Tag: homeschooling

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Real Life Math

Today, Ari’s math didn’t come from a book or a worksheet. Instead she budgeted for a shopping trip and made the purchases for our family! It was a busy afternoon; we planned to go to the library (free!) and then we needed to visit the farmer’s market, BJ’s, Michaels, the grocery store and a local farm store. Before we left we made a list of the items we needed and I estimated what I thought each cost. Then, we built some money into the budget because I inevitably forget a lot on the lists!

It started off well as she noticed a sign for $.05 off gas on Thursdays just as my tank was about to hit “empty”. She calculated it out and we saved $.42 due to her “eagle eyes”.

After our weekly visit to the library, we decided to go to Michael’s first.  This is the place we can spend the most money AND it was the furthest, so I decided to test Ari’s budget skills! She passed with flying colors, though I did insist we buy something on “one-day-only” sale.

BJ’s went just as well (darn, we forgot bananas from the list too), and we carried on to the farmer’s market. Our budgeting was a bit trickier here because some of the needed items were not what I regularly buy and I had to estimate. Ari kept us on track and as we figured out what we could spend to have enough for other items, she made sure we weren’t going overboard. I was not allowed to buy a second dozen eggs “just in case” or any shitake mushrooms that were a surprise (she hates mushrooms) and she reasoned with me that we needed to buy some milk and chicken, which I had forgotten on the list… sigh.

We worked in a bit of math with Abby too, as she was given $1 to spend and we informed her honey sticks (her favorite) were 4/$1 at the farmer’s market or 5/$1 at the farm store. She resisted the immediate temptation and saved her money for later.

Ari reasoned we needed to go to the grocery store next so we knew just how much we had left for the farm store, where we obtain our milk and meat. We ended up with enough left to buy our milk, chicken and some fruit with a tiny bit extra! As a thank you for a great job Ari and Abby were each given $2 to spend (black cherry soda and chocolate milk respectively) and adorably, they switched drinks halfway through the ride home.

Ari was really proud of herself for not only sticking to a budget but also not losing the money(!). I can’t imagine why I didn’t do this before and I’m pretty sure this will become our weekly ritual.

But I just remembered I forgot to get something we need at BJ’s 🙁

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Homeschooling Day 1

Today we started homeschooling. After a big move and at a temporary address, we decided homeschooling might not be a bad plan for our two girls. After all, we don’t know how long we will stay and it would be sad to put them in school and where they will learn new routines and procedures only to pull them out at some unknown point in the future This way we can continue on with as little interruption in our daily rhythm as possible. Plus, I’ve always wanted to homeschool my kids!

Homeschooling has intrigued me since I became a parent. While I had a great education from wonderful teachers in public school, I feel like I could have gotten more out of education had my learning been more individualized. I was pretty adept at doing the minimum to get pretty good grades, but I never really had to work at school until I got to college. Boy, was that a wake up! I’ve wondered what would have happened if I’d been allowed to work at my own pace in my learning. Would I have learned better study skills or found my education more interesting to me?

I’m starting out only teaching my 10 year old. I can work out some of the kinks with her first, and hopefully I’ll have something working in place before next Monday, my official start date for my 6 year old.

A synopsis of DAY 1:

The good

  • We followed our daily planned routine fairly closely
  • Ari (10) liked most of the activities and was wanting more of some
  • Most everything went as planned

The bad

  • Math was more complicated/ took longer than I thought – I need to make some changes!
  • Without something “school-ish” to do, Abby(6) likes to be “in” on the action (distracting!)

The ugly

  • Boiling a pot of soup dry when I forgot about it (luckily it was on low)
  • The dog returned from a romp selling like horse manure (how?)
Ok, the last two weren’t homeschooling-related, but they sure didn’t make my day any easier!

I will tweak math tomorrow; it took so long today and part of it was just the sheer number of problems Ari had to do. Overall though, I like feeling so connected to my kids and really understanding more about how they are learning!

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MENF Wrap-up: A Homesteader’s Hindsight

The second session I attended at the Mother Earth News Fair on Saturday was “A Homesteader’s Hindsight: 20 great ideas and 20 not-so-great ideas” presented by Philip Ackerman-Leist, author of the book Up Tunket Road and professor of Environmental Studies at Green Mountain College. The idea of learning from someone else’s mistakes is perfect; who better to tell you what to do and what not to do then someone who has done it all already?

