We don’t have TV anymore. That is, we don’t get any channels. We still have a TV for movie time, and I’d be happy to lose that, but I get outvoted.
We also don’t do daycare. We are in agreement on that one.
We don’t have TV anymore. That is, we don’t get any channels. We still have a TV for movie time, and I’d be happy to lose that, but I get outvoted.
We also don’t do daycare. We are in agreement on that one.
Some ideas for teaching your kids about Veteran’s Day.
And an interesting read about Code Talkers.
Post from: Learning at Home
[...]IÂ look at my son. He has chocolate all over his face, remnants of the reward for helping me in the yard. His face may be the cleanest part of him. I say, “Guess who needs a bath today.”
He studies his hands for a moment and says, “Well, I’m clean.”
Dirt, [...]
I ranted today about depression and processed food over at my farm blog.
Post from: Learning at Home
[...]The Reader’s Digest article about our farm is posted on the RD site.
My dad informed me that he also passed along the info and it was mentioned in his hometown (Magnolia, Arkansas) newspaper and the staff newsletter at Yuba City High School.
I’m not sure it gets any better.
Post from: [...]
Tomorrow we are converting one of our old chicken hoop houses to a greenhouse. That is the plan anyway. Talk about a learn-as-we-go experience! I can’t wait!!
Post from: Learning at Home
[...]We don’t have TV. That isn’t exactly true, as we still have one sitting in the living room, not connected to anything, not even electricity. There is another small one on our porch that the kids watch an occasional movie on. I was ready to chuck that one, too, but [...]
Seems like every day there is another crazy story about zero tolerance policies run amok. Yet another reason to homeschool.
Here is the latest–Eagle Scout suspended for 20 days for having a 2″ knife LOCKED in a survival kit in his car.
Post from: Learning at Home
[...]Today we had a lovely chicken and noodle stew for lunch, using one of the chickens we’d raised here on the farm along with some fresh veggies. We used regular spoons, but we could have used any sort of utensil we wanted to because we homeschool (and because we have [...]
A mom in NY is fighting the school for the right to ride her bike with her son. Before and after school, outside of school hours, not on school property. The student handbook says it is against the rules to bike to school. Once again, a school decides that [...]
Another “czar.” This one for safe schools. Uh huh.
President Obama’s “safe schools czar” is a former schoolteacher who has advocated promoting homosexuality in schools, written about his past drug abuse, expressed his contempt for religion and detailed an incident in which he did not report an underage student who [...]
The State Board of Education adjourned its three-day September meeting Friday, neutralizing a few hot-button issues that have polarized social studies revision and one that made headlines statewide.
That would be Christmas, which will be hurried back into drafts of sixth-grade social studies texts that had dropped mentions [...]
My 9-year-old is enjoying writing this year. She has a journal and she likes a good writing prompt. I’m just glad she will never be a student in the Kingswood Regional High School in NH where the writing prompt, assigned by a classroom teacher, was “If you knocked your brother [...]
When I got out of graduate school, I owed just over $30,000 in student loans. It was an impossible sum in my head, something I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around. In college, when my financial aid “award” was made, the counselors always talked about the low rates that would [...]
Today be Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Arrgh.
Maybe we’ll work on grammar today.
Post from: Learning at Home
[...]Got a minute?
You gotta read this. Just don’t eat or drink anything while you are reading it or whatever you were eating or drinking will likely come out your nose and probably make a mess all over your computer screen and your keyboard.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Post from: Learning at Home
[...]New Math in New York. 44 percent correct is a passing score. Incredible.
Post from: Learning at Home
[...]The Carnival of Homeschooling is up. I haven’t sent in much over the summer, just trying to keep up with life is keeping me busy enough these days, but things are slowing down a bit as we head into Autumn so I sent in a post. The baby woke [...]
Just a reminder, Talk Like a Pirate Day is just around the corner, September 19. Plenty of time to start planning, if you start now.
Planning to raise your kids as pirates? Tim Bete offers his advice on Pirate Parenting.
Post from: Learning at Home
[...]We are pretty much in the swing of things with our new schedule. On the schedule for Tuesday: We are going to plant 6 fig trees and the last (of 22) of the grape vines. The butcher is also coming out. That is the hard part. We get a free [...]
