Amazon does strange things. Here’s an example: for some reason, they’ve put one of our books on sale for almost half-price. We didn’t tell them to do this, but they’re free to set the price wherever they want. So if you’re looking for a great deal (and I don’t know how long this will last), check out two classic wildlife novels in one book: Shovelhorns, the Biography of a Moose, and Black Bruin, the Biography of a Bear, now only $7.58 (reg. $13.95), only at Amazon.com.
Pssst….Such a Deal!
July 11th, 2011 § 2
It’s Fruit Tea Season
July 5th, 2011 § 5
I noticed the other day at the grocery store that there are an amazing amount of bottled teas nowadays. From tiny bottles to jugs, lots of tea is being sold, and I imagine someone’s making a pretty good profit off of it because it’s not cheap.
Of course, part of the high price is the shipping of all this liquid; given gas prices, that could be a good percentage of the price. And it seems kind of silly when you consider the bulk of those commercial tea products is water.
I used to drink Snapple on occasion, but it got so expensive that I decided I needed to find an alternative.
This summer we’ve been drinking homemade fruit teas. I put two bags of Celestial Seasonings tea into a pitcher of hot water and let it sit in the sunny window for a few hours. Then we mix some in a glass with sweetener (dh likes honey, I’ve been using Sun Crystals), and it’s just as good as Snapple, though maybe not as sweet.
Given that a box of Fruit Tea Sampler is $1.88, and I usually have a 50 cent or $1 coupon for it, I’m paying between 10 and 15 cents per pitcher of tea plus sweetener. Even without a coupon, it would only be 21 cents a pitcher. Quite a savings! And there are a variety of flavors, including peach, berry, cherry and blueberry.
When I get tired of fruit tea, I make peppermint tea. I bought some Frontier peppermint tea from Amazon last winter and drank it hot (so good!). Now I’m drinking it cold, and yet I still have tons of tea left because the bag of tea is so big (and there were two of them, but I’m still on the first one.)
Are you an iced tea drinker? If so, do you make your own or do you have a favorite brand you can’t live without?
Toddlers and Tiaras….Ugh!
June 27th, 2011 § 2
One of the best things about not having cable tv is that you miss out on appalling cultural trends like this one. I had no idea that people did this to their children, or that so many people would approve of it.
How can grown women not only sanction but encourage the sexualization of their little girls? This is warped. Creepy. Beyond the pale.
I feel so sorry for these little girls.
Great New Homeschooling Video
June 20th, 2011 § 9
Wasn’t that good? I’m proud that my kids are included in those statistics. How about you? 
HT: LewRockwell.com
“The ABCs of Homeschooling” starts Wednesday
June 13th, 2011 § 0
Let’s do something different this summer! “The Imperfect Homeschooler” newsletter will be back in September. Until then I’ll be sending out brief but encouraging messages about homeschooling to every subscriber. They’re called “The ABCs of Homeschooling,” and they start this Wednesday, 6/15/11. I thought this would be a simple way to keep that homeschooling fire burning all summer, whether or not you plan on actually doing school over summer break
If you’re a subscriber to “The Imperfect Homeschooler” newsletter, you’ll automatically receive “The ABCs of Homeschooling.” Not a subscriber? Don’t miss out on a single letter of the alphabet this summer: sign up HERE.
Not My Battle
June 10th, 2011 § 5
For many years, I’ve kept this little note tucked in the clipboard that I use for my son’s lesson plans.
I needed this note because teaching Josh has been a long-term proposition. He picks up some things slowly and other things not at all. We’ve been doing educational activities together for years; at times, especially at first, I got very discouraged because I was used to the steady learning pace of my older, “typical” children. This verse has always been a good reminder for me and helped me keep at it no matter how I felt.
Today was Josh’s last day of school in the eyes of the state because he turned 18 this semester. I was in Target yesterday and saw “Graduation 2011” paper plates and cups on clearance; it gave me a funny feeling because that would be Josh’s class. We decided not to make a big deal of his graduation because then he would think he never had to “do school” with me again. His sister said he’d probably think it was another birthday party. I don’t know about that (although he would definitely be expecting presents).
