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Raw Moms

amysueamysue Raw Newbie

I’d love to start a chat with all of you moms out there about your raw lives and your families. I think many of us could use some support from each other when it comes to keeping our kids and families healthy and happy and doing the same for ourselves. There are so many fascinating individuals here that I think we could all learn from each other, whether you’re high raw, low raw, want to be raw, pregnant raw, I’m looking forward to getting to know you!

In case you don’t know me, I’m the mother of a soon-to-be 8-year old daughter living in Massachusetts. We’re homeschoolers who travel quite a bit and take each day as a new adventure and opportunity. My husband is British with a green card, runs a non-profit, and is not raw. Our daughter is a vegetarian and is about 75% raw. We are all very passionate about keeping our planet healthy and helping those in need.

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Comments

  • Hi there!

    My daughter is almost 19 months old and she eats about 75% raw/25% cooked vegan. I’m a bit closer to 85% raw. My partner is not raw. I’m a stay-at-home mom and I love having the opportunity to be so involved with my daughter. I hope to be high raw and unsupplemented before we have our next child so I can have a healthy, happy pregnancy.

    What part of Massachusetts are you living in right now? I grew up in New England and am now living in Northern California(with dreams of moving to the tropics.)

  • amysueamysue Raw Newbie

    Hey Justine!

    Our daughters sound like they have a similar diet, except mine has the occasional fish. I admire your goal for your pregnancy, I wish I had known more when I was pregnant although I thought I was doing pretty well at the time. No use regretting, she’s here and happy. My husband would be right there with you in the tropics, that’s his dream, if for nothing else than to escape reality. He’s a hot weather guy and I’m not. We live an hour west of Boston but we’re contemplating moving to the north shore in the next couple of years. We love Northern California although I’ve only really seen the San Francisco area and find it sooo beautiful. Where in New England were you? I grew up in VT.

  • I grew up in central New Hampshire.

    That’s too funny about our husbands. Mine wants my to move further north, to Washington or British Columbia(his home province.) I’d be happy in a little cabin on the coast of Costa Rica or something like that.

  • green girlgreen girl Raw Newbie

    Hi Justine and Amysue

    I am a stay-at-home mom of two (3 1/2 yr old son, 2 yr old daughter). I am 100% raw, and try very hard to get my kids to eat 50% raw. I have only been raw since January, so it is still a new lifestyle adventure for me. My husband will drink green smoothies for breakfast and eat my raw dinners, but the rest of the time he eats cooked food.

    My biggest wish is that I could get my kids to drink green smoothies. They will have a sip of mine here and there, but if I give them one of their own, 3/4 of it goes to waste. If I could get them to drink those, I would feel comfortable taking them off of dairy and meat. I would love for them to be 100% raw, but I am also very aware that all their nutritional needs have to be met during this transitional period. My main goal for everyday is that they have raw snacks as much as possible and 50% of their meals are raw.

    Do you guys have any kid friendly raw recipes? My daughter loves my dehydrated apple cinnamon oat bars, paprika crackers, banana chips, Italian flat bread and banana blueberry pudding. My son won’t try much of anything except raw veggies and fruit…and strawberry/banana popsicles.

    We live in Canada (Calgary to be exact). I would love to move somewhere warmer as I am a hot weather person myself, but Calgary is where my husbands job will probably always keep him.

  • I’m a raw mom of many too. I have 6 children, ages 5 1/2 to 18. My youngest son is about to start Kindergarten and my oldest daughter is about to leave home for college (on a 4 year full tuition scholarship - yay!) We have a rural K-8 school down the road with just 100 students that’s like a family private school - it’s quite wonderful.

    Green Girl - How are you making your green smoothies? My 5 year old son is our pickiest eater and he’ll drink the green smoothies, no problem. He grew up drinking Odwalla Superfood though (since 6 months old - I used to water it down for his bottle when I wasn’t around to breastfeed). He didn’t mind the transition to green smoothies at all. I use a lot of fruit in mine (frozen berries, bananas, juice base, then handfuls of kale, spinach or whatever’s nearby. Maybe try it with less greens and eventually transition with more greens.

