Parenting

How To Home School Your Kids – Some Helpful Tips

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Child education is a very important aspect of growth and development. Sending children to school has been a practice for millions of years for two main purposes: knowledge and socialization.
There are public schools available, so why home school your kids? Homeschool teaching ensures that your child gets full undivided attention which is difficult to get in school with big teacher-student ratio. Home schooling isn’t a new concept. In fact, it comprises about 2.9% of students in the United States.
Even if you want to get started with home education right away, how to home school your kids is still a big question.

3 Do’s and Don’ts on how to home school your kids:

Do ample research and reading before getting started
It is important to know local and state laws on homeschooling because they vary. Some districts require families to register, some states require standardized test results and there are states that allow evaluation of portfolio before the child’s promotion to a different level.
In addition to the technicalities of the law, it is also essential to be updated on different homeschooling techniques and the struggles other families have so you can learn from them.

Don’t expect for homeschooling to be easy                                                                                                                Setting realistic expectations before your begin is highly recommended. The major disadvantage of homeschooling is the stress it could cause you and your family since your children will be around you 24/7.
Making a list of the advantages and joys of homeschooling, like not missing any of your children’s milestones, could help cheer you up during bad days. Joining support groups and forums to share similar experiences with other parents could help a lot too.

Do understand your children’s interest and use it as a springboard to enhance your homeschool materials
As a parent, you are expected to know your children best. Knowing your children’s interest could help you greatly in providing fun educational activities for them. Children learn concepts faster and easier when topics and methods are relevant to them. Home school ideas as well as kids education games are available online and in most parenting books.

Don’t overload your children with pure academic information
Let your children have fun too. Because they are homeschooled, they get to miss an essential part of childhood—having friends. Socializing is important for children to learn how to handle situations with other kids. And sometimes, simply having a sibling or two is not enough.
Luckily, there are simple ways on how to help your kids make friends. Getting your children involved in activities that are not about academics such as sports or arts, encourages them to make friends and improves their other skills as well.

Do stay consistent with your homeschool schedule
Eventhough your children stay at home to study, they need to know that there is time for everything. Making sure you have a schedule teaches your children to be responsible about their schoolwork and allows you to do other things around the house too.

Don’t forget to accomplish all necessary paperwork
Homeschooling schedules may appear to be more flexible than the normal school calendar but there are certain submissions to be made depending on the rules set in your homeschooling program of choice. Paces, assessments and other paperworks have to be filed on time to make sure your children’s progress get credited properly.

How to home school your kids is as rewarding as it is taxing; and finding a homeschooling program that fits your child’s needs and your family’s set-up can be a bit tricky. Why not try out summer homeschooling so you get a feel of how it works before you made any decision!

How to Motivate a Child to Study – 5 Techniques That Work!

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Parents send their children to school in high hopes of getting them good education. Families and governments all over the world spend a great portion of their budget on providing for the education of children. The trouble with children nowadays is that they tend to quickly lose interest in things that do not appear fun and are too tedious for them. As most experts would say, attention span is a major factor in helping children remember and learn. And motivation is a crucial element in maintaining children’s drive in studying.

How to motivate a child to study: 5 Techniques that work

1. Share Stories and Songs
Stories whether read to children or read independently build their vocabulary and widen their exposure to language. Young children who are not yet able to read by themselves benefit from stories by learning high frequency words and CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words which will later be useful in helping children to spell.
Making use of songs also enhances children’s vocabulary, listening skills and appreciation for music. Children who are auditory learners remember their words better and are able to sound out faster through the help of music.
Sharing stories and songs motivate children to study because these ways enhance memory retention without the pressure because they all seem like fun.

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2. Incorporate a variety of media
Studying doesn’t have to be through books and pen and paper activities. Nowadays, there are plenty of educational games on the internet as well as iPad and other mobile applications. Websites on teacher and parent resources are also available for printables, videos and more
Even the television has kiddie shows that help children learn. Disney Junior’s Word World for instance, is a great program that is geared towards helping children to spell.
How to motivate children to study by incorporating a variety of media means making use of what is available at the home—newspapers, magazines, radio and music, television and the internet. Just an important note though, young children should always be exposed to these in moderation and with a certain time limit.

3. Let them play
Despite the many studies on play as a way of helping children learn, there are still some apprehensions on how this actually works.  Well, here is one concrete example on how play is a way of helping kids learn to write.
Writing is a fine motor skill and it really takes a while to develop because it goes through stages. Experts would suggest exposing children to a wide array of activities making use of their hands and fingers– which are mostly play ideas like making use of clay, playing with sand, threading and beading, puzzles, etc.

