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CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE

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Good Day!
I wanted to share this piece with you. If you have children remember that they won’t be little forever; childhood is such a fleeting time and  they grow up before long. Do you ever look at your kids and think, ‘ I rememeber the day I brought you home from the hospital.’ I do, especially around birthdays. I have 3 teens in my home and 1 pre-teen and I never let a day go by without telling them or showing them in some way that they are loved and appreciated; they need to hear words  like that more than ever these days. Even if you don’t have any children of your own, find a young person to be good to; remember they ARE our future and we need to invest in them. Have a great day and hug your kid/kids today!!
Children Learn what they live…If a child lives with criticism,
He learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility,
He learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule,
He learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame,
He learns to feel guilty.

If a child lives with tolerance,
He learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement,
He learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise,
He learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness,
He learns justice.
If a child lives with security,
He learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval,
He learns to like himself.
If a child lives with honesty,
He learns truth.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,
He learns to find love in the world.

Dorothy Law Nolte

 

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Be Advised :)

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CAUTION! Before you decide to home school you should know that not everyone is going to jump on your band wagon and support you. When both sides of our family learned of our decision to home teach we received mixed feed back from different people in our extended families. My sister thought I was just plain stupid to have gone to college and gotten my Bachelors only to sit at home with my 4 kids and in her words,” waste my talents.” My brother in law admonished her by saying,” Are you kidding? How can she be wasting anything when your sister is pouring out the best of herself into her children?” Thank you for that Larry! Has it been tough on us with one of us bringing in one pay check? Well, at times it has been but in the end our needs have always been met. We also have learned that you really don’t need as much stuff to have a happy, comfortable life. We may not have the latest gadgets or go on vacations every summer but we do have each other and that is really what kids want: A stable happy home life where they know they are loved by both of their parents.

Unlock Treasure

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My 3 girls attend dance lessons at an academy. They have teachers they learn a lot from and other teachers they don’t learn much from. Do you want to know what is the difference? I will be more than glad to tell you! The teachers my kids consider good and they can’t wait to see week after week are teachers who impart to them in a noble spirit; they are patient with the students and supportive. When they correct the students they don’t tear them down with harsh destructive criticism; they use constructive criticism to build up the student  thusly, the student grows. The other teachers are the complete opposite and they wear down the kid’s morale. Oh I’ve heard it from other grown ups that at times harsh critical words can aid the student in toughening her up and giving her a back bone. I disagree. ” No one has yet to fully realize the wealth of sympathy, kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of true education should be to unlock the treasure.” –Emma Goldman This quote shows me that in order to bring out the best in our children we need to value them and nurture them , it doesn’t work any other way.

Pleasant Words

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Summer is here and school has been out for the past few weeks. The neighborhood kids have nothing better to do so they come over to hang out with my kids. I have a house full of kids several times a week and I smile because when they come here they feel welcome; they feel my home is a place where they can be themselves, where they are accepted. The heart of every home should be one that beats with acceptance; unconditional love. I love you with all of your flaws and faults. Every home should represent a little piece of heaven on earth. I am in no way saying that my family is perfect; we are all far from it. What we do have is a lot of love to go around and that makes my home an environment conducive to learning.

Proverbs16:24 Pleasant words are an overflowing of honey, sweetness to the souls and healing to the bones. It is imperative to use pleasant words when we are called to teach others. I think back when I was in school and the teachers who stand out in my mind are the ones who instructed with kind, encouraging words. They not only made learning more pleasant; it actually helped me to retain  information. I have an old Jewish proverb framed on a wall in my home it reads: Let you words be sweet because you will have to eat them. More to come on this subject.

Are You Kidding Me??!!

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I have been teaching my kids at home for a while now and I want to touch on a few very silly presuppositions that people make about home schooled kids. My kids get asked a lot by other kids they meet: ” Hey, so like do you get to do what ever you want all day long? Do you get to spend all day in your pajamas? Do you get to watch TV, play video games, or Facebook all day long?” Really?? The answer to all of these pesky questions is a: NO! NO! NO! NO!
 
