Avivah Werner

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  • Bartering goods

    Yesterday I got a five gallon bucket of organic compost for my garden.  I think my plants will benefit from the nutritional boost.  I’m friendly with the person selling it, and it occurred to me when we were chatting on the phone that she might be open to doing a trade of some sorts.  So I asked if she was interested in trading some of her compost for some of my produce.  She hadn’t thought of it, though she had heard of others doing it, and was open to the bartering concept.

    I gave her five pounds of cherries, but turns out she only eats organic (she didn’t mention it when we spoke).  I didn’t want her to feel stuck with something she wouldn’t have bought, so I took back half of them (she was happy to keep half), and told her I’d bring her a quart of homemade organic applesauce that I canned (she had an empty canning jar of her own, so she gave hers to me and will keep the one I gave her, which was perfect).  When I was back at home getting the applesauce, I decided to take her some organic pears and apples, too (some we had freshly picked).   She felt it was too much that I gave her, but I was very comfortable with the trade, and both of us were happy with the experience.

    Until a couple of weeks ago when I bartered the pears we picked for some peaches, I never did anything like this, so it’s kind of a foreign idea for me.  But I like it – it feels very friendly and win-win.  It’s better than exchanging money – what I gave her cost me much less than I would have bought the compost for, and what she gave me cost her much less than what she would have bought the fruit for.  I bought the cherries for .55 lb, picked the apples and pears for free, made the applesauce from free apples – so it was under $2 for the things I traded for compost that would have cost me $25 at the special price she sells to friends at.  She would have spent $3 lb on the cherries, and I don’t know how much for the 10 lb of organic fruits, plus the organic applesauce would have been pricey in the store.  The compost she makes is composed of her rabbit bedding mixed with her organic food clippings, so it didn’t cost her anything but time to make it. 

    Bartering simply means thinking about what you have that is valuable to someone, and exchanging it for something they have of value to you.  I think I’ll continue to keep my mind open to fun possibilities like this.  It makes the world a smaller and friendlier place.

    Avivah

  • Drama opportunity

    Tonight my almost 12 year old daughter was in a play.  What kind of  play?

    This was a pretty much last minute opportunity for her.  There is a small local drama camp that has a three week program.  We got a call on Sunday from a mother of one of the girls in the program, asking if my daughter was willing to stand in for her daughter.  They were going away for a few days, and her daughter’s absence would badly affect the play. 

    So the last three nights my daughter has been doing rehearsals, trying to cram in her lines and get the timing down. Tonight was the performance.  It was a minor performance, not in front of huge crowds – just the families of the girls in the play.   She did great, and no one would have guessed that she had so little time to prepare.  She also enjoyed the fun of participating, as well as the comaraderie with the other girls.  She already knew several of them, and a small group activity like this is be a nice way for them to get to know one another better.

    I’m glad she had this opportunity.  She enjoys drama, but it’s something that I can’t easily provide for her at home, and I’ve chosen not to get her involved in with the larger homeschool community.  She participated last month in a play at her sleep away  camp and really enjoyed it.  Now she was sent this chance to enjoy the benefits of a drama camp, not only without having to pay to attend, but with the strong appreciation from all involved for her agreeing to help them all out! 

    Avivah

  • Our super-duper apple machine!

    When I see kitchen gadgets for sale, I tend to ignore them.  They’re usually expensive, unnecessary, and just create more clutter. 

    But a couple of days ago, I was coring lots of apples and thinking that I would appreciate an apple corer to save me some time.  And wouldn’t you know, the next day what did I see in front of me at the discount store but an apple machine!  I usually would walk right past this, but yesterday, took a second look.  It was an apple peeler/corer/slicer, and it seemed to be decent quality.  So I took the chance and bought it for $7, hoping that it would work well.

    This apple machine, as it’s called, is super!  My kids love it.  They think it’s fun to peel, core, and slice an apple in 15 seconds (my 15 yos does it in six seconds :)), with the peel coming off in one long curly piece.  I love it, because now my kids are all vying for the opportunity to use it, and I don’t have to do any more cutting and peeling!   As a result of their fun today, I have 7 quarts of applesauce waiting in the canner right now.   (They all had to taste some, we actually made more than that.)

