The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

No.253: Reflections On Our Second School Year at the Farmhouse

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School’s out for summer!  A few thoughts and memories I want to remember:

We went into our second school year at the farmhouse with the goal of getting ourselves out there.  We joined a weekly co-op and started new activities in town.  While we still have a ways to go, I think we made progress in the right direction.   

Duds and failures:

1. Not enough creativity and too much “do the next page” // Because of our new extra-curricular commitments, I had trouble keeping creativity alive in our daily work.  Most of the kids took an art class through the co-op and I scrapped that subject from the plan – much to our detriment!  They really enjoy that creative expression in their schoolwork, so I’ll be working extra-hard to add art and projects to our plan again in the fall.
2. Shakespeare // Can I just say that Shakespeare really intimidates me?  I read parts of How to Teach your Children Shakespeare and a handful of helpful blog posts, but I still had trouble implementing it.  We did manage to read Macbeth, but I’m not sure I taught it correctly.  
3. Nature Study // I have a crazy two-year-old who made this impossible.  Maybe next year?

Successes:
1. Dictation for Dyslexic Learners // A handful of my kids have various degrees of dyslexia so I’m always looking for off-the-beaten-path ways to help them learn.  Another homeschooling mother recommended dictation and she was totally right!  I used Dictation Day by Day with my fourth grader and his handwriting, spelling and grammar all improved just from studying a passage and then writing it as I read it aloud. 
2. Beautiful Feet Books // We used four guides from Beautiful Feet Books this year: Modern American and World History, Early American History, History of Western Expansion and Geography Through Literature.  I loved them all!  Their book choices are great and the guides provide enough structure to keep us on task but are open-ended that I can pick and choose which assignments to complete.  We’ll definitely be using them again next year.
3. Grammar // We used First Language Lessons in our morning basket for grammar and I am amazed at how much the kids retained!  Just yesterday, as they were working through a MadLib book, I heard: “Okay, we need a verb.  A verb is a word that does an action, shows a state of being, links two words together, or helps another verb.”  A proud moment where homeschooling feels worth it, hah! 
To celebrate the last day of school, everyone got a book to jumpstart summer reading:
D (age 10) // Click Here to Start
Tradition is also to get everyone a treat, so we celebrated with soft serve ice cream!

It was a good year and I’m happy to continue again in the fall.  But first – a summer of relaxed schedules and gobs of long overdue house projects.  

No.252: Read With Me // Overdressed (Part 1)

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As you may know, I’ve been selling secondhand clothing on Poshmark for almost a year now.  Looking critically at clothing has opened a whole new world to me!  I’m asking questions like, What kind of fabric is this?  How is this garment constructed?  How in the world can they sell a brand new knit sweater so cheaply?!  In the past year, my fashion self-education has taught me a lot, but I know there is still so much to learn.

So to help me out, I assigned myself a bit of summer reading: Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion.  Like last year, I thought it would be fun to jot down some notes and thoughts as I read through it this month and share them here.  Maybe it will inspire you to look at your closet in a new way too!

The book is divided into nine chapters.  Today’s Part One will look at the Introduction and Chapters 1 and 2.

Introduction

The introduction is only ten pages long, but I underlined something on almost every page!  Here are two quotes that had me nodding my head in agreement already:

That clothes can be had for so little money is historically unprecedented.  Clothes have almost always been expensive, hard to come by, and highly valued; they have been used as alternate currency in many societies.  Well into the twentieth century, clothes were pricey and precious enough that they were mended and cared for and reimagined countless times, and most people had a few outfits that they wore until they wore out.  How things have changed.  We’ve gone from making good use of the clothes we own to buying things we’ll never or barely wear.  We are caught in a cycle of consumption and waste that is unsettling at best and unsatisfying at its core. (p.4)

Clothes could have more meaning and longevity if we think less about owning the latest or cheapest thing and develop more of a relationship with the things we wear.  Building a wardrobe over time, saving up and investing in well-made pieces, obsessing over the perfect hem, luxuriating in fabrics, and patching and altering our clothes are old-fashioned habits.  But they’re also deeply satisfying antidotes to the empty uniformity of cheapness.  If more of us picked up the lost art of sewing or reconnected with the seamstresses and tailors in our communities, we could all be our own fashion designers and constantly reinvent, personalize, and perfect the things we own. (p.9) 

Chapter 1: “I Have Enough Clothing to Open a Store”

Cheap fashion and off-price chains have come to occupy a significant part of the retail market.  Their dominance, paired with the majority of department store clothing now being sold on sale, has fully reset our expectations about how much clothes should cost and what they are worth.  This constant chipping away of the price of apparel has shifted the concept of what is “affordable,” with once-reasonable prices now seeming expensive to us. (p.31) 

Target and Old Navy initially needed marketing to redefine cheap fashion as chic, but today cheap fashion needs no endorsement.  Whether we’re buying from off-price stores, department store sales, or from pure discounters, landing clothing deals in the realm of $30, or often much less, is ingrained in our culture.  It’s simply the way most of us shop.  (p.33)  

 Notes and takeaways from this chapter:

  • This chapter was an overview of the history of fast fashion.  Surprisingly, the roots go back to the Gap!

