Posted in Believe it or not!, Home School, Husbands, Wisdom

Postaday Challenge – January Favorites – 1

Sleighing

They recommend we repost something from January. I think I’ll do that for this week. Since the temperature jumps far above 100 degrees almost every day, for us, I have chuckled, reading past entries about snow days, and hope you enjoy them, too. And remember: the special effects folks at WordPress were sprinkling snow all over the place on our blogs, as we read them. 🙂

SNOW AND ICE AND SLUSH, OH MY!

Whew! What a treat this blast of winter has been!

We returned last night from visiting our Texas granddaughter for her birthday, to find our world quite cold and bleak. Now our fires are rebuilt, house is re-warmed, chick water is thawed, and icy crud on the car is knocked off. We literally had to plow our way through winter precipitation along a three-hour drive.

That took four hours.

I was surprised and blessed at how excited our passengers were. Our twenty-something offspring, home on winter break, were like little children as they recalled rare snow days from their past and giggled in excitement over the frightening but beautiful scenes around us.

We all learned much about snow tires, black ice, legalities, and travel safety in snow-slush-ice. My husband, born in Iowa and raised in northern Missouri, practiced every safety tip he knew, as he drove us home. Since we were experiencing his expertise first hand, he used it for an old-time, teachable moment, in hopes the rest of us could somehow be safer one day, should we have to drive in such conditions.

We probably won’t drive anywhere today, though. When universities and government buildings close, it’s time to stay home.

Instead, we will build a snowman. The snow will be perfect and it is deep, from our southern viewpoint: six inches. We will make snow angels and have at least one good snowball fight, although, YES, we’re all adults. We’ll have a huge breakfast with meat, and I’ll cook chili for lunch. Of course, we need more hot cocoa mix, so I’ll stir that up, too.

It’ll be a family day off. Why not join us?

Posted in Believe it or not!, Home School, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom

You’re NOT Gonna Believe This.

Some folks in Florida adopted a little girl. They mistreated her and her siblings for years. People turned them in to the social workers OFTEN. Nothing was done. Not really. There were so many cases, so few workers, blah, blah, blah.

Then the family withdrew the children from the public schools. Then the girl died from the abuse.

Suddenly, although these people had a long history of abusing the children in their home and no one knows if they were homeschooling or not, the court recommends penalizing ALL HOME SCHOOLERS, the implication being that all homeschoolers are child abusers, the state did not do its job because its hands were tied, blah, blah, blah.

Of course, maybe the judicial recommendations will not become official policy.

In this case.

There always is that hope.

Though becoming more and more bleak.

However:

  1. Did the child die because the state failed to act on already-existing laws? (Probably.)
  2. Will all the abused children in public schools still suffer because of lack of personnel? Or if the policy is enacted, will they suffer even more because of it? (Probably.)
  3. Will the state somehow provide funding for even more caseworkers? (Probably not.)
  4. Will the caseworkers somehow suddenly develop a higher level of caring or a deeper level of investigation? Or whatever? (Probably not.)
  5. If the recommendations do become policy, will the policy be unenforceable except on a whim-basis? (Probably.)
  6. Is it true that all caseworkers and all judges are totally unconcerned about the actual children? (Oops. Didn’t mean to say that.)
  7. Didn’t we ordain and establish our government to circumvent this precise problem? (Yes. Yes. A thousand times: Yes.)

Will we fight this as the U.S. citizens that we are, who are provided with innocence until proven guilty? (Your answer goes here.)

In case anyone is confused, let me say it again:

HOME SCHOOLING IS A LEGAL, PROTECTED ACTIVITY IN THIS COUNTRY.

THE PROBLEM IS FAILURE TO ATTEND TO ACTUAL CHILD ABUSE.

GET THAT AND DO NOT FORGET IT.

Posted in Good ol' days, Home School, Inspiring, Scripture, Wisdom

What Are We Doing?

