponentially harder to do what we do if they were gone every day to school.