SortaCrunchy

You Tell Me: Homeschool Preschool

First, a note: I'm still playing nurse to a sick chick.  Dacey officially has the flu.  Ugh.  Additionally, her birthday party is planned for Saturday morning, so we are crossing our fingers that it will happen, and we are hurriedly throwing all of our time and energy into intense labor on the oasis project to prepare - at the very least - the downstairs for guests on Saturday.

If you have emailed in the past week or so, there's a pretty good chance I haven't responded.  I'll get there! 

In the meantime, I need to ask you all about something that I've been turning over in my mind:

What can you tell me about doing a homeschool approach to preschool?

As many of you know, Dacey did preschool (Pre-K) in public school last  year and is on the same early childhood campus for kindergarten this year.  She loves it.  Loves it with a capital L-O-V-E.  Her temperament and personality fit wonderfully with the public school classroom (she loves rules and order and consistency and worksheets and incentive systems).

We have a different situation with Aliza Joy though.  First of all, she is an early September birthday, which means she officially misses the cut-off for starting Pre-K next fall.  There is a small liberal arts university in our town that offers a wonderful preschool program five days a week, mornings only.  We're looking into that for AJ for several reasons, not the least of which being that she has been desperately wanting to "go to school" since the first day I dropped Dacey off for Pre-K, and we are quite sure she would love it.

On the other hand, AJ is much more of a free-spirit than her big sister.  Much. More. Free.

Through the years I've read blogs and articles on homeschooling, and I have to say my teacher heart has always been drawn to it.  I have to think this "extra year" we get at home with her because of when her birthday falls might be a gift for the two of us - a time that could be rich with learning and experience.

So, you tell me - what advice/resources/direction would you recommend?  Montessori?  Waldorf?  Classical?  Eclectic? 

She's an extremely extroverted child who loves to interact with other kids.  She's not incredibly interested in art and has a pretty short attention span at this point.  Granted, she is only three.  She loves to be outdoors and has lots and lots of big energy.  She gets bored easily, and when she is bored, we have trouble.  She's incredibly naturally athletic and is pretty much just a firecracker all the way around.

I would love to hear any thoughts or suggestions you might have.  And even if I don't get the chance to email back a response to comments on this, please know I am reading and treasuring your collective wisdom!

photo by Minimalist Photography

You Tell Me: Relief for TMJ Pain

Last week, I had some dental work done.  My dentist gave me a little pain medication in case I had some "discomfort" once the numbness wore off.  It really didn't bother me that day, but the next day it did.  I took some of the pain medication and laid down to take a nap.  I woke up in the middle of my nap with a surreal and blissful realization:

For the first time in months, I had absolutely zero jaw pain.

It was one of those strange moments of clarity that come along sometimes out of the blue (and usually not when you are on pain medication) (or wait, maybe they come along more frequently when you are on pain medication?  I get confused).  I didn't realize how much I had been hurting and how much I had adjusted to the pain until the pain was gone.

Alas, the dreamy respite wore off and here I am again, living with the perpetual pain.

I first started having TMJ (actually more technically TMD) pain on and off when I was in college.  My first severe flare-up came during the week I administered final exams at the end of my first semester of teaching.  In the past, however, they were exactly that - flare-ups.  It almost always happened when I was stressed and when the stressful event was over, the pain went away.

I honestly can't remember when the chronic pain set in.  Maybe it's been six months?  A year?  Longer?

That brief moment of relief has inspired me to dig a little deeper to see if there is anything I can do to treat this pain rather than just living with it.  I've taken (much) ibuprofen, tried moist heat, haven't chewed gum in years, use a mouth guard at night . . . I'm out of ideas.

Anyone out there have some suggestions for me?  I'll try anything at this point.  Seriously.  Anything.

Help?

You Tell Me: Anything!

I made a slight misstep in judgement earlier this week.

(Don't worry.  It was nothing that would get our library cards revoked.)

I was reading an article on blogging - on Feedburner settings specifically.  For bloggers who utilize Feedburner's subscription by email service, there is an option to be notified each time someone unsubscribes. I had opted out of that option a long time ago because I was always getting my feelings hurt with each unsubscription.  (sad but true)

Well this article suggested turning the notification on so that as a blogger, I could email with a follow-up, thanking the person who had unsubscribed for their subscription and asking for any advice or feedback about how my blog could be improved.

Now, I had always wondered if anyone would actually do that, and here was this article from a blogger who blogs professionally about blogging suggesting that I try it.  So I turned the notifcation back on.

On Monday alone, I got four unsubscription notices. And I realized two things:

You Tell Me: Real Food

 

This was my breakfast this morning:

• (free range) eggs, scrambled
• covered in (store-bought) cheese
• on a (store-bought) tortilla
• cup of (fair trade) Sumatra
• glass of RAW MILK

How's that for sorta?