    Raw veggies and fruit are ideal raw foods for kids. My kids like my fruit leather. My 8 year old daughter gobbles up my apple cinnamon crackers (made with sprouted wheat and flax). They don’t seem to appreciate my salads much. My daughter loves my mango pudding too (mangos and bananas pureed with chunks of peaches, strawberries, kiwi or whatever we have one hand).

    Most of what my children have learned to like has come from a curiosity after seeing me eat it over and over.

    Justine - I’m in Northern CA too - up past Eureka.

    Do you all want to do a 30 day check-in? I was going to join one of the others, but if you want to write here for that, I’m happy to do it here.

    —Renee

  • amysueamysue Raw Newbie

    green girl – hey! Wow, two little ones. I wonder how hard it must be for Moms of little ones to do all the raw food preparation since my daughter is so self-sufficient now, I can take my time with the food. My husband is just like you as far as the raw breakfast and dinner goes, but his green smoothie is smothered in cacao so he can’t taste the green! Here’s an adorable green smoothie video someone posted earlier http://www.goneraw.com/forums/6/topics/6638 My daughter’s favorite raw food is chopped apples with almond butter, maple syrup (not raw!) and cinnamon. She likes foods now that she never would have eaten at your kids’ ages, like Matt Amsden’s tabouli and the Peanut Dipping Sauce on this site. She loves just about any raw dessert whether it’s a pudding or a pie, but she’s also happy to eat carrot sticks or cucumbers, pistachios and cashews.

    Justine – we love Costa Rica, have you been?

  • I actually find it easier to prep foods having such a little one. I rarely make gourmet raw meals…I prefer just eating the fruits, veggies, and nuts whole or in salads. My little one loves finger foods, so I just have to cut things up into little sticks to get her to eat them. She also loves baby greens. I agree with slowly adding greens to the smoothies and making sure they are thick with things like mangoes, bananas, and pineapples. My daughter also loves fresh juice and runs up to me when I run the juicer the same way a kitten does with a can opener.

    Amysue- I have not been to Costa Rica but I hope it happens sometime in the next couple of years. I also dream about visiting Ecuador. But I will need to save up and brush up on my Spanish before I go.

  • nycgrrlnycgrrl Raw Newbie

    hi amysue! I am a 90% raw mom of 2 wonderful crazy boys, aged 6 and 3. They are transitioning to vegetarianism, and eat about 25% raw. DH is about 50-75% raw, and loves it but also likes to eat falafel and cooked vegan dishes.

    We live in nyc and hope to move to the countryside down south in the next couple of years. I’ve had my fill of NYC. I grew up here so the shine is off.

    We homeschool too! Our 3 year old WAS in a great preschool a couple of days a week but we decided to bring him home next year to save $$. SO it will be interesting to see what I can get done with the 6 year old.

    Oh,and re smoothies-my kids like a banana, blueberry, almond milk, cacao and stevia smoothie where i throw in some spinach. THey also like frozen pops made from watermelon juice, or ANY juice (and my juice I mean pureed fruit). It’s a great alternative in the summer to ice cream (which they do have on occasion).

    I find it hard to resist the occasional nibble on their vegan dishes that I cook for them. Sigh. Oh well, I am doing much better than I was 6 months ago!

  • bittbitt Raw Newbie

    love reading this thread even though I am not a mom. i relate to the hubby’s not wanting to eat all raw. We are desperate raw wives!

  • Hi everyone!! My name is Monica and my husband and I together have 6 yummy high raw kids and 2 grown non-raw boys.

    My husband and I are high raw too. Except now, he’s on day 24 of a 40 day fast. good times. ha ha. ; )

    We live in a suburb north of Dallas, Texas with plans of paying off our current home, buying land, and creating/building a sustainable farm/home/green bed and breakfast with our own hands. (hopefully within the next 5 – 10 years). But, we also know that our plans can change and we could just up and move to the tropics or africa…LOL

    We homeschool/unschool/explore/discover/etc… We love people, the planet and also are passionate about taking good care of those. We like questions sometimes more than answers. We like philosophical musings like, “how many seeds are in this apple? now tell me how many apples are in this seed?”

    my husband was born in Caracas, Venezuela but is ethnically Ecuadorian. Most of his extended family still lives there. We constantly battle over the temperature in our home. I like it chilly, he likes it balmy and always says, ‘i was born in the tropics, keep it hot’. ha ha.

