Brag thread

[incorrigible]

I'm bursting with pride over here, and need a place to brag on my dd. =D Feel free to fill this thread up with your own brags, too! lol

Dd has been putting together her own scouting program for a couple years now. It's been on again off again, but she's put some real work and thought into this project. Tonight she reached a huge milestone. She has it together enough that she was able to put together the first edition of handbook (think like Tiger Scout handbook). Cover art and all. The proof will be here, and completely tangible, toward the end of next week.

This is a "just for fun" project for her. If no one but our own family ever makes use of her program, it won't be any less cool. If anyone else does use it sometime, even better. =) I think I'm more excited than dd about this. I absolutely cannot wait to have that book in hand!!!!

[shoefairy3]

wow, that is exciting.  i sure would like to have a copy when it gets that far.  As it is, my kids love getting old scout books from the thrift store.  I am sure they'd love to see one written by someone their age

[moominmamma]

Wow, that is really cool! And self-publishing is addictive. I'll bet seeing the proof in her own hands will really stoke her fire. And maybe that of others in the family. 

This is a timely thread for a brag of mine. My 8yo dd, my sole remaining full-time unschooler as of next week, spent the summer selling tea blends at the weekly community market. She foraged for wild ingredients (chicory root, wild ginger, rose hips, dandelion root, red clover, nettles, rose petals, saskatoon berries, huckleberries, etc.) and used some she grew in the garden (lemon balm, rhubarb, strawberries, spearmint) and some organic bulk stuff she was given or purchased (red rooibos, sencha tea, walnuts, chamomile, lemon peel, peaches) and came up with seven different tea blends. She had great packaging ideas and worked out her prices, and spent an hour or two a week preparing her blends, and four lovely sociable hours sitting at her market stall chatting with people of all ages and selling them. Her last market of the summer was yesterday. It was a lot of work and I think she was glad to finish her last day -- but it definitely came with a great sense of accomplishment. Over the 10 weeks she netted $240. As an hourly wage for an adult it's not impressive, but for as a kid she's feeling really flush! She bought her sister's old iPod Touch for $50 and still has a tidy sum to put towards whatever she'd like. And a really robust body of experience with customer service, marketing research, profit margins, banking and small business accounting.

Miranda

[incorrigible]

thanks. =D

shoefairy - I will make a post when the final version of this handbook is done and available, and I will tell everyone I can when the master handbook is out. She's self publishing handbooks for the individual ranks (like 12 pgs each) right now, but I told her that once she gets them all done...if she puts them into one handbook, we'll pay for the isbn and costs to put it onto Amazon.com for her. The little handbooks will just be available on Lulu. ;)

miranda - I noticed a mention about the tea selling on another thread and it sparked my interest. I think it's SO cool that your dd is doing that. Is she going to continue, make an etsy page or something? Or is it over and done and on to the next thing?

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by incorrigible 

miranda - I noticed a mention about the tea selling on another thread and it sparked my interest. I think it's SO cool that your dd is doing that. Is she going to continue, make an etsy page or something? Or is it over and done and on to the next thing?

The market here is just a summer thing that runs from May to early September. It's a wonderful, magical place, full of community and creative energy and comraderie and support between the merchants and artisans. That's what she really loves most about her business: being out and about at the market. So she's not at all interested in etsy. August included an intensive 10-day music school experience and then a wonderful two-week-long family reunion with cousins and aunts and uncles from abroad all here, and it was tough to fit in the market preparation even though her cousins helped a bit (and let me tell you: small children with English accents and outgoing personalities are the best sales assistants! ). She's exhausted and happy to close her business for the year. She figures she'll probably do it again next year: she's got a bunch of new perennial herbs in the garden that will produce lots next summer.

Here's a photo of her market booth (with her sister, who has been making and selling candy alongside her).

Miranda

[incorrigible]

oh how cute. =D That's so awesome. We don't even have ANY kind of farmer's market where we are now. Luckily, we're nomadic, so we'll be somewhere else soon. lol

[featherstory]

I'm so glad you mamas are sharing your stories.  This sounds really, really amazing.  What full lives your kids have and what courage and confidence they must feel in themselves to do such amazing projects.  There are lots of adults who would like to do the things your kids are doing, but they probably didn't receive much nourishing as kids and feel incapable of making such an effort.  I will share this with a lot of the down and out adults I know, hopefully it will inspire them.

