A Heart For All Students Lindsay Leiviska, MAT

Does your child take forever to work on that math assignment?   How long is long enough? Every kid has THAT subject in their schoolwork. It takes them forever to do and seems to be an infinite source of frustration. 

Thankfully, there is freedom and even benefits in calling it quits at the right time.
Today I'll talk about the mistake of pushing our children to do every problem. Hitting a certain number of problems alone does not accomplish the education we seek for our kids. Small chunks over time yield fruit. 

How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.  
In this episode, you’ll hear:
A mama's concern for her child’s slower processing speed,My experience with my daughter’s multiplication struggle,Methods for effective and stress-free learningTime stamps:
2:05 Children with slower processing speeds
2:41 The problem with doing ALL the problems
3:29 Goal of education
4:12 Effective stress-free learning method
5:48 Teaching my daughter three-digit by two-digit multiplication
6:51 Our children want to do a good job for us
Related Links From This Episode:
Episode Website: How Long Is Long EnoughHomeschooling The Unregulated Child

When homeschooling our kids, it's easy for us to get overwhelmed when our kids are struggling to learn.  Add in our kids' frustrations and their overwhelm can result in difficult behavior such as meltdowns and "tantrums".    

And how we respond as parents makes all the difference. 
In today’s episode, I chat about how God’s grace changes the way we help our children through their hard behaviors. He is big enough to handle our tantrums as adults and He is certainly big enough to handle our kid’s tantrums. 


In this episode, you’ll hear:
My experience with both my own and my daughter’s frustration with learning a new math conceptHow our relationships with our kids and homeschool lessons can not be separateAnd how God’s grace applies to teaching our childrenListen in and see if this resonates with you.  And if you're looking for more support to help your child navigate their own frustrations with learning, check out The Unregulated Child: Sensory Systems & Self-Regulation in Your Home & Homeschool. 

Time Stamps:
4:23 My daughter’s frustration with algebra
7:28 How God sees our frustration
8:19 Continual pushing breaks relationship
8:58 God’s BIG Grace
10:50 We can’t control our kids


Links from this episode:
Website home: www.aheartforallstudents.comHomeschool Parent Training: Homeschooling the Unregulated ChildRELATED EPISODE: Zones of Regulation & Self-Regulation For The FamilyBarely Surviving To Outright Thriving Online Course For Moms

Should you train your kids to obey right away?
That’s the question and that’s the topic I’m discussing in today’s episode. 
A sweet friend of mine asked this question a year ago and I answered her in a Facebook Live.  She asked this:
“I was at a parenting conference this weekend.  The person leading the workshop told us that it was our job as parents to teach our children to obey right away.  He said we needed to expect this of our kids because that’s how we train our children to listen to and obey the Holy Spirit.   This didn’t sit well with me.  What do you think?”
Well, as you can imagine, I had lots to say about it.  I remember hearing this from dear friends as we parented our kids in the earlier years.
Ultimately, if it was ever possible for any of us to obey right away we would not need Jesus. All throughout the Old Testament we see the Israelites desperately trying to obey all the laws.  To obey right away and yet they never could.  They failed miserably over and over again. 
And in God’s ultimate wisdom, provision and love, He chose to send His Son to live the perfect life for us because we will never be able to do so on our own.  Friends, we can never do it perfectly.  We are considered righteous because of Christ’s work and not our own.  
So where does this idea of obey right away come from and how do we discipline our kids well?
I discuss this concept deeply in my book Behind the Behavior as well as in my online course Barely Surviving To Outright Thriving.  
If you’re Christian mom who has struggled with an overwhelming sense of guilt when your child continually displays challenging behaviors, this is the episode for you.   
Listen in.  And be encouraged and equipped.  Don’t forget to subscribe and write a review if you found this helpful.   Shoot me an email at Lindsay@aheartforallstudents.com  Would love to hear your thoughts.   In this together!

If you are new to the idea of home education, you may be one of those moms looking to know how to homeschool.  It is not school at home.  Homeschooling is a lifestyle focused on educating each individual child so that they grow into a thriving adult.

So if you are overwhelmed and searching for answers as to how to homeschool, give yourself lots of grace.  Learning anything is a process and does not happen overnight.

