It’s open mic time! I invite you to leave your feedback in the comments below to help us serve you better!

Then I got to try some.

She was not exaggerating! This stuff is, well, chocolate to soothe the weary soul!

Ian, homeschool grad and owner of Slickepott, has graciously agreed to give one lucky fan a 14-ounce jar of his delectable confection! PLUS, if you use the code HEDUABLOG by May 31st, you can order at a 20% discount! [You may as well go use it now. Even if you win a jar, you'll want more. Trust me--I asked for two jars for Mother's Day!]

So, let’s get to the ways you can enter! The mandatory entry is to head over to Slickepott’s site, read a bit about Ian’s story and his fudge sauce, and leave a comment here telling me something you learned. For an additional entry, sign up for Ian’s monthly newsletter. You’ll be notified of deals and more! Additionally, you can browse the recipes and leave a comment about one you can’t wait to try.

Of course you can earn one entry per day for each social media site you share on. What are you waiting for? Get going on those entries, and remember to come back every day until Saturday to get more entries for sharing the contest!

Contest and discount for US readers, please. Contest starts now and ends Saturday at midnight, Pacific Standard Time. Winner will be notified via email. This contest is not affiliated with any social media site.

Everyone’s grass is greener than yours, so to speak, and not only is your figurative lawn brown and full of crabgrass and weeds, but everyone else’s is full of singing woodland animals, tulips, and a picnic with fancy food like caviar and crème brulee and champagne. You’ve spent the last week feverously dreaming of scaling your neighbor’s fence for a closer glimpse of their paradise and the only thing that stopped you was the fact that you haven’t scaled anything lately and the fear of being hung upside down by your underpants brings you crashing down to reality.

The thought of another spelling lesson where Junior – bless his heart – spells his own last name wrong at the top of page, nearly brings you to hysterics. Mention math and you begin to cry, shaking uncontrollably. Diagramming sentences sends you to the corner where you curl up in a fetal position and suck your thumb. You email your husband once a day, threatening to quit and including links to craigslist where he can find a replacement spouse: one who won’t struggle with fifth grade science and can make a mean risotto. You’re having daydreams of running away and living in a Starbucks.

If this describes you, then you will probably benefit from some fail safe steps, some serious buckling down, some tough love, and in other words, some advice to help you pull up your big girl undies and get over it.

However, this is not that place.

I’m here to tell you, if you feel like quitting, then by all means, Mama, do so! Gather up the textbooks and slam those puppies shut in a cupboard. They are not coming out for at least a week. Skip this Tuesday’s co-op day. Don’t go on play dates if they stress you out, especially if the other family always seems perfectly content to homeschool. Don’t quiz Junior on his times tables on the way to soccer and for goodness sake; don’t intentionally “teach” those babies anything! If they learn something in spite of your efforts, it’s on them. You did your ever-loving best.

You heard me. You have the week off. Watch movies. Read books that aren’t on your approved literature list. Take baths. Paint your toenails. Go on walks. Go to a museum, but be rebellious and don’t take the educational handout. Cook something brand new and exciting. Put up a tent in the living room and let the kids sleep in it. Go to the farmer’s market. Sing some songs. Paint a bedroom. Let your kids play. Let them make their own play dough and don’t hover over them, making sure they get the measurements right. Put out poster board and paints and let them finger paint in the yard. Build a campfire and roast marshmallows. Volunteer. Get highlights in your hair. Eat chocolate. Visit a nursing home. Plant flowers. Sleep in. Go on a date with your spouse (use this time to make sure he hasn’t followed up on any of those craigslist ads).

Beating a dead horse doesn’t do you, or the horse, any favors. Leading that dead horse to water and making it drink is even less fun. Trying to teach when you are burnt out, frustrated, easily angered, and overly emotional, will not make Susie learn her World War I facts any faster. In fact, Susie will probably hate World War I for the rest of her life because she might associate it with World War III with her mom!

