School is coming to a close and parents may be scrambling to find ways to teach their children over the summer. Nobody wants to see valuable educational skills lost during the break. Parents can become excellent teachers by learning a couple 'tools of the trade.'

Learn that there is great value in listening to the experience of other parents who have "been there and done that." Essentially, we need to make our own decisions and own choices for our families, but there are many great parents to learn from who successfully teach their children at home with ease.

Be an early riser in the morning and retire to bed early. Many of the great ideas for teaching come in the early mornings, when our minds are fresh and we are replenished. We are also better parents when we are not exhausted and worn-out.

Build your teachings around your belief system. This is more comprehensive then just a "method." Children love and desire to be able to identify with something concrete and of value.

Establish a mission statement that you want for your family. Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families Book is an excellent resource. This will be a foundation and will help the children feel part of a bigger unit with a plan. Include educational goals in the statement.

Review your family mission statement with the children often, so they know what the family's long term goals are, so they feel that what they are doing on a daily basis is contributing to something long-term and worthwhile. A mission statement gives children and families focus and direction.

Teach by example and help the learner assume responsibility for learning. Parents are teaching all the time. We reflect the type of teacher we truly are in our tone of voice, our actions, and our choices. When parents are teaching by example it is intimate, better, easier and less formal. There cannot be a double standard in what we expect children to do and become, and what we are willing to do and become.

Quite a bit of teaching that is done in the world is done so rigidly, in lecture. We don't respond to lectures too well in classrooms. Teaching can be two-way so that you can ask questions. You can sponsor questions easily in a class or discussion. Children need to be able to act and be responsible for themselves. By asking many questions, children can choose how to respond; and over time, this will develop into real learning. My goal is to work on crafting questions. The more questions we can get from the learners about something, the more they are engaged in the learning.

Learning doesn't always happen right in the classroom. Sometimes it happens outside. Children will learn a principle, encounter an experience and say, "This is what it is." So we do not need to assume that the exact learning is taking place immediately or assume they are not learning at all. The goal should be to develop a lifelong learner who can apply the principles taught to all areas of life.

Angela Hughes, while meeting the demands of her four children has worked as an adjunct professor at Brigham Young University and New Hampshire Technical Institute. She is the founder and chairman of Color My World: Kids Who Care, a non-profit humanitarian organization. (www.colormyworldkids.org). Angela is the co-owner of Trips Inc. Travel Agency specializing in cruises and tours. Contact her at angela@tripsandships.com

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