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10 Bright Stars
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Amy,
I can certainly relate to the feeling of figuring it all out as you go type of parenting. My husband and I often lament not having had those skills handed down to us. I think it was all tossed out in the last generation or two, and we are having to back-track and try to figure it all out or dig it out of the trunk in Grandma's attic! [LOL]
I too wanted to be Laura as a kid! My oldest daughter is just starting to get into the Little House books and I am so excited for her. She and her cousin just had a Little House bakesale yesterday (like a lemonaide stand) at her cousin's house and they sold homemade zuccinni bread. They were all dressed up like little prairie girls! Too fun!
Anyway, that is a tangent. My husband and I have been talking lately about how consumeristic we have become, and now cannot be due to the financial pinch we are all experiencing. We noticed that now that we cannot run off to town and shop, and that now we HAVE to budget and watch what we spend, life is much more simple and happy. We can't take a vacation this year. YIPEE!!! We don't have to worry about where to go and what to do, and how to "entertain" the kids and "make" them happy. We just have to stay at home. We can't go to Starbuck's all the time. We just have to enjoy Eight O'Clock at home. (Maybe with a dash of whip cream to soothe our soft side! [:$] ) We have contemplated a clothes line. I used to love to hang clothes when we used to be "poor" when we first got married. [LOL] I guess we are "poor" again, but I was thinking about this, fretting a bit and feeling sorry for myself since we don't have much money these days. We are RICH! We have 8 beautiful blessings, a home, a full pantry, the ability to be with the kids all the time. We are thinking about starting a huge garden. All of this will take time, slowing down, weeding out the unimportant. We take family walks now for "fun" instead of piling in the van and going to Wal-Mart or something silly like that to purchase plastic junk to fill our house with. Anyway, I think this whole gas crisis and economic crisis is really a blessing in disguise.
But, husband wants to take that family walk, so must go for now!!
What a great topic!! I will check back soon! & nbsp;
__________________
Kim married to Bob (22y)
Mom of 11 blessings:
Bobby 19, David 17, Noah 14,
Mary 12, Gracie 10,
Isabelle and Sophia 8,
Gabrielle 6,
William Anthony 4, Joseph 3 and Luisa Marie - born in M
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TracyQ
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guitarnan wrote:
I am probably over-worrying and over-planning, but I've watched some of ds's friends really flounder in college and end up partying, failing classes because they can't write, etc. It's worrisome.
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Thinking about this, I've actually seen MORE kids who CAN write, did great on their SATs, got great full scholarships, and were extremely smart who ended up floundering in college, ended up partying, failing classes, losing really good scholarships, and dropping out of college.  
This is something I've been thinking a LOT about lately, and really wondering about why this is the case???
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Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
 homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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LeeAnn
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Kim, I feel the same. Having to budget more strictly is freeing in many ways. Especially not having money to spend on gas to go wherever--I am a homebody, much to my children's chagrin. 
My husband and I have been watching DVDs of "Frontier House" again. Some things I really liked about pioneer living: smaller house to clean, fewer posessions to care for, more daily life lived outdoors (looks like fun in the spring & summer at least!), children and parents working together on common goals and tangible results.
Things that don't appeal to me: caring for animals (I'm right there with Kristen), hauling water from a stream, wearing stinky, crusty clothing, using an outhouse with bears in the woods, bugs & mice in the house, the sense of panicked urgency of having to work so hard (getting the fence up to keep out cattle, bringing in the hay, planting & harvesting) for fear your family is going to starve in winter.
More than the Ingalls' life, I'd rather an early 1900s life, preferably in a small town or village, as opposed to city or farm life.
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my four children are 17, 15, 11 & 8 - all now attend public school - we read many 4Real recommended books at home
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TracyQ
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I always tell my daughter that she and I were definitely born in the wrong decade, and perhaps, the wrong century.
Creating the balance in this chaotic world, and in this society is extremely challenging at best!
I'm trying daily to remember the blessings too though, because God's purpose is for us here, and now. Maybe we homeschoolers can do something to at least show people a different culture that slows down the pace a little bit, and balances a more simple lifestyle.  This is a VERY interesting thread!!! 
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Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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CrunchyMom
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OT--
Hmmm, well, I grew up in the middle of nowhere in rural Alabama, and we used to cheer and run and get everyone if we saw a squirrel (they all hung out in the woods around the house--not in our yard), my mom dealt with mice in the basement some during the cold months but it wasn't a frequent concern in the living area of the house, and I NEVER saw a cockroach until I went to college (and my mother was good, but hardly one of those immaculate housekeepers).
Contrast that with living in the city in the Northeast and seeing cockroaches come out of my drain from the public sewer (this happened a couple of weeks ago in the middle of the day--EEK!) and those pesky, pesky squirrels that must all be related to Squirrel Nutkin since they just seem to live to taunt you and steal your birdseed, and having dealt with at least one frustrating mouse infestation in the past few years, I can't say these are things modernity has fixed for me, lol! 
