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Five Universal Lessons the OLYMPICS Can Teach Us

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The Summer Olympics are finally here!  Along with the 8,000 other ways that COVID impacted our world, one of the most momentous was the fact that it stopped the 2020 Summer Games in its tracks. To understand the significance of that, it’s important to know that previous to 2020, it was only the two World Wars that caused a cancellation or postponement of any Olympic Games! 

But, no matter the reason, the Olympics are back! Will your family be watching them? There are so many great reasons to partake in the Olympic excitement, not the least of which is just to witness some unity amongst our fellow-Americans {which, we seem to really need right now!}

However, the Olympics are not only a great opportunity to help instill national pride,  the Olympics also provide natural openings to teach some very important universal lifelong lessons to our kids.

Be sure to enter the awesome giveaway at the bottom of this post! 

You could win $200 at Rainbow Resources!

ONE: TEAMWORK IS ESSENTIAL

“The things you learn from sports — setting goals, being part of a team, confidence — that’s invaluable.”  – Summer Sanders, two-time gold medalist, swimming

“I wouldn’t be the best offensive player if I didn’t have a great setter. She serves me up nectar.” Misty May-Treanor, three-time gold medalist, beach volleyball

“I’ve never scored a goal in my life without getting a pass from someone else.” Abby Wambach, two-time gold medalist, soccer

Okay, so maybe your kids will never be a part of an Olympic soccer team or beach volleyball partnership,  but there are loads of places in life where understanding the value of AND knowing how to be on a team is essential.

  • Having siblings
  • Playing tee-ball on a city rec team
  • Collaborating on a history project in co-op class
  • Being paired up with a stranger in College Chemistry
  • Working on a special team project at work
  • Serving on a church committee
  • Being married
  • Organizing a co-op with a bunch of independent-minded homeschool moms 😂

 

TWO: CONFIDENCE IS KEY

“Other people may not have had high expectations of me… but I had high expectations for myself.” -Shannon Miller, seven-time medalist, gymnastics

“I also realize that winning doesn’t always mean getting first place; it means getting the best out of yourself.” – Meb Keflezighi, silver-medalist, track and field

“You have to believe in yourself when no one else does — that makes you a winner right there.” – Venus Williams, four-time gold medalist, tennis

Though our kids need to understand the value of being a part of  a team, having confidence in their own individual abilities is also key.   Even when working as part of a team or partnership, you need to have faith in your own self-worth and skill sets. Plus, much of life is either spent alone or doing things on your own, whether it be at

  • school
  • work
  • church
  • home
  • sitting at the computer trying to write a clever post about the Olympics 😁

 

THREE: PERSEVERANCE IS IMPERATIVE

“We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort.” – Jesse Owens, four-time gold medalist, track and field

“I was 12 when I started and 34 before I achieved my dream. That should give people hope.” -Kelly Holmes, two-time gold medalist, track and field

“Never quit. Never give up.” -Gabby Douglas, three-time gold medalist, gymnastics

“The only way to overcome is to hang in.” -Dan O’Brien, gold medalist,  track and field

Perseverance can be a tough skill to learn but it’s even more difficult to live life without it. Whether your kid is trying to make the Olympic swim team, pass his driver’s test or master the sounds of the alphabet, he needs to know how to persevere when it gets tough. This is a lifelong skill that will be needed as a

  • friend
  • student
  • employee
  • spouse
  • parent
  • adult child 
  • blogger who is trying to beat a deadline 😜

 

FOUR: PARTICIPATION MEDALS ARE POINTLESS

“I’m not satisfied. The silver medalist is the first loser.” -Koen Verweijh, two-time medal winner, speedskating

“I know we won silver, but it really just feels like we lost gold.” —Margaretha Sigfridsson, silver-medalist, curling

“I’m hearing in youth sports where you’re not allowed to post scores of games online; everybody’s gotta get a trophy. I mean, that’s ridiculous. If you’re a winner, you’re a winner and you get a trophy. If you got second place, you don’t get anything.” Carli Lloyd, two-time gold medalist, soccer

“There is no better motivation than losing. It adds more fuel to the fire.” Abby Wambach, two-time gold medalist, soccer

So, while winning should not be the only thing by a long shot, rewarding our kids with trophies and awards for simply trying  may be a bit of an overcorrection on society’s part. Though there are times where one might score some figurative points for just trying, there are way too many instances in life where getting a medal is reserved for just the top players. Whether that is right or not, is a debate for another blog, but the fact remains: participation trophies are pretty pointless. Our kids need to understand that if you want a trophy, you need to be the winner

  • in school
  • at the university
  • when applying for jobs
  • while trying to earn a promotion
  • when trying to woo somebody into marriage 😍

