Guest guest Posted July 26, 2007 Report Share Posted July 26, 2007 I dunno if you ment for this to be off list. So I put OT in the subject.. if we have to take this off list feel free to email me off list. For our family, it really simplified things. Every homeschool family I met has done things differently from each other. And we all homeschool for different reasons. For some its religious, for other social, some others think that it's a better way, some have combinations of all three or only two etc. So its family specific. The styles of " how to " are as varied as Vegetarian labels. Just like you have Vegans, Lacto only, Ovo only, lacto ovo, Vegetarian but not vegan, Peceitarian etc.. So in the homeschooling communities you have groups and sub groups, One may study Classical Curriculum, another may have an Unschooling approach, yet another may do what's referred to as Charlotte Mason, and another may use some combination. In American we even have On line schools now too.. where the child is enrolled in the public school system, with a teacher they can contact via the email or the phone! We have two children ages 10 and seven that are officially homeschooled. The others are 4 & 5 yrs old, and do some preschool type stuff. They are too young to have to notify the school district. They are both polishing their reading. Esp the five yr old. We also have a younger daughter almost 2 yrs who has Down Syndrome. So she does a lot of therapy related stuff. Our state/local government pays the therapist to come to your house and basically teach you how to entice or trick your child into learning how to do things that come naturally for most kids. ( different story all together) I mention it cause its some extra thing that adds to our schedule. We also intend to homeschool her as well. We have a very flexible routine or schedule that we follow. Fridays are piano/music lessons. We have a younger graduated homeschooler that comes to our house to teach piano. He is in the local College studying music and uses these lessons as part of his income. This is nice as it keeps me free from having to drive to a lesson and sit there. BUT when my eldest was living at home and we did drive to lessons. During that time sitting in the care I taught my first grader how to read.That was not the only times she read, but that's how we used that time that particular day. Our typical day is get up eat.. the kids go out for an hour.. while I clean up.. then they come in for school a few hours.. eat lunch. help clean up.. and the rest of the day is free. We spend about 20 minutes a day on each subject. We go all year at our house taking vacations around my husbands vacations, and or extended vacations during the Holidays. We school more in the coldest part of the winter, and the super hot parts of the summer.. where we live its very hot and humid this time of year. outside play is unbearable in the heat of the day. So mornings and evenings are optimum play times. Fall and spring is where we take our " breaks " . But they still must do some reading. . Some homeschoolers keep the regular school year. Some do a 6 wk on.. 2 week off .. again.. many different schools of thought. Ever other Wens is Scouting. We belong to a troop at our church. I am unsure if we are going to continue Dance lessons ( Scottish Highland) this fall or not. Precisely because it falls in the evening. I understand that most kids go to school in the day.. and have to attend in the evening.. but still, with our days more open, we prefer day hours. They are hard to get. Any physical activity, I count toward Gym or phys ed hours. However, due to the way we homeschool we believe nature to be very important, and so the kids go out once a week with their nature journal. They can draw what they see, or write about it, or glue what the find in it. Out door play, bike riding, rope jumping, walking in the woods.. all gym time :-) Same with art. They can use different medias, draw from instructions, or just creative. My kids constructed ponds yesterday. Using leaves, grass blades stuff like that to make small recreations of different ponds they saw. I was impressed with the attention to details. I also counted that for art. My ten yr old has taught herself some Spanish, American sign language, and origami. Basically, learning does not end at the school day.. it is all day and hopefully life long. I heard about a survey of Americans, that said like 50% never read a book after highschool. How SAD. As far as academics it does not take that long cause of the teacher to child ratio. They can work at their pace. So say your child takes to fractions easy.. then you don't have to spend so much time there, but maybe it took them a while to understand division, so that took a little longer. It all comes out in the wash so to say. Once they are independent readers you can just write down their " assignment " s and they do it. But your still there to help them understand a concept etc. Sometimes we even do science experiments. ( which can be found on line free too ! ) My 10 yr old is old enough to help fix some meals. Esp luch.. she can cook eggs, and makes a mean PB & J. So that helps. Another thing that helped us immensely was de cluttering. Cutting back on all excess. Cloths, toys, KnickKnacks all that " stuff " . We do one load of laundry each day. Everyone's goes in together. The kids are very helpful and are still at that age where they actually WANT to help do things like wipe the bathroom counter, fold towels etc. ( we are lacto ovo but we may become only ovo) either way.. they help. Its part of Life skills. I have found that most homeschoolers tend to be more confident about being independent, and sometimes more mature in a abilities/trust worthy sense than most American children whom I know. I think its cause they don't get that " your parents and adults are all evil " from peer groups. Over all I think it fosters more respect - mutually - between parent and child. Also they are allowed to be who they are.. say you have a boy that really loves art or music. He might be ridiculed into hating it at school. In this environment he can express and develop it. One thing we hear a lot was " what about socialization? " When I was a child I remember distinctly being told by many teachers when I was talking in class that I was not there to socialize.. LOL.. But really.. they have neighborhood friends, Scout friends, we visit people weekly in a local nursing home so they have " adopted " family friends. When you work, you work with people of varied ages right? Anywhere from 20 - 70 yrs of age. We are not locked in in the real world with ONLY like aged peers. So really we spend more time together as a family. The kids and I sit at the table, they do their school work, I either write the plans or do what ever paper work I have to do for schooling or life in general. When my husband comes home, I have dinner ready and the kids tell him their stuff.. but there is no homework to deal with so we usually go for a walk ever night after dinner. Sometimes they stay home and watch tv.. or play some game. Sometimes they come with the DH and I. ( we always take the baby and the 4 yr old in a double stroller) Sometimes we all play a game together How much do we spend? When I first started we got all our stuff for about $50 USD. Second and 3rd year I bought all books and tests and a " canned " pre printed curriculum for three kids ( when our oldest was in highschool) for under $1000 total. This year.. we are doing something different. Using less separate books and ones that are not consumable etc.. and doing less " testing " I think I spent under $150. I know people who use the public library and the internet only and they spend a lot less. Only the cartridge for their printer pretty much. Their children are quite well educated. You would be surprised. Steph " We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive. " C.S. Lewis On Behalf Of Lynnea Hansen Nascimento Thursday, July 26, 2007 8:20 AM Help veg mom! To Jen, and other veg parents who might be able to shed light on this... Am on the vegparents discussion list, and read that you home school, cook for your family, etc. You have my total and complete admiration. I really want to know how you and other home schoolers manage. I don't work outside the home, nor do I home school, but with keeping the household running, and getting our two sons to their extra-curricular activities, supervising homework, I can barely get simple meals on the table. I'd love to home school, too. One important factor is that we live in Brazil--lots of great vegan products are unavailable, and school days are four hours of just straight academics, with one son in the morning session, and one in the afternoon, lunch at home, and we have to provide them with the sports, music, and art, which means lots of chaufering. When you can manage a few minutes in your busy schedule, I'd love to know: what's your typical weekday like? what is your source for homeschooling material and guidance? cost of homeschooling? is there any time left over for just hanging out with the family? time for husband? how many kids? We are vegan, and have two lifetime vegan sons, ages 12 and 9. I have many times been tempted to go ovo-lacto, to make life easier, but my husband is totally opposed to this, so relying on his conviction, we remain vegan. I really appreciate thoughts on this... Warm regards from the tropics, Lynnea Jen <thefourlakes@ <thefourlakes%40> > wrote: Hi Steph, I'm in Ohio and I'm a home schooler too. I don't know how everyone else will answer this question, but I have found that eating healthy, including removing meat from our meals does cost more. We spend so much more on food now that it's surprising, even though I expected it. The bonus though, besides the long term benefits of longer life, lower cancer, heart disease and diabetes risks, etc., is that we have not been to the doctor or bought any type of medicine since we went veg. My children haven't even had colds in that time. We do still include dairy and some eggs, but we have cut down on our intake of those foods, and we are much pickier about which we buy. So, although the food costs more, the medical costs are less, which is great. I am still learning about vegetarian meals, and there are ways to cut costs, just as I knew there were when I was cooking meat. The only place I can't cut costs is in fresh foods. My family does not like frozen veg, so we have to buy it all fresh. Not so bad in the summer, but tough in the winter. Fresh veg also require more time to prepare, so I spend a decent amount of time in the kitchen. I developed a " sous chef " callous on my first finger within the first month of going veg from all the chopping. If I were smart, and better prepared, I would make up the veg ahead of time; cut all the veg up for a few days' supply and keep it in the fridge, ready to eat or cook. I'll get around to that soon. :-) The best part of it all is that I feel really good about what I feed my family. I know that they will be healthier and happier because of it, and that makes me happy. Soooo, I guess you CAN buy happiness, or at least, you can buy vegetables, and that makes us happy. Not rich, but happy. Jen in NE Ohio ________ Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows. Answers - Check it out. http://answers. <http://answers./dir/?link=list & sid=396545469> /dir/?link=list & sid=396545469 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 26, 2007 Report Share Posted July 26, 2007 Steph, Yes, on-list is great...those who are so inspired can join in. I'm simply bowled over by your generous, complete and wise response. And still in awe of how you and other veg parents manage to home school, too. I'm going to digest all this a bit more, and write again at a later moment. Thank you so much for taking the time to write. Lynnea RnScarlson <scarlson1 wrote: I dunno if you ment for this to be off list. So I put OT in the subject.. if we have to take this off list feel free to email me off list. For our family, it really simplified things. Every homeschool family I met has done things differently from each other. And we all homeschool for different reasons. For some its religious, for other social, some others think that it's a better way, some have combinations of all three or only two etc. So its family specific. The styles of " how to " are as varied as Vegetarian labels. Just like you have Vegans, Lacto only, Ovo only, lacto ovo, Vegetarian but not vegan, Peceitarian etc.. So in the homeschooling communities you have groups and sub groups, One may study Classical Curriculum, another may have an Unschooling approach, yet another may do what's referred to as Charlotte Mason, and another may use some combination. In American we even have On line schools now too.. where the child is enrolled in the public school system, with a teacher they can contact via the email or the phone! We have two children ages 10 and seven that are officially homeschooled. The others are 4 & 5 yrs old, and do some preschool type stuff. They are too young to have to notify the school district. They are both polishing their reading. Esp the five yr old. We also have a younger daughter almost 2 yrs who has Down Syndrome. So she does a lot of therapy related stuff. Our state/local government pays the therapist to come to your house and basically teach you how