 The holidays can sometimes be one of the most stressful times of the year for us adults, but have you ever thought about how your child may be feeling during this time of year? Sure Christmas is typically known as a holiday all kids are excited for, but believe it or not they get stressed too during this time.
Read on below to learn how to keep your children happy and stress-free during the holidays while also reminding them of the real reason for this Christmas season. Rest, Not Just the Kids but the Parents too! Kids can read into our emotions a lot more than we think. 9 times out of 10 they can tell when we are stressed and they may be affected by that. Make sure as parents you are taking the time to decompress when you can, the holidays can be stressful but by resting often your family will be more at peace. Make Wise Travel Plans Traveling during the holiday season is very important for most families as they want to see as much family as possible. This year try to leave plenty of time for driving around and seeing family, don’t try to squeeze it all in one day if you can help it. Also don’t leave loading the car with all the presents and dishes to pass, leave plenty of time to load the car before leaving. Limit Screen Time Screens at night will definitely affect your child's ability to get restful sleep at night. During the holidays it is very important they are getting enough sleep for the long days ahead of them. Limiting screen time doesn’t necessarily make your kids very happy, but they’ll thank you later when they aren’t falling asleep during every car ride. Keep Up With Assignments and Current School Topics Often times during break, your students will begin to forget or lose track of what they’ve been learning in school. Now we aren't saying you should fill their free time with school activities, but a little refresher here and there may be helpful so they aren’t struggling when they get back. Focus on What Matters on Christmas Make sure you remind your students of the real reason for this holiday season. It’s not all about the gifts, food, and seeing family. Christmas is for celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and everything he has done for us since then. Keeping your child focused on this will definitely reduce stress and keep the holiday meaningful. In Conclusion The holidays are stressful, but they don’t have to be, especially for your kids. Keep the above points in mind as we quickly approach this holiday season. Foundations Christian School is still accepting students for the 2022-2023 school year. If you are interested in enrolling your student please contact Carrie Alo at 607-271-1116 or fill out the enrollment form on our website.
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 Keeping the kids busy during the preparations around Thanksgiving day can be crucial. For many families, Thanksgiving is one of the most important holidays and one of the biggest celebrations of the year.
Below we will talk about ways to get your child involved with the logistics of Thanksgiving and ways to also keep them busy when you don’t want them as involved in the kitchen. Get Cookin’ Get the kids involved with Thanksgiving food prep! Of course, the age of your child varies with this task but they will be beaming with pride on Thanksgiving day when they reveal they had a big part in helping you cook. Kids of all ages can also help set the table for all of the family members soon to arrive at your home. Visit a Parade or Two The days before and the days after Thanksgiving are most likely filled with parades or fun local activities for your kids and family to enjoy like parades. Children of all ages love going to parades, there is definitely always something there for everyone to enjoy looking at. Plus the younger kids would probably love to get a possible glimpse of Santa in your local parades! Get Crafty This option is probably pretty self-explanatory. Get the kiddos involved in some super easy crafts based on Thanksgiving! Not only will this keep them entertained, but it will also help get them in the thankful spirit of Thanksgiving. An added bonus would be a craft that you can use to decorate around your house for the day of Thanksgiving. The kids will be beams of happiness while showing off their artwork to all of their relatives. Volunteer Volunteering is an amazing way to give back to your community while also teaching the kids to be thankful for the things they do have. Do some research and see if your local soup kitchen needs help cooking or serving food to the needy. Or maybe your local salvation army needs some help sorting and donating items they’ve received to local shelters. There are plenty of opportunities to help wherever you may look! Go Shopping Everyone knows that the day after Thanksgiving has become a holiday on its own. Black Friday is widely recognized as the day most people start their Christmas shopping to get the best deals possible. While we don’t recommend dragging the kids out of bed at 4 AM to start shopping, an early start on shopping could be a fun way to kick off the holiday season. In Conclusion Thanksgiving day and the week leading up to it is one of the best and busiest times of the year. We hope these suggestions above help you keep the kids busy while also teaching them to be thankful during this important holiday. Foundations Christian School is still enrolling students for the 2022-2023 school year. If you are interested in enrolling contact Carrie Alo at 607-271-1116 or fill out the enrollment form on our website.  Developing critical thinking skills for your child is important, especially as they get older and become school ready. In today’s world kids need to be ready to spit more knowledge other than facts and numbers they learned from a textbook.
