Or “home scholars,” as Dana Mannino calls them. Many of the latest crop of MBers appear to be home-schooled and want to talk about their experiences. Talk away!
Patience, Please
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I was homeschooled from 3rd through 6th grade. It worked great, but now I’m in 7th grade and have to go back to regular school. (My parents say they don’t want me to be overwhelmed when highschool starts.)
I’ve been homeschooled since 2nd grade. Now I’m in 9th, and am going through a distance learning school(but its still homeschooling).
I find it so(where’s the underline when I need it?) when people ask about socializing. I definitely socialize. I’m not around other teens 7 or so hours a day, but that doesn’t mean I’m not socially adept. A lot of the time I don’t reach out to people because I don’t want to make a fool of myself. But when I get to know them, I’m fine.
w00t! Homeschoolers rock! I am currently being public schooled, but I was homeschooled 3rd grade and then in 6th through 8th. Our homeschool t-shirts say:
ANSWERS TO YOUR BURNING QUESTIONS:
NO! I don’t have recess!
YES! I’m socialized!
NO! I don’t have a locker!
YES! I’m socialized!
NO! I don’t wear my PJ’s all day!
YES! I’M SOCIALIZED!
“I never let my schooling interfere with my education”–Mark Twain
I remember back in 3rd grade when MUSE would come, me and my mother would look at all the articles, have lengthy discussions about them, and then my mother would make up some work to do with them.
Hey, now there’s an awesome slogan you can put in your ads: MUSE – the homeschooler’s supplement.
Homeschooling was really hard for a while, because other kids thought all I did was loaf around the house in my underwear watching TV all day. I felt like such a loner, I knew nobody else who was homeschooled!
Unfortunantly, I don’t have good skills at making friends at public schools, now that I’m going to one.
*sigh* Being a year young for my grade doesn’t help.
3- I want that t-shirt!
Or you could just wear Muse Academy shirts and fool them all.
I have been homeschooled since fourth grade. My other friends, well, pretty much all of them want to be homeschooled, but their mothers don’t want to. I think they think it is a lot easier than it really is, and so that’s why it’s appealing. I think they’re just tired of all of the pointless homework. I don’t really have much homework, but that’s because there is actually time during the seven class periods to get the work DONE! There aren’t a lot of distractions in your own home! The thing I hate about people thinking we don’t know how to socialize is that it doesn’t make any sense. How does learning to get along with a peer-presure filled group of people exactly your own age help you become a social person? Life isn’t like that. That’s why all of my friends don’t say anything around adults. I’m the only homeschooler, and I’m the most social one in all of us! They don’t learn how to socialize about something interesting. And they think we just sit around all day! My dad teaches at a college, and last year a homeschooler received a presidential scholarship!
phew, pant, pant, end of rant.
For some weird reason, when I was homeschooled, I wanted to be in regular school. (I think it’s because I wanted to be normal.) But now, I’m looking back and deciding those days were better.
I’m in a college prep school. It’s so much better than public school.
I’ve been homeschooled since I started 5th grade…I’m now midway through 10th. I must say, I like it quite a bit…but, as davidude said, for a while, there, I wanted to go to public school, but mostly because that’s where most of my friends went. Then I found our homeschooling program, and that’s where most of my friends are!
3-I love that t-shirt…you actually had one?
6-Yes, we could, and we might, if our mother would order it for our birthday…:mad:
I’ve never been homeschooled, but my mother and sister like to repeat a random lie that some one, some where, made up. They say (and my sister believes it!) that in approximately 1 years time we will move to Venice, Italy, which is my dad’s favourite place, for a year, and they will home school us. Yeh right. Well, even if they do, I will have a laptop by then and will spend most of my life on muse blog. Yay!
7- I do want to be homeschooled, but that is because (and I am not boasting here, just stating the facts) I am brighter than the other kids in my class (and probably year. And maybe the year above me) and I get really bored in lessons. My geography teacher had to give me a project to do instead of lessons, and my history teacher. The others just ignore me.
I attended a teeny tiny private school from K-8, and now I’m in a really small arts public school. I have never been homeschooled, but I know many people who are or have been homeschooled.
Homeschoolers – what are your daily schedules like?
yeah, I’ve never been homeschooled and I like it that way. My parents are friends with a lot of homeschoolers so whenever they’re asked about if they homeschool they say, “of course we homeschool, we just supplement with public school” My mom taught biology at a college and my dad is really smart so we’re always learning stuff, but I spend most of my time in school. that’s probably good for me because if i didn’t go to school and socialize, I’d probably spend all my time with my cows and go crazy without any people skills. I was talking to a homeschooler and they said that they can get through their lessons in a few hours then they can do whatever. I could easily do that with what I learn in school, which isn’t much. I would be at home working the rest of the day, though. I like school, and people think I’m crazy but it’s probably because it’s easy and it’s just a time to relax, for me.
so, ya, that’s how I see it, but all you homeschoolers, have fun
just out of curiosity, what is a general daily routine and what do you do to socialize?
I attended a Spanish Immersion public elementary school then a public middle school then a public high school. My highschool has the IB program my schedual right now is history of the americas IB, English 11 IB, Chem 2 IB, French 5 IB, Calculus IB, Spanish Immersion literature IB/Spanish 6 IB/Spanish 5 IB (yeah, my spanish class is rather strangely mixed.
How I socialize:
*I go to a Japanese class once a week
*I usually hang out w/ a teen homeschool group once a week
* And I go to a jewish studies school thingy for about 2hours once a week
Okay, I know it doesn’t sound like a lot, but I really am socialized.
13- No offense here or anything, but when you said “….go crazy without any people skills.”, it sounds a little like you’re implying homeschoolers don’t have people skills. I’m not trying to start a flame war here, but it just sounds a teeny bit like that.
Homeschooling sounds fun, but my mither says that I cannot because I never listen to her. Hey, it’s not my fault that I like to read, and WHEN I read, I shut my ears to the outside world and almost miss dinner! Right? RIGHT?!?!?!?!?!
I’d love to be homeschoooled but I already have made a ton of friends at my public school.
I was homeschooled from 3rd-4th grade. was fine, i had PE for homeschoolers, and some friends, but at that age i didn’t know how to socialize. davidude-where do you live? I skipped a grade too, so i’m sorta in the same predicament. but i’m tall so people think i’m like 15. i hate it when people say i’m super smart just cuz i skipped a grade
I’ve been homeschooled since kindergarten, and I love it. I socialize all the time and I find it really annoying when people think i don’t. Especially when my friends who aren’t homeschooled ask me if I have any friends. If i didn’t have any friends, then why woud i be talking to them?
NOT HOMESCHOOLED! And happy about it, becuase at school, we learn alot of social skills, as well as important life lessons about the tough “real” world. Plus, I enjoy it. I get plenty of (good) individual attention from teachers, and it is nice not be all FOCUSED on as an individual all the time, because it makes me more free. For example (don’t tell my mom) I sometimes don’t pay attention, but I have good reason! If I understand the subject, and don’t need to be ran through it over and over, I don’t get ran through it. In lots of cases, this doesn’t happen. Especially science and math (even though I enjoy science… I just don’t enjoy the teacher.). I am a very free person. Not watched like a hawk, but given enough individual attention! Yay me!
21- Sometimes going through things again makes them stay in your head longer. For example, we use the saxon math program, and they are always repeating things. But it really helps! I am now a grade ahead in math.
OK, here is another anti “oh, homeschoolers don’t get enough socializing” rant directed at no one in particular… When you’re in middle school, when can you socialize? There isn’t recess anymore… You can’t talk and eat at the same time. The only other time when you could be socializing would be in class, which is NOT something you want your kids doing, right? When do you get to socialize? And I will point out again to any evil homeschooler-hating adults reading this, learning to get by without being picked on for not having this kind of jeans, or… whatever, is going to help you get along with a mixed, diverse group of people that you will find in the REAL WORLD PEOPLE! I think adults who don’t want ot homeschool their kids like to pick on homeschooling to disguise the fact that they are really holding their children back by not giving them this great opportunity.
As for friends, I had to leave all of my friends at my montesorri school. I made new friends, some of them turned out to be good, others didn’t. Then come all of you nice bloggers!
21- Well, I may be homeschooled, but I have social skills. AND I know about the big, bad, “real world”. Just because you’re homeschooled doesn’t mean you’re naive. Even you have met homeschoolers who are naive, that doean’t mean all homeschoolers are like that. It’s like saying all Musebloggers are like FrigidSymphony(no offense, Fridgey).
AHHHHHHHHHH! I have never been homeschooled yet, (as I have already said) but I want to (as I have already said), but it looks like I might! If my dad doesn’t get a job before his contract runs out, we will move to Italy for a year. We might be homeschooled, or we might have to go to public school and learn Italian very, very quickly! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
16- sorry, didn’t mean it that way, I just mean that if I was homeschooled I think I’d go crazy
25- Thanks.
I think one of the reasons people think homeschoolers are “socially inept” shall we say, is because smarter people tend to be a little less trendy or worldly, and therefore out of step with the “cool” people. However, I was homeschooled for four years and am now in public high school and I find people there who are wierder than any of my homeschooling friends who don’t, say, smoke or drink or any of that stuff.
Homeschoolers are far more articulate as well. Hooray for full sentences!
27- Spelling and grammar are pretty much stamped into me! I can’t bring myself to write things like r u. My fingers have a mind of their own.
I am in public school, and the sort of “socializing” I see is mostly swearing. When people do use proper English, they mostly talk about video games and topics that I can’t even mention unless I want the GAPAs to zap my comment and ban anyone with my email address from the blog. Feel free to use that as a counterargument when your parents start the “Youshouldstophomeschoolingandgotopublicschoolbecauseyoudontgetenoughsocializing” spiel, homeschoolers!
