Scouts

I don't know how I feel about Girl Scouts. I've been debating getting my daughter involved in Scouts for a couple of years now, a consideration which has been more at the forefront of my mind since we began homeschooling last year. I want my children to have as many opportunities to socialize in a healthy environment as they can/want.

I emphasize healthy social opportunities. With this in mind, my feelings on Boy Scouts are much more clear; I don't want my son being part of an organization that openly discriminates against the LGBT community and bans people from leadership positions within the organization based on their orientation. I find it extremely sad that if same-gender couple had a son in Boy Scouts, neither of them could contribute in a leadership role for their son's troop. This goes against the values we are teaching our children (love, acceptance), so I'm not comfortable with his participation in such an organization.

Boy Scouts also takes a firm position on requiring that its participants to follow a religion:

"The Boy Scouts of America maintains that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God. In the first part of the Scout Oath or Promise the member declares, ‘On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law.’ The recognition of God as the ruling and leading power in the universe and the grateful acknowledgment of His favors and blessings are necessary to the best type of citizenship and are wholesome precepts in the education of the growing members."

This bothers me as well. We are not religious people in the traditional sense. I consider myself an Agnostic with Buddhist leanings, but this is more a way of life than a "religion", so to speak. The Boy Scouts of America statement is really offensive to me, because it implies that my children, my husband, and I are not capable of being among the best citizens no matter who we are outside of our beliefs. I have no problem at all with what anyone else believes, but I have a very big problem with others telling me what I or my children must believe, or making judgements about my character based on whether or not I share their faith - or one they approve of.

Girl Scouts does appear to be far more inclusive with their policies. They even allowed transgender member Bobby Montoya to participate. Girl Scouts of Colorado spoke out through GLAAD and released the following statement on transgender youth participating in Girl Scouts:

"If a child identifies as a girl and the child's family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout."

I was super impressed with this. It made me want to run out and buy a box of Girl Scout cookies. If only the Boy Scouts of America could step out of the stone ages and follow suit. It's 2012, folks.

I'm still on the fence as to whether I want my daughter to participate in Girl Scouts. I've heard there are troops with very religious leanings, and those which tend to be very secular. I'm not sure about the local troop, though I do know that they hold meetings in a church and plaster photos of the girls all over a very public Facebook page. I'm not so comfortable with that, so it seems unlikely. Fortunately, K12 offers opportunities for social interaction. We also have soccer, classes through our community arts centers, and various other ways to stay connected. My kids burn out on socializing fairly quickly anyhow, being on the spectrum, so our needs are less than average to begin with.

Cursive Handwriting

It seems a lot of schools are doing away with cursive handwriting. I don't understand why that is. Okay, I do; they think that it's a dinosaur now that we use computers and type everything from our research papers to our social interactions. But there are benefits to learning cursive handwriting, and I believe it's still a good skill to have.

Miss Reezle has some beautiful handwriting, doesn't she? Little G has been practicing a little with some worksheets I've found for him online, and will be learning more this year as a 1st/2nd grader. I remember being in my early elementary years, seeing the cursive letters and feeling like it was some special thing that only the older, cooler kids got to do. Being able to write cursive was like being in an exclusive club or something. Heh. I think my kids feel the same way, and it's fun how being a mom brings back all of those memories from my own childhood.

The Aurora Shooting: Why?

In the wake of the tragedy in Aurora, CO, people around the country are up in arms, debating the reasons why something like this would happen. The first wave came from the anti-gun folks who believe that banning guns would prevent mass murders. I disagree; people who are bent on destruction and large-scale acts of violence and terrorism will not be deterred by the absence of one form of weapon. After all, 9/11 claimed 3,000 lives, and no guns were required. People can be very creative, and unfortunately, that creativity can be used for awful things as well as positive things.

The second wave came from people who believe that violence in movies and video games is to blame for our violence-prone culture. I don't believe this, either.



Canada has the same video games, movies, and music we do, and they also have one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world; yet, the rates of homicide are significantly lower there than in the United States (above image from Wikipedia). What, then, could the difference be between our country and other developed countries? Why are Americans so violent?

One statistic that is higher in the U.S. than in any other country in the world is the rate of children and adolescents on psychotropic medication.

