Robyn Dolan's Blog, page 6

Hit and Run Hero

If nothing else the LA Times always provides me with food for thought. Today’s story about a hit and run hero touched my heart.

Ordinarily, I  rant privately about the bad writing in the Los Angeles Times and the fact that someone is getting paid for it. When I do find the occasional article that I enjoy or can praise it is usually by Steve Lopez or Mark Erskine. However, today’s article by Nita Lelyveld really impressed me.  You can read it here. 

Perhaps it is because I experienced something similar recently. Early one morning last week I was taking my dad to church and we arrived just after an accident occurred at our usual turn.

I posted:

“I am asking prayers for one of my local characters. There is an old man who follows his wife on a trike in the early mornings. They collect cans. I don’t really know them, I just see them all the time.

This morning, on the way to church, Dad and I saw him lying in the middle of the street. His trike was overturned and all their bags strewn over the road. A number of drivers stopped to assist, including the one who apparently hit him (as far as I can tell).

All I could do was call 911 and report it and get Dad to church. I think the man is dead. Please pray for him, his wife, the driver, and their families.”

An SUV whizzed by and smashed the man’s trike. I wanted to get out and help but Dad was getting ready to jump out, too, so I had to take his safety into consideration. I felt helpless. And it still bothers me when I approach that intersection. 

Please, please, let’s all slow down and pay attention. Every person is someone’s loved one. It only takes an instant to change everything.

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For the Love of Art

I was Christmas shopping at a local craft show this weekend and I didn’t find anything I thought my particular giftee would like. This is a common problem with me because I always find stuff that I want but not stuff that I think my children and grandchildren would appreciate. But for the love of art, I continue to support local shows.

So, inevitably, I bought a couple of things for me. 

A gorgeous impressionistic painting on cardboard, of a trailer sitting in an idyllic pastoral setting, captured my heart. I fell in love with it not only because it reminds me of what I love about RV living. Or because it was only $5. The young woman who had it on her table, along with several other paintings on cardboard, told me the story behind it. 

All the paintings were done by a 90-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s. 

This struck a chord deep within me. My grandma was an artist and painted with oils until her lungs could no longer handle the fumes. Then she switched to watercolors. Except she did not like working with watercolors. She found that acrylics were a good compromise and painted in acrylic for the rest of her life. I have many of her canvases and enjoy them very much. 

Grandma created this work in colored pencil, with a clear protectant sprayed over. It is her take on the journey across Route 66 when she relocated from Minnesota to California in the ’60s. It hung above the sofa where I took my naps when I was small and I often fell asleep daydreaming about riding horses across the desert.

The young vendor’s story also reminded me of my 90 something-year-old friend in Arizona, who was also an artist until the end of her life.   She, too, often underpriced her work and gave much of it away. I hate to wonder what happened to the many canvases in her studio after her death. For the love of art, I hope they went to good homes. I know I have a half dozen of her works in my house and I’m very fond of admiring them. 

This painting by EmmaLou depicts cowboys and their horses negotiating the muddy washes and foothills of Northern Arizona. It calls to mind my 15 years of adventure there, raising all manner of critters on a 10-acre homestead. And enduring crazy monsoon lightning storms.

So I bought this one even though I didn’t need it. I absolutely love it. I gave the girl a little bit extra to give to her 90-year-old friend in appreciation of her work and persistence in continuing to create despite the difficulties of Alzheimer’s. 

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AI ain’t so Smart. It’s Still a Toddler

Artificial Intelligence has a long way to go before I get worried. It’s the big scare word these days. But if my experience with Google maps and my robot vacuum is any indicator, AI ain’t so smart. It is years away from being a real threat to humanity. Unless you consider it a threat because of its immaturity at this point.

AI is like a toddler

In human terms, I could say that AI is in its toddlerhood. I am surrounded by toddlers. What do an 85-year-old, a robot vacuum, and a 16-year-old have in common with a three-year-old? They all need supervision. At least the three-year-old and 16-year-old are trainable. Though that won’t show for years.

Even though Google maps and my robot vacuum are supposed to increase in their understanding of what I want from them as I continue to use them, which I do, they don’t really seem to get it and they often tend to regress.

Google Maps gets lost

For instance, every time I pull out of the driveway Google tells me to head north. I always head south because of the logistics of getting to the stoplight on the next street with my big truck. But after years of this, Googly Sue still does not get it and still tells me to go north. Halfway down the street she will reroute and usually tell me to go to a street about a quarter-mile away. Instead, I opt to make a left on the next street so that I can go to the light and get to the freeway. Every. Single. Time.

