A Doll's Kitchen Set

This is a little late, but I thought I would share anyway. My mother had a collection of pattern books when I was a girl with all of these plastic canvas fashion doll rooms. I made several for myself as a girl. I still have a few and Aubrey loves playing with them so I made this set for her this Christmas. I had started the prior January and didn't get done with it until December. She likes and entertains all kinds of dolls and animals with it.

Brick Houses

Kamron got this kit for Christmas and a couple of weeks ago, he and his Dad spent about four hours putting it together. I think they enjoyed building it.

Baby Blankets

I finally finished the crocheted blanket for the baby. It took me about three months, ripping and redoing many times. It was by far the most difficult pattern I have done, but I love the finished blanket. The pattern is from "Candy Blankies." My whole family wants one now as it is made from super soft yarn and is extremely warm. All of the children already have crocheted blankets, but Kevin has been asking for one for a long time. He went through all of my patterns and said he wants one like this, but he wants it in single crochet so it will have smaller holes, and he wants it king sized so we can both cuddle in it. I told him it would take me about two years to complete, and he says that is fine, because we will have a gorgeous blanket until we are old. It will be dark, dark blue and off-white.

The next blanket is a two sided flannel blanket with tabby ribbons sewn into it. It took me all of an hour and a half and $3.50 to make, as I got everything on sale.

Attitudes Toward Homeschooling

This is my final paper for my last class. I found the research quite interesting and thought I'd share.



Attitudes Toward Home Schooling
Melissa Calapp
Psychology 320: Research Methods and Statistics
February 7, 2007





Attitudes Toward Home Schooling

Introduction and Statement of Problem
I am a home schooling mother of four. I recently went to the doctor for my oldest son. The doctor asked me what my son’s teacher thought of a certain condition, and I told him he was home schooled. The doctor then asked me why, to which I replied that I did not think the local schools were very good and I could provide him with a better education at home. The doctor replied, “Well, yes, but we recommend the children go to public school, so that they can learn street smarts.” This instance brought again to my mind the question of people’s attitudes towards home schooling. If this doctor can admit that the local schools are not good educationally, but still recommend that the children go there, would other doctor’s also? What is the attitude of professionals and lay people toward home schooling and has it changed over the last twenty years?

This topic is timely and relevant for several reasons. According to Lawrence M. Rudner of the Home School Legal Defense (1999) there were between 750,000 to 1,200,000 home schooled children in 1998, while today there are over 2,000,000 children being educated from home. According to the Economist (2004), this number represents 1 in every 25 school aged children in America. The number of home schooled children is increasing each year, and it is now much more common for someone to know a family who chooses this educational method, which would lead us to ask that as people become more familiar with a variety of home schooling families will their opinion of them change? One other reason this is a relevant topic is that little research has been done on it and it would be beneficial to the general population along with those who serve children to understand this specific population better. Before I began the research on this topic my hypothesis was that the attitude towards home schooling has become more favorable over the last ten years, but there are still many who have negative opinions about it.

Literature Review
The literature reviewed in connection with the subject matter under consideration was obtained from scholarly journals found in Pro-Quest data base, with the exception of one article which was not found in a scholarly journal, but held important data and was quoted in other more scholarly journals. This article is reviewed along with five of the more scholarly articles below. None of them relate exclusively to the topic at hand, but by correlating the information from the articles a strong case for the hypothesis is made.

The first article is by Patricia Lines, from Public Interest (2000), it was not found in the scholarly journal section yet it was the most often quoted article by the others that I reviewed, with good reason. Lines worked in the Department of Education since 1985 and was partially in charge of recording how many home schooled children their were. She used “data from state education agencies; distribution of curricular packages for homeschoolers; and state homeschool associations' estimates of their constituencies” (75). Within her statistical analysis and questionnaires she came to the conclusion that many of the home school children are being pulled from students who would typically be candidates from private schools and less often from the public schools.

Lines then recounts a history of homes schooling reminding us that it is public schooling that is a recent educational method and home schooling has in fact always been the primary method of most people especially the upper class, who would hire tutors, and those living in rural locations. The modern movement started as a liberal movement in the 1960’s and then as the schools became more liberal has swung to a more conservative movement today, but with significant amounts of people from the liberal side still.

