bigjimbishop

If you get everyone with dial up in the commune to register (you need 100 email addresses) then they will install apparently Follow this link http://www.ariase.com/fr/basdebit/france.html choose your department then commune and register bon chance

I'm not sure if I have enough details of your setup but if one PC is connected via the ISP modem then the second PC should be able to share the connection without installing ISP software if both are running Windows XP. The alternative is buy a wifi adsl firewall router like Netgear 834g (4 ethernet ports) or something like that then you don't need any ISP software which usually brings more spam than it blocks. Also no need then for ISP Modems which usually have only one port.

Anyone got any experience making a French will in France? Cheapest way possible. I am a lone parent with a 3 yr old son. I have friends here willing to be legal guardians. What else must I consider? I own 2 cottages and some land in a hamlet. No debts. jim

What is it called in French? I'm off to Brico Depot, Nevers on wednesday and need 50 litres.    

I just went back to the UK to buy a Xantia for 500 quid in great shape and will import it. Where I live you need steering in the middle like all the other tractors. Same Xantia in france is 2000Euro+ I am getting the cam belt replaced but I intend to run this car for ever and ever amen. (I have 2 others in pieces in the garden like most french blokes:hehe

Anybody know the tax situation with home made bio fuels? I'm collecting gallons of cooking oil from friends with commercial fryers Before my Xantia gets stopped for smelling like a mobile chipshop I want to be legal if possible The place is crawling with sniffer pigs and I'm not paranoid, Honest!  

A link for 82cm LCD http://www.ldlc.com/tri/330080_p1_tri4_2.html I've bought from these guys online a few times. LDLC Cheap and therefore quite slow but reliable and well packed Check out touslesprix.com or this link http://www.touslesprix.com/meilleur-prix-lcd+82-par-0-0,3,0,1,0,0,181,0.html

WMP never seems to behave on any of my machines. Typical MS crud I recommend Itunes for music and Real Alternative for video If you have a soundblaster card then Media Organizer is great In fact to avoid Microsoft use Mozilla instead of Internet Explorer and Thunderbird instead of outlook Zone Alarm instead of Norton (which really is rubbish) Adaware and Spybot to clean spyware I set up all my pals machines like this and no viruses, trojans or any other problems so far All of the above programs (except zonealarm) are free open-source and have NO ADVERTISING Hurrah! Loads of cool free stuff available here http://home.hccnet.nl/h.edskes/mirror.htm the codec packs allow you to play any video format around. There are loads of other ways to keep the machines clean and fast but I don't want to bore you with details.

Sadly I live in the second least populated department and in the Morvan to boot. We have only just got unlimited dialup from wanadoo so my only hope of BB this decade is Wimax. However EDF are looking at transmitting down the powerlines and there is a new low power sub-audio UWB technology on VHF frequencies being tested. You lucky bleeders is all I can say. interesting links for wifi/wlan/wimax http://www.fiercewifi.com/ and for unrelated technology but great for self-sufficiency freaks www.freeenergynews.com

Anybody in Normandy using Wimax broadband yet? If so what is the fastest connection speeds available for rural access? Does your Commune provide a Wifi LAN?

Well I did wonder if it was really chicken pox when the size and number of the blisters seemed greater then I remember. But the first time he had it he was only 3 months old and I understood from our doctor then that he could quite easily catch it again. He is better now and responded well to the homeopathy and anti-histamine. Only really three days of hell when it was 38 degrees in the shade. Are german measles symptoms similar? Jim

My 3yr old boy just had chicken pox. But he only suffered a mild temperature for 2 days. I gave him Pulsatilla every 2 hours and an anti-histamine sirop to stop the itching. He did'nt scratch anything but I kept him out of the sun in the coolest room. Chicken Pox seems to be worse here than I remember, more spots and puss.....yuk. But it's all over and no scars. Vaccinations may not work 100% as my boy has had it twice now and should have been safe after the first bout. Jim

The Royale Family Rock! Here is the book title for DebraA64 "Changer d'Ecole, changer l'Ecole" by Roger Auffrand ISBN 2406808-09-1 [email protected] www.multimania.com/possible All questions answered in French, Hurrah. A+ Jim

