No more forgetting things! If you want your child to excel academically, then you need to teach them how to increase their working memory. Here are some easy steps that anyone can do.
"Kids' brains grow and develop in the first few years of life, laying down the foundation for everything they will be able to do. But it's not just size that matters: what kids learn in those formative years will have a big impact on their brain development," writes Blythe Corbett, M.D. in an article for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website, Healthy Children.
A strong working memory is essential for building academic skills in reading, writing, and math. But it also has a big impact on your child's physical health, emotional well-being, social skills, and more.
Here are 11 easy steps to increase your kids' working memory:
Children are little sponges, soaking up anything and everything. And while the time you spend with your child is something that nothing can compare to, they will also benefit from time away from home and interacting with others. Here are three ways you can open your child's life to that enrichment.
Choose a Program
Your choice of schooling will likely be dictated by your family's overall situation. But it's important to understand the types of early childhood education, and how they're different. There are wonderful programs that educate without it really feeling like school, such as the Montessori approach. Checking out options for preschool Redmond Wa can give you an idea of what to expect from this type of learning environment.
Head to the Library
Chances are you have a local library that does a regular weekly storytime for children. Have you made that part of your routine yet? If not, you should! It's a great way not only to interact with others, but to learn basic social skills such as sitting quietly, following directions and waiting patiently. A trip to the library also means checking out books — and lots of different books at home encourages a love for reading early on.
Let Kids be Kids
It can be helpful to schedule activities and plan out each day, especially if you have a young child. But sometimes the opposite is more beneficial. During a playdate, do you sit back and let it flow, or do you become a third wheel? Children thrive on independence and can learn a whole lot just on their own. Encouraging that is important. Know when to step back and just enjoy watching your child self direct.
Throughout your parenting journey, remember that this classic saying rings true. "It takes a village to raise a child."
Every now and then I'll interact with someone who thinks I have a lot of free time on my hands now that we are "stuck inside" due to the shelter-in-place guidelines which are in place all over the country and the world. (We are actually NOT inside all the time; we are outside quite a bit because why move to 8 acres of land with a pond and stay inside in the springtime?)
At the beginning of this whole thing, I put a lot of things on hold to make sure I was checking up on the virus numbers and checking in on the press conferences by the governors on both sides of the state line, checking in on my own city's Facebook page and county's website. I realized some things were starting to suffer and it was taking its toll on me and how I lived my life and how I was steering the lives of my children.
Do you have a loved one’s birthday coming up in the near future? Then you’ll want to find a gift that they will cherish forever. It’s easy to find a gift that offers a one-size-fits-all solution, but finding one that’s personal to them might be a little more difficult - especially if you don’t have a large budget for the gift.
This is where this article could help. If you’re looking for an extraordinary gift idea, no matter who it’s for or their age, here are some ideas that you can take inspiration from this year that won’t break the bank:
Homeschooling is a normal course of action for many households now. It doesn’t mean that it is significantly better than other options, but it can be truly beneficial if organized correctly. Organization is important not only for children but also for parents, as they also can burn out easily. Here we gathered advice from real moms who have homeschoolers to deal with.
#1. Delegate unpleasant work
Penelope Trunk, an entrepreneur, and mother of two homeschoolers, believes burnout occurs if you do work that you don't like. If you like to work in the garden, you will work in the garden around the clock and not get tired. But if all this fuss with grass and bushes annoys you - hire a gardener, direct your forces where you really want, and just admire a beautiful garden. Do you understand where she is inclining in? If you don't like teaching children, hire a tutor, or look for a family class. If you like teaching, but it's annoying that nobody canceled cleaning the house after your classes - find a way to delegate this responsibility. If you are like being a mom of a homeschooler, dealing with projects, but you hate dealing with papers, address SmartWritingService, a professional essay writing service online. You can do it yourself, just to see how your kid should deal with his or her writing assignments. You can order papers online of different types and use them as practical samples.
#2. Decide when your school day ends
Book author and journalist, mother of many children, Jessica Fisher recalls that in the early years of home schooling for her children, she planned the school day in great detail and did not calm down until all the plans were deleted from the list. This often exhausted her and the children. Now her school day ends at exactly 15:30. No matter what happens, the bell rings at this time, and the home school closes.
