People who grow up with this have grown up having their boundaries railroaded, their perspectives gaslit and their emotions weaponised. This is their normal. It is not easy to see your own parent/life as toxic. I agree with sneezy: grace. This is going to hurt.

Haha, classic. Gotta love em. Which book?!

Yep, we did it. We just finished building our own home (we did most of the work ourselves) and we're completely off grid.

I would wait a year too. There's no rush. I'd spend this year doing nature study and observation drawing. I'm teaching through bfsu for the second time now, this time with a coop class of kids from about ages 3 - 14 and they all get something out of it. I am continually, immensely impressed with bfsu.

Hi there, long lost sister! All I've got is, you know it's going to suck and be messy. If she was a reasonable person who listens reasonably to 'sit downs' and boundaries and agreements, then it wouldn't have got to this point. The only options are letting her have her way 100%, or you are evil and personally attacking her. At least if she's not in your home, there's a buffer zone. We lasted 3 months living with my mum. I haven't spoken to her in the almost 9 years since. Good luck.

My side of the mountain

Honestly, it looks within the realm of fine for 10 years old, there are some lovely phrases in there! My 10 year old son would write something very similar, probably not as nice. I am doing CW Homer with him this year, at half pace. There is no way in the world I'd attempt wws with him yet - his brother did wws1 last year in 7th. Fwiw - most of our writing here is discussion, even with my older kids. For the 10 year old, I also like to ask him to visualize how words change a story. So, for your son's second sentence, maybe ask him to imagine the opposite, what words would describe that beach on a stormy day in winter (dark, rainy, big waves, scary, loud etc) then find the antonymns of those adjectives (bright, sunny, ripples, calming, soft sounds - so what else can be heard?). Sometimes a contrast helps to focus on what makes a story feel the way it does.

Simple, they're just glitches in the matrix. Total eclipse of the heart is downloaded direct into every real human's brain, along with My Sharona. Stay safe OP 🙏 My kids have heard it, and thanks for making my night @Melissa Louise that parody is gold.

My slovak in-laws make crepes (palačinke) with a sugar & ground poppy seed filling. Like, lots of poppy seeds. More than you think. They're really good.

It's a thing here in Aus too, though I admit it's been many years since I've done it! You put a layer of sugar then squeeze juice on top and it soaks in a bit. You get quite a pleasant sweet and tart flavour!

PSA: It is February no. I'm not ready for Feb. I hardly have my head around 2021! 🙃

Oh my word how frightening! Praying for your family and especially your niece. What an awful situation, the worst indeed. Imagine picking apart a post from a frightened and desperate person 😔 I'm so sorry Scarlett.

Zombie thread

What's with all the zombie threads?

I just read the other thread and 4 years later, I'd write exactly the same comment, right down to the lego... 😆 "I have one. Got it second hand - cheaper. It's... hard to describe. The kids love playing with it and actually do fairly well with packing it up and NOT just tipping it all out (wish they could do that with lego!) We do some of the activities sporadically - some are great and some fairly underwhelming. The kids generally like to just play with it but I use the manuals and am glad to have them. And I'm not generally a 'need the teacher guide' person. I don't know if it is worth the exorbitant price, but I don't regret buying it and I am happy that I have it as a resource... Clear as mud?"

I get why it made you cranky, its vague enough that I feel like she's done almost zero research herself. Is she even homeschooling? You trip over a dozen *fun!!!* *learning styles!!!* blogs/yt channels when you google how to homeschool... Maybe drop a link to delectable education consulting, or to WTM on amazon.

*Stella!* Glad to hear you're doing okay. You and your family have been in my thoughts. 💜

SWB has a great talk on this, well worth a listen: https://welltrainedmind.com/p/teaching-students-to-work-independently-mp3/?v=6cc98ba2045f

Well, I personally think encouraging a young adult to nurse their grievances and expect some kind of penance for very uncontroversial and lovingly made parenting decisions is more harmful than a teen occasionally hearing no. I can acknowledge their point of view without being held emotionally hostage to today's vexatious memory. We aren't talking about abuse or trauma here. We're talking about 2 hikes! OP did great to say anything more understanding than grow up...

I asked him and I'm not sure how helpful we can be lol. We're in Aus and a lot of resources are local. He picked up a lot of knowledge along the way and couldn't remember a specific book. He read something from our local electronics supplier store and something from our hardware stores. He says it's really very doable, he didn't need much help from the electrician. He actually ended up needing more help from the plumber than the electrician (dh also plumbed our whole house himself) if that gives you an idea of the level of complexity... sorry I couldn't be more helpful!

I really disagree with apologising for the hikes thing. I may be mother but I'm also a person and it feels like encouraging them to shift responsibility for their own emotions onto perceived injustices and a convenient scapegoat. Sure, I'd listen to their feelings. Instead of apologising though, I'd ask them questions. Does she remember these other times you supported her? Why does she think you made the decision you did? What is she envisioning as the correct amount of support from you, and is that a realistic or fair expectation (remember, mother is a person too, not a validation machine)? I just think it's so unhealthy to be constantly self-flagellating about normal, mostly fine, imperfect but loving childhoods. Not going on 2 hikes is hardly a trauma to apologise for. More likely I'd say "I get that you feel it was unfair. I hope you'd give your own parents the benefit of the doubt, that we had our reasons for making that decision. Isn't it great that you're an adult and can now do those things any time you choose."

I'll ask dh. He ordered panels, batteries, inverters and charge controllers separately and put it all together. We found an electrician who supported us and let dh do 99% of the work himself. This meant that dh had backup if he needed it, and it was all legally compliant in the end. Eta - it has been harder and more expensive than we anticipated, but also really satisfying. We love it here, we love how we built our home. This whole adventure has been a kind of living out our values.

Fyi - we built our own off grid system and rely on mostly solar plus generator for bigger power needs. Well, I'm in Australia so not too helpful for US. Which is why I more emphasized the research we did into the land before buying.

We moves to an off grid home on 20 acres a few years ago (actually we owner built our home but that's another story) The first thing we decided was land size, quality and location. Dh wanted 20acres so that we could be self sufficient with firewood. We wanted natural beauty but useable - so not completely cleared ex-grazing land nor 100% natural bush block, and undulating was fine but not unreasonably steep. Dh investigated average rainfall, soil type etc. I investigated zoning. We wanted to be around 30mins to a big town - big meaning multiple universities, churches, and a good hospital. We looked for a year before we found a suitable place in our price range. I had zero rural experience. Dh had some but not much. He did a lot of research. We have a garden, bees and chooks and mow a few acres, we mow what we use. Our fences aren't good enough for big animals and we're more interested in the horticultural side anyway. We can maintain this level with about an hour a day of work, with bigger stints every few weeks.

Little Pim foreign language is a pretty cheap subscription. Videos through the app. I used a montessori idea and set up 'works' stations which are supposed to be independent. Teaching Montessori in the Home by Hainstock has lots of activities. Don't feel guilty about down time. Its so good for them! Learning to not need constant entertainment is a good skill.