Help!

April 2, 2012 By

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Do you have a nagging feeling that your child’s development is not quite right?  Does your doctor see areas of concern?  You may know you want help, but have no idea where to turn.  Today my goal is to give you some information to help you get started!

The very first place to begin is with Child Find, www.childfindidea.org.  This website will help you obtain the contact information for your specific state. By law, each state is required to locate and evaluate every child between birth and age 21 who may need special education or early intervention services.  This evaluation will let you know which services your child qualifies for, and help you set up any appointments you may need.

After meeting with Child Find, you will discover how many unique services there are available. All of these professionals have the goal of helping your child reach their highest potential. I will try and give you a small snap-shot of all the wonderful services at your fingertips:

  • Physical Therapy✄  This wonderful person helps your child with increasing  strength and stretching tight muscles.  The therapist may come to your home, work in a hospital or clinic, or be part of the school system.
  • Occupational Therapy✄  I will always remember my daughter’s first OT therapist! She came to our home in Arizona, and helped our daughter for hours to learn to walk. Their job is focused on visual, fine motor and self help skills.
  • Speech Therapy✄  For the youngest kids, this therapist works with the muscles of the mouth by using fun exercises like blowing bubbles or sucking through straws. In the later years the therapist helps the child form sounds, or in some cases helps train the child and family with a special computer which allows the non-verbal child communicate.

Your child may need all of these services, or just one depending on their specific needs.

Also, if you home school your children, you have the same rights and services as traditionally schooled children.

God knows your unique situation.  There are many loving professionals who will help your child become all she can be!

“The Lord my God holds my right hand; He is the Lord, Who says to me, Fear not; I will Help You!” Isaiah 41:13

❁What services have helped your child the most?  How did you get started on the road of special education?  Was it hard to reach out and ask for help?We would love to hear from you! ❁

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Raising a Reader

March 26, 2012 By

3 steps to foster a love of books starting from birth!

“What can I do now to prepare my children to succeed in school?” I’m often asked when I speak to MOPS groups.

In this age of computerized everything, my low-tech answer raises eyebrows. “Books and reading…followed by more books and more reading…and after that, even more books and even more reading!” is my standard reply.

Thanks to Jim Trelease’s Read Aloud Handbook (http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/), Daniel and I became fanatical about Family Reading Time when our kids were just 2 and 4. We quit watching TV and spent 1-2 hours per night cuddled under blankets together on the couch, reading and reading and reading.

Now 18 and 20, Jonathon and Annemarie have both received substantial college scholarships for their strong SAT scores (Jonathon scored a perfect 800 in Reading, in fact!) Neither spent time practicing or attending special review classes; Family Reading Time provided them both with 18 years of “SAT Prep”!

And both of our children remember Family Reading Time as the best part of the day. We recently brainstormed a list of the hundreds of books we’ve read together over the years; as the kids shouted out titles, they added commentary like “Oh, I loved the James Harriott books!” and “Dad’s Screwtape voice was scary!” Both are very vocal about their plans to raise their own children low-tech with lots and lots of books and reading.

Step 1: Read Aloud as a Family

WHY?

1) to condition your child’s brain to associate reading with enjoyment

2) to build your child’s “listening vocabulary”

WHEN?

If it matters, we’ll make it happen. By the Personalities, Family Reading Time matters for a Sanguine because it’s FUN, for a Melancholy because it’s MEANINGFUL, for a Choleric because it promotes ACHIEVEMENT, and for a Phlegmatic because it involves CONNECTION.

WHAT?

Birth – Teething Soft books & board books

Toddler – Preschool Identifying books & short story books

As soon as there’s interest Early Chapter books

HOW?

Give it all you’ve got!

Appeal to all three primary learning modalities: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic.

Become a “Drama Queen” and ham it up with special voices, dramatic pacing and

pauses, and crazy facial expressions.

What about times when you have nothing left to give?

Audiobooks! You can relax on the couch with your child, turn the pages, and enjoy a book read wonderfully by a professional. Making your own audiobooks is also a fabulous family activity (and they make marvelous gifts!)

