Home school: Discipline

Every parent wants to believe that their child behaves appropriately at all times.  But truth of the matter is kids always test their boundaries to see what they can get away with. Kids test their boundaries, the most at two times, when they are with their parents and at school. As a parent are you going to discipline your child the same way that you would discipline them when you become the teacher?  This is an important question to think about before beginning the home school process.  All parents want what is best for their child, especially in their education.

I have taught many subjects in the public school system from elementary school through high school and you know what I have discovered? The best classrooms are the ones that are well-managed and well-disciplined.  In education, there is no substitute for good discipline techniques.  It is what makes the difference between an adequate education and a great education. So what do you want for your children, an adequate or great education?  Well, that’s a dumb question, right? We all want our children to have a great education.  Now we the parents must learn what goes in to that great education…a great discipline plan.

As the parent you know your children better than anyone.  So you will be the perfect person to create a discipline plan for them.  Most discipline plans are the same in the principles but each person makes them fit their teaching style.  Below are the five principles that make a good discipline plan but remember to tailor it to how you teach and how your child learns to make it a great discipline plan.

1.       Law of the Land

You must lay down the lay down the law of the land.  This does not sound so fun, it isn’t. 

Who would you rather be?  Parent A- yelling and screaming all day and their child still does not work. Or…Parent B- a plan developed for discipline ahead of time that is shared with the child. Of course, we would all love to be Parent B because it sets a more successful picture in our heads.  But the truth of the matter is Parent B had a plan and that plan was shared with the child so that they knew what was expected of them ahead of time.  The laws that need to be laid down in advance are:

A.      Schedule of the day-time- school begins and ends/ breaks during day

B.      Classroom Rules

C.      What needs to be done daily – goals

D.      Rewards and Consequences

Let’s break these down…

The most important thing is making a schedule and sticking to it.  It adds structure to your child’s day.  When children know what to expect and know that you will not deviate you can avoid the craziness in the classroom. 

Classroom rules need to be established and enforced.  In the beginning be strict but as the rules are obeyed loosen up slowly.  If children start to misbehave, go back to being strict.

Every day you need to let your child know what the goals for the day are.  Whatever doesn’t get finished within the school schedule becomes “homework,” if needed.  This will help the child to stay focused on getting the goals done.

You know what works for your child in the rewards and consequences department.  You can also have your child help you with this so that they are excited about the rewards and obey the consequences.  Children will feel that they are more involved in their education if you let them help with this.

2.       Consistency is Key

Once you have your plan written down, communicated and in place…STICK TO IT!!!  Once you have your plan, be consistent in how you implement your schedule.  This is an important part of your classroom discipline.  Being consistent also extends into your academics of the day.  For example, if you use goal cards to communicate the daily classroom goals then you need to be sure to use them daily to be consistent.

Consistency also extends to classroom rules.  If you do not consistently enforce the rules you have set forth then the children will not behave.  This is especially true for parents who are teaching more than one child.  When you teach more than one child at a time you need to be careful to enforce rules equally and not to favor one child over the other.  If you don’t you are setting yourself up for disaster.

Being consistent where you home school is also very important.  Along with a schedule the children need to know where in the house the “learning” takes place daily.  Most of the academic day should be spent there.  Not that you can’t take your children to other places to learn.  But the main part of your day should be spent in that learning center.

The key here is just to be consistent.  In whatever you do…be consistent. Classroom discipline relies heavily on sticking to what you have come up with.

3.       Key to Individuality

Consistency is the key to classroom discipline.  But consistency has its limitations.  Where consistency ends individuality takes over.  What is individuality?  Individuality in education is where you work with a child’s strengths to improve their academic success.  This is done through learning styles.  The learning styles are kinesthetic (hands-on), visual, and auditory.  The main thing is not to limit your child.  Find your child’s strengths and work them into your curriculum.  Your child will be much happier and more successful if you do.

4.       Ease Into It

As far as classroom discipline goes this one is easy but is often missed.  Many home school parents who allow “breaks” due to holidays believe that their child will be able to just pick up where they left off.  It was only a month or two.  Big mistake!  The fact is that students need so “recall” time to be re-introduced to the information presented. It will take a couple of days.  During these couple of days make the activities fun.  If you ease your child back into the academic setting then everything will go much more smoothly.  Classroom discipline depends on it.

5.       Stick to It

If the last section was the easiest in regards to classroom discipline this will be the hardest.  Stick to your plan.  Be consistent in everything that you do from the beginning of the school year to the end. This doesn’t mean that you can’t take breaks during the holidays.  Many families believe that the holidays are a very important time for family.  So take a break from the academic learning and start teaching your children about family traditions.  This also doesn’t mean that you can’t take field trips.  You can take field trips that are planned earlier in the year.  If you plan your school year properly ahead of time it will lead to a much more consistent year.  It will make your life a whole lot easier throughout the year.

But as we all know life always throws us a curve ball now and then.  There may be a natural disaster or an unexpected death in the family that may be difficult to deal with.  These are not things you can exactly plan for.  When it comes to these times keep your child’s well being in to consideration.  This is your child’s education that we are talking about.  Consistency is key to great discipline.  Remember, your child deserves the best!!

