This was written by a woman I know only as "Eva's Mamma". These are excerpts from her list Reasons to Homeschool. I love it.
"Jesus" is not a curse word. "Crap" and "stupid" are.
Real world experiences, going to the grocery stores and bank constitute a math lesson, gazing at stars on a beautiful summer night and seeing bats inhabit our bat house is science.
Your child can be taught to problem solve and to be creative and to know how to find answers for himself instead of only knowing how to find the answers he is asked to find.
I believe as a parent it is my responsibility to see that my child has the best possible education, and I don't want to hire that responsibility out to someone else.
Freedom to talk about and do activities about the holidays we celebrate without having to worry if we are being "PC".
You don't have to put a child who still rides in a 5pt harness in the family car on a bus with absolutely no safety belts.
I can teach my child to listen to her body - sleep when she's tired, wake when she's rested, eat when she's hungry, stop when she's satisfied. Our schedule is not regulated by rushed early mornings, late nights of homework, or scarfing lunch because there's not enough time to eat. Plenty of time for that stuff in college; no need to start it when she's 4.
The home schooled child can learn about mom or dad's job by going to work with them on ANY day, not just the once-a-year "take your child to work" holiday.
The support system for home schoolers today is so great that most groups in larger cities have high school graduation and many have football and other sports available for home schoolers. There are even national groups for extra-curricular involvement in home school debate and forensics speaking.
They learn early on that only they are responsible for their education, actions, behavior, and reactions. It’s up to them to choose the path they wish to follow, but they know that they have a hand to hold if they need it and a willing ear and heart for support and listening. They know they are never alone in any of the journeys.
Sally Bacchetta - Freelance Writer
Freelance Writer
Parenting
Motherhood
August 23, 2008
August 12, 2008
Grossed Out Beyond Belief
Little One has a tiny cut on her tiny thumb, and as Little Ones typically do, she spends a great deal of time inspecting it, commenting on it, and offering it for my inspection and commentary.
Tonight at a restaurant she occupied herself by squeezing lemon slices into her ice water and then fishing the seeds and pulp out of the water. When she interrupted her game for an urgent potty break I didn't bother to dry her hands, figuring that we'd dry them soon enough in the bathroom.
She hopped up on the potty and almost immediately held her thumb out to me, whimpering "It stings." Seeing that her thumb was wet and knowing that lemon juice stings an open cut, I leaned forward, put her whole thumb in my mouth, and sucked the lemon juice off.
I'm a good mother. Always a solution. Takin' care of my Baby... My moment of self-congratulations ended abruptly when I saw the most bizarre expression on her face - a mixture of horror and disbelief.
"Mama, why did you eat pee pee?"
What? Eckgh! It's burned into my brain!
Sally Bacchetta - Freelance Writer
Freelance Writer
Parenting
Motherhood
Tonight at a restaurant she occupied herself by squeezing lemon slices into her ice water and then fishing the seeds and pulp out of the water. When she interrupted her game for an urgent potty break I didn't bother to dry her hands, figuring that we'd dry them soon enough in the bathroom.
She hopped up on the potty and almost immediately held her thumb out to me, whimpering "It stings." Seeing that her thumb was wet and knowing that lemon juice stings an open cut, I leaned forward, put her whole thumb in my mouth, and sucked the lemon juice off.
I'm a good mother. Always a solution. Takin' care of my Baby... My moment of self-congratulations ended abruptly when I saw the most bizarre expression on her face - a mixture of horror and disbelief.
"Mama, why did you eat pee pee?"
What? Eckgh! It's burned into my brain!
Sally Bacchetta - Freelance Writer
Freelance Writer
Parenting
Motherhood
August 07, 2008
Why Don't You Want To Hold Your Baby?
Last night I watched a young mother swinging her baby in an infant carrier. Back and forth, back and forth, the woman's arm extended unnaturally far from her body in order to allow the carrier to swing freely without bludgeoning her legs. "He likes to be moving all the time," she volunteered. "I have to keep him swinging or he fusses."
