Evolution and responsibility...

I have increasingly mixed feelings about the shutting of larger high street stores.
On the one hand I feel bad for the staff, and of course the customers who have gift vouchers that are now null and void (You know, this is the reason I hand out money in cards instead of vouchers...)

They're all blaming Amazon, who is by no means blame-LESS...

....but....

Remember when we all bought our cameras from little independent shops instead of Jessops?

... or when you went to a book shop run by the same family since 1900 instead of Waterstones?

... or when you bought your music from that funny little shop with the overly enthusiastic guy behind the the counter who always tried to get you to listen to some Norwegian death Metal, instead of going to HMV?

This has been a long time coming and these stores can bleat all they like, at the end of the day they're just pissed that someone bigger, brighter and cheaper than them came along.

Karma's a bitch.

In all honesty, YES, I use Amazon.

However, my local bookstore, music store and camera store are all between 20 - 30 miles away.
I would LOVE to be able to spend time picking exactly what I want and getting advice from enthusiastic people who love their job, but it will cost me £20 + to get to them by train before I've even picked up a book/CD/Camera.

Besides, are the people who work in these large stores enthusiasts?

No.

A handful may be, but most are working there because its a job.... its a minimum wage job.

Ever tried getting DIY advice in Homebase?
The phrase "rabbit in the headlights" springs to mind.... if you look closely you can see them sweating in fear...

Its too late for these stores.
They taught the consumer how to think, lured them away from the independent shops with flashy showrooms and cheap prices.

Its a bit late to morn the high street now ....

It died years ago.

We just didn't notice.          

Merry Xmas Blogger

So that's Xmas over for another year.
Was it a good one?
Sadly we've had Norovirus in the house for the last ten days, although thankfully Xmas day was drama free with only Middle child being a little sick in the morning. But lets face it, its not Xmas if you can't lay in bed all day watching movies and putting Lego together ;)

We still had a good time though and I was pleased as anything that lots of the gifts I gave this year were either made by friends or relatives or I managed to pick up second hand.

Sadly I didn't get round to taking pictures.

Here's a few from the day itself though :)

Our little tree, its over 30 years old and still going strong. Decorated in the main, as always, by  the knitted decorations my mother gave me a few years ago.  

Mince pies :)

Home made "posh" chocolates,.  

Mushroom and cashew pate.

Reaction shot to the big box of 2nd hand transformers and transformer DVD's. 

Redmills "Cheatin' turkey roast" was a big hit!

"Merry Bloody Xmas"

Anyway..... 2013.... I have high hopes.

The veggie garden had a major overhaul last year and will be ready to plant up properly this year. We have plans for the house and possibly even a business venture.

Watch this space... blogging will resume in earnest ;)   

      

space saving

Space saving in a tiny home is not a frivolous past time, its an all consuming passion borne of necessity. 

In our never ending quest for more space we've been quietly down sizing appliances and maximizing storage options. 

Nowhere near finished but he's some pics so you have a rough idea of where we're heading. 

Theres no wiring (or money for) for a real cooker so we have a toaster oven and combination microwave instead. Yes I cook for 5 (+ sometimes) and even bake in this.

In the winter we can use the logburner to stove top cooking.

    

With no pipe work for an airing cupboard we customised a shelf unit (which was itself customised from an old  wardrobe)... A curtain keeps the ash/dust off the sheets..... 

.. and open.

The kitchen is a large room, but awkward in that it leads onto EVERY other room in the house, so we find zoning helps. An old hygena cupboard used as room divider is made to work extra hard. 

... On the back we put up shoe storage and even somewhere to hang the dogs leads!

Opposite the "coat zone" (noooo we don't actually call it that :P) leads into the living room/bedroom. A second hand futon works as both seating and a spare bed, or just useful for family movie watching when pulled out.

We're trying to keep specific shelves for office materials, art supplies and paper work. 

Books shelved at the back of the steps.

Build in wardrobe space.

..and open.... yes... Kim has more clothes than me ;)

The Steps up to the bed.

Sock drawers!!!

Next project is to make a small desk here, probably on the side of the shelves, big enough for the laptop so I have somewhere specific to work.

Built in shelves above the door. 

Views of the bed.

Utilising all the space we can find with shelving....

Entering the kitchen from the hall...

Drop leaf table gives us a huge amount of space... room for one.. 

......Three.....

Or even all five of us!

And now ....some dogs...!

Yes you CAN have it both ways!

Those of you who have followed this blog for a while will know of my "will I, won't I" debate with homeschooling.