 

2. Model Reading for Your Child

WHY?

1) You are a living commercial for reading. Your child wants to imitate being “all grown up.” So being “all grown up” needs to include enjoyment of reading!

2) You need to feed your mind and heart consistently as a woman, a wife, a mother, a friend, a daughter, etc. Authors make wonderful mentors for your many roles!

WHEN?

Establish Mom’s Reading Spot & Time…you deserve it!

Also, keep books in the car, in your purse, in the kitchen, on your nightstand.

Don’t just read behind closed (bathroom!) doors; your kids need to see you reading!

WHAT?

Read what you need! Parenting advice…the Bible…humor…children’s books…poetry…

HOW?

One chapter…or page…or line at a time. (Remember the days of staying up all night to finish a gripping novel? Those days are gone…long gone!)

 

3. Make Reading Materials Available (lots & lots!)

WHY?

Research is clearly demonstrates that children with the most books at home have

1) the greatest interest in reading, and

2) the highest reading scores once they learn to read.

WHEN?

Use your judgment as a parent. I am not advocating spoiling your child or conditioning him/her that you will buy books whenever (s)he demands them! Use your discretion. I found it best to shop for books without my children and keep them tucked away.

WHAT?

Aim for a wide variety! Books…magazines…letters/e-mails from friends and

relatives…audiobooks…”books” your child has made…photo albums with journaling…

HOW?

Bookstores

Amazon.com (with a Prime membership you get free 2-day delivery!)

used book stores

half.com (my favorite used book site)

Moms’ book exchange

Ask for books & specific magazine subscriptions as gifts (in lieu of more “stuff”!)

THE LIBRARY

 

Q4U:  What are your family’s favorite books to read aloud together?

By Cheri Gregory

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Stop. Breathe.

March 15, 2012 By

pink clouds sunsetA misty drizzle spritzes the window while I relax in the recliner and listen to my children’s laughter. When what to my wandering eye should appear, but a miniature sleigh and…Oops! I guess I got too relaxed for a moment.

It’s a rare occurrence these days to have time to daydream. I’m a freelance writer and editor, but I also homeschool my children. School’s in full session, as is all the busy-ness that accompanies this season of life. We have classes, gymnastics, Taekwondo, baseball games, church events and sleepovers. Not to mention deadlines, doctor appointments, Bible studies and holidays. Complicate matters with each family member’s unique frustration level and nerves can quickly fry.

My daughter tends to be overly dramatic. Why, just today she threw a fit at Academy Sports & Outdoors because she did not get a soccer ball like the one her brother has. Even with Mom and Dad’s assurance of, “Maybe you’ll get one for your birthday,” she insisted she never gets anything she wants and whined and moaned all the way home.

My husband was tempted to react. He sternly reprimanded her a couple times, but then remembered to stop and breathe. Acknowledging her tantrum rewarded her and encouraged her to continue, whereas stopping to breathe allowed Daddy to maintain self-control and assert his authority more effectively.

First Peter 5:8 (NIV) advises, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” The enemy prides himself on the inevitable disasters that loom over the most carefully organized schedules and the conflicts that lurk on every page of the calendar.

And so each day, when you set to task and havoc threatens peaceful productivity: Stop. Breathe. Such restraint improves discipline, both the discipline of our labor and the discipline of daily structure. It curbs anxiety and allows God to order our days. By practicing self-control, we resist our enemy the devil and he flees from us, freeing us to go about our busy-ness in a civilized manner.

The clouds have given way to the setting sun, weaving hues of lavender and azure amid soft pink billows…A Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night! Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself.

By Jodi Whisenhunt

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Putting Out the Home Education Fires

March 6, 2012 By

 

For those that home educate, the subject of avoiding burnout presents itself a lot. Often times it comes at the end of a school term. For me, it can come when I’m planning curriculum for my six children! Decisions, decisions!

Aggravation comes in the middle of the day when I’m being overwhelmed by having to choosing to repeat myself several times to one child; even when I’m sitting next to them and calmly explaining what the lesson is all about. I’ve learned to walk away.