#3. Discuss your problems with your spouse
We often get very tired of putting all our soul and all our strength into homeschooling, and stop noticing much. Marianne Sunderland, the mother of eight homeschoolers, argues that her husband often has a more objective point of view on some issues of homeschooling. And if you listen to what your husband says and follow his advice, family life can qualitatively change for the better.
#4. Study yourself
Often, the abundance of simple and daily repetitive "mummy" functions (washing, cooking, cleaning) in the case of homeschooling is supplemented by another - children's education. This is especially true for elementary school, where sometimes you just have to get stuck with a child on some primitive topic. The mother of four homeschooler teenagers and blogger Brandy Vensil recommends devoting yourself to self-development for at least 30 minutes a day. Even if it is something related to homeschooling: a book on a new teaching methodology, a webinar, reading a scientific article. It will help you feel better. When you feel more knowledgeable, you feel more confident, and it helps to be more relaxed about the whole process.
#5. Sometimes have an unplanned day off to relax
Jamie Martin, a writer and mother of many children, believes that the freedom of homeschooling lies in the fact that we have no need to force ourselves when there is no energy to teach children. Sometimes this is the best thing that can be done for the whole family - to postpone their studies for a while and do something that is not related to the school curriculum at all.
We hope these tips will be helpful to you. We would like to hear what helps to replenish the strength for you. Don’t be afraid to sound silly - we all need to share our tricks!
Johnson Farms in Belton, MO right before Halloween
Raising a child is one of the most rewarding
jobs you can do in the world. While there are many highs, there are lows that
you will encounter too. As parents, we only want what’s best for our kids, so
being prepared for any eventuality and keeping your kids out of harm’s way will
help you feel more accomplished as a parent. To help get you started, here are
5 steps to more effective parenting.
Boosting Confidence and Self-Esteem
Kids begin developing their sense of self
from the moment they’re born. Your body language, tone of voice, and every
expression you make are all absorbed by your children. The actions and words
you use as a parent will have a huge impact on your child’s
self-esteem. As a parent, it’s important that you offer praise and
encouragement, no matter how big or small, as this will make them feel proud of
their accomplishments. If you belittle your children, this can make them feel
worthless and unappreciated.
Set Limits
No matter how well-behaved your little ones
are, discipline is a key component for any family. The main goal of discipline
is to help your children understand that there are barriers that are not to be
crossed. While they may test the limits you set out for them, they need to have
those limits in place in order to grow into respectable and responsible adults.
Establishing ground rules can help your children understand your expectations,
so you need to remember that you’re doing the right thing in the long run.
Make Time for Your Kids
With many of us working longer hours than
ever, finding windows of opportunity to spend some quality time with your kids
can be challenging. There are little changes that you can make that can free up
some time, such as getting up 10 minutes earlier to eat breakfast with your
kids or playing some family
games to aid development and bring you closer together. Kids need
attention, so you may want to create a special night of bonding each week.
Practice What You Preach
Young children learn a lot about how to act
when watching their parents. As you are in charge, it’s up to you to set a good
example and show your kids right from wrong. The younger your kids are, the
more likely they are to follow your lead. Make sure that you model the traits
you wish to see in your children. Teaching them about the importance of
respect, being kind to others, and being honest can all be hugely beneficial.
Improve Communication
It’s important that you make your expectations
clear to your kids from the get-go so they understand your rules and adhere to
them. Being able to communicate
effectively is crucial in all aspects of life, whether it’s in the
workplace or at home. Making communication a priority will mean that your kids
feel comfortable to speak to you about their worries and concerns.
As parents, we try our best to ensure our
kids are happy, safe, and comfortable throughout their childhood. What may work
for one family may not work for yours, so it’s important that you do all that
you can to ensure your little ones are well supported.
A simple lemonade stand can teach so many great lessons to kids!
With public and
private schools providing such comprehensive curriculums, it can be easy to
fall under the impression that you can send your kid to school and never have
to teach them anything at home. However, taking a hands-off approach to your
child's education could result in them lacking certain fundamental knowledge
that they'll need when they get older. With that said, here are four subjects
you should teach your kid at home to make sure they're ready to be successful
and secure in life:
1.