to entice or trick your child into learning how to do things that come naturally for most kids. ( different story all together) I mention it cause its some extra thing that adds to our schedule. We also intend to homeschool her as well. We have a very flexible routine or schedule that we follow. Fridays are piano/music lessons. We have a younger graduated homeschooler that comes to our house to teach piano. He is in the local College studying music and uses these lessons as part of his income. This is nice as it keeps me free from having to drive to a lesson and sit there. BUT when my eldest was living at home and we did drive to lessons. During that time sitting in the care I taught my first grader how to read.That was not the only times she read, but that's how we used that time that particular day. Our typical day is get up eat.. the kids go out for an hour.. while I clean up.. then they come in for school a few hours.. eat lunch. help clean up.. and the rest of the day is free. We spend about 20 minutes a day on each subject. We go all year at our house taking vacations around my husbands vacations, and or extended vacations during the Holidays. We school more in the coldest part of the winter, and the super hot parts of the summer.. where we live its very hot and humid this time of year. outside play is unbearable in the heat of the day. So mornings and evenings are optimum play times. Fall and spring is where we take our " breaks " . But they still must do some reading. . Some homeschoolers keep the regular school year. Some do a 6 wk on.. 2 week off .. again.. many different schools of thought. Ever other Wens is Scouting. We belong to a troop at our church. I am unsure if we are going to continue Dance lessons ( Scottish Highland) this fall or not. Precisely because it falls in the evening. I understand that most kids go to school in the day.. and have to attend in the evening.. but still, with our days more open, we prefer day hours. They are hard to get. Any physical activity, I count toward Gym or phys ed hours. However, due to the way we homeschool we believe nature to be very important, and so the kids go out once a week with their nature journal. They can draw what they see, or write about it, or glue what the find in it. Out door play, bike riding, rope jumping, walking in the woods.. all gym time :-) Same with art. They can use different medias, draw from instructions, or just creative. My kids constructed ponds yesterday. Using leaves, grass blades stuff like that to make small recreations of different ponds they saw. I was impressed with the attention to details. I also counted that for art. My ten yr old has taught herself some Spanish, American sign language, and origami. Basically, learning does not end at the school day.. it is all day and hopefully life long. I heard about a survey of Americans, that said like 50% never read a book after highschool. How SAD. As far as academics it does not take that long cause of the teacher to child ratio. They can work at their pace. So say your child takes to fractions easy.. then you don't have to spend so much time there, but maybe it took them a while to understand division, so that took a little longer. It all comes out in the wash so to say. Once they are independent readers you can just write down their " assignment " s and they do it. But your still there to help them understand a concept etc. Sometimes we even do science experiments. ( which can be found on line free too ! ) My 10 yr old is old enough to help fix some meals. Esp luch.. she can cook eggs, and makes a mean PB & J. So that helps. Another thing that helped us immensely was de cluttering. Cutting back on all excess. Cloths, toys, KnickKnacks all that " stuff " . We do one load of laundry each day. Everyone's goes in together. The kids are very helpful and are still at that age where they actually WANT to help do things like wipe the bathroom counter, fold towels etc. ( we are lacto ovo but we may become only ovo) either way.. they help. Its part of Life skills. I have found that most homeschoolers tend to be more confident about being independent, and sometimes more mature in a abilities/trust worthy sense than most American children whom I know. I think its cause they don't get that " your parents and adults are all evil " from peer groups. Over all I think it fosters more respect - mutually - between parent and child. Also they are allowed to be who they are.. say you have a boy that really loves art or music. He might be ridiculed into hating it at school. In this environment he can express and develop it. One thing we hear a lot was " what about socialization? " When I was a child I remember distinctly being told by many teachers when I was talking in class that I was not there to socialize.. LOL.. But really.. they have neighborhood friends, Scout friends, we visit people weekly in a local nursing home so they have " adopted " family friends. When you work, you work with people of varied ages right? Anywhere from 20 - 70 yrs of age. We are not locked in in the real world with ONLY like aged peers. So really we spend more time together as a family. The kids and I sit at the table, they do their school work, I either write the plans or do what ever paper work I have to do for schooling or life in general. When my husband comes home, I have dinner ready and the kids tell him their stuff.. but there is no homework to deal with so we usually go for a walk ever night after dinner. Sometimes they stay home and watch tv.. or play some game. Sometimes they come with the DH and I. ( we always take the baby and the 4 yr old in a double stroller) Sometimes we all play a game together How much do we spend? When I first started we got all our stuff for about $50 USD. Second and 3rd year I bought all books and tests and a " canned " pre printed curriculum for three kids ( when our oldest was in highschool) for under $1000 total. This year.. we are doing something different. Using less separate books and ones that are not consumable etc.. and doing less " testing " I think I spent under $150. I know people who use the public library and the internet only and they spend a lot less. Only the cartridge for their printer pretty much. Their children are quite well educated. You would be surprised. Steph " We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive. " C.S. Lewis On Behalf Of Lynnea Hansen Nascimento Thursday, July 26, 2007 8:20 AM Help veg mom! To Jen, and other veg parents who might be able to shed light on this... Am on the vegparents discussion list, and read that you home school, cook for your family, etc. You have my total and complete admiration. I really want to know how you and other home schoolers manage. I don't work outside the home, nor do I home school, but with keeping the household running, and getting our two sons to their extra-curricular activities, supervising homework, I can barely get simple meals on the table. I'd love to home school, too. One important factor is that we live in Brazil--lots of great vegan products are unavailable, and school days are four hours of just straight academics, with one son in the morning session, and one in the afternoon, lunch at home, and we have to provide them with the sports, music, and art, which means lots of chaufering. When you can manage a few minutes in your busy schedule, I'd love to know: what's your typical weekday like? what is your source for homeschooling material and guidance? cost of homeschooling? is there any time left over for just hanging out with the family? time for husband? how many kids? We are vegan, and have two lifetime vegan sons, ages 12 and 9. I have many times been tempted to go ovo-lacto, to make life easier, but my husband is totally opposed to this, so relying on his conviction, we remain vegan. I really appreciate thoughts on this... Warm regards from the tropics, Lynnea Jen <thefourlakes@ <thefourlakes%40> > wrote: Hi Steph, I'm in Ohio and I'm a home schooler too. I don't know how everyone else will answer this question, but I have found that eating healthy, including removing meat from our meals does cost more. We spend so much more on food now that it's surprising, even though I expected it. The bonus though, besides the long term benefits of longer life, lower cancer, heart disease and diabetes risks, etc., is that we have not been to the doctor or bought any type of medicine since we went veg. My children haven't even had colds in that time. We do still include dairy and some eggs, but we have cut down on our intake of those foods, and we are much pickier about which we buy. So, although the food costs more, the medical costs are less, which is great. I am still learning about vegetarian meals, and there are ways to cut costs, just as I knew there were when I was cooking meat. The only place I can't cut costs is in fresh foods. My family does not like frozen veg, so we have to buy it all fresh. Not so bad in the summer, but tough in the winter. Fresh veg also require more time to prepare, so I spend a decent amount of time in the kitchen. I developed a " sous chef " callous on my first finger within the first month of going veg from all the chopping. If I were smart, and better prepared, I would make up the veg ahead of time; cut all the veg up for a few days' supply and keep it in the fridge, ready to eat or cook. I'll get around to that soon. :-) The best part of it all is that I feel really good about what I feed my family. I know that they will be healthier and happier because of it, and that makes me happy. Soooo, I guess you CAN buy happiness, or at least, you can buy vegetables, and that makes us happy. Not rich, but happy. Jen in NE Ohio ________ Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows. Answers - Check it out. http://answers. <http://answers./dir/?link=list & sid=396545469> /dir/?link=list & sid=396545469 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 27, 2007 Report Share Posted July 27, 2007 Hi Lynnea, I have been dying to ask this when I found out that you were from Brazil. Are you related to Milton Nascimento? I am a HUGE fan. Robin Lynnea Hansen Nascimento <lynnea_hansen wrote: Steph, Yes, on-list is great...those who are so inspired can join in. I'm simply bowled over by your generous, complete and wise response. And still in awe of how you and other veg parents manage to home school, too. I'm going to digest all this a bit more, and write again at a later moment. Thank you so much for taking the time to write. Lynnea RnScarlson <scarlson1 wrote: I dunno if you ment for this to be off list. So I put OT in the subject.. if we have to take this off list feel free to email me off list. For our family, it really simplified things. Every homeschool family I met has done things differently from each other. And we all homeschool for different reasons. For some its religious, for other social, some others think that it's a better way, some have combinations of all three or only two etc. So its family specific. The styles of " how to " are as varied as Vegetarian labels. Just like you have Vegans, Lacto only, Ovo only, lacto ovo, Vegetarian but not vegan, Peceitarian etc.. So in the homeschooling communities you have groups and sub groups, One may study Classical Curriculum, another may have an Unschooling approach, yet another may do what's referred to as Charlotte Mason, and another may use some combination. In American we even have On line schools now too.. where the child is enrolled in the public school system, with a teacher they can contact via the email or the phone! We have two children ages 10 and seven that are officially homeschooled. The others are 4 & 5 yrs old, and do some preschool type stuff. They are too young to have to notify the school district. They are both polishing their reading. Esp the five yr old. We also have a younger daughter almost 2 yrs who has Down Syndrome. So she does a lot of therapy related stuff. Our state/local government pays the therapist to come to your house and basically teach you how to entice or trick your child into learning how to do things that come naturally for most kids. ( different story all together) I mention it cause its some extra thing that adds to our schedule. We also intend to homeschool her as well. We have a very flexible routine or schedule that we follow. Fridays are piano/music lessons. We have a younger graduated homeschooler that comes to our house to teach piano. He is in the local College studying music and uses these lessons as part of his income. This is nice as it keeps me free from having to drive to a lesson and sit there. BUT when my eldest was living at home and we did drive to lessons. During that time sitting in the care I taught my first grader how to read.That was not the only times she read, but that's how we used that time that particular day. Our typical day is get up eat.. the kids go out for an hour.. while I clean up.. then they come in for school a few hours.. eat lunch. help clean up.. and the rest of the day is free. We spend about 20 minutes a day on each subject. We go all year at our house taking vacations around my husbands vacations, and or extended vacations during the Holidays. We school more in the coldest part of the winter, and the super hot parts of the summer.. where we live its very hot and humid this time of year. outside play is unbearable in the heat of the day. So mornings