BillieBoy
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Posts posted by BillieBoy
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By far Countryside magazine and Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living !!!!
I was a jet set city girl and that magazine and book turned me in to a homesteader. Awesome, awesome stuff!!
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I feel technology is part of our present and future and as long as I teach my dd to respect it for what it is, a tool, then I have no problem with her using it. Dd (8) just got my Dh's hand me down laptop, but has been using mine for searches related to our studies for some time. She did Starfall at 4 and used Singapore Math games as well. However she is limited and supervised while on the computer. I am implementing a tech education class as an elective this next quarter.
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I've been a little worried about this too. Esp. when I see a small percentage of parents take unschooling to the extreme. Please do not hate on me, I am all for choice of method, I'm talking extremes. I just have friends with a non-learning disabled child that does not know how to read and he is 10, and mom is working on her Phd. I am afraid my right will be taken away because some have abused the privilege.
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:hurray:
Congratulations to both of you!
Thanks Jen, I'm still shaking....
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I just received dd's CAT's in today's mail. She got a perfect score! Not one answer wrong! 99%tile in everything! I'm happy, I'm proud, I'm freaking, and I'm scared!
Now what???
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Shhhh, Needleroozer. You are giving away our secret!
Yes, shhhhh. Oh Jean in THAT Newcastle...I got ya now :001_smile: I'm thankful for the overcast today. I want our green back! It was feeling like E WA.
But seriously not everyone from the NW wears socks with sandals, most of us do not carry an umbrella or bumbershoot, drink ungodly amounts of coffee, or are left wing liberals.
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I called Lehman's this morning and they told me that the grinder I purchased (in the late 90s) does not grind fine enough for flour. If I had known that, I would not have purchased it. Up until now, we have been using it to crack grain.
NEW QUESTION:
Which hand-crank mill, that is capable of grinding wheat fine enough for bread baking, do you recommend?
I have an old electric but if I was to purchase a manual one I'd give this a consideration. :001_smile:
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No. I think it would be hard even if we had a farm with animals and a large garden. You would have to factor in animal feed, gardening expenses on top of your food bill.
It is hard work, but if you sell to friends and family it works. Also if you find niche markets it works as well. In order to keep your goats freshened they have to have babies and unless you plan on quadrupling your numbers every year you need to sell. We had a large Hispanic community that bought every kid we had. That alone would pay for the doe's feed for a year not to mention the profits I made from the cheese and soap I made. And again we had all the goat's milk and cheese for the family consumption.
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Yes I can and have, by choice, but it was a while ago. Some of it does depends on how you do your book keeping. Way back when, each division of our homestead was it's own entity. I.e. chickens, I would take cost - sales and the remainder was our egg and meat expense for our household budget or often times it was a profit and I would deduct it from our overall household food expense. Same went for seeds and other livestock. We usually sold enough to friends and family to pay for all feed and upkeep expenses so our basic meat, fruit, and vegetables were "free". Since I cooked everything from scratch and to the season our only out of pocket was for staples which I bought in huge bulk so I didn't even use coupons. Occasionally we'd buy out of season fruit or vegetables but it was a rarity.
Actually my goal is to get back to this again. I was a lot of work but oh so rewarding.
