Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Fidgeting and The Washington Post
July 10, 2014
So all of my friends in alternative education are floating this article around. I see these regularly, articles that allow folks to feel good about their choices in life. We all do it, so no judgment there. The article was written to highlight the reasons that ADHD/ADD diagnoses are on the rise and only addresses only one of the possible reasons. The Washington Post was basing their blog posting on the blog post from Timber Nook, a developmental outdoor camp located in New Hampshire. Timber Nook is a great resource and has a wonderful blog that is a great reminder for folks to do what is natural for each and every one of us – going outdoors - and they summed up the issue in one succinct sentence.
So, what does Timber Nook say? “The problem: children are constantly in an upright position these days. It is rare to find children rolling down hills, climbing trees, and spinning in circles just for fun. Merry-go-rounds and teeter-totters are a thing of the past. Recess times have shortened due to increasing educational demands, and children rarely play outdoors due to parental fears, liability issues, and the hectic schedules of modern-day society. Lets face it: Children are not nearly moving enough, and it is really starting to become a problem.” True dat.
But, what are the other contributors and how do we as parents come into this equation? Have you recently handed your toddler or preschooler your iphone or an ipad? If so, you might want to read this article the dangers of putting technology into those small precious hands. Or this article, listing 10 reasons to keep handheld devices out the hands of the 0-12 year old crowd. Check out this article about technology decreasing our ability to focus. I know, you can argue that your child has great focus. She can sit for three hours while playing first person shooter games (don’t even get me started).
But, that’s not the same is it? It’s not the same as sitting down with a new book and being so enthralled that you read it from start to finish (this is a regular occurrence in my home). It’s not the same as handing them a model set and watching them build for two hours before coming up for air (yep, my son does this). It’s not the same as sending them out into the backyard with nothing but a blanket, a bow and arrow and their imagination and telling them they cannot come in until dinner time (yes, we do this at our house).
I don’t mean to mislead you. There is no perfection here. My husband and I do things wrong – on a daily basis. And, we have a television, a subscription to the Netflix DVD service and a handful of favorite movies that we watch again and again. We have a Wii, but only have two types of games – Lego games and games that make you move like Wii Sports Resort. There is no TV in our car and our daughter (age 8), instead of staring at a DS, listens to books on tape when we are in the car. James Herriot’s Treasury for Children is among her favorites. Our son is now 12 and we stepped a little more into the world of technology with him this year. He is now playing Minecraft and Age of Empires on the computer and now has his own iPod which he most often uses to listen to music – preferably soundtracks from favorite movies – and occasionally plays games.
There is a part of me that truly regrets having introduced the television or any gaming components to our kids. But, I can tell you, that they are healthy and balanced and find as much joy in a five-mile hike at a local park as they do sitting on the couch staring numbly at a screen. I’ll leave you today with a couple of things. The first is a blog post from Mollie Hemmingway over at Mommyish. Mollie reminds us that sticking a screen in front of our kids takes away from teaching them the basics in life. “But the fact is that we think our job as parents is to teach our children how to dine appropriately. That means that we teach them to converse with us, ask and answer questions, eat appropriately (as in, no, you should not stick the eggplant in your ear, thank you very much) and for the love of all that’s holy, learn how to drink with a straw.”
The second thing I’ll leave you with is an image of my 12 year old son training for the Appalachian Trail.
“And I leave the children the long, long days to be merry in in a thousand ways, and the Night, and the trail of the Milky Way to wonder at….” ~Williston Fish, “A Last Will,” 1898
So all of my friends in alternative education are floating this article around. I see these regularly, articles that allow folks to feel good about their choices in life. We all do it, so no judgment there. The article was written to highlight the reasons that ADHD/ADD diagnoses are on the rise and only addresses only one of the possible reasons. The Washington Post was basing their blog posting on the blog post from Timber Nook, a developmental outdoor camp located in New Hampshire. Timber Nook is a great resource and has a wonderful blog that is a great reminder for folks to do what is natural for each and every one of us – going outdoors - and they summed up the issue in one succinct sentence.
