Making Your Kid Learn Something They Don't Want To

SOMETIMES - THEY DON'T WANT TO LEARN IT

There are many subjects my kids didn't want to learn. Also, tons of activities and skills they simply refused participate in - until I signed them up and made them do it. Only to find out they loved the topic or the activity.

GROWING UP WE HAVE TO DO THINGS WE DON'T WANT TO DO

Many of us wouldn't want to work if we didn't need food, house, or shelter. The thing is, as an adult, we need to do things we like and DON'T like exceptionally well. It's part of owning up to responsibility and expanding ourselves in intangible ways. Learning perseverance, ingenuity, exploring new things, expanding our ability to find something interesting in a topic that may not seem interesting.

TEACHING CHILDREN TO THRIVE IN SUBJECTS THEY DON'T LIKE HELPS THEM IN LIFE

Teaching your child to exceed under less than favorable circumstances actually enhances their ability to figure out better ways to get things done. 

Challenge them by teaching:

-If you don't like the topic, tell me how you would make it better?

-How can you learn this, but in a way that works for you?

-Teach me the topic

-How can you just get the job done?

HOW TO TEACH BORING TOPICS

Some strategies are: 

Get to know just the facts: Teach them to define six questions WHAT, WHEN, WHY, WHO and WHERE then ask the HOW. 

Ask them the (1) Why you don't like it? (2) State the problem and then the solution to the reason why you don't like it (3) Keep your materials neat and make you want to touch it (4) How can you stop procrastination? Do the subject before your favorites or be someone inspiring. (5) Draw the notes by mind mapping it 

Getting a positive start (1) Make the topic into a game. (2) Take small bites of the information and reward yourself with positive affirmations or music (3) Introduce it in light and comedic ways using videos or cartoons (4) Exercise for fun, jumping rope, jumping jacks, push ups, sit ups 

Expose your child by (1) Visual Stimulation a movie, video something light (2) Read it to get deeper (3) Write notes and/or draw notes for mind mapping (3) recite it (4) teach it (5) play a memory game with it (6) know the what, when, why, who, where and HOW

Somebody is almost finished Summer School

CYBERCAMP

Just part of his jam packed summer!

So far, Speed Racer has had a jammed packed summer. One to remember for any high schooler, and one I planned with precision. 

This is the summer is the last in which he can just goof off and have a schedule based on fun. Soon (planned in 2020) he will be a full-time student at the Airplane Mechanics school. The Community College he hopes to finish his pre-req classes this Fall or Spring so he can be qualified to enter the program. So this summer, I have given him lots of leverage and freedoms since I wanted to make it special.

CAMPS

This summer was exceptional with camps, he had no drama, which shows how much he has matured.

Jr Lifeguard Camp - it was totally free and a bit overcrowded

Cyber Camp - it was totally free and awesome for one week

FunDay Camp - he attended for an entire month with activities and included food

Sailing Camp - he loved it, even though it was really expensive

Christian Teen Inspire Camp - this camp was a pleasant surprise for him

EXTRA CURRICULA

He has been on the paddling/canoe team this summer and enduring intense practice 5 days a week. Then also squeezing in some breakdancing. His body is feeling it and has a sore shoulder we will get checked out. He's doing an awesome boat trip between Islands and ending the summer with a breakdance competition. This summer his friend pool has exploded and he's had a few girlfriends too. That meant dad and I spent tons of time driving him all over the place.

SCHOOL STILL HAPPENED

Luckily, he has friends who attended summer school and educational enrichment camps over the summer. That's the reason he didn't have a fit when he had to take classes this summer.

We dropped his second course since starting Dual Enrollment. His teacher was a dud and it was frustrating since the class was an elective in Movies and Theory which my son was actually excited about.

Classes he is taking:

Database Design - 5 weeks of the 8 weeks done with projects, discussion post and papers

Enterprise System Architecture - 5 weeks of 8 weeks done with papers and discussion post

Marketing- 5 weeks of 8 weeks done with online test, papers, and discussion post

CHALLENGES

One major challenge is getting into the local Community College Airplane Mechanic program. Problems we are having will be worked through, but they are still irritating.

-They insist he needs to take the Accuplacer (Math and English) even though he has taken the required courses through Straighterline and they were approved by ACE (which the Community College states it accepts credit from.) The problem is the lack of knowledge on the side of the administrator and we have to be persistent and educate them properly on their own policies. Ugh!

-The CC is in the dark ages with technology. Filling out the application and updating it was a nightmare. Their application software is unsupported and literally only allows one application and no corrections. Everything has to be either emailed, faxed, mailed or taken to them. If my child was planning to attend this CC for Dual Enrollment it would have been even more frustrating.

WORK and HOME BALANCE Working and Homeschooling 

MEAL PREP: Well, the kids have been prepping and complaining about it. However, my work schedule has been a monster and I haven't been that great at cooking when I get home at 6pm.

HOUSE CLEANING: I did get around to washing and folding clothes. My son, through bribery, and the fact he wanted his friends to come over, actually cleaned. Then his friend who wanted to stay over, helped him clean and then cooked me dinner! Needless to say, that child can stay over my house whenever he wants.

