martinzoo

My sister is a Physical Education teacher at the local middle school. Recently, she went to Aquagirl’s college for some additional career training seminars. And while we were at brunch on Sunday she gave me a new fear. She was telling us that lots of teachers use candy and dry cereal as incentive for kids to do little things quickly. And at the seminar they were explaining how bad that is for the kids.

The focus was on the dye that is used to color the candy and the cereal. In particular, was Red 40 and Yellow 5. She said, and I’ve found supporting data, that the dye is only used to make the food more visually appealing.

I think I’ve kind of heard of this before, but not in an extensive way. My sister was telling me that these dyes are made from, hold on to your shorts, petroleum distillates and coal tar! That’s just sick! She said that animals instinctively know what is bad for their bodies and if you were to put out a dish of fruit loops and another of raisin bran (no artificial colors) the birds would eat the bran, but not the fruit loops.

Well, I had to try that. GB and I put out dishes on Monday to see what the birds would try.

They didn’t touch either one. So, I guess that proves nothing. Or, it just proves that the sunflowers are too distracting…LOL!

****Update: Since this post was written, I noticed that the squirrels and birds have totally eaten the bran cereal, but continue to ignore the Fruit Loops.
But I wanted to do more research on the subject. And I was really not happy with what I found. There are studies that suggest artificial color have an effect on our children’s behavior and of course, they can have an effect on our health and how our bodies function. Some people are allergic to certain artificial colors. And other studies link tumors to certain colors. Remember when they finally took Red Dye #2 off the market and how many thousands of products contained that dye? I really missed that red M&M.

This is the FDA’s response to whether certain food dyes cause hyperactivity or learning disabilities:

Although this theory was popularized in the 1970’s, well-controlled studies conducted since then have produced no evidence that food color additives cause hyperactivity or learning disabilities in children. A Consensus Development Panel of the National Institutes of Health concluded in 1982 that there was no scientific evidence to support the claim that colorings or other food additives cause hyperactivity.

This was on the current FDA web site. But that study was done in 1982! What about now? We know a lot more now. So how about a current statement?

In the UK the British Food Standards Agency is asking food companies to voluntarily get rid of color additives in food products aimed at young children.

Here is what the New York Times had to say on the subject of the British study:

“Common food additives and colorings can increase hyperactive behavior in a broad range of children, a study being released today found.

It was the first time researchers conclusively and scientifically confirmed a link that had long been suspected by many parents. Numerous support groups for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have for years recommended removing such ingredients from diets, although experts have continued to debate the evidence.”

You can read the rest of the article on the NYT’s web site.

And there is a good explanation of the study here.

Going through my refrigerator and my cabinets, this is what I found that contained Red 40:

• Mott’s strawberry applesauce
• Hawaiian Punch
• Pillsbury Grand’s Biscuits (what! why is red 40 in biscuits?)
• Fizzix Lowfat Yogurt snack
• Froot Loops (I bought for the experiment)
• Lucky Charms
• Cinnamon Life cereal (why?!)
• Cherry Poptarts
• Doritos (no surprise here)

These items contained the Yellow 5:

• Mountain Dew
• Pillsbury Grand’s biscuits (again!)
• Jello pudding snacks (vanilla and tapioca)
• Dr. Oetker Tiramisu
• Doritos
• Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
• Pringles
• Country Time Lemonade

Sadly, my family is going to find fewer of these items making their way in to my shopping cart. Because I don’t want to take any chances.

I swear! The more you learn - the more you fear. The internet can be like a double edged sword. I want to know, but when I find out things, it makes me feel as if we are slowly being poisoned by everything we ingest.

So this year I’m going to try and make my focus on our meals be more healthy. I want to learn more about organics and incorporate them more in to our diet - even if our food bill goes up. I’m not buying the bottled water anymore. I’d rather use a filtering product. And now thanks to my sister {sarcasm} I’m going to try to eliminate these unnatural dyes from our diet, because I don’t want us to eat petroleum OR tar!

