Affording Homeschool

Next to legal requirements, one of the biggest barriers to homeschooling is financial.

Homeschooling is cheaper than schooling in that we don't have to pay for registration fees, uniforms, teacher gifts, and extra curricular costs but we do have to purchase our own materials and pay for homeschool classes. The biggest financial drawback to affording homeschool is that most families can't manage dual incomes and homeschooling.

How can a family afford to keep one adult out of the nine to five? And how can they still pay for classes, materials, and travel?

When I left my salaried job, it was to be a temporary stay-at-home-mom to Lil until she started school. The decision to homeschool made us adjust to the idea that I might never bring in a full-time paycheck again. Instead we rely on Alex's decent but not excessive earnings. We manage to make a single income work two ways: smart spending and secondary income.

Smart Spending

We are not the most budget oriented people, but we do try to make well considered purchases.  Here's how our spending breaks down:

Invest in quality

• shoes - one or two pairs per person
• art supplies - in lieu of art classes
• kitchen tools - in lieu of relying on processed food
• clothes - we invest in wool socks and outerwear for comfort and durability
• technoloy/gadgets - we research and spend wisely on computers, smart phones, and tablets. When we upgrade, we resell the old version.
• food - we spend a lot of money on food and liquor because cooking and dining are our biggest

Beg/Borrow/Barter

• library books - we visit weekly
• thrift store or hand-me-down clothes for Lil
• nature - our playground, entertainment, and toy
• furniture - most of our furniture is handed down from family
• childcare - bartered with friends
• goods and produce - I often trade my writing and marketing services for local goods and produce my family needs

DIY

• charcuterie like bacon and sausage
• preserves including tomatoes, pickles and jam
• fermentables including beer and vinegar
• appliance repair rather than replacement
• wood stove heat
• home repair and renovation

Discounts

• educator - many stores and organizations offer teacher discounts available to homeschoolers. Gift Card Granny has a lengthy list of national teacher discounts.
• single person memberships - whenever possible, we buy a single person plus a guest membership at museums, allowing Lil to attend with one of us
• sales - we don't coupon much but do stock up during school supply sales and end of season garden clearances
• wholesale co-ops - I manage co-operative groups to buy spices, bath and body supplies, and flour at wholesale prices

Alt Society (i.e. saving habits against the norm)

• single car family
• combined trips to save gas
• telework - Alex works from home as much as possible to save on commuting costs
• very few activities for Lil - she's not interested and we're not inclined to push her into money-intensive classes
• infrequent date nights - Alex and I go out to dinner or the movies once a month at best
• resist the latest and greatest - many of our belongings are timeless (i.e. old) not trendy. We wear items out until they are truly not usable again.

Secondary Income

My cooking class, writing, and social media management jobs earn a bit of extra money but only roughly 10% of our family income. I could accept more clients and schedule more classes but I can only spend so much time working when I also want to give attention to Lil and her education. My secondary income is limited by this paradox.

When Alex travels for work, he is paid a per diem for food and incidentals that usually surpasses what he actually spends. We funnel this and any other bonus money into our travel savings account.

Speaking of travel, we take advantage of a airline miles credit card for major purchases. These miles combined with Alex's frequent flyer miles give us the option of free flights. Similarly, we often use free hotel stays through Alex's loyalty points.

We have been fortunate to receive a few inheritances over the years that we save as our emergency fund. Knowing this sum is available should we ever need it helps us stay comfortable with our single income situation.

Every family's financial situation is unique. I share how we make homeschooling affordable simply to note one way to do it. Others work split shifts or make do with less. I believe there are real financial trade-offs to home education but the benefits are equally great.

If you homeschool, how do you manage the finances?

Ohio Homeschool Rules {Back to Homeschool}

Welcome to 'Back to Homeschool' week on Hounds in the Kitchen! First up: homeschooling legal requirements. Whether families choose to unschool, follow curriculum, or road school, we all must do a few basic things to stay 'legal': notify the school district and assess progress. Each state differs in their educational requirements; below, I explain how my family follows Ohio homeschool rules.

Notify

Before the beginning of the traditional school year when the child turns six years of age, parents in Ohio must notify the superintendent of their home district in writing of the intent to home educate. The notification letter must contain specific information about the student, qualifications of the parent (minimum of a high school diploma) and a list of intended home education subjects and materials to meet the minimum 900 hours of instruction. Read the Ohio Administrative Code for all the details needed in the notification letter.

