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Every parent wants to believe that their child behaves
appropriately at all times. But truth of the
matter is kids always test their boundaries to see what they can
get away with. Kids test their boundaries, the most at two times,
when they are with their parents and at school. As a parent are
you going to discipline your child the same way that you would
discipline them when you become the teacher?
This is an important question to think about before beginning the
home school process. All parents want what is
best for their child, especially in their education.
I have taught many subjects in the public school system from
elementary school through high school and you know what I have
discovered? The best classrooms are the ones that are
well-managed and well-disciplined. In
education, there is no substitute for good discipline
techniques. It is what makes the difference
between an adequate education and a great education. So what do
you want for your children, an adequate or great
education? Well, that’s a dumb question,
right? We all want our children to have a great
education. Now we the parents must learn what
goes in to that great education…a great discipline plan.
As the parent you know your children better than
anyone. So you will be the perfect person to
create a discipline plan for them. Most
discipline plans are the same in the principles but each person
makes them fit their teaching style. Below are
the five principles that make a good discipline plan but remember
to tailor it to how you teach and how your child learns to make
it a great discipline plan.
1.
Law of the Land
You must lay down the lay down the law of the
land. This does not sound so fun, it
isn’t.
Who would you rather be? Parent A- yelling and
screaming all day and their child still does not work. Or…Parent
B- a plan developed for discipline ahead of time that is shared
with the child. Of course, we would all love to be Parent B
because it sets a more successful picture in our
heads. But the truth of the matter is Parent B
had a plan and that plan was shared with the child so that they
knew what was expected of them ahead of time.
The laws that need to be laid down in advance are:
A.
Schedule of the day-time- school begins and ends/ breaks during
day
B.
Classroom Rules
C. What
needs to be done daily – goals
D. Rewards
and Consequences
Let’s break these down…
The most important thing is making a schedule and sticking to
it. It adds structure to your child’s
day. When children know what to expect and
know that you will not deviate you can avoid the craziness in the
classroom.
Classroom rules need to be established and
enforced. In the beginning be strict but as
the rules are obeyed loosen up slowly. If
children start to misbehave, go back to being strict.
Every day you need to let your child know what the goals for the
day are. Whatever doesn’t get finished within
the school schedule becomes “homework,” if
needed. This will help the child to stay
focused on getting the goals done.
You know what works for your child in the rewards and
consequences department. You can also have
your child help you with this so that they are excited about the
rewards and obey the consequences. Children
will feel that they are more involved in their education if you
let them help with this.
2.
Consistency is Key
Once you have your plan written down, communicated and in
place…STICK TO IT!!! Once you have your plan,
be consistent in how you implement your
schedule. This is an important part of your
classroom discipline. Being consistent also
extends into your academics of the day. For
example, if you use goal cards to communicate the daily classroom
goals then you need to be sure to use them daily to be
consistent.
Consistency also extends to classroom rules.
If you do not consistently enforce the rules you have set forth
then the children will not behave. This is
especially true for parents who are teaching more than one
child. When you teach more than one child at a
time you need to be careful to enforce rules equally and not to
favor one child over the other. If you don’t
you are setting yourself up for disaster.
Being consistent where you home school is also very
important. Along with a schedule the children
need to know where in the house the “learning” takes place
daily. Most of the academic day should be
spent there. Not that you can’t take your
children to other places to learn. But the
main part of your day should be spent in that learning center.
The key here is just to be consistent. In
whatever you do…be consistent. Classroom discipline relies
heavily on sticking to what you have come up with.
3.
Key to Individuality
Consistency is the key to classroom
discipline. But consistency has its
limitations. Where consistency ends
individuality takes over. What is
individuality? Individuality in education is
where you work with a child’s strengths to improve their academic
success. This is done through learning
styles. The learning styles are kinesthetic
(hands-on), visual, and auditory. The main
thing is not to limit your child. Find your
child’s strengths and work them into your
curriculum. Your child will be much happier
and more successful if you do.
4.
Ease Into It
As far as classroom discipline goes this one is easy but is often
missed. Many home school parents who allow
“breaks” due to holidays believe that their child will be able to
just pick up where they left off. It was only
a month or two. Big
mistake! The fact is that students need so
“recall” time to be re-introduced to the information presented.
It will take a couple of days. During these
couple of days make the activities fun. If you
ease your child back into the academic setting then everything
will go much more smoothly. Classroom
discipline depends on it.
5.
