family-guide.co.uk

Teaching your child how to read is one of the most valuable gifts you will ever give them.

Anything they come up against in life will be more easily dealt with if they can read. They will have more confidence in class, around their peers and gain a great satisfaction from life as they will be able to solve problems themselves and in turn help others.

Until I started teaching my own children how to read I had always took it for granted and didn’t realise just how lucky I am that I could read. My Daughter has struggled with reading up until the last six months but now she is catching up so fast. She has started reading the Harry Potter books, and I now know she has got the ability to read because she discusses them with my wife (a massive Harry Potter fan) and I also know she now has one of the big doorways to life opened up.

Now my 4 year old son is a different story. He is starting to read himself and he loves it. Every night he asks me to read book after book and he now reads several of his favourites to me. Apart from being one of the most valuable gifts to them, it is one of those fantastic moments in life, when they start reading, you just feel so proud.

I have just read a post on another blog, Life Without School, and I really connected with the author for the way her daughter struggled to read as well and she has some great ideas of the little things you can do every day to build the foundations for your children’s reading future.  Take a look if you can.

Wayne

For more simple steps you can use today to help your child’s reading don’t forget to grab our free software - Educational Activities to Share with Your Child.

I have spent the weekend (and most of last week) fund raising for my children’s school by helping to organise the school’s Summer Fair.

If you have read the “About Family Guide” page you will know my family are number one in my life and I suggest that anyone who values their children’s education get involved with their school as much as they can. This is my first year as a committee member of the PTA and I didn’t realise just how much hard work it is to ensure these events work. The good news is that we achieved new records raising more money than before so it was definitely well worth it.

The main thing I have learnt is that the BBQ at a Summer Fair is really busy. I volunteered to run it as we were short on people putting themselves forward. My suspicions should have been raised as other parents sniggered on Saturday morning when they found out I was doing the BBQ and to be honest, it was harder work than my day job!

But it was for my children and their education will benefit when we spend all the money on additional resources for their classrooms, so I didn’t mind.

However it is Monday morning so back to everyday life.

Keep a look out later this week as we have a new “Easy Science Projects” guide coming your way to help you help your family.

Wayne

Have you downloaded “Educational Activities to Share with Your Child” yet? It’s free for all our visitors

Well this is the first post on the new “Wayne’s Guide” category.

There are three things I want to share today that I have found while researching new tools and family services to share with you.

www.thirtydaychallenge.com - Parents Guide to Online Safety for Children - Flock.com

Number 1.

I have recently come across some no cost online training about building traffic to and developing websites.  It promises to help anyone from a complete beginner to an experienced pro and I have decided to share this with my readers for two reasons.  Firstly my aim is to take family-guide.co.uk to as many people as possible (well those who are interested in improving their family life) and the second reason is that I have been asked by a couple of people recently how to get started with a blog.

Now I always believe in helping where I can but if there is some professional training available then it is always better to take advantage of it.  So if you are interested in learning how to start/develop your own online business, website or blog then pop over to the 30 Day Challenge now and see if it will help you.  The main challenge kicks off in August but the “Pre-Season” as they are calling it (getting an understanding of the tools etc) starts today, 1st June 2008, so come on over at any time between now and August and have a look -> www.thirtydaychallenge.com

Number 2.

My daughter and eldest son are using the internet more and more and we are all aware that there are many dangers online which is why I am always looking for ways to ensure their safety without restricting their enthusiasm and inquisitive natures.  I came across a great short report recently, “Parents Guide to Online Safety for Children” which explains how to protect your child from online predators.  It is a very informative guide and certainly worth reading whether your children have started to use the net or not.  Download the report, in PDF format, by right clicking here and choosing “save file as”

Number 3.

Finally I have just started using a new web browser called flock.  I have been using it a few days now and it is pretty awesome.  It makes using the web a whole lot easier because the browser is more like an organisational hub that keeps track of everything.  Their info says this . . .

Flock is a social web browser that uniquely pulls together the people, photos, videos and websites I care about.  Check it out, I think you’re really going to like it.

You can download it for free at www.flock.com/invited/1212357575187
Enjoy it!

So if you are into all this social networking have a look and make it so much easier

See you all soon

Wayne