Charlotte Mason was orphaned at 16. She never married and never had any kids, but spent her life working with children. CM devoted everything she had to children. I hate the word "method" because it is so opposite of organic, but CM developed a philosophy that is called the Charlotte Mason method of learning. It is what's used in the Montessori schools today. And it is brilliant.
Miss Mason shared the belief that "children are persons who should be treated as individuals as they are introduced to the variety and richness of the world in which they live." It seems simple and and obvious.
Try an experiment: Take a small child on your knee. Respect him. Do not see him as something to mold, prune, or form. This is an individual who thinks, acts, and feels.
We are told by many in our generation that this small child is a possession.
What sort of person is it whom we are holding? Maybe vigorous and healthy, or malnourished and dejected? His mind may be alert or dull and neglected. Is he bored by sawdustlike religious slogans or has he been warmed at the flame of the Shepherd who has cared for him? We can only love him. We cannot own him, he is not ours.
One of the main selling points for homeschooling, in our family, is the views of children by the faculty of an institutional school. Children are not dependant on us(adults) to brainwash them into thinking any arbitrary act that we deem useful.
We think this is extremely healthy and have implemented it in our home. It works wonderfully at the Montessori schools. The children at those schools are well behaved, well versed, and exposed to quality books, games, and school work.
One of the main points that Charlotte Mason makes is to let good behaviour and good work be its own reward. Also, never to use writing, reading, or learning as a punishment or something to "get through" to go do the fun stuff.
I didn't know this in the beginning. We used stickers. When Thing 1,2, or 3 was good or did good work they got a sticker. Whoever got the most stickers got a prize out of the Good Job Bucket. We had 2 problems with this... not all my kids are on the same level behaviourally. They are different ages. Also, they have different special needs. Thing 2 has to work much, much harder to not have a temper tantrum than the other kids. So do I give him 2 stickers for not freaking out at lunchtime? It got too hard to decide. The other problem was that I did not like giving a "prize" for a kid to play with in front of the other two. It just felt wrong and it taught them that learning was a competition and that good behaviour is not worth doing unless a reward is offered. My kids even started to remind me to put a sticker on when they behaved. I knew that this was not how I wanted to parent. i did it because it was done to me at school. Now, knowing what I know, I don't have my boys participate in anything like that. They automatically get a reward from me, just for being my kids.
As an adult, living in organic church life, we would never do something like that to each other. But because kids are looked at differently, our culture uses that system. I talked to a woman recently that had this happen in her daughter's classroom. 8 kids were given special treats by the substitute because they did what the sub wanted. The woman(my friend) brought in treats for everyone to her daughter's class. The sub said "You are undermining what I am trying to do here!" and my friend replied, "Well, you are undermining what I am doing at home." My friend now homeschools her daughter.
There are a lot of things about institutions that disgust me. This system of having a flawed human decide which humans will be rewarded and which won't is one of them. The only institution that does not use this system is, like I said, the Montessori school.
I am in my opinionated blog so I feel safe in writing this. I know that there are a lot of people who will disagree with me and I appreciate that we are not all the same. I enjoy differences in my friends and family's point of views and love and value them just as much as ever. If you are reading this a don't agree, it's okay with me. I just really, really, wanted to get this out. Sometimes a blog will sit in my heart eating away at me until I finally sit down to type it. This is one of those.
I want to write just a little more about the philosophy that's developed in our house over the years... I am fascinated with curriculum, books, learning styles, and so on. I spend hours upon hours writing year long plans for our homeschool. What I am not good at is "teaching." My MIL is a teacher and has shared with me some of the things they do in her classroom. She has taught for 50 year and has a Master's degree in the profession. For all that, she is well read in twaddle(twaddle is the stuff the schools are giving to kids these days) and she knows how to organize and teach a classroom. When it comes to homeschooling and what we do, her degree doesn't matter. If anything, I have found that her degree works against her. Homeschooling isn't about teaching kids. In our house homeschooling is following them on their learning journey and showing them where to find what they need. When I try to teach them something that is of no interest to them, they forget it. We are very relaxed in our school and because of this I no longer have to fight with the kids to do school. They do far more than I ever could have "made" them. It's because we began treating them like equal members of the family. It's very similar to the belief that christians can't know what to do without a pastor. So far, we are growing and experiencing Christ more than we did before when we had the 'leader.'
Hopefully this will give a little glimpse into how parenting/learning can work without the typical reward/punishment chart system. I am also very excited to write about Charlotte Mason. I whole heartedly agree with her life's work and will take every opportunity to write about her and pass on the info that's been so useful to me.
If you read this and don't agree, leave a comment. I love to hear opinions and to know what other moms and dads do that work for them.
In either case, thanks for reading!
Love,
Jackie
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
biomedical intervention works
The last month has been somewhat of a biomedical experimentation period for our family. As most of you who read my blog know, two of my children have "struggles" beyond the norm. Thing One has adhd(which actually mirrors a lot of the same traits as autism) and Thing Two is on the autism spectrum.
I have been reading some interesting publications lately that suggest that these problems, disorders, or whatever are mainly in the gut. I know, it sounds crazy, but it makes sense when broken down. The more I read, the more it made sense. You see, Thing Two had severe gut reactions after the DtAP as a baby. Both times he received this vaccination, he didn't poop for a week. Which is very dangerous for a breastfeeding newborn. Unfortunately, the pediatrician and ER doctor did not believe that this baby hadn't pooped for a week. In that long, excruciating seven days, my boy was being poisoned through the gut. This particular little Thing could not handle the overload of chemicals and live viruses that vaccines deliver and so coincidentally now he is on the autism spectrum.
Thing One has adhd. It is NOT normal hyper little boy behaviour. He has an inability to connect to others on an emotional level. He has painful stomach aches all the time along with leaky gut syndrome(a symptom of both adhd and autism). This is in addition to the hyper mania he experiences when his diet is off. He is a little love ball inside, but this label of adhd has him trapped within its symptoms.
Now that I have explained what my boys dealt with before I want to write about the changes diet and supplements have made in our lives. It is all a part of biomedical intervention.
For some reason children who live with adhd and autism due to toxin overload have a sensitivity to sugar, wheat(gluten), and casein(protein that's in dairy). Step one is to remove these from their diet. No exceptions whatsoever. The hardest part of this is trying to make grandma understand that she is not treating her grandbaby by giving him a cupcake. This diet is also hell on the family grocery budget.
Also, most children who live with autism and adhd have a yeast problem in their guts. This may be due to all the antibiotics these kids have taken. With such weak systems, they get sick often and "need" antibiotics. Well, the meds messed them up and left them with a yeast problem. Probiotics and a product called ThreeLac help with this, but it takes months. At first when the yeast begins coming out in clumps, the child is like the devil. Crazy little devils. But when the yeast is cleaned out of their guts, they get better.
We are considering visiting a DAN doctor to have chelation therapy done. This is a natural therapy using oxygen to remove mercury and other poison from the body on a cellular level. DAN stands for Defeat Autism Now. These treatments will require travel time, money spent on plane tickets, hotel rooms, and the therapy itself. It's something we will need to plan for.
Regular pediatricians don't do these things. They have said that changing the diet is "dangerous." They said that adding supplements like omega-3 and probiotics are "dangerous." They obviously don't have kids with autism.
