Marty

Jan

2024

Play and Homeschooling – What fun!

The Importance of Play

I’ve read recently a number of books on home schooling, education and also some references on exercise. With these and other references, there is a definite stress on the subject of ‘Play’. And the importance of just having fun in what you are doing.

I just finished reading The 5 Hour School Week by Aleena Amuchastegui. A pretty good sales pitch on home schooling. Already sold on the subject long since, I’ve been availing myself of some more recent texts on the subject. Including a more recent one by John Taylor Gatto.

And there is some interesting information has come to light recently regarding the dangers? of exercising in a less than light mood. Well, not ‘dangers’ exactly but … Apparently the stress of exercising while ‘serious’ is not nearly as effective as when one is treating like it play.

I’ve often used exercise to lift myself out of some rather serious moments in my life. That said, I DO find ‘play’ is a much better way to do study, exercise or just do life.

In the book, 5 Hour School Week, the author shows how her children changed so much being home schooled. All the stresses weighing the family down seemed to lift, just fly away. It was still work but the children were learning because they wanted to not because they had to.

These children will never need Ritalin or any mood altering drugs. I don’t know what the stats are on home schooled kids vs. industrial schooled kids regarding drugs like Ritalin but I’d put money on the fact that it is pretty rare with home schoolers.

One, they don’t have the stresses and two, they don’t have a staff trained to watch for certain indications that, in their minds would warrant the prescribing of a mood altering drug.

I’m a huge proponent of home schooling. I have two sons that were mostly home schooled. All the arguments against these two men, just don’t stand up to the results. And this goes by far for the majority of home schooled kids.

Social Skills or Relationships

They generally have better social skills than most industrial educated kids. Lots of reasons, one being that they generally have social intercourse with more different age groups. I noticed that my youngest was more than comfortable at a very young age keeping up a conversation with an adult. And fine with kids his own age.

Parents Qualifications

There is no shortage of websites, blogs, and groups that help parents with a curriculum. If you want to go that route. Younger children, it is more like, ‘what do you want to learn today?’

The basic math skills, grammar, reading and writing come pretty easily. Beyond that, there is so much now online…!

If you read through other articles, posts and pages on this website, you will see that I’m more than a little against drugs. They have their place. Most people aren’t going to get a tooth pulled without some freezing. I’d rather be knocked out to have my appendix removed.

Giving a child a drug like Ritalin because he or she can’t sit still, when they really should not be sitting still, well, that’s just a crime. Children can learn very quickly if you let them. Very quickly.

Reading

Stressing about when a child is reading is pretty silly. Generally, they will read when they are ready and want to. As one of the authors above stated, one child will read at four years old and the other at 7, 8 or 9. At 14 or 15 years old, you will not be able to tell which learned at what age.

It is not a competition.

If homeschooling is something that you have thought about, don’t discount it out of hand. Do some reading. The four books that I recommend here are very good. And there are some great websites and blogs out there. Do your homework before you decide.

Don’t read all the negative stuff.

If you were looking to get your car fixed, you would look for a successful mechanic. Check out some successful homeschoolers.

Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto

Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto

The 5 Hour School Week by Aleena Amuchastegui

how children learn by john holt

Jul

2023

The Lost Art of Looking – Observation

Observation - Looking - A Lost Art

The majority of people just don’t look.

This is a bit of a rant.

I know way too many people that will only ‘see’ things through the filter of the media. Whatever science the media claims to be so, then that is so, no matter what they see in from of them.

I’ve noticed this quite dramatically over the last three years. A friend’s daughter who I chat with from time to time is fourteen years old. She is in a public high school and gets ostracized from groups because she actually observes things. She says to me “People just don’t look!” She does find it a bit tough but she refuses to compromise with what she sees in front of her.

Like a doctor friend of mine that for most of his career was constantly being investigated by the Ontario College of Physicians. He would not randomly give out drugs. He had stacks of books in his office on healthy ways to solve medical problems. Big Pharma, I’m sure hated him for this. And believe it or not they control, at least partially, the ‘Health’ government entities. Like the CDC and FDA in the United States and Health Canada.

I’m pretty sure that there was no one at some pharmaceutical company sitting there specifically saying “We gotta get this doctor!” But the people in Health Canada and the FDA and the like that get supported or get bonuses from Big Pharma are supported and get bonuses because they target people like my doctor friend.