and evenings are optimum play times. Fall and spring is where we take our " breaks " . But they still must do some reading. . Some homeschoolers keep the regular school year. Some do a 6 wk on.. 2 week off .. again.. many different schools of thought. Ever other Wens is Scouting. We belong to a troop at our church. I am unsure if we are going to continue Dance lessons ( Scottish Highland) this fall or not. Precisely because it falls in the evening. I understand that most kids go to school in the day.. and have to attend in the evening.. but still, with our days more open, we prefer day hours. They are hard to get. Any physical activity, I count toward Gym or phys ed hours. However, due to the way we homeschool we believe nature to be very important, and so the kids go out once a week with their nature journal. They can draw what they see, or write about it, or glue what the find in it. Out door play, bike riding, rope jumping, walking in the woods.. all gym time :-) Same with art. They can use different medias, draw from instructions, or just creative. My kids constructed ponds yesterday. Using leaves, grass blades stuff like that to make small recreations of different ponds they saw. I was impressed with the attention to details. I also counted that for art. My ten yr old has taught herself some Spanish, American sign language, and origami. Basically, learning does not end at the school day.. it is all day and hopefully life long. I heard about a survey of Americans, that said like 50% never read a book after highschool. How SAD. As far as academics it does not take that long cause of the teacher to child ratio. They can work at their pace. So say your child takes to fractions easy.. then you don't have to spend so much time there, but maybe it took them a while to understand division, so that took a little longer. It all comes out in the wash so to say. Once they are independent readers you can just write down their " assignment " s and they do it. But your still there to help them understand a concept etc. Sometimes we even do science experiments. ( which can be found on line free too ! ) My 10 yr old is old enough to help fix some meals. Esp luch.. she can cook eggs, and makes a mean PB & J. So that helps. Another thing that helped us immensely was de cluttering. Cutting back on all excess. Cloths, toys, KnickKnacks all that " stuff " . We do one load of laundry each day. Everyone's goes in together. The kids are very helpful and are still at that age where they actually WANT to help do things like wipe the bathroom counter, fold towels etc. ( we are lacto ovo but we may become only ovo) either way.. they help. Its part of Life skills. I have found that most homeschoolers tend to be more confident about being independent, and sometimes more mature in a abilities/trust worthy sense than most American children whom I know. I think its cause they don't get that " your parents and adults are all evil " from peer groups. Over all I think it fosters more respect - mutually - between parent and child. Also they are allowed to be who they are.. say you have a boy that really loves art or music. He might be ridiculed into hating it at school. In this environment he can express and develop it. One thing we hear a lot was " what about socialization? " When I was a child I remember distinctly being told by many teachers when I was talking in class that I was not there to socialize.. LOL.. But really.. they have neighborhood friends, Scout friends, we visit people weekly in a local nursing home so they have " adopted " family friends. When you work, you work with people of varied ages right? Anywhere from 20 - 70 yrs of age. We are not locked in in the real world with ONLY like aged peers. So really we spend more time together as a family. The kids and I sit at the table, they do their school work, I either write the plans or do what ever paper work I have to do for schooling or life in general. When my husband comes home, I have dinner ready and the kids tell him their stuff.. but there is no homework to deal with so we usually go for a walk ever night after dinner. Sometimes they stay home and watch tv.. or play some game. Sometimes they come with the DH and I. ( we always take the baby and the 4 yr old in a double stroller) Sometimes we all play a game together How much do we spend? When I first started we got all our stuff for about $50 USD. Second and 3rd year I bought all books and tests and a " canned " pre printed curriculum for three kids ( when our oldest was in highschool) for under $1000 total. This year.. we are doing something different. Using less separate books and ones that are not consumable etc.. and doing less " testing " I think I spent under $150. I know people who use the public library and the internet only and they spend a lot less. Only the cartridge for their printer pretty much. Their children are quite well educated. You would be surprised. Steph " We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive. " C.S. Lewis On Behalf Of Lynnea Hansen Nascimento Thursday, July 26, 2007 8:20 AM Help veg mom! To Jen, and other veg parents who might be able to shed light on this... Am on the vegparents discussion list, and read that you home school, cook for your family, etc. You have my total and complete admiration. I really want to know how you and other home schoolers manage. I don't work outside the home, nor do I home school, but with keeping the household running, and getting our two sons to their extra-curricular activities, supervising homework, I can barely get simple meals on the table. I'd love to home school, too. One important factor is that we live in Brazil--lots of great vegan products are unavailable, and school days are four hours of just straight academics, with one son in the morning session, and one in the afternoon, lunch at home, and we have to provide them with the sports, music, and art, which means lots of chaufering. When you can manage a few minutes in your busy schedule, I'd love to know: what's your typical weekday like? what is your source for homeschooling material and guidance? cost of homeschooling? is there any time left over for just hanging out with the family? time for husband? how many kids? We are vegan, and have two lifetime vegan sons, ages 12 and 9. I have many times been tempted to go ovo-lacto, to make life easier, but my husband is totally opposed to this, so relying on his conviction, we remain vegan. I really appreciate thoughts on this... Warm regards from the tropics, Lynnea Jen <thefourlakes@ <thefourlakes%40> > wrote: Hi Steph, I'm in Ohio and I'm a home schooler too. I don't know how everyone else will answer this question, but I have found that eating healthy, including removing meat from our meals does cost more. We spend so much more on food now that it's surprising, even though I expected it. The bonus though, besides the long term benefits of longer life, lower cancer, heart disease and diabetes risks, etc., is that we have not been to the doctor or bought any type of medicine since we went veg. My children haven't even had colds in that time. We do still include dairy and some eggs, but we have cut down on our intake of those foods, and we are much pickier about which we buy. So, although the food costs more, the medical costs are less, which is great. I am still learning about vegetarian meals, and there are ways to cut costs, just as I knew there were when I was cooking meat. The only place I can't cut costs is in fresh foods. My family does not like frozen veg, so we have to buy it all fresh. Not so bad in the summer, but tough in the winter. Fresh veg also require more time to prepare, so I spend a decent amount of time in the kitchen. I developed a " sous chef " callous on my first finger within the first month of going veg from all the chopping. If I were smart, and better prepared, I would make up the veg ahead of time; cut all the veg up for a few days' supply and keep it in the fridge, ready to eat or cook. I'll get around to that soon. :-) The best part of it all is that I feel really good about what I feed my family. I know that they will be healthier and happier because of it, and that makes me happy. Soooo, I guess you CAN buy happiness, or at least, you can buy vegetables, and that makes us happy. Not rich, but happy. Jen in NE Ohio ________ Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows. Answers - Check it out. http://answers. <http://answers./dir/?link=list & sid=396545469> /dir/?link=list & sid=396545469 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 27, 2007 Report Share Posted July 27, 2007 We are also big fans of Milton Nascimento! But we are not related to him... The last name " Nascimento " in Brazil is like " Johnson " in the US--there are just tons of them! (Milton was adopted as a baby--little did his parents know what a genious they were being blessed with!) If you like that kind of Brazilian music, I recommend others, too: Older music of Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, current music of Marisa Monte and Ana Carolina. Actually, I'm not from Brazil--I'm from Connecticut! I met my Brazilian husband at New York University, we married in Ct, and I've lived in Brazil for 14 years, near Rio, with two sons, 9 and 12. He was already vegan, and I was ovolactoveg, but wanting to become vegan, which then became an easy transition in his company. I really envy all you US vegs for the availability of lots of products we don't have here--personal care labeled vegan, nutritional yeast, soy/vegan cheeses, ready-made pie crusts, and much more... Quinoa just arrived last year... Plus veg meet-up groups, with kids--my sons have never even met a veg kid--I haven't been able to find any, although in São Paulo, 6 car-hours away, I know some exist (ovo-lacto). This list helps reassure me that we're not alone in the vegan world--I had begun to feel very isolated in this 'vegan family' project... Lynnea robin koloms <rkoloms wrote: Hi Lynnea, I have been dying to ask this when I found out that you were from Brazil. Are you related to Milton Nascimento? I am a HUGE fan. Robin Lynnea Hansen Nascimento <lynnea_hansen wrote: Steph, Yes, on-list is great...those who are so inspired can join in. I'm simply bowled over by your generous, complete and wise response. And still in awe of how you and other veg parents manage to home school, too. I'm going to digest all this a bit more, and write again at a later moment. Thank you so much for taking the time to write. Lynnea RnScarlson <scarlson1 wrote: I dunno if you ment for this to be off list. So I put OT in the subject.. if we have to take this off list feel free to email me off list. For our family, it really simplified things. Every homeschool family I met has done things differently from each other. And we all homeschool for different reasons. For some its religious, for other social, some others think that it's a better way, some have combinations of all three or only two etc. So its family specific. The styles of " how to " are as varied as Vegetarian labels. Just like you have Vegans, Lacto only, Ovo only, lacto ovo, Vegetarian but not vegan, Peceitarian etc.. So in the homeschooling communities you have groups and sub groups, One may study Classical Curriculum, another may have an Unschooling approach, yet another may do what's referred to as Charlotte Mason, and another may use some combination. In American we even have On line schools now too.. where the child is enrolled in the public school system, with a teacher they can contact via the email or the phone! We have two children ages 10 and seven that are officially homeschooled. The others are 4 & 5 yrs old, and do some preschool type stuff. They are too young to have to notify the school district. They are both polishing their reading. Esp the five yr old. We also have a younger daughter almost 2 yrs who has Down Syndrome. So she does a lot of therapy related stuff. Our state/local government pays the therapist to come to your house and basically teach you how to entice or trick your child into learning how to do things that come naturally for most kids. ( different story all together) I mention it cause its some extra thing that adds to our schedule. We also intend to homeschool her as well. We have a very flexible routine or schedule that we follow. Fridays are piano/music lessons. We have a younger graduated homeschooler that comes to our house to teach piano. He is in the local College studying music and uses these lessons as part of his income. This is nice as it keeps me free from having to drive to a lesson and sit there. BUT when my eldest was living at home and we did drive to lessons. During that time sitting in the care I taught my first grader how to read.That was not the only times she read, but that's how we used that time that particular day. Our typical day is get up eat.. the kids go out for an hour.. while I clean up.. then they come in for school a few hours.. eat lunch. help clean up.. and the rest of the day is free. We spend about 20 minutes a day on each subject. We go all year at our house taking vacations around my husbands vacations, and or extended vacations during the Holidays. We school more in the coldest part of the winter, and the super hot parts of the summer.. where we live its very hot and humid this time of year. outside play is unbearable in the heat of the day. So mornings and