I’ve been at public schools all my life. I think that you learn things socially that you can’t learn in homeschool. However, I’m sure there are things that you get out of homeschool that you don’t get out of public school. I think that you learn social stuff every year which is the reason I haven’t skipped a grade. In my experience people who skip a grade are socially behind, even if they are mentally ahead.
Did that make any sense?
I am currently homeschooled. I have been homeschooled from 6th-8th grade. I want to go to a normal school for high school though. I will be skipping 9th grade, which is AWESOME, Because I can take the courses that I want. I actually know another homeschooler who reades Muse, but she doesn’t post here I think.
Here in Texas, everyone is VERY Christian. I guess that’s part of the reason I want to go to a normal school.
30- *coughgoodimmunesystemscough*
To Brave Sir Robin:
Ni! Ni!
29 – That’s what I think too. I have been called **** and ***** and *** and *** so many times I can’t even remember. Sometimes a sentence might sound like, “I’m gonna ****** **** your *** after school, you *** *****.” I have to bleep out half the words just to post it here.
Kids are mean, rude, insulting, and if I didn’t like the teachers so much I wouldn’t be going to public school. But the teachers are outstanding, so I just keep cool in class and hide in the library during lunchtime. (I wish my school library subscribed to MUSE!)
Huh. At my school, there is still quite a bit of swearing, but no one I hang out with is that insulting! Actually, I find that it’s the kids I like, and (some) of the teachers that I dislike so much.
Question: why did everyone decide to homeschool? Or, if you’re like me, why did you decide to go back to public school after homeschooling?
30- I completely agree
sure, people in my school swear, but it’s just their way of trying to act important and cool and all. actually, most of my friends don’t swear much, I chose a group of friends that feel the same way about that stuff as me. Unfortunately, none of my friends used to swear at all but in the highschool they’ve changed. I understand it’s ok if something goes seriously wrong or something, but just to drop **** into a sentence for no real reason is kinda stupid. like, I’ve gotta finish this dumb*** homework. or something like that, it’s just annoying.
so that’s what I think about swearing in public schools….
Eh, I swear. I swear more than I used to nowadays, but usually only when I’m annoyed.. I think that one thing that you do learn in schools that you don’t necessarily learn homeschooling is how to get along with different people, how to handle not being the center of attention, etc, which seem like fairly necessary life skills…
Uuuummm, well I think we homeschoolers ARE probably naive, but I also don’t see what’s wrong with that. I think I’m more in the ‘real world’ than school kids because I go to places while their in school. Is it really necessary to learn about all the things celebrities do and stuff like that to ‘survive’? I think not.
I think homeschoolers probably have more socail skills because we learn to socialize with people of all ages.
The following are the ways I ‘socialize’:
*I take dance 4-5 times a week
*I am on a First Lego League robotics team, which meets every week from September-January and Every month from February-August
*I am in a 4-H group that meets every other week
i really want to do lego leauge! do u know how i can sign up??
I am homeschooled, and I hope to clear up some apparently difficult things to understand.
1: Homeschooled means you do some of your school at home. Everything else is optional. I have known of homeschoolers who go to classes several times a week. I would not call them “homeschoolers”, but rather “non-public schoolers”. Nonetheless they are in the same category as those who spend most of their time at home.
2: Socialize? Why is this so hard to understand? Most homeschoolers I know do something at least once a week (including myself). If you live in a big family you get plenty of socializing, and people are different ages and you don’t get to choose who to hang out with. I’d say that’s more like the real world. You might get sufficient socialization at public school (I wouldn’t know, as I have never been to public school), but it’s really up to the parents whether the homeschoolers are properly socialized. Thankfully I was blessed with good parents.
3: The real world. You can know about the “real world” without being thrust into it. It’s not like I am going to spend my whole life at home. My parents believe in “training before combat” so to speak. Basically I get well acuainted with the harsh outside world before having to deal with it. That way I know how to avoid hanging out with the wrong crowd before I am faced with the temptation. Same with smoking, drugs, and other things the GAPAs would zap me for mentioning. My sister was homeschooled her whole life and is now in college – and she is doing fine. Need I mention she is making friends, and not the wrong kind.
4: Okay, the whole “center of attention thing” which is growing in popularity in this blog. If you are single child, or have only one sibling, this may be a problem, but in a big family (like mine) I hardly get enough one-on-one attention. I am also very independent, and have a free will which I exercise regularly.
5: Basically homeschooling is a vague term, and includes those who are naive and unsocialized, along with those who are knowledgable, social, and well-raised. If you cannot comprehend such a different and untraditional lifestyle, please talk to a homeschooler before you form your own shortsighted opinions.
Thank you for listening to my rant.
I meant not to upset anyone, only to enlighten those who would rather judge than learn.
38- What scores did your team get this year, if you remember? Where are you?
39- Find a team in your area, and join it. If there isn’t a team in your area, find at least four friends aged 9-14 and a sponsor to pay for the robots and fees to get in the competition. If you can’t do that, convince your parents to get a Mindstorms kit and play with it on your own.
I am not homeschooled. I am in public school in all honors classes available, though. I socialize with my friends between classes, on projects working together, after school in school-sponsored extracurriculars, and in classes like gym where you aren’t as closely supervised and don’t have to do much. As well as a little in class surreptitiously. The people I socialize with mostly don’t swear. I am in lego league, or at least I was for the last two years, although I don’t have much time anymore and may not join next year. My team was one of the five IBM-sponsored ones in the area. We went to the competition at Pace. We got the Team Spirit award and the second place Robot Performance. I don’t really think I contributed that much to any of it, because I couldn’t attend any of the extra meetings, which is why I don’t want to rejoin next year.
Brave Sir Robin- I skipped a grade, and no one knows it unless i tell them. People are always like, oh you’re soo tall, how could you have skipped a grade? When your younger, and skip 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, i don’t think it’s as bad. If you skip 6th or 7th, i think your worse off and do miss some social skills. I had a friend who skipped two grades, but there was too much pressure and she looked younger, so people treated her as such. In my case i don’t think i would fit in with people the same age as me. I pride my self on this, but most of the time i and more mature than the people in my grade and the people in the grade that i’m supposed to be in. I think it all depends on who you are. It isn’t all about being smart though, i agree. My brother is smart enough to have skipped a grade, but my mom thought he wasn’t mature enough.
It also depends on why you are being taken out of school for homeschooling. I know of a family who has 2 girls and a boy. The boy is eight, and the girls are 14 and 10. They are all being homeschooled, because there was “unacceptable activity” in the classroom. The girls are very girly girls if you know what i mean, so in this case i think thqat the boy, James, should be in public school so he has some male influences. Not that homeschooling is bad, but this family is way overprotective, so i think the boy would be better in school.
This is officially my longest post ever!
21-Well, that’s one of the advantages of homeschooling: just because somebody else is having trouble with a certain thing, doesn’t mean you have to slow down and wait for them to catch up…and you wouldn’t know what it’s like to be homeschooled, so why are you spouting negative things about it?
22-Hey, we use Saxon, too! And I’m also a grade ahead in math…what book are you on?
More later, gotta go now!
I think my school application got messed up. I’m in 7th grade this year doing 7th grade math, when i did it last year and was supposed to be in pre-algebra this year. Oh well.
I’ve gone to the same public school system since kindergarten (now I’m a high school sophmore). I’ve never really seen the appeal in homeschooling (I don’t think I’d want to spend so much time in the house, plus my parents work so we don’t have the time for it anyway). Everyone seems to be defending their method of schooling and which is better at doing what. I think it REALLY REALLY depends on the person, their parents, the schools in the area, and any other factor you can think of, but MOST OF ALL your definition of “better”.
People- What in the world do you learn socially in regular school? Please tell me. I personally don’t see how a bunch of people the same age that happen to sit in the same room while in school helps you learn how to socialize. Don’t you actually ? work in school? If you are socializing, then you obviously aren’t doing your work… How do you socialize? When? Somebody tell me please.
You lean how to interact with people your own age and how to meet new friends.
On the whole socializing thing–I know that when I was homeschooling, I was busier and more social than I am now! I did Shakespeare class, art class, park day, teen events, choir–and now I just run. Run and do choir. Bleh.
47- Sure, but how does that help you in the real world? In the real world, You are never in that kind of a group, and wouldn’t want to be. And by the way, when do you socialize?
46 – you learn to get along with people who you don’t necessarily have a lot in common with. You learn how to meet new people, and how to deal with a lot of different people at once. You learn how to act in large groups. You do this at lunch, during passing periods, before class, after class, before school, after school, during class if you’re not doing that much, whenever. Lots of times.
socializing? Mostly highly overdramatic. but parts of it can be a lot of fun
49-beg to differ, you have to get along with people every day in the real world. And when do we socialize? heh. Every moment we’re not working. Ie, every moment.
basically, i’m a lazy bum, and i like public schools (staying home would be great, but minus the schooling XD)
Another thing i like about schools is the different teachers. Not only do you get a change of viewpoints (or even if you just don’t like one of your teachers, you get somebody else the next year) and teaching styles, but it teaches you a more useful interaction-how to deal with the people who have control over you, even if you don’t necessarily like/agree with them.
And of course, the drama can always be amusing, if nothing else.
plus how else would you find out about the chipotle dinner or the wallball game at montrose or the random spontaneous party that nobody had time to plan/call people for? It’s so much easier when you see people every day.
