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In terms of keeping my eyes open, that's why I initiated the thread (although having a lyrical reference stating that I am stupid was unexpected). I want to learn form those living there now.
I don't think any other poster on this thread has sugar coated. While avoiding your bite, many have provided realistic, constructive insight. For those, I am grateful.
As I noted in earlier post, I am a fed now, and presume your insight comes from living in Fairfax County, VA. Small world, - I live there too. I sure hope I have a chance to express my sentiments in person some day. As you surely know, there are major drug problems and poor schools in our neck of the woods as well. It is a problem everywhere and in many rural areas. My job as a parent is to decrease the demand, notwithstanding the sad elevation of supply.
The balance I am trying to strike is one where we can help the kids learn on a host of levels so that their choices in life are broader. I fear that, living where we do, most are frequently consigned to specific things in adulthood. My ideal is a more rural place where self sufficiency, respect for the earth, and more classical learning blend for the kids to illuminate how vast the world is and that discovering one's calling is the ultimate calling.
It is with a sense of realism along with seeking this ideal for my family that I contextualize your input.
Last edited by patrick4823; 05-07-2018 at 01:01 PM..
In terms of keeping my eyes open, that's why I initiated the thread (although having a lyrical reference stating that I am stupid was unexpected). I want to learn form those living there now.
I don't think any other poster on this thread has sugar coated. While avoiding your bite, many have provided realistic, constructive insight. For those, I am grateful.
As I noted in earlier post, I am a fed now, and presume your insight comes from living in Fairfax County, VA. Small world, - I live there too. I sure hope I have a chance to express my sentiments in person some day. As you surely know, there are major drug problems and poor schools in our neck of the woods as well. It is a problem everywhere and in many rural areas. My job as a parent is to decrease the demand, notwithstanding the sad elevation of supply.
The balance I am trying to strike is one where we can help the kids learn on a host of levels so that their choices in life are broader. I fear that, living where we do, most are frequently consigned to specific things in adulthood. My ideal is a more rural place where self sufficiency, respect for the earth, and more classical learning blend for the kids to illuminate how vast the world is and that discovering one's calling is the ultimate calling.
It is with a sense of realism along with seeking this ideal for my family that I contextualize your input.
I think you would be hard-pressed to find a worse place to do what you cite than Puna, or the BI, or, for that matter, HI in general. It is not the escape you seek.
There are a lot of people, referred to as Dreamers, who either wanted to go and never did, or did go and found it not to be to what they wanted and left, or worse, ran out of funds and were stuck there. Many are homeless now.
My screen name is "Dreaming" of Hawaii. I did plenty of research before moving here eight years ago and I'm still here. My situation is a bit different (but then everyone's is) because our kids were grown before we moved.
I congratulate Patrick for attempting to do research. While we on this forum try to give helpful comments, both positive and negative, there's no need for anyone to be rude. Patrick has already said that he plans to homeschool, which many of our friends and neighbors here do.
I think you would be hard-pressed to find a worse place to do what you cite than Puna, or the BI, or, for that matter, HI in general. It is not the escape you seek.
There are a lot of people, referred to as Dreamers, who either wanted to go and never did, or did go and found it not to be to what they wanted and left, or worse, ran out of funds and were stuck there. Many are homeless now.
My location is nowhere near VA or the east coast.
Thanks Open-D. Your profile zip code states you live in Fairfax, VA. You claim on this thread otherwise. You plainly misrepresent yourself either generally in this forum or specifically above. Your word choice, that of a DC fed when speaking of benefits, suggests the latter. Regardless, the factual paradox you create here begs wondering what other inaccurate statements you make.
Dreaming, thanks much for your insight. It's a tough balance-find the right environment for our kids, give them educational opportunities to to change environments based on knowledge and passion, and afford all that! We've gotten a lot of great ideas from you and others, and will look at areas other than Puna. And maybe you're right, perhaps this is a post-kids-running-around -in-the-house (dare I say it) dream. We'll bring some of the kindness we've experienced from islanders such as yourself to where we are now and keep working toward a better life for the family. That said, we are very grateful for what we have. We just want to see what the art of the great and possible is for us. The wisdom from you all is helping that.
