What Do You Want Mommy to Do?

whatmommytodo

Working on a quilt with my daughter Julianna

Years ago, I made a list of all my duties I was attempting to keep up with—which can be voluminous when you are a young mother! It looked something like this:

Nurse the baby
Wash the clothes
Fix meals
Keep the house clean
Do errands for Daddy
Take kids on field trips or outings
Play with the little ones
Do my church job
Take a child on a one-on-one date
Wash the dishes
Look pretty and fresh
Clean the bathrooms
Take kids to the park or playground
Buy groceries
Read aloud to the kids
Bake homemade bread
Sew costumes or special clothes for the kids
Play games with the kids
Help kids have parties with their friends
Take walks with the kids
Make Daddy’s favorite meal
Mend the clothes
Go shopping for clothes
Teach kids homeschool
Go on a date with Daddy
Make a meal to take in to the sick
Read the scriptures with kids
Make treats
Not overwork myself
Sit and talk with Daddy
Talk with kids one-on-one
Garden
Have other families over
Cook healthy food from scratch
Go to bed on time
Help Daddy make financial decisions
Drive kids to their activities
Teach a class for the kids and their friends
Make holidays special
Help neighbors
Have dinner ready when Dad gets home

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Child Writing Backwards? Letter & Number Reversals

positive-725842_1280Question:

Is it normal for a 7 year old to still be turning the numbers around? When she points to or writes a number, for example “27”,  she writes “72”. It is most of the numbers 12-98.

Answer:

I know this can feel upsetting to us moms, to see our children reverse their letters and numbers. We wonder if they can see correctly, or if their brain is wired backwards!

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Junior High Years . . . and on into High School

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Homeschool Prom

Junior high years, the grades 7th and 8th, are usually a “make it or break it” for your homeschool. This seems to be the time when most children exit homeschool for that big public school. And it may be the worst time they could possibly attend school!

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Husband Won’t Let Me Homeschool

Daniel

Daniel

Question:

I am desperate to homeschool my child. I really think it is something God is telling me to do but my husband will not give me his permission. I just know that I could do a good job homeschooling if he would just give me a chance.

Answer:

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Rotate Your Toys

Toys are the tools of little ones! I learned in college how stimulating a child’s brain led to higher intelligence, so I always wanted to have as many as good toys as possible at my house, feeling like they would help my kids brain develop. I was on the lookout at yard sales when I was a young mother, and pretty soon, the house was littered with toys. And the kids got bored of them. I got a big toy chest thinking I could lasso the toy mess but it just became a black hole—it seemed toys from the bottom were irretrievable! And you could break them just trying to yank them out.

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Homeschooling Ideas that Work!

Here are some tried and true ideas that really work well in homeschooling!

Homeschool Campout!

Homeschool Campout!

Idea #1: Socializing with other Homeschoolers

Since my children really hit it off best with other homeschooling children, we began to search for homeschooling friends by organizing outings such as picnic park outings, sports days, art class and other fun activities. It always amazed me how a child that feels “out of it” at church or community class with a room full of children that go to public school can bond as friends instantly with other homeschooling children. They truly have so much in common! They have lots of talk about, and so do their mothers!

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Siblings Progressing at Different Rates

child-315049_1280Question:

What would you do with this situation: The younger child (5) hears something once and never forgets it. He is progressing in phonics and reading 3 letter words. He is very ready to learn to read. The oldest child (6) is not ready. He has always been later to do things all the way back to feeding himself and potty training. He “wants” to read like the younger child, but is having tons of trouble just blending 2 letters. He knows all his letter sounds backward and forward, so to review those is not even really necessary. Do I just stop everything and try again in a few months. How would you explain this to him? I’ve tried explaining that reading is just a developmental stage like learning to walk, and when your ready it won’t be so hard . . . I’m afraid it makes him feel dumb. Any suggestions? [Read more…]

Plan B: Difficult Pregnancy

hands-105455_1280Question:

I am going through a difficult pregnancy and cannot manage all the subjects, preparing lesson plans, trying to get them to do their schoolwork—I’m just so tired. Any help?

Answer:

Pregnancy and birth: can there be any more pertinent lessons that these?! There is some real life educating going on that you may not be aware of. You can increase the value of it by discussing it with the children, showing them pictures of what the baby looks like inside from library books, DVDs and the internet. There are actual photographs of the fetus day-by-day on the internet and on phone apps. Have the children keep an ongoing “Our New Brother/Sister” notebook with a page a week about what the baby is developing (eyelashes, etc.) and drawings. Make the most of this fascinating and very important “unit study”!

[Read more…]

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