By Karina Palmer

I was inspired a few weeks ago to get a Goodreads account for my son, Alex, who recently turned 12.

It’s turning out to be a wonderful resource for our homeschooling adventures.

He doesn’t have email, he doesn’t Facebook. In fact, the only time he uses the computer is for schooling purposes.

Goodreads is no different. The benefits of it have been:

1. He’s able to document every book he reads, and he’ll hopefully have that forever.
2. He can rate each book (fun!) including all the books I’ve read to him as a child.
3. He can type summaries about his books (and he naturally wants to do only his best work because his “friends” on Goodreads will see his writing).
4. He is practicing his typing (my kids are never allowed to type unless their fingers are on the home row).
5. Goodreads offers suggestions for other books based on the ratings you have given so far, so we go to the library with lists of options.
6. He is so inspired by seeing all the fun books available, and he can’t wait to read them.
7. He can connect with “friends” on Goodreads to see what they’re reading, what they’ve rated, and to discuss books.

Alex is currently looking for other youth who have a Goodreads account to be “friends” with. Please message me if you know of someone.

What internet resources for homeschooling youth have made you happy?

Karina Palmer grew up in California public school, became a court reporter and owned her own agency for ten years, then became a homeschooling mother. Her children range from age twelve to age two. She’s been homeschooling for seven years. She and her husband Stephen raise their children in Round Rock, Texas. Be sure to check out her thought-provoking blog called Palmer Journeys.

At one point, Corinne (Rickenbach, our friend and co-owner of Persnickety Clothing) was out by the pool with the kids and began chatting with a couple named Wanda and Fred. She learned they were doing missionary work there and happened to be headed to the same area we were. We ended up inviting them to come along with us.

On the way to the city of Chinandega, where we stayed for the rest of the trip, Fred and Wanda told us about the remote village where they served. The village was called Ojoche (O-ho-chay) and was located in some hills on the outskirts of Chinandega. The people there were so poor, they rarely left the town. They didn’t have many ways to make a living. They grew some food, but their crops had been destroyed this past season. They had a few animals, slept in hammocks, and some of them had televisions, their only windows to the outside world.

Our new friends, Wanda and Fred, helped with a small school there. They invited us to visit. Since we had no plans on Sunday, other than attending Church together, we agreed. It was a 90 minute drive through lots of greenery, fields of sugar cane and banana trees, with bumpy dirt roads at the end.

We went first to where Wanda and Fred stayed, which was close to the school. The furniture was scant. There was a stone oven inside and out, dirt floor and no doors. Then we went to the school.

I had some glow bracelets that we gave out to the children.

They loved them.

We told the children that Persnickety would make them some uniforms, and encouraged them to study hard.

Then we took a walk through the village. Even though the pathways and areas around the homes are dirt, the people keep everything cleanly swept.

As I looked at the humble homes there, I pondered the fact that people have lived in similar conditions throughout the history of the world. The conditions themselves are not so much the problem.

Here’s where our nine-year-old son Isaac HAD to take a potty break.

People have lived without modern conveniences for centuries. The people of Ojoche lack skills and education. When their crops fail, they have no other way to support themselves. This leads to a shortage of food, feelings of desperation and loss of self-respect. Sometimes the men go to find work somewhere else for a while, leaving their wives and children hungry until they get back. The churches in the area help as they can. The people need tools, because they have very few, and they need help learning new skills.

Fred and Wanda told us about how they showed the people how to pop popcorn. They had never had popcorn before! They were as excited as children at Christmas-time. They are determined to grow popcorn in their next crop. =) We loved meeting Fred and Wanda and people of Ojoche and are looking forward to helping them in the future.

We all feel that the Lord led us to meet Fred and Wanda. What a blessed opportunity for us to meet each other!

This is my third post in a series about Nicaragua. Here are the previous two posts:
My Trip of a Lifetime: To Nicaragua With Persnickety
Clothing Children Through Persnickety In Nicaragua

Do you have people around the world who you think about helping? I would love to hear who they are. Please tell me!

Energy Spray – I’ve used this when my baby has kept me up at night, I’m dragging and I’m not ready to take a nap. It’s an awesome, natural pick-me-up. If you or anyone you know, use store-bought energy drinks or any other form of caffeine, stop your addiction now! You will burn-out your adrenal system! This is an excellent, non-addictive substitute for those unhealthy products that are so bad for your body longterm.