Having watched the pair for almost 15 minutes I found the toll on the woman obvious, as she stopped frequently to stretch her back and chest and switch the precious load from one hand to the other, so I thought she might be open to another way. Yes, a better way, in my opinion.
"Have you tried holding him yourself?" She looked at me blankly. "Have you tried holding him in your arms instead of the carrier? He might be happier closer to your chest."
No, she didn't think so. And besides (she explained), she can just snap the carrier back into the car seat rather than unbuckle and buckle the baby to hold him. "Really, the carrier is so convenient," she gushed.
"More convenient than your own arms", I asked, playing along as if convenience really were the measure of a good idea. Apparently she decided that walking briskly in the opposite direction was what her baby needed right then, and as I watched her walk away I just felt sad.
Sad for all the babies who spend more time in a cushioned hunk of molded plastic than in their mother's arms. Sad for all the mothers who are simply doing what they see other mothers doing. How can they not want to hold their babies as close as they can whenever they can? How can they not want to brush their chins on their babies' downy heads... flutter their lashes on those ultra-soft cheeks... and simply breathe together?
I don't get it at all.
Personal thoughts aside, the medical community weighs in: Excerpted from St. Luke's website and other pediatric forums.
Are there problems associated with overuse of infant equipment?
• It's ok to use infant equipment. Infant equipment can be fun for your baby and useful for parents.
• However, infants develop in response to their experiences and their environment. Recent research showed that infants who spent lots of time in equipment were actually slower to meet their developmental milestones than babies who spent less time in equipment.
• The shape of a baby's head can change in response to pressure from the back of the car seat, bouncer seat or swing. A study of infants who spent a total time of more than four hours a day in their car seat/carrier, bouncer or swing found they developed flat spots on the back or sides of their skulls that changed their head shape. Positional plagiocephaly is the medical term used to describe this asymmetrical head shape.
• Researchers found that babies whose parents reported using infant equipment for a total of one hour a day or less had fewer of these problems.
Sally Bacchetta - Freelance Writer
Freelance Writer
Parenting
Motherhood
Having watched the pair for almost 15 minutes I found the toll on the woman obvious, as she stopped frequently to stretch her back and chest and switch the precious load from one hand to the other, so I thought she might be open to another way. Yes, a better way, in my opinion.
"Have you tried holding him yourself?" She looked at me blankly. "Have you tried holding him in your arms instead of the carrier? He might be happier closer to your chest."
No, she didn't think so. And besides (she explained), she can just snap the carrier back into the car seat rather than unbuckle and buckle the baby to hold him. "Really, the carrier is so convenient," she gushed.
"More convenient than your own arms", I asked, playing along as if convenience really were the measure of a good idea. Apparently she decided that walking briskly in the opposite direction was what her baby needed right then, and as I watched her walk away I just felt sad.
Sad for all the babies who spend more time in a cushioned hunk of molded plastic than in their mother's arms. Sad for all the mothers who are simply doing what they see other mothers doing. How can they not want to hold their babies as close as they can whenever they can? How can they not want to brush their chins on their babies' downy heads... flutter their lashes on those ultra-soft cheeks... and simply breathe together?
I don't get it at all.
Personal thoughts aside, the medical community weighs in: Excerpted from St. Luke's website and other pediatric forums.
Are there problems associated with overuse of infant equipment?
• It's ok to use infant equipment. Infant equipment can be fun for your baby and useful for parents.
• However, infants develop in response to their experiences and their environment. Recent research showed that infants who spent lots of time in equipment were actually slower to meet their developmental milestones than babies who spent less time in equipment.
• The shape of a baby's head can change in response to pressure from the back of the car seat, bouncer seat or swing. A study of infants who spent a total time of more than four hours a day in their car seat/carrier, bouncer or swing found they developed flat spots on the back or sides of their skulls that changed their head shape. Positional plagiocephaly is the medical term used to describe this asymmetrical head shape.
• Researchers found that babies whose parents reported using infant equipment for a total of one hour a day or less had fewer of these problems.
Sally Bacchetta - Freelance Writer
Freelance Writer
Parenting
Motherhood
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