 

FIVE: BUT PARTICIPATION IS IMPORTANT

“Winning doesn’t always mean being first. Winning means you’re doing better than you’ve ever done before. – Bonnie Blair, six-time medalist, speed skating

“It’s not about winning at the Olympic Games. It’s about trying to win. The motto is faster, higher, stronger, not fastest, highest, strongest. Sometimes it’s the trying that matters.” -Bronte Barratt, gold medalist, swimming

“I think there is a very big chance I will finish last. But the placing is not important if I can teach young people in Nepal about the Olympic spirit. This spirit is in my heart.” – Dachhiri Sherpa, placed 86/87, cross country skiing

“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning, but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.” -Pierre de Coubertin, father of the modern Olympic Games

Participation is not about trophies, medals or prizes. It’s about the experience. Participating in a variety of opportunities teaches our kids

  • what they like
  • what they don’t like
  • which learning style works best
  • what they are naturally good at and should pursue
  • what they are not good at and might want to reconsider before they end up in the ER 😆

So, if your family decides to spend some time watching the Olympic Games this month, be sure to sneak in a convo or two about the life lessons they can take away from the Summer Games!

And if you want to capitalize on the educational opportunities the Olympics provide, check out this Summer Olympics Unit Study. It’s both FUN and FREE!

And now for the giveaway! 

It’s almost AUGUST! Are you starting to get prepped for school? Would winning a gift card to a major online homeschool retailer help you check some things off of your curriculum wish list? Well, I’ve gotten together with a great group of homeschool bloggers to bring you a chance to do just that!  Three homeschool families will win a $200 gift card to Rainbow Resource Center!! To enter for your chance to win, simply use the Rafflecopter form below to enter.  Now I know this is quite a few entries, but each of these bloggers has generously chipped in their own money to make this giveaway possible, so I hope you will take the time to do all of the entries.  And hey, the more entries you do, the better your odds are of winning! Giveaway ends July 30, 2021 at 11:59pm ET.  Must be at least 18 years of age.  Must be a resident of U.S. or Canada to enter.  Selected winners will have 48 hours to respond to email notification to claim their prizes or another winner will be drawn.  By entering this giveaway, you agree to be added to the email lists of the participating bloggers (see the Terms & Conditions on the Rafflecopter form for the complete list). a Rafflecopter giveaway

FOREIGN LANGUAGE: Three Out-of-the-Box Options

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{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.} 

Choosing ANY homeschool curriculum can be a very difficult process. There are just so many choices. So. Many. 

But choosing a FOREIGN LANGUAGE curriculum? That has been a special level of difficult.  It has been almost painful. 

I think, that if my son wanted to learn Spanish, with which I am at least a wee bit familiar after taking four years of it in high school,  I might not feel so lost. 

But, no, my kid wants to learn Chinese.

So,  looking for the right program to teach him the Mandarin language has been a rather foreign process for me. 

I mean, how do I even begin to assess whether a program is good or not? It’s NOT like I can read through it and get a feel for it myself. {I cannot read it!}

And, for some reason, FOREIGN LANGUAGE curriculum seems to be one of the more expensive subjects. So, though, I have been willing to shell out primo bucks for science and math, which my kid actually needs for his career goal of being a zoologist, I really didn’t want to spend a ton for this elective. And, I sure as heck didn’t want to spend hundreds on one program only to find it didn’t work for us and then have to buy another one. 

And, probably the biggest challenge for me is the fact that this is one subject with which I cannot help my kid learn. I mean, we all know that homeschool moms can teach almost anything to our kids, and when we find ourselves outmatched by a subject, we can outsource {like I do for math and science at the high school level.} But, again, I’m not sure I want to spend the same type of serious money on him learning Chinese that we invest into live, on-line science classes or the time that we spend with what I like to call my private 1:1 math tutor, Nicole The Math Lady. 

So, even after I have spent countless hours looking at options of how to teach a FOREIGN LANGUAGE, I have yet to decide which route we will take. 

But, I sure have learned a lot about HOW and WHERE students can learn a FOREIGN LANGUAGE! 

Hopefully, what I learned can help YOU make your FOREIGN LANGUAGE choice less difficult. 

Other than the huge selection of boxed curriculum you can find in your homeschool catalogs or on the web,  I found three other options for FOREIGN LANGUAGE instruction. 

Three Out-of-the-Box Options for Teaching a Foreign Language

 

ONE: YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY

This is a phenomenal option that could flat-out be FREE for your family. Obviously, different libraries will offer different options but it’s definitely worth looking into. 

