I have noticed that since we've moved to the homestead and the kids have seen us doing a lot of small repairs and discussing budgeting major repairs, they've started to do some on their own too. #2 made a simple sewing repair to his beanbag pillow that had a tear, and #3 took the hammer and finishing nails into her bedroom and fixed the door trim that was loose on her closet.
Yes, my son knows how to hand sew, and my daughter can use a hammer. Both are skills that are important to know. Today #1 and #2 discussed potential elective classes. We discussed which classes may give them a leg up in the future, and what courses would be fun to learn a skill that may help if they follow a more specialized work in the future. I encouraged both to take an economics and business management course, and agreed to pay the fee if they decide to take woodworking or photography or pottery - all of which are subjects of interest to them.
This morning on his way to work, Tony was trapped in the driveway for 40 minutes by a train stopped across the driveway. He texted his boss a photo of the train and explained he'd be late. Fortunately he didn't get in trouble (this time). This is only the third time we've had a train stop there. We had one a while ago, and another when my parents were coming over (they waited 15 minutes to be able to get up the driveway). Then today we had the delay this morning, and another one stopped around noon. Apparently the train tracks get so busy there are delays and trains have to stop and wait their turns. Hopefully we can plan around these unexpected delays by leaving earlier. In this case, the train was already parked when Tony left for work, so leaving early wouldn't have probably helped. Patience I think will be a big factor. Today we laughed about it. I hope we keep the sunny disposition on the downsides of a homestead on the tracks.
The western border garden is coming up well enough. Looks like there are plenty of peas, beans, and zucchini, but something has been eating the cucumbers as they come up. We only have one sprout currently.