Cathy’s comment on my last post was right on, we need to teach kids how to think and do things, not just pass tests. That reminds me of Kaitlin coming home, from 5th grade when she was 10, as I recall, telling me a simple bookcase put together with interlocking slots had fallen down. She had to put it back together because no one else, including the teacher, could do it. She said, “Because I was the only one who knew how to THINK!”
I had to laugh. The poor kid was raised hearing Andy’s, “Smart people are a dime a dozen. You have to learn to be effective. You have to learn to think!”
I think it was the following year she came home saying she had watched a boy struggling with some insulated wire. He kept accidentally cutting through it, so she said, “It looks like you’re trying to strip the insulation off that.” He was amazed. She was the first girl he had ever known who knew about things like that. She said, “If you had led the life I lead! Have you ever built a tractor?”
The land was a great place to raise a child. We bought it when Kaitlin was 7 years old and we lived down here in this apartment, but we spent our weekends and holidays up there (when we weren’t snowed out) working on projects together — growing gardens and fruit trees and building sheds, an outhouse, barbed wire fences, a tractor from a kit, etc.
Here are three of the earliest pictures I have of her working up there. She and Andy are wiring up the pump for the well.
And here are two of her with the famous tractor:
That’s why when the place burned down in 2011 we decided not to use the insurance money to go elsewhere but to stay and rebuild. Too many family memories to give the place up.
wonderful memory – it’s just a shame that not every parent – gives children this kind of education!
I certainly didn’t get this kind of education, I actually missed out on a lot of general education and it has become quite evident as I grew older. But in a way, getting ill a few decades ago, I learnt a lot of things that people wouldn’t know how to tackle… okay I don’t think I could build a tractor but I have managed to get around certain things with my disabilities…
Some of those things have to do with “how to save spending money…for whatever reason” – so some of the my ideas would never suit others but they suit me.
I’ve just made a huge decision about the Lawn-care…hoping to hear back from some company who will take on doing the mowing and edges without using chemicals to do it all. In some ways this is exactly why I finally bit the bullet and did online food shopping…life wasn’t meant to tired up doing mundane things 🙂
And it would be really nice to look out back and see it all looking neat…I might even have energy to plant vege/herbs better…
I didn’t get that kind of education either, but like you I took responsibility for my own learning. Good for you for making wise choices about how to spend your precious time!
oh. this post is simply wonderful monk!
I’m so happy to know more of your story. thank you for sharing it!
I’d say precious memories. and I don’t use the word precious easily.
and Cathy’s reply. it’s wonderful too.
both of you… well can’t discount little Kaitlin! are all WISE!
no wonder there’s delight in having picnics and following progress up on the mountain! I was telling the Marine all about it the other day. Andy’s attention to detail. and the beautiful vistas despite the blackened trees. they have their own treacherous beauty! XO
Thank you! It’s been a long time since I’ve thought of that. Kaitlin and Torben may be coming for a quick weekend visit around the end of the month. If not then, then sometime later depending on Kaitlin’s schedule and the ability to get a dog sitter.
It looks like Kaitlin had a lot more than the usual education, and has acquired some useful practical skills. My own practical skills are non-existent. Anything trickier than changing a light bulb or bleeding a radiator and I have to call in the relevant tradesman!
It doesn’t matter exactly what the skills were, it’s more the attitude of working on projects, seeing things don’t always go as planned but that’s no reason to give up, and that it’s a satisfying way of spending one’s time.
We don’t even bleed the radiator (on the car I assume?) Andy has never been interested in working on cars. We both work on projects that keep us learning.
What a way to grow up! Hers must be the last generation to have had such a privilege.
Working on the land was the kind of experience kids on family farms used to get years ago, and judging from Country Magazine some still do. The nice thing about the land was that because we lived down here, she also went to first class schools. It was a great combination.
Kaitlin may not have realized it at the time, but she had a privileged childhood! I love the pictures of her, working so earnestly with her dad. When my children were five and six years old, we moved to an acreage, with less land than you have, but certainly enough. We had cows, chickens, ducks, rabbits, geese…you name it. We also had several gardens, and became almost self sufficient. The kids loved it, and still talk about their idyllic childhood. I admit, it was a bit much for me, since I was in the midst of completing my teaching degree.
She’s happy she had it, and it brought us close as a family. She still loves it up there, and she, Torben and the pups stay there when they visit.
Thank you for sharing this.
Kaitlin definitely had a wonderful childhood.
How wonderful that she was treated as her own person with no limitations.
So many times girls are not taught the same things as boys.
I bet she has fantastic memories.
😀
xoxoxo
Yes, she does have great memories, and she was lucky to escape a lot of the stereotypes.