Enjoy this, the first published article I ever wrote, over sixteen years ago, for An Encouraging Word magazine, published out of Oklahoma. I got $20 for it, back then!

It is taken from Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 7, and John 12.

a pretty box
A Pretty Box

Once there was a woman who loved Jesus so much, that she did something so radical, that she incurred such unreasonable wrath from those around her, that the Lord Jesus was pleased to publicly defend her.

What she did was not illegal. She had not stolen anything, nor lied, nor killed anyone in the process of her actions. So why was she censored?

I believe it was because what she did was something that should only be done to God. It was an act of unadulterated adoration, totally unfitting to be performed for a mere human, however good that person might be.

This is what she did: She took something of hers that was worth around $50,000.00 and destroyed it at this man’s feet, all the while crying and kissing him. (He was not her husband.) She did this in public. In fact, it was before a large gathering of his friends and acquaintances.

“But He was God,” you say.

“He IS God,” you add.

True; how easy for us to have such excellent hindsight! But this woman had the gift of faith, Scripture tells us, to know Jesus as Messiah (before that telling moment of resurrection) and the crowd around her did not. Her actions were proper,but her critics simply were unable to agree.

In fact, her critics were embarrassed to the point of making up some fumbling arguments about the poor people in some poor place somewhere. Dollar amounts were rumored around. People were generally appalled.

Do you wonder how this relates to us?

I propose that most home educating parents are doing the same thing. Those of us who realize our children are the most precious things we have, are investing their entire lives at the feet of Jesus.

It is not illegal, but it has caused quite an embarrassed public stir. We hear all the traditional fumbling arguments about cost, socializing, college, etc. They say our children have been wasted and they cannot understand why. We have incurred wrath; we have critics who would love to censor us.

But you are right. He IS God.

By faith, somehow, we are able to know that our actions are proper. The telling moment of high ACT scores is upon us.

Rejoice with great joy! He is pleased to defend us!

Posted in Blessings of Habit, Health, Home School, Homemaking, Pre-schoolers, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom, Womanhood

How to Take Care of Your Eyes – Rest!

Close your eyes and it will go away!This is my favorite treatment for every problem–just close your eyes! Maybe it will go away!

In the case of eye health, this is definitely true.

But no one tells us.

Study this set of posts. Link to them. Copy-paste them for your fridge. Someone you know needs this information!

Resting

When we do not get enough sleep, eye health breaks down. Do not let this happen to you.

1.  The only time your eyes get a rest or a chance to self-heal at all is when you close them. Open your eyes and they are on the job. Just as never resting would weaken a  soldier, so never sleeping could weaken the two guards you call your eyes. A good nightly amount is eight hours. If you cannot get that for some reason (sick children, etc.) then pay more attention to daily resting.

2.  You may need a timer for this one, at first. Every time you work for 50 minutes, rest your eyes for ten. This includes computer work, yes, but any reading or crafting is work for your eyes, no matter how fun it is. Give them a break.

3.  You know how tired eyes feel to you, When your eyes feel overly tired, try this: lie down and cover your eyelids with cool cucumber slices. Chamomile tea bags, boiled, cooled, and squeezed out, work too. Let the soothing compresses take you away!

So now you have it: Four ways to make for better eye health: nutrition, exercise, detoxify, and rest. Let’s all get going on taking care!

Okay, now comes the part we have to say in this lawsuit-happy world: This post is meant to inform and to satisfy curiosity, only, and is not a substitute for medical advice. Consult your doctor for information concerning your conditions. Much effort has been made to assure this information is accurate, however, medical research is always changing the facts, and new findings may supersede currently accepted data. I am NOT a doctor, only quoting several of them.

Posted in Blessings of Habit, Health, Home School, Inspiring, Pre-schoolers, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom, Womanhood

How to Take Care of Your Eyes – Eliminate the Toxic!

Fluorescent lighting is poison to your eyes.I knew it! I just knew it! We have more eye troubles these days because more facets of our environment are bothering our eyes. I just knew it.