You can catch up later. I promise. You don’t need to count your days and panic and think you’ll have to make up for all this lost time and how you’ll have to homeschool into eternity to make up for it. You won’t.  Saint Peter won’t stop Junior at the pearly gates and ask him what six times seven is, or ask Susie true or false history questions. No one puts on their tombstone,

Here lies Debby Do-it-all. She died bitter about algebra.

So, really, if you’re questioning more and more about why you homeschool, doubting yourself and your children, wondering if it’s all worth it, then stop. Stop. Lie down in green pastures. Find still waters. Let God restore your soul.

And if the week goes by and the thought of schooling still brings you to convulsions and your imaginary lawn is still brown and dying, well, then it may actually be time to pull up your big girl undies and get over it.

Until then, let them say,

See that homeschool mom? She’s gone rogue!Pin It

For many years, scientists have referred to the gut as the “second brain”. This is because what happens in the gut actually has a direct effect on the human brain.

The gut is responsible for the digestion of dietary nutrients—proteins, fats, and carbohydrates as well as vitamins and minerals. If the gut isn’t working right, the nutrients critical for brain function can’t be absorbed properly. In addition, gut problems also lead to an overgrowth in yeasts and other bacteria (this is called a dysbiosis). While these intestinal “bugs” are a natural part of the gut, and serve an important function there, when they are out of balance they produce too many toxins for the body to get rid of. This can directly affect neurotransmitters, the all-important chemicals that allow communication from one nerve cell to another. If neurotransmitters cannot function properly, behavior and cognition will certainly be compromised.

Why Dietary Intervention for Autism?

When it comes to the autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) population, there shouldn’t be much doubt that the gut is damaged. Diarrhea and constipation are hallmarks in the condition, and sometimes the symptoms are very severe. This fact alone should indicate that diet is an important part of treating ASD kids, though some doctors still dismiss it as unimportant.

The idea of using dietary intervention for autism goes back to 1980, when neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp noticed that autistic children shared many traits with people addicted to opioid drugs. Addicts are often “in their own world,” and often show stereotypic behaviors (e.g., rocking). Generally, opiate addicts are insensitive to pain and have serious gastrointestinal problems. Since these are also symptoms seen in ASD kids, Dr. Panksepp proposed that autistic children might have elevated levels of naturally occurring opioids in their central nervous systems.

This led to research in Europe and the United States. In all locations, abnormal peptides (chains of proteins) were found in the urine of autistic children.  These peptides, primarily from gluten and casein, are similar enough to morphine-class drugs to cause some of the behaviors and symptoms typical of autistic spectrum disorders (self-stimulation, sensory integration disorders, bowel irregularities and insensitivity to pain).

These findings ultimately resulted in the postulation of what is now called the “opioid excess theory” of autism. In short, the hypothesis suggests that autism and its associated symptoms may result from the incomplete breakdown of proteins in foods that contain gluten and casein, and also to excessive absorption of these protein chains due to a damaged (leaky) gut. According to this theory, the presence of these peptides disrupts important brain processes.

When these proteins are removed from a child’s diet, the physical and emotional withdrawal response can be extreme—simply removing foods to which a person is sensitive should not cause this kind of discomfort. It is as if they are truly “addicted” to these foods!

Related Issues

Research by Dr. Rosemary Waring in the UK showed that children on  the autism spectrum also have a deficiency in an enzyme group called Phenol Sulfur transferase (PST). This can affect the body’s ability to rid itself of toxins and can also lead to a damaged gut. It is through this leaky gut that toxins “get in where they do not belong.” Once they pass from the gut into the bloodstream, they can affect the brain directly.

What About Yeast?

For the parents of developmentally delayed or disabled children, the medical history often includes a series of ear or respiratory infections and antibiotic treatment.

Overuse of antibiotics has not only led to resistant strains, it also may weaken the immune system’s ability to recognize and fight off infection.

