“I know our fun in the sun ends with back to school,” was the answer a child gave to “what is Labor Day”. Labor day is the holiday to honor the labor / union movements. It’s a day to celebrate the hard work and contributions made to the well-being of our country. It’s actually an important day to understand, but what most understand is that it marks the end of summer vacation. Instead of enjoying “fun in the sun” many are preparing for “back to school.” Back to school means back to labor for school staff and for the students – as learning is a student’s job. I wonder how we can get student’s excited about their job. How can we teach them that their hard work today will determine their success tomorrow? How can we teach them to not simply graduate and “go to work,” but to turn their passion into a career? As Confucius said “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Choose a job you love and you never have to end summer vacation or your fun in the sun!
I love my job. I’ve had positions making more money, but none making me as happy. Between Mi Families programs and Adventure Academy I am never bored, as my duties are forever changing. My double Bachelor degrees in Early Education and Family Services AND over two-decades of experiences as a caregiver, coach, teacher, counselor, ABA therapist, curriculum designer and program director have led me here. My education and jobs have taught me that my most important job is being a mom. Being able to work with children, their parents and providers is my dream job, but having my children work besides me is beyond rewarding. They have more goals watching my husband and I fulfill our dreams then they had when “back to school” was part of our schedule.
I’m not going to encourage every family to throw out their scheduled lives. Homeschooling, while living a freelance life is not very stable. It was definitely a more secure life sending our boys to school while myself and my husband worked, but that life didn’t work when the unpredictable changed our schedule. You can’t always plan on special needs or job loss or your house flooding or … anything … but you can always make the best of changes. You can always try and make those changes better your situation. You can teach your children they have the power to change situations. You can be a victim and use others power to keep you relying on aid and assistance to survive, or you can be the power to aid and assist others. You can consider your strengths vs struggles and fight for you and yours the way those union workers did (who brought us holidays, vacations, freedoms…). You decide if you want your work to limit you or free you.
In Michigan the homeschooling life is open to many freedoms, from curriculums to schedules. Sometimes our schedules mean we get to visit my husband on movie sets and see all sorts of places and meet all sorts of people and explore all sorts of movie making jobs (there are many). Homeschooling has meant many more opportunities to learn about occupations, people and places than if they were still in traditional school. It has meant opening up the doors to future careers that others once told us would be impossible for them, while labeling their needs and ignoring their abilities. Watching one child disappear into a wordless world and the other regress developmentally felt like doors were closing, but today they are past provider predications. Even if one has goals of becoming a ninja I’ll encourage his dreams and put him in martial arts. If the other is fascinated by space we’ll stay up late and go to astronomy programs, with a bunch of old scientists who I can’t understand! He’s ok if the sun sets and he can’t have “fun in the sun,” because he knows he can have fun under the stars and sleep in!
Sometimes he can’t sleep in as long as he’d like, because sometimes friends come early to play the next morning. We all love when friends come to visit though, and the boys love working with me and being a teacher and teaching others what they have learned about. They love encouraging even the smallest of friends to learn more about whatever they are interested in. The goal of our Adventure Academy (child development center) is to encourage a love for learning. We go on adventures of all kinds to discover new interests. When a child enjoys exploring the world around them they try their best during each activity… and “when they try their best, they pass life’s test.” When a child has time to work through each activity at their own speed they discover who they are and who they want to be.
Adventure Academy encourages children to go after their dream and set goals. Through our programs and philosophies Adventure Academy encourages “resiliency, responsibility and respect.” Our philosophies teach life and academic lessons through a variety of curriculums, including Mother Goose Time (click for link), Little Lincoln, Right Start Math, Math U See, Spelling U See, Handwriting without Tears, All About Reading, Explode the Code … and more! Adventure Academy has curriculums to build brains and bodies! One of our fun motor skill resources comes from Mother Goose Time’s – Dance ‘n Beats program. (Each month they have a new dvd that goes with the study unit * CLICK HERE TO ORDER * Click below to watch.)
We use all resources available to discover what a student enjoys and how they learn best. We have many resources available for our child care and tutoring students and encourage you to check out our center. Our boys have worked hard re-designing our one-room school-house and have made videos showing our environment and some curriculums in action. Visit our YouTube channel to check it out. Below is a lil’ video clip I made that’s not as fun, but informative (displaying our back 2 school start up).
If you’d like more information about Adventure Academy CLICK HERE or email Christi@MiFamilies.com. If you’d like more information about other programs facilitated through Mi Families CLICK HERE . If you’d like to connect with other parents / providers check out our FACEBOOK page. If you’d like ideas for your family or families you work with – we have many posted on PINTEREST. We’re on Twitter … LinkedIn … we’re growing and reaching out with resources! For updates on resources and other resourceful articles please subscribe by clicking the link up on the right. THANKS!
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