Cultivating an Open Mind by Teaching Forgotten Histories

The other day, in Social Studies, the J-Rex and I were reading about the beginnings of civilization.  As we read, I found myself objecting to the anti-indigenous bent to the way our book addressed the issue, as if all hunter-gatherer cultures were inherently savage and "lesser" than the civilizations that were forming at the time. 

Life as of Late - An Update

I have been neglecting this blog over the last couple of months.  I could say that I've been busy but, honestly, I haven't been any busier than I normally am. I could say that I've had little to write about but that would be about as far from the truth as you could get.  No, I have started and stopped many a blog post over the last several weeks, afraid of getting too personal, afraid of alienating some of my non-family/friend followers, not knowing how to say all the things I wanted to say...

Gaming Girls: MMORPGs with the Young

I love my mmorpgs.  Everquest was my first obsession, but I hated having to spend money on a monthly subscription, especially when I'd have to skip a month or so because of the obligations of real life.  By the time I had the J-Rex, I was all about one of the first pay-per-expansion games, Guild Wars.  I remember, in her early years (when I still somehow managed to find the time to spend a few hours here and there making it through a new zone or farming), daydreaming about how cool it was going to be when the J-Rex was a teenager and we could play the game together (assuming the servers are still around by then!)...

Why I don't Like Chester and the Big Bad Bully

I'm all about children's books that promote kindness and tolerance for everyone and, on the first several readings, I really liked Chester and the Big Bad Bully.  As time went on, though, I began to resent that book and the terrible lesson it taught my child.

Now, anyone who has ever read the book is probably wondering at this point what in the world I am talking about.  This whole series of books about Chester the Raccoon are promoted in schools for their value lessons, so how can I say it taught my child something wrong?  You might be picking up your child's copy right now and looking through the book to find anything amoral in it.  You could do this and you wouldn't find a thing.

That's because the terrible lesson this book taught my child was not amoral or unkind...it was the opposite: a saccharine-sweet, totally unrealistically optimistic lesson that will inevitably lead to pain and misery...

"If you are nice to a bad person, it will make them good"

A Reluctant Homeschooler: Four Reasons I Want to be Regulated

Our library subscribes to a fairly popular homeschooling magazine that has regular features about the legal issues that are part and parcel of educating your child at home.  A common theme I see in the editorials on this topic is the idea that we homeschoolers should do everything in our power, including the language we use to describe what we do, to avoid any legal regulations at all.  States like mine, where I have a minimum of record-keeping requirements and virtually no oversight to make sure I've fulfilled even those obligations, are a dream environment for the more libertarian-minded homeschool community.

Personally, I disagree. I want to be regulated.  Now, don't get me wrong, I certainly don't want the type of over-regulation typical of most of the bureaucracy in this country, but I would actually appreciate a bare minimum of oversight.  Why? Well, here you go:

Meditation, Yoga, & the Distracted Child: Sa Ta Na Ma Meditation

A while back, the J-Rex's Occupational Therapist began working with her on a finger isolation technique that involved touching your thumb to each fingertip in turn.  When the J-Rex told me about the exercise, I was immediately reminded of a meditation listed in her yoga book:

A Reluctant Homeschooler: How it all Began

Homeschooling the J-Rex was never something I had planned on doing.  I was educated in the public school system and that is what I had planned for my daughter: