Homeschool

Attitude Adjustment

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Well, the school year is in full swing.  Homeschoolers are busy, busy, busy.  The schedules and routines are posted and the books are all purchased.  So, what’s with the chaos? Sometimes things look great on paper, but the reality can be something quite different.  After a month or so of homeschool, the true picture has come into focus.  Moms may be saying, “What have I done?” Children can easily become obstinate or just sulky.  They want to go to “real” school or just play video games all day.  In short, the attitudes can really stink!  Where on earth did this come from? One thing I learned during my first homeschool year was this: My kids are around me all day.  Do I really want them to act like me?  They can see through any facade, and they need a mom/teacher who is worthy to be followed. Boy, that was certainly a slap-in-the-face to me as a young mom.  I thought I just had to teach these kids reading, writing, and arithmetic.  Unfortunately, there is so much more to homeschooling (or mothering in general).  Our actions are emulated, but so are our attitudes. Attitude adjustments are needed very often in our children.  They’re also needed in us.  Moms get little sleep, little help, and lots of intense situations that can lead us to frustration.  After days of frustration, it’s easy to have a bad attitude. Homeschool moms get so busy teaching, cleaning, scheduling, and training, they can easily lose sight of their original homeschool vision.  We need to often adjust our attitudes.  We need to adjust our expectations.  We may even need to adjust our goals. Often, we are too perfectionistic and feel like a failure if we don’t have the home or homeschool that we imagine others have. It’s better to not compare ourselves with others.  God gave us the children He wanted us to train.  We can accomplish His plan, with His help. So, instead of yelling at the kids or threatening to send them to catch the bus, stop and breathe.  Evaluate your attitude.  Have you been rushing them, too intense, impatient?  Stop, pray and start over. Your attitude adjustment will set the tone in your home and be a calming influence on the children.  Then, you’ll be better able to help them as they need to learn to have good attitudes.  @2017, copyright Lisa Ehrman

Mom Time

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Charlotte Mason called it “Mother Culture”.  Moms need time to breathe, to recoup, to rejuvenate. Often, moms have only a few minutes here or there to claim for their own.  Those small breaks can really bring you back to sanity.  Mom Time can help you get your perspective back to where you want and need it to be. Here are some ideas: Take a walk Enjoy a hot bath Listen to music that calms you Sit outdoors and listen to nature Play a musical instrument Read a book Pray Exercise Sleep Play a game Chat with a friend Cuddle Color Gaze at the stars Laugh at a funny book or movie Play with your pet Sing I’m sure you can think of many more things that enable you to relax and re-focus.  Margin is so important.  Pick one and enjoy anticipating a little time for yourself. @2017, copyright Lisa Ehrman

Why Young Children Shouldn’t Learn Online

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Learning online and with computers has become very popular in the last decade.  Learning via computer is everywhere and programs are available from tiny tots to all the way through the doctoral level.  As a homeschool mom, you’ll be encouraged to sign up and have your children learn in this way. We know that children find tablets and computers fascinating and are instantly drawn to the screens.   The exciting and entertaining learning programs are being offered to you at cheaper prices than ever before.  But, is this the way you want to educate your children? Studies have shown that we learn as well online as we do in traditional settings.  These studies can prove their claims with all types of test results.  Cheap and even free education can be found online. But, there are reasons to review the computer-learning option. When babies are born they have the most neurons and they are needed to develop their minds.  As the child grows, connections must be made.  Research shows that human interaction causes strong connections to be made, that will last over the lifetime.  Seldom-used connections are lost, but the strong ones are strengthened in order to develop higher-level thinking/processing. Interacting with language activity helps the child’s brain to develop and be ready for more complex concepts. Interacting with computers at too young of an age can cause problems with brain development.  At a young age, a child’s brain develops attention ability.  Computer use can cause over-stimulation and children may not develop the ability to use their brain to focus attention on just one thing.  Using a computer, the computer takes the child on a narrow focus where the computer controls what they give attention to. Computer screens cause an emotional reaction to images and a dopamine release can enable a computer “addiction”.  The child then desires this type of stimulation/adrenalin when learning.  Their brains could become lazy about complex thoughts and problem solving. And, we have the usual objections to screen use: Too much screen time leads to health concerns, such as: eyestrain, obesity, and repetitive injuries.  No one thinks screens should be used to babysit, but we should also rethink the educational use of computers with children. Children need to experience hands-on learning, nature, physical activity and interactions of many kinds.  One important point, established by the Alliance for Childhood states:  A refocusing in education, at home and school, on the essentials of a healthy childhood: strong bonds with caring adults; time for spontaneous, creative play; a curriculum rich in music and the other arts; reading books aloud; storytelling and poetry; rhythm and movement; cooking, building things, and other handcrafts; and gardening and other hands-on experiences of nature and the physical world. (Alliance for Childhood, 2000).  Wired Kids: How Screen Time Affects Children’s Brains, Crawford The Impact of Computer Use on Children’s Neurological Development  @2017, copyright Lisa Ehrman