evenings are optimum play times. Fall and spring is where we take our " breaks " . But they still must do some reading. . Some homeschoolers keep the regular school year. Some do a 6 wk on.. 2 week off .. again.. many different schools of thought. Ever other Wens is Scouting. We belong to a troop at our church. I am unsure if we are going to continue Dance lessons ( Scottish Highland) this fall or not. Precisely because it falls in the evening. I understand that most kids go to school in the day.. and have to attend in the evening.. but still, with our days more open, we prefer day hours. They are hard to get. Any physical activity, I count toward Gym or phys ed hours. However, due to the way we homeschool we believe nature to be very important, and so the kids go out once a week with their nature journal. They can draw what they see, or write about it, or glue what the find in it. Out door play, bike riding, rope jumping, walking in the woods.. all gym time :-) Same with art. They can use different medias, draw from instructions, or just creative. My kids constructed ponds yesterday. Using leaves, grass blades stuff like that to make small recreations of different ponds they saw. I was impressed with the attention to details. I also counted that for art. My ten yr old has taught herself some Spanish, American sign language, and origami. Basically, learning does not end at the school day.. it is all day and hopefully life long. I heard about a survey of Americans, that said like 50% never read a book after highschool. How SAD. As far as academics it does not take that long cause of the teacher to child ratio. They can work at their pace. So say your child takes to fractions easy.. then you don't have to spend so much time there, but maybe it took them a while to understand division, so that took a little longer. It all comes out in the wash so to say. Once they are independent readers you can just write down their " assignment " s and they do it. But your still there to help them understand a concept etc. Sometimes we even do science experiments. ( which can be found on line free too ! ) My 10 yr old is old enough to help fix some meals. Esp luch.. she can cook eggs, and makes a mean PB & J. So that helps. Another thing that helped us immensely was de cluttering. Cutting back on all excess. Cloths, toys, KnickKnacks all that " stuff " . We do one load of laundry each day. Everyone's goes in together. The kids are very helpful and are still at that age where they actually WANT to help do things like wipe the bathroom counter, fold towels etc. ( we are lacto ovo but we may become only ovo) either way.. they help. Its part of Life skills. I have found that most homeschoolers tend to be more confident about being independent, and sometimes more mature in a abilities/trust worthy sense than most American children whom I know. I think its cause they don't get that " your parents and adults are all evil " from peer groups. Over all I think it fosters more respect - mutually - between parent and child. Also they are allowed to be who they are.. say you have a boy that really loves art or music. He might be ridiculed into hating it at school. In this environment he can express and develop it. One thing we hear a lot was " what about socialization? " When I was a child I remember distinctly being told by many teachers when I was talking in class that I was not there to socialize.. LOL.. But really.. they have neighborhood friends, Scout friends, we visit people weekly in a local nursing home so they have " adopted " family friends. When you work, you work with people of varied ages right? Anywhere from 20 - 70 yrs of age. We are not locked in in the real world with ONLY like aged peers. So really we spend more time together as a family. The kids and I sit at the table, they do their school work, I either write the plans or do what ever paper work I have to do for schooling or life in general. When my husband comes home, I have dinner ready and the kids tell him their stuff.. but there is no homework to deal with so we usually go for a walk ever night after dinner. Sometimes they stay home and watch tv.. or play some game. Sometimes they come with the DH and I. ( we always take the baby and the 4 yr old in a double stroller) Sometimes we all play a game together How much do we spend? When I first started we got all our stuff for about $50 USD. Second and 3rd year I bought all books and tests and a " canned " pre printed curriculum for three kids ( when our oldest was in highschool) for under $1000 total. This year.. we are doing something different. Using less separate books and ones that are not consumable etc.. and doing less " testing " I think I spent under $150. I know people who use the public library and the internet only and they spend a lot less. Only the cartridge for their printer pretty much. Their children are quite well educated. You would be surprised. Steph " We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive. " C.S. Lewis On Behalf Of Lynnea Hansen Nascimento Thursday, July 26, 2007 8:20 AM Help veg mom! To Jen, and other veg parents who might be able to shed light on this... Am on the vegparents discussion list, and read that you home school, cook for your family, etc. You have my total and complete admiration. I really want to know how you and other home schoolers manage. I don't work outside the home, nor do I home school, but with keeping the household running, and getting our two sons to their extra-curricular activities, supervising homework, I can barely get simple meals on the table. I'd love to home school, too. One important factor is that we live in Brazil--lots of great vegan products are unavailable, and school days are four hours of just straight academics, with one son in the morning session, and one in the afternoon, lunch at home, and we have to provide them with the sports, music, and art, which means lots of chaufering. When you can manage a few minutes in your busy schedule, I'd love to know: what's your typical weekday like? what is your source for homeschooling material and guidance? cost of homeschooling? is there any time left over for just hanging out with the family? time for husband? how many kids? We are vegan, and have two lifetime vegan sons, ages 12 and 9. I have many times been tempted to go ovo-lacto, to make life easier, but my husband is totally opposed to this, so relying on his conviction, we remain vegan. I really appreciate thoughts on this... Warm regards from the tropics, Lynnea Jen <thefourlakes@ <thefourlakes%40> > wrote: Hi Steph, I'm in Ohio and I'm a home schooler too. I don't know how everyone else will answer this question, but I have found that eating healthy, including removing meat from our meals does cost more. We spend so much more on food now that it's surprising, even though I expected it. The bonus though, besides the long term benefits of longer life, lower cancer, heart disease and diabetes risks, etc., is that we have not been to the doctor or bought any type of medicine since we went veg. My children haven't even had colds in that time. We do still include dairy and some eggs, but we have cut down on our intake of those foods, and we are much pickier about which we buy. So, although the food costs more, the medical costs are less, which is great. I am still learning about vegetarian meals, and there are ways to cut costs, just as I knew there were when I was cooking meat. The only place I can't cut costs is in fresh foods. My family does not like frozen veg, so we have to buy it all fresh. Not so bad in the summer, but tough in the winter. Fresh veg also require more time to prepare, so I spend a decent amount of time in the kitchen. I developed a " sous chef " callous on my first finger within the first month of going veg from all the chopping. If I were smart, and better prepared, I would make up the veg ahead of time; cut all the veg up for a few days' supply and keep it in the fridge, ready to eat or cook. I'll get around to that soon. :-) The best part of it all is that I feel really good about what I feed my family. I know that they will be healthier and happier because of it, and that makes me happy. Soooo, I guess you CAN buy happiness, or at least, you can buy vegetables, and that makes us happy. Not rich, but happy. Jen in NE Ohio ________ Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows. Answers - Check it out. http://answers. <http://answers./dir/?link=list & sid=396545469> /dir/?link=list & sid=396545469 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 27, 2007 Report Share Posted July 27, 2007 Thank you for the suggestions, I will try to track them down. I already love Giberto Gil. Portuguese is without a doubt the most beautiful language in the world. Lynnea Hansen Nascimento <lynnea_hansen wrote: We are also big fans of Milton Nascimento! But we are not related to him... The last name " Nascimento " in Brazil is like " Johnson " in the US--there are just tons of them! (Milton was adopted as a baby--little did his parents know what a genious they were being blessed with!) If you like that kind of Brazilian music, I recommend others, too: Older music of Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, current music of Marisa Monte and Ana Carolina. Actually, I'm not from Brazil--I'm from Connecticut! I met my Brazilian husband at New York University, we married in Ct, and I've lived in Brazil for 14 years, near Rio, with two sons, 9 and 12. He was already vegan, and I was ovolactoveg, but wanting to become vegan, which then became an easy transition in his company. I really envy all you US vegs for the availability of lots of products we don't have here--personal care labeled vegan, nutritional yeast, soy/vegan cheeses, ready-made pie crusts, and much more... Quinoa just arrived last year... Plus veg meet-up groups, with kids--my sons have never even met a veg kid--I haven't been able to find any, although in São Paulo, 6 car-hours away, I know some exist (ovo-lacto). This list helps reassure me that we're not alone in the vegan world--I had begun to feel very isolated in this 'vegan family' project... Lynnea robin koloms <rkoloms wrote: Hi Lynnea, I have been dying to ask this when I found out that you were from Brazil. Are you related to Milton Nascimento? I am a HUGE fan. Robin Lynnea Hansen Nascimento <lynnea_hansen wrote: Steph, Yes, on-list is great...those who are so inspired can join in. I'm simply bowled over by your generous, complete and wise response. And still in awe of how you and other veg parents manage to home school, too. I'm going to digest all this a bit more, and write again at a later moment. Thank you so much for taking the time to write. Lynnea RnScarlson <scarlson1 wrote: I dunno if you ment for this to be off list. So I put OT in the subject.. if we have to take this off list feel free to email me off list. For our family, it really simplified things. Every homeschool family I met has done things differently from each other. And we all homeschool for different reasons. For some its religious, for other social, some others think that it's a better way, some have combinations of all three or only two etc. So its family specific. The styles of " how to " are as varied as Vegetarian labels. Just like you have Vegans, Lacto only, Ovo only, lacto ovo, Vegetarian but not vegan, Peceitarian etc.. So in the homeschooling communities you have groups and sub groups, One may study Classical Curriculum, another may have an Unschooling approach, yet another may do what's referred to as Charlotte Mason, and another may use some combination. In American we even have On line schools now too.. where the child is enrolled in the public school system, with a teacher they can contact via the email or the phone! We have two children ages 10 and seven that are officially homeschooled. The others are 4 & 5 yrs old, and do some preschool type stuff. They are too young to have to notify the school district. They are both polishing their reading. Esp the five yr old. We also have a younger daughter almost 2 yrs who has Down Syndrome. So she does a lot of therapy related stuff. Our state/local government pays the therapist to come to your house and basically teach you how to entice or trick your child into learning how to do things that come naturally for most kids. ( different story all together) I mention it cause its some extra thing that adds to our schedule. We also intend to homeschool her as well. We have a very flexible routine or schedule that we follow. Fridays are piano/music lessons. We have a younger graduated homeschooler that comes to our house to teach piano. He is in the local College studying music and uses these lessons as part of his income. This is nice as it keeps me free from having to drive to a lesson and sit there. BUT when my eldest was living at home and we did drive to lessons. During that time sitting in the care I taught my first grader how to read.That was not the only times she read, but that's how we used that time that particular day. Our typical day is get up eat.. the kids go out for an hour.. while I clean up.. then they come in for school a few hours.. eat lunch. help clean up.. and the rest of the day is free. We spend about 20 minutes a day on each subject. We go all year at our house taking vacations around my husbands vacations, and or extended vacations during the Holidays. We school