From Woods to Pasture

It all started 4 years ago.  Tyler and I could no longer stand the dark dismal woods behind our house.  The trees were so thick we barely received any daylight.  The gardens did not flourish, and even the hasta's seemed to complain.  So we started cutting trees, and we haven't stopped.  We have cut trees, and planted trees and this week, we are having the last stumps removed from the "field".  When all is said and done we will have just under 2 acres of pasture to plant blueberry bushes, expand the goat pen and add, you guessed it,  more trees.

After Day 1 with the excavator:

Post Day 2:

Now for the finishing touches, and hopefully a pond!

Thus, It Begins

Today, was our first official farmer's market.  Considering the torrential downpours I think it went rather well.   It was cold, wet, and not at all busy.  But we did meet a lot of new people which was great.

If you want to see us again please come to the multifamily yard sale next Friday and Saturday in Leeds Maine.  We will be selling some of our food items and visiting with all who come.

The sale is on May 17th and 18th starting at 9 AM on Rt 106 in Leeds, less than 1/4 of a mile off rt 202.

We are looking forward to seeing you there!

Methods & Models

Homeschooling began years ago by parents pulling their children from the public and private school.  They took them home and then what happened?  Curriculum wasn't readily available, marketed, or even created for a parent attempting to teach their child at home.  Did this stop them? No, most of these parents were so fed up with the school system that they took the opposite approach and went right to "unschooling".  Now,  I don't know any adults who were "unschooled" so I cannot attest to the fact that it was successful or not.  I can tell you, however,  that research shows that the greater involvement a parent has in the general education of their child the better off the child is.  So regardless of  whether you were in private, public, or this unschooled method; if your parents put a significant amount of time and effort into your education then you are probably doing fairly well.  Educationally anyway.

Since the, shall we say,  inception of homeschooling dozens of methods for educating your children have flooded the market and the educational arena.  As I desire to help more and more homeschoolers get started, continue and succeed on this great path of education.  I think that exploring some of the most popular methods together may prove to be fun, educational, and beneficial for us all.

I am going to focus on studying one specific method of educating our children each time I post in this series.  I will then share what I have learned, giving resources, and additional reading materials for you if you desire to learn more.

I have been around a homeschooling community in one form or another for more than 20 years and know a lot, but I don't claim to know everything about every method.  I will research all that I can about these, and if I make a mistake I rely on you to correct me.  Also,  I am sure that in my writing (which we all know isn't the best, I am a math teacher),  you will be able to spot which methods I am most knowledgeable about.  Please be forewarned that I do not endorse any method over the other.  As stated above, your children's success is entirely in your hands and is not dependent on methods.

Methods that I will attempt to cover:
Unschooling, Montessori, Classical Education, Charlotte Mason, and Waldorf.

If you want me to look at a specific method please let me know. Otherwise, keep posted and check for our first week of exploring with educational methods.