So, what does Timber Nook say? “The problem: children are constantly in an upright position these days. It is rare to find children rolling down hills, climbing trees, and spinning in circles just for fun. Merry-go-rounds and teeter-totters are a thing of the past. Recess times have shortened due to increasing educational demands, and children rarely play outdoors due to parental fears, liability issues, and the hectic schedules of modern-day society. Lets face it: Children are not nearly moving enough, and it is really starting to become a problem.” True dat.
But, what are the other contributors and how do we as parents come into this equation? Have you recently handed your toddler or preschooler your iphone or an ipad? If so, you might want to read this article the dangers of putting technology into those small precious hands. Or this article, listing 10 reasons to keep handheld devices out the hands of the 0-12 year old crowd. Check out this article about technology decreasing our ability to focus. I know, you can argue that your child has great focus. She can sit for three hours while playing first person shooter games (don’t even get me started).
But, that’s not the same is it? It’s not the same as sitting down with a new book and being so enthralled that you read it from start to finish (this is a regular occurrence in my home). It’s not the same as handing them a model set and watching them build for two hours before coming up for air (yep, my son does this). It’s not the same as sending them out into the backyard with nothing but a blanket, a bow and arrow and their imagination and telling them they cannot come in until dinner time (yes, we do this at our house).
I don’t mean to mislead you. There is no perfection here. My husband and I do things wrong – on a daily basis. And, we have a television, a subscription to the Netflix DVD service and a handful of favorite movies that we watch again and again. We have a Wii, but only have two types of games – Lego games and games that make you move like Wii Sports Resort. There is no TV in our car and our daughter (age 8), instead of staring at a DS, listens to books on tape when we are in the car. James Herriot’s Treasury for Children is among her favorites. Our son is now 12 and we stepped a little more into the world of technology with him this year. He is now playing Minecraft and Age of Empires on the computer and now has his own iPod which he most often uses to listen to music – preferably soundtracks from favorite movies – and occasionally plays games.
There is a part of me that truly regrets having introduced the television or any gaming components to our kids. But, I can tell you, that they are healthy and balanced and find as much joy in a five-mile hike at a local park as they do sitting on the couch staring numbly at a screen. I’ll leave you today with a couple of things. The first is a blog post from Mollie Hemmingway over at Mommyish. Mollie reminds us that sticking a screen in front of our kids takes away from teaching them the basics in life. “But the fact is that we think our job as parents is to teach our children how to dine appropriately. That means that we teach them to converse with us, ask and answer questions, eat appropriately (as in, no, you should not stick the eggplant in your ear, thank you very much) and for the love of all that’s holy, learn how to drink with a straw.”
The second thing I’ll leave you with is an image of my 12 year old son training for the Appalachian Trail.
“And I leave the children the long, long days to be merry in in a thousand ways, and the Night, and the trail of the Milky Way to wonder at….” ~Williston Fish, “A Last Will,” 1898
Look Who Cannot Wait
Boredom is the mother of invention, or so they say. The
moon was a little bored this afternoon, so she pulled out her
microscope, gathered leaves and began a study of botany. I gave her a
new journal that I was saving for August 1st. She gathered other
supplies such as beeswax crayons and happily spent the next hour
recording her “findings.” Love it! Hopefully we can carry this
enthusiasm through the year.