more in the coldest part of the winter, and the super hot parts of the summer.. where we live its very hot and humid this time of year. outside play is unbearable in the heat of the day. So mornings and evenings are optimum play times. Fall and spring is where we take our " breaks " . But they still must do some reading. . Some homeschoolers keep the regular school year. Some do a 6 wk on.. 2 week off .. again.. many different schools of thought. Ever other Wens is Scouting. We belong to a troop at our church. I am unsure if we are going to continue Dance lessons ( Scottish Highland) this fall or not. Precisely because it falls in the evening. I understand that most kids go to school in the day.. and have to attend in the evening.. but still, with our days more open, we prefer day hours. They are hard to get. Any physical activity, I count toward Gym or phys ed hours. However, due to the way we homeschool we believe nature to be very important, and so the kids go out once a week with their nature journal. They can draw what they see, or write about it, or glue what the find in it. Out door play, bike riding, rope jumping, walking in the woods.. all gym time :-) Same with art. They can use different medias, draw from instructions, or just creative. My kids constructed ponds yesterday. Using leaves, grass blades stuff like that to make small recreations of different ponds they saw. I was impressed with the attention to details. I also counted that for art. My ten yr old has taught herself some Spanish, American sign language, and origami. Basically, learning does not end at the school day.. it is all day and hopefully life long. I heard about a survey of Americans, that said like 50% never read a book after highschool. How SAD. As far as academics it does not take that long cause of the teacher to child ratio. They can work at their pace. So say your child takes to fractions easy.. then you don't have to spend so much time there, but maybe it took them a while to understand division, so that took a little longer. It all comes out in the wash so to say. Once they are independent readers you can just write down their " assignment " s and they do it. But your still there to help them understand a concept etc. Sometimes we even do science experiments. ( which can be found on line free too ! ) My 10 yr old is old enough to help fix some meals. Esp luch.. she can cook eggs, and makes a mean PB & J. So that helps. Another thing that helped us immensely was de cluttering. Cutting back on all excess. Cloths, toys, KnickKnacks all that " stuff " . We do one load of laundry each day. Everyone's goes in together. The kids are very helpful and are still at that age where they actually WANT to help do things like wipe the bathroom counter, fold towels etc. ( we are lacto ovo but we may become only ovo) either way.. they help. Its part of Life skills. I have found that most homeschoolers tend to be more confident about being independent, and sometimes more mature in a abilities/trust worthy sense than most American children whom I know. I think its cause they don't get that " your parents and adults are all evil " from peer groups. Over all I think it fosters more respect - mutually - between parent and child. Also they are allowed to be who they are.. say you have a boy that really loves art or music. He might be ridiculed into hating it at school. In this environment he can express and develop it. One thing we hear a lot was " what about socialization? " When I was a child I remember distinctly being told by many teachers when I was talking in class that I was not there to socialize.. LOL.. But really.. they have neighborhood friends, Scout friends, we visit people weekly in a local nursing home so they have " adopted " family friends. When you work, you work with people of varied ages right? Anywhere from 20 - 70 yrs of age. We are not locked in in the real world with ONLY like aged peers. So really we spend more time together as a family. The kids and I sit at the table, they do their school work, I either write the plans or do what ever paper work I have to do for schooling or life in general. When my husband comes home, I have dinner ready and the kids tell him their stuff.. but there is no homework to deal with so we usually go for a walk ever night after dinner. Sometimes they stay home and watch tv.. or play some game. Sometimes they come with the DH and I. ( we always take the baby and the 4 yr old in a double stroller) Sometimes we all play a game together How much do we spend? When I first started we got all our stuff for about $50 USD. Second and 3rd year I bought all books and tests and a " canned " pre printed curriculum for three kids ( when our oldest was in highschool) for under $1000 total. This year.. we are doing something different. Using less separate books and ones that are not consumable etc.. and doing less " testing " I think I spent under $150. I know people who use the public library and the internet only and they spend a lot less. Only the cartridge for their printer pretty much. Their children are quite well educated. You would be surprised. Steph " We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive. " C.S. Lewis On Behalf Of Lynnea Hansen Nascimento Thursday, July 26, 2007 8:20 AM Help veg mom! To Jen, and other veg parents who might be able to shed light on this... Am on the vegparents discussion list, and read that you home school, cook for your family, etc. You have my total and complete admiration. I really want to know how you and other home schoolers manage. I don't work outside the home, nor do I home school, but with keeping the household running, and getting our two sons to their extra-curricular activities, supervising homework, I can barely get simple meals on the table. I'd love to home school, too. One important factor is that we live in Brazil--lots of great vegan products are unavailable, and school days are four hours of just straight academics, with one son in the morning session, and one in the afternoon, lunch at home, and we have to provide them with the sports, music, and art, which means lots of chaufering. When you can manage a few minutes in your busy schedule, I'd love to know: what's your typical weekday like? what is your source for homeschooling material and guidance? cost of homeschooling? is there any time left over for just hanging out with the family? time for husband? how many kids? We are vegan, and have two lifetime vegan sons, ages 12 and 9. I have many times been tempted to go ovo-lacto, to make life easier, but my husband is totally opposed to this, so relying on his conviction, we remain vegan. I really appreciate thoughts on this... Warm regards from the tropics, Lynnea Jen <thefourlakes@ <thefourlakes%40> > wrote: Hi Steph, I'm in Ohio and I'm a home schooler too. I don't know how everyone else will answer this question, but I have found that eating healthy, including removing meat from our meals does cost more. We spend so much more on food now that it's surprising, even though I expected it. The bonus though, besides the long term benefits of longer life, lower cancer, heart disease and diabetes risks, etc., is that we have not been to the doctor or bought any type of medicine since we went veg. My children haven't even had colds in that time. We do still include dairy and some eggs, but we have cut down on our intake of those foods, and we are much pickier about which we buy. So, although the food costs more, the medical costs are less, which is great. I am still learning about vegetarian meals, and there are ways to cut costs, just as I knew there were when I was cooking meat. The only place I can't cut costs is in fresh foods. My family does not like frozen veg, so we have to buy it all fresh. Not so bad in the summer, but tough in the winter. Fresh veg also require more time to prepare, so I spend a decent amount of time in the kitchen. I developed a " sous chef " callous on my first finger within the first month of going veg from all the chopping. If I were smart, and better prepared, I would make up the veg ahead of time; cut all the veg up for a few days' supply and keep it in the fridge, ready to eat or cook. I'll get around to that soon. :-) The best part of it all is that I feel really good about what I feed my family. I know that they will be healthier and happier because of it, and that makes me happy. Soooo, I guess you CAN buy happiness, or at least, you can buy vegetables, and that makes us happy. Not rich, but happy. Jen in NE Ohio ________ Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows. Answers - Check it out. http://answers. <http://answers./dir/?link=list & sid=396545469> /dir/?link=list & sid=396545469 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 28, 2007 Report Share Posted July 28, 2007 Lynnea, Is it easy to have the products that you want shipped to you? Or is it too expensive. I used to live in a rural meat and potatoes area and now am thankful to be living in Los Angeles. I have access to a lot of vegan options. _____ On Behalf Of Lynnea Hansen Nascimento Friday, July 27, 2007 4:15 AM Re: OT RE: Help veg mom! We are also big fans of Milton Nascimento! But we are not related to him... The last name " Nascimento " in Brazil is like " Johnson " in the US--there are just tons of them! (Milton was adopted as a baby--little did his parents know what a genious they were being blessed with!) If you like that kind of Brazilian music, I recommend others, too: Older music of Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, current music of Marisa Monte and Ana Carolina. Actually, I'm not from Brazil--I'm from Connecticut! I met my Brazilian husband at New York University, we married in Ct, and I've lived in Brazil for 14 years, near Rio, with two sons, 9 and 12. He was already vegan, and I was ovolactoveg, but wanting to become vegan, which then became an easy transition in his company. I really envy all you US vegs for the availability of lots of products we don't have here--personal care labeled vegan, nutritional yeast, soy/vegan cheeses, ready-made pie crusts, and much more... Quinoa just arrived last year... Plus veg meet-up groups, with kids--my sons have never even met a veg kid--I haven't been able to find any, although in São Paulo, 6 car-hours away, I know some exist (ovo-lacto). This list helps reassure me that we're not alone in the vegan world--I had begun to feel very isolated in this 'vegan family' project... Lynnea robin koloms <rkoloms (AT) (DOT) <rkoloms%40> com> wrote: Hi Lynnea, I have been dying to ask this when I found out that you were from Brazil. Are you related to Milton Nascimento? I am a HUGE fan. Robin Lynnea Hansen Nascimento <lynnea_hansen@ <lynnea_hansen%40> > wrote: Steph, Yes, on-list is great...those who are so inspired can join in. I'm simply bowled over by your generous, complete and wise response. And still in awe of how you and other veg parents manage to home school, too. I'm going to digest all this a bit more, and write again at a later moment. Thank you so much for taking the time to write. Lynnea RnScarlson <scarlson1 (AT) cinci (DOT) <scarlson1%40cinci.rr.com> rr.com> wrote: I dunno if you ment for this to be off list. So I put OT in the subject.. if we have to take this off list feel free to email me off list. For our family, it really simplified things. Every homeschool family I met has done things differently from each other. And we all homeschool for different reasons. For some its religious, for other social, some others think that it's a better way, some have combinations of all three or only two etc. So its family specific. The styles of " how to " are as varied as Vegetarian labels. Just like you have Vegans, Lacto only, Ovo only, lacto ovo, Vegetarian but not vegan, Peceitarian etc.. So in the homeschooling communities you have groups and sub groups, One may study Classical Curriculum, another may have an Unschooling approach, yet another may do what's referred to as Charlotte Mason, and another may use some combination. In American we even have On line schools now too.. where the child is enrolled in the public school system, with a teacher they can contact via the email or the phone! We have two children ages 10 and seven that are officially homeschooled. The others are 4 & 5 yrs old, and do some preschool type stuff. They are too young to have to notify the school district. They are both polishing their reading. Esp the five yr old. We also have a younger daughter almost 2 yrs who has Down Syndrome. So she does a lot of therapy related stuff. Our state/local government pays the therapist to come to your house and basically teach you how to entice or trick your child into learning how to do things that come naturally for most kids. ( different story all together) I mention it cause its some extra thing that adds to our schedule. We also intend to homeschool her as well. We have a very flexible routine or schedule that we follow. Fridays are piano/music lessons. We have a younger graduated homeschooler that comes to our house to teach piano. He is in the local College studying music and uses these lessons as part of his income. This is nice as it keeps me free from having to drive to a lesson and sit there. BUT when my eldest was living at home and we did drive to lessons. During that time sitting in the care I taught my first grader how to read.That was not the only times