Lines hypothesizes that future growth in home schooling may come from the minority populations. She sites a study that was done Vanderbilt University and Nashville State Tech, a selective private university and a two-year college. The survey had 254 participants pulled from the classes of the professors doing the studies, so the results may not represent the general population. Nevertheless, 45.3 percent of African-American students replied yes or maybe when asked if they would home school their own children. The percentages were even larger among other minority groups.

The next study was an annual report sent out to Florida home schoolers, which shows a shift in the reasoning behind the decisions to home school. Before 1995 the primary reason was consistently religious, but after 1995 the primary reason for home schooling was a dissatisfaction with the public schools, which has also led to an even more diverse home schooling population.

Lines reports the findings of another study she had done previously. She was interested in the attitudes of colleges and Universities towards these students, and what they did with admission packets from them. She conducted phone interviews with a variety of schools and found an overwhelmingly positive response in the attitudes towards these students from schools ranging from local junior colleges, to tech schools to Ivy League schools. She then shows how the numbers of schools who have admitted home schoolers (which is more than 900 in 2000) has grown and become a much easier process for these students.

Lines then brings up two studies that were cited in several other articles as well. The primary concern that most people have about home schooling is for the social well being of the children. Two studies were conducted to see if there was any difference in social performance between the home schoolers and public schooled children. The first study was done with 70 children from each group. The 140 children were video taped at play with other children. The video tapes were then given to trained counselors who were not told how the children were being schooled. The counselors then rated the students and the data was then analyzed. It was found that there were very few differences overall between the two groups. This same study is cited by Wooster (2000), who says that the only significant difference was that on average the home schooled children behaved better. I was not able to locate the study to verify.

The second study was a questionnaire and personality analysis done by psychologists on a group of home schooled students and a group of public schooled students. Both groups scored as well-adjusted, “with comparable scores on scales measuring aggression, reliance on others, perception of support from others, perceptions of limits to be followed, and interpersonal relations among family members. Not surprisingly, the nonhomeschoolers scored somewhat higher in resolving interpersonal problems with other children” (78).

Lines then cites some public opinion polls, which are very pertinent to our topic. “In 1985, only 16 percent of respondents to the annual Phi Delta Kappan Gallup poll thought that the homeschool movement was a "good thing"; 73 percent thought it was a "bad thing." By 1988, 28 percent rated it a good thing and 59 percent rated it a bad thing. By 1997, the approval rating had grown to 36 percent while the disapproval rating edged down to 57 percent” (79).

The last study that is cited in this article was done by Christian Smith and David Sikkink of the University of North Carolina found that home schooling families tended to be more politically, and civically involved then those families whose children attend public school.

The next article (Wootser, 2000) cited several of the studies, which have been described above, but also included a study by statistician Lawrence Ludner, from the University of Maryland, who looked at test scores from 20,000 home schooled children and found that they consistently score better than public schooled children. They average 67 points higher on the SAT test then public schooled students. The studies that show that on average home schoolers consistently perform better academically compared with publicly schooled children are important in the general populations change in attitude toward home schooling, because the question of academic performance was one of the primary concerns twenty years ago.

Houston and Toma report on two surveys done that directly shows the change of public opinion. “In 1986, a Phi Delta Kappa-Gallup poll found only 16% of Americans believed home schooling to be a "good thing" (Lines 1996). In 1994, however, a Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll found 28% of Americans would actually prefer home education to in-school education.” These polls admittedly are not as carefully done as we would like from a carefully conducted experiment, and that must be taken into consideration. In this article the attempt to regulate home schooling by creating a law to require at least one home schooling parent to have a teaching credential was defeated in the House of Representatives 424 to 1. This does tell us something of the opinion of politicians of home schoolers in general.

In “Education Reform (2002),” by Pamela Paul which was published in American Demographics, a correlated study was reported where polls on the publics opinion of the public schools and home schools were collected and studied. It was found that the positive opinions of American’s in the public schools has sharply declined. For instance, in 1973 58% of the population had “quite a lot” or “a great deal” of confidence in the schools. By 1999 this number had fallen to only 36%. This study shows a possible reason for a change in opinion of home schooling as people tend to be more open to other methods of education when they are less positive about the main method.