4. A little praise goes a long way
This is pretty simple, give a small praise or reward when your child learns something new. Young children are fond of getting praises because they are at a stage in their lives wherein recognition of their efforts are such big deals to them. For young children being praised means they are liked and they are good. Thus, the likelihood of a repeat in your desired behavior or skill is much higher with praise.

5. Show enthusiasm as a learner yourself
Children look up to their parents and the adults around them. So if you or their other family members are enthusiastic about learning new things (not necessarily about school), your children will tend to have a positive outlook on learning and studying too.

How to motivate a child to study is not really a herculean task but it takes effort, patience and consistency. Once children find that studying isn’t really a drag and they get to enjoy it, the benefits are boundless and you can count on these children to always have the thirst for knowledge.

Being able to spend more time with your child is one of the best gift for them, especially in assisting their learning and watching them grow… Modern parents with full time jobs find challenges in this area! See my special reports on 4 ways on how to have more time with your children and earn an income at the same time…

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How to Get Your Toddler to Listen – 3 Best Tips to Use

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Toddlers can really be quite a handful. Their development in this stage of life is pretty rapid which makes it amazing to watch and exhausting to keep up with. At this age, children’s physical growth and cognitive development make them naturally curious about their immediate environment. Kids tend to get hold of objects and use their senses to explore, yes, this includes putting almost everything inside their mouths. And there is also a typical explosion in their emerging language skills: they tend to echo and copy words they hear often.
The combination of these changes in toddlers sometimes make them appear unruly and for lack of better words—naughty. It just seems like they’re all over the place and they won’t pay attention! Most parents would agree that there is such a truth to the term “terrible twos” for this age group. How to get your toddler to listen is a topic most parents encounter.

Talking to your kids effectively means the combination of two things: getting them to pay attention to you and getting them to respond to what it is you are trying to put across.  Getting your little one to obey your instruction is a challenge because they tend to be egocentric and want things their way. Before we talk about some tips, you have to keep in mind that kids are not little adults. What works for grown-ups will not work for them.  Dealing with children entails ample patience and respect for their individual differences.

3 Tips on How To Get Your Toddler To Listen:

1. Establish a routine
Children respond better when they know what will happen next. Simply put, kids do not like uncertainty. They want to feel secure about their environment. The reason why children work well in preschools is that these places have a set of routines the children follow; they have time for play, eating, drawing and more. Your child’s routine at home doesn’t have to be complex or to mimic that of a school. A simple list of what happens at home will suffice like ‘bath comes after breakfast’ ,‘tv time is only for 20 minutes’ or ‘two stories before sleep time’. Establishing a routine at home doesn’t just give your child security, it also teaches reading directions such as verbal and non-verbal cues. Once your child gets used to a routine, talking to your toddler would be easier since you wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of explaining why things have to be done or why rules exist.

2. Do not use baby talk
Your toddler may be young but he or she is able to distinguish sounds well. Your child needs to be able to tell by the tone of your voice when you are asserting authority, when you are giving praise or whatever mood it is you are in. Using baby talk with young children will not work because to them, high pitched, sing-song voice will always mean happy. You will get their attention but you will not get them to follow you later on.

3. Respond to their needs
Responding to children’s needs isn’t about smothering them with attention. It means giving them what they need when they ask for it, most preferably, when they ask for it verbally and nicely. Why is this important? Responding to children’s needs gives them the sense of trust in you and a respect for you–that you are a person to look up to and listen to.

How to get your toddler to listen is a challenge at first, but once your child knows how you manage things at the home, it’ll be much easier. Of course, it has to be emphasized that for these tips to work you need firmness and consistency, yes, firmness and consistency even if your little one makes your heart melt or wraps you around her finger with a single look. After all, it is up to us, parents and grown-ups to nourish and guide them and that begins with getting them to really listen.

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How to Deal with Argumentative Teenagers

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As a parent of 2 young children, I can understand how frustrated one feels when facing challenges on parenting and don’t know who else to talk to… Hope the following tips help.

Does the statement “My child used to be a sweet angel and now he’s turned into a hideous monster!” ring any bells? Or does “It used to be so easy to get my children to communicate until they turned into teenagers; they’re like aliens now, speaking a different language.” pull any heartstrings?
How to deal with argumentative teenagers starts with identifying the root cause of certain behaviours.
Confused and rebellious are two words usually associated with teens. Puberty brings out the best and worst in teenagers. The physiological changes they experience, together with the demands of school, home and peers create an emotional turmoil within them.

Here are a few tips for parents dealing with teenagers:

1. Recognize the changes
Teens sometimes become argumentative as a sign of asserting independence. You have to come to terms with the fact that your ‘children’ are no longer little kids—they are teenagers. And that means there are a lot of things that have to change as part of them growing up. For instance, you can’t expect them to stick around the house as much as they did as little kids because they are already forming their own peer groups. Also, you can’t simply shove instructions and expect them to follow without putting up a fight.

