The Homeschool Journey

Hiking the Appalachian Trail

The following is from my neighbor, Sheila Sherwin, who, to my great admiration, began her homeschooling journey with her son by hiking the Appalachian Trail with him and another 11 year old boy (both boys were 12 by the time they finished and their adventure actually took place in 6th grade but was prepared for in 5th).  Not only did Sheila's son emerge well satisfied and eager to move on to the more usual academic approach to learning, but his friend Jakob, who had been restless in the classroom, was, as his mother told me, so satisfied after this journey that he settled back into school life with a sense of deep contentment. I was thrilled when Sheila sent this to me and eager to share it with you all because in the rush and worry of finding the right resources and curriculum materials it is easy to forget that life's most important lessons have little to do with books and paper - and everything to do with relationships with other people and with learning about oneself.

Fifth Grade in Waldorf Education is pentathlon year. The pentathlon centers around the concepts of “beauty and grace” focus, discipline, hard work, good sportsmanship, and friendship- all of which are qualities necessary for successful adulthood. And the pentathlon is perfectly placed in the curriculum as youngsters begin to transition into adolescence. During this transition, the cultivation of will forces is absolutely necessary, and the year-long preparation for pentathlon is the perfect antidote to the restlessness and push of young adolescents. 

The restlessness of young pre-adolescent boys is nothing new, and was a defining factor in my son’s classroom last year. At times, things seemed slightly out of control as several young adolescents pushed against authority and tried to establish a new balance in the classroom. My son, being one of the younger boys in the class, was not yet totally swept up in the rebellious behavior, but knowing him, knowing that he needs to move his body a lot I felt certain that as he got a bit further into this adolescent shift he too would feel increasingly frustrated by the confines of the classroom.  

I was fortunate enough to have time, a supportive husband, and a relatively independent daughter, so the possibility of taking my son out of the classroom for a while in order to provide him with an experience that would challenge and form him, was not completely absurd. I settled on hiking part of the Appalachian Trail with him.  

When I presented Will with the idea, he asked to think about it. After a little while he asked me to spell out what things would look like if he hiked the Trail and what they would look like if he stayed in school. I started with the trail.

“It won’t always be fun.” I said.

“It’s going to be hard. It’s going to be challenging.”

“I want to hike the trail” he replied.

“But wait, we haven’t even talked about what it would be like if you stayed in school!” I protested.

“I want to hike the trail.” He insisted.  

After a while I asked him what had made up his mind so quickly and decisively. “I want a challenge.” he said.  

We decided that we would go out and hike a northern section of the Appalachian Trail. I  knew that I was in a rare position to be able to do such a crazy thing, but that many children might wish for and benefit from such an experience, so I asked a few others if they would like to join us. An immediate and enthusiastic yes came from my son’s friend Jakob, who also seeks personal challenges and has a love of the outdoors.  
 

In early September, after weeks of preparation and a 1500 mile car ride to northern Maine, we were all itching to go. Climbing to the top of Mt. Katahdin (the northern terminus) is a rugged, 4000 ft climb, but going up and coming back down can be accomplished in one long day of hiking. Because it is a day trip, I offered to carry the pack with all of our food, water and gear, and allowed the boys to climb without packs. The last time I climbed Mt. Katahdin was 20 years ago, at the end of my AT thru-hike. It felt much different this time around, with 0 miles under my belt and a much older body.  The boys, on the other hand, released all of their excitement and pent-up energy on that mountain and climbed like a couple of mountain goats as I huffed and puffed my way along. On day two we were ready to head south –into the 100 Mile Wilderness- and the first leg of our trip. The 100 Mile Wilderness is a 100 mile tract with no amenities   whatsoever. This means that one must carry enough food for the duration, and also that if something goes wrong you face a great challenge getting out. There are only a couple of logging roads that cross the tract. Though we set out enthusiastically, the weight of the packs (filled with 10 days of food) quickly sobered the boys into recognition that this journey would be a far greater challenge than they had anticipated. 

