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The Mom Hour

The most fun you've ever had with two moms you've never met.

in Blog on September 28, 2018

6 Ways To Support School Learning At Home

This post is part of a paid partnership with Epic! Books for Kids. Tips, ideas, and opinions are totally ours! -Meagan & Sarah

When you hear the phrase “support school learning at home,” do flash cards come to mind? Or late-night battles of will over a tri-fold poster board? As busy moms with many kids in school, it’s our goal to raise kids who love to learn, and to support hardworking teachers by creating a home environment and family culture that supports school learning–in a way that feels natural, not forced. Fewer flash cards, more family walks around the block; less pressure, more fun.

Here are six easy ways you and your family can continue learning at home during the school year:

Model Curiosity & Critical Thinking

Sarah: My kids ask a LOT of questions…about everything! It’s fun to use our Google Home to get answers to questions like “Why do dogs eat their own vomit?” (trust me, the answer is interesting!), but I also want my kids to have the skills to look up answers to their questions from a trusted source like a book or article. We keep non-fiction books by DK or National Geographic on a handy shelf for easy reference, and I let my kids watch over my shoulder when I do an online search, because the critical thinking required to sort reliable information from internet baloney is something I want them to practice early and often.

Bring Math & Language Learning Into Everyday Life

Meagan: The way I see it, my kids spend all day doing formalized learning at school. Home is the place for learning to happen in such a natural and fun way, we almost don’t even know it’s happening (Mom included!). Whether measuring ingredients for the nightly meal, singing along with a musical soundtrack, or choosing a fun saying for your kitchen letterboard, look for low-key ways to incorporate math and language learning into everyday life. But don’t try too hard: some of the best learning happens while you’re just having fun.

Be A Teacher’s Advocate

Sarah: In a recent podcast episodes we talked about becoming the parent that teachers love, and one of our tips was to be sure you’re taking the time to participate in the two-way teacher-parent communication process. Read the weekly newsletters so you can prompt your kid with thoughtful questions about what they’re learning; write a note to let teachers know when your kid is particularly engaged in a subject (teachers get a lot of emails about the not-so-happy kids–it means a lot to hear about a kid who is gobbling up the solar system unit).

Fun fact: If your child’s school uses Epic! in the classroom, you’ll have even more easy ways to stay connected to teachers and support school learning. You’ll get to see what students are reading and learning about, receive book recommendations, and support your child’s classroom through Epic! Classroom Reward Points that your teacher can redeem for free books and supplies.

Promote Rest & Leisure Time

Meagan: At my fourth-grade daughter’s back-to-school night, her teacher made a point of telling us how little downtime the kids get during a typical school day. Thinking about the fact that school kids are often thinking and working for eight hours each day (plus after-school sports and activities) reminded me how important it is to give them plenty of opportunities to chill out at home. I love that Epic! makes it easy for kids to explore their interests in a low-key way, whether it’s watching craft videos or listening to an audiobook, without the need for parents to “direct” their activities or add pressure about how they should be using their downtime.

Get Out In Your Community

Sarah: Classroom learning can take kids only so far, but practical life experience is where all those ideas come together in a real-world way. Look for live music and theater opportunities that tie in to a social studies unit, or get out in nature for stargazing, tide pools, or bird watching to support science. Doing these kinds of things as a family has the added benefit of showing kids that learning isn’t isolated to school days–it’s part of the experience of being human. Plus, when they head back to class they’ll have stories and artifacts to share, further enhancing the learning experience.

Rethink The “Well-Rounded Kid”

Meagan: Sarah and I are both advocates of letting kids go down rabbit holes and immerse themselves wholeheartedly in an interest, even when it seems a little obsessive or frivolous to us. A kid who eats, sleeps, and breathes Minecraft or origami or yo-yoing is getting a taste of what’s it’s like to follow a passion, and we’ve both seen the benefits: engaged, enthusiastic kids, proud of their knowledge and ready to share it with others. Epic! makes it easy for kids to have that immersive experience seamlessly, without us parents having to worry that they might stumble on something questionable in their searching frenzy (and saving us more than a few trips to the local library!).

Epic! is a digital library of more than 25,000 high-quality, popular children’s books, videos, quizzes and more — for kids in grades K-6. To try it out for two months FREE, visit getepic.com and use coupon code MOMHOUR.