    As a nice bonus, because the apple peels are unsprayed and come off so nicely, it was easy to turn them into a treat today.  I had one son mix up some oil, cinnamon, and sugar on the peels, and then roast them.  He forgot about them, so I have 4 large pans of charcoal, but he put some in the dehydrator and those came out well. 

    Now on to my next gadget – gotta get a cherry pitter!

    Avivah

  • Son’s cookie selling endeavor

    I’ve shared with you that I try to support my kids initiative when it comes to making money, and that I don’t give allowances, right? And a few days ago I mentioned that my nine year old son was baking cookies with his friend, right?  Well, I’ll share more on that with you now because I think it’s a good example of how kids learn money management and the value of hard work, without me giving them the money to spend.

    He had been asking me what he could do to earn money, and I told him he’d have to think about it.  He got to thinking, and the phone calls were flying back and forth between him and his friend.  They finally came up with the idea to bake and sell chocolate chip cookies.  Initially, they planned to sell cookies individually, and they did sell several, but the presentation wasn’t good and they got some feedback from customers that they integrated the next time they sold them.

    The second time was Thursday – they bagged some individually, but made platters with ten cookies each and sold them as ‘family packs’ for a slightly discounted price.  They wrapped it with clear colored cellophane (I got several rolls for free from someone and was happy to let them have it) and it looked really nice.  They were so excited to come home with everything sold out!  They split the money evenly between them, and that was also exciting, when they saw that they each made a nice sum of money.

    Then my son was so excited he wanted to bake every day.  I firmly told him that twice a week was all I could handle, and told him I would make the kitchen available for them both to bake together on Sundays and Thursdays.  Yesterday his friend was unavailable, so he spent the entire day baking, wrapping them, and cleaning up.  By the time he was finished with all of it, it was too late to go to sell them.  But they were well wrapped and stayed fresh, so the two of them got together late this afternoon and again went door to door selling them.

    And they sold out again!  Something nice they mentioned when they got home was when they returned to the homes where people bought cookies from them on Thursday, the people told them how good they were and were happy to buy again.  After counting his money, my ds asked me to help him put his money into his savings account (we bank with USAA, located in Texas, so he can’t go in person).  The simplest thing was for him to give me his cash, I made a direct transfer from my account into his, and voila! – a minute later the money was in his account.

    He told me tonight he has another idea for a business.  I told him that I didn’t feel ready to hear it, because just this one business is about all I can handle him being busy with right now!  Maybe after a few weeks if they get into a groove with the cookies, then it won’t feel so all consuming when they’re doing it, but for now, I’m very conscious of the time and kitchen space being used (meaning, my kitchen was a mess all day long yesterday, and still in use this morning). 

    I’ve seen it again and again, when you give kids some freedom to make their ideas happen, they can come up with better ideas and are more emotionally invested in the process than they would be if I gave them suggestions.

    Avivah

  • Beginning piano lessons

    Today two of my kids began piano lessons.  I think music lessons are very valuable, but they’re so expensive.  Especially when you have more than one child in lessons, it adds up fast.

    A couple of years ago I started my oldest two kids in piano lessons, and simultaneously began my then 7 year old with tin whistle lessons.  Even though I found very good people who were charging low rates, it was adding up fast. I think that our schedules had a long interruption for Pesach (Passover), and somehow, we never got back on track.  Not because I didn’t think it was worth the money, but because money was tight and it was easier to push it off.  So until now, music lessons have remained in the ‘nice but not crucial’ zone.

    A month ago, I bumped into a neighbor I rarely see (as she puts it, she’s chained to her desk at work) who told me that they just bought a new baby grand piano.  It was a major purchase, one they were thrilled about as she and her husband are both passionate about classical music.  She then asked if any of my kids took music lessons, and if they’d be interested.  I often get asked if my kids take lessons of some sort, almost always followed by the person then asking if I’d be interested in signing them up for xyz. 

