I’m excited to share with you a special post from Melanie. I’ve long admired how she manages technology through her day. So I asked if she could share how she does that with you all!
School days are full of interruptions, but one of the slyest is cell phones. I remember as a kid when my parents got an answering machine so Mom could screen incoming calls and only answer during school hours if it was my dad. Now, we have cell phones and communication interruptions have become even easier to get caught up in—because it just takes a second to send a text, or read a post, or read an email, or just send a quick question. Of course once the phone is in our hands, we notice one more thing we need to look at or answer.
Nathan had been working on increasing his skill set and disciplines for greater success in his work. As I’ve watched him do this, I am inspired to have a similar drive to build my skills and disciplines to be the best homeschool mom and wife I can be. It’s not hard for me to find things I can work on, so obviously I am a work in progress!
One thing that I know helps me be a better homeschool mom is to remove distractions when I am teaching! A big thing for me is my phone. My goal is to keep my phone on the kitchen counter and do a quick check between subjects to see if Nathan has texted. I work to ignore other communication from family and friends until lunch, and the same for the afternoon—ignore texts until school is done for the day. Though I’m sure this can be a frustration for those working to communicate with me, people quickly learn my texting style and accept it. For most communication with friends, I use email. That doesn’t have the same expectation of immediate response as texting currently holds.
My connection with my kids is so much better (and precious) when my phone is not my companion and focus. Our daily routine includes one-on-one teaching time with each kid. They look forward to this time and are very sad when it is skipped or excessively interrupted (there are always some interruptions—diaper changes, redirecting of other kids, etc.). How special it is when my eyes, mind, and heart are in tune to them. The time spent is so much more productive and enjoyable with that focus and lines up with the goal I have in front of me of being the best teacher I can be!
In Jesus,
Melanie
Melanie and Christina doing school“And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt
talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou
walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deuteronomy 6:7).
Thank you so much. I’ve needed to work on this too.
Thank you, Melanie for the important reminder that placing conventions in our lives can really give traction to our good intentions!
Thank you! This is an area of my own home management that the Lord is speaking clearly to me about. I like the tip about placing your phone facing away/down. When it lights up, it’s definitely a pull to go look.
It’s really important for moms today to encourage each other about healthy technology. For good and for bad, it has really impacted our homes, and my wonderful mentor moms (including my own) didn’t have this same challenge to navigate 30 years ago, so they don’t have the same experience to share. It’s definitely new territory!
Love this post.
This is such a conviction and encouragement at the same time!! Thank you!
So important! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Melanie! This is a beautiful and practical article! I especially love your final paragraph! They only have one childhood with us – so it’s just one chance we have to be that best mom and home school teacher. 🙂 Very encouraging post!
Thank you for the reminder to be in the moment and present with our children. The few seconds/minutes with our phones has zero value compared to these precious blessings. 🙂
This post is so spot on. Thank you for your transparency. I am (on a regular basis) saying to my husband, “the cell phone has to go”. Now of course that sounds extreme, but it truly is a life sucker if it is not brought under control. The demands of our time as homeschool mothers are immense. The introduction of the cell phone only further weighs us down if “we” do not set the tone for it in our homes.
Thanks again for posting this!
Such good advice that most of us need to be reminded of! Thank you for sharing!
This is so true and challenging, and I struggle with this as well. Thank you, Melanie!
Hello to the whole Maxwell family,
Interesting post. As a daycare manager, I ask my staff to leave their cellphone in their locker. No distraction is allowed when these ladies take care of the children. But they have children too in school or daycare. So I proposed her to gave the daycare phone number to their husband, school and so on in case of emergency. Homeschooler or other, when children are involved, in my humble opinion, we have to focus on them. Have a great day.
Thank you!! I love the practical relevance of this post. The phone is such a temptation to us now!
A very nice reminder
Thank you, Melanie!
Thank you Melanie for this post!
Blessings
I enjoyed hearing something from Mrs. Melanie. This is very true.