82-Lancatter Farming, Saturday, January 22, 2000
Colonial Curb, Homezchoollng, 'A a Hinge Color Yellow Hill Farm
JINNY WILT
Adams Co. Correspondent
BIGLERVILLE (Adams
Co.Mf you’re looking for thorn
less blackberries, fall red and
golden raspberries, a peaceful
respite in a rural setting, and a
major house restoration project
interspersed with lively conver
sation from three young, home
schooled women, take a trip to
Yellow Hill Farm near here.
The Bishop sisters-Meghan,
17; Laura, 12; and Cassie, 10,
add sparkle to conversations
about their experience with
homeschooling and a 4-H pro
ject.
Originally from Connecticut,
the family moved to Adams
County when father, Craig
Bishop, changed jobs. In addi
tion to his full-time job, Bishop
plants 28 acres of land. He has
planted one-half acre in rows of
raspberries and 400 feet of
blackberries, watered with trick
le irrigation. In season., the
berries are served up to the pub
lic on a pick-your-own basis.
Bishop is also restoring what
the family calls “This Old
House.”
A major addition project,
which has involved two-plus
years, is evolving into a bigger
kitchen, a bedroom for Meghan
and two new bathrooms, one
with a bathtub and the other in
combo with a laundry. Other
areas of the home have already
been restored and convey
Bishop’s carpentry talents and
creativity.
He has exposed the old logs in
some areas of the home and in
other areas used cured wood
from pine trees on the property
installing it as beautiful flooring
and doors. In keeping with the
theme of the exposed logs in the
downstairs, he has installed logs
from the property in the ceilings
of Meghan’s bedrodin and a
bathroom. ” '
If this isn’t full
time job involves engineering
and design at Qualastat
Electronics, in Gettysburg
which manufactures wire har
and hie as 0 '” Hie 0
The Bishop Sisters, Meghsn, 17, Cassie, 10, and Laura,
12, pose in Colonial dresses they each made. The girls, who
are homeschooled, inarched in several parades in their
1860’s garb.
As for wife and mother
Natalie Bishop, a former agri
cultural school teacher, has
undertaken the task of teaching
her own children at home. Home
schooling is a full-time job,
although she finds time for vol
unteering in the community.
While Meghan has a few
years of public school experience
and Laura went to public school
kindergarten, Cassie has never
been in the public school system
at all.
Ask Meghan how she, as a
homeschooled teenager, social
izes with youths her own age
and you’ll get a quick and firm
response, that “you do it just like
anyone else. You say ‘hello, I’m
so-and-so’ and go from there.”
And don’t get her started on
the benefits of being home
schooled. She wonders, with a
demeanor of near shock, at why
all students don’t want to do the
same thing when she considers
the problems and fears facing
youngsters in today’s public
schools.
Craig notes that
“Homeschoolers tend to be more
academic than sports oriented.”
His older daughter is an exam
ple of this for she has been
accepted and starts in the fall at
Florida College, a small
Christian school in Temple
Terrace, where she plans to earn
a degree in history/english with
a minor in music.
Natalie said she believes that
homeschooled children “have a
mature attitude because they’ve
already been in the real world.
Kids who’ve been raised in a
school system have been nur
tured in a closed environment
and they don’t know what the
real world is like. They don’t
know what a deadline is like.
“They don’t know what punc
tuality is like. They don’t know
what actually completing a
paper and doing the research on
your own is like. They’ve always
had the teacher standing over
them telling them the next step
in the project. Not until many
students get to college do they
th: I think that '
The Bishop family, Meghan, Laura, Craig, Natalie and
The girls are homeschooled at the couple’s Yellow Hill
pick-your-own raspberry and blackberry business.
probably the biggest advantage
to homeschoolers in high school.
“Their mom is there, but she’s
not saying you must do this next
chapter. Meghan knows she
must get through this math
book in the course of the school
year and if she dawdles on math
because she’s spending time on
history, or she’s doing a whole
run of orchestra
concerts-Meghan performs with
three orchestras-and she does
n’t get math, English, or history
done, she’s going to sweat it like
crazy. •
“She learns to pace herself. I
think that’s an advantage
because that is the real world,”
Natalie concludes.
The girls have found a lot of
fun and new experiences and
learning in a recent sewing pro
ject.
They are members of the
Biglerville Busy Beavers 4-H
Club and last year, as seam
stresses, completed dresses and
undergarments from the 1860 s.
Meghan said, “The dresses
came about because we hated
modeling for the 4-H Fashion
Review.” When their mother sug
gested it might be fun to have a
big, graceful hoop skirt to sweep
across the stage, the thought of
modeling became more tolera
ble.
And, Laura adds, living in
Gettysburg they knew they
always enjoyed the Civil War
era dresses. A store nearby to
buy their dress patterns was
also handy.
Meghan said the girls did a
lot of research looking in books
and on the Internet so that the
dresses would be authentic.
She explained, “The well
dressed lady wore eight layers
and that was the minimum you
had to wear or you were consid
ered very immodest. First there
was a chemise, then drawers, an
underpetticoat-and if it was cold
you might wear more than one
under-petticoat.”
At this point, she interjects with
a laugh, that you leam very
quickly to put your stockings
and shoes on first or otherwise
you won’t be able to get them on.
She admits she learned this the
hard way.
Next come garments such as
corsets, a hoop skirt, and an
over-petticoat so that the bones
of the hoop skirt don’t show
through the dress.
Meghan and Laura get into
their apparel, which takes a bit
of time, after they have noted
that all such dresses always
open down the front and are
closed with hooks and eyes or
buttons and button holes.
Laura chuckles when she
explains that she decided not to
use hooks and eyes, “but then
found that button holes weren’t
that easy either.”
Meghan continues that the
Civil War-era woman always
wore collars and under sleeves
“because back then the first part
of any garment to wear out was
the cuffs and collars and they
didn’t have much material. They
had plenty of time, but no mate
rial. What they did instead was
made undersleeves (a separate
piece from the dress) which
would have cuffs on it and when
the cuff wore out they just made
another undersleeve. The collar
would be basted in and when it
wore out, you made a new collar
or turned it around.
Cassie is not to be left out of
these sewing nroiects because
Mother Natalia Bishop adds a finishing touch to daughter
Laura’s bonnet Laura made an 1860’s dress with undergar
ments and as a Junior 4-H’er was a rosette winner in the 4-H
regional fashion revue.
Cassie, gather for a picture.
Farm, where they operate a
she made, not only a Bacajawea
costume that she wore when she
participated in the county level
4-H Fashion Revue. She has also
made a youngster’s dress from
the 1860 s, which she wears with
great pride.
The three have worn their
dresses and marched in several
parades. Meghan advanced to
4-H State Days at Penn State
with her dress, and Laura, who
is a junior 4-H’er, was a rosette
winner on the regional level
with her dress.
In addition to these activities,
Laura plays cello in two orches*
tras. She also writes and edits a
monthly newspaper via Internet
with a homeschool friend from
the Pittsburgh area. She also
enjoys suiting serial stories and
has sorted her own mystery
series books.
Cassie was studying violin,
but currently in looking for
another teacher. She is a lover of
animals-as a rescued sparrow in
a box in the front room attests.
She especially likes cats, bugs,
nature, reading, and helping
outside.