Hi everyone,

Has anyone ever tried growing grain amaranth? From the little information I have found it sounds like it would be great for the dry, hot climate here in west central Texas. I have found a source for seed but would like some input before I buy. Also, is anyone getting materials for home-schooling their children during a crisis of long duration? (I know this may be a low priority at first but we could be in the dark both literally and figuratively for awhile). Finally, Has anyone else seen this article "Microsoft gives nod to Y2K tools" by Emma Connors, Financial Review, December 1, 1998. The Link is: www.afr.com/au/content/981201/inform/inform5.html. It is regarding MFX Research and their software called Millenium Master. I would like for someone more computer literate than myself to share their thoughts on this. Is it too good to be true? Partial fix?(which we know is no fix at all). Comments please. Thanks to all.

-- Sharon in Texas (sking1440@yahoo.com), December 17, 1998

Answers

Home schooling.

Check with Madeline. She's a regular listener here and is home schooling now. What ages? How many? What subjects?

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), December 17, 1998.

Gary North has written extensively on his own home-schooling plans in his latest "Remnant Review" email. He lists all the books, reference works, and academic supplies (academic hoarding??) that he's got on order. Futhermore, he says that since he can't be a professional y2k doomsayer after 1/1/00, he's going to be the local schoolmaster in his town. Very interesting article, I must say. I am NOT making this up!! And I *am* RC !

-RC

"William Shakespeare didn't write those plays, it was another guy with the same name." - RC

-- Runway Cat (runway_cat@hotmail.com), December 17, 1998.

----quote from GN's RC 33 ----

If you can teach a 4-year-old to read, you can make a living. By using phonics, you can do this. I plan to set up a school. I live in a rural area that will have problems with transportation. The yellow school bus may not be rolling in 2000. So, I am buying three complete sets of Saxon math books, kindergarten through calculus. (http://www.saxonpub.com) I also have a set of the $195 Robinson curriculum, k-12, on 22 CD-ROMs. It has 208 books, plus the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, which I can print out if I have to. (http://www.home-school.org) If my four children wind up at home, I'll put them to work teaching if I can build up the clientele.

-----end of quote----

-- Jon (jonmiles@pacbell.net), December 17, 1998.

Sharon, I haven't yet tried amaranth, but plan to this coming year. What variety were you thinking of? We are in southern California, so we also have the heat but it is probably a lot drier. Also, what is your soil like? We have adobe and are presently doing our annual digging under of lots of organic matter! Would love to exchange notes as the plants grow.

-- Maria (encelia@mailexcite.com), December 17, 1998.

Sharon, I haven't yet tried amaranth, but plan to this coming year. What variety were you thinking of? We are in southern California, so we also have the heat but it is probably a lot drier. Also, what is your soil like? We have adobe and are presently doing our annual digging under of lots of organic matter! Would love to exchange notes as the plants grow. As to home-schooling: we do it and it is not just work- it is a lot of fun! Only don't just go out and buy somebody's suggested curriculum until you have some idea of just what YOU want your kids to learn and, if they are old enough, something of their personalities and leanings. There is no one-size-fits all curriculum. What are the ages and gender of your kids? If they are in public shool now, how do they like it and what do they like/dislike most? What do they really need to work on, what comes easily? Are they hands-on or more of theoreticians? And you? If you don't like a curriculum type, you'll find yourself resenting the time it takes. On the other hand, we seldom use any textbook for science and history, drawing on a variety of sources instead because it works better for us. Hope this helps.

-- Maria (encelia@mailexcite.com), December 17, 1998.

What to have to educate the children..."

What anyone picks for this depends on what kind of world they think their children are going to grow up in. Maybe the current curriculum, reading, writing, arithmetic, history, science -- but maybe not.

I expect the three R's will always be useful -- but how to shoe horses, throw and fire clay pots, make shoes by hand, make wagon wheels, etc. etc. might turn out to be very useful things to know.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), December 17, 1998.

Thanks for the answers everyone! I appreciate your time and input.

-- Sharon in Texas (sk1440@hotmail.com), December 18, 1998.

You forgot my contribution!!

/ \____ =========== ! /---- ! \ ! my ! dick ! your ass

if the html fucks up, it's a picture of me giving it to you up the ass, hope you enjoy it

-- Jimmy Bagga Doughnuts (jim1bets@worldnet.att.net), December 18, 1998.