Events & Updates - Young Scholars Academy

Super Important Independent Skills to Work on with Your Preschooler

September 2, 2020 by Young Scholars Academy Leave a Comment

As parents, we do almost everything we can to make our children’s day stress free and easy going as possible. We get them up in the morning, get them ready for the day, make breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We organize most of their time for the day, always trying to keep them busy. But there is a point where it can be too much. We need to allow space for our children to develop independent skills that they can use daily. Don’t get caught up in making their day your WHOLE day. Allowing them to be able to start caring for themselves is especially important. These are some valuable independent skills that your preschooler can work on mastering at home and school.

One of the first self-skills your child learns is how to hold their own bottle, then as they get bigger use their fingers to feed themselves table food. Then eventually a spoon and fork. At dinner, do you let your child serve themselves? We do this (during non-crazy corona times) at YSA! Its an amazing self-skill that we foster daily. The kiddos participate in family style dining and they should be doing it at home with you too. Do not worry, the messes they can clean that up too! We also embrace spilled food/milk, it is really no big deal to help them learn how to wipe up a mess. Show them how to do it, do hand over hand, then allow them to just take the lead! Be encouraging and proud when they clean up their own messes (even if you had to help a bit) when they are finished. I always make sure to thank them for cleaning up their mess and being responsible, it is a big deal!

Blowing their own noses is another independent skill that is super important! Find a way to get your kiddo to blow dragon breath out of their nose! Or have them spray the fire hose! Make up some silly saying and show/ teach your kiddo how to blow and wipe their own nose. Along with blowing noses is washing hands. Another hygienic task that we work on with your kiddo. YSA kids are some of the best handwashers, we really have put in the practice to make sure all the kiddos are following the safest and complete hand washing steps. This is another thing to practice at home. Ask your preschooler to show you how, ask them what song they sing while washing. You will be surprised to see how awesome they do!

Putting on, zipping, and buttoning a jacket is another multistep skill your preschooler is working on at YSA. A great one to work on at home as we approach chiller temps. Don’t let them fool you! They are working on/mastering this skill at YSA! This is such a great fine mother exercise! Don’t take the practice from them, let them try…fail…try… try again! An easy way to help them to start learning to put their jacket on is by having them lay it on the floor, collar/hood closest to their feet. Then they stick their arms in and superman flip the coat over their back. I will include a picture example : )

And last but not least… wiping. Yep, got to throw that one in too. We work on this skill at school multiple times a day! Ha! Please, show your preschooler and help them master this oh so important life skill. Front to back… need I say more! Haha!

These are just a few of the basic self-skills for your child to learn. As they grow, give them more responsibility to care for themselves and more responsibility. Allow them to help with daily chores, errands, and taking care of pets as they become of age. They really thrive and get excited to help, just have to be encouraging and sometimes make it some silly fun!

Ms. Whitney
Lead Pre-Kindergarten Teacher
Curriculum Coordinator

Baby Safety Prep!

September 1, 2020 by Young Scholars Academy Leave a Comment

With September being baby safety month, I researched to figure out what the big “must haves” are. We even asked our staff what they absolutely loved and what they simply did not use. Now not even going to lie was totally that helicopter parent with my oldest, literally bought every safety thing out there. I’ll admit I went overboard. Like seriously why did I absolutely need a baby gate when she was only a week old. I researched all the lists even the hospital bag was over packed. Did Sam try to talk me out of it sure! But I had my handy research ready to show him. Ha. I totally did not need most of the items that we spent money on.

Looking back on the time with my oldest and youngest I’ve totally let go of a lot. The essentials have been kept, baby gates, outlet covers, cabinet locks but for the chemicals only. They are children after all and why not let them explore. They are going to climb and make messes and letting them fall is a must! How are they going to learn to pick themselves back up? Exploring is a huge part of learning and problem solving. Everly is so independent its crazy she will make every attempt to do something on her own and will totally get mad if you try to help.

Now I’m not saying to let have a free for all. Set boundaries and expectations. For instance, if you dump out all the toys just remember you will need to pick them up. Or if you want to play a game later, you must finish your chores first. Yes, my kids have chores its how we are teaching them responsibility and earn their allowance. The last thing I want is for them to grow up thinking everything is handed to them that simply is not how the world works. But again working with them and setting those boundaries helps a lot.