So far we have changed the diets of both boys and we've added the supplements that help replenish the gut with what it needs. So far we are seeing tremendous results! We still have a way to go, but Chris and I see progress!!
The worst part of autism(for our family) is the constant tantrums. The worst part of the adhd is the constant breaking of our things and constantly getting accidentally hurt by Thing One. I can tell you that Thing One himself finds the leaky gut to be the worst part. Fortunately, diet is changing all of these. Leaky gut is gone and the other ailments are happening less and less.
My kids may one day soon be able to snuggle up on the couch with me. I didn't realize how much I was missing out on this simple pleasure until Thing Three was born and I got to cuddle him. I can't wait for the day I get to snuggle up with all three boys on the couch and read a book.
Thank you for reading this blog. I enjoy journaling my life and sharing my passions with anyone willing to read. Sometimes the writing ends here and sometimes I expand on it elsewhere. I honestly didn't think anyone was reading this until recently. So many of my friends and family have commented on what I write when I see them. I try to remain as politically correct as possible while still maintaining my dignity and point of view. Thanks for reading. It means a lot to me.
Love,
Jackie
I have been reading some interesting publications lately that suggest that these problems, disorders, or whatever are mainly in the gut. I know, it sounds crazy, but it makes sense when broken down. The more I read, the more it made sense. You see, Thing Two had severe gut reactions after the DtAP as a baby. Both times he received this vaccination, he didn't poop for a week. Which is very dangerous for a breastfeeding newborn. Unfortunately, the pediatrician and ER doctor did not believe that this baby hadn't pooped for a week. In that long, excruciating seven days, my boy was being poisoned through the gut. This particular little Thing could not handle the overload of chemicals and live viruses that vaccines deliver and so coincidentally now he is on the autism spectrum.
Thing One has adhd. It is NOT normal hyper little boy behaviour. He has an inability to connect to others on an emotional level. He has painful stomach aches all the time along with leaky gut syndrome(a symptom of both adhd and autism). This is in addition to the hyper mania he experiences when his diet is off. He is a little love ball inside, but this label of adhd has him trapped within its symptoms.
Now that I have explained what my boys dealt with before I want to write about the changes diet and supplements have made in our lives. It is all a part of biomedical intervention.
For some reason children who live with adhd and autism due to toxin overload have a sensitivity to sugar, wheat(gluten), and casein(protein that's in dairy). Step one is to remove these from their diet. No exceptions whatsoever. The hardest part of this is trying to make grandma understand that she is not treating her grandbaby by giving him a cupcake. This diet is also hell on the family grocery budget.
Also, most children who live with autism and adhd have a yeast problem in their guts. This may be due to all the antibiotics these kids have taken. With such weak systems, they get sick often and "need" antibiotics. Well, the meds messed them up and left them with a yeast problem. Probiotics and a product called ThreeLac help with this, but it takes months. At first when the yeast begins coming out in clumps, the child is like the devil. Crazy little devils. But when the yeast is cleaned out of their guts, they get better.
We are considering visiting a DAN doctor to have chelation therapy done. This is a natural therapy using oxygen to remove mercury and other poison from the body on a cellular level. DAN stands for Defeat Autism Now. These treatments will require travel time, money spent on plane tickets, hotel rooms, and the therapy itself. It's something we will need to plan for.
Regular pediatricians don't do these things. They have said that changing the diet is "dangerous." They said that adding supplements like omega-3 and probiotics are "dangerous." They obviously don't have kids with autism.
So far we have changed the diets of both boys and we've added the supplements that help replenish the gut with what it needs. So far we are seeing tremendous results! We still have a way to go, but Chris and I see progress!!
The worst part of autism(for our family) is the constant tantrums. The worst part of the adhd is the constant breaking of our things and constantly getting accidentally hurt by Thing One. I can tell you that Thing One himself finds the leaky gut to be the worst part. Fortunately, diet is changing all of these. Leaky gut is gone and the other ailments are happening less and less.
My kids may one day soon be able to snuggle up on the couch with me. I didn't realize how much I was missing out on this simple pleasure until Thing Three was born and I got to cuddle him. I can't wait for the day I get to snuggle up with all three boys on the couch and read a book.
Thank you for reading this blog. I enjoy journaling my life and sharing my passions with anyone willing to read. Sometimes the writing ends here and sometimes I expand on it elsewhere. I honestly didn't think anyone was reading this until recently. So many of my friends and family have commented on what I write when I see them. I try to remain as politically correct as possible while still maintaining my dignity and point of view. Thanks for reading. It means a lot to me.
Love,
Jackie
Thursday, August 25, 2011
where I belong
This morning I felt uneasy about something. I woke up feeling that way. It's got nothing to do with being a crunchy mama so maybe I should write it in the other blog, but I ended up here, so...
Chris and I are different. Even in a group full of different people, we are different. I have never found a place quite so as accepting and forgiving as where we are now, but we still don't quite fit the same way the others do.
We have 2 months left on our lease and I have been leaning towards moving back to where hubby's job is. He drives 3 to 4 hours each day to get to and from work. He also has to be up very ealry in the morning and in turn go to bed very early at night to get there in time.
There is a sadness, a lonliness here that I have never known before. During the day it truly feels as though I am cut off from the world in my own little cave. I know Christ differently than I used to, but everyone knows that it doesn't mean I don't know lonliness.
I just joined a homeschool group that I am pretty excited about. These women were overjoyed to have me join. So maybe I'll stay for another year.
Sometimes I am amazed at how alike Chris and I are with our social anxieties. Why couldn't at least one of us be extroverted? Two introverted people hanging out at home all the time with our kids.
I am happy with the kids. They are good kids. Now that Hunter is on the autism diet and schedule of supplements he is making leaps and bounds in his healing. I could not be more impressed with how much love was being held prisoner in his little heart. He really is a sweet little boy outside of the label of autism.
I am very happy with our homeschooling. It is a full time job right now. We have found what works best for us and I am seeing results that are beyond anything I have done in my own power. Now that we have this homeschool group we will be able to do fun things like science fairs, do field trips with other families, and play homeschool sports.
Maybe that is where I'll find my niche? Although I am first a christian, Christ lives within me, I am a homeschooling mom. A very passionate, active one. I love to write about it, I love to do it, and I love to help others with it.
I think that the problem with my uneasiness might have been that I was trying to sit around all day expressing Christ when really I am supposed to be pouring myself into the world of homeschooling by day.
I think the homeschool group is the one place on earth, in all of history, that I will fit flawlessly into. My identity is in Christ and my fulfillment is in Him, but my time, passion, and gifts will be utilized in the homeschool community.
I think this is what I'll call "The End of My Identity Crisis."
All this time I have been trying to insert myself in a place where I wasn't supposed to put ALL my effort and time.
I love the Lord. I love how He changes all the time and that He truly is elusive. I have been so restless trying to pull Him out of thin air. All this time all I needed to do was look for Him where my passion is.
I have so much of Christ to share in this homeschooling group. So much of Him within me that I want to express outside of this house.
Having this group is going to be the missing piece to our lives here. When we lived in Jacksonville I know I couldn't have made it without my homeschooling mom friends. Hopefully getting out with these other moms will ease the lonliness.
I will be sure to blog about the journey as I go.
Thanks for reading me.
Love,
Jackie
Chris and I are different. Even in a group full of different people, we are different. I have never found a place quite so as accepting and forgiving as where we are now, but we still don't quite fit the same way the others do.
