Your Young Child’s Safety

Beginning parents have many fears. One fear I had as a beginning parent of a toddler was that my child would hurt himself badly. I kept my eyes on that boy for almost every minute. It was always the moment my eyes were someplace else, usually for just a few minutes, that he fell or he pulled something down on his head, or some other missed tragedy. Though I did try and I tried hard, it was impossible for me to keep my eye on him every single second of every single day. But there are a few responsibiblites I learned as I became a more experienced parent.

The increased freedom to run, jump, climb, ride a tricycle, just be adventurous increases her chances of injury. It is your parental responsibility to keep her safe, but it is also your responsibility to allow her to learn what she can and cannot do due to safety issues. You probably have found out that your child needs constant supervision. In your genius, you probably have learned that you can allow for freedom and decision making within a structure that also provides for safety. There is a fine line between too much freedom and over restricting that will reduce learning opportunities. You don’t want to push your young child over either boundary. They need the education provided by freedom yet; they also need the protection of supervision. You will eventually find a balance between the two.

** Constantly supervise play in and around water.

** Always supervise play in parks and playgrounds and teach your child the safe way to use play equipment.

** Accompany your child when crossing a street and teach safe behavior in traffic.

** Teach your child to use tools and kitchen equipment safely.

** Keep matches and cigarette lighters away from your child’s reach.

** Talk to your child about ‘stranger danger’.

** Allow your child only those toys suitable for this age group.

** Insist your child remains restrained at all times when in a vehicle.

Beginning parents often agonize over doing the right thing for their young child. You will learn to set good examples because your child learns best from copying what they see others do. Talking to your child and explaining particular safety practices will ensure they learn what is safe and what is not when they play outside of your view.

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Record Keeping Continued – Homeschool Portfolio

It is imperative that you keep a list of each subject your child studies and a brief overview of the subject. Document your child’s educational schedule and learning outcomes. What did they learn, master, and achieve? This is important for several reasons. First, if you are ever confronted or questions by authorities you will be able to prove that your child I in fact learning. This will deter any problems in the future from nosey neighbors, relatives or others who decided to report to authorities that you are a negligent parent. It had happened many times before, citizens decide to ‘Good Samaritans’ because your family lives outside of the norm. Secondly, at some time in the future you may decide that you can no longer homeschool for whatever the reasons may be. No one can predict the future. Therefore, save yourself future trouble and document what your child is learning now. Include dates, subjects, subcategories, learning outcomes, and concepts mastered. Lastly, your child will probably want to go to college, trade school, or other post secondary institution. Colleges and universities welcome homeschooled students under conditions. You will need to provide a transcript and evidence of the subjects you taught. Additionally, the same admissions procedures required for students who graduated from public and private schools will also be required for your child. This includes tests as well as providing a high school transcript that includes subjects taught. Some colleges also require students provide evidence of mastery. Even the armed services require documentation of the high school experience. A portfolio is an excellent way of proving mastery.

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Keeping Good Records
by Michelle R. Yisrael
July 15, 2007

If you have decided to join the homeschool revolution there are a few things you should know.

1. Some states have declared specific home school statues while others have not.

2. It is important that you keep good records if in fact legal matters occur. These include:

* A statement of assurance form from the local school district verifying that your homeschool program/private education, provides responsible instruction as specified by state law.
* Note: each state is different and if not mandatory in some states.
* Check your state’s education statues usually available at the state board of education.
* Some states require instead a non-public school registration form.
* Most updated forms now have a homeschool option box for homeschooling parents to check.

3. If your child has attended or is attending a public or private school, go to the school and get a transfer. Do not just pull him or her out of school. Leave a clean paper trail.

4. Construct a typed letter stating that your children are taught appropriately in all required subject areas. Make sure the letter is signed and notarized.

5. A copy of each child’s birth certificate.

6. A copy of each child’s social security card.

7. A copy of each child’s updated medical records.

8. If you opt out of immunizations, state your reasons in a letter and get it notarized. Note: Some states required an updated medical in preschool, kindergarten, 5th grade, 9th, and upon entering college.

9. Keep a list of each subject your child studies and a brief overview of the subject.

10. Document your child’s educational schedule and learning outcomes. What did they learn, master, and achieve?

Keep a file with these articles for each child. Keep it safe. Lock it in a safe if you have to. Above all…

Do it responsibly or don’t do it at all!

