It is fascinating to see the results so far.  The four choices are:  Public School, Private School, Homeschool, or Unschool.  If you would like to see where the 15500 votes have been cast so far, or if you would like to cast your own vote... here is the link:

http://drphil.com/shows/show/796/
Just click on "take our poll"

I am not typically one to watch Dr. Phil, although DH likes the show occasionally, but we might watch tonight's education debate. 

And I definately cast my vote, although that choice does vary from day to day --some days unschooling (go ahead and just read today, mom's got too much housework to catch up on), some days homeschooling (alright now, children, get out your first subject and let me see how you've been doing! :-), some days public school (If you hit your sister with that broom one more time I am going to send you to public school.  I've had just about enough. All right, I'm calling right now!  GO TO YOUR ROOM!  Hello, Mr. Principal, can I enroll a delinquent, unsocialized 6 year old in your 3rd grade today!  Oh I'm sure I will be ready to unenroll him by next week, we just both need a little "change of pace." ) 

P.S. My 10 year old thinks my post is funny.  My 4 year old thinks it's just stupid!  I guess I have some work to do here in my little homeschool!

I will briefly answer the questions I got regarding my Adventures in Bartering Aritcle.  First of all what is bartering? 

Bartering is simply a way of exchanging goods or services without the use of money.  I offer you produce from my garden, you sew a dress for me in exchange.  Or whatever arrangement two people or families set up.  So far all of my barter arrangements involve my working and providing a service for someone and them providing me with either goods or a service in return.

Question 2 was how do I go about arranging these types of barter relationships?  This is simple.  When there is a product or service and I can not afford it, I ask the person if they do or would consider bartering for the service or product. 

Our previous chiropractor's office introduced me to this by actually offering.  They kept a barter sheet in their office and a client that could not afford to pay the entire amount for services could fill out the sheet with any goods or services which they would be able to offer in return.  The sheet was a list of items or services which they (the chiropractors) were in need of.  I can not tell you what a blessing this was to us during our lowest time financially, there was not way we could have afforded the care otherwise and we didn't have insurance.  They literally helped keep us well through that very stressful time.  They were tremendously generous and have blessed us so much.

Then when we moved, I just approached the places where I have barter set up and asked.  I shared that I was seriously interested in the product or service they had but did not have the financial means to pay for it, and did they have any products or services they needed that I might be able to provide to them.  They all said yes.  And like I said in my previous post, this helps me to look at the value of these products and services in a different way.  3 gallons of raw milk and a dozen eggs "costs" me about 3 and a half hours of cleaning work on the farm.  My daughter also cleans and receives alternate products from the little store, in exchange for her work. 

So, for those of you who wanted more info, I hope that this has answered your questions.  I am still interested in learning more about other people's use of the bartering system.  Hey it's how we started before money and I think it's where we are headed eventually again.

Blessings

I have been so blessed by people who allow us to barter with them for services.  It gets a little hectic at times, but it is fun and it helps us realize more tangibly the value of the products or services we barter for.  Right now we have three barter arrangements. 

1.  We work on an organic farm once a week in exchange for organic, raw dairy products and other items as needed.  My second child and I and sometimes the oldest will go for 2-4 hours and work cleaning mostly.  We are also benefitting from the farmer's extensive knowledge as they teach  us new things.  We also get to see just how much work even a small farm can be.

I keep a barter ledger for the farm, showing number of hours vs. dollar value of goods.

3.  I work 2-3 hours per week at a Montessori school in exchange for registration and suppy fees for our youngest to attend there 3 days  per week for 2.5 hours each day.  Actually now that I am working over lunch time she gets to stay an hour longer on 2 days and get "free" lunch --which she just loves, I'm not soooo thrilled with.

In addition to receiveing services, I have decided to formally offer this same opportunity to other families.  I teach Bradley Natural Childbirth classes and in our area the other teachers are insistent on charging a rather high rate which makes these classes unachievable for many young couples.  I will therefore be adding a barter or partial barter option for  those who can't afford the higher cost.

I would be delighted to hear about other people's experiences with bartering.  Positive or negative.  I think there is an opportunity for a whole "off grid" economic system to develop in local communities.  And as our financial system gets more and more shakey I suspect that barter will become  a norm not an exception or an oddity.

Thanks for reading and sending me your comments on bartering.

I just found this on another Blog and I personally need to read this at least once a day, I tend to the opposite of what I want to do.  We have these little ones for such a short time....

If I Had To Raise My Child Again:

I'd finger-paint more and point the finger less;

I'd do less correcting and more connecting;

I'd take my eyes off my watch and watch with my eyes;

I would care to know less and know to care more;

I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.