I use the Ohio Academic Content Standards to develop our list of intended subjects. Our materials include the collection of the Columbus Public Library, encyclopedias, field trips around the world, and nature. I can share share our letter via email if you wish to use it as a template for your own.

According to code, the superintendent has fourteen days to respond with a letter excusing the child from school attendance. In our experience, the Columbus Public Schools exceeded this period but did eventually send the excuse letter for Lil's 2011-2012 school year. As of today, August 27, 2012, we are still waiting to hear back from our letter sent August 1, 2012.

When I receive the excuse letter, I scan it in the computer and save to Dropbox to have a digital record. Then, I keep a copy in my purse to receive teacher discounts and prove home education excuse in the unlikely event that someone would accuse Lil of truancy.

Plan a Portfolio

There are two common ways to assess annual progress in Ohio: via standardized tests or a portfolio review by a certified teacher. Given that opposition to standardized tests are one of the reasons my family homeschools, we go with the latter option.

I keep a binder filled with clear document sleeves in our family desk. Throughout the year, I tuck writing samples, ticket stubs, artwork, and other tangibles of our unschooling in the sleeves.

At the end of the year, Lil and I go through the papers and decide what best represents our year. I then three-hole-punch the materials and thread them into a folder labelled with the appropriate homeschool year. I reuse the plastic sleeve binder for the next year.

Alex's parents homeschool Lil one afternoon a week. They keep their own portfolio by printing a picture and writing something about what they did every session.

Certify

The final step in our homeschool year is assessment. We chose Lil's homeschool gym teacher, Chris Quickert, for an evaluation interview. Lil read him a picture book, shared artwork and pictures, and told him about her unschool year. I learned some things at the interview too: when Coach Chris asked Lil what she liked best about homeschooling, she answered 'reading'. What does she like least? Math from a book, meaning workbooks that we haven't touched for months.

Chris provided a very simple letter that certified Lil was progressing. I sent his 2011-2012 evaluation letter to the Columbus City Schools superintendent with our 2012-2013 notification letter.

How do you keep track of the legalities? What else do you hope I'll cover in Back to Homeschool week?

Kousa Dogwood Fruit {Foraged Edible}

Last week, we walked the dogs past this house and this tree for the thousandth time when I spotted something new: pink spiked fruit.

Alex picked one up off the ground. The soft fruit was about the size of his thumb nail. With a little pressure, the skin split open to reveal bright orange flesh inside.

"It's edible," I said without knowing exactly what it was, nor having ever tasted it myself. I just knew I looked it up a few years ago. Ever the risk-taker, Alex licked a bit. "Tastes like mango." We passed around the fruit and agreed it was very sweet and tropical-flavored.

As soon as I returned home, I looked up the tree. It's a Kousa Dogwood, an Asian version of the ornamental tree species. Kousa fruits are indeed edible and sometimes used to make wine.

Lil and I ventured out later to collect some more. We observed the Rules of Foraging and rang the bell of the nearest house to ask permission. No one answered so we limited our picking to what was fallen on the ground.

I tossed our modest haul in the Foley food mill and pressed the gritty flesh from the tough skin. With only a few tablespoons of yield, I naturally mixed the puree into a vodka martini with a lemon twist.

If you happen to see a Kousa tree in your neighborhood, collect fruit in the fall to experience this taste of the tropics in central Ohio. And if you're a gardener, consider planting one - these Dogwoods are resistant to fungal diseases that often kill the more common Flowering Dogwood.

What I'm Up To... {Friday Five}

...other than writing Hounds in the Kitchen. I feel like I've been neglecting the blog recently, but it's all for good reason. Here's what is taking my time: 1) Volunteer work with Ohio 4-H International Program and Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association - both have heavy summer seasons and in the last month I gave over 40 hours of my time to volunteer opportunities

2) House showings - we are cleaning and vacating for potential buyers every few days but we don't have an offer yet. Any help you can offer in sharing our listing or making house voodoo magic would be much appreciated!

3) Castles, zoo, parks - to ease some of the house selling stress, I am taking extra care to treat Lil to outings around our city.

4) A special opportunity - I was invited to be part of something big and exciting to be revealed very soon!

5) Planning fall classes - In addition to what I already have scheduled on the events calendar, I will be offering two new types of classes at new locations. I'm still nailing down the final details, so look for an announcement about when and where next week.

What are you up to?

