Four Strategies to Think Holistically (and be a better parent)

Four Strategies to Think Holistically (and be a better parent)

We all try to do what's best for our kids but, in doing so, are we considering their total well-being? Are we making decisions based on sound strategies or just because something sounds good and everyone seems to be doing it? 

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How to Avoid 3 Critical Mistakes When Teaching Your Child to Read

How to Avoid 3 Critical Mistakes When Teaching Your Child to Read

Teaching your child to read is arguably the most important skill you will teach. You have to know the right time to teach, the right way to teach and the right method to teach. If you don't get the reading part right, and consequently raise a child who dislikes reading, many doors will shut. 

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The Danish Way of Parenting

The Danish Way of Parenting

Wow! There is finally a parenting book that is simple, doable, and appeals to our common sense. The Danish Way of Parenting: What the Happiest People in the World Know About Raising Confident, Capable Kids by authors Jessica Alexander and Isban Sandahl, is a clear, concise way of approaching raising children that the country of Denmark follows.

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When My Kitchen is the Classroom

When My Kitchen is the Classroom

Most mothers, when they walk into their kitchen and find their iron skillet full of rust (because their son did not dry and oil it properly after use), might be annoyed. Homeschooling mothers, on the other hand, are usually delighted. The discovery becomes another learning opportunity, where the children pile into the kitchen and a discussion of what it is, how it got there, and how it can be prevented follows.

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Advice for Homeschoolers

Advice for Homeschoolers

For some of you this will be your first year of homeschooling, and for some of you it may be one of many, but regardless of whether you are a newcomer or not, a bit of support is always welcome. 

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And, I'm Going to Homeschool!

And, I'm Going to Homeschool!

Being a mother today, with limited or no family support, is a challenge. On our best days we can feel a little like we are going nuts. And then we throw in the idea of homeschooling, at least some of us do, and then we panic for surely we will go nuts! But, it isn't actually like that and somehow most of us manage to keep ourselves relatively sane.

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Did Schoolteachers Really Know All This?

Did Schoolteachers Really Know All This?

Here's another gem from the book: "Immigrants who were educated in Europe often became private schoolmasters, advertising in the newspapers that they would teach algebra, geometry, trigonometry, surveying, navigation, french, Latin, Greek, rhetoric, English, belles lettres, logic, philosophy, and other subjects. Wow! Does anyone even know anyone who knows all of this today? If we do, they are usually not found teaching children!

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A Mom's Comment on Reading Classics

A Mom's Comment on Reading Classics

I always recommend educating children with the classics, so I'm going to share a comment with you from one of my Lost Tools Curriculum moms, that made me really happy to read. But, first let me say that if your children grow up reading classic literature, they will always be able to read difficult literature, and all doors to great literature and knowledge will be open to them. Not to mention that they will be able to think, speak, and write at higher levels, too. Reading the classics also trains us in understanding human nature; why people do the things they do and how to recognize the good person from the bad person, to put it simply. Shakespeare was the all-time master of this. Here is the comment from my customer, especially for those of you who fear the classics might be too difficult:

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