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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Mattie
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How I love this thread!!!!
Being raised in the French country side I always imagined myself a few centuries back... But Laura and Jo both captured my heart, and here I am in this beautiful country, living my Dream...
I don't want to offend anyone but the main thought that keep jumping at me while reading your beautiful posts was this quote from Climbing the Mountain where (I can't find the exact page, sorry)Anne explains that we should not lament over what is not anymore because Christ put us in this day and age for a mission that we alone can fulfill and that can only be fulfilled today. This thread really brought back this to the surface of my heart. I have not completely figured the mission untrusted to me yet, at least not where I can put it into words  . But this has helped me clarify it a lot. Especially how trying to keep up with the Jones and the "standard" can be so detrimental to our growth. So much to ponder! And so nurturing... I hope I have not offended anyone, and if I have I am sorry.
Thank you all for so much food for the thought
Mattie
Maman to 4 beautiful mountain babies in CO
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Cay Gibson
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CrunchyMom wrote:
Who was Jo based on? I always thought she was like Louisa herself, but Louisa never married, right? Am I completely confused? |
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No, not confused.
Jo was based on Louisa's life as Jo's sisters were replicas of Louisa's sisters.
Read about Louisa's real life. There's grist for the mill. She met and lived near many great thinkers (Thoreau and Emerson to name a few).
Her father was a total radical. I've often felt pushed to compassion for her mother though.
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Cay Gibson
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Cay Gibson
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CrunchyMom wrote:
OT--
Contrast that with living in the city in the Northeast and seeing cockroaches come out of my drain from the public sewer (this happened a couple of weeks ago in the middle of the day--EEK!) and those pesky, pesky squirrels that must all be related to Squirrel Nutkin since they just seem to live to taunt you and steal your birdseed, and having dealt with at least one frustrating mouse infestation in the past few years, I can't say these are things modernity has fixed for me, lol! |
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This reminded me...in a round-about way ...about our trip last June to the Little House in Kansas..
Television has made it seem so homey and romanticized. I've seen inside the replica. It's another script entirely.
I'm 5'5" and I bumped my head on the top of the door post as I walked in. The inside was only four walls. Very plain. Chelsea didn't like it. She even got a little claustophobic.
A lady behind me laughed and said, "Could you imagine being sick in here with a whole family...no bathroom, no washing machine, no plumbing? Good grief! The stench alone would bring me down."
As we all know the family did get sick...with malaria.
But when you're standing there on that spot in that little house that is no bigger than a nice size bathroom, bare of all modern comforts, one is left with a sickening feeling. Literally.
And, yes, they did have Ma's china shepherdess on the fireplace mantle and the bed in the corner with a nice comforter, and a table and chairs made from logs. It was exactly as Ma and Pa would have lived. There were no finer things because they didn't have any.
Of course a large part of the scenery was missing. The people of the house.
But living conditions? The old days were not for the faint of heart, soul, or limb. Our pioneer mothers deserve to be applauded. 
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
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Barbara C.
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Not to be another "nut in the cookie", but my understanding was that the "Little House" books were heavily edited for grammar and content by Laura's daughter Rose. If you read some of Laura's newspaper contributions (Little House of the Ozarks: The Rediscovered Writings) they have a slightly different feel to them. And you kind of get the impression that Laura was a kind of domineering wife and mother from the biography I read. And because they are part memoir, Laura's facts aren't exactly straight. So, the reality may not have been as "rosy" as it seems sometimes in the books...and forget the television series. Reading the "Little House" books, though, makes us appreciate what we have and re-evaluate what our actual needs are.
As for the college sub-thread, I think one reason that the "good" students are often the ones that party too hard and end up not finishing college is that they were put under so much pressure in high school that once they are "free" they just get drunk on the freedom as much as the alcohol.
I was the "good" student, always pressured to take Calculus or be in National Honors Society even when I didn't want to, because it looked good on my transcript. I was also the "good" daughter who didn't cause problems for my parents and helped take care of my baby nephew, who lived with us with his mother. I was the "good" kid to whom other parents entrusted their kids.
Once I got to college, it felt so good not to have so many people depending on me all the time. I felt like a weight was taken off, and I started partying and drinking a lot. However, I was wise enough to know that if I lost my scholarship my freedom would be over, so I never got completely out of control. I would party after my homework was done. I finally stopped when I spent more drunken nights crying my eyes out than laughing and dancing. For good and for bad, that was the most free I've ever been in my life.
Now, I am lucky that we live somewhere with very lax homeschooling laws. The government doesn't demand so much of us which gives us a lot of latitude. And I am glad that I discovered homeschooling when my oldest was still a toddler, because now that she would be starting kindergarten I've realized that I can't teach her EVERYTHING there is in the world. I've got to prioritize the basics, and let them learn about the rest on their own if they desire.