I don’t want him to think he’ll never sit down and work with me again. He has a lot to learn, and people with Down syndrome have a learning curve that’s always going up (albeit slowly) throughout their lives. What they couldn’t pick up at age 10 might be absorbed at age 20 or 30. That’s why we’re not looking at today as the end of his education.
That said, teaching him will become more informal. He’s finally gotten good at asking us questions, so my husband and I will always be a part of his education. But as for the requirement of doing a certain amount of school each year, well, that’s over now.
It’s a weird feeling. I’ve been homeschooling since I was in my 20s. What do I do now? Being over 50, I’m not getting responses to the resumes I send out (then again, why would they want someone who’s been out of the full-time workforce for nearly 30 years?). It’s both scary and exciting to wonder what’s next.
I think I’ll keep this little scrap of paper; it can remind me that God knows what the future holds, and that He’ll help me overcome discouragement about the future just as He helped me overcome discouragement about educating Josh.
Control Freak Homeschooling Parents?
June 6th, 2011 § 9
I recently read a comment on an online article that said something to the effect of “Homeschooling parents are control freaks who want to run their children’s lives.”
It bugged me, yet I realized that there’s some truth to that statement. While no one wants to be called a control freak, and most homeschooling parents’ goal is to raise their children to become independent young adults, the fact is that there are a lot of dangers in this world that we parents want to keep away from our children. Many of them are found in public schools, but there are also everyday dangers that we want to avoid; homeschooling allows us to avoid them.
For example, homeschooled children have more opportunities to get physical exercise than other children. They’re not stuck at a desk for many hours a day. They can run outside and play whenever the weather isn’t bad. They have plenty of free time to use in physical pursuits such as tree-climbing, basketball playing and walking the dog, because they’re not tied to a daily school schedule. So unless their parents make them do online school for eight hours a day, they’re getting more exercise than most children.
This helps them avoid the common danger of childhood obesity, which is worsening. In fact, a recent study found that today’s children actually have less physical strength and carry more fat than the children of the late 1990s. So when homeschooling parents “control their children’s environment,” they’re actually giving their children a healthier lifestyle than they would have if they went to school.
Another danger that many homeschooling parents avoid is allowing their children random and unsupervised Internet access before they’re old enough to handle it. When I was doing research for my new book, I was shocked to learn the extent to which cyberbullying has spread, and how much it has hurt children, to the point that some of them are committing suicide. Then there’s the potential for pedophiles to reach them through online contact—ugh.
Yet today’s schoolchildren often carry Internet access on their bodies in the form of iTouches and Smartphones. At home, they have unfettered access to the Internet. Their parents say they let them conduct their social lives on the Internet because they don’t want them to feel left out. Relatives with young children tell me that party invitations are now distributed online, so if you want your child to be included, you have to let them be on Facebook (which is now actively pursuing children under the age of 13).
This is another danger homeschooling parents can avoid. By not giving our kids unsupervised round-the-clock access to the Internet until they’re old enough to handle it, we can protect them from the dangers that lurk there. Some will call that being a control freak. I call it something else: parenting.
How about you? Do you encourage your children to run and play outside? Do you have full or partial restrictions on their Internet use? Do you mind being called a control freak homeschooling parent? I’d love to get your take on this.
A Cautionary Tale
June 1st, 2011 § 9
I am not a morning person. So when I first get up, I tend to do flaky things. But recently I set a new low.
I got in the shower, still half-asleep, and reached for the shampoo. After rubbing some in my hair, I realized it didn’t smell like my shampoo. Turned out I had grabbed the bottle on my left instead of the usual bottle of shampoo on my right. So I found myself trying to wash my hair with Oil of Olay body wash.
The body wash had come free with my purchase of Oil of Olay (around here we call it Oil of Ol’ Lady) facial moisturizer. I had tried the body wash a few times, but didn’t like how it made my washcloth so slimy that I couldn’t rinse it out, so the body wash had been sitting there untouched for weeks because I couldn’t make myself throw out a practically full bottle.
Anyway, once I realized my mistake, I rinsed my hair (only the top of my head had body wash on it) and then shampooed as usual. But when I used the hair dryer on my hair, I couldn’t get the top of my head dry.