An experiment found in School Psychology Review, was done by Steven F Duvall, Joseph C Delquadri, D Lawrence Ward, who are the authors of the article (2004). The effectiveness in teaching children with ADHD by home schooling parents who were untrained, according to current educational thought, was the topic of the study. First several publicly schooled and home schooled ADHD children were identified, and then two matched sets were identified. Each of the students and parents or teachers were then observed by two observers on a monthly basis for five months at timed intervals for 30 to 45 minutes. The students were then tested multiple times to see how effective their learning was and how effectively it was retained. Both sets of students started out at the same place on the tests, but both of the home schooled students were consistently scoring higher by the end of five months. It was found that even though the parents were not trained to deal with ADHD children they used many of the same techniques as the teachers, with a few differences. The parents more often directed learning from the side of the student or from out of the room, while the teachers were typically in front or behind the student and were directing larger groups of children. The home schooled students attention was focused and they were more on task then those in the public school situation. The home school parents more often ignored inappropriate behavior while the public school teachers more often engaged “talk management.” This experiment shows that untrained parents can teach children more effectively than trained public schooled teachers. This and another study done found no correlation between home schooled children’s academic performance and whether their parent had a teaching credential seem to show that parents teach children very well even without special training, which further breaks down some of the arguments that people have against home schooling. One drawback of this study was that it did not record the parents prior experience, which may very well have included quite a bit of research on how to deal with ADHD children. Another drawback is that it only used two pairs of students.

The last article I would like to discuss can be found in Clinical Pediatrics and was written by Susan L Klugewicz and Carol L Carraccio (1999). The authors wanted to find out what pediatricians thought about home schooling and if when they knew a family home schooled did they provide additional services that were normally provided at the public schools. They sent out over 1100 questionnaires and got about 600 replies from a variety of pediatrician offices. They found that 74% of pediatricians felt their knowledge of home schooling was inadequate. Eighty-eight percent thought that home schoolers would do well academically, while 51% thought that home schoolers would be less mature. Only about one-third said that they supported home schooling. Of those who had home schoolers in their practices the percentage of favorable responses towards it increased, while the opinions were most negative amongst those who had the least amount of home schoolers. Neither group offered any additional services to these students. The author recommends that pediatricians become more informed on this segment of the population and offer additional services to them.

Findings
Through my research I have found that, indeed, opinions towards home schooling have become more positive as the home schooling movement has become more widespread. In Home Schooling: an alternative choice Houston and Toma (2003) say, “Public perception of home education has also changed over the last 15 years. In 1986, a Phi Delta Kappa-Gallup poll found only 16% of Americans believed home schooling to be a "good thing". In 1994, however, a Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll found 28% of Americans would actually prefer home education to in-school education” (p. 925). Seventy-three percent of the participants of a Phi Delta Kappa-Gallup poll in 1985 thought the home schooling movement was a “bad thing” according to Lines (2000). In 1988, 28 percent thought it was a “good thing” and 59 percent thought it was a “bad thing.” In 1997 36 percent thought it was a “good thing,” while 57 percent thought it was a “bad thing.” In the 1997 poll 82 percent said that parents should have a legal right to home school, compared with 53% in 1988.

In Home schooled children: A pediatric perspective (Klugewicz, S. & Carraccio, C., 1999), the pediatricians were found to have a more positive opinion with the more home schooling families that they come in contact with. This confirms the hypothesis that the more familiar laymen and professionals become with home schooling, the more positive their opinions will be. One interesting finding was that on the whole the pediatricians really were not that familiar with home schooling and knew that they were not, which accounts for why on the whole their opinion of it was more negative than that of the general population.

Discussion
There are several things that have contributed to the change of opinion in home schooling. One major factor, which has already been pointed out, is simply the growth of this form of education. With this growth has come a wider familiarity with home schooling in general. This same form of human behavior can be seen in other areas, as the general population becomes more familiar with a variety of people from a minor population. For instance, when schools and some apartment buildings were desegregated the attitudes of whites towards African Americans did indeed become more positive.

