Search Results for: blog teaching kids about practicing

Age Appropriate Chores for Kids

As parents it is our job to make sure our kids grow up to be responsible citizens of society, part of that is teaching them the value of hard work. One of the best ways to teach this is through giving your child chores during the week. Even your little ones can help around the house. The younger you start, the easier it will be, but don’t worry kids can learn to work at any age, so if you haven’t started yet, it’s ok, they just might fight you a little harder on it at first. Kids don’t want to … Continue reading →

Teaching Kids About Saving

As a single parent we all know money is tight. There are so many ways to save money, but isn’t it so much easier if it is already a habit? By teaching our children the importance of saving we are giving them the tools they will need as they get older and having to deal with finances on their own. When we were young we never had an allowance. I remember feeling so jealous of all my other friend’s parents handing them money every week. If we wanted to earn money we had to work for it. We had regular … Continue reading →

Teaching Your Kids Proper Telephone Manners

I’m marking today’s date so in ten years (hopefully it will be that long) I can look back on September 12, 2008 and remember how blissfully uninterested my preschooler was in telephones. She knows what the device is used for and how and when to call 9-1-1, but beyond that she really has very little desire to use the phone (oh, how I wish I could freeze time) save for her occasional desire to answer it when it rings more than three times. In my last blog I spent time discussing tips parents can use to get young children acclimated … Continue reading →

Ask a Homeschooling Blogger: How Much Time Do You Spend on Each Subject?

Question: How much time do you spend on each required subject every day? I’m having trouble scheduling my year and am wondering what other moms who have kids my children’s age, do. I’m happy to answer this question with the following disclaimer: what works for me, probably doesn’t work for someone else and vice versa. I think that one needs to consider the child in question, his age, how he learns etc. However, I will attempt to offer some thoughts and practical suggestions on scheduling that will allow you to glean something to put into your own routine. Math I … Continue reading →

Teaching Kids About Practicing

I think that one of the main lessons my kids have learned from being involved in sports, music, dance, and other classes/activities isn’t about competition or talent. I think one of the main lessons that come from such activities is about practicing—kids can learn that just about anything we do or attempt, we can improve ourselves with practice. We may not ever be a genius or a virtuoso, but we can get better and become reasonably proficient at all sorts of things. It just takes practice. I know that “practice” doesn’t sound very glamorous. In fact, I have one daughter … Continue reading →

What Is Your Teaching Style?

A few days ago, I talked about why I felt it was important to identify your teaching style. I think new homeschoolers should really spend some time thinking through their philosophy of education. During their first year of teaching, I think new homeschoolers would do well to consider how they like teaching best. Today I’m going to describe the four teaching styles. Formal Authority Formal authority teachers feel like it is their job to illuminate the content for their students. Their job is to teach the content and the student’s job is to receive it. Teachers who have this type … Continue reading →

How To: Teach Your Kids Good Manners

“Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.”– Emily Post In 365 Ways to Help Your Children Grow, the authors offer many wonderful activities aimed at teaching kids manners. Here are some of my favorites. (1) Top Ten Manners Your kids will look to you for guidance on how they should behave. When teaching manners, make sure you brush up on your own. Make a list of ten manners you want each of your kids to have and work on one manner a … Continue reading →

Strength-Based Parenting

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There are a wide variety of parenting styles to choose from. Parents can choose to raise their kids with the parenting style that they were raised with. Or, if they want something different, they can select a parenting style that matches their values and the needs of their kids. One option is called strength-based parenting. Lea Waters is the chair of positive psychology at University of Melbourne. She has written a book called “The Strength Switch”. The full title continues with “How The New Science of Strength-Based Parenting Can Help Your Child and Your Teen to Flourish”. The book is … Continue reading →

Romney and Obama Have Different Family Stories

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Genealogy is the study of family. This includes research that involves digging through archives, both digital and paper. It also involves the collection of family stories. Often, those stories tell more about a person’s family tree than the vital records will. Mitt Romney and Barack Obama have videos that are vastly different from each other. Each one speaks volumes. Technology is a wonderful thing. Genealogists can now take videos of their family, and send it to relatives that live across the country or around the world. You can take old family photos and create slide shows from them. Genealogists today … Continue reading →

April 2011 General Conference-To Be or To Do

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I love general conference. Sometimes, I don’t get to hear every talk, or I may doze off, and only hear half of it. Other times, I may not truly “listen” to the speakers that aren’t the apostles or prophet, but there was a talk in the Sunday afternoon session that somehow stuck with me. I am amazed that I internalized any of it when the kids were definitely done with conference, and things were winding down. But, Elder Lynn G. Robbins gave a great talk. He started off with the question, “To be or not to be”, and then spoke … Continue reading →