I see us getting slightly more structured as the kids get older, but I like Cafi Cohen's idea of seeing where they go naturally and then using organized work to fill in the gaps. And I am seriously considering using an SAT prep book as a basic spine for high school. I plan to teach to the test to make sure our bases are covered, and then let them explore on their own. That way if they head to college they will be prepared, but they have time to explore their options.
And I tell you, nothing simplifies our lives more than only having one vehicle.
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Barbara
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TracyQ
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Those ladies who claim to be *nuts* , I don't think you're nuts at all! I love reading ALL of the contributions here to this fascinating and wonderful discussion!
We live in a state with extremely rigid homeschooling laws, and so I understand the feeling of having to 'cover all the bases' without feeling the freedom to do as much as we'd like interest-wise, or pace-wise either.
However, I also know that we opt to do way more than the homeschooling laws require, because the colleges require more than do our homeschooling regulations. So we go more by what the basic requirements for colleges are, in case they choose to attend college. I don't want to neglect preparing them for that possibility.
I do also understand that feeling of wanting to go back in time, at a much slower, and less chaotic pace, because sometimes you feel like pulling your hair out while living in this world, and trying to just keep up! Lately, I have just been longing for the early 1970's, when I could go to my Grandma and Grandpa's house every Saturday and dust with her, and vacuum her house with her, have her teach me how to crochet, and bake cinnamon rolls from scratch. I long to spend time with she and my Grandpa, and watch my Grandpa paint in his little room off of the kitchen doing his paint by number, and eating one of his diabetic candy (it really wasn't very good, but it was from him ). I long to watch my Grandma cook basic, simple meals at her stove, with no microwave oven, and watching her save the foil she used by trying to unwrinkle it the best she could, and put it back into her kitchen drawer to use again. The simple, basic, wonderful life of my Grandma and Grandpa.........that's what I long for! They both passed away when I was only 9yo, I miss them so much some days.
BUT, I think what's helped me so much has been the fact that these same requirements don't dictate WHAT we use in order to teach the subject, or HOW we study it.I've been able to tailor each of their education to suit each unique person.
So for that daughter who really longs to live in the past in many different places and eras, we can focus more on her interests, and her learning better in more old fashioned ways, particularly through Charlotte Mason's philosophy, and literature based learning, which takes her back into so many different places and times.
And we can focus more on what she loves through all of this as well. This way, we're creating the balance between fulfilling the requirements she needs, and that the state requires, with making sure we're sticking to our principles of what WE feel is best in her education. But it isn't always easy, that's for sure!
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Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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Cay Gibson
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TracyQ wrote:
However, I also know that we opt to do way more than the homeschooling laws require, |
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Tracy,
What a perfect post. Well said.
I agree with everything you said including the above quote.
Now I have to get out the door. We have harp camp this week. Another example of those backward homeschoolers not getting educated or socialized.
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
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TracyQ
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Cay,
I LOVE the harp! My daughter's guitar teacher, who's also a dear friend of ours teaches how to play the harp, and plays it herself often for various Masses, etc. The picture of your girls next to the harp on your blog is precious.
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Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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CrunchyMom
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Cay Gibson wrote:
Television has made it seem so homey and romanticized. I've seen inside the replica. It's another script entirely.
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My husband (the hobbyist/side job carpenter) always laughs at all the "dimensional lumber" and plywood in the Little House sets and buildings for the TV show.
Wow, I imagined many of their living conditions to be worse than those of the tv show, but that photo does indeed paint a much different picture! Ugh!
I didn't mean to make light of their living conditions, truly, just that cockroaches in particular seem to be worse for me now than when I lived in a more "rustic" setting. What a screaming insult it is to a homemaker!
My mother actually grew up in the mountains in Georgia in true poverty. They didn't have indoor plumbing until she was 8 (and I'm young, my mother died in 2006 at 48!), and while she didn't tell a ton of stories, I know that while they worked hard, growing much of their food, and she had an excellent work ethic, her childhood was less than rosy, and there were a lot of "issues" to deal with later in the lives of her entire family.
So, I do know that the simplicity of living conditions alone does not instill the virtues or the ideals we associate with them. It think that people like the Ingalls were not necessarily "just like everyone else" even living in that more simple time or situation. In "By the Shores of Silver Lake," Caroline chose not to let her children associate with the other children, right? (Its been a while since I read it), and there were always materialists like Nellie Olsen dangling the love of stuff under their noses (even if what the Olsen's had was modest by modern standards).
And yet, it is still hard not to yearn for a time and/or place where there is a culture that supports the nuclear family as the center of society. To me, that is probably the biggest loss. I do long for a time when there was no real question about how to define family and where society supported a parent in their role instead of fighting it. The concept of family does seem like it should be pretty "simple."