Positive Mind Spray – I’ve used this a few times when I’ve been upset, emotional or feeling overwhelmed. It lightened up my negative feelings. It’s nice to have something like this to try, instead of feeling like I have to dig out the chocolate

Xappetite (Appetite Control) Spray – This is a totally natural way to help cut down on those cravings that sabotage our good intentions. I don’t recommend using any product in place of a meal. I recommend having smoothies or healthy foods with healthy fats ready to consume every 3 hours so that you aren’t tempted to eat other unhealthy items when you get too hungry or go longer without food. This product can help control feelings of hunger in between these scheduled times.

Sleep Spray – I’ve used this the most to wind down my brain from busy thoughts at bedtime. It has helped me get a good night’s rest! Please try something like this or calming essential oils like lavender before taking sedative drugs with negative side effects. Your body will thank you.

Vocalize Throat Spray – This spray is excellent for sore throat or for use when you are talking a lot. I love it when I’m teaching classes. My throat gets dry and I can’t afford for my voice to get weak or stop working. It really works.

Fast-acting VitalWave Liquid Nutrition Sprays

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• How to use herbs, essential oils and other natural tools to treat common ailments like congestion, cough, fever, viral infection, flu, ear infection, runny noses, tummy aches, etc.

“How To Treat Babies With Herbs & Essential Oils” was held already, but you can still purchase the recording as an audio Mp3 and get the transcript as well!

I have received many calls and emails regarding caring for babies and using essential oils, what is safe, what is not, how to apply, etc.

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• Stop feeling helpless when your baby is sick!
• Understand what red flag symptoms in your baby indicate that professional medical care is necessary.
• Learn how to use herbs, essential oils and other natural tools to treat common ailments like, colic, teething, congestion, cough, fever, viral infection, flu, ear infection, runny nose, constipation, diaper rash, thrush, eczema, tummy ache, and more!

The next class, “How To Use Essential Oils During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding” will be held Thursday, March 1st at 7 PM Mountain Standard Time.

I have some fantastic information to share!  Do you suffer from any common pregnancy or breastfeeding ailments? Don’t you hate getting sick when can affect both you and your baby?

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This means that if you purchase these classes, you will be able to download the recordings and listen to them whenever you want, as many times as you want!

After registration, phone number for class call-in (712 area code) will be emailed to you.  Thanks!

“Jenni, thanks so much for the informative teleseminar!  I am looking into getting some essential oils to keep on hand. You have re-inspired me to educate myself on more holistic options for my family in keeping healthy! Looking forward to your next session!” -Jolene

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My Doctoring  ebook is normally $19, but is currently on sale for $9 — no coupon needed!  Just in case you want to buy now. 

My family loves this, and it always disappears at potlucks! Mike & I especially enjoy the spicy version of this, but it can be made mild. This hummus is extra healthy as it contains raw energy, omega oils and antioxidants.

Fast Fresh, Mouthwatering Hummus

2 C cooked chickpeas or garbanzo beans
½ C tahini
(sesame butter)
1 red bell pepper, cut in chuncks
1 jalapeno pepper (optional)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar, unfiltered
1 TB flax seed oil
1 TB olive oil
1/2-1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp lemon or lime juice

Blend all in a food processor. Add a small amount of water if needed.

Spread on veggie wraps, warm whole wheat pitas or use as veggie dip. Perfect for healthy lunches!

Do you eat hummus? What are your favorite hummus ingredients?

The first day we went to the Cause For Hope office, the organization that helps Persnickety Clothing Company create and  distribute uniforms and clothing to children in need in Nicaragua. They helped us find people to buy the fabric and sew the clothes there, which supports the local economy. Their economy is much worse off than ours.

Then we took some dresses to a place that gives food to children in need. The children were so beautiful and there were many hopeful faces. We only had dresses. Our partner and friend, Craig Rickenbach, co-owner with his wife Corinne (in the green shirt) of Persnickety Clothing, spoke to the children before we began.

He was always able to make them laugh. First he had the boys raise their hand.

He told them sorry, they weren’t getting an dresses (they laughed and we did arrange for them to get a gift the next day). Then we told them why we were there.  We lined up the girls and started giving them dresses that looked to be the right size.