While mental disorders can be associated with higher rates of crime, examining the issue further reveals that the drugs used to treat certain psychiatric conditions can actually cause brain damage in children and adolescents, and can increase suicidal and violent behavior. Over-medicating children could very well be causing some of the issues leading to violent acts. In fact, many of the school shooters are known to have been taking antidepressant medications at the time they committed their violent acts.

The other issue is the entitlement factor Americans have. We are a country built on consumption and excess. We are inundated with advertisements on television, on the internet, in our e-mail inboxes, on billboards, on the radio, and even over our phones telling us to buy. We replace things out of desire, not due to need. In an unrelenting stream of messages that imply, and sometimes state outright that we can buy happiness, it is no wonder that Americans spend themselves into ridiculous amounts of debt in a futile effort to finally reach the point where they have "enough".

As a result, people are struggling to pay for homes they cannot afford, eating themselves to obesity and disease, dying of completely preventable diseases directly tied to over-consumption, and finding themselves wondering why "having it all" doesn't equate to good feelings. I am firmly convinced that a lot of our supposed mental illness is often a direct result of this.

We're "supposed to be" happy, financially stable, healthy, and free to have fun as often as we like. We believe things should be handed to us. We take so much for granted, and experience suffering and feelings of slight when we go without things that people in some countries have never been able to experience. We have celebrities living in homes costing millions of dollars with more space than any human being could ever possibly need while children starve in the streets of the same cities, and society lifts these selfish, shallow creatures up to god-like status. When reality happens and this fairytale does not, most people handle it - if disappointedly. Others, unable to cope with the disparity between what we're told should happen and what actually does happen, lose it. What 'losing it' means will vary by person, but the results can be pretty awful. Can't we change this?

While evolution has brought us more in sync with our humanity and fellow souls on this planet, our technology and obsession with having stuff is removing us from it. Our competitive culture, the growing disparity between rich and poor, and a lesser degree of obvious interdependence are a destructive combination. Improving the situation in our country isn't going to happen by way of gun control, restricting movie content, or having the condition of childhood medicated out of every kid so they're "perfect" little robots. Nothing improves by taking away rights and crippling free speech. We need to start respecting one another more, especially our children. We need to stop talking and start listening. We need to open our wallets less and open our hearts and minds more. We need to focus on really teaching our children things that are worthwhile instead of cramming information into their heads like containers so they can make schools look good on paper; such practices are meaningless and destructive to the spirit and our society, because no one will care about test scores 100 years from now.

The greatest, most respected people in history were not the kind of people who fit neatly into predetermined little packages of what society wanted of them. They also didn't go shooting up schools and theaters. Einstein, Galileo, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Nicola Tesla, Abraham Lincoln, Isaac Newton, His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ghandi; none of these people were/are traditional, sit down and obey, go with the flow followers. Encouraging conformity, submission, fear, and obedience is not the answer, for it will stifle potential and cripple society further. Restoring our humanity is the answer, and shifting our focus away from this plastic, money-worshipping culture of greed and selfishness that can only foster envy and bring out the worst in people, that is what we need to do.

I wish to extend my sincerest condolences to those affected by the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado. Peace be with you all.

You and Me Time

Last night, just before bedtime, Little G wrote me a note on his drawing board.


He was a bit bothered by the fact that his sister gets to stay up a little later than he does, and that it means we don't get a lot of time where it's just him and me. It's interesting how his personality changes at those moments; he becomes so talkative and just loves to share his ideas and thoughts with me.

Obviously, I couldn't resist his request, and we talked a little last night and again tonight before bedtime. He was adorable, mostly sharing his excitement about K12 and his new workbooks. "I want to do homeschool until I go to college," he said. He also told me he can hardly wait until summer is over because he's looking forward to the fall weather and working in his workbooks every day. While I won't go so far as to wish away the summer, I'm excited about this fall, too.

Bones

My Little G sure does love bones. He studies his human body book like it's his job, is fascinated with my skeletal anatomy app on my iPad, owns a whole bunch of books on the skeletal system and wears lots of "skully" clothes. He also enjoys drawing bones.

