Where has all the play in early childhood gone???

It is spring time, which is the traditional time for parents to start planning and applying to preschools and kdg for the following year. I am very non traditional. We don't use preschools or even schools but there was a time when we did. I remember those times with a bit of a cold shiver. My only child to have attend a preschool or traditional school kdg did so 10 - 12 years ago. I wasn't so impressed with how the push for less play and more structured academics was then. Today I am shocked and scared for kids futures. I read a comment the other day that a persons child had scored really well on there end of year preschool testing. This was for a three year old child. It prompted me to take yet another look at just where early childhood education is in this country.

Early childhood is thought of from birth to age 8. Yes really age 8 not say 3 which is where i get the feeling a lot of people who put the end of early childhood. Before age five or six should be a time when a child focuses on play, getting to know the world around them, social and self help skills not academics. If academics enter the picture it should be in a play formate and because a child is interested not because it was on the schedule and someone decided that in order to preform better on a test at ten they needed to be reading by five.

A very scary trend seems to be happening where children are having to give up play and parts of there childhoods and replace it with academic circle times, seat work, and standardized tests very early. As early as three. Ages ago it was just the ubber competative parent that was pushing reading, writting and arithmatic on thier three year olds so they could be fast tracked into the right schools. Now days it's become common!

Children entering pre K programs are being tested for academic skills before entering! They are three and four year olds they shouldn't have academic skills. They should know what there favorite story is, Have a favorite animal, be able to dig in the dirt or sand, know how to go down a slide, how to squish the playdough, how to cut paper into a million tiny pieces and then use glue to stick it to stuff, make a great and messy painting, maybe have developed a love for go fish or candyland but not academic skills. A child that knows there alphabet (in more than one language as well), can count to 100, draw six shapes on request, identify all the colors on the color wheel, and know the presidents should be an exeption not the expectation. I may be exagerating ther a bit but not by much.

Standardized testing in kdg classrooms is becoming normal. A standardized test where you sit down with a paper test packet and pencil and fill in the blanks or bubbles for five year olds??????? I guess that's what happens when pre K is where you are suppose to still for long amounts of time, and enter knowing your shapes, colors, full name, how to share, and the majority of your letters and numberS. Heck that used to be the list of things you needed to master by the end of kindergarden. By Kindergarden they then expect you to write short stories, do dailey worksheets of math problems, and if you can't read by November you are labled as behind and in danger of failing.

Don't get me started on my thoughts about homework for the sake of homework, for the under twelve crowd. Pre K and Kdg kids have weekly worksheet homework packets to complete in addition to all the worksheets they do at school. Assigned worksheets are not developmentally appropriate for this group, free style coloring and writting is!

Recess is disapearing as well. All day kindergardens often only have one 30 minute break for it a day. 1st and second graders have even less and sometimes none. Move on up a grade or two and it's common for recess to be a purely optional activity based on the workload of the day or the teachers desire to provide it. Little bodies need to move and they need to do it a lot! Adults think and work better when they have breaks to talk to someone or strtch thier legs and just have a few moments of downtime so why on earth would people begin to think children can do without it and funtion anywhere near normally?

I watched a news special on inovative teaching techniques. It involved several classrooms where teachers had adopted some form of physical movement into the lessons. It went on to say how the kids learned better when they were able to wiggle, bounce and jump. Great bit DUH. Kids are like energizer bunnies they have more energy than they know what to do with and it distracts even the most interested kid from absorbing anything, when did people lose sight of this fact? Instead of spending money on exercise balls, special wiggle foot peddels on desk, and all kinds of tramploines and jumpropes for the classroom why not just add recess back into the day. I'll be brazen and say they should have three or four recesses or decompression free times. I remember having three recesses in grade school, every single day. Morning, lunch and afternoon. We also had PE at least every other day. Even as a ten year old I remember being ready to burst out of my skull by the time each recess came along because I just needed out of my seat and away form the books, chalkboards and trying to focus on what the teacher was saying.

With lack of recess, hyper focus on early academics and paper seat work, craming so much into the day of older kids that they never get to leave there desks until lunch of a bathroom break it's no wonder teachers are complaining about classroom control and kids behaviors. I think educators in this country have lost sight of appropriate developmental abilities for children. Heck at times I think they have forgotten they are dealing with children all together. I know a whole lot of parents have. Kids are not tiny adults, they don't function or think like them. they can not process and handle high preasure demands they way adults do. Pushing three and four year olds into academics, listing five years olds as failing for not reading or giving them standardized tests, taking away recess and replacing it with another math lesson for six and seven year olds and, repalcing recess with group activities and bouncing on an excercise ball while listening to a history lesson for old kids is most definately high preasure and stress for kids.

I would like to burn every single standardized test in the world and then deleate them from all the computers. Then we could start over from scratch and maybe realize we are destroying kids in this country by pushing academics younger and young all in the name or our worshing the almighty standardized test.

The more I learn the more I know we are doing the best thing for our children by not putting them in that kinda childhood removing rat race.

