Jennie Sue Dean

John C Daley wrote:
This is pretty good anyway

Play, learn, create, and take time to appreciate.

...HAVE YOU BEEN READING OVER MY SHOULDER?? I wrote this down on 8/8.

(Did I steal it from somewhere?)

I am so thrilled and enthusiastic about my family's new land that I'm completely scattered all over, wanting to DO ALL THE THINGS.

I think that composing a mission statement and a vision statement (I understand they're different) may help me focus.

Have you ever gone about writing one up?
If you did, what would it say?

Oh my GOSH, I agree. I hear they don't even sound as obnoxious 🤣
If I remember correctly, there's a breeder called Spectrum somethingorother who has them occasionally. I definitely am interested.

I'm anticipating a little trouble putting regular door hinges on my roundwood shed. I think the timbers would pinch.

I could either hew them square (what's the fun in that?) Or use a different hinge.

Maybe a lag hinge, like used for gates? Anyone have any better solutions?

Thanks!

Hi. My name is Jennie, and I'm addicted to Homestead Rescue 🥺😅

Once, I heard Misty say that if you put a timber fence post in upside-down (ie: opposite the way the tree would grow up), it'll rot less quickly because the water only wicks one way up the tree. If you put the fence post in topside-down, it won't wick moisture. You think?

Also wondering, if this is true, might it have applications in cordwood structures, or would that be too crazy making for no good reason?

Thanks!

Not far from Glasgow and Bowling Green 😁

John Holt is supposed to be the "father" of unschooling, but I don't really subscribe heavily to any gurus. I have my instincts and unschooling friends and I do what we do, and it works.

My kids are still young, being 6 and 7, they wouldn't have be achieving any great feats in the school system just yet, anyway. My technique is a combination of what I mentioned before, where I lean heavily into their windows of interest. Find cross-cirricular suggestions to pick apart the topic until the window of interest is passed, but by then, it's firmly lodged in their brain. No "in-one-ear" here. So, it's a combination of that, and being a motormouth.

I talk to them about things, all the time. Ever since they were babies, I used full sentences, and so did my family. Sure, we did some baby talk too, sometimes, but I'd also have full, one-sided conversations. I'll tell them things about stuff they never asked about, but I won't demand their attention. I'll ask them questions about what they think about things. "How do you think that happens?" Or, "do you remember how that works?" Or a random simple word problem associated with the activity we're doing.

But I'm super hands-off. They play a lot of video games. It's how they're such great readers, I'm convinced 😆 I've always offered them educational content and supplies, though, with great success. When kids don't feel forced to learn, it's fun for them.

Their father comes from a stricter background and has in the past forced them to sit and practice their penmanship or math or forced them to do some other subject with him. Sometimes he can win their attention, but mostly he will wind up yelling at him. It's hard for him to let go. I get it. It's scared to imagine your kid to grow up to be ineligible for college. And I don't know that my kids won't ever insist on going to school. Maybe they will.

My opinion is that I don't care if they ever go to any academic institution. I honestly don't think their dad cares either, so much. It's just that old habits die hard.

He and I both appreciate and value character developed outside of a box. I am grateful every day (ok, most days, lol) I get the opportunity to ruin these kids for the normie world 😜

Steven Rodenberg wrote:So what part of Kentucky are you tromping grounds.
.

I'm just south of Glasgow, so farther south and east. Buttt. It was the Daniel Boone National Forest over there is really the reason I came to Kentucky.

I have family in Florida/Alabama, so I always have remembered the long drives as a kid down I-65 with those gorgeous sheer rock cliffs on each side of the highway. Passing through, but I never got to stop.

But it was my hike last year in September at Dog Slaughter Falls that really sealed the deal on Kentucky for me. Just so special. Makes my heart want to 'splode.

Matthew Nistico wrote:take things slow and focus on the design phase before you start digging or building or planting.  I know how excited you are to get things started.  But to the extent that you can afford to, given your living situation, take as long as you can thinking and envisioning and drawing and researching.

You must be reading my mind. I get so excited studying the things I would sensibly shoot for 3, 4 years down the line, when I NEED to be focusing on the path directly in front of me. It's a recurring theme.  Like gazing out the window, daydreaming in class.

I still have not seen all of it. It's overgrown and brushy, and the kids complain if they have to hike through too many brambles 😬😆

Our homeschooling method is closer to "unschooling," letting the lessons come up where they may, seizing every opportunity to teach a kid something while I have their attention, and of course offering every opportunity to learn anything they like. Like permaculture for the brain, I think. Very laissez faire, but also a lot of work when the golden hour hits. When they say they want to understand/ learn something, it takes a lot of patience to redirect my focus and shift gears. Any moment can be a teachable moment. I'm not always great at it, but for at least one of my two kids, I really feel like this is the best way for him to learn.

At least, according to YouTube, it's difficult.

The craftsman 32cc t2 blah blah blah.

I think I'm the most impressed of anyone. I don't repair things with engines. I don't believe I ever have. Bicycles, yes. Engines, no.
Even though this was just the recoil on the pull start. It was stuck. I unstuck it. But I had to take the whole dingdang thing apart to fix it.

I'm proud.