Joel expanded his garden to other types of vegetables, his tomatoes and lettuce are selling well and the markets where he trades them began to ask him for other types of produce.
Talia is the one who takes care of the communal garden the most, she takes advantage of those moments to get out of the house and rest a bit from family life.
The fresh air is ideal for continuing to exercise as she likes, plus it helps her decompress the stress of running a farm without having the necessary skills to do so.
Joel is happy to see how their hard work is paying off, now the farm gives a continuous income with which the family is using to improve their house.
Despite the farm demanding a lot of him, Joel doesn’t stop spending time with his children, after all they are the reason why he puts in so much effort day after day.
“I can’t believe it’s been a year already.” Talia murmured as she went over to blow out the candles for her son.
It’s just the two of them celebrating Sebastian’s birthday since Helena is still too young to understand what is happening.
“Our children are growing up so fast.” Said Joel as he took Sebastian in his arms.
“I know.” Talia smiled, lifting her eyes from the plants to look at her family.
“Soon Helena will have to start learning to read and write and I’m worried about how we will do it. Our only option for her to have a traditional education is to send her to a boarding school, but I don’t know if I’m prepared for her to be so far away from us.” The man told his wife with a hint of concern in his voice.
“We also don’t have the money to do it in case we decide to send her there.” Talia replied, refocusing on her plants. “I have been looking at some things online, some tips on how to home school a child and I think we can do it. Obviously she won’t have as extensive an education as in a school, but we can teach her enough to be able to take the necessary exams.”
“We can also contact the Commission, maybe they have planned on this. I think that Mathew Hayward is still the director, at least the last time I heard from them he still was.”
In the end, Joel didn’t need to contact the commission because they did it first. Jenna Root, who had been promoted to deputy project manager, sent the family a detailed plan on how to educate the youngest resident of Sunset Valley.
Joel and Talia would take care of her education, but with online assistance from teachers. Each week these teachers will send them a detailed study program and instructions on how to explain the material to Helena, with their support through video calls. To say that the couple felt relieved was an understatement.
For now, the teachers had suggested that Helena play with educational toys that would help her develop her reasoning. So they saved a little money from the sale of the vegetables to buy her a block table.
Although Helena was not the only one who was receiving education in the house. Both Joel and Talia took turns teaching Sebastian his toddler’s skills.
Almost without them noticing, their eldest daughter had turned into a child who shared the table with her parents.
“The cake is really good, mom.”
Talia smailed amused, the cake was not so good, but she appreciated her daughter’s kindness.
The study plan turned out to be a good one, Talia thought as she watched her daughter concentrate on her homework.
Helena expressed an interest in fishing so Joel took her to Stoney Falls to teach her the basics.
“This is easy.” Said the girl while concentrating on the rod.
Joel realized that his daughter had an affinity for the activity that he did not. The man had learned out of necessity and not for pleasure, although, over time, he had learned to enjoy it.
This fall brought warm weather, so the family took advantage of the good weather to enjoy the outdoors before winter arrived.
After many years the Sheridan family had finally restored the farm to its former glory. Maybe it took longer than Joel had thought when he first moved to Sunset Valley, but seeing the result of all the hard work he and Talia had put in filled him with pride.
BACC PROGRESS
Active Household: 1
Community Lots: 1
Sims: 4
SM: 2
Population: 8
The Sunset Valley Project 