The late Dr. William Crook of Jackson, Tennessee, long championed the notion that abuse of antibiotics has damaged children. He believed that a vicious cycle begins when an upper respiratory or ear infection is treated with antibiotics. The antibiotic throws off the balance of the intestinal flora by killing off ‘good’ bacteria, which provide protection against fungal and parasitic infections, help break down complex foods, and synthesize certain vitamins. With so many useful (or ‘friendly’) organisms destroyed, yeast (Candida albicans) can grow unchecked, causing infections that have many troubling and seemingly unrelated symptoms, and which can cause or contribute to the leakiness of the gut. This unhealthy situation leads to more infections, more antibiotics and…well, you get the idea.

Despite the fact that the majority of mainstream medicine has scoffed at the notion of disease being caused by an organism that naturally occurs in our intestines, improvement is too widespread to dismiss and other doctors are now looking into the ‘yeast connection.’

Work by Dr. William Shaw, a Kansas City biochemist, has provided additional evidence to support Dr. Crook’s long held theories. Shaw has found unusually high levels of fungal metabolites (yeast waste products) in the urine of several groups of abnormally functioning individuals, including people with autism.

According to Dr. Stephen B. Edelson of the Autism Research Institute, as yeast reproduces in the gut it can undergo physical changes to become a different kind of fungus, a mycelial fungus. This type of fungus produces structures which penetrate gut linings and break down the lining between the intestines and the rest of the circulation. In other words, Candida infections may also contribute to damage of the gut wall. Edelson cites work that supports the notion that “some of these incomplete protein-breakdown products, if absorbed, may have endorphin-like activity and can change mood, mind, memory and behavior.”

Critics of the ‘yeast connection’ syndrome argue that not every illness can be cured by anti-fungal medication and special diets. This is certainly true. But it is also true that many people, adults as well as children, have been on an antibiotic ‘merry-go-round’ that has damaged their body’s ability to heal itself and fight off infections. Even children who have not had courses of antibiotics often show these abnormal proteins in their urine, and diet is an excellent first step towards addressing these issues.

Other Dietary Issues in Autism

Unfortunately, many children seem to need dietary modifications that go beyond simply avoiding gluten and casein. Many children must also avoid soy, corn, and eggs. Some are on a restricted carbohydrate diet such as the SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet) or BED (Body Ecology Diet). Some children are now on the LOD, a diet that limits oxylates found in many foods. Most must limit sugar and increase fermented and other probiotic foods.

Because it can be confusing, most people referring to any of these interventions just say “GF/CF Diet”. Since experience has shown that most people on the spectrum will benefit from a diet free of gluten and dairy, the removal of these founds should be considered the foundation for dietary intervention. Because our kids are all individual, it makes sense to start there and then tweak until we get it just right for our kids.

Dietary interventions are potentially helpful for a wide range of diseases and disorders. Given recent statistics about the increase of autism spectrum disorders, it is vitally important that we take the gut-brain connection seriously, and address the gut related problems as early as we can.

Everyone has heard the old saying, “You are what you eat”, but it is probably more accurate to say “You are what you digest.” And there is no time to waste!

If you would like to learn more from Lisa Lewis, you can use the discount code HEA to get 15% off her book Special Diets for Special Kids at her publisher Future Horizons. If you live in the continental US, you also receive free shipping!

Now it’s your turn. Leave your own experiences, tips, or questions in the comments below!

Lisa Lewis earned her Ph.D. in Biological Anthropology from New York University, where she studied genetic variation in two species of African monkeys. Her 24 year old son was diagnosed with autism in 1991, and five years later her research led her to try dietary intervention. His successful adoption of the gluten-free, casein-free diet led to her award-winning Special Diets for Special Kids series.

In 1999, Lisa and co-founder Karyn Seroussi started ANDI, the Autism Network for Dietary Intervention. ANDI provides information and support to parents around the world; their years of research on the topic led to the publication of The Encyclopedia of Dietary Intervention. Lisa continues to write and to speak on the subject of dietary intervention for autism and related disorders. Ten years ago Lisa formulated a line of gluten and casein free protein bars which she which she sells online and in select health food shops

Now empty nesters, Lisa and her husband Serge Goldstein live in New Jersey with pets Teddy and Murphy.

