Living Love & Logic Tip #71

Do you know someone who believes that they are owed all the perks of success without having to expend a single drop of the perspiration required to earn them?

Have you met a person who lacks the skills required to earn a living yet believes they are too valuable to do the jobs available to them?

Perhaps you also know someone who's always unhappy, never feels "fulfilled," and resents those who've done the most for them.

It's deceptively easy to slip into giving our kids too much. It's also easy to begin expecting far too little. When this happens, we create kids with what I call the Over-Indulgence/Under-Expectation Syndrome:

• Entitlement thinking ("The world owes me the best!")

• Lack of marketable employment skills

• Lack of self-respect coupled with alternating feelings of dependency and hostility

Is there any hope? You bet! If your child displays any of the following signs, it's time to act quickly to reverse the problem:

• Displays an attitude of false superiority
• Expects only the finest things
• Manipulates others to get what he or she wants
• Has difficulty waiting or working for what he or she wants
• Is careless with possessions, frequently losing, neglecting, or destroying them
• Views his or her teachers with contempt
• Refuses to do chores, does them very poorly, or demands to be paid to complete them
• Constantly interrupts and demands to be the center of attention
• Only associates with people who can give him or her something
• Refuses to accept responsibility for bad behavior

If reading this hits a nerve, it's time to begin giving less and expecting more. The first step in this process involves learning how to avoid getting pulled into your child's attempts to argue and manipulate. Experiment with calmly repeating the following Love and Logic "one-liner":

I love you too much to argue.

The next step involves studying the Love and Logic parenting package that best fits your child's age level. From this package, you'll see how to take concrete steps toward raising a personally responsible, thankful, and happy child.
To read more from Love and Logic click HERE! This site is LOADED with so many useful tools for parents!

Geometry and Toddlers!

This toddler is learning geometry by Gluing spheres!
MATHEMATICS
2.PK.1  Sort objects by similar attributes (size, shape, and color.)
4.PK.1a  Identify circles, triangles, and squares.
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
6.PK.1  Demonstrate skills in eye-hand coordination
6.PK.2  Demonstrate the muscle strength, dexterity, and control needed to manipulate items.

Tt, Trucks, Tractor, Tracks

This week we focused on the letter Tt and the color brown. 

LANGUAGE

1.K.3  Recognize and name upper and lower case letters of the alphabet

CREATIVE EXPRESSION

2.PK.4  Identify color, shape, and texture through art experiences.

The students got to experiment with different types of Tires on Trucks and Tractors and see what kinds of Tracks each one made in Brown paint! 

SCIENCE

P.PK.2  Explore and demonstrate how objects move

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

G5.PK.1  Identify direction and location (up/down and above/below).

LANGUAGE

6.PK.1 Experiment with writing tools and materials to communicate.

5.PK.2b Trace and progress to copying basic shapes (horizontal line, vertical line, X. plus sign, circle, etc.)

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

3.PK.1  Demonstrate locomotor movements such as up, down, forward, and backward.

What a fun educational mess!

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

2.PK.3b  Clean up or put away toys and materials when finished.

Puzzling Results

Pinching, pushing, pulling while stringing helps develop small motor skills

Check out what our toddler age student was learning while doing a simple puzzle!

Puzzling Results
March 11, 2013

You must first have a lot of patience to learn to have patience.
-Stanislaw J. Lec

 

Susan Levine, Ph.D., from the University of Chicago, offered these insights on spatial thinking in preschoolers on the LearnNow website:

"As studies mount that spatial thinking can actually be enhanced by specific activities at the pre-K level, what can we say about methods that actually work? Our latest published work homed in on the dynamics of puzzle play with children as they migrated from ages 2 to 4.5. We tracked 53 pairs of kids and their primary caregivers (mostly mothers), at multiple intervals for 90 minutes per visit, recording the encounters on video.

"One of the strongest take-home messages from our study is that richer engagement with puzzle play at 2 produced a stronger grasp of STEM-centric concepts at 4.5. Specifically, the children who showed the most engagement with puzzle play at 2 stayed on their trajectory throughout our study period. Moreover, the strong puzzlers, when tested at age 4.5, performed well above their age peers in one of the gold standard tests for spatial skills — the ability to mentally rotate an object.

"So what’s the link between puzzle and spatial? Mastering the placement of puzzle pieces inherently compels the mind — young or old — to recognize shapes and patterns in certain objects and then to imagine how they might fit into the larger whole. More often than not, the skilled players must rotate the piece in their minds to conceive of its place, and then must test their hypothesis by actually trying to place it where they believe it to belong."
GOOD JOB!

