Look How Far We've Come

Did you know how far we have come with special education in the US? You could say it all started with the civil rights movements. There were so many sacrifices of others to get special education. It started as hiding those with disabilities -out of sight out of mind- which led to institutions, then no institutionalization, to mainstreaming, to what we have now, inclusion.

There are still countries today where children with disabilities are still institutionalized! We watched a NBC Dateline about mental institutions in Serbia. I learned a lot watching this video that we have come a long way to help the specific needs of individuals but there is still so much more we can do. As I watched these different clips, I wondered if there is anything I can do to help these individuals in Serbia and the others like them across the world. I want to learn more about this. It will help me in the future as I work with children with disabilities and their parents because it can still be a fight for parents to get the education their child needs when it comes to special education. Many parents get frustrated that their child doesn't get everything the way they hoped for but I am so grateful for what we do have and for how far we have come. 

My peers helped me learn more about other points of view. As we discussed they helped me see just how far we have come and how great it is that we can have all the great opportunities we now have for those with disabilities. We were able to learn a lot from each other as we discussed this video. For those who want to watch this I have included the link below.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26332429/ns/dateline_nbc-international/t/serbias-horrific-institutions-relic-past/#.VJNAKCvF9Ns

The Importance of Families

This past week I watched a really interesting documentary called Demographic Winter. (I included the link to the video below for you overachievers to go watch.) Just a quick summary about Demographic Winter, it focuses on the rate of the population and the effects of people having children- or rather not having children. I am shocked at how the fertility rate is declining everywhere- not just in the US! I ask myself "Why is this happening? Why don’t people want kids?" I have always wanted children. It is one of my life goals to have a good sized family, one like how I was raised. It was normal to me for people to have a family with 3+ kids. Watching this video helped me see just how wrong I was!

There are so many people who think one or two children is perfect. There are a lot who don't even want kids. Some of you may be this way and that's your choice. There are a lot of reasons why people don't want kids or don't want a lot. They believe there aren't enough resources or space to have larger families. But in reality there are plenty of resources and space. Of course money could be an issue but no matter the reasoning, families and having children are important.

Think about it. If people started to have just one or two children our population would eventually start to decrease. What would that do to jobs? Where would people find support? I don't know about you but my family is my first source of support and help when things don't go how I planned. What would this do to the creativity and innovation in our society? Think this has nothing to do with having children? I know it does. As more and more people have less children there won't be anyone to take over the jobs others retire from. That means we will have to work harder and be more efficient. There also won't be a lot of people to bounce ideas off of and our creativity and innovation will die down. Families also play a huge role in society. There are so many things that are learned in families that are hard to learn elsewhere.

I am LDS and was raised hearing how families are important. It wasn't until I watched this documentary that I realized just how important families are. It effects the society, it effects individuals, and it effects the world. Of course it is everyone's personal choice to have kids or not but I strongly encourage anyone to do so! Happiness is within the family.

Demographic Winter: http://www.byutv.org/show/5e819b00-5e99-4bf4-931e-c154d3c2dc8d/new-economic-reality-demographic-winter 

This Journey Called Life

Hello! Just a little background, my name is Celeste and I am currently studying Child Development at Brigham Young University-Idaho and I love it! I am so passionate about the home and family. My goal is to become a home educator, I'm excited for what the future moments have to bring. The purpose of this blog is to share my thoughts and ideas with others about the different topics around the family and education. In turn, I hope to hear from all of you about your beliefs and views on these things as well! So feel free and comment. I hope to also talk about my experiences I have in this journey called life!