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Young Scholars Academy

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Why Should You Spend More Quality Time with Your Family

June 20, 2019 by Young Scholars Academy Leave a Comment

Time is so valuable that it is the most important thing you can give to your family, especially to your children. They will not be young forever. One moment they are cuddled in your arms, the next, they are already starting high school. And the time you spent with them will be like precious jewels and embedded in their minds forever.

Why Should You Spend More Quality Time with Your Family

Some people believe in the concept that time is money. Ignoring the fact that family time is as important and more meaningful, they spend most of their time at work, seeking livelihood to support their families. A study from the Mental Health Association based in the UK indicates that 4 out of 10 employees are neglecting other aspects in their life. They work long hours forgetting to spend more quality time with family and friends.

So, how important is it to spend time with your family? Here are a few benefits of family time that should not be ignored:

Stronger family bond

The main and most important reason why you need to spend more quality time with family is to develop ties and bond with your loved ones. As your kids grow older, they tend to join gangs or wrong groups of friends because they are more welcome. They want to be a part of a family. That is mostly what happens to kids who did not spend enough time with their parents when they were growing up.

Children need a sense of security and belongingness. They need someone they can look up to as a role model and turn to when things get hard. If a family spends more quality time together, a deep and strong family bond develops.

More time to talk and listen

In every family, there will always come a time when the need to share, talk and listen arises. Most adults think that talking and listening to their children is difficult to do as kids think differently than them. Truth is, most children will become more attached to the grown-ups who take time to talk and listen to what they really feel.

Listen without judgment, jumping into conclusions, or criticism. When you listen to your children, do not just hear them out. Feel the message they are trying to convey – empathize. When your child comes to you with something important, focus your attention to them. Show them that you are involved in the whole conversation. Talk directly to them, especially teenagers about the side effects of drugs and alcohol. Always set a good example. Remember that kids always follow by example.

Instill family values to children

In a world where divorce has increased rapidly over the years, one of the many benefits of family time is to instill in your child’s mind the importance of family values and build a sense of worth. Children tend to imitate. If you are an absent parent during most of their growing up years, the tendency for them to become one is higher.

Learn important lessons in life

Home is where your children will first learn most of the things they know in life. If you do not teach them life’s important lessons at home, they will learn it or look for it somewhere. While at some point, your kids will have to learn things on their own, it is still important for a family to have time for discussions. Put forth your situations or problems in front of them. Have an open discussion with your kids, ask for their opinions, and together come up with a solution. By doing this, you will be able to help them learn to better understand life’s situations in a positive way.

Help and connect better with your kids

Parental involvement is one of the most overlooked aspects of children’s education today. Most parents don’t realize how important their involvement is in their child’s learning. Family members should take the time and effort for this. Most children who have more involved parents are likely to continue to go on higher education, achieve superior test scores, finish school with higher honors, behave better and will have a positive outlook in life.

Your involvement can be like reading a bedtime story, checking their homework, discussing their progress at school with their teachers, getting involved in PTA, or anything that is related to their academic progress. It can also be as simple as asking them how their day was.

Final Thoughts

While providing financial support is also important to your family, do not neglect the fact that your kids need you physically as well. You need to really make an effort and find ways to spend more quality time with family and make the moments as fun and memorable as possible. Children grow up really fast. Don’t waste the time you have at the moment and be with them as much as possible. The more quality time you spend with the stronger your family unit will be. And strong families are able to withstand crisis and setbacks with a positive outlook, shared values, and beliefs that will help them overcome any challenges.

Filed Under: Family Tips

Becoming A NAEYC-Accredited Program

June 12, 2019 by Young Scholars Academy Leave a Comment

Everyone ready for a story?

Back in 2012 we, Young Scholars had suffered the loss of one of our owners Mr. Geoff who helped to start Young Scholars Academy back in 1995. The combination of his death and the financial aspects afterwards were extremely hard on many personal and business aspects. There were talks about how much notice to give our families, what severance packages would look like to our teachers, selling the tiny furniture, everything. It was a very sad and scary time for us all, we were faced with a fork in the road type decision. Our Executive Director Jenn decided one night that this wasn’t how the YSA story was going to end. This is not the impact we wanted to leave on children and families. So what did she do? Rallied us all together to fight the good fight to stay in business.
Becoming a NAEYC center was one of those things on the list that was going to keep us in the game.

What does it mean to be NAEYC accredited? If this is the first time you’ve ever heard of the term, allow us to explain. NAEYC is an accreditation process and program that creates a high set of standards for programs to follow. In your accreditation the assessors look at everything from your kitchen menu to your teacher’s credentials and literally everything in between. The process isn’t easy but that’s probably why only 8% of preschools across the nation are NAEYC accredited. Here’s a link if you’re interested in learning more about the standards and statistics about these programs.

