Elyce at Home

I am seeing it everywhere.  Those with jobs are cutting back and those without jobs are cutting back even more.

In my circle of homeschooling moms, many are seriously looking for employment or some other way of making money. 

That is when I tell them about Rhea Perry.

Rhea is a homeschooling mother of 7 who, over the last several years, has made it her business to help families start internet businesses of their own.

She has a very interesting story of her own which includes helping her son find his passion and making enough money through that passion to bring her husband home from corporate America.

She has taken what she has learned, the people she has met, and the talents she has been given to help other families bring their husbands and fathers home, out of the corporate world.

But now it seems that fear is permeating our country. People are just hunkering down and trying to wait out the current economic storm.  Those with the corporate jobs are holding on for dear life.  The idea of following your passion is not even on the radar.

That is truly a shame.

Each of us is given gifts and talents that are meant to be shared with the world.  Those gifts and talents are revealed to us through our passions.  Those passions are meant to be our portal to prosperity.

Even in the best of times, conventional wisdom says to, if possible, get a new business started on the side and let it grow until you can say good-bye to you day job.

So instead of kicking ourselves for not setting up our internet businesses when times were good, let’s move forward from here and learn how to get them going right now.

A great way to do that is through Rhea’s Progete Program.  This year, Rhea’s goal is to have all of her protoges earn $50k through their internet businesses.  And she is walking us through it step-by-step, from finding our passions to making the sales.

If you are interested in the Protege Program, a great way to learn about it is at Rhea’s Protege Retreat which will be April 3-5, 2009.  The great thing about Rhea’s events is that she wants you to bring the kids!  

These events help Mom and Dad start up businesses, but they also help kids learn how to start up businesses, too!

I am inviting you to Rhea’s Progete Retreat, BUT I can only bring 5 families.  So if you plan to attend with me, please let me know.

Find all the info here  www.protegedays.nicoleelyce.com

Filed under: Uncategorized on February 1st, 2009 | No Comments »

When I was thinking about the topic today, Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me” popped into my head.

If you have kids at home then you know that someone is indeed watching you…all the time!

We are most aware of this when they are around 3 or 4, and they repeat what we say at the most inopportune time.

It is like when Ralphie, the young boy in “A Christmas Story,” is helping his dad change a tire.  The lug nuts go flying out of his hand and an obscenity comes flying out of his mouth.  Ralphie had heard his dad use that word many, many times before, but his parents assumed he wasn’t listening.

But they are always listening…and watching.

They say that the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree.  Some of that may be due to genetics, but much of that is due to modeling.  Children watch what the parents do and assume that is the way it is done.

This week in www.FiveMinuteLifeLessons.com we talked about greeting someone for the first time.

The first thing we talked about being aware of is your attitude.

What attitude do you model with your children?  Is it the attitude that you want others to use with you?  Is it the attitude you want your kids to use with your grandkids?

Remember…we are also teaching our children how to parent.

If you do find yourself in a bad mood, what do you do about it?  Anything?  We have some things you can do at www.FiveMinuteLifeLessons.com.  And as your kids see you taking responsibility for your mood, they will learn how to take responsibility for theirs.

As far as the greeting part of the lesson this week, as you model a proper greeting toward people you meet, your children will see how it is done.  That doesn’t guarantee that they will do it properly every time…or any time.  But you will know you did your part. The rest is up to them.

Filed under: Life Lessons on January 23rd, 2009 | No Comments »

My son sums up the Golden Rule by saying:

Treat others the way you want to be treated.

I think that is a pretty good “sum up.”

But when it comes to kids, especially our own, we can run into sticky territory. 

I would like to say that I always treat my children the way that I would like to be treated, but then I would be struck down by a bolt of lightning.

I have great aspirations, but I run into “Mommy mode” where things just need to get done…right now.  I want the hair brushed, the teeth brushed, the showers taken, the shoes on, the homework done… right now, with no questions asked.

I was thinking about it this morning.  If someone came into my house and started ordering me around, I would start to get a bit snippy and probably down-right mad.  Just like my kids seem to be when I order them around…hmmm. 

But I don’t always get treated the way that I would like, either.

I read all sorts of parenting books when my kids were small.  I read books about using “the rod,” books about only using positive reinforcement, and everything in between. 

Here was my litmus test, the question I wanted answered when I picked up one of these parenting books…

What do I do when my child is screaming “NOOOO!!!” at the top of her lungs after I let her know it was time to get her shoes on so we can go to Mommy’s appointment?

