Why should you get to know your child’s teacher? Can you say with honesty that you HAVE gotten to know your child’s teacher? Did it take an entire year? Did your child stay with the teacher for hours each weekday while you still did not know the teacher? What assumptions did you make when your child went off to school? Did you assume the teacher was a “good teacher?” Did you assume your child “was safe?” Did you assume the teacher “knew what she was doing?”

Are you searching for ideas you can try to help your child improve in reading or even get excited about reading? One idea I’ve tried in my tutoring experience and with my own children is to record the child reading. It doesn’t have to be the entire book, but definitely clips of reading. Sometimes I try to get the view of the page that is being read. When you rewatch the video, you can see the text being read and hear what the child is saying. But, why take video at all? Here are some thoughts.

Have you been listening to your child read aloud to you? If so, reach your arm across your neck, place your hand on your back, and give yourself a BIG pat on the back! Well done. Many parents overlook doing this for young elementary readers.

However, you might be wondering if you should tell your child the word when there is a struggle. Let’s talk about a few scenarios and what to do!

Many parents I’ve spoken with are greatly concerned about reading levels. This is likely because their child is enrolled in a school (private or public) and levels are a way to report to parents how the child is reading (in comparison to what is normally expected). It is a different world with my homeschooling friends who don’t need to know levels to help their child improve in reading. With that said, this post is primarily for my friends with children in a school.

Perhaps you have a child who will be starting school this fall.

Perhaps your child DID start school already, but learning to read has been a struggle.

Can you do anything about it? Perhaps you’re thinking, “I’m not a teacher.” Can you teach your child to read at home?

Well, if you take a quick survey of experienced parents, you will soon find that children learn to read in DIFFERENT ways and at DIFFERENT times, much like walking, talking, or even riding a bike.

Perhaps your local school is offering summer school and you’ve wondered if you should enroll your child or not. Will it ruin their summer?

Maybe you’re a homeschool parent and you’re wondering about working on some school goals during the summer as well. How do you go about that while still having a memorable summer?

Summer school comes in ALL different shapes and sizes! What I generally recommend for other parents is something I do myself: continue reading, writing, and math.

WHAT?! Every. Single. Day? Well, not exactly. It doesn’t have to be every single day to make a difference. Furthermore, it doesn’t even have to look like a typical school day.

Did you ever wonder how to help your child read better and read more—even with a busy lifestyle?

Today I’m sharing one easy way to help you reach those goals:

BOOK BASKET (or box or bag or tub)

Honestly, your child’s “book basket” could even be a specific section of a book shelf.

A book basket, as I’m referring to in this post, is a designated area for books selected for your child to read at designated times.

Have you been considering homeschooling? Are you trying to make a budget for buying what you need?

Remember this truth:

Homeschooling Looks Different for Everyone.

Therefore, the cost of homeschooling will vary from family to family.

That means that it can look different for you from year to year. Therefore, if you need to really save on costs for a while, feel free to do so. Some parents will opt to order this, this, that, and then some more! It is difficult to keep up with those parents, and I suspect that it changes based on the demographic in which you live. We choose to order less and borrow more (from places like the library).

Is there an imbalance in the communication you have with your child’s teacher?

Perhaps you never get email responses. Perhaps preparing for a test is confusing without a study guide or textbook.

Do you find yourself thinking, “This shouldn’t be this difficult!”?

You are not alone. I assure you!

You are purposefully choosing to NOT participate in the public school system by homeschooling. Therefore, the government schools should not be your source of advice, information, or financial help in your homeschool experience. When you seek help or money from the government to homeschool, you are bringing it’s influence into your homeschool—which takes away your freedom of customizing your instruction. The schools know how to make a child’s education experience like that of public school, and that is the very thing you are seeking to avoid.

Have you ever considered backing up with your child when he or she is struggling? I’ve known some parents who have. When I was a school teacher, I’d occasionally have a student buckle down with their parent and work hard to fill a particular learning gap. Sometimes it was math facts the child had not ever fully learned. Other times, it handwriting or reading. ‘Each and every time that happened, the child was bursting with pride and self confidence, and the parent had NO REGRETS.

I get it. Your life is busy! You may the parent with multiple children and that one in kindergarten who can’t read yet. You might be the parent who doesn’t see your child until 5 or 6 at night and there’s not much time for homework, teaching things that your child “should have learned during the school day.”

I’m sharing with you three VERY SIMPLE and on-the-go things you can do to help your child learn to read

Homeschool Mentality

Have you ever heard judgmental comments about homeschooling?

Perhaps you have had discussions with family members and it’s caused you some stress. If you haven’t ever been in this situation, it’s a bit like when someone makes judgmental comments about your parenting, in general. I can recall what my views of homeschooling were before I decided to do it myself. My views were based on who I had known who had been homeschooled.

What’s holding you back from homeschooling?

Is it confidence? Is it finances? Perhaps it’s the fear that your child will miss out if you homeschool. I think that’s more normal than you might think.

Although I did not have an ideal educational experience growing up, I do have some pretty good memories of school–particularly elementary school. A few that come to mind are:

–recess

–holiday parties

–projects

–field trips

–games in class

–friend relationships

-graduations

For you, you might be wondering about sports or band!

So, if you know your child won’t get these in a traditional school setting, what are you going to do about it?

Shelving a curriculum means YOU PUT IT ON A SHELF AND STOP USING (at least for the time being). I have a shelf I use in my shed for this purpose.

Shelving a curriculum does not necessarily mean a curriculum is bad. Don’t be too attached to something that just isn’t working.

So how will you know if it’s the right time to shelve a curriculum?

“I’m NOT a teacher.” How Have You Heard That Statement Used?”

Perhaps YOU have made that statement before when speaking to someone.

If you’re a teacher, I KNOW you’ve heard it before (people usually say how there’s NO WAY they could do that job). Whenever someone made the statement to me as a teacher, I would just reply that there are some jobs that I feel like I could never do (usually medical field jobs). Different strokes for different folks.

But, LATELY, as homeschooling has been in the spotlight the last few years, I’ve heard parents make the statement about themselves.

Parents sometimes don’t feel like they could EVER teach their child and homeschool.

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Perhaps you’ve heard that quote somewhere before (or at least one similar).

This quote reminds me of children who are beginning to read and sound out words on their own. If a child memorizes sight words, he can read a story made of just those words. If a child learns to sound out words, he can eventually read any book.

Parents should consider making a fresh start and imagining homeschool in their OWN way. Even amongst my homeschool friends, our days do NOT look identical to one another. Likewise, our days look vastly different from school room days. If it’s your first year to homeschool, expect to make some changes and adjustments.

Do you need ideas for something to get for your child’s teacher? Read about two gift ideas that never go out of style. A teacher cannot have too much of these gifts!

“So there are different types of reading?” you might wonder. “What are they?” you might ask.

1.Reading aloud to your child

Reading aloud is the first type of reading you will do with your child. You should do it when your child is a baby. But, let’s say this area has been neglected a bit due to a busy job or not being aware of its extreme importance. If that is the case, START NOW! It’s like dieting: when you fall off the wagon and life gets too busy, prioritize and TRY AGAIN. Recommit to reading aloud to your child and buckle down. Trust me. The practice is worth it!