Archives For Homeschooling

90% of the World’s Students Need a New Trauma Informed Strategy

During this Covid-19 pandemic, more than 90% of the world’s students were displaced from attending school. Absolutely, mind boggling! I am more than grateful for the influx of free trauma informed care training online to support hurting students and their families. Details are below.

My Two Cents: We Will Need New Lenses

Perhaps even more critical than these last few weeks of school is preparation for start up in the fall. I do not believe in the “get back to normal” notion. We need to embrace a new trauma lens. It will be critical to prepare our educators, service providers and organizations for short and long term changes to our systems.

Retooling for School Students in the Fall… Hopefully Post Covid-19

For many months and years to come, our children will remember and respond in many ways to “The Great Covid-19 Shutdown of 2020”. Some resilient students with lots of support will seem to bounce back and perform well academically. The trick is… our students will not all bounce back. Many vulnerable kids are depressed and despondent during this lockdown. We have heard of the increase in drug use, self-harm and aggression to manage their pain. In addition, many successful students who smile and seem fine may be harboring their pain inside. All students deserve opportunities to process their emotions in order to promote long-term wellness.

Good News

The good news is we have learned it is possible to develop the emotional health of students. It is completely doable if schools and organizations prepare to put on a new lens: trauma informed care.

The free course provided by Starr Commonwealth is a good opportunity for a limited time when using the code TRAUMAINFORMED (all caps).

From their site:

“This course provides detailed information and concrete actions that answer not just the “why” but also the “how” to create the best classroom and school supports for traumatized students and the school professionals who serve them.”

The course covers many topics including:

resilience

core values and beliefs exploration

trauma’s impact on children 

fostering connections

social and emotional skills

safety 

play

Enjoy!!

Heloise J. Ridley, MBA, MA

Hello again everyone!

I am excited to share more free Neurologic resources because they have been immensely helpful for managing my own school age kids at home for the Covid-19 Shutdown. I find myself repeatedly sharing this info with clients so I decided to post this one and possibly collect some useful resources for caregivers struggling with their kids who are struggling. If you have any winners, please share it in the comments.

This time I am sharing a homeschool webinar: HOMEBOUND: Josh MacNeill (Brain Breaks)

I attended after being notified by one of my agencies that Josh MeNeill was joining Susan Wise Bauer, my homeschool hero to help us all settle into a “school at home” routine with kids who may be grieving the loss of school, defiant, anxious, confused, uncooperative and/or bored.

My worlds have finally collided! I believe families NEED this kind of information to understand WHY their kids are “acting up” instead of just feeling frustrated, annoyed or in dispair.

Josh from Lakeside details helpful concepts for caregivers to help their students’ get through behaviors that interfere with learning. To be honest, as a therapist helping other caregivers, I benefit tremendously from internalizing materials like these to support my own family of 6 + 2 kids; seven of whom are back home for the duration. 

Brain breaks which he gives examples for are the best. We like many use different gadgets to break up the “Groundhog Day” monotony of lockdown school during quarantine. This has been vastly different than homeschooling for sure.

My favorite brain break activities include paper behind the back, thumb roll, mindfulness mint (I use starburst), nature sounds (I use safari videos), the alphabet/number trace, and some of the tossing brain benders.

Lakeside Neurologic is known internationally to support the therapeutic education of vulnerable youth. Full disclosure: I am not sure how long this free zoom link for the Homebound video will be active. 

Due to Covid19 their book shipments are delayed. If anyone wants the “101 Brain Breaks” little square book Josh described that I enjoy using here’s an Amazon link: https://smile.amazon.com/s?me=AU4E06N5BT5JX&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Enjoy guys,
Heloise (Lois) Ridley, MBA,MA 

Repost of an original after my Enoch Homeschool convention presentation – May 26, 2016 entry due to our temporary season homeschooling the minis again during covid-19 quarantine after a two year break! Powerpoint included to help families organize

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“Beginning the Homeschool Funnel”
Hello to my “Newbie” friends. Welcome to the Homeschool Movement!
“Starting the homeschool process is much like using a funnel. We add many components that filter through and flow out to your family’s mix. This workshop will discuss the natural process to get started homeschooling.
“Organizing, goal and vision setting for homeschooling is a process. Some families need a reboot to plan long term. This workshop helps parents evaluate their priorities and values for global planning.
Here is a LINK to the PowerPoint so you can click the links….https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B38T9lYEqjrSQ21iV0pFbGwyOEE/view?usp=sharing

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