50- Hmmm… I think that you can’t really teach that; people are going to be a social person or not, at least all of the examples I’ve seen. As for when you socialize, my responses in order: 1. It depends how much time you have, and if you can talk while eating; 2. “passing periods”? I don’t know what those are; 3+4. what time is there?; 5+6. “before school”? “after school”? ; DURING CLASS!!!! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!!!! You can’t just “decide” when you feel like listening!!! I didn’t know school was so, um, er, WHATEVER! Homeschoolers don’t, and couldn’t do that, as your parent is right there, and would catch you if you even DARED not pay attention! Maybe that’s why you guys have so much homework; you don’t do the work in class, so you have to do it while you could be blogging or whatever else you like to do. I had no idea normal school was like that!
50- well said. In short, you’re with a very large, diverse group of people all day long. You interact with everyone constantly. How much more socializing could you want?
51- I meant that you are never in a group of people exactly your own age. EVERY single one of my friends is going to regular school, and they are totaly anti-social! Especially to adults, but even to me! Of course, a lot of you are girls, so maybe they are more social amongst themselves…
sorry I couldn’t include this in my previous post; I guess things are moving too fast for me
52- Red Tail: Try not to make unbased assumptions from what people are trying to explain to you.
Firstly, it seems you think lunchtime is eating time, with no talking allowed or something. You may not have eaten in a school cafeteria before, but anyone who has can tell you: it’s LOUD. Talk between bites.
Next: “passing periods”. We don’t call them that in my school, I guess we don’t really call them anything except “between classes”. Basically, you change classrooms every class, so to do that you need to walk down the hall and pass lots of people. Since the time between periods is about 4 to 10 minutes (ours is 7), that gives you plenty of time to meet people in the halls and chat it up.
Before class and after class: 7 minutes is WAAY longer than you think it is. Even in middle school when I had 4 minutes, I was almost never late. This means that once you arrive at a class, you have time before the bell to talk to people who already got there. Then afterwards people are normally pretty slow about getting out of the room, so you can talk then, too.
Before and after school: I don’t know what it is you don’t understand about this part… moving on.
During class: Just what is so insane about talking during class? Haven’t you ever heard of student participation? I’m not sure how you’re homeschooling lessons are structured, but in high school/middle school classes, teachers don’t lecture the entire time. They teach, students say questions and comments, then we have classwork, etc. If you’re done with the work early, you can talk, unless the teacher is really strict. We don’t “just ‘decide’ when [we] feel like listening”; we talk when it’s appropriate. Talking during class means you’re participating with the teacher and your fellow students; it DOESN’T mean you’re not paying attention. Do you stay perfectly silent during your homeschool lessons?
And about homework load: Most kids at normal school would rather be doing something besides schoolwork once they get home, so we try to get our work done during class. Typically the teacher gives you a little time to at least get a start on it. It would be senseless to waste this time, yet you suggest all of us do.
51-don’t see what being a girl has to do with it. the guys i know are more social than the girls, actually. weckstein, hunter, scott, jacob st. yaakov…it seems to me most of the stuff that goes on is organized and/or hosted by the guys of our group.
52-lizzie didn’t say that anybody teaches it to you, she said that you learn it. From experience. It works.
55-absolute and total agreement, except that i do occasionally talk during class and waste time afterwards. XD But guess what? It’s the age of multitasking! we can do hw, eat, AND talk!
^during lunch i meant
“The First Ten Lies They Tell You In High School”
1. We are here to help you.
2. You will have enough time to get to your class before the bell rings.
3. The dress code will be enforced.
4. No smoking is allowed on school grounds.
5. Our football team will win the championship this year.
6. We expect more of you.
7. Guidance counclers are always availible to listen.
8. Your schedule was created with your needs in mind.
9. Your locker combination is private.
10. These will be the years you look back upon fondle.”
–Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson
In general, people homeschool in a lot of different ways. It just really depends what your life is like. You’ll probably won’t meet two different homeschoolers doing the same thing.
I’m an only child, and I haven’t had any problems with my parents focusing on me too much. So I guess it just depends on the parents.
– 58 OT, I really like that book! I had forgotten that part. Very funny!
I’m homeschooled, and I’ve had a lot of experience with socializing. I’ve had to deal with people I didn’t really like, be nice to people I couldn’t stand, smile politely at adults who were patronizing me, sit quietly while I was taught something I already knew, and be in large groups of people when I just wanted to be alone. I get it at church, at classes arranged by the homeschool group, visiting relatives, and while hanging out with my many friends. Socializing happens, no matter how you’re schooled. Just because I’m not around other kids 24/7 doesn’t mean I don’t know how to be around people.
As far as a desire to be the center of attention and having someone watching me every second, that is so totally out of the range of possibility for me, it’s not even funny. My mom basically throws a text book at me and tells me to learn it. She asks me what curriculum I like, tells me what lessons to learn, and then I retreat to my room and do it. I probably get less attention than a regular public schooler, and I like it that way. Yay for introverts!
I’m well educated. I’m a sophomore in high school, made a 31 on the ACT last summer, and a 215 on the PSAT this past fall. The average homeschooler makes an 80 percentile on national standardized tests. Homeschoolers do better than 80% of public and private schoolers.
I have friends who are homeschooled, public schooled, and in private school. On the whole, they all seem about the same as far as being able to interact well with other human beings (Except the boys. Homeschool boys over the age of 13 usually end up slightly bizarro freaky).
I do actually live a pretty sheltered life. But I like it that way. I know drugs, bad language, sex, and alcohol are out there (I have a TV, and I read the newspaper), but I haven’t had to deal with it first hand. Why should I? I’m not even 16 yet. I have my whole life to experience the “real world”, right now I’m busy preparing to be able to handle it.
I don’t wear pajamas all day. No one wears pajamas all day. Never ever ask a homeschooler if he/she wears pajamas all day. Everyone asks us that stupid question, thinking they’re so brilliant to come up with this totally unoriginal inquiry. I know at least four people who have threatened to do bodily harm to the next person who asks that, so for your own safety just avoid it.
You know, I think homeschooling did hurt me in one way. I find it very uncomfortable to read or do school work sitting up. I read, do my math, write papers, and answer grammar questions sprawled out on my bed. Oh well. I was able to read all those passages on the ACT and PSAT sitting at a desk, I guess I won’t find it too difficult when I get to college.
#58- Oh my gosh, that’s so hilarious. Adults tell the most outrageous lies to teenagers. I think they’re just hoping we won’t notice.
I don’t know why I decided to post… I don’t know why I decided to look at the dear old MB at all. I haven’t looked on here in months. Have a nice life everybody. E~A, you need to get online sometime when I’m online. I haven’t talked to you in a while.
Much love to everyone.
P.S. Will I be getting a birthday thread? It’s not that I think I should, but if I am I’ll come back to read it. If I’m not, I won’t. I’m just wondering. I’d be happy to let my birthday pass without anyone noticing. I hate growing up.
Ahoy, MontgomeryGurl!
See your name up there under “Dates to Remember”? You’ll get a thread. I think you can safely expect to be knee-deep in virtual pie.
As for growing up, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. There are different ways to go about it, and it offers certain advantages if you do it right.
52- (err, uhhh, yeah, 55 pretty much said this already… so read it if you want, but it is a little repetative, I really should read all the posts before I write a lot)
yeah, well, the teacher spends some of the time actually teaching and that is when you have to pay attention, then they have to repeat it a couple times and explain it to the people that don’t understand, and that is when you can “socialize” that is why I think school is relaxing, most of the time I just sit there, whisper, pass notes, doodle, etc etc that is probably proof that I would do better home schooling, I’d learn more at least, but it’s more fun in public school, and school is supposed to be fun. (that’s what the teachers say, at least)
and, passing periods is time between classes. like, I have english first period, then after the bell rings, I have three minutes to get to my next class, and there the teacher takes a little while to take attendence and get started and often we finish the lesson before the bell rings, so I have about 5-10 minutes between each class to “socialize” then there are classes like Agriculture, art, technology, etc. when we work and can talk pretty much the whole time and when we are assigned group projects in a class. I don’t know how other schools do it, but I do a lot of socializing in my school.
58- hahahaha, that’s pretty good, I don’t know how accurate, but some parts are. like the guidance counselors, they’re there to listen if you can wait 15 minutes for them to be done with the other person and that’s assuming their not in a meeting or something… oh well, I don’t usually want to talk to my guidence counselor, he’s soooooo wierd
hi, montgomery gurl, haven’t seen you in a while!
and could some homeschoolers tell me about their daily routine. like, when do you wake up, start “school” finish school, what do you do afterwards, etc etc
Different meanings of the word “socialize” seem to be confusing the issues here. The everyday sense of chatting with your friends or meeting new people is not (primarily) the form of socializing that academics, pundits, and assorted others fret about when they discuss approaches to education. They are more concerned with how kids become aware of and learn to adapt to society at large and its expectations.
In that sense, as several of you have pointed out, socialization is an ongoing process, not just something you do between classes or when lessons are done for the day.
62- I start class at 8:30, and end at 3:30 or 4:00. There is a half-hour lunch break sort of in the middle. And in case anybody is curious, there are some un-schoolers out there, people who do sit around all day doing nothing but videogames and such. But the vast majority of them aren’t sitting around. 63-Thank you. 60-All very true.
i am being public schoooled currently, but wld luv homeschool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
58- i agree
58- our school has 2 lies that are kind of a joke for highschoolers, but can be kind of mean for freshmen and people that haven’t been to the school yet. The upperclassmen like to tell people that the pool is on the third floor. As our school has neither a pool or a third floor, the more gullable freshmen will wander around looking for it and never find it. so, those are the two famous lies in our school, but only mean upperclassmen tell them. I was lucky enough to have a brother in 12th grade and some older friends that told me better.