(For those that don't you can catch up HERE.)

There have been several obstacles in the way of homeschooling. The lack of income, the nature of the work we do (often dangerous, not child friendly), the fact we are so far away from public/free resources, lack of transport.... yadda, yadda, yadda.
We had plans worked out, clever money saving ideas for learning, how we would split learning between us, Kim fully committed and eager to participate.
There's only one problem. 

Ollie doesn't want to do it.

Its a bit like deflating a balloon.

The trouble is, although he is none too fond of the academic side of things at school, he loves being there. He loves his friends, the activities they do, the plays they put on, the art and music lessons, if you just took away maths and English he'd happily move into school!

This left me in a bit of a quandary.
I honestly believe that his reading and maths problems would improve in a home education environment, that he would be able to do these subjects one to one in his own way and have more time to do the things he loves, I saw it fitting in with a newer, shinier, BETTER family lifestyle and he said no!
As a parent which way should I go?

Take him out of school anyway because I think it would be best for him?

The trouble is I've yet to come across a home school story where the child in question was taken out of school against their wishes. (Although this is just my experience, there may be many of them!)
Most of the time the children either never attended school or left school having not enjoyed the experience. To take Ollie out of school when he enjoyed going seemed..... well.... as bad as making him attend school if he hated it.

So for a while I gently seethed, not at him, just the unfairness of it.
I had worked myself into a frenzy, made plans, saved a thousand useful websites, picked up books from charity shops and it was all for nothing.

Then on Xmas day I opened a present from my Mum and found myself holding Mary Griffith's book "The Unschooling Handbook.
I had asked for it weeks ago, when still in the grip of home school preparation, and now I looked at it forlornly.
What was the point in having it?

That day I flicked through it and dismissed it as no good anyway.
It seemed to be made up entirely of case studies, snippets of information from unschooling families, there was little to tell me what I wanted to know about homeschooling.

I put the book to one side.  

Then a few days later I picked it up again and started reading.
And promptly felt very silly.

What had I expected from a book on UN-schooling? Lists of subjects? Tables of set tasks? Goals to reach by certain ages?

Palm.... meet face.

The book was an honest look at unschooling families, how they educate, how they cope with outside factors (official and "friendly fire), what they do if a child asks to go back to school or wants to try it out and the shift in family life that can cause.
I read it and I finally GOT it.

The unschooling principle is one that can be applied even when  your child is IN school.

I had been worrying about all the wrong things!
My whole reason for wanting to home school had centred around the fact that Ollie needed extra help at home with his weaker subjects. I had seemed faced with hours of one to one tuition which neither of us wanted and I knew these sessions would not be productive. more likely they would be bitter and angry as he tried to get away with not doing it and I pushed him into it.
It was this worry, the worry that our relationship (tempestuous at the best of times) would break completely under this strain, that had me looking at homeschooling.

Reading the book I now understand that instead of slapping down the reading/maths book, and demanding that we learn to do it right, I should instead be looking at ways to promote his strong points, find acceptable ways to practice his weak points (through play, games, TV, computer and seemingly unrelated tasks like reading instructions or weighing feed for the horses for example).

I took a good look at what we are doing and saw where the improvements could go.
Rather than restricting TV time (which can be significant after school) isn't it better to make sure the DVDs he watches are half educational? Wild life and war documentaries are no chore to watch for my kids, they can't get enough David Attenborough! he LOVES the Horrible Histories series on BBC i-player. Even movies like Toy Story and Star Wars have good messages and morals.

I also realised that valuable resources at home are not being used to their full potential, like the expensive keyboard the kids got as an Xmas present in 2009, used a handful of times and then sat on top of my wardrobe because there was nowhere to put it. Well imagine that! Today I found somewhere to put it, so its plugged in and accessible when ever they want! We have a stack of board games that only need an adult added to get started.

I needed to chill out a bit. Stop worrying, let it go.

I'd like to think I know enough about his weaknesses (they are my own as well of course) to know that they can be overcome.

In the early 90's me and school parted ways.
School did not know this of course.
I was "ill" at home a lot, because I struggled at school, found the work boring and/or hard. I found my artistic side strangled by art teachers who were not good enough to be real artists, my musical side stomped on my teachers who had no interest in music, only the mechanics of scribbles on paper, and my literary side squashed by teachers who only saw my spelling mistakes and not the fiction or poetry I had worked hard on.

Yes, some of my need to home school my kids stems from my school experiences, no one needs a degree to see that.