I agree teachers are well trained and state school systems were set up with the best of intentions. But even as a school governor a parent is arguably powerless to change the things that are wrong with the national curriculum and school policies as they are centrally enforced. The fact remains that 90,000 kids are taught at home in the UK. That is only 1% but it is significant and rising. The majority are not children with special needs so why are people doing this more than ever? Perhaps one could view home schooling as a most effective protest against the system. Although protest not being the primary reason to home educate. Nobody wants or expects the whole state education system to be dismantled in favour of Home ed for all, that would be interesting but anarchic. Consumer choice is what we are offered where choices are very limited by political agenda. Consumer power is what we want where our children's education is governed to a larger extent by the community closer to the individual. However I can see the issues in going too far down the latter track as it's very important for national standards in the work place to have a direct link to a level playing field in education. The UK is run by lawyers and accountants, not by a representative cross section of society as it used to be. Can we trust these people to have vision rather than budget deadlines? Education is really one area of UK life where we are still free unlike some of our European neighbours. To promote variety in society it is essential that these freedoms exist. Can you imagine one day an European Curriculum? It could happen.

The french Home Ed site for Jorja http://www.lesenfantsdabord.org/eindex.html

Livin France cheque spel/gramer needed is

What is happening in the US where home school is very popular http://www.nheri.org/ Testmonials http://www.education-otherwise.org/Links/HE_Adult_St/EO%20Dads.htm

If anyone still has questions unanswered (and it seems to be the same questions all the time) then check these links to very old established and respected organizations. http://www.sudval.org/ http://www.unschooling.com/library/faq/index.shtml The criticisms that parents are not necessarily competent enough to educate their children seems harsh when I'm sure no parents check out school teachers qualifications or work record. I have teaching friends who spend half their lesson hours covering subjects they have no knowledge of in the UK. My sons 13yr old half-brother is jumping through all hoops at state school in Leicester but he's been stressed since age 8 and we've all tried to help at some point with the work load but he's still too concerned with fear of failure. After 2 weeks into summer holidays the stress has completely disappeared, after 3 weeks he starts doing little science projects with bicarb and squeezy bottles and builds go carts and most important he self-motivates all the learning he needs to deal with technical/mathematical problems arising. Schools these days struggle to inspire like that. When you are inspired you learn faster than it takes a Xerox to print another worksheet. It does not take "better or right" parents for this to happen just kids who are not under the bloody cosh of Mr Blairs grand plan. Teachers have massive measurability tasks to perform weekly cutting their lesson planning/preparation and relaxation time to the point where they are stressed too. It's just not a healthy environment. Most kids are bored/stressed in school. Bolox to attacking Home Education. School is crap. So I'm going to attack school instead National curriculums are designed by accountants and lawyer (aka politicians/media moguls) to produce scared big-brother-glued mind-numbed tax-paying predictable capitalist drones. School leavers with any spirit survive school despite education and because their families do what they can to repair the damage school causes. "School is preparation for real life".....crap.....when was real life sitting in a room with 34 people the same age looking at the same photo copy? Socialization????????? that's crap and generally a negative experience fueled by consumerism, crap TV and too many sweets. When was avoiding distressed issue-riddled bullies with no protection mental or physical like real life......um ok that is like lots of peoples lives but kids don't have to go through this just because adults do. School of hard knocks.....does that really work? Borstall, Prison very successful systems NOT Institutions.....I hate them. School sucks. That's just UK school, you talk to most french people and they really hate it after age 6 as well. You are what you eat, physically, spiritually and mentally so clean up. I'm off for a pastis with the other farmers. Now don't be petty and comment on my grammer/syntax etc oh and keep it clean. But do check out the links and question the system as much as possible it should be accountable to you. But is it? Jim Patronizing Ranter biting back and ready for your guarded and genteel responces

I struggle with confidence and patience as I'm sure most home ed people do so thats where a network is essential to have support and not get isolated which was the original question from teamedup. To answer Saligobay, I was made redundant in the UK 2002 and with an ever increasing interest only mortgage. I soon became a lone-parent as well with a 2 yr old. In fact noone would give me a new mortgage with no "real" job and the nearest place I could buy a place for cash was Burgundy. I guess I could have got a job in a call centre or a shop but then I had the kid to consider (mortgage, nursury fees) I was stuck in an impossible situation unable to earn enough to live. I had £35000 capital tied up in the house which is privilege but useless in the UK for unwaged parent so I jumped ship. I think it's more lucky timing than privilege as the housing market went so crazy in 2004. I spent every penny buying this grotty cottage and now scrape together what I can gardening and gigging in bars. So I do work but it's much more modest and fun than the old life oh yeah and Bourgogne is much prettier than Leicester city. So I hope you can find a way to be lucky too and get away from the mortgage coz thats the killer....bloody banks.

