Homeschool 101: Join a Support Group!

It’s helpful to have a network of support as you forge your homeschooling journey. In the high school years, other homeschooling parents are especially helpful. I leaned heavily on many of my friends as my children passed through middle school and high school. They gave me advise in regard to curriculum, college preparation, and building…

Homeschooling 101: Pray!

We think if we follow guidelines, advice of other homeschooling mothers, get the best curriculum, challenge our children, etc. we are guaranteed success in this journey of educating them. There are no guarantees. There are obstacles all along the way which reveal to us our own inadequacy in getting the job done. Although I wouldn’t…

Homeschool 101: Hand Over the Reins!

Homeschool Help for High School: Hand over the reigns to your high schooler! Let your high school students take ownership of their education. This is a simple statement which takes quite a bit of time to finally accomplish. What I mean to say is, the process of handing the responsibility over to your student is…

Homeschool 101: Challenge Middle Schoolers to Do Big Things

Homeschool Help for the Middle Schoolers: Do Big Things! My daughter was the first in our family to accomplish the National Novel Writing Month challenge (www.nanowrimo.org). During middle school, she wrote a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. I had never heard of NaNoWriMo, but I let this challenge fulfill her homeschooling requirements…

Homeschool 101: How to Make Reading Fun!

Today’s homeschool help is for those teaching elementary age students. When my kids were in the early elementary years (say kindergarten through second grade), we loved going to the library each week for Story Time. Before leaving the library, we all chose ten books to bring home (that meant 40 picture books and early chapter…

Reading through the Holidays

So many of my favorite home school memories involve reading good books aloud. For many years we began our days with me reading both devotional books and historical fiction to the children and ending the days with Daddy reading classics to all of us. When the books were riveting, the children often persuaded me to…

More High School Tips: Parenting Young Adults

High school is a time when children struggle for more independence and parents expect to see more responsibility in their children. The problem is this exchange is a slow and inconsistent one. There are times when parents are not willing to give up their tight hold on their student’s life and education. Perhaps they do too…

More High School Tips: Preparing for SAT II Tests

SAT II tests in science, math, and foreign languages evaluate skills which take more than one year in a subject to develop. In other words, if your student is required or desires to take a SAT subject test, my advice would be for them to take at least two years (or the equivalent) in that…

Day 29: Homeschooling Tip – Don’t Neglect Service

The majority of our homeschooling days center around our children and meeting their physical, emotional, social, and academic needs. It is easy to become so wrapped up in their lives and their future we neglect to teach them to be sensitive to the needs of others. Service is a wonderful opportunity to teach our children…