Living Love & Logic Tip #70

Maybe you know a kid who’s mastered the art of shooting looks that kill. Maybe this "kid" is really an adult who’s maturity-challenged. Here are some tips:

Resist the urge to act like a child.

Are you like me? Do you ever find yourself tempted to reciprocate to your child’s snotty attitude with a mucus-like one of your own?

Resist this temptation and do your best to remain calm.

Give honest feedback while making the problem belong to your child.

Kids need to get honest feedback about how they come across to others…and the impact this is likely to have on their OWN lives. With a strong dose of empathy, experiment with saying:

When you stick your tongue out and say those nasty things,

you're really no fun to be around. I will always love you,

but few others will if you continue to act that way.

That would be a pretty lonely life.

Take good care of yourself by setting and enforcing healthy limits.

Becoming a doormat only teaches your child to treat others like doormats. Examples of healthy limits include:

I play with kids who talk nicely.

I cook dinner for people who express thankfulness rather than complaining about what I serve.

Feel free to join us when you can act sweet.

I enjoy providing privileges to kids who talk and act nicely.

Also, set firm limits over television and video game use.

Most television content glorifies nasty, sarcastic attitudes. Too much time spent interacting with video games makes it tougher for kids to display patience and grace with real-life people.

Nasty looks and nasty comments aren’t just annoying…they’re hurtful to those who deliver them. That’s why you shouldn’t feel guilty for taking a firm and loving approach to the problem. For more tips and techniques readLove and Logic Magic: When Kids Leave You Speechless.
To read more from Love and Logic click HERE! This site is LOADED with so many useful tools for parents!

Address Field Trip

We focused on addresses this week.  We wrote each student's address on a paper and they each worked on memorizing it. 

 

MATH

1.PK.3a  Recognize and read numerals 0-5.

 

Then we walked around Ms. JoAnn's neighborhood to see actual numbers representing addresses. 

 

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

2.PK.1  Demonstrate a basic form in walking, running, climbing, jumping, hopping, and walking up and downstairs.

5.PK.3  Interact positvely with others regardless of personal differences.

1.PK.5  Identify some safety rules (pedestrian safety).

 

SCIENCE

N.PK1.a Observe their world.

N.PK1.b Ask questions about their world.

 

Some addresses were on the curb..

LANGUAGE

1.PK.4 Recognize environmental print and symbols

1.PK.5 Demonstrate awareness that print carries a message.

 

some were by the front door...

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

H3.PK.1 Begin to understand that differences exist between home and school.

and some were on a mailbox.

Happy smiling faces!  The students love being outside!

Living Love & Logic Tip #69

What do parents do when their children become truthfulness-challenged? If many adults in today's world suffer from Honesty Deficit Disorder, who are we to think that our offspring will always be immune? The good news is that conscientious parents can turn the tide on truth-bending behavior by applying the Three E's of Love and Logic.

The First "E" of Love and Logic: Example

Obviously, parents who act truthfully around their kids are far more likely to have kids who tell the truth. A not-so-obvious application of good modeling involves discussing our moral dilemmas with other adults when our children are within earshot. When our children overhear us talking about temptations…and how we've chosen truthfulness instead of deceit…powerful lessons get locked in.

The Second "E" of Love and Logic: Experience

When children lie, they need to experience logical consequences. One of the most practical involves expecting them to replace any energy they've drained from us as a result of their fibbing. Does lying drain your parental energy? In our audio, Love and Logic Magic: When Kids Drain Your Energy, we teach that children should be responsible for replacing drained energy by completing extra chores, allowing their parents to rest instead of driving them places they want to go, etc.

The Third "E" of Love and Logic: Empathy

Those who understand the Love and Logic approach understand that consequences preceded with empathy are far more effective than consequences delivered with anger, guilt, or sarcasm. An added benefit of responding to our children's mistakes with empathy is that they'll be far more likely to admit making them. Do you want your children to be afraid of you when they blunder? Do you want them to hide their mistakes rather than bringing them to your attention? Of course you don't! That's why it's so important to discipline with love rather than lectures.

Thanks for reading! Our goal is to help as many families as possible. If this is a benefit, forward it to a friend.

Dr. Charles Fay
To read more from Love and Logic click HERE! This site is LOADED with so many useful tools for parents!

What is Play?