    I’ve been loving reading all your posts around here.

  • amysueamysue Raw Newbie

    Hey NonDairyQueen! Congratulations on the scholarship, that is so fanstastic. My British husband is in denial about paying for college since he was brought up with free university for all and can’t get his head around the amount of money it takes to go to college in the U.S. We have daughters about the same age so that should be interesting. We’re already discussing her upcoming birthday and whether I’ll bake a cake. Pretty sure I will, just won’t eat it. As long as it’s organic I’m okay with it. So did you mean check in for a month? I’m happy to just keep it going as long as people are into it, maybe try it for a month and go from there.

    Justine – all you need to know about Costa Rica is that you can sit in a hot spring pool and watch a volcano explode all day long, without being rained on by ash and lava. One of our most amazing moments ever. We’ve passed through Ecuador to go to the Galapagos islands where my husband’s research boat was working, highly recommend that too if you can get there.

    nycgrrl – my 100% sister, I didn’t know you wanted to leave the city, didn’t know you homeschooled either!

    bitt – you’re a teacher, you might as well be here!!

    mamamilk – I love hearing about your life. Since your husband grew up speaking Spanish does that mean you’ve all learned? I WISH I could speak it, I’m hoping my daughter does much better than me. She did great in Puerto Rico this year and in September she’ll get more practice in Argentina. Other than that we’re not doing any formal Spanish practice at home. I’m a cool one like you, although I’m trying to wean myself off the a/c and use the fans as much as possible. It’s hard because I’m happiest cool.

  • our kids are total gringos – but we’re working on it. ; ) my spanish ebbs and flows.

    Yes, I hear amazing things from my husband about ecuador. its a total shame i havent visited with him yet. he says the parts of his childhood he spent growing up in ecuador are the best times of his life. well, except the times with me. lol.

    i’m weaning off the cool air too. running fans as well.

    Good job moms, keep it simple! ; ) it is a pleasure meeting all of you and we can all learn from each other.

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    Yay, raw moms! And wives! Not that I’m a wife, currently, but I need to get my head around the idea of being raw (possibly on my own) if/when I get married again, before I’ll really trust myself to date non-raw guys. :P I’m too easily influenced, sometimes.

    Anyway, I am a single mom of a wonderful 6 year old boy. I am a college student (but out for the summer). I have sloooowly been transitioning my son to healthier foods. He was addicted to corn dogs, chicken nuggets, pizza, sugar, etc. before I changed my diet three years ago. He also has major issues with food textures, so fruit & veggies have been a HUGE struggle. He isn’t vegan or even vegetarian, although I talk to him a lot about how animals are treated in factory farms and about how it is best to eat lots of plant foods to get what our bodies need. Since we got a VitaMix, he eats fruit “ice cream” ALL THE TIME! That’s why we got it – he scarfed all the samples from the VitaMix demo. I finally got him to eat avocados because of our lovely VitaMix, too – raw avocado chocolate pudding! Young coconut meat goes into “Orange With Ice” (my recipe on this site, named by my son, for a better than Orange Julius) or raw warm cocoa, etc. Yay, VitaMix! He also eats whole grain waffles, bread & muffins & I don’t buy white flour products any more. I have seen the rewards of my efforts, too – we were on vacation this past weekend, and I let him eat cake, ice cream, chips, meatballs, white bread, etc. at our family events. Even though I limited the amounts, he got sick! I know I should feel bad for him, and I really did sympathize, but I was also grateful – my goal has been to get him used to eating healthy, enough so that he will notice the difference in how he feels. It’s working!

  • That’s great angie!! Keep taking babysteps and you will wake up one day and he will realize how normal and natural THIS lifestyle is and how foriegn if feels to even think of eating SAD! It is so much more than eating healthy but living compassionate lives.

