Recession Tip of the Day .... (x-posted)

I was thinking this morning, about the budget, and the dire economic future which seems to await us, and I wondered, what can we do, to help our children adjust to this new era, this different life? I don't think any of us has yet grasped the significance of these momentous times.

One thing worth doing, I think, is to look at what they are reading. I am so very affected by what ever is on my bedside table, and I am sure my daughters are too. I think of their younger days, and our passion for the Little House books, and remember how cheerfully they endured our very, very broke days, all because it was so Laura!

I'm no expert on ballet books or school stories, but I do know my pony books, and so I'll make my case, if I may, with them. Make it a history project if you have to, or just raid the second hand bookshop or e-bay, but do think about a trip back in time, to the days when materialism was less rife, and some real values lurked beneath the adventure and the dreams come true.

I am blessed with two daughters whose favourite reading matter is older than their mother, but in case you're not, as an example, in the very wonderful series my children call 'the David and Pat books', you will meet David, a very ordinary boy from a working class home, with a passion for horses.

David makes friends with Pat, the privileged daughter of the local Master of Foxhounds, and together they share many adventures with their ponies. The series goes on into young adulthood, and while some dreams come true, reality brings David crashing back to earth in other ways. David has to work hard. He can take nothing for granted, and he accepts his parents' limited circumstances, and loves and admires them for their hard work and honesty.
David reappears, as an adult, in one of my very favourites, 'For Want of a Saddle', but that's another story.
Compare and contrast with the modern equivalent, the 'Chestnut Hill' books.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a Chestnut Hill ADDICT! I can't put them down. But Dylan, Mallory, Honey and the gang are a completely different kettle of wild salmon, believe me. They never don a T-shirt without our knowing its provenance, and that label better be the best. Only Mallory, the scholarship girl, is a little strapped for cash, but that's OK cos her friends are all so totally LOADED they help her get by! The cream of the crop are gathered at Chestnut Hill, the boarding school for wealthy horse lovers.
While the good guy usually wins through, and the bad guy - or girl in this case - the insufferable Lynsey, does indeed have even MORE dosh than the others, as shown by her 'immaculately tailored' ... erm ... everything.... nevertheless, knowing how fertile, not to say febrile, the girlhood imagination is, I've got to say that in today's climate, the pony mad girl would be way better with David and Pat, and the solid, English values of courage in adversity, frugality, and cheery perseverance, than all the catered social events and hired in fancy dress that Chestnut Hill has to offer.

So today's recession tip is : what are we reading, and is it helping us to feel positive about the challenge to come? As adults, we could do worse than fall back on my beloved Miss Read (I'm hoping to start a read along on a dedicated blog, soon) and her solid village values, and of course the redboubtable Nella Last and her wartime (and peacetime) perseverance and public spirit. Maybe we could encourage our children to find the same inspiration in the books of yesteryear - anyone want to suggest alternatives for other genres?

We are on week 17

of Ambleside Online - with some adaptations - so we have just passed the half way stage.
We have lost a couple of weeks of late, through family happenings, and life in general, and I am keen to get caught up. However, now is as good a time as any for a mid term review (not a good word in UK Home Education circles, at the moment!) so here I go.

Bible - H is now doing 'Genesis - Finding Our Roots' - and it is a fabulous book! I suspect it may take rather longer than planned, but she is really learning to dig in the Word and study, so that's OK by me. Boo, using our old family Children's Bible, is narrating her way through some Old Testament themes. She has finished the Exodus, and is now working on Samuel.

Galore Park (Boo's English, and we are waiting for Math, and H's English, Math, Latin and French) is brilliant. Everyone is doing well with this, though H is as ever falling further and further behind as the year goes on. So from now, I have to do some shoulder sitting. She is capable of keeping up the pace, but her mind wanders very easily.

Ambleside Online is a wonderful curriculum. My main complaint is that there we are a bit left to our own devices on the Artist and Music, and while that was fine when the children were younger, and I actually took Art Appreciation A level myself, I struggle to find the right things to discuss in, for expample, a Caspar David Friedrich painting. I did obtain a book from the library, but it hasn't helped an awful lot. The same goes for Lizst - and of course with the pressure of curriculum and life, the tendency is to let it slide.

History and history supplemental reading, the latter changed by me most of the time to reflect our English heritage, is a sure fire winner. Absolute shelfloads of books have been read. Boo read the biography of Abigail Adams and loved it. She is now into Victorians, and I am looking into a field trip - anyone have suggestions?

H is completing 20th Century and using SOTW. While the quality of this series goes without saying, I am very disappointed in the anti British slant, and will not be using it again. I am glad H goes on to Churchill next year, and will be looking for alternatives for Boo's next year, as she finishes Our Island Story this year. H has also read a mountain of supplementals, including 'Warhorse' and the 'Flambards' trilogy.

Science - Apologia Astronomy is great, though it is taking rather a long time. I was going to go on with starting H on the General Science next year, but it is now between that and Galore Park.

Our nature notebooks are woefully neglected - can only resolve yet again to turn over a new leaf (ha ha!)

We are so *busy* about farm garden and kitchen, that I feel sadly lacking in any actual *teaching* around farm, garden and kitchen! That needs to be rectified.

We are thinking of moving to year round schooling, taking breaks as needed. As we are currently trying to develop more income streams for the family, in an attempt to bring the family vision of farming to reality, I thought it might offer more flexibility. Though I shall mourn my long summer break, which was one of the reasons I originally thought about home educating - I was horrified at the cut back to the long school hols!

I recently purchase the excellent 'Home Work' and 'Living and Learning on One Income' from The Old Schoolhouse - and it struck me that the successful homeschooling home business families in the former, almost all schooled year round, taking breaks as and when to fit in with the business.

Does anyone else school year round? Any thoughts or opinions to offer?

'Snow Hole'

Sad and worried about being stuck in a hole
Never found or discovered.
Huddled in your hole,
Just a solid block of ice.
Peeping out into the cold, cold wind, white for miles around.
Lonely. A feeling of depression.
You may never see your family, or be in your home again.
Just a faint blob of red, from your hole.
Who will see THAT?
Down there, it's just a white blur, up there.
Miles up in the distance.
And then.
What's that?
A helicopter!
The noise is coming closer and closer.
'Help!' you mutter but that noise is no more than a whisper.
The noise is coming lower, down towards you.
There is still hope.
You may survive!
The next thing you remember is warmth.
Cosy warmth as gentle hands pass you a steaming bowl of soup.
You try to smile but are too cold.
So you drink it.


This is a poem by H. It was part of an assignment in English (Galore Park) about survival against the odds. I like it because it's the first time she's strayed from 'de da de de da de de da' rhyming poems.