Days turned into weeks, and we quickly found our rhythms: hiking, eating, purifying water, setting up camp and dismantling it the next day -day in and day out. We studied geology as we watched the composition of the rocks we walked upon change by state. We studied math as we calculated times and distances, and played many rounds of cards. And we read stories about Roman kings and warriors in the evenings. But the simplicity of these rhythms was matched by the challenges of weather, terrain, and logistics, all of which pushed our patience and stamina to the limit more than once. After 6 weeks of walking, we had covered nearly 500 miles, and come away with a profound experience. 

In hindsight, I think this was the perfect experience for boys of that age. Everyday they had to rise up and face discomfort and challenge, both physically and mentally. They learned self-control, but they also learned that in the comfort of friendship, it safe to break down. They learned that we sometimes need to rely on the kindness of strangers, and they learned that they are many kind people in the world. They learned the value of cooperation and the importance of kindness and patience –even when you don’t feel like being kind and patient.  

Though I doubt that Will or Jakob will be able to articulate what they learned on this trip for quite some time, they came away changed. They share an experience of depth and profundity –an experience that allowed them to walk into these transitional years with poise and confidence –their own 6-week version of the pentathlon. 
 
 

Review: A Warm and Gentle Welcome, a WECAN publication

 

Kudos to Carrie Dentler (theparentingpassageway) for jumping into the midst of what I see as a huge contradiction in the world of Waldorf Early Childhood. She highlights what I also see to be as a real problem - the incursions of Waldorf Early Years educators into the approach advocated by Emmi Pickler and Magda Gerber. Like Carrie, I too am unhappy about the combination of a "hands-off" approach to babies and tiny children combined with an overly-verbal approach which, as far as I am concerned, is completely anathema to the non intellectual approach which is indicated by Steiner's work. I look forward to further articles and in-put on this subject!

A Review:  “A Warm and Gentle Welcome:  Nurturing Children from Birth to Age Three”

This is the Gateways Series Five book which consists of a series of articles compiled from the work of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America RIE/Pikler Working Group.  I bought this book because I am a Waldorf homeschooling mother with an extreme interest in the Early Years.  Also, as a neonatal/pediatric physical therapist, I really wanted to understand more about the RIE/Pikler approach that is seems to be becoming part of the world of Waldorf for children from birth to age three.

Unfortunately, I found I had more questions than answers after reading this book than when I started. 

The underlying assumption of this  book is laid out in an article of Introduction by Trice Atchinson and Margaret Ris:  that there is a growing conviction within the Waldorf movement to “respond to the needs of the times” (ie, child care for  younger and younger children) and because Rudolf Steiner’s indications for working with children and adolescents in Waldorf schools had been put to practical use for many decades, little existed on how best to meet the needs of children at the very beginning of life – particularly in light of societal trends such as daycare, single parenting, dual working families and the isolation of at-home mothers.”  Therefore, a working group associated with WECAN began to investigate Resources for Infant Educarers, or RIE, founded by Magda Gerber, as a resource for the child at the beginning of life.

Gerber’s work was inspired and built off the work of Hungarian pediatrician Emmi Pikler, who founded The Pikler Institute, more commonly known as Loczy, in 1946.  This was an orphanage for children who were without family due to World War II.  In 2004, The Pikler Insitute opened a training in English, and half of this first training group were Waldorf early childhood teachers.  The Pikler Institute apparently has a “record of research and publications showing how their practices and sensitive caregiving led to long-term well-being in children reared there.” (A study cited in a later article in this book was done in 1972 by the World Health Organization, but no studies more recent than that were cited).  The working group saw an intersection of Dr. Pikler’s work with Rudolf Steiner’s views of the young child as a being who needed to be met with patience and without intervention or hindrances to development. 

The next few articles had nothing to do with the RIE/Pikler approach, which I found odd as the book was entitled as containing articles from the RIE/Pikler group.  It seems as if from these articles there are at least three separate strands in approaching the children from birth to age three:  Lifeways in North America, the Nokken model, and the RIE/Pikler approach.  However, the relationship between these approaches was never elucidated, nor was it commented on if that was a future goal of this working group.