LESSON PLANNING: I've been just writing his assignments on the dry erase board and basically holding his planned fun hostage until he finishes his work. It's been a struggle 

MARRIAGE CHECKUP: Since we have been joining friends for a weekly game night, there has been a war going on. My husband won't let me win one darned game. He is really good at board games, talks lots of smack (which upsets me and makes me lose the game and sometimes threaten to not play anymore with him - only for me to have this horrible competitive streak that makes me want to play just one more time.) After weeks of losing every darn game I threw at him, I finally one a few in a row (that he swears he 'let' me win). So...we are at somewhat of a tug of war. It's fun, ads depth to the relationship and well, gets me riled up.

SELF CARE: After I have ran myself to death preparing for my promo (I still have a course I need to finish in 3 weeks) I finally was so exhausted I took a 3 hour nap and have been napping every day for a week. I really wanted to see the Lion King, but bailed on the hubs and my daughter because, well, I wanted to take a nap instead.

Get the Book Here

Homeschooling and Working While Raising Amazing Learners!

THESE KIDs RIGHT HERE! 

Molded and shaped us to be able to be the best parents would could be, they love us with our flaws, our mistakes in parenting, and still made us realize that even we had more growing to do.

The eBook is on sale for AMAZON PRIME DAY for $2.99

CLICK HERE

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX CAREER RE-IMAGINATION

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX CAREER RE-IMAGINATION 

By LM Preston

As a working parent, I’ve had to make my career as fluid as possible, especially when we decided to homeschool our kids while working outside of our home. It meant taking a broad look at both of our careers and being willing to delve into new branches of that career or even something entirely different. 

IT ALL STARTS WITH A SEARCH Once I realized I needed to change the focus of my career to be more flexible, I started searching on job boards for careers that allowed remote work within my field. It opened my eyes to many jobs I’d never considered before. It also revealed that a previous job skill I had developed while in college would be a great transition to a flexible position while homeschooling and working. 

REPURPOSING YOUR SKILLS I had many hobbies and side businesses that I considered something I did for fun. Even raising my kids and running my household had task I had cultivated into skills that helped me in these side businesses. Those experiences I quantified into a job description. Management of a home had many of the same skills as a Project Manager, Office Manager and Home Health Aid. The only difference was the title of the job. Skills that I had taken for granted, I started to see them in a different light. From the assessment I built a new skills list that allowed me to expand the experiences I had listed on my resume. 

THE JOB SEARCH
It all starts with the resume. After researching jobs in the area of change, I verified my skills against those positions, then created a resume for the set of jobs in the category I was wanted to pursue to add a flexible work schedule to my career path. Then I set out to apply to twenty jobs a week without scrutinizing whether I personally thought I matched all the desired points on the job description. That, I left up to the employer. My job was to apply and see what happened. 

GET THE TRAINING NEEDED TO RE-IMAGINE MY CAREER
When I observed the openings in the career path I was set to change, I realized I needed to learn a particular product in order to update my skills. After spending two intense weeks on YouTube and Udemy, I read the book on the software and started interviewing. 

INTERVIEW WITH CONFIDENCE
Before interviewing, do some practice mock interviews with friends, and ask for their honesty. Then study up on all the material listed in the job description and do a self-mock interview and record your responses. Practice makes perfect. 

TAKE A CHANCE and HAVE CONFIDENCE IN YOUR ABILITY TO RE-IMAGINE YOUR CAREER. 

My new book, Homeschooling and Working While Raising Amazing Learners releases on August 7th, 2019. Please pick of a pre-order copy here, and join a free course on Kickstarting Homeschooling and Working www.EmpoweredSteps.com
By LM Preston www.EmpoweredSteps.com 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/empoweredsteps/ 

The Importance Of Teaching Kids to Apologize

THE ANGRY KID

This generation watches a lot of television. TV has change greatly over the years. The representation of the family is also hugely different. Nowadays, there is the smart mouth, sassy kid, and the comical parents who needs correcting by their children.

Oh, but when these kids on TV get angry, they rarely give up an apology easily.

THE STEPS TO FORGIVENESS and RESPECT

There is the beginning step towards mending a relationship that kids have to be taught. Human nature is to stay angry for as long as possible. We think it's to punish the other person, but the truth is, holding onto anger punishes us. The angry one.

• Acknowledgement of making a mistake
• Acknowledgement that you hurt someone by your actions
• Respect for them to express how they feel about their position in the situation

TEACHING YOUR KID TO DO IT - EVEN IF THEY ARE STILL ANGRY or NOT SORRY

Making your kid apologize may seem like it's useless if they aren't really sorry for what they've done. The thing is, it doesn't matter if they are really sorry or not. They have to be taught how to work through their anger and say their are sorry. Have them say it over and over until they have the tone right.

Yes, it will make them angrier it seems.

It is practice though that makes apologizing easier.

It is practice that teaches the tone and actions that should go into an apology.