she read, but that's how we used that time that particular day. Our typical day is get up eat.. the kids go out for an hour.. while I clean up.. then they come in for school a few hours.. eat lunch. help clean up.. and the rest of the day is free. We spend about 20 minutes a day on each subject. We go all year at our house taking vacations around my husbands vacations, and or extended vacations during the Holidays. We school more in the coldest part of the winter, and the super hot parts of the summer.. where we live its very hot and humid this time of year. outside play is unbearable in the heat of the day. So mornings and evenings are optimum play times. Fall and spring is where we take our " breaks " . But they still must do some reading. . Some homeschoolers keep the regular school year. Some do a 6 wk on.. 2 week off .. again.. many different schools of thought. Ever other Wens is Scouting. We belong to a troop at our church. I am unsure if we are going to continue Dance lessons ( Scottish Highland) this fall or not. Precisely because it falls in the evening. I understand that most kids go to school in the day.. and have to attend in the evening.. but still, with our days more open, we prefer day hours. They are hard to get. Any physical activity, I count toward Gym or phys ed hours. However, due to the way we homeschool we believe nature to be very important, and so the kids go out once a week with their nature journal. They can draw what they see, or write about it, or glue what the find in it. Out door play, bike riding, rope jumping, walking in the woods.. all gym time :-) Same with art. They can use different medias, draw from instructions, or just creative. My kids constructed ponds yesterday. Using leaves, grass blades stuff like that to make small recreations of different ponds they saw. I was impressed with the attention to details. I also counted that for art. My ten yr old has taught herself some Spanish, American sign language, and origami. Basically, learning does not end at the school day.. it is all day and hopefully life long. I heard about a survey of Americans, that said like 50% never read a book after highschool. How SAD. As far as academics it does not take that long cause of the teacher to child ratio. They can work at their pace. So say your child takes to fractions easy.. then you don't have to spend so much time there, but maybe it took them a while to understand division, so that took a little longer. It all comes out in the wash so to say. Once they are independent readers you can just write down their " assignment " s and they do it. But your still there to help them understand a concept etc. Sometimes we even do science experiments. ( which can be found on line free too ! ) My 10 yr old is old enough to help fix some meals. Esp luch.. she can cook eggs, and makes a mean PB & J. So that helps. Another thing that helped us immensely was de cluttering. Cutting back on all excess. Cloths, toys, KnickKnacks all that " stuff " . We do one load of laundry each day. Everyone's goes in together. The kids are very helpful and are still at that age where they actually WANT to help do things like wipe the bathroom counter, fold towels etc. ( we are lacto ovo but we may become only ovo) either way.. they help. Its part of Life skills. I have found that most homeschoolers tend to be more confident about being independent, and sometimes more mature in a abilities/trust worthy sense than most American children whom I know. I think its cause they don't get that " your parents and adults are all evil " from peer groups. Over all I think it fosters more respect - mutually - between parent and child. Also they are allowed to be who they are.. say you have a boy that really loves art or music. He might be ridiculed into hating it at school. In this environment he can express and develop it. One thing we hear a lot was " what about socialization? " When I was a child I remember distinctly being told by many teachers when I was talking in class that I was not there to socialize.. LOL.. But really.. they have neighborhood friends, Scout friends, we visit people weekly in a local nursing home so they have " adopted " family friends. When you work, you work with people of varied ages right? Anywhere from 20 - 70 yrs of age. We are not locked in in the real world with ONLY like aged peers. So really we spend more time together as a family. The kids and I sit at the table, they do their school work, I either write the plans or do what ever paper work I have to do for schooling or life in general. When my husband comes home, I have dinner ready and the kids tell him their stuff.. but there is no homework to deal with so we usually go for a walk ever night after dinner. Sometimes they stay home and watch tv.. or play some game. Sometimes they come with the DH and I. ( we always take the baby and the 4 yr old in a double stroller) Sometimes we all play a game together How much do we spend? When I first started we got all our stuff for about $50 USD. Second and 3rd year I bought all books and tests and a " canned " pre printed curriculum for three kids ( when our oldest was in highschool) for under $1000 total. This year.. we are doing something different. Using less separate books and ones that are not consumable etc.. and doing less " testing " I think I spent under $150. I know people who use the public library and the internet only and they spend a lot less. Only the cartridge for their printer pretty much. Their children are quite well educated. You would be surprised. Steph " We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive. " C.S. Lewis @gro <%40> ups.com [@gro <%40> ups.com] On Behalf Of Lynnea Hansen Nascimento Thursday, July 26, 2007 8:20 AM @gro <%40> ups.com Help veg mom! To Jen, and other veg parents who might be able to shed light on this... Am on the vegparents discussion list, and read that you home school, cook for your family, etc. You have my total and complete admiration. I really want to know how you and other home schoolers manage. I don't work outside the home, nor do I home school, but with keeping the household running, and getting our two sons to their extra-curricular activities, supervising homework, I can barely get simple meals on the table. I'd love to home school, too. One important factor is that we live in Brazil--lots of great vegan products are unavailable, and school days are four hours of just straight academics, with one son in the morning session, and one in the afternoon, lunch at home, and we have to provide them with the sports, music, and art, which means lots of chaufering. When you can manage a few minutes in your busy schedule, I'd love to know: what's your typical weekday like? what is your source for homeschooling material and guidance? cost of homeschooling? is there any time left over for just hanging out with the family? time for husband? how many kids? We are vegan, and have two lifetime vegan sons, ages 12 and 9. I have many times been tempted to go ovo-lacto, to make life easier, but my husband is totally opposed to this, so relying on his conviction, we remain vegan. I really appreciate thoughts on this... Warm regards from the tropics, Lynnea Jen <thefourlakes@ <thefourlakes%40> > wrote: Hi Steph, I'm in Ohio and I'm a home schooler too. I don't know how everyone else will answer this question, but I have found that eating healthy, including removing meat from our meals does cost more. We spend so much more on food now that it's surprising, even though I expected it. The bonus though, besides the long term benefits of longer life, lower cancer, heart disease and diabetes risks, etc., is that we have not been to the doctor or bought any type of medicine since we went veg. My children haven't even had colds in that time. We do still include dairy and some eggs, but we have cut down on our intake of those foods, and we are much pickier about which we buy. So, although the food costs more, the medical costs are less, which is great. I am still learning about vegetarian meals, and there are ways to cut costs, just as I knew there were when I was cooking meat. The only place I can't cut costs is in fresh foods. My family does not like frozen veg, so we have to buy it all fresh. Not so bad in the summer, but tough in the winter. Fresh veg also require more time to prepare, so I spend a decent amount of time in the kitchen. I developed a " sous chef " callous on my first finger within the first month of going veg from all the chopping. If I were smart, and better prepared, I would make up the veg ahead of time; cut all the veg up for a few days' supply and keep it in the fridge, ready to eat or cook. I'll get around to that soon. :-) The best part of it all is that I feel really good about what I feed my family. I know that they will be healthier and happier because of it, and that makes me happy. Soooo, I guess you CAN buy happiness, or at least, you can buy vegetables, and that makes us happy. Not rich, but happy. Jen in NE Ohio ________ Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows. Answers - Check it out. http://answers. <http://answers. <http://answers./dir/?link=list & sid=396545469> /dir/?link=list & sid=396545469> /dir/?link=list & sid=396545469 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 30, 2007 Report Share Posted July 30, 2007 Actually, I could have things shipped, but if it's anything but books, there's a 100% duty--paying double is just too much. So when we're in the US, or when we have visitors from US, I stock up on things like Ener-G Egg Replacer, but basically just go without lots of things that are perishable or need refrigeration. It also means that you have to get pretty creative-- We have a big advantage in the produce department, though. The tropical climate means not only fresh mango and papaya all year round, but over a dozen types of bananas, and lots of fruits that I had never seen or heard of, and fresh local veggies always available. Awesome cashew and Brazil nuts, too. The major cities have vegetarian, and even vegan restaurants, although even large towns will usually have only natural foods restaurants that serve fish and poultry, but will have some veg options. In the US, we pig out on vegan cream cheese and bagels, and the boys love Tofutti Cuties, and vegan parmesan... Lynnea Paige <gosstucker wrote: Lynnea, Is it easy to have the products that you want shipped to you? Or is it too expensive. I used to live in a rural meat and potatoes area and now am thankful to be living in Los Angeles. I have access to a lot of vegan options. _____ On Behalf Of Lynnea Hansen Nascimento Friday, July 27, 2007 4:15 AM Re: OT RE: Help veg mom! We are also big fans of Milton Nascimento! But we are not related to him... The last name " Nascimento " in Brazil is like " Johnson " in the US--there are just tons of them! (Milton was adopted as a baby--little did his parents know what a genious they were being blessed with!) If you like that kind of Brazilian music, I recommend others, too: Older music of Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, current music of Marisa Monte and Ana Carolina. Actually, I'm not from Brazil--I'm from Connecticut! I met my Brazilian husband at New York University, we married in Ct, and I've lived in Brazil for 14 years, near Rio, with two sons, 9 and 12. He was already vegan, and I was ovolactoveg, but wanting to become vegan, which then became an easy transition in his company. I really envy all you US vegs for the availability of lots of products we don't have here--personal care labeled vegan, nutritional yeast, soy/vegan cheeses, ready-made pie crusts, and much more... Quinoa just arrived last year... Plus veg meet-up groups, with kids--my sons have never even met a veg kid--I haven't been able to find any, although in São Paulo, 6 car-hours away, I know some exist (ovo-lacto). This list helps reassure me that we're not alone in the vegan world--I had begun to feel very isolated in this 'vegan family' project... Lynnea robin koloms <rkoloms (AT) (DOT) <rkoloms%40> com> wrote: Hi Lynnea, I have been dying to ask this when I found out that you were from Brazil. Are you related to Milton Nascimento? I am a HUGE fan. Robin Lynnea Hansen Nascimento <lynnea_hansen@ <lynnea_hansen%40> > wrote: Steph, Yes, on-list is great...those who are so inspired can join in. I'm simply bowled over by your generous, complete and wise response. And still in awe of how you and other veg parents manage to home school, too. I'm going to digest all this a bit more, and write again at a later moment. Thank you so much for taking the time to write. Lynnea RnScarlson <scarlson1 (AT) cinci (DOT) <scarlson1%40cinci.rr.com> rr.com> wrote: I dunno if you ment for this to be off list. So I put OT in the subject.. if we have to take this off list feel free to email me off list. For our family, it really simplified things. Every homeschool family I met has done things differently from each other. And we all homeschool for different reasons. For some its religious, for other social, some others think that it's a better way, some have combinations of all three or only two etc. So its family specific. The styles of " how to " are as varied as Vegetarian labels. Just like you have Vegans, Lacto only, Ovo only, lacto ovo, Vegetarian but not vegan, Peceitarian etc.. So in the homeschooling communities you have groups and sub