We have 2 months left on our lease and I have been leaning towards moving back to where hubby's job is. He drives 3 to 4 hours each day to get to and from work. He also has to be up very ealry in the morning and in turn go to bed very early at night to get there in time.
There is a sadness, a lonliness here that I have never known before. During the day it truly feels as though I am cut off from the world in my own little cave. I know Christ differently than I used to, but everyone knows that it doesn't mean I don't know lonliness.
I just joined a homeschool group that I am pretty excited about. These women were overjoyed to have me join. So maybe I'll stay for another year.
Sometimes I am amazed at how alike Chris and I are with our social anxieties. Why couldn't at least one of us be extroverted? Two introverted people hanging out at home all the time with our kids.
I am happy with the kids. They are good kids. Now that Hunter is on the autism diet and schedule of supplements he is making leaps and bounds in his healing. I could not be more impressed with how much love was being held prisoner in his little heart. He really is a sweet little boy outside of the label of autism.
I am very happy with our homeschooling. It is a full time job right now. We have found what works best for us and I am seeing results that are beyond anything I have done in my own power. Now that we have this homeschool group we will be able to do fun things like science fairs, do field trips with other families, and play homeschool sports.
Maybe that is where I'll find my niche? Although I am first a christian, Christ lives within me, I am a homeschooling mom. A very passionate, active one. I love to write about it, I love to do it, and I love to help others with it.
I think that the problem with my uneasiness might have been that I was trying to sit around all day expressing Christ when really I am supposed to be pouring myself into the world of homeschooling by day.
I think the homeschool group is the one place on earth, in all of history, that I will fit flawlessly into. My identity is in Christ and my fulfillment is in Him, but my time, passion, and gifts will be utilized in the homeschool community.
I think this is what I'll call "The End of My Identity Crisis."
All this time I have been trying to insert myself in a place where I wasn't supposed to put ALL my effort and time.
I love the Lord. I love how He changes all the time and that He truly is elusive. I have been so restless trying to pull Him out of thin air. All this time all I needed to do was look for Him where my passion is.
I have so much of Christ to share in this homeschooling group. So much of Him within me that I want to express outside of this house.
Having this group is going to be the missing piece to our lives here. When we lived in Jacksonville I know I couldn't have made it without my homeschooling mom friends. Hopefully getting out with these other moms will ease the lonliness.
I will be sure to blog about the journey as I go.
Thanks for reading me.
Love,
Jackie
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
supermom isn't real
Parenting is often a thankless job. It feels like I am failing sometimes. When the kids do great and I couldn't be prouder, it feels like I am doing an amazing job.
I have been asking myself the question lately, how much of parenting is "up to me" to do and how much of it is the Lord's hand? This reveals just how much I did not understand about the Lord and parenting.
I live as though it were completely up to me. I put so much pressure on myself that at times when I'm failing it's unbearable. I am learning to live by Christ's life. It's a process I am in. But when it comes to parenting how does that play out?
I used to think that I was an individual(in the Lord) with individual kids(that are individually in the Lord). I started to read a book I got at the library recently. It was a book written by a homeschool mom and the journey her family has taken. I got bored so 2 chapters in I stopped reading. It was full of bible verses that were taken out of context. It didn't sit well with me at all, but I couldn't figure out why until this morning. I don't believe the same things I used to. The old mindset was that I do my best, and then the Lord fills in the wholes and gaps. I can see plainly now the difference of when I(Jackie in the flesh) am behaving and parenting from the times when Christ is being magnified within. I am raising my children in Christ... I am in Christ and they are in Christ(hopefully) and we are all in "here" together.
Because I am in Christ I have trust and faith that no matter how many mistakes I make as a parent the Christ within us is bigger.
The importance of motherhood... why is it so important? It isn't, apart from Christ. Being a mom is important because I am the vessel with which Christ will use to raise my kids. I am the direct line of Christ's practical love from the Lord, to my little ones. In a human being, I have never seen a love as big or as strong as the love a parent has for a child. All that love, how can it exsist if not from the One who is love? That love comes form within, it's not external. Direct proof that the Lord is within us.
I used to think that raising kids was a speed-bump in the road of all the important things the Lord had in store for me. It does not feel like an important job when I am knee deep in laundry, I haven't spent enough quality time enjoying my little one's presence, and I am taking yet another day off of school to run errands and go to appointments. Times like those make it easy to look at other families and compare where I am falling short. Whoever invented the myth of the "supermom" should be shot. No one is doing everything, all the time. Some weeks I have more body life and more things accomplished in the grown up world, but only 2 days of learning. And sometimes I don't see another grown-up all week, but I feel great about all the learning we've done. I don't know if we'll ever have a balanced week full of rich body life, where all my clothes are cleaned and ironed, all of our breakfasts are warm and NOT bowls of cereal, and we are on schedule according to my homeschool plan book. I used to pray for supernatural strength. I thought the Lord wanted that for me. The goal was to accomplish all these things, right? What was the point of me staying at home if the Lord wasn't going to perfect my homemaking skills?
My whole mindset was still concentrating on completing a list of chores in record time. And on that list of chores was quality time with my kids. Isn't that pathetic? The pressure had turned what is supposed to be an organic love filled relationship into a another thing on my list. Deja vu.
Children are a gift from the Lord. They are the straight arrows(hopefully) that we are sending into the future. My relationship with my kids, my love for them, and the task of growing them up in the Lord are all shadows of my relationship with Christ. It doesn't need to be perfect because He is perfect. I don't have to "do the best I can and He'll fill in the rest" because that would imply doing anything in my own strength. Simply resting in the Lord and allowing His love and life to flow through will accomplish more than giving myslef a list of demands.
When the Lord appeared on earth, things happened. Things we can't explain. That's what happens when I die to myself and allow Christ to live my life. I was so scared that nothing would get done if I rested in Him. I didn't trust Him. I honestly didn't think He even cared about my homemaking because my 'real' work was to come when the kids are grown and gone.
Today I don't care about anything except resting in Christ. I trust that when I die inside to my desires, my instincts, my plan, and my adgenda, that what the Lord wants to get done will get done. And it will get done better.
What that looks like on a practical level kind of scares me because I freak out when my home is messy, but sometimes it needs to be messy. I get twitchy when the laundry piles up, but I no longer cancel time with Saints so I can stay home and do laundry.
That's all for now, thanks for reading.
Love,
Jackie
I have been asking myself the question lately, how much of parenting is "up to me" to do and how much of it is the Lord's hand? This reveals just how much I did not understand about the Lord and parenting.
I live as though it were completely up to me. I put so much pressure on myself that at times when I'm failing it's unbearable. I am learning to live by Christ's life. It's a process I am in. But when it comes to parenting how does that play out?
I used to think that I was an individual(in the Lord) with individual kids(that are individually in the Lord). I started to read a book I got at the library recently. It was a book written by a homeschool mom and the journey her family has taken. I got bored so 2 chapters in I stopped reading. It was full of bible verses that were taken out of context. It didn't sit well with me at all, but I couldn't figure out why until this morning. I don't believe the same things I used to. The old mindset was that I do my best, and then the Lord fills in the wholes and gaps. I can see plainly now the difference of when I(Jackie in the flesh) am behaving and parenting from the times when Christ is being magnified within. I am raising my children in Christ... I am in Christ and they are in Christ(hopefully) and we are all in "here" together.