    Each of my kids has their favorites and niche. We give them lots of freedom and often have varieties of easy choices. (though sometimes it’s “this is whats for dinner, eat it, or make yourself something else!”.... they usually eat it or get an apple. ; ) )

    Let’s also talk about natural parenting within our high raw lifestyle. My family is what you’d call ‘attachment parenting’ types. except i really don’t like labels or boxes. We go with the natural birthing, cloth diapering, natural hygeine, co-sleeping, home-educating, playing in the dirt, etc… what about you all? : )

  • I have a 9 1/2 mo. old boy… He’s at 95% so far! Fruits, mama-milks, a bite or two of homemade rice cereal every once in awhile. So far his favorite solid foods are spinach-banana puree and durian! We’ll see what he has to say about it all when he’s a teenager or picky 6 yr-old… I feel lucky that I was already eating living foods when I had him (got a head-start).

    A food suggestion for getting greens and savories into the little ones (because I often have to slip them into my own food to be sure I get them)—It’s easy to slip green powders into chocolate things, because they won’t see the color, or taste it really. If they like it, ginger covers the fishy flavor of spirulina or other greens powders. Creamy spinach soup (with avocado), warmed up slightly… don’t even have to tell them it’s raw. Or other raw soups with marinated greens chopped up and added. I’ve been soaking nuts and coating them with different spices/salt and then dehydrating them (quick yummy protein snacks).... Just some ideas! Good luck!

    It’s so inspiring to read about all you amazing moms and your lives… Mamamilk: we’re doing the “attachment style: parenting too… I had the first 80% of my birth at home, ended up in the hospital. Water births were totally against hospital policy, but I convinced the doctor as I was crowning to let me get into the laboring tub to birth! Yay for small shifts in the big system!

  • amysueamysue Raw Newbie

    Hey Angie! I laughed about Superman getting sick, not because he was sick but because I’d probably feel the same way about, yay sick! Same with my husband, I have to bite my tongue. I love your Vitamix solution, although my daughter’s different, she prefers a texture, crunch.

    mamamilk – do you find your kids making good choices? I assume the food that’s in your house is all good, as it is in ours, except for what my husband buys for himself and my daughter wants to share – Klondike bars, chips, treats from the British store. I try not to give her a hard time about what she eats at friends’ houses, just give her something really good to FLUSH it out afterwards!

    sunshinerose – congratulations on getting the birth you wanted! I tried hypnobirthing in the hospital and my doctor ended up breaking my water without telling me, which ended the hypnobirthing in hurry. But we had a wonderful birth anyway and my Dad got to see his first birth which was amazing for him, considering the way things were when my sister and I were born.

    We’re very much like mamamilk’s family, a free-for-all, doing things our own way with more of an attachment parenting leaning. We co-slept for 2 years and I have to say, as much as I loved the idea it was 2 years of no sleep for me. My daughter wanted to nurse all night long, and the night weaning attempts were hell on earth. I’d probably do it all over again but I wish the books mentioned you might be grumpy and sleep deprived through all of it! As far as the homeschooling goes I couldn’t call it one style or another, maybe that’s what ecclectic is, we have a list of things we want to accomplish each year but we do things when we feel like it. We’re just now receiving boxes of new games to play and we’re so excited, we love games and books! It makes the raw food lifestyle so much easier too because we don’t have to rush off anywhere in the morning and my daughter can take more of a role in the food preparation. She can eat when she’s hungry too. It’s just what works for us.

  • MeditatingMeditating Raw Newbie

    Well I am a mother but my baby is 27 years young, although I often think of him as though he was still 6 (and occasionally he acts that way). I just want to say what a tremendous leg up I think you all have in both feeding your children healthier diets and home schooling.

    I have always known that the cultural messages I received throughout most in life were whacked but didn’t know how. It caused me unnecessary pain that I have shared with others to both our detriment, including my son. I have radically changed my eating in the last few years. What I rank as important in my life has taken a hard turn. My spiritual feelings have always been in the same direction but now I found a path that is working for me. I am constantly stupefied at how this happens and that it takes so many years to figure out what is true and get your act together. Sometimes, I long to re-parent my child with the mind and soul I have today.

