A Fine Parent

A Life Skills Blog Exclusively For Parents

About Michelle Crompton

Michelle Crompton is a homeschooling mother of three. She is a former law enforcement officer with a Bachelor's in Intelligence Studies and is a certified FACS coder and author. She spent two years traveling the US full time in an RV with her family; she finds happiness in serving others and sharing the knowledge she has accumulated along the way.

100+ Best Books for Babies, Toddlers & Preschoolers With Messages of Positivity, Empathy and Kindness

by .
(This article is part of the Gift Guides series. Get free article updates here.)

100 books toddlers preschoolers listWe all understand the importance of reading aloud to our children from infancy: cognitive and language development, increased attention span, vast vocabulary, emotional intelligence…

The best way to do it? Start reading to your kids ASAP.

To make it easy, we’ve compiled the best books for kids so you don’t have to read about reading anymore. You can skip the research and go directly to reading to your kids.

All of these books support positivity, empathy and kindness. This list contains books without any negative connotations, inappropriate subject matter or questionable messaging so that you can feel confident picking up any of these and reading it to your young child’s impressionable mind!

All of these books are from Amazon, they all have a 4+ rating and most are available through Prime!

We start with board books for babies and toddlers, and then move on to books for preschoolers & kindergartners, so if you have kids in the older age bracket, feel free to skip the first few.

Here we go –

[Read more…]

Schooling at Home? Here Are the Best Tips from 7 Veteran Homeschoolers

by .
(This article is part of the Coronavirus Support series. Get free article updates here.)

Featured-Image-Homeschool-Article.jpgYou’re now schooling at home.

In several parts of the country, it looks like this may go on till the end of the school year.

Maybe some of you wanted to homeschool all along, and find the idea exciting. That’s great news!

But for many parents, school closures forced them to take on the sudden role of “teacher.” And that notion is daunting and overwhelming.

So what can parents do to ensure our kids are getting a decent education during this difficult time? We asked some long-time homeschoolers these questions so we could bring you the best advice:

How can we as parents make the best of the situation for our children and their education (as well as our sanity)? Can kids learn at home successfully while also having fun?

And what if my child is spectacularly unmotivated to learn anything from home at all? What do we do then?

Here’s what the experts had to say! [Read more…]

110+ FREE Resources for Kids to Use During the Coronavirus School Closures

by .
(This article is part of the Coronavirus Support series. Get free article updates here.)

Main-Image-school-resources-copy.jpgUnexpectedly homeschooling because of Coronavirus school closures?

Overwhelmed by the unrealistic Instagram posts of people’s daily schedules?

Deep breath. You can totally do this!

We’ve compiled for you a list of 110+ awesome free educational resources to make this super easy.

And here’s more good news: homeschooling doesn’t have to be anything like actual school to be educational. 

Click on a link (or three) below and start exploring with your younger kids.

And if your kids are old enough, you can give them the reins and let them explore what they find most interesting on this list. Language arts, math, chemistry, art and finances, it’s all here!

As a homeschooling parent, I’ve utilized many of these resources myself and have chosen these for you because they are:

  1. easy to use
  2. engaging and educational for the kiddos
  3. and best of all, free!

(Many of these are free all the time, some only while the schools are closed).

In my experience, I spend about 15-20 minutes per subject for elementary kids, but I don’t stop if they’re engaged and we’re delving into something in which they are showing a lot of interest.

Alright. Time to dive in. Click on any link below and let the learning joy begin!

PS: Do you have a favorite resource that I have not listed? Please let me know about it in the comments section below. Thank you! [Read more…]