It's that time where we start seeing the workbooks pulled out for summer, the ever pressing summer reading list, the stack of math packets that might come home with your kiddo as they are heading into summer break.
While it's important to keep kids thinking and learning during the summer, there are so many more aspects that are equally as important.
As technology starts to become more and more prominent in our lives, it's becoming more crucial to focus on our soft skills. On our people skills, the ones that we utilize every day and will need to continue to develop in order to become successful humans.
Anything that truly resonated with you?
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Course correcting your child's current education journey is never an easy decision. If you are reflecting on this past year and have ultimately decided that you are not in love with where your child is attending school then you are in the right episode!
There are 3 main questions to ask while reflecting and trying to decide where you want to go from here in your child's journey:
While your current school options may not always meet 100% of your needs, there are some really cool options out there that go against the grain of traditional schooling and better meet the needs of your child.
As always, if you are struggling with what your options are, what options would be best to meet the needs of your family, I am here to help! You can find me over on IG @intentionaleducationpodcast.
Kids will start showing an interest in independently reading at varying stages of their development and for some kids they start as early as age 3 while others may not show an interest until later on in their development (8 or 9).
There's nothing wrong with this despite what we may see in mainstream common core standards and social media.
Some kids are simply more interested in gross motor activities, creating art, music, whatever it may be, but eventually they will start peaking an interest and when they are ready you will already have some simple strategies to be able to use with them.
Also the very best thing that you can do if your child isn't showing interest, is keep introducing it with no strings attached, the more you try and push a kiddo who isn't interested, the more they are just going to hate reading in general.
Whenever we are learning anything new, this can be for us as adults, kids, any human what we are actually doing is strengthening the neurons in our brain to create pathways that will reinforce what we know and what we are learning.
Which is why if you can ever tie a new skill into something that your kiddo already knows, this can be a great way to not only reinforce previous knowledge but also make it faster to incorporate new knowledge.
When kiddos are starting to read, I always break this down into 2 sets of categories.
One category being words that can be sounded out phonetically like cat /c/ /a/ /t/ cat.
The other category are words that don't generally follow a phonemic pattern and words that we simply have to memorize or memorize its pattern. For example- the word you, phonetically it is not prononuced by seperating each letter so these are words that we need to keep practicing aka memorizing until that neural pathway is strong enough that we can instantly recognize it.
These are most commonly known as sight words, and there are so many sight word lists out there that you can find online. There isn't one that's better than another in my opinion, my advice here would be to pick one list and stick with it.
Sight Word lists:
Multiple ways to incorporate this into your everyday:
Do a word search around the house, in the books you have in the house
Use flashcards and place them around the house and have them go on a word hunt
Write a sentence they can read on a piece of paper and have them draw a picture of the sentence.
Make it fun! Reading doesn't have to be done in a vacuum. Incorporate it into as many different activities as you can so that you can building the connection in their brain and strengthening their confidence along with it.
I hope this helps give you a starting point to introduce reading. It doesn't have to be scary or overwhelming I promise!
Let me know what you thought of this week's episode @intentionaleducationpodcast.
My 3 non-negotiables in education are the same 3 reasons why I would have the hardest time going back to traditional school teaching.
The first, connection beats curriculum everytime.
Second, when we shift our thinking from teacher to guide, learning becomes more fun for both parties!
Third, the more we standardize education the further away we push kids from their innate desire to learn
Tune in and listen to my 3 must-have strategies for your education journey whichever journey you've decided works best for you and your family.
Got questions? Ask them over on IG or directly email me at astrid@scalewithsunshine.com!
You can also find and follow me @intentionaleducationpodcast
Overview of the different types of Education Theory
Maria Montessori aka Montessori Education
shares an importance on child-led learning
teachers become guides within that learning, observing heir students and creating activities that can be self initiated & independent
Often in multi-age classrooms
Because of the high importance on child-led learning, in these kinds of environments you will see everything at child level, minimal decor to promote concentration, tools such as number lines or alphabet cards are made to be utilized by individual students.
STEM or STEAM
STEAM is the successor of STEM
Stands for Science Technology Engineering & Math, the A in STEAM is for the Arts
Can be a very hands-on approach to learning
Guiding kids through the scientific process of hypothesis, possible solutions, testing, and then evaluating the results
Focuses on creating relevance to the world around them
Promotes problem solving and critical thinking skills
Arts Integration
Kennedy center for the Performing defines arts integration as "an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form. Students engage in a creative process which connects an art form and another subject and meets evolving objectives in both."
This was the foundation for the charter school I taught in and was school director in
Basically what it does is utilize various forms of art so visual, auditory, movement, dance, theatre to help teach and show that you understand the traditional parts of education
Nature Based Education aka Forest Schooling
Using the natural environment to teach academic, social, & emotional skills
Heavy focus on cooperation & team work
Hands-on approach to learning utilizing the natural environment to problem solve, explore,
Take safe risks which can lead to increased self confidence and better sense of self.
For example, students might taught how to whittle sticks with real knives, understanding how to start a fire and practicing as a group. They are
This one is newer to the United States but is really taking a lot of traction bc of all the benefits that is has to our children.
The What
Alternative Education is an educational program or system that is separate from a mainstream educational program or system
Alternative School Options
Private School
Charter School
Homeschooling
Microschools
The Why
Traditional Public has its own agenda
Standardized Testing is a multi Billion dollar industry
Traditional Public School may not be supportive of your child's learning style
Seeking a teaching method that is more aligned with your family core values & beliefs