    Anyway, the point I am making is that you guys are ahead of the curve and I am glad you and your children have that. I think my health would be very different today had I been raised to eat a healthy, mostly raw diet and I regret not having given my son that leg up. Also, even if I was financially devastated in doing so, I think I would have tried to home school my child. While I do believe there are benefits to mainstream education, having the opportunity to mold your child in a more holistic, earth-centered way would have to be a blessing to both parent and child. Good show ladies.

  • No point in having regrets, Meditating. You are a great mom even if you weren’t exposed to the knowledge you have now when he was a little one. And think of all the great stuff you’ll be able to teach your grandkids!

    I really wish I was able to homeschool, but that’s something both parents have to agree on and my partner does “not believe in it.” Any tips from other homeschooling parents on how to convince a headstrong skeptic?

  • bittbitt Raw Newbie

    thanks amysue. i will continue to “lurk”. because i am a teacher i am asked for advice by parents constantly and not just about their kid’s learning! so i gotta keep up on the latest. plus maybe one day our lives will settle a little and i can have a little vegan (for sure) or raw (we’ll see) kiddo of my own. :-)

    I was actually thinking of starting a homeschool thread. as a teacher i totally do not blame you for homeschooling. it is so hard for teachers and schools to meet the needs of each child. I am curious for those of you who homeschool what drew you to it? maybe also the pros/cons of it, as i have had parents ask me this as well.

  • emtpdmomemtpdmom Raw Newbie

    Bitt, I’d be interested in the same topic. I’m not sure I would contribute much, but as a public educator, mother and grandmother, I am always interested in the thoughts of others regarding public education. I’ll watch for your new thread.

  • sunshinerose (love the name): yes, paradigm shifts are good. My births have been different and a neat testimony. One of my children was diagnosed with many serious birth defects while in utero and having her end up being born healthy and strong was nothing short of a miracle. All the others, for just in case reasons, were born in a hospital environment too, BUT we’ve been able to live our life and now there are some huge believers in the medical establishment in natural birthing techniques, thanks to my kids. It has been really good. My 6th baby was born right after walking into the maternity ward. (they didn’t believe me when I told them i was ready to push when i first walked up to the desk to check in…ha ha) love surprises. the nurses, they don’t like surprises so much. ; )

    amysue, i hear ya about the breastfeeding… but i love that my 14 month old is on a monodiet of breastmilk, super super healthy and smart! She is dubbed the “booby-monster” Yes, overall, my kids make good choices, but if the other stuff is there, they’ll eat that stuff too. I don’t make a big deal out of it. Otherwise it becomes a religion. ; ) We just give them the best choices and know when they grow up, they will make the decision for themselves. (thats how my mom did it). as a side note, my older boys (non-bio) spent lots of time in another SAD household growing up. The oldest is much healthier SAD as he was primarily raised by us, but the 19 year old, ewwwww…. : )

    Bitt: that would be a very very cool thread about educating and concepts of education!

    This is fun for all “old” moms, new moms, pre-moms….etc. you get the picture. ; )

  • amysueamysue Raw Newbie

    Meditating – very kind words, but I think we may all feel that way at some times. We’re all just doing the best we can with what we have to work with. You have so much time ahead of you to continue evolving with and without your child, look how much has changed for you in a few years.

    Justine – I knew nothing about homeschooling, other than someone suggested it to me after she learned of all my parenting choices so far. So I began reading everything I could get my hands on. My husband was skeptical, especially since we pay taxes up the wazoo for one of the best school systems in the state. Plus I come from a public education family – sister is a teacher, Dad was a teacher so I thought they would be horrified. What influenced me the most, in a very common sense way, are the books of John Holt. He’s long since passed away but you can still buy his books or get them from the library, there’s a bunch. He was a public school teacher who tried to reform the system and gave up on it.