On Saturday, the girls and I took a little field trip out to a local dairy farm and bought our first ever gallon of raw milk.  I can't wait to tell you more about that trip later this week, but for now I just want to focus in on the real food movement.

Earlier this year, I shared with you some of our approaches to food, but that is all evolving at a fairly rapid pace.  It started when I finally watched Food, Inc. last month.  I had been putting it off because I absolutely knew it was one of those things - sorta like The Mafia, I suppose - that once you are in, you know too much to ever get out.  And I was right.  It forever altered the way I view what I feed my family.

So here I am.  Free range eggs and raw milk and scared to death to buy any non-organic produce following this morning's release of the Pediatrics study on the connection between ADHD and organophosphates. 

So here's what I need to know -- in your experience, what has been the most helpful resource in learning more about The Real Food Movement?

Stephanie of Keeper of the Home has graciously sent me a copy of Real Food on a Real Budget to review (and giveaway!  Stay tuned for that!), so I plan on digging into that this week.  But after that, what should be next on my reading list?  Books, blogs, podcasts, websites . . . you tell me . . .

(Food, Inc. link is an Amazon affiliate link.)

You Tell Me: TV-Free in the Morning

photo by schmilblick

Next week, Simple Organic is hosting Make Week.  The premise is to invite all of us to turn off the TV and make life happen.

Even though I was a big Turnoff Week failure last year, I'm eager to take up the challenge again.  I feel inspired.  I think we can do better this year.

We've been slowly tapering off on TV-viewing during the day, and so I have some confidence that this won't be quite the shock to our systems that it was last year.  However, there is one pocket of time that I have no idea how to handle: morning wake-up time. 

It has been our habit since, oh, forever to watch PBS Kids in the morning as the girls are waking up, eating breakfast, and getting Dacey dressed and ready for school.  I confess to using this time to sip coffee, check emails, stop by Facebook, etc., while we all slowly come to life.

If you are TV-Free (all or mostly), could you share with me some ideas on what we could do instead of watching TV first thing in the morning.  (Please don't say read books out loud to the girls.  I can almost promise you that will not happen.)

I would love to hear your thoughts, and I would LOVE to invite you to participate in Simple Organic's Make Week! 

You Tell Me: Best Nursing In Public Comebacks

I have been immensely enjoying the chronicles of life with a new babe from Sarah at Becoming Sarah.  Now that my baby baby has turned two, I find I have to relish the life-with-newborn moments vicariously through others.

Earlier this week, Sarah wrote about embracing nursing in public sans cover which was not how she had planned for things to go.  The topic of whether or not to cover in public is hotly debated amongst lactivists.  There are those who insist a mother should do whatever she feels comfortable with when nursing a child in public.  Others insist that covering up further perpetrates the notion that breastfeeding is - at best - a "sacred" or "intimate" or "private" moment between mother and child and therefore should be covered up, or it is - at worst - indecent.

Most breastfeeding advocates simply want to work towards the common purpose of normalizing breastfeeding in our culture.  Breastfeeding is, after all, normal.

Anyway, in this post, Sarah talks about her experiences in nursing without a cover-up, and she shares some gorgeous photos, and then the brave soul opens up comments for thoughts on nursing in public.

Amongst the comments, I read a statement that absolutely drives me batty.  Someone stated "yeah its natural, but so is pooping, and I would rather just not see it."  Rather than engage in comment box debate, I figured I'd just bring it over here to discuss.

That statement drives me insane because it is biologically ignorant.  Breastfeeding and pooping are completely opposite.  While the common element of food is shared, the actual processes are, you know, completely different.  Breastfeeding = food in.  Pooping = food out.  It's a pretty basic concept.

I have not personally been confronted with this commentary on nursing in public, but I've been practicing my comeback for years:

People who do not understand the difference between eating and pooping are not allowed in my kitchen.  And they probably shouldn't be allowed to do the grocery shopping, either.

Ohhhhhhh, I'm just waiting for the day when I can pop off with that comeback.  (yet knowing my propensity for tongue-tied-ness, I'm sure I'll mess it all up and leave everyone involved in hysterics.  The possibilities for how that can be messed up are quite endless.)

I would love to hear from you - what is the best comeback you've used or heard to counter the critiques of nursing in public (with or without a cover)?

photo (isn't it lovely?) courtesy of Daquella

You Tell Me: Your Passion

Hasn't this week been fun?  I've learned so much from Trisha's posts on tea, and Marianne's advice on going shampoo-free was intriguing and helpful.

