Tuesday, November 29, 2011

One of the Many Adventures of Raising Boys

I always wanted lots of boys.  In fact, I always thought that I would have all boys. Well, I have 6 boys and really there is nothing that compares to the adventure of raising them.  It's always something new with them, you know, the thing of the week : ) My husband and I really encourage our boys to be outside, getting good and dirty and doing boy things. So my 13 year old is really into wildlife at the moment.  He saved up his money to buy a special trap called "Have-a-Heart" trap. It traps the animal without hurting it. We have a small amount of woods on our property, complete with a creek, so we have quite a bit of critters.  He set the trap with "Coon Candy" (yes, they actually do sell such a thing) and waited for a few days. He added some smelly tuna and marshmellows and moved the trap the around a bit.  Well, the morning that all my big boys were coming back in town for Thanksgiving, he caught a racoon.  We put it in the bunny cage, that no longer had bunnies in it, and we kept him for the day. The older boys wanted to see him when they came in town for break.  Then Thanksgiving morning, we had a possum in it!  I'm trying to be a good homeschooling Mom and see this as nature study.  I just don't let them keep their catch too long.  We have seen small foxes in our woods before so of course that is what my boys would really like to catch. The funniest thing was the day after Thanksgiving he had caught Bruce the cat!
My boy's first catch...he named him Bandit, so original right? 
The ugly opossum that he actually keeps catching : )

5 comments:

  1. I have 6 boys too, and I love the stuff they get into and do. Sure, sometimes it's exasperating, but deep down I love it!

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  2. Ok, I feel left out. I have 4 boys, although 3 of them are under 8. Anyway, I try to get them outside to do things and they just stand there in the yard! They may run around like wild horses in the house, but don't know what to do with themselves when the go out. Anyone have any suggestions!

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  3. Nicole, sounds like your boys maybe want to be where you are. Have you or your husband tried going out with them? Just get them started playing outside and if your yard is safe and contained then you can go back inside with the younger ones if you need to. Some suggestions are playing with toy cars or trucks in the dirt, rake leaves together and jump in them, make a sand box, make a fort or tipee, consider saving up for a swing set, do nature walks and gather specimens, play ball of some sort, etc. Hope this helps!

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  4. Hi. I just found your blog. You have a lovely family. I'm a homeschooling mother of six. My last child is four months old and has Down Syndrome. I'm putting your blog on my blog roll and signing up as a follower so I don't miss a post.

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Thanks so much for your comments! I love them and they keep me writing. I really do read each one.