How to Help Your Child During Hard Times

In a perfect world, children wouldn’t have to deal with stressful situations. However, there will be times when your child struggles to cope with what’s going on around them. Whether they find themselves in an unhealthy social environment or dealing with personal challenges, they will likely need help getting by. That’s where you can come in. While you can’t make the situation go away, you can help your child through it. Here are some tips. 

Recognizing Signs of Distress

It can be hard to tell if your child is experiencing everyday stress or if something deeper is going on. If you’re starting to feel like you don’t know your child anymore, that’s a sign that something is getting them down. Look for changes in behavior and mood. See if your child is having trouble sleeping or eating properly. When children become more withdrawn, it’s often because they’re dealing with hard feelings and don’t want to be a burden. 

Helping Your Child Process Emotions

Your child may be dealing with big emotions they’re not used to for the first time, and that can be scary. The best way to support them in this time is through open communication. Let them know that their feelings are valid, even if you don’t understand them. Make it clear that you’ll be there when they’re ready to process their feelings. 

Sometimes, children need professional help, especially if they’ve been through something traumatic, like a divorce or a natural disaster. There’s nothing wrong with seeking the help of a counselor, and it can greatly benefit a child’s mental health. 

Teaching Your Child Coping Mechanisms

Even if you wish you could be, you won’t always be there when your child goes through a tough time. Take time to teach your child about healthy coping mechanisms so they can eventually be independent. When you see your child taking healthy actions, like taking a deep breath before speaking with anger, let them know they did a good job. Along with in-the-moment actions, self care can go a long way toward feeling better. Exercising, taking showers and brushing their teeth can help your child feel in control and feel better overall. 

Setting a Positive Example

If you want your child to know how to manage during hard times, show them. Focus on managing your own stress and emotions in a healthy manner. Use the coping skills you’re teaching your child. And when you fall on hard times, take care of yourself, and seek support when you need it. Children learn best when they have positive role models to follow. 

At NTCA, we know that being a child or teen isn’t always easy. Students at our Tampa private school thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

Understanding the Value of Learning Outside the Classroom

Students can learn anywhere. Lessons take place in the classroom, on the playground, at home and beyond. Classroom instruction is great for learning facts, figures and skills. For more advanced learning, students benefit from expanding their knowledge out in the real world. Project-based learning allows students to interact with the learning material differently. Going outside of the classroom takes that real-world application to another level. 

Benefits of Learning Outside the Classroom

While most subjects can be taught in a classroom setting, there’s something to be said about hands-on experiences. Reaching out and touching the subject matter brings it to the student’s level. Students who go out into the world and apply what they learn have an easier time relating to the material. Experiencing lessons outside of the classroom also allows students to think more critically and solve problems they may not have thought of in the academic setting. 

Ways Students Learn Beyond the Classroom Walls

Experiential learning can take place in almost any environment. That’s the great thing about hands-on education. Students can go on field trips to places like museums, parks and businesses to learn about any number of subjects. Community service projects provide excellent learning opportunities. Students can also work on collaborative projects with local organizations that need volunteers. The opportunities are endless. 

Impact on Student Engagement and Motivation

Even children who excel in the classroom can benefit from learning in new environments. By showcasing the real-world application of their lessons, hands-on learning can increase students’ interest in the subject matter and improve their retention of information. Getting outside of their comfort zone also allows students to see new perspectives, leading to enhanced creativity and room for innovation. 

How Teachers and Parents Can Support Experiential Learning

While children can benefit in many ways from learning outside the classroom, they need help from the adults in their lives to get started. Teachers can provide guidance and resources to help students find opportunities. Teachers and parents can help their students connect with community partners who could use the help of a child or teen. After a child has an experiential learning experience, parents can encourage their child to reflect on and discuss what they’ve learned. The best way a parent can help a child learn is being involved. 

At NTCA, we’re all about experiential learning outside the classroom and collaboration on campus. Students at our Tampa private school thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

How Project-Based Learning Helps Students Find Themselves

Along with learning about academic subjects, students spend their time in school discovering who they are and who they want to be. Many students find that extracurricular activities give them the most opportunities for self-discovery. However, there’s another way students can learn a lot about themselves while learning about classroom subjects: through project-based learning. Here are some of the ways project-based learning can help students find themselves. 

Collaboration and Social Skills

Project-based learning requires students to work together toward a common goal. One of the best ways to learn about yourself is by working with others. Students learn how they can overcome challenges, from the intrapersonal to the academic. They learn the most effective ways to communicate, often through trial and error. At the end of each project, they build even more on these essential skills, gaining more insight into who they are.  