Because I am in Christ I have trust and faith that no matter how many mistakes I make as a parent the Christ within us is bigger.
The importance of motherhood... why is it so important? It isn't, apart from Christ. Being a mom is important because I am the vessel with which Christ will use to raise my kids. I am the direct line of Christ's practical love from the Lord, to my little ones. In a human being, I have never seen a love as big or as strong as the love a parent has for a child. All that love, how can it exsist if not from the One who is love? That love comes form within, it's not external. Direct proof that the Lord is within us.
I used to think that raising kids was a speed-bump in the road of all the important things the Lord had in store for me. It does not feel like an important job when I am knee deep in laundry, I haven't spent enough quality time enjoying my little one's presence, and I am taking yet another day off of school to run errands and go to appointments. Times like those make it easy to look at other families and compare where I am falling short. Whoever invented the myth of the "supermom" should be shot. No one is doing everything, all the time. Some weeks I have more body life and more things accomplished in the grown up world, but only 2 days of learning. And sometimes I don't see another grown-up all week, but I feel great about all the learning we've done. I don't know if we'll ever have a balanced week full of rich body life, where all my clothes are cleaned and ironed, all of our breakfasts are warm and NOT bowls of cereal, and we are on schedule according to my homeschool plan book. I used to pray for supernatural strength. I thought the Lord wanted that for me. The goal was to accomplish all these things, right? What was the point of me staying at home if the Lord wasn't going to perfect my homemaking skills?
My whole mindset was still concentrating on completing a list of chores in record time. And on that list of chores was quality time with my kids. Isn't that pathetic? The pressure had turned what is supposed to be an organic love filled relationship into a another thing on my list. Deja vu.
Children are a gift from the Lord. They are the straight arrows(hopefully) that we are sending into the future. My relationship with my kids, my love for them, and the task of growing them up in the Lord are all shadows of my relationship with Christ. It doesn't need to be perfect because He is perfect. I don't have to "do the best I can and He'll fill in the rest" because that would imply doing anything in my own strength. Simply resting in the Lord and allowing His love and life to flow through will accomplish more than giving myslef a list of demands.
When the Lord appeared on earth, things happened. Things we can't explain. That's what happens when I die to myself and allow Christ to live my life. I was so scared that nothing would get done if I rested in Him. I didn't trust Him. I honestly didn't think He even cared about my homemaking because my 'real' work was to come when the kids are grown and gone.
Today I don't care about anything except resting in Christ. I trust that when I die inside to my desires, my instincts, my plan, and my adgenda, that what the Lord wants to get done will get done. And it will get done better.
What that looks like on a practical level kind of scares me because I freak out when my home is messy, but sometimes it needs to be messy. I get twitchy when the laundry piles up, but I no longer cancel time with Saints so I can stay home and do laundry.
That's all for now, thanks for reading.
Love,
Jackie
Friday, August 19, 2011
go outside and play!
There's something missing in the world of today's child...
When I was a kid my brothers and I would run out the front door and play for hours with little or no toys and then head back in when it got dark out. I remember playing in the dirt, building forts in the woods, and riding a wagon down a steep driveway over and over again. Those were good times, different times.
With what we know about safety today we can't just open the door and let our children out. I could get in trouble or worse, my kid could get abducted. It's good that we as a society have decided that we are going to be more active in watching our kids while outside, even though it may only be for an hour here and a half an hour there. The thing is this... now our kids don't really know how to play outside and enjoy, explore, and appreciate nature. Kids today are very quick to kill a bug, spider, or reptile that they catch scurrying past instead of observing it, watching it, and maybe even trying to make it their pet, they kill it.
I have been watchful over the last 3 years of how children interact with nature. My own kids and friends and neighbor's kids too. Because the times have changed and little ones can't run around outside all day anymore, they have lost their natural instinct to enjoy nature the way generations of kids in the past used to.
Last week we had to punish Thing 1. While we(mom and dad) met with the church, we dropped him off with the kids. We have a very strict no video game rule in our family. Thing 1 played video games while with his friends. At first we were going to just let it slide, but in the end decided that he needed to know we are serious about this rule. In trying to decide his punishment Chris and I had a great conversation about why it's so important to us. This is the picture that came to mind:
I love candy. I need it every single day. Not kidding, I am hopelessly hooked on candy. I like all kinds and enjoy and savor every bite. I know that fruit is better for me. I know that the Lord gave me my sweet tooth so that I would desire to eat the fruits that are needed to stay healthy. Unfortunately, I began eating a lot of candy at a young age and so my taste for fruit never really developed. Had I not gotten hooked on candy, fruit would probably satisfy my sweet tooth.
I have the same view on video games vs. playing outside in nature. I don't hate the games. I just know that in today's world it's already so hard for kids to go outside and enjoy and appreciate butterflies and squirrels-without throwing in the instant gratification video games bring. Nature studies and keeping a field guide/nature journal is not an appealing way to spend a day when a hand held entertainment contraption beckons, but in the end, a day in nature is so much more gratifying.
Going outside and playing came naturally for my kids. From the beginning I would go sit in the yard on a big blanket and read or just watch them. We didn't bring toys out and they could only play with the bikes and toys that we kept in the garage(scooters, baseball bats, all kinds of balls). A long time ago I watched a little boy who was a friend's son. He begged to go outside after lunch. He was really bored inside and just kept talking about going out. So after lunch I grabbed my blanket and water bottles and we headed out. In less than five minutes the little one was asking to go back in. He was bored. I tried to encourage him to grab a bike a go for a ride or run around and kick the ball, or play with the other kids. He didn't want to. The next day his mommy dropped him off with a hand held video game thing to play with while the other kids played outside. This was not the first time I saw this. I began to notice it happening everywhere I worked with or spent time with children. Some were used to plating outside and just needed the fresh air and imagination! And some were completely lost, bored out of their minds, and not even sure what to do.
We used to have a great big yard, but now we practically have none. There is a beautiful nature park with trails and a stream within walking distance so we spend a lot of time there. I actually bought a book about 2 years ago called "Enjoying Nature With Children." It has so many simple suggested activities to get their little minds going while outside. More than that, it is teaching them to respect nature. If I ever decide to watch children again(as a job), I will definately use the tips in this book to encourage freedom and joy while playing outside!
It pains me to see children destroying beautiful spider webs spanning between trees that must have taken hours and hours to build(get that darn spider in my house and it's a whole other story, pests in my home get sprayed by cans of poison shaving cream). I have seen little ones try to kick in every ant hole they can find. An animal's home being destroyed for no good reason symbolizes a generation of kids who don't care for or respect nature. Children who do these types of things don't feel a sense of joy, serenity, belonging to the natural world. This world was given to us as a gift. We are to care for it and "till" it, not dominate and destroy it.
I think it's important to be my kid's nature guide. It's important in giving them a classical education and in helping them to be happy and comfortable in their environment.
One thing that we do is make home made bird feeders out of empty containers or coconut shells when we have them. Spread some peanut butter and some seeds and tie it somewhere so it can't be carried off. We don't mind if squirrels eat from it too. Each day we note the weather, check our outdoor thermometer, and make note of any animals we see in our small yard. We also notice if the leaves are beginning to fall off, change color, grow back, etc. We note any butterflies that cross our path while out. We collect leaves and make leave rubbings before looking it up and labeling it. We notice the difference in the number of mosquito bites before and after the lawn gets mowed. All of this goes into a notebook in words, pictures, and graphs. They record this information however they see fit. As a parent I am thrilled to have beautiful, rich notebook pages at the end of the year and the kids are proud of their books.
