Hard Times in Paradise

by David Colfax, Micki Colfax

An account of one family's life in a redwood forest describes how the Colfax's lived without electricity, running water, or a phone, and how they educated their sons, three of whom were accepted to Harvard on full scholarships.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir

284 pages, Hardcover

First published July 17, 1992

Reviews

[Jennifer]

The Colfax's story is one of perseverance. It is well worth the read. I found this book to be both encouraging and Inspiring.

[Linda]

David Colfax was a sociology professor at Washington University in St. Louis during the 60's and was denied tenure because he and his wife had been so politically active. Unable to get another teaching job, he and his wife bought land in California and with their three sons, worked incredibly hard to build a home and make a living from the land. These were the years of hippie colonies in California, but the Colfaxes were no hippies. At times they were tempted to give up, and they did spend a year in Canada where David taught in a small college in a little town near Lake Superior, but his activist past reached him even there. Eventually they adopted a fourth son (their two oldest were born to them; the third son is black, the fourth is part Eskimo) and schooled them at home an obviously successful endeavor because all four sons have graduated from Harvard and gone on to do well for themselves. This is a good family story they aren't standing on any soap boxes, just telling a good story of their unusual lives.

[NoBeatenPath]

Two topics that are really interesting me at the moment (and do most of the time) are home education and homesteading. So when I found out about Hard Times in Paradise, which is a memoir about both, I knew I should read it. The authors, David and Micki Colfax, are famous for raising and home educating their four sons on a hard-scrabble goat farm, with those sons all going on to successful careers, including in some cases studies at Harvard. However, this is not a ‘how-to’ about homesteading or home education. If anything, in many places it is a lesson in how not to do things. But that is part of the appeal of this book – the willingness of the authors to share how inept they were in places!
via Librarything.com

The Colfaxes started out as academics who, due to their political convictions, find that their career options become severely limited. After a disastrous move to Africa (they were meant to take up a post in Uganda, then Idi Amin came to power; they spent time in Morocco thinking it would be a cheap place to live but it wasn’t) they end up buying a patch of land in California’s redwood mountains through a mix of necessity and misguided plans. Through the following years they build somewhere to live (often with many mistakes and mis-steps), slowly develop a farm, and raise four sons. One of the surprising, and actually heartening, parts of the story is the fact that there was no real plan to home educate the boys, rather it just evolved. The story is told from multiple viewpoints, and at all times is honest and often self-depreciating. Which is such a relief – so many ‘new’ books about moving back to the land continually rhapsodise how wonderful life in the country is, how great living simply is, how having to do something different automatically means ‘finding yourself’. The Colfaxes are honest about how having to live a simple life is often harsh, uncomfortable and un-wanted; how the country can be unsafe and full of strange people; and how working with your hands is not always about finding your bliss, but can be about mind-numbing boredom. And while the authors often acknowledge how they wouldn’t have made it without friends and neighbours, they are also give many examples of how they were let down by others.

Above all, the message I got from this book is that while sticking to your principles can mean material difficulty and hard times, sticking to what you believe in is the best thing for your health and family, no matter the hardships. Another message was that allowing children to follow their interests and take responsibility can be one of the most effective ways to raise capable, intelligent, interesting people.

I have ordered a copy of the Colfax’s other book Homeschooling for Excellence, which I am hoping is just as an engaging read, even if the resources are out-dated by now.



http://www.nobeatenpath.net/2011/12/1...

[Pumpkin+Bear]

I am now cured of any desire I might have ever harbored deep in my heart to ever, ever, live off of the land and off of the grid. Hard times is right! Seriously, this family used a squat toilet for years. They didn't have a hot water heater for over a decade. They took all the delusions that many people have that living off of the land entails a few chickens and pigs and a heck of a garden and they threw those delusions right into their squat toilet. And then they sprinkled some sawdust and lime over them.

I'd heard of the Colfax family as fellow unschoolers, and I've read their book on homeschooling, and so of course the parts of the book that most interested me were the family's lifestyle choices that enabled their children to try out so many paths, and make so many achievements. I'm a little tiny bit suspicious that the reason these kiddos all grew so mature and industrious and can-do and practical is that their parents were a little tiny bit...um, impractical? Unpredictable? I'm not going to spoil for you all the adventures and entailing hijinks that led me to this idea, but I'll just tell you--that Africa trip was a total fiasco, and so was the Alaska business, if you ask me.