Building Autonomy and Self-Direction

It may seem to contradict the previous point, but in many projects, working independently is as important as collaborating with the group. Each student needs to build their part of the project so that the whole can come together. While working collaboratively, they learn what they can do by themselves and where they need to lean on each other. Once the project is complete, each student can take ownership of their contributions.

Developing Critical Thinking and Creativity

Children who learn in project-based settings often find themselves needing to think creatively and critically at the same time. Leaning too much on creativity can create beautiful end results that lack substance, while leaning too much on critical thinking can lead to too much thinking and not enough doing. Each project creates new opportunities to make informed decisions with the help of teammates, who learn from each other in the process. 

Cultivating Passion and Purpose

Finding yourself, especially as a young student, means discovering what you’re passionate about and where you excel. Project-based learning allows students to explore their personal interests in a way that relates to the subjects they’re studying. Rather than being abstract and distant, academic concepts become tangible, and therefore more relatable. Students may discover interests they never knew they had and talents that they choose to explore outside the classroom. 

At North Tampa Christian Academy, we believe project-based learning puts students on the path to success. Students at our Tampa private school thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

Spreading Love with Valentine’s Day Crafts

Valentine’s Day is coming soon! Children will pass out valentines to all their friends and classmates, and couples will exchange flowers and candy. It’s the perfect time to remember the importance of love in our lives. The holiday also presents an opportunity for making adorable heart-shaped crafts with your child. Here are a few Valentine’s Day crafts that we love.

Bird Feeder Hearts

Crafting projects often end up stashed away and eventually thrown away, despite your best intentions. What if you could make an adorable craft that could be put to use? These bird feeder hearts can do just that, making them more sustainable and fun than the average craft. They’re easy to make, especially with the help of older children. 

Recipe

• For the hearts

• ¾ cup of flour

• ½ cup of water

• 1 2.5 teaspoon envelope of unflavored gelatin

• 3 tablespoons of corn syrup

• 4 cups of birdseed

• Other items needed

• Heart-shaped cookie cutter

• Cooking spray

• Pieces of ribbon

• Gift tags 

Instructions

• Spray a spoon with cooking spray.

• Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. 

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

• Spray the inside of a heart-shaped cookie cutter, place it on the parchment paper, then fill it with birdseed, packing it down as you go.

• Spray a second spoon with cooking spray to pat down the heart, making sure it’s really packed in. 

• Make a hole near the top center using a chopstick or similar object

• Remove the cookie cutter, fixing up the edges, then let them sit overnight

• The next day, put a ribbon through the center of each heart, and tie the ends together

• Tie a gift tie to each ribbon 

Perler Bead Valentines

Who says Valentine’s cards need to be made from cardstock? Playing with perler beads will bring you right back to the days when you were making cards for your classmates. It will also show your child a fun, easy form of crafting. For this project, you will need to use an iron, so you may need to help a younger child.

Items needed

• Perler beads

• Perler bead pegboard

• Parchment paper

• Iron

• Small 2.75-inch glassine envelopes

• Washi tape

Instructions

• Arrange beads on a pegboard into a heart shape, and build a square around the heart. Make the overall size 12 pegs across to fit into a 2.75-inch envelope. 

• When the design is complete, lay parchment paper over the beads

• Set the heated iron on the parchment paper, holding for 10-15 seconds

• Allow plastic to cool

• Once it has cooled, remove the square from the pegboard, and place into an envelope. Seal the envelope with washi tape. 

Yarn Heart Art

A staple of crafting, yarn can be used in many ways to create works of art with a homemade feel. You can dive into crocheting or knitting with your child, create a design using a board with nails, or do this simple project. These pieces of 3D art make wonderful decorative gifts despite how simple they are to make.

Items needed

• Red yarn, preferably in multiple shades

• Flat wooden hearts, various sizes

• Small canvases, around 6” x 6”

Instructions

• Wrap the wooden hearts with yarn, forming the round shape as you wrap. Be careful to make sure it holds the heart shape. 

• If you are using multiple colors, be sure to alternate between the two colors when you’re wrapping. 

• Tuck in the loose thread.

• Hot glue the hearts to the canvas.

If your child loves to paint, consider having them paint the canvas, making sure it fully dries before sticking anything on it. A bright solid color like yellow or blue can make the red hearts pop and add another dimension to this simple project. 

