The Homeschool Solutions Show

This is part four in my series on memory work. Find the other parts here: Help Your Kids Memorize Anything Recite, Recite, Recite Sing Me A Song Up to this point we have largely focused on the auditory elements of memory work. This is mainly because learning memory work is largely an auditory skill. This is not to say, though, that there are not some helps to offer kids who have a visual learning preference. There are a few things you can do to add visuals to the memory work to help those kids along. Listen or read more at https://pambarnhill.com/visual-learners/

“Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.” “I might as well be talking to a brick wall!” “In one ear and out the other.” Clearly, kids who don’t listen is a thing. We have tons of cultural idioms about not listening, and they’re often used to describe children. Some of this probably comes from a combination of immaturity and the fact that they are still developing habits like attention. But in my own family, I notice it’s something I do that actually teaches my children not to listen. Listen or read more at https://mylittlerobins.com/2018/01/if-you-want-your-kids-to-listen-stop-repeating-yourself/

I do not think it necessary to expound on why we want to avoid overwhelm in our homeschools. Overwhelm equals stress, chaos, and uncertainty, none of which complement a healthy lifestyle. Overwhelm can be a rather quiet beast, creeping in gradually until one day you just CAN’T. I find keeping overwhelm at bay starts with intention. We first need to believe it is important and recognize that it will take life-long effort. In our homeschools, our children are constantly growing and changing, and so we must adapt. Avoiding overwhelm on a practical level may look completely different from one year to the next. The important thing is that you have go-to tools to help you avoid it, and if it hits, pull life back into balance. Listen or read more at https://www.jumpintogenius.com/avoiding-overwhelm-from-the-inside-out/

For some kids all it takes is to hear something set to song just a few times, and it becomes embedded in their memory. Olivia is a kid like that. I think she can learn just about anything if we set it to a tune. So using songs for memory work is something we do all the time. Many times there are already songs written for a topic we want to memorize. We use songs from Classical Conversations even though we are not in a community. The skip counting songs, timeline song, and Latin chants are all available on their CDs and are superb. Listen or read more at https://pambarnhill.com/songs-for-memory-work/

Is sibling conflict a problem in your home? Maybe you think that question is just a joke. Maybe you think it's a nice way to begin a post by making everyone feel normal and right at home because DUH! of course sibling conflict is a problem. In everyone's home. Always. But it may not be for the reason you're thinking. Listen or read more at https://hswotrainingwheels.com/sibling-conflict-problem/

It must be kind of hard to be J.K. Rowling. I had that thought the other night as I tucked into the first in her crime series, which she wrote under a pseudonym. I think if I were her I would do everything under a pseudonym.* I’d grocery shop under a pen name. Because she has already kind of done The Most Amazing Thing … Can you imagine that pressure? It must be crushing sometimes. Listen or read more at http://www.karasanderson.com/youre-not-homeschooling-for-likes/

Be proactive, not reactive. You know you are going to have good days and bad days. We’ve been talking the past couple of weeks about how we might be the ones sabotaging our homeschools. We also discussed the importance of having our attitudes ordered rightly because someone might be watching. But what does this look like in the day to day of our home? We have meals to cook, errands, appointments, and a house to clean. And then there are the unexpected problems that come up in our week. Listen or read more at https://pambarnhill.com/proactive-homeschooling/

You’ve met her. Maybe you’ve been her. Maybe you are her. Some homeschool moms might scare you. Some homeschool moms scare their children. But I think we’ve all experienced another kind of scary homeschool mom: the one who scares herself. Are you scary? Who do you scare? Is it always wrong to be scary? If our fears are pointing us toward our weaknesses, and we then reinforce those areas, we can become scary in all the right ways: Scary not to our children or to ourselves, but to the world, the flesh, and the devil. Listen or read more at https://www.simplyconvivial.com/2016/scary/

This is the second post in the series: Help Your Kids Memorize Anything. You can see part one here. No doubt, the heart of any memory method is recitation. By saying the words over and over again, the language patterns, information and the very essence of words become ingrained into our being. Often when we read, especially as better readers, we skip over words or read by phrase instead of word for word. It is this reason that simply reading something to memorize it is not enough. The better way is to say it out loud — or recite it. Listen or read more at https://pambarnhill.com/recite-recite-recite-help-kids-memorize-anything/

Guilt is a universal feeling though it rears its ugly head in different ways, using different strategies for each person. We must all learn to tackle this beast in our own way and find the strategies that work for us. I have been working hard to be reasonable, rational, and really honest with myself as I attack the ridiculous guilt that creeps up on me. Yes. Ridiculous. Some guilt is just plain ridiculous. Listen or read more at http://www.notbefore7.com/2017/06/21/mom-guilt-over-it/