Weird. But I had things to do, so I left my hair the way it was. However, after a few hours of feeling like my hair was extremely greasy (and it looked it), I decided to do something about it. I remembered that my grandmother always rinsed her hair with vinegar water “to cut the soap,” as she explained. So I filled the bathroom sink with vinegar water, soaked the top of my head in it, then used my husband’s strong shampoo (Head and Shoulders) to rewash my hair.
When I dried it, it was just as greasy on top as it had been before.
Now I began to get frustrated. How could I get this greasy mess out of my hair? I looked at the body wash bottle label to see what exactly was in this stuff, and discovered that the second ingredient is petroleum jelly. No wonder I couldn’t get my hair to come clean!
I remembered that we had a bottle of Trader Joe’s Tea Tree Oil shampoo in the cupboard. That’s strong stuff, so I figured it was worth a try. After two washes with it, my hair finally began to feel like normal, and I was relieved to be able to go out in public without look like I hadn’t had a shower in a week.
So, the moral of this story is….never use body wash as shampoo, and keep tea tree oil shampoo on hand for people who have a hard time waking up, like me!
Schools Step Out Onto the Slippery Slope of Educational Freedom
May 23rd, 2011 § 7
And so it begins…school districts are finding that they can keep their school year from being extended further into summer by allowing kids to learn online on snow days. And already they’ve discovered that kids like being free to learn online, and parents like seeing what the kids are learning. Isn’t this an interesting turn of events?
Personally, I think they’ve stepped out onto the slippery slope of (dare I say it?) educational freedom. Of course they think they don’t want to be there; note the comment of this parent:
“I think it’s a great tool to have,” said Cameron’s mother, Jane. “Obviously it’s not going to replace going to school. But for situations like this, I think it’s wonderful.”
I think it’s wonderful, too, because once people get a taste of freedom, they want more. I can picture kids being allowed to stay home on Veterans Day as long as they do an online history study assigned by their teacher. How about Valentine’s Day at home? They can exchange virtual valentines on Facebook while finishing their math homework online. I’m sure you can think of other ways kids can learn at home on school “holidays.”
Here’s where the slippery slope comes in: the more kids “do school” online, the more they’ll want to keep doing so. As for the school districts, they’ll soon find all sorts of reasons to let kids learn online because it will save money (most school districts are hurting financially these days) and teachers will be free to supervise from afar.
The increasing numbers of parents who either work from home, work part-time or are unemployed means there will be adult supervision during the day. Once regular days of “school at home” become more prevalent, and everyone gets comfortable with the concept, more families are going to take advantage of full-time virtual learning as offered by the public schools here in Wisconsin and other states. I can picture angry taxpayers eventually insisting that the schools consolidate their physical facilities to reflect the lower numbers of kids showing up, thus lowering costs. As for the kids who are too poor to have a computer or Internet access, the cost could be taken on by the school district for much less than the cost of keeping up all the buildings and staff.
And just think of the teens whose grades will go up because they can do school later in the day, after they’ve had enough sleep, instead of getting up at 6 am!
Yes, this turn of events has real possibilities.
Trust Your Child, Trust Yourself
May 19th, 2011 § 6
Have you ever noticed how many experts there are in the world?
Even an hour spent on the Internet makes it clear that experts are everywhere: some are experts by virtue of their life experiences or training (I value the first more than the second; how about you?) and others are self-proclaimed experts. After all, it seems like nearly everyone has a blog these days where they share their “expert” advice.
Then there are the women’s magazines, which proliferate around checkout counters across the land, with blaring headlines declaring “Your Body: Advice from the Experts!”, “How the iPad Can Release the Genius Inside Your Child” and “50 Ways to Please Your Man!”
Everywhere we go, it seems we’re surrounded by experts. Their proclamations can make us feel unprepared and diminish our confidence, particularly when it comes to parenting our children. » Read the rest of this entry «
New Carnival of Homeschooling is Up
May 10th, 2011 § 0
Be inspired, be encouraged: check out this week’s Carnival of Homeschooling!
