Articles by Rebecca Groves

There are moments in my day-to-day life that reveal to me that I am still learning. As parents, guardians, educators, and adults, there are always days when we must rally. But there are mornings when you wake up and the weight of the world presses you down deeper into your blankets and pillows. These are the mornings when having a rally plan for ourselves AND for the education of our children is crucial. In these instances, there is more at stake than just not having time for a shower or your morning workout. This is the molding of our children's minds and their education. It’s worth the rally!

Sometimes, just getting started is the hardest part of the writing process. In college, my writing professors noted my ability to get content on the page and how this was a gift for a writer. On the other hand, the red pen was dominant on all my papers, and a few were “not worthy of a grade.” You might be wondering whether or not you should grade your homeschooler's writing assignments. In this article, we will look at some of the benefits of deciding not to grade!

“If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.” How many times have we heard this saying or have said this to our children? When we are learning a new skill, whether baking, a sport, crafting, or math homework, practice does make progress! We have this mentality when it comes to learning new things. What about when we are developing a new habit?

With your children, you may have noticed that they lack a desire to learn or have developed an apathy towards discovery. Whether this is in a certain subject or even the curiosity for general knowledge. How do we spark and engage our students to pursue curiosity?

“The fourteen-toed sloth crossed the Mississippi River in a neon orange battle tank. Just so he could taste the wild palm trees of Nebraska.” While this may seem like comical nonsense, Mad Libs® educate children, and let’s be honest, adults, too! This silly way to introduce grammar practice into errand running, down time, or scheduled grammar time is a game changer for students.

Our language skills progress as we grow, mature, and learn. Squiggles turn to letters, to words, to sentences, and before we know it, we are writing essays, papers, and reports! The written word allows us to express our ideas, understandings, and findings to others. As this skill develops for your young students, a new skill needs to emerge in your personal teacher toolbox: the ability to evaluate, assess, and grade our students’ writing. So, where do you start?

When our littles wake up or refuse to nap and show big emotions, we instinctively extend grace and compassion. As our big-feeling little ones try to accomplish day-to-day tasks, we guide them, break down big tasks into small steps, take our time, and make things fun. When a spouse or a loved one returns from a long day at work and that exhaustion is visible, we evaluate, adjust, and extend grace as we interact. Why is it, then, that when we look in the mirror or evaluate our semester of homeschooling, grace can get thrown out the window?! We tend to be our own worst critics, and this has a way of derailing even the best things in our lives.

Are you noticing the mountain top areas where your homeschooler is excelling in certain topics and contrasting those with valley areas of struggle? Now is a great time to observe and address these little struggle moments that could grow into bigger tensions in your academic year. What do you do when you start pinpointing these areas of pain within your student’s day-to-day work?

Planner work is so much more than developing To-Do lists. It is a brilliant way to work on handwriting for littles, time management responsibilities for middles and older, and can lead to developing independence in one’s own work and priorities. The struggle to stay organized as a family unit can be an unnerving task as well. Taking intentional time to work with students to organize their own schoolwork each day and for the semester develops those self-management skills and can be a huge help for busy parents.

Embarking on a lifestyle journey—and homeschooling is a way of life—means an action plan is always necessary. An action plan helps give you direction, keep you focused, hold you accountable, and bring you back on mission. But where is this helpful action plan? Well, reader, it is something you are going to develop specifically for you and your family!