This form of education has been unfamiliar to a lot of people, and so it was not, and still is not, uncommon for home schooling families to receive a lot of questions and concerns about it. The top concerns have been can the children keep up academically? Will they get into college? Are parents capable of teaching as well as a trained professional teacher? Will the children be social misfits?
All of these concerns have been addressed with sound research. In addition to the research on academic performance already cited, in 1997 HSLDA sent out questionnaires to 6,000 home schooling families, the children were also given standardized tests and the data was then collected and correlated for the 5,402 recipients that responded. The results were then published in the Educational Policy Analysis Archives (Rudner, 1999). It was found that home schooled children performed on average one grade level above their peers in elementary school and four grade levels above their peers by eighth grade. This correlated educational levels of parents and how well the students did on the tests. In almost one-fourths of the homes one or both parents had a teaching degree, but there was no correlation found between this and a students test scores. However, there was a correlation between the parents educational and income levels and the test scores. The higher the educational levels and income the higher the test scores. But those with parents who did not have a high school diploma still did better than public school students who had parents with some college or an AA.

The research clearly shows that home schoolers are just as likely to get into the college or university of their chose as those in the general population. Most colleges and universities either accept students on their SAT and ACT scores or they have what is called a portfolio review, specifically designed for them.
The last major issue of socialization also was shown in the above research to be a concern that is misunderstood. The children have been shown to relate very well to others, and to be more politically and civically involved then publicly schooled peers (Lines, 2000). This is a hard area to define as there is no agreed upon meaning of the word socialization. Some home schoolers consider their school to have been a success if their children can not relate to some things in the general population, like drugs, premarital sex, and being told what to study, when to study and how to study. Others view “street smarts” as the correct socialization goal of schooling. There are a variety of people in both populations, and there will always be a few who miss social cues given by others or have a hard time interacting in groups from both groups and with these students it is not necessarily the method of education that produces students who do not meet everyone’s ideas of a well-socialized individual. There are probably external factors involved, such as individual personality. Another factor to consider also is that home schoolers often represent children who went to public school and did not fit in. An interview by Jenni Russel (2005) in England found that many of the parents pulled their children out of public school, because they were being bullied. She cites one student who had had a gun pulled on him by bullies. So, perhaps, any social differences that exist between the two populations is not a result of home schooling, but those that do not fit into the publicly schooled social environments are more likely to be home schooled.

As all of this research becomes public knowledge the fears of home schooling tend to dissolve, which I believe has helped the opinion of the general population to improve.

The last thing to consider is the inverse effect pointed out by Paul (2002). As the confidence in the public schools has sharply declined more people will look to other forms of education, which will lead them to be more open to home schooling. This has the effect of making the home schooling population more diverse and more numerous. As it grows in this way those in the general population will be more likely to know several different families who chose this option and less likely to make universal judgments about them, which will have the effect of increasing their opinion of home schoolers.

Conclusion
I have shown through solid research that as the home schooling population has grown, and many concerns have been proven unfounded that opinions towards home schooling, which were largely negative in the 1980’s, have now become largely positive. This swing of general opinion has been based largely on growth and the removal of ignorance about what it might be like, through a variety of solid studies, and a few controlled experiments. It is very important for the general population to abandon their prejudices, so that home schooling can be seen as the effective and worthwhile educational method that it is. As this is acknowledged, its strengths can then be studied and implemented to the improvement of other educational methods. This would help all of the children in the population and therefore be of great benefit to all of us.

















References

Duvall, S., Delquadri. J. & Ward, D. (2004). A preliminary investigation of the effectiveness of homeschool instructional environments for students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. School Psychology Review 33(1), 140- 159. Retrieved February 2, 2007, from Pro-Quest Direct database.
Houston, R. & Toma, E. (2003). Home schooling: An alternative school choice. Southern Economic Journal 69(4), 920-936.
Klugewicz, S. & Carraccio, C. (1999). Home schooled children: A pediatric perspective. Clinical Pediatrics, 38(7), 407-412. Retrieved January 19, 2007, from Pro-Quest Direct database.
Lines, P. (2000). Homeschooling comes of age. Public Interest (140) 74-86. Retrieved January 22, 2007, from Pro-Quest Direct database.
Paul, P. (2002). Education reform. American Demographics 24(8), 20-22. Retrieved January 22, 2007, from Pro-Quest Direct database.
Rudner, L. (1999). Scholastic achievement and demographic characteristics of home school students in 1998. Retrieved January 21, 2007, from http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v7n8/
Russel, J. (2005). When parents are a child’s best teachers. New Statesman 18(840), 24- 27. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from Pro-Quest Direct database.
Wooster, M. (2000). The virtues of learning at home. The American Enterprise 11(8), 56. Retrieved January 22, 2007, from Pro-Quest Direct database.