Stick to It
If the last section was the easiest in regards to classroom
discipline this will be the hardest. Stick to
your plan. Be consistent in everything that
you do from the beginning of the school year to the end. This
doesn’t mean that you can’t take breaks during the
holidays. Many families believe that the
holidays are a very important time for family.
So take a break from the academic learning and start teaching
your children about family traditions. This
also doesn’t mean that you can’t take field
trips. You can take field trips that are
planned earlier in the year. If you plan your
school year properly ahead of time it will lead to a much more
consistent year. It will make your life a
whole lot easier throughout the year.
But as we all know life always throws us a curve ball now and
then.
There may be a natural disaster or an
unexpected death in the family that may be difficult to deal
with.
These are not things you can exactly plan
for.
When it comes to these times keep your
child’s well being in to consideration.
This is
your child’s education that we are talking
about.
Consistency is key to great
discipline.
Remember, your child deserves the
best!!
Date Published: Jan 18, 2011 - 9:13 am
As the pace of change in the twenty-first century continues to
increase, the world is becoming more interconnected and complex,
and the knowledge economy is craving is more intellectual
individuals. So it is critical that we shift our focus from
education to life-long learning. If we are willing to view learning
from new perspectives then we can enhance learning. Everyone needs
to realize that the students we teach are growing up in a
technological age. This means that they learn differently than we
do.
The global competitiveness environment has indeed changed over the
past decade. Other countries, such as China and Japan are making
tremendous gains in science and technology. America is falling
behind. Corporate executives are looking for a degree in the
required field but the skills that are being found most valuable in
a candidate are collaboration, communication, and creative
problem-solving. These are skills that are harder and harder to
find in candidates.
Education of the future will enforce studio-based learning.
Studio-based learning is where every child can see what every other
child is learning. This is critical so that every child can witness
the thinking processes of others and understand the thinking behind
it. Children can then pick up skills from other students. Students
start to learn to appreciate the learning process because they
learn from their struggles, missteps, and successes. This is done
in an educational setting through technology-based learning.
Children interact through blogs, websites, text-messaging, and
games to learn socially.
Children learn better this way because they are able to retain
information longer. It is proven that the more children review
material the longer the retention time will be. If children review
concepts daily through blogging with each other they will
understand the material better and retain it longer.
Our children are the most technologically advanced generation yet —
many of them headed for careers that don’t even exist today. Our
children learn through technology. They have gaming systems that
they interact with everyday and are successful. What if we build
education around the gaming process? That is we create an education
system that is both interactive and project-based. The children
would then use blogs and websites to interact with each other about
their successful projects, to ask for help when they are stuck, and
to discuss information to review concepts or materials. Would
children be more adaptive to the education process if we created an
environment in which they are learning job skills that they would
actually be able to use in the future? The answer is yes. Most
children go home and play virtual games every day for hours and
hours. If the education system was built on this the students would
be more interested in learning. Children would also get the skills
that they needed in a job setting such as critical thinking,
collaboration, and problem-solving. We need to keep teaching
Standard English (which we do). Children need to be taught the
difference between formal and informal language (which we may or
may not do). Finally, there should be a level of acceptance, rather
than strong opposition to, the way children write (which we
definitely do not do). Think of it as project-based learning.
Children must rearrange Standard English to come up with their own
texting language, and what we want them to learn is Standard
English.
Date Published: Jan 09, 2011 - 2:59 pm
It is very important to teach children not only the curriculum, but
also life lessons that will prepare them for a successful future.
There are many avenues that are available to us to enhance our
children’s futures; fashion is one avenue, which is very important
in each child’s current and future success.
Fashion can be trendy, and in the past was used primarily for
function. In the current years, it has become a primary form of
expressive equipment to assist a performer in defining the
expectancies of an audience. As a parent, there are many ways that
we can educate our children to use this equipment to enhance their
success in the future, by providing examples on the relevance of
fashion, educating on proper grooming and clothing choices,
providing an example, and holding each child to high expectations
on personal appearance.
In the 21st Century we need parents that are willing to teach
beyond the curriculum and provide encouragement and guidance to
help them create positive habits that will improve their success in
the workplace and in life. In the past fashion was used as
practical protection, and style to be functional based on the
individuals needs. In present day, fashion is used more as an
expression. In todays over population, individuals feel the need to
“stand out” from the crowd, with their own personal style. It is
impossible to wear clothes without transmitting social signals. In
the current workplace “perception is reality”. People around you
can perceive your economic level, education level, trustworthiness,
social position, level of success and moral character based on the
way you dress. If you dress for a lower level of success, then you
are likely to remain in that position, as it is perceived you are a
fit for that position. Although the styles continue to change,
rules for workplace fashion remain constant.