Contact Lisa via email at ANDIBars@gmail.com, or through the websites Specialdietsforspecialkids.net, or AutismNDI.com, where you can sign up for her electronic newsletter or order ANDI Bars.

 Pin It

Danielle at Domestic Serenity (and yes, her blog really is peaceful!) has some great ideas for freezer cooking. Don’t be intimidated. She makes it practical!

Ashley Pichea shares her personal story of how menu planning helped her cut her grocery bill by 1/3. Yes, you read that right! By over thirty percent! I’d say that’s a plus!

Now it’s your turn! Do you have a blog post about saving money on groceries or meal planning? Leave it in the comments below and share your tips!

I woke up at 4 a.m. this morning and made my way to my sitting room/office/meditation room, as I normally do.  I savor those early mornings when the house is quiet and all I hear is the hum of the furnace and the chirp of the birds. I thank God for all of His blessings, ask His forgiveness for my sins, and ask Him to give me the patience to deal with whatever comes my way that day.

After my morning prayer, I sat at my desk and reviewed my calendar. I put on my businesswoman hat while I completed paperwork and updated my website.  My product launch for my work-from-home class was fast approaching and there was a lot to do. I reviewed my household budget and paid bills. Being a single parent who receives no child support, finances are never too far off the brain. With four growing boys in the house who are accustomed to eating on a regular basis and turning on a light switch and expecting the lights to flicker, I have to make sure more money is coming in than going out. I get asked the question: “How do you make it?” quite often.

First, we give thanks to God for all of his blessings. He provides what we need, not necessarily what we want. Unless there is a special occasion approaching, I buy the boys’ clothes at the thrift store, where I pay $1.29 per pound (yes, clothes by the pound – that tells you the state of the economy, eh?). I also buy books from the thrift store, as well as the library bookstore.  I have found workbooks for fifty cents! Haircuts for four boys can get pretty expensive quickly, so I bought a pair of clippers for $35.  Although I don’t give fancy haircuts, it saves money!

I heard my youngest son beginning to wake.  Dear Lord, what mood will he be in this morning? Will he be a loving and willing child? Or will there be temper tantrums and total unwillingness? Autism has pulled patience out of me from places I did not know existed. Before the autism diagnosis, I just thought my little guy would take a bit longer to walk and talk. All children are unique and develop in their own time, right? So, I probably ignored the warning signs a bit longer than I should have, until a caring relative pointed out what was apparently obvious to everyone but me. Three months after hearing those words from my relative, my little guy was diagnosed as autistic.  According to the doctor, “He will probably always need a little help.” Can I just say my heart broke that day? Those words hurt me more than a divorce or breakup. Dear Lord, what was I going to do?

Luckily, he was in a loving mood – he gave me a hug around the neck and a kiss on the cheek. The older boys had gotten their breakfast, washed the dishes, taken care of their personal grooming, and had started their assignments at the dining room table. Our organizational system consists of milk crates in the dining room. They hold their books, notebooks, pencils, dictionary, and anything else they might need for school. It might not be pretty, but it works!

I lurk around in the kitchen, available for any questions the boys might have, while my little guy plays with his blocks in the living room. After completing my client work, the boys and I took a break to watch a DVR recording of “Cupcake Wars.” We laughed at the odd combinations of flavors the chefs used in their cupcakes and then it was back to work.

When I dreamed of homeschooling, I thought it would be with a husband who worked outside of the home while I schooled the children. I would make glorious gourmet meals every day. My kids would discover the cure for the common cold and split the atom, all while smiling. Our home would be filled with unconditional love.

The real truth is there is no husband. Hot dogs, pancakes, and sausage replace gourmet meals. My children are excelling in their school work but there have been more tears than I care to admit. We have battled with multiplication facts, when and how to use a semicolon, and handwriting has been a beast.

I have had to play the role of mom, dad, disciplinarian, soother, judge, and jury. There is no one else to take the slack – it all falls at my feet.