Pressure is On! Canning Sweet Corn

I finally did it. I bit the bullet and tried pressure canning. I chose canning corn for my first project because it is abundant right now and I generally like store-bought canned corn.

To begin, Alex and I husked 4 dozen ears of fresh, non-GMO corn from Bird's Haven Farms. I cut kernels off the cobs while a large pot water boiled on the stove and the jars and lids sanitized in two additional pots of boiling water. Yes, I'm glad that our heat wave finally broke and the kitchen stayed at sub-sauna temperatures!

I loaded the raw corn into the jars, pouring boiling water over top and released air bubbles with a sanitized thin knife. I read the instruction manual and adjusted the canner weight for 10 pounds of pressure. Then I placed on the two part lids, put the jars in the canner, twisted the lid closed and turned up the heat.

My sweet corn and I survived to report that pressure canning is no more trouble than water bath canning. The only difference, really and truly, is the annoyance of the sputtering canner sound. For sweet corn, you must endure the hissing for a full fifty five minutes. I recommend leaving the kitchen and doing something else during the processing, lest your ears bleed from the racket.

The canner had to cool for a full half hour before the seal released. All six jars sealed within minutes of being removed from the pot. Sweet!

Only time will tell if home canned corn texture is something I enjoy eating, but at the very least this batch taught me that pressure canning is nothing I should fear. Low acid vegetables, stocks, and meats - the pressure is on!

Have you ever pressure canned? What do you think about it?

Added to Simple Lives Thursday #110

How to Harvest Hickory Nuts

Post by Lil, age six 

This is how you harvest hickory nuts. You have to a hickory nut tree. The bark is jaggedy and there are many lobed leaves on each branch.

This is how you know the nuts are ripe: it has to be brown and also green. When it's hickory nut season you let them fall down and pick them up off the ground.

You have to have a vice to crack them. It's hard to crack the shell open. Squirrels crack the shells open with their teeth.

After the squirrels drop the nuts, they can hit the roof of the garage or the ground. It gets the ground kind of messy so watch out for that.

The meat is ripe when it is light brown. It tastes kind of like pecans. I usually eat them raw.

I like doing hickory nuts because the inside is yummy.

Note from Rachel: Encouraging your child to collect, crack, and consume hickory nuts is a most glorious waste of time learning activity.

Have you ever eaten hickory nuts? Do you like Lil writing on Hounds in the Kitchen? She wants to know!

Circle of Lives at Wuebker Hog Farrowing Farm

In mid-July I attended a Sustainable Pork tour at Wuebker Farms put on by the National Pork Checkoff. I learned a lifetime's worth of information about pork production in my twenty-four hours in Versailles, Ohio and am very thankful that Jeff and Alan Wuebker opened their farm to me. While I will share some opinions later, a factual account of the farrowing farm tour seems appropriate first. Below is what I witnessed on the farm through the eyes of the three types of individuals who spend time there: piglets, birthing sows, and the farmers themselves.

Piglets on the Farm

A piglet's life begins in the farrowing barn, a brightly lit, sterile-feeling room filled with 300 stalls containing birthing and nursing pigs. The three pound piglet quickly finds its way to a teet to nurse or the orange-hued heat lamp. Staff monitor the babies to ensure they are healthy and nurse quickly.

Each litter of ten to twenty four piglets is dosed with penicillin to prevent infection at the site of the umbilical cord.  At age four days, tails are docked to prevent pigs from chewing on their own or other's tails for amusement. The Wuebkers administer a dose of iron and antibiotics at the time of docking.

By twenty days of age, the piglet has quadrupled its body weight and is weaned from his mother in a noisy process we did not witness. The weaned piglets are loaded on a sanitized truck and transported to a finishing farm in Bellefountaine.

Pigs reach the appropriate weight for slaughter in 165-180 days. Many are slaughtered at a packing plant in nearby Indiana, owned by Mitsubishi. 27% of pork raised in the US is exported, often across the Pacific to Asian markets.

Life of a Breeding Sow

Female pigs become mature and first bred when they are seven and a half to eight and a half months old. The start their journey at the Wuebker Farm in a 24 inch wide by 7.5 feet long gestation crate. Gilts (female pigs before their first litter) and sows (females who have birthed at least one litter) are housed individually to control food intake and prevent abuse by boss hogs.

Artificial insemination, practiced by the Wuebkers and 85% of pig farmers, begins with a boar whose only interest is in the grain bin to which he is attached. The farmers lead the boar through the barn because females in heat breed best when a male is around.