It is impossible to wear clothes without transmitting social
signals. Comfort, protection, and modesty concerns might be
overridden by a desire to look good, “fit in,” or acquire status
authority. Dress is largely interpreted as a function of personal
choice. Many people believe that what parents choose to wear in the
home does influence the perceptions of their children.
Clothing is a primary impression management tool. Clothing is an
important aspect of a “personal front”, one of the forms of
expressive equipment that assist a performer in defining the
expectancies of an audience. There are several decisions people
make about each other based on clothing alone: economic level,
educational level, trustworthiness, social position, level of
sophistication, economic background, social background, educational
background, level of success and moral character. Clothing also
affects four kinds of judgments: credibility, likability,
interpersonal attractiveness, and dominance.
For students to be successful in the 21st Century, we also need to
be aware of the opportunities that are available to us to teach our
children about fashion in the work place. Opportunities would be to
explain examples on how individuals have been successful or
unsuccessful based on their personal experience. Another way to
teach is to show our children ways to improve their appearance,
clothes to wear and providing ideas for dressing neater and
cleaning up their appearance. When teaching this, it would also be
encouraging to provide positive feedback and recognition for our
children that adopt these positive habits. Providing opportunities
for our children to model professional fashion, by requesting them
to dress workplace professional on days they are presenting a
project, or if you plan to have guests from outside of the home,
this will build confidence and give them a first-hand experience
using fashion as a tool to be recognized in a positive manner.
Date Published: Jan 09, 2011 - 2:55 pm
Parents have the responsibility of nurturing and taking
care of their children. Most parents realize that
instilling a love of reading in their children is beneficial to
their children’s future. So everyone takes the time to read
a story to their children to help instill this love of
reading. What have we done lately to instill a love of
mathematics in our children’s life?
Many parents don’t like math or feel confident enough in their
math skills to instill this love into their children. But
like reading, mathematics is one of the school subjects taught
that is absolutely necessary for functioning in society
effectively. However, mathematics is one of the school
subjects in the public school education system that is beginning
to decline. This means that the children in these systems
can’t do basic mathematics by the time they graduate from high
school. What does this mean to us as parents? This means that it
becomes our job, as parents, to motivate our children to love
mathematics.
Your attitude towards math greatly impacts your child’s attitude
towards math. If you show interest and an enthusiasm in
math your child will also show interest. How do parents do this
when they hate math? Take an interest in your child’s mathematics
education. Also, present activities around you to integrate
math such as cooking, traveling, gardening, and play games.
Remember, the best person to educate your child is you.
Some great eBooks and material can be found at Math By Joe. There
is a huge selection of eBooks at great prices. Instant download.
Math EBooks, Math Homework Help, Algebra Help, Math Poems, Math
Plays and more.
Date Published: Jan 06, 2011 - 11:11 pm
The public school system is rapidly changing for the
worse. The students that are becoming a product of this
education system are not being held accountable for their
learning and they are being socially passed on. Students
are also being tested so excessively that teachers are being
instructed to teach to the standardized tests.
Most students coming out of our public school system can’t read,
write, or do simple arithmetic. Is this effectively
teaching our children? No, but our public school system will not
change for the better any time soon. So what can you do to
guarantee that your child receives the best education that you
can find.
Homeschooling is an option for all families who don’t feel
comfortable putting their children into the current public school
system. I understand that not all families will be able to
afford, in this economy, to stay at home with their children 24
hours a day 7 days a week. There are simple ways to help
your children with their education that can be done at home in
less than thirty minutes a day. This will help your
children learn what they need to know and not fall behind.
Most parents considering homeschooling or helping their children
at home daily are also afraid to start the process because they
don’t know if they would be able to teach their children
effectively. I have a question for you, who is going to be
more effective in teaching your children, you or a teacher who
teaches about 150 students a day?
To help with homeschooling there is 'Just One Chance'. How
you can give your child a "Two Millimeter Advantage" to
outperform, out compete, and outlast even the fiercest
competition? Just One Chance is designed to give your high
achiever an elite, competitive edge that you just won't find in
the education system. Confident students, and confident people
are the ones who succeed, and confidence is a skill anyone can
master with the right help.
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Date Published: Jan 06, 2011 - 1:40 pm