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New episode dropped in time for the weekend—surp New episode dropped in time for the weekend—surprise (and happy Friday)! This one is especially for those of you who have felt resistant to traditional “January topics” like goal-setting this year...⠀
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📲Listen now wherever you get your podcasts!⠀
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With nearly a year of “everything’s cancelled!” behind us, and facing down an early 2021 of “Who knows?”, we’ve all learned a couple things:⠀
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1️⃣ Truth #1: We all need to set goals and make plans to stay on course and keep working toward our deepest priorities, especially when life is unpredictable.⠀
2️⃣Truth #2: When life is unpredictable, it feels really hard to set goals. How do we make these two realities jive?⠀
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The solution: goal setting with a big dose of self-awareness and self-empathy. As 2020 taught us, things aren’t always going to look exactly the way we plan, but that doesn’t mean goal-setting is cancelled!⠀
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From our personal finances to family priorities; hobbies and household projects to travel (what?!) and extracurricular activities, Sarah and Meagan are here with a real-life conversation about goal-setting that will meet you where you are and help you plan what you can – while allowing a lot of flexibility for the things that may change along the way.⠀
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Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or right in your browser via the link in our bio!⠀
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#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts
#Sponsored What makes Day 200-something of pandem #Sponsored  What makes Day 200-something of pandemic life a little better? Getting to (virtually) join the cast of the new @disneychannel series #SecretsOfSulphurSprings for a preview of the show with some special treats!

Sarah here, friends. It’s getting REALLY hard to find shows that all three kids enjoy—not too mature for the 7yo, and not too little-kid-ish for the tween. This brand new mystery series from Disney - geared toward ages 6-14 - hit the mark and then some. They LOVED it. There’s a little suspense (just enough), great characters, and plot twists galore. We can’t wait to keep watching to see what happens next—thanks for including us in the premiere, @disneychannelpr!

Secrets Of Sulphur Springs premiers Friday 1/15 on #DisneyChannel, in #DisneyNow, and on Disney Channel YouTube. Three out of three Powers kids recommend! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
New podcast episode!⠀ .⠀ Art supplies taking o New podcast episode!⠀
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Art supplies taking over your shared space? Losing library books under piles of what-even-IS-this-stuff? Ready for a January re-set of your home's organization systems? You're not alone. This week Meagan and Sarah continue the conversation about where to put all the STUFF of family life, covering arts and crafts, board games and puzzles, super-sized play stuff, and all those wonderful books. We also touch on ways to know if an organizational system will work for you and your family - because, as we've found, one size does NOT fit all.⠀
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Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or right in your browser via the link in our bio!⠀
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#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts
New podcast episode!⠀ .⠀ The holidays are behi New podcast episode!⠀
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The holidays are behind us, but they've left their mark on our homes: mostly in the form of more STUFF to store. Meagan and Sarah have logged decades of toy sorting and stuff-storing and in this week's episode share our experience finding just the right spot for all that brightly colored plastic. We talk about LEGO, we talk about stuffies and dolls; we remember the days of itty bitty sets and giant toddler ride-on toys. By the end of this episode we hope you'll feel like you already have the space and sense required to store your kids' stuff - no fancy bins required.⠀
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Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or right in your browser via the link in our bio!⠀
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#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts
Who else is de-Christmassing today? Meagan and Sa Who else is de-Christmassing today?

Meagan and Sarah discovered that we both use the tactic of wrapping fragile decor items (not ornaments so much as knickknacks and dishes) in clean seasonal linens when we put them away until next year. Saves on bubble wrap or packing materials, and the linens need to be stored anyway.

When you unpack next year, just run the napkins and dish towels through a quick wash cycle and you’re ready to go!