I would stop playing serious and seriiously play;

I'd run through the fields and gaze at the more stars;

I'd do more hugging and less tugging;

I would be firm less often and affirm much more.

I'd build self-steem first and the house later

I would teach less about the love of power and more abouth the power of love...

By: Diane Loomans

Thank you Diane!

Catherine

Our favorite Live WebCam from Pete's Pond in Botswana Africa is back online!  My kids and I must admit, myself, were so excited to see the pond and the animals live tonight.  The camera operator was fabulous too, zooming in on various animals. 

The incessant sound of the birds does drive "The Orkin Man" a bit crazy however, so we have to turn the sound down when he's trying to do other activities!! 

For anyone reading this and unfamiliar with Pete's Pond it is a project on a wildlife preserve in Botswana.  During the dry season when animals need water they set up this webcam that pans the pond showing a great variety of wild animals in real time in their real habitat.  My four year old just loves to wake up in the morning and watch for the Zebras.  We have seen lots of Elephants including an intense few days last year when one young bull elephant was sick and he lay in the pond for several days with just his head and sometimes just his trunk surfacing periodically for air.  He got better after a few days and lumbered up out of the pond.  There is also a blog or forum for discussion of the pond and it is helpful to learn what you've missed while not watching --even though it can be quite addictive!  Avid Pete's Pod fans even have names for some of the more popular animals.  THere is a big crocodile called "Fatty."

We never did see the lions last year but we heard them several times.  Oldest son is hopeful to see a cheetah this year.  We shall see...

The web site also has a listing of animals that you are likely or possibly lucky to see.  Last year I printed out three pages of animals that might be seen and put them on a clip board for the kids to check off what they had seen.

Let me know if you enjoy Pete's Pond as much as we do!

Happy viewing...

And they pay you to enroll your children in this school!!!

Having been homeschooled myself and raised with a good dose of comon sense I often think "if something sounds too good to be true it probably is."

All three of my children got "First Day of School" photos as I got them out the door to their new "schools."  The baby was only disapointed that she didn't "get" to ride the bus.  What's with that anyway?  She loves her uniform though, so hopefully that will make up for the lack of bussing--cause I am not going that far! 

Well here is the scoop, and you can tell me what you think!

Four years ago, a group of homeschool parents, public school teachers and a public school principal all got together to try to figure out a way to work together.  They ended up forming a school called "The Enrichment Cooperative." It works like this.  They have a building, which was previously used as an elementary school.  They operate as part of the local school district.  The school serves as a resource place for homeschoolers and offers them the option of taking classes either at the school or online.  They also offer many internship oportunities and practical life skills for high schoolers.  And many of the online classes are AP classes and college level classes designed as part of a "Running Start" program to give high school kids a decent amount of college credit prior to their "graduation" from high school.  In the lower grades the classes offered are considered "enrichment," and children may come to the school for classes 1 or 2 days per week.  The homeschool parents are formally and legally considered to remain in charge and in control of their children's education, but the cooperative offers these enrichment classes to help supplement the home curriculum.  And the definition of enrichment is very broad based upon how each individual family views it.  Some families do the "fun and interesting classes" at home and have their children take more academic classes at the cooperative for "enrichment."  Other families have their children study the academics at home and they go to the cooperative for "fun and exploratory, hands on" kinds of classes.  For example, my 7th grader is taking Flash Animation, Stop Motion Animation, Bridge Building and Historical Structures, Guitar Lessons, Martial Arts and Sign Language.  My 4th grader is taking an Art class which is primarily pottery, Sign Language and Stop Motion Animation with her brother, Sewing and a chemistry class.  We are hoping to get her into flute lessons as well if we can find a cheap or free flute for her to use.

The atmosphere of this "school" is family.  Parents are strongly encouraged to stay on site, wander in and out of their children's classes, or stay and learn or help.  Younger siblings are also encouraged to tag along and be a part of the action as long as they are not disruptive.  Alternatively there is a very friendly family room with toddler toys and activities, and kitchen stuff.  They have pot luck lunch days, bring your own lunch days and a "delightful" cafeteria with typical school cafeteria lunches (for those days when nothing goes right getting everyone out the door I guess.) There are also 2 playgrounds. 

Legally, the parents remain responsible for their children's education and must still fill out the state required documentation for homeschooling.

Financially the school, as a public school, receives funding for the number of students enrolled.  And each family is allocated a stipend to use towards their children's education.  This can be used towards the coperative classes that have a fee, towards music lessons, towards curriculum which you purchase for use at home (but religious curriculum is excluded), museum admissions related to school, sports team registrations, and more. 

