Author Archives: Kim Halloran-Fry

Blast from the Past pt 1

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We are knee deep in Christmas prep here and trying to stay close to our schedule.  Makes for little blog time.  I often think what a blessing it is that we came to homeschooling in the late 80s/early 90s. At that time the selection of materials was pretty straightforward due to the limited quantity available.  The messages circulated were about simplicity, practicality, and sensible homeschooling.

Elizabeth and I had this discussion a couple of years ago.  We asked, who/what inspires us now? There have been new names added to our lists but by and large we found ourselves very grateful for those authors who influenced at the beginning.  I thought it would be fun to revisit some of those resources – hence the first installment of Blast from the Past. This one comes with gratitude to Jen who found the Davis’ again. For many years they ran Elijah Company which was hands-down one of my favorite catalogs. They had a down to earth, living books approach coupled with the experience of raising lots of boys. Elijah Co is no more but there are back issues of their articles here and several books that were compiled and written as a result of those catalog essays.  Not to be missed. 

Let’s Get Comfortable

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Mitchell_gold
Mitchell Gold and his brother weren’t allowed in his family’s living room growing up.  As an adult he vowed to have interiors that children and pets could frequent.  As a designer he determined that these spaces can and should be innovative and artful and personal.  His book shows how it can be done. I cannot wait to get my copy in my hands!

I should note that the company supports the Climate Project.  That may make you giddy with excitement or it may give you chills. One can always buy used and save the difference.

Little Grains of Sand

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Funny how some ideas keep coming back to you isn’t it? Cindy’s post about Little Grains of Sand is one of them.  It is easy to get sidetracked by the incredible projects and studies that abound in cyberspace. It is easy to underestimate your own efforts and find them lacking in comparison. In your frustration you may forget that:

"Little drops of water
Little grains of sand
Make the mighty ocean
And the beauteous land"

I reminded myself of this very thing lately.  Reality is there are many claims made on my time on a given day. There is little left over for Barnum and Bailey homeschooling. I cling to the promise that time spent reading aloud, snatches of poetry recited together, and short but heartfelt discussions are planting seeds which in time – perhaps a good deal of time – will mature into a glorious garden.

Once again we have resurrected Morning Time.  Not day-long, teacher-led lessons and no elaborate commentary. Just art, music, lit, scripture and us. : ) A welcome oasis to invigorate and encourage. Something to chew on as we do the dishes and fill the water buckets later in the day. Hopefully, something to inspire and light our paths as we journey towards heaven together.

Simple living – the mortgage

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Seems the one thing holding most people back from following their dreams is the house payment. You can pay off credit cards, drive an old car but what about that house debt hovering over your shoulder?  For most of us this is the final frontier. It looms large and can seem an insurmountable obstacle.  Rhonda Jean has explained how they conquered the mortgage monster here.

Ten Mistakes I Made as a Parent

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What she said….

More or less anyway. Wholeheartedly agree with #1. Had I known my reproductive faculties would be required to perform so long and so well I would have taken the utmost care.  It is a temptation even now however not to feel shame when people tsk and make comments about how they never rested so long after birth or how so and so was up and RUNNING with the other children days after birth.  Falls under "All things are possible but not all things are profitable." Stay home. Lay down. Enough said.

#2 – my olders were colicky as well. Not so the latter kids. Not sure why though.

Frustration and perfectionism were problems in the early years here too.  My children would likely snort and say "early years?". We watched home videos of when Alannah was born 13 yrs ago. Sigh. Had I to do it again I would have gone ahead and just snapped the pictures with Zachary trying to make the baby smile instead of scolding him ad nauseum about turning towards the camera and not getting grass stains on his knees. I swear I would.

#8 and #10 – yep.   And I regret disregarding my husband’s concerns about same. He had perspective I needed.

And ah #5 – disciplining out of embarassment vs out of conviction.  Right up there with living vicariously through your children. Don’t do that.

