Words are a much more powerful force than we reckoned. It is an old idiom that the pen is mightier than the sword. The words we think and speak have a very powerful impact on the young minds around us. The choice of words can encourage them to try better next time, or convince them that nothing that they ever do is going to be worthwhile to us.
In addition to minding our own words when we are in the homeschool classroom, it is a very good idea to teach our homeschool students the power of words for themselves. It is one of the most important life lessons that you will ever teach them. Here are a couple of things that a homeschool teacher may suggest to their wards.
Monitor Self Talk
Words are all about communicating. There is no better way to check what we think about ourselves than to actually pay attention to that little voice inside us. Teach your homeschool students to listen to what their inner voice says and share it with you. If it is saying things that are negative and tearing down their confidence, teach them to cancel that type of self talk immediately. Then instead have them say a positive and encouraging statement to themselves. This small exercise when done once a week can bring about a huge positive change in their confidence levels and ability to take on new challenges.
Think Before Speaking With Others
Now that they are speaking kindly to themselves, have them monitor how they are speaking to their siblings, friends and other people around. Ask them to keep their words positive whenever possible. The idea is to teach them to take a second to say the sentence they mean to speak out loud and consider if it is going to hurt the other person. Make them think about what they really wish to communicate and have them consider the words that would best do so. This will have less fights breaking out between siblings and get your homeschool students to be more considerate about others feelings.