Ms. Brittani
Lead Preschool Teacher
Wellness Coordinator

Celebrating Dot Day

September 1, 2020 by Young Scholars Academy Leave a Comment

Dot Day is almost upon us! What is that you may ask…

Only a really fun international book day that you do not want to miss out on!

It is based off a book titled “The Dot” by Peter H. Reynolds. As many of you have probably already gathered, he is one of my favorite children’s authors.
The Dot is a book about art on the outside shell, but as you unpack the story it is so much more than that! It gives people worth. You ARE good at something and you CAN always do SOMETHING. It doesn’t matter what age or skill level. We all have something to offer artistic or other. “Make your mark and see where it takes you”. This quote from the book brings us all together to create and be unique.

There is a website for this special day where you can visit and learn more. There are handouts and printouts for all kinds of activities to do. The website is Thedotclub.org.
Out little school has been sharing in this fun for years. We do something different each year to keep it fun and something to look forward to. We have many copies of the book floating around to keep us inspired. As well as many of Reynold’s other books. They all have a fresh perspective to offer to children. One year all the teachers made dots to hang in the hallway and another year we made thousands of frozen yogurt dots for the kiddos to snack on; it was a great mess with different colored dots to choose from. We always wear polka dots and have the children put their own artistic spins on making dots during art with all different art mediums.

It is just a fun little day to highlight a great book, an amazing author, and have a themed day of joy. Make sure to sign up as a participant on their website. It just adds you to their running tally of people around the world joining together. Many then post pictures of their dot fun. We would love to see your creations on their website and our Young Scholars Academy Facebook page as well! 2020 needs some more joy. Let’s give our kiddos one more day to be excited about; it is also something that can easily be done at home with a little internet connection.

Ms. Brooke
Lead Pre-Kindergarten Teacher
Literacy Coordinator
Curriculum Coordinator

What happened? Fours & five!

August 25, 2020 by Young Scholars Academy Leave a Comment

One morning you wake up and wonder what happened to my child. They don’t want to give you a hug as much. They roll their eyes at you when you ask them to do something. All you hear is “I can do it. Don’t help me”, “I already know that”, and the dreaded” whatever”. It seems that your child is now a walking attitude and confrontational monster. Welcome to the ages of four and five. Don’t worry it is a natural transition. There is a reason for it. You just need a few pointers on how to get through this latest storm. The main thing to consider is that your child is going through a huge emotional and physical change. The biggest thing to remember is to supportive and consistent.

Physically your child, according to them are having all kinds of problems. Their ones might hurt (growth spurt), they lose their teeth (what is up with that?). Since their bodies are changing their balance will be off and they may seem a little awkward in their movements. You may want to stock up on band-aids. You will see changes in their face too. You can look at them and be surprised that they look older. A little thinned out. The checks aren’t as pinchable. The physical changes are the easy part. They are explainable. They are expected.

The hard part is the emotional changes they will be going through. Let’s start with friends. They will be best friends with a child one moment, then they hate them, then they are best friends again. The best thing for this situation is to go with the flow. Let them complain. Just be there for them. Remind them that they can as many friends as they want and that there will be disagreements that need to be worked out with their friends. The thing to remember is that they are seeking acceptance with their peers and don’t know how to go about it. Guide them through by teaching them to be kind and respectful. Teach them how to solve their differences with words and understanding. The next thing they are trying to navigate is independence. They are realizing that they are growing up. They need to have some autonomy and control. Find things that they can do on their own. Picking out their clothes and getting dressed by themselves is a good start. Let them share in some responsibility in the house by doing a few chores. There will be a lot of frustration with you and your child during this. They want to be able to do this that they have never done and expect themselves to be able to do them one the first try which as adults we know that isn’t always the case. Give them the opportunity to keep trying. Be patient. As they are building their skills of independence you may notice a bit of a negative attitude coming out. They may be a bit sassy, use a tone of voice you don’t appreciated and let’s face it word usage may not be what you would like. Being consistent in reminding them of expectation will be in order. Try to remember that they are uncertain about what they are feeling and doing right now. They are afraid of making mistakes, being left out. They are trying to figure out who they want to be and how to go about accomplishing it. They are learning so much and their perception of their world is changing.
PS. Find a friend to help you. Someone to talk to who understands because you are going to need some emotional support yourself

PSS. Think of all this as a trial run to teenage years when it all happens again. LOL.