Hi Debra Glad to hear that someone is able to post some positive opinions about alternatives to state education. I just got too wound up by the Forum Guru Trolls. I should have learnt by now that the majority of people react negatively to the subject of home ed out of what? Guilt? Ignorance? Fear or people who don't conform. I misrepresented myself and got a whipping from the hacks, my mistake. It's pointless to justify ones life choices when at such odds with others. Hey ho nothing changes. I have a french book on the subject of alternative education and the french law. I must retrieve it from friends then I'll post the title and Author for you.

Cheers Dick Respect Jim

I quite agree that burying my head in the sand does not make poverty go away and ethnic disadvantage is horrendous. i respect the work you've devoted your life to but it's not the only way to tackle the problem which I feel has some roots in global capitalism which I feel very strongly about and am trying to live my life and build a community which actively debunks and moves away from supporting the organizations that keep 2/3 of the world poor. "Show me working-class black home-educators and I'll start to listen." My last address in UK for 6 years was not a nice white middle-calss leafy suburb but one of the 10th poorest wards in the UK. At no.12 is a womens refuge and no.8 had 4 Somali families squashed in for too much rent. I'm not boasting about it as I was not particularly active in combatting and it all felt a bit hopeless but I was a part of the community and yes I can show examples of Somali, Punjabi and other ethnic refugee families who home educate. I believe social class has changed and not for the better, but there are different ways to discribe it now and working class is not meaningful anymore as you pointed out it's the disadvantaged class that suffer. We got into this because someones previous post generalized home educators as middle-class and as usual inaccurate generalizations cause arguements. One of the reasons I'm here is to learn more about ways to get out of the grips of the Capitalists who make us all poorer to differing degrees. We are holding a gathering in september to exchange information and ideas about energy production and cooperative living with the help of my pal Sam who builds self sustaining schools in vietnam. This is not a navel-gazing exercise as the idea is to share everything openly with all people so individuals benefit before corperations. I do truely respect people like you who work directly with the worst affected but I'm not so skilled in that area. I'm an engineer by training so I must use my skills appropriately. I could not do this in Leicester and grabbed the chance to get out. Now I have the space and resources to make a difference however small. I hope I live up to standards set by people like you and use my advantages to the good of others.

In leicester last year before I moved to france there was a vibrant group of home educators from all "walks of life", about 20 families. Some were loaded, some were posh, some were unemployed and some were travellers and few were "middle class". It's just not a class issue. Maybe I just feel that the term Class has negative conotations and no doubt you could say that is my middle class distress. But why get into it? People of all social strata sell up and move here for a better life, this being the common aspiration. Class does not matter. People educate their kids privately from old "working class" families if and when they can afford it same for middle class and upper. Aspirations are not necessarily class based. Also are we making clear the distinctions between catagories of percieved class. In marketing we, the public are reduced to 9 catagories according to earnings and this supposedly shows own consumer habits accurately. It's just a different issue. I may have been flippant about finding class uninteresting but to be honest I had not thought about class since moving to France. It's a much more British pasttime perhaps? I'd would be interested to hear your definition of the social classes and how they have changed in perception and reality over your 30 years of experience. Also the definition of advantage/disadvantage in society is that financial, intellectual or what? I'm bright but financially poor so what class am I? Great discussion and complex stuff you've brought up.....

I don't believe in class, it's just not interesting. It's just another form racial or social or financial or educational or industrial xenophobia. I feel you were scorning me as you brought up class and your opinions about those who do home educate. I fear it was your previous reply that lacked manners and where did I say there was no "class" in France? I'm just not personally buying into it. Lets talk about education not class. My apologies if I have offended you.

I think these people are best to get in touch with. I have mailed them a few times but not met yet http://www.eco-bio.info/ [email protected] and any french links on the education otherwise site There is not so much of a web presence for home educators here unlike in UK. I guess you have to choose a lifestyle and location with education as top priority. I've been lucky here as most of my new pals are into it but they are spread up to 45km apart creating some interesting logistical problems. As far as work is concerned I am a composer and can work anytime, anywhere and most of my pals have a partner at home or work irregularly/job-share but generally do just enough to get by and spend lots of time with the kids. Because Home ed does not fit with 9 to 5 jobs one has to ask if 9 to 5 makes you happy and do something different like selling up and moving to France mortgage free. But I guess you did this already. My old UK life cost me 2000 Euro/month, now it's 500 Euro/month maximum and quality of life is up 1000%. The french in my area are quite different it seems from other peoples experiences on this forum. I was vainly hoping for a quiet life when I moved here it being one of the least populated regions but it's party central! I love it and all the opportunities for sustainable living in energy, food and education. So if you want to do it then find the people and make it happen. Good luck