Organization/time management
Teaching Time Management to Your Children
Way back in the stone ages of homeschooling (1994), my husband helped me put together a weekly school schedule using a spreadsheet. (I barely used computers back then, but now I am a master at using them!)
Anyway, this simple weekly schedule (a grid of days of the week across the top and subjects listed in rows below) SAVED MY SANITY and TAUGHT MY CHILDREN HOW TO MANAGE THEIR TIME.
We began by giving them the sheet on Sunday evening. In the younger grades, we would work through each subject (they chose the order) and cross them out as we finished. By 4th grade, each child knew the process of ''doing their schoolwork'' and we gave them the freedom to work as they saw fit - as long as all of that day's work was completed by dinner time.
Of course, we had one or two times that a child crossed out a subject and didn't do it, but swift punishment solved that temptation. The end result was children who knew how to evaluate the tasks set before them, plan their strategy, manage their time, and finish the job.
So, even if you're not ''organized'', I would encourage making a simple grid like we did and using it. Trust me, you won't regret it! (See here -- HC Editor) | | compass |
| | Marriage & parenting
The Light at the End of the Tunnel
My last post was written five years ago when we had just graduated our oldest child. I saw that post again tonight and thought I should bring you all up to date.
We have now graduated all three children from homeschooling. The oldest is working full-time for a coffee company and thoroughly enjoying his job. He's also looking for a wife. Our second child, a daughter, married her husband just over two years ago. She teaches piano and online writing courses for homeschoolers and they have just started their own photography business. The third child, also a daughter, works for a local history museum and has started her own period clothing business. She and her beau plan to be married in the near future.
Homeschooling was an amazing journey and as I look back on it now, I can see that God brought us out of Egypt and through the Red Sea and delivered us from Pharaoh's army. What a blessing to be part of such an experience! Keep plugging along and I'll see you on the other side! | | compass |
Special needs
Victories in the ''Small'' Things
Take time to celebrate each hard-won milestone in your special needs child's life. Here is what we've celebrated with our dd4 recently:
She sang her ABC's.
She counted to 20.
She counted her counting bears as she dropped them in a bucket.
She verbally communicated some basic needs.
Take time to write in an encouragement journal all these great leaps. It will encourage you on the hard days. | | redkitchen |
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