Lesson 6: A Long-Term Plan for Success

Could I offer you a quick bribe? I promise you’ll thank me later. 🙂

I’d like to come over to your house, stay for a month, and walk you through any changes you might need in your parenting.

That’s right, I’ve come up with a great system where we’ll evaluate all your strengths and weaknesses, make sure your husband and you are moving in the same direction, then help the kids improve in all four of the critical areas needed for educational success. You can sit back and know that you’re not alone is this huge endeavor. That’s why I’ll stay at least a month, with phone support for life.

Are you interested?

🙂

Of course you are! (Hey, I’m interested, too. Will this SuperMom come to my house, too?????)

If only it were possible. And even if it were, I promise you, I don’t have all the answers. If only… if only…

But I did have a friend ask me one time if I’d write a quick book about parenting. Something easy. Something for a mother of a preschooler, like she was. (Her son was 3 at the time, and she was expecting her 2nd baby.)

So over a few months, with many phone conversations and living-room conversations with my friend, and after reading many other books, calling some wise, experienced mothers I knew, keeping track of all that we talked about, and noticing some patterns and themes that were developing…

(drumroll)

I did indeed get all the ideas compiled into one short, practical book.

Table of Contents

1. Getting Ready for School – an introduction to why we need to prepare our children for their education and a brief overview of some things parents should consider.
2. Foundational Issues – a discussion of the four foundations upon which a successful education is built.
   • Order in the Home
   • Respect for Others
   • Attention
   • Parental Example
3. Establishing Order – a discussion of the three basic activities of an orderly day.
   • Meal Time 
   • Play Time 
   • Sleep Time 
4. Teaching Respect – a discussion of how and why to teach respect to our children.
   • Respect for Parents
   • Respect for Authority
   • Respect for Peers
   • Respect for Property
   • Freedom
   • Consistency
   • Teaching Biblical Values
   • The Joys of Parenting
5. Developing Attention – a discussion of how attention-span skills are simply an indication of the level of self-control our children have.
   1. Beginning School – a discussion of common educational theories and how they affect your child.
      
      • Educational Goals 
        
      • Learning Styles
      • Homeschooling Methods
   • The Philosophy of Self-Control
   • Teaching Self-Control
   • Teaching Focusing Skills

So that’s my bribe! If I could physically come to your house, these are the things I’d tell you. Since I can’t, I’m hoping that this book will help out instead.

>> Read more about The Four Foundations of Lifelong Learning:  Preparing Your Little Ones for School.

You see, it’s a lot of work for an author to put a book together and get it on the market. Authors really do want to see you succeed, though. It’s heart-rending to think that a book might be collecting dust on a shelf in a home where the reader badly needs the information in the book.

Books are meant to be read and applied. So how do you do that?

The best way to read a book:

• Read it with a pen and highlighter.
• Highlight all the things you need to try. Yup… if it’s a good book, it’ll get really marked up!
• Then, read it again as you get UP out of your chair, walk around, and DO the things it says.
• Put a check mark next to each highlighted item — only when you’ve tried it for real.

If that’s how you read my book, I’m absolutely sure your child would be prepared for learning. In fact, I have a feeling your life might be changed, too.

>> Read about Biblical Principles of Homeschooling.