Tag: Parenting

Homeschool, Planning

Plan your Homeschool Year like a Pro!

My Teaching Library

Plan like a pro using this each to follow checklist…

1. Plan & Organize

  • Know your state’s homeschooling requirements and update all necessary documentation. You’ll find requirements for each state here: HSLDA.org
  • Establish goals for your child(ren), academic objectives, personal development, and life skills. I encourage you to engage your child(ren) in this process. Ask for their input regarding desired accomplishments, areas of interest, and subjects requiring further attention.  I have goal planning forms inside our Mega-Planner. If you need short term goal sheets for a child with ADHD, you can find them here.
  • Develop a comprehensive schedule and routine for the first month, including planned breaks. When doing so, know that you should expect to be flexible. The beauty of homeschooling is that life happens and you can adjust!
  • Consider multiple methods, such as thematic units, weekly segments, subject-based planning, or conceptual frameworks. Keeping different methods within your plans will help your child(ren) to stay engaged and excited.
  • Organize curriculum materials and print any required worksheets or planners. Utilize binders or other organizational tools; ensure adequate printer supplies are available. Want school supply recommendations? I’ve got them here!
  • Establish a flexible daily or weekly routine. A flexible mindset is key when homeschooling!
  • Download the Mega-Planner to help get and stay organized.      

2. Prepare Your Learning Environment

  • Declutter and update the homeschool area to create a conducive learning space. Remove unused books, outdated worksheets, and expired supplies from the previous year.
  • Acquire essential school supplies, including writing instruments, notebooks, and art materials.
  • Implement a storage solution for instructional resources and completed student work.
  • Post a visual schedule or morning overview to clarify daily expectations.

3. Gather & Inventory Curriculum

4. Set Up the Academic Calendar

  • Record critical dates that you want to plan around such as holidays, co-op meetings, and field trips. For families homeschooling year-round, advanced planning of breaks and excursions ensures goal attainment. Calendars can be found in our Mega-Planner.
  • Schedule regular planning or “teacher days” to review progress and evaluate the effectiveness of curriculum and methodologies, making adjustments as needed.

5. Foster Enthusiasm in Students

  • Design and implement an engaging activity or tradition for the first day of the homeschool year.
  • Prepare a back-to-school kit with new supplies or a small token to mark the occasion.
  • Discuss goals and interests with each student to tailor learning experiences accordingly.

6. Prepare Yourself as the Instructor

  • Reflect on previous years’ successes and challenges, incorporating feedback from your child(ren) regarding preferred resources, activities, and areas for improvement.
  • Develop a self-care strategy to prevent burnout, prioritizing periodic breaks. This is very important! 😉
  • Join the My Teaching Library fb group for support.

7. Final Steps

  • Create a list of potential field trips and hands-on projects to enrich the curriculum.
    Download your Field Trip Advance Planning Forms here and your child(ren)’s after field trip forms here.
  • (When possible) Prepare meals in advance to facilitate low-stress school days. Also, remember to incorporate recipe planning and cooking within your homeschool plans from time to time. These activities are learning activities! Download our colorful recipe templates to use for planning.
  • Maintain adaptability throughout the year! Remember to stay flexible. Burn out is real and your child(ren) can feel it too. Learning is a journey, not a race!  


My Teaching Library – A teacher and parent recommended, comprehensive site, offering you flexible, child-centered materials for all core subjects PreK-12th grade! With My Teaching Library, YOU are in control. You control what and how you teach your children as well as how you access the resources.

What and how: Instead of a one-size-fits-all curriculum, you’ll have instant access to educational materials designed to give you choices! You select what you want to use, and when you want to use it. Why? Because every child learns at their own pace and through their own unique learning style.

How you access: You decide if you want to purchase resources individually or save by becoming an All-Access member.

What are members saying about My Teaching Library?