Moving blues, and frustrations

We're moving against our will. I never ever wanted to move again but here we are doing it once more. We have 22 days to be out of this house and into another one. We have found a home to rent. One tiny little problem is that it isn't available for 36 days. So that leaves us with about 16 homeless days in there. Yes this is a massive frustration for me. The person that owns the home we are moving to is doing all kinds of things to make it easy on us and get us in as quickly as possible but still we are going to have some homeless days. We are going to be able to put our stuff into the garage and backyard of the new home and that will help some but not all of it will fit there, so where does the rest go?. And of course there is the matter of what to do with us. I don't really want to impose on friends, even as nice as they are. I know how having people at your house can drive you insane no matter how much you like them. Two weeks is asking a bit much of friends. Hotels are way to expensive. We are not campers and although I am willing to do it I think my body would be very unwilling. Not to mention our three sweet indoor kitties who are already going to be out of sorts with all of this. They could stay with friends but I don't know that that would be a good situation for their mental health. They'd be confused and abandoned and what if they got outside. My kitties are just barely below my kids on my love scale. I worry about their well being a lot.

The simple solution to all of this would be for our current landlord to extend our stay here for two weeks. It makes sense to me but apparently not to the landlord. Yes I want to pull my hair out and scream but what good would it do?

So we are packing and sorting and doing all kinds of planning for alternate housing for six people and three cats. Rather I should say that I am because all of these things are ultimately left up to me to do. JT can not organize, sort or pack anything that is not specifically his because he is clueless as to what we use or what is needed right now and what can be packed away. He likes it this way to because it relieves him of responsibilty. He should pay more attention to our household and what we use and what the kids favorited are so he wouldn't be in this position but he's chosen not to. He even takes an eternity to pack his stuff up. With so little responsibility in the moving area you'd think he'd have that done no problem. It's been two weeks since I asked him to pack up his area in the garage and it still isn't done! He's no help in the make a decision department to. He is a very black and white kinda person. When confronted with a problem that doesn't have an easy or immediately apparent answer he becomes frustrated and kinda useless at solving it. He doesn't think outside the box well, he doesn't even realize there is a box half the time. He is very quick to argue with every single solution I propose though.

My body is reacting terribly to all this stress and extra physical work. I'm spasming everywhere. Muscles are locking up in so much pain. I can't sleep because of the pain. My migraines are getting bad again. My hands and legs are rebelling in pain. I'm having a lot of flair ups to the point where I can't use my hands or legs. My memory is acting like swiss cheese as well lately. I can't function like this. I have to stop and put ice packs on myself several times a day. I'm going to the chiropractor twice a week and I'm about to ask the doctor for actual pain meds. I haven't even considered pain pill in forever for my back. Lifting any boxes messes up my joins and muscles badly and yet I have to move them. They have to be picked up, put down, scooted around and such. A crap load of stuff in the garage has to be sorted through as well. It was stuff I was going to get around to slowly this spring but now I must rush through it.

I really need JT to stop acting like such and ass so often to reduce my stress. He needs to do things when they need to be done so that I can get on to other things and not worry about those or have them in my way. He also needs to stop picky fights and turning conversations into shouting matches simply because he doesn't like me pointing out that he hasn't done something and it's making me mad and inconveniencing me again. He doesn't want to be told what to do, yet he doesn't know what to do without being told. He doesn't want to be nagged yet he won't go do things the first time they are asked of him. He doesn't want me doing lifting and moving but he's not here to do it and when he is here is usually isn't in the mood to do it and acts put out when I need him to do the lifting and moving of things. I can't win with him and it feel like I have another kid around. He doesn't even help keep up on the daily chores like dishes, laundry, vacuuming or picking up so I'm left to take care of all that as well as just about everything else. I know most of it is he is stressed to but crap, he's really not helping the situation and I really don't have the time to slowly let him come to this conclusion on his own like I normally would.

I really hate moving. I hate being incharge of moving even more though.

When your oven dies

Well of course you make soup!!!

Sunday my oven died a slow death. I was using it a lot that day. I was making homemade bread, teriyaki chicken, roasted potatoes, and a bread pudding. The bread was the first thing and it turned out bad. That should have been a clue that something was amiss with the oven but I thought it was something I had done since it was a new recipe. The tops were terribly thick and the bottoms mushy. Later it took two hours to try and cook the chicken, potatoes and pudding and the oven just wouldn't get hot enough at all. Of course the oven kept telling me that it was hot enough when it was clear that it wasn't. I finally gave up on the oven and nuked the dry chicken to make sure it was cooked and then nuked some frozen veggies. Dinner wasn't exactly a hit.

I was in a really rotten mood after all that. I was mad at the oven and pissed that I put all that effort into the food that was no good! I'm very judgemental about my own cooking.

There was no saving the bread pudding. It's bad when an egg based dish won't cook in your oven after two hours! I was able to salvage the leftovers of the chicken and potatoes though. Since very little was actually eaten the night before I had plenty to work with. I turned the whole mess into a soup.