Robot vac gets stuck and falls down the stairs

My robot vacuum is wonderful in so many ways but it is not terribly intelligent. It has sensors that help it to avoid walls and other obstacles and it is supposed to not fall down the steps – I only have one – but it still does. Fall off the step. It also vacuums itself into corners and gets stuck under edges of furniture repeatedly. And even in the same session it will go back to the exact same spot and do the exact same thing. And I will have to rescue it. I learned early on that if I want this vacuum to really be of service to me and to last, I need to supervise it and help it out of situations that it gets itself into. Armed with this knowledge, I tend to have a very good experience with this vacuum. Which saves me much time and backache.

Even after training Google and my robot vac for months, if I do not use them for more than a few days, they will revert to their untrained state. Google will pretend to not recognize my voice and I will have to speak very slowly. And loudly. And I certainly cannot expect to use it in a hands-free mode. But that happens less and less as I use it more and more for voice typing. Which I do daily to save the strain on my fingers, hands, and wrists. And to jot down notes before I forget them, for my books.

Would you take a nap in a self-driving car?

So what brought this dissertation on was a discussion Dad and I were having about self-driving cars. He said, “I don’t want to get in the driver’s seat and take a nap.” I said, “But Dad, you could drive again. We could just program the car to take you where you wanted to go. All you would have to do is push a button and sit back and relax.” He wasn’t going for it. And I have to agree that even with self-driving cars, at least at this point, the human driver must absolutely stay alert and be ready at any moment to take over the controls.

Imagine the pilot of an airplane putting the plane on autopilot and taking a nap. Still expecting to get all the passengers to their destination safely. In the same way that a pilot must stay alert and monitor the controls of the plane, drivers of self-driving cars will have to do the same. If and when the bugs are ever worked out, there is still the problem of the system going down. Then the driver needs to take manual control in order to safely end up at their destination.

So although I enjoy the benefits that AI is bringing us, I am not going to worry about it taking over my life. At least not until it can clean my house properly.

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Writing, Music, and Historical Dancing

I finally finished the trailer for my YouTube channel.

I will be posting weekly videos about my current projects, books, and works in progress. Topics will include writing, music, and historical dancing, homeschooling, simple, sustainable living, elder care, historical sewing, gardening and travel. And tea. Because plain old water gets boring.

Watch the trailer, then hop on over to YouTube and subscribe!

I write. I play music. I’m in love with historical dancing.

I am also a homeschooler and a caretaker for my elderly dad.

My book “The Working Parent’s Guide to Homeschooling” was published in 2014. I am now preparing to launch the 2nd edition with updated information, links, and even more tips on how to work and homeschool.

In 2017 I published the “Get Out of the City and Thrive” series.

Book 1, How I did it and How You Can Too. Book 2, Milking the Wild Goat, How to find land and set up your homestead Book 3, Paying for the Dream, How to thrive on your homestead

My latest work is fiction. I am writing a cozy mystery and historical music, dance and costuming enter into it in a big way.

I will be posting weekly videos about my current projects, books, and works in progress. Topics will include homeschooling, simple, sustainable living, elder care, historical music, dance and sewing, gardening and travel. And tea. Because plain old water gets boring.

Want more? Join me on patreon. I do not have that set up yet. But I will do a separate video when it is.

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Get Out of the City and Thrive

https://amzn.to/2InygCj available on Amazon

Get Out of the City and Thrive is a guide for deciding whether moving to the country is for you, or if maybe what you need is just a minor lifestyle change. This book is about how I came to the decision to move to the country, the plans I made and the steps I took to do it, and some things I didn’t do that I should have. If you decide homesteading is for you, Get Out of the City and Thrive serves as a checklist for what to consider and how to proceed to move out of the rat race, into a slower, more satisfying life.

Get Out of the City and Thrive is in 3 parts.



https://amzn.to/2MiXJy2 kindle https://amzn.to/2o5GBE5 paperback




Book 1 – How I did it and How You Can Too!

This first book tells you how to make your decision and get started.

Chapters include: Evaluating Your Job, Your Financials, Your Lifestyle, and practical information on how to choose a location, Packing Up and Moving Out, and Making an Action Plan. Extensive resources at the back of the book include websites, books, and YouTube channels to investigate for more tips, professional help, and ideas.

https://amzn.to/2MhI1TR kindle
https://amzn.to/30OJZjV paperback



Book 2 – Milking the Wild Goat – How to Find Land and Set up Your Homestead

In this installment, I show you how to get it done! From how to find your land, to temporary and permanent living structures. How to start gardening; making stuff from scratch when you’re 50 miles from the nearest store; raising goats, pigs, chickens, horses and more. And yes, you can have a social life out in the boonies.

