Why Homeschoolers Need to Warn Their Children of the Dangers of Pornography

I just posted a video on my choiceskills.tv blog about the dangers of pornography and the importance of building into your home education the appropriate instruction to protect your children from becoming involved with pornography.

I believe the answer to this plague confronting us is not legislation, but education and who better than homeschool parents have the opportunity to help their children recognize the risks of allowing this kind of material to occupy their  minds.

You may not be able to keep them from being exposed to pornography, because many come across it accidently, but you can help them to know what to do when they do come across it.

As the saying goes, forewarned is forearmed

Notice:

I want you to know that I just posted a video at at choiceskills.tv on the importance of helping our young understand the nature of substance abuse.

I was saddened today to learn of the devestation and loss of life resulting from the tornados that wreaked havoc across several states over the week end. But as serious in terms of loss of life and economic damage as these tronados have been, they pale in insignificance to the human and economic damage being caused by the abuse of harmful drugs in our society.

As homeschoolers, you have an opportunity to build into your curriculum ways to teach your children the haarmful nature of substance abuse. You will find the information in this video helpful in teaching them.

I am reminded of an expression used in describing the usefulness of computers in the early days. It still applies, not only to the information we put in and get out of computers, but also to the imformation we put into and get out of our minds.

We live in a time when children have paraded before them both physical and mental foods that at best contain little or no nutrition and at worst are potentially injurious to their health.

I grew up in the 40′s and 50′s when candy, soda pop and potato chips were readily available for first time, but there was little in the way of advertising, certainly as we know it today. TV was still in its infancy, movies were something you saw once an month or so and families were still eating reasonably well balanced meal together.

Pornography and violent entertainment available to children was almost non-existent, certainly in form it is availale today and in the small town that I grew up in. Still I don’t remember making a lot of good choices about what I put in either my body or mind.

The only thing that kept me from a lot of really bad choices was a lack of imagination and opportunity. Today, young people are being fed a constant diet of mental and physical food that leaves little to the imagination. From music to books to TV to movies to interactive games to the internet young people are exposed to information in the form of ads and entertainment designed attract their attention and dollars, but not necesarily to improve either their mental or physical well-being.

While as homeschoolers and parents you have some control over  your children’s exposure to these forms of information, it is imperative that you arm them with the emotional, social and thinking skills necessary for them to be able to exercise the self-control essential to their happiness and well-being.

For  suggestions on how to do this I invite you to visit our web pages for homeschoolers and essential character traits.

In the book, “The Day America Told the Truth” 74% of Americans interviewed indicated they were willing to steal from others if they thought their victims wouldn’t miss what it was they stole. 93% of Americans indicated they were the final authority for themselves in deciding what was right and what was wrong for them to do.

I invite you to visit my choiceskills.tv blog where I posted a video debunking the idea that personal opinion is the ultimate authority for deciding right from wrong by sharing a couple of ideas from the Seven C’s of Thinking Clearly on stealing.

I also invite you to visit our web page on essential character traits.

Since my last post, I  have given some thought to happiness and can truthfully say I have never deliberately chosen to do anything I knew would make me unhappy.

But, I have done things that have made me unhappy, almost always in violation of the following quote from Benjamin Franklin.

“There is no happiness then but in a virtous and self-approving conduct.”

This suggests to me an important line of thought to keep in mind when teaching children. Hopefully, they will learn to be smarter than I have sometimes been.

Quotes
Alexis de Tocquerville, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams,
James Madison, Edmund Burke and Thomas Jefferson

What ever homeschool curriculum you use, I believe you will find the following quotes most valuable when teaching American History.

Alexis de Tocquerville
“America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

Benjamin Franklin
 ”Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters. ”

John Adams
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate  to the government of any other. ”

James Madison
“To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue and the people ,is ato miracle idea.”

Edmund Burke
“Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon the will and appetite is placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.”

Thomas Jefferson
“The price of freedom is eternal vigilence.”

These quotes open a wide range of discussion opportunities with your children about the things that matter most in their lives. As Benjamin Franklin also wrote: “There is no happiness then but in a virtous and self-approving conduct.”
Benjamain Franklin’s The Art of Virtue, p.35

i invite you to visit our web page on how to enrich your homeschool currlculum.

