by Smart Coos
Are you a parent who places learning as a top priority? But do you also find yourself to be so busy with life that you don’t get the chance to do as much as you would like? We know that mothers and parents lead busy lifestyles and can find fitting in everything they want to be too much sometimes. This is why we have asked experts—smart, experienced parents—their favorite tips to incorporate learning into a busy schedule.
- Communicate: Brian Stewart, parent of two and owner of an educational consulting business, says that communication is very important. Using sign language when his children were young helped stimulate them and speaking to them as much as possible was a huge success. He told us that by speaking to them about their everyday things helped explain the “whys” of the world. Answer their questions. Explain things you may not know need explaining. This is so important.
- Play games with everyday activities: So many parents have told us that this is one of the most useful tools they have used.
- Teach them fractions while measuring the laundry detergent.
- Have them pick out different colors at the grocery store. Have them pick out different letters and words as they get older.
- Read to them different signs that they see.
- Count money to help them learn math.
There are so many games that you can play while going about your daily routine. As they say, you can kill two birds with one stone. The key is to make learning a natural extension of what you are doing, as mother Anne Louise Bannor tells us.
- Ask questions: Many sources told us to ask questions. As you are driving from place to place or doing chores ask questions to challenge children to think deeper. Kristen Siggins, co-founder of Institute of Curiosity, says that asking open ended questions allows children to think outside the box and is imperative to support life long learning.
Contributed to by Carol Glover