 “I’d say My Teaching Library is about saving time and sanity. This is a well-organized site that is just brimming with resources for every grade level and subject…. Everything feels like it’s right there are your fingertips just waiting to be accessed…”

“You can easily plan your entire homeschool year using just My Teaching Library alone with all the teaching supplies and homeschooling magic you can make! These are the only homeschool educational resources you need – really!… By now, it’s not hard to conclude that I am a huge My Teaching Library fan. I will always be a member because they offer so many great teaching resources for homeschool!”

My Teaching Library…The premier choice for thousands of homeschooling families!   

Homeschool

Online vs Offline Homeschooling: Which is Better?

My Teaching Library

Make an Informed Decision: Online versus Offline

Regardless of why you chose homeschooling, if you are reading this, you are curious which is the best way to homeschool.

With the ease of today’s digital world combined with the daily demands of life, online homeschooling seems a no brainer, especially given the top reasons why parents say they’ve chosen to use an online program:

– I’m not a teacher.
– I don’t have time to prep and plan.
– I have a job and don’t have time.
– I have other kiddos running around

Hi, I’m Lynda Ackert and I’ve been in education for over 30 years. I’ve taught in public school and was a full-time homeschooling momma (PreK-12th grade). Homeschooling is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made…and I’ve done it all, both online and offline.

I’ve learned a lot…but to truly help YOU see the difference, and not just rely on my experience and opinions, I’d like to present you with facts borne out from research. (I’ve included the sources at the bottom of this page.)

After I present the facts, I’ll share more of my own thoughts.

Should You Use an Online Program or Stay Offline (Using Physical Materials)?

RESEARCH FINDINGS:

Engagement and Focus

Online: “The collective research shows that digital media have common features and user practices that can constrain learning. These include diminished concentration, an entertainment mindset, a propensity to multitask, lack of a fixed physical reference point, reduced use of annotation, and less frequent reviewing of what has been read, heard, or viewed,” said linguistics professor Naomi S. Baron, in How We Read Now.

Students tend to associate technology with entertainment and are far less likely to give the material the attention and focus needed. They are more likely to multitask, skim text, and refrain from engaging with the material.

Offline: When students can learn with their own print materials, they focus better and concentrate on what they are doing.

Print-based learning is not as linked with entertainment, contains far fewer distractions, and allows students to physically engage with the material through annotation, writing, and drawing – helping students stay on task.

Deep Understanding & Long-Term Retention

Online: Students learn less and do not retain the materials as well. Research shows that there are less brain connections made using online, digital learning methods. (WOW! This is HUGE!)

Offline: Students learn more using physical materials. Their understanding, comprehension, and retention were higher when reading print than when reading the same text on a screen or even listening to or viewing the material.

Students who read the material in print were also more successful at identifying main ideas, recalling specific details, correctly remembering sequencing, and completing abstract tasks like drawing inferences. Additionally, students of all ages who had read the material in print scored higher on assessments than their peers who had used digital learning!

The physical properties of paper also account in part for its superior effect on learning. The visual geography of paper has memory-linking effects that help students connect what they have read with where they saw it on a page or how far into a book it was.

Using paper in the classroom also aids learning because students can write on, draw on, and annotate their materials. Research done by experts in memory suggests that drawing, in particular, can strongly affect recollection, and is an effective learning tool.

Ownership Equals Self Confidence

Online:  When using online platforms, students are far less invested in their work. They have no tangible ‘products’ that are produced and thus the self-confidence that comes from creating and producing tangible materials isn’t possible.

Offline: When students have a print copy to work with and/or make their own, it helps them feel like they are in charge of their own learning. This increases their self-confidence and their investment in their own journey of learning.

When students have physical, consumable materials, they are more engaged! They can highlight, underline, write notes (physically writing is proven to be superior to typing in retention and making brain connections), cutting, pasting, physically manipulating and creating ‘owned’ masterpieces, projects, essays, etc.

When students write and create, they own their learning, articulate their thinking, and tap into creativity and organizational thinking skills. These student created materials (even their ‘notes’) help students understand what they are working on and encourage them to connect old and new knowledge. (BRAIN CONNECTIONS!) As students physically create artifacts, they visibly represent their thinking, understanding, and skills.