He tells me he is going to be an Anatomist or a doctor when he grows up, and randomly shares all kinds of facts about bones with me. "Did you know that babies are born with more bones than adults have? Do you know why? Did you know that bones are the frame of your body, and they also have something inside them called marrow?" Heh. I love his dedication to his interests.

School Supplies Have Arrived!

I'm actually a little late on this; our school supplies arrived last week! A new school year is just a mere month away, and the excitement in our home is similar to that which precedes a major holiday. "It feels like waiting for Santa!" Reezle announced as I dragged the huge boxes of school supplies in the front door. Little G literally jumped up and down, yelling, "Yay!"

We unpacked our boxes and looked over this year's materials. Much of it was very similar; K12's K-2 science, music, and art materials don't vary much, and Little G is a grade level ahead of himself so we're doing our second year in a row of 2nd grade math and language arts. He is so excited to have the same Math Orange materials as he envied all of last year. Of course, now that Reezle has Math Purple, I'm sure he will want that as soon as the novelty of Orange wears off.

We have far fewer books this year, which is, admittedly, disappointing. However, we read plenty on our own and this just means I'll be hitting the library and bookstores more often. No complaints there.

Reezle and I got her personal learning space set up. Little G will share it for now, since we only have one functioning laptop despite buying two brand new Dell N5110s not very long ago. There should be a second one in G's learning space, but thanks to Dell, there is not. The one we purchased specifically for homeschooling, in November 2011, failed just weeks out of the box. It currently functions as a paperweight and nothing more. Despite numerous calls to Dell to rectify this, I've gotten nowhere. That was actually our third Dell to experience some catastrophic failure, so I'm now a Mac user. Forever. My personal advice to you, regardless of whether you are a PC or Mac user, would be never to buy from Dell. I digress.

Our living room book shelf is now home to some of our new school materials, while the kids elected to keep their favorite, and likely to be most frequently-used workbooks on the bookshelves in their own rooms. Little G is so jazzed about school starting that he says he wishes summer was over. (For the record, I don't wish summer was over...but I am excited about school, too.)

Our art, math, and science cabinet looks basically the same as it did last year, with a few minor additions. Seeds, paints, chalks, a graduated cylinder, math manipulatives, goggles, and various extras occupy this cabinet. I try to keep things near where we typically use them for quick access.

Reezle (and G, by default) will be taking Spanish this year. I've already begun getting them familiarized with it by asking each day, "¿Que día es hoy?" and having them reply with, "Hoy es jueves," or whichever day it happens to be. It's good practice, I think. I took Spanish in college, and it's coming back quickly for me, which is kinda cool. They already know their primary colors and numbers 1-20, so that's also a benefit. I think it's going to be a lot of fun.

Star Trek and The Best Snack Ever

One of the really cool memories I have from childhood involves Stark Trek (the original series - the only real one, in my humble opinion) and this snack my dad made of Saltine crackers, Muenster cheese, and a pool of Frank's Red Hot sauce on top.

Even cooler? It turns out that Reezle loves this little snack, too, and she's a total original series Trekkie. I couldn't be more proud. Ha!

Sure, it's neither healthy nor organic, but sometimes you have to make exceptions for nostalgia and awesomeness.

Summer Reading

Over the summer, I've heard so many parents discussing difficulties they're facing with summer reading lists and keeping their children interested in books. I truly believe it is the way reading and literature are presented to children in schools. Most people don't dislike reading; they dislike being required to read. I think most people would develop an aversion to eating cake if they were made to do it, and required to answer 10 questions about the taste, texture, and content. Schools require reading for content, so there is a sadly large number of children who don't even understand the concept of reading for enjoyment.

If the summer reading is driving you nuts, there are a few things you can do. A lot of local libraries offer summer reading incentive programs. After reading a certain number of books, the kiddos get a prize! Book It! has a summer reading program. What kiddo doesn't love earning a pizza? Barnes & Noble and Chuck E. Cheese's both offer reading incentives as well. And if your kids have a particular interest (space, karate, cars, etc.) you can buy them a book or two on their topic of interest to get them interested. It's all about taking the focus off of reading as a chore and reminding them that there is so much to enjoy about reading. Finding a fun series will also keep a lot of kids tuned in. My daughter is always looking for the latest cool book series since she started on Junie B. Jones in 1st grade! The Judy Moody books are great, too, and I just discovered they have a related series featuring her brother, Stink. (Yes, classy, I know - ha!)