BTW, very glad to hear home schooling's a viable possibility on the island.
Thanks Open-D. Your profile zip code states you live in Fairfax, VA. You claim on this thread otherwise. You plainly misrepresent yourself either generally in this forum or specifically above. Your word choice, that of a DC fed when speaking of benefits, suggests the latter. Regardless, the factual paradox you create here begs wondering what other inaccurate statements you make.
Elementary, Holmes. You focus on all the wrong things.
Keep dreaming and put the kids FIRST.
BTW, closest I've been to DC is NYC. DC is, after all, the SWAMP!!
Actually, putting the kids first is not a good thing. They get a very entitled attitude when they are put first. Put the FAMILY first, the kids are part of a collective unit, not the most important thing in it - it's the collective that's important, not the individual members of it.
By teaching them that they are part of a group, you'll get adults that are team workers, not entitled individuals. For the strength of the family, having each member strong is important. So they do need the best education and such, but by putting the emphasis on the kids first, it could be trouble later.
Location: Southernmost tip of the southernmost island in the southernmost state
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hotzcatz
Actually, putting the kids first is not a good thing. They get a very entitled attitude when they are put first. Put the FAMILY first, the kids are part of a collective unit, not the most important thing in it - it's the collective that's important, not the individual members of it.
By teaching them that they are part of a group, you'll get adults that are team workers, not entitled individuals. For the strength of the family, having each member strong is important. So they do need the best education and such, but by putting the emphasis on the kids first, it could be trouble later.
Actually, putting the kids first is not a good thing. They get a very entitled attitude when they are put first. Put the FAMILY first, the kids are part of a collective unit, not the most important thing in it - it's the collective that's important, not the individual members of it.
Well, kids didn't ask to put in this world - my opinion they should be placed at a higher priority than dreams of Hawaii - it just seems selfish of the parents to me.
Anyway, considering divorce rates run about 50% for a first marriage - and greater than that for subsequent marriages, the family even existing long term is a coin flip. Parents can't even get their act together as a family......
A lot of areas don't have soil. They will have shrubs, trees, grasses, all kinds of vegetation growing on them, but no soil underneath the leaf litter on the lava. So you can't use satellite imagery to determine if there's soil. Depending on what type of farming you want to do, well, what kind of soil (if any) is available? Generally, if there's deep soil - the type traditional to mainland farming methods - then the land costs will be significantly higher than the 'agricultural' lots sold in the big subdivisions in many parts of Puna.
If you don't have soil, or not enough soil, or space, you could consider growing with hydroponics in addition to or instead of using soil. Hydroponics has many advantages over using soil for many crops, and is being used on a large farming today. With hydroponics, you can grow the same number of produce on about 20% of the space, the hydroponic crops grow considerably faster than soil crops, the volume of water required is drastically reduced, and there's zero weeding with hydroponics. There are many different hydroponic methods. One method is Kratky non-circulating hydroponics, named after professor Kratky from the University of Hawaii on the Big Island. Dr Kratky's YouTube videos and be seen on the "dakineapproaches" channel. Dr Kratky's YouTube videos show how to grow with hydroponics very inexpensively.
Hydroponics is very easy to learn. Hydroponics and also be automated. After your hydroponics gardening is established, it takes very little effort, compared with soil based gardening. Hydroponic gardening can be done indoors, which allows you to do gardening all year in cold climates in limited spaces. In Hawaii, hyproponic gardening could be done in dry areas with no soil or poor soil. There are thousands of YouTube videos about hydroponics, so you can learn all about hydroponics for free.
Hydroponics can be optimized by controlling the nutrient, pH, reverse osmosis water, controlling water temperature, controlling CO levels, lighting, injecting air in the nutrients, and other factors. Even without much optimization, hydroponic gardening will outperform soil based gardening, growing produce faster and larger than using soil with much less effort.
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