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The Benefits of Homeschool
by Michelle R. Yisrael
July 8, 2007

          I have coached parents who homeschool their children.  Most  parents for which I have consulted aim to homeschool responsibly.  However, their are some whose responsiblity-aim falls short of their target.  This articles describes common benefits of responsible homeschooling as well as 10 tips in which a parent who decides to homeschool should aim. 
          Parents report that the benefits of responsible homeschool surpasses all educational experiences.  In this day and time, a great benefit to homeschool is a parent’s ability to protect their  children from the negative influences they may encounter outside the home.  With the rise of violence in urban schools these days, this benefit probably surpasses all others.  Parents want their children safe.   Homeschool parents report that the transfer of their own familial values and belief to their children is the most beneficial of their experiences.  Parents report that the ability to address their children’s questions regarding common and  everyday challenges and joys of life is a plus. 
            Another benefit is the time taken to address  various other subjects and  building intimate and meaningful relationships with their children.  Most parents appreciate the ability to control what is learned and how is.  Many children find school boring, children who are responsibly homeschooled are usually inept to the idea of boredom.  They are better able to entertain themselves with a good book, they usually watch movies more critically, and they usually have no problem creating activities which combat boredom. 
            Homeschooling affords parents the opportuntiy to tailor teaching and learning to suit their child’s particular learning styles. Research shows that teaching one-on-one is the most effective means of imparting knowledge from teacher to student.   It allows parents the ability to provide their children with in-depth and personal attention which is beneficial when faced with subjects and concepts for which they struggle.  Thus, children usually excel in these areas faster than if they were taught in a classroom setting.  Alleviating the typical constraints of a traditional classroom during teaching and learning  has been beneficial to may students entering post-secondary program.  From my experience at coaching families who conduct responsible homeschool programs, these are the areas of content that are usually lacking. 

10 Tips for a Successful Homeschool Experience

1  Create an expected schedule with age appropriate academics; yet, an expected flexibility and a healthy balance between the two.

2  Have no fear nor constraints when it comes to seeking outside counsel for challenges they face with subject areas or homeschool in general. 

3  Allow free and imaginative play.

4  Seek out opportunities for socialization embedded in structured play, clubs, baseball,  basketball, dance class, martial arts, instructional swim, etc.

5 Provide a variety of interesting books on various topics.

6 Create an atmosphere that teaches an appreciation for the beauty in the arts, still art, music.

7       Provide ideas to ponder, think about critically, and discuss.

8       Include nature experiences,develop an appreciation for God’s creation.

9       Consistenly provide age appropriate academics as well as age appropriate Life Skills. 

10       Include prayer, praise, and bible study.
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Leave your comments. Tell us why do you homeschool your children?
If you homeschool adolescent children, how do they honestly feel about it?  What do you do to ensure their comfort?

….and let them play               by Michelle R. Yisrael        July 2, 2007

Responsible families are able to be devoted to homeschooling their children. They are well equipped since they are already focused on establishing a well-rounded familial environment. Homeschooling a direction of family orientation coupled with relating it to a responsible, flexible, and effective educational experience. In nurturing our youth and sheltering them from the dread of becoming an at-risk and disruptive youth it is essential that the needs of the whole-child be addressed. Since the family is the main stimuli to foster self-respect, a respect for life and a respect for diversity, a homeschool environment is appropriate and conducive to learning.

A sense of responsibility and the willingness, skills and knowledge to be functioning, contributing, productive members of society is the more than hope for every child who is homeschooled, it is usually the norm. Research says that a child’s home environment has the most profound impact on their social development. Responsible homeschooling plays an important role in ensuring them to develop into functioning, contributing, and productive members of society

Some homeschools are lenient to a fault while others are too restrictive. There is a middle, families who understand the importance of balance. Play, has an important role in that balance. As an important reminder, play acts as an important social therapy for children. Play for an older child includes recreational activities, sports, art, music, dance, theater, and dramatizations. Play/social therapy is utilized as a venue to channel the inherent drama of everyday life and the potential for harnessing an essentially volatile life into a healing process.. It is conceived that human beings as seekers of balance can only achieve order as they wrestle with their disorderly tendencies. It is one perspective that play/social therapy is one of the tools used to afford children and their families the opportunity to learn, seek, and balance their life’s roles.

When used correctly, play can be at the core of our means of modifying behavior. Children are able to experience operating within their heart’s passion rarely make time for trouble. The ruin of most children is idleness and an idle mind is indeed the devil’s workshop. Children who are allowed venue of play will usually poor any free time they have into their passion. A child’s passion can be baseball, dancing, art, or music. It will be beneficial for parents to take the time to discover a child’s passion, then create opportunities for him or her to “play” within it. Play is a venue for children all ages. It enhances self-sufficiency and self-development. Play is effective as a behavior management intervention and acts as stress management for child as well as parent. Play empowers and builds character, while also teaching conflict resolutions and anger management.

