Popcorn & Peanuts Parenting Favorites

Welcome to the "Snack Bar". Our favorite Parenting links - help yourself!
This bowl contains:

Click On Links To Parent Stuff:

• Sam's Angels Interested in angels? Stories and discussion here.

• Avon First Baptist The church I attend, just in case you would like to visit!

• Sword of the Lord Newspaper and publications.

• Focus on the Family Popular radio and magazine with Dr. James Dobson. Site has many freebies, articles, and helps.

• Lifelink Prepare before the emergency strikes! Tips, helps, links to order supplies.

• Education Reporter A monthly newsletter for Parents. Don't miss their recommended children's reading list!

• Eagle Forum Phyllis Schlafly, right-wing parent's political information.

• This is the Virtual University Check them out for on-line personal or continuing education classes! Certificates are available. This is where I learned HTML, and am studying Genealogy.

• Lefties Resources

• Learning Disability Information My own collection of sites and resources.

• "Blessed Arrows" Reversal Ministry Website.

• Parent Soup Baby Name Finder Fun site! It's part of the big "Parent Soup" site, which has many more parent resources. I have not cared for the secular humanist slant to much of the advice offered on the chats and discussion groups, but there is good stuff here.

• Quackwatch Your Guide to Health Fraud, Quackery, and Intelligent Decisionmaking.

• Scam/Spam Alerts Catfancy has collected everything you need to know about Scams and Spam (not the canned meat), mostly on the Internet. His first section contains the addresses of consumer groups and Attorney General offices. Down the page you will find descriptions of current problems and how to avoid them. At the bottom are addresses of more anti-Spam pages.

• Urban Legends Find out if those rumors about Disney are true. Was Bogart really the Gerber baby model? And many more! Very interesting trivia for dull afternoons!

• Virus Myths and other on-line scams.

• Gullibility Virus A hoax-exploding homepage- see if you've been had!

Things to do with your kids! Preschool! Crafts!

• Slow and Steady-Get Me Ready
  by June R. Oberlander
  Weekly activities for babies, birth to age 5; including games and simple toys to make. I like to give this one as a shower gift!

• Game Home Forgot the exact rules for "Run, Sheep, Run"? How about "Marco Polo"? Fun games from our childhood are being collected here! Try them out with your kids!

• Riddler On-line Games, contests, and links to many more. Free entry- but the prizes are real!

• One Happy Puppy! A kids games and fun site! Shareware and demo games to download, or try the Treats section of on-Web games.

  

• Aunt Annie's Craft Page On-line craft instructions. Great site!

• Crayola Tours Lots more than tours here! Coloring pages, software demos, contests and games!

• Mom's Art & Crafts Over 80 links to Arts & Crafts sites- some with lesson plans. Try them - there are some great sites here!

• Color Me Fun Kids activity and educational disks, on-line coloring, contests, and downloadable samples. They have a "Link Exchange" collection of dozens more kid pages. Worth checking out!

• Childrens Television Workshop Games and printable coloring pages for pre-schoolers, based on popular television characters.

• Jelly Bellies! Information, tour, and a survey with free samples!

• Bozo's Super Silly Cyber Circus WGN-TV from Chicago, IL, has this great site for kids.

• Mrs. Grossmans Sticker Company This is the place to get great stickers, and not just for kids! Mrs. G.'s are low acid, or acid-free, which makes them suitable for your photo albums, books, and other heirlooms.

• The Discovery Channel School Use TV for school? Check it out! (Secular, but useful)

• More Art Museums and more art for older kids.

• NetVet Got pets? Check out the NetVet! All kinds of information- including exotics! The first time the kids bring home a baby whatsit, you'll be heading for this site!

• New Scientist-LastWord
  A Science Site that explains Grey Hair and Other Important Questions.

• Holiday Page A link farm of holiday sites. Some are commercial, some on "different" holidays like National Pi day. The rest are good children's resources- be sure to check Heather's collection!