“You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.” -Clay P. Bedford
“You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.” -Clay P. Bedford
7th Grade Curriculum
July 15, 2014
I guess it was inevitable. The questions. Why are you homeschooling? What curriculum are you using. My cousin uses (fill in the blank), are you using that? Oh, you are piece-milling it. Not using a complete curriculum? I could go on. After months of researching and planning, making spreadsheets and placing orders, I give you our 7th grade homeschool curriculum (with 2nd grade coming soon.) Please note than unless otherwise noted with the name of a supplier, we will be using the library as a source for books. (Click on the image to see the full-size version)
Source Links:
Copywork/Handwriting
Calligraphy of the Middle Ages
Copybook Cursive
Literature:
6th and 7th Grade Literature Guides
Science:
National Geographic
Elementals Science
Math:
Teaching Textbooks
I guess it was inevitable. The questions. Why are you homeschooling? What curriculum are you using. My cousin uses (fill in the blank), are you using that? Oh, you are piece-milling it. Not using a complete curriculum? I could go on. After months of researching and planning, making spreadsheets and placing orders, I give you our 7th grade homeschool curriculum (with 2nd grade coming soon.) Please note than unless otherwise noted with the name of a supplier, we will be using the library as a source for books. (Click on the image to see the full-size version)
Source Links:
Copywork/Handwriting
Calligraphy of the Middle Ages
Copybook Cursive
Literature:
6th and 7th Grade Literature Guides
Science:
National Geographic
Elementals Science
Math:
Teaching Textbooks
Pray for Peace or Create Peace?
July 30, 2014
A few days ago I saw a quote from the Dalai Lama. It said, “ Peace does not come through prayer, we human beings must create peace.” Typically, when I see quotes from the Dalai Lama, I am immediately moved by the wisdom shared. He is, after all, the Dalai Lama. But, does that make him right all of the time? On Sunday I sat in church and listened to the priest and a beautiful sermon on the parables and as so often has happened the past few weeks thought about, prayed about, the situation in Gaza. There were other things on my mind as well, refugee children, Ebola, increased unsafety in my neighborhood. The Gaza situation, indeed all of the unrest in the Middle East continued to be forefront in my mind. The Dalai Lama quote came repeatedly into my mind. Do my prayers help? Does praying for peace stop Hamas from sending missiles from civilian areas into Israel? Does praying for peace end the Israeli assault on Palestinians and protect innocents who have been used by militants as a shield these many years? Do my prayers stop the hatred that is in the hearts of those so intent on destroying one another? I do not know the answers to these things.
What I do know, for myself, is that peace is first prayed. It is a thought, a word, a spark of intention that must grow within me to be carried out to the world. I do not always have peace. It angers me that Hamas leaders would use their own people to hide their cowardly attacks. I am outraged that Israel has continued its aggression toward civilians. I am worried that unrest in that part of the world will continue to spur attacks such as the one on the Iranian embassy in Lebanon in 2013. And, I have fear that these atrocities will continue to spill over into the rest of the world, as they have done in the past, and affect my peace here on my own piece of land that I love so much.
I cannot create peace for those affected in the Middle East. But, I can pray. I can pray for my own peace – inner peace. I can continue to hold a light for those in peril and those causing the dangers. I can hope that the peace I pray for today allows me to create in and around my home which will hopefully set an example for the two young charges growing up in this home, in this world. Are you praying for peace? And, are you allowing those prayer to help you create a greater peace to share with the rest of the world?
A few days ago I saw a quote from the Dalai Lama. It said, “ Peace does not come through prayer, we human beings must create peace.” Typically, when I see quotes from the Dalai Lama, I am immediately moved by the wisdom shared. He is, after all, the Dalai Lama. But, does that make him right all of the time? On Sunday I sat in church and listened to the priest and a beautiful sermon on the parables and as so often has happened the past few weeks thought about, prayed about, the situation in Gaza. There were other things on my mind as well, refugee children, Ebola, increased unsafety in my neighborhood. The Gaza situation, indeed all of the unrest in the Middle East continued to be forefront in my mind. The Dalai Lama quote came repeatedly into my mind. Do my prayers help? Does praying for peace stop Hamas from sending missiles from civilian areas into Israel? Does praying for peace end the Israeli assault on Palestinians and protect innocents who have been used by militants as a shield these many years? Do my prayers stop the hatred that is in the hearts of those so intent on destroying one another? I do not know the answers to these things.
What I do know, for myself, is that peace is first prayed. It is a thought, a word, a spark of intention that must grow within me to be carried out to the world. I do not always have peace. It angers me that Hamas leaders would use their own people to hide their cowardly attacks. I am outraged that Israel has continued its aggression toward civilians. I am worried that unrest in that part of the world will continue to spur attacks such as the one on the Iranian embassy in Lebanon in 2013. And, I have fear that these atrocities will continue to spill over into the rest of the world, as they have done in the past, and affect my peace here on my own piece of land that I love so much.