So, thanks Aunty B! Really! {genuine}

This video was making it’s way around my homeschooling group and I thought it was hilarious! Tom Chapin wrote it and debuted it on NPR in January 2007. His goal in performing this song is to try and keep music and arts in schools. But I think it has a lot more ramifications than that.

Look at History. Look at Science. Neither one is required when I send in my paperwork for the County. All I need to do is show proof that GB is learning in English and Math. I’m not complaining about the lack of paperwork. But it just goes to show the school board’s priorities.

And look at SAT’s……… No Science and no History……….. Doesn’t it just figure that these are GB’s favorite subjects.

Don’t forget that Earth Hour is tonight, March 29, from 8 to 9 pm local time!

Here are some things that you can do to make our Earth better:

Use Earth Hour to make your home more energy efficient: Replace your old light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs; install power strips (so you can turn computers and electronics on and off more easily); and change your air conditioner filters.

Or:

Most of our daily activities–like watching TV, shopping online and texting friends–require loads of electricity, but do we really need to do so much stuff all the time? Take one hour for yourself to just chill… turn off the screens, put down the handheld devices and just take some “you” time to reflect, read or talk to your family. After all, why do more when you can do less?

And:

Make a Pledge for the Planet
Earth Hour shouldn’t end at 9:01 pm–it’s a chance to take a first step toward lowering your overall impact on the environment. So use part of that hour to make a personal pledge to do more–recycle, drive less often, turn off or unplug electronics, and beyond. The only way we’re going to stabilize our climate is if we make real changes in our everyday lives. That change begins with Earth Hour, and ends with a healthy planet. Of course, there are more than 10 ways to make a difference. Visit WWF’s website for additional ideas on things you can do every day to help the Earth and reduce your environmental footprint.

Watch this video to see how each one of us impacts this planet’s resources. And then watch the show on April 19th on the National Geographic channel.

And PLEASE, if you want to participate tonight, sign up here so we can see the true impact that we made together.

GB is having a Spring Break this week. So I thought I’d post an un-homeshool-ish post.

We talk a lot about ratings in this family. GB is sorta obsessed with tv and movie ratings. He always wants to know WHY a movie or tv show has a certain rating. So it gets discussed a lot. Everything is rated these days. Even our music has ratings.

So, when I was composing an email to my book club this evening, I had to pause and ponder about whether books should have ratings too. One of the ladies in my club was curious as to whether her students (high school English) would find the book, ‘Water for Elephants’ objectionable.

I believe that I am of two minds on the topic. As a mother, I sure would like to know any thing that could be interpreted as objectionable. Especially if I’m going to recommend it.

A good example of one such occasion occurred a few months ago during one of our book club meetings.  One mom had just spent a glorious week in NYC with her husband and kids. They had all gone to see the play, ‘Wicked’. And her twelve year old daughter was now obsessed with the music from the play. At the time of our meeting, that mom was deciding whether she should get the book for her daughter’s birthday. I’m not sure how many of you have read this book. I loved it! BUT (huge BUT) I would never let my 12 yo read that book. Just about every depraved thing that occurs in our society is hidden within the many layers of this book. Stress the word ‘depraved.’

On the other hand, sometimes it’s just so daggum hard to get kids to read. And it would be a shame to discourage them from reading. Don’t you think? So I worry that  rating books would involve some sort of censorship. And to me, that just means lost opportunities for reading.

I remember when the Harry Potter books came out. So many parents were depriving their kids from reading these wonderful books because they believed them to be anti-Christian and full of paganism. And lets face it, there is an awful lot of darkness and adult themes in the HP books. I just read online this morning that JK Rowling suffered from depression in her twenties, to the point of suicidal thoughts. She included aspects of this part of her life within her books by creating the dementors - creatures who literally suck the joy and happiness out of you.

