Medical Advice

It seems like everywhere I go mothers are talking about the medication their kids are on.  For this or that.  Or I'm reading about the latest with the swine flu.   Or some other medical advice.

I came across this quote, which sounds very reasonable.  

Bernarr Macfadden’s philosophy.  This pioneer in health made an astute comment back in 1928—one that serves us well to follow today: “The reader should now be fully persuaded to accept the statement of our assurance that most disease is preventable.  There is no physician of any school who will not agree to the proposition that if the body be healthy it has the power to resist the aggressions of any kind of disease.  Even though one accept the germ theory to its fullest extent, we have shown that disease germs cannot grow and thrive in a healthy organism.  No matter what contagion is, or how it works, it has no power over a healthy body.” (Macfadden’s Encyclopedia of Physical Culture, p. 66.)

So how does one keep healthy?  Doing all the unmedicated things that I now have a new reason to fit into our schedule: eat well, take vitamins, exercise, less sugar, simplify and stress less, and get plenty of rest.

Those things are certainly cost effective compared to prescriptions and don't come with the risk of nasty side effects!

I'm grateful for modern medicine, but I often question the need to medicate everything as avidly as our society does.  There is value for the mind and body in being outside for instance.  Medically proven in medical journals that being outside prevents illness...sunshine and fresh air really are great medicine!

I really need to remember to make sure I take my own medical advice (not just send the kids out to play so I can get something done)!

Thrift Store Thoughts

I recently happened upon a little link-in fun called Thrift Store Thursday.  Today is her last post and so I wanted to link in.  She features her Thrift Store finds and lets others share theirs too.  

I think thrift stores are great for a variety of reasons:

1-things cost less

2-they keep things out of the land fills

3-the treasure hunting aspect can be fun

4-there is more variety than the dollar store.

I have actually felt really fortunate to be able to find great educational tools at the thrift store every time I go.  Here are some books I found this week.  5 of them are Usborne, which are quite expensive to purchase.  But the four at the top were only 29 cents each and the hard back one at the bottom was $1.  The Artemis Fowl was 35 cents.

I recently found a couple of Scrabble games at the thrift store (one for $2 and one for $3) and we've had fun using the letters in our village.  I also made this personalized frame with them for my sister's wedding gift.

Holly said she is stopping her weekly link-in because she is spending too much money at the thrift store.  It's true.  While things are a lot less expensive there you really can nickel and dime yourself into debt if you aren't careful.  While the treasures are wonderful, I need to be more careful too :)  $1 can really add up when you spend a bunch of them!

Click on the Thrift Store Thursday photo above to see what others found.

A Guide to a Classical Education

A friend of mine was homeschooling her children because the school they were living near was having issues and she didn't want her children there.  I asked her questions all the time (thanks Kendra!) about homeschooling.  When I asked her what her favorite homeschooling books were, A Well-Trained Mind was at the top of her list.

She let me borrow the book for a couple of weeks to check it out.  I read the first 7 chapters before she moved and I LOVED it.  Susan Wise Bauer is the author and she begins by telling her homeschool story.  She began homeschooling in the 1970's when it was unusual.  She started because her kids could already read when they started school and that was unusual.  She had never thought she would homeschool her children.  But she did and her children are successful and happy adults. 

 A Well-Trained Mind is the result of years of combing through available materials and trying them out. 

If you have ever been overwhelmed by all the options available for teaching your own children, this book is for you.  All her research is available in this book.  She narrows down the best teaching materials, gives descriptions according to age and ability and tells you where you can find them.

 Not only that, but there is also the practical information about how to schedule your day, what to do to approach each subject, book lists that are age/level appropriate, etc.

I love the idea she suggests of combining history with geography and the rotation of history she suggests: the idea of repetition and building by taking the children through the history of the world 4 times in the course of their schooling, building on what they knew, and reviewing what they knew before.  

In my humble opinion, this is a must-have even if you follow a different method of homeschooling.  For instance, I've also been reading about Charlotte Mason and her ideas.  It seems that The Well-Trained Mind has so many great resources that it would fit in with a variety of teaching/homeschooling styles and is an excellent resource for the homeschooling family.  Take a look with the link above.

