The Greening of Gavin

Archives for February 2012

Wise Words Wednesday – Homeschool

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Today’s question comes from Michelle who writes a blog at “A Vision Splendid“.  I believe that Michelle began to blog around a year earlier than I did.  Anyway, here is the email, with her permission.

“Hi Gavin and Kim,
Just wondering how the homeschooling is going ? We are seriously considering this option for our boys ( now almost 11 and 14). It seems like such a natural progression in the lifestyle path we have taken.

I have spent today talking to other homeschooling families, one in particular who now has two sons in uni and others still at home learning in a rich environment. These families started from the ‘beginning’ though so could not talk to me about the transition from school to home.

I was therefore hoping ( if you had the time) you could let me know of your thoughts on the transition and whether you have met any other homeschooling families around your area.

thanks in advance

Michelle” 

Now I did reply to Michelle, however if anyone else has had home schooling experience, I would love to hear how your transition went, for Kim and my benefit.  It would also help Michelle make up her mind as well.  So here is my answer.

Hi Michelle, 

The home schooling is going very well. We took Ben back a grade so he has consolidated for this month and will be starting year 7 work in a few weeks. The curriculum that we are using is from http://www.homeschooling.com.au/ which is set about two years ahead of mainstream ed so we started him off on what they call year 4. Our eldest daughter is a year 7 & 8 high school teacher so she knows where they are up to in mainstream education and we believe that year 4 in this curriculum is equivalent to year 6/7. We took the time to met Valerie at the homeschool place a few times now when we tested Ben and picked up the material. She wrote most of the books and we think they are quite good and easy to follow most of the time, and is quite the advocate for home schooling.  She also taught all of her children at home. With the books, at least the answers are in the back (which we ripped out and hid) for those of use who went to school a very long time ago. 😉 

Kim teaches Ben from 9am to 1.30pm on the 3R’s, spelling, social studies (history, geography), and languages. After lunch he does art/home subjects, like drawing, painting, modelling, cooking and baking. I get to teach him gardening, animal husbandry, and DIY on weekends, and every second Wednesday, I take him on an excursion that relates to one of his subjects for that week 

As for Ben adjusting, he was a bit of a loner at primary school with only a few friends so he has adjusted very well. He is racing ahead of where he should be with this one on one attention and we can add in subjects as we see fit and according to our values. He loves it, as does Kim, because even with her mild MS, when she has a bad day with fatigue, she can set him some work and explain anything he doesn’t understand. He also does school work when he is sick! Also I get to spend some great time with him during the excursions, and now I feel like I am part of his growing up and a larger contributor to his education instead of being just a bystander and an observer of the process. 

As for socialisation, he sees his friends more now after school than he did before, and has quality time with them. He also actively participates in workshops and events we hold for our sustainable living group, like the worm farm workshop I just wrote about. We haven’t met any other home school families in our area, however, one of our friends also enquired about the process regarding registration here in Victoria. Talk about influencing others in a short amount of time! 

Hope this helps, and I really could not recommend it highly enough, if you are disgruntled with mainstream education, and have the time, or want to enhance your boys education with lots of sustainable living topic that are unheard of in our schools today. 

Warm regards, 

Gav & Kim

So as I mentioned, does anyone else have any similar experiences that they can share?  Kim and I would love to here your story if you have chosen this type of schooling for your children as would Michelle!

Parmesan Disaster

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Attention all curd nerds!  Pop on over to The Little Green Cheese to see my latest cheese that I had to bring back from the brink of disaster.

The post is titled “Poor Parmesan“, and is quite comical.  You will see what I mean if you drop on over.

My best tip to any budding cheese maker is make sure you have quality milk.  I cannot emphasise this enough now that I have had a few years of cheese making under my belt.  Just about every problem I have encountered has been from using poor quality milk, mostly ‘no-name brand’ type, which is basically an industrialised product from many dairies.  I now only buy biodynamic, organic or Jersey milk, and raw if I can get it fresh.

