Homeschoolers
Whether you are new to home schooling or have been teaching your children for quite a few years already, I am sure that you have realized that it can often be challenging to find material that can serve multiple purposes. Most homeschoolers want to prepare children not only to excel academically, but in every area of their life. It’s vital to raise children with values and good character, who are independent thinkers and are resilient enough to take on challenges that will come their way.
As a former elementary school teacher, I know firsthand that true success happens when we meet the needs of children as a whole. Children’s social and emotional health is directly tied to the way they will learn and how productive they will be. When I began to address these needs in my students, I immediately noticed a difference in their confidence and self-esteem, in their overall behavior and their relationship with others and me, and subsequently they began to perform better academically.
One of the most effective ways I found to reinforce good character traits in children and address some of the most common issues or difficulties they struggled with, like insecurity, disappointment or fear, was through the use of storytelling and shared experiences. Kids love listening to stories and they were the perfect springboard to spark critical conversations about topics I wanted to address with them. Unfortunately, I often had difficulty trying to locate materials which covered the issues or values I felt needed attention and my schedule didn’t allow me the unlimited time to spend researching and locating materials. I knew there had to be an easier way.
That’s when I decided to create The Light Giver & Other Stories to Raise Emotionally Healthy Children. The 22 stories in this book address a variety of topics like: handling fear, insecurity, disappointment, guilt, envy, and address good character traits like: forgiveness, kindness, honesty, respect, patience and a lot more. But as an educator, I wanted to address children’s academic needs as well, so with each story I included several discussion questions and a list of 20 Vocabulary words which could also serve as Spelling lists for homeschoolers to utilize.
The stories can be read to children as young as 5 and can be enjoyed by kids up to the age of 13. The independent reading level and vocabulary words are targeted to children within a 3rd to 5th grade reading level.
But I didn’t stop there. I created a companion book, The Light Giver Stories Workbook, that offers simple supplementary activities, lessons or discussions to further support the topics found in each story. Both were intentionally designed to be easy enough for anyone to use. In fact, the lessons and activities can be practically read to children verbatim and the majority of them require very little or no preparation at all. The directions are so simple, it’s like I am holding your hand throughout the entire process.
To give you a better idea of what the books offer, click on the link at the bottom of the page to get 2 FREE Stories & Lessons from The Light Giver Stories Books.
However, I realize that some of you might want some extra guidance and help with the lessons or may even be interested in getting additional support to meet your child’s social and emotional needs. My experience in the classroom and my training in Social Emotional Learning and Character Development at Rutgers University has helped me develop tools that can assist in meeting these needs in children and helping to open the lines of communication with them. For that reason, I am offering coaching sessions which can be live or virtual for children or parents who are interested in my services. These sessions can include:
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Readings and follow up discussions of the stories from The Light Giver & Other Stories to Raise Emotionally Healthy Children. Stories can be chosen based on the topic or issue that you would like me to specifically target with your child.
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Lessons from The Light Giver Stories Workbook addressing the specific issues your child may be facing or struggling with.
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Useful strategies and tips for parents/homeschoolers to help develop their child’s coping skills, self-esteem, empathy as well as additional ways to strengthen their character.
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Beneficial tips to improve communication skills between parents/homeschoolers and children.