Jane Swain, a pediatric physical therapist with training in sensory integration, neurodevelopmental treatment and Spatial Dynamics, wrote the next article which detailed her visit to The Pikler Institute in Hungary. 

She writes of her understanding of  Pikler’s philosophy:

“[Pikler’s] observations showed her the tremendous importance of the parents’ love for their child.  Pikler also witnessed parents “teaching” their infants to sit, stand and walk before they were able to do so on their own, causing infants to do something different than they would have if left to their own initiative.

Pikler saw this gesture of the adult as a distrust of the child’s abilities.  She believed that children have an innate capacity to direct the unfolding of their motor capabilities through self-initiated movement, if given the time and space to do so, and she based her practices on this idea.  Pikler also believed that each child was qualified for this task- in fact, more infinitely qualified than any adult.  It follows, then, that infants should not be taught motor skills, but instead should be allowed gradually to come into the vertical position of sitting and standing entirely through their own efforts.”

Swain goes on to write that movement is seen as “function of the security of the relationship with the primary adult.”  In other words, at The Pikler Institute, if a child is experiencing trouble with movement, the first thing that is assessed is the child’s relationship with the caregiver.  The Pikler Institute just started parent-child classes at the time of Swain’s article, and the author discusses how the class instructors were always careful to make sure the parent did not feel inadequate in any way, and to safeguard the relationship between the parent and the child.

Most of all, the caregiving activities of dressing, feeding, diapering, bathing are all seen as the primary place to interact with a child, and the child is encouraged to participate with the activity at their level and have the child be joyous in  developing self-mastery in self-care.  Interestingly, “the children at Loczy become exceedingly capable in their self-care at an early age” but “in the Loczy model, there are tremendous differences between the children, and motor milestones are reached significantly later than we would expect from our experience in the U.S.”    Activity that takes place horizontally is seen as critically important.  This, to me, calls forth the work of Joan Salter in “The Incarnating Child” where she discusses the importance of the horizontal position for babies. 

Swain goes on to discuss that the quality of movement in the children at Loczy was “extraordinary” and that abnormal retention of the primitive motor reflexes did not occur and she did not observe any symptoms of ADHD or sensory processing disorders.  Swain decides that “The principles employed at Loczy are in alignment with Rudolf Steiner’s recommendations that our goal is not to “fix” children, but rather to remove hindrances to their development.”

I had a few questions regarding this approach.  I have worked as a pediatric physical therapist in an indigent care hospital where children showed up for our Cerebral Palsy Clinic who had not had any therapeutic intervention or support in their Early Years ,  and despite having not had any “hindrances” of being put in positions they could not attain, they certainly did not go on to attain upright positions or avoid orthopedic deformities.  Many of them were handled gently by their families, and still could demonstrate the ability to startle themselves from within their own internal systems.  I wondered if the population at Loczy was essentially “normal” and how they would handle infants with severe special needs such as the children I generally evaluate.  Swain did cite one example of a child born without femurs (thigh bones) and how well he did in this model, but I am more interested in the children who have (as characterized by a traditional medical model) neurologic challenges and how children with these and more severe sensory challenges would be handled by this model.  

I also was extremely curious about The Sense of Warmth; how warm emotionally were the staff with these children?  Yes, we allow the children to develop without hindrances, but what about the support of the developing lower four senses, about warmth as the gateway between these middle and higher senses, where was that?

And then I saw this, in the second to last article of the book entitled, “A New Vision For Creating Partnerships with Parents” by Margaret Ris, and it really spoke to the fears I have regarding this model.  Ris writes of the Pikler approach:  “When devising her approach to caring for infants and young children in the orphanage, Pikler was conscious that she did not wish to create conditions that might interfere with the anticipated mother-child bond that would develop once the child was adopted.  The caregivers gave exquisite attention to the child during caregiving, but were trained to refrain from extra displays of affection.  Dr.  Pikler seemed to be able to distill what was required for health attachment without fostering a dependency in the orphaned child that would one day require painful disengagement.  Trainees at the Pikler Institute learn the distinction:  “The mother loves the child, so she cares for him.  The caregiver [at Loczy] cares for the child, so she loves him.” (the bold is my emphasis)

