Crafting Bright Futures: Author Autumn McKay on Enriching Early Learning Experiences

Realize the full potential of your child's early education journey with guidance from Autumn McKay, a former teacher turned author whose passion for hands-on learning shines through every page of her work. Autumn details how parents can support their child's academic journey by creating intentional learning experiences at home.  Even the simplest activities, from baking to outdoor exploration, can make a tremendous impact on cognitive development and create cherished memories. As Autumn shares her expertise, gleaned from her Ultimate Preschool Activity Guide and her engaging reading and math series, you’ll discover a world where learning is not just educational but fun for the family.

Embrace a life where screen time takes a backseat to sensory-rich experiences that lay the foundation for a lifetime of learning. In our conversation, we emphasize the importance of balancing technology with sensory activities that bolster math and reading skills in an interactive manner. This episode gives practical tips for integrating these activities into your daily routine, ensuring that your child's education is as joyful as it is effective. So come along, and let's celebrate every small victory on the path to nurturing a brighter, more enlightened generation.

To learn more about Autumn McKay and her workbooks, go to bestmomideas.com. Autumn's free gift for listeners: http://bestmomideas.com/podcast-free-mom-saver-bundle.

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Transcript

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Dr. Lisa Hassler 0:30

Welcome to the Brighter Side of Education . I'm your host , Dr . Lisa Hassler , here to enlighten and brighten the classrooms in America through focused conversation on important topics in education . In each episode I discuss problems we as teachers and parents are facing and what people are doing in their communities to fix it . What are the variables and how can we duplicate it to maximize student outcomes ?

Early Learning Research

Dr. Lisa Hassler 0:54

Today we're diving into the pivotal role parents play as their child's first teacher , especially in their crucial early learning years .

Dr. Lisa Hassler 1:02

Research has firmly established the critical importance of a child's first five years in shaping early cognitive , social , emotional and regulatory skills . The experiences and learning opportunities during this period lay the groundwork for future academic success . Therefore , it's imperative for parents to provide children with a strong foundational start before they enter formal education

Autumn McKay

Dr. Lisa Hassler 1:24

. How can parents effectively prepare and support their child for reading , writing and math at home ? Well , joining me today to discuss early childhood curriculum is Autumn McKay , an early childhood teacher turned author with over 12 publications . Her focus is on English language arts and math for toddlers to first grade , with a bonus of engineering , coloring books and parent support through gratitude journaling . Welcome , autumn , I'm so happy you could join us today . Yeah , I'm happy to be here . Could you share a bit about your background and what inspired you to write teaching books for parents ?

Autumn McKay 1:58

So I was a teacher before I became a state home mom and basically I got bored playing with the same toys with my son , and so I wanted to make that time together intentional . And , being a teacher , I decided to create this big excel sheet of each activity that we were going to do each day and I put it on our fridge and we did those activities and my husband saw how much fun we were having and how much he was learning , and so he encouraged me to write books to share with other moms that were staying home with their

Ultimate Preschool Guide

Autumn McKay 2:39

kids .

Dr. Lisa Hassler 2:39

Yeah , it's a great idea . I think that having a resource like the ones that you've made make it so much easier to be able to access great ideas without having to scour the internet for like well , you know what about this one little thing ? You've collected it all together in your ultimate preschool activity guide , which is super invaluable for parents when they're looking for things to do with their kids . So why is it so crucial that parents be deliberate in the activities they choose for their preschoolers , and could you share one of your favorite activities from your guide ?

Autumn McKay 3:11

Yeah , sure . So I think it's crucial because you want your child to enjoy the learning process , because hopefully they're going to be lifelong learners and so it makes it a lot more fun when they enjoy that learning process and each child has different interests at different times . So that's why the ultimate preschool activity guide is so good , because you can pick which theme suits your child best . There's many activities from the book that I'm fond of because it just brings back memories of me and my children doing those together . Just a few of my favorite are the spaghetti painting , where we learn about Italy . So you take like spaghetti noodles and you tie them up in a rubber band and you boil the bottom half so they're wiggly , and then they use that as a paintbrush and paint a picture with those .

Dr. Lisa Hassler 4:03

Oh , so fun .

Autumn McKay 4:07

And then there was a nectar relay where we're learning about bees . So they get an eyedropper and they collect yellow water and then they have to race and put it in the honeycomb and fill the honeycomb , which is just the ice tray . Oh , that was really fun for them , yeah .

Dr. Lisa Hassler 4:25

Good , fine motor skills with that . With that dropping of it , that's really great . I'm a beekeeper , so I'm like I love the bee stuff . Yeah , that's wonderful .

Learn to Read Series

Dr. Lisa Hassler 4:37

So you're reading series , you have a reading series . It sounds really fantastic . How do these books contribute to children's development and what's the best way for parents to make the most of them ?

Autumn McKay 4:48

So I'm a big proponent for children to learn to read at home , or parents to partner with their child's teacher so that together they can focus on teaching their child to read . And these books are broken apart into different learning to read stages . So there's three books and they all offer a hands-on approach to teach reading , because it's just more fun that way for a child and also for a parent .