We have been building our program up, revamping our classroom layouts, equipment and curriculum all in a matter of months. We needed it within a certain amount of time to justify keeping the doors open. Our assessor got to the building at 5:45 and because the universe has a sense of humor, we had one of the worst thunderstorms in Colorado Springs history! Water seeped in under the classroom doors, people couldn’t go into the parking lot to get back to their vehicles after grabbing their kids, it even took our freshly-built greenhouse! Literally it tried to take flight and got tangled in our playground fence. So the assessor was stuck, we were panicking on one of the most important days in YSA history. It was heartbreaking to an extent because so many things we had spent weekends and a TON of hours on were washed away or beaten down by this rainstorm. Craziness!

So because of the weather our assessor wasn’t able to go outside and make sure we were meeting that criteria, so he had to come back the next day! Now typically a visit is only one day but also very YSA-like things just had to go a little different for us! At the end of the whole ordeal we ended up passing with a 97% passing grade. Fun fact, you only need a 75% to officially pass…

To say that the NAEYC- visit is burned into a lot of our memories is an understatement! We fought to not only stay in business for our families, we fought to become a program that has an even higher standard to care for families! It’s a great story to tell nowadays but yeesh did it take a lot of blood, sweat and tears. (We say blood because there’s bound to have been someone with a paper-cut those days.)

It’s been five years since our initial NAEYC accreditation process and so we’re up for renewal this year. This time around it’s a very different process as we’ve been practicing and incorporating these concepts for the past 5 years. There’s no panic to rush to get things done in time and no rush to go buy the whole toy section at Lakeshore, it’s very different and we’re proud! We’re so grateful for the families and relationships we’ve been able to build with our community over the years because of this N.A.E.Y.C. process. We urge families to find another NAEYC accredited program if they are moving away. The concepts implemented in these types of school go far beyond just curriculum. We truly believe we’re helping to foster problem-solving skills, social emotional responses and even independence!
Thank you to those who have been with us on this journey and ask that you cross your fingers as we take on the next assessment! If videos are for you, Ms. Dotty and Ms. Jordan go in depth about what the NAEYC re-accreditation process looks like and again how it’s better for children and families!

Filed Under: Programs & Curriculum Tagged With: curriculum, NAEYC accredited

Sweet Summer Fun

June 11, 2019 by Young Scholars Academy Leave a Comment

Finally! Its summer y’all! Have you been counting down the days like we have?! As the cold days become fewer and fewer, my family is in the mood for sunshine and fun. I have begun planning mini vacations, weekend trips, and the day to day activities. I think these will be great to do this summer. In previous years, we have had a ‘go with the flow’ type of schedule. On the weekends we would go to the pool and try to catch things that were free around town. While that has been great, I wanted to try something new this summer! We are making a summer bucket list! This list is going to have daily goals and also BIG summer fun goals included. Here are a few tips and some of the ideas that my kids and I have come up with!
 
Depending on the age of your kiddos, you may need to make separate goal sheets for each child. My vision for this is to include daily goals they can accomplish easily. And also family goals or a summer bucket list. I feel having this tool for the summer will help keep us busy and have a more organized schedule. Because truth is, I say that I want to do these ‘things’ over the summer and I either end up forgetting what I wanted to do (seriously…) or I get lazy and take the easy way out and make park and pool trips. Which is totally fine. But it means that I never followed through with what I wanted my kids to experience over the summer.

Daily goals

Depending on age, these are simple things that they need to get done daily. You could turn this into chore type activities. Or small learning activities that will help keep those brain cells busy in the summer months. My preschooler has 3 daily goals:
  • to read 30 mins total (with sissy or a parent),
  • feed the dog dinner (he picked),
  • and play a writing/letter game with mom.
So, this is a combination of chores and learning. It is important to include your kiddo in making these decisions. It makes them feel the responsibility of making a choice. These goals will most likely get switched up during the summer. This way, he can focus on other things he needs to work on and will be involved in that process too. Now, I have thought of also doing a reward system for this…but decided against it. I want these goals to really feel important to him and not become something he is doing for a sticker/toy. This means working with my preschooler so he understands the concept a bit more. I want to pump him up so he meets his goals and feels proud.
Little boy with summer bucket list
A well thought out summer bucket list

Family goals or Summer Bucket List

This is a concept that I came across online, but I put my own spin on it. Online, the picture had all the places they wanted to go visit. While that will work, I just wanted to be more specific and expand it a little. So, for our Summer Bucket List we are coming up with a list of things that we really want to do/see/explore and also some kindness activities. I picked a few items on the list and I let each of my kiddos choose things to add. Most of the things we added are things that we are surely able to accomplish and will be awesome to be able to cross them off.
Some of the ideas my kiddos came up with fall into the ‘we will sure try’ category. While I am not sure if we will be able to do some of the items, I still wanted to include them. I think it is also important for them to see what happens when goals are not met as planned. That way, they get to have conversations and examine their feelings on it and grow from it.
 