I am sad that my kids can't play and explore the way I used to as a kid. What I can do is defend their childhood play outside, in the natural world. I will encourage them to look, really look at the plants, animals, trees, and even the soil in order that they may see and appreciate their world.
Thanks for reading!
Love,
Jackie
When I was a kid my brothers and I would run out the front door and play for hours with little or no toys and then head back in when it got dark out. I remember playing in the dirt, building forts in the woods, and riding a wagon down a steep driveway over and over again. Those were good times, different times.
With what we know about safety today we can't just open the door and let our children out. I could get in trouble or worse, my kid could get abducted. It's good that we as a society have decided that we are going to be more active in watching our kids while outside, even though it may only be for an hour here and a half an hour there. The thing is this... now our kids don't really know how to play outside and enjoy, explore, and appreciate nature. Kids today are very quick to kill a bug, spider, or reptile that they catch scurrying past instead of observing it, watching it, and maybe even trying to make it their pet, they kill it.
I have been watchful over the last 3 years of how children interact with nature. My own kids and friends and neighbor's kids too. Because the times have changed and little ones can't run around outside all day anymore, they have lost their natural instinct to enjoy nature the way generations of kids in the past used to.
Last week we had to punish Thing 1. While we(mom and dad) met with the church, we dropped him off with the kids. We have a very strict no video game rule in our family. Thing 1 played video games while with his friends. At first we were going to just let it slide, but in the end decided that he needed to know we are serious about this rule. In trying to decide his punishment Chris and I had a great conversation about why it's so important to us. This is the picture that came to mind:
I love candy. I need it every single day. Not kidding, I am hopelessly hooked on candy. I like all kinds and enjoy and savor every bite. I know that fruit is better for me. I know that the Lord gave me my sweet tooth so that I would desire to eat the fruits that are needed to stay healthy. Unfortunately, I began eating a lot of candy at a young age and so my taste for fruit never really developed. Had I not gotten hooked on candy, fruit would probably satisfy my sweet tooth.
I have the same view on video games vs. playing outside in nature. I don't hate the games. I just know that in today's world it's already so hard for kids to go outside and enjoy and appreciate butterflies and squirrels-without throwing in the instant gratification video games bring. Nature studies and keeping a field guide/nature journal is not an appealing way to spend a day when a hand held entertainment contraption beckons, but in the end, a day in nature is so much more gratifying.
Going outside and playing came naturally for my kids. From the beginning I would go sit in the yard on a big blanket and read or just watch them. We didn't bring toys out and they could only play with the bikes and toys that we kept in the garage(scooters, baseball bats, all kinds of balls). A long time ago I watched a little boy who was a friend's son. He begged to go outside after lunch. He was really bored inside and just kept talking about going out. So after lunch I grabbed my blanket and water bottles and we headed out. In less than five minutes the little one was asking to go back in. He was bored. I tried to encourage him to grab a bike a go for a ride or run around and kick the ball, or play with the other kids. He didn't want to. The next day his mommy dropped him off with a hand held video game thing to play with while the other kids played outside. This was not the first time I saw this. I began to notice it happening everywhere I worked with or spent time with children. Some were used to plating outside and just needed the fresh air and imagination! And some were completely lost, bored out of their minds, and not even sure what to do.
We used to have a great big yard, but now we practically have none. There is a beautiful nature park with trails and a stream within walking distance so we spend a lot of time there. I actually bought a book about 2 years ago called "Enjoying Nature With Children." It has so many simple suggested activities to get their little minds going while outside. More than that, it is teaching them to respect nature. If I ever decide to watch children again(as a job), I will definately use the tips in this book to encourage freedom and joy while playing outside!
It pains me to see children destroying beautiful spider webs spanning between trees that must have taken hours and hours to build(get that darn spider in my house and it's a whole other story, pests in my home get sprayed by cans of poison shaving cream). I have seen little ones try to kick in every ant hole they can find. An animal's home being destroyed for no good reason symbolizes a generation of kids who don't care for or respect nature. Children who do these types of things don't feel a sense of joy, serenity, belonging to the natural world. This world was given to us as a gift. We are to care for it and "till" it, not dominate and destroy it.
I think it's important to be my kid's nature guide. It's important in giving them a classical education and in helping them to be happy and comfortable in their environment.
One thing that we do is make home made bird feeders out of empty containers or coconut shells when we have them. Spread some peanut butter and some seeds and tie it somewhere so it can't be carried off. We don't mind if squirrels eat from it too. Each day we note the weather, check our outdoor thermometer, and make note of any animals we see in our small yard. We also notice if the leaves are beginning to fall off, change color, grow back, etc. We note any butterflies that cross our path while out. We collect leaves and make leave rubbings before looking it up and labeling it. We notice the difference in the number of mosquito bites before and after the lawn gets mowed. All of this goes into a notebook in words, pictures, and graphs. They record this information however they see fit. As a parent I am thrilled to have beautiful, rich notebook pages at the end of the year and the kids are proud of their books.
I am sad that my kids can't play and explore the way I used to as a kid. What I can do is defend their childhood play outside, in the natural world. I will encourage them to look, really look at the plants, animals, trees, and even the soil in order that they may see and appreciate their world.
Thanks for reading!
Love,
Jackie
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
my opinion on...
Okay, so because you are reading this in my "Crunchy Mama" blog, you know I am about to get real opinionated. I have another blog and that one is more for my revelations in daily life. This one is to type about the vast sea of knowledge and inspiration that comes with living the crunchy life.
I noticed something yesterday. My kids do not depend on me to give them knowledge. A good student waits for a teacher to tell them what to do. I was a good student. My teachers always loved me when I was growing up. If it were not for the escalating drug addiction, I might have even have been a super star student. But my kids, they are not good students. They are not good at anything that lends itself to being "schoolish."
One memory sums up learning in school up for me. When I was in eighth grade I had my first year of history. We moved to a new town and I had never had history in my old school. It was taught by a very likable, yet very dry teacher. When he announced that a quiz would be coming up I would begin studying right away. I studied my notes from class and the textbook. I never got good quiz grades in that class. I tried so hard to. I never knew what the teacher wanted. And that was the game... not to study what was important to me, but to try to determine what the teacher found important and study that.
My kids have tried a few times to please me in this way. They tried to be intellectually dependent on me. I, the teacher(and of course being the expert) have been taught that good people wait for experts to tell them what to do.
So you can believe my shock when I realized that homeschooling was producing different results. It was strange and interesting to see a child seeking out information without being given the topic or subject. It seemed silly to me to stop him from researching a certain species of penguin so that we could "do" school.
I have read and believe that each homeschooling family thrives under different types of models. I am sure, however, that all kids are born with an instinctual desire to learn(not in the way the schools teach, though). It is awesome to watch a toddler try to discover how to walk without being taught. My kids all learned to talk without being taught. I know some parents do teach their kids how to say words, but even if they didn't, their child would learn to talk. Kids have a natural instinct and it is to learn and discover.