67 – people supposidly tell people that at our school also. I’ve never actually known anyone who got told that, though.. we do have a third floor, but it’s all utilities and that stuff.
We only have one floor, but the new section they’re building has two floors on one part.
67- But that was only one… oh, never mind, no 3rd floor. Got it.
Lies They Are Currently Teling Us Right Now (Real)
1. Quoted from our assignment notebook: “5 minutes is enough time to go to your locker, go to class, and be on time.”
2. A teacher or older student will be glad to help you if you have questions.
3. You NEED to decide what to do with your life now.
4. Even though construction is three months behind, everything will be ready by the time school starts next year.
5. Really.
6. We swear.
7. Not like last time, when they forgot to remove that bit of road before starting to build.
8. Seriously.
-From My Life
58 and 69–those are so true. Except for the passing period one, I go to my locker, SOCIALIZE, and get to class on time (for the most part) in seven minutes or less.
Our biggest joke within the cross-country team is A-hill. There’s this one hill at one of our away meets that is perpendicular to the ground (maybe I’m exaggerating a little) and has a huge A at the top (the first letter of the school’s name). Anyhow, we always tell the Freshmen that they have to run up it during the race. Last season, they beleived us even after we didn’t go up it during the course walkthrough. Freshmen are definitely the best target for jokes (sorry to all the Freshies on this thread. But you are gullible.)
39-I really don’t know. My mom signed me up for it.
41- we placed 19th and won a 2nd place teamwork award.
We are a rookie team and all had TONS of fun, until the award ceremony was supposed to start, and we waited…and waited…and waited…and then they started telling us about who won the raffles. It was worth it though, cause we got the award.
39-if you do find a team by following 41’s better-than-mine advice, I would strongly reccomend that you do the research project as well.
70- I’m not that gullible. When some upper classmen try to do stuff like that to me, I outsmart them. Coincidentally, all my upperclassmen friends also tell me I’m going to get beat up if I’m not careful, to which my responce is always something like “Let them try” or “Ha! I doubt it, i”d hurt them if they tried.” They also tell me I’m way to cocky for a freshmen.
See, that’s the way to do it. Unfortunately, the Freshies at our school are too ditzy to be anything but gullible. But maybe its better that way; no upperclassmen being beaten up by freshmen…
heh heh heh…
73- * shaking fist in a pathetic way* don’t stereotype and insult us Freshies…
:):):):):):):):D:):D:):D:):D:):):):D:D:D
I t’will be a freshman next year, but i’m scared! In general, highschoolers scare me. I have some highschool friends, but during classes they are generally rude to people around them. Sorry. Especially since my current school has 4000 or so students attending from 7-12. My old school had 800 in grades 6-8. T’was a big difference.
76- ya, it’s a big change. It wasn’t as big for me because all our schools are small, we have about 200 kids per grade or so, maybe a little less. But I was still a little nervous, but now I think highschool is a lot better, people are a lot more mature (and nice), there’s almost a completely new group of people to pick friends from, but there are still all the old friends because classes are mixed more. The teachers (in my school) aren’t that much harder, and I almost like them more than middle school, but it’s hard to decide. There’s a lot more freedom, decisions etc and the teachers all know that it’s new for the freshmen on the first few days, so they’re real nice and layed back about doing everything right and getting to classes on time and all.
so that’s how my school was, so yours con’t be too much different…
This year started out badly, because I began readingThe Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education by Grace Llewellyn (which is a reallllly good book). I was screaming and crying and cursing the night before I went back to school cos I was so mad that my parents were making me go and at all of the things they do to us. I still am quite angry at the education system for all of the molding and supression they’ve put on us. And for all of the crap they shove down our throats. I still want to homeschool, or as Llewellyn calls it, “unschool.” The only thing is that three of my five friends are in my home school district and I would be very sad if I didn’t get to see them. Cos when else would I?
But that, and the fact that my parents aren’t willing to listen is the only thing holding me back from teaching myself.
THINGS I HATE ABOUT SCHOOL:
— “If you don’t learn this now, you never will and you will never be successful in your life.”
— dress codes
— asshole people
— ridiculous importance on things that we’ve either learned a million times before, could teach ourselves or really don’t have ANY impact on our education WHATSOEVER
— importance on grades — letters and numbers, tests and quizzes
— no trust for kids as a rule; even the responsible kids aren’t trusted or allowed priviliges
— “You’re wrong, I’m right; who is the teacher?” etc. The Totalitarianism aspect.
— “If you’re not raising your hand/bleeding, it must not be important.”
— “inappropriate” topics: sex/uality, race, drugs, disabilities, religion, philosophies, politics, death…REALITY, in other words. How do they expect to prepare us for the real world, except as a middle-manager in a cubicle, if they censor us from so much that fills every day?
— how history is taught; slanted
— repression of creativity
At my school, there is a group for everyone, so if you don’t want to hang out with the creepy druggies or smokers, you just stay away from them. Although it helps that there are 3100 kids at my school, so you know that there’s got to be at least SOMEONE to be friends with.
Don’t be afraid of high school. I’m sure that any person as well educated as a Muse reader will find a friend somewhere! Just remember to present yourself with confidence and high self-esteem, even if you don’t feel like it sometimes. It will make other people respect you more if you show that you respect yourself.
79- yeah, and first impressions do make a difference to everyone, teachers and students
HOMESCHOOLERS ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am unschooled. That means I don’t go to school, and I don’t have a curriculum. I still get assignments and stuff, but my parents aren’t very strict so I often put them off for months. I learn the kind of things I need to know now, and when my brain is ready, things sink in. Before that, I stare blankly when asked about math. I read a lot, so I know things lots of other people don’t, like I’m good at spelling, and I have a very good vocabulary, and I know the earth revolves around the sun,( did you know one in five Americans don’t know that?), and I can scoff at my sister’s fourth-grade homework, but I also don’t know things that lots of people do, like math. I’m in eighth grade, but I’m on sixth grade math. Unless it’s seventh grade math, I’m not sure.
I am going to go to high school next year, though, so I have to try to cram years of school knowledge into one summer. That means I have to learn to finish assignments by a deadline, and cut back on pleasure reading, and read lots of high school textbooks, and math workbooks, and The Way to the Western Sea, and Moby-Dick.
It’s my personal opinion that we should do away with formal education, and read Muses, and play Diplomacy and other educational but fun board games.
2&3 I don’t socialize, but that’s ’cause I live way out in the middle of nowhere, and no one around here is homeschooled anymore, really, but I pride myself on being a hermit, and I have a penpal/e-mail pal/phone pal/summer pal. I don’t reach out to people either, for pretty much the same reason, but it’s been a terrible disadvantage sometimes.
17 Right!
64- Like I said, I’m an Unschooler, but that doesn’t mean I sit around playing video games all day!!! Instead I sit around in the pasture with the sheep, and read all day. Big difference.
Whew, I can’t believe I managed to avoid a rant.
82, 83: Not to be critical, but do you ever think your system will ever put you at a disadvantage once you move on to college, get a job, etc.?
78: Maybe I should read that book. Then again, I don’t have too much of a problem with the education system, or at least the small part I see…
82 – For 2 years or so, I did a curriculum sort of like that, but it was a little more strict. Basically, I would get a big textbook of math and it had to be completed by the end of the year or else! And my mom would give me assinments at the beginning of each month, and I could put them off for a little while but they were all due at the beginning of the next month. I did read a lot, (and as a result I also know many things most people don’t know, such as Feb 1865 was the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon) but my mom always made sure I did schoolwork every day.
Of course, now I go to a regular school, and everything is all normal. Except for the fact that I know all this almost useless trivia and everybody thinks I’m a nerd because I tend to distribute the factoids when the school subject is somewhat related to one of them.
Here is a factoid that will scar you for life:
Learning shortens your life span.Scarred for life? A friend of a friend at school told me that it was an official government survey. He’s almost certainly lying, but it still creeps you out when it’s in black and white, doesn’t it?
84- Which is why I’m going to high school at the end of this summer. Not my choice, I must say. But at least I get to skip the harrowing (so I’ve heard) years of middle school. Lucky me.
85- I want to be a nerd! Which is why I’m bound to be one. That’s a good fact, and now I’m going to tell it to everyone in my vicinity. Yay!
86- Hmm, no I can’t say I’m scarred for life. Our life spans are so long here and now that even if I get in lots of learning (not likely) I’ll still live to a ripe old age! …. By pre- renessiance standards. Just kidding.
I get most of my factoids from Muse. I think it should become part of our school’s curriculum. (since our school is an unusual school anyways)
88- Me too. I quote various issues of Muse a lot too. Actually, a good portion of my conversation are quotes.
How do you homeschoolers do science? I mean, in Chemistry this year we do about two or three labs a week – how do you get all the equipment, etc?
82- don’t worry, us public schoolers don’t read a lot of text books or do a lot of work book pages and I have never read those 2 books. highschool’ll probably be easier than you think
83- You have sheep?!?!?! we used to have sheep but we had to get rid of them b/c of the neighbor’s dog that killed them…oh well. They were kinda stupid and smelly, we also didn’t take the best care of them… but now I have cows and I read in the pasture with them and it’s sooooo fun. especially in the summer, the smell of the clover, the soft sound of cows chewing and munching and walking around, the sun on my back and other quiet “nature” sounds… Where do you live? most people I know don’t have sheep on pasture.
91- I live in Washington, but I’m not going to be more specific than that.
