Enjoy Your Life More: Add One Good Habit

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Enjoy Your Life More: Add One Good Habit

A recent study showed that Americans spend eight minutes a day looking for their keys. Sound familiar?

If that’s you, it could be easy to berate yourself for that reality. When we think of habits, we tend to think of the negative, like a bad habit of losing things.

But I find it much more encouraging to think of the positive side: what good habits would I like to add to my life? Just as bad habits can drag us down, good habits can point us in the right direction.

Good habits can save us time if we want them to. If a homeschool mom could get back 40 minutes a week by cultivating the habit of hanging her keys by the door, or figuring out why she loses her keys and changing it, wouldn’t that be a good thing?  

Homeschool moms carry so much responsibility. If we can put some of that on autopilot so we just do it automatically, it can really make life easier. When it comes to dishes, laundry, cleaning and cooking, could a few simple logistical habits make your life easier? Could you put something on autopilot so you just do it automatically and don’t have to fuss about it?

Define a Good Day, Week, and Month

Or for more inspiration, try this. Answer these questions to help you clarify a good habit you might like to add to your life:  

Dream about what you want to do with your life. Consider:

  • What you want a good day to look like?
  • What do you want a good week to look like?
  • What does a good month look like to you?
  • What about a good year? 10 years?

A Good Day

For me, a good day includes a 30-minute walk and a quiet time. It includes a few minutes at mid-day to listen to Christian music, which helps refocus and reset my day. And of course a good day for me includes reading. If I don’t read, I feel like I had a terrible day!

A Good Week

A good week for me includes a Sabbath rest. A few weeks ago, John and I were at a conference that lasted all day Friday through Sunday. When we got home I felt like I’d never catch up. When I take a day of rest the entire week goes better. I feel more focused, more energized, more able to meet life with perspective. A good week for me also includes time at church, which is so good for my soul. It includes time for John and me to sit under the tree talking with the kids as we laugh and eat together. What does a good week look like for you?

A Good Year

A good year for me includes two opportunities to get away and gain perspective on my everyday life. One of those is a week of fun with all the kids and grandkids, and another might be a trip to visit ministry partners in another part of the world and see what God is doing among them. Even if you can’t get away twice in a year, does a good year for you include some sort of intentional family week?

Ponder those questions and see what you might want to add. For me, that was adding a walk every day. I had wanted to do this for a while but I’d leave it to the evening and then feel too tired to go out and do it. So now I get up first thing in the morning, throw on yesterday’s clothes, run a comb through my hair and go walk. If I do it first thing I actually get it done. Plus, the beauty of the mornings has really surprised me—the sky, the air, it all has such a special quality first thing in the morning.

I also added a green smoothie for breakfast every day – I just fill the blender with greens, throw in a protein, some juice, some fruit, and some coconut oil. What an easy way to honor my body and get more vegetables in my life! My daughter Jonelle started cleaning up her room every evening. It gives her a brand-new start on the day in the morning.

Allow Enough Time to Establish the Habit

Experts say it takes 30 days to build a habit. It seems so easy to us. Just decide to do something and then do it. But it’s always an uphill climb. We are creatures of habit, so to build a brand new habit takes incredible perseverance and push. You have to plan to say every day “I’m just going to grit my teeth and get it done.” And eventually it’s almost automatic.

Start with Just One Habit

Experts also recommend just adding one habit at a time. I recently added five, and I’m here to tell you it felt like my efforts were going to take over my life. It was too much to think about, too much will power to exert every day in addition to my normal tasks.

Enjoy Your Newfound Freedom

Of course, we shouldn’t let habits rob us of our ability to be free and flexible. But I actually think many habits allow us more freedom in the world. Here’s an example. We used to camp a lot as a family. Camping, as you know, is a messy and dirty business. You come home and the temptation is to just throw all the equipment in a corner to deal with it later. But I got in the habit of taking the tub of cooking equipment and setting it on the kitchen counter as soon as we got home. I’d refill the salt and sugar containers, clean everything, change out the dirty towels for clean ones, and repack it all. Then when someone suggested we should go camping, I’d give the kids their packing checklists and we could get out the door surprisingly fast. Because of some good habits we were free to be flexible and go camping more often.

As another example, keeping your house a little cleaner (or accepting a lower standard of cleanliness) can mean you feel free to invite company over more often. Likewise, meal planning can help you feel free to play with your kids outside more afternoons instead of scrambling to pull something together for dinner at the last minute.

So dream about how you want your life to look and pick one new habit to start today. Don’t overwhelm yourself with five new habits like I did. But enjoy the freedom your one new habit provides!

