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If you’re a teacher, you start the school year with a list full of things you want to accomplish with your students. If you’re a parent, that list may have started the day your child was born. Whatever it is you want to accomplish, now’s the perfect time to refocus, re-energize, and get started. These resolutions for teachers and parents will help ensure that you, your students and children grow and excel in the new year.

I Will Enjoy My Children

Whether you see them at home or spend all day with them in the classroom, children can try your patience. It’s easy to focus on the frustrations they cause rather than the joy they can bring. Make it a point to focus on the positive rather than the negatives. You can do this by:

• Sharing in their accomplishments
• Pointing out what makes them special
• Reinforcing positive behavior rather than punishing negative behavior
• Choosing not to yell, call names, or overreact to negative situations

I Will Know My Children

How well do your really know your students? What about your children? Have you taken time to just sit and chat with them lately? It’s easy to get caught up in everything that’s going on and forget that children simply want to spend time letting you get to know them. This doesn’t mean simply asking them to share their favorite color or their favorite foods, it means taking a vested interest in them, their friends, and the activities they enjoy.

Both at home and in the classroom, give children time to express their feelings. Let them know they’re free to come to you to share their ups and downs. If they don’t come to you, go to them and encourage them to share. Make yourself a part of their daily activities too. If they’re going out with their friends, ask them questions about their friends and what they did. If they’re playing on a smartphone or tablet, spend some time playing along with them or monitoring their use. Not only will you make them feel important, you’ll also quickly know when something is not right.

I Will Not Overcommit

What’s filling your schedule this year? If you’re a parent, your days may be filled with juggling meetings, sporting events, and making time for your children to see their friends. If a teacher, you may fill your time with grading papers, writing engaging lesson plans, attending meetings, and then fitting in trips to the gym and family time once you get home. Despite your full schedule, it’s hard to say no to the requests that pour in. However, if you’re feeling stressed and overwhelmed, chances are your children or students are feeling stressed and overwhelmed too.

Remember, you children don’t have to participate in every extra-curricular activity and you don’t have to attend every single meeting. In the classroom, you don’t have to try every new idea you hear or assign tons of homework that you’ll later have to grade. Instead, focus on a few key things and do them to the best of your ability. Not only will you feel less overwhelmed, you’ll help set a positive example for your children and your students.

I Will Not Feel Guilty

You live in a world that loves to make teachers and parents feel guilty for not doing enough. Viral videos and blog posts highlight teachers and parents making a difference in the lives of children all over the world. Facebook offers a place for teachers and parents to highlight every craft project, every good decision, and every milestone. Pinterest features thousands of pins to make you feel like you have to do it all. However, it doesn’t make you less of a teacher or less of a parent.

Resolve not to feel guilty. You may not use every lesson idea or recipe you pin. Your Facebook posts may focus more on failures more than successes, and you may not make headlines for your achievements with your students and your kids. However, that doesn’t mean you’re not doing a good job. Instead of feeling guilty, focus on doing the best you can with the time, energy, and resources you have. You don’t have to do it all.

I Will Listen to Myself

As teachers and parents, sometimes you spend so much time listening to your children and your students that you forget to listen to yourself. Instead of tuning out your body and your mind, you need to take time to listen to yourself so that you can ensure you stay healthy and fulfilled enough to interact with children on a daily basis. Maybe your body is telling you that you’ve been staying up too late grading papers or that you have been eating too many meals on the go. Maybe your gut is telling you not to take that promotion at work or that you need to take a vacation. Teach yourself to listen to and follow these cues. After all, if you don’t listen to yourself it’s hard for anything else to fall into place.

What other resolutions are you planning to stick with in the new year? Share them here and maybe inspire some others too!

Interested to learn how to teach your kids about conflict resolution? Download a free sample worksheet pack from KidsKonnect today!

When parents first consider homeschooling, they often start by wondering if teaching their own children is actually legal. The answer is yes. Homeschooling is legal in every state of the United States. (It is, however, outlawed in two dozen foreign countries.) That said, however, it is important to realize that homeschooling is governed by the individual states, rather than the country as a whole. The legalities of homeschooling differ widely from one state to the next.  Some states are incredibly lenient and some are quite strict.

Notice of Intent

Commonly the first law that is referenced with homeschooling is whether or not parents have to contact the local school district to let them know they are planning to homeschool. Some states do not require this notice, while others require a simple parental notification—and that is it. Some parents elect to simply turn in a letter of intent with their names, addresses, and child’s name to the state and to the school district in which they live. Others may choose to include additional details about what subjects they will be covering.

States that do not require notification of intent to homeschool:

• Idaho
• Alaska
• Texas
• Oklahoma
• Missouri
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Michigan
• Connecticut
• New Jersey

States that require only notification of intent to homeschool:

• California
• Nevada
• Montana
• Wyoming
• Utah
• Arizona
• New Mexico
• Nebraska
• Kansas
• Wisconsin
• Kentucky
• Mississippi
• Alabama

Beyond the Basic Notification

Many states go beyond requiring notification.  In addition to a notice of intent, they want to see student test scores and expect a professional evaluation of each student’s progress at the end of the year.  The level at which these tests are administered depends on the state. Some states expect homeschooled students to be tested once at the elementary school level and once at high school. Others expect it as often as grades 4, 6, 8, and 10.

Moderately strict states:

• Washington
• Oregon
• Colorado
• South Dakota
• Minnesota
• Iowa
• Arkansas
• Louisiana
• Tennessee
• Ohio
• Georgia
• Florida
• South Carolina
• North Carolina
• Virginia
• West Virginia
• New Hampshire
• Maine
• Maryland

The strictest homeschooling states in the country are found on the east coast.  These states require parental notification, in addition to professional evaluation (by an objective third party), and often curriculum approval from the state, parental teaching certification (minimum high school diploma or GED), and even, in extremely monitored states, home visits from state officials.

