Cool Old Houses in Kansas City and the Kansas City Museum

Back in 2012, the kids and I went to the Kansas City Museum, which is basically a cool mansion where people used to live, for our Passport to Adventure booklet stamping. After we parked in the back of the museum, we saw THREE cool houses and I had to get a picture of each one. (can't imagine cleaning them, that's for sure!)

The final picture on this post is a picture of a picture of the museum itself back in the good old days. The houses in Kansas City are so cool, in fact, that housing vacancy rates have dropped to an all-time low. Do you have cool old houses in your town?

11/15/12

Become A More Effective Homeschooler Today

If you homeschool your kids, you will already know about some of the distinct benefits that it can bring along with it. Homeschooling has been shown to encourage a much more independent mindset in those children who experience it. It also has a way of helping individuals to develop their own personality in a much more engaging manner. But are you certain that you are homeschooling your children as well as you could? As it turns out, there are a number of steps that you can take if you want to try and become a better homeschooler for your children. You might have tried some of these already, but there might be one or two things which you had never considered. Let’s take a look and see what you can do to improve your child’s homeschool experience today.

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Invest A Little More Time

It takes a lot of time every week to ensure that your children are as well educated as they would be at school. You need to make sure that you can provide those hours, otherwise there is little point in homeschooling at all. At the very least, you should think about how many hours of actual education your local school would provide a day, and try to match that. But you don’t need to necessarily stop there. If you want to improve your child’s education even more, then you might want to think about investing a little more time into it. This can be tricky to do, especially if you lead a busy life already, but it also might prove to be one of the best things you ever do for your child. You don’t want to overwork them either, however, so make sure that you find a decent balance between education and play time. Invest a little more time overall, and you are bound to see a marked improvement in your child’s education quickly.

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Boost Your Own Education

Something which is always going to be clear is that the level of your own learning is going to make a huge difference to how effectively you can teach your child. The truth is, very often bringing about an improvement in your child’s homeschooling means that you first need to improve your own. There are many ways to do this, and some of them might be things you had never actually considered. Although you might simply choose to learn more about a particular subject, you could also go and receive training specifically geared to improving your ability as a teacher. This could be an online Master of Arts in School Library and Information Technology degree, or just a PGCE type course designed to help you teach. Either way, you can be sure that the more training you have behind you, the more likely it is that you can provide your child with a top education.

Prioritize Socialization

One of the most common arguments levied against homeschooling is that traditional schools offer an opportunity for socialization. Well, this might be true, but all that means is that the homeschooler needs to focus on socialization as a central part of the whole program. In other words, in order to improve your child’s homeschooling, you will need to ensure that you focus on as many different aspects as possible, including what you might consider to be non-educational factors such as socialization. There are many things you can do to prioritize this aspect of their development. It might be getting them involved in clubs, or it could even be courses at an education institution. However you do it, focussing on this with redoubled effort is likely to improve their overall homeschooling experience.

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Ask Questions & Listen

A good teacher - and by extension, a good homeschooler - is ultimately one who listen well and asks questions. This is mostly because it is an effective way of discovering how well your child is learning, but it is also to simply keep the conversation alive. You need to keep your child engaged, above all, and this kind of back and forth is the best way to do just that. Ask plenty of questions, and use the answers to determine progress. You can then work out where you need to spend more time, and what might be considered done. Similarly, you should make an effort to listen to your child’s opinions and responses, as this is just as important as any other part of the education. Get this right, and you can be sure that your child is developing as you would hope them to.

Life Lessons to Teach Your Kids Out of the Classroom

Whether your little ones are taught in a traditional school environment, or they are home schooled; there are life lessons that they will need to learn outside of a classroom. Children are extremely perceptive and will become little sponges for information from a very young age. Therefore you can begin to instill various lessons from the get-go. There will be an array of things that are appropriate to teach your kids from when they’re toddlers, up until they’re teenagers and beyond; all humans continue to learn throughout their lives, and as a parent, you have a major responsibility on your shoulders. The following are some areas you might want to consider talking through with your little ones (or older kids) and ensure that they’re on the right path to becoming a well-rounded and educated adult.