There is an accountability mechanism in place which, so far, is the only potential problem area I see.  To participate there is a requirement that you share your learning goals for each child with a teacher/advisor at the cooperative.  They then give you any suggestions if they think you have gaps in any areas.  At this point my understading is that these "suggestions" are simply that and there are no requirements for you to change your program, but this is the area I intend to be alert about watching.  The people are VERY nice and I was welcomed into the co-op by my former childbirth educator from 10 years ago, who was one of the founders of the cooperative!  Just moving back into the area after 9 years it is nice to find some familiar, friendly faces.

So, it does seem too good to be true, although there are a few hmmms.  We intend to try it out this semester and this school year and see how it goes.

As a homeschooled student myself and as a homeschool mom I don't even know what to do with myself now 2 days each week.  I take the 4 year old to Montessori School at a Catholic School where they VERY graciously provided her with a great scholaship. Then I take the big kids to the cooperative and then I have to figure out how to better myself in some way, or relax, or rush home and get a bit of work done I'm not sure yet what to do!  I think I need a laptop, then I could sit and get caught up on all my computer work instead of staying up all night to do it!

 

Good Night --it'll be tomorrow in 5 minutes ...

We were vegetarians for years and years and it took a major philisophical shift for me to become an omnivore.  I am now a passionate omnivore following many of the philosophies of Weston A. Price. Except we don't eat Pork or shellfish etc.  And that's as far as I intend to go on this meat eating journey. 

Well, I sent my kids off to a Christian summer camp for the first time ever and my 12 year old had the misfortune of encountering his first and hopefully last cannibal!  And I thought we've had some strange eating preferences!

Here's how it happened...

My dear son (ds) had the bottom bunk.  His bunkmate on top was another young 12 year old boy.  Well, my son has a VERY strong personality and this was his first experience away from home.  He did NOT want to be there at first and was very homesick.  His counselor was 15 and it was his first experience as a counselor.  As I told son he had to stay and this was going to be a great experience for him, and he would regret it if I let him back out of it now, I nervously looked for a "responsible" "adult" that would be overseeing this cabin.  It turns out that each cabin had 2 counselors and the Sr. conselor in the room, Tim, was at least 17 or 18!  I felt "much" better. 

Well there comes a time, even an attachement sometimes over protective mother, must let go and trust her children to the God who made them and loves them even more than she does (if that is possible).  So, I smiled, waved, and left my two oldest children at this delightful, rustic, Christian, horse camp.  It was a long week for me and the youngest child! (We went back to stay at my parents home so I wasn't TOOOO far away from the camp.)  It was a long week for hubby also, alone at home 8 hours away starting his new job. 

Early the following Saturday morning we packed up and headed to camp to see the Rodeo prepared by all the new horsemen and women.  The rodeo was nice but paled in comparison to the joyous reunion we had with our newly independent children after the rodeo.  I didn't cry all week until we got there and I saw them across the rodeo field.  I was so glad and relieved to see them.  They were really still there, and it appeared that they had not been seriously injured or maimed or anything.  (I'm sure they both cried with happiness to see us too --although one of them will never ever admit it!)

Well, almost the first thing our 12 year old did was show his father the impressive bite mark on his right forearm.  "Oh my Lord, Who tried to eat you?"  There were bruises from each of the teeth and scabs where the holes from the incisor teeth were beginning to heal over. 

Okay, who sends their child to summer camp and would even imagine that another camper would try to eat them?  This was not even on my list of things to worry and pray about --I guess that's why it happened.  I didn't pray, "And God, while you're helping him to fall alseep tonight with the peace of your angels all around, please help him grow closer to you through this experience.  Oh and please don't let any of his fellow campers try to eat him in the night."

So, anyway here's how he explains the whole thing.

DS "I was lying on my bunk, and this kid, the one on the bunk above me, threatened to put toothpaste on my pillow." 

I'm thinking, toothpaste?  It this instead of ketchup?

DS "So, I grabbed his arm so he couldn't squirt the toothpaste all over my pillow and I held on really tight.  He starts hitting me and kicking me and yelling at me to let go of his arm.  I kept holding his arm because I didn't see any reason to let it go immediately.  When I didn't let go of his arm, he kept kicking me and then bit my arm."

Me "So then did you let go?" 

DS "No, becasue I was backed into the wall at this point." 

Me "Don't you think you should have let go, then maybe he would have stopped biting your arm."