Good milk makes good cheese.

Help Required At The Little Black Cow

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Kim Barnes over at The Little Black Cow blog has a situation in her community that she asked me to bring to everyone’s attention so that more people can hear what is going on.  A Coal Seam Gas company is scouting around her region (Belford/Branxton) in New South Wales, which is bad news for the farms and environment.  Kim has done some research on the Lock The Gate website and she states;

“It appears that you can legally stop them coming on your land to explore, but once you have given them permission to explore…if they find gas, they have permission to mine . The other interesting fact I discovered though, was if you have stopped them coming on your property, if your neighbour gives permission for exploration…they can then mine under your neighbours land into your land .
The water I water my organic vegetables with could be affected.  We did not choose this.
Property sales of farmland will be damaged irrevocably. We did not choose this.
The tourism potential of this beautiful area could be damaged irrevocably. We did not choose this. 

These companies have an endless supply of money for advertising and making themselves look good on television and in newspapers. Farmers don’t have that kind of money ….their money is in their biggest asset, their land …..and without that they are no longer farmers.
The coal seam gas companies also have an endless supply of smooth answers that tell us nothing. Real information is not in their guide book.”

There is a local community meeting that you can go to if you are in this area, and here are the details

BELFORD/LOWER BELFORD COMMUNITY MEETING
5TH March 2012
An invitation is extended to the residents of Belford & Lower Belford to a meeting at Kirkton Public School on 5th March 2012 at 7.00pm to discuss the implications of Coal Seam Gas Exploration and extraction. Guest speakers will be present on the night to discuss their experiences with CSG and to answer questions.

MEETING WITH AGL AT KIRKTON PUBLIC SCHOOL

RECENT RESEARCH INDICATES THE FOLLOWING: UNTIL you are FULLY INFORMED and where necessary have sought the appropriate legal advice as to the implications of CSG exploration it is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that:

•      you DO NOT sign any agreement with the gas companies

•      and that you DO NOT give any verbal agreement for the gas companies to access your land

Contact: christopher.robertson03@gmail.com or ph 65747194 mob 0418427320

Now there is something that the rest of us can do if you are willing.  To help all of those farmers that constantly stand by their gates watching for ‘strangers’ and protecting their only asset, the land they live upon and the surrounding environment, The Lock The Gate Alliance recommends the following;

What can I do?
Do not allow company representatives onto your land for any reason. Meet them at your gate for any discussion, preferably with a neighbour, but never alone. Record every moment, ideally with a video camera. Tell them you are Locking The Gate and refuse them access to your property. A simple “No Trespassers” sign on all access gates will keep them away. Your have a legal right to do this that will be upheld by the courts. 

The industry will try to charm you  and persuade you that their activities will be minimal. A typical line is “We have no plan to …” .  However, experience shows that plans always change. Initial agreements and compensation may have seemed fair and reasonable, but many landholders have found that the development escalated well beyond what was agreed upon – without consultation.

If you allow access to your property you will lose of control of your life, your property and your business.  Once they are into the gas production  phase they have a legal right to enter your property with or without your permission.
Make sure you and your neighbours speak with one voice.  Remember, if you tell them to go away and they must go. Always say NO to requests for access. Do not sign anything. Seek legal advice. 

Where can I find help?
Many communities are affected. The Lock The Gate Alliance has formed to focus on the key issues, share information, provide support and mobilise broad community support through education and the media. 

We will bring about the change necessary to save Australia from a rapacious industry that will affect everyone unless we stop, think, demand change and restore balanceVisit www.lockthegate.org.au and join the Lock The Gate Alliance

Please help out where you can, and lend a helping hand to everyone in the same boat.  If you have watched the documentary Gasland, then you will appreciate that they are in for a battle.

Does anyone in the blogging community have any similar experiences or advice for Kim that they would like to share?