Simply…walk away.

There are different temperaments in each home, that of the mom’s, dad’s and children.

If I see something as not being a “big deal” to me, one of my children may be the most frustrated with the same situation; and vice-versa. I have to learn and recognize that about them.

First thing’s first. I’ve gotta know myself.

Do you “know yourself”?…

What gets you flustered? Is it incomplete assignments, a messy work area, a kid that’s slacking for no good reason, not enough time in the day, you looking at your own short-comings (that, dang it, you’re gonna conquer them today)?

Come up with a game plan BEFORE you have a moment of meltdown.

Determine to maintain peace.

In all honesty, that one thing that’s getting to you probably wont make a difference in a month when weighed with the eternal things.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

The things that your children will remember far past a “homeschool fire” is not what they should have learned by doing that assignment, but how you either blew up at them or showed them a little grace.

Hey, I’ve done both. I’m not saying anything to you that I haven’t experienced myself.

I’ve learned a thing or two and I’ve found some things in God’s Word that totally apply to every area of my life and home:

“Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”

Romans 12:17-18 

Okay, I’ll give you that we wouldn’t think our children are evil, but boy, some of their actions seem to be evil (and sometimes we are positive that they’re out to get us). What I want to focus on in the above Scripture is, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”

Oh friend, it’s possible to live peaceably. God wouldn’t have told us to if He didn’t equip us to be able to.

Your child is one of those “all men”. Just as you’d straighten up with a neighbor, we should be just as much so with our children.

Our children do require accountability and we, as their parents, are charged with that. There are times to dive head long into something that certainly needs correction and there are times to choose your battles. Sometimes there are ways that our children do things the way that we wouldn’t prefer, but they get the same results that we would have. Let it go. Acknowledge what is done right.

So, let us keep our cool. Walk away if need be. Maintain composure. Show grace.

I don’t pretend to know it all, so I heavily rely, first of all on the Holy Spirit’s leading through prayer and then sitting quietly to listen to God. I also seek the help of my home educating girlfriends.

I’ll share ways that a few friends have found helpful in handling being overwhelmed and putting out homeschool fires.

(disclosure: I am a writer at The Homeschool Village, but the links below are not my work).

Dear Mom,
You may feel overwhelmed, a little defeated or inadequate during your time of educating your children. Be encouraged in knowing that God knows everything; every emotion, every stumble, every ending. He will not leave you. Allow Him to love on you. Allow YOU to love on yourself. In turn, your children will thank you for it.


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10 Scripture Memory Tips

January 25, 2012 By

Have you’ve ever wanted to memorize Scripture but didn’t think you had the time? Have you ever wished you could come up with an easy way to help your kids memorize Scripture. Memorizing the Word doesn’t have to be hard.

Using the ideas below, you and your family can make Scripture memory fun as hide God’s Word in your hearts together!

1. Take your weekly memory verse with you wherever you go.  Review it at every stoplight.

You’ll be surprised how much you retain! If the family is in the car together, take turns saying your memory verse at each stop sign.

2. Tape your memory verse card to your bathroom mirror and review it while you’re getting ready. Be sure to put the verse in your kid’s bathroom too.

3. Put your memory verse on the back of your cereal box and study it while you are eating breakfast or having a nighttime snack.

4. Choose a family member or friend who may need encouragement and ask them if you can practice saying your memory verse out loud to them. You’ll be amazed at the power of God’s Word to encourage them! It will also teach your children to encourage others with the Word and they’ll be memorizing it in the process.

5. Write your memory verse on a 3×5 card and repeat it three times out loud. Have your children do it too.

6. Make your memory verse the new lyrics of one of your favorite songs or make up your own tune. Then sing it over and over again by yourself or with your children.

7.  If the verse is long or you’re memorizing more than one verse, spend Monday through Wednesday learning the first half of your memory verse and the rest of the week learning the last part.

8. Write your memory verse on a 3×5 card and tape it by your kitchen sink. Study it while you’re doing the dishes. Great way to get your children’s minds off of doing the dishes and on the Word when it’s their turn.