How can this be a model for Waldorf parent/child groups and Waldorf early care?  To me, this approach is woefully missing several components necessary for parents who actually live with and love their children, first and foremost being emotional warmth, humor, love and joy.  Do the pillars of care at The Pikler Institute (noted as “exquisite presence and attention to  the child’s signals during caregiving, encouraging  her active participation; ample opportunity for free movement; and astute and careful observation”) really go far enough in meeting, protecting and developing the lower four senses?  Also never mentioned are the viewpoint this approach would hold toward the hallmarks of intimate parenting that supports true development of the lower four senses: breastfeeding and babywearing.  How we talk about holding parent-child classes and never discuss these issues?

One other brief example of my concerns is noted in the article “What’s All The Talking About?” by Kim Lewis.  She writes, “Talking with toddlers who are just beginning to learn the social graces of human interaction can help them gain gradual competence within their social environments.  This is the case in the RIE parent-child guidance classes taught in and around Los Angeles, where the class facilitator uses a speaking strategy known by various names:   “RIE-speak”, “say-what-you-see,” “announcing,” “reporting” or often, “sports-casting,” the term Gerber used. “   There is no mention of that beautiful pictorial speech and re-direction into fantasy and movement or the use of singing and rhymes  that should be the hallmark of speaking with the tiny children in the first part of the first seven-year cycle.  To me, this “sports-casting” approach is the exact opposite of what most Waldorf Kindergartens are doing, and so I do wonder where the tie-in will be.  How exactly would children transfer from this model into the Waldorf Kindergarten?  How do these techniques support the dreamy consciousness of the child?   

The last question I had was the relationship between Dr. Pikler’s work and the work of Magda Gerber.  I have not read the works of Magda Gerber and wondered how her approach, if any, differs from Dr. Pikler’s approach in Hungary.  Gerber’s book entitled “Your Self Confident Baby” makes me feel wary, because just the title alone seems the exact opposite of the dreamy consciousness we normally think of in the first seven years from an anthroposophic viewpoint.

I think this book, while helpful in outlining some of the principle points about Dr. Pikler and her approach, left many unanswered questions as to what the future of the RIE/Pikler/Waldorf intersection will hold.  I am also not certain that Waldorf teachers are not missing a valuable time where a model could be created that is much more supportive of warmth, joy, love and the parent than this model.  
 

Drowning in Dialogue

Just the other day I was in our local co-op (center of life here in our small Midwest town - especially now when there are two feet of snow on the ground) bobbing about doing my shopping when I became aware of a woman with a small child. The little fellow could not have even been two - maybe just two. It was their shopping day and that woman obviously thought that the way to shop with a small child was to "engage him". For her, to engage meant to speak with - to my observation, it meant to drown in excess verbiage. Worse, almost all of her interactions with the child were in the form of questions.

 

"What shall we have for supper?" "Do you like beets?" "Aren't these pretty carrots?" "Can you put the apples in the bag for me?" "Do you like these kinds of beans or these?" "Can you choose a loaf of bread for us?" And so on.

 

Suffice to say that this little fellow, though he was keen to be involved, was fairly buried under the onslaught. Occasionally he would venture a thought or say an occasional no or yes - but this of course only led to more questions. "No? Why not? Don't you like apples? But we need the apples for your snack later."

 

Where to start.....for me there are so many problems with this commonplace scene that it's hard to know where to begin. Obviously the woman (not his mother - a child care person) was keen to interact with her small charge and clearly thought that she was doing what one was supposed to do. And why not? If one follows the advice in all the major parenting magazines, one is encouraged to talk, talk, talk and talk to one's child even when she is still in utero! And of course not only is one supposed to carry on an unending flood of words, but one is also supposed to question the child - no matter how young - in order to "give her choices". Of course, once we stop and think about this for a moment it quickly becomes nonsensical. Real choice means having the ability to reflect on one's life experience and to weigh up possibilities and come to a reasoned answer. A child under 7 - especially a child under 5 - does not have this. She is in the process of acquiring life experience and needs a great deal more of it before she can meaningfully exercise the human capacity for making choices. And she, in the meantime, needs to learn the "rules of the game", how to be a human being by living parallel to adults (preferably her parents) who she can observe in their everyday activities, making choices and "doing life." Obviously, the occasional choice is fine - but not the unending daily exercise of constantly giving a child choices.

