I am sneaking away to write this to you. If the boys find out…oy.
The boys and I are preparing to take hunter’s safety this weekend. It’s a two day course. Since I have never taken it I thought it might be wise for me to take it with them.
When we picked up the Hunter’s Safety book there was a note inside each one that said, “Read entire book and answer all chapter questions before class on Friday.”
I wish I had picked the book up earlier.
Wednesday afternoon was the first day I was finally able to crack open the book and see what it had to say. I have been making the boys do study groups at the library the last three days so that an older boy reads to the younger boys and explains what they just read so they can answer the questions.
Note: saying “the boys did study group” sounds so idyllic and all but there was a lot of “how much longer?” and “where are we?” and “why do we have to do this?” and “are we done yet?”
S1 took Hunter’s Safety years ago with my dad. I have been looking for two years for a hunter’s safety class for the boys and this is the first one I have found. They are rather tricky classes to get into because they are so sparse. I told S1 he had to retake the class just to help with his brothers. He is fine with this because he is really into guns and is someone who is super safety conscious. S2 and S3 are old enough to take the class and while there is no age limit on the class I do think S4 is a little young for all the information. But it’s still good knowledge for him to have. I figure we’ll just do a refresher course again in a few years for especially S2, S3 and S4.
I know very very little about Hunter’s Safety. I know very little about guns. I have no desire to go hunting. If a raccoon or an opossum are in the chicken coop, I have a passel of ready to shoot them and protect chickens and be all manly for mama boys (including my husband).
But I want to have a basic knowledge of this class for my boys’ sake. And so I am taking this class.
I talked to another mom I know who is taking this exact class with her son. “What if we don’t pass?” she asked, worriedly.
And that thought has been nagging at me.
I opened the book and the first chapter, breeze through it. S1 is not quite hovering over me but keeping close enough tabs on me to know how far I am getting in the book and continually saying, “Just ask me if you need to know anything.”
Second chapter is all kinds of guns and ammunition. My brain is staring to have a hard time computing it all. It gets worse. I don’t understand choke. I don’t know how to sight it in or how to study shot patterns. This is way more information on guns than I was bargaining for.
And yet my boys understand every word of it.
Somewhere in the middle of chapter three, my brain gave up and I fell asleep.
S1 emailed me while I was asleep…
here’s your inspiration for hunter safety
and sent me this video.
Sheesh, no pressure there.
So today they are determined to get me to finish this book. They plan to take me shooting on Friday and who knows what else. And then on Friday night, Hunter’s Safety class for the five of us.
Please oh please oh please oh please do not let me fail!
Hopefully updates to come throughout the weekend…..
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