    So I told her what I told you, that they’d started, but it got pricey, and as much as I would have liked to continue, it didn’t work out.  Then she said, “The reason I’m asking is I was wondering if you have any children who would be interested in piano lessons.  Now that we have this new piano, I really want to share it with others.  I’m not a trained piano teacher, but I’ve played for years and love music, and would love to teach them for free if they’d be interested.” 

    Well.  Wasn’t that incredibly generous?  I told her that I’m sure more than one child would be interested, and we agreed to be in touch to set up something definite.  But when I called her she wasn’t in, and we played some phone tag.  Two of the three children who were interested went to camp, life was busy, a month passed – and we still hadn’t connected.  Then we bumped into each other at one of the weddings on Tuesday night.  (I always find it ironic when I see neighbors at public events who live just a few doors away from me that we see more of each other there than we do at home.)
     

    The nine and almost 12 year olds each had a lesson first thing this morning, one after another, and enjoyed it very much.  The keyboard that has been on a shelf for over a year came back out today and has been used all day long.  The 13 year old is scheduled to go over on Tuesday night. 

    There are a couple of other great things about this arrangement, besides the price and the very pleasant woman who made the offer.  🙂  One is that she’s so close that my kids can easily walk – it will take them about two minutes, if they aren’t going too fast.  🙂  I’ve found that having kids in extracurricular activities outside the home can eat up a lot of a mother’s time, driving back and forth to get everyone where they need to go, and I’m very grateful that they can enjoy this opportunity without me needing to add more driving to my weekly schedule.

    The other is, she said that since she works all day, no one is home, and if the kids want to practice on her piano when she’s gone, they’re welcome to.  We did buy an electric keyboard when the oldest two started lessons, but practicing on a real piano would definitely be better.

    Another thing I especially like is that she’s not a trained teacher.  I think that the best person to teach something is someone who really loves what they do, and she truly loves classical music and the piano.  Being around someone who has a healthy passion for something is so valuable for kids to see.

    Avivah

  • New family photo coming soon

    I’ve been asked if any of the rotating pictures on the sidebar are of me.  No, they aren’t – I asked my web designer to make the blog page different from the rest of the site so I could post my picture there and it would be clear it was a personal blog, but it wasn’t possible.  I know that probably creates a feeling of confusion for people visiting the first time. 

    We have a family picture that’s always been posted in the ‘about us’ page, that I last week became aware isn’t showing up for some technical reason.  I guess it’s just as well because we need to update it – it was taken almost two years ago and the newest baby isn’t in it.  That’s embarrassing, since he’s eleven months old already!  You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find a time that everyone is home and someone who’s not a family member is available to take even a casual picture for us, let alone getting us all to a portrait studio.  That’s why it takes so long to get updated photos with all of us in them. Anyway, now that I know it’s down, it will push me to take a new family picture and get it up soon!

    For those of you here the first time, we’re a family of 10, eight children ages: 11 months (boy), 28 months (boy), 6 (boy), 7.5 (girl), 9 (boy), almost 12 (girl), 13.5 (girl), and 15 (boy).  We’ve been married very happily for 16 years, and are entering our ninth year of homeschooling.  Feel free to ask questions if there’s something you’re wondering about and don’t see the answer to. 🙂

    Avivah

  • Stocking up on school supplies

    I can’t believe that I’ve forgotten to mention this for you, but it’s not too late! 

    Now is the time to stock up on school supplies for the year.  Whether you’re homeschooling or sending your child to school, there are supplies that are going to be necessary.  (Though if you’re homeschooling, you’re going to need a lot less of some things and a lot more of others- like craft supplies- than the schooled kids.  And if you’re sending a child to school – the lists can be frustratingly long and unnecessary.)  You probably won’t be surprised to hear that I don’t like running out at the last minute to buy the odd eraser or protractor.  🙂  Like everything else, I try to stock up when the prices are good.