With everything in life, internal motivation is the game changer that propels us forward in any endeavor.  We want our resistant readers to learn to enjoy the experience without stressing about making mistakes.

Conversations and dialogue between a trusted adult and a child is not only life-giving but also build up language and reading comprehension skills.

Bottom line, when you read aloud to your child of any age, you remove barriers to reading, increase foundational language skills and deepen relationships.

Win!  Win!

Related Resources:


How to Help a Struggling Reader: The Mother of All GuidesOrton Gillingham Approach and All About Reading- Why They Work!How to Choose the Best Homeschool Language Arts Curriculum!

Do you have a kid who melts down at the slightest frustration?   

Wait... Is that you banging your head against a wall? 

I get it.  I really do.  I know how brutal it can be to navigate our kids' intense emotions and behaviors.  Because the reality is that when our kids are struggling, melting down, are irritable, refuse all the things... it's exhausting and frustrating.

If we want to do more than just survive the hard days, we moms need to equip our kids with self-regulation tools. 

In today's episode, I'm sharing one of my favorite self-regulation tools, the Zones of Regulation chart.  More importantly, though, I'm discussing the importance of self-regulation and executive functioning for the entire family.

The truth is that it's not just our kids with ADHD, Autism, sensory processing and behavioral "issues" that need help with self-regulation and executive functioning.  Nope, adults need to focus on their own skills as well.  And that includes me, Friend.  Truly it does.

We are all just people.  Parents and kids alike.  And it's crucial that we understand that we're all a part of the dynamic.  And while it's so hard to parent a child who doesn't fit in the box, the number one thing we can do to support these amazing (and God-designed little people) is to love them through a relationship.

And that means that for us to respond well when our kids have meltdowns, tantrums, or simply refuse to do anything they're asked at home or in our homeschools, we've got to be our healthiest selves as often as possible.  (Let's be real--- no mom is ever going to be perfect at this--- especially me.  We're shooting for a new pattern- not perfection).

I'm also excited to announce the release of my new in-depth training: Homeschooling The Unregulated Child: Self-Regulation in Your Home & Homeschool.  In it, I'll teach you all about God's design of the brain, and sensory systems and how both impact behavior and learning.  Then I teach you how to move forward with your child.  Get excited!  This is good stuff!

Listen in and circle back to me with questions and thoughts.  In this together!

Help!  "My kid hates math!  I hate math!"

Math.  You either love it or you hate it.   Our kids either love it or they hate it.

I hear you and I hear this all the time from moms and kids.  The problem is that often it's just the way we approach teaching math (or any subject) that gets in the way of our kids' ability to learn.  I'm no exception.

The traditional education model is so deeply engrained in our collective minds, that we are often held back simply because we don't check those expectations at the door.  I've been doing this a long time and I too catch myself falling into the "school has to look this way" trap.

When it comes to math, we've got to be careful not to fall into these traps that can prevent our kids and ourselves from moving forward.  Again, I'm preaching to myself here. 

This is especially important when homeschooling our kids who have learning differences such as ADHD, Autism, dyscalculia, or other executive functioning issues. 

So, in today's episode, I offer 11 homeschool math teaching tips for how to best teach math to struggling students.    Listen in, see what resonates and give them a try.  Circle back to me and let me know what you think.  Ask your questions and together, we can change the narrative for our uniquely-wired thinkers. 

And get excited because I've just release Homeschooling The Distracted Child: Priming the ADHD Brain For Learning.  I presented this training at the 2020 NCHE Summit for Teaching Exceptional Children.  Now you can have lifetime access to this in-depth homeschool mom teacher training to support your ADHD student. 

I also share one of my new favorite homeschool resources Cross Seven Classical Memory Work.  Ah-MAZING!!!  I've been using it for about a month now and I cannot be more excited about this program.  I'm a HUGE fan of memory work as an essential tool in the learning toolbox and Cross Seven is AMAZING!  Did I tell you how AMAZING it is?!!!  Check it out for math memory work (memorize those math facts for good!) and so much more.

And I also mention Times Tales Multiplication Memory System.  Both of these resources are fantastic for supporting your child's foundational math skills.  Check them out!

This contains affiliate links.  However, I will never recommend anything that I don't stand behind.  Thank you for your support, Friend!!    :)