As you read and explore HO4K you see the children play!  and play!  and play!  Our wonderful teachers facilitate learning into play and play into learning.  You'll notice at the bottom of most posts what the children are learning as they're playing.  The following is a great perspective from Exchange EveryDay on play:

"Historically, play has been viewed as a frivolous break from important endeavors like working and learning when, in fact, a child’s ability to fully and freely engage in play is essential to their learning, productivity, and overall development," observe Steve Gross and Rebecca Cornelli Sanderson in their article, "Play is the Way," in the Beginnings section of the September/October 2012 Exchange magazine. They continue:

"A natural drive to play is universal across all young mammals. Children from every society on earth spend time playing. Why? Because play is a crucial vehicle for exploring and learning, developing new skills, and connecting with others. From an infant’s first smile to a preschooler’s careful construction of a tower, children use play to engage with and learn about their world. Play has key neurological, cognitive, socio-emotional, and physiological benefits for children’s health. Most importantly, play is the way in which children form loving, trusting relationships.

"People often think of play in terms of specific ‘play activities’ such as tag, soccer, or playing in the sandbox. In contrast, they think of work in terms of activities like raking leaves, cooking, cleaning, or doing homework. It is our belief that any activity, as long as it is done with a playful approach, is play. In other words, it’s not about what you do, it’s about how you do it. Playfulness is the expression of our natural drive to freely and joyfully explore, engage, and connect with the surrounding world."

The above picture is a perfect example of impromptu play that the students came up with on their own and Ms. JoAnn and Mr. Eddy facilitated their play into learning.  Everyday the students play outside at HO4K.  This particular day in the giant sandbox was windy.  Despite the wind, the students still had a blast using their imaginations throwing tissues up in the air and watching them fly!  One student also learned on his own if the tissue has sand on it that it will not fly.  This activity worked for every age and the children and teachers had an unforgettable time!  Now the question is, do you think March will come in like a lamb or a lion this year??
...And here's what the students learned:
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
2.PK.1  Demonstrate a basic form in walking, running, climbing, jumping, hopping, and walking up ad down stairs.
2.PK.2  Perform a variety of large motor skills (throw a ball in purposeful direction, attempt to catch a large ball, etc.)
SCIENCE
E.PK.1  Observe and identify weather from day to day.
P.PK.2  Explore and demonstrate how object move.
P.PK.4  Explore what happens to objects in relation to other forces.
SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL
G8.PK.1  Identify weather conditions
2.PK.1b  Move through routines and activities with minimal adult/teacher direction.

Pushing to Peddling

 One of our cute students has been transitioning from pushing the trike to figuring out how to peddle with her feet.  Looks like she's got it!!  Great job!!

 

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

4.PK.1  Engage in daily moderate to vigorous physical activity.

2.PK.2  Perform a variety of large motor skills.

Jumping, Rumbling, and Rolling

Check out our new fun!  The students use their imaginations coming up with different ideas and activities to play.  Not only are they jumping, rumbling, and rolling, they're also cooperating, waiting their turn, and talking to friends to work out who's turn it is and how much longer, etc.
The students are also learning to follow our 3 rules by looking at the sign:

• 2 people at a time
• Can jump, rumble, roll when both friends have smiles and are having fun
• If friends are waiting for a turn, the longest turn is 5 minutes

MATHEMATICS

1.PK.3a  Recognize and read numerals 0-5

5.PK.1  Identify and sort information (interpret quantity in pictures).

LANGUAGE

1.PK.4  Recognize environmental print and symbols

1.PK.5  Demonstrate awareness that print carries a message.

4.PK.1  Demonstrate and understand that printed material contains information (illustrations, graphs, and charts).

4.PK.5a  Recall information from an event, text, or picture related to self and the world around them.

4.PK.5b  Respond to or ask a question about an event.

4.PK.7  With teacher assistance, follow, a simple pictorial direction.

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

H2.PK.1  Begin to recognize that problems can occur in groups.

H3.K.4  Demonstrate respect for each other in the classroom and school.

C13.PK.1  Follow classroom and school rules.

C13.PK.2  Participate in group decision making.

1.PK.1a  Make independent choices from diverse interest centers or activities.

1.PK.2a  Express ideas for activities:  initiate and participate in discussions with teachers or peers.

5.PK.1b  Play in pairs and small groups.

5.PK.2b  Take turns with teacher support.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

2.PK.1  Demonstrate a basic form in walking, running, climbing, jumping, hopping, and walking up and down stairs.

2.PK.2  Perform a variety of large motor skills.

4.PK.1  Engage in daily moderate to vigorous physical activity.

5.PK.1  Participate appropriately during physical activities.

5.PK.2  Demosntrate turn taking and cooperation during physical activities.

5.PK.3  Interact positively with others regardless of personal differences (skill level, gender, race, and disability).

Matching Colors of Gloves

Who knew gloves could teach so much? 

