Debriefing the Homeschooling Convention

I left for two days. Alone. I haven't done that...in...well...7 years I think. Seriously.

Angelia was able to watch the kids on Friday while David worked, and he took over for Friday night and Sabbath. I got a rental car in Tucson early Friday morning and drove up to Phoenix to attend two whole days of inspiring, jaw-dropping, hope filled lectures and peruse a ginormous exhibit hall full of various curriculum's and home-school related ministries.

There was one section of the exhibit hall with "young entrepreneurs" displaying their particular product. I literally started to choke up every time I met these young home-schooled kids because of their impressiveness. One brother and sister had a booth displaying two books they wrote and published about a detective dog (inspired by their own dog). Another teen had a booth offering catering services, displaying his fine cooking skills with pictures and sample of food. Another girl had purses that she made by crocheting plastic bags and lining it with fabric along with appropriate buttons and zippers. Another pair of boys had wooden guns and swords they carved and sanded that exhibited excellent craftsmanship. A teen girl had a rack of super cute aprons along with matching child and dolly sizes. And the way these young people spoke with strangers was also very impressive! They had confidence, courtesy, articulation, smiles and kindness. I hope my kids will turn out that amazing!

So, regarding the lectures - I learned SO much about the brain! I listened to three lectures by Dianne Craft called "Training your Child's Photographic Memory" and "Kids and Teenagers with Focus/Attention Problems" and "Auditory Processing and Memory Problems". She has a Master's degree in Education and Learning Disabilities and she is a Certified Natural Health Professional. I learned that if a kid (or adult!) has inconsistent performance, needs to have someone sit with him to finish work, forgets previously learned work much of the time, has impulsive behavior, easily gets upset and angered when things go wrong, little things bother them a lot like tags on shirts, loud noises or transitions, etc, then all of that can be greatly resolved through targeted nutritional intervention as well as Right brain teaching strategies! What appears to be negative character or personality traits is actually a symptom of nutritional imbalance. It means that one of their 4 learning gates are blocked (1) Visual Processing Gate, 2) Writing Gate (visual motor), 3) Auditory Processing and 4) Attention/Focus/Behavior Gate).

This is great news because I think the information she shared will really help Orion and I! Orion gets easily upset and angered when he doesn't get what he wants. He needs me to stand there and keep him on task when I ask him to clean something up or unload the dishwasher. He is always bringing me scissors to cut the tags off of his shirts, and we are constantly telling him to stop being distracted during worship.

What is happening is it's like an elephant is sitting on his nervous system. Kids who have these symptoms are probably low on zinc and zinc helps to convert essential fatty acids which help the right brain communicate with the left brain.  It's a shoulders down problem not a shoulders up problem. They have an upset "gut ecology" which is causing the upset behavior or learning. She explained that there is a yeast/fungal overgrowth which affect serotonin production.Serotonin is a transmitter chemical which helps to pass nerve impulses from one nerve cell (neurone) to the next over the synapse (gap between two neurones). People call it the "feel good neurotransmitter." Anyway, all of that affects learning. So what makes serotonin is essential fatty acids. She said that boys need 3 times more essential fatty acids than girls and because most aren't getting it, there are more learning problems among boys in America. And hormones run in oils but only the oils that need to be refrigerated. The other oils do not carry electrons. They are dead. (Side note: This was so exciting to me because I have concluded that my PMS headaches are, well, obviously hormone related and I also get fatigue and irritable sometimes because I think my hormones are out of whack. So....this may be the solution to my problem!) So, vitamin E, primrose oil, flaxseed oil and avocado are all great sources of essential fatty acids.Oh, and did you know the brain is 60% fat and 30% of that is in the form of long chain fatty acids. And brain synapses require long chain fatty acids to be efficient. So if you don't have enough essential fatty acids your brain won't work right! That's why walnuts are considered a "brain food" because they have Omega 3's which are an essential fatty acid!

The nutritional plan she recommends is quite easy. Basically she says there is an overgrowth of yeast and bacteria in their gut. So you:
1. Restore Gut Ecology - take a probiotic 3 times a day for 3 months. She recommends Primadophilus by Nature's Way or Healthy Trinity by Natren (more expensive)
2. Natural Anti fungal - GSE tablets 3 times a day for 3 months. She recommended tablets over the liquid because then it won't taste as bad. 
3. Reduce sugar intake - even maple syrup or 100% juice is still considered sugar. Your body sees it the same. It still promotes yeast and fungus overgrowth. A lot of carbohydrates are also considered sugar by your body.
4. Cut out dairy - this is not a problem for us :)

So, this is also great news for me because I've always had athletes foot and now I'm getting warts on my left hand. So, if I were to do this (get rid of the overgrowth of fungus in my body, the athletes foot and warts would go away!)

So, I could go on about left brain and right brain learning but, if you're interested just check out her website. It's AMAZING stuff.

Another dynamic lecture I went to was called "Choosing Curriculum like a Pro" from Jessica Hulcy. I learned that there are 4 types of learners
1. The movement learner - he's "out of the box" (you need to do a lot of right brain teaching)
2. The structured learner - they are "in the box" (traditional leaner - book, workbooks)
3. The analytical learner - they "stare at the box" (can't remember how this differs)
2. The community learner - they "talk to the box" (they like discussion, they learn by telling people information)

She was an excellent speaker, a lot of humor, powerful stories and practical information. I can tell she knows her stuff. I just checked out her website and I LOVE her approach to education. She and a friend created a whole curriculum that is character based, hands on, discovery learning, unit-study approach, and can be good for different age levels at the same time. It's called KONO'S and I'm highly considering it.

Another lecture I really liked was called "Raising Real Men" by Hal and Melany Young (they have 6 boys and 2 girls). I really wanted to buy their book afterwards but figured I better wait till I'm done reading some other books I just ordered from Amazon. They told a lot of really great stories about their boys. One thing that I took from their lecture was the importance of training on three key areas: Laziness, Anger and Lust. Those are very typical character deficiencies that many men share in common. One of the best ways to move a boy into manhood without those three character weaknesses crippling them is by constantly exposing them to heroes in history. They need godly manhood set before them, not just by their father but by other figures in history. They sold Hero Tales from American History that are three CD audio books that are an hour long each with stories that are 7-11 minutes a piece all about American history heroes. (That would be a GREAT birthday gift for Orion!...Dec 2!) Another thing they promoted and sold at their booth was wooden guns and swords for boys. They think it's important to direct boys to feel equipped to protect their families and society. I have to say, their guns that shot rubber bands was VERY accurate (shot the target) and realistic!

One lecture I missed because I was in another lecture was called "Manners Matter and Mean Success". I went to her booth later and saw her "Etiquette Factory" programs. She has a Beginners course (5-8 year olds), an Intermediate course (9-12) and an Master's course (13 and up). I think I'd like the Intermediate course in a couple of years because it is for the children to read and then teach to the family. Instead of the parents being etiquette police, the children will buy into it and desire it for themselves.

When I start doing more history for the kids, I was really impressed with one of the booth's products called "The Classical Historian" This family developed curriculum and some card games for Ancient history, Midieval history and American history. It says it's for ages 3 and up. But to get the full benefit from them, probably more like 7 and up. It looked like it would actually make learning history fun!

Lastly, if the grandparent ever want to get some awesome learning games for the kids, visit www.timberdoodle.com. Can't say yet which ones I'd like, but their whole booth was full of fun looking learning games.

I better get off the computer now. Got stuff to do but I just felt like I had to defragment and organize all that I learned and what I want to refer back to later. Hopefully if you're a homeschooling mom looking for resources, my links will help you.