Dear Friend,
Many of you are preparing to wrap up the school year while at the same time planning for the next one. It seems that a homeschool teacher’s job is never done! In the middle of all your lesson plans and task lists, be sure and leave plenty of white space in your planner so you can embrace the unexpected. As I look back at our home education experience there are no regrets for the classes we didn’t finish or the boxes we didn’t check. However, I do regret the “too busy” times and the fatigue we sometimes experienced that kept us from cherishing the moment.
Happy Spring!
Jeannette
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Announcement: Senior Class of 2011 is Filling Up!
I wanted to alert my Training for Excellence subscribers that my client caseload for 2011 seniors is starting to fill up. I limit the number of students I take in order to assure that each family receives the assistance they need. Within the next few months, these students will be in full swing preparing college applications and homeschool documents. So, if you’ve been sitting on the fence about getting started with your rising senior, the time has come!
You need to know that once I begin working with your family, my rates are locked in until your last child graduates. Given that my rates will be increasing in the fall, this is a great time to get started if you are approaching the high school years. More info here.
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Younger Years: The Importance of Debriefing
Perhaps one of the most valuable pursuits during our child-rearing years is the habit of debriefing. I honestly believe that this one exercise was one of the key elements in helping my own two children be so successful.
It began when they were small and we would talk about their experiences (or about why they got disciplined). I trained them to look at each incident to see what they could learn from it. I often shared with them my own personal debriefing after events and what I was gaining from it.
We began to function as a team trying to glean the most we could from each situation, helping each other along the way. This spirit of camaraderie was important as this type of activity can so easily degenerate into a parent being unduly harsh and critical of everything a child does. True debriefing includes much encouragement and commending our children on all the great things they do. The key is to work together to honestly assess situations and opportunities to learn all we can from them.
When my students got older and were in training for leadership projects, we debriefed after they made phone calls, taught classes, presided over meetings, or any point of contact with others:
How could you have said that better? What could you have done then? Why do you think they reacted that way?
By understanding how to assess situations, people, and themselves, our children move one step closer to maturity. They learn to be honest with themselves and then take action steps to correct what they see. I encourage you to develop the habit of debriefing routinely with your children. Their survival may depend on it.
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Transitioning to College: Job Shadowing
This summer make plans to give your child a real-life experience that will be hugely beneficial as they contemplate their future. Volunteering in their field of interest or job shadowing are tremendously important activities that can take our children deeper into their calling or give them a clear picture of a career that really doesn’t fit so well after all. For most students, the process of elimination is one of the most valuable ways to determine an eventual career field. Our children will likely take many false starts before they find the perfect fit.
Far too many students have no clue as to the relationship between their interests, their college major, and the job it will lead them to. Students with degrees in education enter their final semester student teaching block and discover they really don’t like the environment. Students who have been going to school for years and accumulated loads of student debt to get that law degree are shocked at the 60-80 hour work weeks and hate not having a life. Introverts enter jobs filled with people and interruptions and wonder why they suffer every day.
By encouraging our kids to volunteer or job shadow as part of their high school activities, we can help them connect the dots between their personality, their skills, their dreams, and the demands of real life.
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Resources: Physics and Math Distance-learning Classes
Recently a client enthusiastically recommended distance-learning teacher Derek Owens as an excellent resource for math and physics. Mr. Owens offers Pre-Algebra through Pre-Calculus and is currently developing AP Calculus AB. He also offers Physical Science and Physics with labs. He is very faithful to respond promptly to his distance-learning students, but what impressed me most is that he goes the extra mile and will actually record a tutorial video to specifically answer your child’s questions so they can see him work the problem and he can explain what they are missing. Check it out here:
http://www.derekowens.com/0910/index.php
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About Us
Jeannette Webb is the founder of Aiming Higher Consultants, a firm dedicated to helping Christian students gain admission to great colleges. She has a heart for assisting parents as they train their children for excellence. Jeannette works to empower families to make thoughtful choices for their younger children, to confidently navigate the difficult high school years, and then ace the college admissions process.
If you liked today’s issue, you’ll love her personalized consulting services that help you map out a holistic plan for your student.
While Jeannette is best known for her clear-sighted counseling, her clients feel that her biggest gift to their family was permission to be themselves.
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