I have been overwhelmed with gratitude by those who have volunteered to write guest posts here at SortaCrunchy.  I have been amazed all over again by the diverse, eclectic group of intelligent, insightful, powerful, purposeful people who gather around here.  You have no idea how much this has blessed me.

It occurred to me, though, that there are hundreds and hundreds of you reading each day that I don't really know.  That's a very strange feeling for me because it wasn't all that too terribly long ago that I really knew each and every person who stopped by here.  I read their blogs and knew their children's names and knew what interested them. 

That, of course, is not possible for me anymore, but today I wonder if you might have time to tell me just a little something about yourself:

What is your passion and/or what are you passionate about?

Tell me one thing, or five, or ten . . . I would love to get to know you a little better today.  And yes, I'm even including those who have been here since the beginning.  New reader, old reader, parent, not-yet-parent, crunchy, un-crunchy - everyone!   

photo credit: an is ha

You Tell Me: About Lent

Southern Baptist since nine months before I was born.  That's me.

But my childhood best friend was born to a Catholic mama and a Protestant daddy, and Saturday night sleepovers at her house meant Sunday morning Mass with her mom.  My six year old self was immediately enthralled with the intricacies and the ornate.  Years later, my college student self was afforded many opportunities to experience worship outside of the denomination I was raised in, and I discovered the worship services that spoke most powerfully to my inner love of ritual and rites were the ones that were rooted in the solemn and peacefully predictable practice of liturgy.

As an adult, I've come to accept that I have the soul of a liturgist trapped in the body of a demonstratively worshippin' Baptist.  (meaning I may be Baptist, but I've been known to raise a hand in worship a time or many . . .)

Next Wednesday begins the season of the observance of Lent - something I've only ever been able to experience from the outside looking in.  I can't tell you how many years I've determined to myself that I would observe Lent privately . . . and how many years that, without a community of faith offering support, I've dropped out long before Easter morning dawned.

I think, however, this year could be different.  I feel a leading, an urging within, a new hope and desire to embrace the meaning of this prelude to our celebration of the Glorious Resurrection.

I think it's time to revive the much-neglected You Tell Me series because I so want to hear:

Do you personally celebrate Lent?  Why or why not?  What do I need to know about Lent before I make a public commitment to it this year? What was the most meaningful season of Lent you've experienced?  If you are not part of the Christian faith, do you observe a similar period of sacrifice and reflection?

essentially

What does Lent mean to you?

(And I most certainly did NOT forget!  The winner of the Changing Your World One Diaper at a Time book is Crystal.  Book is on its way!)

 

(photo courtesy of goldfisken)

You Tell Me: Vitamins and Supplements

Wow, you guys!  I am so thrilled with all the amazing musical feedback you shared with me last week.  I have had so much fun working through your recommendations.

That post had more comments that any non-giveaway post I've done (I think).  Score! 

(That reminds me . . . I've been wanting to follow-up on the post commenting on comments by saying I totally understand that very few of us can comment everywhere we like to read.  I am the Queen of Reading Via Feeds!  It was definitely not my intention to send anyone on a guilt trip for not commenting here all the time.  I just want to make it clear that I am always happy to hear from you - whether you are a long-time friend/new reader, long-time reader/new friend, or if you landed here haphazardly by Googling something important like delaying vaccines or making Texas sweet tea.  Or greasy hair.  I'll try to shut up about that for now, although it's hard for me because the dynamics of the blogging community is endlessly fascinating to me.)

Anyway.  MypointandIdohaveone:

It was so great to hear from ya'll on the music issue, and it was a great reminder to me of how outrageously blessed I am to have such a diverse, intelligent, gorgeous, insightful group of friends to run around with.  What else can you tell me to make my life better?  I think I shall start a new series: You Tell Me.  You know all that unsolicited advice you have just rocking and rolling around in your head?  I'm soliciting.

First question in the series: What's the scoop on vitamins and supplements?

I'm pretty sure that at least D and I should be taking them.  She is just about as preschool-picky as they come, and her diet consists chiefly of buttered (whole wheat) pasta, broccoli, milk, 100% juice, breads, lunch meat, rice, PB&J, and Carnation Instant Breakfast.  And "chick'n nuggets" (both the McDonalds variety and the far healthier but equally acceptable Morningstar veggie variety). 

I am about as un-picky as they come (check my waistline for visual validation), but I think as a nursing mom I should be taking something beyond my prenatals to make sure AJ is getting all she needs.  Right?  Some kind of DHA thing?  See how little I know?

So - you tell me.  My eyes totally glaze over when I browse the supplement aisle.  What do we need?  What do you take and why?  Be specific and tell me what brands you think are good, 'cause that's also confusing to me.