I cannot create peace for those affected in the Middle East. But, I can pray. I can pray for my own peace – inner peace. I can continue to hold a light for those in peril and those causing the dangers. I can hope that the peace I pray for today allows me to create in and around my home which will hopefully set an example for the two young charges growing up in this home, in this world. Are you praying for peace? And, are you allowing those prayer to help you create a greater peace to share with the rest of the world?
Southern Spirit
November 13, 2013
Last Christmas my sister-in-law asked me what I would like to see with my name on it under the tree. I had recently stumbled upon the magazine Garden and Gun and asked for a subscription. My mother-in-law also purchased me a magazine subscription – to Mary Jane’s Farm. As the year wore on, my time became more limited and I found myself devouring MJF but moving to Garden and Gun a little more slowly.
This week, as I was cleaning out my paper cupboard as part of my holiday prep, I found the April/May edition still in its wrapper and sat down with a glass of sweet tea and read it cover to cover. While I delighted in the fact that most that month’s focus was on Nashville, I particularly enjoyed the story about a man and his dog. Here is a link to the story if you are Southerner looking around for a reminder of life in the South. You might even enjoy it even if you “ain’t from around here.” Good Dog: King of Oxford by Jim Dees.
“That sinuous southern life, that oblique and slow and complicated old beauty, that warm thick air and blood warm sea, that place of mists and languor and fragrant richness…” Anne Rivers Siddons, Colony
Last Christmas my sister-in-law asked me what I would like to see with my name on it under the tree. I had recently stumbled upon the magazine Garden and Gun and asked for a subscription. My mother-in-law also purchased me a magazine subscription – to Mary Jane’s Farm. As the year wore on, my time became more limited and I found myself devouring MJF but moving to Garden and Gun a little more slowly.
This week, as I was cleaning out my paper cupboard as part of my holiday prep, I found the April/May edition still in its wrapper and sat down with a glass of sweet tea and read it cover to cover. While I delighted in the fact that most that month’s focus was on Nashville, I particularly enjoyed the story about a man and his dog. Here is a link to the story if you are Southerner looking around for a reminder of life in the South. You might even enjoy it even if you “ain’t from around here.” Good Dog: King of Oxford by Jim Dees.
“That sinuous southern life, that oblique and slow and complicated old beauty, that warm thick air and blood warm sea, that place of mists and languor and fragrant richness…” Anne Rivers Siddons, Colony
On Raising A Patriot
So, it seems I’m raising a patriot. I’m a little a
surprised, I don’t mind telling you, though honestly, it should not be a
surprise. As we grow older we often revert to our roots and find
comfort in the things that we were surrounded by in our youth – even if
we rebelled against it. For those who have known me for a while, you
know that the dining room of my childhood home was filled with framed
images of Ronald Reagan and a few of George H. Bush. Despite my obvious
liberal leanings in the eyes of my parents, I attended Young Republican
rallies and was even selected to go with my hometown’s Republican
leaders to attend a rally for Bush in the late 80′s in West Tennessee.
As I matured and became even more liberal, the conservative ideals I had
been exposed to seemed foreign and unfair in my youthful eyes.
Patriotism seemed like an old-fashioned idea to which my father and his
generation clung to while the rest of the world moved on. I believed
that we should be embracing the larger ideas of tolerance and diversity
which seemed to not leave room at the table for patriotism.
Now I am firmly planted in my youthful 40′s (the new 30′s, right?) and have taken on the sometimes daunting task of raising two children. It seems I am constantly thinking of what I want to pass on to them. What will impact their lives and make them happy and successful adults? What are the values I (we) want instilled in them that will ground them as they grow older and seek to navigate this ever-changing world? Tolerance? Yes. Diversity? Yes. A strong faith in something larger them themselves (get ready for it, G-O-D)? Yes. Patriotism? Patriotism? Yes. I admit it took me a while to get back to this place. It took years of being a news junky and being overly frustrated with my own government, years of world travel and seeing what my life could look like if I were not in the greatest nation on Earth, years of seeing oppression and violence including the recent kidnapping by extremists in Nigeria for be me to come full circle to patriotism.