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The Difference between Reluctant and Hungry Eaters (and Learners)

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The Difference between Reluctant and Hungry Eaters (and Learners)

Have you ever tried to feed a toddler who doesn't want to eat? You don't get very far. It's a lot of work, and most of the food ends up on the floor.

But if that same toddler is hungry? That's a different story. She will happily take the food you give and feed herself. Though she'll still get some in her hair, most of it hits the mark.

I think the same is true of learning. When kids are uninterested, any type of schoolwork is a chore. Most of what they learn doesn't stick.

Force-feeding an Education

Yet the common approach to most education is to feed information to kids who don't want it. Most schools, textbooks and curricula are primarily designed to deliver as much information as possible over a limited, prescribed time frame. Then standardized tests check how much the students retain. If students score well, their education is deemed successful.

But what is the real result here?

  • Most children either learn to play the game, or they stop trying.
  • They forget what they learned after the test.
  • Most quickly decide that learning is boring.
  • Some kids will still thrive, but many just wither away academically.

Is there another way? I believe so.

I definitely want children to learn information. But that is actually not Sonlight's number one goal.

Creating a Love of Learning

Sonlight's main educational goal is to create a true love of learning. Instead of force-feeding children an education, we create an insatiable hunger to learn.

We can't possibly give children all the knowledge they need for life by the time they are 18 years old. But we can get them on the right path, where they keep learning their entire lives. With God's help, children can see learning as a delight. They can learn how to find the information they need. They can be ready to pursue whatever God calls them to, because they love to keep growing.

It's the difference between forcing a reluctant child to eat a vegetable at each meal, and having a child who simply loves vegetables. Which child do you think will eat more vegetables over a lifetime?

I can't help you with the literal vegetables. But I believe I can help you have children who love to learn.

A Curriculum that Lays a Delicious Educational Meal

That is why all of Sonlight's curriculum is deliberately designed to keep children engaged in the learning process. The books we include and the way we weave them together are just that good.

We like it when Sonlight students achieve high SAT scores and win intellectual debates. But we love it even more when we hear testimonies like these, about a healthy appetite to learn!

"You know what my daughter's first words were this morning? 'Mommy, get up. Can we do school now?'"

Or,

"When I received the Sonlight catalog, it was like God came to my mailbox and gave me a present. Every day, even the harder ones, seems like a miracle to me. The woman who swore that she would never homeschool LOVES it. Not to mention my KIDS!!!

"The other day they were watching Reading Rainbow and LeVar Burton asked 'Have you ever read a book that was so good that you couldn't put it down?' My son responded loudly, 'OHHHH, YES!'

"Thanks, Sonlight!"

Or,

"Close to the end of the school year, we talked about picking up where we have left off in HBL G at the beginning of next school year. There was a gasp from the girls! 'Why can't we just keep going? We want to read Bloody Mary! We can't wait 'til the fall!'

"And it went on!

"'Can we finish our math books this summer?'

"'But we haven't done Shakespeare yet!'

"'Can we keep doing Story of the World? We're almost done with it!'

"Thank you, Sonlight, for stoking the fire of learning throughout our first year of homeschooling. And thank you for quality literature and products and the Instructor's Guide that led me through the year as well."

I wish I had the space to quote two or three dozen more of these kinds of testimonials. We receive a steady stream of them, and they warm my heart.

Can you imagine anyone saying these kinds of things about a textbook or workbook-based program? You might hear positive reviews, but I doubt you'll hear anything about a passion to learn.

So thank you for choosing Sonlight to come beside you and help your children love to learn. Please let us know if we can help you in your journey.

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8 Ways for Homeschool Moms to Get More Sleep

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For many families, homeschooling means more sleep. And that is good news for kids.

But what about moms? Sleep deprivation seems like part of the job description. And let's be honest: It is hard to serve your family well when you're downright exhausted. Though God will give you strength in the midst of a sleep-deprived season, I encourage you to embrace opportunities to help your body catch up.

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The Four Levels of Rest Homeschool Parents Need

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Do you honor the different types of rest your body and soul need? You need rest daily, weekly, yearly and long-term.

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Want to Boost Emotional Intelligence? Read Literature.

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Want to Boost Emotional Intelligence? Read Literature.

Is reading good for more than academic development?

Absolutely.

You may already know that reading good books (like those in Sonlight curriculum) helps your children develop good character, grow in leadership skills, develop empathy, and even talk with you about tricky topics like racism.

Reading Literary Fiction Builds Emotional Intelligence

Well, you can add to that list now. Research shows that reading literary fiction boosts people's abilities to read other people's emotions. It's a new angle on the idea that reading fiction helps people grow in empathy.