Chapters include: Living in an RV, A Camper and Two Tents, The House, Milking the Wild Goat, Chickens and Other Fowl Creatures, Llamas – Go Figure, Marvelous Mabel the Dancing Jersey Milk Cow, Death on the Homestead, The Neighbors, Baseball, and more. Resources at the back of the book include websites, books, and YouTube channels for more ideas and professional help.

https://amzn.to/2LSpxul kindle
https://amzn.to/2nlaiAB paperback



Book 3 – Paying for the Dream – How to Thrive on Your Homestead

This final volume is what makes it all possible: how to pay the bills!

Chapters include How am I going to Pay for all this? Self Employment; Online; Consulting; Getting a Job; Collecting Payment; Making a Living from the Homestead Itself. Extensive resources at the back of the book include websites, books, and YouTube channels to investigate for more tips, professional help, and ideas.

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Life Interrupted by Death

My uncle died last week.

Next week we will lay him to rest next to his beloved wife. Everything goes on hold and gets rearranged when a loved one dies. Life interrupted by death. And yet, life must still go on. We go to work, take the kids to school, wash the dishes, do the laundry. Depending on how overwhelming the grief is, even life may slow down. 

My mom was hyper-organized.

Before she died she filled a notebook with step by step instructions for what to do. She was on hospice and I was home with her when she passed, so it was just a matter of calling the mortuary and following the list in her notebook. When my uncle died, a neighbor discovered his body and called the police. Eventually, they called us. Dad and I met up with other relatives at my deceased uncle’s house where the police informed us that there was no foul play and so we needed to call the mortuary. 

We found uncle’s cell phone with my cousin’s number and called him. Uncle had mentioned to me several times in recent months that this cousin was to take care of his affairs. We had no idea if he had completed the paperwork to change his trustee from my dad to my cousin. Luckily, however, we found the paperwork after a few days. He had.

But, the details of death can be unmerciful.

Funeral and burial arrangements. Costs that are not in the budget but have to be paid even before there is any consideration of whether there is any money to pay for them. Like the mortuary. The casket. And the cemetery. The priest. The chapel. The musicians. The flowers. 

Pity the one who gets saddled with the bulk of the details. Even when the deceased has had the foresight to make a will, a living trust, dispose of most of their stuff while alive, and prearrange a burial site, there is always a mountain of stuff to do. Sort through belongings and paperwork. Pay the bills until the house can be sold. Distribute and let family members choose mementos to keep. Disposition of the remaining earthly goods. So much work. 

Sometimes family members can get very upset over the actions of the trustee/executor. Even when they are doing what is specified in the will or trust. The very thing the deceased may have been trying to avoid. Perhaps it is all part of the grieving process. To want your loved one’s affairs to be handled a certain way. 

Life interrupted by death.

Blessed be those who just let it go. The loved one is gone. Let it be. Stuff is not important. Memories and love are. Love the living. Be at peace.

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The Working Parent’s Guide to Homeschooling

“There is no school equal to a decent home and no teacher equal to a virtuous parent.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

The Working Parent’s Guide to Homeschooling

The homeschool movement continues to grow every year.  Over 2 million families are now homeschooling in the United States.  Many are single working parents or two-income families. Many more, yet would like to homeschool if they thought it was possible while continuing to work.  The truth is that homeschoolers can be found in all walks of life, every financial bracket, and every race, creed, sexual orientation, and lifestyle situation.

“I suppose it is because nearly all children go to school nowadays and have things arranged for them that they seem so forlornly unable to produce their own ideas.” ― Agatha Christie, An Autobiography

Now, more than ever, the tools and resources are readily available to working parents. The options are exploding. School can be accomplished online, offline, with ereaders, conventional textbooks, library resources, yard sale, and thrift store finds, and even satellite television. The costs can range from zero to hundreds of dollars a year, and time invested on the part of the parent anywhere from half an hour to all day.  

Parents need to be informed of the possibilities that exist to homeschool their children if they choose.  It is the goal of The Working Parent’s Guide to Homeschooling to inform and empower working parents with the tools and resources to pursue their children’s education to the betterment of their family life.

“It is hard not to feel that there must be something very wrong with much of what we do in school if we feel the need to worry so much about what many people call ‘motivation’. A child has no stronger desire than to make sense of the world, to move freely in it, to do the things that he sees bigger people doing.” —– Homeschooling pioneer, John Holt

The Working Parent’s Guide To Homeschooling answers questions such as, “How can I work and homeschool?” by showing the reader how to find what works for them.  Working parents will explore issues such as:

Time management Childcare arrangements while workingHow to teach

Real-life working parents’ solutions to each of these issues are presented in chapters on:

SchedulingWho watches the kids?CurriculumResources

“Now that homeschooling is becoming more racially diverse, it’s time to think about becoming more economically diverse. At present, those of any and all racial backgrounds who are the worst served by the public schools are the least likely to consider homeschooling.” —– Mary Pride, creator, and publisher of Practical Homeschooling Magazine

Written specifically for working parents, the author’s own experience peppers nearly every chapter of The Working Parent’s Guide to Homeschooling.  The author also uses several other families’ experiences to illustrate solutions to scheduling, childcare, etc.

