Frugal Living: The Tightwad Gazette Author, Amy Dacyczyn

“Our first child was born nine months (and fifteen minutes) after the ceremony. I set aside my career in graphic design to be a Mom. It was during this time that I discovered daytime talk shows and first heard commonly held myths expounded by intelligent audience members.

“Nowadays, a family has to have two incomes to make ends meet.”

“Nowadays, it is impossible for a young couple to get into the housing market.”

“Nowadays, families cannot afford to raise more than two children.”

As if the message could magically be shot back through the television tube, I raised my fist and shouted, “It is not true, it can be done!” And so began my quest to prove that it could be done – that it was still possible to raise a large family and buy a house without two full-time incomes….

Over the years our average income has been less than $30,000. In less than seven years we saved $49,000, made significant investment purchases (vehicles, appliances, furniture) of $38,000, and were completely debt free! That is an annual savings/investment rate of over $12,500 per year, or 43% of our gross income.”

The Christmas Jar: Original Story

Jason Wright, author of The Christmas Jar, tells with tenderness and passion, what motivated his family to begin this simple tradition, and recounts the details of their first Christmas jar experience.

Trivia Tidbit: “X-Mas”

X is the Greek letter for “Ch” which is just an abbreviation for Christ, not a substitution for it.

Comment Hijacking: Be Aware

As with every good thing people can turn it to evil. Yesterday Mary mentioned someone had been using her user name to make nasty comments. Today there were several obscene comments here using some of your user names (with mine responding) as well. Of course anyone with more than an infant’s intelligence recognizes the fraud.

I have blocked the Netherland-located IP address. Just be aware, wherever you are, that if you see comments from people that aren’t characteristic, it’s probably a fraudulent use. By the way, often they use the person’s real website address so that it looks as if it’s legitimate.

Homeschooling: Charlotte Mason–Part 3: The Schedule is Your Servant

One of the most frequent frustrations I hear among homeschooling moms is that they feel pressured  by time constraints. They haven’t completed the day’s lesson in the time they should so they have the option of being “behind” or making everyone finish, regardless of the emotional costs.

I would challenge moms feeling this pressure to first ask themselves a few questions:

• Who is setting your pace?

If the answer is “the curriculum guide”, remember that no curricula can fit your family’s needs exactly, and because you are the only one who knows your children’s individual needs, you reserve the right to override the guide. (Oooh…I like the sound of that–chant it in a sing/songy kind of way and let it become your mantra )There are advantages to “school in a box” but you must remember that no child is really “in a box” and tailor it accordingly. Let them be who they are in terms of speed and learning ability. This is precisely why the classroom model is weak….it is tailored to “the average child” and there is really no such thing. One of the very big advantages of homeschooling is so we DON’T have to usher the kids through an academic maze in the same time everyone else does it. Utilize your freedom!

• Who defines “being behind”?

A question related to the first, let’s do a little de-programming.  Because most of us went through the system, we think in terms of grade levels, school years, and chunks of time.  In school, if we didn’t finish a certain subject in a given time period, we were “behind” because it was necessary to keep everyone at the same pace.  Not superior, mind you, just necessary.

Time frames and schedules are good and necessary for all of us.  But they shouldn’t rule us.  Education and the learning process doesn’t have parameters.  We can learn in the evening just as well as in the morning if need be.  We can learn about the Civil War in the fourth grade or the tenth, and we’re none the worse for it.  What we didn’t do today, we can do tomorrow and it’s OK!

• What are your goals?

Do we simply want to check off an assignment, finish a book or complete “a grade”?  Or do we want our children to learn, to retain the natural curiosity that causes them to see everything around them as a “classroom”? I know when I was in school, it was really just about jumping through the hoops to get a grade to complete the year to be able to graduate.  And if we’re honest, did we really retain the majority of the information we were given?

I want my schedule, my lessons, my textbooks to be servants, not slaves.  It may take a constant reminder of our purpose in homeschooling, but we owe it to our children to attempt to inspire in them a love for learning, not a contempt of “school” where it’s all about getting done.

Practically speaking…

Some moms need more structure than others, for sure.  And I am a strong believer in structure.  I am going to throw out for you how we handle schedules just for your consideration.  Again, every family is different and I think it’s so important to make your homeschool work for you and not try to emulate someone else.

We simply start in the front of a book, whether it’s a text book or a reading book, and we do what I feel is a reasonable amount each day for each child.  If we have to miss a certain subject for a certain day, we just pick up where we left off.  We don’t try to double up.  We school year-round, so technically speaking, we can afford to miss quite a few days of our text book work.  We don’t really even keep up with “grades” simply because I don’t see how it serves a real purpose as it does in a school setting.  I asses which grade level each child is on and purchase materials accordingly.  One may be ready for 4th grade math but still need 3rd grade English.  They may be reading 6th grade level books, so it would be more of a burden to try to keep up with grades.  (And I keep asking myself, “why” do we need to be in a certain grade?)

This alleviates any stress from feeling “behind”, and truthfully, we probably cover more than is standard in a year simply because of the dynamics of the year-round schedule and being able to do more with fewer children.

One more hint…

Lots of things are taught in text books because a child in a classroom doesn’t have another option for learning them.  Learning how to tell time, for example, doesn’t require worksheets.  It makes much more sense to a child to learn it in a real setting.  All three of my oldest children learned to tell time by asking me about the clock when they wanted to know the time.  I don’t ever remember even announcing, “OK, today we’re going to learn to tell time”. The same with counting money, liquid measurements, and many others similar concepts.  Even with reading, it was simply a matter of teaching letters, sounds, then “sounding out” the letters together.  I have never even used a phonics curriculum to teach any of my children to read and they all read very well.

Sometimes just looking at things more practically can free us up from those pre-conceived ideas about how things must be done.  And believing…believing that God has already done an amazing thing inside those little brains, and that you are well-equipped to lead them to the answers they need at the right time!

What Matters at the End of the Day…

I love how we learn from each other through the most casual of conversations.  My wise, zany, sweet friend, mother of 8, with whom I laugh often, simplified her outlook on life by saying…

“You know, I’ve decided that even too many good things are not good. If at the end of the day I have cuddled and read to my little ones, and have listened to the dreams of my older ones, I’ve done what I’m supposed to do.”

Thanks, Nanc

Green Gardening Girl