We didn’t have enough. We had given some dresses to girls who were bigger than the sizes we had. It broke our hearts. So we tried to make a list of the girls that still needed a dress, so more could be made for them. This little girl standing with our daughters, Leah and Raquel, was abandoned by both parents.

She had such a sweet, sparkling personality! She cared for her 4 younger siblings, so she was not able to attend school. Her older sister earned money to take care of the children. We wanted to take her and her siblings home with us!

After that we went to a couple churches and gave out dresses to needy families in that neighborhood. We had a little more time to try the dresses on some of the girls to make sure they fit. If you can’t find me in these pictures, it’s because I was the one taking them

The mothers hugged and kissed us afterwards to thank us. It made us feel that all our efforts had been worthwhile.

We thought these experiences alone were amazing. We had no idea that our adventures to follow would only get better.

This is the second article in a series of posts about our service in Nicaragua. Read the first HERE.

Have you traveled to any other countries to do service?

Finally I realized that it was inevitable, and instead of keeping books away from my kids (or watching them every second) I would just resign myself to doing repairs every so often. I’ve decided that it is the price I’m willing to pay to instill in my children a love of books at an early age.

Here’s the pile of books I repaired the other night.

After being used by 7 kids, some of our books are getting a bit thrashed, or shall I say well loved? This is my second copy of this one.

I’ve read to many of my kids from birth, but especially at 6 months and up. At this age, they love board books by Sandra Boynton and Dr. Seuss. Of course they put the books in their mouths, but I just remind gently that we don’t do that. I try to just keep board books in the nursery for the first year or so.

I’ve purchased most our books second hand or at yard sales. Every couple months I get out my heavy duty tape.

I take all the books, covers and pages out of the bucket on my office shelf and I start taping.

I just can’t throw books away if they’re still salvageable. These are stories I loved growing up.

This one needed a bit more than tape. All the pages were coming out, so I had to resort to the stapler.

It brings me joy to see my children sitting for periods of time, absorbed in reading or looking at good books. And it doesn’t take long to read a few stories to the kids every night. The more I read to them, the more it solidifies their love of reading.

What a great reward!

How do you manage books around your young children?

We will get to see all the dresses and school uniforms that have been sewn down there in conjunction with Persnickety’s charitable giving program. From the beginning, Persnickety has committed to donate a portion of profits from each sale to the production of clothing for donation and gifting to a child in need. This started with sewing dresses for girls in orphanages and lower income families in South America. This program now includes sewing school uniforms for children from poorer families who can’t afford the uniforms. These help the children be able to attend school when they haven’t been attending.

The Rickenbachs are taking their three oldest children, who are each slightly younger than our three oldest, who we are taking as well. They are great friends and are so excited to be taking a trip together.

Here are the 4 oldest Rickenbach & Wilson kids

My husband, Mike and Craig Rickenbach went down to Nicaragua last year and found some great seamstresses  to do the job. The Buy-One-Give-One program also benefits the families of these women who sew the clothing, because it gives them steady work and increases their income significantly. The dresses are much more simple than what we’re used to. Here’s what some of the dresses look like.

I’m so happy that these girls are benefiting from the program! When we first launched Persnickety, we created the program and talked about modeling it after TOMS Shoes, but we didn’t know at that point how well Persnickety would do or if any of our dreams would actually become a reality.

Here are Mike and Craig at an orphanage last year.

Persnickety dreams have become a reality and we are overjoyed about it! Isn’t this sweet?

So now we get to come along to see how Persnickety is changing the world for good!

When we first met the Rickenbachs, we had some other friends and teachers in common that inspired us and convinced us that we had the power to change the world for good. I agree with what they taught, that we all have genius within us. We all have the power to influence others and our small and simple actions of influence can affect powerful change in the world.

We mothers have a magnified power to change the world. We have great influence on our children, and the principles we teach them will strengthen them throughout their lives. They will find ways to change the world positively if we show them how through our example.

We don’t have to go out of the country or even away from home to do important service. The sweetest service happens in quiet and personal ways, without fanfare or publishing. However, I know I’m inspired when I hear about how others are changing the world, and that is empowering.

I’ll be sure to post some pictures from our trip when we get back. The kids are hoping we get to see this volcano, and that it’s still smoking when we’re there.

We’ll pray for safe travel!