Crafting for Valentine’s Day gives you a chance to spend quality time with your child and allows your child to spread love through homemade gifts. At North Tampa Christian Academy, a Tampa private school, students thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

4 Science Projects to Try at Home

Some of the best education happens at home. Teaching your child about science doesn’t have to mean buying a microscope kit, choosing a science camp to send your child to or taking trips to the science museum. Try these simple science projects with your child at home to make scientific concepts more relatable. 

Create and Play with Oobleck

Oobleck is a prime example of a non-Newtonian fluid. This means it acts like a liquid when being poured and like a solid when any amount of force is applied. Then, when the force goes away, it turns right back into its liquid form. Oobleck started out as a fictional substance that fell from the sky in the Dr. Seuss book “Bartholomew and the Oobleck.” The real-life version makes for an easy, fun science experiment. 

Here’s how it works:

• Slowly mix 1 cup water with 1.5 - 2 cups of cornstarch together. 

• You may need to add more cornstarch. Do so slowly until you reach the desired consistency, liquid yet solid. Due to the texture, you should mix it with your hands. 

• When you reach the solid/liquid consistency, add food coloring as a finishing touch. 

Try squeezing the Oobleck, making it into a puddle and dragging your fingers through it, or shaking it up in a plastic container. If you have older kids (and aren’t afraid to get a little messy), consider putting more Oobleck into a plastic kiddie pool and having your child run across it. You and your child won’t be able to help participating in this experiment together.  

Put an Egg in a Glass Bottle

Playing with food always makes for fun science experiments. The idea of this experiment is watching an egg peel itself to fit into a container. It will require your help or supervision, as it requires fire. Pick a glass bottle with a small opening, one that’s at least half the diameter of an egg. Birthday candles will make this experiment more visually exciting, but you can use matches if you have them. 

Here’s how it works:

• Start by boiling and peeling an egg. You may want to boil and peel a few just in case something goes wrong. Worst case scenario, you have a snack for later! 

• Next, stick one or three small birthday candles in one end of the egg, pushed in firmly, not deep enough to make the egg fall apart. 

• Light the candles. 

• Place the lit end of the egg/candle into an upside-down bottle, letting a little bit of air in for a few seconds. 

• Then, lower the bottle early, and watch the egg shrink to fit as it falls in. 

This experiment shows how liquid, solids and gasses work together to cause pressure as they react to one another. 

Homemade Lava Lamp

Some of the most fun home science experiments are done with items you can find in your kitchen. The homemade lava lamp experiment also uses an ingredient that most people have in their medicine cabinets: Alka-Seltzer. 

Here’s how it works:

• Grab a clean transparent PET water bottle or clear cup, vegetable oil, water, Alka-Seltzer and food coloring. You’ll also want a funnel to make it easier to pour in all the ingredients. 

• Start by filling the water bottle halfway with water and adding in a few drops of food coloring. 

• Fill the rest of the water bottle with cooking oil, giving the contents a little bit of time to settle and separate. 

• Next comes the Alka-Seltzer tablet. If you’re using a bottle, break the tablet into quarters before dropping it in if needed to make it fit. If you’re using a cup, drop the tablet in whole.

Then, watch the colored water swirl through the oil, creating a lava lamp effect! The Alka-Seltzer turned this basic water-and-oil project into a fascinating look into perpetual motion. This helps demonstrate what it looks like when multiple chemical reactions are happening at once. 

Sugar Water Density Rainbow

Creating a rainbow with sugar, water and food coloring will require a little bit of patience, but the end result will be worth it for an older child or teen. This experiment will show how different amounts of sugar and food coloring create different densities, allowing what looks like colorful water to be layered. 

How it works:

• For this experiment, you will need sugar, water, food coloring, five glasses, a tablespoon and a pipette or syringe. 

• Start by filling the first four glasses with water, leaving the fifth one empty. 

• Add two to three drops of red food coloring to one glass, yellow to another, green to the third and blue to the fourth glass. 

• Add one tablespoon of sugar to the yellow, two to the green, and three to the blue. 

• Stir the solutions in each glass until the sugar dissolves. 

• Fill ¼ of the empty cup with the blue solution using the syringe or pipette. 

• Then, fill with ¼ of the green, ¼ of the yellow and ¼ of the red. Do this slowly to ensure that the colors don’t mix. 

Then, voila! You have a liquid rainbow! This is because each of the liquids has a different density, which allows them to sit on top of each other as long as the experiment is done carefully. 

Our school encourages project-based learning in the classroom and at home. At North Tampa Christian Academy, a Tampa private school, students thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.