Jamie Martin, author of the book pictured above and blogger over at simplehomeschool.net, is hosting the Read the World Book Club once again this summer, just like she did last summer. I encourage you to buy her book that is the backbone for the club, pictured above, in Kindle or paperback. Then use it to find books to read loud to your kids, or encourage them to read independently, this summer.
The summer book club is super low-key. It basically gives you the idea to read books each week that are listed in a theme-based chapter in the book, so that you “travel” around the world (in your mind, as you read books based on Asia, Europe, Africa, etc. Each chapter is full of stories/books based on or in each continent around the world.) You can get more details and register here. I found some great books to read aloud to my kids last year that gave me fond, lasting memories. I can’t wait to discover some great new books this summer! You can come up with your own incentives to give to your children for reading, and use the printables provided by Jamie when you register here. Happy reading!
I just got word about this online broadcast for the “Universal Model Millennials Science Class” that is taking place in Taylorsville UT on Thurs. June 1, 2017. Sorry about the late notice, I am letting you all know as soon as I can. Because of a recent trip to southern Utah, a car accident, and the upheaval and recovery that resulted from that, I haven’t been able to keep up with my plan to have a UM Discussion for May like I announced earlier, so this is the next best thing.
If you want to buy a copy of the Universal Model volume 1, go here. If you want a summary of Volume 1, go here.
In this class, two young men will be presenting information from the Universal Model Volume 1 book that gives evidence for Noah’s flood.
In the meantime, enjoy these UM videos below. The first one is one of Dean Sessions’ latest interviews. (Dean is the author of the Universal Model.) The second one relates the Coral Pink Sand Dunes in southern Utah to the Flood
I am so excited about this new book, written by my wonderful friend, Mary Ann Johnson. This is the book I have waited for my whole mothering life! I know it sounds cheesy, but I am serious! As a die-hard, attachment-parenting (AP) practicing mother who was a Dr. Sears groupie, I immersed myself in the AP world. I read the Baby Book by Dr. and Martha Sears, the Bible for attachment parenting, when I was pregnant with Baby #1. I made sacrifices to hear Dr. Sears speak in person and felt jealous when I heard a friend of a friend had him as a pediatrician. I breastfed on cue and did not ever let my babies cry themselves to sleep. I waited to cut the umbilical cord until long after it stopped pulsing and shared my bed with my babies. I wore them in slings and wraps, and I tried to be so in tune with my babies, I even tried elimination communication. (I got it to work a few times but combining that with homeschooling and cooking from scratch almost put me over the edge so I gave up on that one!) I even tandem nursed for two sets of babies.
This is my husband and me with my firstborn, cuddled in my Dr. Sears NoJo Babysling. Those were the days when being a present parent was easy. Now he’s 23, studying computer science at college, and we have six more, with four still at home.
But once those babies hit age 3 or so, and their demands were less physical and more social and emotional, I often felt at a loss. As taxing as physical connection can be, it doesn’t take advanced skills. (“What, you mean I have to think about what to do with you and not just pop my breast in your mouth?”) Mental and emotional connection is not as easy. As a former La Leche League Leader, I read everything La Leche League had in their catalog on discipline and connection. I definitely found some gem of books, like Hold On to Your Kids by Gordon Neufeld and Playful Parenting by Lawrence Cohen. Those were some of my favorites. Yet I wanted a book that was a bit more concise, full of totally simple, do-able bullet points for everyday mothering life.
In the meantime, while waiting for that perfect book, to stay connected to my seven children as they navigate childhood and teenage hood, I have basically done these things:
Provide them with consistent mealtimes where we have lots of conversations
Homeschool them
Give them mentor meetings
Take them on mentor dates
Be at the crossroads, as Pres. Benson counseled, when they leave and come home, to talk to them as they come and go.
Read aloud to them every day.
Pray with them every day as a family, morning and night
Tuck them into bed at night and talk about their day
Do chores with them, like cleaning bathrooms, washing dishes, and folding clothes. Often I read aloud while they are doing dishes.