I know a few little boys who went to kindergarten excited. By the end of the year they hated school. The system we have set up for kids does not work. I have actually heard the argument that "if we don't send our kid(s) to school, how will they be prepared for the harsh, cold world?" So now our reasons for sending kids to school is so that they get used to being bullied and maybe even learning how to bully early on? What about to learn?
John Holt said this as he accepted the award for New York City Teacher of the Year(he won that 2 years in a row):
"I've noticed a fascinating phenomenon in my thirty years of teaching: schools and schooling are increasingly irrelevant to the great enterprises of the planet. No one believes anymore that scientists are trained in science classes or politicians in civics class or poets in English classes. The truth is that schools don't really teach anything except how to obey orders."
Do I discard everything I learned while in school? No, but the truth is that I would have learned those things anyway. I remember that when I am with my own. I want to expose them to everything and then let them decide what to excel in.
Do I let me kids have the run of the house all day long? Nope. Here's what we do and they love it and thrive on it...
I am a firm believer in the Charlotte Mason approach to learning. We never spend more than 15-20 minutes on any given topic. The point where he begins twirling his pencils is when we move on. I fill his workbox(a workbox is a fun way to bless my kiddies and let them be independant, I will explain the workbox system in my next blog) each night with what he needs for an education and he gets to work the next day. I fill it with the great books, great art, and great poetry of the past. He has a strong desire to learn to read and write properly so we are working on those things during the elementary years. He loves math and we found a very "schoolish" math works best for him so we use that. This particular Thing(Thing 1) is very interested in geography and science so several times a week we do projects and experiments and he keeps his findings in his notebook.
I pick out the books that I read to him and he picks out the books that he reads to me. I reserve the right to veto a book just like I reserve the right to veto candy for dinner. Because early on we began reading a type of book(ones without pictures), he enjoys those books now and prefers them. My little ones are growing up the same way.
Thing 1 knows what he has to do to reach his goals. I lay them out for him in a weekly schedule. It is up to him to finish the work in the way it works best for him. He has access to dictionaries, educational movies and documentaries, and we visit the library once a week.
Thing 2 is learning pretty much on his own. He has his own shelf full of books and workbooks. Ones that were a big hit with our family the first time around. He works through his stuff quicker than I could ever assign anything.
Chris and I set up the atmosphere and the kids take advantage. There's no coercion, no bribing(learning is it's own reward) and no punishment involved in learning.
That's it for now... thank you for reading.
Have a wonderful day!
Love,
Jackie
I noticed something yesterday. My kids do not depend on me to give them knowledge. A good student waits for a teacher to tell them what to do. I was a good student. My teachers always loved me when I was growing up. If it were not for the escalating drug addiction, I might have even have been a super star student. But my kids, they are not good students. They are not good at anything that lends itself to being "schoolish."
One memory sums up learning in school up for me. When I was in eighth grade I had my first year of history. We moved to a new town and I had never had history in my old school. It was taught by a very likable, yet very dry teacher. When he announced that a quiz would be coming up I would begin studying right away. I studied my notes from class and the textbook. I never got good quiz grades in that class. I tried so hard to. I never knew what the teacher wanted. And that was the game... not to study what was important to me, but to try to determine what the teacher found important and study that.
My kids have tried a few times to please me in this way. They tried to be intellectually dependent on me. I, the teacher(and of course being the expert) have been taught that good people wait for experts to tell them what to do.
So you can believe my shock when I realized that homeschooling was producing different results. It was strange and interesting to see a child seeking out information without being given the topic or subject. It seemed silly to me to stop him from researching a certain species of penguin so that we could "do" school.
I have read and believe that each homeschooling family thrives under different types of models. I am sure, however, that all kids are born with an instinctual desire to learn(not in the way the schools teach, though). It is awesome to watch a toddler try to discover how to walk without being taught. My kids all learned to talk without being taught. I know some parents do teach their kids how to say words, but even if they didn't, their child would learn to talk. Kids have a natural instinct and it is to learn and discover.
I know a few little boys who went to kindergarten excited. By the end of the year they hated school. The system we have set up for kids does not work. I have actually heard the argument that "if we don't send our kid(s) to school, how will they be prepared for the harsh, cold world?" So now our reasons for sending kids to school is so that they get used to being bullied and maybe even learning how to bully early on? What about to learn?
John Holt said this as he accepted the award for New York City Teacher of the Year(he won that 2 years in a row):
"I've noticed a fascinating phenomenon in my thirty years of teaching: schools and schooling are increasingly irrelevant to the great enterprises of the planet. No one believes anymore that scientists are trained in science classes or politicians in civics class or poets in English classes. The truth is that schools don't really teach anything except how to obey orders."
Do I discard everything I learned while in school? No, but the truth is that I would have learned those things anyway. I remember that when I am with my own. I want to expose them to everything and then let them decide what to excel in.
Do I let me kids have the run of the house all day long? Nope. Here's what we do and they love it and thrive on it...
I am a firm believer in the Charlotte Mason approach to learning. We never spend more than 15-20 minutes on any given topic. The point where he begins twirling his pencils is when we move on. I fill his workbox(a workbox is a fun way to bless my kiddies and let them be independant, I will explain the workbox system in my next blog) each night with what he needs for an education and he gets to work the next day. I fill it with the great books, great art, and great poetry of the past. He has a strong desire to learn to read and write properly so we are working on those things during the elementary years. He loves math and we found a very "schoolish" math works best for him so we use that. This particular Thing(Thing 1) is very interested in geography and science so several times a week we do projects and experiments and he keeps his findings in his notebook.
I pick out the books that I read to him and he picks out the books that he reads to me. I reserve the right to veto a book just like I reserve the right to veto candy for dinner. Because early on we began reading a type of book(ones without pictures), he enjoys those books now and prefers them. My little ones are growing up the same way.
Thing 1 knows what he has to do to reach his goals. I lay them out for him in a weekly schedule. It is up to him to finish the work in the way it works best for him. He has access to dictionaries, educational movies and documentaries, and we visit the library once a week.
Thing 2 is learning pretty much on his own. He has his own shelf full of books and workbooks. Ones that were a big hit with our family the first time around. He works through his stuff quicker than I could ever assign anything.
Chris and I set up the atmosphere and the kids take advantage. There's no coercion, no bribing(learning is it's own reward) and no punishment involved in learning.
That's it for now... thank you for reading.
Have a wonderful day!
Love,
Jackie
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
home grown kids
It's been a year since we made the switch to organic life. It was this time a year ago that a good friend schooled me on how unhealthy our diet was. She revealed that a lot of the common ailments that we complained of could be healed by changing our diets. I had been somewhat aware of different types of diets. I was a raw foodie seven years ago, I was a vegetarian for years, at one point I even tried that crazy diet where you don't eat pasta and bread. But, I never did these for health. I always tried them for weight loss and beauty. The vegetarian diet was more because my body began to be repulsed at the thought of meat. I could no longer stomach it. I am kind of going through a phase like that right now... I eat very little meat.
After a weekend with this friend who had given me all I needed to jump start a new healthier life, I began to read, and read, and read. I read everything I could get my hands on about different foods, oils, practices in preparing foods, and toxins in food. I have spent a small fortune on books in the last year in an effort to become educated.