Manners

Politeness and manners are appreciated by all; therefore, it’s vital that your children get a strong understanding of the importance of their please and thank yous. From an early age; it’s a smart idea to let your kids know how you expect them to behave and ensure that they’re aware of how their actions, and what they say, affect others and the situation they are in. Being consistent is the best way for your teachings to sink in; the more you repeat something, the quicker your kids will pick things up, and they’ll know what to say and do in no time (remember how they’re little sponges).

Role play and reading story books are a great way to introduce and reinforce, the idea of manners to a kid; making a teaching activity fun will ensure that the information and feelings are more likely to stay within your child. When out in social settings; continue to teach and practice what you’ve told them; ask them questions to see what they should do and say, and give them the chance to do it themselves. Always praise great manners; but, don’t berate a young child for not using manners correctly as they’ll only feel less confident to do so in the future. If a situation has not gone how you would've liked regarding your kids and how they acted or what they said; explain why to them and give them the tools to do better next time.

Lead by example; remember that your kids are likely to copy what you do, so ensure that you’re the polite adult that you want your little ones to grow up into. Gentle prompts, encouragement, and positive associations are all methods to keep your kids asking with a “please” and leaving with a “thank you.” It’s always a great idea to talk to your children’s teachers, the parents of your kid’s friends, or anyone else who’s been left in charge of your kids; you’ll get a strong sense of how they behave when they’re not under your supervision. Again, always react with advice and encouragement, over anger, to tell them when they have done something wrong and how to change it.

Image source: https://static.pexels.com/photos/77167/reading-77167.jpeg

Safety

There are a variety of dangers, and hazardous situations that your child will (unfortunately) have to experience and deal with throughout their lifetime. However, you don’t want to raise someone that constantly lives in fear of the world around them because you’ve scared them with what could (and probably won’t) happen. Therefore, the best way to equip your little ones to handle their future is to ensure they are made aware of danger without too much fear and give them the tools they’ll need to deal with it. By ensuring that your kids will be ready to sort out, or avoid harm in a situation successfully, will give them the confidence to enjoy their life, safe in the knowledge they'll know what to do should any problems arise.

Making sure that smaller children know when to run and fetch an adult, if there’s been an accident or hazardous situation, is a great place to start; let them know that they don’t have to deal with anything alone. As kids get older; it’s worth teaching them how to call for help, and the basics of first aid and CPR; look into the American Heart Association CPR methods to get a sense of the step-by-step guide, which could help your kid save a life. Make sure your children are old enough to learn what to do in a medical emergency, so as not to overwhelm them. Ensure that your kids understand what different medical situations look like; that way they won’t be terrified should one occur in front of them, and even better, they may be able to help.

Again, role play and stories are the perfect method to introduce danger, and negative situation awareness to a child, without scaring them. As long as they understand that it’s a normal part of life; they’ll be able to handle whatever issues come their way with adept skills and confidence. You can start simple lessons like road safety and the danger of household electrics, for example, from an early age. Put the focus on the remaining safe aspect, rather than filling a young mind with scary stories of what the results could be. Word association for tots is an excellent method to keep them away from fire, kettles, and stoves; using vocabulary like “hot” and “ouch”, when your kids experience pain, will stick in their minds. You can then point out the items to stay away from in the family home and use those words that they’ve learned previously.

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Morals

When it comes to your morals as a parent; they can be very personal within your family home. However, there are certain ideals, which are associated with a good person, that will relate to any growing child. For some children; kindness and respect for others come as second nature. However, some little ones will struggle with certain concepts at first, like any human being, so it’s your job to help them see the importance and encourage their beliefs. Teaching values will take time; nothing will sink in straight away, and very often it takes a real-life situation for an idea to really hit home. Therefore, leading by example, as you do with your manners, will help a child to understand dependability, discipline, generosity, compassion, and a variety of other traits that lead to a positive way of life.

As a parent; you can’t expect to be perfect all of the time; therefore, your kids will see you make mistakes in life. Instead of brushing your mistakes under the carpet, or trying to shelter your little ones what you may have said or done; apologize for your behavior and let them know that you understand that it was wrong. Letting your kids know that you’re just as human as they are, but as an adult, you should’ve known better, will teach them accountability and the importance of acknowledging something and apologizing. Check out Aha Parenting tips on ways to raise a child with great values for some inspiration.