Enjoy family traditions with them
Go on vacations with them
Have family movie nights
Attend their ball games, recitals, and school “show-off nights”
Whew, that’s a lot! No wonder I often feel tired! I haven’t been perfect with all these things, 100% of the time, with some kids I have been better than others. I’ve had my share of challenges that left me feeling too empty and wiped out to do certain things. Overall, I have done all these things most of the time and do enjoy a close relationship with my children. Yet, sometimes I feel like I could be more “present” and engaged with them. Occasionally, I find out that certain behaviors I don’t like have been going on right under my nose while we have been in the same house! I have been so involved in my own stuff I haven’t always noticed what is going on with them. I definitely see room for improvement for me to be a “present parent” who knows what is going on with her children and how they are feeling. I want my children to know they can always come to me, talk to me, and I will always provide a listening ear and have their back. I want them to all feel like my 19 year old does. He recently wrote a letter home from his LDS mission in Argentina, where he compared our home to “the Shire” in the Hobbit, and life out there in the world as the land of Mordor. Wow, I feel encouraged by this! I currently have some tough issues to work on with my younger kids, so my work is definitely cut out for me.
That’s why I am so happy to share this book with you! If I could rename this book I would name it Attachment Parenting Beyond Babyhood: What to do When the Kid Gets Too Old for Breastfeeding and Babywearing. It gives me and you concrete things to do, beyond the ones listed above that I am already doing. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars! Mary Ann Johnson, the author, is no “pie-in-the-sky theorist” with ivory tower credentials about parenting. She is a real live mother of seven and grandmother of many more, with decades of experience mothering and grandmothering in the trenches. She does not come across as perfect or preachy. I love that she shares her trials, shortcomings, mistakes, and problems in rearing her family and maintaining ties with her adult children and her grandchildren. Her seven children were born in a span of 18 years, with the last one born when she was 41. Some of the issues she and or her family have dealt with are: a dad who traveled for a living, school failure, drug abuse, a baby born out of wedlock, thoughts of suicide, smoking, anger/rage issues, and more. So she speaks from experience on how to be present for your children, even when things aren’t rosy.
Here is what you will get when you read this book:
feelings of empathy, like I referred to above. Mary Ann and her family have experienced it all. She knows where you are coming from! You will feel encouraged, knowing that Mary Ann dealt with this, so you can too!
how we check out so that we aren’t present for our children. Mary Ann gives eight ways we check out, which we can all relate to, and why it’s so important for us to be present for our children
the cost of checking out from our kids lives, including regrets, loss of esteem for our children, poor parent responses and parent messages, less enjoyment with our children, and missing what matters most
how to master important skills of connecting everyday with your children. These skills can be mastered by any parent, they just take time. You already have everything you need to connect with your kids daily.
how to utilize touchpoints. These are basic everyday things that happen in every home, which you can capitalize on to connect with your kids
how to change the inner scripts that go on inside your brain, undermining your connections with your kids
how to let go of anger and rage as a parent
how to create a solid foundation for your family culture, including letting go of anger, as mentioned above, and create a family mission statement, even if you have obstacles
how to adjust your approach to connecting when frustrations come up
how to keep it simple
how to turn away from technology
a chapter on self-care, including how to lay down the burdens of emotional weights, the pain and wounds that come from our own childhood unmet needs
lots of quotes from parenting experts I admire, including many from the books I read in my LLL Leader days
TONS of encouragement to keep working at being a present parent and let go of beating yourself up over your failures
As a side note, it was so fun to come across people mentioned in this book who I know personally, like Dionne, Jodie, Stefanie, Leah, and more. This book is like sitting down with a bunch of good friends to get your mothering batteries recharged, just like I felt in my old La Leche League meeting-attending days. I have known Mary Ann for years and she has greatly impacted my life with her counsel. Here is an example of my results to be a present parent. Thank you Mary Ann for your wisdom and willingness to share your failures and successes! As she says, “Here’s to a well-lived day!”
The following video below is a resource from Mary Ann on how to fan the sparks of our children’s interests into fiery passions for learning. Finding and fanning sparks is one of the things we can do that she mentions in her book.
So two weeks ago my 15 year old asked me if I would take him to the store so he could buy material to make a hammock. I didn’t think he could make one that would actually work. Like stay hanging in the trees and not break. I was about to brush him off, tell him no, and say all the reasons why I didn’t think it would work, and then go about my business and not listen to him any more. But I remembered the two rules above. I asked him how he was going to make it. He told me he had found some instructions online. I asked him how he would make it so it didn’t rip and he told me he would use special heavy duty fabric. I agreed as long as he spent his own money on all the materials. If it didn’t work, he would learn from the experience how to make a better one, and it would be on his dime. So that’s all part of saying yes as much as I can. I don’t want to be the one who says “no” if I don’t have to. The “no” will come in the form of it not working and then he can go back to the drawing board and figure it out to make it a yes. He was going to Williamsburg Learning’s Elevation camp the next week and wanted to sleep in a hammock while there. (Williamsburg Academy is an online school for jr high and high schoolers that my four oldest children have all experienced off and on through the years. It is based on classics and meets online and we love it! It fits our family’s homeschooling culture well.) Anyway, He has been bugging me for years to make a hammock. I finally agreed because he had his own money this time around. (What is it about boys and hammocks? I remember my brothers both had one when I was growing up.)