Most restrictive states:

• Vermont
• New York
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• Massachusetts

As an example, New York homeschoolers are required to submit a very detailed home instruction plan that lists the curriculum materials, textbooks, and other resources that will be used. In addition, parents must keep detailed attendance records to indicate that each student has been instructed at the legal equivalent of 180 days per year. (This breaks down to 900 hours for grades 1 through 6 and 990 for grades 7 through 12.)  New Yorkers are also expected to submit annual homeschooling plans, plus quarterly reports with grades in all subjects. Here, standardized tests are administered in grades 4, 6, and 8, as well as every year of high school.

It is important to note that state homeschooling laws are not written in stone. They can—and often do—change with enough parental and organizational involvement. In recent years, Utah, Iowa, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota have significantly reduced their requirements for homeschoolers.

Finding Additional Resources

Knowing what rules each state has in place to govern homeschooling is essential for all new homeschoolers, as well as for teachers whose students are leaving the system to be homeschooled. There are many online sites with this information, such as The Homeschooling Legal Defense Association, A to Z Home’s Cool and the Coalition for Responsible Home Education.

In addition to researching online, parents should connect with local and state homeschooling support groups and associations. Attend conferences. Go to the library and ask about homeschooling resources. All of these places can help parents and teachers better understand the laws in place and what they do and do not entail.

Deborah Stevenson, Executive Director of National Home Education Legal Defense (NHELD) stated in an interview with Home Education Magazine, “If citizens are not informed about the law and the facts affecting their rights under the law, they cannot effectively retain their freedom.” Stevenson encourages parents to not only read their state laws regarding homeschooling, but also read the U.S. and state Constitutions, and all state Department of Education and local Board of Education policies that focus on the right to homeschool. The key is being informed, so that if any family is questioned, they know their rights.

Larry and Susan Kaseman, authors and columnists for Home Education Magazine, write about how parents can maintain their homeschooling freedoms. In one column, they advocated having copies of state homeschooling statutes and regulations, but to rely heavily on speaking with experienced homeschoolers as well. “The best source of information is knowledgeable, experienced homeschoolers who live in the state you’re interested in,” they wrote.

The right to homeschool is one that is upheld in every state of this country. What parents need to do to keep and fulfill this right varies, however, so taking the time to do “home-school homework” is essential.

To learn more about homeschooling, check out Homeschooling 101: Most Important Questions to Ask Before Deciding to Homeschool and Sports and Other Extracurricular Activities.

Tamra Orr is the author of six books on the topic of homeschooling, including Homeschooling FAQs: 101 Questions Every Parent Should Ask, The Parent’s Guide to Homeschooling, and After Homeschool: Fifteen Homeschoolers Out in the Real World. In addition, she homeschooled her four children from Kindergarten through high school graduation.

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It might start by simply hiding behind their mother as a toddler and progress into a sense of anxiety so strong it inhibits everything from classroom instruction to proper socialization.

While many children are boisterous and creative through imaginative play, some struggle deeply with shyness.

Shyness has positive points, but when it is so extreme that it affects their daily life in a negative way, then there may be ways to help.

Group activities for shy kids can be very beneficial when executed correctly. Timid kids can learn to find strength in numbers and to be accepted in ways they previously feared.

It might seem the worst thing you could do is put a shy child in the middle of a team or arranged social circle – but in many instances it can also help.

Classroom Structure

While some kids may never be the spokesperson of the group, they may contribute ideas to a more outgoing member of the team and feel proud where they otherwise would’ve just been silent.

An attentive teacher will recognize a shy student who is struggling, and will often try to help.

One way to help is to arrange the classroom so that desks are in pairs or small clusters rather than individual rows. This promotes teamwork in the classroom – the various clusters of desks work together to come up with an answer, or they brainstorm together for an activity.

Leading the Way

Many shy children tend to be excellent students or independent workers.

Why not tap into these positives by asking them to mentor younger children?

Whether in the classroom or on the soccer field, the opportunity to build relationships with younger kids can make the shy child feel more comfortable and able to speak up more in other life situations.

This works even better if they can be paired with another to assist a handful of younger ones. This mentorship system is the core of the Montessori school structure – it has been known to raise confident and capable children, and in some instances, abolish shyness.

Get Active in the Classroom

Although it may seem a recipe for disaster, one of the best activities for shy kids is group physical activities or sports. They experience victories without having everything rest on their shoulders, but also learn the important lesson of other people counting on them to be confident and do well.

Team activities have proven time and again to be effective in bringing children out of their shell, and don’t include the pressure of individual sports like gymnastics or figure skating.

When Shyness is a Problem

If a child is so shy that they are experiencing anxiety attacks, problems even walking into the schoolyard or signs of depression, encourage the child’s parents to seek the help of a health care provider right away.

While many kids are shy and go through life in a simpler, quieter way, shyness can sometimes lead to more serious issues. Sometimes even a one-time therapy session with a quality counselor can get to the bottom of the situation and help the little one to feel more confident and secure in who they are.

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Sarah Antrim is a blogger and social media manager for ActivityHero, a website that helps parents find, plan and book kids classes and summer camps. She blogs extensively about kids activities, providing parents fun and time-saving tips on how to engage kids. As a mother of two, Sarah firmly believes in the company’s mission to keep kids active & healthy.

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Joe Pizzuto-Pomaco is an educator, writer, and editor who has taught in public and private schools 15 years.