My 3 older geniuses made these cute pictures this week. The fun part is looking at the progression as you go up the age tree. The blue one is the Nerdlings (almost 4). It is sparse with just a few foamies. The bottom right one is NerdPie’s (almost 6) and she was making a jungle. Then the top one is the NerdBug’s (almost 8). He actually made a full picture. It is interesting to watch.
So I was walking on the treadmill and they have different tvs going. A news story came on about the economy really hurting people who have kids who are in private schools. Apparently many people are taking out 2nd mortgages in order keep their kids (elementary aged kids were the ones shown here) in private school. You have to be kidding?!?!?
Tell me why homeschooling isn’t a better option than this? Is it really better to have to have both parents out of the home working (possibly 2 jobs)? Wouldn’t your kids be better served to have a parent around every once in a while? I have known a few families where mom has worked just for the private school tuition and that was before the economy issues. They are sure that this is the better education and experience for their kids. This is the thing that angers me about anti-homeschooling parents. It is the mentality that the personal financial sacrifice is the nobler one. I wonder if it is that they don’t actually value the personal position of parent. The impact you have on your child’s life simply by being present. And that doesn’t even account for the clear academic benifits to having the small group learning environment (which has been proven repeatedly) and the over all desirability of homeschoolers to colleges.
Ugh! This is what happens when I go to the gym at 6am;).
(This is a republish because this week’s Work For Me Wednesday is an oldie but goodie call)
Moms, let me break the news to you…You don’t have to do all the laundry but you do have to invest some time in training and let go of the details. Let us first start with the dirty clothes. By the time they are a year and a half my kids are responsible to put their own dirty clothes in the hamper (and yes I remind them;). Then by 5 they can sort their clothes into color piles (I do mine just because of the gentle issue). I do a cursory look until about 6. Now I don’t really check the NerdBug sorting unless I knew there was some iffy things. They are also always welcome to ask me if they are unsure which pile they go into. Then we go onto the washing and drying. When we moved into our new house we got the new front loading washer and dryer. This is great for kids. Both the 4 and 6 year old can easily put clothes in the washer and move them to the dryer. The 6 year old can even start the loads. Then I have the kids dump all the clean clothes into a basket and move them to the loft (where I want them to be). Now my kids do all this while I am nearby usually changing a baby or something like that (my laundry room is upstairs).
Then I invested in those pop up baskets for laundry that they sell with all the “stock up you dorm” stuff for $5, one for each kids. The ones I got at JoAnns have handles, are colored (one for each kid) and have sections you can velcro up or just leave as on big long basket. I sort all the laundry and put the appropriate foldables for each kid. For the 4 year old I give her wash cloths, spit cloths and her socks. The 6 year old gets all of his clothes at this point. Now, not everything is absolutely folded perfectly but it will be ok. My rule is, as long as it all fits in your drawers it is ok. I have gone through and shown them the correct way to fold, had them show me they can and let it go. Remember, you don’t have to look at it or do it so don’t complain.
Now I can’t wait until they can iron;).
We have all found ourselves in the coughing season for our kids and man are they coughing. I have bronchial asthma (those people who cough themselves sick) and nothing ever really helped me. My kids have asthma as does my little brother. So through the years I have picked up a few tricks.
Normally I am a pro-drug person (Delsm, cough syrup, etc) but now the doctors aren’t. Frankly even Delsm didn’t always work (though I still highly recommend it). But what do we do now for our little hackers? Vaporizers don’t seem to work for my kids because it is such a big room and takes so much to make a change, but a small room with lots of steam and eucalyptus seems to help. I keep good aromatherapy shower gel on hand for such a time.
If it is day time, give them a little hot tea with caffeine, it can be green or white for less kick. There is something in it that helps open up bronchials. If caffeine is an issue, give them a little hot (or as warm as they can stand) herbal tea. I notice that the warmth helps relax my tense throat which actually helps slow my coughing. Even just hot water does wonders for me. If they won’t drink it, drop a candy cane in it and when the water turns a light pink take it out. The peppermint will help settle their stomachs (from swallowing mucus) and it will lightly sweeten the water so they like it.
