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.
When we started unschooling, we were frequently asked the same question, “What if they learn nothing and play video games all day?” To be honest, we were worried too. Yet the unschooling approach made so much sense and we trusted our kids and our parenting abilities so much that we decided to take our chances and go ahead with it. Years later, I am even more confident in unschooling.
I find it funny that even the kids in my children’s BJJ class discuss politics, so every time my kids come back they announce to me whose parents are voting for whom! But really, it shows how heated things have become before this upcoming election. Which brings up a good point: should parents discuss politics with kids?
My husband Kon will make a presentation at the online Jewish Homeschool Convention about how we both homeschool while working from home and running our own businesses. Homeschooling and working is a hot topic these days, and Kon and I have been doing it for over 11 years, so join in to see his presentation! You need to register for the convention to see his and other presentations. And you don’t even have to be Jewish to benefit from the content!
I often get questions from concerned moms about how to keep kids from wanting sugary snacks and junk food. It may seem that the easiest compromise is to allow them to eat sugary snacks and junk food only occasionally. But the problem is, once they have it, they want more.
In my Facebook news feed, I see a lot of conspiracy theories claiming that the COVID-19 pandemic was centrally planned in order to take control over our lives, health, rights and freedom. First of all, it’s nearly impossible for a single entity to plan and execute something like this at such a global scale. Thankfully, the world remains a pretty decentralized place. More importantly, taking control over our lives, health, rights and freedom has been going on for decades under our very noses, and most of us just didn’t see it. The COVID-19 pandemic happens to be only an opportunity to accelerate the process.
When our government arbitrarily declared most businesses “non-essential” and shut them down as part of the COVID-19 lockdown policy, it bothered me a lot. If you saw “The Little Prince” animated movie, you will understand why. In that movie, success was defined as being “essential” — if you’re not essential, you aren’t contributing to adult society. In our case, too, the government has declared that if you are not a first responder, grocery store worker, or another professional whose job is necessary to people’s survival, you aren’t needed and can be shut down. And as it appears on social media, many of the general public agree with that.
A tale of friendship, Socialism, and Capitalism. This is me with my childhood friend from the West Germany. She was my first friend from the Capitalist West.
Yesterday I discovered that my 6 year old daughter believes everything her martial arts coach says. I took her to her training session and saw how she and other little kids sat around listening to the coach intently, taking in everything he was saying. Literally everything. When we drove home and talked, I learned something revealing.
Nina’s Note: Our older kids have been seriously involved in Magic The Gathering game lately. They go to weekly local play sessions and participate in tournaments. They also play at home almost every night. Initially, I thought it was a waste of time. Now I realize that the game is beneficial to the kids and can be extremely useful for our homeschooling. It helped my kids develop better social skills and reduced their performance anxiety. By playing together, they bond with each other and with their Dad and learn to work as a team when they help each other and teach the game to their younger siblings. My kids also show great improvement in their reading, math, and strategic thinking skills. So I asked Kon – who himself is an avid player and who introduced the kids to the game – to write this article describing the game and its benefits.
Sometimes homeschooled children want to go back to school and their parents wonder how to keep them interested in home education. This problem usually happens when the child previously attended school and misses his or her friends from there. Friends who go to school can easily provide the necessary outside influence.