Gain control of your life while homeschooling: 3 Tips

Most of us had very little time to prepare for our kiddos to be home with us ALL THE TIME!
Not only that but now we need to not only be parents but also teachers. Both of those things are full-time jobs. That's on top of your regular job if you still have one, or if you are working from home. That means that you have not one, but two, possibly three full-time jobs you are trying to do all at once. That's insane. Here are some tips to try and regain some control over your life.

1) Keep a Schedule: This is paramount. Everyone in the house when from being on a tight schedule to make the bus, make it to the office on time, etc. to basically no schedule or a haphazard schedule with about a day's notice. Regain some order by keeping a schedule, although it doesn't have to be as strict as before, it does have to have some rigidity to it.

Here is an example of a schedule I'm using with my nine-year-old son. Because I am me, I put it on a spreadsheet (it looks a lot like a football practice schedule...weird), printed it out, and put it in a document protector:

Before 7:30- Wake-up; Read for 20 min.; screen time
7:30- iPad is put away; Breakfast (TV Okay)
8:00- Morning chores; Some activity that blesses someone else (I want to stress placing other first)
10:00- Screen Free Free Time
12:00- Lunch (TV Okay); Academic Activity
1:30- Screen Free Free Time
3:30- Screen Time (Only if chores, blessing others, and academic activity are all complete)
4:30- Evening chores/Family dinner
6:00- Family time! Movie, Game, Walk, Screen Time
8:00- Bedtime routine; Sandwich (Not a snack, I'll explain later); pray; Mr. Rodgers
9:00- ASLEEP!

Your schedule should have a lot of flexibility built into is, but it should also have the key components of your day. As we move into an eLearning environment, maybe this schedule will change, but the framework will remain in place.

What is "Sandwich?"
We talk briefly about our day and then we each take turns with the following 3 questions that help us frame the day and set us up for prayer.
1) What is something I was grateful for today?
2) What is something I want to ask God to forgive me for today?
3) What is something that I am excited about tomorrow?

2) Read: We have been given a great opportunity to calm ourselves, slow down and read. I have made it a point as part of my schedule to get up at the same time every day
and read. Have your kids so the same thing. Make time to calm yourselves and read. Read by yourself, read with your kids, have your kids read by themselves and with you.

Making a habit of reading will set your children (and you!) up for success later in life. Insist on reading a little bit every day not as a punishment, but as a way of expanding knowledge and learning how to learn. What kind of books you ask? Any kind. You don't have to read books! Magazines and comics make great reading.

3) Write: This is something that I have forces to make a priority. Just like reading, writing can be a valuable, life-long skill. The only better to get better at it is to do it. Writing can take on many forms such as this blog, or a personal journal. It doesn't have to be much but set aside some time for you (and your kids!) to write a little bit every day. If you write for yourself, that's fantastic. If you write for someone else, you can really spread goodness. During this time of quarantine, most people head to the mailbox only to find bills and junk mail. Brighten their day by sending a handwritten letter or aa postcard. Not sure who to write to? Call your local nursing home and ask if there is someone there that you can be pen-pals with, even if it's a one-way relationship. With no visitation hours, I know
that there are some lonely folks who would love to get a letter in the mail!

A very good friend of mine set up a "pen pal project" with a bunch of her parent friends to get the kids writing. She carried into account ages and living arrangements and I am excited to see my son's face light up when he gets his first letter. I'm sure the same will be true on the other end.

This is a tough time for everyone, but we can make the most of it. Start with these simple tips to start to bring order back to your life. No one knows what the next day, week, or month will look like, but we can be certain that keeping a schedule, reading, and writing will never go out of style.

Also: Go take a shower and comb your hair. With all the barbershops and hair salons being closed, we may need to start getting creative!  As for me, I have a nice collection of hats.

BOOK REVIEW: To The Edge: Successes and Failures Through Risk-Taking

FULL DISCLAIMER

Kyle Anderson is one of my very

best friends and I have some MASSIVE BIAS!  

Background
I have known Kyle for over 20 years when we first met at Northern Michigan University.
We hit it off right away and became fast friends. We were both into hunting, fishing, football, and having fun! We ended up as roommates for a short time toward the end of our college years, and I have always valued his friendship and that of his family.

Since college, Kyle and I always make a point to hang out whenever the chance arises. Sometimes he is back in Michigan visiting family, and one time my son and I flew out to Nevada to surprise him by standing on his doorstep at 1:30 a.m. while his wonderful wife, Mary, was trying to wake him up without freaking him out!