 

Add to this the fact that the young child does not learn primarily via her latent intellectual capacities. She learns by doing and by engaging with her world - in her world - by doing. To constantly be speaking to a child and forcing upon her choices she is not in a position to make (and which, if we are honest, are really not choices anyway - do people who ask their 3 year old what they want  for supper really mean it? And will they honor that  "choice" if and when it is verbalized?!) is to place undue stress upon her abilities to reflect and consider. And this means that one is taking her out of the developmental stage that she is at. Under 7's need to be engaged via their powers of imitation and through activity. The growth forces in the human being are primarily directed toward upbuilding the physical body in this first stage of life. These growth forces are removed from this vital work if they are prematurely turned toward intellectual growth (which includes pushing a child into making choices and by otherwise being overly verbal with her). This is why early learning is considered to be so harmful by Waldorf educators. All one has to do is look around at the sorry state of the majority of our society's children to find confirmation for this profound and vital understanding of human development.

 

So a morning shopping at the co-op (which is a great activity for a little one) should look more like this:

 

Child and parent (or carer) come into the store - "Wheeee! Up we go" as child is playfully lifted into cart. Child is given a bag to hold to put things in.

 

Quietly, look at the lovely vegetables and fruit together. Maybe pick up a lemon or melon and inhale its aroma and offer it to child to do the same. No words exchanged - just a warm look and smile and shared experience. You choose some potatoes and places them in the child's bag - "Open wide - here come the potatoes!" Maybe the child can then put his hands into the bag and feel the dusty hardness of the potatoes. Humming softly, continue shopping. Stop occasionally to feel a pineapple - pass it to the child to run his hands over it then carefully put it back - child protests and adult says "The pineapple needs to stay here until someone comes along to buy it. We don't need pineapple. Bye bye pineapple" wave to pineapple and continue to walk away. Child also waves good bye to pineapple. Carry on - maybe at the bulk bins you can say "OK - I need my helper now. Let's put your bag in the cart." Lift him out of cart. Go to rice bin (conveniently at child level of course!) and say "Here, you need to keep the door open for me" as you scoop rice into bag. As you twist the bag shut and label it you can say "OK - shut the door now so the rice stays clean and safe in its bin!" And carry on. "Oops - where are you going? I need my doorman" if he wanders off. Or "Nope - we don't need any quinoia today....come we need to get our milk. I need you to open the door for me so I can get the milk" and off you go.

 

And so on. He can stand in the cart and help you remove items and place them on the conveyor belt. He can help you put things (some things) into the bag. And he can hold onto the cart next to you (or be back in it) as you walk back to your car which you have of course parked as far away from the door as possible so that you can take a long time at this task, slowly walking through the parking lot, perhaps stopping to watch - silently, no cross examinations! - other people pack groceries into their car. Or maybe you see someone you know and your child learns the important social lesson of waiting while you talk to your friend and not whining. This is your morning's work - there is no rush - what are you rushing to? This is what life with a small child is - so savor it and prolong it. Slow down and include him in your (child inclusive, never child centered) life. This is how he learns - by living life.

 

A little child needs to be actively engaged in the world, learning through activity.  It is the adult's task to think through the daily activities and create ways to include the child in them so he can have experiences and not merely observe life. A life that is narrated by an overly-verbal adult is a life that is outside of a child's experience. He has been removed from the immediacy of what is happpening and is being asked to think about things. This is unhealthy and produces children who have a hard time losing themselves in the everydayness of life. Such children often display a variety of developmental challenges which manifest as ADHD or sensory integration or other issues. Or they are children who are demanding and hard to be with. They have lost the hallmark of childhood - to be unconsciously at  peace and in the world.

