Practical Homeschooling » off-topic

Practical Homeschooling Gets A Facelift

Laura — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 01:53:29 +0000

You may have seen something different on your latest visit to practical homeschooling. Yes, I’ve been hard at work trying to give this site a brand-new look!

With a fresh new banner and great new colors, this is the sign of better things to come. What do you think? Good? Bad? Blah? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Time For A Break

Laura — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 01:28:34 +0000

I have decided that it’s time to take a break, along with my daughters, until the new year. I want to get mentally reorganized, as well as prepare some awesome posts for the upcoming year. HIAB also needs my attention, as I have a long list of resources for you that need to be added.

May end of the year be a great one for you and your family, and I will see you all soon.

On Money And Motivation

Laura — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 02:46:25 +0000

I just watched this amazingly well-done YouTube video about people’s performance vs. reward. While it was made from an economics point of view, it can teach us a lot about how people (including our children) perceive rewards and how rewards are meaningless once we get to ‘the bottom of the issue.’

Have a watch and share your opinion with other readers through the comments section below.

School Locations A Poor Choice

Laura — Sun, 09 May 2010 06:30:53 +0000

What’s wrong with this picture?

This is a map of Edmonton, AB (that’s Alberta, not Alabama) that has been overlayed with the neighborhoods and schools. Each neighborhood is coloured according to the number of children under the age of 14 (the redder the area, the higher the population of children). Over that, are the pegs representing the schools belonging to the Edmonton Public School Board.

This graph demonstrates how the areas in most need of schools (denser and higher population of children) are the same areas that lack these ‘fundamental’ structures. “Rich” areas with a lower population of children have an over-abundance of schools in their areas. The black pegs denote schools that have been shut down, or are in the process of closing, while the green pegs are schools under construction.

As you can see in the South of the city, where there is lots of expansion, these schools are a necessity, but in the North, there are already plenty of institutions where parents can shuttle their kids.

The original (interactive) map is available here.

TV: the Bad and the Ugly

Laura — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 16:30:00 +0000

Naima, a good friend sent me several emails regarding television and I have to say I agree with most, if not all the points presented. I do believe in visual media, but uncensored programming and advertising seems to be a huge detriment in today’s society. As I look back to my own childhood, much of my bad behaviour could be attributed to the influence TV had in my life. From storming off to wherever when I got annoyed to yelling back at my parents and outright being disrespectful…I learned it all from watching other kids my age behave in such a way on TV.

I did NOT write the following, I’m taking this from an email circulating around the web. If anyone knows its origins, kindly contact me so that I may properly attribute the authors.

Almost half of U.S. kids spend at least two hours a day watching TV. While this may sound harmless enough, numerous studies have come out showing that TV is definitely taking its toll on American children.

For instance, a study in the April 2004 journal Pediatrics found that every added hour of watching TV increased a child’s odds of having attention problems at age 7 by about 10 percent. Those who watched for three hours a day between the ages of 1 and 3 were 30 percent more likely to have attention trouble at age 7 than those viewing no TV.

The notion that kids watch far too much TV is a no-brainer, literally. My strong recommendation is to minimize TV watching to no more than a few hours per WEEK, as a short attention span is only the beginning of the problem with TV. Here are some of the other negatives of kids watching TV:

Although you may be accustomed to turning on the TV to entertain your kids (or yourself), there are many other options out there. Here are 20 to get you started.

Take a walk
Read a book
Cook a meal
Do a jigsaw puzzle
Play a board game
Talk about your day
Play some sports
Color, draw or paint a picture
Play outside
Invite a friend over

Go on a ‘treasure hunt’ around the house or neighborhood
Play catch or Frisbee
Make a “fort” out of blankets and pillows
Ride bikes or roller blade
Write a letter to a friend or relative
Do a crossword puzzle or word search
Write a story
Run relay races with friends
Play charades

I’m happy to say that I do not own a TV. A small investment in a DVD player and my laptop are all that I need in order to expose my children to programming that I deem suitable, and to be rid of those terrible advertisements designed to affect their consumer choices. I know that many will disagree, but I am merely presenting one option among many. What do you think?