    bitt – I was also thinking it might be good to start something! I watch my sister struggle as an elementary school teacher with the circumstances she’s given and she still manages to do an amazing job. She emphasizes the need to understand multiple intelligences and teaches other teachers on the subject. She’s also very passionate about the need for physical movement in the classroom and has given workshops on how the brain needs a certain amount of movement to make connections and kids just don’t get enough of it. She does all kinds of brain gym exercises between activities. She also takes into consideration the home life a child may have and how it affects their performance, the stress can be so debilitating, whether it’s poverty or divorce. Not to mention how diet affects all of these things!

    mamamilk – I also had a baby diagnosed with serious birth defects while in utero. We chose to terminate after a soul-destroying two weeks of agonizing (we were at the legal time limit). My daughter was conceived two months later in a desperate attempt to escape the misery of our lives. I raised her while battling depression, nervous breakdowns, and post traumatic stress disorder, but we came through and I’m fairly certain this had much to do with many of the parenting and health choices I’ve made. The depression has moved on and now all I still have to work on is the terror of my daughter’s doctors appointments. Any doctors offices (even the dentist) bring back the memory of getting the bad news, the sounds, the smells. I don’t think I could EVER go through an ultrasound again, as you can imagine. I was very nervous about writing this for fear of horrifying people but it’s a very real part of our lives as women and the choices we make for our children. I’m sure there are plenty who would have done differently and I totally respect that.

  • Oh Amysue, you are so brave and open! To show that kind of transparency is extraordinary… Bless your heart. It is very real. I terminated a pregnancy 20 years ago in its early stages and went through similar trauma. Faith in God and just crying and crying out helped me. And yes, I believe that our traumas AND triumphs shape our parenting!! My daughter has only one lung, is missing an artery and two veins from her heart and her heart is twisted and situated completely in the left side of her body. The weird/awesome thing, is other than her being small, no one would know what has happened inside of her. Even doctors say they “hear” two distinct breath sounds coming from her chest – though there is only one lung. At birth she was fine, then from 1 – 4 we had a few health scares. The last 3 years, she has been super healthy (she’s 7 now). She was placed on many maintenance medications at 1 year old and when she was 2 we felt like we were supposed to take her off of them. She had forward thinking doctors that said, “ok, but keep the meds on hand just in case”. She has been med free since then! We are the same with hospital environments. Strangely, we often have “delayed” reactions to the trauma of that pregnancy. Even though it turned out how we prayed it would, when we hear or talk to others in similar situations, we just die inside…. Thank you so much for sharing your story and heart amysue. I hope it was ok to share part of ours. : )

    Justine – yes, it will be wonderful to talk more about the conversion process of homeschool unbelievers. ; ). I have stories, resources and friends who can help. John Holt is great. David Quine too, he was a curriculum developer for 20 years, and decided to write his own forward thinking, logic based curriculum as he said, “there’s got to be a better way!!” There are many books to help. looking forward to talking more about that on Bitt’s Thread wink wink….

  • emtpdmomemtpdmom Raw Newbie

    Are you listening Bitt? We’re all waiting.

  • amysueamysue Raw Newbie

    mamamilk – THANK YOU.

  • hey raw mamas! i was wondering if therre was a thread like this around… and now i found it. there was one on feeding a raw toddler but i never got around to posting

    i am blessed to be the mum of one amazing twenty month old girl. she’s about 50% raw and for the time being thats where i think she’ll stay. at my house we do an organic whole foods diet and i do a mostly raw version. she loves green smoothies and wrestles me for mine too… BUT she doesnt tolerate bananas there are way to mucus producing for little kids to be eating all the time. my husband’s a TCM doctor and bananas cause damp according to chinese medicine and ayuveda looks down on them too. and bananas are so hybridized. we eat the wild ones with seeds when in the tropics but otherwise not. thats my best advice to people feeding little kids, no bananas… my girl never gets those runny noses and stuff

    green girl im in calgary too! we should meet up at a farmers market sometime…

    and i’d love all the info on homeschooling… bring it on guys… im looking into it now asa a natural progression from attachment parenting, which i really found worked for us

    hope everyone is having a beautiful day and i look forward to hearing more from raw mamas…

  • amysueamysue Raw Newbie

    Hey artistruth! My college roommate lives in Calgary. She was an LA girl who ended up in Calgary with her Canadian husband. Not raw as far as I know! Interesting about your husband, sad about bananas. Oh well.