Home Improvement and Building
While many schools
will teach home economic classes, there's really no set framework for teaching
kids how to do simple home improvement tasks around the house. You may want to
consider constructing a shed or workshop on your property to give your kids a
designated space to tinker with tools and building projects. You could
accomplish this easily with the steel building kits from Armstrong Steel, which simplify the process of assembling
durable and versatile buildings of all sizes.
2.
Financial Management and Credit
Let's face it, most
schools are severely lacking in their curriculum related to financial
management and credit building. This information is usually learned at the bank
or at home when the student reaches an age where they're able to utilize their
credit for the first time. Unfortunately, many young adults are blind-sided by
an abundance of responsibility after being approved for their first credit
card. Teaching your kids financial management at a young age will give them an
economic head start that most other children are not equipped with at public or
private schools.
3.
Emergency Survival Techniques
While you can enroll
your kids in the local boy scouts or girl scouts to teach them basic wilderness
skills, this information is not usually taught at a conventional school. Take
your little ones on a camping trip and show
them basic survival techniques like how to start a fire, astrological navigation, finding food,
purifying water, and building basic shelter. You'd think that such fundamental
concepts would be taught at a young age, yet there are many adults who still
don't know how to do these things.
4.
Entrepreneurship
While making money is
clearly the most important adult duty, there's surprisingly little focus on
building wealth in the conventional school system. Students are not taught
about founding startups, gathering funding from investors, obtaining business
loans, or any other basic concepts that are required to successfully launch a
business. Teach
your children these topics at home, and they'll be well-prepared to obtain financial freedom later in
life.
Prepare
Your Kids for the Real World at a Young Age
In today's world,
most kids are severely sheltered and undereducated about topics that actually
matter in everyday life. Unfortunately, a significant percentage of high
schoolers and college students are awakened to a harsh reality when they have
to learn a bunch of adult life management skills that should arguably be taught
in schools.
Of course, once you
get into university courses and degree programs, you can learn anything in the
world, but in many ways the average high school graduate is still grossly
under-equipped to deal with the challenges of being a young adult. Make an
effort to teach your kids some of the topics mentioned above and they'll be
much better off for it.
Movin' to the country.
Gonna eat a lot of peaches.
— "Peaches" by The Presidents of the United States of America
One year ago yesterday my husband and I were hanging out at my Aunt Cathy's house for Labor Day weekend. Her husband was there, and also my mom and stepdad. My aunt has a gorgeous pool, and the kids were loving being on the pizza-shaped floatie.
My husband and I had been considering moving to acreage for years, and I got him seriously on board probably a year or more earlier. We'd been REALLY looking for at least a year and were getting a little discouraged. We weren't sure we'd ever find what we wanted, and we were picky. When we made the big move from our house of 17 years where we brought home each of our babies from the hospital, it was going to have to be THE ONE FOR LIFE. As in, I would happily die in the house, overlooking my kingdom (a few acres).
So the kids are in the pool. My aunt has this house that always smells good, always looks good, is done in lovely warm colors, and it has a nice bar in the basement. We love it. My grandmother had just died the Sunday before, and the funeral had been just a few days earlier.
Then BAM. I check my phone to see that an alert has come in from Zillow for a rockin' dream house in Peculiar, MO, which seemed very far but hey, why not? Now, folks, Zillow is not the most reliable thing on the planet. I wrote our realtor to check to see if the home we were drooling over was for real and was shocked to find out it was. Oh, man, we were ready to see it (you can see it here)!
There was a pool like what the kids were currently swimming in. There was a cool basement bar (we are not big drinkers at all, but how cool for entertaining and homeschooling!). There were 4 acres with the option to buy the other 4 later. There were 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. HUGE kitchen. Garage/shed with 3 garage spaces in addition to the 2 attached to the house. Trees. Pond. Deck. We were in love.
