No.773: My Mother Culture Commonplace Book // October 2023

As you know, I’m a cheerleader for being an active producer vs. a passive consumer and education definitely falls in that active category. (It takes effort to think/process new information!) I’m bringing back the Mother Culture Commonplace Book series (again) to share some of the things I’ve been learning. Here’s what I’ve been reading/watching/listening to lately…

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A Cautionary Warning from Syria

Before the revolution, I thought that Syria was for Assad. Syria was just the place where I lived, but it didn’t belong to me. When the revolution began, I discovered that Syria was my country. As Kurds, we had thought that we were oppressed and others were favored by the regime. After the revolution we discovered that we were all suffering from the same oppression. We discovered that we had not been working together, and that is how the regime was able to dominate us. – Cherin, a mother from Aleppo, We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria, p.89

Families and ADHD, Dyslexia & Apraxia

I’m always on the hunt for ways to help my dyslexic children and most recently have been reading the book, The LCP Solution: The Remarkable Nutritional Treatment for ADHD, Dyslexia and Dyspaxia by B. Jacqueline Stordy, PhD. She begins the book by discussing how family history largely predetermines your chances of inheriting a learning disorder, which has been true in our family. Turns out that it’s long been recognized that learning disorders such as ADHD, dyslexia, and dyspraxia run in families and many children have one or more. Look at these statistics:

As many as 65% of children with ADHD also struggle with at least one other learning disorder.
50% of dyspraxic children also have ADHD.
Some 30-50% of children with dyslexia have ADHD and vice versa.

The Burning Rates of Natural vs. Synthetic Materials

My son is a volunteer firefighter and is going through academy right now. He is learning so much and then teaches me when he comes home! One of the videos he shared with me showed the flashover times of a living room filled with natural materials vs. one with synthetics. Scary!