I am sure my list would look different in some ways. In many ways it would be the same. Someone has to be first and we never walk the same road exactly the same way twice. Obviously the later children have the benefit of our early trial and error. I hope the older children had the benefit of unequaled zeal and enthusiasm. I have loved every moment of motherhood despite the mistakes. Every single moment!

Let ‘er rip!

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The snow that is. ‘Cause that’s one of those things that pretty much will whether you ‘allow’ it or not isn’t it? We got our first dump on Sat/Sun. It was actually good timing. It coincided with the first days of complete and total wellness for our bunch. We spent ALL of Sunday afternoon sledding. Not the downhill variety mind you since we have no slopes for that. This was more due to the good fortune of my children having an incredibly indulgent father who is really a big kid himself.

Monday Allen and Asher left in the wee hours for the airport for a short trip. We headed into town to stock up before the next batch of snow which we expected last night. (and therefore canceled our evening activities) The snow itself held off for a few hours but it was just as well. We had a series of unfortunate events, not uncommon to rural living. Should you ever wistfully swoon over a romanticized vision of ranch life let me describe a typical winter day in our life. : )

We canceled piano and scouts as I said, and rather reluctantly because we missed the last few weeks due to the creeping crud.  And we have recital this weekend. It’s one of those things. If we had stayed in town then certainly the snow would have started mid-lesson and we would have skated home with the four wheel drive vehicle unavailable. Since we canceled, the snow held off. Luck of the draw.

The kids began barn chores while I was unloading groceries. We realized how vital Asher is to our manual labor equation. We had to pair up to lift the giant cooler out of the van, to move the frozen water buckets,and to convince the buck he wanted to be inside. Yet do those things we did. (You wouldn’t have expected to have to convince a creature to be inside when it is 13 degrees would you?) Aidan ran in to report a dead hen. She was a victim of the cold and poor judgement apparently and not from foul play, no pun intended. Alannah took that fairly well. We all (children included) sort of whisper that type of news then close our eyes and cross our fingers that she will not come unglued. She raised this batch and has strong feelings about poultry. Aidan, in his best "I am a very big man" voice, further volunteered valiantly to remove said chicken to the dumpster. I kept my composure and nodded in agreement that this would be a splendid service for him to perform. Inside I was doing back flips and making another mental note of how much we miss Asher.

The temperature was dropping rapidly since the wind kicked up so Alannah and I set to work getting the shop light set up in the well pit.  This is one of those crucial tasks that mean the difference between running water and a second mortgage to the plumber.  We got the cords unrolled and the light to the pit then wrestled with the big wooden lid and again sighed thinking fondly of dear Asher. The whole ordeal would have been much better done in daylight but such is life. Between us we slid the cover over enough to realize there was water rapidly filling the well pit. Should you not have a well pit, let me explain that this is where the machinery that pumps the water from the pipes in the ground into the buildings resides. There is a pump and a huge pressure tank and enough electrical do-dads that you would really prefer NOT to see water in the same space. Not outside the pipes anyway.

After a quick phone consult with my dear husband we went to check the cistern. The cistern is a huge holding tank which protects us from variations in water pressure which can be a problem in semi-arid locations. It has a sensor which calls for water from the well when the water level drops to a given point. Apparently the sensor had been stuck on ON and continued to call for water until it overflowed. This was actually a relief. We kicked off the sensor and quickly dumped little boys into baths and ran laundry which served the dual purpose of running the water down and getting everyone clean should the power kick off later.

The wind kept up all night alerting me to the need for more weather stripping on the upstairs storm door which sounded eerily like a tea whistle for many, many hours. I know this because Tess is cutting one year molars this week. I am fairly certain that teeth erupt only after dark. The combination of tea whistle and baby dancing can make for odd twilight sleep and odder dreams.

Alas it is morning now. Time to make the donuts as my mother used to say. People are up and scurrying around and so must I. We were scheduled to take our new doe in to the vet for her exam but I suspect we will reschedule that once more. What I most wish for is to curl up on the couch and read Hillyer to the children over hot chocolate. Just as soon as the milking is done….