I told the kids that if we got the house I would buy them a pizza-shaped floatie, but I really didn't think it was going to happen. (parents: be careful what you promise your kids because by the time I was able to get one I spent like $30 on eBay)
So the very next day, Labor Day, we went to see the house. We didn't want our realtor to work on a holiday but she insisted we meet. We were the first to see the house, got to meet our future neighbors (love them), and as we pulled up to the house, I saw a fish jump high out of the pond. We did the walk-through, immediately loving everything about it. Pear trees. Room for a huge garden or chickens or goats or anything we wanted. Dogs, cats, bunnies, all of it.
As we left the house (more people were coming in to see it so it was going to start getting crowded), we stood by a tree in the front yard with our realtor, the amazing Jacqueline Elbert. She suggested we pray. We held hands and prayed and we call it our Prayer Tree now. Joel parks his car under it.
We drove away knowing we BOTH wanted it. We were both in love and we knew the kids would FREAK OUT. I prayed and was excited but I honestly was not hopeful. It was a lot of money, way more than our budget, but it was screaming our names.
We called a loan officer on the way home (30 minutes from our current home). We started negotiations immediately. There were too many offers and the seller was overwhelmed and needed to consider everything.
Two days later at homeschool co-op, I asked my Creative Writing class to pray for us. These kids are the best! Most of them have now been swimming at our pool and those who have not yet are always invited. Their prayers got us here!
Yesterday we found this little guy in our pool skimmer. We've also found frogs and snakes and plenty of brown recluses and other fun things. We love it.
So one of my kids found this in the toilet this morning AFTER they went to the bathroom. We love our froggy friends and the kitty we feed every night that won't let us touch it just yet.
Happy ending? Yes. The day after we closed on our old house, we were able to put an offer in on the other 4 acres, so we now have all 8 acres that originally were with the house, and we are fully in love. We are even friends with the previous owner, and she is such an incredible woman that God had us meet! We love the neighbors, I love walking the neighborhood and hearing nature and smelling flowers and burn piles (yes, I love the smell of a good set of burning leaves because it reminds me of my grandma).
Sometimes something just CLICKS. You want it and you want it and it seems like it will never arrive. You try to be patient and you pray and you live your life and THEN IT HAPPENS. And you will feel so elated and grateful and just peaceful and happy. It's a great feeling, and I've experienced it in my life more than I deserved to (marrying Aron, giving birth to each of my children, realizing my writing dreams).
I know a lot of people who are looking for their country dream as well. I will pray for you that you find exactly what you are looking for (in your price range!).
ALSO, 12 years ago today I started homeschooling my oldest child, Joel. He was 5 and I was too excited to wait until the next day, so we whipped out a cheap Sam's Club workbook and sat down on the grass in the backyard with Michael and Callie nearby and started one of the best things I've ever done with my life.
IKEA Merriam September 1 ... killing time in between a gorgeous wedding at Cure of Ars, where we were married almost 20 years ago, and the reception. A day to remember!
As a parent, it is your responsibility to ensure that your child is ready for the world, and that means preparing them for adult life. This often tends to sound a lot easier said than done, and yet, it really all depends on the direction that you go in. You could be one of those parents who constantly drill your child and keep them on a tight leash throughout their early years, setting rules and creating endless tasks for them to complete. But, this strategy can backfire, and once your child hits a certain age, they may end up letting loose and becoming out of control because they haven't been allowed to experience anything yet. So sometimes it's better to take things a little easier, and allow them to learn but while having fun. It's all about stimulating their mind and showing them that there is more than what they see in front of them. Letting them explore the neighborhood with a cool pro scooter can also help them develop a sense for adventure. This approach will also give you more of a chance at bonding with your child and building a solid relationship over the years.
Here's what you can do.
Encourage conversation through games.
As technology is getting more advanced, there are so many different kinds of virtual games out there that cater to all different types of individuals. Final Fantasy XV is a game that allows you to build your very own kingdom and protect it from all kinds of threats. You can find hidden treasure, you can explore lost worlds, and you can even connect with your friends online. Games like this let your child's imagination run wild because anything is possible. This will also develop your child's skills and creative mindset.
Discover mother nature.
Mother nature is an incredible thing, it provides us with so much beauty in the world, and because of that, there is so much to uncover. All you have to do is take a walk in the park to see it for yourself, and many children don't do this enough anymore because they live in a different era. It is your job to encourage this and let them feel the air caress their skin and bask under the sun. There is so much to see, all you need to do is truly open your eyes and let it in. So when the weekend comes, take them out somewhere nice and explore the countryside once more.