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Ugh, age! I am 40 but at our family doctor's suggestion I was put through a full battery at an an insane age, 3 or 4 and was tested regularly every other year until I graduated from high school at 16 with 80 quarter credits of college. When the 300 and 400 levels at university came along and I realized I had to study; I was hit hard with a huge dose of reality. :001_huh::iagree:FWIW, I'm older than most of the parents here. Gifted programs didn't really exist when I was a schoolchild, so I can't speak to that. Public school didn't challenge me until college -- first time I ever had to actually work -- that adjustment was a nightmare. :tongue_smilie:
have two gifted teens, at opposite extremes -- one totally interested in math/science, one totally interested in arts/writing. We have chosen not to test for giftedness; if they want that kind of information, they can choose to do that as adults. We follow the children's interests/needs, along with making sure the bases get covered. Personally, I find some of the conversations I observe about testing disturbing -- some of them strike me as almost dehumanizing. Emotionally, I don't want to go there; intellectually, I don't see that that type of information would change what our family is doing. We aren't going to send them away to special programs or whatnot -- family unity is a prime value for us.I would never consider sending my pumpkin away either. I know what kind of things those girls do in boarding school! :001_unsure: But mostly because we couldn't bear being without her. :001_smile:
the children at their level of understanding and interest as much as possible. Go deep in addition to going wide. Keep feeding them as much as they'll absorb. Gifted children will tug you along with them. Enjoy the ride :)Just my experience FWIW,
Karen
You sound like a very wise person. Thank you
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My schooling experience was probably the opposite of yours, and I never learned to work, or fail. Subsequently learning how to deal with occasional failure has been trying to say the least, and I don't want my children to start learning at 20 as I did. We chose the middle road with DD the Elder: Don't test her, meet her where she is in every subject, let her progress at her own pace, and try to keep her reasonably challenged so that she doesn't coast effortlessly or expect perfection.
I really have been holding her back in some things. So IYO it would be okay to let her progress as far and as fast as she can in Math but say keep my chronological history on schedule, since the do not directly relate?
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In math, for example, my daughter is way above grade level, but I keep her only slightly ahead and give her more but at a deeper level. For example more challenging word problems from Singapore rather than hurry and get her through the whole series.
My parents were more laid back with me, so that is probably why I do this with her.
I think it is a bit of a balancing act. I do think the giftedness needs to be acknowledged and dealt with, but never to the point where it becomes the highest priority with her.
Higher expectations are a good thing, but if she seems to be getting frustrated I'd back off and adjust.
Good luck :)
This is what I do now w/Singapore. I make her do all of CWP and IP just because.
I guess it's more my mind set. I wont become my mother, I wont become my mother....... But you are right reasonable higher expectations are a good thing, lest she becomes a slacker.
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I’ve been lurking over on this board for a while; I’m usually on k-8 or the general forum. I’m not sure if we fit in here exactly. I was classified as a highly gifted child way, way back when. I was accelerated through all the channels, attended the “right†private boarding schools, and had to endure all the stereotyping and expectations from parents and teachers.
Fast forward and I see all the same cognitive skills in my dd. At age four her math concepts were exceptional, at 8 her mental math is beyond me. We have never eluded to her anything except that she is bright and capable. I have kept her, within reason, to a somewhat normal grade level, just a lot more hard core. She turned eight two weeks ago and we’ll be finishing up 3rd next month. I monitored our first at home CAT last week, without receiving the scores back and without the answer key, I know she answered every question correct and in ½ the allotted time.
My fear is, considering my own personal experiences with accelerated/gifted learning, if I have her IQ tested for a baseline I might subject her to higher expectations. This is all a bit confusing for me. I want to do the right thing and design her education to her potential but I also know there is a fine line where I am capable of becoming my mother. :scared: My mother, with age, has become somewhat of a comedian and finds my dilemma quite hilarious and karmic.
Have any of you had this kind of experience and if so what prompted you to move forward?
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I too have to separate the want from the need or I could go way overboard. That being said our homeschool budget is a huge priority. I buy all my curriculum in the late winter, not a popular time and a lot of companies are desperate for business, I allocate most of our income tax return to it. Now is the time to buy school supplies. I went to Walmart last night and bought 2 pack glue sticks, bottles of Elmer’s glue for 25 cents each. I bought all school supplies for an entire year for under $30, that’s less than $3 a month. I am very frugal by habit not necessity (yet) so I am always looking for ways to utilize available resources; $12 shower board as opposed to $40 white boards. You can be very creative if you need to be. The computer and printer can be my best friends. If curriculum is a challenge there are many, many free resources of information on the internet; devise your own curriculum. I’ve written a lot of my own because I couldn’t find just what I needed. Print your own flash cards or better yet buy a 15 cent pack of index cards (Walmart) and have your dc make their own. There’s a list on the K-8 curriculum board of freebies that is great.