To help to reinforce your child’s concept of morals; tell them your personal experiences with them and how they affected the outcome. Explaining things that you’ve been through to your kids is a step up from a story book; it will resonate more deeply in their mind and thoughts of your children, as they trust you and it’s not fiction. Consistency is vital; be the adult that you want your children to grow into, and you’ll help to nurture their development. Help them to process their feelings, and they’ll begin to react in a suitable fashion in all personal and social situations (on the whole; remember they’re kids), and will be a pleasure to be around and a credit to your teachings.

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Perler (Iron) Bead Heroes #SummerKidFun

Check out these awesome super heroes my kids made for me out of Perler (iron-on) beads back in June. They hit up the Internet (ahem, Pinterest) for the patterns and went to town one day! I don't iron clothing, but I feel like I have spent half my life ironing bead creations! It keeps them happy and busy and I always love to see what creative item they have come up with!

Wonder Woman Iron-on Bead Creation

Damp in Basement and Cellars? What to Look Out For

Do You Have Damp in Your Basement or Cellar?

Throughout London and the Home Counties, many homes have basements or cellars which are used something like a garage – to store a few items or maybe house a boiler or a tumble dryer.  They are often considered wasted spaces that are dark, damp and cold and unsuitable for everyday purposes.  

However, if you have a vision of what it could be like or what you would like to use it for, then there are methods of damp-proofing that can be used to make your vision a reality and create valuable additional living space and your favorite room.

Moisture in basements

Whether your property has a basement, cellar or just a vault, they probably face the same problem – damp. Because they are mostly, or completely built underground, they have a far greater risk of damp than standard rooms.  

Damp problems in basements are very common but because the areas may not frequently be used, homeowners rarely think about it or what benefits they have right under their feet.  If you are considering a basement conversion then, without doubt, damp-proofing should be your priority. This should only ever be handled by an experienced damp proofing company and carried out under a long-term guarantee.

There are two main reasons why damp affects walls below ground level – lateral damp which is forced through the wall by pressure and rising-damp from upon the ground, by capillary action.  

In the winter, problems with condensation can occur and if there has been an exceptional amount of rain the water table rises and can cause flooding. Whatever the reason an experienced damp consultant should be instructed, who will recommend the most suitable solution to keep your rooms dry.

How damp occurs

The main type of damp to affect rooms below ground level is called lateral damp penetration. This is caused by ground water being forced through the wall by hydrostatic pressure. The movement of water through the wall can cause enormous damage both internally and structurally and must be controlled as a priority.

Rising-damp occurs when there is not a sound damp proof course at the base of the walls to prevent it. Damp from the ground rises through the pores of the brickwork and masonry, by capillary action and can rise to a height of approximately 1.5 meters. This also must be dealt with, as a separate item, by a qualified damp expert.

All types of damp create similar signs for homeowners to watch for in the basement.  

Large damp patches on the walls, cold to the touch. Decolourization and degrading wall plaster, rotting joinery, musty, damp smells and at the very worst, dry-rot fungus.

Basement Damp proofing

On the positive side, a damp basement doesn’t intend that your plans for additional living space are over because a damp expert such as Tapco HomeDry has several solutions that can solve the problems.  

The process starts with an assessment of exactly what is causing the damp and what method of damp proofing is the most suitable for the problem at your property.

Once the assessment has been carried out it is likely that we will recommend one of the two following options.

A Cavity Drain Membrane (CDM)

This is a high-density Polyethene, studded membrane which is installed to the walls or ceilings using special water-proof fixing plugs. A sump and pump are often installed into the floor before a damp expert installing a larger studded floor membrane. The floor is either screeded or overlaid with treated flooring. Galvanized framing is then installed before dry-lining of the membrane can be plastered directly onto.

This method of damp-proofing is not designed to block the damp but to allow it in and controlled to where we want to take it before being discharged to a place chosen by us.

Structural Damp-Proofing (Tanking)

This method of damp proofing is designed to block the movement of water through the walls.

Following a coat of waterproof rendering, slurry coats of a cementitious tanking system are applied to the walls, floors or ceilings, before further damp proof plastering being carried out.