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~HOME LIFE NEWS~
T h e " W o w " F a c t o r | Vol. 7. No. 9
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ONE WEEK LEFT FOR 20% OFF!
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To all who will pre-register for the 2010-2011 school year. Just login
to your account and follow the steps to pre-register and you will be
granted a 20% discount off your total registration fees for next school
year. Expires Feb. 28th!
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T h e " W o w " F a c t o r !
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Here's what we all want, right? We want our kids to shout at the top of their little lungs.... "I love homeschooling!!" And I'm sure all of our kids do this every single morning, right? Wrong. Truth is, it's hard work to keep things interesting and not let our kids get bored. Some days you have to do the workbook; and some days you simply must complete the writing assignments. But mixed in all along the way, regardless of your child's age, grade, or learning style, should be "The Wow Factor."
One way to get your kids shouting "I love homeschooling" more often is to use what I call
"The Wow Factor." The Wow Factor is a measurement of how
many times your student says, "WOW!" in the course of a day or week. The
time frame for measurement is
up to you, but the goal is simple -- make them say, "Wow!" The more they
proclaim "Wow," the more successful you are. You could even give
yourself points or compete with your spouse. Here's an example.
When our oldest son was just one year old, he knew about five good words
-- "mommy," "dada," "nana"
(Nathan), "ball," and "wow." What a joy to see his little face light
up when he touched something neat and interesting. He was young so it was
the simple things in life that wowed him, like the first feeling
of a pine cone.
We went hunting for the largest pine cone we could find. They
can get pretty big. As Nathan held one I thought, 'Proportionally that cone in my hands would be as big as a basketball.' WOW! And it made me wonder how big they can really get. "To the computer!"
Did you know, at any given time, one large Giant Sequoia (the oldest known based on the ring count, is 3,500 years old) may be expected to have approximately 11,000 cones? "The upper part of
the crown of any mature Giant Sequoia invariably produces a greater
abundance of cones than its lower portions. A mature giant sequoia has
been estimated to disperse from 300,000-400,000 seeds per year. The
winged seeds may be carried up to 180m (600 ft) from the parent tree." WOW!
As I watched his
little expressions, it occurred to me this is just what we want! We
desire our
children to "Wow!" as many times as possible, all the way through
school. 'Sure,' you're thinking, 'it's easy when they're little.' But it can be done as they
grow older as well. No matter how old we are, if we stop and study the
pine cone I
think we'd be wowed as well! Just look at its substance, its
biological make up, its purpose, and most
importantly, why God made it.
Here's a secret. I found this information in a matter of minutes. I looked up pine cones in Wikipedia and
started scanning for "Wows," looking for large numbers and exciting
adjectives. With some practice you can get really good at scanning for
"Wows." The only downside is every single time you sit down at the
computer, ALL your children will want to sit on your lap, because they've
come to expect something cool. (If you consider that a downside.)
Of course, the opposite of, "Wow" is not what you want. The opposite
of, "Wow" is "Awww," as in, "Awww, do we have to?" This is perhaps the
most common expression among students in America. However, with home
education it simply does not have to be this way. Sure there will be
some "Awww"s along the way. But there should be far more "WOW!"s. The more you have the more likely your child will wake up and shout, "I love homeschooling!" So, how do you go about Wowing your students? Email us and we'll share your "Wow" stories in the next ~ HOME LIFE NEWS ~.
-david
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Home Life News is a monthly newsletter
resource provided to all HLA teachers. HLA offers parents
the freedom to choose their own books and custom design a
learner-centered educational plan to meet the interests and needs of
each individual student. From Kindergarten to graduation, HLA provides
record keeping, transcript, counseling, resource links, college
placement and more, allowing parents to do what they do best, lead
their children into a life-long love for learning! |
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