You’ve chosen to homeschool because you want the very best for your child. You and I both know that every child is unique. So, I’m going to be real here…Online programs are made for the masses. Even if the program is self-paced, the actual content can’t be changed. The order and material is set.

If you stay offline and use physical resources (books and printouts), you can tailor the materials to fit your individual child. If they show interest in a specific topic, delve deeper. If a your child isn’t grasping a topic at a given moment, you can elect to move forward (skipping that topic for a bit) and go back later when you feel they are ready. I could go on and on here about life circumstances, abilities, learning styles…but you get the idea.

Moving Past the Daunting Pause – Choosing To Stay Offline
Yes, it can be daunting to be your child’s primary teacher.
The time, the effort, the feelings of inadequacy.
It’s worth it!

Remember three things: 

1.  Homeschooling isn’t an 8 hour a day thing. If your state law requires 8 hours of ‘schooling’ a day, that doesn’t mean you sit down and teach for 8 hours! The typical homeschooling day takes between 2 – 4 hours, 3 to 5 days a week. That’s it! If you have a kindergartener, it probably will only be an hour and that doesn’t have to be all at one sitting.

Adding up educational hours: You can count daily life activities as learning! Here are things that you can record to be educational learning activities: chores, cooking, grocery shopping, gardening, visits to a museum, swim class… you get the idea!​

2. Noone will ever know your child, love your child as much as YOU. Ask yourself, how are you going to know, REALLY KNOW, what your child is learning and/or struggling with if you aren’t in the ‘trenches’, taking the time to observe, ask questions, delve into their learning?

Yes, online learning platforms will provide you with reports on skills learned but those reports can’t give you any insight into the ‘whys’ behind the results. Also, these programs (and reports) can never indicate nor assess your child’s ability to think beyond rote learning.

Online Platform Reports Can and Cannot Provide:

They can tell you…
– If your child can recall a facts and choose correct answers from a given set of answers about a reading passage and or video.

– If your child can answer math problems correctly

– What grade level skills your child seems to have “mastered” (…but haev lasting connections been made? Will the skills be retained? Research has shown that students who learn via printed materials score higher overall on mid-year, end-of year, grade level tests.)
​

What they cannot tell you…
– Why your child is not grasping a concept or recalling facts. Was he rushing through the reading? Did he read the passage fully? Can he read and understand all of the words in a passage? If you are using physical, offline resources and your child isn’t grasping or recalling what is in a passage, you can sit down with your child and delve deeper. Read with him. Ask him questions. Help him make connections he isn’t making.

– What mistakes or misunderstandings are happening causing your child to incorrectly answer math problems. A computer or video program is not able to sit side-by-side to watch your child go through the steps. You can. You can also help guide through asking questions. What is his reasoning?

– If your child can apply, think critically about, or extend the learning beyond the presented material. This requires questions to be asked, discussions to take place, projects to be created. What I mean is this…A online program’s report of your child’s abilities will never be able to tell you if your child can differentiate, organize, or examine the topic further. Can your child successfully appraise, argue, defend a ideas/topics? Can your child develop ideas further, investigate, and construct a way to do so.

What about an ‘online’ teacher? 
Unless you are paying for one-on-one instruction, realize that that online classes have multiple children in each class and are teaching over a ‘zoom-like’ setting. They can’t see everything that is happening, nor can they slow down or speed up based on one child’s (your child’s) needs. Because they have a set program, they can’t stop, delve deeper nor go on extended rabbit trails of learning that your child may benefit greatly from. After classrooms closed during 2020-2021 and were forced to hold classes via zoom, much research has proven the downfalls of this type of learning!

3. Homeschooling is a journey, not a race…and it’s a GIFT you’ll never regret! One of the BEST things I enjoyed as a homeschooling momma was the amount of quality time I had with my child. If you choose to use physical materials, stay offline and remain your child’s primary teacher, that time is precious quality time. Fleeting time. Time you will cherish in years to come!