DS "Yeah probably. But I just barehanded him on the side of the head with my other hand and grabbed his hair and held his head down until the counselor got there.  Then Jordie kept kicking the counselor and screaming while they dragged him out of the cabin.  "

Me "Um, so what did your counselors do?"

DS "Took us both outside and talked to us separetly."

Me, "And how did they treat your bite?"

DS "Oh I took care of it.  I just spit on it, rubbed the spit in.  and then put some of my First Aid cream on it.  Oh and I asked the conselor if he thought Jordie (the cannibal) had rabies,  Don't worry, Tim (the counselor) said he didn't have rabies.  I said, 'okay, I'm fine then.'"

Me doubled over with laughter at this point. "You really asked that?"

DS "Yes, it was the only thing I could think of that might be bad from a bite."

Anyway, we had a discussion about the whole thing and found out that our DS had probably instigated the toothpaste threat in the first place by kicking the bottom of Jordie's bed, in response to Jordie dropping things on him.  No big surprise there. 

The only really distressing part to me was that the counselor was satisfied with our son's own medical treatment of the bite and chose not to report it or even take him to the camp nurse.  Upon calling the healthline the next day, they said any adult human bite should be taken to an emergency room for evaluation due to the possibility of:  "Herpes Simples, CMV, Syphylis, Hepatitis, Tuburculosis, or HIV."    I followed up with the camp and asked them to verify the absense of any of these diseases or contact with someone with any of these diseases by this camper.  They got back to me and said that according to the parent of the child he does not have any of these diseases, has not had them and has not been in contact awith anyone with them as far as they are aware.  We were offered the option of requesting blood tests but opted to accept the mother's word, trust God and move on. 

I must say, all told, I am glad to not be the mother that had to receive that call.  I would have prefered that the incident not happen at all, but given the choice of recipient mothers to be I am thankful to be the mother of the bitee and not the biter.

Well I married my husband "for better or for worse,"  but then "the Orkin Man" came along...

I am very much into health.  You know herbs, nutrition, good environment and all that.  I was a vegetarian for 19.5 years thinking that was the way to be healthy.  I am now a recovering vegetarian and am learning how to prepare and eat healthy (when I can) meat.  We still eat tons of vegetables but have severely reduced and altered our grain type carbs. 

I believe in organics although find eating all organic to be outside of our pocketbook's range right now.  As soon as we can get our little farm up and going, we will be able to eat a lot more organically again.  In Pennsylvania, we belonged to a CSA and just delighted in the box of fresh organic vegies each week.  We also had a garden there and ate a lot more organic food.  We had a fresh supply of organic, raw milk and were in the process of switching most of our household chemicals to more healthful options.

Since the big move to Washington we have not yet become fully connected and found affordable sources of the most healthy foods etc.  I am working on it.  We have found the Weston A. Price Foundation Chapter Leaders and they are a Grade A Certified Raw Milk Dairy.  They are even willing to barter!  And we are finding quite a few organic options in the grocery stores.  Even the food bank which we have been able to utelize here often has organic past dates produce! 

Since my recent miscarriage, I have been a bit more concerned about health and the environmental toxins.  We talked about trying again in the next few months to get pregnant, even though the miscariage was from a pregnancy that was very unplanned, we would lke to add one or two more pieces of heavenly chaos to our family.  Then, what should dear hubby do, but apply for a job that would pay acceptably for our needs, and that fits his work style very nicely.  BUT, does not fit our/my lifestyle philosophies at all.  (It's kind of like when I worked at McDonalds as a Vegetarian.)  He applied to become the Orkin Man. 

Well, the idea of him being employed really appealed to both of us.  The driving all over North Idaho part really appealed to him.  The driving around with his own route to service, part really fits his style.  (He doesn't prefer a sit at a desk all day kind of job.)  The financial compensation isn't fabulous, but it will certainly help us start getting back on our feet.  BUT, the spraying chemicals (pesticides at that) all over himself (accidentally of course), and in and out of people's homes really doesn't appeal to either of us. 

So now I'm scared to even think about getting pregnant and he's nervous about it.  It will probably be "fine" but ....

He comes home everyday and thoughtfully bags his clothing at the door, hops in the shower and is taking all the precautions he can to not contaminate any of us, but there's always that nagging hmmmm.... 

Life is full of inconsistencies, unknowns, hardships and joys.  We can control many things but there are many things we have to just sit back and let go of.  I'm not there yet with this one, I keep hoping and praying he'll be offered a better job.  But I will stick it out "for better or for worse."  It would be better to have harmful effects from a physical ailment here on earth than harmful effects from a discontented heart through eternity.