Introduce them into sports.
Sport comes in many different forms, and that's what makes it so much fun. Not only is it a great way to keep your child fit and healthy, but it also teaches them so much that can be put towards their everyday life. They will learn discipline, respect, technical strategies, and of course, teamwork. And these are all things that they will greatly benefit from in their future. So have a look in your local area and see what sports are available. If your child isn't sure as to what they want to do - that's fine. Think of it as a trial and error process. Let them test the water until they find something they really love.
This weekend, Friday through Monday, is the fishing trip my husband and his identical twin brother go on. They have always brought kids with them, whoever wanted to come. Sometimes my oldest daughter goes, but my youngest has never wanted to. This year my oldest decided she wanted a girls weekend. This meant my husband took his 3 sons (remember My Three Sons? such a great show!) and his twin took his 3 sons. This year his oldest, a girl who is in college now, also went. That's 9 ways of crazy and fun, in case you lost track.
FRIDAY
They got a late start to the lake, and the girls and I just puttered around some. I proofread until I decided that was dumb because I wanted to hang with my girls. So I bought The Devil Wears Prada with my Google Play credit and found a movie the girls really ended up enjoying. We keep making jokes about it ... "That's all." ... "I starve myself until I feel like I'm going to faint, then I eat a cube of cheese." We discussed guys and what NOT to do. We went to bed around midnight.
Sidebar: we found out last weekend from the previous owner of our home that we not only have pear trees but also peaches and apples and ... mulberries. This is significant to me because we had mulberries in our backyard when I was growing up and they were heavenly. To have my kids also experience this amazingness ... it's just one more sign that this house was supposed to be ours. Oh, and there is a lilac bush (always has been one of my fave flowers) right outside my bedroom window! This house keeps surprising me with messages from beyond!
SATURDAY
We had a bunch of errands to run quickly. First up was to get a mocha frappuccino light with coconut milk from Starbucks because I NEVER go there anymore and Joel had gotten me a gift card for Mother's Day. Then PetSmart for super worms for the bearded dragon. Found a great cat to adopt but it was already taken. Boo. HyVee for some sale things and to stock up for the 24-hour challenge the girls were going to do later. Target for ingredients for SLIME. Slime is our life.
Sam had a soccer game at 3:30 so I met the guys at a church in Spring Hill, KS to pick him up and we headed out for his final game of the season = a big win! He played goalie the first half and rocked it on the field the second half. He says soccer is his life and that's why I made it a priority to grab him and take him ... then return him back to the church so they could all go back to the lake.
Mommy's little goalie!
The 24-hour challenge started at 6:30 p.m. It's when you stay in one room for 24 hours and you can't come out for anything. Location = my bedroom since it is the only room with a connected bathroom. The girls made the best slime of their lives, they said. They hung out in their dad's closet, which contains our fireproof box. Yeah, the one I had to lug to a locksmith a while back since I had lost BOTH keys.
Pizza ... Canadian bacon is the way it came, so I fried up some bacon for it as well since my girls love bacon ;-)
We got glitter at Target for Ultimate Slime. Shoot, I knew you'd want the recipe. I'll have to come back and post that. This one had foaming facial cleanser and body foam to make it fluffy.
Girls making slime
I proofread on Aron's laptop in there since I broke mine. Don't ask (but I will say that my book I'd been working on forever may very well be lost, and I'm strangely okay with that, like I got a message to slow down). Oh, and I also lost my wedding ring last week. It was not a great week. I could use some prayers about the ring!
SUNDAY
I slept later than I have in probably a year (almost 9 a.m.!!!) and got up to proofread. I painted the girls' toenails bright pink, and they played Sandbox on their Kindles, watched some shows on their Kindles, read, played with slime and were kind of bored. I did a lot of dishes plus more laundry than should be allowed by law, made some fun food for the week like lime rice with Ranch and cumin, listened to gunshots, and stared out at our property. Luckily it was not a great pool day :-)
Joel, who has his own car now, left the campsite to hit two graduation parties to celebrate three of his friends. One was homeschooled all the way through, one was most of the way until senior year, and one went to regular school until senior year, when she was homeschooled. See, we have a diverse group of peeps, and it's clear "school" comes in many shapes and sizes!