You’re there at every twist and turn, witnessing and walking with your child through every aspect of the journey. As I mentioned previously, I did choose to use online programs a couple times. One year I chose a video driven curriculum and once I used an online classroom with a live teacher. Not choices I would ever make again.

As a homeschooling parent, when I was fully engaged, there was rarely a day that went by that I didn’t have the opportunity to encourage my child when he faced frustration, model appropriate character-building behaviors, or just listen, truly listen to my child’s heart when he needed it.

Embrace the Journey!

~ Lynda

Do you have questions about how you can homeschool using My Teaching Library?

Learn more:

What Makes My Teaching Library Different?

Sample Previews of My Teaching Library Products!

My Teaching Library All-Access Membership

interactive learning, Spring

Creative Spring Activities for Homeschoolers

My Teaching Library

Spring is such a wonderful time to embrace homeschooling! It’s a season of renewal. A season offering times of exploration. A time to incorporate hands-on, creative learning experiences! In this post, I hope to awaken some ideas for you. I also want to suggest some ready-to-use resources that you can easily incorporate into fun, creative Spring learning!

Nature studies are a wonderful addition to any homeschool curriculum! They help foster curiosity, environmental awareness, and a love for the natural world. Here are some ideas and resources to incorporate. These resources will encourage your kids to document their surroundings—sketching plants, animals, or landscapes they see….and much, much more! There is something for ALL-AGES!!

ABC Nature Hunt

A FUN nature hunt that can be used by an individual student, a group of students or an entire family!

Life Cycle of a Frog | Differentiated

This 1st / 2nd Grade Science resource provides posters, handouts and center activities to help students learn about the life cycle of a frog! Seven stages are shown and pages come in color and b/w. Easy to use and differentiated (Based on student ability – Easiest: Color the life cycle / Medium: Color, cut and paste the life cycle / Hardest: Draw the life cycle)

Life Cycle of a Flower| Science Student Created Book

This cross-curricular (Science / Literacy – Writing ) product will have students creating their very own mini-books detailing the life cycle of a flower! Knowledge students will learn: Students will learn what flowers (plants) need to live and grow (soil, water, sun, air) and how a planted seed becomes a sprout, then a seedling and then a beautiful flower. Students will:— read the text — draw a picture — write (copy) the written text— write (copy) the written text

Life Cycle of a Butterfly | Science Student Created Book

This Science – Language Arts resource with have students creating their very own mini-book of the life cycle of a butterfly! Knowledge students will learn: The book will begin with the butterfly laying an egg on a leaf and continue as a caterpillar begins to grow in the egg, hatches and begins to eat. Students will learn what the caterpillar eats and that it is a type of larva. As the book progresses, students will write about the caterpillar building a cocoon and it’s life as a pupa (and a chrysalis) before emerging as a beautiful butterfly! On each page, students will … read the text, draw a picture and then write (copy) the written text.

Mushroom Bundle | Studying Fungi

My Teaching Library has bundled 5 MUSHROOM products to help you SAVE and have a variety of fantastic classroom resources to help you teach.
– If you want to give your student(s) a fun, research-based unit study, this bundle is for you!
– If you teach Science for 6th-12th grades, this bundle is for you!
– If you teach an outdoor nature-based class, this bundle is for you!

North American Birds of Prey Research / Report Pages

Birds of Prey’ is a 41 page download and offers pages specifically designed to help students organize and present research reports for each bird. Also included are several ‘blank’ pages for students to use when researching other birds as well as pages to add additional information to any report.

    5 Paragraph Writing Guide | Nature-Themed Local Birds

    Easy-to-use, step-by-step, print-and-go guide for students to use as they learn to write a 5-paragraph essay! This nature-themed resource has a local bird focus and guides students as they research, observe and write about one bird species that lives in their local area.

    This 3-page resource outlines paragraph by paragraph what to include and gives space for students to write detailed notes.