• ScreenIt Find out what's in that movie before your child sees it! Secular and NOT high standards, but the information you want is there somewhere. Read the COMPLETE review, don't just scan their quick ratings table.

• LookSmart A Search Engine that seems to find more family-friendly sites than most.

  There is always a lot of discussion on discipline. I am a Charlotte Mason homeschooler. Charlotte Mason was a VERY gentle person, and recommended talking to the child and convincing them of error. They were to be convinced and their will strengthened to do what ought to be done by their own choice. Younger children were to be distracted from troublesome behavior, and extra attention was to be paid by the mother to instill a new good habit of behavior. Chastisement may be necessary, but it is never a complete solution.

  Here are some sites I found while looking up discipline a few weeks ago:

• Discipline This is a very traditional gentleman, with lots of Bible.

• Focus on the Family Here's Dr. Dobson's page. He says that you should expect teens to rebel and should not sweat the small stuff. Charlotte Mason would NOT agree with him- she would say any rebellion showed where more attention was needed. However, his staff will answer questions and help you find someone to talk to. The site says that if you can wait 2-3 weeks, email them, but if it is urgent or needs an answer by a certain date call them at 1-800-A-FAMILY (232-6459)

• ParentSoup And in contrast, here is the very large and very liberal ParentSoup site, where you can read what the "experts" have to say and also submit questions or join chats. This would probably be a good place to find laws and definitions.

Think again! There is a little known program named "The Hill Burton Act", which mandates that hospitals and medical institutions that have borrowed funds, received grants or other aid from Uncle Sam, must offer free/inexpensive health care to people that don't qualify for medicaid or have other group coverage. Call 800-638-0742 for information on participating sites. This is not welfare and we paid for this program with our tax dollars. Go in to the business office of the nearest participating hospital and ask to apply for the Hill-Burton program. If you do qualify you get a card, which you show any time you or your family need to go in. Services are either free or sliding-scale, and the program is intended for where at least one person in the family is employed.

• Sapient Health Network SHN is an interactive health information service developed for people with chronic and serious illnesses.

  Funeral information, anyone? I read a very interesting article in US News and World Report magazine, March 23, 1998, p50-. They are documenting incredible price inflation and dishonest practices in the funeral industry. I don't need a funeral at the moment, but decided it could be useful to price services in my area. Funeral homes are required to provide prices over the phone- but I certainly surprised some by asking. (I won't post my results- prices and services differ wildly, but it was interesting.) Here are some phone numbers and sites listed in the US News and World Report article. Some of these sites list specific prices and services for comparison- remember these are highly dependent on where you are, and check the dates carefully. Current prices may differ:

• FAMSA Their own description: "The only organization monitoring the funeral industry for consumers. As nonprofit educational groups, our societies are protecting a person's right to choose a simple and dignified funeral." You can also call 1-800-765-0107.

• Father Wasieleewski A Catholic priest who was the focus of the article. This is his personal site, dedicated to exposing fraud and helping people obtain reasonable funerals. It is a huge site, with much information, documentation, and links. He is always seeking more, too. You can also call him for help at 1-602-253-6814. Please be considerate, he is a working priest- he has working hours, and needs his sleep just like the rest of us.

• "The Affordable Funeral: Going in Style, Not in Debt" is a book offered by R. E. Markin. Worth reading if you're really planning ahead! Call him at 1-757-427-0220.

  Order your casket at warehouse prices and have it delivered to your choice of funeral homes! Funeral homes cannot require you to buy from them. In most States you can even make your own. Most cemetaries do require a vault. If you are using cremation there is certainly no reason to use an expensive casket. Also, the magazine and sites document extensive problems with the expensive and popular "sealed" caskets which seem to destroy the bodies they are supposed to protect! You can examine caskets when you need them and call these places with the descriptions to get price quotes- these are the places the caskets come from. Or, you may call for a catalog.

• A website: Casket Store.
• Direct Casket, 1-800-732-2753