Hello and Welcome!

Urban Homeschooling Homesteader... Funny title, I know. 

However, there is a story behind this title.  Last fall we decided to homeschool our daughter Marianna.  It had become apparent that the public school atmosphere that we had her in was doing more harm than good.

So..... In August we began Unit Study based Homeschooling.. It started with Hurricane Katrina.  I had decided to do Unit based study.  I am amazed at how much opportunity life itself gives us to learn.  We learned about hurricanes, from their scientific inner workings to their effects on people, animals and environment. Along with all of this, we were able to ask questions.  What could have been prevented?  What things can be controlled and what cannot be?  What can an individual do to help themselves in an emergency?  As we asked questions, we learned more and more.  I say we.... because both Marianna and myself learned together.  As we went on .. We could see our simple home school evolve.  We created an atmosphere of questions.... research.... answers..... More questions.... and a whoooooooole lot of learning! 

As we progressed with our questions.  We asked ourselves.. What can we do to prevent disasters?  What can we do help ourselves and our neighbors?  The concept of self sufficiency emerged.  We asked more questions, and researched more....  We learned what to put in an emergency kit, how much food and water five people (the number of people in our immediate family) required.  It was there.. The idea of homesteading was born.  As we learned what was required, we thought more and more about how fragile we actually are.  How dependent we are on the ability to run to the store... hop in the car and get this and that to make dinner...etc.  We thought about the word fragile.. If you consult *Merriam Webster's Thesaurus.. You will find this..

Text: 1 easily broken fragile ornaments to the Christmas tree is always a touchy operation>
Synonyms breakable, delicate, frail
Related Word dainty, fine, gossamer; flimsy, slight, tenuous; brittle, crisp, crumbly, flaky, friable, short; feeble, infirm, weak; inelastic, inflexible, stiff firm, solid, substantial; elastic, flexible, resilient
Antonyms nonbreakable, strong, sturdy, tough, unbreakable
2 easily injured without careful handling

After reading this, we decided that the antonyms appealed to us more than the synonyms.  Again, more questions... What can we do? 

That is where our Homestead.. Urban as it is....Came to be...  We learned a little about early homesteaders, and what they did to survive.  What they did to help themselves.  We are learning more about this, while reading the Little House series this summer. 

Again... we ask questions... learn more.... We have come to the conclusion, that there is so much to learn in this wonderful life of ours.... the more we learn... the more questions we ask...

It's that simple.