Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[micstrachan]

They might also know that she needs to be watched over...flock dynamics are amazing!!!

Right? I love this.

 

[micstrachan]

Sorry, I couldn't help laughing...just when we think we have something figured out...not, they probably make tea! And cat's never do what we want them too...

Ok, now you have me laughing... tea!!!

 

[Ribh]

I have to state I'm not a fan of home schooling. In this day and age not many parents have the knowledge, or education to teach many of the sciences and technical subjects.
There is also the matter of teaching kids to socialise.

I'm a huge homeschooling fan, having taught remedial reading & writing to upper grade primary children & decided that a very poor job had been done by the educational establishment. For 11 & 12 yr olds not to be able to decode words like station, fashion caution is appalling ~ & it is rampant in the Qld system!

Homeschooling is not like regular school & does not have the same objectives. Firstly the idea is not to teach anything as such but to teach the child how to learn so that they can teach themselves what they need to know. I will give you 3 examples. YD asked to learn German when she was 6/7 so she could watch a German language show with me without me going nuts translating for her. I do not speak German but I found an American ex~ consulate German translator willing to take her on. Her German accent is still excellent though she is now only using her German for music but having learnt a 2nd language with confidence she takes on all the rest: Latin ,French, Italian, Hungarian... She knows how to go about it. Later we bought her her 1st computer & I worked hard to get it up & running for her. The 1st thing she did was crash it. Unwilling to admit what she'd done she wiped the whole thing & learnt how to reset it herself. Thirdly neither of us like math. Neither of us wanted to do upper math. I wanted the child to be able to budget & that sort of thing so we did no algebra or trig. Recently the child wanted to learn it for a job application & did so.

It's not how good the teacher is. Its not how much the teacher knows or the student learns. There are plenty of college grads who never read another book once they leave college. The trick is generate a love of learning in a student & the ability to learn how to learn. Sadly most schools only teach you how to pass an exam & kill both innovation & the love of learning.



And any homeschooler will tell you their kid socialises with a much wider variety & ages of people than any school child because they are constantly out & about in the community. I brought my older girl home [@ her request] in grade 9 & watched a reticent, unwilling to express an opinion child develop into a wonderful debater in a bible study class made up of a huge variety of ages & races who, unlike her peers, were willing to listen to an alternative viewpoint.

Given the nature of humans I'm sure some homeschooling parents do a lousy job but most I've known are very thorough & do a much better job than our school system ~ including the private system! I know because mine had heaps better general knowledge, particularly in history & Literature [ obviously my strengths] than their peers & when state tested outperformed them.

Descending from my soapbox now.

 

[micstrachan]

I have caught a few in traps, but it seems to me that there is little point in trapping until I have blocked their entry-ways.

Agree. But it makes me feel better while trying to sort it out. LOL.

 

[Ribh]

My kids were very well socialized...they still participated in band & played sports! There are online programs that can be utilized with all the support you need!

Sport, band, choir, Guides, Sunday school ~ & homeschool activity days to say nothing of just generally partaking of community life.

 

[micstrachan]

Latest Bedtime News

See how I changed the headline to confuse you and make you read this post.

Everyone has roosted tonight, in the coop, on a roost. That is all.

(Sansa is tucked behind Lilly. You can see 3 tails if you look closely.)
View attachment 2410284View attachment 2410285

This is good news! And, though stressful, I have quite enjoyed keeping up on your roosting tales. Keep ‘em coming!

 

[micstrachan]

I’m just too much of a softie to drown them... and releasing them doesn’t work. I’ve accidentally caught mice in just plain old 5 gallon buckets accidentally and felt awful when theY have turned cannibal or starved in them because I’ve not needed the bucket... I like the good old snap traps in good repair, quick and clean and I don’t usually have to finish anything off. Which is something else I can’t stand having to do.

Same here. Quick, clean death. I don’t want sny living creature to suffer, even a pesty, likely disease-ridden rat. DH was doing catch and release, which isn’t even legsl, and I finally had to start killing them when thry were eating tomatoes faster than I could grow them.

 

[Ribh]

It is but it wasn't for you. Mine wanted me to go to trade school but that wasn't for me, university was. I am the first in my family to ever graduate and I did it on my own with no help. I worked my way through.

At today's prices my children could never do that.

Me too. I went to uni under Whitlam & it was the only way I could have afforded to do it. Ok, Literature & drama mightn't get you a job per se but I was blessed with terrific tutors & everything you ever need to know about people can be found between the pages of a book.

 

[micstrachan]

You should build some of these pipe feeders RC...zero waste and I haven't seen any mice in them, but I'm not out there at night, but I never see any droppings which would be there if they were getting into them! Also super easy to build! I have 5 of these, one inside the enclosed pen under inside covered area! They hold more than 50lbs of feed!View attachment 2410747

You have a lovely set-up!

 

[Ribh]

In Australia the schools that get it right are the public schools where the more seasoned teachers are incredibly skilled from bringing children along in spite of big challenges like no breakfast, locked out of the house so slept outside, unshowered, violence in the home etc

I can't agree with this. The challenges are overwhelming & in low soci ~economic areas it is more about crowd control than teaching anything. Some classrooms I've taught in have been more like a bear garden than anything civilised & I have been refused entry because a class teacher couldn't guarantee my safety.