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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TracyQ
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CrunchyMom wrote:
And yet, it is still hard not to yearn for a time and/or place where there is a culture that supports the nuclear family as the center of society. To me, that is probably the biggest loss. I do long for a time when there was no real question about how to define family and where society supported a parent in their role instead of fighting it. The concept of family does seem like it should be pretty "simple." |
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Amen to this! I think you hit the nail on the head here!
My two favorite quotes by two of my very favorite people in the world on this issue, and one perfect for this very thread are:
"As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live."
Pope John Paul II
“Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for greater developments and greater riches and so on, so that children have very little time for their parents. Parents have very little time for each other, and in the home begins the disruption of peace of the world.”
Blessed Mother Teresa
Amen! Amen! Amen! 
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Blessings and Peace,
Tracy Q.
wife of Marty for 20 years, mom of 3 wonderful children (1 homeschool graduate, 1 12th grader, and a 9th grader),
homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY
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JodieLyn
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oh my Tracy, I'm your post made me miss my grandparents so much.. my grampy died when I was 17 and my grammy got to meet my now 5 yr old.. she's been gone for 5 yrs now.. he was just months old when she died. But reading your post I could just see their house when I was about 7 yrs old.. and working with grammy in the kitchen and grampy letting us "turn him into a frog" with out magic wands or sharing a treat. Funny now that I think about it.. he never acted like a frog for us.. but he'd always smile at us when we'd pretend.. and that was enough.
now to see if I can clear the tears and read the rest of the posts
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Cay Gibson
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CrunchyMom wrote:
My husband (the hobbyist/side job carpenter) always laughs at all the "dimensional lumber" and plywood in the Little House sets and buildings for the TV show. |
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Back from harp camp (which included an hour of swimming during the lunch break) and I'm pooped  and I still have two extra kids.
I wanted to add that I believe part of Laura's love and Louisa/Jo's love and Beatrix Potter's love and Charlotte Mason's love of outdoors stems from the home they grew up in.
They did not have the homes and conveniences we have. Outside was where they found beauty. The simplest tin cup filled with wildflowers sitting on the dinner table was the most beautiful focal point in the whole room. The spring breeze blowing through the open window was the coolest air conditioning. The wooden carved bracket on the wall and the china shepherdess were the loveliest things because there was nothing else. The best book in the house was the Bible because there were no other books, or just one or two more. You simply didn't travel across the prairie with "stuff".
Nowadays we have the stuff; we also have the clutter that comes with it.
Our lives are easier, our homes more beautiful, and our children are expected to know more because they have access to more. But that doesn't make our lives (or theirs) simpler or more meaningful.
CrunchyMom wrote:
In "By the Shores of Silver Lake," Caroline chose not to let her children associate with the other children, right? (Its been a while since I read it), and there were always materialists like Nellie Olsen dangling the love of stuff under their noses (even if what the Olsen's had was modest by modern standards).
And yet, it is still hard not to yearn for a time and/or place where there is a culture that supports the nuclear family as the center of society. To me, that is probably the biggest loss. I do long for a time when there was no real question about how to define family and where society supported a parent in their role instead of fighting it. The concept of family does seem like it should be pretty "simple." |
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Wonderful observations!
This thread has so many split ends though.
Let's keep talking.
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
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guitarnan
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Another thing I love about Caroline (and Pa!) is that they work together to do what is best for the family. They trust in each other and in their love. Pa keeps his promises and settles down, so that their girls can grow up in a town with a church and school. Caroline follows her husband with trust in God and in him (this is that military wife thing again...the God plan, then the Navy plan, then the dh plan...I have no plan, I just try to move and trust!).
Tracy, those quotes are wonderful.
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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~Rachel~
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I think a lot of the attraction to the lives of CM, Beatrix, Laura and all, was the fact that they produced beauty that we see and enjoy.
And I think we want to take that beauty and participate in the creating of it- in our own home
If all we do is try to learn from them, at least we might try to emulate SOME of that beauty
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Shari in NY
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guitarnan wrote:
| Caroline follows her husband with trust in God and in him (this is that military wife thing again...the God plan, then the Navy plan, then the dh plan...I have no plan, I just try to move and trust!). |
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Well, that's the thing. I also wanted to be Laura when I was a girl. It would have been worth all the hardships just to have horses and not stinky old cars! But I never wanted to be Ma. She always seemed so stern to me and re-reading these books as a mother I see why. I would NEVER have the courage to pack up my girls and leave family and home to follow my husband into the wilds of Indian territory. And you can read that it terrified Ma too. I stand in awe of her faith and fortitude!
However, I would love to be Jo. I didn't read Little Men until I was a mother and I thought it was delightful.
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: I think I was born in the wrong century..