Kyle and I in Las Vegas 2018

I had the absolute honor of serving as Kyle's best man when he married Mary. I was not the best man, but the stand-in. Cody, Kyle's Brother, was committed to Army training and was not able to make it back for his brother's wedding. The last time I saw Cody was in Kuwait in 2006. We were both heading north into Iraq, me in a few days, him in a week or so. We both made it through deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and talked on the phone maybe half a dozen times before he passed away. I had a real hard time reading Chapter 7, as I know Kyle struggled writing it.

When Kyle told me he was getting ready to publish his first book, I was VERY excited for him!
I couldn't wait for my personalized copy in the mail, so I bought it on Amazon before it was even officially out.

Although I am a slow reader, I made it a point to read his book right away.
If you want to be a better reader: Read.
That also led me to rejuvenate my blog.
If you want to be a better writer: Write.

The Basics
Title: To The Edge: Successes & Failures Through Risk-Taking
Author: Kyle Anderson
Forward: Jayme Rawson
Chapters: 10
Pages: 127 not including notes, acknowledgments, and publisher notes
Publishing Company: EDUMatch Publishing

Overview
Kyle walks you through his life as a student, teacher, administration, friend, husband, and father with a focus on decision making. Some of the decisions had a high-risk/high-reward criteria such as moving to the Nevada desert with his fiance and without a job. Others seemed to be low/risk-low reward, yet proved to be some of the best decisions of his life.

The Good Stuff
The average person can read about Kyle's story, his decisions, and the risks he chose to take or not take, and see themselves in that scenario. We undoubtedly do not have the same decisions placed in front of us, but we definitely have similar ones. We have all experienced the joy, heartache, and anxiety that comes with making important decisions. Kyle has a way of putting us in his, "choose your own adventure" book of life.

The average teacher can read about Kyle's career progression and look back at different opportunist that presented themselves and reflect on why they chose to take or not take those opportunities. The beauty of Kyle's career is the ups and downs. The "easy" route is not often the most rewarding. The "easy" route would make for a boring story. Kyle analyses his decisions on the page and reflects on the outcome in such a way that he makes it "safe" to make a decision, good or bad.

I recommend this book for a few reasons:

1) Kyle is a real person with a  real story that everyone can relate to. If you are an "Average Joe" you will relate to Kyle immediately and will quickly see your decisions with a fresh perspective.

2) His struggles are laid out in the open for everyone to read. Genuine problems are analyzed with respect to the real consequences they will have on him and his family.

3)  This book reads not only as Kyle's journey through life, but also as a guide of how we too can learn how to take risks, celebrate successes, and accept failures with grace, understanding, and lessons learned.

4) Kyle is one of my very best friends and I could not be more proud of him!

TO THE EDGE: SUCCESSES & FAILURES

THROUGH RISK-TAKING

https://www.totheedgeedu.com/
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Kyle on Twitter: @AndersonEdTech

#ToTheEdgeEDU

Transition from STEM to HISTORY

It has been a LONG time since I wrote a blog post. Way too long!
I have been concentrating on other things and the blog has taken a backseat. Some of the other things I have been doing:

The STEM Teacher Podcast:  THIS has even taken a backseat because I am no longer teaching STEM! I have revived it though. Instead of pushing out an episode once a week, I am on track for once a month. You can find it wherever you listen to podcasts. The link to Anchor is above.

The Kingsford Flivver Flash! Podcast: This has been a TON of fun! I started this podcast to highlight the amazing things surrounding Kingsford football. If you like high school football, Michigan, or the Flivvers, check it out.

The Kingsford Flivver Flash! Blog: I just started this after reading an article that said if you want to increase your podcast audience, start a blog. That article pushed me back into this blog too.

Changing Jobs
I was incredibly blessed to be hired as the STEM teacher for Woodland elementary. I can't express how it has changed my life. With that in mind, I struggle with elementary students. I like to think that I was very good at teaching the younger students, but it took everything I had, every single day. I would get home and have NOTHING in the tank for my family.

When I had the opportunity to apply for the 8th-grade history position, I jumped at it! Sent in my letter of intent, stoped in to see the principal, etc. I made it widely known that it was my dream job. When I was told I was selected, I could not contain my excitement!

Two reasons 8th-grade history is my dream job.

1) I get to teach the "Masters of the Universe!" Just ask an 8th grader and most of them have everything figured out. Everything. So teaching someone who already knows everything is a challenge and a reward.

2) The content for Michigan 8th-Graders is the founding of our country. From the treatment of the colonies under King George III to the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, Constitution, Bill of Rights, War of 1812, Manifest Destiny (We do play the old school, "Oregon Trail" game!), the Civil War, etc. I love every bit of it! The opportunity to put students into the Constitution almost every day is amazing. With the craziness of our world and the media spin, it's awesome to be able to go to our founding documents for true answers.