    What will students learn and observe about a bird species before they begin writing?
    – where the bird geographically lives
    – habitat(s) where they are most likely found
    – physical characteristics (coloring, markings, size, bill, feet)
    – diet (herbivore, carnivore, omnivore) and where/how they find/gather their food
    – predators and self-protection
    – interesting facts

    Plus, this guide will encourage students to reflect on what they have learned.

    Once completed, students will be able to take the guide and their notes and write amazing 5-paragraph essays!

    Use once as one assignment for one bird of their choice or use again and again to create an entire collection of essays on local birds. Regardless of where you live, these pages will have students observing and learning about local birds.

    Let’s Learn about Plants | Science for 1st and 2nd Grades

    Let’s Learn about Plants is a Science resource that can be used in conjunction with your own curriculum or as a separate – individual unit! Students will be actively learning as the cut, color, paste, write and learn! They will learn about the parts of a plant and the life cycle!

    Botany – Plants | Interactive Learning

    Give students an engaging way to learn about plants with this interactive, project based resource. Designed to be used for multiple ages and grades, 2nd-6th grades, students will learn about plants:
    – classification
    – photosynthesis
    – the plant cell
    – parts of the plant
    – things plants need to grow
    – the life cycle of a plant
     – plant leaves
     – different types of plants (non-flowering, carnivorous, poisonous)

    These are just a few ideas to get you started! My Teaching Library has many other NATURE-THEMED resources that you’ll find on MyTeachingLibrary.com!

    All-Access members do NOT pay for ANY OF THE ABOVE RESORUCES or ANY resource on My Teaching Library!
    Become an All-Access member today!

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    Unlocking Your Child’s Success: Beyond the Curriculum

    My Teaching Library

    Giving your child the BEST chance to succeed – Key’s to Unlock Success!

    As parents and teachers, we want to give our children the very best education possible. We want them to succeed. We spend hours (sometimes years) searching for the perfect curriculum and often spend a lot of money on what we believe will give them the greatest opportunity to learn and succeed.

    …but is it all about the curriculum?

    Going Beyond the Curriculum

    This may seem a little crazy from someone who creates and sells curriculum to tell you that it really isn’t the curriculum that matters. There is much more at play than just choosing the right curriculum and whether the information in the curriculum will actually ‘stick’ …Will your child retain the information?

    I want to introduce you to a term you may (or may not) have heard of…Brain-Based Learning.

    Brain-Based Learning

    I could probably write many lengthy posts on brain-based learning, but I don’t believe you need to get too deep into the science of it all to be able to help your child get the very most out of their learning, to begin retaining the information they are learning and to have the very best chance to succeed.

    Here are some key points:

    Health
    I’m sure you are already very aware of this first part, but I since I’m writing this article, I need to include it…Regardless of a student’s age, they need to be well rested, eat good, nutritional meals and given ample opportunities to ‘use’ their bodies throughout the day. Students need a lot of physical activity, movement, stretch breaks, etc. to be (and stay) engaged with their curriculum.  

    Attitude
    A student’s attitude and emotional state during learning is vital to learning and retaining what is learned. Positive affirmations and limited criticism will help a child’s self-esteem which will affect their ability to learn. Give critiques not criticisms. Give positive, constructive critiques by stating what is done well, recognizing improvements, being specific in the area being address (not broad), express appreciation and end on a positive note. Be your child’s cheerleader and encourage positive, growth mindset!

    Senses
    During the learning process, the more senses one uses, the more “brain connections” that can and will be made! The brain processes information through multiple senses so incorporating visual, auditory and kinesthetic elements are key. It can be very easy to sit our children in front of a computer or hand them a workbook but always ask yourself, “Are there a good variety of visual, auditory and kinesthetic activities involved?” If not, look for ways to add them!

    Also, what about the learning environment and your child’s senses? Can your child’s environment make a difference in successful learning? For many children, the answer is yes! For some, light, sound and temperature of the learning space can be a factor. So, don’t forget to consider all aspects of your child’s learning environment.