I don’t choose to go out wth the sheep, though it’s fun and peaceful in the summer and on dry days. Our neighbor’s dogs killed a bunch of sheep a couple of years ago, but also a lot of our problems are coyotes. My job is shepherdess, to make sure the coyotes don’t steal our lambs.
92- haha, shepardess, that sounds like it could be fun on some days and it’d really suck on others. My brother was the “shephard” when we had sheep. If you have a problem with coyotes, have you thought of getting a Jenny goat or a cattle dog (i.e. a Blue or Red heeler or Collie) if you get a puppy (or baby goat) and raise it up with the lambs, it will be very protective by instinct and protect the sheep from anything. It might save you some work… We have a neighbor with calves that get attacked by coyotes and he got a Jenny and it’ll guard the fence and it has such good aim and strong hind legs that it ‘ll kick coyotes right over the fence if they come in. Jenny’s are very vicious and protective, which is a good thing. Anyway, just an idea…
do you have any other animals other than sheep? do you live on a farm, or just have some sheep? how many sheep? (you don’t have to answer any questions if you don’t want to, I was just wondering if you were a farm girl, cause I am!!! go farmgirls!!!)
Hey, that’s cool! My screen name most of the time is Little Farm Girl! A list of animals.
Eleven sheep, and four lambs.
Six rabbits! Oh no!
Four cats. Not counting Fathead, who’s half wild and scared of the dog.
One incompetent sheep dog. Oh, but we love him.
Seven feral chickens. As soon as we build a chicken coop, we can have chickens who aren’t feral. Those coyotes again.
Once we had a cow named Sparkle, but she died.
It’s a small farm, but it’s a farm.
We’ve considered getting a guard dog, but, a ) we don’t need another dog; two dogs make a pack, and that’s the last thing we want, and, b ) it would probably beat up our dog.
We’ve thought about getting a guard llama or donkey, and we may yet, but it’s unlikely.
I don’t want a vicious/protective goat! I have to feed and deal with the sheep.
Actually I think our dog would protect the lambs from coyotes, if he didn’t fall asleep and/or run off, but he would also end up protecting them from their moms, and that’s bad.
The electric fence keeps the coyotes out of the enclosed pasture, but it’s tiny and overgrazed, and barbed wire or just fencing doesn’t keep them out, and that’s what surrounds the rest of the pasture.
Maybe the GAPA’s should make a farming thread. (Hint, hint.)
94- a thread’d be pretty cool, but we might be some of the only ones posting, oh well
I used to have rabbits, but I gave them away becuase they were boring not that I didn’t like them, I was just afraid I’d forget about them completely some day and forget to feed them…
we have about a million cats (not literally) but they all have babies in the summer, then the strongest ones stay (yes, some die, oh well) others run away, as is life on a farm
We have chickens, quite a few and they’re relaitvely free-range (meaning they are smarter than us because they find ways to get out of the coop that we can’t find) so we’ve given up in keeping them enclosed oh, and what’s feral mean?
um, so you have an enclosed pasture and then the sheep are just wherever you take them, no fence? hmmm, I guess it’d work with just a few and animals tend to stay together, but I’ve never thought about doing that w/ my animals, I put up a lot of fence…
and about the coyotes, you said you lived in Washington, so your coyotes are different than the ones here in New York. (We were talking about this in Ag. class) the ones further east have inter-bred with dogs and they are much bigger than others (and than they used to be) and we can hear them howling every night and they get pretty close, it’s creepy.
anyway, my animals:
17 cows(9 heifers, 1 steer, 1 bull, 6 calves)
pigs
chickens
cats
dog
i think that’s about it…
95- Feral is wild.
No, we have a fence, but even though it keeps the sheep in, it doesn’t keep the coyotes out.
Your coyotes seem way more scary. I’ve only seen two coyotes, and one was way far away. The other one was chasing the sheep, but I yelled at it and hurled some badly-aimed sticks at it, and it ran away.
We had pigs once, but we killed them. I keep wanting to get more, but my dad says not in the barn ever again.
96- pigs are such happy, joyful looking creatures, though fairly destructive, so you’d need a very strong structure to keep them in. If a pig wants to go somewhere, it goes (it’s like the 5000 pound gorilla concept) except that pigs are terribly afraid of electricity, so just one strand of temporary electric fence keeps them in, usually. Then we had Charlotte, the big pig, we kinda gave up on keeping the electric fencer on because she never tried to get out, then one day she did…she found lots of good food in the neighbor’s garden (not cool) she also succeeded in freaking out our neighbors that really just moved to the country for a nice retirement home. (that was when she was 800 lbs) anyway, pigs have this light in their eyes and they run with their head up and their face to the sun… they just look so happy and all. So I like pigs on that level, but they are also a pain because they do anything they want, they quickly get dangerously strong, so you gotta be real careful around them, and they root around (as dad says, “they graze from the roots, up” making everything muddy and nasty…
wow, long pig rant, oh well…
oh, I almost forgot, the best part about pigs is the meat. Pork is soooo good!!!! especially home grown and all, real ham is completely different from grocery store ham and by the time the pig is ready to be butchered, i’ve had about enough of it, and then some
and yeah, our coyotes are scary, 50 or more pounds and about the size of a decent sized dog. and, being so interbred with dogs, they are more tame, at least around here. we’ve had coyotes in our orchard before (maybe 200 feet from the house) and they hang out in nearby fields and hedgerows, they howl like crazy at night… not the most comforting thing to hear when I have calves in the barn
so, does your family farm for a living or do your parents have other jobs? Farming conventionally is getting so unprofitable that it’s nearly impossible for small farms to make money at it, but I only know about cows and crops, maybe sheep is different (?) My family farms for a living, but we’re certified organic and we also have lots of land and my mom has a feed mill (we’re pretty busy)
and, lastly (I think) you said your going into public school, right? you should see if your school has an FFA (future farmers of America) chapter you don’t have to want to be a farmer to join, it’s just fun, we do public speaking, tours of places with different types of agriculture like fish hatcheries, and go to conventions. the national convention outgrew Louisville and is now in Indianopolis it’s the largest gathering of students in America and the second largest gathering of people as a whole in Americe (yeah, it’s big) So, just a thought if you want to get involved with something in highschool, it’s not like sports that you have to spend so much time every week, FFA lets you do however much you want, it’s a lot more layed back but you can really get involved and have a blast if you want
97- We’re hobby farmers, although every now and then something profitable happens (like the pigs). Once the pigs got out. I didn’t actually see it, not sure why, but it was supposed to be really funny.
I’m not at all sure that the sheep are at all profitable. Sometimes we get to eat them, and they taste good, and sometimes we sell some of them, but I know nothing about the financial side of the farm. I only know about the pigs ’cause I invested in them.
The rabbits are highly unprofitable. I only want two of them!
Eek, public speaking!
What’s the first largest gathering?
Have you noticed we’ve taken over the thread?
The GAPAs should rename it (formerly) Homeschoolers.
well, there’s district competitions and that’s just 3-4 schools together in one of the school’s cafeteria for a morning and people go to classrooms for contests while everyone else hangs out… then sub-states which is about the same only bigger, then states which is more fun, there are sessions in the auditorioum with speakers and stuff and tours of nearby farms, fish hatcheries, machine manufacturers etc etc and there are also team contests which are also fun (3-4 people working together as a contest, a good alternative if you don’t want to do public speaking, though speaking in front of judges a good experience) after states we usually go to Nationals which is just spactular. depending on the size of your chapter, you as a freshman may or may not be allowed to go, but I can b/c our chapter is tiny. We heard Terry Bradshaw and other famous people talk to us, we met ffa members from across the nation and our jackets (like our uniform, everyone has to wear one) have our state and town on them so you can look around and see Arizona, Hawaii, New York, Texas, Oklahoma, etc walking by in groups. It’s just an amazing experience. and it’s funny to see all these country kids making their way through a huge city when most prolly don’t ever travel a lot.
I have to go soon, but one more thing we do is fill out proficiencies, which are like recordsof our work experience. I have cows and had a summer job, so I did 2 this year. You could do one on your “shepardess” work. and if you are good enough in your area, you might earn money (I hope to this year…crossing fingers)
so, ya, I just wrote like, a book. Oh wellI I got a little carried away. anyway, I’ve got to go milk my cow (yep, I milk my cow, it’s pretty awesome to tell people they look at me like, what???)
I really want a cow.
Sounds fun.
I like shocking people too.
100-ha, we got our thread back (and that’s what it is, no one but us have posted here for 2 weeks) you should tell your parents tat a cow would be very educational. I have used and learned a lot of math and science (especially biology) in raising the cows for their feed ration and when they get sick and keeping records and making and spending money and stuff and reading comprehention in reading books about keping cows healthy AND I impress so many people telling them that I have my own little herd of cows that I own and feed and everything. Not to mention the money I plan to make. So, not to brag, but teachers and other people tend to be impressed when a kid is doing something so substantial and ifferent
I hope you guys don’t mind me butting in. I think it would be cool to own a cow, but…
…we live in the suburbs, so we can’t have any pets besides our dog, cat, and guinea pig named Tricki-woo (from the All Creatures Great and Small books). I plan, when I am an adult, to have chickens and goats. Chicken, so I can have my own organic eggs, and goat, so I can have my own organic goat’s milk.
Question: Can you make butter from goat’s milk?
P. S. If that was totally irelavent, my apologies.
102- James Herriot is one of the best authors ever!
101- I might be able to persuade them, were it not for the fact that I am moving to town part-time pretty soon to go to a good high school, cause the one here sucks.
