Effective Way To Handle Anxiety in Homeschool

The previous post shared about how anxiety has been a problem for us during homeschool:

To read previous article, click here.

HANDLE ANXIETY BETTER

One of the main things we started doing to handle anxiety better on purpose at the start of our homeschooling days is by opening up with praise and worship. This one thing helps us in so many ways. The main thing praise does is to prevent anxiety before it can even get us going each day, but it can also help sweep it away after it has started.

3 Truths Praise Helps You Remember

Praise and worship helps you remember who and whose you are.

1. Stay Grateful

Praise reminds you to keep an attitude of gratitude, instead of complaining when things don’t go as expected. And with all the unexpected that happens daily in homeschool, praise has become a NEED for us. It is not just a good idea, but an actual craving and need. Ever heard of the hymn that says…

“As the dear panteth for the water, so my soul longs after you…”?

2. Father God Loves and Never Forgets You

Praise reminds you that you belong to the Great and Only Wise and Loving Father God who never leaves you and never forgets the details about your homeschool or life needs.

3. God’s Love Flows Through You For Others

Praise as a group reminds you that you are not just connected by blood, but also by the blood of Jesus. This helps us live out the True Love Walk. Being reminded of our divine connection with Him and each other helps us walk in grace and love with each other. This shapes how I parent, how I teach and how I partner with my husband. It sets the atmosphere of our home and homeschool and reduces anxiety not just for me, but for the children, too.

Resources For Praise And Worship

Vevo.com

We are creating our own video playlist of songs that include the lyrics to help us sing along. I have to set this up for them because this site has other music that is not parent approved, too. If you use Apple TV, you can show your video playlists on your tv and enhance the worship experience for yourself and your children.

WeAreWorship.com

The children have found some songs that they love on this site which is totally focused only on providing worship music. They have been able to find some great videos as a result of using this site. We prefer not to use YouTube directly, but using the weareworship site helps us find great YouTube videos that don’t have the ads and other video previews and thumbnails that we don’t want the children to see.

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Music Education

The children enjoy making their own instruments (usually they’ll use closed containers of grains or salt as shaker noise makers). They also love using instruments that they have received as gifts to play along during some songs. They also sing along, sometimes by using videos that include the lyrics on-screen. And, of course, they love to dance, too. For the most part, I step aside and let them enjoy this experience together, but sometimes I join in with them. However, if I take part, I try to stay in the background as a participant and allow them to lead it out. Each child is required to choose and lead one song.

How Do You Celebrate God’s Love In Your Homeschool?

Please use the comments area to share how your family stays reminded of God’s love and grace and mercy over your lives. What works well for you and your children to stay focused and avoid anxiety … or to deal with anxiety after it has started rearing its ugly head?

THANKS. PLEASE. SHARE.

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~ Donna Marie, The Mommy of Butterfly Homeschool

Please follow our blog at ButterflyHomeschool.com for inspiration and information that can help you in your homeschooling journey.

Fall Update and How To Stay Safe From Fire

#ButterflyHomeschool is now in the Fall phase for 2013, and focused on learning how to stay safe from fire, after having started our season with an awesome Stay-Cation last week.

2013 Staycation with Grandmommy Val with Johnson Kids

ZOO TRIP WITH GRANDMOMMY

We have been enjoying this totally awesome weather in Atlanta. Temperatures are in the low 80’s and high 70’s in the day and drop into the 60’s (50’s sometimes) at night. We are so happy that GrandMommy Butterfly Val visited with us and went on our zoo field trip with us and enjoyed this heavenly weather, too. She is from Chicago, so she really enjoyed the warmer weather.

Mommy Butterfly’s Heart Was Stolen By This Clever Creature Who Loves the Limelight

We’ll share more about that zoo field trip later this Fall, too. For now, we want to let you know that, if you are a Fulton County resident and library card holder in good standing, you can check out a complimentary zoo pass once each year at the library. When we share about our trip, we’ll let you know more details about that free pass from the library, too.

Click To See Our Video Playlist of the NFPA Video Series with Sparky The Fire Dog

HOW TO STAY SAFE FROM FIRE

Okay, so the first #ButterflyHomeschool Team Fall Project is centered around Fire Safety because it is National Fire Prevention Week. So, the kids have received individual jobs that they each have to do as part of their group project (jobs are: illustrator, researcher and recorder). The overall project includes all of the main subjects including: math, science, geography, reading and writing all rolled up into that one project. We love integrating our learning this way. It really helps us to use what we are learning right away so that our learning sticks with us for the long-term.

National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) National Fire Prevention Week

link: http://www.nfpa.org/safety-information/fire-prevention-week

Also, of course helping to prevent fires and teach your kids to be safe is extremely important, especially for homeschoolers because, unlike in the public school system, no one is there to do it for us. This is our responsibility to step up and incorporate this into our schooling at home.

The main tips that you’ll learn from the video and website talk about kids being safe in the kitchen, but there is a lot more information way beyond just that. We strongly recommend that you watch our playlist (see video pic and link above), and that you visit the website at the link above. Also, specifically for the kids, check out: Sparky.org for info, games and fun all centered around kids learning about being fire safe.

Question For You:

How are you all spending National Fire Prevention week with your kids?

~Donna Marie, Mommy Butterfly

Reading Hater Now Loves To Read

Our family has been so blessed to see our young reader’s progress. She was a true reading hater that would do all she could to get out of it, and now she loves to read. And we are happy to say that Reading Eggs and other great online learning resources have been a great part of it. We were able to get a membership in Reading Eggs via our homeschool co-op, and it was worth this very affordable investment (was less than twenty for the whole year).

She was rewarded with her own mini-Kindle (6 inch) for her great attitude.

In past posts, we have shared about her reading challenges. When we initially realized that she was turning letters and numbers around and tried to get help through the public school system in Georgia, we were shocked (and upset) to find out that there was no help. No testing for dyslexia = no help for dyslexia. Despite it all, her teacher at that time was a huge help. And our co-op group and other homeschool families who share online have also been very helpful.

So, fast forward a year and a half, and she is now reading relatively fluently. She self-corrects most of the time, if she has a backwards letter episode. And she has tools and tricks that she’s learned to help her keep her learning momentum going. Yes, she still needs some encouragement on the bad days, but she always turns things around. Who doesn’t have a bad day? We all do. We all need encouragement. Hers is just a different kind of encouragement.

To all of the families out there who are dealing with reading challenges, fear of reading and hatred of reading:

NEVER

GIVE

UP

And don’t allow them to give up or to give in to the temptation for having pity parties. Let them take a break to rest, then get right back to it the next day.

Our little one has memorized:

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. ~Philippians 4:13 (KJV)

And this one scripture has been a great way for her to encourage herself and for us to keep her reminded about encouraging herself. She is so much more confident now. Here is a recent video of her reading. 

VIDEO

link: http://youtu.be/VB846J65aLA

If you find our blog helpful, let us know what you liked the most in the comment area below.

Thanks for taking a look at our blog!

Sincerely,

Donna, The Mommy at Butterfly Homeschool