Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up Using Smartphones

Posted on February 15, 2019 by Barbara Frank

When my children were young, and I was very busy taking care of them, and the house, and homeschooling some of them, if someone would have handed me a device that would have stopped them in their tracks and kept them occupied for hours so that I could get everything done on that very long list of things to do that I always had….I probably would have given them each a device.

So I understand why today’s children (including some of my grandchildren) are spending time on smartphones. But we’re seeing more and more evidence that smartphones are a very bad idea for children. They keep them from playing, which is how they learn. They keep them from using their imaginations, which is not a good thing. And now a recent study shows that children who use smartphones spend twice as long using them as talking to their parents.

This is logical, and alarming. The parent-child relationship must supersede all else in a young child’s life. This is how they learn the most important things they need to know: from their parents. Anything that interrupts that relationship needs to go.

It will be hard. I totally understand. Even though I haven’t raised a young child in decades, I remember what it’s like. But it’s time to admit that children should not be allowed to do anything with smartphones. These devices are too addicting, and they take children away from far more important things, like conversing with their parents.

Public Policy Shouldn’t Force Moms Into the Workforce

Posted on May 10, 2017 by Barb

“…we should make it a legal requirement that all parents of children of school-age or older are gainfully employed.”

It always amazes me when women think they know what’s best for other women. And this gal even thinks her opinion should become law. What is this hostility that some working mothers have for stay-at-home mothers? What’s it to ‘em if other women want to stay at home to raise their own children, often at great financial sacrifice?

Given the lack of jobs for men in many countries, including our own, I think we should be encouraging women to stay home with their children (babies or school-age) if that’s what they want to do. I also think the Fed should stop messing around with monetary policy, because that’s a big reason why so many families are struggling today. When I was a child, a large family could survive just on Dad’s income. Now the median household income has been dropping for years, but housing, food and medical care costs have soared.

Let’s get our governments to figure out what they’re doing wrong instead of trying to force every woman into the workplace so she can earn more money (and pay more taxes) instead of staying home with her children, if that’s what she wants.

Happy 2016!

Posted on January 6, 2016 by Barb

I spent much of the last part of 2015 working on two quilts that were Christmas gifts (photos to come). I managed to finish them in time but I must have been crazy to put myself under such a deadline. There were several interruptions, including emergency surgery on one of my kids (she’s OK now, thank God), the purchase of a car and a broken part on my sewing machine.

The Christmas season was full of surprises, the best of them being the announcement by our daughter and son-in-law that they’re expecting their first child this summer. We are very excited about this wonderful news! This will be our third grandchild; we were blessed to spend some time over the holidays with our first two bright and gorgeous grandchildren, and they are a delight 🙂 We Skype with them every week and love it, but there’s nothing like being there in person.

The holidays gave me an opportunity to reconnect with some old friends, which is always nice. Some were also homeschooling parents, so we have much to talk about. I continue to find it interesting that some of their kids are doing very well as adults while others continue to find their way. I mean this in terms of their faith lives, not their work or personal lives, as all seem gainfully employed and/or busy raising their own children. These things are also true of my own children. It appears to me that homeschooling creates wonderful family lives and good educational experiences, but cannot create an adult who handles everything perfectly, no matter what the speakers at homeschool conventions may tell you! That said, it’s a privilege to watch our adult children navigate the world with all of its joys and challenges.

In 2016, I hope to update Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers with additional projects and information. We also have a couple of eBooks in the pipeline at Cardamom that will hopefully be published this year. And of course, there will be more quilts….and a new baby to love!

Wishing you a blessed 2016,
Barb

Nervous About Another Year of Homeschooling?

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Barb

In a few months I’m going to meet my first grandchild, a little boy. (I can hardly wait!) I enjoyed my children’s baby years so much, and friends tell me being a grandma is even more fun. How can that be possible? I’ll find out soon.

One of the things I enjoyed most about my babies was their bright little minds. Almost from the time they were born, it seemed, they were scoping out their world, eyes wide and curious. As they grew, I was amazed at how ready they were to explore with their eyes, their hands, their mouths, and before long, by crawling and walking. I didn’t have to coax them to do this; I just had to make their world safe for exploration.

Take my eldest son, for instance, the father of my upcoming grandchild. When he was a baby, he was easy to care for, a mellow guy (as long as his tummy was full and his diaper was dry). Before I started making supper each night, I’d put him in his baby seat on the kitchen counter and hang a little squeaky stuffed bluebird right in front of him. At first he’d just stare at it. Before long he was cooing at it. And then one night he took a swat at it! This became a fun game for him. For weeks I cooked supper to the sounds of him cooing and the bluebird squeaking as he whacked it and chortled.

I’m sure this activity was good for his eye-hand coordination (and may even have led to his love of baseball!) But it was also a good lesson for me: he learned to do this without my coaxing, prodding, or insistence. I gave him a learning environment, and his God-given intelligence took care of the rest.

Of course I’d forgotten times like this when I first started homeschooling my kids. I often parked them in front of textbooks and “taught” them and expected them to learn. And they did, but before long it became a chore. There was no intense interest, no chortling.

Over time I discovered that true learning requires the interest and desire of the student. I had read this in books by John Holt, but what really cemented it was seeing my children pursue their interests and excel in them. By the time they were teens, my participation primarily involved driving them to a limited number of activities of their choice and paying for the books and/or supplies needed in their pursuits. The rest was up to them, and that God-given intelligence I first saw when they were tiny.

So if you’re a bit nervous about whether you’re buying the right curriculum this year, or whether you’re going to be up for another year of homeschooling, consider that much of the task of educating your children is up to them; if you create a vibrant learning environment, answer their questions and facilitate learning by obtaining what they need, you can count on them to do the rest.

As for me, my kids are grown and I’m not homeschooling anymore, which leaves me a lot more time to make things for the baby 🙂