But what I can say is this – through all of the tears (mostly my own), through all of the loud voices, the messes, the piled up laundry, and the papers waiting to be graded, one of my wishes did come true. The love is there – it never fails, it never leaves, total unconditional love. When my boys walk out this door, I want them to take these memories with them and make their way in life. A life to include love.

Now it’s your turn. Are you a single working homeschooling parent with some suggestions for others? Leave them in the comments below.

Regina is the CEO/Owner of The Work from Home Classroom. The Work from Home Classroom offers coaching services, resources and products to help individuals become successful home workers and entrepreneurs. She is also a social media community manager for numerous clients. She was named a Success Driven Woman in Business by The CEO Mamma Network and is the author of an eBook for aspiring virtual assistants.

Definitely a multi-tasker, she is a single parent of four young boys at home, plus a mom to four adult children and grandmother to four. A passionate advocate for educational choice, Regina homeschools three of the boys, with the youngest attending a day program for autistic children.Pin It

THIS GIVEAWAY CLOSED. Winner will be notified by email and announced on Wednesday. Thank you for participating!

Last week we started our Working Homeschool Moms series. One of the tools Betty mentioned using to stay on track was our On the Go planner. This planner is my personal favorite. It’s purse-sized, beautiful, and has so many fabulous features in addition to a calendar!

Guess what? This week you have a chance to win a new 2012-2013 On the Go planner! All you have to do is leave a comment sharing a feature you love. You can read the description and preview the planner here. You can get an extra entry for each share–one per type of share (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) per day.

Giveaway starts now and runs through Saturday midnight, Pacific Standard Time. A random U.S. winner will be chosen and notified by email. Enjoy!

This giveaway is not affiliated with any social media site.

Lost in the Wilderness

But, it wasn’t always that way. There were a few troublesome years when I stumbled around in the dark. I felt like the Israelites who left Egypt and wandered around in the wilderness. Homeschooling had been my life for fifteen years. It was my 24-hours-a-day job. I had lost my identity.

I envisioned my children growing up, moving down the street, and having bushels of children that I could mentor and love. But when that never happened, I found myself depressed and watching daytime TV. What was even on in the daytime? Then I began to realize I had failed to foster a sense of self in the midst of the great homeschooling adventure. And it was an adventure! I wouldn’t change anything, but I didn’t know how to be me anymore. I wish I had been more prepared to let go and move on.

I didn’t expect so much time on my hands after my children moved away. After all, there was a bazillion things I wanted to do when I had free time while I was homeschooling. But those things didn’t seem so important now. There was a hole in my heart that went to the very core of who I was. I thought the hole was the loss of my children, but it was really the loss of me.

Resting under the Cloud of His Presence

I dug into prayer and asked the Lord, “What do You want me to do with my life now?”  One day I sensed Him say, “What do you want to do?” That was the problem, I didn’t know. I was tired. Frankly, I was burned out. Even firemen get twenty-four hours off every forty-eight. But not moms. How could I have given the best years of my life to others, and then, when it was my turn to live, I didn’t have the energy to get off the couch?

Someone said to me, “You should rest, you deserve it.” I think the Lord concurred. It was time to slow down, rest, and take inventory. I felt prompted to make a list of what I would like to do. Write a book, take a computer class, find a job being creative. The thought of making up a resume was scary! I wanted to do something I was passionate about the same way I was passionate about homeschooling.

Water in the Rock

Piece by piece the Lord unfolded his plan for me. He reminded me of how He led the children of Israel in the wilderness for forty years teaching them to rely on Him. He could have led them the short way, but He said in Exodus that He wanted to strengthen them, so when it came time, they could take their inheritance in the Promised Land. The Lord had not forgotten me! He had a good land waiting full of goodness and provision, to give me a future and a hope in this season of my life.

