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The Homeschooling Challenge...and Success Here is my 7-year-old counting buttons during a recent math lesson. Based on instructions from her Oak Meadow second grade curriculum, I taught her to understand multiplication and division in just a few short lessons. When we first started homeschooling, we just went to the library and did our own thing. But getting her to agree to do what I asked was often a challenge. For us, having the curriculum has helped her to agree to the tasks, since someone other than me has designed it! Yes, she is that argumentative!! We probably have to blame our liberal parenting for that. All and all, our homeschooling is going pretty smoothly at this point and I feel much more confident about her getting the target information at the right time. I feel especially strong about this point thinking that there may be a time when she must return to a traditional school.
Posted by hrseacat at 9:32 AM No comments: Labels: argumentative, counting buttons, curriculum, division, homeschool, homeschooling, lessons, liberal parenting, math, mathematics, multiplication, Oak Meadow curriculum, traditional school


Mammoth Sunflowers, Drying Yet Beautiful 


Living So Close to Nature 



We're beginning the homeschool adventure for the day. I never know whether my 7-year-old will resist instructions or be absorbed by them. I worried about it for a while, being a new homeschooler. However, I believe that she feels more love and attention through personalized mama-instruction and will most certainly benefit intellectually as well. I love it because it gets me in the middle of the childrens' activities, playing games, reading, writing, drawing, doing art and craft projects, and wandering around outside. I think it is helping me to be a better, more nurturing parent. In fact, I have never felt so fulfilled as a parent. Perhaps homeschooling is as good for me as it is for my daughter.
Posted by hrseacat at 7:01 AM No comments: Labels: bonding, children, homeschool, homeschooling, instruction, nurturing, parenting, playing


Who knew bedtime could be so hard?

On July 4th of last year we started out on our property in a 1966 Avion 21' camper with a table and sofa that make into beds. Getting us all to bed at the right time was a nightmare. That small space made for some very interesting family dynamics. Many of the situations that resulted are simply not repeatable. Our wintertime upgrade to a 1955 Spartan Imperial Mansion with a whopping 43' was sorely needed. Now, though, even such a mansion has become too small! I can say that at the present time of 10:00 PM all is quiet inside while I listen to the zillion bugs and frogs joining together in their nightly ensemble outside. I bet the stars are shining bright out there as well. One thing redeeming about life in that cramped camper was that after the kids finally fell asleep, my husband and I would sit outside, discussing our new life in an amazing community while we glimpsed the Milky Way above and fireflies all around us.
Posted by hrseacat at 7:10 PM No comments: Labels: bedtime, bugs, camper life, children, family dynamics, fireflies, frogs, homestead, homesteading, lightning bugs, Milky Way, stars, vintage campers, vintage trailers

Full Circle Living

Life sure is hard on a developing homestead when you have two young daughters! What were my husband and I thinking?? We've been here over a year now and have made a bit of progress switching our lifestyles from urban dwellers to country folk. I profess to my friends that I have come "full circle" in this life-changing move we made. When I was just 20 years old I knew I wanted to have a farm where I grew most of my food and just took in life as I believe humans should--in a slow, deliberate, thankful manner. As a teenager and young adult I became tired of all the want and consumption around me. However, while a college student and in my working life, I became a human filled with want. Once I decided to forsake the career (at least for now and in the fullest sense of a career) and move to southern Appalachia to remake ourselves, I felt free again. But, the work of developing this place is more than I ever knew!!!
Posted by hrseacat at 8:14 AM No comments: Labels: Appalachia, consumption, country life, family farm, homestead, homesteading, life-changing, lifestyle change, overconsumption, rural life, small farm, urban life