Participants were assigned a short excerpt of literary fiction, popular fiction, or non-fiction to read. Some received nothing to read. Then they took a test of emotional intelligence skills, such as guessing people's emotions based on pictures of their eyes. Those who read the literary fiction performed markedly better than the other groups.

Literary Fiction Makes the Reader an Active Participant

One explanation for this is that literary fiction requires more active participation from the reader. One of the researchers says:

"Some writing is what you call 'writerly', you fill in the gaps and participate, and some is 'readerly', and you're entertained. We tend to see 'readerly' more in genre fiction like adventure, romance and thrillers, where the author dictates your experience as a reader. Literary [writerly] fiction lets you go into a new environment and you have to find your own way."

In other words, when you read pop fiction (such as the latest Danielle Steel novel), "the writer is in control, and the reader has a more passive role." It reminds me of television. The author/producer spells things out so you know what people are thinking and feeling. You just sit back and enjoy the entertainment.

But in literary fiction–such as most Sonlight books, or what you'd read in a college English class–the writer tends to show, not tell. The author doesn't spell out every motivation, thought and feeling. Instead, the writer draws you into the story as a participant. Without even realizing it, you fill in gaps and imagine what characters must be feeling. You get outside yourself and walk in another's shoes.

Sonlight is a Literature-Based Curriculum

According to this study, these emotional intelligence skills seem to transfer to real life.

Through Sonlight's literature-based curriculum, your children read real literature. I believe this builds their emotional intelligence every day.

While it's fine for kids to read the occasional work of children's pop-fiction (what Charlotte Mason would call twaddle), I believe we should primarily feed them a solid diet of real, living books. I certainly aim to fill each Sonlight program with such worthy literature.

In discussing this study, one Sonlight mom wrote:

"This article is one of the main reasons I want a heavy literature education. I consider teaching my children humanities to be very important. I want them to really learn about other people from various perspectives, circumstances and times in history."

I agree! So just add this to your list of benefits of using Sonlight and reading real books. You can actually foster emotional intelligence through literature! The practice helps your kids read other people and become more emotionally aware. Not a bad payoff for enjoying great books!

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Fun Tricks for Memorizing the Math U See Blocks

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Math U See is my favorite math program of all time, as it is easy to use, learn from, teach, and grade. I love watching my children quickly do their math and then move on to the next subject. However, every once in a while, we run into an area that needs a bit more practice to help it solidify. Since I have multiple children with dyslexia, some topics, which come naturally to some children, take more effort to teach. One of the first areas we got snagged on when we first started Math U See was memorizing the block colors and numbers by name without counting. Here are our tricks for memorizing Math U See blocks:

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God Has Equipped You to Teach Your Children

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God Has Equipped You to Teach Your Children

I expect that you are an intelligent, loving person. You and your spouse probably care about your children more than anyone else possibly could. You want what's best for them. And you work hard to raise them well.

With that formula in place, I believe you are situated to be your child's best teacher.

Some people seem to think that professional teachers acquired magic abilities during their teacher training. They say that if we just send our children to school they will come out civil and educated.

There are many great teachers out there, and yes, they have been trained. Many do a wonderful job and even pursue ongoing training. But even so, I believe that parents are uniquely created to deal with their own children.

You Know Your Children

You know your children better than anyone else does. You know when they're just being lazy, and when they're struggling. You can see when a concept has clicked. You may not know everything, but you do have incredible insight into what's happening in your children.

You Have an Intense Interest in Your Children

And, you desire for you kids to succeed far more than any gifted, wonderful teacher could. I have never met a homeschool mom who said "You know, my high schooler can't read. It didn't come easily, so we just gave up." (Of course, some children with special needs may never learn to read, but I bet their moms still help them succeed in every other way they can!)

I know moms will beat the bushes until they find what their kids need to thrive. Even the best teacher–limited by class size and resources–can't compete with that drive.

God Trusts You to Raise and Teach Your Children

So if you have doubts regarding your abilities, know this: God intentionally gave you the children in your home. He placed them with you and trusts that you can and will raise them.

When you're overwhelmed, He will help you. He will equip you for this task to which He's called you.

I believe with all my heart–you can do it!!

Because you are so well suited to teach your children, I see Sonlight's job as simply providing you the tools you need to do that.

I know you are incredibly busy with daily life. So I want you to have every material and lesson plan you need each day. That frees you to focus on what you do best: loving, guiding and teaching your children. God bless you as you do.

Sonlight can make your homeschool experience doable.

Imagine going to bed each night without worrying about what you were going to teach in the morning. Imagine not having to create your own schedules or come up with questions to test your students' comprehension.

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