Curative Education: A Review

Here is a review written by Carrie Dentler, enthusiastic Waldorf at Home forum moderator. Carrie, as a pediatric intensive care therapist, has an on-going interest in the health bringing basis of Waldorf education, including that focused specifically on children with various challenges and disorders. More of Carrie's lively and warmth-filled advice and opinions on all things Waldorf - both parenting and education - can be found at her very popular blog, The Parenting Passageway:

 

About Curative Education by Carlo Pietzner

Have you ever wondered about anthroposophical  curative education?  Here is a nifty little booklet to provide a solid introduction to this important subject:  Carlo Pietzner’s About Curative Education.   The lectures given by Rudolf Steiner in 1924 and now collected in Curative Education  are the foundation of this movement.  These were twelve lectures given by Steiner regarding specific indications for specific children which grew into curative education.  This little booklet aims to introduce some of the concepts Steiner put forth in these lectures.

Steiner introduced the concept that children and adults who have special needs should be seen as those who have “special tasks to be worked through in a special way.”  There is a thought that these affected individuals are in need of “soul-care”. 

Pietzner writes, “The concept implies  that by appropriate care and practice the soul-activity of a handicapped person can be guided and stimulated to become a mediator between that individuality and his unwieldy bodily nature.  It postulates an intact spiritual entelechy in contrast to a damaged, inadequate or one-sided bodily foundation.  But the soul needs help and support if it is to learn to mediate between its higher intention and its imperfect instrument.  An element of “healing” must become active.  And that is the foremost ingredient in the “special soul-care” that Rudolf Steiner provided.”  Curative education sees individuality as “indestructible”  and that an individual’s uniqueness provides us with ways to help.  An individual never is only the challenges he is facing in body, but himself.  

Curative education takes place in the classroom,  in the home, through daily life and routines.  This was a very remarkable idea in 1924!  Medical care and eurythmy. especially curative eurythmy,  are seen as a hand –in-hand approach with the curative teacher.  The spiritual resolve of this teacher and this teacher’s talent is of the utmost importance.  Steiner lectured as to the extreme importance of the relationship between the teacher and the person with special needs; there is a reciprocating relationship rather than a doctor-patient, caretaker-“suffering”  person.  The inner work and preparation of the curative educator is of utmost importance as this work involves the whole person.

Steiner lectured about this inner work, saying that the curative educator must feel called to this work, that the educator must work constantly to improve themselves and to be able  to connect their own intuit and attentiveness what they observe.   Clear insight is an essential skill, this ability to observe closely and then take it inside and see how one can best help.   “Perhaps the most valid diploma of the anthroposophical curative teacher is his enthusiasm for the experience of truth….That one has “passed” is often disclosed by the smallest event:  A child has mastered a deed long striven for. ….But it is not the achievement – and these are genuine achievements- not this that arouses the enthusiasm.  It is not a question of the success of a subtle training procedure.  Rather it is the confirmation of a specific expectation, of a confident hope that has based itself on innumerable observations.”  But the curative teacher and the  individual take this journey together, and it is always addressed to the individual, not just the symptom.  Remarkable stuff for 1924 and for today.

Pietzner goes on to write that the source of curative education was Steiner’s taking of Goethe’s work further:  “This fundamental source is the teaching of metamorphosis, that dynamic principle of transformation by which the spiritual manifests itself in the physical realm.”  Steiner used the image of the lemniscate to connect the head and metabolic-limbic system, using this as a piece on top of inner work and observation for the curative educator’s use. 

There is more in this little booklet regarding karma and curative education, the curative teacher as a co-creator with co-responsibility, curative teaching as an attitude, not just a profession, but I leave you to read this for yourself and discover the gems in it!