102- your not butting in, I know some people that live in the suburbs, but they are very urban suburbs, if you ask me. They want animals but they aren’t supposed to have them, (like you) but they have some chickens penned up in their back yard anyway for eggs and meat, but i wouldn’t reccomend you doing that… (it is against the rules) You should get some animals when you grow up, they are fun and can be very easy if you know how to do it right. Yes, you can make butter from goat’s milk, we make it from our cow’s milk and that’s all we ever use, but why would you get a goat? I’ve never really liked anything “goat” milk, cheese, soap, etc. but I know some people really like it so… have you thought about how you would milk it? I milked by hand (literally, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze into a metal bucket) all Summer but it took forever and I couldn’t do it myself, dad had to help. now we have a really old electric milker that we got from an old neighbor, so it’s easier.
102, 103- James Herriot ROCKS!!!!!! I absolutely DEVOURED his books when I found them, then Mom got me a couple of the seasons on DVD so I can watch them…it is really good.
103-ohhh, that’s too bad, but at least you get a good school (unlike me…) our school is pretty bad, we don’t have any good science teachers and math teachers are boring and teach to the state tests a lot. luckily, I can get most of my homework done in school durring different classes and the teachers don’t care because I’m still running a good average in their class and I’m quiet, so when I get home I have fun and learn stuff, school is just a resting time for me… oh well. Hopefully your school has an FFA (haha, FFA is cool!!!!) I think you’d like it.
wow, long post, oh well
104- My dad will still live in the country most of the time, and I’ll visit lots, so it’s not a complete loss. We’re going to keep the sheep, too, so there’s another good thing.
I’m not sure how wonderful this new school will be, but it has lots of electives, instead of just band and basketball, and maybe a few more that I don’t know.
Are people still here, or is this thread abandoned?
I’m here!
me too!
me too!
haha, we just haven’t posted in a long time…
we need a new topic…we sorta exhausted farming, but if people have questions, I consider myself the expert (and if i don’t know, I know lotsa people that probably do)
Our sheep keep getting through the electric fence. They don’t feel it. I might sell a rabbit.
110- our sheep did that, eventually we just gave up and let them roam. What kind of fence do you use? we used this net that was a pain to use, but it kept them in if we always made sure it was standing up and electricity was going through it nicely. We also used wire fence that physically kept them in, no shock, they just couldn’t get through. so, I don’t know how you’d fix that, except maybe check thaty there is plenty of electricity everywhere (I have this little tool that checks voltage in a fence and I don’t have to shock myself anymore which is nice) I know sheep have thick wool, so it’s harder to have them feel a shock, unlike pigs and cattle. If you sheer them, the fence might be more effective after you do that too, there would be less protective wool.
Why would you sell a rabbit? I gave mine away because it was boring and I had lots of other animals to take care of, so I gave them to friends. I’ve seen rabbits that were $20 and i’ve seen others that were free, how much are you going to sell yours for?
Drat. I think my long long post just got lost. I’ll wait and see.
Anyway, I can’t give them to friends because none of my responsible friends want one, and my one friend my age who would want one isn’t that responsible.
112- I just went around school and whenever I saw a friend I asked them if they wanted a rabbit. a couple of them did but their parents wouldn’t let them, then one person could, so i just gave it to her… the other one went to a family I know from church. the have 2 kids (ages 11 and 6, i think) and they hadn’t ever had a pet except a turtle and the mother wanted an easy pet to keep, one that wouldn’t die very soon and wouldn’t be a lot of work, but would teach the kids about responsibility, (feeding the rabbit and cleaning the cage) and stuff like that. The dad just wanted an animal that would be the least noticable and wouldn’t bother him (like a turtle) so a rabbit pretty much fitted into that niche pretty well…
end of rabbit story, oh, have you ever thought that rabbits are kinda like Black Beauty (and horses in general) they go from home to home, and can have a lot of homes in their lifetime. so far mine have had four homes.
someone is coming today to decide if they want to buy my cows… well, they definately want them, but they don’t want to pay enough and just recently the market for organic milk (and heifers) has dropped drastically, so I sure hope it works out, I’ve got a heck of a lot of money invested in these animals, but anyway, I’ve got to get the cows in the barn and tied up early so I can curry comb them and make them look pretty. It’s usually fun, but today they are all wet, so I’ll get wet… oh well.
Sometimes it’s a real pain to have animals, but I don’t want to stop, and i’ll be so sad to see these heifers go, but I have more coming and these are going to our neighbors so I could visit them if I wanted.
so ya…that’s what I have to say today, I’m really just killing time, trying to warm up and get dry before I have to go back outside into the miserably cold, wet, and snowy weather.
114- snow in April?! How awful. I love cows.
i love cows and duckys!
my saying is: cows + ducks 4ever
or translated to animalese:moo+quack=YAHOO!
115- yep, snow in April, (you lucky west-coaster) it’s so wierd, it shouldn’t be this way, and it’s not just a little snow, it’s enough snow to close (i’m guessing) most schools in my part of New York, at least a lot, listening to the closings on the radio, it took forever, and it’s halfway through April!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And yet, people still don’t believe that Global warming is an issue. Honestly, entire crops in the southern part of the country have been destroyed (peaches, strawberries, etc) because they had started to grow because it was the right time of year, they got a little ways along, then it froze, and they all died, and there goes an entire year’s income for a farmer, or all the farmers of volnerable crops. This is seriously not cool, and the gov’t won’t do anything about it!!!!!!!!!
rant over (sorry about the rant, it just makes me so mad that certain people won’t do anything)
moving on…
116- we used to have ducks, we’d raise them then get them butchered for christmas dinner or something, but one time when we were loading them into the crates, one of the males got loose, and we didn’t bother to go get it so now it lives in our pond every summer, then it migrates south. the first year it brought back a “wife” then they had a baby, and he comes back every year too. I’m glad the one got loose, their fun to watch, and it’s nice to have something that has made our pond it’s home and it comes back every spring… I hope it’s ok in all this snow today.
117- Yes, I am lucky, I guess. But I don’t feel it ’cause it’s so cold here! Honestly, it’s rather hard to type. Also it snowed like three times this year. Brrrr! But at least it isn’t snowing now- Oh, look out the window! Just kidding. : )
I want to get ducks. When I was at sailing camp there were a pair of ducks on the dock. And then that same day I was across the lake getting a sandwich at a sandwich place that always has a big sign saying DON’T FEED THE PIGEONS and when my dad and I came out, there was another pair of ducks in the parking lot. Hmm, I wonder if you’re allowed to feed the ducks…..
And that was a convoluted sentence.
118- when I went to the beach with my family last summer, there were lots of seagulls, they were really talented because we would throw pieces of stale bread into the air and the bird(s) would swoop down to catch it in midair. I never saw (or looked for) any signs against feeding the birds…
119- It’s just that that particular store didn’t want a bunch of pigeons flocking around looking for food. At the beach, I doubt there’s ever been (or ever will be) any signs that say “Please don’t feed the seagulls.” That’d be funny.
I haven’t been on for a while, I’ve been working on a contest for FFA. it’s called the enviroton, and it’s pretty big. the day after that is a grassland evaluation contest, so I got lots to do, and I’m getting tired of studying environmental stuff, the main topic this year is alternative fuels…some people find them interesting, ummm, ya, not me. it’s all so confusing, but I’m learning stuff, so I hope I do well in the contests (thurs and Fri)
otherwise, The weather is getting really nice here, we’re going to plant potatoes and peas tomorrow and the rest of the snow has recently melted. The cows want to get out and eat grass but it’s not ready yet. The calves’ fence is in disrepair so we keep fixing it and they keep breaking it and getting out and running around and all… it’s a pain, but it’ll be ok.
Is nobody on here?
last night the calves got out again and we couldn’t find them for about an hour, then we heard a vehicle honk it’s horn on the road and we looked around there and found them. It was soooooo scary, my little babies alone in the dark… They were freaked out and everything…but it worked out, and I got to bed by 11 o’clock.
does it sound like my cows and all are just a big pain? well they aren’t, late nights and hard work are a low “price” to pay to have my own cows, they are fun.
Hi! I’m here.
They will still need to go out when I am no longer here to protect them, and the electric fence doesn’t stop them. So yeah. But I won’t be there anyway, so even if we kept them I’d rarely see them. And in the house that we will be moving to, I won’t be allowed to bring my bunnies inside.
It seems that we will have to get rid of the sheep.
My mom asked me the other day if I would be sad about losing my identity as a home-schooler. I will be a little, but I’ll be sadder about losing my identity as a farm girl.
That was a depressing post. Sorry. On a happier note, I like my “work” consisting of reading in the sunshine.
yeah, I’d hate to have to move and not live on the farm, but (though I don’t really know you) I think you’ll like public school, I do. I was never home schooled, but I went to a really small private school and I got a little tired of being with the same people every day, every year. In public school, I’ve met so many different people, It was hard at first, but not for too long. we had a home schooler come into our class last year, a lot of people really tried to make her feel welcome, then she got mixed up in the wrong crowd and, well, yeah, don’t do that.and, when you go to public school you don’t really lose your identity
We had our first litter of kittens born on Friday. There are 2 kittens and they are both Tortishelle (I think) they’re mostly black. Kittens are soooo cute!!!!!!!!!!
otherwise… I just got done with a contest for FFA today, and guess who placed first, oh yeah, us! It was a huge surprise, I barely studied at all and I studied more than everyone else, we were all really surprised…I’m still excited!!!!! we get to go to nationals!!!!!! in Missouri in June, it’ll be awesome!!!!!!!
before that I did the envirothon, we didn’t do so well in that but we are going on to the regional contest, so we can attempt to do better.
other than that…not a whole lot has happened.