Matching colors! 

Using small motor skills to put fingers in!

How we can dress for cold weather and keep our hands warm!

How we dress ourselves!

Cooperating with each other!

Using our talking words!

 

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

3.PK.1  Demonstrate the ability to follow basic movements (over, under, in, out, in between).

5.PK.2  Demonstrate turn taking and cooperation during physical activities.

5.PK.3  Interact positively with others regardless of personal differences (skill level, gender, race, and disability).

6.PK.2  Demonstrate the muscle strength, dexterity, and control needed to manipulate items.

CREATIVE EXPRESSION

2.PK.3  Demonstrate persistence by trying again when faced with challenges.

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

G8.K.1  Recognize weather changes with the seasons and how people adapt to those changes.

2.PK.2  Demonstrate self-help skills

6.PK.1c  Use verbal and non-verbal conversation skills

5.PK.2a  Participate in cooperative groups to complete a task.

LANGUAGE

7.PK.1b  Listen and follow a two-step oral direction with the use of formal and informal language.

MATHEMATICS

2.PK.1  Sort objects by similar attributes

 

Letter L l, Lighthouses, Long brown lines, and Healthy Birthdays!

This week we've been learning about the letter L l and the color brown. 
Cute kids shining light out of their homemade lighthouses!

This student is practicing painting LONG brown Lines.

 

For student's birthdays, we sing happy birthday to celebrate their special day. You are welcome to bring a snack. We recommend low sugar and on the healthy side. This way it teaches that we can celebrate with healthy food. Some ideas include fresh strawberries with shortcake, crackers with easy cheese or sliced cheese, fruit kabobs, monster toast-which is very fun! 

Here's what our latest birthday student brought...angry bird made out of a bagel or round bread with cream cheese, salami or pepperoni with a cheese or carrot nose and olive eyes!

Here's an interesting articlefrom Exchange EveryDay about healthy habits for children...

The Obesity Crisis

Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, Love, Love, that is the soul of genius.
-Mozart

Rising childhood obesity in America is a national health crisis. The seriousness of this crisis was made clear in the February 2011 “White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity Report to the President":

“One in every three children ages 2-19 is overweight or obese. The life-threatening consequences of this epidemic create a compelling and critical call for action that cannot be ignored. Obesity is estimated to cause 112,000 deaths per year in the United States, and one-third of all children born in the year 2000 are expected to develop diabetes during their lifetime. The current generation may even be on track to have a shorter lifespan than their parents.

In response to this crisis, Exchange has developed a video training series, "Preventing Obesity and Promoting Wellness in Early Childhood Programs" to help early childhood programs learn how to seek solut ions. You can view one short segment, "Why Children Are Obese," on the Exchange web site. 

 

 

LANGUAGE

6.PK.1  Experiment with writing tools and materials to communicate.



6.PK.5  Share drawings with others as a response to an expository text.

 

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

1.PK.3  Identify healthy foods.

1.PK.1   Demonstrate personal hygiene.  (Students always wash hands before and after meal/snack time.)

Living Love & Logic Tip #68

We all know the story of that boy who cried, "Wolf!"

In the end, there really was a problem and he didn't get the help he needed.

With so much emphasis on bullying these days, do we run the same risk?

If kids learn to take slight offenses too seriously or rely on authority figures to solve every small conflict, could that make things worse?

Of course, adults should step in when there is real danger, but there's another important piece: Teaching kids to be more-resilient, less-enticing targets. This can help adults separate the serious from the not-so-serious.

We encourage parents and teachers to empower kids - NOT to overreact to teasing and less-harmful testing that often occurs in peer relationships. Otherwise, like the boy who cried, "Wolf," real bullying may not get noticed and kids may not get help when they actually need it.

Adults should get involved when there is real harm or the threat of real harm. But all kids will encounter some mean people in life and will benefit from learning to handle it while they're young.

Role-playing responses can help kids handle name-calling and teasing:

Some kids put their hands in their pockets, smile, and say, "Hmm, I hadn't noticed that before. Thanks for letting me know."

Some kids say, "Oh, that reminds me… " and then move away like they just remembered something important.

Some kids make sure they are near adults when mean kids are on the prowl.

Prepared kids make less viable targets.

Let's all do our part, from modeling kindness, to providing good supervision and intervention when kids need help, to teaching kids how to get along and handle the small stuff.

Find more solutions to help kids learn how to deal with the issues of teasing and bullying in Sally Ogden's book, "Words Will Never Hurt Me."
To read more from Love and Logic click HERE! This site is LOADED with so many useful tools for parents!