    The month before school begins is when the best deals are around!  I buy whatever is outrageously cheap in each store that I know we’ll use, and buy as many as I can.  The stores are all competing with one another now to get your ‘back to school’ business.  Take advantage of it by buying whatever deals they’re enticing you into the store with.

    It probably will mean more running around than you usually do – it does for me, but I arrange my schedule so that I don’t make extra trips.  I pop into whatever store I’m passing that has a sale I want to take advantage of when I’m already out   But even with the more frequent small shopping trips, it’s saving me loads of time and money in the long run.

    You can get many, many supplies for super cheap – 1 – 10 cents each seems to be a common price.  I can’t even remember what I’ve gotten in the last few weeks; I just know that I spent pennies for whatever I bought.  I buy it, give the bag to my kids to stick in the desk downstairs as soon as I get home, and I’ll organize it all sometime in the next few weeks. 

    Make sure you have plenty of the basics – pencils, pens, erasers, notebooks/filler paper, looseleafs (if your child is old enough to use them), crayons, markers, and glue.  You can’t have too much of them (or at least I can’t)!  I stockpile all of these things, and whenever one of my kids announces they need something, instead of running to the store, I send them downstairs to ‘shop’ in my desk.  I like the money saving, I like the time saving, and I love the convenience of having what I need when I need it!

    Check your sale paper tomorrow to see what’s on sale in your area stores!

    Avivah

  • How to get started canning cheaply

    Canning is sometimes suggested as a frugal way to cut down on your food bills, but I have to tell you honestly that the upfront costs aren’t cheap.  Not at all.  It’s usually only in the longer term that you start saving money.  But I’ll share with you how I got started, and what the costs were.

    Unless you have an older relative who gifts you with a canner and jars because they don’t need it anymore, you’ll need to buy all of your canning supplies.  Some people luck into that situation, but that wasn’t me.  :))  I bought the Presto 23 quart pressure canner new from Amazon, for $80, and had free shipping.  You can buy canners that are much pricier, but this one is effective and I don’t see the value in paying 3 times the price if this works well.  Then there’s the cost of the jars – each dozen costs about $ 6 – 8 new, depending on size, and if you plan to can a substantial amount, you’ll need a lot of jars.

    Buying all of those jars new is very expensive, and I’ll share how I’ve managed to aquire a good stock of jars in the last two months at a relatively low cost.  Once you have the jars, you have them for good.  There are no further costs except for the purchase of lids, which are about 15 cents each, since they can’t be reused, so over time the money spent on jars is amortized and you can start to really save money by taking advantage of sales, free or reduced produce, etc. 

    All of my jars have come from Craig’s List.  Most were in response to ads that were placed, and  I also utilized the ‘items wanted’ feature to request people who had jars contact me. 

    My first jar purchase was from a lovely woman who was downsizing her jar collection because her sons were in college so she didn’t need to can as much food.  It was in PA, about a half hour beyond where I do my monthly shopping, so I scheduled it on the day I went shopping and it wasn’t much out of my way.  The Mapquest directions were confusing and I had trouble getting to her home, so I got there after she had left for an appointment, and unfortunately I didn’t get to meet her in person.  But she has helped me out with a couple of canning questions and has been a pleasure to be in touch with via email since then.  I bought around 6.5 dozen half gallon jars (these are the most expensive by far), 6.5 quart jars, and 4 dozen pint jars for $80. 

    Then someone responded to my CL request and gave me 2 or 3 dozen brand new jelly jars.  I responded to an ad on CL a week later, and it turned out to be the same person who gave me the jelly jars (when you use CL, you email to a blind address, so you don’t know who you’re contacting until they contact you).  I was very happy to buy jars from him after his generosity to me.  He lived close to where my dh worked, so my husband picked them up and I didn’t get to meet him in person, either.  It was another $15 for 25 quart sized jars and 19 smaller jars, some still new in a sealed box. 

