20 Great Reasons to Homeschool

This may be a little small to read so if you actually cannot read it go to this link, scroll down to the color version and it will be large enough to read. (for some reason I could not get the image larger)  In fact, once you are at the source, go ahead and  pass the image on in your blog or emails. You will be participating in something called "viral advertising!" 

Go for it Jim! 

Enjoy!

PS Notice I changed the title to- 20 Great Reasons TO Homeschool. For those of us who already do educate at home these are familiar reasons. For those that do not (yet) these are just extra tidbit reasons in addition to the real intent of home discipleship because we all know none of us started homeschooling so our kids so they could wear their pajamas to school or so they could sleep in on rainy days! Some days are hard but I would NEVER have it any other way!

Living a lifestyle of learning daily!

Good cheap food!

That's it. I have got to lower my food budget! As always the cheapest food is closest to the ground, or closer to its source or growth. No packaging, no instructions on how to prepare and is not in bright colorful eye catching boxes in the mid level shelf at your favorite store. 

My low to the ground food products come in clear plastic bags from my favorite bulk and health supply store Azure Standard. Nevertheless, for all of us some packaged processed food slips in now and then. This is the taming I need to do. As my whole focus in the last year or so has been to go lower, going raw fits that intent but some cooked foods are OK. Such as a nice warm bowl of quinoa with raw almond milk, currants and a little raw honey. Here are healthy, nourishing foods you can always find at a good, low price consumed raw, sprouted or even cooked. 

• No matter what store
• No matter what season
• No matter if you don’t clip coupons.

eggs   bananas carrots corn broccoli lettuce cabbage celery potatoes sweet potatoes   onions can of wild Alaska salmon natural peanut butter yogurt

oatmeal   home made bread   home ground flour   corn meal   quinoa   brown rice   beans   lentils   pasta   spaghetti sauce   sunflower seeds   popcorn (not        microwaved)   string cheese   clover seeds for  sprouting

Living a Lifestyle of Learning daily

Natural minty toothpaste

Mix together:

~2 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil (You can purchase this from  this from Mountain Rose Herbs - $121 for a 5-gallon bucket.) Use more for a creamier consistancy

~3 Tablespoons of Baking Soda

~5 drops Peppermint Essential oil

~5 drops Spearmint Essential Oil

~a pinch of Stevia powder

I have used baking soda to brush my teeth before (and felt a bit like a martyr because the taste was less-than-desirable), but this was incredible! I am so thrilled at how well it turned out! The coconut oil gives it a creamy consistency, and holds the Baking Soda together, while the Stevia and essential oils gives it a yummy flavor. (I chose to use part Spearmint instead of all Peppermint because the Spearmint doesn’t have that “hot” mouth feel that Peppermint does. This is important to little people!) Note: I feel safe allowing these essential oils to be used in a situation where they could possibly be ingested because 1) the amounts are so small, and 2) both Spearmint and Peppermint essential oils are on the FDA’s GRAS (generally recognized as safe) list.

It doesn’t have that foamy effect that commercial toothpaste has, but I actually appreciate that - it doesn’t get the bathroom sink so dirty, and it doesn’t gag pregnant woman like the foamy kind does. I was amazed at how well it turned out, but the best part was how quick it was to mix together. It literally took less than five minutes including the time it took to gather the oils from another room. Our stores change brands of toothpaste so quickly, that I couldn’t have picked out toothpaste in the store as quickly as that because of reading labels. We mixed it in a tiny wide mouth half-pint canning jar, and just dip dry toothbrushes in it. Don’t get grossed out… remember coconut oil is anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal, so it will even keep the toothbrushes more sanitary.

 Living a Lifestyle of Learning daily

Walnut Pate-Delicious

I am starting to organize my life into daily and weekly food preparations that set me up for easier and less panic at the last minutes dinner ideas. One such raw and ready food that I can make ahead is walnut pate. I have tested this out on a few on my friends and it passed with flying colors. 

Taste develops over time just like discipline habits. Our taste can get reconditioned and pressed into the habit of good taste but this is not one of these.   I do like to pass it on a few of my discerning friends who all in different places in their raw and natural food journey.  Walnut Pate may is even a starter food  if you want to impress your skeptical neighbor. (or mother in law)

Soaking helps prepare the nuts for better digestibility so I soak the nuts over night. (Saturday night) Sunday night I start preparing for the week. I make a batch of walnut pate and sunflower pate (see tomorrow's post) and I am set for salad toppers, dips, fillings for wraps and sandwich spread for the week.

This recipe comes directly out the the book, Raw Food Made Easy For 1 or 2 People by Jennifer Cornbleet. There are many books at the library to check out but this one I would buy. It supplies many good basic and easy recipes for starter and maintenance foods in the raw food exploration diet.



Walnut Pate
1 cup soaked walnuts
1 Tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon tamari (fermented soy sauce)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
dash salt
1 Tablespoon minced parsley
1 Tablespoon minced onion

Place walnuts, lemon juice, olive oil, tamari, garlic powder, and salt in a food processor, fitted with the S blade and process into a paste. Stop occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Transfer to  small mixing bowl. Stir in the parsley and onion and mix well. (I put all the the above ingredients into the food processor for a smooth paste. ) Store in a sealed jar and will keep for five days. 

It will probably be gone before that.  Enjoy!