Recently we had a chance to eat at a restaurant. We usually eat at Chipotle or Moe's if we eat out because it's healthier, depending on what you order, than most places. The time I am talking about was different. This time we ate at a sit down, order-from-a-server kind of place. I thought that because I hadn't had food like this in so long that it would blow my mind! I was excited to taste real food again. I have to say that I was sorely disappointed. I could not even eat half of the food because it tasted so horrible to me. It didn't even taste like food.
Once I got over the initial shock of how nasty this stuff was I became grateful for what we are doing. We are setting up our children, and in turn our grandchildren, to live in a healthy way. We are creating a new normal for them. A world of eating organic food, loving Christ without the religious rituals, and learning(schooling) in a free environment where their constitutional rights aren't taken away.
Chris and I made the decisions for our family based on what works best, what were comfortable doing, and what means most to us. It just so happens that by doing this we are giving our kids a foundation in these things too.
We are raising organic home grown kids. I like the sound of that!
"We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons." ~Alfred E. Neuman
Another important change we made is one that I would like to share with you. I have not wrote an informative blog in a long time and it's been on my mind to so here it goes...
Soap, shampoo, lotion, sunscreen, and anything else that goes on your skin really should be free of toxins. Just because these products say organic does not mean that they are chemical free. Look at the ingredient list. Throw out or avoid buying anything that lists PEG, polyethylene, polyethylene glycol, polyoxyethylene, or oxynol. Also any ingredients that end in the letters "eth", like "mereth". Thank you Lord for spellcheck! These ingredients have the chemical 1,4-dioxane. This is a harmful chemical that is carcinogenic.
Another place to look is in your toothpaste. Most chemicals in those tubes are dangerous when ingested in large amounts, but what about in small amounts, absorbed in the mouth over a period of decades? Go for fluoride free, saccharine free, and lauryl sulfate free toothpaste. Especially for kids who may swallow some of it.
A national survey conducted by Environmental Working Group in 2007, found that kids are exposed to an average of 27 personal care product ingredients that have NOT been found safe for kids every day.
Recently the topic of plastic came up in a conversation I was a part of. A comment was made that our kids use plastic, non-BPA free bottles and they are fine. Our kids are still kids, still developing, and still getting doses of tiny toxins throughout the day, throughout the years. They may be "fine" now, but with one out of every 2 Americans getting cancer, most of them won't be "fine" when they are older.
For years I used popular brands of sunscreens. It was only recently that I learned about the unhealthy chemicals in them. Almost 1,000 brand name sunscreens that were investigated by the EWG were found to be unsafe and ineffective. More precisely, four out of every five contain chemicals that pose health hazards and don't protects people from UVA radiation. That's 4 out of 5!!! Sunscreen is more likely to cause cancer that the sun is. The scary thing is that sunscreens use nanotechnology... they use tiny particles... that go deep into the body. They may be able to cross the blood-brain barrier.
I am going to bring the Lord into this for a moment...
If you believe in God and think that He created us, then why would he create people to live on the earth, under the hot sun, with no sunscreen, if it was a giant cancer ball? There is a vitamin that counter acts sun burning. It is the very, very common vitamin c, also known as ascorbic acid. This vitamin was in every fruit that existed in the garden of Eden. I am confident that if we ate the diets we were intended to eat, we may not even need sunscreen.
But we don't so what can we do about it? Here is a natural recipe for sunscreen that will not give you cancer down the road... 1 tsp ascorbic acid and 4 ounces of distilled water. Spray on your body or your kid's bodies everyday. Your children will no longer need sunscreen. Sometimes if I know we will be in the sun all day I will spray twice that day.
Another cool thing we can do with ascorbic acid is to add a tablespoon to bath water and it will neutralize any chlorine in the bath tub. Ascorbic acid is a miracle vitamin!
I need to end this although I could go on and on... I'll write a continuation another day perhaps.
Thanks for reading!
Love,
Jackie
After a weekend with this friend who had given me all I needed to jump start a new healthier life, I began to read, and read, and read. I read everything I could get my hands on about different foods, oils, practices in preparing foods, and toxins in food. I have spent a small fortune on books in the last year in an effort to become educated.
Recently we had a chance to eat at a restaurant. We usually eat at Chipotle or Moe's if we eat out because it's healthier, depending on what you order, than most places. The time I am talking about was different. This time we ate at a sit down, order-from-a-server kind of place. I thought that because I hadn't had food like this in so long that it would blow my mind! I was excited to taste real food again. I have to say that I was sorely disappointed. I could not even eat half of the food because it tasted so horrible to me. It didn't even taste like food.
Once I got over the initial shock of how nasty this stuff was I became grateful for what we are doing. We are setting up our children, and in turn our grandchildren, to live in a healthy way. We are creating a new normal for them. A world of eating organic food, loving Christ without the religious rituals, and learning(schooling) in a free environment where their constitutional rights aren't taken away.
Chris and I made the decisions for our family based on what works best, what were comfortable doing, and what means most to us. It just so happens that by doing this we are giving our kids a foundation in these things too.
We are raising organic home grown kids. I like the sound of that!
"We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons." ~Alfred E. Neuman
Another important change we made is one that I would like to share with you. I have not wrote an informative blog in a long time and it's been on my mind to so here it goes...
Soap, shampoo, lotion, sunscreen, and anything else that goes on your skin really should be free of toxins. Just because these products say organic does not mean that they are chemical free. Look at the ingredient list. Throw out or avoid buying anything that lists PEG, polyethylene, polyethylene glycol, polyoxyethylene, or oxynol. Also any ingredients that end in the letters "eth", like "mereth". Thank you Lord for spellcheck! These ingredients have the chemical 1,4-dioxane. This is a harmful chemical that is carcinogenic.
Another place to look is in your toothpaste. Most chemicals in those tubes are dangerous when ingested in large amounts, but what about in small amounts, absorbed in the mouth over a period of decades? Go for fluoride free, saccharine free, and lauryl sulfate free toothpaste. Especially for kids who may swallow some of it.
A national survey conducted by Environmental Working Group in 2007, found that kids are exposed to an average of 27 personal care product ingredients that have NOT been found safe for kids every day.
Recently the topic of plastic came up in a conversation I was a part of. A comment was made that our kids use plastic, non-BPA free bottles and they are fine. Our kids are still kids, still developing, and still getting doses of tiny toxins throughout the day, throughout the years. They may be "fine" now, but with one out of every 2 Americans getting cancer, most of them won't be "fine" when they are older.
For years I used popular brands of sunscreens. It was only recently that I learned about the unhealthy chemicals in them. Almost 1,000 brand name sunscreens that were investigated by the EWG were found to be unsafe and ineffective. More precisely, four out of every five contain chemicals that pose health hazards and don't protects people from UVA radiation. That's 4 out of 5!!! Sunscreen is more likely to cause cancer that the sun is. The scary thing is that sunscreens use nanotechnology... they use tiny particles... that go deep into the body. They may be able to cross the blood-brain barrier.
I am going to bring the Lord into this for a moment...
If you believe in God and think that He created us, then why would he create people to live on the earth, under the hot sun, with no sunscreen, if it was a giant cancer ball? There is a vitamin that counter acts sun burning. It is the very, very common vitamin c, also known as ascorbic acid. This vitamin was in every fruit that existed in the garden of Eden. I am confident that if we ate the diets we were intended to eat, we may not even need sunscreen.