Drawing for Stake Conference

In the book "Hidden Art of Homemaking," by Edith Schafer she has a chapter on drawing. Her husband was a preacher and as he preached on Sundays she would draw pictures of the sermon for her children, so that her children could understand. I draw a wonderful stick figure and have been thinking about doing this for awhile with my children. This Sunday was Stake conference, and as their was no classes for the children I decided to leave the younger two at home with Kevin, who is not active in the church and doesn't go to conferences. This was a perfect time to try drawing the sermons. The first man spoke of Nephi who was praying for his people on the wall, so I drew him standing there and the people around him pushing each other. I went on to draw the rest of the story and then at the end I drew a boy and girl with the question "what will Kamron and Aubrey be asked of God to do?"

The next talk was about how important it is for the mother to guard her home and that we should have families. I drew a mom with a big shield and several children behind her. I then asked what she needed to defend the home and children from and in a whisper the children told me while I drew the following; robbers, drugs, bad words, bad TV, bad music, people who don't like families, and people who might hurt them. I then talked to Aubrey about how she would have this job when she grew up and she swelled with pride.

I continued to draw what the rest of the speakers spoke about and one thing that suprised me is how much I got out of those talks. I geuss drawing is not just for teaching the kids.

Grocery Shopping

Shopping has become more difficult for me as walking for over an hour usually exhausts me. I must admit that this pregnancy, though not particularly difficult does make me feel a lot older all of a sudden. I try not to take the kids shopping with me and have really been limiting how often I go to the store. Anyway, yesterday Kevin didn't have any jobs until 11 a.m. so in the morning I took Logan, 21 months, with me to do the shopping, as Kevin had things to do. I had the most fun shopping! Logan wanted to sit in the back of the cart and as we went along he would say to everyone hi and then bye. Then he started pointing everything out, the lights the colors, everything. Then he started counting spanish-I didn't even know he could, but he can count to sies, quite well and did so over and over. As the cart started to fill up I moved him to the front seat, and he wanted to sing, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." I have a horrible singing voice and can't stay on tune even on that one, but I figured there were plenty of people who walked around WalMart looking like they were talking to themselves (they have funny things in their ears though=)) that I figured noone would mind if I sang so I began, but Logan stopped me saying, "No, do this," with his little fingers starting the hand motions. I kissed him and said he would have to do the hand motions, because I had to push the cart. He seemed okay with that, but really wanted the hand motions for "Itsy, Bitsy Spider," so I had to stop a minute for that one. I tell you that little boy just made my day. I think he made a few other people's day too.

My Planned Garden Calendar

This past month I have planned out what I am going to plant when, along with a few of my gardening chores. We are going to build raised square foot gardens this year. Here is my calendar of acivities below.

February-1st plant 6 broccoli seeds indoors. Order cinnamon ferns, 1 honeybell hosta, 1 ostrich fern, 3 hydrangeas from Henry Fields, 15477 peat pot and get supplies, detail plans of planter boxes. Have dirt delivered a specific day in March. 15th 9 cauliflower seeds indoors. Plant Four O’clocks indoors. Plant 6 mint seeds indoors. Make the shade and cages. Plastic covering, clothes pins. Get fluorescent lights in garage on table

March-1st build planter boxes, along with boxes along back wall and vertical frames, put in dirt and compost, plant 9 spinach plants in 1 square. Add dirt to front beds, side bed in back and along back wall. Plant 3 peppers inside. Sow 20 lavender seeds indoors. 15th plant 4 carrot seeds each week, plant snap peas that have been presoaked overnight, cover for first month with tunnel. 20th Transplant broccoli. Purchase two parsley plants, plant out covered. Get large garbage can and scoop and mix up fertilizer, buy vermiculite and mister.

