Thanks for all the kindness!
The Brethren is not part of the SCA, but many members participate at the local Ren Faires. Our Captain Rosabella was a Court Contessa and got tired of the stagnant life of royalty. Her current significant other was a Count who was captured by pirates about 5 years ago and forced into labor until he escaped. He has decided to use his title to give letters of marque to local bucanneers to become privateers (legal pirates). He is also one of the founders of the Brethren. His name is Count d'Booty and is the financier of the shipyard (thus his pun on counting the booty). Our Captain is a history major and between her & the Count, we have great knowledge of real history. The best way to learn history is to live it!
This summer we may participate in a special 6 week John Adams program at a nearby town. His papers are being released from the Library of Congress for a tour across the US and there's only 12 or so stops. The Count has been asked to be one of the main planners in putting the program together. If we get enough $$ to get us all into costume, our family will be helping out. Otherwise, we'll learn behind the scenes.
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For those with pats on my back about homeschooling... nah... I'm not all that. Really. I have to 'unschool' because of the fatigue and so many bad days. Thankfully the laws here in MI allow for such a way. Unschooling is becoming more popular, but is still looked down on by most traditional home schoolers. Hah! Prejudice at it's best!
I do minimal book work and let the kids lead their learning thru their passions and interests. A lot of life-application lessons here. We learn about figuring prices of things in the store with tax and with coupons and sales and there's a lot of math in cooking too! My 5 & 6 yo are learning cooking right now. Mostly because they're always wanting to eat eggs & sausage and I'm still in bed or don't wanna cook again so they do it (with supervision). And they love it. They all have their helping jobs and take turns with the vacuuming and washing dishes & laundry. It's really a team effort. They know more than anybody we meet about plants and their uses, if they are edible or poison, etc. We live in town and have 8 chickens we raise for eggs and other lessons that livestock teaches.
The Magazine happened because the 2 older girls took a homeschooling class about creative writing and they did very well, even though I don't teach writing or language arts. The teacher confirmed my suspicions: if the kids read a lot, they can and WILL learn much more than thru forced learning. My kids, being un-taught, were highly creative in their writing in that class and one was asked to attend the highschool class for free. The traditionally taught kids were really very afraid of the work. I'm not sure if it's the parent's attitude of 'you have to do this every day or else...' that stresses them out to restrict learning or what. I don't know. I recently read an article about statistically our kids have a higher IQ but their creative IQ is super, super low. Which is a sad thing. So the magazine was a way to keep their interest and hope that other kids would want to participate too. Kind of like "Highlights for Kids" but created by kids.
We find something interesting and study it, or learn it. It is really simple and makes sense in my brain. If I have the energy and excitement to learn something that I am interested in, then why can't my kids learn things they are interested in? I've also decided to be low stress and if their childhood is low stress, they should be better adjusted adults, right? maybe? Sometimes one will get an idea and decide to make it and sell it. We spent a whole summer at a local farmer's market selling jewelry. Lotsa life lessons there!
My eldest is determined to be a photographer, so no college necessary. My 2nd born is determined to live, eat, sleep & breathe horses, so no college is necessary there. Ruthie may be a dependent adult, but we'll work with her career when we find out what her passion is. The first son is way too smart and may end up in college, but he's 6, so that's a ways off. I believe my baby will get everything he ever wants just by his well-planned pouts. My older 2 are volunteering 3 hours a week at the local library and will be helping with farm chores to help pay off horse boarding when we get a horse.
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For those interested:
www.mountainroseherbs.com/ is where I get the bulk herbs. The best way to take them is in an infusion (very strong tea). 1 cup of dried herb to 1 qt of boiling water. Let steep overnight, then strain and drink. Stinging nettle can be eaten raw or dried. One of the best greens to ever eat. Tastes like snap beans.
If you want the seeds, you must NOT eat them raw. They need to be dried. If you eat them raw, you will have symptoms of super high pinging & heart palps and not good for kidneys. Eating them dried stabilizes the compounds so you have a slow release of positive effects. Make sure you harvest your leaves early in the season, before they go to seed, or you can damage your kidneys with prolonged use.
Look up susun weed on youtube for videos about infusions. Her website is pretty interesting too.
www.susunweed.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
oh d*mn! There I went, yaking away again... oops! Sometimes I talk waaay too much! LOL! I think I answered all the questions... if not, lemme know...
