A lifestyle blog by the Litovsky Family where we share our Conservative, Libertarian and Jewish values and our views on a number topics including entrepreneurship, finance, homeschooling, family, heath, self-defense and more.
We have been homeschooling from the beginning. Our homeschooling has evolved over the years from a free range, hands-off philosophy to a “there’s a tutor for that” approach. When the kids were little, we “unschooled.” There was no structured curriculum, we just gave the kids books and resources and they learned whatever they wanted mostly on their own with occasional classes and some help from us.
Here is the recipe for our signature wheat-free matzah that we bake every year for Passover, though, of course, it can be eaten as tasty crackers all year round.
We are huge proponents of taking the kids along on vacations. I believe it’s a great bonding opportunity for the family, very educational for the kids, and it’s also fair when parents take the kids along on their travels. Based on my own childhood experiences, when parents vacation without kids or only with one of the siblings and not the other, that makes the child left behind feel like they are missing out and being deprived. I don’t want my kids to feel that, so we always take our kids on our vacations, as well as events and activities where we feel they would get a great experience. But recently we were on vacation in Miami, and there was one time when our values were put to a test.
My husband Kon was interviewed by our friend for her podcast on homeschooling. In this podcast, Kon beautifully explained how we homeschool our kids, how we envision their learning, the obstacles and challenges we have faced along the way, and our “Entrepreneurship Homeschooling” philosophy. Lots of good ideas there! Tune in and listen to the podcast at the link below!
Here are my thoughts from my kids’ latest BJJ tournament. Most parents are obsessed about their kids getting the gold at tournaments. But I could care less about that.
Here is the recipe for our latest best creation, a wheat-free cake layered with cocoa mousse and topped with chocolate ganache and strawberries.
My 3 older kids train BJJ and are begging me to take them to tournaments. Their friends go to tournaments regularly and win trophies and get their rank promotions, and my kids get jealous – just like this week again, after another recent tournament. But it’s very hard for us to take our kids to tournaments. You have to get up at 5am, eat breakfast and drive 2-2.5 hours to another city to get there by 8am weigh-ins, then spend a full day there and drive back home all tired. My homeschooled kids get up late, we cook our breakfasts from scratch (which takes quite some time), we would have to bring our younger child along who will be bored, and waste a full day staying there and driving back and forth.
Kon and I have lived frugally ever since we got married. We have always believed that spending should lag behind earnings. Our philosophy is, “Live below your means until you can afford to live within your means.” This approach has helped us avoid living beyond our means, getting in debt, and eventually going bankrupt if things don’t go our way.
At my BJJ school, there are plenty of lessons for kids that apply not just to martial arts but life in general. One important life lesson is about instant vs. delayed gratification.
Had an interesting conversation last night that got me thinking. Parents put kids in activities – music, art, gymnastics, sports – and hope to see their child go all the way and achieve the top level of proficiency. If the child stops enjoying it and wants to quit, the parent would try hard to encourage them to keep going. The idea is that the child should suck it up and stick to the activity because it will teach them how to achieve their goals in life.