Friday, 1 April 2016

Tip FIVE - Read Aloud Together Every Day

Today is the final post for this weeks Tips for Homeschool Parents blog Hop. The first four tips for the week so far are:

  1. Become Equipped: Know What You Think and Why.
  2. Finding Your Rhythm  and keeping to it.
  3. Buy some Ice Cream - Dealing with difficult days.
  4.  Tip FOUR - One Step at a Time
Today I would like to encourage you to read together every day. There are many many benefits to both the student and the one reading out loud.


Some of the Benefits of reading out loud to your family
  • Vocabulary development
  • Improves focus and concentration skills
  • It's a good way to grapple with difficult issues
  • Books allow you to develop an awareness of people and situations outside of your personal experience
  • They help us develop a sense of empathy to our fellow man.
  • It develops a sense of closeness and bonding.
  • Improves speech fluency
  • Develops comprehension
  • Grows phonological awareness
  • Reduces stress
  • Expands knowledge
  • Develops analytical thinking skills
  • Promotes creativity
  • Improves grammar
  • Creates a family tradition
 Did you know a child’s reading level doesn’t catch up to his listening level until eighth grade?

For more information on the benefits of reading out loud to your family Jim Release has authored a book called The Read-aloud Handbook.

Here are some interesting articles on reading out loud to your family
I love this story.  This father read out loud to his daughter every day until she started collage. That's a total of 3,218 nights in a row! They have over 700 favorite books.  You can read about their journey here:  A Father-Daughter Bond, Page by Page 

Sarah over at Amongst Lovely Things hosts the Read-Aloud Revival.  You can find out more here: About The Read Aloud Revival.

With all the amazing books out there it can be overwhelming.  Here are a few lists to get you started reading together as a family:
This post is part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents Blog Hop.  Blog posts from these bloggers will be going live between 8 am EST and Midday.

I invite you to grab a cup of tea and head on over to these bloggers to see their word of encouragement to you today.

Blessings
Chareen



If you're on Pinterest I encourage you to follow the board 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents for some wonderful NEW content for your Homeschool Boards.

Follow Every Bed of Roses's board 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents. on Pinterest.
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Thursday, 31 March 2016

Tip FOUR - One Step at a Time

Welcome back to this weeks Tips for Homeschool Parents blog Hop. The first three tips for the week so far are:
  1. Become Equipped: Know What You Think and Why.
  2. Finding Your Rhythm  and keeping to it.
  3. Buy some Ice Cream - Dealing with difficult days.
Today I would like to talk about the journey.  Homeschooling is more than education.  It's about a journey. It's a journey that you, your spouse, your children and extended family are on.  This journey is more like a marathon than a sprint and as such you need to learn to pace yourself.


Homeschooling is about one small step at a time.  It's about building precept upon precept.  There is no need to hurry. It is far better to do a limited amount with excellence than it is to hurry because you've got too much to do and miss the depth and breadth of the experience.  Your children will be adults a lot faster than you know. Take time to savor the moments.

When you're having a tough day remember that tomorrow is a fresh new day, it's a gift. When that new day dawns it's a an opportunity to build a better and stronger relationship.  As you walk this journey,  don't sweat the small stuff.

Look at the bigger picture. What are your long term goals? Now choose your top two or three priorities for YOUR homeschool. Write them down, decide what you need to do to fulfill them and then begin the journey of one step at time to achieve them.

Do NOT let other homeschool families personal priorities high jack yours and get in the way. Every single family has there own personalities, dreams, hopes and aspirations.  Do not try to follow their dreams. You are who you are and it's not wise to clone your homeschool on someone else dreams. When you do that you set yourself up to be disappointed, frustrated and burned out.  Learn to be TRUE to Yourselves and who you are. This is the key to ultimate freedom and enjoying your homeschool journey.

I encourage you to slow down and enjoy the journey.  Guard your time and your energy,  and that of your children.  Do not feel that you need to do everything there is out there.  Your time and your energy are a limited resource and if you over extend them you will become burned out or your children will.  Consider well what you commit yourselves to do and the consequence on the whole family.

Becoming burned out is a very real issue among homeschool families.  I would like to encourage you to read the following articles for some ideas on how to manage your journey so as to maintain your stamina for the long term. 

5 Days of Tips for Homeschool ParentsThis post is part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents Blog Hop.  Blog posts from these bloggers will be going live between 8 am EST and Midday.

I invite you to grab a cup of tea and head on over to these bloggers to see their word of encouragement to you today.


Blessings
Chareen

If you're on Pinterest I encourage you to follow the board 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents for some wonderful NEW content for your Homeschool Boards.

Follow Every Bed of Roses's board 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents. on Pinterest.

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Wednesday, 30 March 2016

Tip THREE ... Buy some Ice Cream

Welcome back to this weeks Tips for Homeschool Parents. So far in the series we have talked about  Becoming Equipped: Know What You Think and Why and Finding Your Rhythm. Today I would like to encourage you to stock up on ice-cream (or your family favourite treat)!

As much as homeschooling is living the dream sooner or later the honeymoon period will end. You will experience the odd frustrating and difficult day.  We are all human.  Every day is different.  Just when you think you've got it nailed something will happen to make you question your choices and that's when you need to remember tip number one - Know WHY you are doing what you are doing which in turn will empower you with the strength to keep going.

When you hit a day when no matter how hard you try you will not be able to explain an easy concept to a student who is struggling to comprehend what is in front of them and soon tensions will escalate and things can become, well let's just say not so nice.  There will be tears of frustration or angry words and then I recommend you close the books.

Put AWAY all the books and declare ICE CREAM day.  

Believe me your children will be grateful and so will you be.  It's a great way to diffuse the situation, it creates a happy memory, provides space for you all to reconnect and relaxes everyone involved.

Whatever you do, do not go back to the subject that sparked the tensions.  Tackle the next thing on the list or get out the house and go for a walk.  Come back to that subject tomorrow after you and the child have had a good nights rest and you've had some time to think about a new approach to solve their quandary.

If you find that you and the children keep coming to the point of sparking each other it could be because you are all tired. You may need to look at finding a new rhythm for your homeschool.

We follow a five week rotation.  Our rhythm is to home educate for four weeks and then have a one week break.  Nine of these rotations equal a total of 36 weeks of school and only take up 40 weeks of the year.  Leaving us twelve weeks of holidays.    You can read more about this topic in these two posts: Homeschool Daily Schedules and Our Rhythm - Year Round Schooling.  When working out your families rhythm remember to check what your country/state requirements are for homeschooling for the year.

I love what  Sally Clarkson says in her book The Mission of Motherhood: "There are many varieties of personalities and possibilities of home organization, Each of us simply has to find the combination of routines that suits our lifestyle and desires." This is why it's important for you to do what's best for your family even if it's different to your homeschool neighbour.

I'm looking forward to sharing more tips with you later this week.  5 Days of Tips for Homeschool ParentsThis post is part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents Blog Hop.  Blog posts from these bloggers will be going live between 8 am EST and Midday.

I invite you to grab a cup of tea and head on over to these bloggers to see their word of encouragement to you today.


Blessings
Chareen

If you're on Pinterest I encourage you to follow the board 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents for some wonderful NEW content for your Homeschool Boards.
Follow Every Bed of Roses's board 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents. on Pinterest.

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