And, oh boy! It is politically incorrect to admit this.

Is that why this is not on billboards, nationwide?

Study this set of posts. Link to them. Copy-paste them for your fridge. Someone you know needs this information!

Poison to Your Eyes

The eyes are physical parts of our physical bodies. Since they are so sensitive that they can communicate thoughts and emotions, we might think of them as ephemeral. But they are physical, influenced by light, something Einstein would be first to tell us we do NOT fully understand. And they have a few things to communicate to us about their preferences, too.

If you are in charge of children, you hold the keys to their continued eye health. You are duty-bound to make good eye health happen for them. Teach this to them and make it a permanent part of their overall health.

Lighting. Lighting is toxic? Yes, some lighting is toxic to several parts of the body, but we will concentrate on the effects to the eye. Flourescent, computer, and TV light is totally stressing to the eye and can even lead to glaucoma. We take for granted the accuracy of our eyes, but the truth is, they have to re-focus and re-compute every time a flourescent blinks, every time the stripe goes past on a screen, even if they are not looking directly at the screen or lightbulb. For this reason, many people, and most children, do poorer work when in the presence of these types of light. Eliminate them.

The best light for working is reflected or filtered sunlight. Halogen is next, if carefully filtered. Then comes incandescent, also very workable. The rest are bad. Period.

However, never look AT the sun, and always have sunglasses ready, should you be outdoors very long, especially on overcast days, when more sunlight can beam directly into the eye. A little reflected sunlight actually can do good, adding vitamin D, but don’t overdo.

Allergens. Although you may not have a classic allergic reaction to them, the fumes from new carpet, new paint, overheated cars, etc., harm more than your lungs. If you must install these things in your home, open the windows and use a fan to draw in real air. Ditto for tobacco smoke. If your favorite shopping place installs them there, shop elsewhere, or AT LEAST leave the children behind for a while until the fumes subside.

Also, when you turn on the tap, first thing in the morning, does it smell to the skies of chlorine? It quite likely is chlorine gas. Time for the fan and the open window, again. Let the water run and leave the room until it smells like–water.

Swimming pools and spas. Usually these either have chlorine, bromine, or bacteria in them. Wearing goggles is a good solution for those who have to swim in chemicals and bacteria, although removing them and doing yesterday’s massages every half hour is a good idea.

Heating and air conditioning. Dry air is not really a toxin, but harms the eyes as if it were. Use a humidifier and saline drops made for the eye when you are in these environments. Spend more time outdoors: you were made for it.

Dim lighting. Doing visual work without proper lighting is like moving bricks without gloves, or hiking barefoot. Body parts wear out, and unlike a cut hand or foot, the eye does not self-repair well. Always use a good light when you work. When you are reading or writing, the light should fall over your less dominant shoulder. (Left for righties; right for lefties.) Require this of your children, too.

Rubbing the eyes. A little goes a long way with this habit. Unlike the eye massage from yesterday’s post, rubbing the eye squashes the eyeball. Not so good. It also can introduce bacteria. Not so good. And, horrors!, if you have a foreign object in the eye, rubbing can worsen your plight. Just don’t go there and don’t allow the children to, either.

Use a warm wash cloth to remove crust or mattering, not a fingernail. Use a folded corner of tissue and/or sterile eye drops to remove foreign objects from the eye. Or go to a doctor, WITHOUT RUBBING, PLEASE.

Coming tomorrow, Lord willing: Resting–Resting–1,2,3, Resting!

Okay, now comes the part we have to say in this lawsuit-happy world: This post is meant to inform and to satisfy curiosity, only, and is not a substitute for medical advice. Consult your doctor for information concerning your conditions. Much effort has been made to assure this information is accurate, however, medical research is always changing the facts, and new findings may supersede currently accepted data. I am NOT a doctor, only quoting several of them.