This was taken to the extreme over the last few years. If any doctor had a cure or suggested alternatives or even questioned the position put forward by politicians and Big Pharma, they were immediately censured. And censored. And these attacks, cowed others so that they would fall in line.

When a politician cites ‘everybody knows’ and I know dozens of people that disagree with what that politician is stating, then we have a problem. The problem is that way too many people listen to what that politician is saying instead of observing for themselves what is going on around them.

If one has a different opinion or even better, that person does some research or looks around to see if something is true or not, if they, in any way question what the leading politicians or media says, they are slammed, one and all, as being ‘anti-science’.

One size does not fit all.

One cannot generalize.

There are knowledgable doctors and learned scientists that disagree with much of what is put forth currently by politicians, the media and Big Pharma.

Climate Change

Vaccines - Viruses

War - Russia - Ukraine - USA

Don’t question any of these things.

Common knowledge in a troubled marriage: “there are two sides to every story.”

But, again, people don’t want to look.

I think, sometimes, that this has a lot to do with our education system. Dumbing us down. Growing up I was astounded as to how well read my father and his generation were. And now I’m astounded as to how well read my generation are compared to the current generation. It is so easy to con people that don’t know history.

There is a great book on this called Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto. A fairly short read. And brilliant.

There is a quote attributed to Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha), I’m pretty sure this is not exactly what he said:

“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it,
unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.”

But to do this, you have to look. Sometimes, as silly as it seems, one has to practice looking. Something as simple as going for a walk, talking to someone new. Get away from newsfeeds and the like. It’s refreshing. One finds out how wonderful people are.

The Art of Looking.

If you would like to do some proper research in spite of what your 'friends' might say, here is some good reference material. List of books/authors

Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto

Inconvenient Facts by Gregory Wrightstone

Dissolving Illusions by Suzanne Humphries, MD

Jun

2023

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Marijuana

ADHD and Marijuana

Recently on our travels across the country we found a good friend recently prescribed ADHD medication. For various symptoms such as inability to concentrate, memory issues, etc.

Not the first time I’ve come across this phenomenon. The medical ‘profession’ and the pharmaceutical industry are, in this day and age, completely focused on symptoms. Rarely, anymore, does one find a doctor with the inclination or the time to look to find causes.

Easier, quicker and more financially rewarding to hand out drugs that hopefully, mask the symptoms. That way one has a lifetime patient (income).

A quick search will find some common manifestations of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

- having a short attention span and being easily distracted

- making careless mistakes – for example, in schoolwork

- appearing forgetful or losing things

- being unable to stick to tasks that are tedious or time-consuming

- appearing to be unable to listen to or carry out instructions

- constantly changing activity or task

- having difficulty organizing tasks

And some short and long term effects of marijuana:

- affects judgement

- reduces reaction time

- sleepiness

- attention problems

- alters sense of time and place

- impaired body movement

- impaired memory

- impairs memory and thinking

- impairs learning functions

- weakens the ability to learn

The similarities are quite obvious. Any medical practitioner worth his or her salt should be able to see and know this if they bothered to look.

Add to this problem are the side effects of Adderall and Ritalin, which are the most prescribed drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder:

restlessness
difficulty falling asleep/interrupted sleep
paranoia
exacerbation of existing mental illnesses
nervousness
agitation
anxiety
psychosis

There are numerous solutions to ADHD that don’t involve drugs. Whether the so called disease is caused by marijuana or some other situation. Allergies. Mineral depletion.

If these side effects are caused by marijuana, partially or otherwise, ask your doctor or do your own research for ways to handle the cause. It’s not because your body is short on the vitamin Ritalin. And the whole brain chemical imbalance thing has been debunked numerous times. So, don’t go there.

I’m not a doctor but it may be as simple as stopping the use of marijuana and doing some sort of detox. Or it could be something more serious. In his book, A Dose of Sanity, Dr Sydney Walker gives an example of someone that been prescribed an anti-anxiety drug when with proper research he found the cause to be a brain tumour. But that takes a bit of time to discover. Time that most doctors won’t take.

Big Pharma and Nashville Shooting

How To Taper Off Pharmaceutical Drugs

or How to Get Back to Normal

or Why On Earth Should One Not Do Pharmaceutical Drugs

or What Is Killing North America

or School Shootings and Big Pharma

or What Is The Most Dangerous Age Group For Anti Depressants?

A good friend recently conveyed his story coming off anti depressants. The telling was considerably shorter than the coming off. Well, sort of. After being on an anti depressant for a few years and feeling that it was making him worse than before, he went cold turkey.