    Just my two cents about homeschooling – everyone comes up to me and says, “Oh I could never do that, it must be so hard.” (Just realized that’s exactly what they say about raw too) Maybe I’m going to have a rude awakening one day and find out I’ve been doing it all wrong, but as far as I can tell, IT’S FUN! I never studied education, am far from brilliant, my daughter is 8 and is almost better at me at math, but so far none of that matters. It’s been a very organic process of finding what interests her and works for her and what we feel like doing that day. I think enjoying it is ESSENTIAL, otherwise why bother. I know of families who tear their hair out using structured curriculums and textbooks. For anyone interested, I love the book Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School by Rebecca Rupp. She’s from my hometown in VT, homeschooled her three boys and she gives a detailed list of what needs to be covered. I use that as our backbone and start scouring the library for amazing books, then I shop online for games. Educational Learning Games is fantastic http://www.educationallearninggames.com/ They have games you’ll never find in Toys R Us for every subject. For math I adore the book Family Math which makes me like math, it’s an old treasure from UC Berkeley. And beyond that we just get out and about: traveling, hiking, museums, whatever.

    So don’t let them tell you it’s hard!

  • Bananna1333Bananna1333 Raw Newbie

    Hi guys! Thought I’d say a quick hello too…I love all this talk about homeschooling, I used to homeschool for 5 years, but they decided one year that they wanted to try school….so being of an unschooling spirit, I decided they could be free to choose that direction and also to return back home when they want. I still fantasize about homeschooling again, although it would have to be my husband running that show now.

    I go to university full time, except I do it through distance ed.

    Oh yes, duh, family thread…I have 6 kids. One is almost 18, lives with his Dad and works full time and loves it. Always hated school. He eats whatever but Loves to talk with me about nonsensical dairy and meat propoganda. My other 5 are 3,5,7,9,11. The 9 and 11 soon to be 10 and 12 though. My oldest and youngest are boys, with 4 girls in the middle. My tubes are tied, so it’s all over ….and for the first time in years, I missed not being able to get pregnant just last week. Oh well, I am over it now…

    I have one permanent vegetarian and 4 flexatarians. My DH is a SAD eater but regularily packs back plenty of raw food too. I’m not forcing them, heck I can barely force myself….but they do end up getting Lots of raw food as a side effect of my habits. And rarely eat meat, maybe for those that do, once or twice a week.

    I’m from Canada too! From Ontario, north of Toronto. My brother is actually moving to Costa Rica in the fall with his CR wife! Like forever! I don’t know what I’m doing that way….planning on turning my humble abode into a tropical fruit-bearing paradise instead for now.

  • RawKidChefRawKidChef Raw Newbie

    Hey I’m a raw kid! I’m 12, my mom homeschools me. It’s much better than school, definately. I don’t do it really to learn more (even though it definately offers that) but to spend more time with my mom and be able to have more free time.

    I do a special homeschooling program called Calvert School. It works by Calvert sending the student books, and a test booklet. Eight times a year I send in tests, every subject being covered per test. I am assigned a certain teacher who I send the tests to and then the teacher sends the tests back with grades. That way I can get real feedback about my work and have a set schedule, and it’s also unique in that I can do much of the work on my own, and my mom helps me with a few things but I work on my own pretty independently. I also can get transcripts if I want to get into a certain high school, even though I plan to homeschool through high school. If any raw moms are interested in Calvert you can go to http://www.calvertschool.org They offer courses Pre-K through Eighth Grade.

  • amysueamysue Raw Newbie

    Hey Bananna! FLEXATARIANS, I love that. I hear you about giving them the freedom to choose. At this point my daughter is thinking junior high is the time to go but I don’t see any point in making plans. You must be busy, hope you get to visit your brother before airfare is completely out of reach. Do you know of Orillia, Ontario? One of our best friends lives there. And please enlighten me, what’s a DH, I know it’s not a designated hitter, I’m always the last to figure these things out.

    RawKidChef – thanks for passing along the info! If no one else does I’ll start a raw homeschooling discussion soon.

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