Most recent column:
I don’t much care for the telephone, so talking to a telemarketer is really low on my list of things I want to do. Brian, on the other hand, rarely turns down the chance to strike up a conversation with anyone. After listening to the pitch, he starts [...]
So much going on this time of year. The farm is occupying most of our time, so I set up a schedule to make sure we make time to do something else. So far, so good, but it is difficult for all of us to follow all of it.
I implemented [...]
I am going on record to say that I’ve asked my family for a saucepot for my birthday. It was a toss up between that and some fancy goat-milking equipment, but in the end, practicality and frugality trumped frivolous on my wish list. Brian has gotten used to my strange [...]
We are getting ready to start our 11th year homeschooling. WOW. And to think, it all started as a way to help my 2 oldest learn English after coming to America to join our family at age 9 and age 10. Over the years it has become such a great [...]
The truth is finally out there. I am the worst mom in the world.
I forgot to make smoothies yesterday.
Nevermind all the other stuff I did, including taking the kids swimming at a friend’s house. I forgot to make smoothies.
Making homemade ice cream tonight did not improve my standing at all. [...]
We watched this a few times today. Each time I went to look it up, it had added about 3 million views. My 9-year-old and I both had the same thought–”I bet that took a lot of time to practice!”
Click here to view the embedded video.Post from: Learning at [...]
One of my daughters turned 16 today. It is just such a range of emotions watching her grow and become who she is to be.
She bounced out of her room this morning. She doesn’t ofen bounce in the morning, but today she did. At the Farmers’ Market, a bunch of [...]
Life on the farm continues to consume our summer. With the heat, we are watering birds nearly every hour. The kids have been troopers. I’m so glad we don’t have so much going on this summer so we can keep up.
We got our Jersey cow last week. Her name is [...]
I just added one more thing to the list of things I never thought I would do. I just boiled a calf’s tongue. He was no longer attached, of course. My friend was telling me it is so fabulous and I was kind of getting excited about trying it. I boiled [...]
I had the opportunity to go into the bank yesterday. I have no ATM card because I lose them. Don’t carry credit cards either. I do (gasp!) write the occasional check, but I like using cash. It is very freeing–either I have enough or I don’t. Helps with the decision [...]
AÂ letter appeared in the Washington Post on Sunday, part of it is here:
My nephew, Brian Bradshaw, was killed by an explosive device in Afghanistan on June 25, the same day that Michael Jackson died. Mr. Jackson received days of wall-to-wall coverage in the media. Where was the coverage of [...]
“Daddy, why do we have to kill ‘em? Can’t we just buy meat at the store instead?” It was a good question, posed by a 7-year-old who is full of curiosity about everything. Brian explained, “Well, the meat at the store came from an animal, too.” Hmm, she hadn’t thought [...]
700 teachers in New York are paid NOT to teach. They report and do whatever they please, but their job, if you can call it that, is protected by the union while they have no obligation to do anything productive.
City officials said that they make teachers report to a [...]
Bonny the Donkey arrived this evening. Right now she is in a pasture by herself with the pasture sharing a fenceline with the goat pasture. She is hanging out by the goats, getting acquainted. Pics to follow.
I guess we’ll have to keep the donkey in the title after all.
Post [...]

We got a cow yesterday! We’re still hoping to add a Jersey cow….soon. This one should keep me busy for a while.
Post from: Learning at Home
[...]Dana at Principled Discovery hosted the Carnival of Homeschooling this week with the Field Guide to Homeschoolers. Great theme. Last week when I saw an unfamiliar bird in the yard, I planned to come in and look it up to learn more about it (Alas, I got distracted). [...]
When I started my private practice, I was mainly interested in working with adults with aphasia. Over time, the practice has expanded and we now see all ages, but working with adults is still my favorite. When I started, the folks who were coming in after having had a stroke [...]
Downsizing a family? Sheesh, the guy only has 2 kids. Good for a chuckle.
We had to lay off a kid. But which one? Our 3-year-old daughter has seniority, but our 5-month-old son is more cost-efficient.
H/T: Why Homeschool
Post from: Learning at Home
[...]