Now it's your turn.
Did you try it?
What do you think?....a little more salt?
What did you use it on?

Living a Lifestyle of Learning daily.

The old grey mare...er... chicken... ain't what she used to be.

Sure chicken is cheap and supposedly low in fat but look again. What price are you paying for this homogenized, cheap and convenient food? This video investigates how supermarkets have affected the food on your plate, and reveals the telltale signs that the food you buy may not have been grown in the way you think.

The Process of Letting Go....

The process of letting go as your children approach adulthood is a bitter sweet process filled with either confidence or fear depending on how you have raised your children over the years.
In the younger years, training is of utmost importance; training to make their bed, training in cheerfulness and continual practice in daily routines that should become a part of everyday life over time. Their education is primarily knowledge based, fact related and fascination driven. Many boys love to read about astronauts and other science subjects and to develop the ability to make accurate observations. Some girls love insects, butterflies, also enjoy much in the line of science. This is a time to build a knowledge base of the English language and how the world works and to observe the wonders of creation.

In late childhood and early teens, the child should be ready for the understanding level, the ability and skill of drawing careful observations. History may come alive to many children at this time as they discover that history does repeat itself and can learn to love the ability to discern the lessons of history. Teaching your children about life and academic subjects becomes primary in a parents focus while training is being established.

Harvey Bluedorn of Teaching the Trivium: Christian Homeschooling in a Classical Style'>Teaching the Trivium: Christian Homeschooling in a Classical Style, says it well.

Your job would be to train the Knowledge Level to make accurate observations, teach the Understanding Level to draw careful conclusions, and coach the Wisdom Level to express themselves well and apply things effectively. Remember, all children of all age levels are developing all three of these capacities, Knowledge, Understanding, and Wisdom all of the time, but certain age levels are focused on certain levels.

As the child is approaching the late teen years, as my children are, I am seeing much of the later development taking place, the struggle to gain wisdom. This is the level where your job as a parent is to coach and mentor (or find mentors).

As I look back over the years I can see the whole process in arrears and can see obvious glaring holes in some of my parenting. Nevertheless, much of their development has been natural and we can rest that in all that we do God will assist us in doing His will in raising them for His Glory and that will include the natural process of growing up and developing into competent, capable young adults.

As I see my second son (third child) approaching adulthood, I long for the young sweet age of his toddlerhood, remember his tender childhood at 9 and 10 and see him developing into his manhood age as he is moving all too rapidly right now. He is taking on the attributes of manhood. He desires to look after me, and to protect me and to provide for me if necessary. All these things I cherish and long for and yet mean a time of change from childhood dependency to adult responsibility.

Ah the process of letting go is so bittersweet. Lord, give me grace.

Why I choose an anti cancer diet.

The statistics are staggering. Cancer has now passed heart disease as the number one disease killer in the western world. It has moved from one in four, past heart disease, to one in 3, (exactly two of my immediate family) will die from cancer as a direct cause of cancer in their lifetime.

Yes, I know we must die of something and today we are able to diagnose what that cause is rather than to say of "died of natural causes," but our western lifestyle has us believing that cancer is the risk of living. Our modern medical perspective has us trained to not ask why but to be dependant upon the professional doctors to fix us and send us home happy (and drugged) without any suspicion of cause whatsoever.

My 27 year old son was one of those statistics last year and even though is considered in remission after 6 months of gruelling chemotherapy, none of us need to assume freedom from risk. Cancer is usually multifaceted in cause and we all need to assume an anti risk lifestyle, not out of fear, but out of responsibility.

Causes of serious disease are everywhere, in food additives, pesticides, air pollution, cleaning agents, paint and furniture fumes, natural gas emissions (gas stoves and furnaces) even the radio and wireless computer and cell phones that we seem to have absolutely no control over in our electronic world are becoming major threats. Furthermore, the very medical practices that are supposed to "keep us healthy," such as vaccinations and other medical drugs and treatments can severely increase our cancer risk.

In reading this article, one line that struck me as interesting,"Surveys we've done indicate many people don't think they have control over their cancer risk, but studies clearly indicate they do."
Being the independent minded (rebel) that I am and quite opinionated as you might have noticed by now, I choose responsibility over dependency and subsequent medical treatments. Either way, my lifestyle becomes my choice... even to the extent that I take my life into my own hands through an anti cancer prevention lifestyle.

I will be posting articles and recipes from time to time that are specifically labelled anti cancer. I have been collecting and am constantly learning recipes that are becoming part of my daily routine and help to later my own lifestyle habits of health.

Below is one such very simple delicious and very inexpensive recipe using the great health foods berries and sprouts in my favorite format - a smoothie. You can buy sprouts in the produce section of your grocery store or you can easily and inexpensively sprout them yourself. I will post how to sprout broccoli in the next month or so.

Anti Cancer Green Smoothie

1 pint broccoli sprouts

1 pint ripe organic blackberries

1 cup water

Blend all ingredients well. - Enjoy


Nutritional facts:

In 1992, scientists found that broccoli sprouts are rich in a compound that provides significant protection against breast cancer and colon cancer. The compound is called sulforaphane glucosinalate.

Black raspberries (blackberries) have been shown to reduce the risk of oral, esophageal and colon cancer in animal models, according to the researchers.

Living a Lifestyle of Learning daily