New Neighbours

My kids have always loved to sit and count cars on the road.

It's a game.

The county road is two fields away....far enough that my kids have always been able to go outside without me worrying about traffic....but close enough that we can see the traffic on the road.

It all started when Johanna, Grady and Jack were small and they needed some entertainment....while I got some housework done.  I would make them a chart with 'car', 'truck', 'motorcycle', 'delivery truck', 'bike', 'tractor'....etc .  And they would put a tally mark every time something went down the road.

They loved doing this.

I would even make them graph their results sometimes and then ask them questions about the graph....ie.  how many more cars than trucks were on the road today?

They were doing math, social studies, marketing research, art and reading without even knowing it.  I was a such sneaky homeschooling mom!

They taught Sophie and Lydia this 'game' a couple of years ago....and they love it too!  On the first warm day this spring, Sophie was busy making a chart, sitting outside and counting cars again.

A couple of days ago, Lydia came running into the house all excited.  She said that she needed to add one more thing to the chart!  There is now something on our road that has never been recorded in the years before.

A few weeks ago, a few families of Orthodox Mennonites bought some farms around Douglas and they have moved in.  We see them travelling on the county road in their buggies quite frequently.

It's a sight to be seen.

Their way of life fascinates me.  It's like they are living 'back in time'.

They live without electricity or plumbing in their homes.

It really makes me think....and wonder just how they do it....especially when I open my hydro bill.

Brenda