It is my experience that play helps to combat startling statistics that African American males have higher unemployment rates, lower labor force participation rates, lower high school graduation, and college enrollment rates, while ranking first in incarceration and homicide as a percentage of the population.

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All children need to play. Play is a venue for teaching mutual respect and character development; personal responsibility; and social expectations. Play allows children the chance to focus on identifying goals; visualization; affirmation; developing a passion for excellence; and the ultimate goal being, self-empowerment.

Many young people are no longer allowed to play, while some don’t have resources to play, still others have not learned how to play. Play is therapeutic and is a central components for modifying behavior in disruptive youngsters. Play is as vital as love, good nutrition, care, and hope. It is very important in the learning and emotional development of all children. Play is multi-faceted; it is how children experience fun and joy, combating depression. Adolescents still need to play. Through play children develop personalities and a positive sense of self, realize their potential, and experience success.

Play unlocks children’s creativity and imagination, and develops reading, thinking, and problem solving skills as well as further develops motor skills. Through play, children process and manage emotions, and understand and interpret the world around them. Play helps children learn relationship and social skills develop values and ethics. Play is a brain food to help brains develop in ways critical to school success. It provides the foundation for learning including language development, reading, thinking and reasoning skills.

Structured play supervised by an adult provides important opportunities for children to learn to trust and bond with adults. It gives them enforces respect for adults and others in authority. Adults are an adolescent child’s most important learning resource. It allows children the chance to connect with adults in a positive manner, which will in fact build their confidence in authority figures in a relaxed and enjoyable setting. This trust and confidence will carry over into the classroom and school environment, then ultimately outside our school walls causing a transformation in the behavior of our students.

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The playful, creative child, no matter what age, who comes to love learning is more likely to achieve and succeed than the anxious pressured adolescent who gets the impression that only grades and test scores are important. Play should also be unstructured at times to allow for students to learn social skills needed to negotiate compromise, persuade, and cooperate. Play is a natural tool for modifying disruptive behavior.

I challenge parents to pull your children away from video games and other media.  Instead create opportunities to let your children play.

 

 

Lesson in the Living Room                  June 20, 2007

          There is an awesome phenomenon occurring in our country! Many parents are choosing to home school their children. There are a number of reasons for their decision. We conducted an informal survey of 50 families who homeschool and live in the city of Chicago or in the south suburban area.

          Families who agreed to participate were from various socioeconomic groups and included African American, Hispanic, Caucasian, as well as several families who are members of the recent Diaspora from India. Parents are taking a stance and making a choice!

          The first most popular reason families choose to home school is because they desire higher educational achievement for their children and are dissatisfied with the public schools’ instructional programs. Though some children are learning, there are too many who are not. The reasons are not the fault of most teachers. This problem starts from the top and trickles down. Society, however, start with teachers who are already under far too much stress. Bureaucracy basically ties teacher’s hands.

          This second most popular reason people are deciding to homeschool their children include school safety, drugs, gangs, and peer pressure. There is no running and hiding. The problems are everywhere. In the past, if it did not happen in our own neighborhood we showed little to no concern. Well now, “the chickens have come home to roost.” The problems are everywhere, touching nearly everyone. There are a growing number of parents who decide to home school out of concern about the growing violence in schools as well as private schools.

          This group also includes those families whose children must use public transportation. Children in inner cities are shot and killed. Gang members are pulling rival gangs members or young people with no gang affiliation of the buses and beating them. Police either don’t come at all or are far too slow at coming to these kids aide. The reason police are slow or don’t come at all is because they are busy with other similar volatile issues in the area they serve. These situations go unreported.

          Thirdly, the results of the survey suggest that the most common reason that a small number of parents give for home schooling their children is moral or religious reasons. Parents in this group have religious and moral beliefs that they don’t want disturbed. It is not uncommon for children with high morals and values to be quickly and thoroughly influenced by peers. Many feel no can do it better than a parent!

          In this light, home schooling is an educational option being chosen by parents with children all ages. A growing number of professionals decide that one parent will stay home to educate their children while the other works outside of the home. Most often, the parent who stays home to educate the children operates a home-based business to supplement the family’s income. Granted there is usually a lifestyle change, but some feel it is a reasonable sacrifice for adequate education, protection of religious beliefs, and safety. Homeschooling is just one of the options for education available to parents.LET’S READ AMERICA - BUY A BOOK