With summer around the corner, I wanted to share some inspiration for parents. When the weather gets hot and kids are home all day, it’s tempting to let your kids do whatever they want. You can still find so many, beautiful teaching moments. Every day can bring an educational adventure. I asked a few parents when they know they’re excited to teach their kids, and they shared some very memorable, inspiring thoughts.

You know you’re excited to teach your kids when…

You know you are excited to teach your kids when… “You catch yourself making everything a teachable moment: a fallen leaf, a rock with curious striations, your short funny shadow next to her tall skinny one, oil and water separating cleanly in a measuring cup, water swirling one way around a drain only to change direction right at the end. It’s all exciting and wonderful to children, which reminds us adults to notice the amazing things we sometimes forget to see.” – Varda Meyers Epstein, Communications Writer at Kars4Kid

You know you're excited to teach your kids when... by Theresa's Reviews

You know you are excited to teach your kids when… “When you hear your child’s excitement after reading a book. One of the characters in a recent story we read was trying to fix a machine. My six year old daughter asked if we could build a machine together. She loves to make things and is constantly coming up with ideas to explore and it is so fun when she includes me in the process.”

“One day she decided she wanted to make a special collar for all her stuffed animals. It was obvious she spent a lot of time thinking through this as she informed me of the materials needed and the step by step process. It is so fun to watch her explore the world and express herself through reading, art, music, dance, etc. I want to bottle it up – I never want her love of learning to end.” – Angela Roeber, Director of Communications at Project Harmony

You know you're excited to teach your kids when... by Theresa's Reviews

You Know You’re Excited To Teach Your Kids When… You write an e-book together. “What do you do when you have a long, hot summer, two jobless teens, two preteens who have taken The Race to Nowhere to heart and one cute Labradoodle? You write a children’s book photo book and self-publish it in the Apple iBookstore. That’s just what me and my kids did a couple of years ago. I was a student at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago at the time we began this project. I had created a photo book for a photography class. I thought this would be a fun and creative project for the entire family. I felt that my children could experience writing, editing and photography.”

“The result is *The Trials and Tribulations of Rainbow the Doodle-Dog – The Wish*, *The Trials and Tribulations of Rainbow the Doodle-Dog – The Book,* *Rainbow the Doodle-Dog Finds Her Passion,* *Rainbow the Doodle-Dog Goes Pink!* and our best book, *Sunshine the Magic Doodle-Dog.* While we didn’t make any money perhaps because we didn’t market our books, my kids did learn about everything it takes to self-publish a book. We have a lot of fun memories and the books!” – Kathleen Thometz, owner at Doodle Art & Design

You know you're excited to teach your kids when... by Theresa's Reviews

You Know You’re Excited To Teach Your Kids When… “You quit your job at Google and start an edtech company. A couple years ago my daughter, Audrey, started asking what daddy did at work. She knew my job was at Google but didn’t understand what I meant when I told her I programmed computers. Undaunted, she insisted that she wanted to program computers, too, so we went online to see what products or books were around for teaching artistic 7-year-olds to code.”

“We didn’t find anything that was right for Audrey, and before long I’d decided to start a company to teach Audrey and other kids like her. Bitsbox was born. After a wildly-successful Kickstarter campaign, we’ve been shipping product for over a year to sixty countries around the world. Hundreds of thousands of kids have made apps on our web site. And most importantly to me, Audrey’s become quite the little coder.” – Scott Lininger, Bitsbox CEO

You know you're excited to teach your kids when... by Theresa's Reviews

“You know you’re excited to teach your kids when you actually pay $30 for caterpillars so they can learn the life cycle of a butterfly. When you realize you were dreaming about different ice cream recipes to make together.” – Ashley Kusi, blogger at Our Peaceful Family

You know you're excited to teach your kids when... by Theresa's Reviews

I love how all of these experiences sum up either the things that already inspire me or some awesome activities that I want to try. Samantha impressed me at the park recently by holding three caterpillars at once, and I realized how brave she is. Georgiana finished a ballet session this weekend, and it’s super impressive that she’s showing discipline. This summer, I look forward to watching my kids learn and experience education in a different way.

What inspires you to teach your kids? Share in the comments section below!

About The Author

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Theresa has been writing since 2010 in magazines and online. Her lifestyle and parenting expertise has been featured in publications, including ShopSmart and Scholastic. She earned an M.Ed in Elementary Education from Vanderbilt as well as a BA in History from Flagler College, and she is a certified teacher.

17 Responses

  1. Theresa

    I love to teach our kids too. Those stories were very inspirational and fun to read! Thank you for sharing them. : 0 )

    Reply
  2. Aseel Issa

    I don’t have kids yet, but I feel that being a mom is the hardest job ever. My mother is the reason why we grow up to be the personalities we are today. God bless you and your family. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  3. deanna

    This is a great read! My daughters view of the world makes me excited to teach her. I love seeing things through her eyes.

    Reply
  4. CourtneyLynne

    Awwww what a great post!!!! I love teaching my daughter new things.

    Reply
  5. Meredith

    We’ve done the life cycle of a butterfly! This summer I want to find some time to let them lead the learning by going places where they can just explore. I want to give them some freedom to let me know what interests them!

    Reply
  6. Chaza

    I love this post. Very inspiring. I have a 21 month old son, and he loves books. I love reading to him and teaching him all the new things. Nothing makes me happy when I see how excited he gets when I brings lots of books to read. Thank you for sharing.:)

    http://www.hugshomemade.com

    Reply
  7. Christy

    I completely agree with #1. After leaving my engineering profession a couple of years ago, I love finding everyday opportunities to teach my son!

    Reply
  8. Lisa Lewis, MD

    Inspirational stories from great parents! I love them all. The level of connection and parental involvement displayed in each example is enlightening.

    Reply
  12. Emilee

    I know I love to teach our kids because we homeschool! 🙂 I always look for teachable moments outside the house and enjoy teaching them inside the house as well!

    Reply
  13. Faith

    Oh, man! I want to homeschool so much! No kids yet, but my husband and I need to pray about where God wants them to go to school when the time comes.

    Reply
    • theresa

      I wish I could actually homeschool too! Mine attend public school, but I love teaching them when they get home. 🙂

      Reply
  14. Alonda

    I can so relate to this! Especially the making every moment teachable part. That is me in a nut shell. I’m sure my husband is annoyed by now but I love teaching my kiddos! I am so excited to be homeschooling them soon.

    Reply
  16. Cristina at Ava's Alphabet

    I love to get my kids outside to experience nature. So many teachable moments. We are really into gardening right now. Thanks for sharing on Family Joy Blog Link-Up Party. Have a great week!

    Reply

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