groups, One may study Classical Curriculum, another may have an Unschooling approach, yet another may do what's referred to as Charlotte Mason, and another may use some combination. In American we even have On line schools now too.. where the child is enrolled in the public school system, with a teacher they can contact via the email or the phone! We have two children ages 10 and seven that are officially homeschooled. The others are 4 & 5 yrs old, and do some preschool type stuff. They are too young to have to notify the school district. They are both polishing their reading. Esp the five yr old. We also have a younger daughter almost 2 yrs who has Down Syndrome. So she does a lot of therapy related stuff. Our state/local government pays the therapist to come to your house and basically teach you how to entice or trick your child into learning how to do things that come naturally for most kids. ( different story all together) I mention it cause its some extra thing that adds to our schedule. We also intend to homeschool her as well. We have a very flexible routine or schedule that we follow. Fridays are piano/music lessons. We have a younger graduated homeschooler that comes to our house to teach piano. He is in the local College studying music and uses these lessons as part of his income. This is nice as it keeps me free from having to drive to a lesson and sit there. BUT when my eldest was living at home and we did drive to lessons. During that time sitting in the care I taught my first grader how to read.That was not the only times she read, but that's how we used that time that particular day. Our typical day is get up eat.. the kids go out for an hour.. while I clean up.. then they come in for school a few hours.. eat lunch. help clean up.. and the rest of the day is free. We spend about 20 minutes a day on each subject. We go all year at our house taking vacations around my husbands vacations, and or extended vacations during the Holidays. We school more in the coldest part of the winter, and the super hot parts of the summer.. where we live its very hot and humid this time of year. outside play is unbearable in the heat of the day. So mornings and evenings are optimum play times. Fall and spring is where we take our " breaks " . But they still must do some reading. . Some homeschoolers keep the regular school year. Some do a 6 wk on.. 2 week off .. again.. many different schools of thought. Ever other Wens is Scouting. We belong to a troop at our church. I am unsure if we are going to continue Dance lessons ( Scottish Highland) this fall or not. Precisely because it falls in the evening. I understand that most kids go to school in the day.. and have to attend in the evening.. but still, with our days more open, we prefer day hours. They are hard to get. Any physical activity, I count toward Gym or phys ed hours. However, due to the way we homeschool we believe nature to be very important, and so the kids go out once a week with their nature journal. They can draw what they see, or write about it, or glue what the find in it. Out door play, bike riding, rope jumping, walking in the woods.. all gym time :-) Same with art. They can use different medias, draw from instructions, or just creative. My kids constructed ponds yesterday. Using leaves, grass blades stuff like that to make small recreations of different ponds they saw. I was impressed with the attention to details. I also counted that for art. My ten yr old has taught herself some Spanish, American sign language, and origami. Basically, learning does not end at the school day.. it is all day and hopefully life long. I heard about a survey of Americans, that said like 50% never read a book after highschool. How SAD. As far as academics it does not take that long cause of the teacher to child ratio. They can work at their pace. So say your child takes to fractions easy.. then you don't have to spend so much time there, but maybe it took them a while to understand division, so that took a little longer. It all comes out in the wash so to say. Once they are independent readers you can just write down their " assignment " s and they do it. But your still there to help them understand a concept etc. Sometimes we even do science experiments. ( which can be found on line free too ! ) My 10 yr old is old enough to help fix some meals. Esp luch.. she can cook eggs, and makes a mean PB & J. So that helps. Another thing that helped us immensely was de cluttering. Cutting back on all excess. Cloths, toys, KnickKnacks all that " stuff " . We do one load of laundry each day. Everyone's goes in together. The kids are very helpful and are still at that age where they actually WANT to help do things like wipe the bathroom counter, fold towels etc. ( we are lacto ovo but we may become only ovo) either way.. they help. Its part of Life skills. I have found that most homeschoolers tend to be more confident about being independent, and sometimes more mature in a abilities/trust worthy sense than most American children whom I know. I think its cause they don't get that " your parents and adults are all evil " from peer groups. Over all I think it fosters more respect - mutually - between parent and child. Also they are allowed to be who they are.. say you have a boy that really loves art or music. He might be ridiculed into hating it at school. In this environment he can express and develop it. One thing we hear a lot was " what about socialization? " When I was a child I remember distinctly being told by many teachers when I was talking in class that I was not there to socialize.. LOL.. But really.. they have neighborhood friends, Scout friends, we visit people weekly in a local nursing home so they have " adopted " family friends. When you work, you work with people of varied ages right? Anywhere from 20 - 70 yrs of age. We are not locked in in the real world with ONLY like aged peers. So really we spend more time together as a family. The kids and I sit at the table, they do their school work, I either write the plans or do what ever paper work I have to do for schooling or life in general. When my husband comes home, I have dinner ready and the kids tell him their stuff.. but there is no homework to deal with so we usually go for a walk ever night after dinner. Sometimes they stay home and watch tv.. or play some game. Sometimes they come with the DH and I. ( we always take the baby and the 4 yr old in a double stroller) Sometimes we all play a game together How much do we spend? When I first started we got all our stuff for about $50 USD. Second and 3rd year I bought all books and tests and a " canned " pre printed curriculum for three kids ( when our oldest was in highschool) for under $1000 total. This year.. we are doing something different. Using less separate books and ones that are not consumable etc.. and doing less " testing " I think I spent under $150. I know people who use the public library and the internet only and they spend a lot less. Only the cartridge for their printer pretty much. Their children are quite well educated. You would be surprised. Steph " We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive. " C.S. Lewis @gro <%40> ups.com [@gro <%40> ups.com] On Behalf Of Lynnea Hansen Nascimento Thursday, July 26, 2007 8:20 AM @gro <%40> ups.com Help veg mom! To Jen, and other veg parents who might be able to shed light on this... Am on the vegparents discussion list, and read that you home school, cook for your family, etc. You have my total and complete admiration. I really want to know how you and other home schoolers manage. I don't work outside the home, nor do I home school, but with keeping the household running, and getting our two sons to their extra-curricular activities, supervising homework, I can barely get simple meals on the table. I'd love to home school, too. One important factor is that we live in Brazil--lots of great vegan products are unavailable, and school days are four hours of just straight academics, with one son in the morning session, and one in the afternoon, lunch at home, and we have to provide them with the sports, music, and art, which means lots of chaufering. When you can manage a few minutes in your busy schedule, I'd love to know: what's your typical weekday like? what is your source for homeschooling material and guidance? cost of homeschooling? is there any time left over for just hanging out with the family? time for husband? how many kids? We are vegan, and have two lifetime vegan sons, ages 12 and 9. I have many times been tempted to go ovo-lacto, to make life easier, but my husband is totally opposed to this, so relying on his conviction, we remain vegan. I really appreciate thoughts on this... Warm regards from the tropics, Lynnea Jen <thefourlakes@ <thefourlakes%40> > wrote: Hi Steph, I'm in Ohio and I'm a home schooler too. I don't know how everyone else will answer this question, but I have found that eating healthy, including removing meat from our meals does cost more. We spend so much more on food now that it's surprising, even though I expected it. The bonus though, besides the long term benefits of longer life, lower cancer, heart disease and diabetes risks, etc., is that we have not been to the doctor or bought any type of medicine since we went veg. My children haven't even had colds in that time. We do still include dairy and some eggs, but we have cut down on our intake of those foods, and we are much pickier about which we buy. So, although the food costs more, the medical costs are less, which is great. I am still learning about vegetarian meals, and there are ways to cut costs, just as I knew there were when I was cooking meat. The only place I can't cut costs is in fresh foods. My family does not like frozen veg, so we have to buy it all fresh. Not so bad in the summer, but tough in the winter. Fresh veg also require more time to prepare, so I spend a decent amount of time in the kitchen. I developed a " sous chef " callous on my first finger within the first month of going veg from all the chopping. If I were smart, and better prepared, I would make up the veg ahead of time; cut all the veg up for a few days' supply and keep it in the fridge, ready to eat or cook. I'll get around to that soon. :-) The best part of it all is that I feel really good about what I feed my family. I know that they will be healthier and happier because of it, and that makes me happy. Soooo, I guess you CAN buy happiness, or at least, you can buy vegetables, and that makes us happy. Not rich, but happy. Jen in NE Ohio ________ Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows. Answers - Check it out. http://answers. <http://answers. <http://answers./dir/?link=list & sid=396545469> /dir/?link=list & sid=396545469> /dir/?link=list & sid=396545469 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 30, 2007 Report Share Posted July 30, 2007 The produce section is the best anyway!! You know what I'd give to have *real* mangoes year-round? We only have good ones in the store during the summer. I looooove mangoes... and pretty much any type of fruit. Lynnea Hansen Nascimento <lynnea_hansen wrote: Actually, I could have things shipped, but if it's anything but books, there's a 100% duty--paying double is just too much. So when we're in the US, or when we have visitors from US, I stock up on things like Ener-G Egg Replacer, but basically just go without lots of things that are perishable or need refrigeration. It also means that you have to get pretty creative-- We have a big advantage in the produce department, though. The tropical climate means not only fresh mango and papaya all year round, but over a dozen types of bananas, and lots of fruits that I had never seen or heard of, and fresh local veggies always available. Awesome cashew and Brazil nuts, too. The major cities have vegetarian, and even vegan restaurants, although even large towns will usually have only natural foods restaurants that serve fish and poultry, but will have some veg options. In the US, we pig out on vegan cream cheese and bagels, and the boys love Tofutti Cuties, and vegan parmesan... Lynnea Paige <gosstucker wrote: Lynnea, Is it easy to have the products that you want shipped to you? Or is it too expensive. I used to live in a rural meat and potatoes area and now am thankful to be living in Los Angeles. I have access to a lot of vegan options. _____ On Behalf Of Lynnea Hansen Nascimento Friday, July 27, 2007 4:15 AM Re: OT RE: Help veg mom! We are also big fans of Milton Nascimento! But we are not related to him... The last name " Nascimento " in Brazil is like " Johnson " in the US--there are just tons of them! (Milton was adopted as a baby--little did his parents know what a genious they were being blessed with!) If you like that kind of Brazilian music, I recommend others, too: Older music of Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, current music of Marisa Monte and Ana Carolina. Actually, I'm not from Brazil--I'm from Connecticut! I met my Brazilian husband at New York University, we married in Ct, and I've lived in Brazil for 14 years, near Rio, with two sons, 9 and 12. He was already vegan, and I was ovolactoveg, but wanting to become vegan, which then became an easy transition in his company. I really envy all you US vegs for the availability of lots of products we don't have here--personal care labeled vegan, nutritional yeast, soy/vegan