    Then someone else offered me 1.5 dozen free jelly jars.  Dh picked those up for me also.  I had a couple of people offer me more jars who were too far away for it to be cost effective to drive to.  Then two weeks ago I bought another 129 quart sized jars (I think that’s how many there were…) – it was the night dh picked them up that the van broke down right afterwards – for $30.

    Today I got a lot more jars (after telling dh last week that I wasn’t going to buy any more) – 34.5 dozen half pint jars, all new in the box with bands and lids (except 1.5 dozen didn’t have the lids).  Some women splurge on jewelry and new clothing, I splurge on things like this.  🙂  I paid $40 for the entire lot, which was an amazing deal.  It literally would have cost me more to buy a box with a dozen lids (1.81 at Walmart, less at my new online source) than it cost for each box of jars.  They were being sold by a large institution that bought them for a huge project, and were stacked in the closet, extras that were left over after the event.  The person who took over the position found a closet filled with boxes that she was happy to empty at one time by selling it all to me, and I was happy to be of service.  🙂  It was a true win-win for us both.  She even had a bunch of young teen volunteers load them into my van for me. 

    So now I have approximately 84 – 90 1/2 gallon jars, 232 quarts, and 414 of pints/ half pints with a very few 1.5 pints.  My 9 year old thought I must have thousands, and was disappointed when I added all this up a minute ago and told him I only have 736 (I think I also have another dozen that I bought new a year or two ago that isn’t included in this numberso make it 748).  The total cost for all of the jars was $165, which averages out to about .22 cents a jar.  The average canner won’t be buying or using half gallon jars, and that was a big part of my cost, so you could easily subtract $50 from my total, and the total costs would be under $200 for the canner and all the jars.

    By the way, I think in almost every one of these cases the prices were lowered for me.  None of them were listed at the price I shared with you. The first set was $120, and since I bought all of them, she dropped it to $80.  The next was $25, down to $15.  They were requesting $6 per dozen for the large lot of 129 that I bought, and they agreed to $30, which was 2.79 dozen.  Today’s purchase didn’t have a price in the ad, or other relevant details, and I had to follow up with three different people, which I think is more effort than most people would have been willing to spend (though it only took me 5 minutes or so by email and then one phone call).  I initially offered $100, thinking they were quart sized jars, which they accepted, but then I found out they were the half pint size and told her that I really didn’t want to pay more than $1 a dozen for that size (it’s not a size that’s of maximum value to me, all the others I got in that size were free).  The person I was in contact with called her supervisor to check my offer with her. She (was away for the day) told her they could take $45, I said I’d be okay with $40, and without hesitation she agreed.  You might think that I’m a big bargainer, but I’m really not.  I don’t bargain -I just tell them what I’m willing to pay, I try to be reasonable and fair in my offers, and if it works for them, then good.  If not, that’s okay, too.  I’ve found that most sellers don’t generally have a good idea of what new canning jars sell for, so they price their used jars too high. 

    Canning is a valuable skill, and I look at it as a fun and productive hobby.  It can seem intimidating and foreign (not to mention expensive) to get started, but I think it’s really worth it.

    Avivah

  • Stocking the pantry with fruit!

    Do you have any idea how many apples it takes to make 16 quarts of applesauce?  Neither do I, but I can tell you it’s a HUGE amount.  Especially when the apples are small.  I spent what felt like hours cutting and coring apples yesterday – the first batch filled my 16 quart pot (the largest I have except my canner) 2/3 of the way, the second batch filled the pot to the very top.  I didn’t cook the Granny Smiths that we picked, though, so we still have 20 lb or so to enjoy fresh until we go picking again.  I also made a bunch of compote with a mixture of pears, apples, and peaches that we’ll have for dessert this weekend.