The session started off when he told the audience to first pick a realist for a partner – check! –  and to be very clear in your wedding vows (buy me a farm in the mountains) – I missed this one. He said the burnout potential for homesteaders is very high, and many relationships don’t survive it. Some of his advice was pretty common sense, but would be easy to overlook in your desire for property:

  • If you have a spot that wants to be a pond, make a pond
  • If you have a road that wants to be a river, don’t buy the property or you will be walking in and out of your homestead
  • Build a house on a firm foundation with a shaped basement (square) – heat rises
  • If you are building in the north, don’t build a house on sono-tubes like they do in the south – what works in one place may not work in another
  • Build a garage or tool shed first (it gives you a place to store tools so you don’t have sharp objects hanging around your living space
  • Build an outhouse with a view
  • Build it right the first time
  • Search out your neighbors – the will be a great source of information
  • Right of way – it is best not to share a driveway because you may not always agree on what needs to be done
  • Always remember to check township rules and local ordinances before you buy!
  • Take a chain saw safety class
  • You may not need a sawmill (but try sawmillexchange.com if you do)
  • Live on the site for a year or more before you build
  • If you can, live in a state with good health insurance
  • Don’t get kicked by a cow (whether you have good health insurance or not)
  • Your community can save you/ homesteading is all about interdependence despite the “doing it on your own” hype
  • Live the questions – put your values to work
  • Don’t assume new always means good or old always means sustainable
  • Animals and gardens will become the center of your day
  • The homestead can become a constraint
  • Visit other homesteads to get ideas and if you can, ask about finances – it’s the topic no one talks about that everyone needs to! – see below
  • When you visit a homestead, remember you are seeing it at only one point in time. How long did it take to get there? 5 years, 20 years?
  • Be clear in what type of homesteader you are
  • Look for these books: New Pioneers: The Back-to-the-Land Movement and the Search for a Sustainable Future by Jeffrey Jacob and At Home in Nature: Modern Homesteading and Spiritual Practice in America by Rebecca Kneale Gould
  • Don’t set yourself up to be a superhero
  • Begin as a homestead and then segue into a farm if that is the direction you would like to go.
  • Farming might take away from the homestead; for instance the home garden may not get as much care as your focus shifts
  • Farming takes you from producing to marketing
  • Thrift stores are a great way to get what you need for cheap
  • BUT… you don’t want to buy someone else’s problem
  • Homeschooling -> comes out of teaching to the test
  • It might be a good idea if, for instance, your kids would have to spend 1.5 hours or more just getting to and from the bus stop
  • Homeschooling also:
    • makes you tighter as a family unit
    • kids get more exercise (school has very few outside activities)
    • you get “stolen lessons” – those things kids learn just by being there
  • A lot of homesteaders have an off-the-homestead job to provide income that is re-invested in the farm
  • The trade-off is the person who works off-homestead becomes more distant from the family
  • If you feel good about what you are doing, share it!
  • “You can judge a person by the integrity of their compromises”

Answers to audience questions:

  • Solar panels on his farm – 800w system
  • Grid tie in is better than stand-alone
  • Solar Water pays off quicker than a solar electric system, so that is usually the best investment
  • His house has a 24×36 basement + 2 levels and an open attic and a separate entrance for bedrooms so they can be rented
  • Finances:
    • $50k / year from job
    • house was $140k to build
    • they bought more land with an inheritance
    • to prepare for college, it is better to have $ invested in land than in the bank
    • pay off mortgage ASAP

The above tips were what I gleaned from the presentation, which was peppered with stories about life on his homestead. It was a wonderful, entertaining session and while the information he gave is above (to the best of my abilities), actually being there was fun! He also answered questions from the audience, and you can see the answers above.

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Learning Through Experience

At dinner tonight, my 9-year-old daughter Ari asked me what my kids worked on in class today. I told her they were reviewing for a quiz and when she inquired on the topic, I replied they were going to take a Suspense Quiz that included finding foreshadowing (among other things) in a story. She didn’t know what foreshadowing was, so I told her it was when the author gives you clues in the story about what would happen next. I gave her an example and then she left to bus her dishes.

A few minutes later Abby, my 5 year old, called pitifully from the other room that she wanted soup. She came home sick from school today, so I was happy I had just made soup (well, thick broth) from the roasted “happy” chicken we had for dinner last night. Ari is always hungry AND she loves my soup, so she asked for some too.  Ari carried hers into the other room and was balancing it on her lap when she sat down (I can’t believe I’m writing this – now Chuck will know I let her eat in the TV room). It looked a little tilty (my own word) so I said “Be careful Ari; it might spill.”

You know where this is going…

A minute or two later I heard a big crash from that room and Ari started crying “Mom! I spilled my soup” as tears welled up in her eyes. Sure enough, it was ALL OVER the floor and the dog was already doing his part in the clean-up.

Spilled Soup
“Spilled Soup” by Robert Waldo Brunelle Jr.

After sopping it all up, I just had to point out to Ari the foreshadowing. I’m pretty sure she will never forget that term!

Yes, I gave her more soup!