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It used to bother me, when I was in my teaching program, when teachers and professors talked to us like we knew more about raising children than the parents. I was a 20-something student who had a lot of babysitting experience, but I was not a mom at the time. What did I know about parenting?

Sure, I could create a fun activity for learning letters or identifying shapes, but when it came to teaching values, instilling discipline, I had no experience yet. I tell you this because of the title of this post. I don’t think teachers know more about your children than you do-unless you spend very little quality time with your children.

Most of us stay-at-home moms spend both quality time and a large quantity of time with our kids every day. That can lead to feeling like we don’t have enough to do with our kids to make the bulk of the time the best it can be. Let me tell you a secret. The secret that will help you be a great stay-at-home mom. A secret that was important when I was teaching. What is the secret? Pretty simple.

The Secret to be a Great Stay-at-Home Mom: Think Like a Teacher

Observe

As a teacher and caregiver, I was paid to observe, observe, observe.  Every child in my care was to be observed, or studied so I had real events to inspire my lessons-tailored to each child’s needs.  I had to have objective anecdotes jotted down to prove all of my lesson plans were directly geared to each child.  I do that with my children-not the note-taking part, but the observation part. I really study my kids every day. I look for the answers to these questions:

What are they doing well?

What are they struggling with learning?

What behavior is most common (and when is it occurring)?

What do they most want to do with me each day?

What are they really good at doing on their own?

You may not have a background in teaching, but you don’t need to be a teacher to be a great stay-at-home mom. Just watch your child playing, interacting with others. Watch what they notice, listen to, what they talk about while you are playing with them.  Build on that. Jot down or just remember-you can take it as far as you want.  You will be amazed at what ideas you get for what to do with them next.

Apply What You Learned

If you have a child obsessed with vehicles, use that! Develop activities that involve their favorite toy(s).

Exposure to different activities and skills is so important.  Repetition is what they love and need to increase their aptitude for learning.

NOTE: You do not have to be a Pinterest-parent to be a great SAHM! Don’t even think I would imply that. 🙂 I don’t do that here. Reading books, coloring pictures, playing together with your child’s favorite toy or object is enough. It really is. Spending time together is the key. That instills the love of learning right there. No Pinterest needed, but it is a nice resource if you are a crafty mom.

Mom playing with child on the floor. Text reads New blog how to be a great stay at home mom.

Assess

I think it is perfectly ok to use a developmental checklist to help guide you with learning what your child may be able to accomplish at each age. Just know it is all created to be standardized, which we know every child is not, but it is a good guide. The developmental milestones help you gauge what you can teach them next.  For more about each age group, you can view my Crash Course in Child Development for Infants, Crash Course in Child Development for Toddlers, and Crash Course in Child Development for Preschool posts. They will give you an idea of what to expect learning and behavior-wise for each age group.

Going a step further, I know first-hand that you can perform a casual assessment on preschoolers without stressing them out. I will be writing more about this in a later post, but until then, the assessment forms that I used when teaching preschool and kindergarten are the same forms I use with my own preschooler to assess what I need to cover (academically) in our homeschool preschool lessons. We do much more than what is covered in an assessment, but as far as academic preparation for Kindergarten, children need to know certain academic skills. You can find both of my assessment forms for preschool and kindergarten here.

Think like a teacher to make the most of your time as a stay-at-home mom. This isn’t just for homeschoolers, or those who want to homeschool. This is about what you can do as a stay-at-home mom to spend quality time amidst the quantity of time you spend with your child every day. They will be prepared for school whether you will be teacher or you will be sending them to school.

So, when you really sat down, interacted and played, what did you discover?

Find resources for implementing routines and schedules in your home. Printables and suggested schedules make it so easy!

Mom helping kids with homework text reads how to be a great stay at home mom.

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