As for my kids, my youngest has been signing the word for "potty" while she goes potty, so the next step is just to get her on the potty.  We've been EC'ing part-time since she was born and she just turned 1.  My oldest is turning 4 this month and she swam with water wings yesterday, and she's starting to read, just because she really wants to.  She spends a lot of time with chalk, colors or pencil writing letters and spelling for fun. She asks me how to say things in Spanish all the time too.  I'm bragging because she's really getting very independent and enthusiastic about leading her learning activities and it makes me very proud.

[rumi]

Here is something I'd like to brag about ...

Have you seen the toy / building kit made of magnetic sticks and small marble-size balls made of iron/steel.   The one we have is by a company called Magnetix.

So we have had this for a year or so and dd usually plays with it a few times every month.  Lately she has been using it every day, for several hours.  Making shapes, finding out which shapes withstand stress better, when you build a tower, asking questions like "can two shapes with the same perimeter have different area?"   depicting cell division, electron spin .... and a whole bunch of other things.   It is just endless.  I feel like over the past year she has gotten familiar with the medium and now she is using it to express various concepts and ideas. 

[rumi]

Originally Posted by featherstory 

As for my kids, my youngest has been signing the word for "potty" while she goes potty, so the next step is just to get her on the potty.  We've been EC'ing part-time since she was born and she just turned 1.

Hooray for EC - one of the first steps in natural learning :thumb

  My oldest is turning 4 this month and she swam with water wings yesterday, and she's starting to read, just because she really wants to.  She spends a lot of time with chalk, colors or pencil writing letters and spelling for fun. She asks me how to say things in Spanish all the time too.  I'm bragging because she's really getting very independent and enthusiastic about leading her learning activities and it makes me very proud.

So exciting to watch this time unfold ....

[AmberLu]

Originally Posted by moominmamma 

Wow, that is really cool! And self-publishing is addictive. I'll bet seeing the proof in her own hands will really stoke her fire. And maybe that of others in the family. 

This is a timely thread for a brag of mine. My 8yo dd, my sole remaining full-time unschooler as of next week, spent the summer selling tea blends at the weekly community market. She foraged for wild ingredients (chicory root, wild ginger, rose hips, dandelion root, red clover, nettles, rose petals, saskatoon berries, huckleberries, etc.) and used some she grew in the garden (lemon balm, rhubarb, strawberries, spearmint) and some organic bulk stuff she was given or purchased (red rooibos, sencha tea, walnuts, chamomile, lemon peel, peaches) and came up with seven different tea blends. She had great packaging ideas and worked out her prices, and spent an hour or two a week preparing her blends, and four lovely sociable hours sitting at her market stall chatting with people of all ages and selling them. Her last market of the summer was yesterday. It was a lot of work and I think she was glad to finish her last day -- but it definitely came with a great sense of accomplishment. Over the 10 weeks she netted $240. As an hourly wage for an adult it's not impressive, but for as a kid she's feeling really flush! She bought her sister's old iPod Touch for $50 and still has a tidy sum to put towards whatever she'd like. And a really robust body of experience with customer service, marketing research, profit margins, banking and small business accounting.

Miranda

I love it! This is so cool. I bet if there is a holiday bazaar, she could package it up really cute and sell a bunch then too-- assuming she is still interested =)
 

[incorrigible]

Oh what great things everyone's kiddos are up to! =D I love the budding engineer with the magnetix! lol I love when my kids come up with things that are supposed to be so advanced, just by playing. Ds was like 3-4 when he figured out multiplication. We were driving somewhere and he was in his carseat counting on his fingers, playing with numbers because they were new and interesting. Then he tells me "hey mom. two twos is four and three twos is six but three threes is nine." in that same tone as "hey mom, wanna see what was in my nose?"