How can you teach your kids to think critically? Below we will discuss some critical tips and tricks to help you teach your kids the ways of critical thinking. Provide Opportunities to Play Freely Playing with toys such as blocks, or playing pretend games with friends that require your kids to act out roles helps develop important critical thinking skills. The process of thinking up their pretend role in their game with their friend, or building various towers or buildings with blocks helps to strengthen the creative part of their brain. It encourages them to think outside the box without any form of pressure on them. Pause and Wait When asking your kids questions about whatever you need to know, pause and wait for their answer. Let them think through the question thoroughly without adding any pressure. By doing so you are encouraging them to think critically for themselves rather than pressuring them into an answer with the opinions you’ve given them. It’s important your kids learn how to think for themselves while answering questions, they can’t rely on you to answer them all the time. Don’t Intervene If you’ve given your child a task and they seem to be struggling but haven’t asked for help, don’t jump in and try to save the day. Wait and watch as they try to work through their problem, don’t offer your help unless they have specifically asked for it. By doing so you are encouraging them to learn how to work through problems on their own without your guidance. Ask Open-Ended Questions Instead of offering immediate answers to the questions, your children ask you throughout the day, ask them questions to help them think through the answer themselves. Ask them questions like “what do you think?” Or “what ideas do you have?” These open-ended questions will not only encourage critical thinking but this will help them get to the answers on their own. In Conclusion Critical thinking is an important skill for your students to learn. Not only will it help them at school and at home but in the future, it will help them navigate the world around them without you. We hope the above tips help you learn to encourage your children to start developing those important critical thinking skills. Foundations Christian School is still accepting new students for the 2022-2023 school year. If you are interested in enrolling your student please contact Carrie Alo at 607-271-6111 or fill out the enrollment form on our website.  As parents, you care deeply about the spiritual growth of your children, at least you should. It can be difficult to tell as your kids get older if the lessons or stories you read from the Bible are really truly resonating or sticking with them.
You will find below a few resources we have gathered for you to help guide you in the ways of teaching your kids the Bible and about Jesus. The Jesus Storybook Bible The Jesus Storybook Bible written by Sally Lloyd Jones is by far one of the most helpful tools, which is why we put it first. This book is filled with all of the classic Bible stories you can think of. They all circle back to teaching your children how truly amazing our God is. As you read these stories, your children will learn and grow within their spiritual relationship with Jesus. My Kid’s Prayer Journal - 100 Days of Prayer and Praise When we pray, we oftentimes may find ourselves teaching our kids the classic prayers we’ve heard since we were in Sunday school. It’s important to promote intentional prayer to your children. A prayer journal is a perfect way to do just that. Your kids are more than capable of praying intentionally, and with this book's extra-wide ruled spacing, they will feel encouraged to do so. This book will also be an awesome keepsake for them to look back on in remembrance of their spiritual growth. Shine a Light by Ken Blount Every single day it is important to teach our children that they were put on this earth for a specific and important purpose by God. We are, as children of God the salt of the earth and light of the world. All of the songs on this album are geared toward elementary school-age children. That is such an important age for you as parents to teach them and help them lean into their purpose as children of God. These songs are powerful, and even better they have a high chance of getting stuck in your children's heads as they head out the door for school. In Conclusion It doesn’t have to be challenging to teach your children the importance and purpose of the bible. We hope these resources we listed above will help you as parents strengthen your children's spiritual relationship with Jesus. Foundations Christian School is still accepting new students for the 2022-2023 school year. If you are interested in enrolling your student contact Carrie Alo at 607-271-1116 or fill out the enrollment form on our website. |
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December 2022
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