When I was in elementary school (the one I attended from 4th through 6th grades) my options for lunch were hot lunch (buying the cafeteria lunch), cold lunch (brown bag) or walking home for lunch (which I remember doing only on the very rare occasions).
I was a cold lunch kid.
Fast forward, gulp, nearly forty years. Children's health and nutritional well being are in dire straits. The pace of lunch in most schools is appalling. Kids rush into the cafeteria and have between 15 to 20 minutes to eat (or not eat) before rushing out for a 15 to 20 minute recess.
When I worked in a public school ten years ago (a very well respected and progressive school system), I was shocked at the state of lunch. It was loud. So loud. There were a handful of adults monitoring a room full of tables crowded with kids. If you wanted to eat, you could not socialize. The flipside? If you wanted socialize, chances were, you weren't going to eat. At least, not well. There wasn't time to do both. And you really couldn't hear anyone unless they were sitting right next to you.
A benefit to learning at home, for us, is that we enjoy three warm and unhurried meals a day. Meals that are savored and enjoyed, meals that provide us with sustenance and energy to move, think, play and learn, all day long.
Today the kids had vegetable soup made with homemade chicken stock and homemade GFCF sandwich bread. Gem had a turkey baloney sandwich and Sag had his toasted with organic strawberry jam from the farm and soy butter. Simply watching and listening and inhaling as they ate nourished my soul quite a bit.
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