I really feel this system will make a positive difference in our summer adventure. I want them to really have a busy, fun, and engaging summer! Having a small outline of what this will look like will help keep us all accountable. I also recently read a quote online that said “You only get 18 summers with your children, that’s it. So make it count.” Boom. Right to the feels for sure. Being a kid is such an experience that can be truly magical. MY daily goal is to act like a kid and have fun, that way my children will have the most memorable summer ever!
 
-Ms. Whitney
Lead Prekindergarten Teacher
Curriculum Coordinator

Filed Under: Family Tips, Holidays Tagged With: summer activity, summer bucket list, summer fun

Importance Of Summer Reading

June 10, 2019 by Young Scholars Academy Leave a Comment

We are all told that it is important to read to our children and have them read every day especially in the summer time. But some take it as a side thought like sunscreen application; something that should not be optional. It is important in all areas of your kiddo’s education to keep them reading regularly throughout the summer. Children lose more during the summer than they gain during the school year when they stop ALL learning. Summer reading is a simple and fun way to keep those brains chugging until school starts up again.

Most libraries have summer reading programs of some kind. They even offer rewards for reading so much in a certain amount of time. This is fun for the competitiveness in us all. Check your local library or online to see what they have planned for the summer and make a commitment of going once a week.

Just the short amount of time during the summer can put your child up to two years behind their peers who were reading during the summer months. They will not catch up because they spend the following school year trying to get back to where they were at the end of the previous year. These statistics are terrifying to see how fragile learning is. If we leave it, we lose it.

Reading during the summer is such an effortless activity that can save your kiddo tons of heartache and you in the long run. You are much less busy during the summer (so to speak) that reading can become an activity that replaces something you do during the school year (like band practice or dance lessons). Make the commitment you won’t be sorry.

Books are everywhere. Make finding new books a game. Take trips to the library, thrift shops, garage sales, do book exchange play dates, and keep books in the car during vacation travels. If you have reading times set in place already then just stick with those through the summer as well. You are setting the tone for the love of reading into your children now, then it does not feel like work for them late on in life. It is simply something they enjoy doing just like other activities. Happy Summer reading friends!

-Ms. Brooke
Lead PreKindergarten Teacher
Literacy & Curriculum Coordinator

Filed Under: Holidays Tagged With: reading, summer activity

Things To Do For Father’s Day 2019

June 7, 2019 by Young Scholars Academy Leave a Comment

We all love dad. Wrestling, playing video games, cooking at the grill, and hanging out are some of the fun things he does with us. This Father’s Day. show dad you care by giving him the gift of time. Take him to one of these fun places.

Peak into Pikes Brewery Tour

On June 15, from 12:00-5:00 pm, the Pikes Peak Brewing Company is hosting “Peak into Pikes Brewery Tour.” This is an hour-long tour that gives some history and facts about brewing beer. They take guests through the back part of the brewery, give a 10% off coupon for their merchandise, and give each guest a tour exclusive pint glass. The price is $20 per person. They are located at 1756 Lake Woodmoor Drive, Monument, CO, 80132 719-208-4098 https://pikespeakbrewing.com/event/brewery-tour-3/

Pikes Peak Celtic Festival

The Pikes Peak Celtic Festival is being held June 14-16. Come out and enjoy Celtic music and dancing, living history, authentic Celtic cuisine, bag pipe competitions, Highland Athletics, Whisky tasting, Braveheart 5K, and more! A weekend pass is $25 for adults and $10 for kids age 6-17. For a single day pass it is $15 for an adult and $5 for kids. Whisky Tasting is $48.75 and the Braveheart 5K is $46.80. Both events include an adult weekend pass. Western Museum of Mining & Industry 225 North Gate Blvd, Colorado Springs, CO 80921. For more information or to buy tickets, please visit https://pikespeakcelticfestival.com/

Mesa Drive-in Theater

The Mesa Drive-in Theater is open seven nights a week. They provide that old time feel of driving in to watch a movie. Admission is $10 for ages 12 and older. Children under 12 are free. This price includes a double feature. Concessions range from $1.50-$8.75 per item. This month their family friendly double feature is Aladdin and Avengers Endgame. Located at 2625 Santa Fe Drive, Pueblo, CO 81006.

Annual Starlight Spectacular

June 15, Garden of the Gods is hosting the 25th annual Starlight Spectacular. Enjoy a 4, 16, 21, or 23-mile bike ride through and around Garden of the Gods Park beginning at 9:00 PM. Adults are $48 and children 6-15 are $28 children under 6 are free. There are rules and regulations you must adhere to for safety, so be sure to check that out before registering. 1805 N 30th Street, Colorado Springs, CO 80904. To register, go to; https://www.trailsandopenspaces.org/…/starlight-spectacular/

Time is the greatest gift to give to your father. Find something to achieve this goal and have a Happy Father’s Day!

-Ms. Blair
Lead Early Preschool Teacher
Wellness Coordinator

Filed Under: Family Tips Tagged With: fathers day, gift ideas

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