9. At dinnertime, write your verse on a 3×5 card and pass it around the table once. Have each person read it out loud. Then go around the table and see who can say it without looking at the card. Everyone will bememorizing God’s Word!

10. Set goals to memorize complete chapters, such as Romans 8, Psalms 139, ect…

Choose 2 or 3 verses a week until you have the entire chapter memorized.

Use some of the above tips to help you along the way. You and your children will be amazed at just how much Scripture you know!

What are some other ways you can help your children memorize Scripture?

By: Stephanie Shott

 

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Passing on Prayer

January 8, 2012 By

How do we go from bedtime prayers to personal prayer with our children? Giving kids a head start in talking to God is a mother’s goal. In our own prayers we hope our little ones will learn to turn to their Heavenly Father on their own. A mom with a heart for personal prayer can pass it on to her children.

Since we know our children need to live healthy lives, we teach them to eat and exercise. Since we know they need to study and work, we teach them to read and write. Since we know they need to care for themselves, we teach them to tie their shoes. Since we know life brings waves of challenges, we need to teach our little ones how to call out to God. We can show our children that prayer is personal, spontaneous, and effective.

All children experience fears, including darkness, strangers, or separation. These are opportunities to show children prayer is a personal way to answer fear. By using scripture to answer uncertainty, children learn that, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you” (Psalm 56:3). 

Making it personal:

Take sequential pictures of your child with a frightened face, a thoughtful expression, a bowed head, and a smiling peaceful face. Use pictures to make a wordless book together. This is your text book to read together, training your child to trust God and pray when they experience fear. Show them that trusting God brings comfort.

Instead of making prayer a discipline reserved for adults and special buildings, help children learn prayer is for any time or place. Prayer can be spontaneous. Life with little ones provides endless opportunities to stop and “Pray now” about events of your days:  a hurt friend at play group, a decision at a toy store, a passing ambulance, a lost kitten. Model spontaneous prayer in response to circumstances, then guide your child to stop and “Pray now.”  Show them that at the very moment of need, you can talk to God and ask for His help. Your example will train them to be comfortable with immediate prayer.

Making it spontaneous:

Find a park bench to sit down, pull into a parking lot, or pause in a grocery aisle to pray when prompted. Show your child God is always ready to hear you call. After your child is comfortable with impromptu prayer, ask if they would pray. Hold their hand as a physical reinforcement.

You can show your children prayer is effective by training yourself to point out and give credit to God’s answers to prayers. Don’t let opportunities pass when God meets a need, gives wisdom, or provides comfort. Rejoice with your child and be specific about God hearing and answering. Your praise will reinforce your child’s confidence in the effectiveness of prayer.

Showing it’s effective:

Draw a picture together of answers to prayer you experienced together. Call Daddy or a relative to share the praise. Stop and give thanks to God for hearing and answering. Get a “recipe style” book, so you can draw pictures on 3×5 cards and slip them in as your little one sees answers. You will have a praise book personal to your family.

Before I started elementary school, my newly believing mother taught me to pray. Months later I was caught in an Atlantic rip current. My fearful mother watched from shore, as rescuers risked their lives for mine, but I was not alone. I was calling out to God with my own voice and from my own heart, because I knew He would hear the prayers of little ones like me. Many waves will wash over our children as they grow, but we can give them the gift of knowing prayer is personal, spontaneous, and effective. They must learn to turn all on their own. A mother can equip her children for whatever they’ll face when she passes on personal prayer.

What are you doing to pass on prayer to your children?

By: Julie Sanders 

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A Box of Chocolate & A Bubble Bath

December 31, 2011 By

This past fall, my oldest child, Kyle, entered his junior year of high school. As a homeschooler, I’m a bit anxious about it. Ok, I’m a lot anxious about it! “Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way,” according to 1 Corinthians 14:40 (NIV). Paul’s referring to regulations for speaking in tongues. (By the look on my kids’ faces, sometimes they think I’m doing just that!) However, it’s also good advice for teaching. Problem is, I struggle to do anything in a fitting and orderly way. Recently, I carried a basket of clean laundry to my bedroom, where I caught my reflection in the mirror. I stopped to brush my hair. My daughter came in, so I brushed her hair too. She was still in jammies, so I led her back to her room to change. Only when I took her dirty clothes to the laundry did I remember my original task.

