The buzzword, “growth mindset”, has been around in the field of education for several years now and I think it is worth considering when you are teaching your daughter/son. It can also help you as a teacher and a student.

What is it? According to an article that I was reading at Mindsetworks.com, “Dr. Carol Dweck coined the terms fixed mindset and growth mindset to describe the underlying beliefs people have about learning and intelligence. When students believe they can get smarter, they understand that effort makes them stronger. Therefore they put in extra time and effort, and that leads to higher achievement.”

Did you know our brains are able to be rewired? The connections can be strengthened, changed, and reinforced depending upon the actions we take. You can do that for your child as you homeschool.

Praise your son/ daughter in the areas where s/he is strong and encourage in the areas where there are weaknesses. For instance, if your daughter is a great speller but is having difficulty with more complex words, praise her and show her all the words she can spell with ease. Show her what she has done with single-syllable words and help her break those longer words down into smaller, more manageable pieces. Praise her efforts and come alongside her.

Does your son struggle in math? Perhaps long division is a difficult concept.  Try pointing out the concept that he knows, “Wow! You did a fantastic job on this short division problem (16/4).  Now let’s try 168/4. Work on the problem together and do several more. You can encourage him by saying, “I know you can do this; I will help you.” give lots of high fives and fist bumps along the way.

It is important to come alongside your student and show her you are supporting her and that she can do it. Think about when you were learning to ride a bicycle. You had someone else run alongside you, holding the bike up so that it wouldn’t tip over. You needed this until you had the confidence to balance and do it yourself. That process and the mastery of a new concept or idea is what having an, “I can do it.” mindset is all about.

Here is a book that I believe will help your child to understand the power of thinking, the power of their brain. You can click on the image to read about the book.

Everyone makes mistakes. That can be hard for a child to understand and give themselves grace to learn or grow from that experience. I have to remind myself of this quite often as well. 🙂 Here are some books to read and discuss:

Beautiful Oops! is a quick read, but there are so many things you can talk about with your son as you read it. Don’t see mistakes as failures, but as possibilities.

I have a confession, when I was a little girl I said’, “I can’t!” A Lot.  I remember my mom saying, “Can’t never did anything.” She didn’t let me quit on things and I wasn’t all that happy with her at the time, but I have come to realize that she was teaching me a life lesson that I try to apply in my life when things get tough. I can’t do it by myself, but with God’s help, I can. The title of this next book is a sentence that I want to adopt in my own thinking.:)

I want to encourage you today; you can teach your child. You can help them because you are a good tutor. Your son/ daughter will get the difficult concepts that at first may seem monumental. Keep praising them, walking alongside them, and pretty soon that tough thing will be added to the growing list of things they can do.

Have a great week!  ~ Lisa ~

Sometimes our schedules get so busy that school can feel rushed, leaving us feeling harried. So, how do we teach with joy and peace in the midst of the busyness?

Praying is what I have found to be the best way for me to get things in perspective. I can be anxious and fretting about things, but after I pray I realize that God cares about me and what I am going through. He has the answers and that quiets my mind and helps me to think more clearly.

Making a list of what needs to be done gives me a broad view of my day/ week and helps me prioritize. For instance, I may want to accomplish these activities in one day: do the laundry, teach school, go to the library, post office, and the grocery store, call my friend, tutor, make dinner, clean the kitchen, and get gas for the car.  The four things on my list that I must do and cannot put off for another day are teaching, tutoring, making dinner and cleaning up the kitchen. I can call my friend after lunch or when I am prepping dinner. I can do the laundry, get gas, and run errands tomorrow. I like lists because I can see what tasks are there and it gives me a sense of accomplishment when they are completed.

Writing out a schedule helps me to see if all of the things that I want to do can actually be accomplished. Don’t you find that your list of To Do’s is nearly always longer than how many hours are in the day? I am not saying you have to keep a schedule of time down to the minute but having a general idea of things helps. In my experience, I have come to realize that it takes longer to accomplish things than what I had alotted and so I try to add a margin of time if possible. It’s a bonus if I get things done and still have some “free” time. I feel like I won some kind of prize!

Getting help when you are feeling overwhelmed is beneficial to you and your family. Homeschooling can be draining and at times overwhelming. I have been there! January and February were the hardest months in our school year. Our anniversary is in late December and I can remember one year crying in the parking lot of Outback Steakhouse (on one of our few date nights). I was asking, nearly pleading with Dale if we could consider putting our sons in school. It was that kind of year, my friends! What a way to celebrate our anniversary, huh? We talked about what was making me feel that way and I came to the conclusion that I could use some extra help. I called a friend and she offered to keep the boys for an afternoon. This was such a generous and much-needed act of kindness that really helped me when I was at a low point. I would encourage you that if you are feeling this way, reach out and ask for some help. Is there a friend that you could trade one afternoon where she keeps the kids and the next week you do that for her? You might even feel ambitious and do a mini-lesson with the kids. Certain projects are better done with a group than just with our children. There may be a high schooler who would love to sit with your beginning reader or do an art project with them. You could pay them or make them a batch of cookies. That is money well spent!

Making time for yourself helps you and ultimately, your homeschooling. When I feel pulled in so many different directions I get grumpy. A couple of weeks ago I was stretched to the limit on time and commitments and, oh, was I was frazzled! My husband and I were pulling out of the driveway on our way to church and the garage door opener refused to close. I jumped out of the car, manually entered the code for the door, trudged back to the truck and plopped angrily into the seat.  “What’s wrong?” my husband inquired. “I am tired!” I retorted. “Do you want to stay home today?” he asked. “Yes!” I responded without hesitation. So, Dale opened up the garage door, parked the car in its spot and I went and took a two-hour nap! Boy, did I need that and everyone was much happier that I took that nap. 🙂 Find something that will recharge you, whether that is taking a nap; drinking a cup of coffee; calling a friend; taking a walk, or listening to some music, do it! That activity will help you and give you the energy needed to accomplish the other things you need to do.

Have a great and relaxing week! ~Lisa~