But on the flip side, just look at what JK Rowling has done for reading. More kids read now than they did before. And there is a lot more selection for boys at the bookstore. If we were to rate HP books, we’d have to include child abuse, cursing, extreme violence, and many others.

Would the HP books have been as successful if they had included ratings?

Is it possible that by putting ratings on books you would be encouraging kids to read books that they are not ready for? I know that sometimes that forbidden fruit seems awfully enticing!

Questions for pondering …. How do you feel about a rating system? Do you all have any thoughts on the subject?

It started with a question: How can we inspire people to take action on climate change?

The answer: Ask the people of Sydney to turn off their lights for one hour.

On March 31, 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour. If the greenhouse reduction achieved in the Sydney CBD during Earth Hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year.

With Sydney icons like the Harbour Bridge and Opera House turning their lights off, and unique events such as weddings by candlelight, the world took notice.

Inspired by the collective effort of millions of Sydneysiders, many major global cities are joining Earth Hour in 2008, turning a symbolic event into a global movement.

Have you got 60 minutes for our Earth?

Let’s get dark! Turn off your lights for Earth Hour on March 29th, from 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

So how much email have you received about this California case?

I would say that at least half of my inbox lately has had something to do with the case. Either well-meaning friends asking if I had heard about it, or messages on my support forums discussing the worries that people have over it. Everybody seems so concerned that if it could happen in California, it could happen where we all live.

But I don’t think so.

You know, I used to worry about folks wanting to hear justification for my son being “out” of school whenever we went places during typical school hours - or even when he was out in the yard. But nowadays I find so much more acceptance from everyone: museum guides, store clerks, and especially the elderly (who used to be so skeptical).
Most of them tell me wonderful experiences that they’ve had with homeschoolers. And talk about how much they admire the dedication it takes for parents who decide to homeschool.
Even my parents and in-laws have come around……. Shocking!
So, I’m thinking that there is no way that this California case is going to have the impact that people worry about. I think homeschooling has become such an accepted form of education that state and local governments will really try to provide MORE for homeschoolers, not less.

And here comes the cynic in me: I only worry that by signing these petitions, we are creating a Nationwide master list of homeschooling families. Not that I want to be secretive about my homeschooling adventure. Because, obviously my blog is an open window into our lives. But I also would hate for this list to come back and bite us in the butt.  What do you all think?

My friend, Dana, from School for Us, has been having some trouble with her daughter. She doesn’t know if her daughter appreciates how good it is to be homeschooled since she has never been to public school. I think Dana also worries, like a lot of us, about whether she is providing a quality education that would stand up to what the public schoolers get.

GB did go to public school for kindergarten and first grade. So we have an advantage in that area. He never asks to go back to public school. He has very negative feelings toward public schools. And his memories are still vivid. So after reading one of Dana’s emails, I asked GB what he specifically did NOT like about being in public school. And I thought I’d post his list because maybe other kids would share his opinions or like to know what his opinions are about ps. Plus, I thought it could help some of the blogging moms whose kids constantly pester them about going off to school like the other kids.

This list is from my email to Dana:

1- He hated waiting for everybody to finish their work before they could start something new, because he always got in trouble while waiting. He just couldn’t stay quiet and still.

2- Every time something outside the classroom was happening (like resource, lunch or recess), they had to clean up, get in a line and then stay in that line while they walked to the activity. Kids would push, or whisper, or fall out of line and then get in trouble for that. **GB always felt like a bad kid in school because the teacher was always punishing the kids.

3- He hated silent lunch. One hundred fifty kids per grade level is a lot of noise, so the cafeteria ladies always wanted silent lunch until 5 minutes before the bell. I got pretty peaved when I went to the school to eat lunch with my child and I was not even allowed to talk to him.

4. GB eats slow, so he hated the fact that lunch was only 20 minutes.

5. Public school kids are gone ALL day. Our kids leave at 8:40, which means you have to get up around 7:30, and they don’t get home from school until 4:20.