Dr. Lisa Hassler 5:17

Yeah .

Autumn McKay 5:17

So the pre-reading book offers activities that help the child get ready to learn to read . So learning how to hear all the sounds of words , how to blend sounds together and how to identify lowercase letters . Nice , and then the beginning reader book is the beginning stages of learning to read . So it's all the phonics of , like the short vowels and all the other letters in the alphabet . So they're learning one letter at a time in the sound of it and then building on that each lesson . So they'll learn to sound out the words , they'll learn to read sentences and even short stories . Nice , all through hands-on activities . And then the developing reader is just all the difficult sounds of reading . So the long vowels , the ch sound , the sh sound , the different g sounds , things like that , and they practice short stories and stuff like that .

Dr. Lisa Hassler 6:14

Oh good , I was going to ask like so , so what kinds of things are in there ? So you're focusing on those skills and then they're included in short stories , and are there any activities that partner with that ? Or is this scripted , Like you know that they're reading the script and then maybe are doing some activities in the workbook that follow along with those skills ?

Autumn McKay 6:31

So they are activities like my other ones . Yeah , so they're all like materials list and then they offer directions , like step-by-step directions for the parent , but for the child it's just like a hands-on activity where they get to practice that skill oh , they learn the letter sound and then they get to practice it and then they get to read the short story .

Dr. Lisa Hassler 6:52

Nice , okay , that sounds good . Yeah ,

Math Workbook series PreK -1st

Dr. Lisa Hassler 6:55

so you have a math series as well . Let's discuss your workbook . Given your experience with various curricula , how are your books structured ? And then , what makes these stand out ?

Autumn McKay 7:04

Okay , so I use Common Core Standards as a guideline . I know it's like scary saying Common Core because it's usually got a bad rap , but I just use it as a guideline because most states use Common Core for their curriculum and I just use it as a guideline to make sure that it includes everything a preschooler , a kindergartner and a first grader should know by the end of that grade level .

Autumn McKay 7:28

Excellent and so then I sorted the workbooks by categories , just so that if your child needs extra practice in telling time or learning shapes , then you can go to those specific practice pages instead of like having to find which page suits their needs . But my workbooks aren't just like regular worksheets where it's just practice problems . I try to make each page unique and kind of like puzzles or games or coloring , just so it's a little more fun .

Dr. Lisa Hassler 8:04

Yeah .

Autumn McKay 8:05

But all you really need for these workbooks is crayons or pencil , so it's easy to take to like a restaurant or a doctor's office , things like that .

Dr. Lisa Hassler 8:14

That's great . Do you suggest any manipulatives for parents to get or to use , or are those things that they can have just on hand common household objects ?

Autumn McKay 8:24

For the workbooks . I don't suggest getting anything but , for my like , activity books . Those are the things that I suggest , using manipulatives or things that you have at home usually things that you have at home , yeah .

Little Engineer Coloring Books

Dr. Lisa Hassler 8:40

So I'm intrigued by your little engineer coloring books . I know you said your husband is the creator of these . They are focuses on topics like construction and trucks , airplanes and helicopters and even how to build a house . I can't imagine how this book is broken into , so can you just elaborate on the purpose ? And then , how are they designed ?

Autumn McKay 8:59

Yeah , so he is an engineer and he wanted our kids to learn how things were made . He's one of those guys that when something breaks , he lets the kids take it apart and see all the little pieces that make up that object Great . So he teaches them , like , how those pieces work together and how it makes a function and things like that , and he wanted to share that with other kids and I actually learned how , like the parts of a car work from his coloring book . The house one is really cool because it also has videos that he did . Like there was a neighborhood beside us that was in the process of building homes , so he took a video camera and he showed , like , the ins and outs of that process , and so that coloring book offers online videos as well .

Dr. Lisa Hassler 9:47

Wow , oh , that is really unique and I love like , when I seen some of the coloring pages , how they have information , so they're like teaching them as well about what's happening on the page and processes and a little bit of information on those pages , it just seemed like it was very informative and interesting , very interesting . I would love to color that .

Autumn McKay 10:09

Yeah , he wanted it to be kind of like a story as well as coloring .

Dr. Lisa Hassler 10:13

Nice , we're gonna talk

Digital Devices: Early Learning Activities and Healthy Balance with Less Struggles

Dr. Lisa Hassler 10:14

about digital devices . Many children now engage with digital devices for learning and you're offering hands-on activities . Would you like to just compare how your hands-on activities compare to digital device learning , what parents should be considering when choosing early learning activities and how they can create a healthy balance with less struggle ?

Autumn McKay 10:36

So I'm a big fan of the less amount of screen time the better . Kids learn so much more when they use their senses so like seeing , touching , feeling , hearing , smelling , all of those things and they just don't get that experience when they're on the screen . Right when they use those senses , it connects in their brain and it sticks in their brain . But when you're on a screen it's just difficult to get that connection in the brain . So it also takes away valuable time that you could be spending with your child when they're on the screen . Good point . So kids aren't gonna remember their high score that they got on some app . They're going to remember the time they spent with you as the parent , doing activities together , putting together a puzzle or just reading a book together . So that's why I try to steer away from the screens . But it's also fair to say the longer you hold off on offering screen time , the less battles you're gonna have to fight with your child . So the longer you wait , then the less battles .