But we don't so what can we do about it? Here is a natural recipe for sunscreen that will not give you cancer down the road... 1 tsp ascorbic acid and 4 ounces of distilled water. Spray on your body or your kid's bodies everyday. Your children will no longer need sunscreen. Sometimes if I know we will be in the sun all day I will spray twice that day.
Another cool thing we can do with ascorbic acid is to add a tablespoon to bath water and it will neutralize any chlorine in the bath tub. Ascorbic acid is a miracle vitamin!
I need to end this although I could go on and on... I'll write a continuation another day perhaps.
Thanks for reading!
Love,
Jackie
Monday, August 8, 2011
socialization? at school?
This is a ranting post, so beware.
The number one question asked by those whose do not homeschool, but find out I do, is "But what about socialization?"
This question shows just how little most people know about socialization in an institutional setting. The unfortunate fact is that most kids learn to socialize in spite of institutional schooling (I will refer to "institutional school" as IS from here on out).
From what I know of the Lord, He is very natural. Organic if you will.
We are adaptable. Humans were not made to do anything in an institution, but we can because we are adaptable.
It seems like being in the world each day, running errands, going to the library, taking classes at different educational centers, and the time we spend with our church in community life is a much more normal way to learn socialization.
I remember being in high school, both "regular" and "alternative". The alternative high school was a lot like home school, only at the community college. We had a whole floor of the college for us,about 30 students and 4 teachers. We had no assignments other than those we gave ourselves. If we wanted to sit in the college lobby and talk with others all day, we were given the freedom to. I graduated from high school, alternative high school, with a 4.0 gpa, with exceptional work done in English. I also became very comfortable with talking to people of all ages.
Regular high school was fun, too much fun. But from what I remember there is nothing from that whole experience that I can remember worthy of imitating. Absolutely nothing that I want my child copying or learning from. The popular kids were snobs and got into a lot of trouble and the unpopular kids were terribly shy. Sometimes it looked like the unpopular ones were afraid of their own shadows. Decent human beings that were probably great people outside of IS, but they were behaving like timid little turtles while in IS.
IS is not meant to bring out the best in kids. It's meant to mass produce good test scores (not even knowledge), but good scores. IS's are not set up to or meant to "teach" socialization. In fact, most social kids get in trouble for being social in class.
At IS it's all the extra activities that promote teamwork and homeschool kids DO those extra activities! Most homeschooled kids I know do more social activities than the ones in IS.
Another major point I want to make is that I have very needy kids. Two have diagnosable problems that affect the mind and behaviour. Chris and I work VERY hard on teaching them self control and manners. It would be counterproductive to teach them anything about those two traits and then send them off to a place that encourages the opposite. People with kids who don't have ADHD and autism may not have to deal with this issue, but I do. Once a week I let my boys be with the other kids in our church for a few hours while Chris and I go to the meetings. In that short amount of time, Thing One(name for my kid) usually manages to do something that he knows he's not allowed to do. Not small things either, but very strict convictions that we enforce- no video games. He is punished severely for playing these, but he does it anyway. This happens in only in a few hours so I can't imagine what it would be like if he were in IS all day with one teacher to every 20 students. The Lord gave us clear guidelines on raising our kids. Right now, bringing them up in the ways of the Lord means homeschooling, for US, right now. This could change, who knows? If our kids needed to be in an institution, the Lord would have instructed Chris and I to delegate their teaching. Even Christians sometimes don't get this. I could let them know that it's the Lord's direction for our family and we'll still get the stupid "But what about socialization?" question.
Like I wrote in the beginning, this is a rant after hearing about an ex-husband taking the mother of his kids to court because he didn't want them to miss out on the socialization of school. He won. Judges are very, very anti homeschooling. Visit the HSLDA website to read story after story of judges making ignorant and wrong comments about hs'ing.
Institution does not = better. I believe it for church and I believe it for school. I think that Christians can have community life without the 5-fold ministry and bible studies and I think kids can learn to socialize without sitting next to god-knows-who all day being taught by god-knows-who.
End of rant.
Love,
Jackie
The number one question asked by those whose do not homeschool, but find out I do, is "But what about socialization?"
This question shows just how little most people know about socialization in an institutional setting. The unfortunate fact is that most kids learn to socialize in spite of institutional schooling (I will refer to "institutional school" as IS from here on out).
From what I know of the Lord, He is very natural. Organic if you will.
We are adaptable. Humans were not made to do anything in an institution, but we can because we are adaptable.
It seems like being in the world each day, running errands, going to the library, taking classes at different educational centers, and the time we spend with our church in community life is a much more normal way to learn socialization.
I remember being in high school, both "regular" and "alternative". The alternative high school was a lot like home school, only at the community college. We had a whole floor of the college for us,about 30 students and 4 teachers. We had no assignments other than those we gave ourselves. If we wanted to sit in the college lobby and talk with others all day, we were given the freedom to. I graduated from high school, alternative high school, with a 4.0 gpa, with exceptional work done in English. I also became very comfortable with talking to people of all ages.
Regular high school was fun, too much fun. But from what I remember there is nothing from that whole experience that I can remember worthy of imitating. Absolutely nothing that I want my child copying or learning from. The popular kids were snobs and got into a lot of trouble and the unpopular kids were terribly shy. Sometimes it looked like the unpopular ones were afraid of their own shadows. Decent human beings that were probably great people outside of IS, but they were behaving like timid little turtles while in IS.
IS is not meant to bring out the best in kids. It's meant to mass produce good test scores (not even knowledge), but good scores. IS's are not set up to or meant to "teach" socialization. In fact, most social kids get in trouble for being social in class.
At IS it's all the extra activities that promote teamwork and homeschool kids DO those extra activities! Most homeschooled kids I know do more social activities than the ones in IS.
Another major point I want to make is that I have very needy kids. Two have diagnosable problems that affect the mind and behaviour. Chris and I work VERY hard on teaching them self control and manners. It would be counterproductive to teach them anything about those two traits and then send them off to a place that encourages the opposite. People with kids who don't have ADHD and autism may not have to deal with this issue, but I do. Once a week I let my boys be with the other kids in our church for a few hours while Chris and I go to the meetings. In that short amount of time, Thing One(name for my kid) usually manages to do something that he knows he's not allowed to do. Not small things either, but very strict convictions that we enforce- no video games. He is punished severely for playing these, but he does it anyway. This happens in only in a few hours so I can't imagine what it would be like if he were in IS all day with one teacher to every 20 students. The Lord gave us clear guidelines on raising our kids. Right now, bringing them up in the ways of the Lord means homeschooling, for US, right now. This could change, who knows? If our kids needed to be in an institution, the Lord would have instructed Chris and I to delegate their teaching. Even Christians sometimes don't get this. I could let them know that it's the Lord's direction for our family and we'll still get the stupid "But what about socialization?" question.
Like I wrote in the beginning, this is a rant after hearing about an ex-husband taking the mother of his kids to court because he didn't want them to miss out on the socialization of school. He won. Judges are very, very anti homeschooling. Visit the HSLDA website to read story after story of judges making ignorant and wrong comments about hs'ing.
Institution does not = better. I believe it for church and I believe it for school. I think that Christians can have community life without the 5-fold ministry and bible studies and I think kids can learn to socialize without sitting next to god-knows-who all day being taught by god-knows-who.
End of rant.
Love,
Jackie
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