cheeses, ready-made pie crusts, and much more... Quinoa just arrived last year... Plus veg meet-up groups, with kids--my sons have never even met a veg kid--I haven't been able to find any, although in São Paulo, 6 car-hours away, I know some exist (ovo-lacto). This list helps reassure me that we're not alone in the vegan world--I had begun to feel very isolated in this 'vegan family' project... Lynnea robin koloms <rkoloms (AT) (DOT) <rkoloms%40> com> wrote: Hi Lynnea, I have been dying to ask this when I found out that you were from Brazil. Are you related to Milton Nascimento? I am a HUGE fan. Robin Lynnea Hansen Nascimento <lynnea_hansen@ <lynnea_hansen%40> > wrote: Steph, Yes, on-list is great...those who are so inspired can join in. I'm simply bowled over by your generous, complete and wise response. And still in awe of how you and other veg parents manage to home school, too. I'm going to digest all this a bit more, and write again at a later moment. Thank you so much for taking the time to write. Lynnea RnScarlson <scarlson1 (AT) cinci (DOT) <scarlson1%40cinci.rr.com> rr.com> wrote: I dunno if you ment for this to be off list. So I put OT in the subject.. if we have to take this off list feel free to email me off list. For our family, it really simplified things. Every homeschool family I met has done things differently from each other. And we all homeschool for different reasons. For some its religious, for other social, some others think that it's a better way, some have combinations of all three or only two etc. So its family specific. The styles of " how to " are as varied as Vegetarian labels. Just like you have Vegans, Lacto only, Ovo only, lacto ovo, Vegetarian but not vegan, Peceitarian etc.. So in the homeschooling communities you have groups and sub groups, One may study Classical Curriculum, another may have an Unschooling approach, yet another may do what's referred to as Charlotte Mason, and another may use some combination. In American we even have On line schools now too.. where the child is enrolled in the public school system, with a teacher they can contact via the email or the phone! We have two children ages 10 and seven that are officially homeschooled. The others are 4 & 5 yrs old, and do some preschool type stuff. They are too young to have to notify the school district. They are both polishing their reading. Esp the five yr old. We also have a younger daughter almost 2 yrs who has Down Syndrome. So she does a lot of therapy related stuff. Our state/local government pays the therapist to come to your house and basically teach you how to entice or trick your child into learning how to do things that come naturally for most kids. ( different story all together) I mention it cause its some extra thing that adds to our schedule. We also intend to homeschool her as well. We have a very flexible routine or schedule that we follow. Fridays are piano/music lessons. We have a younger graduated homeschooler that comes to our house to teach piano. He is in the local College studying music and uses these lessons as part of his income. This is nice as it keeps me free from having to drive to a lesson and sit there. BUT when my eldest was living at home and we did drive to lessons. During that time sitting in the care I taught my first grader how to read.That was not the only times she read, but that's how we used that time that particular day. Our typical day is get up eat.. the kids go out for an hour.. while I clean up.. then they come in for school a few hours.. eat lunch. help clean up.. and the rest of the day is free. We spend about 20 minutes a day on each subject. We go all year at our house taking vacations around my husbands vacations, and or extended vacations during the Holidays. We school more in the coldest part of the winter, and the super hot parts of the summer.. where we live its very hot and humid this time of year. outside play is unbearable in the heat of the day. So mornings and evenings are optimum play times. Fall and spring is where we take our " breaks " . But they still must do some reading. . Some homeschoolers keep the regular school year. Some do a 6 wk on.. 2 week off .. again.. many different schools of thought. Ever other Wens is Scouting. We belong to a troop at our church. I am unsure if we are going to continue Dance lessons ( Scottish Highland) this fall or not. Precisely because it falls in the evening. I understand that most kids go to school in the day.. and have to attend in the evening.. but still, with our days more open, we prefer day hours. They are hard to get. Any physical activity, I count toward Gym or phys ed hours. However, due to the way we homeschool we believe nature to be very important, and so the kids go out once a week with their nature journal. They can draw what they see, or write about it, or glue what the find in it. Out door play, bike riding, rope jumping, walking in the woods.. all gym time :-) Same with art. They can use different medias, draw from instructions, or just creative. My kids constructed ponds yesterday. Using leaves, grass blades stuff like that to make small recreations of different ponds they saw. I was impressed with the attention to details. I also counted that for art. My ten yr old has taught herself some Spanish, American sign language, and origami. Basically, learning does not end at the school day.. it is all day and hopefully life long. I heard about a survey of Americans, that said like 50% never read a book after highschool. How SAD. As far as academics it does not take that long cause of the teacher to child ratio. They can work at their pace. So say your child takes to fractions easy.. then you don't have to spend so much time there, but maybe it took them a while to understand division, so that took a little longer. It all comes out in the wash so to say. Once they are independent readers you can just write down their " assignment " s and they do it. But your still there to help them understand a concept etc. Sometimes we even do science experiments. ( which can be found on line free too ! ) My 10 yr old is old enough to help fix some meals. Esp luch.. she can cook eggs, and makes a mean PB & J. So that helps. Another thing that helped us immensely was de cluttering. Cutting back on all excess. Cloths, toys, KnickKnacks all that " stuff " . We do one load of laundry each day. Everyone's goes in together. The kids are very helpful and are still at that age where they actually WANT to help do things like wipe the bathroom counter, fold towels etc. ( we are lacto ovo but we may become only ovo) either way.. they help. Its part of Life skills. I have found that most homeschoolers tend to be more confident about being independent, and sometimes more mature in a abilities/trust worthy sense than most American children whom I know. I think its cause they don't get that " your parents and adults are all evil " from peer groups. Over all I think it fosters more respect - mutually - between parent and child. Also they are allowed to be who they are.. say you have a boy that really loves art or music. He might be ridiculed into hating it at school. In this environment he can express and develop it. One thing we hear a lot was " what about socialization? " When I was a child I remember distinctly being told by many teachers when I was talking in class that I was not there to socialize.. LOL.. But really.. they have neighborhood friends, Scout friends, we visit people weekly in a local nursing home so they have " adopted " family friends. When you work, you work with people of varied ages right? Anywhere from 20 - 70 yrs of age. We are not locked in in the real world with ONLY like aged peers. So really we spend more time together as a family. The kids and I sit at the table, they do their school work, I either write the plans or do what ever paper work I have to do for schooling or life in general. When my husband comes home, I have dinner ready and the kids tell him their stuff.. but there is no homework to deal with so we usually go for a walk ever night after dinner. Sometimes they stay home and watch tv.. or play some game. Sometimes they come with the DH and I. ( we always take the baby and the 4 yr old in a double stroller) Sometimes we all play a game together How much do we spend? When I first started we got all our stuff for about $50 USD. Second and 3rd year I bought all books and tests and a " canned " pre printed curriculum for three kids ( when our oldest was in highschool) for under $1000 total. This year.. we are doing something different. Using less separate books and ones that are not consumable etc.. and doing less " testing " I think I spent under $150. I know people who use the public library and the internet only and they spend a lot less. Only the cartridge for their printer pretty much. Their children are quite well educated. You would be surprised. Steph " We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive. " C.S. Lewis @gro <%40> ups.com [@gro <%40> ups.com] On Behalf Of Lynnea Hansen Nascimento Thursday, July 26, 2007 8:20 AM @gro <%40> ups.com Help veg mom! To Jen, and other veg parents who might be able to shed light on this... Am on the vegparents discussion list, and read that you home school, cook for your family, etc. You have my total and complete admiration. I really want to know how you and other home schoolers manage. I don't work outside the home, nor do I home school, but with keeping the household running, and getting our two sons to their extra-curricular activities, supervising homework, I can barely get simple meals on the table. I'd love to home school, too. One important factor is that we live in Brazil--lots of great vegan products are unavailable, and school days are four hours of just straight academics, with one son in the morning session, and one in the afternoon, lunch at home, and we have to provide them with the sports, music, and art, which means lots of chaufering. When you can manage a few minutes in your busy schedule, I'd love to know: what's your typical weekday like? what is your source for homeschooling material and guidance? cost of homeschooling? is there any time left over for just hanging out with the family? time for husband? how many kids? We are vegan, and have two lifetime vegan sons, ages 12 and 9. I have many times been tempted to go ovo-lacto, to make life easier, but my husband is totally opposed to this, so relying on his conviction, we remain vegan. I really appreciate thoughts on this... Warm regards from the tropics, Lynnea Jen <thefourlakes@ <thefourlakes%40> > wrote: Hi Steph, I'm in Ohio and I'm a home schooler too. I don't know how everyone else will answer this question, but I have found that eating healthy, including removing meat from our meals does cost more. We spend so much more on food now that it's surprising, even though I expected it. The bonus though, besides the long term benefits of longer life, lower cancer, heart disease and diabetes risks, etc., is that we have not been to the doctor or bought any type of medicine since we went veg. My children haven't even had colds in that time. We do still include dairy and some eggs, but we have cut down on our intake of those foods, and we are much pickier about which we buy. So, although the food costs more, the medical costs are less, which is great. I am still learning about vegetarian meals, and there are ways to cut costs, just as I knew there were when I was cooking meat. The only place I can't cut costs is in fresh foods. My family does not like frozen veg, so we have to buy it all fresh. Not so bad in the summer, but tough in the winter. Fresh veg also require more time to prepare, so I spend a decent amount of time in the kitchen. I developed a " sous chef " callous on my first finger within the first month of going veg from all the chopping. If I were smart, and better prepared, I would make up the veg ahead of time; cut all the veg up for a few days' supply and keep it in the fridge, ready to eat or cook. I'll get around to that soon. :-) The best part of it all is that I feel really good about what I feed my family. I know that they will be healthier and happier because of it, and that makes me happy. Soooo, I guess you CAN buy happiness, or at least, you can buy vegetables, and that makes us happy. Not rich, but happy. Jen in NE Ohio ________ Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows. Answers - Check it out. http://answers. <http://answers. <http://answers./dir/?link=list & sid=396545469> /dir/?link=list & sid=396545469> /dir/?link=list & sid=396545469 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 30, 2007 Report Share Posted July 30, 2007 What about dried goods? Those you would be able to stock up on, and then reconstitute when you get home. I'm sure there's dried staples that can be made into things like seitan and TVP, also I'm pretty certain there is a dried egg replacer. Presumably you can get beans, legumes and grains locally, right? Then, you can make recipes in bigger batches and freeze the rest, so you don't have to go through all the effort of making everything from scratch every day. It's healthier for you than buying commercially processed foods anyway. Maybe you could look into canning, too. Then you'd have shelf-stable foods. Liz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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