Most of my learning during that period between the ages of 12 and 15 I did alone.
I read anything and everything, from cereal boxes to wine making books.
I watched daytime TV before "daytime TV", so I watched old movies, Open university programs, the news, gentle documentaries about British wildlife or northern iron works. I watched cookery shows, detective shows from the 1970's, even the schools programs from infant to sixth form standard.

Looking back I unschooled myself pretty well.

Do I wish I had a university degree?
Sometimes.
Do I feel I'm lacking intellectually?
Not really, because you see, I'm STILL doing it!
Unschooling doesn't stop when you hit 16, you never finish it, there's always something new to learn. It doesn't care if you're in formal education or working full time, its just IS, and if the barriers are taken away and the tools are laid in front of you to use how ever and when ever you want you can't fail.

So for a while at least I am relaxing.

I think its all going to be OK.    
    

Art for kids and the joy of conversation.

Took Ollie to Country frames gallery today.
As most of the art in their exhibition at the moment is horse based he was in his element, two of his favourite things in the world in one!

We spent a good 1/2 looking at the paintings, flicking through the folders, comparing our favourites and de-mystifying the more abstract pieces.

This trip has strengthened his resolve to be an artist, one that he has insisted on since he was 7, and one I fully support.
Me and Kim worked with horses for years and the sad fact is that as a career it goes nowhere. Even the best of the best can still only earn a little over part time shop work. I was always afraid that his love of horses would lead him down that path, but maybe because we HAVE horses and they are already a huge part of his life, he won't feel the need to choose them as a career.

Art has so many more paths to follow.
At the moment he wants to be and artist and art teacher like his teacher Marion Wills, who's work he admired today.
But there are also career paths in advertising, technical design, architecture, the list is endless.

Cycling with Ollie has been a huge eye opener for us both.
Unlike in the car, we actually chat, rarely argue (HUGE for us!!)and get to discuss important issues in a casual manner, rather than a sit-down talk.

Today I broached the subject of him homeschooling when his year goes onto secondary education. As its a alien concept for him I wanted to start talking about it now, this way he should be fully aware of what it all means when the time comes.

Anyway, here are some pictures of our little trip.




This is the steep hill to the gallery..not only impossible to get up but also you have to walk DOWN it! Me and Kim cycled down it last time and our breaks were almost smoking!!




Leslie Castle, one of the many small PINK castles around Aberdeenshire!




I'm pretty sure this fella shouldn't;t be in the stubble..the rest where in another field..had to get Ollie to jump up and down and shout for him to lazily turn his head and smile for the camera ;)

A day of cycling, art and homeschool plans....

Country Frames Art Gallery, Leslie, Insch.


What a beautiful and inspiring day we've had so far.
Me and Kim cycled to Country Frames, an art gallery a couple of miles down the road from us (uphill all the way..ouch).
We've been a couple of times, they framed one of our Glastonbury prints for us beautifully, but this was the first time we had set off to see an exhibition there.
One of the main artists there was Roselyne O'Neil a very talented lady who works in many mediums and produces some fantastic equine art as well as other subjects.

Another local artist is Marion Wills, who incidentally is visiting art teacher at my son's school! She had some striking pieces, mostly staring her own horse, a Fjord called Ffin.

We spent a very happy hour viewing the exhibition and the other art work, we even got a free cup of coffee for cycling to them lol.

I'm taking Ollie up there on Saturday morning, I'm sure the mix of horses and art can only inspire him!

So, me and Kim have talked a lot about homeschooling once the kids hit 11, and the cycle home was a good time to chat about it. There are so many things locally that we had never really thought about that will benefit the kids educationally, the countryside, the art galleries (there are 3 I know of all within cycling distance!) the Archaeolink centre and of course the library in town.
Also the whole social aspect was something we chatted at length about today.
Thinking about it he still has his friends in the village, both Kim and I had many more friends outside school than in it.

Armed with this I decided to make an appointment to see our head teacher today and instead spent 20 minutes chatting about it informally instead, so no need for the formal meeting!
To my surprise she was in total agreement and has promised to help us with any red tape that comes our way!

Anyway, expect more posts on this subject in the near future as we gear up for leaving the school system!

So..how about a giveaway!

Nothing fancy, a post card I picked up from the gallery...A Celtic image of the "Maeshowe Dragon, Orkney" By Roselyne O'Neil.

This can be sent as a post card or mailed to you in an envelope to keep it clean and neat enough to frame?
Very pretty, very Scottish ;)

To be in with a chance please comment on this post...and a real comment please ;)
Lucky winner will be pulled out of a hat next Wednesday!!