“School is the advertising agency which makes you believe that you need the society as it is.”                  ― Ivan Illich

I am currently editing the 2nd Edition of The Working Parent’s Guide to Homeschooling. Limited copies of the 1st Edition are available directly from me or used on Amazon. This page will be updated when the 2nd Edition is published.

Review

Robyn Dolan’s neat, smart, direct book, The Working Parent’sGuide To Homeschooling, is precisely what it claims.  A fine resource for a family that suddenly finds itself homeschooling, for any one of a number of reasons (that she discusses in her book). 

Ms. Dolan has taken a two-pronged approach to helping the novice homeschooler get successfully started.

1) She has used her own experiences, as well as other homeschool families that she’s familiar with, to paint a compelling picture of the joys and the difficulties of homeschooling. This is a rather up-close, intimate look at the trials and mechanics of an activity that millions of families in the U.S.alone are moving rapidly toward, or already engaged in.  The up-close-and-personal touch makes the information more real, and more approachable than other such books have done. 

2) An information and resource approach.  She provides a fair amount of listed resources for curriculum, homeschooling information (different from state to state), as well as ideas the newer homeschooling family can use to get going. 

The Working Parent’s Guide To Homeschooling provides enough ideas and information, and emotional support (don’t underestimate the need for a new homeschooling family taking a great, big gulp at the daunting task before them) to set a “newbie” family on the road to homeschool success.  It’s a valuable addition to the growing library of information and resources supporting a burgeoning homeschool movement.

Steven Horwich
Author, educator

From the Author

This homeschooling adventure started when my 3 children began coming home with stacks of homework. We would sit down at the kitchen table right after school, take a break for dinner, then struggle to finish up homework that seemed never to have been explained to them during class. Finally, I would fall into my old lazy boy rocker with my first grader and his reading assignment. The next thing I knew, he was waking me up with a despairing “MOM”. It didn’t take long for me to decide that if I had to be the teacher anyway, I might as well bring them home.

I purchased a pricey curriculum. I gave each child their textbooks and assignments, sat them around the kitchen table and waited for the joy of learning to begin. What I got were blank stares. Then I met Kate and her 5 energetic homeschoolers. What was their secret? What was I doing wrong? With Kate’s helpful guidance, we set about the wonderful adventure of exploring literature, history, math, and science. Our curriculum no longer cost a fortune. The children could do most of their work on their own, and I had plenty of time to build my business and work a part-time job. I felt more balanced than I had in years. Most important of all, my children were learning, and they knew it.

About the Author

As a single, working mother of 3 children, earning less than $25,000 per year, the author, Robyn Dolan wanted to spend more time with her children and supervise their education. She took the plunge into homeschooling and never looked back. At times, working outside the home, full or part-time, at times working at home, Ms. Dolan has now homeschooled all of her children, including a fourth, born after the others had left the house.

Two of her grown children have received bachelor’s degrees from California StateUniversities, one is working on a master’s degree. Her oldest son has a successful career and her youngest already has his own online shop, selling handicrafts. He also excels in math, reading, creative writing, and ice hockey.

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About Me

I’m Robyn Dolan. I write. In first grade, I wrote goofy plays and made my friends act in them. One day they went on strike and in true Hollywood fashion, I quit. After years as a Real Estate agent and broker, I decided I wanted to write again. I spent years looking at blank word processing screens and continued working odd jobs. 

Finally, I had my fourth child. I set up Mrs. D’s Homestead.com and Catholic Traveller.com where I wrote about homesteading and traveling, respectively. Now, having written four non-fiction books and moving on from the homesteading life, I am delving into fiction writing. Join me here, as I continue to share about simplifying my life, elder care, travel, playing chamber music and bluegrass, historical dancing, and, oh yeah, my current works in progress.

Can’t get enough from behind the scenes? Want to be on the team for my latest book? Stay tuned as I set up my Patreon page.

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Work and Homeschool – How to Begin

I put off homeschooling for over 12 years because I was working full-time. I finally got so frustrated with the school system that I just went for it. And did it! And I met many other working parents who were homeschooling, too. Now, after nearly 20 years of homeschooling, while working, I can truly proclaim yes, you can work and…

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How to Make a Backyard-Urban-RV Compost Bucket

Back on the Arizona homestead, composting was simply a matter of throwing the scraps in a small bucket next to the trash can and emptying it on the compost pile in the garden once a day. Then life happened. As a full-time RVer, I struggled to keep my homesteading values. Throwing out scraps literally pained me. So I did some…

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