Little kids are cute, but they are also a ton of work! And that's why homeschooling tweens and teens (even with all the emotions, insecurities, and headphone isolation) is so rewarding! You get to shift in your role and see them blossom in independence. Parenting and homeschooling gets better every year! Tune in to hear what you have to look forward to in the tween/teen years. If you're already there, you will relate to these common frustrations but also the profound joy of raising teens.
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QUOTABLES
Ximena: "Just when you think that you have parenting down, which I don't think we ever get there to where we think we have parenting down, but just when you have like a routine down, or phase, then life just comes at you and they grow up. How dare they?"
DeeDee: "Right. You get a good rhythm and routine, and then every year they change, and you have to find the new rhythm."
DeeDee: "In elementary school, it's me teaching them, more hands-on, us learning something together. And now, they can learn stuff on their own."
Ximena: "I've really enjoyed my kids during this phase. I mean, I've enjoyed them in every phase, but I feel like we laugh so much together now."
DeeDee: "I don't think I enjoyed my children as much when they were little. It was so much work all the time."
Ximena: "I think it's really important to stay relatable, and don't act like you never went through that insecurity, or you didn't try to defy your parents or whatever. So, I just really try to remember that when I am talking to them, and it's really, really helped."
DeeDee: "[Teen years are] when, really, the kids need their parents. I think that is one of the biggest benefits of homeschooling, is just being there."
TIMESTAMPS
04:30 The whirlwind of changes when kids hit the tween years: crying, neediness, drama and exaggeration.
06:02 The hygiene issues and (lack of) neatness.
07:18 The insecurities about image.
08:31 Headphone isolation!
09:31 The difficulty of managing screen time.
10:05 And just time management in general.
10:32 When parenting/homeschooling teens, you become more of a coach and let kids become more independent.
12:49 Teens begin to see connections. They can think abstractly, so school gets more interesting.
13:36 Life skills become essential at this stage.
14:54 Let teens have more and more say in their own homeschool experience: courses to take, how to do it, etc.
18:59 Tips for homeschooling middle school and high school.
20:05 Why teens need a little bit of risk or adventure in their lives and how to safely provide that.
21:47 Why teens still need play and creative school activities.
25:04Keeping the lines of communication open!
29:45 Make room for quality time with your teens.
32:17 Allowing our kids to make more decisions, to mess up, to take on more responsibility.
Thanks to show sponsor BookShark. Request a homeschool curriculum catalog or download samples at bookshark.com.
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