Moms Inspire Learning

Moms Inspire Moms: The Homeschool Rewards Of Diane Whyms

Parents become teachers the moment their first child is born. Babies, toddlers, and preschoolers learn from everything they say and do. If parents spend time playing, cuddling, looking at books, and enjoying the great outdoors with them from an early age, it's more likely that their children will develop a lifelong love of learning and reading.

While the seeds of enthusiasm for learning and reading start to grow during these early years, a parent's role as a teacher does not end once a child heads off to school. Children continue to watch everything their parents say and do, and learn how to interact with others in the world outside of their homes.

Parents indirectly teach their children in many different ways throughout their lives. No official classroom is necessary; the world is the parents' classroom.

Some parents, however, decide to take their teaching responsibilities to the next level, and actually create a private school setting within their own homes. According to the National Center for Education Statistics,  1.1 million children, or 2.2 percent of the school-age population in the US, were homeschooled on a full or part-time basis in 2003.

Moms Inspire Learning on the Road

It was an exciting week for Moms Inspire Learning last week!

First, I did an interview swap with Terry Doherty of The Reading Tub. If you missed her interview of me, you can find it at the Scrub-a-Dub-Tub blog.

Next, I wrote another guest post for DreamBox K-2 Math. You can learn more about mental math and estimation at The DreamBox Blog post The Real Life of Mental Math. 

Then, I was interviewed by Kay McFarlane, a very organized mom and affiliate manager. I'm always happy to meet new bloggers, and I don't know about you, but I can always use some tips about how to be more organized!

You can find the full interview at Organizedmoms.com, and some tips from Kay here:

The Almost Always Organized Mom’s Top 5 Time Saving Tips:

• 1)    Get a BlackBerry and learn how to use Google calendar, email, and documents. Set your entire family up with Google accounts.

• 2)    Create a daily to do list and order the items according to when you will do them (to save time and fuel.)

• 3)    Teach your children to fold their socks when they take them off to make sure the pairs hit the laundry in the same load.

• 4)    Less things equals more time. (Our kids don’t need half of what we buy them. So save money and time and don’t buy it.)

• 5)    Plan a menu and create a weekly grocery list. When done right, you will save time and money.

Kay McFarlane blogs as a mom at Organizedfamilies.com. She is a single mother of three children who also works full time from home as an affiliate manager at www.HerAffiliateManager.com helping women promote their products and services online.

Important note to readers:

In case you haven't noticed, Moms Inspire Learning is in a time of transition. I am trying to get back to picture book recommendations, but it's not easy when there are so many other things going on. My goal within the next few weeks is to offer one or two long posts per week, one of which will be picture book related, and possibly a short post or two as well. I am in the process of trying to reduce the amount of time spent on this blog so I am free to work on other projects. More info to come...

Have a great week!

Friday Photo Fun: Summer Waves Goodbye

The last day of summer was an absolutely gorgeous day here in the northeastern USA. The water was crystal clear:

I love how you can see the sun rays as they pass through the water...

I'm sad to see summer go out with the tide, but we do have those fall leaves to look forward to, at least where I live...

What are you looking forward to this autumn?

Sports Guys for Creative Play

When young children engage in creative play with figures, such as the ones made by Playmobil, they're learning so much about themselves and others in the process. GreenGuy used to love these during the preschool years, but when he got into the primary grades, he loved building Legos and playing with the figures that came with them.

Children of all ages can benefit from this type of imaginative play, especially if they enjoy playing sports. It's a great way for them to interact with family members, and to learn about sportsmanship, teamwork, and the rules of the game.

BBAW Giveaway: We Have a Winner!

And the winner is....library associate Kay Palecek. Congratulations, Kay!

Here is her comment:

"I'd like to be considered for your free book giveaway, Henry and the Kite Dragon. I work as a library associate in a Catholic elementary school library. I am always looking for books for story time that I can read to the students that are both visually appealing and include a wonderful message for them to learn. I guess you could say a book like this is a great opportunity for one of those "teachable moments" that everyone is always talking about. In addition, the timing of this giveway couldn't be more perfect. This year our school is choosing to become more aware of all of the different cultures surrounding us by incorporating it into each of our job performance goals. From office staff to teacher aides, we've all been given the task to learn about the many different people, languages, cultures, etc. that surround us and disseminate this information to our students. It is quite interesting and enjoyable. Thank you for this opportunity and I hope you'll consider me for your giveaway."

I am very impressed that you and your school district colleagues are making cultural awareness such a priority. It just goes to show that there's always something new to be learned, no matter how old you are. What a great way to model a love of learning for children.

There are so many ways to connect picture books with art/music/writing/cooking projects, and many other real world activities. I hope your students enjoy Henry and the Kite Dragon. It should definitely spark some interesting discussion, and there are so many great art projects that could go along with it. Please let us know what they think!

Oh, and if you missed the original giveaway post, you can find it here.

When Was the Last Time You Visited a National Park?

Are you and your family members feeling stressed out because you're running around all the time? That's when it's time to give yourself some time away from it all. The perfect way to do so is to get yourself out to enjoy nature.

As children get older, it's not easy to plan activities that will appeal to everyone; but when we took a trip to Vermont this summer, it allowed us to connect as a family on so many levels. It was one of the most unforgettable trips we've ever taken.

There are so many ways to enjoy nature, but one of the best ways is to visit a national park. With so many of them, how do you choose which one to visit? 

Moms Inspire Moms: Terry Doherty Lights the Way, Part 2

I hope you enjoyed part 1 of my interview with Terry Doherty, where she told us all about her nonprofit literacy organization, The Reading Tub. It amazes me how she was able to take one simple idea and build the life she wanted around it.

There are no walls between Terry's career and her home life, though, as you will discover in part 2 today. Her passion for reading and children's literature shines through in all that she does, especially at home. I feel so lucky to be able to share some of her unique insight into the world of reading and learning with you today.

Let's continue where we left off yesterday:

Moms Inspire Moms: Terry Doherty Lights the Way, Part 1

One of the best things about blogging is "meeting" people who share your interests. Whether they live in the same country, or halfway across the world, it's wonderful to be able to look at things from different angles and points of view.

I've met moms recently who have truly inspired me, so I decided to add "Moms Inspire Moms" interviews to my "Inspiration for Moms" category. Even though I do spend the majority of my time writing about how parents can inspire a love of learning in their children, I also like to find ways to inspire moms as well.

Who could I possibly choose to light the way for this new interview series? Why, Terry Doherty of The Reading Tub!  As someone who found a way to reinvent herself after becoming a mom, and not only live her passion, but share it with others, she inspires me in so many ways.

When Coins and Picture Books Collide, Part 6

 

 

When should parents introduce concepts relating to financial literacy to their children? My response: even toddlers and preschoolers can begin to learn the basics of money (in their case, coin) management.

After primary grade children learn about the history of money, and what it means to save money (see part 5), you can extend that learning to include concepts of fund-raising, donating, accounting for money, and maintaining a bank account.

Here are three additional money related picture books:

Friday Photo Fun: As the Sun Sets On Summer 2009

As the sun sets on the summer of 2009...

I hope you reflect upon the warm memories.

These photos bring me right back to a wonderful family trip to Bermuda last year. 

You can view another photo, and read my poem, at the previous post I am a Beach.

Enjoy the last few days of summer!