Shepherd’s Rest
We have been adjusting to a much different lifestyle here in Oria, Spain compared to our lifestyle in Tabuado, Portugal. Both locations are great, but for different reasons and in different ways. While we were spending time alone, just the four of us in Portugal, here we are in a very social worldschooling community. We wanted a place for the girls to make friends, play, and have a more typical carefree summer. Also, a place where we could meet other families who are doing something similar to us. We were looking forward to the opportunity to meet others who are interested in this type of lifestyle to connect, learn, and grow.
Here at Shepherd’s Rest live the family who own the building and their children, plus three apartments, a communal playroom, a courtyard, a rooftop patio, a campfire area, and other common areas to socialize. They also have their other property, Serendipia, which is about a 15-minute drive or 1-hour walk away. There are four apartments in that building, plus the communal areas and lots of farmland. They keep an active chat group going with all the people currently staying in these two buildings. Every day, messages come in with various things people are planning to do or see so that others can join in as they see fit.
Every Sunday evening there’s a potluck dinner on the rooftop patio, which always has such a wide variety of amazing foods to try. There are get-togethers at the pool to go swimming, tapas nights out to local restaurants, drinks on the rooftop patio, group outings to the weekly market, group outings to local events like the fiesta, birthday parties for kids (we have already been to two in the past week!), and so much more. There are group outings to nearby lakes, towns, etc as well. We try to go to as many local outings as we can since we didn’t rent a car. But had to dial back a little and try to limit ourselves to one social get-together per day!
In addition to these are the impromptu playdates. The girls spend a significant amount of time down at the communal playroom or at the playground next to our building. They play with the animals (they have 4 dogs and 3 cats here), whichever kids are around the playroom that day, take some downtime to themselves to play or read, etc. They know they have free rein to go where they please around the property as this is such a small and safe little community area. There are days they are gone all day and we need to drag them back periodically to make sure they get some food and water into them before they run off again! And when we do have the bigger events like the rooftop patio potlucks, it’s amazing to see all the kids running around together using their imaginations to invent games, play, chat, and just be kids. The best part: there’s never a screen in sight! And almost as amazing is watching all the different ages, from 4 through to 16, interacting together. We love that so much, as we think it’s very important for kids of all ages and types to be together, rather than restricting it to just your own age group or just your own interests.
They did attempt to run a small, informal garden school here at the other property. The girls went twice. But it was quite the walk to drop them off and pick them up. Dropping off at 10 a.m. was ok, but picking up at 2 pm in the heat of the day to walk back an hour was tough. Ultimately, they decided it is too hot in July and August here in Oria for the kids to be there, and after a couple of weeks decided to put a pause on that. The girls did enjoy their time there making musical instruments, singing, doing crafts, playing games, doing puzzles, playing with a group of young puppies waiting to go to their forever homes, and just being with the other kids. They hated the Spanish lessons part of it, though!
This community aspect has been everything we had hoped it would be. The girls are so happy here and love all the freedom they get. As needy as they still are towards us, we have continued to watch their independence expand. And their knowledge. There is a huge variety of books in the playroom for adults and children. The girls read at least 2-3 books each per day. Including non-fiction books where they are learning about medieval English history, science, nature, etc. They are growing so much in so many ways. We are so happy with our choice to leave Canada for 14 months and embark on this adventure together as a family.