Lesson #38 Kentucky Green Living Fair - Sustainable KY

Yesterday we attended the Kentucky Green Living Fair, the brain child of Sustainable KY LLC. It was in our hometown, which makes me a bit proud. What a great time and a HUGE turnout! KY seems to be slow in catching up with some of the rest of the world, but Kentuckians are often "green" without knowing they are protecting the environment and our future at the same time. Many folks just do what seems smart to them, and cost effective, and that is often in the "living green" zone. I am still very excited to have participated, we made the T-shirts of course, and in just attending. There was so much to see and do. First we attended a workshop on forest gardening, led by a local winery owners offspring, and that was very informative. It really got me thinking about how I can work with my (almost) 17 acres of forest, and not against it. It also got me thinking about what I enjoy growing. I really don't care about growing some traditional garden fare such as corn and green beans. I like both of those veggies, but I can get them fresh anywhere during the season. We ate food from Blue bird - A farm to table restaurant from Stanford KY, it was delicious. Rock Bottom-goat soap people, Hill and Hollow Farm- shiitake mushroom demo, composting demo, the good music playing, mead making, upcycled clothing, bee keeping, chicken raising, all the different food co-ops, and so so much more. We were so busy enjoying ourselves that we didn't take a single picture! Mark and I discussed yesterday how we could do a cob demo next year, and let people play in the mud!

Lesson #37 Miss Representation-Soap Box Somerset Community College

Evie and I went to a showing of the documentary Miss Representation at our local community college. The entirety of the film was not shown, but clips were shown followed by a room discussion of the content. There were a variety of age groups present, as well as both males and females engaging in discussion. Evie did not speak (they were passing around microphones, and Evie hates to speak in a microphone). It was great exposure to different thoughts and opinions, and also the content was very informative. Obviously the conversation concerning the lack of representation of women in the most powerful country in the world was the topic of the day, and why this may be, the other half of the conversation. Sadly, in all honestly, my child hasn't quite grasped all obstacles she may face in this country. Obstacles based on the fact that she was born female. She lives in a home where "girl power" is encouraged by both sexes of parents, and where work/decisions/Etc. is shared equally. This may be one of the greatest obstacles she will face leaving home, and leaving a homeschooled environment. She doesn't go to school, so she is missing out on the cat calls, sexual comments, bra snapping, ass grabbing shit I had to endure in public school...wow I hate that she is missing all that harassment. (sarcasm noted) The fact is, I feel this is one of the reasons that women tolerate this behavior as adults, because they dealt with it and tolerated it as young women.Take a look at the chart below..

Lesson #36 Completion of Easy Grammar Plus

I am including this in hopes to help some other struggling homeschool parent out there. We don't use a lot of pre-packaged curriculum. It just doesn't work for us that well. We use what we need, when we need it. The two subjects that we have consistently used curriculum for is Math and Grammar (Language Arts). Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, important subjects to master, and as much as I like to eclectically school or unschool other subjects, I do not these. So from the beginning of our homeschooling life Grammar was the bane of our existence. Not to mention she hated to read ( I still just shudder when I think of that) thanks to her time going to school. I tried a few different curriculums including Saxon Grammar and Abeka,that was given to us. Neither worked, it was a battle, both of those curriculums where too rigorous for my reluctant child, nothing worked. It was like pulling teeth to get her to sit for five minutes to work on them, let alone for the time she actually needed to complete them, more like thirty plus minutes to complete the work. Then a wonderful, seasoned (17+ years) homeschooling mom suggested Easy Grammar....tada...it was perfect. I bought the Easy Grammar Plus, which is for 7th grade to adult. It is thick, and we have worked on it for 7th and 8th grade. Evie completed it this week. I can't tell you how many times she has actually told me that she uses what she has learned from her Grammar book while writing her own novel, and how helpful it has been. THAT is when a curriculum actually works!

Lesson #35 Caring for our Neighbors Farm Animals

In late December, early January, our wonderful neighbor Bob became very ill. He spent several days/weeks in the hospital, which is exhausting in its self, for both him and his equally wonderful wife Susan. Just a word about them, we love them deeply and feel so blessed to have them as our closest neighbors out here in the middle of beautiful nowhere land. We know that we can depend on them, and they us. Bob was well (in better health anyway) after about a month, and offered to take back the work of caring for the animals. It had been no burden for us, in fact, it was just the opposite. It got me out in the fresh air in the middle of winter when I would normally just be going from the car to a building. I really don't like the cold weather. It was actually a lovely thing to do everyday. Feed and love on the goats, chase and feed chickens, collect eggs, and laugh at the ducks (ducks really aren't that bright ). Evie had also really enjoyed caring for the animals and so she asked Bob if she could continue. So she has, and most days walks down to their house and barn, collecting eggs and such, she likes climbing up in the loft now to get hay, when before she was scared, and likes the chickens best. She must have missed a nest, because now a few baby chicks have hatched, and guess what....it appears we will be beginning our own little "farm", as she is going to be bringing these babies home after we build a chicken house for them. Hmmmm...I wonder if that really was an accident :) I love living on our little (17 acres) of Earth, making lasting friendships with our neighbors, and growing as individuals in so many ways.

Lesson #34 Proofreading, Editing, and Re-writing her Novel

All month long Evie has been working on her manuscript, the first draft, of the first part of her book. When she printed it out it was about 50 pages of single spaced writing. She was a NaNoWrimo "winner" during the month of November, by completing her word count goal of 25,000 words. One of the winnings received is being able to send in your novel and get five free printed copies of your book/writing in book form. The dead line to send in your work is early June, so she is working very hard to proof her book and edit as many mistakes as possible. She is also adding to her work as she goes. I am proud of her accomplishments thus far with her writing, I have not done anything to help her, yet, she is doing all the work herself right now, spending hours upon hours (without being asked) working on it. Ahhhh the beauty of homeschool learning.....