Monday, September 21, 2009

Balancing Act

I love teaching and I love my kiddos, so homeschooling is perfect for us. My son is loving school and wants to do it most days. I like it too, but I'm still working on getting into a routine with it. Some days/weeks are great...everything works according to plan and goes smoothly. Other weeks...look out! I suppose that's the benefit of homeschooling, but I am an orderly, list following, organized person that likes to be on schedule and on time. So, sometimes I just have to take a deep breath and go with the flow. Hmmm...still working on that one.

I am having trouble finding things to occupy my 2 1/2 year old daughter. She does do "school" type activities with us, but there are times that I need one-on-one with my son. I generally have her in the kitchen with us during school, so that I can keep an eye on her and so she feels included. She loves to pass things out like manipulatives for math or collect the colors and put them away. I have several tubs of manipulatives just for her like large stringing beads, linking cubes, lacing animals etc. And, I spend time with her when my son is working on individual work.

I suppose my problem would be solved if I did school during her nap time, but alas, I like the quietness of our home during naps/rest time. I'm not quite ready to give that up just yet, although the time is fast approaching that it will all end.

So, this whole rambling post is to ask fellow homeschooling parents what you do with younger, non-school aged children during school? I eagerly await your genius ideas that I will make my own! :)

Ciao,
J

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Red dye #40


A couple of months ago, my sweet parents gave my son a Sunkist Orange soda and he was completely hyped up that night, which made for a miserable evening for the rest of us. My parents were then told to never under any circumstances give him that soda again. (It has caffeine in it apparently and we don't give our kiddos caffeine. Mommy can't live without it, but not for the kids.) Anyway, this past weekend, our son had a Cherry 7Up and had the same reaction. We were on our way home from East Texas and he didn't stop chattering or moving for the first two hours we were in the car. I knew that there had to be something in common with these two drinks, so my sister-in-law looked it up for me while I was talking to her on the phone today. She found that the most probable culprit is red dye #40. So, I swagged it (http://swagbucks.com/refer/GraceisSufficient) and I found a great site that detailed reactions people have with this dye and foods that it is found in etc. The link is: http://www.red40.com/

And, apparently TONS of food that we personally consume have this dye in it. From obvious things like fruit snacks, colored cereals like Trix, and these sodas to not so obvious things like pudding, Nacho Cheese Doritos and Hamburger Helper. Luckily, I have never seen a reaction in my son with any food items other than the two sodas mentioned above. However, there are so many symptoms that people have found like hyperactivity, inability to sit still or concentrate, crying, screaming, aggressive behavior etc. Perhaps he does have these symptoms but they aren't off the charts like when he has the sodas. I'm not sure--we are going to try some observatory testing on him at home to see what we notice etc.

So, my question to you is have you ever encountered this or experienced it? Do you have tips or advice? It's a little overwhelming looking at all the food that has red 40 in it! We will continue to pray for guidance on this matter, but I look forward to hearing from anyone who has information on this! Thanks!

Ciao,
J