    Relevant
    Making what a student is learning relevant to their lives and interests will increase motivation, engagement and long-term retention. Connecting new information to existing knowledge and experiences help the brain make meaningful and lasting connections. Whenever (and however) you can, get your child to apply what they are learning to relevant, real-life situations. In other words, how can they think about or apply what they are learning to their ‘real life’?

    Connections
    When I write the word ‘connections’ here, I’m referring to making brain-connections through connecting with others around them. When a child connects with others, while learning, or after learning (sharing what have learned), they are helping their mind connect and create new pathways within the brain. This can be through cooperative learning activities, reading to others (siblings, parent, grandparents), teaching or presenting what they’ve learned, etc. If you are teaching a single child and they do not have the opportunity to work in a small group or peer teach, get creative! Have them create a ‘teaching’ video or perhaps puzzles that others could use.

    Layered-Learning
    This is vital! Not familiar with layered learning? Even if you do everything above, for your child to get the very most from their education, layered-learning is a must! Read more on My Teaching Library here: Layered Learning

    Thank you for visiting and reading this post from
    My Teaching Library!

    My Teaching Library is a family-owned business started by a mom (and now grandma) with over 30 years of experience in the field of education. Having worked as a public-school teacher prior to becoming a full-time homeshcooling mom, Lynda has experience from both perspectives and is dedicated to creating and sharing with YOU the very best resources to help you teach your children. In an effort to help you SAVE TIME and MONEY as a teacher and homeschooling parent.

    To save you time, she has created and gathered thousands of resources now available to you for instant download all on one site, MyTeachingLibrary.com. It is also important to her that children are taught as the unique learners that they are. Learn the My Teaching Library difference.

    To save you money, she offers two ALL-ACCESS membership plans. Members do not pay listed prices, instead they only pay for membership!

    Join Lynda and My Teaching Library on social media…
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    Teaching

    Help!! My Child is not Retaining Information!

    My Teaching Library

    Time and time again, I hear parents saying…

    “My child isn’t retaining the information she is reading/learning.”

    “HELP! I don’t know how to help my child. He does his work but can’t remember what he is learning!“

    Have you ever said or felt in a similar way? Perhaps you have a child who might remember something for a week or a month but then it’s simply…poof...gone?!

    If so, you aren’t alone! There is a solution and it’s actually quite simple…

    It’s called LAYERED LEARNING and here is a quick visual…

    Regardless of the curriculum you are using, everything begins in the 1st layer: basic knowledge.

    I’m going to be honest here and my beliefs come from 30+ years of experience in education. I’ve seen it as a public-school teacher and then as a homeschooling momma that used multiple ‘made for the masses’ curriculum…Most curriculum stops at the 1st level – basic knowledge!

    My heart hurts for so many parents who don’t realize that the curriculum they have spent hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars on basically spews information, has the students answer a few questions and moves on to the next section.

    I’ve also seen a huge draw to online learning in the last decade simply because parents do not feel equipped to be ‘the teacher.’

    First, let me put that to rest…YOU are equipped to be your child’s teacher!!

    I will never say there isn’t a place for online classes. My son took some wonderful online courses. However, what I found 9 times out of 10 was a lack of anything beyond level 1: basic knowledge. If I wanted my son to go beyond, I needed to get into the trenches and help him advance to the next two layers!

    What are those next two layers:

    • 2nd layer: application
    • 3rd layer: critical thinking

    So, what do these next two layers really look like? Have you ever heard of Blooms taxonomy? Whether you have or haven’t, isn’t really important, but the taxonomy is!

    Here is another visual for you…

    Regardless of what curriculum you are using, whether it is from My Teaching Library, another provider or a mix of both, to help your child get the very most out of their learning, make sure to include the layers of learning to your lesson plans!

    You can do more research on Bloom’s taxonomy and how to help your child get the very most from their curriculum through doing a Google search of: Bloom’s taxonomy.

    However, if you don’t have the time or simply want something now, here are two resources that truly is all you need…

    Layered Learning Poster

    Layered learning is vital for student retention of information and full comprehension of knowledge. This poster has been designed to help you create the very best learning experience for your students.

