Here are a few frequently asked questions that I get from friends, family, and readers.

Parenting

What’s Attachment Parenting?

I wrote about that here.

Have you really never spanked your children?

Yes, really. You can read more about how I discipline my children without using punishment.

Isn’t Attachment Parenting Just Permissive Parenting?

No, it’s not. I wrote about the difference between attachment parenting and permissive parenting.

Does Parenting Ever Get Easier?

Yes. Check out my article “Does Parenting Ever Get Easier?”

Real Food

Many of your recipes and articles talk about real food. What does real food mean to you?

To me, real food is the simplest and least processed form of any nourishing food.  One of the best books on this subject is Real Food by Nina Planck.

Real food means

• raw or low-temp pasteurized dairy from pastured, grass-fed cows/goats/sheep, etc
• grains, beans, lentils, and nuts that are organic and sprouted, soaked, or soured
• plenty of good, saturated and monounsaturated fats as opposed to vegetable oils
• meat and eggs from healthy pastured animals raised with traditional animal husbandry practices as opposed to conventional ones
• organic produce from the dirty dozen; organic herbs and spices
• real salt that still contains trace minerals
• sweeteners (in moderation) that still contain the nutrients nature gave them as opposed to artificial sweeteners or processed (white) sugar. (Examples of natural sweeteners include real maple syrup, coconut sugar, sucanat, and raw honey.)

Do you only eat real food?

I use the 80/20 rule of real food.  When I first discovered what real food truly was, I was very strict.  We stopped eating out and I made everything from scratch.  We needed to heal from the Standard American Diet of boxed, bagged, and canned foods.

Now our goal is more relaxed and tailored to our busy life.  That means when we are away from home, we don’t worry about eating processed food.  At home, however, we eat real food.  That means I prepare dinner from scratch, lunch is dinner leftovers, and breakfast is simple (usually) paleo or keto food.

I feel better on a low carb diet, but I also love to bake. I don’t enjoy most low carb baked goods, so I use regular (organic) flour, sugar, etc in my baked goods.

We simply eat them way less often than we used to. Baked goods are for holidays and special occasions around here.

Are you keto or paleo or vegan or WAPF or vegetarian or primal or . . .?

We do not adhere to any one type of real food diet.  If I were single, had an unlimited food budget and was never stressed (carbs soothe me) I would follow a mostly keto, often paleo diet.  I believe that’s the healthiest diet for me.

Don’t worry though, you’ll still find recipes suitable for various types of diets here at Our Small Hours – even some “fun” foods that aren’t *gasp* healthy.

I was vegan many years ago and sometimes we eat vegan meals, but as a matter of taste and not because we’re vegan. (If you’re interested, I wrote an article about why I’m not vegan anymore.)

Why did you start eating a real food diet?

I started eating a real food diet because I was desperate to fix my health issues.  I was always on a diet but could never lose weight.  I had heart palpitations, stage 2 hypertension, IBS, chronic headaches, fatigue, anxiety, PMDD, and joint pain.

I read Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A Price and Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and decided to give it a try. Within three months I was off all medications, had lost weight and felt amazing. Real food gave me my life back.

Home Schooling

Why do you home school your children?

Freedom is my favorite reason to homeschool. I answer this question fully in this post.

How does your husband feel about home schooling?

Although my husband didn’t agree to homeschooling at first, he now sees the value in home schooling and supports it 100%.

How did you work full time and homeschool?

I homeschooled while working full time outside of the home for about 3.5 years. It wasn’t easy, but it was a necessary step for improving our family’s quality of life for a time.

I’ve written about how to work full time and homeschool AND gave a snapshot of a day in the life while working full time and homeschooling looks like.

What curriculum do you use?

We use a variety of resources to teach our children. We do not use a single, pre-packaged curriculum because I have always found them either lacking or containing far too much.

I have a post about how to create your own homeschool curriculum if you are looking for tips.

Do you worry about socialization?

Not even a little bit.  If I did worry about socialization, I wouldn’t rely on the school system to teach my children proper socialization.  I believe that children learn damaging things about how to be productive, socially and emotionally healthy humans in today’s school system.

Healthy Living

What do you mean by ‘healthy living’?

To me healthy living means:

• eating a real food diet and using plants (herbs, essential oils, etc) for prevention and wellness instead of pharmaceuticals whenever possible.
• cleaning my home with cleaning products that score well in safety on EWG.org or making my own.
• using makeup and personal care products that score well in safety on EWG.org or making my own.
• using fewer disposable and more reusable items.
• using high quality essential oils instead of air fresheners and fragrances.
• reusing, reducing, and recycling.
• composting.
• gardening for food.
• respecting the cycles of nature – sunrise/sunset, the moon cycles, my menstrual cycle, and the cycle of the seasons.
• being in nature as much as possible.
• living as slow and as mindful of a life as possible without feeling guilt when life gets hectic.