This is very difficult for anyone. It is also extremely dangerous. Not recommended. These anti-depressants are horribly addictive. The professionals that monitor tapering off advise doing so in very small increments over weeks and months, sometimes years.

Most times the reactions of coming off can be far worse than the effects of the drugs themselves. And most times much worse than not doing them in the first place.

Some of the withdrawal symptoms can include headaches, burning, electric-like or shock-like sensations, insomnia, drowsiness, not feeling like oneself (a disconnected feeling), dissociation, impotence, tingling, fatigue, nausea, headache, light-headedness, chills, body aches, vomiting, cramps, diarrhea, dizziness, vertigo, nightmares, vivid dreams, light-headiness to name just a few. Withdrawal symptoms can last from weeks to months.

“…can be notoriously difficult to quit because stopping can produce withdrawal-like symptoms referred to as "discontinuation syndrome.”

Very Well Mind

One of the more prominent doctors that encourage tapering off pharmaceuticals but also give an exact science as to doing so, is Dr Peter Breggin. Dr Breggin wrote a book dedicated to the subject. It’s called Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal. Read his article here: Dr Breggin Book.

Another doctor that has been a great help to a great many tapering off anti depressants and anti anxiety pills is Dr Kelly Brogan. Dr Brogan stresses the need for coming off these drugs properly. Her website is filled with natural, holistic ways of being healthy, sane and stable without the need for mind altering drugs. Spend some time there.

If you read through the websites of Dr Breggin and Dr Brogan, you will see some of the dangers of anti-depressants and anti anxiety pills. Some of the more dangerous side effects of anti-depressants are ‘depression’, ‘suicide ideation’, ‘panic disorder’ and violent behaviour.

“…for 15 to 24 year-olds, the findings were more grim: There was a very substantial increase – 43 percent – in their risk of committing violent crimes while on antidepressants.” - The Heart and Mind Institute

So, in light of the recent shooting in Nashville, Tennessee by 28-year-old Audrey Hale - she was a being treated for a ‘mental disorder’. This has been the case with far the majority of school shootings. Given the side effects of the drugs likely given plus other treatments it is far from surprising that she acted out this violent ideation.

An excerpt from risk.org explains it a little more thoroughly.

“Dissociative experiences

Dissociative experiences refer to unusual changes in perception and feelings, often involving a sense of detachment.

Antidepressants can cause a number of dissociative experiences including:

▪ Amnesia

▪ Déjà vu

▪ Depersonalization

▪ Derealization

▪ Hallucinations

▪ Prominent nightmares or lucid dreaming

Depersonalisation is an experience of feeling strange and unusual, almost as though you are not really yourself anymore, or that you are in a kind of a dream or haze.

Derealisation refers to a similar set of feelings and perceptions, but in this case it is the world itself that seems strange or unreal; everything may seem far away or staged in some way – as though life is being watched rather than lived.

Depersonalisation and derealisation are relatively common on antidepressants.”

Remember that the above are side effects of the drugs, not the reason for doing them. Feelings and actions created by taking the drugs. So, the most dangerous age group for anti depressants and anti anxiety are the young.

If you are truly interested in finding out more I’ve put together a few references:

Resources On Psychiatry

Mar

2023

Shooting in Nashville, Tennessee

or ‘What is the cause of violence?’

When there is a shooting such as happened the other day in Nashville,Tennessee, all rationality seems to go out the window. The flames of this are thoroughly fanned by politicians and the media. Hardly a fact spoken, the rhetoric all being that we have to do something and we have to do it now. And solution by all these firebrands is ‘ban guns’, ‘get rid of guns and we will have less violence’.

This is so illogical it is horribly frightening. The media goons and political hacks depend on the irrationality and runaway emotions of the greater population. And, boy, do they know the buttons and how to fan those flames.

And to mount one scary event on top of another, part of the Trans community is calling for ‘A Trans Day of Vengeance’ Yeah. That is going to solve everything.

If you can’t have your way or someone disagrees with you, have a temper tantrum. That is pretty much what this amounts to. But way worse. People are gonna get hurt.

What happened to rational discussions? What happened to stepping back and looking at all the facts? I’ve done a heck of a lot of research on the subject and I could list hundreds of facts here to bolster my case. I personally don’t think guns are the cause of these horrible events. School shootings and others.

You many have different information. You may have looked at information that I have missed. Maybe, just maybe, if we actually share in a calm, rational manner, there might be a solution that works for both of us.