It is apologizing that allows the person harmed to start to release and let go of the hurt and discontent that comes with being wronged.

It is the process of teaching them the lesson. Steps to making child apologize.

• Have them repeat why they are apologizing
• Then have them explain their reason why they shouldn't apologize
• If they say, "Why should I if I am not really sorry?"
• Tell them, "It's not about you 'feeling' sorry, it's about you doing the right thing and responding the right way to give the other person some peace that at least out-loud you voiced that you were sorry, which is the beginning of thinking about what you have done."
• Also tell them, "Apologizing with your whole heart will take the guilt and anger away too - especially, when the person you harmed accepts your apology and may even - apologize too."

TEACHING THE METHODS OF APOLOGIZING IS LIFE ALTERING

It helps kids to learn the freedom in giving and accepting apologies. The stress just pours out of us when we are able to get closure to a situation or event when those involve acknowledge they hurt us. Kids learning to take responsibility for their actions will take them a long way. It will make them start to think before they act.

YOUR THOUGHTS?

This message is bought to you by LM Preston, read more about Homeschooling and Working While Raising Amazing Kids here: Amazon

Summer for Summer School

He did it!

Finished the Spring Semester strong.

At this rate, he'll be getting a BS in Information Systems by age 16.

SUMMER TIME RECOVERY AND LEARNING

Speed Racer still needs to write his papers faster. Also, there are some subjects he should catch up on for his next journey into in person courses. Since he has friends that are attending summer school, he also wants to take some courses at his online college late in the summer.

WRITING PAPERS FASTER with the help of tutors. Since he never took the SAT, we didn't spend time working on the essay portion of the test where the student has to actually write, in hand, a 300 word essay within 50 minutes. I signed him up for an SAT review tutor course focusing on essays for him to fine-tune the skill. He does fine by typing his papers, and using grammar check. Even so, he needs to work on writing faster since it will help with the quality and speed in which he does his research papers.

SOCIALIZATION plans involve summer camp for about 5 weeks to include sailing camp, teen camp, and Junior Lifeguard camp.

Sports this summer are in addition to camps. He will be doing paddling/canoe team, breakdancing, boxing and martial arts.

DRIVING LESSONS are coming. He begged to be able to take his learner's license. He passed. Now it's time for practice, practice, practice.

WORK and HOME BALANCE Working and Homeschooling 

MEAL PREP: I've been cooking but no one wants to eat it. It's frustrating, but hopefully we will get back on track.

HOUSE CLEANING: Nope, the house has been a wreck for awhile. That's all for now. Big plans to have a family clean up after I recover from my recent trip to see my oldest daughter graduate - again, for the 3rd time.

LESSON PLANNING: No planning needed since it's summer and I hired a tutoring service. 

MARRIAGE CHECKUP: We are planning a little get away.

SELF CARE: I am going to schedule a massage. My daughter gave me one for a present.

More details to come in New Book: Homeschooling While Working to Shape Amazing Learners by LM Preston

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Owning Our Flexiblity

Skateboarding in New Zealand

This last month was extremely hectic for us. We traveled to Syndey, Australia and then New Zealand. Just four days after we returned, my friend visited us for two weeks. We had no downtime. School work suffered in small ways, our optional homeschool curriculum work didn't get done. Now I am too tired to restart it.

KIDS PROGRESS

SPEED RACER worked through challenges of traveling while doing school work
He only focused on his college classes, but with the weeks of travel, it was stressful getting the work done on time and with lacking internet speeds. It was stressful and challenging for him to have to contact his professors and ask them if he could turn in work early or late.

Also, this 8 week session I made the fatal mistake of scheduling 2 programming classes in one semester. He had a literal freak out moment. Then I talked him off the cliff and got him some tutoring help.

Homeschool Classes that were put on hold 
Bible Study (online) Just six videos to go and we have halted due to a crazy life schedule.

Pilot Training (online) He's been doing these on his own, but reduced to 3 a week.

Java Programming (online) this is with CompuScholar and he is taking a college Java course. He will resume this after the college course for more practice.


College Classes online - All Finished.

Java Programming
In week 8 of 8
-Final programming projects
-Weekly discussion post and replies
-A final paper and project

Software and Hardware Infrastructures
In week 8 of 8
-Final Project paper design
-Discussion post and reply

Javascript Programming
In week 8 of 8
-Weekly group post and discussion
-Final Project

This is the end of the school year for him. We will casually finish the homeschool classes.

WORK and HOME BALANCE Working and Homeschooling 

MEAL PREP: I am still recovering from our vacation and friend's visit. We've just thrown together frozen meals.

HOUSE CLEANING: We cleaned the house! Yay! It's starting to get messy again as we speak.

LESSON PLANNING: I am doing minimized planning and just created checklist of work I put on the dry erase board. 

MARRIAGE CHECKUP: Hubs and I had a spat where we were polite, but not really speaking. It lasted for just under a week when he and I finally got bored with not speaking and apologized.

SELF CARE: I pampered myself and made my husband join in the foot massage, facial, pedicure and back massage. I needed it.