Kittens!
Our sheep escaped again cause I forgot to turn on the electric fence so they walked over it like it wasn’t there. I got them back in again, but they’re so bothersome.
Two of our sheep are so fat they can barely walk, but they still haven’t had their babies. The lambs are so funny when they race all over the pasture. I even caught one of last year’s lamb racing around with the little ones. It was funny.
i’ve had my calves go through the fence before, oh yeah, i already said so
anyway, i’m getting another calf tomorrow, i’ve sold my older heifers to a neighbor, but they haven’t left yet, i’m gonna miss them so much, but it’ll be ok
otherwise…not a whole lot has happened around here
ooooooooooooo… I got the new calf, born in December, she’s soooooooooooooooooooooooo………………………. cute! and she’s nice, she likes me, I can tell. When we first put her in with the others, they bullied her a lot, so she’s in her own calf hutch now, and I hope to get her adjusted and all soon.
One of our sheep had lambs! Twins, a ewe and a ram, and they’re adorable! Also they, being young, don’t mind humans. Therefore I can go near them. I don’t though, because it might bug the mom. But I got to hold the ewe this morning because she couldn’t find her mom.
our chicks arrived Thursday morning, all 125 of them. Chicks are so cute when they are really young, all downy and yellow, they get ugly as they grow, the meat birds do at least.
Our state FFA convention was yesterday and that was fun, I got 2 plaques and $100 for my proficiencies (forms that I filled out telling about my work experience) because I took second place for each one.
I can’t believe how fast summer is coming, next month is June already! While I don’t mind school, I think I’ll be glad to have all summer to be at home and doing other stuff, as long as I don’t get bored.
I love chicks! But we don’t have a chicken coop so all of ours got eaten, except the wild ones, who grew up into roosters.
There was another lamb this morning. And I think that’s about it for the lambs this year. I’m shocked at how big our flock is now, what with the coyotes not eating our sheep.
131- If you don’t mind looking too much like a redneck, a good chicken coop would be an old school bus. you can buy old ones from the school district pretty cheep because they aren’t any good when they get to be a certain age. So you take out the motor and sell that to a scrap metal person because they are valuable, then you use the body of the bus as a coop…
as I said, it’ll work if you don’t mind looking too much like a redneck…
132- Hey, that’s a good idea.
Our chickens are back to laying, we are getting almost a dozen eggs a day now.
The pig goes “on his senior trip” (to the butcher shop) next Monday…I can’t wait, I hate that pig.
can you believe that next month is already June? school will get out, the calves will be born, and the fruit will ripen on the trees… In a way I can’t wait, even though it’ll be so much work and I hate hot weather.
Time goes fast nowadays. I say nowadays because a year or two ago time went slower. Probably ’cause I was younger. I notice that as I get older time goes faster, and it’s easier to comprehend a longer frame of time.
Today was our first or second hot summer weather, especially if you have to sit in full sunshine watching the sheep. (The shade in out pasture is pathetic.) But there could be worse jobs. There are, actually.
this must be the least active, yet still not quite dead thread ever. oh well.
Do you have a garden and stuff to grow food? Just wondering, i don’t especially like the garden, but having one and eating out of it is cool. and, not many people have them anymore, at least that I know of…
My family has a garden, and we eat out of it.
Well, we do have a garden. It has some tomatoes and some parsley and some garlic and some luvvage and that about deals with the edible stuff. Except we might have lemon cucumbers. But my mom and I garden for this woman and she lets us take produce like cucumbers and tomatoes. We also live near some people who do produce subscriptions, so last year we went over to their house every thursday and brought home lots of produce. I really like gardens, even though I don’t like gardening so much, it’s alright. We also have the wild food, since we live in what some people might think of as the middle of nowhere, and there are lots of forests and stuff. The wild food consists of blackberries and nettles, that I know of.
Yesterday we ear-tagged the lambs. They didn’t like it much, even when they couldn’t feel it. They’re getting so BIG! It’s really funny when they run to their mothers after getting tagged, and they want to nurse, even though they’re about half as big as their moms.
My calf that hurt her hip was going to be put down, but we tried to save her even though there wasn’t a good chance. That was at least a month ago, and she’s hobbling around and I think she might be getting better. I hope so, at least, she’s a sweet little thing, too little. she’s really tiny, she’s almost died a bunch of times now but she just won’t give up. She had scours, pnemonia, and she got all stressed out when she was moved here, then she was weaned really early… She is a really amazing animal, I can’t believe her perserevance.
Otherwise, the new calf I got is in with the other calves and the pig. She doesn’t get along well with them. I don’t see her eating… I just hope it straightens out.
I wish her and you the best of luck!
My dad got a huge bale of timothy hay, but our sheep are so spoiled on nice green Orchard Grass hay that they won’t eat it. So begin the Great Hay Wars.
Thanks, I think she is getting better by the day!
If farming isn’t one problem after another, I don’t know what is… Just last night we found that one of my bred heifers had a strange mastitis-type problem in one of her quarters, and he’s not even milking yet… she might lose the quarter, making her worth a lot less, but I guess I’m lucky, the vet. we talked to said he’s seen cows die of this.
On a happier note, we shipped our pig on his “final trip” yesterday…I hate that pig.
also, I let the calves out on pasture today and they enjoyed it a lot. we are late on pasture this year, our grasses growing slowly because of the cold weather so late into the season.
We also got our 125 baby chicks a little while ago, little chicks are so cute, then the meat ones grow up to be so ugly… yuck!
Wow, I guess I had a lot of news to catch up on… long post
oops, double post…
you should try putting molasses on the hay, I don’t know if you have access to molasses, if you don’t, really strong sugar-water works too. Also putting the feed over the hay so they have to eat a little hay to get to the feed.
Why are you feeding hay now? Are you not on pasture yet either?
We’re feeding hay because I don’t want to spend all day out in the pasture without a book- or even with a book- and today I think there was a coyote out in the pasture, since when I came down to the house to get a snack the dog started barking and all the sheep were running away as fast as they could. They were all there, though. Thank goodness. Our sheep don’t eat regular feed, they eat alfalfa pellets, which are rather more expensive, I think. Once I accidentally bought regular feed, and I had to feed them less of it, as my mom thought it might be too hot for them. As for access to molasses . . . we’ve had the same bucket of molasses for about six or seven years, or longer.
Today my mom drove my favorite ram lamb to a city a long ways away to sell him to some people who have sheep and want a ram. I think I’ll miss him a little, he was sweet and funny. I’ve liked him best ever since as a baby he lost the flock and started running after some deer. It was so funny!
Wow, really long post.
what do you mean by “too hot”?
144- Erm, too rich, perhaps? I’m just quoting my mom.
oh, maybe, i don’t know a lot about what sheep need nutrition-wise. I think we always just tossed ours some oats, maybe corn, i don’t know. Have you ever tried taking your sheep’s wool and spinning it into yarn? I think we tried it one year, it was a long time ago, though.
Ah. Spinning the wool. My mom can spin, and I can sort-of spin, but I’m not to big on fiber-type-things. My enthusiasm quickly wanes. Anyway, I’m not sure if we can get wool from our sheep, since they don’t wear coats. We’ve tried shearing them, and their wool was all tangled.
Our sheep are black.
147- they don’t wear coats? that’s odd. as for the wool being tangled, ours always was too
I think your supposed to use the carding things to straighten it out, like a brush does to hair. I think we tried it once, it does seem a little pointless to do that much work for just some yarn. Especially since the wool is always so oily and gross…
We had a litter of kittens born today, I try to leave the mother alone, but i think there’s one butterscotch colored one and some gray/black ones. I love kittens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(147, 148) Usually you wash the wool before carding, a necessary step if you wish to dye it later. Washing the wool is to me by far the most tedious step. It requires many rinses and lots and lots of water.
The carding technique is quite different from brushing hair, a patting motion rather than a stroking one. You can also have wool machine-carded which gives you a much denser roving — at least compared to what I can produce.
Carding and spinning may be tedious in some respects, but once you’ve practiced enough to get the rhythm going, both activities have just the right degree of mindlessness that you can do it while chatting or watching TV or plotting your novel.
As a side note, I find llama wool is much easier to spin than sheep’s wool.
149- I can never get the right rhythm with spinning. Carding is much easier, though. I’ve tried the spinning wheel and the drop spindle, and what might have been a distaff, and might not have been. The thing that might have been a distaff was the easiest, and I could get the rhythm going on that. Once when I was younger I could spin on the spinning wheel, or thought I could.
That didn’t make sense for a minute, because I was thinking that you card wool to get the seeds out. Then I realized that’s cotton. Smaaaaaaaart.
I hope this thread does not promote the mistaken misconception that all homeschoolers live on farms. Come to think of it, I know some that do. I ♥ their horses.
151- hmmm, come to think of it, all the homeschoolers i know live on farms, but that might be because of all the homeschoolers I meet, i meet through farmer’s meetings and stuff…
My fingers feel really weird and tingly . . . I was out trying to coax the sheep back across the electric fence, which may or may not be working. Judging from my fingers, however, it is working, and turning it off didn’t really help. It never does. I mean, it doesn’t shock me outright when it’s off,k but it makes my skin feel really strange.
Oooowwwwwwwwwww.
that’s odd… I was working with the fence today, it was off and It didn’t feel at all strange, never does…
It is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo hot here today. It hung out at around 90* all day, and I’ve been sweating like crazy.
