Hip Homeschool Hop & Featured Blogger – 7/2/13

Welcome to the Hip Homeschool Hop!

 

Thanks for joining us! We hope you’re all staying cool!

 

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It’s time for a Facebook party!

Join us on July 11 at 3pm ET for lots of fun & prizes from Sight and Sound Reading. If you have an early reader, a struggling reader, or just need to reinforce phonics, spelling, and writing, you’ll love the Sight and Sound Reading program. Just visit the Hip Homeschool Moms Facebook page during the party for your chance to win!

 

Now, on to the HOP…

Don’t forget to grab the Hip Homeschool Hop button located at the very bottom of our page!

Is this your first time joining the Hop? Welcome! Be sure to check out our link up guidelines before you join the FUN.

And be sure to check out today’s Featured Blogger! Scroll down and you will find Brenda Rufener’s post about Homeschool Success Indicators–Reaching Beyond the Books. 

 

We talk about curriculum, field trips, science labs, book lists and co-ops, but what about the true indicators of homeschool success that reach far beyond the throngs of academics?

Homeschooling parents spend hours with their children, day in and day out. We teach and learn - learn and teach – but there is much more to homeschooling than school.

Valuable success indicators lay the foundation for any homeschool – yours and mine.

1. Are you bonding?

Your mom used to pat down your mile-high bangs you worked so hard to fluff and your dad referred to your music as that noise. Sound familiar?

Today the generation gap is closing in as parents try to keep a youthful sensibility about them. The divide is not as prominent as it was in years past.

Homeschooling parents have the liberty of sharing time with their children. When the time is quality – bonding occurs.

So what exactly is bonding?

According to Merriam-Webster, bonding is a uniting force. A familial tie that bonds parent and child together can only be broken if there is a weak link in the chain.

A strong bond is hard to break. As homeschool parents (and parents in general) this is the tie we must strive to create.

2. Are you connecting?

Connecting with your child means that you are relating at their level. You don’t have to be your child’s best friend, but a state of connection and understanding is needed for success.

We’ve seen the stage of disconnect.

Just turn on the ABC Family network (no pun intended) and watch an episode of Pretty Little Liars or The Secret Life. Both are hit television shows that feature real-life problems – with a whole lot of disconnect between child and parent.

Disconnect is real. Whether on the big screen or not.

Parents are at odds with their children. Rather than forming an alliance, they become adversaries. Maybe it’s the stresses of life that get in the way and cause relationship breakdown. Conflict in the home can dramatically impact our homeschools. No matter what the cause.

As parents, we must be willing to set aside life’s stressors, push away a going-through-the-motions mentality and connect with our children.

3. Is your relationship growing?

One of my tell-alls in homeschooling is to evaluate the relationship with my kids at the beginning and end of the year.

  • Did we grow?
  • Did we expand?
  • Did we flourish?

A growing relationship showcases open communication, a tender ear for listening and a safe place to confide in. It’s the 80:20 rule – 80% mother and 20% teacher. I may even argue 99% mother and 1% teacher. After all, mothers (and fathers) are the best teachers.

So how do we do it?

Here are 5 practical and highly effective ways to create a successful relationship with your children – no matter what their age:

  • Accept them – who they are and where they are at, don’t force them to change
  • Invest in them – beyond academics and studies, create quality moments to be cherished for a lifetime
  • Get physical –a tender hug, gentle squeeze of the hand or high five – make it touchable and personal
  • Be mindful of rigidness – while rules and schedules are important, watch for rigidness of structure – be open, flexible and willing to adapt for your child
  • Speak words of encouragement – relationships can be devastated with words. I love you, I’m proud of you, Let’s work together, We make a great team – much better than You alwaysYou neverYou can’t… or You won’t...

Encouragement takes them places they never believed they could go. Criticism stops them dead in their tracks.

How do you connect with your children – beyond the books?

Homeschool DiariesBrenda is the author of Homeschool Diaries and homeschooling mother of two children – one academically driven tween and a free-spirited toddler. Her homeschool style is eclectic with a splash of classical, hint of Charlotte Mason, and sprinkle of child-led learning. She loves to read and write, turning her passion into a decade long career as a freelance writer. Recently starting a homeschool blog in early 2013, her mission is to encourage parents through humor, reality and personal experience.

Visit Brenda at her blog: Homeschool Diaries | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

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5 Comments

  1. Those are exactly the right questions to be asking ourselves as we start our planning for the next school year.
    Thank you for sharing the article and thanks for the Hip Hop Blog Hop

  2. To help other parents who are considering homeschooling, here is a new list of pros and cons. This list is based on both my experience and the experiences of dozens of families who’ve shared with me the ups and downs of their day-to-day homeschooling.

  3. Okay, I’m really confused! I am so excited to have found this page and can’t wait to be part of this community! I couldn’t link up last week because the collection was closed-I figured it was because it was late into the week! Anyhoo-I just got on to link up this week and the collection is closed again? What is the timeframe that we are able to link our posts? Thanks in advance and thanks for such an awesome blog!!!!

    1. Hi, Jen! So sorry you’re having trouble linking up with us. I just checked, and the link-up on today’s post is currently open. If you’re seeing it as closed, I suggest a few things:

      -Close and then reopen your browser. Reload this page and see if the link-up appears correctly.
      -If it still doesn’t, clean out your cache. Reload the page & check.
      -If it’s still not working, try another browser.

      I hope this helps!

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