To my surprise, the hammock worked! He used the instructions here. He bought his rip stop material at Jo Ann’s, instead of Walmart, because he found a coupon for Joann’s, and the hardware and webbed straps at Home Depot. He spent the next two days sewing it up on my sewing machine and then hung it up in our desolate garden space. I love his “get it done” energy! He talks about it and then gets it done fast once I give him the green light! It hasn’t broken or torn yet. He has been sleeping in it outside for a few nights and loves it!
I taught him how to sew on my machine years ago when he insisted on making bean bags, as part of me being a “present parent” and responding to his wholesome desires. He is my third boy but the first of my boys to show interest in using a sewing machine. He has used it many times since he was 9 or so. I just love seeing what interests my kids get and how they develop their visions into reality, even when they prove me wrong. Last Christmas he helped my 21 year old daughter sew polar fleece pajama pants for my husband and me as Christmas gifts. They are super cozy and yummy!
So don’t be afraid to say yes to your children’s requests, even if it means taking them to buy materials, seeing them make messes, and make mistakes. Let your boys learn how to sew, they can make amazing things that benefit you! This summer I sure am going to enjoy chilling in his hammock, in the shade, while taking in some fun reads.
This is a cute, clean romantic comedy. It’s actually one of those rare movies that shows married love in a positive light. Ned Stevens, the main character is handsome and successful. And sad. His wife has passed away from cancer. But his love and longing for her still fill his heart. Despite this, his college-attending daughter and his deceased wife of three years are both encouraging him to start dating. The wife appears to him frequently and he talks to her, but no one else can see her. To add to the mix, the daughter is dating a guy who is perfect in an obnoxious way, which annoys the heck out of the dad. He has a hard time seeing his daughter fall in love.
I loved this movie because it was cute, charming and filmed in Midway, UT. Midway has always been a favorite place of mine to visit. We’ve had a few marriage or family getaways there at the Homestead or the Zermatt Resort across the street, like this one here. I also loved it because it made me laugh a few times, the stars are pretty, and the acting is good. But hey, can Kirby Heybourne stop appearing in roles as a 20-something? He’s forty years old and he doesn’t look like a recently returned R.M. anymore. I am happy to report that there’s no cheesiness in the movie! I can handle it in small doses, but when it’s through the whole movie, like in the R.M. and the Home Teachers, no thank you!
Another thing that makes this movie rare is that it’s made by LDS people (Michael Flynn is the director, Dean Hughes is the writer, Kirby’s LDS, and maybe some of the other stars, I imagine) but it’s not made strictly for Latter-day Saints. It has no LDS references. Even Ned’s religious leader is called a pastor, not a bishop. It’s a great, uplifting movie about the tenderness of married love that carries on after death, father/daughter love, letting go of the past, and moving on. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. I guess if Ned’s hair had been combed more and the plot had more substance to it I would give it 5. So if you are looking for something light, cute, and funny for your date night, go watch it. Get it on Amazon Prime Video.
Fun fact: the credits say that the writer of the movie, Dean Hughes, and his wife, Kathleen, appear as extras in the Snake Grill restaurant scene. I’m pretty sure they are the couple that open the door at the very beginning of the scene. If you enjoy this movie, you will probably like the book it’s based on, Midway to Heaven, and other books Dean has written, like the Children of the Promise, and Hearts of the Children series.
Here is a recording of the webinar my friend Olivia did for our meeting last week to spread the word about Altus Family Liber School of Tucson, Arizona. It is wonderful! I learned so much from it!
I encourage you to watch it, even if you:
Think you know every thing there is to know about a liberal arts/Thomas Jefferson Education (TJED)/leadership education.
Know nothing about the liberal arts/TJED/ leadership education.
Don’t think you care about the liberal arts/TJED/leadership education.
In the webinar, Olivia tells some some fascinating stories that leave me wondering about how I can better ensure that my children are not just highly trained and skilled, but are truly educated in God’s way, which is the way of freedom and noble character. She tells stories to illustrate the difference between being highly trained and poorly educated versus being highly trained and highly educated. I find the difference fascinating! I invite you to watch and learn more about a liberal arts education. I have posted some video clips from some of the stories she shares in the webinar.
