Something to do....Something to love.. Something to think about...

One of my favorite quotes is from Charlotte Mason. She said to give our children "Something to do, something to love, something to think about."

One of the things in our life that gives us something to do...love.. think about is our dogs. Actually in this picture I wonder what Ralphie (the dog) is thinking about.. :)

This is our family. Here we are, this is us. We have a strong affection for our dogs and other people's dogs as well. It is amazing when I think of all the areas of life they have touched for us. One of my favorite memories was when we did a co-op class with our local homeschool group. I had taught several semesters (as did other moms) and the last year when I chose a topic to teach on I let my boys help me pick. We chose dogs. We just love dogs and it was a blast.

What fun it was to brainstorm all the ways we could learn about dogs. I had a wonderful 'class'- about 6 kids (including my 2) and all around ages 10-12 or so. What a fun age! We read Jack London, we played Dog Bingo, we read St. Francis. One of my favorite days was when we read from the Bible and CCC about the relationship between God, man and the animals. We learned that man had dominion over animals, but also responsbility. We learned that animals had no soul, but we could love them. It was a nice day.

Another day we did a Charlotte Mason style 'object study' and our big dachshund Boomer was the 'object'. We studied his body parts and deduced what they were used for by his ancestors (long years, tough claws, etc). After the study, we got busy and Boomer made his way around the classroom. Soon we saw a mylar balloon slowly moving across the side wall. Boomer had found the valentine's balloon, obviously left by the preschool class, that had a small Snickers bar attached to the end. He was stealthily trying to steal it away to a private corner. What a laugh we got!

I think of all the group learning we have been involved with over the years, that co-op class gave us the most *real* learning. We all cared about the subject and all shared in the joy.

Thinking, too, of our dog-sitting business. How we learn about our clients and their dogs and their needs. How we care for our sweet but sometimes demanding dogs. And how we realize they are just dogs, but we love them anyway.

Just thinking about how dogs have been a real part of our learning. And now that I am adding some pictures here, had to get a dog one on line. :)