After a foundation is laid, you will need to add a strong structure to fortify their growth.
Enjoy the bi-weekly articles below.
These sections  are organized by age level, but the information is not confined that so consider looking at other age ranges as well. Also, make sure to check out the Archives.

YOUR CHILDREN'S CHALLENGES
     Your children face many challenges in their lives.  Do you know your children well enough to know what their challenges are?  Are they afraid of certain things? Talk about their fears and don't belittle the fear as a way of forcing your children to not be afraid. Teach your children--5 to 15--to rate their fear's intensity on a scale of 1-10.  Especially help your older children to use this method before a big test, project, or presentation. Teach them to relax and take deep breaths. Continue to talk to your children at this time and YOU--stay calm and confident. This will help your children to do so.  Teach them positive self-statements ("I can do this. I am ok.") even if they need to say them many times, over and over, to convince themselves.
     If your children are challenging you about chores this summer, make sure the chore is age appropriate and skill appropriate for your children, suggests Dr. David Palmer on hectic parents.com.  Make it clear what you expect. "Clean your room" may not mean the same thing to you and your children.  Write down on an index card what you think a clean room looks like so you are on the same wavelength. Question their understanding of your expectations as you make eye contact with them. Give your child the opportunity to control parts of the expected task.  "When do you want to do your laundry--before or after your sister does hers?"
     Challenge builds confidence--for you and your children.

More Help for Summer Teachers
     How is your summer parenting coming?  You are halfway through the summer as a teacher-parent.  Are you having fun yet? Or are you frustrated trying to get your children away from their "screens" or using it as a baby-sitter?  If this is so, such programs as ABCmouse.com (free for 30 days) or Reading Rainbow Skybrary (one month free) may help you get closer to the 2019-2020 school year through educational channels without worrying about content. The knowledge that your children are using their tablets or smart phones  in a worthwhile way will help you to feel less guilty about letting them use their devices.
     If you are still at a loss about what activities you can be doing together, try the websites, www.themeasuredmom.com where Anna offers you ideas and materials to reinforce the learning your younger children got in school last year. Through www.thereadingmama.com, Becky gives you more advice and ideas to reinforce your children's necessary learning.  Within www.handsonaswegrow.com,  Jamie offers you activities and routines for summer that will help you grow with your children by offering you countless everyday opportunities that you have not yet thought of.  www.mathgeekmama.com offers you math advice with the guidance of Bethany.
     Your interest and help is so necessary to your children's development in this age that shouts "entertainment" to the detriment of learning something new every day.  Can you and your children continue your summer by writing in tiny notebooks something new you learned each day? Would this give you something to talk about as you share your evening meal instead of eating in front of the TV, or skipping eating together completely?  Feeding your mind as you feed your body is so important, and sharing it gives all your family who participate pleasure and memories.
     I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines.  They go to bed every night a little wiser than they were when they got up... Charles Munger
Are you and your children reading this summer?  Elon Musk learned how to build rockets by reading books.  Bill Gates is a life-long "bookworm." Warren Buffet spends 80% of his day reading --proof that "Children who read become adults who lead." If these are the habits of highly successful people, aren't they habits you can encourage in your children? Check out series books for your elementary age children.  Get them hooked on books in this manner. Such series as Hero Dog by Hilda Lysiak, Looniverse by David Lubar and Dragon Masters by Tracy West may interest your children in this age group.    Read the first chapter together to get children into the book and watch them devour the rest. Put patriotic books on your list so children know the "why" of the 4th of July.
     You may have only 10 or 12 more summers with your children.  Make them memorable and joyful for you all.

READING FOR UNDERSTANDING                                                                   
     Reading is a chore for many children, seemingly impossible for some.  Maybe they do not know how to decipher words.  Maybe they do not know what the words are.  Maybe they do not know what the words mean. Then, parents and teachers cannot expect them to know how to read, read well, or write.  If word recognition is challenging to your children, maybe they use so much time processing individual words that it interferes with their ability to understand what they read.  Reading (and writing) are more than just words, just pronouncing words.  They are the conveyors of ideas, thoughts.  Every word has a value of its own and a meaning that is unique.  Many times as a writer, I spend time searching for just the right word, sometimes even needing to go to the dictionary several times to find exactly the word that will deliver the idea I am trying to share with you. Knowing what individual words mean determines knowing what a passage means.
     Reading comprehension involves concentration and the ability to connect words with ideas.  I encourage you to help your children pay attention, to erase everything from their minds so as to give their full attention to what you say, what their teacher says, what they do, what they read. Please take time to talk to your children and urge them to question what they did not understand.  Nurture their curiosity by your wondering aloud why things are and asking your children what they know. You can foster your children’s ability to understand what they read.
     There are many “strategies” for growing comprehension.  Much research has been done since the 1980’s trying to find the best way to teach comprehension as a necessary skill.  Children must understand why they are reading something.  Is it for information?  Is it to help them know what it is like to be blind or disabled? Is it to make them feel better after you have had a traumatic happening in their lives?  Is it to give smiles and promote giggles?  A good writer writes to help readers feel the emotions of the characters they create. Another way to assist understanding, especially text books, is to look over the material to be read.  Are there words that your children do not know or have never seen before? Can your children read the headlines, or titles of each section understanding what just those few words mean?  Is there something you have talked about at home, or in school that they have already experienced to which they can tie this new information? What questions might you ask, or can they ask themselves that will urge them to want to know more?  When they have finished reading a section, can they tell you in their own words what they have read?  Maybe they can even write a short summary for themselves or to share
      If you need more information, try this website: ehow.com/how_2089129_comprehend-reading.html.  It is ehow for moms.