This was actually taken Saturday after we dropped Sam back off. I hate saying goodbye to my family but I love when they go on adventures together!
I made Taco Soup for dinner. I also made two tater tot casseroles and froze them since I knew I would need something to take to TWO different potlucks on Wednesday (homeschool co-op field day and Theology of the Body for Teens final party). I did all this while watching The Real Housewives of Miami on Hulu because it doesn't take a lot out of my brain. I also get some weird sort of pleasure out of cooking and eating while watching women who probably barely eat so they can stay super skinny, which is not one of my main priorities in life.
At 6:30 the 24-hour challenge was over and so we had some taco soup (see recipe above) and left at 7 for 7:30 Mass. It felt weird going to church so late!
Eva did not want to quit the 24-hour challenge. I think it would be a great thing to do again in the winter, but not all 5 kids at once!
Callie made Daddy's closet her little haven. Yes, that's a fireproof box and no, there's nothing exciting in it besides photo negatives. I once had to call a locksmith because I lost both key to it! And yes, we have a security system for our home, plus cameras plus a gun so, haters, just don't even tell me how dumb I am to post this photo.
FINAL REMARKS
We said no to a lot of things this weekend, but we desperately needed a chill weekend. We needed to sleep and be lazy. I needed to catch up on house things and make homeschool plans and make some meals for the week. Joel attended the graduation parties and represented our family.
So we did not attend the graduation parties as a family like we normally would. We said no to Seussical. No to the dedication of our church (two-hour Mass then potluck) after remodel, which meant no to Callie dressing the altar and no to her singing in the choir and no to two practices for that as well with 40 minutes of driving for each one. No to the twice-a-year family reunion picnic. There were other things and I can't even remember them! Things kept coming up and I just kept saying no.
Instead, I prioritized my girls and honored that they wanted to do this challenge and that it would keep us home. I prioritized my soccer-playing son. I prioritized my home and my sanity for the coming week. We are just coming off a busy season of musical theater and we didn't know what hit us. We had to recover.
I didn't feel as selfish and guilty as I thought I would. I know my peeps understand. If I run myself into the ground, I can't be good for anyone. I'd be a crappy wife, mom, homeschool teacher, co-op teacher/planner, friend, daughter, everything. I'm feeling a pull to TREASURE my family. Also, why would you ever want to leave this? I mean, we prayed for our dream house for so long and we have it ... we need to hang out here as often as possible on our little patch of heaven way down south!
Homeschooling in the USA
continues to grow at a strong pace, with more and more parents shunning traditional
schools in favor of teaching their kids from the comfort of their own homes.
Data from the National Centre
for Education Statistics suggest that the number of kids taught at home is
growing by 3 to 8 percent a year since the total hovered around 1.8 million in
2012. That puts the upper estimate of those being home schooled at around 3.5
million children.
So why are so many parents
turning to homeschooling their kids? Here are four reasons to consider
homeschooling your kids.
It will help your kids love learning
For many of us, school is
synonymous with suffering. That suffering comes largely from the pressures of
passing tests and completing homework by deadlines. You are made to learn at
the same pace as everyone else with no respite. It’s no wonder so many kids end
up hating learning as a result of their school experiences. With homeschooling,
you have none of that. They can learn at their own pace without any pressure.
Most important of all though is that it can make learning fun. If your kids are
among those making soccer more
popular than MLB among 12-17-year-olds, then get them working out points scenarios and
outcomes as part of their math work. If your kids find learning fun, they will
learn to love it and that will set them up for life.
Samuel, age 8, in full soccer gear!
You can move with the times and teach your kids the stuff that matters
All too often, schools are
stuck in a certain way and method of teaching. They will often deal only in
established facts and when a new discovery is made, it can take years for that
to filter through and for kids to find out about. With homeschooling, you are
free to teach what you want. If there is a Jawbone Discovery that changes what we know
about the history of the human race on a Tuesday, your kids can be learning
about it by the Wednesday. You’ll also be able to knock on the head skills like
calculus problems which hardly any of us have to use in life, instead focusing
on skills like budgeting and personal finances which we all need in adulthood.