Yesterday I was at an FFA contest called the Envirothon, it’s a really big contest and our team made it to states (which isn’t too surprising, we had very little competition) then, at states, we competed against the winners from 53 of the other counties in New York State and WE WON 3rd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is really good! Next I am going to missouri for another contest… I am so busy I might not be on museblog so much, but we’ll see.
How do you homeschoolers do science? (Basically, do you do any labs or is it all theoretical? etc)
155- Erm . . . WellyouseeiftheendoftheworldasweknowitiscominginfiveyearsIdon’treallyneedtoknowsciencedoInow?
Just kidding. Theoretical.
154- Cool!
There are 53 counties in New York state? Must be small counties, considering how small those east-coast states are.
(156) North Carolina has 100 counties. The story goes that every time a county was formed in the western part of the state, the easterners created a new county on their side.
I think Washington has like 20 counties or something. Probably more, but my Atlas doesn’t make any sense, and besides it’s ancient . . .
56, 157, 158- actually New York has 62 counties. Yeah, they are pretty small, it depends on where in the state they are. My county is one of the smallest, the ones in the Adirondacks are generally a lot bigger because there is a smaller population density in the mountains. Long Island has 5 counties, but one of them takes up a third of the whole island. So yeah, there’s the geography lesson for the day…if you wanted to know about New York.
155- i think all homeschoolers do science differently. I know if I was homeschooled I would do labs all the time because my mom used to be a college biology teacher and she’s all into the hands-on stuff. I know a family that homeschools and they butcher their own chickens, every time they do that is a biology dissection lab in itself. A lab doesn’t have to be the ones that the state gives out or anything, any thing that is hands-on where you learn about how things work or something, it doesn’t need to involve charts, graphs, and a lab write-up. (that’s the worst part of doing labs, writing. I would learn all I need to know by doing a lab, and maybe doing it again, I don’t need to write about)
155, 159- Oh, yeah. Well, it’s not entirely theoretical. I don’t do a whole lot of science anyway; it’s my sister’s favorite subject, but I don’t have much use for it in my written world.
Alice-you’re a homeschooler??? 8)
No we don’t all live on farms.
And may I point out to anyone trying to say we don’t learn enough: Before regular school was invented, EVERYONE was homeschooled, and I don’t think they were all anti-social.
Yes, and once upon a time people only went to school in the summer and winter so they could help on the farms in the spring and fall! It’s completely unrelated, but I had to mention it.
Yes, R-t H, I am homeschooled . . . for now.
GrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrIreallydon’twanttogotoschool.Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
(161) Of course, that was quite a few millennia ago. But you’re right, no form of schooling has a monopoly on being social or antisocial.
I’ve been homeschooled my whole life. I went to a really teeny private school for one day. And, no it wasn’t because they threw me out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am also an only child, so I get a lot of people asking me if I ever see any kids my own age, or if I have any friends. I find it really annoying, I have less trouble talking to people than some of my friends who have a “normal” social life so I really don’t think you need to be crammed in with other people to learn to communiate and/or socialize.
ThankyouMidnightFiddler!!!!!!!!!!!!! I find that to be true too.
Okay people don’t jump on me for making a generalization!!!
I find that a lot of the kids I know who go to regular school aren’t very social, even when I’m being social (yes a homeschooler “being social”-it happens!!!).
RtH
©
*pantpant* It was 90 degrees today, with a wind that made me feel like I was in an oven. My poor bunnies were so hot, and the sheep . . .
Other than that, nothing worth mentioning farm-wise or school-wise.
166- haha, I just put my cows out on pasture yesterday…
I have sold them to a neighbor, and they will leave this week sometime
I’m going to an auction in Pennslyvania on the 13th to (maybe) get more cows!
My puppy seems to be afraid of the cows AND the electric fence… it makes it hard for him to do his job.
I’ll tell more “farm news” later…
My dog won’t go near an electric fence with a ten-foot pole, not even when it’s rolled up under my dad’s arm.
You sold your cows??? *Has no clue because he has no farm experience* Wow just looking at this thread you would think all homeschoolers live on farms!
I’m not a homeschooler! and this thread turned into more of a farming thread because for about a month it was just me and Alice (who are farm kids from opposite sides of the US) talking about our farms and farm experiences.
169- ya, I sold my cows. It probably is sorta hard to understand for people that don’t llive on farms, because I loved all my cows like pets, but I had to sell them because I had to get the money to pay off my loan, and If I didn’t sell them, I would have to milk them all twice a day (= not fun) But I will miss them, but I am hoping to get more soon…
Alice- you have sheep (right? ya, i know you do) I am in a Livestock judging contest at our state fair and we gotta judge sheep, pigs and cows. so I’ve been looking at sheep all day… do you know much about judging? It’s actually pretty fun! (haha, farm geek)
170- Nope, never judged in my life! Any black welsh mountain sheep there? If there were, you now know what our sheep look like. I understand about selling your cows. We’re gonna have to sell our sheep. And I have to sell my four rabbits, or else. I have no clue what I’m going to do with them.
171- OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!! you would never believe what happened today!!!!! I can barely even believe it myself!!!!!!!!!!!! so, you wanna know what happened? ok, I was coming home from school today and my dad called my mom on the cell phone and said one of my heifers had had a baby! she wasn’t due for another week1 I got home to see the calf before our neighbor took it home. He was so tiny and cute, jumping around and nursing and all. he was only about 70 pounds, dad said, and that’s good. I was extatic…just bouncing off the walls, I didn’t think I’d get to see a calf that young until this summer when my one heifer that I’m keeping had her calf. I went in the house when the calf had gone and sent instant messages to everyone that was online with about a million exclamation marks and then I explained. I think I convinced some people that I am crazy and mentally obsessed with cows, but it was really cool!
ok, wow, I was really rambling back there…oh well
I’ll keep my eye out for black welsh mountain sheep, I was just learning stuff like the straighter the back and larger the butt the better it is, and people that buy sheep for wool like white wool and the longer the animal is, the better it is and stuff like that…
172- That’s so cool! Baby cows are adorable! All our babies are born already and sprinting across the pasture, but I guess you breed your cows later.
I ♥ baby animals.
I could probably send the GAPAs a picture of our sheep, if I had any. I think I may even know where to find one. It may be a sheep we already got rid of though.
*dashes off to find a pic of our sheep*
How do you send the GAPAs pictures? by e mail, but what’s the address, I could send a picture of my cows. Is it possible to cut and paste a picture right into a post?
and yes, baby animals are sweet. I just found a litter of kittens today, the mother did a really good job of hiding them, they must be a month old already and I only just found them. 4 are all black and one is mostly black with some white and the other is mostly white with some black. Quite a batch of “Holstien” cats. Now I need some name ideas. I don’t know gender yet…
(174) The address is gapa @ musefanpage.com (without the spaces).
I once had a cat I named “Holstein.”
174- The address is gapa @ musefanpage.com, without the spaces.
Awww, kittens. I’m not terribly good at cat names, but I’ve all the time in the world to think of some.
We had some black-and-white kittens once. Er . . . make that about three times, not counting the ones we picked up at the feed store. (Beetle and Bug.) In fact, here is one of them. Bug says hi.
hnik
Unfortunately it comes out hnik, because paws aren’t very good for typing.
Bug has had kittens twice and Beetle once. Out of all of those, we managed to get rid of all but two. One of them was white with black spots and has disappeared completely.
And I’m done talking about my cats. Twas a lengthy post.
Are the pictures in yet?
I just sent ’em! They’re kind of old, but they’ll work. I sent the funniest one, too.
(177, 178) I’ve posted them on a separate thread.
ooooh homeschoolers! i never knew there was a homeschooler thread! i have been homeshcooled all my life, i am very social(whats this whole debate about HS socialness?). some kids can be very mean to homeshcoolers. once, back in 3rd grade, we(my brother, sister and i) were working at our church wich just so happens to be a private school and we walked past a table with a bunch of kids and they were all like “wow, i’ve never seen a homeshcooler before!” they kept on gabbing about us like we were an endangered spcies. i got so mad i felt like wringing all their skinny little necks!!! yeah, but i have gotten over being stared at. i would probably fit the stereotypical homeshcooler mold – nerdy, skinny, smart, likes to read, not more than 4 close friends and the rest of that crap. wateva. oh, i am not on a farm though. nope, sort of like a town! yep, a homeshooler in a town. strange, no?
I think this thread is more or less abandoned… shall we move to the Pastoral Pleasures thread?
https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=883
181- Sure!
Oh man, that was said over two months ago? Wow, scary. It seems sooner than that. Anyway, people don’t seem to be talking about this over there, so maybe this will get attention.
How about we start off withhh…..What grade are you going to be in this year? 8th for me…
183- 9th. But I won’t belong here much longer.
183-9th. highschool. although i’ve been doing that level for a year…
There were several homeschoolers at the kokonvention…
186-Yeah, that was cool to see…
could we have a new therd? I’ll send my HPB on you if you don’t
there are more…!
[Sorry, we have a policy about no smiley (or bunny) legions. –Admin.]
could you change those :idea to “:idea:” with out the “”
drat. please give me a new therd!
189- please give me a new homeschool thread, and I will not do it again.
GAPAS WHERE ARE YOUUUUUUUUUUU! NEWWWW THREAD PWEASE! YES, I USED A ALL UPERCASE PWEASE!
We’ve already created an unusually high number of threads in the past couple of days. Let’s give thread creation a rest until later in the week. Try again on Thursday, and the beneficent GAPAs will grant your wish. Not until then, though.
O.k. then. could you add this to the “don’t forget this thread?”
new therd?
oh, gapas? you said you whould make it on thursday!
Gapas?