Ms. Dotty
Lead Pre-Kindergarten Teacher
NAEYC Coordinator

It’s ok to make out of the box decisions

August 25, 2020 by Young Scholars Academy Leave a Comment

This is by far the most personal and vulnerable thing I’ve written in awhile, but I feel that in my position as Parent Connection Coordinator, it’s pretty spot on for what we’re dealing with as parents right now. I’ve worked in Infant A here at Young Scholars Academy for 2 years. Before that I stayed home with my two boys, and before that worked with infants and toddlers for 7 years. Ask me anything about infant feeding, sleep, development, car seats, etc and I either have the answer or I know where to find it. Most of my knowledge base is invested in those topics because they are what I’m passionate about. My boys are 6 and 3 though, so as a mom I’m in uncharted territory. My 6 year old is in 1st grade this year and the entire mess of trying to figure out schooling truly started this past spring when everything shut down and schools were forced to implement a last minute e-learning schedule. I felt it right along with other moms (and dads too!) when the stress of all the decisions came into play. I’ve been stressed along side them. We’ve all seen the memes and posts on Facebook about no decision being the right one or the wrong one, but for our family (and so many others) it was extremely difficult.

My 6 year old has special needs, some of which we’re still in the process of screening and figuring out. These make it very hard for him to process and regulate the flow of sensory input and how his body reacts to those stimuli. The first Zoom meeting we had with his teacher this spring ended about 30 seconds in when she un-muted all the students so everyone could say hi. He slammed the laptop down and ran away with his hands over his ears and needed about 30 minutes to regain his composure and talk about what had happened. We didn’t attend anymore Zoom meetings after that. The other struggles of simply getting him to do the assignments seem to be echoed by so many parents that I actually felt a smidge better. We didn’t know what e-learning was going to look like until kids could return in person, but we knew we didn’t want him in school quite yet. Sensory issues were going to make so many things more challenging and I didn’t want to put that on him or the teachers and staff.

Less than a week before e-learning was to begin for this school year, a schedule was released that included quite a few Zoom meetings everyday, and that set my panic mode and my mom mode into overdrive. I needed to find the best solution for my son and our family. This schedule wasn’t going to work for him with me at work full time, but I also really love my job and didn’t want to have to leave to make this work. Zoom meetings were a nightmare and his ability to work independently has been historically disastrous. It looked like a lose lose situation for quite awhile. I think I must have googled “can you home school and work full time?” 3 or 4 times before it really started to look like a viable option. I know I annoyed my poor co-teacher talking myself from one decision to another, then to yet another. It’s like I felt if I could convince her it was going to work, then it was going to work. Really though, I was trying to convince myself.
We attended back to school day and left even more confused and uncertain and the next day we sat down to talk. Our options were to push forward with e-learning and hope that someone could convince him to do his work and get through the zoom meetings, or I could pull him from school and home school. Ultimately we decided to pull and home school. I found an amazing curriculum for core subjects and have the flexibility to supplement with other subjects like STEM, art and music in ways that I know he’ll enjoy. It’s actually been a huge relief going this route and connecting with many more families who have done the same thing. An amazing bonus is that I still get to come to my amazing job every day.

None of this is to say that I appreciate the teachers, staff and administrators any less. This entire situation has been insane and everyone is getting through it the best way they know how. Ultimately though, giving myself the permission to make the hard decisions that are in the best interest of my son was amazing. There isn’t just one right way to educate children. One child may learn a different way and won’t fit in to one mold. While we prove this everyday at YSA, once the kiddos are older it’s hard to see there are other paths. A very big piece of the puzzle is having the support to carry out those plans and to figure things out. So, while things are still uncertain and hazy going forward, know that YOU are going to be the best one to make decisions about what to do for your family. It’s so true that there isn’t a right or wrong answer when it comes to school right now, but supporting each other and our kids is the first step.

Thank you for reading.

Ms. Amy
Infant Nursery Supervisor
Parent Connection Coordinator