6. They have homework, which is supposed to take 5 minutes, per subject, per grade - for example: GB is in 4th grade, so 5 minutes X 4th grade = 20 minutes per subject. That is what is assigned, but if it takes you longer, you still have to do it. And with GB’s disgraphia, he has a hard time with his writing assignments. So that’s a minimum of one more hour of school work. If they have after-school sports, it leaves no time for playing with toys, video games, or just watching a favorite TV show.

7. They move from subject to subject whether you are ready or not. Since GB writes so slowly, he would often miss recess because he hadn’t finished writing. OR he would have to take it home and add it to his homework assignments. OR he would cheat and do crappy work just so he could be done with the writing.

8. If he was really interested in a subject, he wanted to keep talking about it. But the teacher wanted to move on to the next subject. I can understand this from the teacher’s perspective because it’s hard if all the kids want to have a say in what they discuss. But from GB’s perspective, he likes focusing on ONE subject until he gets tired of it. He’s kind of the opposite of ADD…LOL!

9. He did not like it when the teacher would decide what they would play during recess. She would tell them that they were going to play kick ball, then divide the teams herself. GB would have preferred to chose his own recess, like playing Star Wars or something. Sometimes he just wanted to play by himself. That’s the kind of kid he was then.

10. He hated the bus! It smelled terrible, it was too bouncy and he got a stomach ache each day, and the big kids picked on the little kids. And the bus driver ignored it all. GB got his head smashed against the bus window when a kid swung his back-pack up to the front of the bus. The bus driver never noticed.

11. He hated having a music class! He despises singing and got in trouble each week that singing was required because he would refuse to sing….. even in first grade! He’s THAT stubborn. I really got tired of them acting like he was a bad kid because he wouldn’t just do what they told him to do, like singing. And you can forget him dancing, too! That just cracks me up to think about! With homeschooling, we just skip the singing stuff. I’m hoping some day that he’ll enjoy music more.

12. GB did not feel safe in school. He was victimized by bullies (yes! even in first grade!), and felt like the teachers and principal could not be relied upon for help.

Dana and I are hoping to hear from other moms who have taken their kids out of ps. And out of curiosity, I’m wondering about families whose children never went to ps.

So…. Questions….

1) If your child has ever attended public school, did they like it, or dislike it?

2) If your child has never been to public/private school, do they want to go?

3) If they’ve never been to school, do they understand the differences between the educational approaches?

4) Do you think your children are satisfied with the opportunities they’ve been given.

I can tell you positively that GB is much happier as a homeschooled child. And I’m much happier having him home. I wish I’d done it for my older kids.

*

In another post I’d like to address how I felt while my kids were in school, and the interactions I had with the public schools and my children’s teachers. Because that’s a whole other ballgame.

Ok, this is ridiculous! I feel like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Jingle All the Way. For the last two weeks I have taken tremendous amounts of my time going from store to store, asking for the Wii, and standing in lines waiting for delivery trucks, then leaving the stores with nothing.

This morning I was 6th in line at Walmart……… I was so hopeful that THIS time I would get one. But no, this time there was nothing on the truck. We were all SOL.

I’m so mad at Nintendo for putting people through all this. If the car manufacturers can pump a car out every 5 hours, why can’t a game manufacturer make enough product that people, who are willing to fork over the tremendous amount of money that they cost, can get it when they want.

I feel so manipulated. It’s not like this is the first year that this game system has been available either. I purposely did not do this last year because I thought if I waited a year for it, it would be much easier to buy.

Yesterday at the Walmart there was a fist fight. Now how bad is that? I feel terrible for the people who work at these retail stores. They are constantly answering the same questions, and constantly seeing disappointment on people’s faces. How unnerving. All this during a season when people try only to make other people happy.

I may have to give up and wait another year, because this isn’t worth it.