UPDATES

Our blog has been recently updated!  Be sure to read on through Older Posts for updates from school and fun learning experiences your child is having and of course the always helpful love and logic tips!

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!!

The students have each made envelopes to put valentines in.  Your child is welcome to bring Valentine cards any time between now and February 15.  (NO gum or candy please.)
We will be putting them in the class mail box, then delivering them throughout the day.  This is a "hands-on" experience of our mail system as well as a wonderful reading/language experience as the valentines are read throughout the week.
Thanks! 
Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!!

Living Love & Logic Tip #67

The primary goal of the Love and Logic approach is NOT to make kids behave. Rather, our primary objective is to help them learn how to make themselves behave…so that they aren't dependent upon rules, regulations, laws, or incarceration to control their behavior.

At our Annual Love and Logic Summer Conference, Dr. Bob Sornson will share a variety of proven strategies for helping young people learn essential emotional self-control skills. These include:

• Delayed gratification
• Empathy and social responsiveness
• The ability to calm oneself when experiencing strong emotions
• Cause-effect thinking

Don’t risk missing Bob’s marvelous presentation. Sign up for this special event today. In the meantime, begin experimenting with one of the most powerful teaching tools offered by the Love and Logic approach: Allow your children (or your students) to overhear you talking about how you apply self-control. Examples include:

• I saw this new TV that I really wanted, but I said to myself, "No. My old one is just fine. I'll just be all stressed out about how to pay for it."

• The other day one of my friends said something that really made me mad. I kept having to remind myself, "Stay calm. If I say something nasty, I'll feel horrible later."

• I always have an easier time being nice to difficult people when I remember to put myself in their shoes.

Remember: Children are typically more likely to learn when they overhear these things rather than being lectured.
To read more from Love and Logic click HERE! This site is LOADED with so many useful tools for parents!

Living Love & Logic Tip #66

Do you ever feel like you are on a tightrope? On one side of the narrow line is a scary drop into "Overprotection Canyon" while the other side offers an even worse fall into "Dangers-of-the-World Abyss." Why is it so difficult to stay balanced between coddling…and allowing disaster?

This world can be a pretty complicated place. Some dangers can seem very subtle - even harmless. In other cases, our instinct to rescue kids can kick in when it's really not necessary.

While we can't give you an easy, one-size-fits-all answer to this dilemma, we can offer some general guidelines to help you stay balanced:

• If somebody on Planet Earth will be hurt or killed, or somebody's future will be irreparably damaged, step in and save the day. By the way, how often is this really the case? Not often.

• Avoid rescuing when kids seem to EXPECT to be rescued. This can be a dangerous trend - when kids are trained to believe they can be as irresponsible or reckless as they want and then EXPECT us to swoop in.

• Be MORE ready to intervene with kids who don't usually need it. If a kid never seems to need rescued, pay close attention when he/she does.

• Base your decisions on real needs and real dangers, NOT what others might think. Parenting is not about impressing the neighbors. Your kids’ long-term health is way more important than the perceptions of others.

Find more solutions in Jim Fay's CD, Raising the Odds for Responsible Behavior.
To read more from Love and Logic click HERE! This site is LOADED with so many useful tools for parents!

Living Love & Logic Tip #65

I'm very, very concerned. Everywhere I go at least one person tells me the same sad story:

He plays video games nonstop. That's all he wants to do. As soon as he gets home, he goes into the bedroom, shuts the door, and starts playing his video games. When I ask him to shut them off, he ignores me or flies off the handle. And…forget about getting him to do any chores. All he thinks about is his games.

The story continues:

And our kids are getting just as bad!

Do you have a loved one who's obsessed with playing video games? Is your family going down the tube as a result? I'm often asked, "How can I tell if my child (or my spouse) is addicted to gaming?" Perhaps the simplest test is to ask them to stop for a week. That's right! Just ask them to put aside their video games for one short week.

Here's what to look for:

• Does the person get defiant and refuse to take a break?

• Is the person willing to take a break yet becomes exceptionally irritable, depressed, or "bored" during that time?

• Do they lie to you about sneaking game time during their "break"?

If you see any of these classic withdrawal symptoms, you can rest assured that your loved one has a serious problem that will lead to serious consequences if left untreated. My advice is three-fold:

Step One: Don't deny or minimize the problem. Know that it can destroy your family if you don't take action.

Step Two: Listen to our audio download, Taming the Technology Monster.

Step Three: Get qualified professional help if your loved one refuses to live by the limits you set over their gaming.

To read more from Love and Logic click HERE! This site is LOADED with so many useful tools for parents!