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:

The Cascade Effect of Self-Improvement

For a long time , I was pretty down.  I was seeing my lifestyle fall apart around me, watching from the sidelines as I kept losing and losing...family members and friends, jobs, possessions, confidence...  

I comforted myself with cigarettes, sleep, and generally attempting to hide from myself and life in general.  

Then, I quit smoking.  To fill the time and distract myself from the cravings, I began taking on new challenges. I tried all sorts of things, from a daily gratitude practice, to clearing out my to-do list, to cultivating an active lifestyle and beginning to exercise regularly.

Wobbly Wednesday

Nystagmus

Today is the first-ever International Nystagmus Awareness Day! I am incredibly glad that this condition is receiving some attention, as it is thanks to a doctor knowing about nystagmus that we were able to find out about the J-Rex's eye conditions as early as we did. You see, when the J-Rex was four months old, her pediatrician noticed the movement of her eyes and suggested we see a pediatric opthamologist. After that first specialist visit, the rest is history - a history blessed with us having been able to take advantage of all kinds of early intervention resources and education that we might not have had access to, had our doctor not been aware of nystagmus.

So, in honor of the first Nystagmus Awareness Day, I'm going to throw some awareness your way with a brief FAQ about nystagmus and our family's experience with it:

Vision and the Education of a J-Rex, Part 1

Recently, I talked about the importance of access to good literature in multiple formats for the visually impaired and explained that I'm invested in this issue because of the J-Rex.  As a way of facing some issues I loathe to face, I want to talk a little bit more about her condition and where we are at in terms of her learning and the physical difficulties she is beginning to face.