A sterile apparatus is inserted into the gilt or sow and loaded with fresh semen. The Wuebkers receive delivery of semen from a farm forty miles away every other day and store it in a specialized fridge to maintain virility. Each inseminated sow is marked with a wax crayon to show she was bred and staff note details about the insemination on the sow's tracking card.

These cards follow the sows through their 110 days in the gestation barn. The 1400-1500 sows housed in the gestation barn eat from automatic feeders and consume 4000 gallons of water per day. Gestating pigs spend their days standing or laying on a metal grated floor in the climate controlled barn. A few windows allow natural light in and a fanned pit under the floor collects waste.

Towards their due date, sows are moved into the farrowing barn for birth. Most births are induced with a drug similar to the human induction drug pitocin. Each sow has an individual farrowing pen with a gate that slows her descent when lying down so that she does not crush newborns. Sows usually birth their piglets without assistance, though a farmer is nearby to step in if necessary.

As detailed above, a sow remains in the farrowing barn with her piglets until they are weaned at twenty days. She is fed manually in this barn to allow for adjustments in feeding if she has a particularly large or small litter.

Four days after weaning, the sow goes into heat and is bred again in the gestation barn. A sow may have as many as fourteen litters but the Wuebker farm average is four litters. Sows may be culled for low litter size or birthing or nursing problems. Culled sows are slaughtered for sausage.

A Pig Farmer's Life

Jeff and Alan Wuebker begin their work day at 7 am Monday through Saturday except for Sundays when they rise at 5 am to complete chores before they and their four to five person staff attend church. The farmers say that "everything we do is for the pigs".

The primary daily chore on the farm is feeding the 1800 sows and monitoring the health of piglets. Like many of the farmers who run Ohio's 2560 hog farms, Wuebker farm workers are certified members of the Pork Quality Assurance Plus program, a national, voluntary set of recommendations covering animal health, biosecurity, waste treatment, and the like.

Once the pigs are satisfied, the Wuebkers and staff move on to more lengthy tasks that must be completed every few days - artificial insemination, birthing, weaning, and transporting piglets.

The Wuebkers grow and mill their own food. Our group didn't witness the food production operation but we drove by some of their 1200 acres of corn, soybean, and wheat. These grains are mixed with supplements in a newly constructed mill using a recipe specially created by a nutritionist.

Biosecurity is a major concern for the Wuebkers. Because the pigs are in such close quarters and piglets are at a fragile stage of life, the farm is kept as sterile as possible. All persons entering the farm change into protective clothing and shoes to prevent the spread of disease.

Despite precautions, many sows on the farm contracted Porcine Reproductive & Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) in 2007 and again in January of 2012. Pigs with PRRS develop a fever, stop eating, and are not productive mothers. Because it is thought to be a viral infection, treating PRRS is difficult. In the last round of infections, the Wuebkers lost 240 sows and 10-12,000 piglets.

Another major task for Jeff and Alan is creating and monitoring the environmental systems. Lights, heating, air conditioning, and fans run on a computer system that sends monitoring messages and alarms to the farmers' phones. A back-up generator tests itself every week.

As much as is possible, the Wuebkers make energy-saving choices by installing compact flourescent lightbulbs, allowing a computer to control lights and heat lamps, using an evaporative cooling system, and insulating walls. Pig waste is captured in a 2 million gallon lagoon, composted, and applied to the fields as fertilizer. In 2011, the National Pork Board honored Wuebker Farms with their Environmental Stewards Award.

Of course, the farmers keep their eye on pig and food prices. Currently, these are in a lull and Jeff described the farm as losing thousands of dollars a week. The Wuebkers are part of cooperatives with other farmers to minimize risks of the lower markets and, presumably, take advantage of when prices rise again.

The standard Wuebker work day ends around 4 pm, after which the Wuebkers volunteer as board members of the Ohio Soybean Association, the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board, and the Ohio Pork Producers Council. They fit in time for their families and church too before resting for the night - unless the 24-hour monitoring system sends out an alarm.

I'll share my feelings about sustainability next week. What do you think?

Disclosure: Travel, accommodations, and meals were provided. Opinions are my own.

Bathing the Little Hound {Wordless Wednesday}

Low to the ground, the little hound dirties quickly. Fortunately, our deep numerar sink contains her for baths followed by baby bunting towel wraps. We love a clean Hawise!