Autumn McKay 11:45

You'll have to fight .

Dr. Lisa Hassler 11:47

Yeah , absolutely . So just hold off a little bit more , enjoy that quality one-on-one time with them while you have it it's so fleeting and then just make those connections with the sensory . And I really like the way that you touch on the fact that I mean , if something is electronic , they're gonna be getting the visual , they might be getting the auditory , but they're not getting those senses . When it comes to , maybe , gross motor skills or even the fine motor skills beyond clicking , and then they'll be able to do things like with taste and with smell . And I always love to encourage food .

Dr. Lisa Hassler 12:24

When I was working with the little ones and when mine were young , I loved being able just to simply bake with them , being able to get messy and how many kids don't have the experience of just getting into a bowl of flour or mixing with a spatula and the muscles that they're using ? Even with that , you know what I mean . And being informed of measurement , temperature , things like that so simple little things like with mathematics or culture that you can bring in with those wonderful activities of when they're young . And I used to love doing splashing of puddles . We'd go outside and take advantage of those rainy days and paint with rainwater , and so I just look at it as such a wonderful oasis of learning opportunities when they're young that I could see where holding off on those devices really is good advice .

Dr. Lisa Hassler 13:19

As long as you can , yeah , definitely . So a lot of people are having a hard time with not only balancing it , but then like that struggle that goes on where they want it , just like they want everything . So it's like just another thing that you have to kind of battle . Yeah ,

Three Actionable Tips

Dr. Lisa Hassler 13:35

could you leave parents with three actionable tips ?

Autumn McKay 13:39

Yeah , so I have a freebie that I want to offer your listeners so you can .

Autumn McKay 13:44

if you want to start your own activity time , then this freebie offers six hands-on activities from all my books and then also six coloring pages from the Little Engineers , so you can go grab that in the show notes . And then my second tip would be to be intentional with your children . Spend time with your children without a phone or device interrupting that time . Just like you said , time is fleeting with our children , so spend as much time with them as you can . And then my third tip would be to give yourself grace . Not every day is going to go as you planned , so don't get stressed when it doesn't go that way . So if one day you don't get to do the activity that you had planned , then just start over the next day and allow yourself some grace .

Gratitude Journal

Dr. Lisa Hassler 14:38

Yeah , you brought up a good point about having grace with yourself . I know parents have a lot of things to juggle and things get very stressful . You have a gratitude journal for parents . Did you want to talk a little bit about that ? Sure , yeah .

Autumn McKay 14:51

So it's four moms .

Autumn McKay 14:53

I guess dads could use it too , but I made it for myself because I was going through like mom burnout . I had just gotten overwhelmed with all the tasks of motherhood , and so my husband encouraged me to practice gratitude . He listens to tons of podcasts and he had heard that many CEOs practice gratitude in the morning before they start their day , and so he started doing it and he encouraged me to do it , and so I did , and I noticed , as I was practicing gratitude , that my brain was still like focusing on basically my to-do list for the day . So I began to journal , and I made the journal for myself , but also for other moms that were struggling with burnout or overwhelmed . So you write down three things you're thankful for each day . You write down a win that you had for the day , a lesson that you learned , and then it offers a reflection spot or a prayer spot that you can write down and stuff .

Dr. Lisa Hassler 15:59

That sounds really wonderful . I think that that's something to be keeping in mind is being focused on the positive really helps put things into perspective . With all right , I'm doing a good job .

Dr. Lisa Hassler 16:09

I should probably not be so stressed or hard on myself , on the small things that don't always go the way that I hope that they did , and celebrate those wins along the way . And I know for myself , when I get to celebrate those wins , no matter how small , it feels so good , like you're moving in the right direction . Things just seem to feed off of that positivity . Your children feel it , your spouse feels it , the people that you're talking with at the grocery store or wherever you may be , the park , and they're feeling it and I just think it really sets up a wonderful way to begin that day with your young one . So good advice and definitely check that out .

Wrap Up

Dr. Lisa Hassler 16:49

So thank you , autumn , for sharing insights on how parents can support their child's academic journey .

Autumn McKay 16:55

Thank you for having me . It was great to talk with you .

Dr. Lisa Hassler 16:58

To learn more about Autumn McKay , her books and blog , you can go to bestmomideas . com . If you have a story about what's working in your schools that you'd like to share , you can email me at drlisarichardsonhassler@gmail . com , or visit my website at wwwdrlisarhassler . com and send me a message . If you like this podcast , subscribe and tell a friend . The more people that know , the bigger impact it will have . And if you find value to the content in this podcast , consider becoming a supporter by clicking on the supporter link in the show notes . It is the mission of this podcast to shine light on the good in education so that it spreads , affecting positive change . So let's keep working together to find solutions that focus on our children's success .