![[Video] Should You Continue Homeschooling?](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7731/27224806925_d5f3943ffa_z.jpg "[Video] Should You Continue Homeschooling?")
Welcome to one of our May Wondering Wednesday posts! This is the time of year that I get questions about putting kids in school next year! đ
Sorry for the frowny face, but you have to know that a woman who is wrapping up her final (and her thirty-second!) year of homeschooling would have a frowny face about not homeschooling! đ
When our older kids turned twelve (girls) or thirteen (boys), they began to have a special privilege known as âhalf birthday dates.â At the 12 ½ (or 13 ½) year old mark, that child got taken out to dinner with Mom and Dad for a unique dinner date.
One of the places in our home in which lively discussions were usually held (and continue to be so, especially when all thirteen of us are home together!) is the dinner table. There is a lot of talk online and other places about the importance of the family dinner table. I am so grateful that we took the time to be sure that we ate four or five meals a week together in the eveningâaround the table.
Here are some tips to get your family dinner time backâand get your table talk on:
When is the best time to solve problems? Before they start!
The same thing is true in parenting. If we can talk through issues and problems before they arise, we will be ahead of the game in parenting.
My husband always used the mantra that we should âtalk about this during non-conflict times.â
That is, we shouldnât try to solve a bunch of problems, make new rules, talk through too many things, etc., when we were in the middle of a conflict.
When our âlittle boysâ were tweens, we wanted them to learn about/hear about sensitive things from their daddyânot from Sunday school teachers, youth leaders, movies, television, or peers! It was about that time that we instituted âdaddy talksââtimes in which the boys (one at a time or in pairs since they were close in age) would sit down and talk with Ray about these types of things.
We called these times âdaddy talksââand they knew that if they ever had questions or heard things, etc., they could call a âdaddy talkâ and Ray would be available. (Have I mentioned here or in our blog how crucial our availability for our kids really is??)
When I had several young children, I assigned each child âa dayâ each week. I first got this idea when I was in teacherâs college, and it was suggested that we teachers pick a different student each day to focus on. It was recommended that we write that childâs name on the calendar for that day (to keep record of who got which day and to ensure that each child got a day) and that we try to praise, help, make more contact with, etc. that particular student on that day. This approach would keep the ânon-sqeaky wheelsâ from getting overlooked.