Children’s Activity Books

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Disclosure: I was given 3 books to review.  No other compensation was received.  All opinions are 100% my own.  Affiliate links included. There’s no better way to keep kids busy than to let them color.  Drawing and coloring are such great, quiet activities.  Kids can entertain themselves for hours while sitting still.  Coloring and drawing can even be done during events where you want to keep your children occupied and quiet, like: church, receptions, dining out, and more! These three books that I was sent to review are a wonderful addition to anyone’s collection of activity books for kids.  The Drawing Book for Kids takes kids on a step-by-step journey in learning to draw.  The 365 pages contain just about everything a child would want to draw.  Cars, airplanes, balloons, animals, robots, and butterflies are just a few of the choices.  After the children draw, they can then color their drawing with crayons, colored pencils, magic markers or paints. The Halloween Activity Book for Kids provides kids with so many fun activities that relate to Halloween.  The comic-style pictures aren’t very scary, but fun Halloween pages to spend hours enjoying.  There are: Crossword puzzles, coloring pages, mazes, dot-to-dots, hidden pictures, word searches, picture matches and paper coloring masks. The Christmas Activity Book for Kids is similar to the Halloween book, but all the fun is centered around Christmas!  You can enjoy: Crossword puzzles, coloring pages, mazes, dot-to-dots, hidden pictures, word searches, picture matching, masks, gift tags and more!  What a creative way to celebrate the magic of Christmas by spending time with these activities! Woo Jr!  @2017, copyright Lisa Ehrman

My Big Tree: A Beautiful Teaching Book

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Disclosure: I was given an author copy to review, but the opinions are 100% my own. Don’t you love reading books to your children?  When I fall in love with a book, it’s because it has value.  I look for value in the words, pictures, and meaning.  My Big Tree has all of this and more. The illustrations in My Big Tree are enchanting and drew me in immediately.  Each of the characters are adorable and happy.  The expressions on the little animals are cute and the colors vivid.  These are just the types of illustrations that will make the children remember the story and want you to read it to them again and again. I mentioned that it was a beautiful teaching book and it really does teach children.  It’s wonderful when you can teach children skills and they don’t even know.  The story gives us a counting and color learning experience.  The book starts with one blue bird and goes through the pages as more animals join him in My Big Tree.  The two bears, three bats, four…..keep joining the bird.  So the child is seeing a certain number of animals on each page.  Moms can point out “how many” and she and her child can count them together.  Children learn to count naturally through this type of learning.  And, they’ll also fall in love with the little animals. The story has each animal described in some specific way.  This helps the child to learn how an animal really acts.  Here’s an example: “Three silver bats, hanging” the bats are hanging from the tree.  Children may ask questions, like:  Why are they upside down? Learning can continue, as the mom answers questions. They also learn to make the animal sounds.  Children love to make animal sounds and will naturally join in when mom reads.  Each animal group has a specific color, too.  So, children now are learning their colors just by enjoying a sweet book. There is one more learning opportunity with this book.  At the end, the author gives some terrific facts about each of the animals.  Mom can use this to further teach her children about the animals, their habitat and how they live. As you can tell, I really enjoyed this book.  I would definitely want to read this to children and help them learn. I think this book will become a favorite in homes everywhere. @2017, copyright Lisa Ehrman

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