DVD Sales are Down? Serves ‘Em Right
May 6th, 2011 § 11
I see that Hollywood is worried because DVD sales are down. I’m sure the increased popularity of Netflix and other methods of watching movies (including downloading them illegally) account for some of the decrease. But the quality of the movies we’re seeing these days has to take some blame, especially from those of us who have children.
You just never know what objectionable thing will appear in a modern movie. The plot may be interesting, but the f-word keeps popping up for no good reason at all. Or perhaps a movie has a ridiculous amount of nudity that does nothing to further the plot. It’s enough to make a parent very irritable.
This has been going on for quite a while; it’s one of the many reasons why my husband and I have been watching mostly old movies (pre-1980) for years. Even if our kids weren’t actually watching the movie, we never had to worry about what they saw as they passed through the family room. And though our youngest is now 18, he’s a young man with developmental delays and completely normal male hormones, so it’s a good thing we don’t watch more recent movies with all the female nudity, or we’d never get back the tv remote.
Twenty years ago, when our oldest kids were young, I had hopes that watching old movies would help them develop an appreciation for good stories with strong plots. I held that dream until they hit their early teens, when one of them announced that they thought Adam Sandler movies were the best movies ever. I consoled myself with the fact that my taste in movies was pretty unsophisticated at that age too.
That said, today the jury’s still out on whether the influence of old movies had much effect on my kids. I’ve noticed a definite generational difference of opinion, particularly about what’s funny and what’s not, but also about what constitutes good acting, good plot and especially good endings. Not surprisingly, I prefer an ending that makes clear what happened to the main characters. That’s how most old movies were written. When I watch a modern movie and am left hanging, I’m disappointed. But my kids don’t seem to mind that at all.
Now that our kids are grown, and some are out of the nest, my husband and I continue to enjoy old movies. Below are some we’ve watched recently. Got any favorites to add to the list? Please share in the comments; I’m always up for watching a “new” old movie.
Homeschooled Kids and Rebellion
May 3rd, 2011 § 9
One of the most popular articles on my website is “Homeschooling to Prevent Rebellion.” I think I’ve received more email about that article than any other I’ve written.
Let’s face it: many of us choose to homeschool our children partly (mostly?) because we want them to turn out “right.” The craziness of the public school environment makes it obvious to us that sending our children there is a dangerous decision. But if we teach them at home, we can educate them more efficiently using the materials of our choice (as opposed to the materials chosen by our local school board) while also teaching them how to control their behavior so that they become happy, productive adults, at the very least. Ideally, if we have a faith tradition, we want to share that faith with our children, too.
This is all well and good, but sometimes the responsibility we take on for homeschooling our children, which can seem huge and all-encompassing, leads us to believe that our children’s proper development is completely up to us. That would work if our children were puppets. But they’re individuals given free will by God. This complicates things.
To make matters worse, some speakers and writers in the Christian homeschool community insist that the sole purpose for homeschooling is to raise Christians. They may be well-intentioned, but what they’re doing is loading down parents with a burden they weren’t intended to carry. Because while it’s our job to “raise up our children in the way they should go,” we don’t have the power to make them Christians, or even to make them good.
I really like how Tim Sanford put it in his book, Losing Control & Liking It:
“…embrace the reality that whatever you do as a parent, your teenager still has that gift of free will. You could do everything right and your teenager could still choose stupid. That part is not your fault, even if it breaks your heart.”
He mentions the father of the prodigal son and the pain he went through, and then adds:
“What is your job?
To validate and nurture.
What’s not your job?
To make your teenager turn out right.
Learn to be content with these realities, and your life as a parent will be a lot easier.”
I’m aware of a lot of bewildered homeschooling parents who are just now facing the difficulties of having a rebellious teen. I feel for them because I’ve been there. It’s a lonely place. And the pain doesn’t necessarily go away once the child hits 18. In fact, for some homeschooled kids, the outward rebellion doesn’t reach full strength until then.
There’s no easy way through this. If you crack down hard on your offspring, you’ll likely push them further away. Yet you can’t give up on your principles, because they’re part of raising your children “in the way they should go.” What you can do is pray for yourself and your child. And never forget that God loves your children even more than you do.
