Reasons for homeschooling can vary: Your child is not doing well in school and nothing seems to help. Your child is not having a good learning experience and is very unhappy in school. You feel that your child would benefit from spending more time with you. You disagree with the moral or religious teaching (or lack of it) in the school system. There are several … Continue reading Thinking about Homeschooling?
Remember how you felt in September when you were child getting ready for school? The newness, the excitement. Were you eager to see your friends again? Did the excitement wear off by the end of September as you look forward to June again? Recall buying new clothes, new shoes, pencils, erasers, rulers, copybooks with blank pages waiting to be filled. I was always full of … Continue reading See you in September….
For some, learning is something we are forced to do. It is a chore- a sentence. For 12 years we must go to school. I hear parents say to little ones, “Get used to it.” Yet, a “grin and bear it” attitude takes away from learning. Most of us believe that learning should be fun; that learning is growing; that each year should be like kindergarden- lots … Continue reading Homeschooling: An Option (part 1)
Trade Skills with another mother. Swap lessons in cooking, arts and crafts, sewing, make-up. You teach her children and she’ll teach yours. Straws: Use “fun” straws, bendable or looped ones, to encourage kids to drink more fluids. Save popsicle sticks and make planes, crosses, photo frames. Use your imagination! Use baking soda to remove skid marks on floors, stove tops. Works great! Play CD’s during … Continue reading This Works for Me!
Consider these things: A day school program is likely to be more intense than an evening continuing education program. Find out the percentage of students in the program in which you are applying who are also holding full time jobs or returning to school. This will give an indication of the amount of support offered for the special needs of these types of students. Some programs have … Continue reading Considering Going Back to School?
Need to BUY SHOES or slippers for children without them? Trace their foot and take it with you. Works with gloves too! NO TIME TO WRITE?- Have stamped postcard ready. Just jotting a quick “thinking of you” note goes a long way to bridge the gap between letters or phone calls. (Angela DiCicco) For the pre-reading group- Using large print, LABEL items in your home such … Continue reading This Works for Me!
I have a laundry basket for each child that I put their clean clothes in. To encourage them to put them away I put a TREAT at the bottom of the pile! (Connie Nokes-Roberts) NIGHTMARE BEAR- a sutffed teddy bear, names by her children, is used when they need comforting. (Connie Nokes-Roberts) Have “DATES” with your children. Make it a point to spend extra time with the … Continue reading This Works for Me!
Children cannot always help their behavior. While we must communicate to them responsibility for their actions, we as parents need lots of wisdom to know how much correction they need given situation. variables such as fatigue, improper diet, stress at school all add up to less than desire performance on their parts. Like us, they require understanding and patience and lots of overlooking of things said … Continue reading Insights
We have a policy at our house to always WASH the tops of canned goods before opening. Dust from the product sitting on the shelf accumulates and can easily get into the food int he process of opening. (Gail Signor) PUZZLES: How to organize? After you put the puzzle together, flip it over and number all the pieces with the same number. Each puzzle is … Continue reading This Works for Me!
“Joy” for Bubbles. Dishwashing liquid makes the best bubbles! Add glycerin (from drugstore) for even better bubbles. (Marian Honig) Counting sleeps. When young children are driving you crazy asking how many days till their birthday, try counting sleeps. A child understands that they have to go to bed and wake up a certain number of times before their special day. (186 sleeps till Christmas!) (Kathy … Continue reading This Works for Me!
ART with Angela DiCicco, The Italian Grandmama's Guide 