“The rod” book had an answer, but it didn’t seem to follow the Golden Rule. 

I tried getting down on their level and talking with them, but I am now savvy enough to realize that you cannot reason with a 3 or 17 year old.  And they don’t give a flip about my need to be somewhere anyway.

I am still looking for my answer.  Maybe during this People Skills Unit at www.FiveMinuteLifeLessons.com it will come to me, because I am learning even as I am putting the unit together.

But I do know that even if they don’t treat me the way I want to be treated, I need to be the model (and the grown-up).  Bummer!

Filed under: Life Lessons on January 18th, 2009 | No Comments »

So the question on the table is…

What skills and knowledge will the kids need in the real world?

My husband and I have been going back and forth on this for a while. We both agree that having exposure to a wide range of math, science, history, and literature is a good thing. One never knows where one will find his or her passion.

But we also agree that unless something is useful or interesting, it will not be remembered.

My husband loves history. While he and I each had many history courses growing up, he retained much more knowledge than I did because he found it interesting. Truth be told, I probably did better on the tests, though.

But back to our question…

What skills and knowledge will the kids need in the real world?

From our traditional schooling, we agreed on basic math – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Possibly fractions, percentages, and some basic geometry would be helpful, too.

Reading and writing well are essential.  Basic knowledge of history and science also give you a foundation of common language references.

But here are the topics and some of the associated subtopics we came up with that are not taught in schools…

People Skills

·         Establishing rapport

·         Relationship skills

·         Conflict resolution

·         Etiquette

·         Public Speaking

Money Skills

·         Budgeting

·         Credit

·         Taxes

·         Investing

Time Management Skills

Space Management/Organization Skills

Decision Making Skills

Home Skills

·         Basic home maintenance and repair

·         Cooking

·         Cleaning

·         Lawn care

Car Skills

·         Knowing how to drive in all conditions

·         Basic maintenance

·         Dealing with an emergency – changing a flat tire and using jumper cables

Health Skills

·         Nutrition

·         First Aid

·         Dealing with illness

 Self-care skills

·         Stress management

·         Hygiene

·         Finding your passion

·         Knowing and living what you believe

Safety Skills

·         Emergency preparedness

·         Basic self-defense

·         Personal boundaries

·         Personal protection on the internet

Living On Your Own

·         Getting your first apartment

·         Paying taxes

·         Reading a paycheck

·         Insurance

·         Roommates

I am sure we will come up with more as we go along. But for now, we’ll start with these.

We decided to start with people skills. I have been gathering information on people skills from many different sources to pull together a People Skills course for my children. You can follow our lessons at www.fiveminutelifelessons.com.

Filed under: Uncategorized on January 13th, 2009 | No Comments »

I have been homeschooling my children for the last 8 years. We have studied history from ancient times to the present, biology, physics, chemistry, earth science, grammar, math, and many other subjects. We have been studying all of this in the name of education, an education that is supposed to get them ready for the “real world.”

Many times my children have asked why they need to know this or that, especially my son. Sometimes I have an answer, many times I do not.

But I really started thinking about what they need to know for the “real world.” What skills do I use every day?  My husband goes off to work every day as an engineer. What skills does he use?

The more I thought about it, the more I began to realize that my son had a point. Most of what is taught in our system of education is never used.

We like to watch the TV show “Are You Smarter Than a 5^th Grader,” where contestants answer 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grade questions with the help of a small class of 5^th graders. The questions run the gamut from math to grammar to cultural studies. The prize for answering all 11 questions correctly is $1 million.

Over the 2 years that the show has been on, only one contestant has answered all 11 questions correctly and won the million dollars. How can that be? Didn’t we all go through elementary school at some point?

First, I am not sure what curriculum they are using in elementary schools these days, but most of the questions were not from things taught in my elementary school…high school, maybe.

But more importantly, the reason that most people do not know the answers to these questions is because they don’t need to know them. They are facts and trivia that have nothing to do with the “real world.” If it was relevant then people would remember it. 

Now, I am not saying all education is useless. I would probably not be writing this at all if it were not for my education, for which I am very grateful. It is great to learn how to effectively read and write or learn how to use percentages to calculate interest paid on a car loan or look at history with the intent of not repeating it. But most education doesn’t take it that far. Most of the time, it stops at the facts and trivia stage. But that is a whole other topic.

Back to the original question…

What do my children really need to know for life on their own? What skills will they need to use every day?

Think about it.

I’ll let you know what I came up with tomorrow.

Filed under: Uncategorized on January 6th, 2009 | No Comments »