The above clip is John Adams in the courtroom involving the Boston massacre trial.
The clip below is from the bathroom speech scene from the movie Hidden Figures.
Then here is a video summary of the Melanie Bailey story that Olivia referred to. These are all so inspiring!
What can we do to help our children be like these courageous people? What education can we create for our children that fosters the character and empathy of John and Melanie, and discourages ignorance and apathy?
Heads up to all parents who want a change in their child’s education! My friend Olivia Votaw, former public school teacher turned homeschooling mom, will present a webinar on Thursday May 4 at 7 PM Arizona time all about the Thomas Jefferson Education philosophy.
The purpose of this meeting is to gather up families interested in participating in a community school based on the Thomas Jefferson Education philosophy. Olivia is leading a TJED-based family school here in southern AZ, but if you aren’t in this area, you might be able to find a school already running in your area. My three oldest kids, ages 19 to 23, all “graduated” from a TJED-based once-a-week scholar project school (Liber Academy) and they each had a fantastic experience! I found it was the perfect fit for what they needed in growing their reading and writing skills and gave them a social outlet. It also gave me a place to connect with other like-minded parents with lots of opportunities for my intellectual growth. I have so many fond memories of book discussions with the other parents!
So on May 4 please join us at 7 PM Arizona time either by phone or internet using the information below. Even if you are a veteran to TJED like I am, I promise you will learn something new. Especially if you are a veteran, invite a friend who is new to homeschooling to join, and you will both learn something new!
Just last week. when my college attending daughter and son were visiting on semester break from BYU-I, along with my mother-in-law, a question came up about food. I knew the answer was in the book Nourishing Traditions, pictured above. So I dug up my copy and found the quote, feeling satisfied that I could answer their question. I know this is totally a first world problem, but that book is so stuffed with amazingly juicy tidbits about the dark side of the manufactured food and nutrition industry, not to mention gems about the history of traditional food, that it would be so awesome to be able to have a more portable copy that is digitally searchable. It would have made it easier to find the answer to the question if I could have been able to search for it using a digital copy on my phone.
It is as if God heard my silent wish, and granted my request before I even voiced it here on this blog! I am sooooo thrilled to find out that you can get a Kindle version of Nourishing Traditions for free if you are an Amazon Prime member! Now I can easily search for terms in this book in the palm of my hand and find answers from the book even quicker. So…go get your copy today! After you sign into your Amazon account, if you have a Prime membership, you will see that the description for the book says that it is free for Amazon Prime members. Even if you aren’t a Prime member, I encourage you to get a Kindle copy.
This digital copy might be just a loan, I am not sure. From my understanding, you can “check out” one Kindle book a month for free if you are an Amazon Prime member. I think that this Nourishing Traditions format falls under that. If anybody knows differently, please let me know. Here is what one web site says, “You can borrow one book a month by going to the ‘Kindle Owners’ Lending Library’ in the Kindle Store on your Kindle device. Books with the Prime icon can be borrowed for free for the month (as long as you’re a Prime member). Correction: There are no due dates, but you can only have one book out at a time.” (http://lifehacker.com/5856052/borrow-kindle-books-for-free-from-amazon–if-you-have-prime-membership)
Anyway, just knowing that this book has been released in Kindle format is so exciting!!!! Nourishing Traditions is the Cadillac of nutrition/cookbooks. It is a hefty 674 pages, a true Bible of nutrition. This is the book that influenced Serene Allison of Trim Healthy Mama fame to stop being a vegan, and introduce animal products back into her diet. After she did, she noticed that her health improved as well as the health of the babies she conceived after going on a WAPF foundation. She lost her stomach pooch and her babies had stronger teeth. (See the THM book, p. 544 (the original big thick one that has the plan and the recipes combined, to read the story.) If you are a vegan or vegetarian, I urge you to read Nourishing Traditions. It will most likely help you to resolve any health problems you have. Then after following the principles, if you still have a weight problem after switching to unprocessed foods, read the THM books.