I was pleasantly surprised to find that our local library offers MANGO for free to all card-holders.

MANGO is a self-paced online resource that offers over 70 world languages and dialects through courses crafted using conversational methodology. 

I know other libraries offer similar options including Duolingo and Babbel. We have not used any of these resources but considering it’s FREE, it sure seems like a great option! Even if we use it to simply “test-out” which language he might really want to pursue, it sure seems like a wise consideration. 

So, be sure to check out what your local library has to offer in terms of FOREIGN LANGUAGE instruction. 

 

TWO: DUAL ENROLLMENT

Now, this one won’t be free BUT, if your student plans on attending college like mine, then it could be considered an investment.

{If you are not familiar with the concept of Dual Enrollment, here is a great article that explains it clearly.}

The gist of Dual Enrollment is that your high school homeschooler can take classes at the college level that count as both a current high school class but also as college credit.  It’s an excellent way to take schooling to the next level of rigor, expose your kid to the changes that college courses will bring while still under your roof, and accumulate college credits at a reduced cost. 

Obviously, much depends on which college you are considering for dual enrollment, but while I was perusing the catalog for Columbia College in search of history and literature classes for my son’s 11th Grade year, I ran across several FOREIGN LANGUAGE options. 

I did not look too closely {because I don’t think we’ll be interested in a college-level Chinese class, eeks!} but I did take note of it for future reference. 

So, if you have a college-bound kid who would be interested in taking some serious FOREIGN LANGUAGE classes, Dual Enrollment would be a fantastic option for you to consider!

 

THREE: ONLINE OPTIONS

This option is, in some ways, the most obvious out-of-the-box option. 

I’m sure you have seen ads for Outschool, which offers a bazillion different kinds of classes, including FOREIGN LANGUAGE. 

And, if you are familiar with VIPKID {a popular money-making gig for moms to teach English to Chinese kids,} then you may have heard of their Chinese-English counterpart, Lingo Bus. 

Or, if you are a fan of the Time4Learning app, there is also a Time4Langages add-on you can consider. 

But, there are some other less-obvious online options as well. They might be smaller, but that does not mean they are not high quality. 

For instance, if your student is interested in learning Spanish, Dale and Robin Gamache have a small “mom and pop” online company,  La Clase Divertida, that comes highly recommended. 

Or if your family is interested in learning Hebrew, a great option is Hebrew for Homeschoolers, which is the beautiful creation of a fellow homeschool mom, Ana Willis. 

So, if your student is in need of a FOREIGN LANGUAGE,  consider these

Three Out-of-the-Box Options:

ONE: YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY

TWO: DUAL ENROLLMENT

THREE: ONLINE OPTIONS

Three Tips on How to Homeschool During the Holidays

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{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.} 

SEE BELOW FOR A CHANCE TO WIN $500 IN PAYPAL CASH

Long before I was a homeschool mom, I was a classroom teacher and one of the biggest challenges I experienced every year was figuring out ways to push through the academic curriculum while wading through the holiday season filled with parties, programs and plays. It was NOT An easy balance to find. Sway one way too much and my First Graders wouldn’t be able to read/write or add/subtract. Sway too far the other way and parents complained about “missing out on all the fun parts of school.” {I do not miss that type of pressure at all!}

I never dreamed that it would be just as hard as a HOMESCHOOL MOM to ensure that academics did not totally fly out the window as soon as mid-October hit. 

Between the amazing array of field trips that seem to abound every fall {apple picking, pumpkin patches, picnics in the park…} and parties to celebrate the various holidays {Caramel Apple Decorating, Thanksgiving Feasts, Gingerbread House Building…} having a full week of schooling at home seems impossible. Throw in at least one play, program or musical and it’s a wonder we get any teaching done at all from October through December.  

And, before you utter, “but learning happens all the time, no matter where you are and what you are doing” let me remind you that, while that is true, it’s not THAT simple. I agree that learning CAN happen anywhere. I believe that learning CAN occur at anytime.  BUT unless your kids are going to grow up to be professional Pilgrims or toy-making elves {no offense to those professions, ha ha,} they will need to know how to read and write. If they want to survive in the world of shopping and eating out, they will need to be able to multiply and divide. If they want to go to college, they will need to know how to formulate a scientific hypothesis and write clearly structured essays. And those things cannot be taught if we stop focusing on academics for the last 10 weeks of every single calendar year.

So, how can we continue to teach academics during this busy holiday season?

TIP ONE: Plan Ahead!

Wrap up 25 Christmas books, start on December 1st and read one book per day until Christmas.