2. Respect their new set of needs
Dealing with teenager behaviour means recognizing, understanding and respecting their new set of needs. Teenagers tend to be argumentative and extra assertive when parents seem to take for granted that they have a need for privacy and more space for socialization. Respecting these needs doesn’t mean to let them go totally and have the “If that’s what you want then I don’t care” attitude. Parents need to shift their roles from being the protector and provider to being more of a support system—a guide and a friend should teens need help. Simply put, give your teens some breathing room to make their own choices and learn from their own mistakes.

3. Strike a compromise: Communication is key
Teenagers have a tendency to rebel because of two major things: one,  they feel smothered or pushed too much by their parents or two, their parents seem to not care about them at all. The fact that you’re reading this shows that you care enough and want to learn how to deal with teenage rebellion.

How to deal with argumentative teenagers is pretty much the same are dealing with rebellious teens. Rebellious just seems more extreme. Well, communication is key. Try your best to talk to your teen and NOT talk them down. Give them options that are favourable to both of you so you may strike compromise. If you can’t get your teen to do chores because of his extracurricular activities, offer a bargain. For instance you could say “You can attend band practice every Friday if you’ll be the one to walk our dog every Sunday morning.” It’s definitely better than “You can’t go have a band anymore. It’s ruining your life—you’re forgetting your responsibilities at home!”

Adolescence is a very challenging stage as it is. The best that parents can do to deal with argumentative teens is to provide an environment that allows them to grow in preparation to becoming responsible adults.

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How to Deal With Strong Willed Children – Top 4 Parenting Tips

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As a parent of 2 young children, I can understand how frustrated one feels when facing challenges on parenting and don’t know who else to talk to… Hope the following tips help.

Children’s behavior typically changes as they move along the different developmental stages. This is because their socioemotional maturity goes hand-in hand with the growth and development of their physical and cognitive aspects.
Dealing with children is challenging enough as it is; dealing with strong willed children is definitely a tougher thing to do. The age groups that are usually associated with the phrase “strong willed children” are toddlers (terrible twos) and teens.
How to deal with strong willed children consists of understanding power struggles with children and creating more proactive relationships with them in hopes of preventing rather than coping with despair that parents might end up feeling.

4 Parenting Tips and Advice on How to deal with strong willed children:

1. Understand the relationship between power and trust
As with all kinds of relationships, there is always interplay of power and trust. Power is possessed by both parents and children. The trouble is that most parents think that they are entitled to have the most of it and forget about the other side to having power: trust. See, children at a young age should be able to learn to trust their parents: as protectors, role models and guides. Children’s level of trust in parents essentially become lowered because of two things: parents asserting too much power and parents giving children too much power.
The latter creates assertive or strong willed children with habits and attitudes that are quite difficult to break. So point is, learn to strike a balance between trust and power so that your children will still listen to you and respect you even if they have a strong willed personality.

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2. Know about children’s developmental characteristics
There are widely accepted theories on children that talk about developmental characteristics. It is important to know these characteristics so that you, as a parent will have a realistic expectation of your children and thus, know better how to deal with them. For instance, you cannot expect a toddler to listen to you the way older children should—their attention span and responding skill are just enough for a two year old. Also, your teenager may be exhibiting strong willed behaviour which is typical of teens asserting independence.
Sometimes, parents just think it’s wrong because their children are acting differently. But that is because they are changing and sometimes it’s part of their normal process. That’s why I cannot stress the importance of knowing the facts enough.

3. Address the behavioral manifestations, not the person
Your teenager may seem rebellious or your toddler may seem to not pay attention or your children get into too much trouble in school. Before you overreact, ask yourself, does it really bother your that they are “misbehaving” or does it bother your more that their behaviours reflect on your parenting?
Talk to your children and explain to them that their actions are inappropriate. Ask them to reflect on better actions to do in future similar circumstances. Remember, they are human beings with feelings too. You may need to be stern (and consistent) to get your message across but be careful to attack the wrong doing not your child as a person.

4. Let your children participate in small decision making
Power struggles with toddlers, teens and children in other age groups exist because parents tend to take total control of their children’s lives. Parents sometimes forget that children can make small decisions on their own. As a part of being a good role model for respect and getting the trust of your children, letting them participate in small decisions at home (i.e. what to have for dinner, what to wear) gives them the feeling that their opinions are valued and their voices can be hear. With this in mind, your children’s strong willed character can be softened into a more positive and participative one.

The real challenge is to put the knowledge into practice and stay consistent with your action. You must also learn the 4 mistakes you shouldn’t make on how to deal with strong willed children.

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