I remember when I realized that reading could be fun. I was 9 years old, and I'd just discovered The Babysitters Club. I couldn't put the books down. Now my daughter is reading them on my Kindle, and I love it!


We hear no complaints from Sticky. She loves the attention from her non-furry siblings, and I think she even enjoys the stories when they take turns reading aloud to one another. As soon as she sees them curled up with a book, she snuggles herself beside them to take advantage of this relaxing, cozy time.

Ah, summer. We're loving it. Lots of time to read books on topics from volcanoes to birds, and everything in between. Reezle will be taking Spanish this fall, so I downloaded the Kindle version of Spanish for Dummies for her. As for me, I'm waiting for Brandon Sanderson to release the remainder of my beloved Wheel of Time series!

Happy reading!

My Epic Soy Post

This topic came up several places recently, so I felt the urge to share my own thoughts here on my blog. Soy. One of the first things people might think of when considering making the switch from a diet that includes animal products to one that is plant-based is soy. We hear a lot of things about soy, and soy has made its way into just about everything processed that we eat. It is often touted as being healthy, with claims that it can protect against certain diseases. This is perhaps the best example I can think of where a very small piece of truth has been expanded, warped, and taken almost completely out of context.

First, let's take a look at where these claims come from. Asian diets, which include fermented soy products like soy sauce and tempeh, have been linked to lower incidences of certain diseases. The soy that is touted as healthy here in the United States is not the fermented variety and does not offer the same health benefits. In fact, unfermented soy can actually be quite detrimental to our health.

Unfermented soy, the kind which is found in soy milk, soy-based ingredients in processed foods, and other soy substitutes, contains phytochemicals and can disrupt the normal functions in your body to the point of ill health by mimicking naturally-occurring estrogens in the body (among other things). Our bodies, for optimal health, need to maintain a balance of the right hormones. A disruption in this balance can lead to estrogen dominance, which can lead to a whole host of symptoms, diseases, and disorders. This can be especially problematic for children and people who already suffer from certain symptoms and diseases.

In addition to the health concerns soy poses all on its own, there is the additional issue that biotech corporation Monsanto controls more than 90% of the soybeans in the United States, and you really don't want to consume anything that Monsanto has their hands in at all. I strongly encourage you to Google Monsanto, or better yet - watch Food, Inc., for there is far too much for me to cover here but much you need to know. You can check out a soy-related clip from the documentary here.

That said, I have personal experience with the deleterious health effects of consuming soy products, which is why I feel so compelled to share my thoughts on soy with others. A few years ago, I decided that I wanted to eat healthier. I planned to move toward a more plant-based diet and eliminate all, or nearly all, animal products from my diet. Soy seemed the common-sense choice. I had not researched it, and at the time I still relied heavily on what appeared to be "common knowledge" about things like soy. So I went to the supermarket, bought myself a bunch of soy milk, soy protein bars, and other soy substitutes. I truly believed, based on advertising about this wonderful, amazing soy that was in everything, that I was doing something really good for myself and my family.

It wasn't long before I started to feel like my body was going crazy. I kept with the dietary changes, including lots of soy, thinking that maybe I was just detoxing from my previous diet or adjusting or something; but I only got worse. So I did what we all do: I Googled my symptoms, of course! One of the first things that came up was dietary soy intake, as it apparently mimics estrogen in the body. Woah.

I immediately stopped consuming soy and started checking labels for it. It took a couple of months for my body to get back to normal, but it did. Meanwhile, I was utterly astounded at how many products contain soy! It's not easy to avoid for those who eat a lot of processed foods. I'm hoping that soy will get the kind of attention that trans fat and HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup) have received so that manufacturers will start scaling back on its use in their food products. I also really wish that advertising would be more honest, but I guess that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Be well!

The Chore Bucket Debate

Last week, a photo of a chore ransom bucket circulated the internet, from Facebook to Pinterest, receiving rave reviews from parents who thought it just might be one of the Best Inventions Ever.