Posted in Believe it or not!, Blessings of Habit, Health, Home School, Homemaking, Inspiring, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom

How to Take Care of Your Eyes – Nutrition

Blueberries for eye nutrtion.Since I’ve been seeing things, all SORTS of things besides what is really there to see, I have studied a bit about eye health and visited quite a few doctors. So much knowledge floats around in space, these days, and so many preventive and curative measures exist for boosting eye health, waiting for someone to take advantage of them.

Why isn’t this on billboards, nationwide?

Study the next few posts. Link to them. Copy-paste them for your fridge. Someone you know needs this information!

Nutrition for Your Eyes

We know our bodies have various nutritional needs and we know all the old wives tales about carrots, but listen to this: The eyes desperately need the right nutrients to work, and to last a long time.

If you are in charge of several children, though, you hold in your hands the keys to their continued excellent eye health. You are duty-bound to make good eye nutrition happen.

Vitamins: The eyes must have adequate A, C, and E. They simply must have them. Eat foods like carrots (yes!), strawberries, and wheat germ. Look up these vitamins and build your menus around foods that provide good eye health.

Minerals: Copper and zinc are good for eyes. Add beans and red meat.

Antioxidants: Try whole eggs, spinach, pumpkin, and . . . guess what . . . CARROTS! Your grandmother was SO RIGHT–they help prevent macular degeneration.

Sulfur, cysteine, and lecithin: These come from the onion and garlic family. They put the brakes on cataracts, among other health problems throughout the body.

Anthocyanins: Blueberries and grapes contain these and help night vision, according to WWII pilots, and much further research.

DHA: Sorry, all you catfish lovers, this one is found in cold-water fish like salmon and sardines. You’ll have to try grilled salmon, though–it is marvelous!

Water: While not exactly a nutrient, pure water is totally necessary for the eyes. And, yes, it is 8 glasses a day, and it should be filtered if you use it from the tap. Anything created as wet as an eye would obviously need water, right? Think of the eye as an under-water camera that doesn’t work without the water.

Coming tomorrow, Lord willing: Eye Exercises! Who’d have thought!

Okay, now comes the part we have to say in this lawsuit-happy world: This post is meant to inform and to satisfy curiosity, only, and is not a substitute for medical advice. Consult your doctor for information concerning your conditions. Much effort has been made to assure this information is accurate, however, medical research is always changing the facts, and new findings may supersede currently accepted data. I am NOT a doctor, only quoting several of them.

Posted in Home School, Inspiring, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom

Kinds of Babies

Baby, reading.Our firstborn son was bookish. From an early age, he could “read” himself to sleep. (They were pre-school picture books.) He loved lining toys in rows and dressing like and imitating his daddy. He was a visual learner.

My friend had two boys who disliked reading, although they loved a good story and she could hold them enthralled for hours if she read to them. Having difficulties with bookwork, they aced the hunter-education class, which was all lecture. They were auditory learners, picking up most input through the sense of hearing. Which explains why her sons could hear Mom calling for chores better than mine could?

Some children love to learn by touch. They love science experiments, lap books, and many other sorts of projects, whereas my kids cringed at them, resented the time they seemingly wasted. Math manipulatives greatly help tactile learners, even if it’s just Popsicle sticks. Coloring a picture of a horse can teach them more than hearing or reading a description of one, but riding a horse will teach even more.

I had one child who learned the most by talking about it. Oh, he could read okay, but until he reproduced what he had learned, his lesson was not done. He was one who also learned better when moving, so when he bogged down as an older child, he would slide over the piano and pound out some Rachmaninoff and then could study better. And then he proceeded to become a computer whizz.

What lesson do WE learn from these learners?

  • All of our children may look alike, but have extremely different insides.
  • Our daughters may look like us but have their dad’s personalities.
  • A perfectly excellent curriculum may not work for one child as well as it did for the others.
  • Einstein and Edison could both be immensely successful, although one was bookish and the other was not.
  • Institutionalized teaching of scores of children via the same methods will never work.

All of which statements are another good reason to homeschool.