So, yeah, it was a family journey, and they came out in the end all pretty great, and sure, part of me wants to *want* to build my own home from scratch and clear the land by hand, you know, but mostly what I got out of the book was a profound re-appreciation of the joys and conveniences inherent in having my very own flush toilet.

[Brittany]

I enjoyed the Colfax's first book and had equal expectations for this tome, but was disappointed. This book covered their homesteading years extensively, but didn't really offer any additional insight as to educational philosophy or methodology - probably because they don't have one. Something didn't quite jive with their account of being fired and suing for tenure, but that was just my gut instinct. I was also more than a little bothered by the attitude the parents held that they were 'too good' to engage in anything besides college academia or political activism, so they did nothing and instead relied on the ingenuity and hard work of their sons. I certainly appreciate the hard, manual labor they had their sons involved in - I believe it's necessary for boys - I and I also appreciated the encouragement and support they gave their sons' individual interests. The positive take home message for me, would be: work hard, no television, read books, support one another, become experts in your fields of interest. This is not a book I would read again.

[Donna]

I really liked this book. It's about a family of six (four boys, two adopted, two bio) who decided to literally live off the land. The parents gave up their job, bought some land, and carved out a life for themselves by building their own home (which took many years) and adding livestock and gardens to support themselves. They had no electricity and no running water for years! The most fascinating part for me was that they homeschooled in a very, very non-traditional way and three of the four boys went to Harvard on scholarships (one is still at home). I thought the book was fascinating and inspiring.

[polly]

I just love the way the Colfax family learned together!! I liked the book so much that I forced my husband to read it, too--and that's unusual. The cooperative family unit is what stands out about this book--the idea that the family is not comprised of parental authority figures who are dispensing all their wisdom and knowledge to children, but that the group of individuals together works to create a life, and everyone has input on what that looks like. A great model for family life...even if you're not going to carve out a homestead in the mountains of California.

[Valerie]

Wonderful book that tells such a fascinating true story of a family in northern California that checks out of academia after much pain and blacklisting due to political activism both on campus and off. They bought raw acreage and carved out a homestead, raised their bio and adopted kids, and inadvertently became homeschoolers back when it was unheard of. Loved their writing style, their passion for social justice, and the life they chose in the late 1970's and early 1980's.

[Lauren]

This is the true story of a family that left academia and began a homestead in northern California, with a pit-stop in Africa. They build their own home, raise livestock, and start a guest house. It's a really intriguing tale of life in the 1970s and 80s, the philosophy behind homesteading and homeschooling, and it's just plain interesting to read.

[Polly Jirkovsky]

A memoir of living on the land in the 1970s and homeschooling, really unschooling, four kids. The descriptions of the Colfax's life on the land were brutal, it's amazing they managed as long as they did in a half-finished house with no electricity. No wonder the kids couldn't wait to go to college.

[Lori]

I thought this story was amazing- how they lived, survived and tenaciously worked so hard to get what they wanted is very inspirationing! I love how they encouraged and supported their children in what they were passionate about.

This story is more about their lives homesteading than about homeschooling.

[Katheryn]

I read Hard Times in Paradise years ago at the beginning of our homeschooling journey and just fell in love with the Colfax's story. Made me think more than once about moving to a remote area of the N. CA coast. My favorite homeschooling book!

[Audrey]

I read this for the homestead information, but was also pleasantly surprised to read about their homeschooling. It sounds just like the Thomas Jefferson Education which I am very intrigued by. This was a very good, and intriguing book.

[Wendy]

Loved it and the Colfax family.

[Kami]

I loved this book because these people did something I wish I could do. Live in the mountains and survive and build a house. Plus they homeschool.

[erin ball]

This family is so interesting. Their kids (2 bio, 2 adopted) were what we might call "unschooled", and then (3 of the 4) graduated Harvard.

[Mimi]

The true story of a crazy family who decided to 'get back to the land' in the 1970's. That they survived the experience is a miracle!

[Autumn]

I wish I could give this 6 stars. Loved it!

[Kelly Houston]

Easy, entertaining read.