Month: November 2018

Broadcast is a thing of the past 2018-11-08

We don’t believe in TV. Particularly broadcast. You have to be ready at a certain time. It doesn’t make any sense.

Broadcast through publicly funded means was intended to bring the people objective information and learning, but it has turned more and more into superficial entertainment for the masses. The Danish television also find it hard to stay objective.

It is interesting to hear Julius Bomholt in 1955 tell about his concerns about TV, and relate to current time. We first saw this movie in the Radio Museum in Ringsted. A very interesting Museum I probably will write more about later:

Julius Bomholt – education minister 1955 talks about the use of TV.

So, we havn’t had a TV for the past 18 years. Maybe we will get one in the future if we find that it could serve a purpose in our lives. But for now, we don’t.

It is not that we don’t like relaxing with a good movie or to get informed about what is going on in the world. There are just so many other ways to do just that. We like the internet, youtube and talking to people. Then you can look up many sources of information and points of view. If you try to see a news story from many sides, you can better try to understand what is really going on, without feeling manipulated.

So TV is not a part of our Home School. Neither is Netflix. Different offers of streaming of movies and series on the internet is also in our eyes a manipulated type of information. They only stream what is selling the best, so if I wan’t to see an old movie that nobody else is interested in right now, I probably wan’t be able to see it.

So we still buy and watch DVD’s and watch youtube movies. Mostly watching a movie is a collective project, where we all have our turns to choose or we choose together and all watch together.

The medias is a social thing in our family.

We love ALKALÆR! 2018-11-02.

When we started out homeschooling our first child 10 years ago now, Eag V. Hansn had just come out with a reading system, that only use words that are pronounced exactly as the letters sound. We bought the system and it has now been such a succes, that all our 4 children has learned to read, using that system.

We then found out that ALKALÆR had moved and held a reception open to all in their new headquarters. So we went 🙂

We are going in!

We met the great creator! A kind spirit, with a mission.

He is able to do everything! Write, sing and play. Amazing. What an atmosphere and party attitude to life. Beautiful.

It was all there…. in many copies. An Aladdins cave. Go buy here ALKALÆR

Learning about zero waste

I hate when something is given a new name and then suddenly it is the new thing to do.

We all know it is bad to buy too many thing and to throw too many things out, before they have ended their life cycle.

I have been brought up to buy second hand clothing, buy all our things at flea markets. It was not because we were poor, it was a way of getting more value for our money and a way to keep a good healthy economy in our house.

It was also a respect for the environment. If we try to consume as little as possible and to look after the things we own, so that they last as long as possible, we keep our nature free of man made objects.

Then we respect mother nature, and try not to let our greed overtake our love for the free things, like a beautiful walk in the nature, forests, sundown and sunrise, clean water, the sea and other magical experiences.

We have to think, that every time we purchase an object, it will at some time in its life cycle, end up in the nature. Even if we burn it, it will produce pollution. So if we live simple, and try to keep “things” to a minimum, we will respect nature and treasure our earth.

So how do you teach this in our home school? Well, it is a matter of life style and attitude. Every time a child asks to get more stuff, ask them if they really need it? Let them think. Don’t accuse them of being bad for wanting more stuff, but try to explain how the mass production world works. How advertising works, how shops work.

We always say:”We don’t wan’t our children to become consumers but individuals”.

We work hard at that. Every time you try to convince yourself you need something, try to ask yourself, why do I wan’t that?

With this zero waste trend I find people asking:”What do I need to buy to be zero waste? It is crazy. It’s in the word – zero waste! Don’t buy anything. Use what you have already. Some people also say:”I threw out all my stuff”. That is not zero waste. That is also mad. Great, so you have just polluted us all with your old stuff.

People have moved so far away from living with nature and feeling it’s magic. Some people even say:”We can’t afford living zero waste or environmentally friendly”. Well, how expensive is not buying anything and living simple?

So we try to teach the kids, than things can be repaired and to look after their things. If you don’t need a thing anymore, you can either sell it, give it to someone who needs it or bring it to the relevant way of discarding it for recycling.

We have a huge pile of things we no longer need or maybe could get use of for some creative project in our living room. That is to the childrens free disposal. They can do with it how ever they wan’t to use it.

One day one of my daughters asked me if I could just remind her how you calculate a circle with  pi. So I told her and went on a trip with her sister. When I came home, she had made this skirt on her own! I was really impressed. It is made out of an old bedding we had been given by someone sometime.

It is all about seeing the opportunities.

Positive creative mess in our livingroom. One day the children said:”Mum, we are playing, that we live in a landfill, it’s so great!” The freedom of not being told materials costs money, is such a creative freedom to cut, stick, sew and build from all this still not dead junk.

Home School gathering with Children Christmas Market and Dakota Fire Pitt Project 2018-11-03

We like fire. All sorts of fire. As long as it is real old fashioned fire. We attended scouts for 5 years with the kids, in reflection, I think just to sit at a bonfire and stare into the flames. We love starring into a bonfire and feeling the warmth. No thoughts in our brains. It is relaxing. Meditative. It is so lovely simple and primitive. Still so fascinating and magic. A chemical reaction and pure energy.

When we suddenly realized that we could just make a bonfire in our garden, we stopped being scouts and continued the fire love in our garden. The smell is also wonderful. When you have made any kind of food over the fire or just sat next to a bonfire you smell wonderfully of bonfire. For many days. Your clothes keep the smell for weeks.

We have done a lot of cooking experiments over fire and other things too, but lets try to focus on the food things for now. Our favorite is pancakes and fried bacon.

Today we held a gathering for Home Schoolers in the celebration of Christmas. We had a market for the kids to sell their home made crafts and our oldest daughter had been given the job of selling and frying pancakes over the large bonfire. We held the event at a Nature Cottage owned by the borough. They have 2 large bonfire places.

Then my husband had been reading about how soldiers can make a Dakota Fire Pitt, which is a bonfire buried in the ground. The effectiveness of this fire is that you dig 2 holes next to each other and make an air canal between the two to make a ventilation duct. That reduces the smoke and visibility from afar of the bonfire. You can then get heat and cook food without being found by the enemy.

So today was the day and he made one. It turned out really fine and worked.