 

Alert - an Immediate Threat to our Food Supplies

Please everyone, take this notice seriously and do what you can to act to keep this latest - and possibly most serious - threat to our food supply only a bad dream. As Aletha points out, alfalfa is a perennial - it keeps coming back. Anyone who lives near where alfalfa is grown knows that it self-seeds and spreads rapidly. If at some point people wake up to the threat of genetically engineered plants to bees and other insects as well as to human beings, it will be very hard to eradicate genetically modified alfalfa once it spreads.

The USDA is close to approving Monsanto's genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa for non-regulated status.  The Draft Environmental Impact Statement reportedly says that there are not enough consumers interested in organic food sources for the USDA to block the approval of GE alfalfa.

Because of the natural pollination process, GE alfalfa would inevitably contaminate organically grown alfalfa, as has happened with corn.  About 75% of the corn grown in the U.S. today is genetically modified (which means it cannot reproduce; we are dependent upon seed makers to provide this "dead" seed).  Crops as distant as 20 miles have been contaminated by GE corn, rendering those crops also dead and unable to reproduce.  It is reasonable to expect that a similar contamination would occur with alfalfa.  Aside from the negative dependency on seed producers and the potential health effects of GE foods themselves, this would render the raising of organic meat and milk almost impossible! 

 

According to the Weston A. Price Foundation website, http://www.westonaprice.org/, GE alfalfa “would be the first perennial crop to be approved for genetic modification and release.  GE-contaminated plants could be scattered along the roadsides and in fields, living and producing more GE-contaminated pollen for years.  Additionally, it is anticipated that GE alfalfa would significantly increase pesticide use, harming both human health and the environment. The USDA concludes that GE alfalfa will cause production to shift to larger farms (that can afford built-in isolation distances) and conventional growers who are not threatened by GE contamination, but that these economic shifts are not significant.” 

There is one week left in the 60 day comment period, which ends February 16th.  If having real, living food available is important to you, please consider taking a few moments to fill out the comment form - http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#submitComment?R=0900006480a6b7a1   Let us tell the USDA that there are indeed, MANY MANY people who care about organic food sources.  As Donna reminds us, “safe food is a HUGE issue for us as mothers and guardians of the future!”

If you would like to learn more, the following website has helpful information:  The Center for Food Safety's fact sheet on GE alfalfa here: http://www.nationalorganiccoalition.org/CFSGEalfalfatalkingptfinal.pdf

 

Aletha Claussen-Schulz, J.D., Ph.D.

Passionate STAY-At-Home MAMA

my blog:  http://dreamtimeyears.wordpress.com/

 

 

Follow Up to Teens and Texting

Thank you to all who responded to my earlier blog on Teens and Texting. I think this is a huge topic - one which I will return to again and again. And if you haven't responded to my original blog entry, I encourage you to add your voice now!

 

My main concern is that parents think through the whole issue of how their children's lives - how their families' lives - will be affected by use of technology such as cell phones by their children. And it is no good thinking about it after the fact!

 

And this also means pre-empting generous inlaws and others from giving cell phones and similar machines to your children. You need to think it through and you and your spouse need to be on the same page with this. A friend of mine thought she was on top of this one - delayed cell phone use in her eldest son and daughter until they were 16 and 14 and in high school. Well, she sent dearest husband out to the store to buy the phones - and guess what? There was a great offer of three phones for the price of two which he couldn't pass up. So the twelve year old also was presented with a phone - which has been a huge problem in that particular family.

 

I've been amused recently to hear a song playing on the radio by Lady Gaga - not someone I really thought I'd have positive things to say about in the context of this blog or my work....! She has a new song called Telephone and it's basically about her telling her friends (or whoever they are) to stop calling her while she's out having fun dancing at a club! OK - so there's a line about not thinking and leaving one's head on the dance floor which I will pretend to ignore - simply because I am so overjoyed at the idea of someone like her who, like it or not, is looked up to by millions of teens across the globe, setting a limit on cell phone use! Yes - while out having fun one should not allow oneself to be constantly interrupted. So a little bit of a "yay" for Lady Gaga (a very little bit....)

 

Then we have the following article from The New York Times entitled If Your Kids are Awake, They're Probably Online. Well, that just about sums it up for an awful large segment of the population, doesn't it?