The work of Weston A. Price, which this book is based on, is also what convinced Diane Hopkins of lovetolearn.net and hearttoheartwithdiane.com. to stop being vegan. It is also what got me to change from being vegan and vegetarian as well. I have noticed that I am healthier and feel more vigorous when I have some animal products in my life. I get sick a lot less often for sure! I used to get at least one or two colds or the flu a year. Now, I don’t get any. I am thinking it’s probably the Vitamins A and D from meat, cultured dairy I eat (yogurt). and the cod liver pills that make a difference. As a Word of Wisdom follower, I still eat meat “sparingly.” I don’t eat it at every meal, and I am learning to like more than just the muscle part of meat. I take my liver pills every day and make bone broth out of bones. I’m still working on learning to actually cook with liver. 🙂
Here is a great quote from a fan of the book, copied from the Amazon page:
I found this book through the book “The Maker’s Diet” which was given to me when I was 18 and sat on a shelf to be picked up 2 years later after the birth of my first child. I was struggling to breastfeed after having a major loss of blood (OBGYN’s mistake led to this and a major birth trauma). I had virtually no milk supply. Tried everything! Persevered for 6 horrible long exhausting weeks before I finally gave up. I did not even become engorged upon stopping, that’s how low my supply was. Looking back now i was very malnourished from a terrible diet of fast food and soda during pregnancy, plus the major loss of blood after birth- there’s no way my body could produce anything. My teeth were crumbling, horrible cavities everywhere. I was very much against infant formula but I had no other choice, so i started my son of Enfamil. He was colicky, constipated, constant projectile spit up, not sleeping well, and I was DEPRESSED. I was even having to use infant suppositories for him. This is NOT NORMAL!! No matter how common it is, it’s not normal…
I began reading a lot to try and help keep my mind off of the deep depression I was experiencing (Lack of sleep, stress of being a young new wife and mother, no family in the area, plus my very unhealthy and hormone depleted body). Then, one day I came across the book that I had placed on a shelf two years prior (The Maker’s Diet- a great book). When I started reading through some of the recipes, I noticed many of them were referencing this book called “Nourishing Traditions”. I went to Barnes and Noble and bought this book the same week. Instantly saw how informative it was and how packed with recipes! I love it!! It opened my life to a completely new way of thinking/eating/ living. One of the first recipes i came across was the infant formula recipe. I thanked God because I knew he led me there, as I had PRAYED and cried out to God to help me find some way to feed my baby, and in the midst of feeling like such a massive failure for not being able to nurse my son, I realized that God had used my dad to give me The Maker’s Diet, which I would pick up two years later out of desperation, which would in turn lead me to Nourishing Traditions… Long story short, I used the website provided in the book to scout out a source of raw milk locally, and within that week I found a raw milk cow share and signed up, and ordered all of the ingredients that I needed and started making my son’s formula. From the first feeding, he was a much happier baby! He stopped fussing so much, he started SLEEPING through the night, AND he was NEVER AGAIN constipated! His bowel movements turned to mustard yellow, seedy, soft just as they were when I was nursing him.
Fast forward to two years later and having completely embraced the Nourishing Traditions lifestyle, my husband and I decided to try for a second child. This pregnancy went much differently. I took care of myself, the nourishing traditions way. I drank superfood green smoothies every single day with home made raw milk kefir, ate healthy (not 100%, but I tried to give my body everything it needed!), plenty of butter and coconut oil and eggs, took whole food supplements and herbs instead of synthetic pharmaceutical prenatals, and never once saw a doctor- only my midwives who I had a home birth with. Gave birth to my 9lb 4oz 23″ long baby girl, ELEVEN days late (hey, she knew when she was ready!), at home with no medication, in an inflatable birthing pool. It was awesome. My milk came in within 2 days (holy heck did it come in!!), she never lost weight, she slept much better, was very alert and nursed very well, had no digestion issues and has always been SO HEALTHY! My son is very healthy too (thanks to being able to start making his formula at 6/7 weeks of age), but he did catch and still does tend to catch more illnesses than she ever has. I really do attribute this to the type of diet i ate while pregnant with her, versus the SAD (standard american diet) i ate while pregnant with him, as well as the first 6 weeks of powdered formula and the drug exposure he had during birth in the hospital….
ONE THING I have noticed that is astounding to me is the difference in their facial structures and teeth/jaw formation. After reading Weston Price’s “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration”, as well as Francis Pottenger’s “Pottenger’s Cats”, it makes sense to me why this is so. My little girl has such a beautiful and wide jaw, with perfectly straight and spaced teeth which i know will allow for her permanents to grow in without crowding, while my son has very crowded teeth and a more narrow jaw and has already had cavities while my daughter has had ZERO. (SEE PICS!)