Chapter 2: How America Lost Its Shirts 

To understand why fashion is so beguiled by overseas production, consider that even after outsourcing almost our entire clothing industry to low-wage countries, labor is still a huge part of the cost of garment production.  According to recent estimates, raw materials account for 25 to 50 percent of the cost of producing an item of clothing, while labor ranges from 20 to 40 percent.  “Fashion is a labor-intense industry, not a technology-intense industry.  You need someone to sit at a sewing machine,” DiPalma says.  Clothing, even when produced in a factory, is really a handmade good broken down into assembly-line steps.  The sewing machine is more a tool than a machine, as it really just facilitates and speeds up manual work.  (p.42)  

Low wages don’t just affect immigrants and garment workers…Long before the recession began, jobs were becoming increasingly polarized in the United States, with The New York Times reporting in 2010 on a number of economic studies that showed high-paid occupations that demand higher education and advanced skills growing alongside low-wage, entry-level, service or retail jobs.  This trend is intimately related to the loss of manufacturing in the United States.  Skilled middle-income jobs, those once populated mostly by factory workers, are the ones that have disappeared, and they have evaporated even faster since the start of the current recession. (p.56)

 Notes and takeaways from this chapter:

  • To make cheap clothes, you need cheap labor.  These stats are unsettling: “Garment workers in the United States today, although poorly paid by American standards, make more than four times as much as Chinese garment workers, 11 times Dominican garment workers, and 38 times Bangladeshi garment workers.” (p.43)
  • Fun fact: Nike has never made their shoes in the United States; they have always been made in Japan and Taiwan.
  • Another fun fact: Levi’s was one of the last major garment manufacturers to give in and source from overseas, closing its last last factory in 2004.

No.251: Around Here in June

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CELEBRATING // the end of the school year!  I’m feeling good about what we accomplished this year and I feel confident going forward in the fall.  It’s hard to believe that I’ll have 7th, 5th, 3rd, 1st and PreK students…time is flying.

INSTALLING // childproof door locks after discovering that P (2.5 years old) can easily unlock our deadbolts and run outside unattended.  These were fairly priced and easy to install.  I also love that it’s 12 times stronger than a deadbolt and will keep us safe when Mark is away on business trips. #scaredycat

STARTING // a month-long spending freeze after we had to pay a jaw-dropping amount of money to repair our car so it would pass inspection.  A necessary purchase of course, but boy does it sting!  We’ve been having setback after setback on our way to debt freedom this year, although it’s still my big goal for 2019!

COMPLETING // a few necessary house projects that have been on our to-do list for months: cleaning out the gutters and staining our big front porch.

POSTING // a bunch of P’s outgrown clothes onto Trash Nothing.  I’ve been the recipient of so many generous people who have given us kids clothes through the years and I’m happy to pay it forward.  And bonus: extra room in our closet!


MAKING // loaves of bread and batches of granola.  I’ve also been brainstorming relatively healthy dinners that are cheap and can feed an army.  If you’ve got a favorite, I’d love to hear it!

LENDING // my 20th loan on Kiva!  I started with one $25 loan back in 2011 and have re-lent that money over and over again to different female entrepreneurs worldwide.  This time I lent to Jackline, a single mother of two in Kenya who is looking to buy an additional dairy cow for her milk sales business.  I’ll be praying for her success!


READING // The Mermaid.


WATCHING // Madam Secretary while Mark was away on business.  Tea Leoni’s voice is so soothing.

SELLING // on Poshmark again and having so much fun!  The kids challenged me to earn $1,000 before we start school again in August and while that’s a lofty goal, I’m going to try.


CONSIDERING // the idea of joining a local book club, although I’m not exactly sure where to start looking!  I did notice that there was a Well-Read Mom group not too far from me, so maybe I’ll look into that one. 

TRAINING // Lucy and sounding like a broken record.  She’s starting to push boundaries so I know consistency is key.  Puppies aren’t for the weak!

No.250: TBR Tuesday // New Haul from Book Outlet!

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P.S. If you go through this link, you’ll get a $10 off coupon towards your first Book Outlet order of $25 or more.

I took advantage of a Book Outlet sale a little while ago and am finally getting around to sharing!  Here’s what I got:

THESE IS MY WORDS: THE DIARY OF SARAH AGNES PRINE, 1881-1901
Amazon | Book Outlet (looks to be sold out!)
This book has been on my Goodreads TBR since 2010 and I have no idea where I heard about it.  Many of my friends have read it and given it four or five stars, so I’m anxious to dive in. 
The description: A moving, exciting, and heartfelt American saga inspired by the author’s own family memoirs, these words belong to Sarah Prine, a woman of spirit and fire who forges a full and remarkable existence in a harsh, unfamiliar frontier. Scrupulously recording her steps down the path Providence has set her upon – from child to determined young adult to loving mother – she shares the turbulent events, both joyous and tragic, that molded her, and recalls the enduring love with cavalry officer Captain Jack Elliot that gave her strength and purpose.