It
is true. We have our faults. We interfere in disputes that would be
better left alone. We have injustices of our own in the US and
frequently falter and fall. We are two-faced and lie and remove leaders
of other countries that no longer serve us in favor of those that serve
us for the moment. We favor big corporations at the expense of the
people and the environment. We preach intolerance of lifestyle choice
and still struggle with hate and racism. These are our faults and we
have many more. And, unfortunately, those faults sell.
But, we are so much more. We are much more tolerant than not. We lend hands in crisis. We live in a nation where we can affect change and see it in the states that have adopted policies and laws of tolerance and love. We feed the hungry and clean the rivers. We flock to the aid of helpless children. We support those with disabilities. Though often misguided, we aid those outside of our borders who have no control over what happens to them. Unfortunately, these stories do not sell as well, so we are left to stew over our faults and the things that make us seem less than we are and negatively impact our patriotism, our love of our country.
Today, the Sun was able to attend a ceremony at a local senior center
recognizing those who fought in the Invasion of Normandy, also known as
D-Day. When I asked him if he wanted to be part of this he responded,
“you bet I do.” He did not have to think twice. There
were even three D-Day veterans in attendance who live in the home and
though I am not entirely sure of their age, they must be at least 88
years old to have been part of that operation. The men and women who
fought or took care of wounded on that day in France did so because they
were patriots. They believed in something greater than themselves. If
you are unsure if patriotism still lives and has importance in our
lives, look across the pond to today’s celebrations in France of their
liberation from German occupation.
I am choked up thinking about my son and his patriotism which sits firmly alongside his own liberal tendencies. You see, I believe there is room at the table for liberalism and patriotism. One does not exclude the other.
“I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy.” -Khalil Gibran
Now I am firmly planted in my youthful 40′s (the new 30′s, right?) and have taken on the sometimes daunting task of raising two children. It seems I am constantly thinking of what I want to pass on to them. What will impact their lives and make them happy and successful adults? What are the values I (we) want instilled in them that will ground them as they grow older and seek to navigate this ever-changing world? Tolerance? Yes. Diversity? Yes. A strong faith in something larger them themselves (get ready for it, G-O-D)? Yes. Patriotism? Patriotism? Yes. I admit it took me a while to get back to this place. It took years of being a news junky and being overly frustrated with my own government, years of world travel and seeing what my life could look like if I were not in the greatest nation on Earth, years of seeing oppression and violence including the recent kidnapping by extremists in Nigeria for be me to come full circle to patriotism.
It
is true. We have our faults. We interfere in disputes that would be
better left alone. We have injustices of our own in the US and
frequently falter and fall. We are two-faced and lie and remove leaders
of other countries that no longer serve us in favor of those that serve
us for the moment. We favor big corporations at the expense of the
people and the environment. We preach intolerance of lifestyle choice
and still struggle with hate and racism. These are our faults and we
have many more. And, unfortunately, those faults sell.But, we are so much more. We are much more tolerant than not. We lend hands in crisis. We live in a nation where we can affect change and see it in the states that have adopted policies and laws of tolerance and love. We feed the hungry and clean the rivers. We flock to the aid of helpless children. We support those with disabilities. Though often misguided, we aid those outside of our borders who have no control over what happens to them. Unfortunately, these stories do not sell as well, so we are left to stew over our faults and the things that make us seem less than we are and negatively impact our patriotism, our love of our country.
Today, the Sun was able to attend a ceremony at a local senior center
recognizing those who fought in the Invasion of Normandy, also known as
D-Day. When I asked him if he wanted to be part of this he responded,
“you bet I do.” He did not have to think twice. There
were even three D-Day veterans in attendance who live in the home and
though I am not entirely sure of their age, they must be at least 88
years old to have been part of that operation. The men and women who
fought or took care of wounded on that day in France did so because they
were patriots. They believed in something greater than themselves. If
you are unsure if patriotism still lives and has importance in our
lives, look across the pond to today’s celebrations in France of their
liberation from German occupation.I am choked up thinking about my son and his patriotism which sits firmly alongside his own liberal tendencies. You see, I believe there is room at the table for liberalism and patriotism. One does not exclude the other.
