OUR VALUES 

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SENSITIVITY IN SPEECH

Please, please, please, teach your children language sensitivity.  To use good words, to use gentle vs. harsh language.  In his lecture on the tower of Babel, Rabbi Galamidi (MGBH) says, “We need to use as soft language as possible.”  Torah teaches us that Hashem is “on our tongue.”

Some parents think, “My child has to live in this world, he/she will hear bad words anyways.  We might as well use them in front of them. It’s better that they learn them from us.” This is a toxic mindset, and wrong understanding of how Hashem works.  We create our own reality, “Avera ke dabera,” – “I create as I speak.”  The first 7 years are the “Bereshit” of a child’s life.  What we put into those seven years, what we sew during that precious time, will become “normal” for your children for life.

Studies show that it is the immediate caregivers that influence the child the most.  The environment only plays a secondary role serving more as a background vs. primary influencer on a child’s inner world. 

 

 

FOOD

 As a responsible parent, you are an integral part of taking care of your child’s health through food choices.  Unlike most traditional parents who heavily rely on supplemental school lunches, you have to provide breakfast-lunch-dinner + snacks every day for your children.  Please, make wise food choices, yet do not beat yourself up because of an occasional pizza and repetitious sandwich lunch.  Organic, Non-GMO ingredients are a priority; low sugar/candy is, too.  Jewish food culture heavily relies on kashrut guidelines for food choices, but today in the ever changing environment, we have to watch out for things other than treif – genetically modified foods, hormones and antibiotics in meat and dairy, toxic pesticides in fruits, vegetables, and grains, artificial chemicals in snacks.  Most of these health traps can be avoided if buying organics. 

 

Contrary to a popular view that organics are expensive, there are many options that disprove that.  Did you know that many food items in Publix are more expensive than those at Wholefoods and Trader Joe’s? Did you know that the same organic food you buy at the kosher store, is 25% more expensive than that at Wholefoods? Did you know that Costco is the nations’ largest provider of organic products at affordable prices?  Lots of organic foods can be bought in bulk online to reduce cost. 

 

TAKING CARE OF THE TEACHER

 As a homeschooling parent, you often forget about the most important person in your life – YOURSELF! Your health matters. Your happiness matters. Your feeling of self-worth matters.  Your inner balance matters.  If you are out of balance, so is everyone around you.  Take care of yourself first.  Don’t give away 100% of yourself to others.  Save some of you for yourself.  There are no human sacrifices in the Torah.  Drink plenty of water, pray, read Tehilim, get adequate nutrition, and enough sleep.  Keep a daily schedule – early to bed, early to rise, makes a homeschooling parent happy, healthy and wise.  Through your personal example, teach your homeschooled students to take care of themselves as well.  This is an integral part of their life education.  Every morning we say, “I take upon myself a positive commandment of loving a fellow Hebrew as I love myself.”  Our relationships with ourselves is a reasonable predictor of how we will treat others.  Be ready to receive your student every morning before you teach him/her something. 

 

Be kind, patient, and consistent.

 

 

ITA APPROACH TO TECHNOLOGY

 At ITA, we value holistic approach to education and encourage parents to minimize children’s exposure to technology.  While there are many educational apps offered today to help memorize school material faster in interactive ways, nothing can replace human connection.  Additionally, radiation from tablets, smart phones, and laptops has especially strong effects on younger children whose physical body has not fully developed yet.  Please, click here to read about negative effects of technology on young children.

 

Because technology today changes so fast and is so intuitive, it is easy to catch up with it at any age.  Do not be afraid that your child will be behind by learning to type or using Microsoft Office in later grades.

 

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