Welcome to Preschooling at Home

The unfortunate truth is that working moms often miss seeing much of their younger children's development (first steps, first words, new discoveries, etc.) Homeschooling, especially as children get older, allows moms more time to interact and get to know their children better. Many working moms are tired from their workday, and the few concentrated hours in the evenings, when energy and emotional levels are low, are not ideal times for interaction.  J. Michael Smith, President HSLDA

ORANGE, Calif., March 29, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Major research firms and universities in America, Canada, and England have arrived at the same conclusion as the new study reported in the Australian Sydney Morning Herald, that "daycare damages babies' brain chemistry and affects their social and emotional development."

It was reported, "significant among the reams of research are the so-called cortisol studies, which measured the presence of stress hormones in young babies -- consistently finding levels to be higher in children in long hours of day care." Children in daycares and preschools are not developing properly, and equally as troubling, in later public schooling.

Reports from John Stossel's ABC report, Stupid in America: Why America's Public Schools are Failing our Kids, to the recent Ninth Circuit Court ruling giving parents little, if any recourse or say over what is taught in public schools, to news headlines like these, are causing parents alarm:

"New York High School Fosters Sexual (homosexual, heterosexual and bisexual) Experimentation on Campus; Mother arrested after son took cocaine to day care; 9-Year-Old Shot on School Bus; Preschool harms children's development; Parents Upset Over Explicit Novel Approved for High Schoolers; Teacher confesses to having sex with minors."

Denise Kanter from MorningStar Educational Network (MSEN) commented, "The study out of Australia is consistent with what is already known about the physical and mental damage that occurs when young children are out of their mother's care for long hours."  Kanter added, "Children must be given a chance to grow up healthy, with consistent teaching of spiritual truths, and that takes more than just keeping young children out of daycare and preschool.  It takes keeping them out of public schools as well."

The spokesman for the Christian group suggests, "Just a cursory review of news headlines should be enough evidence to convince Christian parents of the necessity to teach and raise their children in a spiritual and loving home."

Kanter concluded, "Dr. James Dobson from Focus on the Family and Dr. Tim La Haye, a Pastor and Author have stated that it's time for Christian parents to get their children out.  And we agree.  So through our education resource packages, newsletters, mentors, groups and websites, we provide Christian parents with the tools and confidence it takes to raise and educate their children at home."

MSEN's new DVD compilation features riveting testimonies that give hope to parents with preschool and school age children.  For more information visit: http://www.christianhomeeducation.org/dvd.html

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From Agape Press News Briefs April 19, 2006

...An Australian childcare advocate is changing his tune following a negative study on the impact of daycare. Australian psychologist Steve Biddulph, a former advocate of daycare and other childcare options, conducted a study, which revealed that daycare slows the development of the brain in young children. Denise Kanter of the Morningstar Education Network says the psychologist found from his own neurobiological research evidence that "clearly -- in his words -- suggests that at least during the first two years of life, the brain develops ... at its optimum when it's [receiving] one-to-one care with a loving caretaker, such as a mother, father, or grandparent." According to Kanter, Biddulph's studies challenge the pro-daycare "propaganda" that has been prominent for decades of the childcare debate. "For years we have said daycare's okay and preschool is okay, and as they're doing more research into the actual brain development, they're finding the opposite is true," the Morningstar spokeswoman notes. Unfortunately, she points out, the public has been hearing that daycare is okay for the last 30 years, and the tide of public opinion is often difficult to turn. "So it's going to take some time to reach parents and show them the new technology -- that we can actually see what's happening within the brain and the development of that brain, and that daycares and preschools are not places for optimum development of children," Kanter says. [Bill Fancher] Source Link