 

So think about it. Really carefully. And think about your own use of a cell phone (if you have one - I refuse to own one as I have no desire to be on call all the time - if I'm away from the land line, then people can just leave a message). Think about how your children see you use yours. Are you truly present for them and for other people? Can you create boundaries for yourself and let your children see that? Are you overly reliant on the phone or can you figure things out yourself  - while we're at it, do you use a GPS device or can you use your own memory, and common sense to find things? I can remember being on a bus ride with my sons and husband a couple of years ago - the GPS unit on the bus malfunctioned and the driver was completely lost. It took my husband (who is English and has never been to that part of this country before) to use his own sense for direction, landmarks and common sense to help the driver find our destination. My sons were very impressed by this.

 

So...technology is good - absolutely! But it need to be mastered by us - and not be our master. And children - even teens - are not yet in the stage of life when they can truly master such things.

The Child and the Community

Here is an article by Christopherus forum moderator, workshop presenter and consultant Barbara Benson about her experience as a homeschooler encouraging her older children to expand their horizons into the larger community, something that anyone homeschooling older children must do. While over scheduling and endangering the steadinesss of the home is never a good idea, it is certainly imperative that older children - from about 11 or 12 and up - also take classes in the larger community, volunteer, have jobs and generally learn to regard education as something that comes from a rich variety of experiences in the world (though not all at the same time!!). This is one of the best things about homeschooling!

As our children grow, they naturally begin to reach beyond the family and into the world around them. It begins with  friendships  and social outings and  gradually the child expands out into the greater community. Children eventually get involved in sports, art/music  lessons or organizations like 4 H or Scouts. Sometimes it can be hard on parents when their new 12  year old seems restless and impatient for more independent relationships outside the home, but it is a natural occurrence. It is important  that parents gently support and assist their children in testing their “flight  feathers” in the community at large. Here are some tips from my experiences with my three sons who have now left the nest.

In my opinion volunteer service in the community is one of the best ways for children in late middle school ( 8^th or 9^th grade) to begin connect with the world around them. Two of my sons worked as volunteers in the Children’s Department of our local library in grade 8. One of them  also had the fun job of making the art display shelves outside the library preschool play room. One of my sons who enjoyed history worked in the office and then at the front desk at our local history museum. He was their youngest volunteer and all those ladies in the office loved him. I think that the median volunteer age there was 65! As my sons got into their high school years they volunteered at places like Habitat for Humanity, a local music store , Big Brothers, Big Sisters, and a local music club for teens. Each of them earned a Presidential Service Award and one of them went on to volunteer a lot and earned the gold medal level of the Congressional Award. Obviously these things looked good on a resume for college, but more important, each of the boys learned how to serve the community, appreciate the differences and similarities in life situations of people, and learned skills that helped them prepare for later paid employment.

Another thing that I highly recommend is that homeschoolers network with others to form academic and social co-ops for learning and fun. My sons enjoyed a Teen Book Club and took part in two musicals, both of which were written entirely by the students. One of my sons made a huge backdrop for the musical and helped run the lights, another was a lead actor and the oldest was the pianist/composer.  I  taught several academic coops and when my boys were high school age they took several classes at the local high school and eventually at the local university. The homeschooled teens’ parents networked with each other to create fun field trips and support worthwhile social opportunities. One of my sons decided to go to high school full time for a semester in order to win a varsity letter in Tennis which he did.

As children grow into young teens, it is important that they develop real skills so that they can feel more confident in the world around them. One of my sons was a skilled outdoorsman and hiker. Another learned to build his own computer with a college  tutor and another took on tennis lessons and a weight lifting program with a personal trainer in order to reach certain goals.  Help your children identify their interests and then get them out there in the community, honing their skills- things like First Aid certification, baby sitting certification, 4H participation are just a few examples. Sometimes it takes patience and attention to help “draw out” of  children what they seem to be looking for in the way of community involvement but it is always worth the effort.  As we as parents learn to let our children “fly” out beyond the home we begin to see the real meaning of what it means to educate our children to be both free and responsible human beings.