The basic idea can be garnered from the little poem taped to the bucket. Initially, I thought about how fast I could make one of these up and put it into use in our home. Admittedly, my kids probably have relatively few toys compared to their peers because leaving them out has resulted in many a donation and/or trip to the curb on garbage day. Giving my children the opportunity to earn back their toys could teach responsibility and would make more sense than throwing otherwise good things away. I shared the picture on Facebook, it was widely Liked, and I had every intention of creating my own version of the Earn Back Your Toys Bucket inside of a week.

And then I received a counter message link to a blog from one of my favorite AP (attachment parenting) sites. At first, I felt like a really horrible parent for even considering the chore bucket! I posted the link on Facebook to find out what my friends think, since I consider them to be an intelligent and well-rounded group of people. The response was in support of the chore bucket, with no variation. So I spent some time thinking about this, and came to the following conclusions. I'll go through them point by point.

Point 1: It's not nice, and you wouldn't accept your husband doing something similar to you if you left your cell phone out.

No, I wouldn't. However, it is not my husband's job to teach me responsibility. It IS my job to teach my child responsibility.

Point 2: It teaches that chores are punishments.

At first, I agreed. However, after considering it further, I realized that chores are not necessarily a punishment in this context, but a tool to earn back something they treated irresponsibly. As adults, we all experience consequences to irresponsibility. This method prepares children for life in a much less cruel manner than life can deliver lessons of its own. Also, yes, not putting your things away is a bad idea, particularly when we live in a world where we need to lock our things up so they don't get stolen. It's also rude to leave your things scattered all over a house that someone else worked to clean up. Should we teach children that this is acceptable by doing and saying nothing?

Point 3: We're blaming children for something we do ourselves.

Yes, we all forget our things from time to time. Typically, though, it has consequences when we do. If we leave our toys (i.e. cell phone, iPad, etc.) out around the house when he have a toddler, we're likely going to get it back with 9 phone calls made to various contacts and half a bucket of slobber all over it. We learn from this and we're more careful to take better care of our things next time. The bloggers assertion that we're not "punished" for forgetting to put our things away is erroneous.

Point 4: The chore bucket creates an us versus them mentality.

No, it doesn't. In terms of basic human rights, we should be on a level playing field. But I think the blogger who wrote this seems to forget that we owe it to our children to teach them responsibility. You can be "on the same team" as your children and still use a chore bucket.

Point 5: It's a temporary fix.

I don't think it is. It might require multiple teachings, but I believe children can learn from this and will be more likely to take more personal responsibility in the future to avoid losing certain things. The blogger goes on to say, "What’s he going to do when he lives on his own and can leave his stuff wherever he damn well pleases, without fear of someone snatching it?" I'd like to know where and on what planet I could do this. Even in one's own home, if you have children or roommates, all bets are off.

I consider myself to be an attachment parent. I believe in infant co-sleeping, breastfeeding, babywearing, no-spanking, and respecting children's basic human rights. I also believe we have to prepare them to live in this world. I do not believe that the chore bucket goes against attachment parenting philosophies. And you know, even if it does, I'm okay with that. Extremism exists in every ideology, and I don't care for extremes.

Summer Days

My latest little obsession is Instagram. Typically, other than Facebook, I'm not much of a fan of social networks or having my information or photos splattered across the interwebs. But Instagram is just too fun to ignore.

Couple that and an adorable little moment where my son is reading a bird book like it's his job, and mommy can't resist the photo op. Doesn't he look comfy, all snuggled up on the couch among big pillows with a cozy blanket over him? It's miserably hot here in the Midwest, but we're staying cool inside and enjoying some lazy afternoons with some old school Star Trek reruns and piles of good books. Outside, the birds have been largely absent from the feeders and our grass is turning a parched shade of pale yellow. The garden, however, is producing some tasty organic treats in spite of the heat.


That picture is of one of the most perfect zucchinis I have ever seen. Delicious. If last year is any indication, we should have enough for ourselves and half the neighborhood. And, if we could get some rain, there's a variety of other delicious vegetables out there, too.

On an unrelated note, our new school materials will be shipping soon! We're very excited about this. I still have to hammer out some details about the upcoming school year and the foreign language Reezle is hoping to take, but this is so much better than the typical back-to-school circus each year. We don't miss it. At all.