Today ds made dinner. He's had a passion for food always, and so for cooking of course. lol He has fancy tastes though. When I cook, I just chop up a bunch of meat and veggies and sautee it or throw it all in the oven together with some spices and call it good. Dh does yummy things with spices and meat, serves a salad and bread or rice.  At four, ds was having me help him make quiche. Yesterday morning he put chicken in to marinade for tonight. He grilled it on the bbq, and made a salad of spinach, bananas, walnuts, and raisins that was WAY better than it sounds...and served up some artisan sourdough he had us pick up with it. He's exploring marinades - something he's only ever seen me use for beef jerky, and never used himself. So, he has more chicken in another marinade for tomorrow night. I think he said this one is lemon, peppercorn, and garlic. I can't wait for tomorrow! =D

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by incorrigible 

Yesterday morning he put chicken in to marinade for tonight. He grilled it on the bbq, and made a salad of spinach, bananas, walnuts, and raisins that was WAY better than it sounds...and served up some artisan sourdough he had us pick up with it. He's exploring marinades - something he's only ever seen me use for beef jerky, and never used himself. So, he has more chicken in another marinade for tomorrow night. I think he said this one is lemon, peppercorn, and garlic. I can't wait for tomorrow! =D

Zowee! That kid is a keeper!

Miranda

[incorrigible]

He totally is. I love when he cooks. He's been doing the turkey at Thanksgiving for a few years now because he's such a better cook than any of the rest of us! lol

And today, Spritely's book premieres!!!!! They got it out to us way faster than expected and everything was super smooth. So, this is the finished copy! =D =D =D

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/faery-scouts-rainbow-rank/16965894

[mamapigeon]

  Awesome thread!  Moominmamma, I love your DD's tea business!

[rumi]

ok, again I brag ...

The Magnetix play is going strong, and today I was so impressed that I wanted to post an online review of the toy.  As I was looking for a place to do so, I came across the amazon site which is incidentally where we bought the thing a year or so ago.

I was stunned to see that the price of a 150 piece kit had nearly quadrupled.  We got it for under $20 (maybe $15?) and now it was listed for $75!

I mentioned to dd that I could not believe the price had gone up so much.

She said, "the reason for prices to go up is higher demand and less supply.:"

"True" I replied.

Then she continued," ....and the other reason for prices to go up is, they keep printing more money. "  She went back to playing with the magnetix.  I was intrigued so I asked, "Why would prices go up if they print more money?"

Here is what she replied.

"The average amount of money for a person to have goes up."

Why would that cause the prices to go up?

"If that happens there is a very good reason for the prices to go up."
 
What is that?

"They think that people have more money...
but actually they don't.
The money that is printed does not distribute that well.

How the money distributes:

People working at the money factory get paid.  Then they pay for their food and things like that with their money, and the people who got that money use it to pay for their things and the people who get it use it to pay for stuff and like that.

Eventually it reaches everybody... but only eventually."

[incorrigible]

How old is this kid? I'd like to vote for her! lol

[Dar]

Here is my brag... since writing seems to come up a lot, here are the comments my daughter's university English professor wrote on her first essay. Until she was 10 or so, about all she wrote was birthday cards - "Happy birthday. I love you. Love, Rain". Seriously. Fast forward 8 years and...

>>>This is a funny, topical opener that quickly engaged and amused me –
bravo!>>>

>>>
This is an incredibly strong, concise, direct argument against Kakutani’s argument. You
get in, provide evidence, argue her points directly, and leave your reader with an
eloquent conclusion. Your writing style is prose-like without being too academic nor
flowery. You have hit a hard to find balance of smart, readable academic
writing.>>>

[rumi]

Originally Posted by incorrigible 

How old is this kid? I'd like to vote for her! lol

Wow :lol 

She is 8.  I had better update my signature line, that says "going on 8 ...."  I guess once she has turned 8 then she is "going on 9"

You want to vote her for what?  In 2008 she had mentioned that she would like to be president.  Wonder if that ambition will resurface now ... 

Or should we just appoint her Chairwoman of the Federal Reserve.  At least she is rational.

[incorrigible]

dar - that's so awesome. =D

rumi- any polictical office. she has a better grasp on basic economic concepts than most of our leaders. ;)