For the past month I've been teaching an art class once a week. Well, teaching is a relative term. It would be more accurate to say I've been organizing and facilitating an art class. I do not know much about art, but I know kids love to create and I decided to make space in our school schedule for that. And it's been a success.
There are two classes - one for the older kids and one for the younger kids. We gather in the community house where there's a big table for everyone to spread out, and the creativity unleashes.
I love seeing how varied the final products are. The same project produces such different results and I love it!
I will admit that the older kids are easier to work with. No surprise there. They're more independent and capable. But they also take a lot longer because they're more particular about their work, especially the girls. The younger kids have fun doing their projects as simply and quickly as possible. Usually the younger kids are done in half the time the older kids took!
Most weeks I end up digging through our craft bin to see what supplies I have on hand, then cobbling together an art project. It's taken creativity on my own part to create creative opportunities for the kids!
It definitely takes time and energy, but it's been well worth it. By all accounts, the kids love it. Which is all I care about.
With all the hats I wear these days, "art teacher" is currently one of my favorites.
Sometimes these art classes make me wish I had an art class of my own :)
Rain, thunder, and lightning postponed our Valentine's Day of Races this year, but the next night was perfect and the races were on! This year we had more kids and less adults, meaning we had more chaos and less organization, but fun was had by all.
I feel like every event like this has to include an egg race. It's perhaps the most classic relay race ever.
This was a fun and simple race. Carrying soccer balls on top of upside-down cones and running. Even the little kids could handle this one.
But this was my favorite event of the night. Beach balls smushed between foreheads and running awkwardly down and back. It was hilarious!
We ran out of time for all the stuff I had planned because the sun sets early here, year-round. That's what happens when you live on the equator. But we squeezed in a balloon race, water balloon toss, and the fan favorite: the wheelbarrow race!
Some of the kids have already asked if we're doing this every week. I had to say no, but it was gratifying to know how much fun they had. And as always, I give props to all the adults in this world who participate in stuff like relay races! It reminds us of the joy and freedom of childhood, and gives the gift of fun memories to our kids.
One of our favorite places is the river behind our compound. It's a creek in the dry season (like now) and a raging river in the rainy season. It runs through a forested area and has much to explore and enjoy.
The boys' imaginations run wild whenever we're there. Many a dinosaur has tromped through the forest, and many a wild animal has camouflaged itself against the backdrop of bushes and rocks, and many a game of "Pooh Stick" has been played over the charmingly rustic handmade bridges. I've also been rescued many times from nefarious creatures who never stood a chance against the swords and daggers of my sons. If I ever thought a stick was a useless weapon, the imaginations of these boys have proved me wrong several times over!
The tall trees are calming and mesmerizing. I'm still not sure what kind of tree they are, but the bark slowly peels off as they grow taller, leaving a perfectly smooth surface on the upper half of the trunk. The wind often whispers through these trees, a perfect backdrop to the sound of flowing water in the river. It makes the entire scene one of the most peaceful places around.
Sometimes we venture across and further up the river in order to ride the seesaw tree - a tree that fell and got lodged at a perfect angle and bounces perfectly like a seesaw.
But mostly we just hang out near "Big Rock" which is - you guessed it - a big rock. It's a perfect place to rest, read a book, and eat a snack.
Our latest escapade culminated in a "wolf marathon" around a cleared-out shamba. The maize had been harvested and the area made for a perfect place to do laps. The boys slept quite well that night :)
I'm so grateful for this place. It's one of the few places outside our compound where we can be left alone (most of the time) without the prying eyes of everyone curious about wazungu. The river is a haven.
Sometimes it feels like Chogoria is the chameleon capital of the world. Nary a week goes by without the boys finding a chameleon, or two or three or more. And the number of chameleon-related adventures we've had could fill a book: Jackson's chameleons battling with their horns, a chameleon missing part of its leg, another chameleon missing an eyeball, a chameleon vs. praying mantis battle for the ages, burying a dead chameleon and then digging up its bones to reassemble and learn about its skeleton...
Not to mention that one time we discovered a mama chameleon in our "chameleon tree" who had given birth to more than 30 babies!
And then last week we had the privilege of watching a mama chameleon give birth. We didn't just stumble upon a batch of babies crawling all through the tree after they were born. We stumbled upon a mama in the middle of giving birth!
Well, "stumble upon" isn't quite right. The boys had found this pregnant mama a week before and affectionately named her Greenie. We knew she'd be having babies given the size of her girth, so we put her in the chameleon tree outside our house and kept a daily watch of her activity. Then, by sheer luck, I happened to look out the window one day to see how she was doing only to find that she had moved somewhere I couldn't see (which was unusual because, as we've learned, pregnant chameleons nearing the end of their pregnancy tend to stay in one spot for days on end), so I went outside to try and find where Greenie went and found her laboring, literally! I watched her push out a gooey sac with nothing in it and knew she had just opened the way for all the babies to come out.
I ran for my camera and shouted for the boys to come quickly! Then they ran for the Webbers who also came quickly, and we all experienced a science show of a lifetime right outside our front door.
Greenie is a Jackson's chameleon, a species which is unique from most other chameleon species in that they give live birth. Most chameleons, like other reptiles, lay eggs. But not Jackson's. They give live birth, which means they are viviparous. This was science at its best!
Before posting a slew of pictures of chameleon birth (which could potentially be unappreciated by the squeamish), here are some photos of the babies. They are the tiniest, cutest, most active little things!
And now for photos of the birthing process... Notice the baby chameleon climbing on a leaf in front of its mother (a few photos down). More than once we saw a new baby climb on or over Greenie even as she was pushing out another one. It was a rather hilarious picture of motherhood!
And here's a video of the baby coming out of its sac and beginning its life in this world:
Here's a video of another baby being born, from a different angle. It was so incredible!
As you can see, after a baby was born, it would sit motionless in its sac for a few moments before wriggling its way free and out into the world. Then the kids would swoop in to take it and put it in a bin for the sake of counting them all before releasing them. Sometimes, when the kids were a bit too eager to catch the babies, they would get one before it had completely left the birthing fluid behind. Hence there were moments like this:
There was a lot of chameleon birthing fluid around the tree, not only because Greenie had 16 babies but also because she moved around every time she birthed another one. She never gave birth in the same place twice. In the midst of all the excitement (with everyone surrounding the tree and reaching in hard-to-reach places to catch a chameleon), Lucy realized at one point that she'd gotten some birthing fluid in her hair. Egad! It was gross but hilarious and, thankfully, easily washed out.
It took awhile, but eventually Greenie was done giving birth. After the last baby came out, she didn't move for a long time. That poor mama was exhausted! Eventually she moved to a well-hidden spot where she was mostly covered by leaves and perfectly camouflaged with her surroundings, and she rested after her labors.
Meanwhile, the kids had a bunch of baby chameleons to play with! And oh how fun it was!
Lauren and I even put our cameras down for a bit so we could enjoy holding the babies too :)
Soon enough it was time to release the babies back into the wild. The kids gathered them all up and released them in various trees and bushes around the yard.
Baby chameleons, like most reptiles, are completely independent the moment they are born. It's fascinating to think about, and all the more fascinating to watch. Once they started crawling on their own, that was it. Greenie had nothing to do with them, nor would she ever. They were responsible for making it in this world on their own. Which is possible because of their natural instincts, given by our Creator God. So incredible!
All in all, I'd say our homeschool got off to a great start in 2021!