April- 1st plant lettuce, plant 4 carrot seeds each week, Plant 8 radish seeds every two weeks, transplant out 3 cauliflower with a cutworm collar surrounding plants. Plant two rows of onions. Plant a few baby’s breath in partial shade. Plant squash and zucchini indoors. Transplant four o’ clocks outdoors in front yard 15” apart. Plant first two varieties of sweet peas. 15th plant 4 squares of tomatoes, two seeds in each square, fertilize peas, spinach and broccoli, begin taking a few outer leaves from the spinach, sow 36 salad greens in 1 square. Transplant one pepper plant outdoors, with wire cage. Plant sunflower seeds along fence, and water daily until true leaves come and then weekly. Plant mixed flowers and poppies in front bed, 6 inches apart. water daily until they sprout. Plant Shasta daisy’s in front of den. Plant mint outside in partial shade in containers. Transplant 10 best lavender plants out front, 18 inches apart. 20th rubberband cauliflower leaves above heads. Plant 9 muskmelons inside in paper cups. Plant squash and zucchini outdoors and mulch. Plant a few baby’s breath in partial shade.

May- 1st plant 4 carrot seeds each week, Plant 9 muskmelons in vertical frames. Plant 8 radish seeds every two weeks, harvest 4 radishes each week. plant 9 bush beans in one square and 8 pole beans in one square soak seeds for 3 hours prior, begin harvesting salad greens when they have 2 or 3 true leaves. Plant two rows of onions. Sow 9 watermelon seeds indoors. Plant a few baby’s breath in partial shade. 5th plant hollyhocks, plant morning glory seeds outdoors. 15th start looking for curds on cauliflower and be ready to pick as soon as they are ready, harvest first lettuce, plant 2nd batch of lettuce, watering with cold water, feed lettuce fish emulsion. Thin tomatoes to one seed in each square, cage them. Fertilize squash and zucchini. Pull to leave 2 squash plants and 1 zucchini plant. 20th Begin harvesting peas, fertilize peas and broccoli. Main head of broccoli will be ready. Harvest last of spinach. Clip the six weakest cantaloupe plants. Place straw around Pepper plants. Begin harvesting summer squash. Plant watermelon seeds out, mulch. Plant a few baby’s breath in partial shade. Plant two later plantings of sweat peas. Plant Canterbury bells under shade in front towards back.

June- 1st plant 4 carrot seeds each week, harvest first carrots, continue to harvest a row of four carrots each week, Plant 8 radish seeds every two weeks, harvest 4 radishes each week. Plant two rows of onions, begin harvest first batch of onions. Fertilize watermelon. 5th side shoots of broccoli are ready then plant is done. Begin harvesting peppers. Plant squash and zucchini indoors. Plant a few baby’s breath in partial shade. Shasta Daisy’s should begin blooming in front. Begin harvesting and storing mint leaves.
15th plant large type tomato inside to take the place of the Early Girl when it is done, 20th begin to harvest bush beans. Fertilize peas. Begin harvesting zucchini. Fertilize squash and zucchini. Fertilize watermelon. 20th plant squash and zucchini outdoors, mulch. Fertilize sunflowers and stake them if needed. Plant a few baby’s breath. Begin harvesting and drying lavender. Thin hollyhocks if needed.

July-1st, begin to harvest pole beans, harvest final of first lettuce and first of second batch of lettuce, plant third batch of lettuce, feed lettuce fish emulsion. plant 4 carrot seeds each week, harvest four carrots each week, Plant 8 radish seeds every two weeks, harvest 4 radishes each week. Plant 6 broccoli plants in containers indoors. Plant two rows of onions. Fertilize watermelon. Place any watermelon fruit on straw, or train it up wires. If Morning Glory’s are not flowering by now water them less. 15th Harvest early girl tomatoes, and supersweet tomatoes, plant 9 cauliflower seeds indoors. Begin harvesting cantaloupe. Thin squash and zucchini to one plant each, fertilize. Plant brussel sprouts indoors. 20th end harvesting bush beans, plant one more square of bush beans, seeds soaked for 3 hours prior. Fertilize peas. Pinch out ends of watermelon and train side shoots to grow laterally either up or out.