    Download, print and keep handy when preparing all of your lesson plans.

    Layered Learning ACTIVITIES Poster

    Layered learning is vital for student retention of information and full comprehension of knowledge. This activities poster has been designed to help you create the very best learning experience for your students by giving you activity ideas for the varies layers of learning!!

    Download, print and keep handy when preparing all of your lesson plans.

    Both of these posters, Layered Learning Poster and Layered Learning Activities Poster have been created so that you may download, print and keep them with you as you are planning your lessons.

    If and when you do, you will see a huge difference
    in your child’s retention of material as well as
    witness their ability to think critically!

    Thank you for visiting and reading this post from My Teaching Library!

    My Teaching Library is a family-owned business started by a mom (and now grandma) with over 30 years of experience in the field of education. Having worked as a public-school teacher prior to becoming a full-time homeshcooling mom, Lynda has experience from both perspectives and is dedicated to creating and sharing with YOU the very best resources to help you teach your children. In an effort to help you SAVE TIME and MONEY as a teacher and homeschooling parent.

    To save you time, she has created and gathered thousands of resources now available to you for instant download all on one site, MyTeachingLibrary.com. It is also important to her that children are taught as the unique learners that they are. Learn the My Teaching Library difference.

    To save you money, she offers two ALL-ACCESS membership plans. Members do not pay listed prices, instead they only pay for membership!

    Join Lynda and My Teaching Library on social media…
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    They are watching…

    My Teaching Library

    Teaching Thankfulness and Gratitude

    Hey there…If you are a parent, grandparent or future parent, I am writing this blog post to you. This year, as the weather has turned colder and the leaves are falling, I’m reminded of a very important holiday that is just over a month away…Thanksgiving.

    I love Thanksgiving! Many years ago, when my son was very young, I decided to start a holiday tradition. That tradition was to never start our Thanksgiving meal without first going around the table and having everyone tell what they are thankful for.

    The first few years my son was okay with ‘Momma’s tradition’ but once he was in high school and we began inviting people that were not immediate family (sometimes his friends), he began a little eye rolling. I could just hear his non-spoken words, “Seriously, Mom, this is embarrassing!”

    However, he is now a college graduate, married and expecting his first child and I can honestly say that in the last few years, I’ve seen a shift. Not only are his eyes no longer rolling but his answers are more profound and thoughtful.

    Being thankful isn’t just a once a year thing in our home. Our lives haven’t always been easy. Just like every family we’ve had very happy times but we’ve also had some extremely tough times. Those painful times include being homeless after losing everything in Hurricane Katrina, living in less than ideal circumstances, depending on others for food and clothing and I could go on.

    However, through it all, I had to make a conscious decision, often daily and sometimes even minute by minute, to choose thankfulness and gratitude.

    My name is Lynda Ackert. I am a wife, a mother, a soon-to-be grandmother and the owner of My Teaching Library.

    Today, my heart is to write to you about purposeful gratitude. As Thanksgiving approaches, my hope is that this reaches at least one momma (or daddy) that needs to be reminded that our children are always watching and learning from us and how we choose to live life.

    Are we demonstrating a life of thankfulness and gratitude?

    We can teach every subject (reading, writing, history, math, science…), using the best curriculum on the market, but that curriculum can’t teach our children the most valuable lessons of life. Life will teach these lessons and you are your children’s best teacher.

    I do hope you’ll take a little space…right now to ask yourself, “What am I truly thankful for and how am I demonstrating my gratitude in front of my children?”

    If anything I’ve written today has touched you in a positive way, please feel free to let me know. You can find me on My Teaching Library’s FB group or you can email me on my website’s contact form.

    Typically when I write, I share about the educational products you can find on My Teaching Library but that wasn’t my purpose today. However, in the next couple weeks, I will be sharing some fun, Thanksgiving themed MTL products with you on my FB group. I’ll also be asking parents to share about their special family traditions, so I hope you’ll join me!

    Many blessings to you,
    Lynda