    As much work as it was, it was enjoyable and relaxing (yes, I said relaxing) to do it with the kids.  My 11 year old daughter said the same thing.  It reminded me of when I used to visit my southern great-aunt in the summer.  We’d sit around on the porch with a huge bucket of butter beans or green beans freshly picked from her huge garden, shelling the butter beans or snapping the ends off the green beans as we chatted.  I think that’s been typical for generations – people always had lots of work to do, but they lessened the load and made it more social by doing it together.  It’s only the last generation or two that we have so much leisure time that it’s become a foreign concept.  My 6 and 7 year olds helped out a bunch by cutting the apples in half, so I only had to quarter and core them (I didn’t bother peeling them – I’d still be sitting there with a huge pile of apples if I had).  

    It’s amazing to see how much the fruit cooks down – it doesn’t look like that much after it’s finished cooking.  But it’s a nice feeling of satisfaction to see our homemade organic applesauce, knowing exactly what was put into it, free except for the energy to cook it and the cost of the lid (15 cents).  I love looking at the rows of jars of food that we’ve preserved ourselves – it’s very satisfying.

    In addition to the apples, I put up the last of the pears we picked – three quarts, and three quarts of the peaches from the farmer’s market.  (I can’t remember if I mentioned that we also made a few quarts of spiced pears last week.)  I forgot about a large pot of peeled peaches that were waiting to be canned until last night, so I’ll hopefully finish that up today since I need the fridge space.  I was wondering about how I had so few jars of peaches – now I know why!  I’ve taken the pits out and halved them, so I can fit a lot into a quart jar, since I layer them one on top of another. 

    This coming week I need to find a step ladder to borrow so we can go back and pick more pears – we got all of the pears that were easily reachable from the ground.  It’s funny to think how in the past, we’ve driven forty mintes to u-pick farms for the experience of picking fresh fruit, and then paid more for what we’d picked than we’d pay in the store!

    Avivah

  • Recommended curriculum for first graders?

    >>I wanted to know if you had any advice for me in regard to a first grade language arts program for my son.  …..Do you have any suggestions for a first grade language arts curriculum that would include reading, writing, spelling, and grammar and punctuation (Calvert includes all this as well as introducing cursive in first grade)?  Your opinion would be greatly appreciated. <<

    I have to tell you the truth, as far as structured school in the box type programs, I don’t use them because I don’t think highly of them.  I think it’s the most limited and unstimulating way for kids to learn.  Schools have to rely on things like this to teach many kids at the same time, but it’s a matter of efficiency more than effectiveness.  So I try to take advantage of the freedom homeschooling allows me in finding something that will be more engaging and tailored to each child.

    What I do with kids this age is: read to them lots, bake with them and play board games (many games are great for math skills), listen to them read, and use a basic handwriting workbook (I like D’nealian because the transition to cursive is very natural, instead of learning two forms of writing).  Once they know the basic letter forms, they do copywork.  And the rest of the day is spent being part of a busy household – meaning free play and chores. This has worked well for us to help the kids learn all the skills they need in a relaxed and fun way. 

    I believe that good grammar and spelling come with lots of reading, and I encourage a lot of reading for my kids.  If I were using a program, I would choose something that was integrated with literature, like Learning Language Arts through Literature.  But I’m more free form in my approach and I at the most adapt materials that I see, not use them precisely as they’re written.  I have yet to find something that so exactly fits my personality, priorities of what to teach when, and my children’s needs that I want to follow it exactly.

    I don’t teach reading – I wait for readiness and then help them with sounds of letters, so my first six kids have all picked it up mostly on their own.  There’s a book called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, by Siegfried Engelmann, that I’ve heard recommended by many.  If I were going to use something systematic, it would probably be this.  I did try Phonics Pathways quite a while back but didn’t love it.  I have 100 Easy Lessons out from with library now, thinking to show it to my newly turned six year old to see if he was interested, but I haven’t yet gotten around to it.  I have this feeling I probably won’t get around to it, because my style to teaching reading just isn’t so systematic – it seems like a waste of energy to consciously teach something when it is so naturally picked up when they’re ready.

    I’m not oversimplifying what I do – this is really all.  Homeschooling a child this young is simple – the hard part is trusting that it’s enough and letting go of our preconceived notions of what learning looks like.

    Avivah