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Depends on the RV. Are you looking at a C/A class, or a 5th wheel/trailer to tow with a truck you already own? There is also propane for refrideration and cooking plus fuel for a generator if you are not "hooked up". You can avoid major campgrounds whose fees are similar to a cheap motel by staying in state campgrounds with not as many amenities but you'll need to be more self-sufficient. Due to the economy, it is a great time to buy a used RV, but resale will be bad unless you hang on to it for a while.
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I just picked up a whole bunch of plain 1" binders at Walmart last night for $1.84 a piece.
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I’ve been meaning to post on this thread and found it floating by again today.
I’m Billie (nickname). I have been on this and the old board for about 4 years. I forgot my old username from the old board so I’ve just lurked until recently. When signing up this time I accidently used what was intended for my password as my username and I got found out in RL (I used to work with an entertainer).
Anyhow, I’m 40 years old and have been with my husband for 18 years. We tried, and tried, and tried :tongue_smilie:until we got our one bundle of joy and laughs that just turn 8. We decided to homeschool before she was born and after I taught in PS for 2 years. We homeschool for purely academic reasons, the non PS socialization is a huge benefit.
We are secular classical WTM but I’ve had to do a bit of modifying. I could say the standard: we’ve been homeschooling since birth but technically we are in our 4th year (grade 3).
Currently dd (her initials really are D.D.) is doing the following: Singapore 3b, History Odyssey Grammar Early Modern, Voyages in English 3, Sequential Spelling, My Pals are Here Science 3/4, Latin for Children Primer A, Artistic Pursuits, Mindbenders, Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace Jr. and several homemade curriculums for geography, philosophy, music appreciation, technology education, and cursive.
I sure do appreciate the collective mind of the hive. Thank you ALL.:hurray:
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Please don't say it was me. :scared: I just had to change my username because someone in RL found me here on the board. :willy_nilly: I used to be in the public eye.
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These posts are funny!:lol: I have to add a few
Manford Man's "Blinded by the light...wrapped like a douche like a runner in the night...." I still don't know what it says!!!!!
And my dd's: Kiss' "Rock N Roll all night" her version is "I want to drop and roll all night and potty every day"
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How big is your freezer and how big are your crates? Trying to keep track of stuff in our freezer has been such a pain. I'd love to find a better way of doing it!
Right now I'm down to one small 5 cubic foot freezer ($75 craigslist find) I did have a big 9 cubic f before we moved, but same principle applies. You can use regular plastic milk crates which you can even get at Target but I have 1 cubic foot wire baskets that look some thing like this. I have 3 in use now for different meats and there were two built in baskets that came with the freezer. One nice thing about the crates is you tend not to squash things when you first put things in. When I want the crate on the bottom I quickly take the top ones out, stack them, grab what I want and stack them back up. Of course you kind of have to train Dh to respect your whole oraganization set. ;)
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:lurk5:
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Why I like Chest freezers: Chest freezers have 15% more useable space than an upright and they are more energy efficient. Some do come with auto defrost now but you pay for it. The chest freezer can accommodate irregular sized objects, like baguettes better and will hold longer if kept closed during a power outage, up to 3 days. I organize my chest freezer with wire milk crates for chicken, beef, fish, and veg. and know precisely where each is. I also only tend to go in once a week and transfer over to our fridge/freezer once I have a weekly menu planned out. Whichever way you go the only other thing I would suggest as important as a freezer is a really good vacuum sealer.
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I don't feel the question is a red herring. While there are a great number of people who give money and service, esp on this board, there are some who toot both horns and do not. The OP is asking about those people who are opposed to both and if so what solutions do you have for the children if they keep them. Just being the Libra that I am..:coolgleamA:
I ask this question because I have had conversations with people who are opposed to abortions AND financial aid to unwed mothers.
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Thank you latinteach, I was lurking eagerly awaiting your valued opinion.
Do you think our right to homeschool can be counted on for long into the future?
in General Education Discussion Board
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I understand this, but in this case they have no plans, he is totally in charge of what he learns and so far it's on a wii. I know this is not the norm but it does make me a bit paranoid with all the stereotyping that is going out there that a family like this could end of representing me (homeschooling) on say...Dr. Phil or Oprah.