MY ITALIAN BULLDOZER
Amazon | Book Outlet
Alexander McCall Smith writes the No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series and I wanted to check out his other work.
This one comes recommended!

The description: Paul Stuart, a renowned food writer, finds himself at loose ends after his longtime girlfriend leaves him for her personal trainer. To cheer him up, Paul’s editor, Gloria, encourages him to finish his latest cookbook on-site in Tuscany, hoping that a change of scenery (plus the occasional truffled pasta and glass of red wine) will offer a cure for both heartache and writer’s block. But upon Paul’s arrival, things don’t quite go as planned. A mishap with his rental-car reservation leaves him stranded, until a newfound friend leads him to an intriguing alternative: a bulldozer. 
With little choice in the matter, Paul accepts the offer, and as he journeys (well, slowly trundles) into the idyllic hillside town of Montalcino, he discovers that the bulldozer may be the least of the surprises that await him. What follows is a delightful romp through the lush sights and flavors of the Tuscan countryside, as Paul encounters a rich cast of characters, including a young American woman who awakens in him something unexpected.
A feast for the senses and a poignant meditation on the complexity of human relationships, My Italian Bulldozer is a charming and intensely satisfying love story for anyone who has ever dreamed of a fresh start.




THE MITFORD MURDERS 
Amazon | Book Outlet
I first saw this mystery (based on true events) at the library.  At less than $6 for a hardcover, I couldn’t pass it up!
The description: It’s 1920, and Louisa Cannon dreams of escaping her life of poverty in London.
Louisa’s salvation is a position within the Mitford household at Asthall Manor, in the Oxfordshire countryside. There she will become nursemaid, chaperone and confidante to the Mitford sisters, especially sixteen-year-old Nancy, an acerbic, bright young woman in love with stories.
But then a nurse―Florence Nightingale Shore, goddaughter of her famous namesake―is killed on a train in broad daylight, and Louisa and Nancy find themselves entangled in the crimes of a murderer who will do anything to hide their secret…




READING WITH PATRICK: A TEACHER, A STUDENT, AND A LIFE-CHANGING FRIENDSHIP
Amazon | Book Outlet
Teachers have always been heroes to me.  They are the ones doing hard, underappreciated work and I’m so inspired by them.  This memoir sounds so good.
The description: Recently graduated from Harvard University, Michelle Kuo arrived in the rural town of Helena, Arkansas, as a Teach for America volunteer, bursting with optimism and drive. But she soon encountered the jarring realities of life in one of the poorest counties in America, still disabled by the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. In this stirring memoir, Kuo, the child of Taiwanese immigrants, shares the story of her complicated but rewarding mentorship of one student, Patrick Browning, and his remarkable literary and personal awakening.
Convinced she can make a difference in the lives of her teenaged students, Michelle Kuo puts her heart into her work, using quiet reading time and guided writing to foster a sense of self in students left behind by a broken school system. Though Michelle loses some students to truancy and even gun violence, she is inspired by some such as Patrick. Fifteen and in the eighth grade, Patrick begins to thrive under Michelle’s exacting attention. However, after two years of teaching, Michelle feels pressure from her parents and the draw of opportunities outside the Delta and leaves Arkansas to attend law school.
Then, on the eve of her law-school graduation, Michelle learns that Patrick has been jailed for murder. Feeling that she left the Delta prematurely and determined to fix her mistake, Michelle returns to Helena and resumes Patrick’s education—even as he sits in a jail cell awaiting trial. Every day for the next seven months they pore over classic novels, poems, and works of history. Little by little, Patrick grows into a confident, expressive writer and a dedicated reader galvanized by the works of Frederick Douglass, James Baldwin, Walt Whitman, W. S. Merwin, and others. In her time reading with Patrick, Michelle is herself transformed, contending with the legacy of racism and the questions of what constitutes a “good” life and what the privileged owe to those with bleaker prospects.

CHASING THE NORTH STAR
Amazon | Book Outlet

This was an impulse buy as I browsed the titles, but doesn’t it sound interesting?
The description: In his latest historical novel, bestselling author Robert Morgan brings to full and vivid life the story of Jonah Williams, who, in 1850, on his eighteenth birthday, flees the South Carolina plantation on which he was born a slave. He takes with him only a few stolen coins, a knife, and the clothes on his back–no shoes, no map, no clear idea of where to head, except north, following a star that he prays will be his guide. Hiding during the day and running through the night, Jonah must elude the men sent to capture him and the bounty hunters out to claim the reward on his head. There is one person, however, who, once on his trail, never lets him fully out of sight: Angel, herself a slave, yet with a remarkably free spirit. In Jonah, she sees her own way to freedom, and so sets out to follow him. Bristling with breathtaking adventure, Chasing the North Star is deftly grounded in historical fact yet always gripping and poignant as the story follows Jonah and Angel through the close calls and narrow escapes of a fearsome world. It is a celebration of the power of the human spirit to persevere in the face of great adversity. And it is Robert Morgan at his considerable best.

Your turn!  What’s on your nightstand right now?

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