Our doctor recommended a tablespoon or 2 of straight honey for kids over 1 year old. I did it with my 18 month old and it actually helped some! The other thing that seems to help with coughing spells is to tell them to think about it. Yes, that is it. I tell them to think about it and breath real slow. It seems to stop it immediately for a few minutes at least;). Then there is also the copious amount of fluid. It thins out the mucus and makes it easier to breathe.
So you have any tips? Please let me know because we are all coughers and it drives me nuts!
Do your kids throw a fit when you call them to dinner? How about bed time? Is it because you don’t respect their time?
I know, this may sound like a shocking statement coming from me. As many of you know, I do not believe in child centered parenting but that is not what I am talking about. Has their ever been a time your kids have walked up to you and asked you something and you told them that you were in the middle of something and to give you a few minutes? So in other words you wanted them to respect you and your time.
Giving a time warning (5 minutes until dinner, 10 minutes and you will have to clean up your craft, etc) shows that you respect that they are doing something that you respect.
Do you want to have kids that get involved in whatever they are doing? Do you want them to concentrate on their activities? Well, of they can be pulled away at any minute no child is going to be all the vested in their activities. A time warning gives them the security that they can wrap things up or get to a stopping so they know they won’t just have to abandon their efforts.
The real dirty secret…respect your kids’ time and they respect you and your time more. My kids really value that warning so when they need something from me they are willing to give me that same kindness. “Mom, I would like some more water when you get a chance.” Isn’t that so much nicer?
Also, when you respect your kids they know it. So if plans have to change (“Kids, Mom didn’t realize what time it is. We gotta go now!”) they handle it with a definate modicum of grace.
This is a win-win. You get a payoff with your kids now and you take another step at raising awesome adults!
Ok, so that may be a broad statement but I think it may be true. One of the most common reasons I hear parents say they couldn’t homeschool is that their kids would drive them crazy (I even heard this from public school teachers). I smile and say that I must be lucky.
Well, I realized what they are referring to is a societal problem. Silicon Valley Moms had an article, G’Head, Hurl those Insults, Doesn’t Bother Me, that talked about learning to ignore what your kids say when they are venting. Then it hit me, parents are trained to accept their kids treating them like dirt. Well, most homeschooling parents I know don’t! Now I have a few strong willed kids and we go head to head, don’t get me wrong. But, they don’t yell at me (without a severe punishment), don’t hit and don’t disregard my instructions with regularity. These things have been known to happen but they are dealt with and it definitely isn’t the norm.
What is the secret? Raise you kids to be people that you would care to be around. Set expectations and consequences for when those expectations aren’t met (and that will happen). Many parents demand that their kids respect their teachers and friends in ways they don’t expect their kids to respect them or their siblings. The truth is that those kids may tow the line a bit but they may not really respect anyone and then they grow up to be parents who have to vent to each other and on their kids.
But, then I wonder in the words of Dr. Phil, “How’s that working for you”. Then I here disturbing thing like this (from the same article),
And in fact an added bonus is after we have an episode, which with Donovan often culminates in a punch to the gut (he punching me, don’t get your panties in a wad), I get spontaneous hugs and kisses, proclamations of love and “I’m speaking to you mommy” and “I’m your friend mommy,” a lot of love thrown my way.
So it is just me or does that sound like Battered Wife Syndrome? The other thing is, haven’t we settled the matter that venting on someone isn’t a healthy way to deal with anger? So maybe you should teach your kids how to handle their anger instead of you learning how to handle their anger.
I guess this is just the basis of why I can homeschool my kids with out losing my mind (though some days 6 hours alone sounds great to me too).
Apparently there is a Measles outbreak in the US. It looks like it was spawned by a combination of international travel and people who weren’t vaccinated. Britain apparently has a measles epidemic due to parents declining to vaccinate their children.
For those who say this isn’t a big deal this has happened in the US in the recent past. From 1989-1991 55,000 people got the measles with 123 deaths.
Go get Vaccinated, don’t assume that living around others who do will protect your children.
Kindergarten is the easy grade to try out public school, right? The kids are to young to really corrupt each other and kindergarten teachers are sweet people who love little kids (why else would they choose to chase them), right? Not so much.
So here is our first situation. First imagine an adorable 5 year old boy (and I do me cute!) who has some discipline problems so mom takes him to outside doctors (as recommended by the principal) and they start the process to get him officially diagnosed with Aspberger’s. Some 5 year old boys can have discipline problems to begin with but pile on Aspberger’s and I am sure it can be rough. But how rough would it have to be for a teacher to pull this kid up in front of the class, have every student say what they don’t like about him and then vote as to whether they want to keep him in the class. That is exactly what what Wendy Barton did in Florida.