You can help your kids focus on what they are good at
Your kid might be a talented
artist, particularly gifted at music or have a flair for writing. Homeschooling
can let them flourish by focusing more on the skills and talents that they are
good at, rather than the ones they are not. If they have a genuine chance of
being the next Pablo Picasso, Taylor Swift or JK Rowling, then homeschooling
can help them achieve their dreams.
They’ll avoid the bullying of the school playground
Bullying is a big issue and
it happens in virtually every playground in every school in the country. Even President Obama
gave a speech about bullying in 2011. There are people who have a utopian idea that
every kid in every school can get along fine, but if we can’t do that as fully
mature adults then why should be expect our kids to be able to do it?
Homeschooling removes the threat or prospect of your kids being bullied, making
them far happier at the same time.
Happy Thursday! I'm able to write today because the craziness of Homeschool Co-op Wednesday is behind me and I can chill out today a little bit. I know I've had a lot of informational blog posts lately, so I wanted to share something personal with you today: spring dates with my kids (and of course I think you should take your kid on one as well, no matter how old they are!).
I got some writing checks all at once and decided it was time to take each of my kids out on a small date. Nothing spectacular like in the past (present, full meal at sit-down restaurant, dessert, going somewhere to play), but just an hour or so alone and some food. I knew if I waited until I had the money to do something fancier and waited until we had the time, it would not happen. So off we went!
**I know some people with big families with older kids who take their kids one at a time on a nice long WEEKEND trip somewhere by train ... that is my ultimate goal: to take each kid somewhere like Chicago alone so we can explore and chat.
I grabbed Joel, age 16, first because he is the busiest out of all of us. He is either working or doing schoolwork or reading or with his friends. On a Monday afternoon we went to Taco Bell in Raymore and got some snacky stuff and just sat and talked. Our Taco Bueno in Belton has been closed since last summer when the roof caved in during a storm, and I have to tell you they have missed out on hundreds of dollars from the McLoughlins moving to town. They need to open back up! Anyway, we forgot to take a picture so I grabbed this insanely great selfie outside our garage when it was crazy windy.
10-year-old Eva was next on Tuesday at lunchtime, and she chose Taco Bell as well. By this time I was having a real craving for the spicy tostada, so I was happy to go. Look how happy she is! One-on-one time with me is hard to come by, and she chatted me up. Oh, before we went there we got her bangs trimmed up in Peculiar at Shear Serenity.
Thursday for lunch, Sam, age 8, wanted to go to Freddy's Steakburgers in Belton. We got yummy cheeseburgers and fries and sodas, but he wasn't very talkative so we just chilled. Then he got a dirt and worms concrete.
That night was Callie's turn. She just turned 13 and wanted a smoothie, so I found The Smoothie Shop in Belton and off we went. Highly recommended! But she also wanted some food so ...
We went right up the road to Arby's, where she got a roast beef and cheddar sandwich. Once they hit teen years, they don't always love to have their picture taken, but if you are a kid of mine, you gotta do it! Mommy likes her pictures for posterity! SMILE!
Friday, 14-year-old Michael and I were going to head to Freddy's but, alas, it's LENT and so we were not having meat that day. So we waited until Saturday to go. We got our yumburgers and fries and drinks, but he was thinking a smoothie was more his style than a concrete (plus he gave up ice cream for Lent), so The Smoothie Shop it was. It was an exciting day at Freddy's with a couple of altercations between customers and workers and customers and their children ... never a dull moment in Belton, we are learning.
So that ends this episode of The Kerrie Show Takes Her Kids on Dates ... Belton and Raymore, Missouri did very well monetarily and the "date envelope" is empty. I need to start filling it back up with cash for the Mr. and Mrs. Aron McLoughlin date ... which I know for a fact won't be held at any of the places I took the kids because he has an EXTREME aversion to fast food (except for Chick-fil-A).
Leave me some great date ideas in the comment section please!!!! And I'd love to hear about dates with your own kids ... include a link if you have a blog post about it!
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