Child’s Potential – Episode 293
Your child’s potential depends on so many things including God’s amazing plan! Our role as parents is varied, right? Depending on the time of day. Sometimes we nurture, sometimes we are just keeping them safe, and other times we educate.
Thanks so much to our sponsor of the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network and this podcast, Time 4 Learning – have you checked out this website?
Our culture tries to tell us what we can and can’t be–but as a homeschool family, we think differently. There isn’t anything we can’t learn if we have the will and desire to learn more. We don’t have limitations. The only limitations are the ones we place on ourselves.
It has been said repeatedly that the most important time for your child’s developmental health is when they are young before they reach eighteen.
The person who is pivotal and instrumental in their life? Their mother is first and father comes next.
So many have pushed moms out of the home to work. And, we’ve seen the effect of this in many families we know.
The best parents are not the ones who make the most money or who indulge their children in gifts or things.
The best parents give kids boundaries, set up their environments as places where kids can grow and learn.
They listen when their kids talk. I know, this can be painful when you have a child who talks a lot!
Sometimes talkers need to be tempered to be listeners as well.
The best parents treat their kids as gifts from God. They give their children respect and they expect respect in return.
Strong parents lead by example.
Children who reach their potential within the homeschool environment have a safe place for our children to:
- Think
- Explore
- Experiment
- Develop
- Understand
- Respect
- Desire
- Learn relationships
- Love
- Make decisions
Many times our children only think of themselves with the image we reflect upon them. How do you see your children? Take the time to think about this.
Here are the first five keys to developing your children to reach their potential:
- Give children your time.
- Take time to observe your children
- Build up your children.
- Encourage your children.
- Do you look for what comes naturally?
I’ve learned so much from my husband. Out of the two of us I’m the talker, I’m the doer, I don’t like to procrastinate. My husband thinks, considers and contemplates.
My husband is naturally positive and sees the good in things, he often says, “Good try.” When the results are less than our children hoped. This does not come naturally to me; however, I’ve seen first-hand how effective my husband is at encouraging them to try harder.
When our children had difficulty doing something or succeeding, he would ask, “What were you thinking?”
This requires input from our children. They have to analyze and give it serious thought. At first, the answers were, “I don’t know.” But then they were soon able to answer and self-correct.
When I realized one of my children was gifted–he basically taught himself to read at four years old, I knew he would need to be academically challenged. I watched as he continued to keep up academically with his siblings. I challenged him with offers of projects and activities.
For some of my struggling learners, I watched to observe their interests. I looked at what came naturally.
My children ranged from gifted to struggling learners yet all excelled. It was more about giving the children opportunities rather than dwell on what they could not do.
Several of my children excelled in sports to the youngest three and science to the oldest two.
For the older two, there were science fair projects and field trips that centered around science such as nature centers, museums, NASA space center and more. For the younger three the same but we added sports-related activities such as little league. My daughter went to the softball world series in Little League and is currently playing softball in college – with an academic scholarship. My youngest also plays on the college level with many successes in high school. We allow our children to think to explore areas of interest. To experiment by testing their ideas. Maybe this is in the kitchen, or with chemical compounds – yes, we supervise! We allow our kids to develop ideas – such as one child who decided to make videos using stop-motion and Legos®. His siblings thought it was a huge waste of time. This child now wants to be an engineer. He also was the one caught jumping off a one-story roof in the backyard by another sibling who thankfully brought it to my attention. He was testing a theory of trajectory and landing.
Our children would understand the information before they went on in a grade or level. Yes, I had several of my children repeat an Algebra class because they failed to demonstrate an understanding. We used Math-U-See with two of my boys and it worked for them, for the other three a video class and textbook for higher math worked well.
Then next five keys to potentials:
- Listen when your children speak
- Give them time to develop interests.
- Give your children opportunities
- Do we ask them what they are thinking when they make mistakes?
- Don’t put limitations on your children.
Sometimes your child’s potential is pointed out by a family member or neighbor.
I listened one time to my struggling reader present a report from memory. He didn’t stumble or appear nervous like his peers because he knew his material and wasn’t reading it.
He had stage presence, something you can practice but comes naturally to some.
This presentation made an impact to the other participants and set him up for success.
Your child’s potential comes in many shapes and sizes – each child who is encouraged to discover and explore will have lifelong skills. It isn’t how many answers you are able to fill in on a test, it is the ability to find the answers you need to solve your questions that will allow your child to succeed in their potential.
Special Thanks to Our Network Sponsor -Time 4 Learning
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The comprehensive, award-winning curriculum allow students to study confidently and excel at their own pace, making it ideal for all kinds of learners, whether they are mainstream, gifted or special needs.
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I would love to hear a podcast on how you home schooled high school in order to get NCAA College Athletes in college. What NCAA accredited courses did you use? Do electives in high school have to be NCAA accredited or just the core subjects? Thank you.
Hey Tamra! I’m going to be a guest on The Homeschool Highschool Podcast and I feel after the last 4 years I’ve got lots to share! Stay tuned, we are scheduling it soon. In answer to your questions. First, I did not look at NCAA to tell me how to homeschool. My son took some dual enrollment classes and some were for fun, and didn’t count! He had an interest and enough credits. Secondly, faith subjects don’t count. We still did a study of the Old and New Testament. They are looking for good core classes which most homeschoolers take. My biggest change if I could was filling out the forms each year instead of waiting until the end. THAT was a killer! Keep a record of a synopsis of the class – it really helps. On the podcast I will read some samples.