Pick fun but purposeful unit studies to use all winter long {check out these brand new 12 Days of Winter Unit Study Packs that will go live in December 1-16, 2020!}

Assign copywork of the lines your kid needs to know for the Christmas play.

Take paper and pencils to the store when shopping for gifts and ask your kids to find the total before you go to the register.

Search TpT for lessons on holiday symbols and traditions or the true story of Christmas.

Choose crafts that teach skills your kids actually need and not just because they are cute.

Create an Advent activity for the month of December that is both meaningful and academic.

If your family does the Elf on the Shelf, be an Elfover-achiever and make at least some of the elf’s daily antics centered around academics.

Take the time not only to go Christmas caroling but also learn the words of and the meaning behind classic carols before you go! {Click here to receive my December FREEbie – a 40-page Hymn Study Pack on Angels We Have Heard on High.}

None of that advanced planning takes away from the fun and joyful experiences of the holidays. But they do make the activities more meaningful and purposeful and they keep your kids focused on their academics while still having fun.

TIP TWO: Get creative!

Ask your kids to group the ornaments into types {shapes, sizes, colors, etc} and graph them before you put them on the tree.

{Or, later in the season, have them count the number of pine needles that have fallen off before they vacuum, ha ha.}  

Rewrite the math assignment to include word problems about gifts, stockings and candy canes.

Say “we will practice fractions while baking cookies today” and make your younger kids reduce those fractions while the older kids need to find equivalent choices.

Replace the spelling words in your kid’s workbook with words including “sleigh, tradition, mistletoe”.

Teach formal letter-writing by having your kids write “thank you” letters.

Switch out your lunch-time read aloud book for something holiday related. {For a great historical fiction Christmas chapter book appropriate for all ages, check out the Imagination Station’s Danger on a Silent Night.} {And then take your fun new read aloud to the next level and get a resource to accompany it here. This Novel Study Pack is filled with vocab studies, puzzles and more!}

Explore the science of snow and the chemistry of instant hot-cocoa.

Define the laws of physics that allow graham crackers to be held up in a vertical position with icing while building gingerbread houses.

Yes, it will take longer to be creative. Yes, it will feel more like work than if you simply hope they’ll learn through osmosis while baking cookies, decorating trees and building gingerbread houses.  But, the extra time and effort will be worth it. They’ll be doing actual academics while enjoying a variety of fun activities!

TIP THREE: Be Diligent!

Acknowledge that your kids’ academics fall solely on you. Yes, that’s a lot of pressure but it’s what we signed up for when we decided to homeschool. So, remain diligent during the holiday season.  

Be diligent about your time.

It’s okay to miss out on a field trip or two.

It’s okay to say “no” to the choir director at church.

It’s okay to turn down the opportunity to organize the co-op Christmas party.

Be diligent about goals for your homeschool.

Stick to your daily routines.

Stick to your lesson plans.

Stick to your curriculum.

Do not put that carefully-chosen curriculum on the shelf “until January when things settle down.”

Be diligent by acknowledging that in January, you will be hit with Valentine’s Day, Easter and end-of-the-year craziness.  

Be diligent in continuing to educate your kids during this busy holiday season.

Be diligent now so you are not caught off-guard in May and then decide to scrap the last 10 chapters of math.  

I know this sounds difficult and time-consuming but, if you PLAN AHEAD and BE CREATIVE, it’ll be easy to BE DILIGENT!

And if you do all three, you can easily slip in loads of fun activities and memory-making!

And wouldn’t a spare $500 help you successfully homeschool through the holidays as well….or at least help buy gifts and goodies?

I’ve teamed up with some of my favorite bloggers for the 7th annual Christmas Blessings Giveaway with the hopes of making this holiday season even better by giving away $500 in Paypal cash to two families!

While we wish we could bless many more families, we were able to come up with a big prize for TWO families – $500 each (delivered via Paypal) – that we pray will make a big difference in their lives this Christmas season!

There are lots of entry options in the Rafflecopter form below – the more you enter, the better your chance of winning!  I know it can seem tedious and time-consuming to go through all the entries, but isn’t a chance at $500 worth it? I think it is!  Plus, all of these amazing bloggers donated their own money toward the cash prizes, so this giveaway wouldn’t be possible without them.  I hope you’ll take the time to check out each one. Who knows, maybe you will find some new blogs to follow.

The giveaway will run from Monday, November 16th through Wednesday, November 25th (ends at 11:59pm EST). Winner will be notified by email shortly after the giveaway ends and will have 48 hours to respond to claim the prize or another winner will be drawn. You must have a Paypal account to win.  By entering this giveaway, you agree to be added to the email lists of the participating bloggers.  Please be sure to read the Rafflecopter terms and conditions upon entering.

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