So now I shall leave you with this video I found on Youtube; I hope it answers some of your questions…Good day!!
 

 

 

The Heyday of The Blood

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One day during the last school year, my daughter Esther read this story as an English class assignment. I found the following excerpt from The Heyday of The Blood to be relevant to our times. I hope you enjoy the excerpt and I encourage you to find this short story and read it in its entirety.

 

 

                                       THE HEYDAY OF THE BLOOD

 

” I tell ye Joey, I’ve lived a long time and I’ve learned a lot about how folks is made. The trouble with most of ’em is that they’re ‘fraid-cats!”…..

    ” The only way to manage this business of living is to give a hoop and let her rip. If you’ve just about half lived, you just the same as half die. And if you spend your time half dying, someday you turn in and die all over;without rightly meaning to at all, just a kind of bad habit you’ve gotten yourself into.”

     “Some live and some die; but folks that live die happy anyhow…Live while you live and then die and be done with it !”

 

–Dorothy Canfield Fisher                           

 

It is Finished! Another school year that is…

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Another school year ends 

the books are shut,

feet scurry out the door

it’s time c’mon,

let’s go…hurry it up!

Looking at four arrows-

wondering, pondering

did I do enough?

Sitting here long pondering,

will they have the right stuff?

I will never stop wondering

could I have done more?

I have shot my arrows

they all flew into the air;

I know not where they fell

aimed them all with great care.

I know not where they’ll land.

Parts of me I did share,

setting my foot prints in the sand;

trusting them to a greater power

they’ll be lead by an unseen hand.

~~ EVA SANTIAGO copyright 2011

Josephine Wall images

 

I hope all of my students, including my friends from WRITING ROYALTY have a safe, fun and amazing summer. Kick back, relax and DREAM!!

 

Work!

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Hola!
I want to touch on the value of teaching children to work at an early age. Home schooling is not just about opening the books everyday; it is so much more than that. I have given my children certain chores to do around the house that they are responsible for completing. This is to instill in them to learn to value work; all kinds of work. This is an ethic they can take with them for their whole lives. Washing dishes, making beds, cleaning bath rooms, cooking, grocery shopping; and countless other jobs that go with the running of a home are all as important as the type of work you get a grade for or later on in life, a pay check for. This kind of work is humbling and it helps instill character in children.
 
Proverbs 14:23
In all work there is profit. So please teach your kids the value of work!
 
 

Poets

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Poets:
Encourage, delight,outrage, inspire –

they capture life

as is, nothing held back,

with all the calm, in all of the strife.

Poets photograph the future

and bring it back.

Poets remind us of the past –

helping us put it behind

where it belongs at last.

Poets sing a song of rain,

and tell us we’re gonna make it,

we’ll rise above the pain.

The poetic voices

from the past and those in the present;

listen to them!

They feel the pulse,

They ARE the heart beat –

the nation waits with anticipation,

for the poets to speak –

encourage, delight, outrage , inspire.

Poets take us to the next great expectation.
 

EVA SANTIAGO COPYRIGHT 2011

 

Children Are Natural Learners

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Hello again!
I hope you are having a great summer! I want to touch on a slightly over looked fact. Have you ever noticed that children are naturally curious? Albert Einstein  referred to it as, “A holy curiosity for enquiry.” This needs to be nurtured in our children and one way to do so is to encourage their questions. My teacher in the 3rd grade, Ms. McClellan once told me that there are no dumb questions except that ones you don’t ask. I never forgot that and I do the same with my kids.
So next time you are pressed for time and your child comes up to you and peppers you with a myriad of seemingly silly question remember; what maybe obvious to you maybe a mystery to him because he’s new in this world. So count to ten, take a deep breath and relax if you don’t know the answer to his question. Then be brave enough to tell him, “I don’t know but we can find out together.”  I will leave you with a couple of quotes on education. Adios!
 
“Education has become too important to leave to educators.” – Peter Drucker
 
“Educate a man and you educate an individual-educate a woman and you educate a family.”
-Agnes Gripps