The Future of Education

As the pace of change in the twenty-first century continues to increase, the world is becoming more interconnected and complex, and the knowledge economy is craving is more intellectual individuals. So it is critical that we shift our focus from education to life-long learning. If we are willing to view learning from new perspectives then we can enhance learning. Everyone needs to realize that the students we teach are growing up in a technological age. This means that they learn differently than we do.

The global competitiveness environment has indeed changed over the past decade. Other countries, such as China and Japan are making tremendous gains in science and technology. America is falling behind. Corporate executives are looking for a degree in the required field but the skills that are being found most valuable in a candidate are collaboration, communication, and creative problem-solving. These are skills that are harder and harder to find in candidates.

Education of the future will enforce studio-based learning. Studio-based learning is where every child can see what every other child is learning. This is critical so that every child can witness the thinking processes of others and understand the thinking behind it. Children can then pick up skills from other students. Students start to learn to appreciate the learning process because they learn from their struggles, missteps, and successes. This is done in an educational setting through technology-based learning. Children interact through blogs, websites, text-messaging, and games to learn socially.

Children learn better this way because they are able to retain information longer. It is proven that the more children review material the longer the retention time will be. If children review concepts daily through blogging with each other they will understand the material better and retain it longer.

Our children are the most technologically advanced generation yet — many of them headed for careers that don’t even exist today. Our children learn through technology. They have gaming systems that they interact with everyday and are successful. What if we build education around the gaming process? That is we create an education system that is both interactive and project-based. The children would then use blogs and websites to interact with each other about their successful projects, to ask for help when they are stuck, and to discuss information to review concepts or materials. Would children be more adaptive to the education process if we created an environment in which they are learning job skills that they would actually be able to use in the future? The answer is yes. Most children go home and play virtual games every day for hours and hours. If the education system was built on this the students would be more interested in learning. Children would also get the skills that they needed in a job setting such as critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving. We need to keep teaching Standard English (which we do). Children need to be taught the difference between formal and informal language (which we may or may not do). Finally, there should be a level of acceptance, rather than strong opposition to, the way children write (which we definitely do not do). Think of it as project-based learning. Children must rearrange Standard English to come up with their own texting language, and what we want them to learn is Standard English.

Teaching Our Children to Dress for Success

It is very important to teach children not only the curriculum, but also life lessons that will prepare them for a successful future. There are many avenues that are available to us to enhance our children’s futures; fashion is one avenue, which is very important in each child’s current and future success.

Fashion can be trendy, and in the past was used primarily for function. In the current years, it has become a primary form of expressive equipment to assist a performer in defining the expectancies of an audience. As a parent, there are many ways that we can educate our children to use this equipment to enhance their success in the future, by providing examples on the relevance of fashion, educating on proper grooming and clothing choices, providing an example, and holding each child to high expectations on personal appearance.

In the 21st Century we need parents that are willing to teach beyond the curriculum and provide encouragement and guidance to help them create positive habits that will improve their success in the workplace and in life. In the past fashion was used as practical protection, and style to be functional based on the individuals needs. In present day, fashion is used more as an expression. In todays over population, individuals feel the need to “stand out” from the crowd, with their own personal style. It is impossible to wear clothes without transmitting social signals. In the current workplace “perception is reality”. People around you can perceive your economic level, education level, trustworthiness, social position, level of success and moral character based on the way you dress. If you dress for a lower level of success, then you are likely to remain in that position, as it is perceived you are a fit for that position. Although the styles continue to change, rules for workplace fashion remain constant.

It is impossible to wear clothes without transmitting social signals. Comfort, protection, and modesty concerns might be overridden by a desire to look good, “fit in,” or acquire status authority. Dress is largely interpreted as a function of personal choice. Many people believe that what parents choose to wear in the home does influence the perceptions of their children.

Clothing is a primary impression management tool. Clothing is an important aspect of a “personal front”, one of the forms of expressive equipment that assist a performer in defining the expectancies of an audience. There are several decisions people make about each other based on clothing alone: economic level, educational level, trustworthiness, social position, level of sophistication, economic background, social background, educational background, level of success and moral character. Clothing also affects four kinds of judgments: credibility, likability, interpersonal attractiveness, and dominance.

For students to be successful in the 21st Century, we also need to be aware of the opportunities that are available to us to teach our children about fashion in the work place. Opportunities would be to explain examples on how individuals have been successful or unsuccessful based on their personal experience. Another way to teach is to show our children ways to improve their appearance, clothes to wear and providing ideas for dressing neater and cleaning up their appearance. When teaching this, it would also be encouraging to provide positive feedback and recognition for our children that adopt these positive habits. Providing opportunities for our children to model professional fashion, by requesting them to dress workplace professional on days they are presenting a project, or if you plan to have guests from outside of the home, this will build confidence and give them a first-hand experience using fashion as a tool to be recognized in a positive manner.