“I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy.” -Khalil Gibran
Standing Firmly In the Middle - Why I Support the Supreme Court's Ruling
July 9, 2014
I was 29 and pregnant the first time I
was faced with the consideration of an abortion beyond an ideological
discussion in which I was, of course, pro-choice. My husband and I were
newly married and found ourselves very quickly expecting our first
child. Our birth partner was a midwife in a large teaching hospital and
when given the options of fetal testing, we turned it down. We had
discussed the options early on and made the decision together that even
if we were to be given the knowledge that our child had some form of
birth defect, we would not abort. That was the first time that the
thought occurred to me that something was not congruent in my own belief
system about abortion, yet I continued to label myself as pro-choice
when the discussion came up.
Being a child of the early
70′s, growing up in the 80′s and taking womens studies classes in the
90′s, I was surrounded by other pro-choice women (and men). It wasn’t
until after my son was born and we were regularly meeting new and
exciting people via playdates, gymnastics, swimming excursions, etc.,
that I began to reexamine my ideology on this matter. I was standing on
the sidelines of my son’s gymnastics class, which means the year was
2006 and talking to a very well educated, well traveled woman from New
York City who was perhaps the most liberal person I had ever met. She
was a fundraiser and activist for radical political groups and was quite
outspoken on her beliefs. During one of our first get-to-know-you
conversations the topic of abortion came up. I found myself confessing
to her for the first time that though I was, am, pro-choice, my core
being believes that abortion is wrong. Guess what? She felt the same
way.
That was when I really began
to get an inkling of how complex this subject truly is. Fast forward to
today where we once again find ourselves embroiled in a bitter
nation-wide discussion of abortion and freedom of choice. When I was 16
years old, I found myself on a bus headed to a political rally in
support of a man running for President (yes, of the United States). I
have always been outspoken politically and held fast to my beliefs. But,
there was a time that I just stepped off the bus – politically
speaking. It was around the time of Hurricane Katrina and I sat with
dread and grief and guilt and tears as I watching my fellow Americans
suffer without the ability to do one…damn….thing. During that time I
gave up on our government and began to feel immensely grateful for the
religious organizations who were doing what our representatives could
not do – provide food, housing, and basic needs for thousands of people
who were in crisis.
But this dialogue, this is the
one that has roused me once again, for I feel there has to be a place
for women like me. There has to be a voice of us who know that we should
have the freedom of choice for our bodies but feel it is wrong with the
exception of extreme circumstances. Freedom is funny word and it seems
to not apply to everyone in our nation. The current Supreme Court ruling
does not stand in the way of the freedom of the women wanting
contraceptives. It does not prohibit the freedom to obtain an abortion.
It does give the freedom of choice to companies who feel that certain
types of birth control are similar enough to abortions as to step on
their freedom to run their company in a way that reflects their
religious freedom, which by the way is protected by the First Amendment.
Yes, this is a very simplified
version of this situation, and yes, it could have other implications,
but at the end of the day, I have to question why we believe that our
employers should be forced to pay for all forms of contraceptives and
why my freedom to have contraception is allowed to interfere with
someone else’s belief that birth-control and abortion is wrong.
I write this not to sway anyone but speak out as I stand firmly in the middle and know that I do not stand alone.
“Life is a flame that is always burning itself out, but it catches fire again every time a child is born.” ~George Bernard Shaw
If you need contraceptives in Tennessee and are unsure where to go, here are a few sources:
Planned Parenthood (http://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-middle-east-tennessee)
(http://www.yellowpages.com/nashville-tn/free-birth-control-clinics)
TN Dept of Health and Human Services (http://health.state.tn.us/localservices.htm)
image sourced from www.usnews.com
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