“I assume you are totally against the flu vaccine?? I hate this time of year because my gut says no you do not want to start injecting your child with a flu vaccine from now until eternity but at the same time doctors and others make you feel guilty that you aren’t “protecting” your child.  What are your thoughts?  Also, since your husband is a doctor does he think the risk of complications or death from the flu are really that great or is it typically only when there is an underlying health condition?”

“I see that you have done some about the swine flu. What about the flu and all the other vaccines “they” recommend. My girls had their yearly check-ups yesterday and I usually have them get the flu mist but not yet this year as I’m just not sure. I don’t know much about it actually. They highly recommended my oldest get it because she is diabetic.

I felt like a bad mom because I am following an alternative shot schedule for my youngest as outlined in “The Vaccine Book” by Dr Sears. She hasn’t had Hep B or MMR yet (because they don’t make MMR separate anymore). I feel kind of lost between reports that vaccines are safe and different reports that are not. I’m sure I’m not the only one so I thought this might be a good subject for you to weigh in on. Are your kids vaccinated at all? Thanks!”

Why I Don’t Get Flu Vaccines

There are many strains of influenza. Every year, the strains change. The pharmaceutical companies try to keep up by testing the strains that are going around. But by the time a vaccine is ready to go on the market, the strain has already changed (usually) and the vaccine quickly becomes outdated. There can also be harmful ingredients or contaminants in vaccines.

You’ve got to read this recent article that reports the flu vaccine is not as effective as everyone thinks. The article is published by naturalnews.com

Shock Vaccine Study Reveals Influenza Vaccines Only Prevent the Flu in 1.5 out of 100 Adults (not 60% as you’ve been told)

Are we getting duped by big pharma or our own government on this issue? Why should we get ANY vaccine if it doesn’t work?

Most normal people on the healthy side have little risk from flu or from many other childhood illnesses. People that are on the SAD (Standard American Diet) and have more serious health issues or are immune suppressed, elderly or very young, are at a higher risk from influenza and other illnesses. My husband says that complications mostly happen in people with underlying health conditions.

My mom attended a class last week on cultured foods taught by a lady named Tracey. Tracey has a little boy, who received a vaccine at age 2. Immediately afterward, he stopped talking and looking anyone in the eye. I would feel devastated if this happened to one of my children. I believe that usually the risk of negative side effects goes down with age and quality of health, but I always feel there is a risk. Dr. Christopher taught that vaccinations bypass the body’s natural defenses in an unnatural way and can cause disorders in brain and immune function.

Doctors often downplay the risks and chalk up problems to other causes, and I believe problems are under-reported. I don’t know tons of people personally that have been injured or had children directly injured-only a few, so perhaps the risk is lower than it seems. But I have heard many heartbreaking stories of children being injured or becoming dysfunctional from vaccines or just coincidentally after they received a vaccine.

I also know that there are complications from some illnesses that might be prevented in some cases by vaccines, but I haven’t found any firm data on this. Vaccinations seem to have helped reduce life-threatening diseases in other countries such as Africa, but improvements in sanitation and water cleanliness may have been a larger contributor to reducing such diseases.

We vaccinated our first child, but stopped halfway through the schedule on the second when I started learning about natural health. I just didn’t feel comfortable with it any longer. My older children have received a couple  shots in order to go to South America, but I try to avoid them as much as possible. My 4 younger children have not received any vaccines. One of the ways I can easily do this is by going to a naturopathic doctor for our health concerns instead of a conventional pediatrician.

As I’ve learned so many other ways to treat flu and other illnesses in my home, my confidence has grown. I’m no longer afraid of treating more serious problems myself, and to me, flu is definitely less problematic than other things. I would rather deal with the risks from flu than from vaccines. Tons of people have contracted the flu from the vaccine or have still gotten flu after getting vaccinated.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I think my children have a lower risk because we eat a healthy diet. For someone who has a junkie diet and is not willing to use natural health tools or take responsibility for their health, maybe that person should get the vaccine. I’m not telling anyone else what to do, I’m only sharing my personal philosophy on the matter.

This is the first of a several part series on the flu vaccine. Read my past related articles:

Is Swine Flu Killing Us, Or The Drugs?
10 Top Flu Remedies Audio
Swine Flu Vaccine: Get Informed Before You Vaccinate
Top 10 Things To Do When Your Child Might Have The Swine Flu

Have you decided not to vaccinate? Will you tell us why not?