The Real Revolutionaries-The Parents

READ This Article

Deep down, doesn't it seems that we really knew this all along?

Learning Journey

I feel truly inspired in my quest to learn how to teach my children.  It is a marvel how one thing leads to the next.  I never really intended to or considered myself a "home schooler."  

Now, looking back, it seems like I have been learning about the art of education my whole life.  I was not home schooled, at least not exactly.  But I realize now that I had an unusual educational public school/home school experience.  My Father taught high school from the time my parents met.  He was an educator.  It was his job.  He pursued teaching for 10 years until he gradually switched to developing curricular software for the school district he worked in.  

During this time my Mother was very involved with our public school experience.  She was responsible for leading various committees of parents that even chased out a few teachers and principals to keep the education of her children at the level she expected.  Then in sixth grade, when problems at the school we attended persisted despite her efforts to solve them she moved us to a different public school.  Moving us meant that she would have to shuttle us across town every morning and afternoon.  This is not a small thing for a young mother of 6 children.  My Mother is a passionate person.  When she feels something is right she pursues it regardless of the sacrifice involved.  My siblings continued to attend that school even after our family moved  further away from that elementary school.  

When I entered junior high school my "radical" mother continued to strive for my educational experience.  When she felt the school fell short she removed me and substituted extra-curricular and home learning.  My friends thought I was so lucky to get to "leave" school early.  They didn't understand that when I got home I was still LEARNING and that my mother often  expected A LOT more than my school teachers.

I DID NOT ATTEND SCHOOL FULL-TIME from 7th grand in jr. high until I graduated from high school.   My mother and councilors made arrangements for me to leave and take college classes or receive credit for what I was doing elsewhere to make up the difference.I received the education that was tailored to me because my mother was willing to fight for it and because others were willing to concede that there is more than one RIGHT way to educate a child.  While in junior high my parents encouraged me to start my own business.  I did and I owned it for 13 years (when I had my first child I decided he was more important than the business).  While in high school I performed in China on a piano concert tour and participated in an international piano competition and was a member of multiple competitive dance teams.  I repeat: I never went to school full-time in all that time.

I went on to be admitted into a competitive university (funded by the revenue from my business and some minor scholarships) and receive a four-year degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy as well as 2 minors: one in Business Management and one in Folk Dance.  While in college I received an "Entrepreneur of the Year" Award and even gave a few lectures about entrepreneurship and received a business-related scholarship.  I continued to grow my dance studio and piano studio business that I had been running since I was 13 years old.  I also performed in Europe representing the USA for weeks and took my own students to perform in Hawaii, Florida, the Jr. Olympics, California, as well as the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2002 Olympics.

In short, I believe I received a uniquely tailored education that would never have been possible were it not for my parents: parents that new the public educational experience can fall short of reaching the needs of every child.  My parents took their stewardship seriously to make up the difference.  I feel so very blessed to have been given this gift.  I consider my educational story a success for this reason: I LEARNED TO LOVE LEARNING.  Without that very important key I would never be where I am today.  

And that is what my mission as a Mother is today:  To teach my children to love to learn.  Teaching your children is so rewarding.  Hard work, yes.  But so worth it.  It is the thing I find myself so passionate about doing.  LEARNING is how we GROW.  Children innately WANT to learn.  My job is to feed their fire.

But it is only possible to teach those things which you have taken the time to learn.  This blog: "A Family Academy" is a chronicle of our learning journey.  Right now my children are "too young to be in school."  But you are never too old or too young to learn.  So I teach.  And they are learning.  They are exceeding all of my expectations.  And I am trying to learn all that I can so that I have the tools I need to feed their fire.  That is my job, as I see it:  To advocate for and provide the best educational experiences that will feed their fire of learning desire and keep it burning bright so that the light of learning lasts.

Next to life itself and faith in their Savior, a love for learning is the greatest gift I can give them. For me, it's a vital and meaningful learning journey!