What else is helping you transition to January? We’d love to hear!
New episode for a brand new year!⠀ .⠀ For thos New episode for a brand new year!⠀
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For those who love to plan ahead, last year was a huge challenge–and the shiny promise of a brand new year feels a little lackluster as we look toward 2021. Is planning and goal-setting permanently on hold, shuttered just like schools and gyms and concerts? Sarah Hart-Unger says no.⠀
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Our first Voices interview episode of 2021 features two Sarahs: host Sarah Powers (@powersofmine) chats with guest Sarah Hart-Unger (@the_shubox of @shubox_plans and @best_of_both_worlds_podcast) about how to approach planning and goal-setting this year. We talk about the importance of reflecting on 2020, even though it didn’t go as planned, how to “pandemic-proof” your goals for 2021, and why the annual exercise of looking back and looking forward is still valuable. Sarah also answers your listener questions on the nitty-gritty of planning and goal setting.⠀
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Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or right in your browser via the link in our bio!⠀
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#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts
We're not an interview podcast as our primary form We're not an interview podcast as our primary format; never have been, and don't plan to be. So when we bring outside voices onto the show, we try to do it very mindfully - covering topics outside our personal spheres of experience, or that we believe this community will benefit from hearing more about. Sometimes a guest comes to us by popular request; sometimes a pitch catches our eye (about one in 1,000, to be honest); most often, we approach people whose message and work we admire and are genuinely excited to talk to.⠀
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These are the faces of the voices you heard (besides ours!) on the podcast this year. Twelve for our once-monthly Voices episodes, and a few more from bonus episodes about important topics we didn't want to pass us by. We appreciate every one of these people for their helpful advice, honest storytelling, and generous presence on the podcast.⠀
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This Friday you'll hear our first Voices episode of 2021, and we'd love to know what other topics you'd like to see represented in our interviews in the coming year. Comment below with a topic area, or tag a guest you think would be great (bonus points if you know for sure we haven't covered the topic recently 😎 ).
New episode--the last one of 2020!⠀ .⠀ Meagan New episode--the last one of 2020!⠀
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Meagan and Sarah tiptoe very cautiously into the waters of future-casting in today's episode, still through the hazy, cheese-filled lens of that strange week between Christmas and New Year's. We talk about where our kids and home lives will be one year from now and what that means for the evolution of our family units. We meditate on all that was stripped away in 2020, and when and how it may start to return in the coming year. And we also share the things we're MOST excited to return to post-pandemic, as well as a few things we don't ever need to go back to the way they were.⠀
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Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or right in your browser via the link in our bio!⠀
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#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts
"This Christmas, the stakes were both higher (afte "This Christmas, the stakes were both higher (after a year like 2020, we all really needed this holiday to be pleasant and peaceful) but also lower (after a year like 2020, "pleasant and peaceful" were all we really needed.)⠀
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I hope tonight, after you've picked up the hundredth tiny bit of wrapping paper, or finally got that toy working after wrestling with the battery pack for an hour, or stepped on an errant piece of Lego, that you can look back over your day and identify a few moments of comfort and coziness. ⠀
There may have been grumpiness (yours, or your kids'). There may even have been tears (your kids', or yours.) But likely there were also some brief flashes of comfort and joy. Let's lean in on that."⠀⠀
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Meagan is continuing her daily blog posts through Christmas Day, sharing a short tip, truth, or bit of perspective each day. Check out the full post at themomhour.com/holidayhelp, or via the link in our bio!⠀
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"I just got done filling stockings. They're curren "I just got done filling stockings. They're currently slumped against my bedroom wall, as full as they're going to get. Likewise, the stack of gifts below the tree downstairs isn't getting any bigger. The breakfast menu I've planned isn't getting any more ambitious, either. The stores are closed, the night is over, my work here is done.⠀
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I didn't hit all the marks, but that's what next year, or the year after, or...never is for. ⠀
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For now, all I can do is give myself thanks and gratitude for the effort I put in."⠀⠀
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Meagan is continuing her daily blog posts through Christmas Day, sharing a short tip, truth, or bit of perspective each day. Check out the full post at themomhour.com/holidayhelp, or via the link in our bio!⠀
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"Even in a typical year, there can be a sense of l "Even in a typical year, there can be a sense of letdown when the guests all leave or the last gift is opened. And in 2020, I worry that the letdown may be much more acute, as many of the traditions that would have given the hours and days after Christmas morning shape and joy and meaning simply aren't happening this year - to say nothing about all the things that ALSO won't be happening in January and February. ⠀
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But here's the good news: the holiday doesn't end at midnight on December 25. Many of us have an extended break ahead, whether it's time off from work or kids home from school. And even if you don't get the benefits of a longer break, you'll probably notice that the world around you is still moving in a kind of slow-motion, inviting us all to indulge in some more relaxation and cheer before we get back to our usual routines.⠀
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I'd love for you to plan your post-holiday self-care with me, so we don't find those after-Christmas days slipping away. What would you love most to spend next week doing?"⠀⠀
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Meagan is continuing her daily blog posts through Christmas Day, sharing a short tip, truth, or bit of perspective each day. Check out the full post at themomhour.com/holidayhelp, or via the link in our bio!⠀
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