If that isn’t bad enough here is the second situation. So your five year old comes home and complains that his teacher doesn’t like him and that he kids don’t either. While your child is saying all this you are getting progress reports that are well mixed in the good marks and the bad. The teacher says sometimes your child is disruptive and can’t keep his hands to himself. But when you ask the teacher if you should set up a “behavior plan” with the teacher she says she doesn’t have time. So it must not be that big of a deal. Well, many times you would say that the kid is being to sensitive to limited correction and isn’t really reading the situation properly. Well, what if that kid started acting out at home? The parents of Gabriel Ross decided to send a tape recorder in his pocket to see what is really going on. The results were shocking.
What they heard over four hours of tape shocked them. Woodward can be heard telling Gabriel that he had “tortured and tormented” her and other teachers all year.
“I’ve been more than nice to you all year long and you’ve been ignorant, selfish, self-absorbed, the whole thing! I’m done!” Woodward says to Gabriel on the tape. She continues: “Something needs to be done because you are pathetic! If me saying these words to you hurt, I hope it does because you’re hurting everyone else around you.”
Gabriel can be heard crying on the tape.
Now I am hearing some people say this is evidence of a bad school system and that is why you should homeschool. I am looking at it a little differently. Apparently all the training these teachers got didn’t prepare them to actually deal with kids. I think this should be empowering to any parent who has ever doubted that they can teach their own kids. Do you think the home environment will be healthier than this? Now, I am not saying that all teachers are like this because they aren’t. But, all the training can’t be the end all and be all to teaching your child so have a little faith in yourself, your intelligence and your love. You can do it!
Technorati Tags: Alex Barton, Gabriel Ross
So Shannon over at Rocks in My Dryer gave us a theme for this week’s Works for Me Wednesday, “Mom, I’m Bored”. So I was really thinking about how to deal with this issue since I homeschool. But even though I school pretty much all year, a lot of our activities (both for kids and mom) stop so our life changes also. The saving grace for me is structure and a schedule.
Now, that doesn’t mean that everything is time but generally mapped out. There isn’t any sleeping until noon and staying up to midnight going on around here (don’t I wish;). We set up the basics: breakfast, errands, chores, crafts, computer, etc. I think knowing how life is going to happen and that in a set time you will change activities will prevent to much blahs. Also set up an activity day a week. Last summer my kids got together with friends every Friday (usually going swimming). It gave them something to look forward to and a motivator for good behavior.
Balance is the key. I think to many people figure that because it is summer nothing should be planned but that is just begging for a good nagging. If worst comes to worst, put them to work and do all your deep cleaning for the fall!
While many people in my area would never in a million years homeschool, a lot of them want to say how great it is that I do. Then they give you the reasons that they can’t do it with their kids. So I am going to start address those reasons here. Let me preface all this with while I think it would be great for our society, I don’t think everyone needs to homeschool. But people start talking like they feel guilty and have to justify their decision. They are not my kids, it is none of my business! But, if you are going to use these silly reasons I need to start addressing them.
The first one is this fear that their kids will not be “normal” or fit in. What does that even mean? I have heard that academically they would be very advanced so they could no longer fit in with their peers. How is this a problem people? So people want their kids to just be “normal”? Isn’t that the same thing as average? Average, the median, a C? You want to make sure that your kids can play all the social manipulation games to survive in a children’s society? That is all your hopes and dreams are for your kids?
To me this is a mentality that “I will sell out my kids future so they can have more friends today”. Talk about shortsighted. My children are very bright but they get along with many types of people. But even at almost 7 and 5, my kids are already losing patience with some issues that are considered normal for their age group. Things like when kids “decide” one day that they like 1 kid but you can’t talk to that other kid. So my kids can’t play that game, yes I am a failure as a parent;). Just imagine how great the world would be if we all refused to play.
I don’t think there is a single parent who would admit that average is all they hope for but I wonder if that is truly what they mean. The soap box if being put away for the afternoon;).
Update: Here are a couple (not all) of the definitions of Normal from Dictionary.com.
-the average or mean: Production may fall below normal.
-the standard or type.