It really does make a difference what you eat before conception, during pregnancy, and what you feed your child.. (Btw, I supplemented with WAP homemade formula and eventually switched her to it completely when I decided to quit nursing- don’t judge me)
I’m not saying everything in this book is completely 100% for everyone, but it worked for me and my babies. All of the information also led me into a completely different life as far as nutrition and eating. I try to stay away from grains completely these days as I have some long standing digestive issues, but if I do have them I believe they are best soaked or sprouted like this book says. Also, try sprouted nuts- SO DELICIOUS and so much better for you than roasted or even raw. Lots of good recipes in the book, and you’ll get a ton of practice in the cooking and preparing of different foos. If nothing else, get it for the baby formula recipe and information pertaining to childhood nutrition. My favorite and most used part of the recipes in this book are the fermented foods and dairy.
This is the movie I wished I had unearthed and watched with all of the clan before my big college kids and Grandma left last Friday to go back to Idaho and Utah. I was planning on having a movie night while they were here, but it just didn’t work out. What with Family Home Evening, camping one night, our church youth group meeting, a trip to the temple over two hours away, our church women’s meeting (Relief Society), and a baseball game, there wasn’t an open night to watch a movie. We even didn’t go to two baseball practices to make the family movie night work, but I ended up leaving my journal at the Relief Society meeting so I had to go back and hunt it down, after my daughter and mother in law ditched me to go use the restroom without telling me! This led me to walk all over the chapel looking for them! Such rigamarole! We wasted a whole hour with all that, including driving down incredibly bumpy back dirt roads to my friend’s house, since she had picked up the journal after I left. The kids and Grandma left Friday morning, the morning of our night of the week when we “only” had a baseball practice going on and nothing else. So we finally got to have a family movie night on Friday, after baseball practice. I discovered this gem of a movie and it just so happened to have an Easter message.
It’s called “The Climb” and I heartily recommend it with 5 out of 5 stars. You can watch the whole thing above. It is the story of two young single adult men who each make their own journey. Each one yearns to find fulfillment by proving himself in a quest to climb Chicanagua, a mountain in Chile. They act as foils for each other, as one climbs the mountain in dedication to his deceased wife, and the other climbs in order to “one up” his estranged father. The movie features even more contrasting relationships, all centered around the father/son relationship, which all point towards the father/child relationship we each have with God. Each of these relationships give the viewer lots of food for thought.
I love that the movie mentions the Bible, and commitment to God. If you watch this movie with young children, be prepared to answer any questions about “the birds and the bees” as there is mention of pregnancy out of wedlock. It’s all done tastefully. If your children are used to hearing about people expecting babies then they probably won’t bring up the issue at all.
I also love that the movie shows a romantic relationship that ends in marriage. Those are hard to find in today’s movies. But ultimately, what I love about this movie is the message of sacrifice and the symbolism that this sacrifice represents, the Ultimate Sacrifice of our elder brother, the Savior Jesus Christ. So if you believe in Easter being a season, and not just a day, watch this movie for Family Home Evening or Family Movie Night soon, even though Easter is “over” and talk about how it relates to Easter.
Vaccines are certainly a hot topic today. It’s imperative to educate yourself on the issue of vaccines so that we minimize the chance for regrets. As a parent, you can’t escape the issue. Is every single vaccine needed for every child at the time recommended by the AAP, in the same doses? Why is it, if vaccines are so safe and effective, that on a whole, the children of today are sicker than children of 100 years ago, 50 years ago, and even 20 years ago? Why is that serious childhood diseases like polio have decreased, but chronic illnesses like autism and respiratory diseases like asthma have increased?
I invite you to watch “The Truth About Vaccines,” a series of online videos that will be showing over the next week, starting Wed. April 12. It is produced by Ty Bollinger, a parent and investigative reporter. He’s the same guy who brought us the “The Truth About Cancer” docuseries. This “docuseries” will help you in your search of the truth about vaccines. Please go here to enter your information to get the link to watch each episode in the series of “The Truth About Vaccines.”
![Give Your Child the World: Raising Globally Minded Kids One Book at a Time by [Martin, Jamie C.]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51SYsxpLJcL._SY346_.jpg)
![SUMMARY: An Introduction to the Universal Model: A New Millennial Science by [McKay, Brooke E.]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51FUMIuTDgL._SY346_.jpg)
![Becoming a Present Parent: Connecting with your Children in 5 minutes or Less by [Johnson, Mary Ann]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51vywTnaNCL.jpg)
Two things I’ve learned as a parent:
![Midway to Heaven by [Hughes, Dean]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/511ZR-o1fyL.jpg)
Tree of Life Mothering 