Setting up School Year Expectations
How does setting a homework schedule build life skills that impact the workplace? Just as a classroom teacher sets expectations, parents can also use the start of a new school year to set school year expectations for homework and chores. As children grow, so should their responsibilities as these life skills may impact their future workplace performance. During the younger years, they can be expected to put their backpack in the designated location and put any “parent homework” in a certain spot everyday. Homeschoolers can be expected to return their daily supplies to a designated location. As they get to the middle years, these school year expectations can grow. To avoid the morning rush or get a few more minutes of sleep, bookbags can be packed the night before, lunches can be made, and clothes laid out. All of this can be done by the children, with some initial supervision by the parents or caretakers. By the launching years, these school year expectations should be firm and there should be little need for reminders or follow ups. The start of a new school year is a great opportunity to revisit the expectations. “Each night after you clean up the dinner…
Book Review: Blazing New Homeschool Trails
Are you more of a trailblazer or a trail follower when it comes to raising and educating kids? No matter how you answer this question, this BRAND NEW book, Blazing New Homeschool Trails: Educating and Launching Teens with Developmental Disabilities, could be for you! My friend, Natalie Vecchione, did not set out to be a trailblazer. She set out to be a wife and mama and along the way, realized that the path was no longer clear for her as a mama of a child with FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is a brain based disorder). She unexpectedly became a trailblazer and is now leading others down the path though FASD Hope. I had the privilege of tutoring Natalie’s son, so I got to walk a little bit along their path. So many hindrances to their path could have broken their family, instead, it made them stronger. When Natalie said she was co-authoring a book, I couldn’t wait to read it. In fact, I happily volunteered to be on the launch team so I could read it early! I also looked forward to reading the story of Cindy LaJoy and the business, Buckaroos Slices and Scoops, that her kids launched.…
Smooth Transitions from College to Home
What was your experience living at home after high school or college? Today’s blog post is a guest post from my youngest daughter, Jill Donaldson, with tips for smooth transitions from college to home. Having just graduated from college and returning home for her last summer before grad school, I asked Jill to give tips for parents and students for coming home from college and transitioning back to family life for the summer or winter break. The biggest way to create a smooth transition from college to home for the whole family is through clear communication of expectations. As a parent, what way do you expect your child to help around the house or what meals do you expect them to participate in? As a student, what freedoms do you expect to have? Having those conversations will greatly improve the transition, especially if the student has work or school obligations on top of family expectations. Parents: One of the things that parents can do to adapt to their child’s level of college independence is to set clear expectations of their time. It is reasonable to ask your child to let you know what days they will be home for dinner…
Book Review: Wurmbrand
What book have you read that was life changing? Hopefully your first answer was the Bible. In addition to God’s Word, there have been a handful of books that have impacted my thinking and actions. WURMBRAND Tortured for Christ the Complete Story was one of those books. A friend gave me the book and movie as a Christmas gift. 376 pages will have you staying up at night wanting to know what happens. The movie Tortured for Christ is graphic and a shorter way to get the gist, but not nearly as rich with details as the book. Apparently, the story has been around for years in several different books and sermons, but this is the complete story based on the words of Richard and Sabrina Wurmbrand themselves. It tells the life story of the Wurmbrands who were imprisoned for their faith in Communist Romania post-WWII yet never gave up on their faith in God or in their desire to help others. Could the same be said of us? Would we be brave enough? Strong enough? Would we have memorized enough scripture should our Bibles be taken away? Could we survive mental and physical torture for years on end and…
Learn to say YES
Do people automatically expect you to say NO faster than you say YES? “Learn to say yes easily” was a piece of wisdom and parenting tip I came across as a young wife and parent. The wisdom behind this was that when you did need to say “NO”, it would be taken well knowing that it was not your usual answer just to avoid extra work or expenses. If possible, say YES to your kids asking to have a friend over, your students occasionally asking for more time on an assignment, your coworker asking you to lunch, or your spouse asking to play soccer one night a week. Then, when there’s a good reason to say NO it will be less of a shock or disappointment because you are known for saying YES to reasonable requests. Because our usual reason for saying NO to things with our children was typically due to scheduling conflicts, our children learned to check the family calendar before asking. This led to fewer conflicts and whining in the middle school years because it was not us saying NO because we were annoyed but because it was a schedule conflict. It also helped our children learn…
15 Parenting Books
Ever wish you had a quick list of helpful books for raising a child? Here are 15 parenting books! This list is not comprehensive nor will you agree 100% with every chapter in each book, however, it’s like a recipe. You take the basic ideas and tailor them to your family’s needs or what’s in the pantry that day. I find it much easier to modify a recipe than to make one up, wouldn’t you agree? No book list should ever replace solid Biblical truth. The best parents are those who understand that solid parenting skills come from the unchanging truth of God. They also reach out to like-minded others who are just a few steps ahead of them. A friend recently asked me for some parenting resources, and I literally went to my bookshelf and pulled off a few favorites. These are parenting books I have read or used over the years. I ask that you use discernment in whether or not they are the best resource for you. Whether you are a parent, a grandparent, a teacher, or a favorite friend, I hope this list will be helpful. It’s divided into 3 sections, and I’ve included Amazon…