chat and learn: NEW on teachmama.com — Office Hours!

Every day, all day.

Each week. Each month, all year long, I am asked all kinds of reading questions.

So I’m officially opening up teachmama office hours!

That way, we can chat–even for a quick five minutes!–and I can help you support your children.

The awesome thing is that there’s a free, new platform called SpareMin that allows us to chat when we can find time. During our ‘spare’ minutes of the day.

I love it.

I’m just planning ahead a bit and telling you when I’ll make time to chat; my office hours will mean I’ll free up my schedule so we can talk.

Office Hours are in effect, friends! Sign on up and let’s connect!

I will be doing two sessions each month from April through August. Here are the dates:

• Saturday, April, 23 from 10-10:30 am ET and Sunday, April 24 from 8-8:30 pm ET.    Check out recordings on summer reading for reluctant readers and more. All recordings are public and are on my SpareMin profile!
• Monday, May 9, from 10-10:30 am ET and 8-8:30pm ET
• Monday, June 13, from 10-10:30 am ET and 8-8:30pm ET
• Monday, July 11, from 10-10:30 am ET and 8-8:30pm ET
• Monday, August 8, from 10-10:30 am ET and 8-8:30pm ET

If you want to participate, all you have to do is:

1. Put in a Talk Request to @amymascott on SpareMin. Note: you will need to download (free!) the Android or iOS app to do this.

iOS: iTunes Store — SpareMin

Android: Google Play Store — SpareMin

2. After you put in a Talk Request, I will choose some callers, and you will get a notification when I go online. Then we connect for a call at either of my Office Hour time slots.

Note: All calls are limited to 5 minutes each, and all calls are recorded and shared via social media so other people can learn as well!

Looking forward to connecting!

Some questions I commonly receive (ideas to get you started!) 

• What should my child know before going to Kindergarten?
• When should I teach my child how to write his/ her name?
• How do you teach your child his/her name?
• What do I do with my reluctant reader? 
• How should I get my child to talk to me about books? 
• What books would you recommend for fun summer reading? 
• How do you organize a Book Swap?
• Where would you recommend I get books for our at-home library?
• How can I help my child better understand what he/she reads?
• What should I do with my child this summer so that he/she doesn’t experience the ‘summer slide’?
• Which books would you recommend for a child who loves animals?
• My child does not like to read aloud. What should I do?
• My child wants to read ‘The Hunger Games’. Should I let him?
• When reading, my child makes a ton of mistakes but never stops to correct herself. What should I do?
•  What’s a fun way for teaching my child the alphabet? 

fyi: I’m thrilled to be partnering with the great folks at SpareMin for this post and for teachmama Office Hours for the next few months. Try it! It’s a really cool concept, friends!