August-1st other cherry tomatoes are ready to begin harvesting, plant 4 carrot seeds each week, harvest four carrots each week Plant 8 radish seeds every two weeks Switch to planting winter radishes, harvest 4 radishes each week. Plant 1 more square of peas in a shady spot that have been soaked overnight. Plant two rows of onions. Plant out brussel sprouts. 15th harvest final of second batch of lettuce and first of third batch of lettuce, plant fourth batch, feed lettuce fish emulsion. Fertilize squash and zucchini, begin harvesting second plantings of these. Plant brussel sprouts indoors. Hollyhocks should begin flowering. 20th transplant broccoli outdoors 30th plant 3 cauliflower plants outdoors. Pull first plantings of quash and zucchini if they have stopped producing.

September- plant 4 carrot seeds each week, harvest four carrots each week, Plant 8 radish seeds every two weeks. Plant two rows of onions. Transplant brussel sprouts. Take off cover for Canterbury bells, and let them grow until next year.
15th pinch out top growth above flowers on tomatoes, plant one square of nine spinach plants, fertilize squash and zucchini. Sow brussel sprouts indoors. 20th begin harvest bush beans, harvest 4 radishes each week. Fertilize peas and broccoli. 30th plant another square of nine winter spinach. Tie leaves above cauliflower heads.

October-1st harvest final of third batch of lettuce and first of fourth batch, plant fifth batch (winter lettuce), harvest four carrots each week, Plant 8 radish seeds every two weeks, harvest 4 radishes each week. transPlant brussel sprouts outdoors.
. 15th begin looking for curds on cauliflower and pick immediately, plant a sixth batch of lettuce in two squares, begin covering the lettuce, feed lettuce fish emulsion, fertilize spinach, plant 3rd square of winter spinach. Plant brussel sprouts indoors. 20th final bush bean harvest. If a frost is coming bend over tomato plants breaking part of their stems and cover with straw and all remaining fruit will ripen, or if frost is coming that night, pull out plant and hang in garage upside down, mulch carrots and broccoli. Second harvest of peas begins. Fertilize peas and broccoli. Last harvest of squash and zicchini. 30th first brussel sprouts are ready to harvest. Cut back Shasta Daisy’s and they will regrow next year.

November- harvest four carrots each week, harvest first square of spinach, harvest last of the onions. Transplant brussel sprouts. 15th harvest last of fourth batch of lettuce, and first of fifth batch, harvest 2nd square f spinach, fertilize spinach. Harvest 4 radishes each week, harvest main heads of broccoli. 30th harvest first of sixth batch of lettuce, feed lettuce fish emulsion. Harvest remaining peas, harvest side shoots of broccoli. Second Brussels sprouts are ready to harvest.

December-1st Begin harvest third square of spinach. 15th harvest last carrots, harvest last of radishes and last of first square of spinach, fertilize spinach. 30th harvest last of fifth batch of lettuce and last of 2nd square of spinach. Third brussel sprouts are ready to harvest.

January- 15th harvest last of sixth batch of lettuce. Harvest last of winter spinach. 30th fourth brussel sprouts are ready to harvest


March-15th harvest last of the brussel sprouts.

Oranges

Just as the fresh fruits and vegetables are gone from the local farms and I am beginning to crave them again, my in-laws orange tree begins to ripen. This tree is about thirty years old, has been moved around their yard several times and I am told used to bare horrible fruit. This was a leafy, bushy tree until the year that my husband and I stayed with my in-laws while we were evicting renters from a house we had just bought. We wanted to help as much as we could while we stayed there. Kevin pulled out pompus grass and an old dead tree that was about to fall over, we picked up prickly balls and one day Kevin decided to prune that old orange tree. My dear husband tends to prune things very hard. All of the lower branches were cut along with many of the upper ones. When my in-laws came home they were shocked. But that next winter, those oranges were better than they had ever been. They are some of the most delicious oranges I've ever tasted. This year my in-laws and three of their children's families have been generously provided with oranges from mid-December until now. Our family has eaten an average of three a day for nearly two months. We are down to three left, and alas, no more delicious fresh oranges until next year. But then, the farms will begin to open in about two months and hopefully my first garden harvest will come shortly thereafter.