Commit - I Can Do Hard Things

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Words Have Power

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Responsible

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Respectful

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Creating Connection

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Seek Learning

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Summer Bucket List for Kids from Big Life Journal

Sutherland Institute - Canyon Grove Academy

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Link to article “The world is becoming increasingly interconnected, information-centric, and individualized. The future of education will require schools to match,” says Kim Goates, the executive director of Canyon Grove Academy,…

Trust Yourself

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I'm in Charge of Me!

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Assessment Preparation

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You Are Enough

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How Can We Help?

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Measuring Learning

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Measuring Children's Learning A friend of mine had a designated space on her mudroom wall where she marked her children’s growth in height from year to year. Each height-mark was color-coded and dated to identify each child’s rising…

The Incredible Brain! Develop Mental Strength

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I can do hard things! One of the greatest life skills we can help our children to develop is mental strength. We want to help them gain mental skills and attributes like gratitude, grit, hope, peace, forgiveness, confidence,…

Helping Children Remember

Helping children remember  You’ve probably heard this axiom before, that children remember... 10% of what they READ 20% of what they HEAR 30% of what they SEE 50% of what they SEE and HEAR 70% of…

Kindling the Flame

Kindling the Flame  By the 1940s, over 5,000 fire-watch towers, manned by  Forest Rangers, stood guard over our U.S. National Parks. At the first sighting of errant smoke, the Ranger would communicate with firefighters, giving…

Study Skills & Habits

    Empower: Study Skills and Habits Why are study skills important?   Study skills improve the way that students approach, tackle, and gain knowledge. Learning requires work, effort,…

Wonder

Wonder “Wonder is being receptive to what lies all around you....Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.” ~ E.B. White There is so much written in adult literature about “being…

Self Directed Learning

Self-directed Learning Have you ever had a toddler become extremely excited by the sound of the garbage truck approaching your home? Hearing the squeals of delight, the whole family is immediately distracted…

Brain Power

our mind is a great power--tend and use it well BRAINPOWER is an important concept at Canyon Grove Academy.  There’s a lot of exciting new research that has more clearly defined how the brain works and how…

Building Healthy Relationships With Your Children

Our children will never care how much we know, until they  know how much we care. Being a parent, taking care of our homes, working, and providing for the daily needs of the family--all add up to really full days and a lot of busyness.…

Empower Your Child’s Goals and Dreams

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  “If you want children to continue dreaming to the moon and beyond, then dream with them, both by sharing your fervent dreams, and by diving heart first into their own.” ~ Vince Gowmon When our children are young, they frequently…

Optimize Learning-Empower Skills

Optimize Learning-Empower Skills   Be Ready to Learn With a Positive Attitude How we feel toward learning can be a lot more important than what we are actually learning about.  When we choose to have a positive attitude our minds…

In The Middle of Difficulty Lies Opportunity

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity" This quote is from the international-renown physicist--Albert Einstein, who wasn’t able to talk until the age of three, suffered from dyslexia and autism, was labeled mentally…

Be Ready to Learn With a Positive Attitude

Be Ready to Learn With a Positive Attitude How we feel toward learning can be a lot more important than what we are actually learning about.  When we choose to have a positive attitude our minds open up and learning becomes easier.  A positive…

Define your "WHY"

Define Your “WHY” We’re a few months into the new school year. We’re already experiencing and adjusting what is working well and  what is not. During these times it is important to remember  your “WHY”.  Why are you doing…

Replenish

Parents, you are incredible. We celebrate you and thank-you for your daily efforts to support the education of your children. Parenting is a 24-7 commitment. The selfless work you do every day matters so much!  What are you doing to take care…

Growth!

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”  This quote is from the international-renown physicist--Albert Einstein, who wasn’t able to talk until the age of three, suffered from dyslexia and autism, was labeled mentally retarded…

Infinite Potential!

“The potential possibilities of any child are the most  intriguing and stimulating in all creation.”              Through-out history, children were often raised to learn, work, and duplicate the roles and occupations…

Dream!

“If you want children to continue dreaming to the moon and beyond, then dream with them, both by sharing your fervent dreams, and by diving heart first into their own.” ~ Vince Gowmon When our children are young, they frequently explore…

Calm in the Storm

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When things going on in the world around us are uncertain and out of our control, it is very easy to find ourselves in worry, fear and anxiety. We are human beings with a full range of emotions so that just means we are normal. I’ve been…

Just Breathe

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One of the quickest and easiest ways to calm a racing mind or a beating heart is through breath. When we calm or slow down our breath, we calm our adrenaline. We can’t be anxious and calm at the same time. I’d like to offer a few breathing…

My End of the School Year Interview

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The end of the school year is a great time to look back and reflect. It’s also fun to look forward and think of all the fun things that we want to do during the summer. I invite you to take some time to interview your children about this…

Conscious Parenting

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Photo by Gustavo Fring from Pexels I first heard of the term conscious parenting when I heard Dr. Shafli speak at Lewis Howes’ Summit of Greatness a few years ago. Ever since, I have been fascinated with the concept and have loved learning…

Growth Mindset Parenting Tip: Controlling Reactions

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I want to share with you my favorite equation…   E + R = O   Event + Response = Outcome   I think that this is such an important concept for us to understand, implement in our lives, and then teach our children.   I’ve…

Family Routine

Routines are a great way to get everyone on the same page and working together. When everyone involved knows what is expected, and when it is expected, there are fewer arguments and more accomplishments. Over time my family created routines…

A Mother's Sacrifice

I sent my daughter to kindergarten on the first day of school.  She did just fine, but I didn’t. She never went back. I loved every second I spent with my babies.  That particular baby is all grown up with three babies of her own. Her babies…

Avoiding Mom (Parent) Burnout

Moms are amazing women who are committed to the success of their children.  They often have incredible drive and tend to forget themselves as they strive to care for those around them.  Typically when a mom takes on educating their kids at…

The Elusive Schedule

When I first started our home education journey, I felt completely overwhelmed. My children were good at entertaining themselves (the beauty of the pre-device era)… but they got so good at this that structured learning time erupted into epic…

Lexile Levels

What is a Lexile level? Lexile levels describe both the difficulty of text and the ability of an individual reader.  For example a text may be determined to be at a lexile level of 550. Students should be reading books that range from 100…

Failure - How We Grow.

We have been talking a lot about Failure as part of our 21st Century Skills.  It is an interesting subject because of the power it has over us. Failure, and perhaps even worse, the fear of failure, often holds us back. It prevents us from becoming…

Hard Things

In the world of children,  testing is one of the hard things they are required to do. I was opposed to testing and the stress that it causes.  I tried to shelter my now adult children from any and all stress,  but have since changed my…

In Hindsight

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I was educated in the world of homeschooling to believe that my child would pick up reading when she was ready.   My twin daughters were opposite ends of the spectrum. One began reading at age 5, the other struggled until I finally got her…