I admit I’ve been a bit lax with our homeschool structure in recent years. Lax is an understatement. Let me try unorganized, panicked, disappointed, unstructured, befuddled. Like the laundry incident, distractions during class time often divert our attention. Some have become bad habits, like how, being the teenage boy that he is, Kyle must eat every ten minutes. 

 My daughter, Chloe, started second grade this year. Sure, I’ve been there, done that, but she has a totally different personality and a completely different learning style than her older brother. She wants to do her schoolwork at 8:00 at night to avoid bedtime. Still, if the child wants to learn, how can I turn her down?

Adam’s six. His education is not a major issue yet. He’s breezing through Kindergarten and enjoys number charts and picture books and children’s videos. He’s my youngest, though, and he still prefers my eyes and ears be tuned toward him. That can make teaching the other two difficult.

 So how do I go about accomplishing school in a “fitting and orderly way”? Simple. With a box of chocolate and a bubble bath! While my husband spends quality time with the kids, or at least keeps them from unlocking the door, I barricade myself in my room. The running water is soothing (and drowns out any squeals or whines on the other side of the door) and allows me to commune with my Father. As I relax, I seek a higher education. I invite Him to “number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12 NIV), and I ask the Lord to arrange our daily schedules and to order our lesson plans. I also pray His hedge of thorns to surround us and prevent the enemy’s distraction.

I’ve also implemented some changes, including removing Kyle from the kitchen. He may take a snack to his room to do assignments, but he cannot come out until the work is done. I don’t think he’ll starve. I allow Chloe flex time. It just can’t delay bedtime. And with cool teaching aids, like a hand-shaped pointer and a fast facts dial, sweet little Adam can direct. I’ve also discovered that dry-erase markers work very well on the glossy ceramic tiles surrounding my kitchen desk. Fun for all!

Now if you’ll excuse me, my bath is ready and a box of chocolate awaits!

How do you get things accomplished yet find a retreat from the chaos and clutter of your world?

 By: Jodi Whisenhunt

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Getting Over the Homeschool Holiday Hump

December 31, 2011 By

It happened every year. Thanksgiving and Christmas would loom largely over our homeschool plans and as we began to shut things down for the holidays and take a break from class. We loved the time we had together during those precious days – the only problem was that once the holidays were gone and we launched into the new year, we always had a hard time getting back on the homeschool track.

Every year we were on three good months into school when the fun and festivities of all the holidays seemed to derail our well laid plans. Definitely not a god thing when another six months of school anxiously awaited us.

Here are 7 Ways to get over the homeschool holiday hump and be back on track by January 2nd:

1. Plan for re-entry before you ever depart. Be prepared to slowly dive back into school before you begin your break. Plan a light first few days back and then give yourself a full schedule.

2. Enjoy every day of your holiday break! And let your children enjoy them too!

3. After Christmas, begin dropping sweet little reminders to your children that school is about to begin again. This will help them begin to shift mental gears.

4. A day or two after Christmas review your lesson plans for your first week back to school.

5. Make the first few days of school easy on all of you. Keep you pre-holiday wake-up time, but make the first few days a little lighter than your normal school day. Include crafts, and reading and writing assignments that reflect on the holidays. Don’t feel like you’ve got to make up for lost time.

6. Make the new year a catalyst for new beginnings. Give them a diary and ask them to write out goals they have for the coming year on the last few pages. Help them develop plans to to get from where they are to where they want to be next year. When the year comes to an end, they will be able to see if they made progress or not.

7. After about the 3rd day of light school, start diving into your regular schedule and by the beginning of the next week, you’ll be in full swing.

Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years aren’t the end of the year. They don’t even reach the 1/2 way mark. So, enjoy every minute of the holidays and when school begins again, be ready to ease back into it. You’ll be back in full swing within the week.

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