The Lord whispered an encouragement, “You were happy before you had children. What did you do then?” I liked photography so I bought a camera. I wandered around taking pictures of scenery. It made me happy. I say this because I had forgotten what made me happy outside of thinking of someone else. I learned how to load them on Photoshop and tag them. That was a real feat in those early empty nest days! I started a Facebook page and shared my photos online. But I still felt a bit lost. I asked, “What else can I do Lord?”

I loved crafts. Maybe I could share my love of crafts by taking photos of them and posting them on my website. My friend’s children were excited about helping me. I soon found myself laughing and cutting out snowflakes and cooking up treats with children who needed an older person in their lives. It felt right. It felt like my life was getting fuller again.

Victory in the Promised Land

Eventually I did write that book, and several more! I decided to launch out and publish my own books and write for magazines. Each time new pressures mounted, new business decisions came, I felt His gentle nudge to sit at His feet and learn of Him. I heard Him say, “I am the Lord your God who teaches you to prosper.” I was encouraged not to be led by the outer pressures of others to succeed, but the inner desire to please Him. I love how He kept reminding me of what was important in life: a relationship with Him.

My nest is empty of my own biological children, but far from empty! The Bible says God puts lonely into families and I’m sure that’s right.  When I could let go of what I thought my life should be, I got a better view of what it could be. It was a good land flowing with abundance and purpose.

Dr. Dobson wrote that the human being was the only species of animal that didn’t die once the female stopped producing offspring. He listed many women who in their day accomplished amazing things. Mother Teresa spearheaded one of the greatest mercy ministries of all times and Margaret Thatcher ran a country. Yes, homeschooling is definitely a wonderful season in life. Cherish those memories. But God has something just as special for your next season of life. Don’t be afraid to embrace it!

Now it’s your turn. What have you done to help you get past an empty nest and into something new? Leave your story in the comments below.

Jan May is author of the New Millennium Girls chapter books and curriculum, freelance writer, and pastor’s wife. She is a fifteen year homeschool veteran and creative writing teacher. Jan enjoys igniting creativity in children and believes that given the right encouragement, any child can write.

You can read a review of Jan’s curriculum Creative Writing Made Easy over at our review site.Pin It

Be there. Being there is one of the first ways to minister in an emergency situation. You may think that there’s nothing you can do, but when a family is waiting on a doctor’s diagnosis or a police report, there’s nothing anyone can do. Waiting together is much preferred to waiting alone.

Be sensitive. A lack of sensitivity on our part most often leads to crisis situations being overlooked. Unfortunately, our busy lives can hinder us from reaching out to one another. Just because you may not know anyone in your immediate circle of friends who was affected in this round of southern tornadoes doesn’t mean you aren’t still connected to someone who does. Tight relationships can be essential in avoiding some of life’s derailments. Ask around, and see how you can help.

Be committed. It’s all too easy to muddle the essential after-care during difficult times. When the immediate crisis is over, the church family, especially, must still be available. Real love is for the long-term. This after-care can come in the thoughtfulness of a phone call, card, or visit. And never discount the fundamental value of hospitality. After the death or divorce of a spouse, for example, home isn’t the same anymore. Most people would gladly receive an evening shared with another family.

Be practical. In times of crisis, the spiritual must link with the practical. Jesus demonstrated this. His ministry was one of hands-on action while still speaking to the needs of the soul. Both the Red Cross and The Salvation Army are accepting donations to help tornado victims. The youth pastor at my church, Troy Perry, is taking a truck full of supplies down to Athens, AL, this weekend. [If you are in the Nashville area and would like to contribute non-perishable food items, diapers, or bottled water, please bring them to Madison First Baptist Church during office hours (9am – 3pm) this week.]

Be quiet. What could be worse in the aftermath of devastation than idle chatter from a trusted church family? Many times, gossip is thinly veiled in the form of “prayer requests.” We need to be vigilant as we guard our tongues during the tough times, keeping confidences and details to ourselves, even when inquiring minds want to know, and always being diligent to pray for the needs shared with us.

Now it’s your turn! Do you have any suggestions? Maybe someone else helped you in a great way. Leave your thoughts in the comments below!Pin It