I started buy dumping the potatoes and onions into a big pan and covering them with water. I let that simmer awhile and then added a bullion cube, since I had no broth or stock. Then I chuncked up the chicken and tossed it in along with some more teriyaki sauce and water. I let that sit on med for a couple hours, added another bullion cube, water and the corn and carrots from the night before. Then I turned it to low and let it sit for awhile. Oh I had some garlic at some point to. It made a really super yummy soup.

As for the oven I bought an oven thermometer, looked a lot up on line, got JT to take a look at the oven computer and a friend to look at the oven itself. The bake element is dead and gone. I'll be replacing it later today. Then I shall bake cookies!!!!!

Making laundry soap

I am one of those nutty people making a lot of homemade things instead of buying them. I started working on laundry soap about a month or so ago. It is incredibly cheap to make your own laundry soap. It's also good for the environment (no boxes and bottles to put in a landfill or try to recycle, and it cuts way down on the amount of chemicals and dyes you end up putting n your clothes and the waste water. I mainly make it because of the cost, I am a tightwad at heart. Saving a bundle on laundry soap just appealed to me. I'll tell ya just how little this costs per paod at the bottom. People will be shocked.

There are a lot of recipes out there for laundry soap. Almost all of them contain vinegar and baking soda or washing powder and some base of soap. I have always been a firm believer in the power of both vinegar and baking soda to clean all kinds of things. I have discovered that homemade laundry soap cleans just as well if not better than the commercial stuff. I have four kids that have made it a mission to see how much dirt and food they can keep by applying it to there clothes and a husband who always has a mystery stain on something by the end of the day. I haven't had any problems cleaning any of it with this, and it smells good to.

After reading a lot and tweaking many things to suit my needs here is what I have come up with.

Washing powder 1 cup
vinegar 3 cups
zote bar soap 1/8 bar grated
tea tree oil 1/4 tsp
water 16 cups

It's really that simple. Now my first experiment was a little different. It had baking soda instead of washing powder, oxy clean, no tea tree oil and more zote soap and water. I have also read of people putting glycerin in the mixture.

This time I found the washing powder and cut the recipe down to fit into a smaller container. I had a 170 ounce, empty laundry soap bottle and it was my goal to make it fit in that. The first time I had enough for two of those and it was to much for me to try and store.

To make this you will need a big pot to fit about 18 - 20 cups of liquid and still have room to stir.

1) Fill your pot with the water and vinegar. Bring it to a low boil.

2) While it boils dig out a cheese grater and grate about an 1/8 to 1/4 of a bar of zote soap into a bowl. You can use a knife to carve it off but it's messy that way. You need the soap in small pieces or chips to work well.

3)Stir in the washing powder until it is dissolved. Your mixture will get foamy, maybe very foamy, just stir it until you aren't afraid of it going over the side anymore.

4)Once the powder is dissolved and the water is still at a low boil, pour in the soap pieces. Stir them until they begin to melt. Once they begin to melt a little turn the heat down to a high medium. Keep stirring them occasionally for the next half hour or until they are completely melted. It is very important that the water be hot and that it be stirred every few minutes or the soap pieces won't dissolve and you will end up with a very chunky soap.

5) When the soap is melted you will probably have a soapy scum on top still and that is fine. Add the tea tree oil, stir it in and let it cool. Let it cool completely before transferring. It will gel up a lot when it is cooled.

Two important things to remember.

*Add the soap pieces when the water is very hot or they will clump together and not melt right no matter how long you boil it for. it will look very chunky, almost barf like.I didn't do this the first time and it looked really weird but it still washed and the soap did dissolve in the machine.

*Let the soap cool completely to room temp before transferring it. It gels up and concentrates a lot upon cooling. It doesn't become solid but it may become to gelled to easily get in or out of some containers with narrow openings. I didn't let this batch cool enough before putting it in an empty detergent bottle. When it had finally cooled it was thick and very hard to get out of the bottle without pounding on it and even digging it out with a spoon. I transferred it to a big ice cream bucket and it works fine now.

You only need to use 1 - 2 tablespoons of this per load. Huge difference from even the most concentrated ones on the market.

I used a pink bar of Zote but I'm not crazy about the dye aspect so when this bar is gone I'm going to look for the white version of it or a regular bar of ivory bath soap. If you use ivory I'd go with about half the bar per batch. I chose to add tea tree oil because of it's anti bacterial properties. It just makes me feel good knowing one more thing is in there killing germs lol. If it isn't your thing or you can't find it (Walmart carries it with the vitamins), then you could add some lavender or Rosemary oil for a nice scent. Of course you could eliminate it to, it's not essential to the cleaning aspect of the soap.

When I did the math the whole batch of laundry soap cost about $1.50 (including water). There are roughly 300 loads in this batch. The cost per load is somehwere around a penny. I actually think it is a bit less than a penny but I need to double check the actual cost of each item before I say that for sure. I am in cheap heaven!!

Soon I'll load the pictures I have of the process on here. I know seeing other peoples pictures helped me figure out what was going on a lot better.