“Is there anything Men take more pains about than to render themselves unhappy?”

The following quote appeared on page 74 in the February 2002 edition of Scientific American.

“Perhaps the most ironic aspect of the struggle for survival is how easily organisms can be harmed by that which they desire. The trout is caught by the fisherman’s lure, the mouse by cheese. But, at least these creatures have the excuse that bait and cheese look like sustenance. Humans seldom have that consolation. The temptations that can disrupt their lives are pure indulgences. No one has to drink alcohol, for example. Realizing when a diversion has gotten out of control is one of the great challenges in life.”

Perhaps none of us are wholly exmpt from over indulgence resulting from poor judgment. I have my share of sunburns and discomfort from over eating. And it has taken me more than one experience to learn the folly of doing these things. And for a couple of years I was a smoker. I leaned at an early age, the truth of Mark Twain’s wittism when he said, “Quitting smoking is easy. I’ve done it hundreds of times.” Fortunately I was able to get a big enough why as a young man to prevent me from becoming part of the following statistic.

“Cigarette smoking causes about 1 of every 5 deaths in the United States Each Year.”

So what does this have to do with you as a homeschooler. The principle is that we must teach our young to be careful what they want. Interestingly, the Scientific American article referenced above had to do with Television addiction. Go figure!

To learn how to teach your children I invite you to visit our homeschooler web page and our web page on The Stink’n Think’n Gang.

There Is A Why

We live in a day when many seem to have forgotten the why behind the commandment, “Thou Shalt Not Steal.”

We also live in a day when simply knowing right from wrong is not enough. It is essential for children to understand the why behind every moral issue they face in life or the confusion of thought so prevalent today is likely to take hold.

As homeschoolers, you have the opportunity to take your children to this new level of uunderstanding.

Today I have posted a video at http://www.choiceskills.tv in which I share with you a couple of stories from “The Seven C’s of Thinking Clearly” I believe you will find helpful in teaching this important why.

The series will explore opportunities and challenges in homeschooling and will feature one or more special guests with extensive experience in homeschooling

You will find these highly interactive teleconferences fun, interesting, and informative. Sponsored by George Rogers of ChoiceSkills and Hosted by Dr. Clint Rogers, Phd. Educational Psychology and Technology, these teleconferences feature a technology that allows both large group discussions and break-out sessions into smaller groups.

Discuss the greatest challenges you are facing in 2012, and explore with your peers powerful solutions to meet them.

SPECIAL INVITATION

You are invited to join us for our 1^stteleconference on February 8, 2012 when we will be discussing the question“What Do You Want Most from Your Children’s Education?” This is a little different perspective than the question  “Why are You Homeschooling?”

You will have the opportunityto share what you are currently doing to achieve this objective, what’s working well and what needs you may have. In this way, your experiences will be helpful to others and theirs will be helpful to you.

·Who:Home School Parents
·When:Wednesday, February 8^th, 2:00pm MST for 60 minutes
Where:From Your own Phone- Unique Call-in Number Provided
·Why:Perhaps your most important call in preparation for 2012 – interactive exchange of ideas with
others who share common challenges and opportunities – very practical ideas.

Participation is FREE – But Registration is Limited

Save Your Spot. Register NOW by Clicking on the link below:

Register For Homeschoolers Teleconference

P.S. For your participation in this very innovative call –sharing your insights and perspectives, you will receive 3 powerful audio stories that exemplify how even one single idea can change a child’s life forever.

Register Now for FREE Here For Homeschooler Teleconference

1.  Give Child a Better Education
2.  Religious Reasons
3.  Family Reasons
4  Develop Character
5.  Object to What Schools are Teaching
6.  School Does Not Challenge Child
7.  Other Problems with Available Schools
8.  Student Behavior Problems at School
9.  Child Has Special Needs Not Met At School
10.  Child Bullied At School

The Real Reason

What do all these reasons have in common? Is there some underlying desire for their children that is more important to homeschoolers than any of the above? I believe there is.

Actually Benjamin Franklin suggested the answer. You’ll find it by clicking on Benjamin Franklin’s Counsel to Homeschoolers. Actually  it was his counsel to anyone who works with youth.